Goodbye Summer '10

Tashona, Bonnie & myself at camp

I have officially been doing (paid) ministry work for 2 years now. And this past summer was the first in which I was able to begin sculpting. Not doing what others had done, not going where others want to go; but a fully functional summer youth program that fits a new style. It's been quite a ride, really.

I have now:
(1) planned and executed a mission trip
(2) literally watched teens experience God
(3) fallen in love
(4) screamed at the top of my lungs at church people, in the church building, at a church gathering
(5) established a "missional" mindset within our group
(6) and have grown closer to the One who gave me this job.

We began with camp for our 4th - 6th graders. I co-taught with Jesse on "Going, even when you may not want to." (Jonah) Nearly having kids puke on you because of the stink bait object lesson, really opened my eyes!

Uplifting, inspirational fellowship with our 7th - 12th graders at camp followed. This camp blew even me away. Who knew I would have the opportunity to form such close friends with the other leaders!? Also getting to spend the week with one of my closest friends!

Mission Trip. Rule #1: No cell phones. We conducted an extravagant VBS in New Mexico, and bonded well with the kids at the Children's Home, but there are much lessons to be learned... by me.

Our summer closed with Summer Blockbuster (our version on VBS - just way more experiential) We had less kidos this year, maybe because of the extremely late date, but nonetheless, an amazing week. I have now over came the name of "Captain Marvel" (vbs 07) and have adapted the alias "Sir Bradley." I'm okay with that.

We introduced a Summer Reading Program this year for our community elementary kids. Smashing success because of great teachers! Hot Summer Movie Nights, sporting events, end-of-summer blowout, July 4th thingy.... it's been a looong summer, so I think I'll take a break for a week then prepare for the Legacy Concert.

So here is my fear: Why did I use the word "I" so much? What if all these activities were for my glory? Could I have planned them because I wanted them, not considering the participants? If so, they were in vain. I need God present in all that I do. Without Him, my works are pointless and a waste of mine and His time. So, my prayer is:

for God to be present in ALL I do, so that what I do is for His glory.

My First 2 Weeks as a Youth Minister

My first two weeks as a youth minister began two weeks ago. Not literally, because I've been wearing the title for about 2 years now, but I feel like 'ministry' just kicked in...

Two weeks ago I took our kids to camp. Nothing to spectacular there, except for the lengths I had to go through to get to this camp. Upsetting folks and spending a lot of money were two of the biggest. This new camp (camp Ichthus) offered something my kids have never experienced before. They witnessed the presence of GOD. And even better, they realized it! I have yet to see a spiritual youth group until that week. It just about brought me to tears, I was so happy to see these kids experience.

Just when things couldn't get any better, we head off to New Mexico to conduct a Vacation Bible School and hang with the children at the NM Christian Children's Home. Our teens and adults did an amazing job of the VBS drama, but I saw a complete opposite side of them. What was strong and passionate at camp, had totally disappeared in New Mexico. Laziness, language, bellyaching, disrespect, anger, sulking and belittlement. I haven't witnessed such immature behavior since the PV youth group of 2001! (sorry guys).

So, as the youth minister, I will tackle all these issues, in a Christian manner. Why can't I just tell them they're all immature little punks? I love them too much to say that... So I'm going to take this Sunday morning off to pray instead. Don't want to say something I shouldn't...

It feels like I just experienced two ends of the student ministry spectrum; the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Ugh :(

my prayer: patience, patience and patience.

God answered another question

Here is something that's been on my mind recently:

I've been wondering why God would inspire the dictation of lists of genealogies and dates. My Bible reading has now taken me into the deeps of the OT; not the fun brain teasers like Proverbs or scantly clad Song of Solomon, but Deuteraut.... Deauterana.... Deut. Boring! I'm sorry for even mentioning this, but I'm really looking for my "devotional high."

However, I do believe that every catalog of names in Scripture is there for a purpose. The Holy Spirit does not waste words. God didn't inspire "filler" to beef up the Bible! But as God does so often, just as I began to question His motives, He hits me with a practical life lesson. Thus, my blog for today:

David's Mighty Men

A VBS my youth group will be assisting with in NM is studying the story of David's Mighty Men; specifically 2 Samuel 23.

David longed for a refreshing drink of water from his hometown of Bethlehem. Three of his "mighty men" brave the dangerous journey to bring some to him. When David receives it, he pours it out.

All in all, this story can be quite depressing, and difficult when trying to teach. Josheb, Eleazar and Shammah are the men that fetch said pale of water. These names we'll only cross once again in the Bible, then never again. But here is where God decided to get crafty; as we read, we see that these three men were not commanded to get the water, but they did it out of loyalty and friendship. This act was done out of love for their king.

