The Signs of God. A Christmas Blog.

I will be the first one to tell you that I am impatient, especially when it comes to divine action. It is as if I believe God is a barista at your local coffee shop who you order from and then a few minutes later, there it is a frothy divine beauty sitting right in front of you.

In all seriousness, waiting on God has been my largest struggle in my faith journey. In fact, while I was in seminary it was, “the struggle” of my life. I was dating a wonderful woman, I felt called to be a pastor working with youth, and I believed I had the right skills, but I could not find the right job. There were many times where I thought, God is calling me here, yet he was not. In the midst of everything I really struggled with my calling and how God interacted with the world.

Before I got hired at my first church out of seminary, I spent some time unemployed and not doing much of anything. During this time of hardship I decided to dive into my discomfort and ask God what I could learn from this situation.

Through a lot of talking with friends and family, prayer, and time in scripture, I felt God tell me, I am teaching you to trust in me.

In the Christmas story found in the gospel of Matthew 2, a group of people known as the Magi go in search of God’s divine action found with the birth of a baby named, Jesus.

One night while the Magi were studying the stars, they saw a star that caught their eyes, a star that is different, almost new. Some Biblical scholars believe that these Magi were people who were star lookers, or people who studied the stars to determine events in the world, similar to modern day astrologists.

Once these first century astrologists saw this new star, they realized that something special was happening, so they set out on a journey to discern what God was doing. They noted the location of the star and took heed toward where God was guiding them.

What amazes me about these Magi is that they were disciplined at looking for signs and looking to see what might be happening in the world. The magi were so disciplined that on the night of Jesus’s birth they looked up into the sky and noticed something different, a divine sign.

This makes me wonder how many divine signs I might be missing in my busy life…

What many people fail to realize about the Christmas story found in Matthew is that the Magi did not show up to the manger at the time of the birth, they came to Mary’s “house” (Matthew 2:11).

The Magi were not present at the manger, despite what nativity sets say. In fact, scholars believe that the Magi traveled over a year to arrive at the doorstep of the King of the Jews. A YEAR!

I don’t know about you, but that is some trust and faith in God’s divine action!

I have to wonder how many times during that year, plus long journey the Magi asked themselves, did we really see that star? I mean, it could have just been a fluke or something. I wonder how many times they doubted on their journey toward God’s divine action in the world.

One of the beautiful things about Matthew’s Christmas story is the Magi. The Magi believed in a God who interacts with his creation, who called them in divine signs, and who trusted that after their long journey they would arrive to where they were called.

Prayer:

LORD, I thank you for the sign of your Son.
For the gift that he is to our world
LORD, I thank you for the gift of faith that I might see your Son for who he truly is.
In the times of trouble and ease, may you help me to trust in you as the Magi did.
This Christmas and throughout my life, may you help me look for your divine signs of action in the world.
Clear my mind and give me a heart focused on your work in the world.
May you give me eyes to see your work in the world.
May you give me eyes to see how you want me to partner with your work in the world.
Empower your Church to be a sign of your divine action in the world.
May your Kingdom be made manifest as you work through your Spirit and people in the world.
Amen.

Christmas Found in a Manger. Christmas Blog #1.

The other day I was with a group of youth pastors reading over the Christmas story found in Luke 2: 1-21. As we sat and did a shorter version of Lectio-Divina, I could not divert my attention from words found in Luke 2:12, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

I was confronted by the three specific words: “sign,” “baby,” and “manger.”

As I meditated on these words, I sensed the power of and reality of the Son of God coming in the way he did. That God chose the “sign” of the coming of the living God to earth to be as meek as a “baby” in a “manger.”

Everyone in the first century Jewish world expected the Messiah to come as a king or a powerful warrior who would kick the Roman Empire out in order to bring in some picture of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Yet, the Messiah comes in one of the most unexpected ways one can imagine, as a baby born in a manger.

A manger was not the most beautiful place in the world. In fact, it was probably one of the smelliest and dirtiest places in the world. I don’t even think our little nativity sets do (do=verb, due=not verb) the reality of the manger much justice, because even our nativity sets look clean sitting on our freshly dusted tables.

A manger was somewhat of a glorified hole in the rocks where animals slept and went to the bathroom in. It might be considered the cleaner side of the city dump.

That was where the Son of God was not only born, but where the Son of God becomes and a “sign” to the world that the Messiah has come.

I think if I were completely honest with myself, I would admit that part of me wants to still believe that the Son of God is found in the clean, put together, and happy places in life. What hit me was the story of the Messiah coming as a sign to humanity flies right in the face of my desire to place God in the pretty places in my life. Instead, the Christmas story begs me to find the sign of God in the dirtiest places in my life, community, and world.

On TV and in the movies, we are shown images of Christmas being about happiness, joy, happy people, and/or beautiful things. We are told that in order to celebrate Christmas, we must have enough presents under the tree to make everyone glad. People are asked to put way the messiness of life, and to put smiles on their faces. To buy into the idea in order to celebrate Christmas, we must fill our houses with joy coming from stuff, music, family, food, and friends. Everything has to be prefect.

If you ask me, that seems like a far cry from the image of Christmas detailed in Luke. I doubt that Mary or Joseph planned to have their baby in the cut out of a rock amongst animals. I doubt that they planned to have the first people to worship their son to be insignificant shepherds. I doubt they expected to have their first child all alone in a manger.

As I was reading Luke 2:1-21 a questions came to my mind: What if the true meaning of Christmas is not found in the joy manufactured by presents, family, or friends, but when we dive into the mangers of our lives and discover a sign from the Most High? A sign that is found in the most unlikely places of our lives, communities, and world?

These lyrics from Sleeping At Last's song "snow" hit home this point too. Here are some of the lyrics from the song:

Christmas lights tangle in knots annually
All families huddle closely
Betting warmth against the cold
All the bruises seem to surface
Like mud beneath the snow

So we sing carols softly
As sweet as we know
A prayer that our burdens will lift as we go
Like young love still waiting under mistletoe
We'll welcome December with tireless hope

Let our bells keep on ringing
Making angels in the snow
And may the melody disarm us
When the cracks begin to show

Like the petals in our pockets
May we remember who we are
Unconditionally cared for
By those who share our broken hearts

Here is the song on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD-e3y2MaTU

On Thursday I will be blogging on Matthew's version of the Christmas Story, make sure you check it out!

Merry Christmas!

Alabaster: Wanting to Crucify Something Real.

Busy times at work and in life sometimes make my mind tired. For that reason, this blog will be less about my thoughts and more about sharing something that has impacted me.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love music. So, I thought I would share a song that has spoken to me almost every time I have listened to it in the past 7 years. Here it is:



Here are the lyrics to Alabaster by Rocky Votalato:

On the outside looking in
I've never been able to crack the code
to break the secret spell
that would open up the door and let me in
to everything I've been looking for so hard I've never seen
but I feel my strength returning tonight
its flowing from the purest well to ever give water
Out into an ocean where the sharks are circling
a carnival of counterfeits has no room for something real

Arrogance and ego wrapped around every word
shouted from the pulpit as a judgment to control
these were my roots my seed was thrown in shallow soil
I grew into the thorn bushes to be scorched by the sun
but I feel the gravel move beneath my feet
the smell of the gasoline mixed in with the trees
when my faith is strong I know my strength
the threats will be screamed when the vultures fell threatened

So I'll open up the door and let you in
I want to break the alabaster smell the sweet perfume
and when the bottle is broken I'll have nothing left to give
I'll know I'll already have everything worth having
but I feel my strength returning tonight
its flowing from the purest well to ever give water
it spills out into and ocean where the sharks are circling
a carnival of counterfeits with no room for something real

What the song has meant to me:

There is something beautiful in this song about the desire to just be real with God and humanity. Something that I confess I struggle with as someone who feels the need to be what people expect me to be as a youth pastor.

What does God say to you in this song? How do you relate?

What Scares Me: A late Night Halloween Post

The thing that scares me more than anything is duality.

At the basic level, duality is the separation of the spiritual and the physical. Gnostic Christians took up this idea when they asserted that Christ could not have been physical, because all things that are/were physical are evil.

A form of dualism is still lingering in our world today; it is represented in multiple forms of identity. Notably this is most prevalent within adolescents who create different identities for themselves depending on their environments. Psychologists believe this has to do with the teenage journey to find oneself, yet is it now continuing past adolescence. Identity has become very fluid; different forms of identity are lived out and determined by the environment a person finds himself or herself in. A person’s identities are determined by fluid structures: relationships, consumerism, where one works, and/or where one lives.

I am most fearful when the fluidity of identity does not stop at the larger structures, but continues into more specific environments. Therefore, some continue to live as an actor who plays different roles depending upon their surroundings. At work they act one way, at home they work another way, and with friends they work another way.

Once, while I was cleaning up after youth group a fellow church member asked, “Don’t you ever get tired of this?”

I assumed that he was referring to cleaning up after youth group, but he wasn’t. Clarifying, he said, “Tired of living two lives, one here at church and another while you are not here? I mean, I tried to explain how hard this was to my girlfriend the other day and she didn’t get it.”

