I Am Not A Cardinals Fan By Nature

Congrats to the Cards! Very few people expected it, but the Cards pulled off a huge World Series win. I was surprised to see both the Tigers and the Cardinals in the WS, but what do I know.

I am a Braves fan from way back in the Dale Murphy days. Powder blue gaggy unis. Lots of losing seasons. Pascual Perez. Biff Pocoroba. Rufino Linares.

I became a Cardinals fan this year, for at least a season, while I was the chaplain for the State College Spikes, the short season A-ball team of the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the inaugural season for the Spikes, and they were in the playoff hunt right into the last week of the season.

I was surprised to see how many of the young ballplayers were interested in spiritual life, and got to know many of them off the field as well. We had lots of great conversations about real life stuff. It was a sad day when they all pulled out of town.

They won’t be back.

Next year the Spikes will be the property of the one and only Pittsburgh Pirates.

New guys, new manager, new opportunities to encourage…

I’m still not sure how I feel about getting the Buccos team in town. Jim Rome describes the Pirates brand of ball as “unwatchable.”

Well, at least we’ll have the mid-inning sumo wrestling!

Committed to Consuming

Marko is going to post his thoughts on Teenagers and Materialism, once he gets permission/clearance from YouthworkerUK, who is running his article in their current issue. I can’t wait to get his take.

At the Austin NYWC (loved it!), Mike Pilavachi spoke about his coming to realize that he had created a culture of consumers in his student ministry. He catered to the students’ desire for entertainment, and that’s what he ended up with—students who wanted to be entertained.

How do we change the culture? How do we get to a place in our ministries where students care more about others than themselves? How do I get to that place myself?

I don’t know who said it, but people become committed to what they convert to. If we convert them to entertainment, they commit to being entertained. Convert them to church, or service, or worship, or a flashy personality, or a great program, or a personal/individual relationship with Jesus Christ…that’s what they’ll be committed to.

So how about we convert students to a broad, whole-life encompassing gospel? What if we convert them to a gospel that transforms a life, taking self-focused people to a place of caring for others, loving others more than themselves, and loving God more than people? What if we showed them that discipleship is not a class to attend, but a life to be lived?

My friend Sean (who truly has a blog worth reading) works for a little church in The Natti. They do this crazy thing they call Summer of Service. I think that we could put something together very much like this locally.

Today in our local youth pastors network, Daryl shared an idea of a local mission trip, finding a place for the group to crash (either homes or a church, or the barn), doing various service projects/random acts of kindness/practical, tangible, meaningful things to bless the lives of people in our community…

Benefits?

• Low-cost
• Aimed at breaking out of the “entertainment model” of student ministry
• Local
• Gets students working together (something that’s been elusive!)
• Sets the spiritual and cultural DNA for the next generation of leaders
  

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.
Mother Teresa

What if we tried a week of small things done in love? What if we spent a week loving our community in real ways, together?

Sean Michael Murphy’s post today hit me between the eyes. Read it here. He talks about the way we spend our $. When I follow the thread in my mind, I can see that my heart and my attention follow my $. Jesus said that where my treasure is, my heart will be.

Why is it so hard to re-orient my life around selflessness and service? Why doesn’t the loving God and loving part of following Jesus (I’ve heard that’s important) come more quickly in my life? I would love to give students the opportunity to experience this kind of thing.

Oh God, please help me.

Men’s Retreat = Junior High weekend, only bigger bodies

I spoke for a friend’s Men’s Retreat over the weekend. It’s the first time that I’ve had the pleasure of being the speaker, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Jonathan said that we ought to plan and treat it like it was a event for students, which makes sense to us, since the three of us planning are/were in student ministry for most of our lives.

Turns out, Jonathan was right.

There was a great spirit of play during the whole weekend. We experienced lots of good “guy-time,” which included a whole lot of carpetball, a bonfire (why do we guys love fire?), and other similarities to a good junior high guys’ weekend. Good spiritual emphasis. Much wrestling, with stuff getting broken. Paintball (thanks Jarrod) during the afternoon. Plenty of competition and testosterone. Lots of junk food. And of course, the obligatory olfactory offenses (dude, you reek! Nice one!)

I thought that we’d be better off if I facilitated discussion, rather than preach a few sermons at the men. The church is hoping to see this men’s ministry develop men who will lead their families well, so we talked about a few key pieces of the puzzle.

