Wow Weekend!!

What a great weekend and beginning of this one!! Friday night was our Scavenger Hunt around town with the teens. 28 teens and 8 adults showed up that night to chow down on some great burgers and scrumdiddliumptious homemade (by the one and only Ed Butterworth) hot wings. Oh Boy, there were hot wings and more hot wings - Honey Mustard - BBQ - Mango Habanero - and Original!! Delish!!!! The night was awesome and a lot of fun.

Saturday night several of us got together over at the home of Philip and Stephanie Howell for a night of eating, singing and fellowship! What great times!

Sunday morning was my first time to lead the worship for morning services. We were blessed with almost 400 people that morning. People that wanted to sing out with all their hearts.

On Sunday evening, Jeff Haughe brought the worship and I brought the lesson since Joel, our preaching minister, was sick at home. It was a good night.

Tonight, the teens and I will lead the all-church devotional and spend some time in thanks to our great and mighty God!

A Must Read

Wow! Walt Mueller has hit the nail on the head with this insight into reaching the teens of this generation. In the introduction to his book "Engaging The Soul Of Youth Culture" he makes this statement:
"Third, at times I am critical of the "faith" we're calling young people to. For too long youth ministry has been about getting people "saved." I struggle with our definition of what it means to be saved and the methods we employ to get young people saved. Gordon Smith says that the church is guilty of thinking of conversion in "minimalist terms: What is the very least that a person needs to do in order to be freed from the horrors of hell and assured of the glories of heaven?"

We have failed to understand that conversion is not just about belief, repentance, forgiveness and eternal life. Something else has to happen after someone accepts Christ as Savior. Salvation makes a person free from sin and a slave to righteousness-integrating the Christian faith and kingdom of God into all of life. When we call young people to faith, we are not calling them out of the world and into heaven. Rather, we're calling them to live God's will and way in the world."

His words call us to step up to the plate. Stop seeing things as a list or step by step process that we can check off upon the completion of each step. We need to see baptism as the beginning of a long life of discipleship, not as the end of the to-do list. Don't get me wrong. I am not de-emphasizing baptism, but I am trying to place a strong emphasis on what happens after the death of the 'old man.' Discipleship, true and strong, interacts with this world and expresses Christian truth in every aspect.

Parents and Youth Workers, if you have not read this book, I encourage you to go out and get it. It sure is helping me understand the ever changing culture of our youth.

Lyrics of the Day

"I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be!"

Quote of the Day

I am stealing a quote from my friend's blog that I, as an reader of the Word, thought should be passed on to those of you out there that love to read the Bible. Tell me what you think about this.

“If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it? A book must be like an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us.” ~George Steiner, 1970

Getting There!

Well, El and I were able to get the house closer to its' destination while preparing for the arrival of my mom! Well, it turns out that she will not be able to come because she is sick. Please keep her in your prayers.

Mike K and I are cooking the meal this evening for the church family! I wonder what people will do when they see that we are the chefs this Wednesday. The menu is chicken tenders, mashed taters and gravy, green beans with bacon and onions, bread, banana pudding and cookies. We're not that bad. Well, if Linda P is in there to show us the way!! Can't wait!

Just letting you in on the innerworkings of the Northside church in Benton, AR on this wonderful Wednesday.

Finally!!

Well here I am finally able to stop for a minute and let you all know that I am alive and well. When my Dad and I got into town, I have been going 90 miles an hour trying to get everything unloaded at the house, get my office set up and figure out the iMac G4 in my office.

At the same time I have tried to re-establish some old relationships and begin some new! What a great, if not chaotic, time it has been here in Benton, Arkansas. I love Joel and Mike dearly and know that we will work together very well. I also love Joyce and Linda! What an office staff we will make!!

While here I have already enjoyed a cool hayride with the teens, gone to court to support a friend, been to a funeral, led a song at the graveside, been to a Benton/Bryant Jr High football game, heard the Benton Jr High Chamber Choir perform, taken a group of teens to Harding University for Bison Daze during Homecoming, paid visits with Joel and Mike, gone to a movie with one of the teens, had a bible study and baptized a great young man, and eaten way too much going out with my fellow ministers. It has been a whirlwind. But I love every minute of it.

