Enter and Elevate

Being Mean About Vision

2009-01-23T15:14:00.002-06:00

I just finished reading an article that made me really think about the role of a leader. I read these articles all the time and a lot of them are saying the same thing, and therefore, many of them do not floor me the way this one did. It was by Shawn Lovejoy and David Putman and they are pastors at Mountain Lake Church in Georgia, and they have a crazy passion for creative and effective leardership within the church. You can read the article on Catalyst Space.

The part that made me turn over in my heart and mind, was the idea that we, as leaders need to be mean about the vision. Now I work in Student Ministry, and as a Christian leader, we put a high priority on people being "nice," you know the whole "love is kind" thing? But when it comes to vision they said that while remaining a nice person, a good leader doesn't let anyone takeover or reprogram the specific vision that God has given her. That a good leader often has to be fairly forceful in clearly communicating the vision and then ask people to join him. Fairly often we allow people to re-direct our hearts and passions because we are afraid of what they will think, or what they will say, or maybe they will leave our organization. And while it is not intuative, I think that God gets frusturated when we let our vision break down, the vision that He gave us, based on what other people say or think, or wish we would do for them.

We were having a great discussion with our staff the other day over some tough situations that we are facing right now, and this exact idea came up. Someone in the ministry had made it very clear that they were unhappy with how we were running some things, and didn't think that the ideas we had on leadership were very fair. As we were talking and praying about this idea, and the person in this situation, I remembered something that Jesus said. He said "The Son of Man (Jesus) came to seek and to save that which was lost," not find and fix that which had left.

So I don't know what it is in your context, but if its a difficult student, a complaining parent, a boss that doesn't seem to ever have anything nice to say, the reality is, if God has given you a vision, that matches the teachings of Scripture, they may come a time that you will have to choose whether to let people leave, or let people talk because you are doing what God has called you to do, or choose to give in to the fleeting desires of the people God and called you to lead, and in doing so you give them the leadership and you become the follower. So I encourage you, find the freedom in being able to be mean about the vision that God has given you, because the time will come when you will have to choose what you will do, and there will be fallout. But just remember, Jesus often irritated people who wanted Him to do things for them, because He told many of them no, because even though they were nice and good ideas, they did not promote the mission that He was on Earth to do.

Something that I keep on my desk is a quote that Reggie Joiner once told me, 'The parents or people in your world that are hindering you from making the changes that you want to make, are the same ones that will complain in 5 or 10 years when you loose their students because you didnt change your programs to match the vision God gave you." So if you are feeling down, or lost, or stuck, press on because the best leaders are the ones that have the courage to make the hard descisions and choose to do what God calls them to do, even if that means well-meaning church people give them push back.

Creating A High Trust Team Environment

2008-12-18T15:33:00.002-06:00

I have been listening to Andy Stanley's Leadership Podcast and it has been helping me immensely to put important leadership principles into simple words that I can implement. Last week I listened to an Episode called "Trust vs. Suspicion" and it totally wrecked me. In a good way. I think that creating a High Trust Team Environment is one of the highest challenges a leader has on her or his plate because if you have a team you work with people, and they will let you down. And learning how to navigate those situations with finesse and grace can be a make-or-break lesson in the life and legacy of a leader. So anyway here are some of my thoughts I wrote down while I was listening to it:

“I am going to trust you, and I am going to be trustworthy.”

Trustworthiness is not about being flawless, it’s about being approachable and honest.

A trustworthy person addresses the gaps that they have created, either intentionally or unintentionally.

3 Commitments:
- I commit to doing what I say I’ll do, and when I don’t, I’ll tell you (You will not hear it from anyone else, before you hear it from anyone else.)
- I commit to over promise and under deliver, but if it looks like it’s going that direction, I will tell you.
- If you confront me about the gaps I have created, I am going to tell you the truth.

3 Levels of Blame:
- Blame a Person
- Blame Human Nature
- Blame the System

What is the first line of response when someone does something wrong in your culture?

Creating a culture of trust impacts whether the information gets to you quickly and accurately.

When you communicate, “We don’t trust you,” people will live up to that low expectation.

A mistake is not mortal, covering for a mistake may be.

The risk that is taken by owning up to your mistake, is determined by the maturity and security of the senior leader.

Don’t label people’s personalities by their behavior. (Makes an untrustworthy decision... does not make the person untrustworthy)

Don’t micro-manage the process, but do review the product before it goes public.

Bible Journey: Ephesians

2008-12-17T15:21:00.000-06:00

I have always loved this book of the Bible. It is so full of wisdom for leaders. The patterns of Paul of opening with encouragment and the giving correction is such an important thing for me to remember. All too often and I quick to correct and may come across as hard spoken or judgemental, and Paul encouraged, 'those of you who are spiritual, encourage those who fall gently, with humility.' I am also reading Axiom, which is Bill Hybel's new book of leadership proverbs that he has learned over the last 30 years of starting and growing one of the more influential and fastest growing churches in America. The chapter I read a few nights ago was about being careful how you begin and end conversation with your team of leaders. It was so encouraging to see how Paul did that as well in his letters to the church at Ephesus. Even as he challanges them to 'live in the light' and be aware of the battle that is going on all around them for their friends and families, he is never short on words of afirmation and affection. It was inspiring to me that his love for this church in particular was deeply evident in his words and thoughts, and that is something that inspires me to be a better lover of the Church. As frustrating and disappointing that the Church can be, I want to be passionatley in love with her, just as Christ is. In my present context, I all too often focus on producing a great service, or making sure that everything is running smoothly as it should, and I often forget to stop and just be a lover of the Church. To stop and encourage the people that make up the Bride of Jesus. To treat her with respect and dignity as I would another's wife. To focus on people and make the most of the opportunities that I have for relationship. Because that is where the Church is at it's best, and that is where the battle Paul talks about is won, in the space between two voices.

If Starbucks Marketed Like Most Churches...

2008-12-11T15:58:00.001-06:00

I saw this on my friend Mike Lovato's blog and thought it was funny...

http://mikelovato.blogspot.com/

The fun of working as a team!

2008-12-10T15:19:00.000-06:00

We just got out of a great team planning meeting. We discussed our Measurable Goals for the new year. Goals for not just our own personal life, but for the ministry as a whole. As I sat through this meeting and heard all these people that I love share how they want to grow and how they want God to use them to make the ministry even better, I realized that I would never want to do this alone. Their authentic humility, hard work and humor (I just realized that they all start with 'H') just caused me to be super grateful for the team that I have the privilege to be a part of. I have had many conversations with other leaders who are concerned with the problems and impending awkwardness that will inevitably arise when you work with your friends, but it is moments like these that cause me to want it no other way. I am so thankful to God for the joy we get to share together as we chase after the next generation with His love.

Bible Journey: Galatians

2008-12-07T15:38:00.000-06:00

For the last 4 weeks of the year I am trying to make a concerted effort to spend time in God's word everyday for 4 weeks straight. This first week I have been reading the Book of Galatians each day and I have been floored the insight that Paul offers to the people in that church that is so important to my season of ministry right now. We are calling this season the "yard work season" as we are pulling weeds and planting seeds. The church of Galatia needed to be reminded that the truth of the gospel was to set us free and not to enslave us, but to lead to towards Jesus and toward living out His love towards others. As Paul struggled with the people being quick to cause division and segregate themselves off into groups, I was reminded of the relevance of the Scriptures. As a Student's Pastor, high school students are quick to segregate and define themselves at odds with each other, and I was reminded that "in Christ there is neither slave, nor free, male or female." I yearn to grow to be like Paul, as one who can challenge people to seek the gospel of Christ alone, and not just whatever anyone says, and to seek the approval only of God, and not seek the approval of others which will distract me from the mission that God has placed be fore me. Next week its on the Ephesians...

ALERT THE MEDIA!

2008-12-02T16:41:00.002-06:00

ALERT THE MEDIA! I learned a leadership lesson from President Bush! (I know!)