1. Two key questions, based on Luke 18 and Philippians 3:12
1. What do you want Jesus to do for you?
2. Why did Jesus take hold of you?
2. Honest and open discussion about sexual purity, dealing with temptation, and healing.
3. What kind of man does God use? Based on 1 Samuel 13 and 14.

On the whole, I think the weekend was a blast. We had a great time, spent a lot of time being open and honest about our walk with the Lord, and the ministry has a clear direction for the future. I got refreshed running around in the woods with other guys, spending time in prayer, and talking with other men who are desiring a life aimed at loving God and loving other people.

I am grateful for the opportunity, and I was blessed to be part of the experience.

And I think I won more than I lost at carpetball!

Staff Retreat Day, or "Man, is this my idea of a dream day..."

Actually, this will be a pretty cool day. I don't know many youth pastors who have it as good as I do in terms of staff leadership. When people call to see if I'd be interested in making a vocational change, that's the point that they haven't been able to touch--I don't know other churches with leadership like ours.

We're at the home of one of the church families for our Strategic Initiatives Team retreat. Our SIT is tasked with making sure that we're tracking on the 6 major initiatives, which correspond or flow out of our Church Without Walls vision:
No Walls between us and God (initiatives: worship, prayer)
No Walls between us and each other (initiatives: life groups, family ministries)
No Walls between us and our community (leadership development, outreach)

Dan just re-read Isaiah 43 to get us started. I'm in a living room with a bunch of great people, hearing stories about where we're seeing God do new things. I'm absolutely blessed to be part of this staff, even on days that are challenging!

It's good to be part of a team with folks who are passionate about the Lord, the church, and life together. It's encouraging, and challenging (in a good, gut-check kind of way).

I am thankful...

Cross-town Showdown

We took our middle school ministry on the road tonight. Our local middle schools’ 8^th grade football teams squared off in a skirmish for the ages. We have several guys playing on either squad, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to support them and build a little community among the rest of the students.

The atmosphere was great! Park Forest had the 9^th grade cheerleaders show up, and held a pep rally to get the student body pumped up. Mount Nittany’s students borrowed a page from the Penn State crazies, declaring a white out (all the fans were encouraged to wear white to the game.)

The setting: historic Memorial Field. I believe that Park Forest’s record is better than Mount Nittany’s. They scrimmaged each other back in August, and Park Forest was clearly the stronger team. We learned that several of the Mount Nittany starters were either hurt or we being disciplined for in-school trouble, and would not play. Things looked bleak for the Mount Nittany squad.

Mount Nittany’s squad played better than expected. One of our guys made the opening tackle. The score was knotted at 0-0 for most of the game, until our own John Layton broke through a hole in the left side of the Mount Nittany line and lunged/dove into the end zone, dragging a would-be tackler with him. That would be the only score of the game.

There was some trash talking going on, as well as the all-too-familiar yelling at the referees (mostly by parents—great example, folks.) But the coolest thing I saw was after the final buzzer, when the players lined up at midfield to shake hands.

They realize that they are ultimately on the same team. Next year these football players will join forces to form the State High 9^th grade team (coached by our own Doug Arnold and Denny Rhule), and they know even now that they will be part of a greater unit. While they competed against each other tonight, they know that they will be working together in the near future to achieve a common goal.

I wish hope pray that our local student ministries can take that same attitude. I want us to see that we are on the same team, working toward a common goal. I would love to see us partnering to see the students of the Centre Region loved, nurtured, supported, and brought into the Kingdom of God.

It could happen...

We're Piano People Now

We entered a new stage of life today. Kim and I took a ride through the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside to the little village of Marion Center (population 428) with our friend Kim to pick up a piano. We’ll be piano-sitting for the next few years, as she has no place to keep it. In the meantime, we get the joy of having a piano for our 3 kids to learn on!

We love music. It’s a big part of our life already, and our kids are involved in a children’s musical theatre group (Broadway Showkids). We’ve seen some great things happen in our kids as they’ve been challenged to learn lines and parts, as they’ve shared to joy of bringing a production to life. They’re already pretty comfortable performing in front of people. Our house is never boring, and seldom quiet!