I carefully responded, “I try to live the same way whether I am at home or I am at work, whether I am hanging out with students or my friends.”

My answer surprised this person. He looked at me questioningly and said, “Really?”

If I were totally honest, I would say that living out my identity in Christ is challenging thing to do. I mess up a lot, but I believe that God is concerned with how we live and how we act in every part of our lives, not just on Sunday, or right before we sit to partake in a meal.

My wife found a quote by G.K. Chesterton that reads, “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the play and the opera, and grace before the concert and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing; and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

Maybe I am being presumptuous, but when I read this quote I see Chesterton taking the idea of duality head on. In his own way, he reinforces that God is everywhere and is deeply concerned with and deeply involved in everything we do.

When I was in high school I used to surf a lot. Every Sunday morning I would leave church right after youth group to drive down to the beach with a couple of my friends. Every time we went surfing, we would pray before we got into the water.

When I joined the leadership team in my youth group, my youth pastor asked me why I never stuck around for “big-church.” I still remember the conversation and my response; “I go to the beach and experience and worship God in another way.”

Now, I am not saying my teenage self was right to not participate in “big-church,” but my statement about God was not far off.

What would it look like if believed that God was everywhere? Not just everywhere, but that he cared about how we acted and what identity we confessed as we went about our days, weeks, and years?

One of the hardest things about the Christian life is realizing that in Christ our identity has not only been redeemed, but that it is also in the process of being transformed. The ultimate goal is that everything previously held as “ours,” would be let go of, and that selfishness would turn into selflessness as Christ sanctifies us completely.

Imagine what the world would be like if people stopped living in duality and started living in Christ.

What Defines a Man?

I am tired of being told what a “man” is.

This blog post might quickly turn into a rant. Therefore, let me first apologize if it does, because it is not my intension. My hope is to draw attention to the recent shift in advertising by companies such as Dr. Pepper and Miller, who are now strongly marketing to “men.”

In order to appeal to men, these companies have drawn a line in the sand and declared that certain actions, likes and dislikes, purchases, products, and/or fashion styles are not manly. These companies then ask their audience to “man-up,” as the Miller ads state, and purchase their [the company’s] product. These advertisements, based on fictitious assumptions of what manhood should be, are riddled with false views of what communicates a person’s masculinity.

Focusing on the latter first, a person’s masculinity is often based in culture. The culture one is raised in communicates certain expectations regarding who a man should be. If a man does not meet these cultural expectations, he is deemed not manly, feminine, or even sometimes “gay.” Once someone has been called these things, he is left with two choices, trying to fit into the cultural expectation of manhood that is being pushed onto him, or being stuck in the non-manly camp. The question I ask is, how can one determine if a male is “manly” or not?

This brings us to the subsequent assumption of these advertisements, what communicates a person’s masculinity. The culture of the United States has bought into the idea that one’s identity lies in the motto, “you are what you consume,” or put on your body, or what you do with your body, or the shape of your body. Current culture tells people that they are what others perceive them to be.

Take the advertisement below for instance. The “unmanly guy” in the commercial is carrying a bag. It is this bag that communicates his unmanliness, not who he is.

Miller Lite


Dr. Pepper


Even these commercials realize that culture believes that what people put on their bodies helps to define them, which is why these advertisements work. Men are “manly” when they drink Miller Lite or when they drink Dr. Pepper 10, but not when they drink that “other lite beer” or “lady drink.”

Has identity formation really become so fluid a process that people, including me, are what they do, drink, or wear?

As Christians, our identities do not come from our culture or “world.” That is why many New Testament writers, such as Peter, refer to Christians as “aliens” or “foreigners” (1 Peter 2:11-12). There is a difference between those who follow Christ and those who do not. This difference finds its roots in where our identities derive themselves. As those who are “rooted in Christ,” we derive our identities from the one whom we are rooted in, Christ.

Even within the 1st century church, there were people who wanted to define others by what their body looked like or by what they ate. The Judaizers demanded that all Gentiles be circumcised, acting as a bodily marker, to become Christ followers. Yet, Paul argued that circumcision does not define a Christian; it is the “circumcision of the heart” and what a person is “rooted in” that makes him or her a Jesus follower (Romans 2:29).

If we find our identities in Christ, shouldn’t our definition of manhood also be found in him?

Jesus was the complete revelation of God to humanity (John 1:18). He not only reveals God to us, but he also reveals that we are created to be God’s image. If you want to know what a man looks like, look at Jesus, who was homeless, who gave up everything to serve, who cried, who turned over tables, and who died on a cross. That is what a man is. What you drink, what you wear, what you do or act like does not define you as a man. God defines you as a man.

Young Adults Leaving the Church: Not only Sociological, but Philosophical

The reality of youth leaving the church upon their high school graduations is disconcerting, namely to those within practical theology and church ministry.
There are a lot of people in the world of practical theology and church ministry writing and talking about why youth are leaving the church after they graduate from high school. Many of the books and much of the research that has been done is very helpful for those, like me, in full-time youth ministry. In fact, while I was at Fuller Theological Seminary, I had the opportunity to hear some of the essential research being done by the Fuller Youth Center and what became known as “Sticky Faith.” Based on those conversations at Fuller, I developed a Senior Transition class at my old church and am now facilitating one at my current church. The other day I began questioning, does this have way more to do with a philosophical shift than we would like to admit?

Let me back up, while I was on Facebook a couple weeks ago, I noticed that a few of my junior and senior students who had not come to church that morning “checked-in” at another local church. I have to admit, his disheartened me a little bit and I began to wonder, why aren’t these students coming to their home church?

That morning my wife had been sitting in a classroom at our church waiting for the 9:30 Bible study class to start. She overheard a conversation regarding some things happening in our church community when one person made this statement, “We keep wondering when they are going to do away with the choir and leave us behind.”

While sitting on Sunday night after hearing about this conversation and seeing students “check-in” on Facebook, I started thinking, what if something deeper is happening? Something not only sociological, but philosophical?

A Philosophical Shift

The study of theology is not required to acknowledge that something within our culture has changed. We have moved from a “modern” to a “late-modern” or “postmodern” world. What some have failed to realize is how much our philosophical understanding of the world around us affects the way we worship and connect with God.

Today’s Christian church has become saturated with modernism. In the book, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, James K.A. Smith makes the statement, “One of the reasons postmodernism has been the bogeyman for the Christian church is that we have become so thoroughly modern” (23). Everything that happens within thousands of churches across the country is plainly modern, and for good reason. The church became modern to reach moderns.

While modernism emerged as a result of the enlightenment, what most forget is that the Reformation also occurred amidst this earlier shift. During the Reformation many of today’s churches built and established their confessions and theology. Therefore, we must assume that the majority of current practical theology was created in a modern context, and, therefore, speaks most readily to a modern audience.

Now jump ahead with me six hundred years to current society: There is a new philosophical shift happening in the world, to postmodernism. Everyone between the age of 25 and 45 was most likely raised in a blended version of modern meets post-modern world. A world where a modern understanding was on its way out and a new philosophical mindset was on its way in.

Today’s teens are not being raised in such a world; they are being raised in a completely postmodern world. This world does not speak modernism and does not communicate in a modern way, with the exception of the church. Every week the church asks teens to cover their postmodern eyes with modern glasses so that they can “worship God” through modified lenses. I find myself asking: Would God require that? Or would God meet postmodern thinkers were they were at?

Taking it Back to Church
This reality hits close to home. I am a part of a very modern mainline church. I weekly ask teens to come and worship God in a modern service that has yet to ask teens how they connect with God.

I agree with and love all of the research that is being done regarding why young adults leave the church, but there must come a time when we admit that things must change in our churches if we ever plan on keeping postmoderns around. As David Kinnaman proclaims in his book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church…And Rethinking Faith,

…the Christian community must rethink our efforts to make disciples. Many
of the assumptions on which we have built our work with young people are rooted in modern, mechanistic, and mass production paradigms…We need to renew our catechism and confirmations—not because we need new theology, but because their current forms too rarely produce young people of deep, abiding faith” (12-13).

The church is not producing what Kinnaman calls, “deep, abiding faith” within young people because it is not taking the philosophical shift seriously. Instead it is asking students to become modern to worship God.

Please do not hear me saying we must do away with all “modern” forms of worship, in reality that would create a whole new problem. At the same time, I do not think the answer is to create a new service for postmoderns, as many churches have done. What needs to happen is reformation, reconciliation, and the development of hybrid services in order to include all members.

When Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the church he did not want to divide the Catholic Church, he wanted to reform it. However, the leadership of the Catholic Church at the time had other ideas. The essential question is, what will the leadership of our churches do? Will they create a split or will they create conversation? Will today’s denominations and church leaders look to bridge the gap of modernity and postmodernity, or will they look to split the church? Or most unfortunately, will leaders allow churches to die with modernity?

I have a friend in seminary on the East Coast. The last time I spoke to him, he shared that he was interning at a mainline church of less than 100 people who were all on their to meet the LORD. Every Sunday the church sings hymns and goes about things the same way they always have. In reality this church is dying. This church will not be around in twenty years. Why? Because they will not change to meet the changing culture around them.