I was watching some quick video clips from the World AIDS Day, where Rick Warren interviewed President Bush on the progress of the AIDS initiative. President Bush responded with a comment about the importance of setting "measurable goals." I think that one of the best legacies that he will leave as a President is the action taken to do good in regards to the AIDS Pandemic, not only in Sub-Saharan Africa, but around the world.

As I watched this video I also was struck with the importance of what he said. "Lives need to be saved, so we need to be setting measurable goals... because we are concerned about actually doing something." As important of an issue as the AIDS Pandemic is, this advice is really applicable to all leaders in all leadership venues. The importance of setting measurable goals helps you not only see what is working and what isn't, it also helps create momentum when you can point to something that is working and celebrate that victory.

As I consider how this applies to our own ministry, what measurable goals are we setting in our strategic plan that we hope to accomplish in the future. What do we want to see happen with God help in the next week, the next 2 months or by the end of 2009?

A lot of people talk about how important it is to set goals, and because we do not want to step on other people's toes we, in church world, have become complacent with fluffy, non-commital goals that have no measurable qualities. They is nothing that we can use to assess if the goal was accomplished or what we could do differently.

For example, a very noble, yet dangerously flawed goal I hear a lot is, 'I want to grow closer to God this year.' or 'I want our church to become closer this year, or care more.' While these are noble, and even Godly desires, the goals are cut short because they haven't answered the questions, "What does 'closer' mean?"

As we set goals for our own personal lives, our ministries, and our relationship with God and people, we need to remember to build measurable components into our goals so that be can know whether those goals have been accomplished. It is much scarier at first because it makes the goal much more real, but it also makes it much more realizable.

I know we will be discussing this in our Student Ministries Team Meeting tomorrow. What measurable goals are you setting in your ministry?

Great Staff Meeting...

2008-12-02T11:01:00.000-06:00

We had our December All Staff Meeting this morning at our Lead Pastor's house. As Ministry Team Leaders, Katie and I got to share about people we are thankful for and dump some love on members of our team for all the great work they have done. Even though I know it's cliche', I love the holidays because it makes me force myself to be reminded of how much I love the people that I work with. I am so thankful for the Student Ministries Team and how God is using each of them to challenge and inspire me. I love being able to express it to them so that they know the immense difference they are making in eternity. Love you guys and gals!

Interesting Article...

2008-12-01T15:00:00.002-06:00

I read this article this morning about how young adults are rapidly leaving the church once they graduate high school. I know... not a shockingly-new-breaking-news-get-off-your-butt-and-make-some-coffee-cuz-this-is-going-to-change-everything sort of article because many of us have been reading things like that since before I was born. This one was different though, it marked that the trend of 18 year olds taking a break from church, and then displaying a slight return around age 30, was due, according to the author of the study Rodney Stark of Baylor University, to a single factor... They wanted to sleep in! Beyond this, the article stated that it was not something to worry about, but that this happens "in every generation," and that it is something to accept, not something to solve.

I literally laughed out loud (that's LOL for you texters) when I read this article. What this shows me is that most high school ministries are creating a consumer culture so early in the hearts and minds of students that when they are no longer catered to, which is after they graduate in most churches, that sleeping in is more exciting that having a weekly encounter with the God of the universe and His representatives on earth, the church. This is a tragic statement. Even more tragic is the complacency in which it is stated. As a Student's Pastor myself, this scares and bothers me to the core of who I am. While I care deeply about students placing their faith in Jesus Christ for their eternal security, I think that we miss the heart of God if that is all we are about! Jesus said, "I came so that you can have the fullest life possible." I know that for some students, attending church doesn't fit into their definition of the fullest life possible. We need to step up our game and begin to create environments that are irresistible to people so that we present God well and help keep His word to people.

until next time...

I don't know if this is that important...

2008-11-06T14:06:00.002-06:00

"I don't know if this is really that important..." That is the line that one of our students said to me last weekend. We are in the middle of this new series called "inVERTED" where we are discussing the hard saying of Jesus when He challenges His followers to live in a different reality that the world around us. This past weekend, we really dug into the concept of "loving our enemies" and it got heavy. It was an incredible night where we challenged the students to be models of Jesus' love by being kind to those people that have hurt them. It was one of those messages that even though I was giving it, it was wrecking me and my persepective of God and others. The realization that we should love our enemies is soley based on a reflection of Jesus love for us while we were his enemies due to our choices to sin and run away from Him. We are not to love to prove something, to gain something, or to fix something in someone else's life, but only because we are to reflect and mimic our faithful Savior, who never lets go of us, even when we let go of Him.

So when she said that that challange of Jesus didn't have a lot of relevance to her life, it really bothered me. I brought to my mind the question of how far we still have to go, and no matter how great of a job we think we are doing, we must continue to push and challenge student's to have a correct view of God and alsoa correct view of themselves in light of God's greatness. It's very easy to have a lot of student's come to an event, however its much harder to challenge those students to live in a way that follows Christ. We have a unique responsibility as youth workers to not be an activity center, not the YMCA and not just a social club. We are called to help student's become followers of Christ and bring His Kingdom to their campus and their world. And because of that, to stand out on their campus, student's need to learn to love their enemies. Not to quote spiritual messages from the Dark Knight, but 'the night is darkest just before the dawn,' so we must press on, through the challenges, through the student's reactions that 'this isn;t really that important' and love them enough to walk with them as they process the hard sayings of Jesus. We cannot back down from who Jesus calls us all to be, but we MUST be like Him, by loving those students who are hard to love, and walking with those students who aren't getting it long enough to help them discover God's incredible love for them that will transform their lives and attitudes!

Am I getting through?

2007-04-15T16:48:00.000-05:00

I saw this article in the Washington Post, that details an experiment that I think has a lot of connections to ministry... The Post asked Joshua Bell, a Grammy award-winning violinist to play 6 classical pieces at a crowded metro stop during the busy morning commute. Now, this guy has played with incredible symphonies and recorded numerous albums making music on his violin. This isn't just some lame guy that can barley make music to to scrounge up enough change to buy a Big Mac, this guy has talent that goes beyond many people's imagination. But more amazing than his talent, is the fact that as he played for almost an hour, as thousands of people crossed his paths, no one stopped to listen, and few even tossed in a few coins.

As I read this story I thought about how we as pastors choose to communicate... The context of our message, as it relates to our audience, is the most important thing we focus on. If Joshua Bell was playing his violin in the San Fransisco Grand Symphony or at Julliard, he most likely would have received a standing ovation and huge applause. But instead he was pasted by by the hundreds...

Jesus modeled this to us, but for some reason, we have gotten lost of our communication and leadership model since the days of Jesus. Jesus was an incarnational teacher. Think about it, Jesus was God, and as such he had most likely more knowledge and wisdom than anyone out there today, although John MacArthur might dispute that, and he didnt use big SAT words and talk about deep theological concepts than made no impact int he life of those listening. Instead he talked about farming, fishing, and gathering water to teach eternal lessons, by putting them in the context of earthy situations. How did we get so lost from Jesus' mission, by trying to go "deep," and holding that value as more important that doing whatever it takes to connect the message to our audience and see lives changed!! Jesus broke it down for his listeners, and if it is good enough for Jesus...

If the nation's best violinists can play his best, deepest, most difficult pieces and not be heard, why are we wasting our time explaining deep doctrinal differences between pre-trib and post-trib and the eschatelogical implications of the Hebrew word imus, when people are dying without God and worse, living without hope and love for their friends. Without context, communicating the idea in an easily understood and easily applicable fashion, maybe we should pack up like Joshua Bell packed up his violin.