We are doing our best to make sure that our kids realize that their identity is not found in their activities, though. That can be a challenge. So many people have bought into the lie that who they are is rooted in what they do. It’s just not true.

We want to see our children set free from that mindset, free to live in the reality that their identity is rooted in their relationship with the Most High God.

It doesn’t matter if or how well they sing, dance, play or study. All that is gravy. What does matter is that they learn to love God with everything they have, and that they love other people. If we can get our lives re-ordered around those simple precepts, everything else falls into line. Not easy, but simple, I know.

That’s what I tell them almost every night when I tuck them into bed.

When It Rains...

Oh man, do I love it when God confirms stuff that he’s doing in my heart through people who run into my life.

I met Seth McCoy today. Seth is part of Sonlife’s training team, and he came to town to present the new Enroute, their new approach to the ancient practice of following Jesus.

We’ve been wrestling with the best ways to help students become followers of Jesus, not merely believers. We want to see students come to own their faith and re-order their lives according to the teachings of Jesus. It’s not new, I know. But I am excited about connecting with other adults who are leading students into bold, new/old approaches to life in Christ.

I am absolutely blown away by the folks God keeps bringing my way, people who are shaping me and sharpening me. I want to learn all that I can from these people.

Corrective Lenses

Our 3 kids had eye doctor appointments this week. Levi got new glasses (his last pair didn't last the year--broken by that mysterious Not Me kid). I remember getting glasses, when I hit 6th grade. My eyes got progressively worse until they levelled out around 20-450. That's right. I could see clearly at 20 feet what a normal person could see at 450 feet. In-stinkin-credible. I don't know that our kids have much hope of living without glasses.

Then I had lasik, thanks to the generosity of an eye doctor in our church. Totally revolutionary. I can see better than normal now (20-15!)

Things are going pretty well, but I'm having a fun/tough time sorting through all the stuff that I've been reading and taking in lately. I finished The Irresistable Revolution last night. I'm still working through the stuff that I heard about the International Justice Mission and the One Life Revolution. Our life group prayed for me last night...good to have friends on the journey...

Anyway, I'm thinkin' that it's easy to throw money at a problem. Not that I have a lot of money. I'm just sayin'...

It's hard to change my life.

But I think that's what Jesus was getting at. Change=Transformation. Dying to self. Living a New Life. All those phrases that I've heard all my life, all the stories about choosing another way (other than the me-first way).

New lenses for seeing the world...

Now to address the gulf that exists between what I see and know to be the way I/we are called to live and the way that I am currently living.

Does anybody have any tips on living simply?

Shane Claiborne is kickin' my butt

Well, not Shane, really. I've been reading his book, The Irresistible Revolution. I find myself laughing, crying, and wishing that I had come to meet Shane much earlier in life. And I am meeting God in the process, and the Spirit of the Living, Loving God is doing a number on my heart.

I haven't had the privilege of meeting Shane face to face. But he lives in Philly, and that’s not too far for me to travel. I would love to grab a few friends, a pile of winter coats, and head off to meet Shane and his family.

Tonight at XStream I talked about the call that God makes for his followers to live selflessly. True followers of Christ will love other people more than we love ourselves, will think about the needs of others before thinking of our own.

Jesus talked about it. Paul talked about it. I’ve got to start living it.

I had a great conversation with a few high school students who help lead our middle school small groups after XStream. Their eyes were lighting up as we talked. What an encouraging thing to see a few others catching the vision.

For much of the past year, I've been hanging on the words of Jesus known as to many of us as The Great Commandment. I want these words to define my life:

Love God. Love other people like you love yourself.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it.

Blown Away

It's sad to say, and more than a little surprising to me, but I got floored this morning at the YS convention.

I've been in student ministry for 18 years (counting those 2 years in college). I seriously thought that I had pretty much experienced all that there is to see at the youth min conferences, heard all the stories that pull the heart strings, seen all the exhibits designed to pull a response out of me...until this morning. I wasn't much fun at lunch, to be quite honest.

Sharon Cohn was the speaker for this morning's session. Her page on their web site says:

Sharon Cohn serves as the Vice President of Interventions for International Justice Mission. IJM is an international human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression. Based on referrals of abuse received from relief and development organizations, IJM conducts professional investigations of the abuses and mobilizes intervention on behalf of the victims.