The reality is that this is going to be a messy process. People will be emotional, angry, and misunderstand what is happening. There will be those who choose to hold tight to their idols of preference and personal demand. While these people may die with these held close, we must not allow the church to die with them.

What do I do?

To be honest, I am still developing my answer. The only idea I have is to start creating conversations, made up of young people, old people, and everyone in between. These conversations should be made up of people in different places and of different mindsets. I know it will be messy, I know it will be hard, but I think it is the best place to start.

The goals of such conversations need to be twofold: listening and then speaking. Every person must be heard and understood. Only after people understand each other can we move forward.

If you have other ideas, I would love to hear them. If you disagree, I would love to hear why.

So with that, I offer the church peace, discernment, and wisdom.

NYWC Debrief of Theological Fourms and Cafes (Part 2)

For the final part of my blog and debrief of the theological forums at the National Youth Workers Convention I wanted to focus on Discipleship. These thoughts and reflections came from the forums on "The Interaction Between Human and Divine Action" and "Theological Issues Impacting the Christian Formation of Adolescents.

Thanks again for all you are reading. I would be happy to know your thoughts on what I have written in my reflections.

Discipleship

When talking about discipleship one most first confess that discipleship is a lot more than just following Jesus. The goal has to be seen as a holistic transformation of the person that concluded in the turn of Jesus. At the center of this, “The interaction between Human and Divine Action” and “Theological Issues impacting the Christian Formation of Adolescents.” It is important to note that Christian Formation is done through the help of God and is a part of our calling as God’s Children as we respond to God out of our redemption. It is calling people to die, as Bonhoeffer pointed out, this is the cost of discipleship, to carry your cross.

There are a few issues here that have to be brought forward. First, there is a reality that within Christian Tradition there has been what is referred to as spiritual disciplines. Through these practices the Spirit of God transforms individuals and communities into disciples. Some confessing communities even believe that there are some disciplines that administer grace to those participating in them. (Communion and etc.). The reality that has to dealt with is that everyone spiritual life is going to be different. What works to transform one, might not work to transform the next. This is very important to note when dealing with different generations. There are some spiritual disciplines that speak to one generation, but not to the next. That is why it is essential to be having a certain fluidity in the defining spiritual disciplines.

Secondly, the hope of spiritual disciplines is that they might announce to us what God has already done for humanity, and that in that humanity might respond and be transformed. “Faith” is an eschatological reality that breaks into the “not yet” of the world. Therefore, spiritual disciplines can transform us as we become aware of that reality, they cannot redeem us. At the heart of communicating the need for spiritual disciplines is a rhythm of grace and discipline, or as my Methodists friends might say, “call and response” motion from God to humanity.

Lastly, spiritual formation have to be about teaching a community to form habits around means of grace and disciplines. That means creating a new grammar for people, a new way of looking at life. As Adam English stated in one of the theological forums, “The greatest threat is turning the gospel into a systematic idea that fit into the life they already have.”

Questions to ask:
- What are some new ways God is communicating his transforming grace to different generations within church (elderly, parents, singles, students and children today)? Are we open to including those into our definition of transformation? What might we be missing?
- Do others understand what discipleship means?
- Do people understand how their baptism affects their identity and formation?






Call for a Transformation Appearance

There is a temptation to communicate that Christians have to have everything “together” to be or become disciples of Jesus. This could not be fuller from being correct. Christianity is messy because life and people are messy. Therefore, true discipleship is found when in the messiness of life Christians can forsake the appearance of having it all together and confess, “I hurt but Jesus is with me. “In this type of discipleship the Church and un-churched can discover Jesus in suffering through his people.

A helpful way of framing this that has been offered by Andrew Root has been the question, “are you serving life, or serving death?” This question moves us past moralistic formation to holistic formation. It states, “life can be a bitch,” but I serve my God because he has redeemed and is transforming me. It moves us into the reality where the love of God overcomes death in the resurrection. It help answers the question of many, what is stronger, “Life or death?” or “does this emptiness end?”

All suffer, and a part of discipleship needs to be both teaching people how Christ is with them in their suffering and helping people realize that Christains are called by God to walk through suffering with others by being honest with the crap of life.

Questions to ask:
- Have we modeled the correct appearance of discipleship to our church?
- Is suffering a part of our grammar?
- Are we teaching people that in Christianity everything needs appear okay?
- What are our practices serving, life or death?
- Are we really seeking our congregation’s questions about life?
- Are we ready to hear our congregation’s fears?

NYWC Debrief of Theological Fourms and Cafes (Part 1)

This weekend at National Youth Workers Conference (NYWC) I had the great chance to hear and sit with some of the greatest minds in practical theology and youth ministry: Kenda Creasy Dean (Princeton), Andrew Root (Luther), Mike King (Nazarene Theological Seminary and Sr. ed. Of Immerse Journal), Amy Jacober (Truett/ Baylor), Kara Powell (Fuller), Chap Clark (Fuller), Jeffrey Keuss (Seattle Pacific University), Adam English (Campbell), and Dean Blevins (Nazarene Theological Seminary). I write those names not to say I have met them, but to show from whom my theological thinking was with this last weekend.

Some context, this year at NYWC they started “Theological Fourms” and “Theological Café’s.” These events created space where youth workers who have a more theological inclination could gather to hear and participate in conversations on topics important to youth ministry. Topics included but were not limited to: “What does it mean to be a person?” or “Theological issues impacting the Christian formation of adolescents.” In total there were four such theological fourms made up of panels from the above persons.

Theological Café’s were something a little different. Theological café’s were a time where youth workers could have one-on-one or group conversations with many of the persons above over the beverage of your choice purchased by Sparkhouse Publishing. (If you work with teens Sparkhouse has some amazing curriculum for Confirmation Programs and/or youth programs, so check them out.) At these café’s I had conversations concerning “what does it mean to be a person?” “Should the church still do infant baptisms in a post-Christian individualistic consumer world?” and “What does our worship space and practices communicate to our teens?”

On top of these conversations, I had the opportunity to hear a session on “Sticky Faith” from Kara Powell and attend many lectures from the likes of Kenda Creasy Dean and psychology researcher Dr. Robert Epstein.

Before I move from hear I would just like to state that I am thankful that the NYWC created these theological fourms and cafés. Speaking for myself, it redeemed NYWC because it opened up a deeper conversation on issues affecting our teens and families. I want to thank Mike King, the sponors, and everyone that was a part of these great sessions.

Out of these conversations and sessions, some key topics and questions emerged for me this week. In today’s blog I wanted to put out the first one to continue some of the conversation that started this week at the NYWC. Feel free to post your thoughts, disagree, or ask questions. Let’s continue the conversation.

Personhood

The first topic/questions that emerged for me centered on or around personhood. At the heart of this conversation was two topics:

1. God determines our personhood: God calls us into a unique relationship with himself. It is in the relationship Christians find a unique calling and gifting as individuals and as children of God. This is what makes us “particular” or individuals.
2. Others reveal our personhood: People are who they are because of the relationships they have, not because of their functions in the world. For example, a women is a mother not because of the functions she does, but because of the relationship she has to her children. This also plays out in the Godhead, in that the Son is the Son because his relationship to the Father and the Spirit. This is why we need relationships. It is also important to note that there is both beauty and danger to this reality. It is beautiful because a community can “hold a person’s identity in Christ when they are unable to hold themselves” (Amy Jacober). The dangerous is when others reveal to us who things that are “contrary to who God says we are” (Amy Jacober). (Note: there is a reality that all relationships are probably doing both, but the question is how to facilitate the latter?)

As a Lutheran I am grounded in a theology that says in a person’s baptism and in faith they are united with Christ and become Children of God. The question to ask ourselves is are we creating space to reveal that reality to our children, teens, adults, and elderly?

At the heart of this questions is not a program, but two things: relationships and our non-verbal communication.

Some questions on relationships:
1. Are you creating relationships at all? If you are, are people revealing who they are as God’s Children to each other within those relationships? If not, how do you empower them to do so?
2. Are you creating relationships in silos? Isn’t there something to be said for a child/teen to reveal God to an adult and an adult to reveal God to a child/teen? Why do you allow curtain adults, children, or teens, of your church to gather were others cannot?
3. Are you working to put adults in relationship with children and teens so that they might understand who they are as God’s Children?

Some questions on non-verbal communication that affect relationships:
1. What are you communicating to children, teens, and adults about who they are by what you are not doing?
a. Example: The church leadership meets every month to talk about vision, but no one has ever asked a youth for his or her options on where the church should be going. What are you communicating to youth?
2. What are you communicating to children, teens, and adults about who they are by what you are doing?
a. Example: the choir gathers in the choir room between services instead of outside on the patio with the rest of the church body. What is that communicating to the church and the choir?

Quote to think about: “We have a lot of adult in our churches who don’t know they have any gifts to give.” – Kenda Creasy Dean.

Have a great week everyone.

Steven Johnson

How Partnering Can Help Your Ministry

Sorry I have been a little absent in the last couple of months. Hoping now that the youth room construction project is finished at my church I will have a little more free time on my hands. Below I have posted a blog I wrote a couple of months ago but it never found it's way onto my blog. It is directed to youth pastors, church leaders, or pastor a little more this time. I hope even if you are not one of those people you can get something from it too. Peace and love everyone. Thanks for reading.

