Burying the Lead

Students can be incredibly hard to reach. I mean really reach. They’ll be your friend. They’ll talk to you. They’ll even let you develop a perception that you’ve reached them on a deep level…but you haven’t.

My truck was in the shop recently and a colleague picked me up and gave me a ride to the office. En route we drove by a large high school. In talking about it we both instinctively said, “I do NOT miss high school!” Honestly, it was pretty awful. Middle school wasn’t much better. High school is hard, so in order to protect themselves students build up various levels of walls to keep the big scary world out.

As youth ministers we have to climb over the monumental fact that we’re not students with them. We’re not their peers. As much as why try to be “relevant” or “on their level,” at the end of the day we’re still just another adult vying for their attention and claiming the authority to speak into their lives. Once you work, and invest in the relationship, and lose hours at lock-ins and online playing CoD, and sitting in the bleachers cheering at football games, there are still just some areas that won’t let you through. There are just some gates you can’t get past.

And then, usually you have no idea that it’s coming, a student will come up to you and share something spiritually amazing that’s happened in their lives…and they thank you, sometimes you hug, sometimes there are tears. You really have to treasure those moments. And I do. I write about them in my journal. I have a file for things that students hand to me. I even keep scrapbooks of ministries I’ve worked with in the past. All of those things are an important part of keeping your sanity in ministry.

All of that being said, I kind of always thought those moments were amazing, but just an unexplainable mystery of the greatness of God. I mean, how we can get over the disparity of our stations in life, somehow sneak past their defenses and then find amazing rewards…and, maybe I’m burying the lead here, then I read this:

Isaiah 45:2-3

I will go before you
    and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
³ I will give you hidden treasures,
    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

Holy Frustration Batman!

Luke 9:35-41

                        A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

³⁷ The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

⁴¹ “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

                I absolutely love this passage of scripture because we see Jesus in kind of a strange place. We’re used to seeing him in miracle mode or teacher mode, but this story finds him in between those places. He’s just come from the Mount of Transfiguration. I suppose you could consider this a spiritual sabbatical of sorts. Just prior to this he had been teaching, healing, calming storms, raising the dead…a busy season of ministry to say the least (and you thought Christmas time was rough). So he took some time away. He went up to the mountain to pray and refocus and get away from the crowds and even most of his disciples. He has this amazing time on the mountain communicating with some old buddies (i.e. Moses and Elijah). He comes back down the mountain refreshed…and here are the people waiting for him, unchanged and needy.

Adam West is easily the greatest Batman
of all time...sorry Christian Bale

                Like I said, I love this passage of scripture. My yearly Bible plan takes me through it at least once and I usually read it more than that in a year. Every time I come away with something different and today I saw something amazing…Jesus was frustrated! Even the Lord of all Creation was frustrated! There it is! Holy Frustration! The divine mandate for my curmudgeon ministry!

I don’t believe he was frustrated that the people had needs, but in their lack of spiritual maturity. Meaning, it’s not about the disciples healing this kid, it’s about the power of God.

 The fact that even Jesus got a little frustrated says a lot about me, and you, and about ministry in general. Here are two new things I took away from this passage:

       1.            Jesus got frustrated…but never sinned.

a.       It’s easy to cloak the cause of sin in frustration. Don’t let yourself get away with saying, “I’m sorry, I only said that (or looked at you that way or treated you badly or threw you under the bus to a church member) because I was frustrated.” Always choose your words carefully!

                                                               i.      “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”[1]

       2.            The Kid Really Was Possessed!

a.       Just because the people were not where He might have wanted them to be spiritually doesn't mean they were just being needy…the kid was really possessed! The point here is that Jesus, despite his frustration perhaps even to the point of disappointment, still happily worked to meet the need. A wise minister I worked for advised me to always love people where they are even if that’s not where you hoped they would be.

i.       “If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”[2]

            Jesus, help us to be like you. Help us to be sinless in frustration and to love people where they are.

