Learing from some Great Ones

Last night I went over to Crosspoint Community Church to check out some amazing growth things that we heard about through the grapevine and man I was blown away. Buck Webb, Crystal Corn, Terry Douglas, Nick Pirtle, Chad Ward and I were amazed as we walked in and were warmly greeted by HS students. Everyone one of them looked us in the eye and asked us our name very genuinely and specifically. This was a culture of acceptance and true desire to have new people be a part. I was truly humbled by these kids because they were inviting people into a relationship with them and with Christ each time they came up and introduced themselves to us.

These students also had a true heart of worship. They were no inhibitions as they sang and worshiped to music played by a CD with no worship leaders. These kids were making it “cool” to worship God and allowed others to experience the presence of God no matter what point they were along in the journey.

All in all Jason Motte, the student pastor expressed a deep humility about what God was doing, but I believe it is his leadership and that of his teams to develop such and effective culture among the students to create the kind of environment where disconnected kids would love to come in a be a part of what God is doing.

I still have more to process, but several things I “knew” about student ministry were challenged and changed by the results and work of the guys over in Birmingham.

Relevance is a choice

I was talking with my buddy Paul Peterson today about student ministry and what it meant to be relevant and we came to the agreement that relevance is a decision, it is a choice to care more about a people group than status, fame or ministry fortune. It is not about age or look or feel or anything else, but about a choice to live in a culture with the motives of reaching it for Jesus Christ.

I want to be relevant to teenagers and connect with them on a real level and truly help them live a better life. I choose to invest in these kids and work my way into their lives and because of that they find me relevant, even though I am just another 30 year old guy trying to be cool enough to hang out with kids half my age.

So all in I all I want to be relevant and I choose to do whatever it takes to be relevant as long as it takes to reach whoever I can for sake of the gospel.

Stuff in my head

Man life can get ultra busy if you let it. I have a ton of stuff going on and I cannot believe how much of my time gets taken over if I am not careful to push things out and focus on what I am doing at the moment. I so often push my passions aside to to the “work” I have to do. I know this is necessary, but it is is also necessary that I take time to focus on what I am passionate about. So here are a few things that Jack me up that I am going to focus on this week:

Meeting new teenagers – I love meeting with and getting the stories of new students. Teens are an incredible group and I love getting to know everyone I can.

Connecting new students to other kids – I love the look students get when they meet some people and find a few things in common.

Having kids commit their lives to Christ – I love to see this whether it is a first time deal or something that a students takes a step to be more about the things of God. I love having a place where kids make decisions to be in ministry, or on mission for God.

Working with people who think like me – I love connecting with other people who want to change the course of teenage culture. I want to have a profound impact in the lives of teenagers and pray that God will see that desire to its completion.

What a weekend

We had a great Launch to Shift. We had almost 100 HS students and we are still putting the counts together but we had a great response to the Jamaica trip and to the Connection night on Feb 24th. I am so excited about where God is going to take us and the stuff we are going to get to be a part of.

Congrats to the two winners of Rock Band Coley Harris and Megan Payne. Have fun rocking faces off and taking over the world with your musical prowess.

ReThink Money

Farah and I went to the Rethink Money class today and it was better than I expected. I expected it to be goo, but it really was great. Casey did a great job and really speaks with authority on the issue as he lives what he is teaching. I was impressed and my fiances will be better for being there. If you haven’t gone make it a point to get to the next one.

Prayer

God is really working in my life about the need and power of prayer. I am more and more burdened to pray about so many things going on in my life and ministry. Nothing I do makes any sense or difference if God is not a part of it. In Proverbs, it says to acknowledge God in all our ways, what this says to me is that he is already there. I don’t give him permission through my prayer to be involved but it changes my perspective in the situation. God is at work in my life weather I see it or not, but through prayer God aligns my heart and allows me to see the work he is doing.

So pray. Pray for our ministry, pray for me as I lead and pray for God to work and move in our lives.

Tuesday Thoughts

1. I am excited about teaching in Shift this weekend. It has been a while since I have prepared a message like what I will teach this weekend and I am glad that God uses me to teach and help students connect with him.

2. We had a great Pre-Launch party on Friday night with around 130 students coming to hang out and goof off with all the fun stuff we had. I think the best part was when a group of students pulled a prank on the wrong car in the parking lot. Dude that was great.

3. Rock Band is an amazing game

4. We had a great coaches meeting last night and I really love and appreciate all of the volunteers that give of themselves in student ministry at MLC.

5. I love my wife who puts up with me constantly and lets me act like a kid but never makes fun of when I hurt myself trying.

6. Jesus is great enough to overcome all that I am not to make me who I need to be.

7. I am excited about re-launching groups in  a few weeks

Postponed

Obviously we are postponing our launch of Shift due to the weather conditions. I am bummed about this but I am also a little excited that we have an extra week to prepare and make this best possible experience for a first timer to give God and the church one more chance. We will still be giving away Rock Band in both services next week so don’t miss that. I am so pumped about what God id going to do. He controls the wind and the snow and the ice and I know that he will still show up regardless of what week we launch.

Dude that Stinks

Ok so here is the deal. I was taking my RV to a shop over in Snellville for some “warranty” work and was glad that I was finally going to have a trip the shop that did not cost me anything. Well…not so fast. On the way over the RV slid into a curb and busted a tire and it is a little more than just a flat tire to fix on an RV. (Not so fast oh defender of the simplistic) I am still looking for something spiritual to make this thing significant for me, but I am at a loss. If you have any words of wisdom let me know

BTW the shop called and they cant do my “warranty” work and I have to take it somewhere else. But I have to get the tire junk fixed first.  Aargh…..

Almost here

We are days away from launching Shift and I am fired up. We are going to have a huge party here tomorrow night and I am praying that God will bring anyone who has given up on church and looking for a place to be a part of movement of God to reach people.  I am so expectant that God will do some amazing things to reach disconnected students in Forsyth County.