Ministry Cannot Be Done Alone

The number one reason that youth pastors and/or leaders are not a part of a network of fellow ministry partners is that many feel that if they do not put their own church first they will get in trouble. There is this assumption that if they join a “youth ministry network” or they put on an event with other churches, somehow they are either not putting their church first, or that they will lose teens to another church. Any youth leader knows this pressure, whether it is placed on by one’s self and/or by one’s supervisor(s), but doing ministry as a part of a community of youth pastors and leaders will help you put your church first.

If you have been in ministry for longer than a minute, you know that there are hard times in ministry and life. A few blog posts ago I hoped to show how those in ministry need a community of people who care for them and experience similar things. This type of community can help a youth pastor refresh so that he or she can do ministry better, give and receive prayer when in need, so that you can support and care for those within your community or local para-church ministry better.

They Are Not Your Teens

The first step in partnering with others and doing ministry together is realizing that the teens that fill your church are not yours. It is so easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you have to do more or work harder to make teens love God or show up to youth group. Yet, the beautiful thing is that all of the students that fill your room are not there because you did something; they are there because God did something. As Romans 8:16 states, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” It is God who draws all people to himself.

As a minister of the gospel, the only thing you can do is work to partner with God in what he is doing in the world. Therefore, the youth leader’s role is not to work hard so that teens might come to God, or come to youth group, but to discern the work of God in your community. When you do this, you facilitate space for God to move in the lives of teens with the resources you have been given (to meet the needs of your church families and teens do you need this here or can it be removed?).

Check Your Pride At The Door

I once met a youth leader who ran an excellent para-church ministry. His group was growing and those around her were excited about what he was doing. One day I asked him if he would be interested in partnering with a local church to help disciple students and direction them toward a local church community. He responded, “you can come and see what I do if you want to try to replicate it, but you cannot come to take my teens.”

After my encounter with this para-church youth leader, I reflected on my own ministry history. During this time I realized that there had been moments when I had similar responses to other youth pastors or leaders who were looking to partner with me.

If every youth leader were really honest with themselves, they would admit that they are scared to lose teens to another church—I myself am guilty of this as well. At the same time, if you were honest, you would have to admit that the reason you do not want to lose kids to another church has everything to do with your own pride. Pride that you will not have good numbers, or that a teen might not like you as much as someone else. You as youth leaders need realize this and need to allow God to help you check your pride at the door. If you do not, you might start creating a youth group that more heavily emphasizes numbers, resources, a church name, and you; not God.

Pride is one of the most deadly things in ministry. It can not only hurt ministry, but it can also hurt teens. When you are prideful it becomes almost impossible to be in community with and partnership with others in ministry. You have to check your pride at the door and realize that the Kingdom of God is bigger than your ministry and/or church.

The harsh reality of this para-church leader’s ministry is that soon this person’s ministry lost funding and his ministry disappeared overnight. As I was sitting with another friend and para-church leader in my community, my friend got a call from the parent of a student who was involved in the now closed para-church ministry. The parent wanted to know what to do. She asked questions like, “where is my kid supposed to go now?” The students that went to this person’s para-church group were without a group, without a leader, and without a church community. This person made the ministry more about themselves than God’s work, and the teens suffered the consequences.

Do Events Together

The body of Christ is bigger than your church or denomination. The larger Church that God called us to is a worldwide diverse community of people and churches. Students need to understand the beauty of this reality.

Three years ago, a group of Youth Pastors and youth groups in Irvine committed to meeting every week for a summer to do youth group together in a park. Why? Because they hoped to show their students that the Church is bigger than their individual churches.

Through that event students found other Christians at their schools who they never knew were Christians. New friendships were made across denominations. New students came to know Christ, and the Body of Christ became present in such a new way to many students.

When churches do events together, God moves through the presence of his Body dwelling in community. After all, if God is present when two or three gather together, how much more is God present when two, three, or six churches come together?

Find a Balance

Please do not hear me saying that you should forsake your own youth group in order to partner with other youth groups or churches. There needs to be a healthy balance between both. There are times when your youth group just needs to be with your youth group and there are other times where it would do your youth group good to be with other churches or para-church groups. As the leader of youth, it is your job to seek God and determine what that balance looks like within your group.

Every youth pastor will have different amounts of time that he or she can give to a network. No “network” or community of youth pastors should require an “all or nothing” standard. There must be flexibility for the sake of community, because the reality is, there are times you will have to put yourself, your church or your teens first.

Conclusion

The network of youth pastors I partner with is taking these ideas seriously. We believe that when we work together to do the work of the Lord, we are creating a wide-open space for God to move. Through this network, we have seen teens come to Christ, High School campuses be transformed, and new believers become disciples who are plugged into the body of Christ. My prayer is that you see the same thing in your community as you partner with God and his local church to manifest his Kingdom.

Death and Grass: The Fear of Death

Last week as I was driving in Irvine towards my church I noticed something a little weird, a sign in the city’s dying grass reading, “grass in renovation.” At first I thought it must be a joke that some college student had pulled, but then a week later it was still there. On top of that, more had shown up. Now, if you have lived or worked in Irvine for more than a week, you know that the cops and/or the city of Irvine don’t stand for much, not even a silly fake little sign in the grass.

As I drove to my favorite local coffee shop today, I passed by another sign stuck there in the grass reading, “grass in renovation” and I started to become disheartened. I started to wonder what this simple sign says about a city? What does it say about this city’s residents? Why would a city feel it needs to defend its dying grass?

What I realized is that somehow the city of Irvine believes that the reality of dying grass shows a sign of imperfection. That somehow in the death of grass our fear of imperfection and death meet?

Death and Imperfection

A couple months ago I read through a book called The Promise of Despair by one of my favorite youth ministry thinkers and theologians, Andrew Root. In the book, Root talks about how the idea of “death” scares us all…well…to death. That our culture has become really good at running away from death. Not just the end-of-life kind of death, but the I-do-not-know-if-I-want-to-make-friends-because-they-might-leave death, or the my-body-is-getting-really-old-and-I-must-change-that death.

Doing ministry in Orange County I have noticed something I have only seen one other place I have done ministry, Utah. In Utah the Latter Day Saint Church runs most of the state. A majority of the population belongs to the LDS Church or is expected to fall line with the culture the LDS Church has placed on its members. The idea of being perfect.

Take Salt Lake City, Utah for example. Salt Lake City is divided into two areas: West Salt Lake and East Salt Lake. The dividing line is the 15 freeway. The freeway operates kind of like the train tracks in Pretty in Pink, the rich upper class live on one side of the freeway, the east side. While, the not-so live on the west side of the 15 freeway.

In the center of the town is Temple Square, the home base of the LDS Church. Around Temple Square the streets are clean, the homes are well kept, the people look pretty, and if a homeless person if found near the square, they are relocated to the west side.

Why might Salt Lake City do this you ask? To keep up the image of the city, an image of perfection, and image where death and hurt doesn’t exist.

During my first week in ministry in Irvine I was talking to some students. They were telling me a little about Irvine. In the midst of the conversation they told me a story about a time they were talking to a homeless man. During their conversation an Irvine cop drove up, strongly urged the teens to leave, and placed the homeless man in his car. I asked the students where they took him? One looked at me and just said two words, “Santa Ana.”

Are we so scared of death that any imperfection could possibly remind us of the fate that awaits us all? Could it be that we desire to present this image of perfection to everyone because we are scared of the reality of death?

As someone who does ministry with Jr. High and High School students and their families, I started to think of the effect this has on teens and families. What might it communicate to teens that grow up or parents that raise a family in a culture where perfection is the expectation and death is covered up?

I was at lunch with a student a few months ago that had spent the weekend at her little brother’s baseball tournament. I asked her how it went, and she just looked at me and said, “it was okay, but it is so hard to watch my dad yell at my brother because he didn’t get a hit at his last at bat.”

What happened to failing being a part of life? What happened to the reality of death?

So many of my student say that they number one reason they feel stressed is because their parents are requiring them to do more: more AP classes, more sports, more dance, or more SAT prep classes. Students feel that if they do not do these things that they will not only not get into the college they want, but that they will disappoint their parents.

Could it be that parents are not pressuring their kids because they want them to be perfect, but they want to protect them from death?

Students are not the only ones who feel the pressure to be perfect, parents do too.

A few months ago I sat talking to some parents about rising teens in Irvine. As they talked one parent looked at me and said, “it is hard, you go to the store and see a parent whose son goes to school with your teen. They tell you all about the school that their oldest kids just got into, the grades their teens get, or the sports game their teen won...Sometimes you get sucked in.”

Conclusion

Death can take many forms, but at the heart of death are hurt, tears, and pain. The sad thing is that by trying to keep those things away, many times we just cause them.

This begs the question: In the purist of perfection are we bringing death?

In the Bible, the word-translated perfection only occurs once in the whole Bible as a command, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). All others times in the Bible the only person that is even called perfect is God. Even in this verse is the idea that humanity is not able to make him or herself prefect, but that it is God who will make them perfect.