---

[1] Luke6:45, NIV

[2] James2:15, NIV

Why Mourn a Victory?

Ezra3:10-13

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:

“He is good;
    his love to Israel endures forever.”

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

         

            The book of Ezra co-chronicles Israel’s return from exile with Nehemiah. There is some debate as to which story began first, but historical clues tell us that they were concurrent for at least some portion of the story. This passage leaves me with a simple question: “Why mourn an apparent victory?”  In this passage Israel is being restored! Ezra is leading the rebuilding of The Temple of Jerusalem. Nehemiah is rebuilding the great walls of the city. Why mourn? I wonder if only the older generation mourned while the younger generation shouted for joy because the older crowd recognized their part in the exile. Even though Israel had been lost to Babylon for 70 years, this passage says that many of them remembered the original temple. It is certainly feasible that they were part of the sinful generation of Israel that caused God to pour out judgment on them via Babylon.

            I minister to middle-schoolers, high school students, and college/young adult aged students. I see in them such potential for greatness. I see in them such determination that I never saw in myself or my peers. I truly believe that the coming generation of Christ-Followers will see greater things than any of us have ever seen or could dream of. I believe a revival of Spirit and of the Church is coming for them and for us.

            I hope that my generation of ministers can rejoice when we see the young people we work with have great victories and not mourn over the “would-a, could-a, should-a’s” of ministry. If the next generation is to take the Church of Jesus Christ to new heights it is my prayer that my generation of ministers will stand beside them in victory feeling as though we poured everything that we could into them and connected them with Father as much as we possibly could.

            It is my prayer today that I will leave nothing on the table. It leaves me dreaming I will waste no opportunity to reach a young person for Christ for they might be the one to change the world.

            Where does it leave you?

This Says It All About 9/11

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

(Lamentations 3:19-23 NIV84)

Will You Fight For It?

I well remember them [my afflictions],
    and my soul is downcast within me.
²¹ Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:20-23

            If you read the first 19 verses of Lamentations chapter three you will find a laundry list of similes describing Jeremiah’s feelings of loss about the destruction of Jerusalem. They detail how he feels forsaken by God. He says, “…like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me” (v. 10-11). And then there’s my personal favorite, “He has broken my teeth with gravel” (v. 16a). So how do we get from that utter sadness and despair to these verses talking about the love and faithfulness of God?

            Jeremiah says when he remembers all of his problems he is saddened to his very soul. (Let’s pause here to say that spending your time recounting to yourself all of your difficulties is a recipe for depression anyway.) Then he “calls to mind” three aspects of God that give him hope: Love, Mercy (compassion), and Faithfulness. It’s no accident that he had to intentionally call those qualities of God to mind. Sometimes you just have to fight for it.

            I challenge you today to take a quick mental examination of what your focus is drawn towards. If it is drawn towards your problems and difficulties, it’s time to fight to call to mind the Love, Mercy, and Faithfulness of God. Will you fight for it?

Steer Your Fear

     I'm not a parent, and for the near future plan to keep it that way, but I was someone's child and I work with students and parents on a daily basis. It puts me in a great place to make some observations and I've noticed some cool things over the years. For instance, there are many levels of cleanliness when it comes to parents. Some people will always rinse off a dropped pacifier before getting it back to the child, some don't care. I had a friend once who used to hold the business end of the pacifier in his mouth while getting his daughter dressed and then give it right back to her. This phenomena seems to vary by child. If the first born drops their pacifier it's incinerated like medical waste and a new, hermetically sealed one is installed. By the third child the, "just blow it off" method seems more prominent.

     An important job of parents is to steer the fear of your kids. You don't want them to be afraid of the dark, but you do want them to be afraid of running into traffic. That fear makes them careful until they are old enough to understand and avoid the peril without fear. My wife has an irrational fear of dragonflies that developed from childhood. I'll be honest, not super helpful. My sister was afraid to flush the toilet for a while as a youngster because one of those automatic toilets at the mall flushed with her on it and scared her to death. I guess she thought she was going down with the ship. It's an important to steer the fears of your kids away from things that cripple them and towards things that protect them. It affords them the opportunity to grow to maturity.

