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| 49. How To Build a Spiritual Home – Part 3 |
| From Building Leaders of Tomorrow on Monday, May 6, 2013 @ 7:27 AM PST in the "Blog" Category. Plumbing – Loving Discipline – Proverbs 3:11-12 Why did I choose plumbing for discipline. "It stinks. But if you don't do it, the whole house will smell. The times when your children don't get it, teach through discipline. Discipline means literally "to teach" – some of us had more teaching moments in our childhood than [...] Read More... |
| 50. Youth Ministry & The Art of Running the Race… |
| From YouthWorkTalk.com on Monday, May 6, 2013 @ 5:01 AM PST in the "Blog" Category. A couple of months ago the ministry I work for decided to use the NJ Long Branch Marathon as a fundraiser. At first I didn't think much of it. I'm not a runner. As a matter of fact I am an asthmatic who is beyond athletically challenged. This race was for my husband to complete, [...]You just finished reading Youth Ministry & The Art of Running the Race...! Read More... |
| 51. The Biggest Barrier To Students Living Out Their Faith? |
| From youthministry360 on Monday, May 6, 2013 @ 4:46 AM PST in the "Resources" Category. [Editor's Note: We've got "all hands on deck" getting ready to launch elements, Vol. 3. So we re-posted this article that was originally posted in 2011. Hope you enjoy! We'll be back with fresh ym360 Blog content tomorrow.) Do you find yourself desiring that your students were making a bigger impact for God and His Kingdom? I would guess that at least on some level, this is true for all of us. So . . . why aren't they? Why aren't your students living more bold and dynamic faith-lives? I have an idea. I believe the main reason students don't live as powerfully as they could can be boiled down to one simple concept . . .Image. I think in the current culture our students are growing up in, image rules in a way it has never before. I see most students obsessed with their image. They want people to think they have it all together. That they are completely cool and in control. That they're perfectly communicating a persona using the right words and expressions (i.e., the words and expressions their friends use). It's WAY more than how they look. Some days it seems like they engage in image control on the level of a professional PR firm! The stakes are too high if they don't. Word (and images) travels fast via text messages and Tumblr updates. Many students don't seem to want to offend, or seem like they're holding an opinion outside what would be considered mainstream or "normal." Which is a pretty big barrier to living a bold faith life. After all, people who live impassioned lives for Christ can make others uncomfortable.Living as a Christ-follower is image shattering. When teenagers identify strongly with Christ, they can be easily painted as small-minded or narrowly-focused. Having convictions and holding to them just isn't that cool. But here's the deal . . . Like all Christ-followers, our students are called to live their lives in radical submission to God, regardless of how this sets them against their culture.This isn't new information to us. But it's good to be reminded of it. Think of the people in Scripture who stood up against the tide of culture, sacrificing their image to do so . . . all for the sake of God.Isaiah walked around nude for three years.Ezekiel made a spectacle of himself in public.Daniel risked everything for the sake of holiness.Hosea married a prostitute.John the Baptist lived in the desert and ate bugs.The Disciples went against every norm of their day's leading religious culture.Paul subjected himself to beating and ridicule, making himself an enemy of his own people.Peter sacrificed religious tradition to be obedient to God's call to include Gentiles in the faith family. ALL of these people sacrificed image, i.e., what others thought abou them, because God had called them to serve Him with their lives. They did so without regard for how they looked to the world around them. And all of them had an amazing impact for the Kingdom.I want to challenge you to consider having this discussion with your students. I'd love to hear their responses to the following question:Do you care more about your image, about what others think of you, than you do about living your life on mission for God?My hunch is that if they are honest, many do care more image than they care about making a difference for God. Some of this is probably an inherent part of their life stage. But part of it is a real barrier you can help them overcome.Image should never stand in the way of living a dynamic life for Christ. Read More... |
| 52. 6 questions every pastor must ask about their family |
| From Life in Student Ministry on Sunday, May 5, 2013 @ 10:14 PM PST in the "Blog" Category. As a pastor, it's difficult to balance family and ministry, but is balance actually the goal? These 6 questions can help you evaluate what's important. Read More... |
| 53. 6 questions every pastor must ask about their family |
| From Life in Student Ministry on Sunday, May 5, 2013 @ 10:14 PM PST in the "Blog" Category. As a pastor, it's difficult to balance family and ministry, but is balance actually the goal? These 6 questions can help you evaluate what's important. Read More... |
| 54. 10 things I miss about being a pastor |