No one can be perfect. No one will be beautiful forever. No one can be happy all the time.

We will all fail. We will all be sad. We will all fall ill. We will all die…Even grass.

I encourage you not to buy into the idea of running from death toward perfection, because there is beauty in death. There is beauty in death because God has entered into death and saved us out of it. As Romans 4:25 reminds us, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Therefore, with the words of Jesus I encourage you to run into death so that you may have life. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:24)

The power of love. A thought.

Can love be more powerful than economics? Can love be more powerful than what we consume? Can love be more powerful than the needed to control? Can love be more powerful than a political hope?

Only when we realize that love is God, can love be that powerful.

1 John 4:7-8

Random phone posts

I just downloaded the Blogger app for my phone. So in light of that fact, I am going to start posting fun pictures, thoughts, and/or quotes. I hope you will enjoy.

Take a Week Off

Don't worry everyone, I did not forget to write this week. I am just taking a week off to refresh myself on this Holiday. I hope you enjoy(ed) your holiday as well. See you next week.

What a Ministry Network Can Be

A Story of One Network.

I think that everyone in ministry remembers when they hit that time during their first month of ministry at a new church or in a new town, when everything just seems awkward, hard, and just little more stressful than you expected. I remember when that time came for me at my current church. Luckily, close to the day that all of that hit me, my boss at that time looked at me and said, “hey lets go, we are going to a network meeting.”

Now, I had been to a view “network meetings” in my time of ministry, and to say the least, I wasn’t very excited. I just expected it to be a bunch of people sitting around talking about how amazing their star kid was, or how God was really blessing their church. So as we got into the car on the way to a local church, I started to think about how these people might look, what crazy Jesus stories they might tell, or what super spiritual prayer I might hear.

As we got to the church and walked into the room I noticed something, no one looked how I expected them to, but I wasn’t convinced I was wrong. I had seen to many of these "network meetings" go terribly wrong.

As my boss started introducing me to everyone in the room, we sat down, and I was asked to share a little about myself. I naturally went into my surface level story of how when to Azusa Pacific, then to Fuller Theological Seminary, that I had done ministry in Utah with LDS member, lead missions trips, Youth Ministry inthe Pasadena area, all before ending up in Irvine. With every sentence I was writing my resume for them in words, hoping to impress them I guess?

After me, other people started by introducing themselves, sharing what was going on in their ministries, lives, and hearts. To be honest, I was really caught off guard. These people who I assumed would be fake, were real. I don’t mean the cheese Christian “real” where that one emotional guy fights through a tear; I mean the type of real that comes with time, energy, and friendship.

When everyone was done sharing they came back to me. "So," one of the youth pastors asked, “How are you doing?” Against every assumption, I followed suit, I honestly told them how I was doing, and it was refreshing.

At the end of the meeting the group of pastors, youth leaders, and para-church ministers sat and prayed for each other for a while, lifting up every prayer request and unspoken concern. Then when it was all done, we all then shook each other’s hands, some gave hugs, and my boss and I left.

A Vision.

When I was in college I was a part of a missions organization that looked to network people of all denominates and churches in Salt Lake City, UT. I loved working with that organization because of their vision, "Standing Together seeks to be a catalyst for uniting the Utah Christian community through relational efforts of prayer, worship, and strategic evangelism.”

In all my time doing ministry in Southern California, in college, and in Seminary, I never really found people who were willing to work towards a vision like Standing Together had. It seemed to me that everyone was in it for their own church, ministries, or self. I admit that after a while I gave up trying to look, until that day I was taken to a network meeting in Irvine.

In a way that meeting re-sparked a new desire in my heart for all denominations, para-church organizations, and churches to work together to accomplish God’s work in the world. To see a community of churches, not just a church, represent what Paul talks about in Romans. 12:3-8

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Conclusion.

It has now been a year and a half since my first network meeting in Irvine, and I honestly don’t know where I would be without my brothers and sisters in ministry. They help me become a better person, they pray for me, and we do ministry together in some really intentional ways.

So with that, I encourage you that if you have a vision to see the church work together in such a way, not loss hope, but be a catalyst for change. If you want a community of people that is like the one I have in Irvine, start one. If you are a part of a “network” that you feel is not fruitful, then work to change it.

Next week, I will dive into some practical ways you might be able to help things change, but until then, do not loss hope, for it is possible.

How to Receive Feedback, and Change

One thing God has been teaching me a lot lately through my Executive Pastor is the beauty of “feedback.” Now I know that might sound weird to those of you who do not like getting that phone call or email from an upset parent or an elder who thinks they know how to fix youth group, but trust me, it is for your good.

In John 21, Jesus presents a simple feedback model in confronting Peter on the beach. Most people don’t think of this passage as feedback, but a closer look reveals a deep message to Peter. It was only a few days earlier that Peter has standing in eye shot of Jesus, denying him 3 times. Now, Peter stands next to Jesus, as he who asks Peter simple question 3 times, “do you love me?” Peter might find this question weird or even upsetting, but we have to remember that the last time Peter was asked if he was a follower of Jesus, Peter denied him 3 times in a row.

This passage teaches us an important message about feedback, we will make mistakes, and not one of us is prefect. While we might not deny Jesus to a crowd of people, we will upset someone, treat someone as they should not have been treated, or make an assumption we were wrong about. In doing so, we might not deny Jesus, but we might deny that person the respect they deserve as a child of God.

Jesus continues to press Peter by asking him, “do you love me?” As Jesus does this, Peter’s feelings become hurt. Peter responses with tears in his eyes, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Peter cannot believe that his Lord would ask such questions. Yet, like the typical Peter who pulls out a sword and cries out, “I will never deny you;” Peter does not get the purpose for this feedback.

Feedback has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with your actions or assumptions. What I mean when I say this is that when a person has feedback for you, they are not trying to say they “dislike” you, they just dislike what you did, or an assumption you have.

This reality can be the hardest aspect of accepting feedback, separating ourselves from our actions or assumptions. The important thing to keep in mind is that when a person is giving feedback to you, they are looking to fix what went wrong, not tell you how much they dislike you. If it does become that, that person moves from healthy feedback for the betterment of the situation, to anger.

Therefore, it is important to remember when giving a person feedback, to stick to how it makes you feel. What about their actions or assumption have hurt your feelings or communicated to you. Be as specific as you can. This helps the person you are giving feedback to change their actions or assumptions.

At the end of the text, Jesus says to Peter, “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Within the text is the assumption that Jesus’ feedback has caused Peter to change. He will no longer denied Jesus, has he once did. In fact, even when he is threatened with death, Peter did not deny Jesus.

Once we receive feedback, it is up to us to learn, respond, and change our actions or assumptions so that we will not make that same mistake again. In doing so, we make ourselves better people and we admit the simple fact that we are not prefect, that we will make mistakes. When we do make mistakes, feedback allows us to do as Peter did, acknowledge our wrongs and make them right.

Thoughts On Why Students Leave the Church.

This week I shall return to how other in the Youth Ministry world have sought to answer the question of why teens are leaving the church in droves upon graduation. Today, I discuss Kendra Creasy Dean from Princeton Theological Seminary, in order to find out why she believes teens are leaving the church we shall look at her book Almost Christian.

In the process of writing her new book, Kendra Creasy Dean takes the research from a study involving teens she participated in entitled the National Study of Youth and Religion, which she did with Christian Smith, and comments on how thing can change. In the book Dean suggests that young people believe that churches offer then a bland view of faith and Christian community formation. In the first chapter, her findings become clear as she states, “…we have studied the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents in order to answer the question ‘How can we keep young people in church?’ Today, our question is more pressing: ‘Does the church matter?’”

By asking this question, Dean takes the focus off the question of“how can we keep teen’s in church after graduation,” to does the church communicate the gospel to teens in a way that it communicates God’s life changing message to teens? This question is driven by the fact that in Dean’s research, she found that teens have a disheveled view of God she and other researches have entitled “Moral Therapeutic Deism.” In this view God is more of a make-me-feel-good-and-solves-my-problems-god then the God of the Bible. The most daunting finding is that a teen’s pick up this faith from their parents. It is this faith that drives teens away from the church. They leave the church because it offers “such a stripped-down version of Christian identity that it no longer poses a viable alternative to imposter spiritualities like Moral Therapeutic Deism.”

Dean encourages the church and families to refocus, and point teens to a metanarrative where identity within Christ transforms one’s understanding of themselves. This type of theological understanding presents the life altering grace of God that redeems the world through his son. At the same time, it introduces teens to a gospel that has the power to change people and power structures.

Dean also challenges adults to stand up and create a community that cares for teens and makes them feel empowered to do God’s work. In order to do so, the church needs to create a community of people who make teens believe they are an essential part of the community. A church needs to give students the opportunity to participate in Kingdom work in the world, and in so, see change and redemption.

The heart of Dean’s work with teens is to see lives transformed so that upon graduation, because they have found their identity with in him, not in something else. With the hope that in their time at church before graduation; students have experienced God’s grace and the work of his Kingdom in such a way that they cannot imagine their lives with out God.