I could barely talk after she shared the stories of 3 people who have been rescued from slavery, prostitution, and mistreatment at the hands of local police. My heart was in my throat as I listened. I felt anger, disbelief, and, ultimately, shame.

Shame.

I've been in ministry for almost 20 years, and I've never taught a lesson on Justice. Never spoken about one of the things most near the heart of God. I have no idea how many talks I've given, but I know that I have never touched this. It's not that I didn't know that justice/mercy/freedom is HUGE in the eyes of God. I just didn't know how or what to say, what to do about it.

27 million people are oppressed (if I remember her facts correctly) worldwide.

How can I do anything that affects so great a problem.

That's what she said I'd say.

As long as I (and you) stick with that attitude, evil will go right on opressing, holding down those under the ugly boot of slavery, robbing innocent children of family, stealing the virtue of children.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

No more.

Today I pledge to do something. I will act in my hometown. I will find ways to meet the needs of those who have no advocate, to speak for those who have no voice. I will learn about practical tangible ways to get involved. I'll teach my students that we have a great responsiblity to care for the widows and orphans, to feed the hungry, to ACT and not just feel sorry for those in peril. I will read stuff from Shane Claiborne and the IJM. Fair Trade coffee? No clothes bought from places utilizing sweatshops? Where does all this lead? There are resources out there like World Vision and Compassion International to help us get involved. Youth Specialties has revamped their 1 Life Revolution (which also kicked my butt at the convention.)

I'm still feeling pretty conflicted, even as I type this. I wonder if it'll make sense when I read it later...

I am not sure what the Lord is calling me to do or be in response to this. I just know that I can't stop thinking about how much I spend on me, how much time I waste entertaining myself, and how gross a consumer I am. When I think about the things I heard this morning, I can't help but be disappointed in myself. And I know that things have got to change.

Enough with the shame and bad feeling.
On to the doing things differently.

Because now I know.

Blogging from Austin, TX--the National Youth Workers' Convention

It's sort of surreal to be typing a few feet away from Marko as he speaks. I read his blog just about every day.

I have not been writing for the past few months, trying to work out some personal stuff and ministry stuff. I don't think that I have many answers yet, but I'm definitely at a good place.

I love the YS conference for a few reasons:

1. I get to attend with a few of my fellow youth pastors from State College (PA), and we get to hang out for a week. These are the people that I get to partner with to see the gospel lived out in our town. I believe that God is moving in our fair city, and that he blesses our UNITY!

2. Thin Spaces at YS--Every year, almost every session is meaningful and spiritual, and God breaks through the day-to-day stuff to touch my heart. The ancient Celts believed that there are thin spaces in our world where the sacred/divine is able to break through into the "normal" life. That's what YS has been for me. I have found myself strangely refreshed in the loudness of David Crowder's (or here)"You are my JOY!", screaming those words to the Lord at the top of my lungs...being affirmed vicariously as the YS staff recognises the sacrifice and commitment of a youth worker who has been taking it on the chops...hearing the stories of other youth workers who have given themselves to the Kingdom, and to students. I wouldn't miss this...

3. Spiritual/Personal/Church health--my state of personal health affects the way I see everything, filters every speaker. There are a lot of youth workers who are struggling in their situations. I have been there, in a church where I didn't like/trust the leadership above me, didn't feel appreciated, supported, or wanted. But I'm not there now, praise God. Our church and our leadership is a blessing, and I would recommend that any youth worker looking for a job be very intentional about know the leadership before taking the plunge. If you love, trust, and respect the leadership, you'll go to the wall for those folks. Being in a good place is absolutely stinkin' incredible.

For the "not my favorite part" of this (or any other) conference: Christian/Youth Min Hero worship...I am part of the crowd that's down front for Crowder's concert. I often try to talk to the presenter of the seminar. But it sure feels a little weird sometimes, to go running up to the speaker at the end of the talk, and I wonder how they feel with lots of people hanging around for a picture, an autograph, a question or whatever. As I write this, Marko is 2 rows in front of me, posed like Captain Morgan (though his nametag says "Captain Flatulent"). Karl took a picture on his phone, but we aren't smart enough to get the pic to my laptop...

More about BBQ and good music to follow, unless it doesn't.

And PSU beat Minnesota in OT while we were in this seminar. Not too shabby.