This is directed to all my hyperactive, intellectual, theologically gifted readers who want nothing more than to argue whether or not Adam & Eve had belly-buttons.
Are mosquitoes part of God’s perfect creation, or are they a result of the fall? This is absolutely crazy!
Krista and I went on a date night tonight and had a blast. We ate at Montana Mike’s (which apparently uses the same decorator as my mother) and went to see Wanted.
My princess, queen-of-the-house wife who hates blood and gore absolutely loved it! Whereas I was concerned that she might want to walk out, she was completely engaged in the movie.
There is a key scene (a training montage, development scene) where the main character is asked a simple question. “Why are you here?” It took a while for him to give the correct answer, but eventually it came out. “I want to know who I am!”
He did not understand or know who his father was, and as a result had no idea who he was or what he was capable of. We are no different. Without an understanding of our Creator, we have no idea why we exist. That is the major premise of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life that gained so much notoriety just few years ago.
When we take the time to spend time with Jesus, we learn where we came from, and we begin to discover why we exist. The answers we seek can only be found in Him. Spend some time with God and discover why you were created.
Recently, I was in a room full of student pastors and youth leaders while a respected Christian speaker and teacher was walking us through several passages of Scripture. The information was wonderful and followed the Text perfectly. While the insight was timely and practical, these were not new passages tucked in away in dusty Old Testament pages. These passages were from the pages of the Gospel. These passages were about the life and times of Jesus Christ.
What struck me was the number of gasps and the number of times I heard someone say from behind me, “that’s good!” I readily accept that not everyone was raised in a church that valued silence – not everyone was taught to listen without speaking – but this was a different kind of response. These people – these youth pastors and youth leaders – were reading some of these texts for the first time!
I was stunned! And it became more noticeable when we began reading The Message Paraphrase by Eugene Petersen! It was as though God had given them an entirely new Bible! Which led to this thought… what are we teaching our students? What are we teaching our church?
To press this point further, I have one more story from this session. An adult spoke up the day after the students participated in Communion and made this statement, “I had a kid who was saved last year say to me that he’d never known that Jesus died on the cross.”
Let that sink in. This student – who apparently accepted Christ one year prior – never knew of the cross!
Pastors, Student Pastors, Volunteer Leaders – If your people don’t get the cross, they can’t get Jesus. There is something in life that simple. Without the cross there is no resurrection. Without the agony, there is no victory.
So again, I pose this question: What are we teaching?
One thing I absolutely love about summertime is all of the travels – whether to HS Camp last week, JH Camp coming soon, or either of our mission trips, the travel is always a great time for me. Over the years, I have found that if I drive (which I prefer to do) listening to audio books or podcasts keep me awake and my mind engaged better than music or even conversation. If I am not driving (as was the case this week at HS Camp), I am often not part of the conversation and therefore, read.
This week, I read Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears. Anyone who follows the blog knows that I have already reviewed two other Driscoll books (Radical Reformission and Confessions of a Reformission Rev). The full story is that I was excited to read Vintage Jesus when it was released, but felt that in order to fully appreciate it I would need to read Driscoll’s previous works. Ultimately, while I thoroughly enjoyed all of the books, Radical Reformission explained some of Confessions, but neither were really connected to Vintage Jesus.
I thought the book dealt with Christology incredibly. I hope to see this book used in theological training (be it in seminary or undergraduate level). It is that good and that complete. My appreciation of Driscoll centers around the fact that he is a preacher (and a dang good one at that) with the mind of a scholar (something that some preachers would chastise). In Vintage Jesus, he uses his incredibly sharp mind to connect the reality of Gospel of Christ with the relevance of today.
It would be an overstatement to claim that I had incredible breakthroughs in my understanding of the person of Jesus Christ through the reading of this book, but that’s the point. My beliefs and understandings were upheld, strengthened, and perhaps deepened merely by reading this discussion of all that Christ is, and the impact that has on us individually, corporately, and globally.
Pick it up. You won’t regret it.
I read Marcuse‘s three lies that dominant power structures construct to keep society under control this morning. I believe these are the same lies that hold Christians hostage and keep them from taking a stand and changing the world around them in the power of Christ.
Okay, I admit it. Like most college students, I have a really short attention span and a tendency to drift away in class. However, I’m not necessarily your average-run-of-the-mill college student. I am, in fact, a graduate student working towards a Master’s Degree in Divinity. I’m studying in the area of my calling. It’s not just preparation for a career or a job, but rather something that God has graciously called me to do. So why do I struggle so to pay attention?
Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” Matthew 28:1-7
My first reading of Jeremiah was memorable to me because I was struggling with burnout at the time. So, I can’t read the text and not see a lot of myself within the confessions of Jeremiah.
What minister hasn’t accused God of taking advantage of them? I speak from experience knowing that I have had moments when I believed God was expecting more from me than I could give, and that there was an injustice in what I was going through in my pursuit in ministry.
My wife was two weeks from giving birth to our daughter (our second child) when I was called into the senior pastor’s office and notified that the board of trustees was unhappy with the numbers and direction of the student ministry. Therefore, they were graciously going to give me four months to “turn it around,” but since they felt I would be unable to do that, they were going to go ahead and interview applicants for my replacement.
I wanted to go. I didn’t merely want to leave the church, I wanted out of ministry. I could live with serving God, but had no compassion or appreciation for his church. It only served as a tormentor towards me. I had gained nothing from serving in ministry, but it had threatened the welfare of my family, and that I could not take.
So I prayed, and I prayed. I bided my time. I must have “turned it around,” because they didn’t hire my replacement, but I was hurt nonetheless. I chose to leave the ministry. I applied for several police department positions. One of which, I was unable to pass the physical test. The day before I was scheduled to take a written test for a fire department, I was hospitalized in order to receive an emergency appendectomy. I passed another police department physical exam two weeks post-op.
I was speaking to my best friend (another youth pastor) and he and I had a discussion about my struggles, and my desire to leave ministry. His comment was that if I could possibly leave ministry, then I should. But, if I’m called to ministry (which he believed I was), then I could not possibly be happy or content outside of ministry.
His statement rang true deep in my core, and I realized – like Jeremiah – that “his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV)
Regardless of how I felt about the church at the time – regardless of my thoughts of being overwhelmed by God and used by him – I knew what I still know. I cannot be silent. I cannot stand idly by and not speak God’s word. I once thought that I could work a “secular” job, go home, and live in a happy Huckstable home.
There are people that can be content in that situation, and I applaud them (and at times envy them). However, I am not one of them, nor (now) would I want to be. I am called by Christ, to speak his words, to share his message, and to tell his greatness at every available opportunity.
I know who I am. I know what I am called to, and strangely enough, it is in accepting my role in the Kingdom and embracing the awesome responsibility and privilege of being one of God’s spokesmen that brings me joy.
I love the church. I love what I do within the church. I can’t imagine doing anything that doesn’t incorporate speaking God’s truths to anyone willing to listen – whether I do that in the context of Student Ministry, or in leading worship, or in (one day?) leading a church.
Perhaps the reality is that the very same feeling that upon burnout can be described as being overtaken by God and taken advantage of God, is the very same feeling that upon surrender is actually a comfort of being called and qualified by God. What feels to be pressure and heavy responsibility becomes (and perhaps always was) a passion and awesome privilege.
