Simultaneity

November 9, 2005

Blog coups and Optimal Church size

Back in February Adam Cleaveland posted about visiting North Point Community Church basically saying that a church of that size wasn't for him. I'm not a regular reader and I didn't think anything of the post at the time, but I later learned through another blog that Andy Stanley, the senior pastor at NPCC had commented on that blog, which in turn caused others to comment, and he responded and an unintentional coup took place for a short time until Adam needed to turn off the comments on that post (which he did in a graceful way).

Anyhow, I post all that for two reasons...First is that one of Andy's comments asked about optimal church size and after a few comments he answered with:

As to the optimal church size… I pretty much agree with what everyone has written. In fact, our answer to that question may seem a bit…simplistic… compared to previous entries.

Our theory is that a church should be allowed or encouraged to grow large enough to sustain a viable high school and middle school ministry. A successful student ministriy requires critical mass in order to capture and keep the attention of their target audience. So the question becomes, how many adults are required to generate critical mass for a student ministry? That depends upon the demographic of a community.

If you are a twenty six year old seminary student with a couple of kids in diapers that may not sound like a great answer. But if you are a church planter with 150 people and one of your elders just informed you that her family is leaving because you don't have anything for her thirteen year old, it makes painful sense.

Parents will put up with a lot in big church if thier teenagers feel connected to a student ministry.

That’s it. Reaction welcomed. We’re still learning.

Nice quote from a senior pastor and I mention it here simply because I want to be able to find it again.

The second reason is that a recent comment here caused me to ponderas Tony did, only with a different name and at the same time made me glad we bought a new grill.

Posted by Jesse at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2004

Alive

This was the weekend of a huge middle school youth conference in Ocean City, MD and we had a great time. I took fewer youth than usual, but we still had a lot of fun and grew closer as a group. Alive has several general sessions and some break outs for the youth. During their break outs and during the concert Alive offers Adult training sessions, which I took advantage of.

About a year ago, at Impact (high school version of Alive) Leonard Sweet was one of the guest speakers. This year, he was one of the adult training sessions and I looked forward to hearing him again. He reads a phenomenal amount of books each year and is very well versed in cultural trends. He uses those to things to talk about where the church is going and where we should be headed - but I'll post my thoughts on that in another post.

As I mentioned, we had a great time. This was a really quiet group, but sometimes, those can be the best. We spent Saturday afternoon on the boardwalk and then at Denny's for dinner. We had a really great and attentive waitress who was being overworked, but still provided better service than I've had for a long time. Even one of the youth mentioned that she did a great job. We told her our thoughts on her performance and it seemed like it may have eased a difficult evening (even if just for a few minutes).

All in all a good weekend, but I am happy to be back home and will enjoy returning to a normal sleep pattern.

Posted by Jesse at 10:34 PM

October 2, 2004

A Weekend of Meetings

Our state association hosted a Jonathan McKee, a guest speaker who focuses on reaching kids that are not in or have never been to church. He also is the president of The Source for Youth Ministry a website that has tons of free resources for youth leaders.

Jonathan was very entertaining and had some interesting things to say. He was at the NYWC this year and the talk that he gave here was the same one, and only the second time it had been used. It was a two part seminar, one last night from 7-9 and again this morning from 9-3:30. Unfortunately I had to miss mart of this morning because of a meeting at church. Even so, it was well worth attending and I'm looking forward to the follow up with other local workers later this month.

Posted by Jesse at 6:25 PM

September 25, 2004

A Post Too Far

My intention had been to make regular entries about the convention, but I don't know if that'll happen, at least not to the extent I had hoped. I still intend to write each day, but I was hoping to be able to detail some of the sessions. It's likely that I am not going to do that for several reasons....

First, the days are jam-packed. I knew that from last year, but it also seems that I had more energy last year. Maybe it;s the hotel...anyhow, the time seems even more pressed.
Secondly, not that you readers don't count, but Kevin and Teri are here and spending time with them will be the focus when I have extra time, not blogging.
Third, I have school work to do tonight, and again have some things due Sunday as well as again when I get home.
Lastly, the underlying theme that God is sending me is that I need to reduce the hurriedness in my life (more about that later) and spending time blogging on top of all else certainly won't help me relax.

