Time for a change

No, I'm not quoting Barack Obama. This is not a political post, but very much so a personal post.

I'm getting out of youth ministry.

Let me say that again: I'm getting out of youth ministry. I know some of you are in complete shock. Others of you are shaking your head in agreement. Those of you who know me understand this is the best thing for me.

Kristen and I have been very prayerful over this. Since I left a complicated situation in Memphis, TN, I have been working in a career that I was not fully comfortable doing. Youth Ministry is a wonderful calling, and it takes a very special person to do it. I, however, have been feeling a pull to go towards a different area of ministry for a while now.

We had talked to a few different churches, looking at a few different roles, when one jumped to the head of the pack. It was an Associate Minister position, in a little town called Houston, TX.

We went to visit, and fell in love with the church family, but most importantly, it seemed like the position was the perfect fit for us. We got back on a Monday, and by the time I had woken up on Tuesday, they had offered us a job. We prayed over it for a week or so, and saw other doors closing, and this one opening wider.

I will be serving as their full time Associate Minister, working with pulpit minister to fill in for him when he is gone. I will also be working with Evangelism, helping do Bible studies. I'll be teaching adult classes, particularly to young families. In addition, I'll be helping grow their small groups, be responsible for all the media and presentation for Sunday morning worship, and help out with a budding teen group.

I have enjoyed my time here in Guntersville, and there are many individuals and families here who have helped me and Kristen grow. I'll always remember it here, because this was Josie's first home. Speaking of Josie, she'll be 9 months old tomorrow. Here are a few pictures:

Josie loves these "stacking rings", but doesn't use them to stack. She loves to take them with her everywhere she goes. Usually she has the orange and yellow ones, but sometimes she goes for blue.

This one just looks like a mug shot.

But she has a gorgeous smile. It'll just melt your heart!

And of course...Josie is now mobile. Look out world!!

God's Family Part 2

Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4 "Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

Notice that Moses doesn’t say we’re to fear God or study Him or even serve Him. In this passage, the command is simply to love. As parents, that should be a very natural thing. It also should be the most important thing.

However, training up children begins with moms and dads learning how to love God with their whole person – heart, mind, will, strength. If parents can't do that, it makes it impossible for us to teach our children about the love of God.

Even though Paul was not married, he possessed that kind of strong character, and he passed it on to his followers as a father would do to his children.

PHILIPPIANS 4:9
9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The basic truth demonstrated by Paul, for all parents to remember, is that nothing can happen through us until it has happened to us. We cannot give what we do not have. We cannot train up our children to love God with all their heart, soul, and might if we don’t love God with all of ours. Its not enough to just send them to Sunday School, and hope that they "get it" while they are in "church". In fact, that’s not even close. Real parenting, the kind God wants accomplished in the home, relies completely on the reality of the parents’ own love for the Lord. If its not there, whatever instruction we give our children will likely come off as a noisy gong or clanging cymbal (I COR. 13:1) And the longer and louder we bang out our sermons, the more our children will probably just cover their ears.

Come on, our children are smart, and they see right through us when we aren't living how we expect them to live. Let's give the children of this generation a bit more credit. As we learned at Winterfest this past weekend, Love God, Love others. Our children have to see us love God and love others for them to believe it.

Cardboard Testimony

There are many churches that are doing "Cardboard Testimonies" now. If you haven't heard about them, it is where a person rights where their lives were before Christ/before present relationship with Christ/etc., and then they flip it over to reveal where their lives are now.

One of the more moving ones I've seen was done by Richland Hills Church of Christ, and its worth going to watch. Please visit their site by clicking HERE and watch the video, and then come back and tell me what you think.

The problem for me is, I don't know if I'm quite ready to flip the cardboard over.

God's Family? Hardly.

For the last few months, I've been fascinated with the idea of taking our youth ministry into a new direction. I feel like too often times, our ministries become too closely associated with who is in charge, who is involved, or what is going on, instead of focusing on God.

This is not a slam on any parents here in Guntersville. I have some of the best parents to work with that a minister could ask for. The problem is, just like with the rest of America, that time is a precious commodity that not too many families possess.

When I was a child, my father, my mother, my brother, and my sister and I always ate breakfast together during the school year, and on Sundays. We ate dinner together probably 99% of the time. It was important. Even if nothing was said, we were there together.

A recent Cornell University study revealed that fathers in America, on average, only spend 37 seconds a day with their children. I know part of that takes into consideration the deadbeat dads that want nothing to do with a family, but a lot of that is because of how much we work in our society.

A typical family of four now a days all wake up at a different time. They may or may not even eat breakfast. Dad goes to work, mom usually goes to work, kids may catch two different school buses or two different car pools to school, or they may drive separately. The family is separated for at least 7 hours during the school day.

After that, kids may come home, or have extra curricular activities at school to practice for, and may not make it home till 5 or so. Regardless, parents may not make it home till 5, so that's another 2 hours they are apart. Son goes to his room, daughter goes to her room to work on homework or play on the internet. Dinner may be together, but most often it is grab what you can before an evening activity, such as a ball game or practice for something. Parents are home just enough to sit down and get right back up.

They come home from an event, practice, etc, and separate at the door to go to their rooms to get ready for bed, or finish (or start) on their homework. Mom and dad are exhausted from work and other things during the day, and one may go to bed while the other goes to watch some tv and relax for a bit. They all may go to bed, before the whole process starts again. In this model, the families are together for about one, maybe 2 hours a day.

So enter Wednesday nights, what can we do to make our families more involved together on Wednesday nights? I fully believe if we offer a family based ministry instead of the typical youth group model, that it will fundamentally change our families and how they interact with each other. The sad thing is that most families don't have family devotionals, pray together, open up the Bible and read together, or other spiritual activities.

Maybe its time when we come to church as God's family, to have an opportunity for our families to get together every now and then. Maybe have a class where families can meet together, and gain strength and support from each other.

More thoughts on this to follow.

Super Favorites

I've been gone for the last week, so I'm just now getting around to this. I thought I would post my favorite Super Bowl Commercials. This year, the commercials were not nearly as funny/good as in past years, but here are my 2 favorites:

Pedigree Pets


Cash 4 Gold