The house is getting there. Not quite ready to be seen by the outsider, but livable. Neither of us will be away this Saturday so things are looking up for 'around-the-house' work.

I will be back from now on with daily thoughts and fond remembrances of the group I left in Marble Falls as well as exciting glimpses into the future here as we begin a new work!

Out For A While

I will be out of pocket for a while. I am in the process of packing and loading the Uhaul tomorrow and will be heading out no later than Noon on Wednesday. Then I will unpack on Thursday and hopefully get to spend some great, quality time with my sweetheart and baby on the weekend! The time is flying by right now. Anyway, I will most likely be unable to blog until I get my internet established at the home or office. Keep us in your prayers as we make this huge transition.

Misc

My office is looking strange to me. Hardly any books on the shelf and lots of loaded up boxes. I have thrown away a whole bunch of stuff and it is crazy how it piles up so quickly. I need a daily reminder to let things go when they do not need to stay. Hard to do!
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Tis the season for bugs, bugs and more bugs! I first noticed it on Tuesday night when I came back from the Marble Falls High School Concert, which was amazingly wonderful by the way!, and I headed in to the office and starting hearing crunches as I walked up to the exterior. There are bugs all over the place and there is nowhere we can go right now without stepping on one or seeing one or nearly inhaling one. Crazy! I am ready for them to leave.
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Just sitting here wondering if my old pal, Jim Burger, is gonna blog again! The days are just not the same without his daily insight.

STUFF!

This week is my last week and I am in the process of boxing things up at the house and in the office. I can't believe how much stuff I am throwing away! I am just going wild and trashing things with reckless abandon. It's funny how things accumulate. I am a bit of a pack-rat. I keep things because of the association. That is not always good.

Going to lunch with Guy N-I will be back in a while to finish the tale.

Quote of the Day

"He has a head like cement-all mixed up and permanently set." - James O. Dobbs

Words Of The Day

I have had a couple of words thrown at me recently. I had to look them up. Tell me what they mean. Here they are:

Defenestrate

Involute

Changing Colors

Happy October!!

I know it is now 3 days into it, but I really love Fall. The weather takes a cooler turn. The leaves start to change a bit. The air becomes crisp.

I saw on the news that the highs for the end of the week are going to be in the 80's with the lows in the 60's! That just gets me all pumped up!!

It started me thinking about the beauty of this creation and the artwork of the Master. So, I will leave you with an encouraging word from Richard J. Foster and a scripture.

"So give your attention to the created order. Look at the trees, really look at them. Take a flower and allow its beauty to sink deep into your mind and heart. Listen to the birds-they are the messengers of God. Watch the little creatures that creep upon the earth. These are humble acts, to be sure, but sometimes God reaches us profoundly in these simple ways if we will quiet ourselves to listen."
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"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."
(Psalm 19:1-4)

My Little Girl

Today is Jenniva's first day in day care. I am very anxious and am waiting with baited breath for the call this afternoon from Elizabeth when she picks her up. I have mixed emotions about her being in a day care, we both do. Have there been examples out there of good quality day care? Just wondering. Oh, here's a great picture of the future punk rocker!

Homecoming

Last night was homecoming for both Faith Academy and Marble Falls High School. I was able to do a half and half deal. I spent the first half at the FA Flames game against Prairie Lea. I then went over to see the MF Stangs fight the Lampasas Badgers. They both won!! Mf won 21-0 and FA won 44-40! It's always great to win at your homecoming game. Anyway, 6 students went with me to Whataburger after the game to get some grub and then came over to my house to watch a movie. I hit the sack at 2:00 and woke up for an early meeting at 7:00. I am pretty slap-happy right now! Feeling good, though.

Very Surreal

Last Wednesday evening, parents, elders and ministers met in the Youth House to discuss the future of the youth ministry since I am leaving in the near future. I was there to really just listen and help with what I know, but in the middle of the whole deal, I leaned over and whispered to one of the parents that it was just really strange and weird that I was there listening to them plan a minister-less calendar! Makes me feel like a lame duck.