So, sit back, enjoy - when I have time I'll add a convention category - and I'll certainly have updates, some in depth, some not so much.

Posted by Jesse at 3:20 AM

July 15, 2004

'Fuge: Last Day

This year's Centrifuge has been great. I haven't had any problems with the kids, the staff has been great, and the weather has held out quite nicely. Right now it's partly sunny with a cool breeze, couldn't have asked for a better day for the carnival and cookout.

The only negatives I have heard about or felt this weekend were my cold that came on full yesterday, the food should be more "normal" - they've had things like Jumbalia and Chinese rather than your standard camp fare - and the tracks don't seem to have the interest of the kids as much as they usually do.

Today some of the kids were up before I was, I really didn't need to get the rest of them up, and everyone was on time for the morning activities. They've been great all week and today has been no different. I know that they are tired but it's been fun and I look forward to hearing what they thought of the week tonight at church devotions.

That's it for this update, I expect the next one will come when I've caught up on the back load of mail and blog reading - not to mention VBS.

Posted by Jesse at 9:32 PM | Comments (1)

July 13, 2004

Fuge Day 2

Not so tired today despite the fact that I was up until after 1 last night talking about politics, lifestyle choices, people groups and any number of other things. After sleeping late and making just the last few minutes of breakfast I feel much more refreshed. Unfortunately, the same is not true for my throat.

Last night the theme of the night life was 80s night and I helped our group get into the games by yelling and cheering my best. Not only that, but while on stage Jasmine and I (mostly Jasmine, I just sat there) managed to win Games in A Box. Anyhow, the yelling and screaming of last night has taken its toll and I have what feels like a soar throat except that it's alot lower in my throat than a soar throat would be - feels like I need to swallow something. Yuck.

Posted by Jesse at 7:32 PM

July 12, 2004

Murasala

We arrived at skycroft yesterday for camp under rather ordinary conditions and settled into our cabin. We're sharing space with two other churches, but we have our own room. They are also quieter churches than we are (at night at least) so that's a plus - for us at least. I doubt there will be any problems and everyone should have a great time this week. I'm not completely recovered from our camp so I'll need to take a few naps, or at least make sure I keep my anger/attitude in check.

This morning, there was a counselor meeting at 7 am. I can't remember the last time I was up at 7 on a Monday, much less up, showered, dressed, and out the door. As I sat in the dining hall I watched as the clouds went by - not in the sky, at eye level. It was kind of neat, but it made for a foggy morning and a muggy recreation time. It rained a bit here and there and I hope it'll rain a bit more and take care of dampness in the air and be clearer tomorrow or tonight.

We learned a new song last night and sang it this morning as well. We I can get the words down, I'll share them. It's in Arabic, which is really neat, and it has male and female parts which I enjoy in a song - and this one has very complimentary parts.

Posted by Jesse at 7:30 PM | Comments (24)

July 3, 2004

Yawn!

Just got back from camp yesterday and there's alot to cover but I'm too out of it to write anything. I meant to type some entries while I was there but I was far to busy - most days ran about 7 am - 2 am without much downtime. Yesterday was spent in a fog and today was a small time of recover and preparation for tomorrow's service.

If you are interested, you can learn about the camp theme and talks at the church's youth website.

Posted by Jesse at 10:21 PM

March 23, 2004

Touching Heaven, Changing Earth

It's interesting that those who are working hardest at touching heaven often wind up missing the point and cause others to falter. The more I seek, the more I realize that Bono is correct in his assessment: "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." And the truth is, we won't, not this side of heaven.

Many in the church feel that the have arrived, that they've found God. While it's true that we can experience Him, we simply will not know of his full glory while we are here. There should always be something within us driving us to seek, without it, we dry up.