Are there similarities there with how we worship?
Our worship to the Lord should not be performed as a duty, but as an act of devotion because we love our King. True worship will involve time and effort and sacrifice, and sometimes the overcoming of great barriers that are thrown in our path by the enemy of our souls. Have you ever noticed how many obstacles and diversions seem to present themselves when you would like to spend some time worshiping the Lord? Sometimes the man-made barriers of tradition and ritual must be overcome.

The fact that God keeps a detailed record of the names and exploits of David's fighting men has got to be significant. It shows us that God records our personal service, too. If God kept track and applauded David's mighty soldiers by name, how much more does he keep track and reward the faithful servants of David's greater Son!

my prayer: focus on GOD, not what others see

Making an "Impact"

What a blessed week I had last week. We took a handful of kiddos to Camp Impact at OC, and I think I was uplifted just as much as they were. It was refreshing not hearing the same-o same-o vbs church songs again, but giving credit to these little minds. Singing Lord Reign In Me and Shout Hallelujah was nothing for these 370 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. But as always, nothing is as beautiful as a child's voice singing Light the Fire.

I stand to praise you, but I fall on my knees,
My spirit is willing, but my flesh is so weak.
Light the Fire in my soul.
Fan the Flame, make me whole.
Lord you know where I've been,
So light the fire in my heart again.

To some degree, I ceased to care if they knew what their singing because it sounded so moving to me.. but I believe they do. I believe their minds have matured just enough to know that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And now here I sit, in the offices at Parkview Church, asking... begging God to give me the abilities to continue to impact our kids like camp did for so many. I am done worrying about small budgets and tiny classes. If it's God's desire, he's gonna make it happen.

my prayer: to make an impact internally and outward in the community

HE never ceases to amaze me...

How amazing is God!?  Another day in the office. It starts out pretty much the same as all Friday mornings do. Rush to get my bulletin info in (which I should have done two days prior) and finalize the worship set with the sermon scriptures. Oh yes, and listen to our benevolence folks hand out food to the incoming needy (and some greedy).

So when we received a call regarding a meal and the need for transportation, I think nothing of it... until it's directed toward me. I answer the phone and listen to this man introduce himself and explain his situation. This man (we'll call him "John") had just been released from prison, and needed a ride to McKinney where his brother was to pick him up the next day.

Now, in a sad way, it seems as if I've been trained to ignore requests like this. But by God's divine power, rather than even contacting our elders to solicit the church funds, I agree to pick him up. (By the way, John is homeless and has not a cent to his name.)

When I arrive at the local motel to pick John up, I walk in and standing before me is this 6'10 monster of a man holding only a duffle bag. We introduce ourselves and begin our trek down the rainy lanes of highway 75. This is when it begins to get good.

Among our conversations, we discuss family, work, church, education and the such. This is when I find out that this man is my brother! 6'10 John was baptized into Christ by Willie Franklin (UNT campus minister) many years ago. Along with that, this man is a 1975 alumni of ACU! Turns out, we have a lot in common, which was kind of scary.

So why am I excited about this? One simple reason... I didn't judge him before I picked him up. I didn't roll my eyes, I didn't let out an exasperating sigh knowing I would be out money. God (possibly literally) took full control of me and reached out to a homeless man... after the telephone call had been answered, passed to the benevolence minister, then passed to me. Praise God for His presence in this world!

I hope I see him again. On the road, we talked about everything from churches and preachers in Abilene to how by God's grace he had been given a second chance. I don't say this often, but I honest to goodness believe I witnessed the Holy Spirit in him. He never asked for money, he never asked for a hand out, but just love from his brothers. What an encouraging day. Thank you Father.

Btw, sorry Abigail for not getting your lunch to you on time. Now you know why :)

How shallow can I be!?

I'm struggling to get back into the groove of my "mission minded" youth activities. You see, a while back the youth group and I decided that rather than movie night, game night, eat-to-much night, act-a-fool night, throw wet marshmallows night and pin-the-tail-on-the-unsaved night, we would use those times to serve the church and community, pray hard, and reach out to all. It's such a wonderful idea, teaching our kids to love unconditionally, but - Easy for them, they're not planning the activities, calling the homes, driving the van, and then taking the heat for their stupidity. It's a part of the ministry, planning. But oh how easy it is to lose focus!  It's been a while since we've gotten our hands dirty and many other activities have happened in between. Graduation is a big one. - But I believe we're ready to go!

So is this what is called burn out? I don't think so... I still have a passion to go into the office, to work on the youth publications, to hang out with the kids. But, I am so sore from the church work day. I'm dreading focusing my energies on developing a worship set for Sunday. And I know any moment now my buddy's going to be walking through my door asking for help in the Studio.