Bell explained, "I'm surprised at the number of people who don't pay attention at all, as if I'm invisible. Because you know what? I'm makin' a lot of noise!" Often we say, or at least think, if I just get louder, they will get it.... this is especially true for those of us who are Jr. High pastors, but maybe we need to work at making th idea more compelling... more inspiring... more (dare I say it.. yeah I will) entertaining! Jesus captivated thousands by speaking God's truth in a way that they could understand. By doing that he was communicating that God is not trying to be above or out of reach of anyone. Maybe we need to stop listening to our critics, who will always complain about not teaching deep enough; because when we discuss the "shallow," practical stuff, it makes them feel guilty for treating their family like crap or for being fully focused on their own self-promotion, and follow the model of our Savior and do wahtever it takes to reach those people who are busy and passing by at the speed of life. We need to create something so captivating that they will stop to listen...

beyond.ordinary

2007-04-11T16:20:00.000-05:00

I am so excited about this! It will be so amazing to see what God does the next nine week! Check it out:

This weekend we start our new series: Beyond.Ordinary...

Ever feel like you are just not good enough..? Have you ever said, "Well if I just had his talent, I could do that." or "Well if I was as smart and pretty as her, then that would be easy!"? God wants us to learn He designed us to be just who we are, but we can learn from the mistakes of others in order to grow into the people God dreams for us to become. Who you are is not who you have to be forever! What makes the Bible different from any other religious book, is that it shows the mistakes and flaws of its heroes! Most prophets and teachers from other religions are portrayed as perfect and almost superhuman... but the Bible shows us that God uses people who are very human. Some of the greatest and most recognized names in the Bible are ones that made huge mistakes and messed up, just like us. So for the next 9 weeks we will be looking at what we can learn from some of these Bible characters. Extraordinary lessons from ordinary people!

April 15th – Moses (Extraordinary Leadership)
April 22nd – David (Extraordinary Effort)
April 29th – Esther (Extraordinary Courage)
May 6th – Job (Extraordinary Patience)
May 13th – Jonah (Extraordinary Misunderstanding)
May 20th – Rahab (Extraordinary Risk)
May 27th – Mary (Extraordinary Love)
June 3rd – Peter (Extraordinary Faith)

Also... to help the students interact with the material, we are creating MySpace pages for every single one of these characters! Should be interesting to see how it works as we use something they already like to help them dig deeper into God's Word. Hopefully it will be successful, but either way it'll be fun... Look for them, new each week! It's hilarious...

http://www.myspace.com/mosesfromthebible

This Sucks...

2007-04-11T11:58:00.000-05:00

So Katie and I woke up this morning (being April 11th) and it was SNOWING!! This is ridiculous!
Iowa weather is so weird. It was like 80 degrees only like a week ago. Its all slushy and gross! O well, the weather people say that this should be the last of it and Spring will be here again, and for good, by Friday. Let's pray they are right...

Easter is here!

2007-04-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

This Easter we re-launched our Ankeny Student Ministry! It was an exciting morning. We re-designed our set, which included a sweet LCD screen, and new seats and lights to make the Theater setting more comfortable and inviting for Junior Highers. It was really fun to see the student enjoy the second campus and see how the student responded to their experience at the new campus. We brought about 10 students from the Waukee campus in order to help bolster attendance at the new campus so that new students would feel that they were part of something exciting and would return the next week, rather than have a continuous run through of 3-5 new people each week, with few returners do to the awkwardly low attendance. Hopefully this will pan out to be a good decision. Look forward to what God will do through our volunteers and staff for the Ankeny campus!

It was a great Easter at Point of Grace, and overall we hit almost 3000 people at both campuses. That's the highest attendance we have ever had! We also had almost 100 people accept Christ, from what I heard. Lots of follow up work to do, but a fantastic weekend, with lots of excitement and a good response to the gospel. Happy Easter!

Easter is here!

2007-04-10T00:02:00.000-05:00

KUTLESS CONCERT

2007-03-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

This past Thursday we had an amazing concert here at Point of Grace! We had over 500 people attend the KUTLESS "Hearts of the Innocent" Tour. The lighting was incredible, the sound was UNBELIEVABLE loud, (I just heard, and I realized how old I sound) and everybody had a great time! We had a few setbacks with someone going overboard on usage of the hazer, but it aint a party unless the Fire Department shows up! It was really an amazing night! I was so tired afterwards that I think I slept for like 18 hours straight or something like that. The concert was with Kutless, Stellar Kart and Ever Stays Red.

They coolest thing about it all was that Ever Stays Red stuck around all weekend and we got to hang with them and they met our staff and even played for all three of our Student services this weekend! They are such an amazing group of people, both musically and spiritually. Their heart for Jesus and reaching student through good music is amazing and it was so much fun to have them be a part of our weekend experiences. The students totally went crazy when they walked into the Student Zone and saw the setup! They had three moving screens with video for all of their songs and our sound guys didnt have to do anything, Powerpoint or anything! It was amazing seeing our students worship in a new way like never before. Andy Stanley says that "anything new, by nature of new, will create momentum," and this weekend it sure did! It was so awesome to see the band really lead our students in worship. They are so humble and generous to stay and play for free, just because they love Jesus and love playing music! You have to check them out! Hear their music on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/everstaysred

If you want a band that rocks and loves Jesus and humble serve Him, book Ever Stays Red for your next youth event! They are stinking amazing! Lets promote bands that know the real reason for playing music! This band is the real deal. They were total servants and were such a blast to have be a part of our weekend experiences! Rock On!

New Hillsong Song - Solution

2007-03-01T11:44:00.000-06:00

Check out the newly re-released Hillsong Myspace page for their newest tune... "Solution" It rocks!

I can't wait for the I HEART REVOLUTION DVD. Just a quick tip... ;)

A New Thing I'm Learning...

2007-01-22T01:30:00.000-06:00

As a new pastor, running my own Student Ministry for the first time, I am becoming privey to all those fun little nuggets that the leader has to deal with. These are the things that only the lead guy or girl usually experiences and the rest of us wonder why they think ministry is so hard...

Well the newest thing that I am trying to learn about, and become effective in, is dealing with the issue of how to implement parents into the ministry. I was talking with Kurt Brodbeck, the Junior High Pastor from Northview Christian Life Church, and Kurt Johnston from Saddleback Church (let me just press pause here and bring your attention to the fact that three Kurts... all spelling thier name correctly were talking about youth ministry, THAT DOESNT HAPPEN OFTEN!!) Anyways, we were discussion how to get better at ministering to parents, those that are disconnected and those that you get the feeling want to be TOO connected...

I saw this in Kurt Johnston blog and thought it was very insightful... If you need some advice on dealing with parents give it a read:

The Parent Puzzle
1 Published Thursday, January 18, 2007 by Kurt Johnston.

Utilizing parents in your middle school ministry can be a puzzle. So many pieces need to fit in place: Where do they serve? Do we let them minister alongside their kids? What if their child doesn't want them there? What if their child clings to them?

IMHO, developing a healthy team of parents to serve on your ministry team requires next-level leadership; leadership that takes a lot of work...leadership that lots of youth pastors are unwilling, or unable, to rise to. As a result, it seems like way too many junior high ministries are missing out on a gold mine of potential.

Here are a few thoughts on how to make the most of the parent puzzle:

1) Talk to the student first. How does he/she feel about mom or dad joining your volunteer team? How (or if) you plug the parent into your ministry should usually reflect what you hear from their child.

2) View every parent as a 'case-by-case' situation. I would avoid rules such as "no parent can be the leader of his son's small group" or "Parents are never allowed to sit next to their own kid" etc. Every parent/child relationship is different and no 'rule' applies well to them all.

3) Make sure parents want to minister to all the students in your group, not just their kid. For most, a primary motive will be to spend time with their child, but if they can't give the other students in your ministry equal time then joining your team probably isn't a good idea.

4) If you aren't the parent of a junior higher, you don't know squat! You may not like hearing that, but that's what the parents of your kids are thinking about you. Instead of working hard to prove them wrong, I suggest you admit it and do the hard work of enlisting lots of parents to join your team. I think you'll be glad you did.

The Biology of Cold (aka Scrapeing Ice Before I Drive Is Fun!)