To prevent this in my life, I've decided to do my best to always keep these thoughts in front of me:

• Pastoring is nurturing a spiritual intimacy with God, not about growing the church. It's about being and helping others to "be," not about finding people to "do".
• Praying and other communication with God should be more about listening than about talking. He knows far more than I do and it's easier to here him if I talk less.
• Worship is about spending time with God, not about the songs we sing. Occassionaly I've enjoyed singing a particular song more than using it for worship.
• I'm a leader, but I need to be a follower first. Bible study to feed me is more important than Bibly study to plan a lesson for others.

Posted by Jesse at 11:33 AM

February 16, 2004

I see Bible people

The story of the Messiah is central to all the books of the Bible. From the predictions that begin in Genisis through the flashbacks in Revelations, the story is told again and again. I've never really thought much about that until reading this portion of "A Fanatic for the Cross."

Posted by Jesse at 9:22 PM | Comments (1)

February 11, 2004

The Power of Sex II

All in all, I think the lesson went very well tonight. Some kids seemed ready, others were caught off guard by the topic. While I didn't expect too much, the message did seem to at least garner some attention and even interest. Surprisingly almost all of them filled in the outlines.

I don't usually give them fill in outlines - or much paper for the matter. It usually gets tossed around the room. I suppose tonight was an interesting enough topic that they used the paper and maybe, just maybe they've grown a little and can handle having notes given to them.

Now, on to the talk:

I began by playing a PowerPoint game that showed various ads selling things by using sex (are there ads that don't?).
After that I showed a video where several kids answered "What is it like to kiss someone", describe kissing, and the like. What made this video is that it was taken about two months ago, but the question they were answering was "Tell me what it is like to puke." My kissing questions were then dubbed in, the words puke and throw up removed and voila a humorous look at kissing.

I began by contrasting why the world sends their message (wanting their money) against the reason for my message (to help them with any struggles they are having). That like the video, the world can take any message, no matter what the original intention and turn it sexual.

There are alot of messages that you hear from the world, for instance:

Sex is no big deal
That's like saying war is no big deal - now that we've been saturated by war, it seems that way, but to those that are in the middle of it, it's still a big deal. Sex is the same way, we're totally saturated with the message to the point where we think it's no big deal.

God is against Sex
This is so wrong. God's not against sex, he created it. Many think that all the Bible says about sex is to wait until marriage, but there is much much more. In fact, there is an entire book in the Bible dedicated to relationships and sex. Not just when, but suggestions on how. That's because God created sex. He wants us to enjoy it, not suffer because of it.

Everyone is doing it
Let's look at some statistics. About 40% of all high school students will graduate without having an intimate date. Of teens that have had sex, 2/3rds wish they had waited. Only 25% of teens think it's embarrassing to be a virgin. Everyone is not doing it.

Messages you won't hear from the world

Your sexual decisions will leave life long memories
You may think that you want life long memories with the person you are in love with, but only 2% of high school relationships last through college. Having sex with everyone that you "love" before marriage means that you will have sex 5 or 6 times before getting married. And, having more than 3 partners increases your chance of disease, cancer and the like 15 times.

The best sex lives are found in marriages who waited
Studies show that married people are significantly more likely to say their sex life makes them feel satisfied, loved, thrilled, and wanted. According to the National Health and Social Life Survey, the public image of sex in America bears virtually no relationship to the truth.

So, with that said, how do you avoid getting caught in the trap?

1. Realize that sexual temptation is close to everyone
You are not alone. As mentioned before, others are in the same place you are.

2. Establish your boundaries now

On a date, or when in love is not the time to decide how far is to far. Set your standards now.

3. Make your values known

Tell that special someone what those boundaries are. They will either respect you and the boundaries or leave you. Either way you are better of.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done.1 Corinthians 13:4-5

4. Choose character over Intimacy

Stick to your boundaries, you’ll have more respect for yourself

5. Find accountability
Find someone that you can count on and share your concerns with, someone that will look out for you.
Share each other's troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord's command. Galatians 6:2

6. Decide on a plan

Before you go out, know how to get out.