What are your thoughts on Dean's conclusions?

All quotes taken from: Kendra Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church, (Oxford University Press: New York, New York, 2010),

Creating Conversation: Bin Laden's Death

In light of last night’s events, the announcement of Bin Laden’s assassination, I will not be blogging about Sr. High Transitional issues.

After hearing President Obama’s announcement last night, I quickly signed onto facebook to see what people were saying. As you can imagine, and might have seen, there was a wide range of different responses from "partying in the streets" to frustration.

As I sat there on facebook, what I thought was interesting was that little to no High School or Jr. High students made any of their own personal comments on the event. I started to think about why they were not updating their status like the rest of the world. With AP exams coming up, I assumed that maybe many of them were to busy studying to have the time to update facebook, but when I looked at who was online, many of my student’s faces were there. I had no idea what was going on. I mean, for some students, a loud car goes by and they are on facebook up dating their status, yet a large event like this they have no response?

All of a sudden I realized that many of these students have not known a world where “the war on terror” did not exist. Think about it, the current teenage students were one to eight years old when the events of 9-11 took place. Even as a child, they might remember some of the images of 9-11 that were broadcast on the news, but they didn’t have the cognitive ability to realize the gravity of these events on this culture, economy, and the world. That is why there was nothing from teens on facebook, because they were unsure about what this might mean for them and the world.

After a little, I updated my status. A few minutes later, I started to get “likes” from a good group of students, but no comments. Then another observation hit me, they where wanting to process what was happening, but didn’t know how to, so they were waiting, watching, and learning.

Even though many of today’s teens might not remember what the world was like before “the war on terror,” that does not mean that they did not comprehend the weight of the event that occurred yesterday, they where just unclear how to respond to it. For this reason, I urge you to take sometime this week and sit down with your teens and talk about this event and what it means to respond to an event like this.

There is no better time to create conversation about what this event means, or events like this one, might mean to us and the world. Or, what this event communicates to us about our culture and world to teens. Christian teens all over the country will be looking to the church, to their parents, and to their faith leaders to see how to respond as people who are in the process of forming their faith. Whether people want to deny it or not, this event is a milestone in “the war on terror” and many people will see this event as a turning point in this war, and maybe even with our own culture and economy. Teens might be wondering what this event means? How are they supposed to respond? Is the world going to change, and if so, how?

Not only are there questions about what this means for our lives, families, and country, but there are also some deep theological questions within this event. What does this event tell us about justice, forgiveness, war, and judgment? What does God say justice is? Is this justice? What does Jesus say about forgiving those who hurt us? Can we forgive Ben Laden now? What about war? Is this an act of “just war?” Did Bin Laden final face the judgment he deserved for his role in 9-11? What is our role in judgment? What is God’s role in judgment? Can someone who did something like Ben Laden, be forgiven by God?

I pray that as you sit down with your families, your youth group, or small group that they Lord guides your conversation. That he uses this conversation to inform your teens about what this event might mean for our country and how Christians should respond to events like this.

Why are High Schoolers Leaving the Church?

Over the past ten years youth ministries across the Untitled States have seen a drastic and dishearten reality: 50% of students leave the church upon graduating from High School. On top of those stats, based on research done with over 400 ex-youth group students, 16% of students feel prepared to encounter life after youth group and 40% of students struggle to find a church after graduation. Why do you think this is?

Over the next couple weeks I will be writing to this specific topic, but for now, what are your thoughts? Why are high schoolers leaving church upon graduating from High School?

Creating the Unexpected

Over the last four weeks of my church’s high school program we have taken time to step away from the normal flow of the night. In fact, the last four weeks have looked very different even from each other. The reason for this is because while routine can be good, it is good to step out of the regular ebb-and-flow of the expected. I have noticed that when groups take time to change things up, that it has a way of creating space for God to move in the mist of the unexpected.

Just think of Jesus’ disciples out on the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, just before Jesus left them on the shore he told them he would meet up with them later. I doubt that one of those men thought that Jesus meant he would meet up with them in the middle of the sea. Yet, Jesus changes things up on them, and in doing so meets them in a new way as he creates space for a new lesson on the Kingdom of God.

When youth groups, churches, or camps, try new and expected things they allow for God to move in a new way. The unexpected has the ability to make students uneasy, and let’s just face it that is a good thing sometimes.

I remember this time at summer camp when the camp dropped something on the students that no one expected. Many of my students had been to so many Christian camps in their life that they knew the routine of Christian camp talks. Start with something easy and lively, then as the week goes on start to get to the good stuff that really encourages change.

After the second night of camp, I sat in a small group meeting with seven quite High School boys when one looks at me and says, “I didn’t expect this to happen to me this early in the week.” The camp had thrown off these students, and in doing so, had created space for God to move.

It can be easy to do this. Sometimes it is as easy as offering some time of reflection after a sermon or talk. It can also be as large as changing up the whole youth group by offering a “worship night” where you create a new mood by bringing in some candles, having some worship reflection exercises, and little to no talking. Or maybe you can change it up by having a “conversation night” on a specific topic that students are struggling with, or on a specific theological topic such as “is Jesus the only way?”

At first students might be a little uneasy, but once you direct them and set the tone for them, students are great at adapting to the situation in front of them.

Therefore, I encourage you to take a step into an expected place with students this week or in the coming months. In so doing so, I hope that you see God move in a mighty and unexpected way.

What "Love Wins" by Rob Bell Actual Says

Since the Christian word as been up in arms about Rob Bell’s New book Love Wins, I thought I would write and clarify what he is saying for all those who don’t want to read his book, or have heard “things.” So here is what I understand Bell to be saying:

God is Love. It is this definition of God from the book of 1 John that drives all that Bell is saying. Therefore, the title “Love Wins” is a play on the fact that God is love. Therefore, ultimately God wins because he is Love.

God wins when his hope for the world comes to fulfillment within his plan of redemption. As Jesus says in John 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 5 God wants the “whole world” to be redeemed and for no one to parish.

Bell plays on this idea a lot by arguing that if God wants all to be saved, why would he reject anyone or purposely send anyone to “hell.” Don’t read too much into this though, Bell is simply saying in a very round about way that he is not a 5 point Calvinist (Aka, God doesn’t create people just to send them to hell).

The definition of Hell Bell prepossess in this book is both interesting and vague. Bell reads a lot into the original understanding of the word we translate “hell,” gehnenna. This word was the name for the local Jerusalem city dump, not this place far below the Earth’s surface. Bell also points out that when Jesus refers to “weeping and gnashing of teeth” he is again referring to gehnenna, because these are sounds that could be heard coming from the dump, as wild animals would scavenge through the trash for food. Ultimately, what Jesus means when he refers to gehnenna is a place outside of the city of Jerusalem.

At the same time, Bell works with the word “hades,” saying that he believes that this word is a Greek translation of the Hebrew sheol. Therefore, as Luke 10 states, “you will go down to Hades” is related to the Psalmist’s cry to be delivered from “sheol.” Therefore, Hades is something that one can be delivered out of, just as one can be delivered out of sheol.

This is then where Bell takes up an interesting argument, that hell exists not only after death, but now. Just as the Kingdom of Heaven is present here and now, but not yet; Bell sees, hell as being present here now, but not yet. Hell can be found on earth in the slums of India or the pits of war.

It is out of these arguments that Hell takes on the definition of being outside of the city, in sheol, in a place of misery, or away from God’s love. As Bell states, “To reject God’s grace, to turn from God’s love, to resists God’s telling, will lead to misery. It is a form of punishment, all on its own” (176). Or “God is love, and to refuse this love moves us away from it” (177). Basically, just think of C.S. Lewis’s version of “hell” in the book The Great Divorce and you have it.


Heaven is then the opposite of hell, life lived in the city, out of sheol, or in love. Those who are in heaven choose to be there, because God longs for all to be saved and will not reject those who wish to come in. God was not some mean man sitting in heaven waiting to send people to “hell,” until Jesus came in and saved humanity from the mean Father. God’s whole plan was to save us from our sin that keeps us from himself. Therefore, in a way when we have the ability to choose things over and against God. When we do this we reject God and therefore reject heaven. As C.S. Lewis writes in The Great Divorce, “the grass becomes too sharp” and “the light hurts their eyes.”

Bell even seems to allow for a chance of conversion or redemption after death stating things like, why would the city doors of Jerusalem be open if no one what let in them? People do not suffer for eternity in hell, they might only go through hell for a time. In fact, Bell argues that the understanding of eternity (aion) is not “a literal passing of time” but a “transcending time, belonging to another realm altogether.” In order to make his point, Bell walks through multiple verses that have an idea of God restoring Israel and even Egypt at a point of time in eternity. Ultimately arguing that one can be redeemed even after death, because restoration brings glory to God, not the suffering of his creation. It should be noted that C.S. Lewis’s also seems to have this theology on redemption from hell, but instead of writing it out in a theology book, he writes it as a narrative in The Great Divorce.

Bell does though fail to deal with verses just as Hebrews 9:27 that state, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment…” In fact, Bell almost side steps judgment all almost together. I even fingered back through the book and could not find one mention of it.