     "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
               wisdom;
          all who follow his precepts have good 
               understanding.
          To him belongs eternal praise."

-Psalm 111:10

     This thought is short and simple. We get caught up in that word "fear." We think, "That's only for the Old Testament God. The NT God is all about love man!" Never forget the OT God and the NT God are the same guy. 

     Also, ponder this. The God who created the universe, with all of it's nuanced greatness, had to squeeze the concept of our need to be awed, amazed, and a little afraid of the glory and power of his presence into our language. It's sort of like trying to play a Beethoven symphony on the triangle. There just aren't enough notes to describe it adequately.

     So when scripture talks about "fearing God." Think of it as the fear our parents steered into us. Just like a healthy fear of electricity helps you to mature from childhood to adulthood in a healthy way, a fear of the Lord allows you to mature from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. 

Top Ten Reasons Students Should Go to Summer Camp

10. Outrageous Competitions
     The games we play at Summer Camp are just ridiculous. Epic on a scale that is impossible at home...therefore, you should go to camp!


9. Hone Your Paddling Skills...
     C'mon, who doesn't like canoeing! 


8. "Luxury" Dormitories
     We do summer camp in style in scenic Forsyth, GA. Seated in a former cow pasture, Camp Timberlake is resplendent with wildlife and nature and all the comforts of home. (If 40 people sleep in your bedroom that is.)


7. Sanctioned Stupidity
     Let's be honest, some of the things we do at camp are stupid. Mud Fights, Grits Wrestling, Bobbing For Apples in Baked Beans, Fishing Baby Ruth's out of Mountain Dew, etc. The great part about summer camp is that it's supervised by competent leaders at all times who know just when to call it off. (BONUS FOR PARENTS, your students don't have to do crazy messy things on your property!)


6. "Gourmet Food"
     The discerning palate will be treated to a culinary master class that features a light dough topped with a tomato based sauce and a sausage-like meat topping (pizza) as well as French classics such as chien de maïs. (Copy and Paste that into freetranslation.com to get the answer)


5. Disconnection from the Outside World
     The world of kids and students is packed with distractions: media and entertainment that are constantly begging for our attention. One of the greatest parts of Summer Camp is pulling the plug on those things for a week and resetting your brain.


4. (Non-Romantic) Relationships that Last a Lifetime
     I know that some of my most meaningful friendships were forged at Summer Camp. And the advent of social media like Twitter and Facebook only makes it easier to stay connected and keep up with your new buddies!


3. Awesome Worship!
     The worship is excellent at camp every year and this year will be no different. The great thing about worship at camp is that there is no schedule or agenda. If service gets over at 11, 12, or 1 doesn't matter as long as we've had as much time as we need to seek the face of God.


2. Intense Encounters With God
     I can't quantify it, but there is something special about that patch of red dirt we go to every year for camp. Maybe it's the disconnection from concerns and distractions at home, maybe it's the camaraderie, maybe it's the atmosphere of worship over the whole campus, but God shows up at summer camp. I can tell you the names of numerous ministers and missionaries (myself included) who were called into ministry at the altar in summer camp. The numbers of those who have received salvation and have been filled with the Holy Spirit are off the charts. It will change your life.


1. What Happens at Camp DOESN'T Stay at Camp
     The change that the Holy Spirit stirs in your life at summer camp doesn't (or at least shouldn't) evaporate when you catch the bus ride home. It lingers. It stays with you. It empowers you to continue to reach lost people in your local community and around the world.




Like I said, you should go to camp!


     If you're part of UpRising at Evangel Community Church we're going to camp the week of June 11th-15th. You can get an application at the information center or on Wednesday nights. The cost is $145 and is due on May 28th. If you're reading this and you aren't part of our ministry in Georgia, check here for info on GA Summer Camps! Can't wait to see you there!