7. Don’t put yourself in sexual situations
But run away from the evil young people like to do. Try hard to live right and to have faith, love, and peace, together with those who trust in the Lord from pure hearts. 2 Timothy 2:22
Don't try to fight temptation, run from it. Do whatever you can to avoid it.

8. Develop a growing and intimate relationship with God
As you grow in God, you'll have a desire to please him, you'll be able to resist temptation and you'll be more attracted to godliness.

…because you were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:18

Posted by Jesse at 10:19 PM

The Power of Sex

Tonight, in just a little over 2 hours I am going to talk about Sexual temptation with the youth group. I sent out a letter to the parents last week to know that I've been doing a series on temptation called "How Not to Get Caught" and that this week I would be addressing the power of sex. I expected more feedback, but only two parents spoke to me, not out of concern, more of a Good Luck."

I'll most more about the message when I get home tonight. I was going to post the outline, but I don't think that would be of much use to anyone. All in all, I'll be comparing the the messages that the kid's hear from the world against ones that they will not hear and ending with 8 ways they can avoid getting caught in the trap of sexual temptation.

Posted by Jesse at 4:10 PM

January 16, 2004

In memory of..

Last night was the funeral for one of my kid's grandfather. Understandably, she was pretty upset. I tried to convey my sympathy and asked her to call if she needed to talk. Hopefully she'll call me or her small group leader if she needs anything.

I also had a chance to talk to one of our youth that has moved out of the area. She's adjusting well, looking forward to the new school next year, but not to thrilled about being away from her friends here. They're looking for another church and I encouraged her to be involved in that youth program. I told her she was welcome to come to our events as well, but she needed to be involved with the youth of the new church. It's painful to tell my kids that, but it's not the first and won't be the last. And it is best for them....besides, I'll eventually see them again and we'll have all the time we need to spend together.

It's conversations like these two where I clearly see how much I love these kids. I'll continue to do what I do and just pray that God uses it to strengthen them and their families.

Posted by Jesse at 4:17 PM

December 18, 2003

Oh, the weather outside...

...really isn't that bad. We went caroling last night and it was pretty chilly. None of the youth showed up, which was disappointing. No matter, we had a good time caroling in the apartments next to the church with out them.

Starting with last night, my schedule is full. So much so that I needed to finish off my shopping yesterday during work with a quick trip to Rockville. Last night I had drama practice for the musical, tonight there is a dress rehersal, tomorrow the I'll be caroling with the youth, Saturday and Sunday is the musical.

And, while Monday is usually my day off, we're closed Thursday and Friday, and Wednesday is a day off if we can manage it.

Posted by Jesse at 2:24 PM

December 13, 2003

SHARE & share alike

Last night we had our youth christmas party. Dinner was wonderful, the kids (about 16 in all) had a great time, we played some games, then did the gift exchange.

This year we gave everyone 144 dollars in play money and they bid on all the gifts. After they bought a gift, they could sell it, or give away their money, but could never own more than one gift. One of the gifts went for over $400.

Then we had a final game (a gift rapped in a ton of layers and tape (including duct tape) which was won by the daughter of the host family (she's 5).

Then, this morning we went to the SHARE wearhouse, a wearhouse that boxes food for the needy and, I assume, distributes it. 15 of us went for about 3 hours and taped boxes, packed them, closed them and wrapped them for shipping. I taped (the bottom portion to prep for filling) somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 boxes (maybe close to 1000). By the end, our group had assembled over 2000 boxes of food for the needy.

A great moment for our group, I'm proud of the work they did.

Note: This entry has recieved many spam comments and the comments section is now closed. If you would like to leave a comment, please e-mail me.

Posted by Jesse at 8:46 PM

November 24, 2003

The OC

I’ve enjoyed the trip to each of the Ocean City conferences, but this weekend has been one of the best. This time, only 7th graders attended. It wasn’t by design, but I’m glad it worked out the way it did. During our room devotions on Friday night, most of the students agreed that they thought that it was going to be boring, preachy and full of Bible stories. The consensus ran from tonight was “Awesome” to “It was so cool, I want to come every year.”