2007-01-16T11:18:00.000-06:00

Well is the Weather Chanel's thermometer is correct... it's -5 degrees out right now! This is the coldest I have ever been, LITERALLY!! Winter has finally arrived and with fury! It snowed all day today and all day yesterday, so Katie and I enjoyed a relaxing day off being cooped up in our apartment. As cold as it is, I still am enjoying the life in the Midwest. The changing of the seasons is super fun and Katie and I had a good snowball fight yesterday! She pushed my face into a big pile of snow and ice... I am so lucky that my wife can kick the crap out of me! I still catch myself thinking that its crazy to see snow when I look outside, but I guess I will get used to that. For now its novel and fun. Hopefully it wont wear out on us. Anyways, for those of you complaining about it being cold in California at 30 degrees, feel free to charge out here and experience some negative numbers! Bundle up! Until next time...

I'm Confused...

2007-01-14T23:31:00.000-06:00

Well if you saw the game today, you know what I am feeling!! If you know me at all, you know that the New England Patriots have been my all time favorite team since I was like 8, which was before they were any good! And as I celebrated them being the "Team of the Decade" after winning 3 Super Bowls in the last 5 years, I was confusingly crushed to see them beat the San Diego Chargers. I not a normal home town favorite kind of fan, but for some reason, maybe because my wife is from San Diego, and one of her best friends is a Charger Girl, I found myself taking a liking to the Bolts this season. (It didnt hurt that they had the best record in the NFL!) I really tried not to be a fair weather fan, but it was hard not to root for them when it felt like they were overcoming all odds to win!

Then Sunday happened, and while the Charger were not totally outplayed, it was so sad to see them loose it for themselves at home, when they were my favored team to win the Super Bowl this year. It was an absolutely horrible game, on both sides. The first half Tom Brady could get the Pats past the 30 yard line, and the Chargers kept dropping the ball and letting their emotions get the best of them. Even with LT, the rest of the Charger dug themselves into a deep enough hole that it was difficult to recover. Also pray for the kicker... I dont know how to spell his name... I hope he doesn't blame himself. It hurt to see the Patriots get the best of the Charger players. But now that my grieving period is over, I am pulling for my Boston Boys again to go all the way. They will need to step it up big time if they hope to beat the Colts this weekend, which has enjoyable irony with the Colts signing Vinatieri, filling the only real hole in their offense. However, the Patriots defense should hopefully hold the Colts back enough so that Adam is the only one scoring. If they can do that then they should be able to win. Also it would be nice for the Saints to beat the Bears (sorry to all my Midwest friends, I know what I just hoped for is heresy and I will burn forever in Hell for it, but oh well...) because it would be nice for the Saints to have a cool comeback season after Katrina last year... and because they would be easier to beat than Chicago. I totally respect Urlacher, but lets be honest... the man is scary! Anyway my predictions are as follows:

Bears over Saints 35 - 21
Patriots over Colts 21 - 14

Super Bowl:
Bears over Patriots 31 - 28

But I'm pulling for my boys all the way!!

Baggage: Checked!

2007-01-10T14:07:00.000-06:00

This weekend was an amazing experience! Not just were we so excited to see our students again after a long absence of vacation and traveling, but we are both so excited about our new series: "Baggage Check." This week we talked about denial and how God wants us to be honest with Him about everything in our life, not just the good stuff, but the messy, hard and hurtful stuff as well, because He can handle our feelings and cares for us. During the message we asked the students to write done one thing in their life that they felt wasn't fair or that was hurtful, on a piece of paper that we gave them and then we asked them if they wanted to to, to drop the paper into the suitcase on stage as a symbol that they were giving God a chance to change them, and they way they feel about that one thing. This response was sparked by Romans 12:2 were God promises to change us from the inside out, by adjusting the way that we think. We had students give up their struggle with drugs, the difficult homelife, their anger towards an abandonded father, admitting they have eating disorder or are dealing with pornography. It was an amazingly powerful weekend. If you wouldn't mind, stop right now as you read this and pray for our students. We are praying so hard that God would give them the courage and strength to take the next steps after this weekend. The battle is just beginning and it is far from over. It will not be easy but our God is powerful and this weekend was a big moment. God is good! It was so exciting to see Him move, as so many students responded! I cant wait for next weekend!

It's a New Year!

2007-01-05T13:25:00.000-06:00

Well Katie and I are back in beautiful, and-not-yet-feeling-like-winter-even-though-it's-January, Iowa after a fantastic and enjoyable vacation back to Southern California. We had 11 days to see family, friends, In-n-Out and the beach, which was very sweet. But like many of us, we celebrated New Years in San Diego and got to ring in a fresh start that we have built into our calendar. And I am not a big resolution making person, however this year, as my first year as a full-time student's pastor, I really wantt o grow in some areas this year and develop and improve in some areas. So (drum roll please), here are my top 5 goals for this year:

#5 - Manage My Time More Effectively

I know that many of us say this and we all know that youth ministry is often overwhelming and that there is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done, so while I am at work, i want to be more effective at using my time well. To focus on what really matters, and work hard at making the most of the day, so that I can rest and relax and enjoy my days of more. I want to give God my best this year, in how I use my time.

#4 - To Be A Better Leader

I really want to work hard on leading better this year, to lead my team, lead this ministry and lead the students towards an intense love affair with God. I want to be an example of authenticity and integrity. I want to be a trustworthy leader and a leader who leads a team to risk BIG for the Kingdom of God. I never want to settle in how we are leading this ministry for students, but if we want this ministry to grow, then we have to be growing as leaders, and I want to be a great model of that. Solomon tells us in Proverbs to pursue wisdom, and he was the wisest man who ever lived... so how much more do I need to pursue wisdom in order to lead well. I want to be the kind of leader that the members of my team, and our volunteers, and our students know that I have their back no matter what, and that I will be the first on and the last one off the field. I want to lead Big!

#3 - Become a Better Communicator

I want to consistently push myself to be clearer, more creative and more compelling of a communicator of God's truth to our students. I want to listen to other communicators that are making it happen in their churches, businesses or organizations and learn from them. I want to learn from those who are the best in their field. We will start recording our messages this weekend, and I am going to listen to all the messages that we teach our students so that I can improve how we communicate the most important message in the universe. I want to teach the students HOW to use the Bible to change their lives. The Bible says that it is useful for "everything in life and how to live it the way God wants us to," and I want to be successful at showing students how what God says APPLIES to their lives and middle school and high school students today in the 21st century. So you can bet that I will be watching and listening to a lot of Andy Stanley and Perry Noble and others this year...

#2 - Continue To Be Creative in How We Do Student Ministry

The church is to be the most creative, exciting and innovative place on the planet because we have the Spirit of God, the ultimate creative being, living inside of us and empowering us to reach His lost children with the message of His love! I want to push myself to try new things and dream big and inspire others to live out the dreams that God has placed in their hearts and minds. I never want to be someone who stifles a dream that furthers the Kingdom of God and the mission of our church! I am so excited for this next year because we already have some really crazy things planned, and we are just getting started! It will be rad to see what God has in store for us as we are open to His wind moving through us. I want people to be consistently saying, "Wow, I never knew you could do that in church!" Its gonna be great!

#1 - Love, Adore, Discover and Serve Katie Better Than Ever Before!

I have the best wife in the world. She is my best friend, she makes me laugh, she is an incredible lover of students and family and she is super sexy! I want this to be the best year of our lives! I want to adore her and serve her and learn to lay aside what I want to make her happy. I feel that I have always, but I want to rediscover what it means to "love her like Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for her." This is my ultimate goal, and I want to make sure that she never questions that she is my first priority. I want to make sure I never put our work or our ministry before her, which is a tendency that we all struggle with. She is so amazing and I want to make sure she feels that way.

So what do you think? Good list huh! Anyways, now we are back so look for more posts soon. I am so excited for this weekend at church! We are starting our new series, called "Baggage Check" and it's going to be amazing!

