Child Like Wisdom

I was setting up today for tomorrow night with the help of Jeff Ream…thanks a bunch buddy, and as everything was getting set up Tyler, Matthew and Mason were running around playing.  Well anytime there is a sound system or musical instruments my kids will be near.  As we were setting up the microphones Tyler picked one up and started quoting Bible verses that he had learned.  He must have quoted four or so verses.

I was shocked and proud at the same time.  I had no clue that he had learned so many verses…Great job Jess modeling that for them and going over the Bible with them everyday.  He said them and the references.  I don’t even know references with half the verses I know.  Talk about being challenged by your kids.  I am so grateful that my kids are learning God’s Word at such a young age.

Up-Street

Matthew went to Up-Street for the very first time.  Tyler was left without his brother for the very first time.  There was a mix of emotions as we were excited for Matthew to be able to go off and try new things, but we couldn’t help but have our heart hurt for Tyler who sat by the door crying for his brother.  There is a time and a season for everything.  I am so glad that Matthew gets to be a part of what Dan & Kristi are doing with children.  This is one of the reasons I am so excited about Fellowship, because not only do I have a chance to minister, but my family is being ministered to as well.  What a great season for Matthew to be in as he is meeting other four years olds on his journey.

I was so proud to have Matthew come home and tell me about his night and see him excited about church.  My greatest fear is that Matthew and Tyler would grow to resent the church or God because of the times that I may put too much time into ministry and not family.  To see them come home from church talking about Mr. Ray and Miss Linda and the fact that they can’t wait to go back brings joy to my heart.  Great job on putting together a team that loves my kids Dan & Kristy.

Great job last night as you are impacting my kids in such a cool way and making them excited about God.

We Are Marshall

I just finished watching the movie We Are Marshall and was left on a series of emotional ups and downs like a roller coaster.  I have been reminded lately the importance of teamwork and support and loyalty.  The part of the movie that impacted me the most was (stop reading if you haven’t seen the movie and if you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for) at the end when the head coach handed the game ball to the former president and told him that it was tradition to give the game ball to the most valuable player.  The former president then said, “I’m not a player”.  The coach responded back to him, “we are marshall”.

We are marshall meaning we are all on the team.  From the lowliest positions on the team such as the towel or water boy to the equipment manager to the quarterback to the coach we are all on the team.  I thought about that in the scheme of a youth group or church.  We are all on the same team, no one person more valuable than any other.  From working in the nursery to greeting to speaking to leading worship we are all on the same team.  Our goal to redefine church (or student ministries) in the Delaware Valley.  A win for us is to see someone come to Jesus.

Sometimes we don’t always see the value of a win right a way, sometimes it takes time to see things come to be.  But it’s not always about winning or losing.  It’s not always about how we play the game.  Sometimes it’s just about getting out there and playing.  How exciting it is to be part of a team not just in a positional stand point, but as part of a team of believers committed to Jesus.  Let’s get out and play hard this fall.  We are Fellowship.

What Matters Most…Part 2

I ended my last blog with the question, “What is the worst thing that can happen if we say no?”  The worst thing that can happen is not that we lose our job or hurt someone’s feelings.  The worst thing is that our relationship with God could suffer, our relationships with friends and family could suffer, and that we develop of habit of business.

One of the things that I have learned in my life is that not everything and everyone is most important.  There came a point where I had to decide where to invest my time.  What was important to me?  When I became busy and chaotic in my life, it was at those moments that I found myself the most spiritually dry.  When I became spiritually dry I tended to try and over perform in every area of my life except where it mattered.

When I finally sat to answer the question, what matters most in my life?  I realized that, that question was leading me to ask several other questions.
Did I like the person who I had become?
Who had I hurt in the midst of my ambitions?
Where did I need to remove “junk”?
Who was going to keep me accountable?

I have learned that those who kept me accountable asked me questions that I never would ask myself and in return I grew in areas that I would have never grown on my own.

Some of the tips from the book that forced me to look at my life and re-evaluate where I could improve upon on saying no are listed below:
Say NO to more noise…silence contributes to a more reflective heart.  A heart that is more open to hearing from God. Business typically leads to more noise.
Say NO to more “show and tell”…the illusion that business   represents success or accomplishment.  The phrase, “are you keeping busy?”  Only shows that how we evaluate our success is based on how much were doing.  Instead of quality it’s quantity.  Ask the question, “How are you doing, not WHAT are you doing.”
Recognize that you have a choice…Sometimes we don’t feel like we have a choice but in reality we always do.  That choice may hurt others or hurt opportunities but at the end it is our choice.