Then, Saturday morning we listened to the story of Rachel Scott. Many of the students were touched, including one of ours; it’s powerful when God moves, and it was a morning that will hold a lot of meaning to him.

Some of the best memories will be the Video Scavenger Hunt - including Stealth Discos, singing to strangers and a few other twists. My personal favorite was the song inspired by the eagle. All in all it was a great weekend and I look forward to going with the Senior High in a few months.

Posted by Jesse at 9:22 PM

November 23, 2003

Is there a Doctor in the House?

I'm not sure what a doctors typical schedule is during residency, but I feel like I've just filled one of the easier shifts. My work day started at 9am Friday, it ended about 90 minutes ago. It wasn't hard, in fact, I loved almost every minute of it.

I took a couple of hours Friday afternoon to spend with the family, but did so during the course of running an errand, then at 4 I headed to ALIVE in Ocean City, MD. We had a great time...I'll blog details soon.

Sunday, I returned at 4pm and opened the church for the group that was arriving to lead a special worship service. The Pastor was sick, so I also needed to fill in for the short invitation at the end. After the service, we fed the visiting group, then I made sure that they were back on their way home before heading home around 9:30.

I know I was running on steam after arriving at the church this evening, but I wasn't feeling it. Even when I got home, and was playing with Kevin, then giving him a bath...of course, now, I'm fading pretty fast.

I'm gonna watch the 'Skins a while longer, then head to bed.

Posted by Jesse at 10:44 PM

November 14, 2003

Sexual inuendo

I stumbled across this article on 'Sex Bracelets' today and wondered about how big it was. I don't think of myself as being out of touch, but this came as a surprise to me...but I also don't want to think of myself as an alarmist so I looked a bit further, Time magazine and a few other places are reporting similarly.

At first, I thought that this was a west coast or a Florida thing. So I asked my girls if they had heard of snap, or sex bracelts and every one had. One said that it was just a game, but it likely depended on the girl. Another said they knew about it, but that it didn't take place at her school.
I wonder how many parents know about this game? While I don't think any of my youth are participating, it is something that families should at least be aware of, and it's a great oppertunity to talk with teens about a subject that they can tend to shut you out of.

Posted by Jesse at 11:19 AM | Comments (10)

November 8, 2003

An up day

Yester day was a very good day and it looks like the trend is continuing today.

Save the exception of the cold, I've had a good morning playing with Kevin, watching TV, and looking though some of the photos that I shot yesterday for 26 Things. The highlight of the day so far was when I realized that yesterday was the last time that I will work every single weekday (until I change jobs, and not counting camps and other special activities). Starting on the 16th, I'll have Mondays off, and this coming week, I have off for Veteran’s Day.

As for yesterdays joy, the minor one is that TiVo was up more than 7%, yeah!

I left my job at the Pentagon and headed to church for a staff meeting, which I felt was fairly productive as meetings go. These have gotten to be a bit more interesting and enjoyable over the last few weeks. Dennis ended the meeting just after 6, knowing that I had another meeting to head off to.

I arrived at the Mackie household a little after six for the youth leaders meeting. We always have a lot of fun at these sessions, and this was no different. Each meeting, we eat dinner, socialize, and then meet for a short time.

While not all the youth workers were there, it was great that most of them were able to make it. Everyone seems really excited about being involved with the youth and making sure that the ministry grows healthy as well as numerically.

Dinner and dessert went until about 8 when we finally got around to talking about some of the subjects that were planned and a few that were not. We managed to schedule the December calendar activities including caroling, 2 parties, and some community service. Best of all, the volunteers took the ball on all of these and all I'll need to do is show up (and even better I can rest assured that the activities will succeed even if I cannot make it).

From there we talked about small groups, the ups and downs of our work with the youth, and the direction we'd like to go in the future.

I really felt I needed to end the meeting at 10 so that the Mackies could have their evening, so I said that we would table the other topics (like camp) until the January meeting. I closed the meeting in prayer, then no one left.

A few trickled out a little after 10:30, and then we sat around talking until about 11:30. It's great that these volunteers get along so well that they want to make time to talk about more than just YM.