The Pursuit of Happyness

2006-12-20T15:35:00.000-06:00

Last night Katie and I went to go see the new Will Smith (and Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" and it was absolutely unbelievable! It has definitely made my list of top 5 movies of the year! It is an impossibly inspiring story of a dad (Will Smith) who goes to unbelievably great lengths to make a life for his son. Jaden (who's character, in real life and the movie of being Will's son added depth and obvious believability to the role) is the encapsulation of "happyness." This movie moved me so deeply that I was in tears at the end. While parts were somewhat predictable, it grabbed a hold of my gut and wouldn't let go. It gave me such a strong sense of perspective of how blessed I am, not only with my beautiful loving wife, and my family, but even the material possessions that I take for granted. This movie made me rethink my priorities.

I think that this movie paints the best picture of the false promises of the world, "Get rich quick" schemes and the ideal that having it all will make you happy, and that there are times when "happyness" must be gained through the struggle and the toil it takes to make something out of whatever situation it is that you find yourself in. In our youth minsitry we are taking a break for the holidays, as Katie and I go back to our families in California (we are so stoked!) but after we get back we are jumping into a new series called "Baggage Check." The main thrust in this series is that we all have junk in our lives and we need to be honest about it with each other so that God can heal us. But an equally important idea that I hope will be communicated in that series will be that sometimes we want the reward without the work, and yet the scriptures are clear that God uses the diffucult times in our lives to make us stronger. As Christians, many of us, myself included sometimes, want to grow, but dont want to go throught the painful circumstances that we know are required for us to do so. This is the premise of this film. This idea is what makes it so extraordinary. The story of overcoming all obsticles in the pursuit of what will make us all most happy: not money, position or power, that not really what will satisfy. In "The Pursuit of Happyness" what satisfies, what is worth struggling and work and sacrificing for are the ingredients of true "Happyness":
Love... Hope... Purpose... Dreams...

You Won't Believe This...

2006-12-16T15:52:00.000-06:00

I saw this on my buddy Josh Treece's blog. I guess it just goes to show that a little creativity can go a long way to overcome obstacles. Its its just really freaking awesome! Rock On!!

Tree Lighting and Ice Skating!

2006-12-16T01:45:00.001-06:00

Well even though its only 50 degrees in Iowa, it is still December, and so that means CHRISTMAS!!! We got our first tree and Katie and I helped decorate it and light it up! (Mostly Katie did, thats why it looks so good, but I was a good encourager.) Then on Tuesday we went ice skating at the new outdoor ice rink, right on the river in downtown Des Moines. It was fantastic. So much fun being outdoors with scarves on and skating on ice, outside! That was a first for both of us. Here are some pictures so you can feel like you were there too...

GO BOLTS!

2006-12-16T01:35:00.000-06:00

I dont know if you saw it, but LT is now the new record holder for the most touchdowns in a single season! I also would like to point out that as soon as we leave Southern California, the Chargers win the DIVISION! As cool as it is, I just wish we could be there. Oh well, it still was a great game on Sunday, and we are praying for a SuperBowl appearance/victory. So if you love Jesus, you should want the Chargers to win too...

My Mouth is Watering...

2006-12-08T09:40:00.000-06:00

I just saw this on YouTube... I am seriously so excited for the new season of 24! I was telling my friend Mike Motia about the tragedy that I hope I do not have to experience. Our cable television provider is called Mediacom, and they apparently are having a dispute with FOX, and are planning on canceling FOX programming soon. So far will still have Fox, but if it gets canceled before January, I will be very pissed... Anyway, thought this would be fun for you to see as well. (Caution its very long, so don't ruin it for yourself Motia... I know how you are!)

It Seems Like even Yahoo is Fallible...

2006-12-08T09:07:00.000-06:00

Tony Morgan wrote a great review on the leadership struggles that the New York Times discovered that Yahoo has dealt with in the past year. Thought it might be interesting. I know I want to figure out how to master these areas with my team. Interesting reading:

Leadership Lessons from Yahoo

The New York Times reported today on an organizational restructuring at Yahoo. This follows on the heels of lots of criticism about the company's current operations including an internal memo from Brad Garlinghouse, a Yahoo senior vice president, that was published by the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago. (Thank Sam at Decker Marketing for the lead.) The memo is enlightening because it gives us a rare glimpse into one of the fastest growing companies. Garlinghouse revealed some startling insights from which every leader in a fast growing organization should learn.

Here are some of the current challenges at Yahoo that Garlinghouse identified:

Lack of Focus -- "We lack a focused, cohesive vision for our company. We want to do everything and be everything -- to everyone. We've known this for years, talk about it incessantly, but do nothing to fundamentally address it...I've heard our strategy described as spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular."
Misalignment with Vision -- "We are separated into silos that far too frequently don't talk to each other. And when we do talk, it isn't to collaborate on a clearly focused strategy, but rather to argue and fight about ownership, strategies and tactics."
Relying on Outside Hires -- "Our inclination and proclivity to repeatedly hire leaders from outside the company results in disparate visions of what winning looks like."
No Defined Ownership -- "There are so many people in charge (or believe that they are in charge) that it's not clear if anyone is in charge. This forces decisions to be pushed up -- rather than down."
Indecisiveness -- "Without a clear and focused vision, and without complete clarity of ownership, we lack a macro perspective to guide our decisions and visibility into who should make those decisions. We are repeatedly stymied by challenging and hairy decisions. We are held hostage by our analysis paralysis."
Poor Accountability for Performance -- "Far too many employees are 'phoning' it in, lacking the passion and commitment to be a part of the solution. We sit idly by while -- at all levels -- employees are enabled to 'hang around'... Weak performers that have been around for years are rewarded. And many of our top performers aren't adequately recognized for their efforts."

Here's what Garlinghouse suggested has happened because of these challenges: "As a result, the employees that we really need to stay (leaders, risk-takers, innovators, passionate) become discouraged and leave. Unfortunately many who opt to stay are not the ones who will lead us through the dramatic change that is needed."

What's astonishing when you read this is that Yahoo is one of the leading Internet companies in the world. The company is only 12 years old. If these types of challenges can rock a company like Yahoo, it makes me wonder how many other organizations on a fast-growth track are facing similar issues. And, can some of these lessons benefit our ministry organizations?

I believe they can. In fact, I'm pretty sure Tim and I have written at least one Simply Strategic chapter on each of the challenges listed above. I wonder if anyone can name at least one book title and chapter number for each of the six challenges Yahoo is facing. If so, you may have an employment opportunity at Yahoo.

Baptism Fun...

2006-12-07T10:16:00.000-06:00

Last night we had the privilege of baptizing 10 students at our First Wednesday Service. It was a Student Ministry night, with the student ministry band leading worship (I got to bang on the drums) and will a majority of the baptisms being students. I think it was a good thing for the church to see that Student Ministries is changing lives, and not just playing XBOX. Lol. Anyways I was looking for baptism stuff and I found this clip. Thought it would be good for a laugh. Thank goodness ours didn't go like this....

Give it up for cannonballs into baptismals...

Book Challange...

2006-12-04T09:45:00.000-06:00

I just read this on Mark O's blog...

The rules are:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

So here is goes:

The book is: "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell
"But Sesame Street just somehow never took that idea (his Stickiness Factor...check it out) and ran with it. They knew that kids did this some of the time, but they never tried to build a show around that idea. Nickelodeon did some pilot shows before Blue's Clues where kids would be explicitly asked to participate, and lo and behold, there was a lot of evidence that they would. So, putting these ideas together, that kids are interested in being intellectually active while they watch TV, and given the opportunity they'll be behaviorally active, that created the philosophy for Blue's Clues."

I don't know if that makes any sense, but "The Tipping Point" is a great book. I higly recommend it!

Kurt

I'm Thankful...

2006-11-23T22:43:00.000-06:00

I love Thanksgiving! The food, the football, the anticipation of shopping, the rapid weight gain...

I just wanted to write about the things that I am thankful for...