Ask these three questions every time you are faced with a decision that requires a yes or a no.
What matters most in this situation?
Why do I really feel like saying yes?
What’s the worst that could happen if I say no?

My challenge is that we don’t become afraid to say no because of our insecurities, but that we would learn to say no so our lives would be more fruitful.

What Matters Most…Part 1

I have been reading a book for like the fifth time that is awesome titled “What Matters Most”.  I read it because no matter how hard I try or how hard others around me try I still find myself getting busy and having to stop to re-prioritize my priorities.  Do you feel that way as well.

As parents we have to find that balance of our spouse our kids and our jobs, not to mention trying to find our own sanity in the midst of chaos.   From sports clubs and school to youth groups and homework we are constantly trying to see our kids have the very best.  In our work places we are always trying to please others, we are always trying to meet deadlines (interesting word to describe when things have to be done) and complete our work.  When it comes to our spouse we feel like we always give them our second best but yet say they are the most important things in our life.
How do we learn to say no to good things so we can say yes to the best things?

I have learned that it is easy to say no to things that  we don’t like to do.  It is easy for me to say no to working in the nursery or say no to all nighters.  It is very difficult for me to say no to family members, friends and people who have invested into my life.  Even Jesus said no to opportunities that sounded great to be alone with His Father.

There are several things I have found that are important in our lives:
Catering to our hearts, making sure we are guarding our heart.
My spiritual health, where I am striving to find the balance of holiness in my life.
My marriage, where my wife feels important because I have discovered her love languages and learned to develop my weaknesses to serve her.
My kids, where they are proud of their dad and know that I am there for them at all times.
My growth, where I am reading and striving to grow in my leadership abilities.
My personal time, where I can stop and just enjoy life.

Because of my love affair with ministry I missed what was most important and that was my relationship with God.  Do you feel like your there too?  What do we do about that?  How do we gain victory over the business of our lives?  Over the next couple days I will be unpacking this as God develops it in my mind and heart.   This isn’t to say I have any of the answers but I would love to see our teenagers and youth staff model what it means to have lives that are wrapped in holiness and not in business.

Teenagers I challenge you to develop these skills of staying no now, because it will pay huge dividends throughout your life to learn the balancing act now.

What is the worst thing that can happen if we say no?

Teachability

There are certain words that should be instilled into our vocabulary.  Words that challenge us and challenge those we lead.  They are words that all of us should continually strive to be: humility, biblical faithfulness, integrity, compassion, excellence, passion and teachability.

How cool would it be for someone to use those words to describe your personality and ministry.  Even cooler when you can say those things about your lead pastor.  For those of you have not had the chance to get to know John the way I have over the last 5 months, those words describe him in and out of church.

John continues to challenge us while he himself embraces the idea of being teachable.  What an example to all of us to follow.  (No I am not getting a bonus for writing this.)  The expectations that John puts on us are no higher than the expectations that he puts on himself and it is refreshing to serve with someone who is willing to go into the trenches with you and show you unconditional support.

I have learned in such a short time to read, listen, watch, etc.  Because it is during those times you realize how much you don’t know.  The more you realize how much you don’t know, the more you’ll want to learn.  The more you learn the better prepared you are for the journey.  The better prepared you are for the journey the better you are in the end for the team.

Thanks to those men who invest in my life and challenge me to be better than I was yesterday and yet never put expectations on me that they don’t live themselves.  John C., Jeff S. and Jeff R. you guys encompass what it means to be Godly.

Fallen

Last night I sat down and watched the Discovery channel in High Definition (When I didn’t have High Definition and others did, I would just say hi def, but now that I have it, it deserves the full title because it makes me smile), with Matthew and Tyler.  There was a show about elephants and as I tried to listen while Matthew and Tyler imitated the elephants running around the room I learned a lot that I think applies to our everyday life.

Everyone knows that elephants are affectionate animals that stick together in herds, but do you know why?  I was always under the impression that it was to protect themselves from animals like lions and tigers, but oh my I was wrong.  The elephant can actually wander through the desert on it’s own and not be bothered because it is the largest animal, however they stick close to each other to motivate and encourage each other.

When an elephant becomes weak and tired and falls in exhaustion the other elephants will not go on if they know that there is any hope for their fallen friend.  They will rock and shake and literally “will” the elephant back to life, and as a team they will carry the elephant to safety and to a place that the elephant can gain energy to carry on himself.