My rather upbeat day ended when I climbed into bed a little after 12.

Posted by Jesse at 12:23 PM

November 5, 2003

Messy Spirituality

My life is a mess.

After forty-five years of trying to follow Jesus, I keep losing him in the crowded busyness of my life. I know Jesus is there, somewhere, but it's difficult to make him out in the haze of everyday life.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a godly person. Yet when I look at the yesterdays of my life, what I see, mostly, is a broken, irregular path littered with mistakes and failure. I have had temporary successes and isolated moments of closeness to God, but I long for the continuing presence of Jesus. Most of the moments of my life seem hopelessly tangled in a web of obligations and distractions.

I want to be a good person. I don't want to fail. I want to learn from my mistakes, rid myself of distractions, and run into the arms of Jesus. Most of the time, however, I feel like I am running away from Jesus into the arms of my own clutteredness.

I want desperately to know God better. I want to be consistent. Right now the only consistency in my life is my inconsistency. Who I want to be and who I am are not very close together. I am not doing well at the living-a-consistent-life thing.

I don't want to be St. John of the Cross or Billy Graham. I just want to be remembered as a person who loved God, who served others more than he served himself, who was trying to grow in maturity and stability. I want to have more victories than defeats, yet here I am, almost sixty, and I fail on a regular basis.

- MICHAEL CHARLES YACONELLI
July 24, 1942 - October 30, 2003

Posted by Jesse at 10:20 PM | Comments (3)

November 4, 2003

Blessed are the Simpsons

While I know there out there, it's good to see that there are some ministries that making news by being relevant with their message.

Indeed there are. I've used clips of movies for a number of youth talks that I've given and it's a very effective way to present a message. It gives the listener a reason to tune in, and gives you credibility in their world.

What I found surprising is that this is news. I thought that books like The Gospel According to The Simpsons were well known and not all that new.

Perhaps not since there's more stories like the one above.

Posted by Jesse at 2:46 PM | Comments (1)

October 30, 2003

What a ride

Just a few days ago I was listening to someone that I admired, someone that has inspired hundreds if not thousands of youth and youth workers. I didn't agree with everything he said, but I agreed with and adored his passion.

Mike Yaconelli, owner and co-founder of Youth Specialties closed the youth worker’s convention in Charlotte with the same vigor and excitement that he brought to all of the Youth Specialties events. Sadly, that would be the last time anyone would hear him speak publicly.

Last night, Mike was involved in a fatal car accident.

I barely knew the man but I am deeply saddened at the loss to his family, his friends, and the community of youth workers that he has inspired for over 30 years.

During the convention he spoke not only at the general sessions and a few seminars, but he also gave an early morning Bible study. I didn’t have the energy to attend them all, but I he mentioned during that meeting a saying that he used quite often: "…and if I died right now, even though I would love to live longer, I could say from the depths of my soul, WHAT A RIDE!"

It is my hope that somewhere down life’s path that I too can look back at my life and feel honor and joy in the way that it was lived. I too hope I am able to say, "What a Ride."

Posted by Jesse at 11:00 PM

September 29, 2003

MBTI Types in the Bible

Last week, I started a student leadership class for the youth. We started by talking about what would take place, then I gave them a Spiritual gifts tests and a Myers-Briggs test.

I don't think that either of these are hard and fast, but I though that it would be good to take a look at their assesments of themselves. I know that there are some that believe that these types of tests are "evil" and I'd rather not get into that discussion since their are pleanty of sites that look at that.

What I did take an interest in is trying to compile a list of types of the main people in the Bible. Comments are very welcome and I hope to add to the list. I'd love to collect all the disciples. Perhaps I'll eventually break it out as it's own page.