Add to that my sweet girls are gone from here. They are already in AR, chomping at the bit for me to come be with them. I'm all alone. Kinda lonely and sad.

I have seen a lot of traffic in my house but have not yet gotten an offer. Hoping and praying that it will sell in the near future. Please lift that up!

Overall, I think that I am just down in the dumps. Life has indeed become very surreal.

Continuing The Conversation

Here is more of my good friend's blog posts. Allan and I were able to discuss this over the phone a little the other day. I believe he has many good things to say.

"I’m 40 years old, I have a green mini-van (Carrie-Anne drives it, not me), and, not only have I never played with a Wii, up until two days ago I didn’t even know how to spell it. I own, and sometimes wear, a pair of blue jean shorts. And with the exceptions of Van Halen, Aerosmith, and Audio Adrenaline, if it was recorded after 1985, I don’t listen to it. I have tube socks older than you. If I had my way, every room or office would have a Lava Lamp, the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA basketball tournament would be declared national holidays, and we would sing “How Great Thou Art,” “It Is Well With My Soul,” and “A Mighty Fortress” during every single worship assembly. In my mind, Tom Landry is still the only coach the Cowboys have ever had.

Maybe we don’t have a ton of things in common. But let me tell you this: I love you.

I love you. Your youth minister loves you. The elders in your church love you. Your preacher loves you. The older lady that you think frowns at you all the time loves you. The man in the back who refuses to sing a “new song” loves you. Your friends’ families love you. And your parents love you more than you can possibly begin to imagine.

If you were beginning to learn how to drive a car and your dad took you to the Driver’s Ed place and the teacher told your dad, “We offer two different education packages. For $39 I can teach your child everything he needs to know to pass the test. It’s only the basic stuff. It’s not too difficult, he should breeze right through it, and we can get him his license in just a couple of weeks.”

“But for $79 I can give your child the extended course. We’ll teach him the basics, naturally. But we’ll also give him tons of practical experience behind the wheel in both urban and rural settings. We’ll take him out on the highways and through the school zones. We’ll teach him safety. We’ll show him how to react in emergency situations. How to avoid dangerous circumstances. How to react when faced with difficult conditions. It takes two months instead of two weeks. And it’s not nearly as easy. It’ll require some dedication and study and lots of field work. But I think it’s worth it in the long run.”

One course gets you your license. The other course provides you with the teaching and the tools necessary to greatly increase your odds of being safe and staying alive. Which one will your dad choose?

Don’t carry the metaphor too far out. It may break down.

Why would the person who loves you the most give you just the basics? He wouldn’t! He would want you to be fully equipped to face whatever challenges or crises come your way.

And that’s what everybody in your church wants for you. We love you.

I want, more than I can explain, to provide you with the teachings and the tools you need to live exactly like our Savior. I want you to be just like him. I want you to think about and talk about sacrificing and serving and thinking more highly of others than you do yourselves. Submitting to each other in love. Seeing your place in the body of Christ, both now and in the future, as vital and critical and paramount to the growth and spread of the Kingdom.

Trust me (and you know this already), we concentrate on you because we see how we’ve messed things up for ourselves. We want things to be better for you than they are for us. We know very well how we’re supposed to act. And we know very well that we don’t. And we know that if the Church of Jesus is going to make a difference in reclaiming the world for its Creator, we’ve got to change. And we see you as the ones who can more than likely do what we’re unable to do.

I believe Jesus’ apostles were teenagers when he called them. Going through both Scripture and ancient Jewish education history, I think it’s clear that the apostles were likely between the ages of 12 and 19 when they decided to follow Jesus. Peter is the only one that Scripture points to as maybe possibly being in his 20s. I think they were teens.

And I think Jesus chose teenagers, not just because that was the way the rabbinical system had been working for a couple of centuries, but because he knew the passion and the energy and the desires of teens to identify with a cause and dedicate themselves entirely to it. I know that fire, too. I see that fire in you all the time — at youth rallies, on retreats, at WinterFest, and around campsite campfires at 2:00 am. You’ve got it. You want, most of you, more than anything else in the whole world to be exactly like Jesus. And you look to church and church leaders and church culture to find out exactly what Jesus was like and what he taught so you can be exactly like him.

