A New Epic Paintball Story!

Perhaps, this newest paintball story is my best paintball story! I already have quite a few tails to tell; from shooting my youth pastor in the neck, to the time where a youth shot me in the neck (friendly fire from 5 feet away), to me taking on three senior high students by myself while my middle schoolers hid at the starting line. Though after this past youth paintball event, I might have just lived my most epic paintball story of all time!

It was a great day, we had 12 youth and 5 adults playing Sunday afternoon! We went to the backwoods course, and decided to split up teams; Adults vs. Youth. We decided to take Jaime on our team because he was a few weeks away from turning 18; so the teams at that time would be 6 adults vs. 10 youth. When the referee yelled "Go!" Mike and I went down the right side of the course while working together to keep each other protected. We started picking off the youth, and glancing over to our right they were starting to line up like trophies on the side line.

Halfway through, I started running low on paint and Mike needed me to spray cover fire so he could move up. Looking down at my gun I noticed one paintball rolling around in my hopper; I yelled over to Mike and the sideline "down to one in the chamber!" (Call of Duty reference) Looking down at my hopper, I realized that there was actually two paintballs; well, that was at least better than one! With my mask fogging up and not being able to locate my targets; I started thinking about my options. Then I heard Mike yell I'm out; oh know, I have two paintballs, a fogged up mask, and have no clue where the remaining youth were bunked down.

Then, I saw a youth jetting across the course. I aimed and pulled the trigger allowing my two remaining paintballs to go flying towards their target; unfortunately, both missed. Sinking thought, no paintballs left. I thought to myself, there is no way I am going to surrender myself and there is no way I am going to sit here. I made a quick dash and made a baseball slid behind another bunker. Still alive! After a few seconds, I took off for the next bunker. I leaped to get behind the bunker and landed awkwardly on my bad ankle that I had injured two weeks earlier playing basketball. As my ankle gave out, I fell on my back against the bunker and I heard the sideline go crazy. Well, that hurt; but at least they thought it was a good move.

Counting teenagers on the sideline, I knew there were at least two teenagers left. My next bunker had at least one of the two teenagers camped behind it. I had to make a move. Taking in a deep breath, I took off running and came flying around the next bunker. "Surrender" I yelled as I held my gun within inches of two youth! They both started yelling "I surrender, I surrender; don't shoot!" The referee yells "Game!" With no paintballs and one big bluff, I had taken out two hostiles (youth) and won the game for the adults! The rest of the youth went crazy on the sideline; as they started to tell their teammates that they had surrendered to someone with no paint! I'd say it was a pretty epic story that I am sure I will share with many teenagers and paintball players to come.

Right after my epic victory!

Most of our paintball group!

WOW! A first for a person paying for my meal!!!

Every month, our older or should I say our mature adults meet for lunch. We call this gathering The Primetimers. Now with me being a youth pastor, I find two awesome benefits to going. 1. To communicate how and what the youth have been up to 2. To sit and learn off the many stories that arise during conversations!

Today, I got a lot of smiles when I came in carry one of my new children's church toys (Don't tell the kids, it's a surprise for this Sunday). Equipped with my new air zooka, I aimed at Pastor Rick and launched an air attack on his hair! I had everyone's attention walking in with a funny gun thing, but now that I shot Pastor...Without pausing, I informed the group that I was now Lavonne's attention getter. If someone was talking when she was, I was going to use the non-lethal gun to get their attention. Fun times!

After a great meal filled with great stories, the waitress started handing out the bills. Many times I never even see it, because someone grabs it and pays for me (which is always awesome and a blessing!); today though, I got my bill before someone could do that. I went up to the front and the manager was checking people out. She is very friendly and I have built a small relationship with her. So I decided to give her a hard time, after all, my receipt was missing the right column of numbers and it stated I owed 6.3! I asked her what they were trying to pull with hidden numbers...She smiled and then that is when she shocked me. She hit me back with this statement, "I am paying for your lunch, I like to do that for people sometimes." I thanked her right away and told her she didn't have to that. She responded back with a few thoughts and observations she had made about me and when I come and join the Primetimers for lunch.

I left excited for a new story to share. A story where the unexpected happens. A story with a twist. A story where I realize that people are watching me more than I know. A story where I find that my life style is an encouragement to others. A story worth sharing. A story worth living.