God Says: Get Over It!

Have you ever written a strongly worded letter? Sitcoms lampoon this idea all the time. The passive geek is wronged and someone says, “Well, what are you going to do about it?!?” To which they respond, “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do about it! I’m going to compose a scathing letter to shame them!” I received a strongly worded letter recently and I didn’t take it super well.

The notice was from our apartment complex. It said that they had received noise complaints about “loud music, thumping on the floor, and shouts” coming from our apartment. Now, my wife Elizabeth and I aren’t church mice, but we’re generally pretty quiet…I think. We certainly aren’t obnoxious enough to merit contacting the front office and reporting us. I was mad! Outraged even! “Why?” you ask? Because our downstairs neighbor parks like a cross-eyed maniac! And worst of all I had been contemplating calling the office on her for weeks and hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  Look at this business! It’s crazy right? Not only is she that guy who has to back in every time, but she’s not great at it. I’m not sure if she parks sideways on purpose so that people can’t park next to her Benz or if she just stinks at parking, but it must be a habit because someone has snapped off her iconic Mercedes hood ornament. And she parks right by the entrance to the building where there’s a handicapped ramp…which she backs onto. Look! She parks right on the sidewalk! I wanted to call the office and get her sent a scathing letter. In fact, that’s why I originally took these pictures. So I’d have some proof. Then I read this in Proverbs 12:16:

A fool shows his annoyance at once,
   but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

And I was done. What did I gain from showing her up except starting trouble and fueling a quarrel? It’s not like she had committed some great social injustice that I needed to fight. She just nicked my pride. Isn’t it better to just be wronged than to show yourself a fool?

            God Says: Get Over It!

Have you ever received a strongly worded letter? How did you handle it?

The Energizer

     I am a youth pastor. One of the privileges and dubious honors of youth ministry is over-nighters and lock-ins. A “more seasoned” minister than myself once told me that each lock-in takes one year of a youth pastor’s life. I’m beginning to come around to his point of view. Last weekend my students, some of my leaders, and myself played laser tag from 11:30pm to 7:00am with maybe 2 minute breaks between rounds. It was exhausting, but it was tons of fun and probably one of the best lock-ins ever.

Who do you depend on to give you more life?

     Over the course of the night we played a variety of games like Elimination, Capture the Flag, and Royal Rumble. The variety kept it fun and made the night go by super fast. One game we played was particularly interesting. It was called “Energizer.”

Here are the rules: 

1. Each player starts with 25 lives and 100 shots.

2. One player is the “Energizer.” This player shoots his own team
mates. Each time he hits a team mate they get +25 lives and +100
shots.

3. OBJECT: Stay alive, defend your energizer, and destroy the enemy’s energizer.

     I was the energizer. Let me just go ahead and say…it was stressful. “Pastor Justin I need more lives!” PJ, help I’m out of shots!” “Pastor, I need help!” It was like that scene from Bruce Almighty where a divine Jim Carey is overwhelmed by prayers and pleas for help. (Maybe I didn’t have the weight of the world on me, but at 3:00am it was certainly stressful).

      Students, one of the real blessings of life as a youth pastor is being there for students who have hit a spiritual stall or roadblock. We YP’s work very hard to cultivate real relationships with our students so that you will come to us in your times of spiritual need. People, parents and students, often say thank you after they have navigated through a difficult time and my frequent response is, “It’s what I do.” I promise I don’t say that flippantly! That is not my Schwarzenegger one liner; it’s my view on what God created me to do. So to the students who are reading this, from my church or not: Talk to your Youth Pastor. He or She wants to help you, to pray with you, and love you through the tough times of life. That said we have a second job as well.