Food... I love Katie's cooking! And not only I am thankful that the food I eat is tasty, but also knowing that their are needy families that cant afford food, this Thanksgiving.
Family... This is my first Thanksgiving with my beautiful new bride, Katie and as we become a new family, we are growing together and making new memories as a couple, but also are so thankful for our families and miss them back in California.
Point of Grace... I am so thankful to work at a Church that gives me the freedom to do what I love and bring the reality of God to students in a fun, creative and relevant way.
Football... Go Patriots (big game Sunday) and Chargers (great game!) and i love watching the cowboys loose.

Just some things I am thankful for.

Number 1!

2006-11-16T16:55:00.000-06:00

When I googled "enter and elevate" this was the first website listed. I don't know why, but I found it kinda surprising. Maybe I am stupid... or popular... or stupid...

God is Moving!

2006-11-16T16:37:00.000-06:00

Wow this past weekend we did something that was new for us since we have been here at Point of Grace! We are in the middle of our 6-week super series called "Life 360" and this past weekend's message was called "Broadband Beliefs" and it was all about Jesus' passion for us. At the end of the service we did a quasi-alter call after playing "Mighty to Save" and asked students to stand or raise their hand if they needed a fresh start with God. WE HAD TWELVE STUDENTS START NEW LIFE WITH JESUS ON SUNDAY! That is so stinking amazing! God is moving and it is so exciting to be a part of it! I am always amazed at how God fills in when you take a risk on Him, and I am also consistently amazed at how people respond and how they are drawn to Jesus, when the message is clear and understandable! When people tell me that Jesus is not interesting to students, I am shocked! Jesus is the most captivating individual who ever lived, and the issue is with the communicator when people don't respond. We must put int he extra time and effort to make the message clear, compelling and understandable. Jesus will do the rest! Anyways, work hard at making the service and message clear and people will come running to Jesus, because he is captivating and we all understand our need for a Savior at some level and point in our lives! As one of my man crushes, Andy Stanley, always says, "Do everything you can, and then trust God to take care of the rest."

That's all for now. God is on the move in Iowa....

Pray for me...

2006-11-08T12:55:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, on the brink of the political season, their came news of a devastating fall for a HUGE leader in the Evangelical movement. I am referring to the Ted Haggard situation, and while its is so frustrating to see another leader fall and bring down the name of Christ, I am convicted of all of our need for the grace of God. I am saddened and encouraged through this, knowing that we all have the capacity to blow it, but also to bring our integrity and commitment to our churches, our spouses and our calling, to a new level. Mark Batterson wrote a fantastic response to this situation on his blog, and I thought I would pass it on to you. But read this with this prayer in mind: Protect your integrity! Do everything that you can to lead well and lead strong. We all will fail, but we must honor God with our lives, personal and public. Andy Stanley talked to the leaders at Catalyst last year about how the "Big Fall" of leaders always occurs after multiple, possibly hundreds of smaller, less public, but equally important decisions to preserve integrity. Here is Mark Batterson's post:

Know Your Tendency

Been reflecting a lot on the Ted Haggard situation. Very sobering. Obviously, a lot of new information has come out since my last post on it along with a long string of comments.

I still stand by my post. When something like this happens we have to look in the mirror. We ought to thank God for his grace. It is a reminder of just how human all of us are. There is a saint in every sinner and a sinner in every saint. And we ought to pray about it more than we talk about it.

I want to add an observation to the mix: know your tendency.

It's been interesting to see and hear the variety of responses to the situation. And it is a reminder, once again, of one of my theological linchpins. Job 11:6 says, "True wisdom has two sides." In other words, truth is found in the tension of opposites. Where there is no tension there is no truth.

So here is what I mean by know your tendency.

John 1:14 says that Jesus was full of grace and truth.

Grace means I'll love you no matter what.
Truth means I'll be honest with you no matter.

Jesus was the perfect combination of both. Unfotunately, most of us aren't :)

So here is my question: are you more grace-oriented or truth-oriented? Where do you fall on the grace-truth spectrum? I think it is important to know your tendency because it will dictate how you to respond to situations like this. And the truth is: one without the other doesn't cut it.

Grace without truth is Christianity without a backbone.
Truth without grace is Christianity without a heart.

Think of it this way.

Salt is a combination of two elements--sodium and chlorine. By itself, sodium is a unstable metal that is highly flamable. By itself, chlorine is a deadly poisonous gas. Combine them and you get a useful food staple known as sodium chloride or salt--the only family of rocks eaten by humans.

By themselves, grace and truth are dangerous. Put them together together and they are a power moral persavative.

So my advice is this: know your tendency!

If Ted Haggard genuinely repents then I don't have a single doubt that God will completely forgive him. Who am I not to? The way we treat those who have fallen is sometimes heartless! We shouldn't put anyone on a pedestal before they fall and we shouldn't throw them under the church bus when they do.

Now let me flip the grace/truth coin.

This isn't a time for us to be politically correct. The world is repulsed by that. So am I. We need to fess up when we mess up. We need to tell the truth, take it on the chin, and let the chips fall where they may. Lies were told. Sins committed. Lots of people were hurt. And leaders are called to live by a higher standard. The more authority the more accountability.

Humbling and sobering. That's what this situation is. Here is my biblical prescription: read Psalm 51. It is David's confession after a very high-profile moral failure. That is my prayer for Ted Haggard. That is my prayer for myself. That is my prayer for you.

All I know is this: I am challenged to guard my own heart.

Good stuff Mark! Pray for each other that we can remain leaders that take integrity seriously and are passionate about living lives that make much of God so that God can take our churches where they need to go. Just some thoughts...

"Short Film is the NEW Teaching Pastor"

2006-10-30T17:12:00.000-06:00

I will definitely be giving this article to my team, and if you are a multisite Student Ministry, it might be helpful for you as well. It is an article from Shawn Williams blog. He is the Student Ministries director for Community Christian Church, which has eight locations in the Chicago area. I found it super helpful and exciting. Let me know what you think!

Here it is:

Short Film in Student Ministry

Ralph Winter is a top Hollywood producer who has worked on such films as The X-Men, Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country. I heard him speak at a creative conference last week at Daybreak Church in Michigan. At this conference he made a very bold statement, "Short Film is the new teaching pastor." He was suggesting that in our media driven world, a creative short film (much like Rob Bell's Nooma videos) will replace the "in person" teaching pastor as the most effective method for teaching. I really wonder if his statement will hold true and also wonder if it will hold true within the context of student ministry.

There are churches such as Life Church in Edmond, OK that already use a short film product as the primary vehicle for teaching in student ministry. This multi-site church centrally produces a short film product that is used at all 8 locations for their students. I am personally beginning to wrestle with this becoming a possibility for our student minsitry at CCC. Will we be able to continue to hire campus pastors with teaching ability when we go to 10 or 20 or 100 locations? Or should we centralize the teaching compenent and hire leaders for each location?

Here are some of the pros and cons I am wrestling with. I would treasure and thoughts and feedback.
1) We live in a media saturated culture. A short film allows us to use a familiar vehicle to commucate God's truth.
2) Students usually do not remember the theme of a night within a few days or weeks but they can quote movies that they saw years ago.
3) Short film allows you to tell a story with your words and the environment serving as teachers. The visual and the audible learners may connect.
4) Though you have to pour more resources into the short film to make it effective, you potentially take pressure off the campus staff freeing them up to lead more effectively at their location.

On the other hand:
1) If your campus people do have teaching ability, you need to find ways to leverage that gift.
2) Student ministry is TOTALLY relational. If all the teaching is done via short film, the campus must work overtime to make sure the campus is relationally strong.
3) It may be difficult to address specific needs at a location through a short film. It will have to be broad enough to connect to different locations and demographics. This will put more pressure on the small groups to make sure that personal needs are addressed in relation to each topic.

I am not sure where we will land as a ministry, but I am sure that we will experiment with the short film over the next few months. We may come up with some hybrid model where some weeks are short film while others are "in person" teaching.

Whats up with this!??!?