The decisions we make today, will determine the stories we tell tomorrow! 

911 and two questions for the church!

Last week, when I was preaching, I mentioned that it is human nature for us to ask why God allowed 911 to happen? While reading today I came across this paragraph, that made me think more on this. At the end of my reading, my question was not "Why did God allow this to happen?" but "As God's people, did we do what we should of and pointed people to Jesus?" 

A case in point is the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. This tragic event that has changed AMerica in so many ways raises two strategic questions that the church must consider. First, how did the people that the churches are trying to reach (the target) respond to this event? And second, how did the church respond to the people? The answer to the first question is that a number of people who had never attended or had stopped attending church were in church the following Sunday morning. A Gallup poll reported that 47 percent of adults surveyed September 21-22, 2001, said that they had attended church or synagogue the previous week. This number was the highest since the 1950’s. The Barna Research Group reported that 48 percent of adults surveyed in ate October and early November of 2001 said they had attended  church service in the last week compared with 42 percent polled earlier between late July and early August. Barna also noted an increase in concern about the future. In November, 82 percent of the adults Barna surveyed said they were concerned about the future compared to 73 percent in August. Barna added that the population segment that expressed the most concern was adults thirty-five and younger, among whom nearly nine out of ten expressed their concern. Again, the latter represent not only the future of our nation but the future of our churches. Social scientists and analysts have discovered that most people turn to religion in times of national crisis and instability. Few evangelical Christians doubt that God used the attacks on September, 11 to wake up Americans in general and the churches in particular to people’s need for God and the church’s role in helping them connect with him. People responded to the crisis as we might expect. Did the church use the opportunity to connect with them for the Savior? 

What we discover is that the church wasn't ready for this tragic event. Like so many others, it was caught by surprise. Unlike so many others, such as fireman, policemen, and the Red Cross, as well as many average citizens, it failed to react it failed to react well. It didn't use the tragedy stratigically for spiritual advantage. The church must learn to respond quickly to traumatic experiences and make a difference. We might argue that emergency-oriented organizations like the New York Fire and Police Departments as well as the Red Cross are prepared for such disasters. Whether or not the church is in decline, it is vital that it becomes an emergency-oriented organization as well. (Aubrey Malphurs)

Welcome to Jurassic Park Denomination! Home of the soon to be extinct church...

A visit to some churches is like a step back in time. If a young person in the early twenty-first century wants to know how they did church in America back in the early to mid-twentieth century, all he or she has to do is visit an established, traditional church in the community. 

Messer compares attending a typical church to experiencing a time warp similar to that found in Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park “Welcome to Jurassic Park Denomination. You are now entering the lost world of the prehistoric past. Our tour begins in the board library. Here we notice two rare species. First the board member always pushing for more exegetical sermons form the Old Testament, the bron-Torah-saurus. Next to him you can see this creature’s rival, the board member who likes lighter sermons, the tricertopical. On the right you can see the board member who loves to study the end times, velocirapture. Next, we proceed to the church kitchen. Here we find a board member who loves grazing at potlucks, socials, and outdoor picnics, the barbequesaurus. 

The real problem lie in the church’s methodology or how it “does church,” reflected in its particular church model. So many in our churches are convinced that we must conduct church the way we’ve always done it. As one old-time (the traditionsaurus) puts it, “If the organ and the great hymns of the faith were good enough for Jesus and Paul, they must  be good enough for us!” 

Bill Easum writes: “Like the dinosaur, they [churches] have a voracious appetite. Much of their time, energy, and money is spent on foraging for food, so that little time is left to feed the unchurched...Food is everywhere. But many refuse to change their methods and structures to minister to people where they are in ways they can understand. Like the dinosaur, their necks are too stiff or their eyes too nearsighted.” 

Easum concludes: “Congregations must deal with their stiff necks or their nearsightedness, or go the way of the dinosaur. Some congregations will wake up in time to deal effectively with their situations. Their necks will be softened and their eyesight will be corrected. We call this refocusing or revitalizing the church. Others will wake up, but it will be too late. However, too many will never wake up and will simply pass from the scene like the dinosaur.