MBTI types in the Bible

Name	Type
Simon Peter	ESTP
Matthew	ESTJ
Thomas	INTP
James	ISTJ
John Mark	ESFP
Luke	INFP
John	INTJ
King Solomon	INFJ
Paul	INTJ
King David	ISFP

Posted by Jesse at 9:58 AM | Comments (1)

August 18, 2003

Have Fun

I've had several occasions recently to think back to an article on the Youth Specialties site called Fun for Fun's Sake. It's a great read and really got me to thinking about how much fun God wants us to have and wants to enjoy with us. And at the same time helped me to cement my feelings that not all game time has to have a "learning" purpose behind it.

In that same vein, the Incoming Youht BBQ went great on Saturday. Not all the 6th graders were able to show, but those that did had a great time, and the outgoing 7th graders that hosted the party had a blast as well.

And, they washed my car, but that's a story for a different time.

Posted by Jesse at 10:36 AM

July 31, 2003

Things I'd like my Youth to know

A recent artical at YS called 12 things I want my Teens to know caught my attention and made me wonder how many things I want my teens to leave the youth ministry knowing.

Christians have fun
Above almost all I want them to leave my ministry knowing that they don't need to be uptight Christians. God wants us to have joy and to share it with those around us. There's no need to bring evil into your life to spice things up, you can have fun and enjoy God at the same time.

God loves them
Of course I'd want them to know this...but I want it to go further than that. I want them to really think about how much God loves them. I'd like them to have them to be as puzzled as I am about how God can love them so much and be puzzled by how much he does love us.

It's not my ministry
It's a ministyr that I am doing for them and with them at the same time. Their ministry shouldn't end when they leave the youth. It should continue on in other ministries in other churches, and maybe even a few will come back to continue the ministry to our youth.

It's all meaningless
Without God, nothing else matters. Read Ecclesiastics.

Posted by Jesse at 1:31 PM

July 30, 2003

August Outreach

This Saturday is going to be much bigger than I anticipated. We had a large crowd at Code RED and it seems like most of them are going to bring several people. Lots of food's goign to be needed and it sure wouldn't hurt to find some extra supervision.

Posted by Jesse at 10:25 PM

July 16, 2003

Spiritual Backwash

Attended Centrifuge last week and saw a great object lesson.
The pastor talked for a bit, then shared that he liked Coca-cola and often got thirsty during the sermons. He invited a kid (pre-selected) from the audience and asked him to share the soda with him.
He opened the coke, took a drink, swished it in his mouth and spit it in the cup. He then had the kid choose from the cup or the bottle and the kid drank the cup. I don't know if it was planned, but I don't think that it was because he did it a second time. Again the kid chose the cup.
After all the gags and "that's gross" comments, he asked why it was gross and then launched in to a message about how God likely sees us when we are living in the backwash of other peoples spiritual lives.
Great message, great illustration, I'm not sure if I'll ever forget and I know that I'll do my best not to live in anyone else’s backwash.

Posted by Jesse at 1:01 PM

July 3, 2003

It's all about numbers

There's been a real trend in youth ministry...in ministry in general actually, to put forth the image that "It's not about the numbers." In other words the number of kids coming to your youth group isn't what counts.

In a manner of speaking, this is a great concept, and indeed the goal of ministry is not to have gigantic numbers, but to change lives and help them develop into a close relationship with Christ.

However, it is about the numbers.

I don't know where I picked it up, but it's a statement that I've tried to live by and share with others relating to being a good parent. "There cannot be quality time if there is not quantity time." In other words, if you are not around enough, your supposed quality time with just not be that high of a quality.

This relates to ministry as well. With out a volume of people, you are not going to have a number of people growing in the things of God. Sure, you can find one or two, but I don't think a ministry should be about growing one or two and nothing else. It has to be balanced with sharing the Good News, and the only way to make an impact there is with numbers.

We're going to lose people and when we do, there needs to be others there that we are ready and willing to help. We'll never keep all our kids and if we're not growing, we're shrinking. There is no status-quo in ministry.

If you think that you'll keep all the kids that you have until they graduate, you're wrong. Look at the disciples. Christ, the God-man, was their leader for three years and he still lost one, that's an 8% loss in three years. That means that you should expect to lose more than 10% of even your closest kids during their 4 years in high school.