     Colossians is a book of the Bible that is really a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colosse. He wrote them many things about how to live and he gave them many words of encouragement. Then he finishes his letter with this statement:

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. (Col. 4:12)
     You see Epaphras was the man who had founded the Colossian church. He planted it and watched it grow and his prayer wasn’t that his church would grow, but that the believers created by it would be mature and fully assured. Another important task of the Youth Pastor is to get you ready to spiritually take care of yourself. Students, there is going to come a day when your Youth Pastor can’t be your Energizer for your dwindling faith. You will reach a point of no return where you can’t fall back on that person anymore or it won’t be enough. Ask yourself if you treat your Wednesday night youth service like life support for your faith. You come in dead and expect the worship band and your pastor to rub the paddles together, yell “Clear!”, and shock you back into faith in Jesus. That only works for so long before you flatline.

     Students, I want you to know that today, I’m pledging to renew my efforts for you in prayer. I will “wrestle” for you in prayer. I will pray that you will not need to fall back on someone else to give you a spiritual booster shot so that you can keep on living, but will, “stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I hope you will renew your efforts to grow up big and strong…in Jesus.

Troy: The Battle Makes the Story

            I love action movies. The cheesy ones, the ridiculous concepts, and the “that could never happen!” movies are just awesome. But the ones I love the most are the ones that are made on an epic scale. I loved the Lord of the Rings movies, not for all of their nerdy goodness, but for the massive scale of the battle scenes. Everything just seemed larger. That’s what I loved about the movie Troy.

            For me, the film Troy was perfect for a number of reasons. I’m a big fan of both The Iliad and The Odyssey. Epic poems are awesome. I’ve always loved Greek mythology. So when I found out Troy was coming I was super pumped. I saw it the weekend it debuted and it is a great film. I’ve got to tell you though; the opening sequence kind of let me down…

            Let’s set the scene here. Barren dessert battlefield. Two armies facing off. The leaders decide to have their champions fight instead of killing hundreds of men. I’m thinking, “Finally! Achilles gets to whoop some tail! This is what I’ve been waiting for!” The scene is drawn out perfectly. Slowly acceleration as Achilles runs, obvious bad guy, escalating music, huge evil guy vs. small good guy…and then it happens. Achilles jumps and appears to lightly poke the pad guy with his sword and he falls down dead. I remember audibly, in the theatre saying, “That’s it!” I wanted a battle! I wanted shields to crash and blows to be exchanged! The battle is what makes it good right? The battle is what tells the story. If the movie had ended right there I might have walked out. Troy stinks if it ends in the first ten minutes! Sometimes the conflict really makes the story.

            Think about all of your favorite Bible stories. Would you want to read, “Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and the Hot Tub at Nebuchadnezzar’s  Palace Because Everyone Resolved Their Differences?” or “Daniel and the Cuddly Puppies’ Den?” Would kids in Children’s Church want to sing: 

            Joshua, didn't fight Jericho, Jericho, Jericho.

            Joshua, didn’t fight Jericho, Jericho, Jericho.
            Because they decided to walk around, around, around.

          Sometimes the conflict really makes the story and without it there wouldn’t BE a story.

            If you’re in a conflict right now ask yourself, “What kind of story does God want to tell through me and this situation?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I love conflict or that you should seek out hard times to give God a chance to prove himself. He doesn’t need our help to prove his greatness. What I am saying is that if you’re in the middle of a conflict you can take solace in the fact that God is the one who’s writing your story. In fact he’s the “author and perfecter” of our story (Heb. 12:2). Trust him to write a good ending.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4

TINSTAFL

          At my high school Economics was a filler class. It got only one semester and it was paired up with American Government so it was boring by association. One, I’m sure it was a Monday, my econ teacher told us one day about the glorious “TINSTAFL Principle.” He was so proud of this word because none of us knew what it meant. TINSTAFL is an acronym for “There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.” It comes from people who use free stuff as “bait” to suck you into a sales pitch. They may offer to buy your lunch or to give you a week at beach front resort, but you’re going to hear their sales pitch or time-share presentation. It’s never free…never. 