Text is from Malphur's book, A New Kind of Church

Have it your way

Who slogan is "Have it your way"? If you said Burger King, you are correct. In a world today, that statement is so true. Our current culture mixed with our human nature; seems to shout this as being the most important thing. We are selfish people!

"My way" is even in the church, I am noticing it more and more. "My way" is rooted deeply into our churches, and the way we run our churches. "My way" is the reason that people jump church to church; because they are looking for that perfect church that meets "my" needs and wants. "My way" is why church fight after church fight break out because people want to do it their way, and they don't care who they run over to get there. "My way" "My way" "My way"

I have learned many times in ministry, my way normally doesn't work. I will try numerous things, and when my bag of tricks is out; I tend to look to God. Which is what I should have done in the first place! In fact, isn't that what we should all be doing! Throw out the "My way" and bring in "God's way"! 

"God's way" would stop people from jumping around to different churches and get plugged in with their present church and be part of what God is doing in that church! "God's way" would stop the fights within the church and grow the unity of the church! "God's way" would be a church doing God's things, than doing man things! "God's way" "God's way" "God's way"

It starts with one that is searching for God's way, will you be that person? or will you keep having it your way?

Why God did this happen???

This question has been said by myself many times. I believe many times it is in our human nature to lash out at something or someone; and many times it is God! But why do we? Ever think of this?

Why did God allow 911? Why did God allow that person to have cancer, she had so much potential? Why did God allow Hurricane Katrina to take so many lives? Why did God even put a tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden, if He is all good? Why didn't God stop that Forrest fire or mud slide in the Midwest? Why does God not intervene against injustice? Why did God take that child, he was only seven?

Maybe you are like me and have pondered a question similar. These questions I don't believe are wrong, I believe they are valid questions. They are at the core of human nature to ask; but asking is not the issue, it is the blame game that is wrong.

Have you ever observed many of our stories and movies? Most start with the characters of the story, doing great and then all of the sudden a villain enters the picture. For instance: In Red Riding Hood, it is the Big Bad Wolf. In the Wizard of Oz; it's the Wicked Witch of the West. In Gotham, there is a guy who paint his face and causes havoc; the Joker. In Star Wars, he has a breathing problem and is one of the darkest villains; Darth Vader. You see many times our stories and movies have villains. Why? Because God's story has a villain.

Think about it. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 From the beginning of God's story we find that: He is the main character of His story! He is the main director of His story! He is the main writer of His story!

God created a perfect earth and He cast two main characters to take care of it; Adam and Eve. Everything was going great, until chapter three, and then it happens. The villain enters the scene, the Bible calls him the serpent and we know that it is the devil or Satan. He enters God's story for one purpose and that is to taint God's story! He coaxes Eve to break God's rule and helps man to turn his back against God. It is the same today! You feel lonely and abandoned, and you hear that voice saying you're not good enough. There is an enemy, there has always been an enemy and there will always will be till God puts him away for eternity! But yet, when something goes wrong; we don't blame the villain or even take responsibility of our own actions. We blame God, the main character of His story that we are just a part of! Why I ask you?

Here is a random thought of mine. A few years back I dislocated my ankle. My foot should have been horizontal but it popped out and was more vertical! It was gross. When I was in the emergence room, I made a deal with myself to treat every doctor, every nurse and every hospital staff member with kindness and love. I knew that these people were there for one purpose and that was to make me better! Now many times; these people are yelled at, cursed at, and hated. Why? All they are doing is trying to help the person. But yet many times we find the truth in the statement "Hurt people hurt people." Now, take God and His story. He is trying to be part of our lives, love us, help us; and what do we do many times? Lash out at Him, curse at Him, hate Him, turn our backs on Him. It tends to be our human nature, but yet as Christians it should not be part of our new creation! 

Will we ever be able to answer the question why did God allow this to happen? Most likely not; but at the same time, we are in no position to blame it on God. We need to realize that there is an enemy, that continues to attempt to taint God's story. We have our own responsibility to control our actions. And because we all fall in the middle of God's big story; we are just a small part of that. Ecclesiastes is correct when it mentions that we cannot even fathom God's story from the beginning to the end! So ask the question "Why did this happen?" Even if need be ask "Why God did you allow this to happen?" But let us never come to a place where we start blaming God for things we will never understand!