Jesus at times seems to go out of His way to connect with one person...

enjoying my study on Mark 5! So at the end of chapter 4; we see the disciples, Jesus, and other people load up boat to cross the Sea of Galilee...Then the storm hits and Jesus calms the storm! Crazy stuff! But if that wasn't crazy enough, when they land the ship; they are met by a crazy demon possessed man! Jesus intervenes and sends the legion of demons into a herd of pigs; and then we see them get back on the boats.

Now here is where it gets interesting for me; because it is all left up to interpretation and assumption. From the passage, I would calculate that to cross the sea they went anywhere from 8 to 13 miles (depending where they launched). Then the only thing we read that happened was that Jesus changed a man's life. Wow, it is almost like Jesus was on a divine path to reach out to a man that people feared and shunned! Could have he done other things on the other side of the sea, possibly. But from my reading of Jesus life, He does this from time to time (woman at the well) and goes out of the way to impact an individual's life!

Being in the Community

Yesterday, was just another reason I love to be in the community as a pastor! I spend lots of time at coffee shops, the gym, and other places where I can be an impact. While biking home yesterday, I notice out of my peripheral a teen sitting on a picnic table and on the table what looked like a bag of weed. Yes, I'm very observant; had to be, I have worked with at risk teenagers that needed constant super vision. I did a 180 and went back to the teen. He had no time to put his bag away, and denied it being anything but herbal...Spent some time talking to him about not going down that path, and that I came back to talk to him because I cared enough to make sure he wasn't, and would hope that someone would have done the same for me when I was a teen...

The more I spend time in the community, the more I tend to see and have a chance to interact with. Stuff like this happens around us all the time, either we are too busy to notice or we just don't care or we think it's another persons problem; whatever the issue is there are hurting people all around us! What are you doing in your community? I have recently found out that in Green Bay, there are over 900 kids that are homeless! There are kids that during the school year that eat lunch at school on Friday and their next meal is the following Monday at school! And these are just two needs within the community...

Collecting thoughts after our youth lock-in

My first thoughts after the lock-in were: I wish I would have done this...I didn't use all these great ideas...I survived the night!!! 

Now looking back, my thoughts are so much different. Yeah, I have lots of great ideas I didn't use, but the night was a success. We created an environment that was fun, that brought youth together, and I got to spend 13 hours with 13 great teens! I give God the glory on this; because leading up to the event, I was skeptical on who would actually come...This has been our biggest youth event! So it was totally worth all the hours of planning; the sewing of marshmallows, making snacks, dragging couches from room to room, collecting all sorts of random clothing and gadgets for a photo shoot, and so much more...

Thank you all; for donated snacks, for donated soda bottles, for donated time of helping!

 

Youth Ministry in Today's Times

Youth ministry is a way different animal than when I first started doing youth ministry! I believe that today is harder than any other time in youth ministry's history to reach out to students. Just think about all the things that are grasping for an average student's attention...You have school activities and homework, jobs, and sports; which are even a stronger pull then when I was in school. Then you have the iPods, iPads, iPhones and any other iThings out there. The game systems, computers, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snap Chat, Angry Birds, and the million other apps out there. What do we offer in our youth ministry? Ummm... How about free pizza? Man, things are different in reaching today's youth.

Or think about this. I am speaking at youth group. Now, I should say I take lots of time in preparing messages and then there are times where I don't. Let's say one of those times that I don't, I say something incorrect in youth group. In today's youth group times, a student can pull out his phone, google what I just said, find the correct answer, message the correct answer to the rest of the youth, and tweet "My youth pastor goofed in his message tonight..." ; all before I finish my message for the night. Wow, does that challenge me to make sure I preach truth and have my facts straight...

Though, I am still a believer in two game changers that can change a student's life forever within youth ministry:

1. Show them the love of Jesus! No matter how cool I can act as a youth pastor, no matter how many youth activities are planned, no matter what we do; only Jesus matters, He is the only one that can change their hearts!

2. Build relationships with them! In a world full of distractions; only in America can we have all the things the world has to offer while at the same time being some of the loneliest people on earth...True relationships are a stronger pull than having hundreds of friends on Facebook...True relationships are a stronger pull than any electronic out there. True relationships are what we need to have with the students today!

As a youth pastor; I need the church, the leaders, the parents, the average church goer involved with the youth. Expressing these two things to each student that walks into the doors of our church. Show them Jesus' love and build relationships with them! Thank you to all my leaders and parents that are doing this; you are awesome!

My story: In a different light! Designed for the series "Authentic Faith" with the youth

My story: I grew up going to church, I could say the books of the Bible in 17 seconds, quote more verses than the average person, I was a whiz at Bible Sword drills, I knew God, I knew the Bible, I knew how to perfectly act out the life of Christian. In fact, based on what I just said, you would have never knew I was a lost individual with a one way ticket to hell. My testimony doesn’t have the gory details that some have. I thank God for that; because I have lived the pretend Christian life that many people in the church are living with every week. I can relate with that; there are a lot of lost people in the world, granted, there are a lot of lost people sitting in our churches thinking that they are a Christian. I know because I was one of them. 

At age fourteen, I was sitting in my grandparent Sunday evening service. It was in the month of May, they had a special speaker, and he was an ex-marine. That is as much as I can tell you of what the night looked like. BUT I can tell you that night God found me. I could have all the knowledge in the world about Him and His Word; and I could look like a Christian as much as I wanted; but I never chose Him to be commander in chief of my life with my heart. God tore me up, my religion went out the door, my living out a Christian life on my own evaporated; and I was broken. I gave Him my life that night, the whole thing; brain and heart. And haven't looked back, following His leading and sharing with people His grace and anything He has taught me along the way. 

Was it easy after that? No, my pride hurt and I was humbled. It was hard to tell my youth group! I was a student leader, and leading others students. What were they going to think, you were a poser all the time? How am I going to be able to follow you now...I had been baptized when I was younger because that is what Christians do! I committed to being baptized again, it was hard because all the church would know. It didn’t matter, because God had my life. Has it gotten easier? No! I could tell you many war stories of failures, disappointments, times in pits, burnout periods, and many other horror stories. Sort of just like Joseph, but I can tell you this just like Joseph I know God has a plan for my life and he has a plan for your life!