In closing, Bell is not saying anything new. He is just saying similar things to a new generation that never read the likes of C.S. Lewis.

Secondly, Bell is not a Universalist, even though some will say he is. He just simply believes that God wants all to be saved; yet some will reject him in spite of that reality.

Thirdly, the most controversial thing that Bell seems to believe is that we get another chance at heaven once we die.

Redefining Success.

Over the last couple months I have been processing a lot of the research and writing of both Chap Clark in his book Hurt and Kendra Dean’s book’s Almost Christian. I believe that they differ in their focus, and their focus leads them to make the conclusions they do about today’s youth and their spirituality. What emerges from both of them is the fact that teen’s spiritual faith is not in the place we would hope it would be. Clark believes it has something to do with systemic abandonment and Dean believes that it has something to do with the God that teens are perceiving in the church. I think both are correct and in fact related. The relational point is that adult in teen’s lives.

My pastor showed a video at a church meeting where fleas were placed on a table where they could be seen jumping about. In the video, a person then walked up and placed a glass jar over the fleas, restraining their ability to jump. After a little while, the person emerged again and removed the glass jar from on top of the fleas. The fleas had adapted to being in the glass jar and now only jumped as high as the jar would have allowed. For the rest of their lives, the fleas could only jump as high as the glass jar would have allowed too. In fact, the announcer proclaimed that not only would the fleas not be able to jump higher than the glass jar allowed, but also their off-spring would have the same limits.

After seeing this video it was as if a light bulb turned on over my head, yes like in the cartoons. I realized that it was highly unlikely that children and teens would never be able to develop a Christian life that was more mature than the adults in their lives. In fact, as Dean’s research shows, teens are developing a theology that reflects their church’s or parent’s spirituality. Yet, what Dean discuess is that almost no teens are reflecting the type of spirituality that is displayed in scripture. Teens are starting to believe in what is called, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” In this spirituality, God is a feel good god that gives them what they like and solves their problems. As I joked with my pastor, it is like we are turning God into a Starbucks Barista.

As I sat and prayed over some of these topics this morning I had a thought, it all has to do with how we define “success.”

When I sit down and talk to local youth pastors and pastors in Orange County one key thing emerges, kids are way to busy. Teens are not only busy with sports, school, or other extra-curricular activities; they are busy with everything. Families and students are starting to believe that they will be fulfilled if they work their butts off to get into the best college, to then find the best job. Therefore, the best job, equals happiness.

Pastors aren’t the only one’s who are telling me this. There is not a week that goes by when I don’t hear from a student that they cannot come to youth group because of an AP test or a sports game. The funny thing is, many of them would rather come to youth group then study for 2 more hours for an AP test, or practice for 3 more hours for club soccer, but they continue to study and continue to practice. Why? Because they feel like they have to or they will let someone down. That if they come to church, they won’t get into the best school they can.

I was talking to a student after youth group one night who was apologizing to me for missing youth group for 2 months strait. I looked at this person and said, “you were missed, but I don’t blame you.” As this person continued to talk they were telling me about the pressure they felt to perform at school, do well on the SAT, and be in all the school activities. I just looked at them and said one thing, “you can tell your parents you feel this way.”

They looked right back at me with tears in their eyes and said, “You are going to make me cry.”

What are we telling our teens when they feel they need to set aside church or youth group to do school work or sports, because only those things will help them get to the point were they will be successful and happy in life?

I thing this all has to do with how we are defining success.

Many teens feel like if they don’t do all these things to get into the best college or to be the most popular person, they will have failed. Therefore, teen are forced to push themselves to be successful, but in doing so they push aside Jesus.

Jesus is not someone who is against success, in fact he was very successful at what he was sent to do, and it was just that he redefined what it meant to be successful. In the Kingdom of God success comes when we take up our cross and follow Jesus. Success comes when we become a servant of those in need.

The pictures of success Jesus paints are contrary to the ideas of success that the world tells our families, parents, and students. The world’s view of success entraps our families, parents, and teens and moves their focus from God to elsewhere.

That is why not only our teens, but adults need to come face to face with a gospel message that not only sets us free from sin, but sets us free from the culture we so easily can become enslaved too. A culture that defines success as the degree we have, the car in our driveway, or the money in our bank account; instead of the picture of success that Jesus paints: success as serving others.

In today’s world it is necessary that we see our job as ministering not only to teens, but also to their parents and other adults in our student’s lives. For it is these adults that inform the worldview of our teens and communicate to them what it means to be successful.

Taking Time to Reflect On What God is Doing.

When we sit down to apply our theology and the vision given to our church and ministry we enter into a theological process called: practical theology. This is a process of taking our theology of God and asking how our understanding of God, within our current cultural context, affects how we run ministries. As vital part of
practical theology is reflecting on God’s work, in us, in the world, and in our students’ lives. It is this reflection that should affect our praxis of ministry. Yet in ministry it is easy to do what is familiar to us, or what we believe is "right," despite how God might be moving.

In doing this we become routine. That is why we need to make sure that we taking the time to reflection on what God is doing and has done in the past. This type of reflective ministry can help us to get out of our ministry routines, and help to bring our ministry back into focus.

In order to do this we need to give time to God to speak to us through Scripture, through prayer, through Church history, and through what he is doing in the lives of students. Seeking God's movement in these ways will help us to ensure that our ministry is root in the right place, God's movement.

God is the One Who Heals

I have this really bad problem, I like to fix things. Now I am not talking about fixing the pipes under a sink after someone thought it would be a good idea to try to cram a whole turkey down it. I am talking about fixing people who are broken.

Now I realize that we are all “broken,” and in need of being “fixed,” but for some reason I like to think that I can fix people all by myself. So I put people on my back, tie them down, and just start walking in the direction of their problem, bent on making everything better as quick as possible.

I do this partly because I am impatient, because I care, and because I want things to be fixed now. I don’t like to wait. I don’t like the process that healing can be sometimes.

There is this story in the John 9 where Jesus is walking down the street with his disciples. As they are walking, they look over to the side of the street and see a blind man sitting there on the street.

Now Jesus’ disciples ask the typical awkward question the disciples always seem to ask, which ends up with them putting their feet in their mouths, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Now I love how Jesus responses, ““Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Basically Jesus states, no one sinned the make this man blind. He is blind because he is broken and in need of healing. Therefore, this broken man’s brokenness will be used glorify that God and show others that God is the one that heals.

After Jesus speaks to his disciples, he gets on the ground and spits in the dirt making some mud. After the mud is made. He places the mud over the blind man’s eyes.

I know I am not the only one who thinks that this is a little weird. Yet, as I started to think about why Jesus did this, I realized Jesus was a pure genius. Since this man was blind and he couldn’t see Jesus, so he touched and spoke to the blind man because that is just how the man needed to be touched.

Unlike must healings in scripture, after Jesus touches the man, he sends him on a journey saying, “Go, and wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

The blind man then gets up and walks the distance to the pool of Siloam to be healed. The man wasn’t healed from his blindness just as Jesus touched him; he had to take a journey that Jesus sent him on to be healed.

As I meditated on this passage, I realized that sometime the journey is necessary to be healed from our brokenness.

When I was in elementary school I was hanging out and swimming at my cousin’s house on a hot summer day. As we were all playing by the pool, one of my cousin yelled out, “Last one in the pool is a loser!”

Now I did not want to be a loser, so I jumped from where I was toward the pool. The issue with that idea, was that a large item was in my way: a diving board. As I came down into what I was hoping was the pool, I hit my knee on the diving board.

Now on the surface of the water, I looked down into the now bluish-red pool; I realized I had somehow cut my knee pretty badly in the process of trying not to be a loser.

As I got out of the pool, my mom and aunt found the largest band-aid they could find to cover my hurt knee.

As the weeks went on, my cut did not heal. The problem was that every time I moved my knee the cut reopened, no matter how many band-aids I put on it.

Teens, heck everyone, are really good at putting band-aids over cuts that need deeper healing.

I think the reason that people are so good at doing this is because it is easier to put a band-aid over a cut then to go to the doctor, who might hurt you in the process of healing you. They know that the journey to be healed is not always an easy journey to go on. So people try to heal by getting drunk, doing drugs, looking for love in sex, or shopping until they drop. You see, it is hard walking through town with mud on your eyes, I mean; people might look at your weird?

As youth leaders, volunteers, parents, or pastors, our job is to point students and people toward a journey that brings healing. To point people to the only God who can bring healing, even if he has to put a little mud on our eyes to do it.

Here is the reality, we cannot fix people, we cannot fix ourselves; only God can fix us and redeem us.

Then once redeemed we can cry out, “I was blind but now I see!”

Through Tears, God Heals

Today you can’t turn on sport’s radio or a sport’s channel without hearing details and commentary related to the Miami Heat’s Coach Erik Spoletra’s comments that team members of the Heat were “crying” after a tough loss to the Chicago Bulls yesterday afternoon.

As I listened to some of the commentary and repots, I was struck by the fact that many people were laughing, and for lack of better term, making fun of the Miami Heat player who were crying. Saying things like, “if there is no crying in baseball, then there is definitely no crying in the regular season of basketball.” (Spinning a line from the movie “League of Their Own.)