2006-10-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

Ok, so Katie and I went shopping today at Valley West Mall, one of the malls in our area, and they had already decorated for CHRISTMAS!!! Now I am an avid celebrator of the birth of Jesus (blessed be his name) and I love the Christmas season, with all the lights, decorations and soon to be snow, but I think part of the specialness (I know I just made up a word, so sue me!) of the season is that it is that, a season, a month to be exact. I usually get decently frusterated when people decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but this is a new one. Halloween hasn't even happened yet!! This is ridonculous! (not mine, it belongs to Set Cohen, but a made-up word none the less)

Speaking of Seth Cohen... SO EXCITED FOR THURSDAY! Now Thursday nights have BOTH the Office and the OC. Back to Back! Can't wait for the Season Premiere on Thursday! Gonna be great... by the way I think Marissa is still alive, but we will have to wait and see.

So the moral of this post is (in the fashion of the Colbert Report): "Tip of the Hat" for the OC on Thursday... "Wag of the Finger" for decorating for Christmas before Halloween. Evil and Jesus just don't mix.

The Future of the Church...

2006-10-29T17:47:00.000-06:00

I am a huge fan of Mosaic, in LA. and have had many enjoyable experiences with Erwin McManus, Alex McManus and Eric Bryant, learning from them and dreaming with them, and their hearts and visions and ministries have shaped mine and Katie's heart and ministry very much. Their call for churches to move beyond production to unleashing creativity and moving Christ-followers towards explosive missional growth, ignites my passion. I love listening to what these three leaders are thinking and doing, and recently I read on Alex McManus' blog about the two trajectories of the church in the future.

In his article he exposes the goals of each philosophy of church, the Mega-church and the house church, and writes how the movement of Jesus benefits from both models. It is an extremely interesting reach with huge ramifications for church leaders. As a leader in a "Mega-church" (Point of Grace has over 2000 in weekend attendance) it is important to look at the areas that we are weak and honestly assess them, and try to fix those areas. I think this article is extremely helpful for pastors and leaders in any church, of any size, and the insights from Alex, and his ultimate drive to reach people for Christ, is inspiring and convicting.

As I read this article, I made me smile to think how much life is given to people through home churches, or as we refer to them "small groups", where non-seminary lay leaders are pouring out their lives, hopes, dreams, fears and stories, and God is using them to change the lives of those in their home church. In our student ministry, our "Life groups" are the far and away winner, in terms of life change, enjoyment and transformation, where God moves in a life-on-life context. This is not to say that we should not put must effort into programming and creating environments where people can come and experience God and community, but it is just to emphasize that the power of a life is unmistakable. Billy Calderwood, a great pastor that I have worked with in the past when I lived in Santa Barbara, CA leads a very cool church called Aqueous, which has very cool, experiential and meaningful gatherings, but they have a policy in their church that less than 25% of their time and resources go into their weekend gatherings. I wonder what could happen if the church as a whole got so efficient with our time and resources that we could maintain or even improve the excellence and quality of our worship experiences, and still have 75% of our time left to pour into people and work to connect those that are un-connected from the Body of Christ. Imagine the possibilities... The church could change the world again, like it did in the first century! Anyways, kind of a cool thought...

Check this out...

2006-10-25T11:50:00.000-05:00

Tony Morgan is a pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana, and on his blog he wrote this article on how to know if you ARE NOT a leader. I'm kinda a sarcastic guy, so this kinda reversed advice makes me laugh, and hits my spirit harder... Check it out:

10 Easy Ways to Know You're Not a Leader

I've been watching people a lot recently. Some in person. Some on TV. I've been looking for signs of leadership. You need to know, I'm surrounded by great leaders. Because of that, I know what leadership looks like. You also need to know that I fall in the group that believes God has gifted some to be leaders. Which means some have gifts that don't include leadership. And, that's a good thing. We need a great mix of gifts to have an impact in ministry or in any organization. It would be bad if we only had leaders.

As I've been watching for leaders to emerge these last several weeks, though, I've noticed that there are several types of people. Some are genuine leaders. Some are in leadership positions, but they aren't really leaders. Some aren't in a leadership position but think they should be. All of this has got me thinking about leadership, and, well, signs that indicate you're not really a leader. You may be able to help me add and subtract from this list. Here are the:

10 Easy Ways to Know You're Not a Leader

You're waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision.
You think you need to be in charge to have influence.
You're content.
You tend to foster division instead of generating a helpful dialogue.
You think you need to say something to be heard.
You find it easier to blame others for your circumstances than to take responsibility for solutions.
It's been some time since you said, "I messed up."
You're driven by the task instead of the relationships and the vision.
Your dreams are so small, people think they can be achieved.
No one is following you.

Like I said, there are probably others that you can add to the list to improve it. Maybe you can help me do that. Let's be on the lookout for leaders. What sets them apart?

by Tony Morgan

Best Weekend Ever!

2006-10-24T00:30:00.000-05:00

WOW!!! I just got home and its hard to believe that it all just happened, but it did! This weekend was absolutely fantastic! We launched our new series, "LIFE 360," and it went off incredibly! We had over 100 students for the first time, this weekend, making it the largest attendance we have ever had, as well as just the impact of the messages, the dramas, the songs and the environment had on the students who were there! It was unbelievable! IT is so cool to see how God moves when you take risks and depend on Him to show up! It was just awesome to see how all the volunteers and student leaders and staff all worked together to pull this weekend off. Many hours of fun, thought, planning and creativity went into making an experience that the students would enjoy and that God could use to connect to His children! Ironically, though not so much, this weekend I taught on how God wants to connect to us, through many different ways, and we gave away three Bibles, and helped multiple students get stoked on spending time with God throughout their week, however that presents itself in their individual lives.

Its amazing how our effort, though fickle as it may be at times, is what God chooses to use to establish His legitimacy in the minds of students. I remember growing up being told by my church that church was not to be fun... well this weekend, it was FUN! The kids had fun, the music was rocking, the games were hilarious, the drama was perfect and through all that fun, God connected to the students and they connected to Him. It was an amazing week. To all the staff and leaders that worked so hard with us, thank you!

Until next time...

The Joys of Discovery...

2006-10-22T11:39:00.000-05:00

This weekend we are launching our first Discovery Class for students at Point of Grace. The Discovery class is like a switched up version of the SHAPE class, that includes spiritual gifts, the Myers-Briggs personality test and a Strengths Finder. It is going to be exciting to see students realize that they have gifts and talents that God wants to use to serve others and lead in our Youth Ministry. We want to see not only service, but excellent service in our ministry. We want to unleash students to be the best equipped students in the Des Moines area. It is amazing to see how God can move through people that are not only AWARE, but PASSIONATE about seeing their lives make a difference in their sphere of influence. So yeah... we are so excited! We have 20 students signed up, which if you think about it... if 20 students find their gifts and are unleashed into powerful, God-driven ministry, then our youth group will be rocked, so we are stoked! Pray for many more students to show up and find out how God has uniquely gifted them. Its going to be a sweet weekend!

It is getting cold...

2006-10-20T00:28:00.000-05:00

Nothing to special here, but just wanted to update you, especially our good friends out in sunny Southern California, that it was a solid 38 degrees today, plus windchill, so it felt even colder. Winter is coming...

Check your oil!

NEW SERIES!

2006-10-18T12:13:00.000-05:00

This next week, we are launching a new series in Student Ministries called "Life 360." It is such an exciting series where we are teaching our students that God wants to get involved in every area of their lives, all 360 degrees of life. This next week I will be talking about "Hearing God in Surround Sound." It will be such an exciting time to talk about how we need to die to self, and open our lives to hearing God's voice in whatever form it takes. There are so many ways that we can hear from God. We are also talking about "Character Creation," "Wireless Connections" and "Life to the eXtreme!" Its going to be a great series.