And I’m afraid we let you down.

The last two posts on this blog have not been about you. They’ve been about us. They’ve been about me.

And here’s my plea, to you from me: don’t leave us.

Statistics show you’re leaving the churches of Christ in record numbers. It happens as soon as you get out of high school. Some of you come back eventually. Most of you don’t. And we’re all scrambling, every one of us, trying to figure out why and what we can do about it.

Don’t leave us.

A young man named Brian, a college student at ACU, asked that panel why it was such a big deal when teens born and raised in the churches of Christ left for other faith traditions. If we’re still claiming Jesus as Lord and still serving Christ in love, he said, why does it hurt you when we leave this particular heritage?

I waited until the session was over and grabbed him in the hallway. (Not literally. I said his name.) Yes, it hurts us when you leave, I told him. It kills us. Because it means we’ve let you down. It means we were not successful in passing on the baton of faith and tradition and heritage in our own fellowship to our own kids. We take it as a sign that we’ve failed. And it kills us. It means to us that you didn’t really see us, the churches of Christ, as a family. And that’s what all of us long for it to be.

Don’t leave us.

I know we’ve horribly distorted the Church that Jesus died for. You’re not stupid. You know it, too. You know how inconsistent we are. You know how we preach and teach one thing and then act totally the oppposite. You see right through our feeble attempts to justify our own wants and desires and comfort zones by misapplying this passage or pulling that verse completely out of context. It’s crazy sometimes! Sometimes it makes me want to leave!

Don’t leave.

As I told Brian that day at ACU, stay and help us. Wrestle with us. Grow with us. Teach us. Show us how to worship with passion and joy and with the freedom we have in Christ. Point out the inconsistencies. We know how crazy it is to say you can clap and raise your hands in the Youth House but not in the auditorium. We know that makes absolutely no sense. But we keep doing it anyway. We’ve been so inconsistent for so long, we’re blind to a lot of it. Show it to us. Challenge us. You know how God works best when we’re getting our hands dirty in the low income apartment complexes and the homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Most of the people in your churches know it, too. But there’s nobody challenging them to act on it. We know it’s nuts to expect you to submit and sacrifice for us when you see us slamming each other and gossiping all the time. Tell us about it.

Find somebody in your congregation, maybe somebody other than a youth minister or an elder or a parent, someone with a big picture view of things who’s not going to be caught in the middle because of job descriptions or expectations, and talk to them. Make that contact. Make that friend. And then when somebody or something in the church is beating you down, go to that person. I think you’ll find that, if you haven’t already, when you engage an adult in serious reflection and discussion and give him your trust, he becomes your biggest fan.

To the youth group here at Legacy, specifically: I’m your biggest fan. Getting to know you at the Discipleship Retreat last Spring was such a wonderful experience for Carrie-Anne and me. Listening to you, sharing with you, especially those of you in Group Five (”common name, uncommon game”), gave me such optimism and joy. It made me so excited to be coming to a church family with such a thoughtful and passionate group of young people. If anybody or anything in our church family is beating you down, if you’re confronted with a teaching or a directive that’s contrary to Jesus’ example or teachings, you let me know. Come see me. And I’ll be at the very front of your parade with flags and trumpets and whistles and bells. Driving a green mini-van. Wearing blue jean shorts.

Don’t leave us. Stay with us and help us grow together in our Lord."

Insider Struggles

The posts this week on the blog of my friend, Allan Stanglin, are very provocative. They certainly have my interest because they address flaws in ministering to youth. Being a youth minister, I am always looking for thoughts and ideas that will aid me in nurturing tweens and teens as they grow in the Lord. Here is a quote from his post today as to why teens are more and more becoming disenchanted with Christian community:

"Let’s narrow the focus to concentrate today on what I see as the number one problem: bad-mouthing the church in front of our kids.