          I serve at an amazing church called Evangel Community Church here in Northeast Atlanta. We just finished a week long session of outreach. We call the week CityReach (Check out a CityReach rewind video here!) and for us it’s just about simple acts of kindness. We give out water at the T-Ball Park and packs of gum outside of the Italian restaurant here in town. We feed firemen and policemen and we monitor school lunch rooms so that teachers can get a break. We cap the whole week off with a blow out Family Funday with free food and inflatables and we give away groceries to the first 125 needy families that show up. There was one question that got asked over and over at each outreach and with a confused look, “It’s free?”

          I was thinking about how “free” these things were the last few days while recovering from the outreach whirlwind. We do tell people that the items and services they are receiving are free, but that’s not really honest. Someone has paid for all of that gum, and doughnuts, and bottled water. In this case it was our church budget and the generosity of our congregation that bore that burden. It’s not free…more accurately it’s a gift. It cost someone something, just not you.

          For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:18-21

          Often times archetypal evangelists talk about salvation as a free gift. They’ll even pull out a $20 and ask someone to come down and take it. They say, “It’s free, c’mon somebody come and take it!” and then they tell you that your salvation is the same way. They are wrong. That money wasn’t free. It cost the evangelist 20 bucks! It was just a GIFT. Salvation wasn’t free either. You see our sin was so great that GOD had to die for it! God! Is there anything more valuable? Think of that next time someone tries to convince you that something sinful is no big deal.

          There’s a new hotel in Las Vegas called “The Cosmopolitan.” Apparently they believe the “Sin City” moniker is a bit too much. Their new slogan is “Just the Right Amount of Wrong.” Please hear me when I say, there is no right amount.

          Sin is a big deal and TINSTAFL applies to salvation too. It’s not free, it cost God his Son and it cost the Son his life. It IS however, a gift. Have you received it?

          …if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9

Good Christian B-Word?

I posted this a year ago and thought it was worth a repost since ABC just released the show last Sunday now and calling it "GCB" and "Good Christian Belles" instead. Sneaky...

March 9th, 2011:

          I just read an article posted by a friend that ABC is developing a show for TV called "Good Christian Bitches." The article is slamming ABC and the producers for even dreaming to create such a show. The article sums up the plot, "The plot centers on the life of reformed 'mean girl' Amanda, played by 'Talladega Nights' actress Leslie Bibb, who returns to her hometown of Dallas to find herself fodder for malicious gossip from the women in the Christian community." The proposed tagline for the show is,"For Heaven’s sake, don’t let God get in the way of a good story!"

          This does not shock me. I expect the world to be the world. I expect non-Christian people to do things that a Christian would consider offensive and vulgar. That's the currency that the world, especially moder median, often deal in. I'll offer this for you to chew on and maybe this will give us some perspective.

          There is a sadness in my spirit connected with this story and it has nothing to do with the negative perception cast by this show. My sadness comes from the fact that, if we really thought about it, this is a totally feasible concept. The article quotes a "Christian publisher" named Tessie DeVore saying, "A show like this can damage perceptions [of Christians in this country]." I'm sad to tell her that it is apparently too late. Perceptions already seem to be damaged.

          If Christians in our world and The Church (capital letters on purpose) were functioning correctly this would be a rediculous concept. The sad reality is, it's not. The concept of this show is totally believable. This falls at the feet of church leaders (myself being one of those). We must work harder to cultivate a culture of love, respect, and purity of living. Let me say, before I go any further, that this show focuses on the problems of one gender, but this problem transcends gender, age, nationality and socio-economic identity. It is not just tied to females.

          I cannot give you a silver bullet to fix these problems in The Church. I can't explain why the ideosyncrocy exists within The Church that allows us to accept gossip, backbiting, clicks (from students to adults and across gender) are perfectly acceptable in The Church of our modern era. I can tell you that there IS hope for something better. There IS at least one way to pursue a resolution to this problem if we cannot fix it outright. Galatians 5 tells us that we should purue, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." It says that against those things there is no law. I think that means you can't go wrong pursuing those things in your life.