In most commentary I have heard on the matter, there is one overwhelming theme: men aren’t supposed to cry unless…(fill in the blank with some dramatic event).

Rewind to my Saturday night, I am standing outside after a spiritual experience at a local Christian camp in Southern California. From the direction of the bathroom, two of my high school guys emerge, arms on each other’s shoulders in tears.

As I began to talk to them, quickly it became obvious that God was breaking open some deep hurt that they had tried to push down. As tears came from their eyes they both tried hard to mask them, even saying things like, “I hate crying” or “I just have to stop.”

I finally looked at both of them and said, “It is okay to cry.”

If either of these teens were to turn on a sports channel or radio station today they would hear a much different message about what is or not okay for a “man” to do.

As I processed all of this, my mind could not help but drift to scripture’s shortest verse, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Standing outside of Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus cried over the loss of a friend.

Now I know you can’t emotionally compare the loss of a basketball game, a deep spiritual response from teenagers, and the death of a friend. Yet, all these experiences share one element: tears.

As I listened to a local sports radio show during lunch today, an interview with Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant came on. Of course, only three questions in, the Miami Heat’s crying came up. Bryant responded to a pointed question by the interviewer by saying something wonderful, “all people respond differently.” Adding, "If guys are crying in the locker room, guys are crying in the locker room. That doesn't mean they're chumps. That doesn't mean they're soft. It doesn't mean anything."

While, Bryant admitted that he would not of cried over a basketball game, he added, “That is just not me.”

Bryant knows something that some guys forget, we all respond differently to situations and that doesn't make us less of a man.

When dealing with teenage guys we need make sure that we do not communicate to them that a “real man” pushes down his emotions and does not cry. We have to remember that all people react differently and that crying is not bad. Crying is an emotional response to a feeling. When we push down that response (tears), we end up having to push down what is causing that response (the hurt). Not only is this psychology not good for the students, possibly leading to anger, but also it can lead to deep hurt later.

I was meeting with one student who noticed they started crying over what they called, “little things” and was having trouble sleeping. As we continued to talk, what emerged was that they were pushing down deep hurt for so long, that their body was now reacting in order to try to deal with their hurt they had pushed down for so long.

Revelation 21:4 states, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

This verse shows us that we have a God who is in the business of healing, not only physically, but also emotionally. The reality is that the God does not “wipe away tears” and do away with crying, because crying is “bad.” Tears aren’t a part of the heavenly reality, because there is no need for them anymore, because at that point in the story all of creation is healed. In fact, it is through the wiping away our tears that God heals us.

Therefore tears are not bad, they are a part of the healing process. That is why Jesus wept, because through crying he was healed (not that his divine side of Jesus needed to be healed).

In the same way, when we cry, we are healed. And maybe, just maybe; in those tears, God is in the process of healing us.

What Teens See As We Talk About Rob Bell

The world of Christian tweeting and blogging has been up in arms over of this weekend’s reveal of Rob Bell’s new book “Love Wins.” Now I am not going to weigh in on the theology behind this book. Instead, I want to ask the question, what does this mean for our youth? And is there a teachable moment within all of this conversation?

We all know we live in a postmodern pluralistic world, in which are teens are told daily that they should adopt this type of worldview. Some have argued that the best way to counter act this movement is to teach better and stronger Christian theology. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that teaching Christian orthodox theology to teens is a must in today’s world, but I also believe that teaching them to ask questions and enter into conversations with those of a different worldview is also essential.

While in college, I was a part of and lead, a yearly mission team to Brigham Young University where we entered into theological conversations with Latter Day Saint college students. During these dialogs, we were a part of many deep theological conversations and many different topics. As equal as important, were the times when we were not talk theology, but played ping-pong or volleyball, because it was in these times that we became more than “Mormon” or “Evangelical Christian.” Believe it or not, it was in both of these types of moments that friendships were formed, faith was developed, and that God moved.

When I was done with my last year of college, my friend and I drove out to Provo, Utah and spend some time with Latter Day Saint friends we had made on the previous spring break. During our four days with them, we ate together, played a lot of volleyball, and talked deep theology. I remember at the end of one of the three-hour theology conversations I had with one of my L.D.S. friends, my friend was very frustrated. Not with me, but at our conversation, so she hugged me and excused herself. The next day we met up for lunch and with a group of people, and believe it or not, we continue our conversation right where we left it that night. Two years later, I got an invitation to her wedding.

As an outsider looking in at all of the conversation that has happened around Rob Bell’s new book I have been discouraged, because all l I see is a lot of condemnation, a lot of apathy, and a lot of defensiveness. As I sat on my computer reading blogs and tweets from “respected Christian leaders,” I could not help but think, it is no wonder our kids are leaving the church, we look like a bunch of angry birds fighting over a piece of bread. Why would teens want to be a part of a community that acts in this way? Where is this community that Jesus prayed for asking, “may they be one as we are one.”

When I talk to teens, the main concern that they have in talking to their friends about Jesus or standing up for what they think is morally wrong, is being viewed as intolerant. Now, we can throw around phrases like, “it’s not intolerant, it’s truth,” but whom are we kidding? Condemning someone to hell, or trying to prove we are “right” is not Christian; it is more Pharisaical.

Yes, today’s teens need good orthodox Christian teaching, but they also need to be taught how to be in conversation with those who might believe different then them without being seen as “intolerant” or “unchristian” (for those who are wondering, yes this is a play on the word and book “unchristian” by David Kinnaman). The reality of it is, is that we are no longer in a modern world were if we prove we are “right” people will flood into our churches. There needs to be a relationship formed first. As cliché as it sounds, “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

If teens were to see what is happening on twitters and blogs around the Christian world, all they would see is arguing, not caring and not Jesus: and guess what, they are turned off by it. Teens need to see a community and church that isn’t arguing with itself as we all seek God. They need to see a diverse community, who in their confession of Christ seek God who is revealing himself to his creation, together. A community that realizes it is not about what we believe, but what God has done and is still doing.

So ask yourself, when teens look at my actions, and me what do they see?

Is the Practice of Remembering Forgotten?

Today our country celebrates Presidents Day, to remember the deeds of United States’ forefathers George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. While this day might just be an excuse for many in the U.S. to shop and have a day off, this day’s intention is remembrance. Yet, I wonder if remembering is something that we have forgotten how to do?

In the Christian faith remembrance is something that walks somewhat of a fine line, because of the redemption of Christ, who takes away our sins. For that reason, Christians are encouraged not to remember the “sins” of their past because they have been forgiven and transformed, yet we aren’t suppose to forsake the practice of remembrance.

In the Old Testament Jacob has this encounter with a man. Now some believe this man to be just a man, while others believe this man to be an angel or Christ himself. Who the man is, isn’t the point. The point is that within this experience, Jacob has an encounter with God that changes his life; seen by the fact that the man changes Jacob’s name to Israel.

Jacob was a man that had a hard time remembering God’s promises, has seen throughout Jacob’s life. So what happens in the process of Jacob’s encounter with God? He is hurt by the man and left with a limp for the rest of his life. It is as if God is saying to Jacob, I will make sure you never forget this event, because within this event I have redefined you, I have given you a new name.

In the Lutheran Church, and in most Reformed churches, people are baptized as infants. During the baptism parents, sponsors, and the church body confess that they will help raise this child “in the faith.” The beauty of this event is that within it is the confession that we cannot save ourselves; God is the one who saves us. The hard reality of this event is that one cannot personally remember it. In my church, we have instituted milestones to help children remember God saves them in their baptism, but there is something to be said for remembering your own rebirth and encounters with God.

I have been thinking about his a lot lately, partly because I think it affects the theology of Confirmation, and partly because I have noticed that many of my own students and families have a hard time remembering their own baptism or the confessions they made on their child’s baptism Sunday.

Today I went to a local mall to purchase some running shoes, which were on sale because of the President’s Day holiday. As I checked out, the man behind the register and I started talking. Within our conversation I stated, “It is really busy today.”

He replied, “Man it has been busy all weekend.”

As I left the store I had a thought, even a national day of remembering has been made into a day of consumption and busyness (like some other famous holidays, ie. Christmas). I wondered to myself, how have we as a nation forgotten how to remember? Has the practice of remembering become totally forgotten?

Honestly, I think it has, and I think the scary thing is that it has affected our church more than we would like to admit.

When I talk to any youth pastor in Orange they tell me that one of the main reasons that students do not attend their youth groups is because of busyness. Even in my own church, we have full attendance in our Jr. High program, because it is tied to Confirmation. Yet, what I have noticed is that as soon as students are confirmed, church and youth group take a back seat to everything else (school, sports, hanging out with friends, or TV). What is ironic about this, is that confirmation is suppose to be a way for a child to “remember” and “confess” faith in a God who came to them as an infant, but as soon as they are confirmed they and their families seem to “forget” and go on with their lives.

So in conclusion I ask, how might we take back the practice of remembering what God has done for us? Because as we can see from the story of Jacob, when we encounter God he changes us, affects us, and calls us to remember; even if he has to force us too.