Interesting approach.  Were only as strong as our weakest link on a team.  Whether that be a muffed punt to lose a game or whether that be someone who can’t carry themselves  or do their job and therefore brings down the whole team.  In the church we tend to be quick to shoot the wounded.  We tend to be quick to shun those who may be different.  I challenge us as a student ministry to accept all students and show them the same grace that Christ showed us.

The Bible says it stinks for the dude who has no friends to help him up, but it’s totally cool for the guy who does.  Obviously paraphrased but I think it is awesome that God even gave us an example of that through nature.  I think it is so important to have accountability in life.  Someone to talk to, someone to answer the tough questions and even better to ask you the tough question.  Maybe you just need someone to talk to and maybe you need someone who will challenge you.  I have three guys in my life who critique and question everything so that I can be a better husband, father, friend and pastor.

May we all be like elephants looking for opportunities to encourage and motivate as we stick close to those who have fallen and better yet keep them from falling.

Fusion Launch

Wow, where do I even begin?  I have been praying and preparing for the launch of Fusion for almost five months so there is a lot of pressure (in my mind) that builds up for one night, the beginning of a new era of student ministries here at Fellowship.  I walked out of Fusion almost numb from what I had just experienced.  It’s amazing when you ask God for something and then He goes and does something even bigger than you imagined.

On Sunday’s launch we had almost ninety people who either attended or were involved in the production. I was blown away by how many guests we had, I love that and I hope you keep coming back and get the answers you are looking for.  Our praise band was off the hook.  For the first time that any of those students even performed in front of people (especially their friends) they were awesome.  (Thanks Jeff for taking that and getting it running it never would have happened without the time and effort you put in.)  Emmy, a twelve year old, leading our praise band showed poise and led each of us in a different way to God that night.  (Thanks Emmy, the best is yet to come)  Skitz-O-Frantic, our drama team did a great job making the skit relate perfectly with the message and I look forward to seeing how God will use you guys to launch a different form of worship in Fusion.  (Thanks Jess for taking that, with your passion for drama and teens it will become awesome.)  Our tech team I applaud because it is so difficult to work for me when I have so much for them to do and I go out of order.  From Noah doing announcements (it’s all you now buddy), to Stuart hooking up all the audio and getting us going, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.  Brad Gifford, Trevor Sareyka, Dan Muller and Aaron Kilmer you guys did a great job with video and lighting and keeping up with me and the transfers we did all night…thank you all so much.

There were a group of people who gave and sacrificed their time to come and get that room set up for Fusion, some very long nights were put in by them.  Knowing their character they would not like their names recognized for it, but you know who you are, and I couldn’t have done it without you.

The highlight for me though was after the service, students coming and going, and just having the opportunity to talk with students about the pain that is in their lives.  I had a handful of students who talked about, does God really forgive me?  What a great question for a student to ask, because as an adult I still wonder how and why God does that.  To be able to connect with students on that level, dealing with their pain made me finally feel like a student pastor and not just a painter.  To see some of them get it, and know walking out of their that their pain is okay and that God loves them unconditionally was awesome.

For the first week of Fusion I was so thankful that God just blessed us.  I can’t wait to see what will happen in the future.  Parents thank you for the opportunity to pastor your students.  John thanks for the vision and heart you have for teenagers its encouraging to know I have your full support.

The Perfect Question

I have so much to blog about with the youth department and what God has been doing here at Fellowship…but…as I was getting ready to write tonight, I heard Matthew ask, “When do we go to heaven?”  Jessica answered him and he basically said that he couldn’t wait to go to heaven.  Jessica explained to Matthew that you have to have Jesus in your heart and his child like innocence answered, “I have Jesus in my heart, Tyler do you?”  (Evangelism at it’s best.)  Now I know that Matthew does not understand yet, but it was just so cute to hear that little conversation.  The twist however is when Tyler said that he didn’t have Jesus in his heart and Matthew in all of his four year old intelligence prayed to Jesus and said, “Jesus please come into my brothers heart and save him so he can go to heaven.”  It made me smile to see that a 4 year old had the concern to have his brother in heaven and it made me think, do we have that concern as well?  Are we concerned about those around us or are we content in our own spirituality?  Students of Fusion I challenge you this week to think about one other person who needs to hear about the love of Jesus, and are you willing to share like a four year old?