You want solutions? There are no easy ones. But I think everything, all of this, changes in very positive ways if we’ll just all stop talking negatively about the church in front of our teens.

When the only time our kids ever hear us talking about church is when we’re bashing it, why would we not expect our teens to leave the church and start looking for something else? Our kids aren’t stupid! They can connect the dots. We teach and preach one thing, but they see and experience something different. They read in the Scriptures one thing. But they hear something different. They know we’re called to something more. They’re convinced that God’s church is a loving, united, nurturing community of faith that puts others’ needs ahead of our own. But when they see their parents gripe and complain and threaten to leave if things don’t start going their way; when they hear their parents slam song leaders and song selection and elders’ decisions and Bible class teachers; when they experience the tension in the arguments and the gossip and the backstabbing; how can we blame them for wanting something else? Don’t you think this has a huge impact?

I’ve been very, very disappointed in some of the magazines and websites and blogs out there that angrily tear apart our brothers and sisters in the Lord’s body who don’t believe or practice every single thing the exact same way we do. Labeling preachers as wolves and denouncing entire congregations as heretical based on personal opinions or personal comfort levels is wrong in every way. And damaging. So very damaging. Some friends of mine made a vow almost two years ago to stop reading that stuff. Even if it’s just for information’s sake, for the sake of amusement or entertainment or even curiosity, stop reading it. It’s damaging.

And now I see preachers and teachers on the other side, the ones who’ve been labeled as wolves and heretics, the ones who preach and teach unity and love and fellowship, engaging in the exact same practices. There’s just as much, if not more, hate and anger and selfish enmity and hostility than was in the old school stuff. It’s repulsive. One brother commented on one of these preacher’s blogs recently, in response to a criticism of a Church of Christ program that espoused some fairly rigid views, that “pretty soon they’ll all be dead, including ________, and the problem of traditional Church of Christ’ers will snuff itself out.”

And he mentioned the older preacher by name.

It was as if this brother would personally delight in slashing the throats of all his brothers and sisters who disagreed with him if he thought he could get away with it.

And we don’t see that this kind of thing has a tremendous impact on our kids? That man’s blog is no longer on my list of things to read every week. No way. There’s no place anywhere in our Christian faith for that kind of attitude to be thought, much less articulated in a public forum. I’m embarrassed and ashamed and saddened by the way we treat each other. God, forgive us. Have mercy on us.

It’s not ACU. It’s not youth ministers. It’s not the kids. It’s us. It’s the church. It’s the parents.

Is complaining and griping and ridiculing the church in front of our children the biggest part of the problem? Can it be stopped? Would it matter?"

Youth Ministry

Anyone that is a youth minister, youth leader, young adult, or teen needs to go right now and look at today's blog written by my friend and former colleague, Allan Stanglin. His thoughts on youth ministry are insightful and thought-provoking. Let me know what you think about this ever-increasing problem.

New Partner

Here I sit in my office talking to my wife and checking my email and something shoots across my peripheral vision. 'Jimmy, your mind is playing tricks on you,' my mind states. You see, I just got back from watching The Brave One with my buddy, Eric Teague, and I think I am being a little paranoid. And then all of a sudden I see it again and this time I snap my head in that direction and discover that something else has taken up residence in my office. A mouse is skittering away and seems more afraid to see me than I him. I have gotten up to search for it, but it has disappeared and I just think I will wait until tomorrow to get it. Besides, my new office-mate might prove to give Ann or Greg a good scare!!

I'm Missing It All!!

Since my lovely wife and baby have been away, I have missed them dearly. AND I have already missed some stepping stones in my daughter's life!! And I don't like that one bit. While in Arkansas, a few things have happened:

1 - Jenniva's first tooth popped out of the gums!

2 - She is now officially a rug rat because she is crawling all over the place! I have not been able to see her fully crawl yet.

3 - She is now talking more than ever and I can't wait to hear those silly sounds.

It sure is hard to be away during this period. I am in constant supplication to DAD. Here are a few things at the top of my prayer list now. Please consider them. The church here needs a new youth minister ASAP and we need someone to buy our house. Please take that to God for us!