          If The Church were being The Church this wouldn't be a news story because it would be laughable. People would say things like, "That's silly, Christians don't act that way?" Instead it's totally beliveable. 

Fighting "Rock Middle" Part 3

          We've been talking for a week now about pulling out of the middle. It’s an important topic and I think one that’s rampant in our culture. Pushing yourself from middle to the front is important, but doesn’t carry much weight unless you finish it out by keeping yourself at that new high level. If you’re uncertain as to what I mean let me answer your question with a question: “How many times do you ‘spike’ with a particular behavior?” When I say spike I mean having a sudden jolt of a particular behavior in your life followed by an equally sudden decline. How many times have you said: I need to read my Bible more, or work out more, or eat right, or call my parents, or read, or get more sleep? And you do those things…for a time. You might read your Bible regularly for an entire week!...only to slack back again to where you where. The same can be said for eating right and working out or any other behavior that is healthy, but not easy. So if you can get yourself out of the middle, how do you stay there? The answer is short, but not so simple: Maintain.

          “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:34-36


Step 3: Maintain

          We've already spoken of guarding our hearts from dissipation and other worldly struggles; the question is now, “How do I keep it up?” I think Jesus is pretty concise here. He essentially says it’s going to be work. He tells us some important tips:

Tip #1: It Happens Fast:
Jesus is talking about a time of intense struggle for the people of faith when he says it will come, “unexpectedly like a trap.” We would all do well to prepare ourselves for spiritual attack, when you operate at a high level (which is what pulling out of the middle is all about) you paint a target on you back. When you pull out of the middle be ready for the attack to come.

Tip #2: Be Vigilant:
When you reach a high point and are looking out for an attack you should set up some defenses. No one builds a watch tower before they have a position to defend right? You can be vigilant by finding a brother or sister in Christ to lovingly hold you accountable. Find yourself someone who will help keep you in check and encourage you to resist the enemy.

Tip #3: Pray:
Simple but crucial. I find that when I’m stuck in the middle I can find myself praying very often for God to get me out of a mess or a rut, but when God does help me to have a victory, I never seem to pray and ask Him to supernaturally help me to maintain the status quo, “God thank you for the place you’ve brought me, now help me to do the work to stay here!”


     I’ll leave you with Joshua. Remember that when the Israelites reached the Promised Land in Joshua chapter 5, they didn’t just settle there and relax. First they had to consecrate themselves to God and then they walked right into Jericho. Say it with me: Maintain, Maintain, Maintain…

Fighting "Rock Middle" Part 2

It Doesn't Matter What You Think!

          I've been talking recently about being stuck in the middle. So often we hear fantastic testimonies of people who are just scraped from the bottom and are used by God to do amazing things. I think there’s a trap in that. I think far more people, particularly Christians, are stuck in the middle. They are stuck somewhere between saved and free. Jesus addressed this in Luke and I talked about dissipation last time, now we’re moving on to “Drunkenness and the Anxieties of Life.”

          “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:34-36

Step 2: Avoid Drunkenness and the Anxieties of Life

          Please don’t think, “Here we go, another Jesus Juicer’ talking about drinking…zzzzzzz” and turn your brain off. There is some debate over this issue so I’ll just keep it simple. Paul wrote that we should, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22, KJV). That means we should stay away from stuff that someone might consider bad, or ungodly, or unfitting for a follower of Jesus. You might be thinking to yourself, “That’s not fair!” or “I have intellectual arguments that make it ok!” You’re right and you might but here’s the deal….it… doesn’t… matter what you think! (Where are my old school WWF fan’s at?!?) If something in your life whether it’s drinking, or drug use, or the way you talk, or how you dress, or they way you part your hair makes someone reconsider Jesus as their savior you have just made a poor decision. Jesus said, “It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin” (Luke 17:2).