So why not just have a few? The Parable of the sower teaches us that no matter how well we spread the word, we're not going to reach them all. Further, we don't know who we will and who we will not reach.

Since we will lose some, we don't know who or how many we can reach, and our ministry should grow, we need to be about reaching as many as we possibly can.

We need to focus on numbers, just not to the point that we lose focus on who we're trying to attract them to.

Posted by Jesse at 8:48 AM

June 28, 2003

A week at camp

I really should write more and write sooner so I would have more than just the following about our camp last week.

God showed up.

It was by far the best camp that Berwyn has had. There was a sense of unity, team work, and the kids were happy. The leaders were willing to go far for the kids. And my directors could not have been better.

The only complication was that the weather was not as hot as we're used to so the kids ate more than we were used to. Not a huge deal, but one that gave me some concern about how much money we were spending. Of course, you can't put a price tag on changing the life of a kid, or the 5 first-tim commitments that were made to God. But I know that not everyone feels that way and I still had some concern.

Still, we have an awesome God. Kids were changed, adults were changed, I already have adult commiting to camp next year, and it looks like we'll be well within budget.

Praise be to God for a wonderful week.

Posted by Jesse at 9:02 AM

March 26, 2003

YM highs & lows

Youth ministry is a roller coaster that never ends. Over the past few weeks I've gone from feeling great to feeling that I'm where I'm being led and back to feeling on top of the world.

Through all I've been able to maintain the knowledge that we truely have an awesome God, but at times I wonder about His ability, or rather my ability, to recieve what He is telling me to do.

In short the events that I've been riding:

Up: The youth bulletin board was updated without me making it happen.
Down: Worry about the Beach party
Up: Shirts come in, beach party things falling into place.
Down: Meet with a parent about their child's difficulties.
Up: Party went great.
Higher: Decissions made at the party.
Down: Sleepy & questions raised about the decissions
flat: Thoughts of working more for the church....

Is that what God is calling me to do? Can I support my family on a church salary? I know that God will provide for our needs, but it's a matter of trust. I've trusted Him and He's proven himself....so why am I having concerns about working for a church where I would earn less? God says He will provide, He's proven Himself......

When in any case, He has told me to prepare and that I will do. The timing is what I wonder about....I doubt that it will be too soon, but God works in weird ways sometimes so who knows....

Posted by Jesse at 10:36 AM

February 17, 2003

Mailing lists, forums, and Christians

There was a time before I beagn serving as a youth minister when I was very heavily involved in a Star Trek fan organization and served, for a time, on the board of directors. This was an organization that was dedicated to improving local communities, serving the fans, and building community among its members (sound familiar?). But, at every turn, there was back stabbing, bickering, and in-fighting.

At first, I thought that this was just on the lists and the forums of the general membership, after all, people are people and not all of them know how to behave. After moving through the ranks and begining to serve on 'the inside' I found that the mailing lists of the leadership of the organization was even worse. The people who were supposed to be moving the organization forward where the ones that best and verbally abusing one another...In fact, it's one of the reasons I left...that and the populace of the organization seemed to chew up and spit out anyone looking to imporve things...typical work your tail off and make a difference and eventually you get tired of it not being enough....

Anyhow, on to ministry. I fully understand that the church isn't perfect and it will only be that way when Christ returns, so there is always going to be disagrements and a little infighting. People come up with silly reasons to be disgruntled and rather than seek reconciliation often tend to make problems worse...but again, I believe that this was mostly among the laity.

Recently I joined the Youth Specialties mailing list...already I've found some great ideas and I'm glad to have the resource. Unfortunatly, it seems like the fan club all over again.

The list is mixed with both paid and unpaid ministers, but there seem to be some that have forgotten why they are there...or perhaps the reason they are there is that the feel the need to fight with others. In a recent post someone felt the need to defend what they percieved as an attack on Calvinist and rather than point out where the mistakes were made, they went on to attack the person.

Sigh...I realize that we're all human and we all fall short, but how do we reach the unsaved if we cannot show them that being a Christian is different.

"And they will know we are Christians by our love."

Posted by Jesse at 7:50 PM