| From Dare 2 Share Ministries International on Sunday, May 5, 2013 @ 7:05 AM PST in the "Blog" Category. For ten years of my life I was a preaching pastor at a church I helped plant with my good buddy Rick Long (Grace Church of Arvada.) This weekend I've been preaching all three services at my old stomping grounds and it's got me reminiscing. With this in mind here are 10 things I miss about being a pastor: 1. Working the foyer before and after the services (I worked that foyer like a politician running for office!) 2. The thrill and nervousness of having to come up with fresh sermons every week. 3. Awkward side hugs (actually I don't miss those!) 4. Delegating the tough counseling situations to the elder who was giving me the hardest time 5. My mom yelling answers to my rhetorical questions right in the middle of my sermons. 6. Seeing people put their faith in Jesus every week during the services. 7. Working on staff with life-long friends. 8. The people: watching them go from new convert to disciple to disciple multiplier over the course of time. 9. Being a pastor that FULLY supports the youth ministry. 10. Sunday afternoon naps (it was my ritual after preaching 3 services!) Would I ever go back to being a preaching pastor? No. To be honest I was way better at the preaching part than the pastoring part. But, preaching at Grace Church this weekend brought back some good memories of helping to lay the foundation for what is a great church today. I'm thrilled that Rick is doing such a great job as preaching pastor at Grace. He's good at both parts (preaching and pastoring.) As for me? I'll stick to energizing a generation to evangelizing their world through Dare 2 Share. Unfortunately that still comes with awkward side hugs! Viva LA Cause! Read More... |
| 55. May the 4 be with you. |
| From Deep Thoughts by Gman on Saturday, May 4, 2013 @ 9:52 AM PST in the "Blog" Category. http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ZioO Read More... |
| 56. How to make a "salvation segue" without it sounding like a "Jesus juke" |
| From Dare 2 Share Ministries International on Saturday, May 4, 2013 @ 7:59 AM PST in the "Blog" Category. Jon Acuff (of Stuff Christians Like fame) describes what a Jesus juke is, "Like a football player juking you at the last second and going a different direction, the Jesus Juke is when someone takes what is clearly a joke filled conversation and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy." Jesus juking, depending on the severity, can turn a light hearted conversation into a party pooper's paradise. This is exactly what you DON'T want to do when you are seeking to share the gospel with someone. You want to make a smooth segue into the subject of salvation in a way that the person you are talking with doesn't feel, well, juked or spooked. Last night on a plane ride home from Houston I was sitting in the exit row with another guy. He worked for the airlines and we talked about his life on the road, his workout routine (we're both doing Insanity) and our families. When we were 30 minutes or so from landing, I was praying about how to turn the conversation spiritual without resorting to the juke. I remembered that earlier in the conversation he gave me some workout videos on a flashdrive to watch. The Holy Spirit used his gift to spark an idea. I said, "Hey, you gave me some videos, I'd like to give you one too." I gave him the www.lifein6words.com website and told him that on this site he could watch the best spoken word presentation of the gospel I'd ever seen. I told him about my friend Jason Petty (aka "Propaganda") and how great he was at sharing the gospel via spoken word. He seemed genuinely intrigued and opened up to me about wanting to find a church. He told me that he really wanted to get his three year old daughter into church and that his wife wanted to find one as well. Soon we were talking about the gospel in a very natural way. Before we got off the plane he told me he was really looking forward to watching the spoken word video by Propaganda. As I reflect back on this conversation I see four things that happened to make a natural segue to the subject of salvation. Maybe these four actions will help you as well: 1. Just start talking. Introduce yourself and be cordial. Ask questions, listen deeply and be genuinely interested in what they have to say. Ask them questions about what they do for a living and for fun. Talk to them about their family, interests and passions. 2. Look for areas of common interest. The conversation on the plane really started to ignite when we both started talking about the Insanity work out program. He was really into it and so was I. We compared notes, talked about trying to do Insanity in hotel rooms and how it would was disruptive to anybody rooming on the floor right beneath you. It was here when the ice was broken and he really started to open up and talk. 3. Pray for God to open your eyes to a way to bring up the Gospel naturally. As we were getting to the end of the flight I was getting twitchy because I hadn't shared the gospel yet. But I didn't want to just grind the gears and yank the steering wheel toward the subject of Jesus (without using the clutch anyway.) So I prayed. As a result, God's Spirit prompted me to remember the videos this guy had given me and that I could use these videos as a way to talk about the Life in 6 Words video. If you pray, stay dependent on the Spirit and just start a conversation you'll be shocked how many times there are natural salvation segues you can take to turn the subject spiritual in a very natural way. Ask God to open the door and He will. Here's how the apostle Paul put it in Colossians 4:3-6,"And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Paul's goal wasn't to puke the gospel onto everyone and juke conversations unnaturally toward Jesus. He wanted his conversations to be "full of grace" and "seasoned with salt." He wanted to be as smooth as possible so that those he was sharing with would really hear the message of the gospel without being turned off by how he brought it up. For a great example of Paul making a salvation segue check out Acts 17:16-34. 4. Don't chicken out at the last minute. There have been many times in my life where that door of opportunity has been cracked opened and I slammed it shut at the last minute. Whether it was the social awkwardness of dropping the "J bomb" too early on someone or just opting out because of fear, there have been more times than I'd like to admit where I forsook an opportunity to share the good news. Yes, even "the Dare 2 Share guy" chickens out sometimes. I regret those missed opportunities deeply. So seize the moment when God opens the door and turn the conversation toward Jesus in the most natural way you can. Even if your salvation segues are clunky at first, remember that "love covers a multitude of sins"...and awkwardness. Love, listen and then take the leap. But try not juking. Read More... |
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