          The second part of this phrase is, “anxieties of this life.” I think this means more than just being worried about your bills. Yes, many Christians will trust Jesus with their eternal salvation and not to meet their day to day needs, but I don’t see that as the full meaning of this phrase. Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy, “Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica…” (2 Tim. 4:9-10). For some of us our anxiety is not our worldly cares and needs but our care for what the world has. How many people have walked away from a call of God because the craved what the world offers. I almost did. Their anxiety derived from the belief that they were missing out on something. Are you really afraid you’re missing out on sin…which leads to death?

         I think these worldly behaviors are what keep us stuck in the middle. So in order to get out of the middle and move forward remember that it doesn’t always matter what you think. Be careful to not be a distraction to others and don’t be a Demas and be too concerned for the things of this world. 

Be on the lookout for Part 3 coming soon! 

Fighting "Rock Middle"

          I heard a missionary speak at the MovementConference this weekend. A great guy who I’ve seen before and is doing great work for the Kingdom of God in India and Laos. His testimony is great too. Not only did he get lost in a world of drugs, sex, and the party lifestyle, he literally brought an entire youth group (leader and all) into his world. God saved him in a mighty way, called him into ministry, and he’s changing the world.

          Those prodigal son, hog pen deliverance stories are inspiring aren't they? It’s amazing to see God do things in someone’s life to grab hold of them when they are at the brink. As I was listening to him I looked around the room and thought about the hundreds of the students in the room who just thought it was a cool story. Those who had a life that was pretty good, and because of that they are content with their station in Christ. They might have “Survival Jesus”, meaning just enough of a relationship to squeak into heaven, but not nearly enough of a relationship to have any joy, peace, or impact when life gets real for them (and it eventually does).  What is the message for these students? How do you save yourself from hitting “Rock Middle” and more importantly how do you move from happily stuck in the middle to getting back in the mix? This issue is pretty large so rather than tackle it in one mammoth post I’m going to break it into three parts. Check back tomorrow for the second installment:

            “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 21:34-36

           

Step 1: Avoid Dissipation

Dissipation in this sense means, “an act of self-indulgence, especially one that is not-harmful: amusement.” This is huge for American Christians. We are fueled by what moves us and what makes up happy. It’s a cultural movement that is staggering in its ramifications. It creates a relativism that makes all things acceptable to those with “itching ears” (2Tim. 2:3). The CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network, forebodingly abbreviated OWN, states the OWN mission statement as, “How do I get the most fulfillment, what makes me happy, how do I leave a mark on the world?” God called us to more than a life that makes us happy, but many of us, often myself included, are more concerned with whether or not our DVR recorded the new Walking Dead, than moving forward in our walk with Christ. We’re content, happy, and stagnant. We’re happy with the middle. We don’t have that rock bottom experience because we’re stuck in the place we are.

I’ll leave you with this. I had an opportunity through Mercer University to do some mission work in Liberia in Western Africa. I watched a church service one day in the capital of Monrovia. The people worshiped God with a reckless desperation that I was envious of. I asked my teacher, Rev. Olu Menjay,

“How can I get this desperation to live in the American church, we need this.”

He responded,

“You can’t. It’s too easy there. These people know how desperate their situation is and they see that God is the only way that they will live day to day. He’s the only way they will eat, drink, and survive.”

I think maybe he’s right. We’re happy, safe, and content. We don’t always need God to miraculously provide us a meal or clean water. Don’t take me wrong, I praise God for my successes and my wins and my apartment that does not have ten foot poisonous snakes in it (my apartment in Africa did), but I hope I won’t grow satisfied. I hope I will continue to push and fight the middle! I don’t want to be stuck in the middle.

If this particular issue resonates with you please leave comments below so that we can all continue discussion.

Click here for Part Two of Fighting "Rock Middle"!