How about this: I just put it all in God's hands and see what He does. After all, He can do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine... according to His power that is at work within me.

Ahh.. Fantastic Friday

What a great day to procrastinate! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's Friday. As I sit at my desk working on the Seniors Graduation Program, "Our King" by Tree63 is playing in the background and I can hear a baby play-date getting rowdy in the gym. Why would I not look forward to going to work? - Why would I even consider this work?

Funny thing, the seniors program was supposed to be completed Tuesday. However, all of Tuesday was spent upstairs in the Studio with our media minister. That left just enough time to begin studying for Wednesdays class... well, until the girl scouts arrived. Wednesday was a productive day. Thursday was spent designing an uplifting and edifying worship service, which did leave time to transplant the dirt in the front lawn. (oiy!)

I keep reminding myself, no matter how overwhelmed I may feel with non-job related duties, everything we do, we do for the Lord. And by gosh, I'm going to do it with all my might! If my church famiy needs me to shovel dirt to fill holes, then that's going to be the best dirt-shovelin' they've ever seen.

And, ya know, regardless of the weather, the Son is always shining! (how cliché, but true)

my prayer: may the life that I pursue, come from a hunger for the truth

On my high

Today, I'll not be wearing a hat. Youth, media, maintenance, hospital... it all seems to fall on Monday's. But I'm on such a high from last night, it doesn't matter. The youth group spent their Sunday evening out of the confines of the church building walls. We donated our time at the local homeless shelter. Met some amazing little children that are simply desperate for attention, and our kids were able to give it to them. I believe the impact on our youth was equal to, if not greater than, the impact we had on the children in the shelter. 

Praise God for opportunities like these!

When little shelter-girl Savannah was reading the Bible story of Samson to our youth, her mother was peaking around a corner, listening, tearing up, with a grin from ear to ear!

Facebook is flooded with our youth's testimonials of the impact that was made at the shelter!

Going to the homeless shelter tonight put a lot through my mind, we are truly blessed with the things that are givin to us or the things we have. If you ever feel that what you got isnt good enough or that its not the best thing you could have gotten just think, you could be living in a homeless shelter where you have pretty much nothing. This event really touched my life and I look at a lot of things differently now.

my ♥ is still smiling from our 1st "Mission Minded Outreach"!...those kids were such a joy tonight! and we were truly blessed!!

I've learned in the past year to put my primary focus on the youth ministry, when having to juggle between different ministoral duties. Jesse has done a great job of relieving many of my duties in the media and childrens ministry. It's a blessing to have a worker for the Lord with such a passion as his.

Funny how it sounds like Parkview has soooo many active ministries, and yet they are a congregation of only 150ish at the moment. Maybe it's our active ministries that will help this broken world establish relationships with Christ... I suppose we can only pray.

my prayer: praise God from whom all blessings flow

1st day off in three weeks

This post is taking place on a Saturday morning, and it is my first real day off in three weeks. Though there are to be two days off a week (per the contract), ministry calls you out to the harvest when you least expect it to.

Slept in until 9:00. How amazing was that, until I received a phone call from a lady needing in the church building. You see, this person (very polite woman) reserved the gym for a family event, properly filled out the paper work and such, and arrived only to find no one there to open the facilities she was to use. Thus, I got the call.

There are two people on the list that are to open the building. Neither of them even knew she reserved it. Luckily a buddy was in the area so was able to open the building for her. Various checkins are necessary when the building is reserved to insure that rules are being followed. I'll probably spend some time up there today :-/

But you know what? God's people work together. It says somthing like that in 1 Corinthians 12... one body, many parts. I suppose today I am the elbow joining the radius and humerus. I strive to make people happy, so just call me Mr. Funny Bone.



my prayer: patience

Juggling in Ministry - the beginning

This is completely normal; so I was told. Some days I forget what my job is, because I'm juggling quite a few different positions within the church. I work in youth ministry, the official title is "Youth and Family Minister."

I must remind myself of Paul's call to the Corinthians that because they didn't know how much time they had before God would return, they should always be doing the Lord's work.

Sometimes wearing a different hat each day can be difficult; worship planning one day, youth ministry, media then maintenance. So is this a "small church" thing? Do these problems arise from not having dynamic leaders and/or leaders that wont delegate?

I must remain focused on one thing, and that is we must work. Wouldn't it be awesome if we stood before God's throne someday and he says "I designed you in such a way so that you could take on multiple tasks, so that you could display my love through your actions."

And what if I get burnt out like so many ministers do? I'll get a job working for Walmart and still glorify him in my life. So in the words of New Riders of the Purple Sage, keep on keepin' on... and in the words of Paul, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.


my prayer: Surround us, O Lord.