The most exciting part of this series is how much the students are getting into it. We are giving away an Xbox 360 throughout the series, so that helps too, but its amazing how much the students are getting behind it and inviting their friends. I seem to hear all the time, pastors and other leaders tell me that its so hard to get involved or invite their friends. However, it seems that the Bible rings true (surprise surprise!) that we will do even greater things than Jesus and the disciples did. It just takes recognizing the language and the potential of the people in your ministry, and unleashing them to do what God has called them to do, and they will. People want to get involved, they just need to tools and the motivation, and if we are to lead like Jesus, we MUST, and I mean MUST, take risks in connecting to people that are far from God. Sometimes thats a conversation, other times its a $400 Xbox, and sometimes its getting outside of our selfish and ego-centric selves and being able to endure some uncomfortability to go somewhere that no one else will to reach out to those that God loves the most.

I am so glad that I am not only at a church that allows mine and Katie's passion to reach lost people flourish, but actually pushes us to do it in greater, more creative and excellent ways, reaching for new goals and greater risks. I am so excited for this next series and what God will do in and through it in the lives of our students.

It's Official!

2006-10-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

That's right! Point of Grace is now in two locations! We are one church, two locations! It was so exciting to visit the Ankeny campus and help set up for the first weekend services, and just feel the energy of the Spirit of God moving through the people that give there all to make the services work so that people could come into new life with Jesus Christ.

No most people that know me at any deep level, or even a not so deep level, know that I am NOT a morning person... AT ALL!! I seriously think that the last time I was up before the sun, was sophomore year of high school. But for some reason, October 15th, there was no place I would rather be than Springwood 9 Theaters in Ankeny loading in heavy cases of audio equipment, lights, tables, chairs, coffee cups and Xbox consuls for the students. It was an amazing morning as I helped Stephen Ites, our Ankeny Campus youth director set and get all hooked up for the morning. And I was so proud of all the volunteers, including him, in minister and risking and sacrificing their personal comfort to step out and really LEAD the way for new people to experience God and bring the reality of God to this generation. So awesome! If you want to see more pics of Ankeny, check out Jeff Mullen's blog. Ankeny is gonna blow big! :)

Group Life...

2006-10-05T09:44:00.000-05:00

We last night we had over 40 students get plugged in to Life Groups at our Kick-off Party! It is so exciting to see students taking good steps to grow up spiritually and relationally. In addition we also had about 20 other students who signed up to get involved, who we will preceed to hunt down like a leopard after a gazelle, but anyways... pretty good percentage. Hopefully all of them will get connected and God will do some awesome things through these groups!

The BIG Idea!

2006-10-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

The Big Idea is the new book by Dave Ferguson and available for pre-order on Amazon.com. This will be a great book as this guy's communication style is phenomenal! Dave Ferguson is the pastor of Community Christian Church in 8 locations around the Chicago area. It has been fun to talk to him and his staff about going multi-site and the new tools that we can use to further the Kingdom of God. Check this book out!

The Last Kiss - Movie Review

2006-10-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

Katie and I went and saw The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson this week, and I walked out of the theatre with a very interesting feeling from the movie. While I really enjoyed it, it perplexed me, in a Garden State sort of way, which is fitting because Zach Braff starred in this one as well. It is an interesting story of love and loss and poor descisions of men to leave or cheat on the women they have pledged their love and lives to.
(BTW... this is where you should stop reading if you have not seen the movie because it will ruin it for you.) It amazed me as I was watching , how many chances that Michael, played by Zach Braff, had to avoid the heartache that ended up haunting him at the end of the film. Throughout the story I counted 8 moments in which he faced a crossroads to choose the path of character and commitment but chose the path of immedite satisfaction and infidelity. Through out the movie I became more and more acutely aware of the darkness within the short sighted mind of men. While it was a dark look, it was a neccessary one because even though I am so committed to my wife, it is a good luck to see how close each and everyone of us are to making a mistake. Yet while we are all so close, we are all given multiple chances to turn back and make the right descision. Whenever you see the big blow up, like Micheals infidelity with Kim (played by Rachel Bilson, which btw... the OC starts on November 2nd!) if you look back there was always a smaller descision that went wrong and started the downward spiral that started the whole mess. Whenever there is a big blow up in a leaders life, or in my life, there is always a smaller choice to sacrifice integrity way back in the distance. This is the neccesary reminider that the Last Kiss gives so dramatically and poinently.

After Micheal is found out by his fiance Jenna, he goes to her parents house to apologize and is stopped by Jenna's father Stephen, who is played by Tom Wilkinson. Now if my daughter's fiance came to me to apologize after doing what Michael did, I know what choice words I would have to say to him... but it's a movie. Anyways, what happens next becomes a dialouge between Stephen and Michael that is the bast 10 minutes of acting I have ever seen from Tom Wilkinson, and he was phenominal in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After the tradition niceties and the "What were you thinking!!?!" lines, he begins to tell Michael what every guy needs to hear. That there will always be someone else, another brunette or blonde, no matter how old you are, or how long you have been married, and that the issue is not your feelings, but your character and how you treat those that you love. The tag line of the movie is "We all have choices. What's yours?" which I think is encapsulated in this scene. When Micheal asks what he can do to make it up to him, and to Jenna, he simply responds with, "Whatever it takes." Again the simplicity and the gravity of this line just floored me and as the movie concludes, Michael proves himself again by sitting on the porch of Jenna's house for over 4 days, never leaving even when she does, just waiting for her to talk to him. I never want to be in a situation where I need to do that for the reasons that he did, but I want to love my wife like that, being able to battle through, no matter what! It is interesting that often times we never appreciate the things we have until they are gone... The Last Kiss makes us appreciate them while we have them, because we get to watch others battle to save them. Definately Recommended!

Favorite Line: "Your feelings only matter to you. It is what you do to those that you say that you love that matters to everyone else!" - Stephen (Tom Wilkinson)

Disclaimer: There is a lot of objectionable content in this movie, language and nudity amoung the forefront so if you are easily offended, be cautious.

New Shoes...

2006-09-26T18:17:00.000-05:00

Katie and I went out last weekend and we got some new clothes for the cooling weather around here. Steve Madden was having a "Last Call" sale and we both got some new kicks.
Its amazing... not that I got new shoes but after the past weekend at home, I realized that it had been over a week since I wore my Rainbow sandals. I don't know the last time that I had gone an entire week without wearing my favorite leather sandals, but I guess thats one of the changes I will have to make. The weather is cooling down here, (low 60's) and so the need for shoes is rising. It is hard to believe that in the next 3 months it will drop more than 60 degrees! Scary! Anyways, if there is any excuse any of my Cali friends can give me to come back and let me again don my Rainbows, I would be grateful! Until then, Steve and I are becoming good friends...

California Love!

2006-09-19T20:33:00.000-05:00

Well I flew in to LAX last night from Des Moines, Iowa and I have to admit that I miss the homeland already. Not just because my beautiful wife is in Iowa, though that is the main reason... (I love you baby!) but its just hard to be away from a place that has become so much of a home for me. As Katie and I started our new lives together as a couple we have really only known Iowa as "home" and so part of me is always wanting to be there, in a space where my life is my own. I love the area, not just because of the physical surroundings or environment, because I really like the warmness of So. Cal, as oppossed to chill rushing through Iowa currently, but because of the emotional landscape of being on my own.

The new picture I have of life and new beginnings is such an awesome one, that I miss the joys of figuring things out on my own, trying new things, taking risks and living free. I was listening to the Mosaic podcast and Erwin McManus was discussing whether God cares about us or not, and it struck me that the joys of new beginnings are what drives the heart and character of God. As I travel a long way home, through Housten, Texas to Los Angeles and just seeing so many people, new and familiar, seeing each as a light and object of God's love. It is very cool to think about how many moments and and choices we have to move in a direction towards God and justice and beauty and compassion, or towards those moments that we regret ourselves and see in us the darkness that we so desparatley want to evade. The ability to start over, like Katie and my life in Iowa, to make a new step forward in a new direction towards a new goal, makes us truly the most human. Not to make this all sound contrived, but isn't that when we are most at peace with ourselves? When we are facing a new situtation and we might be scared or unsure, but have an intrinsic curiosity and anticipation brewing inside and ready to burst out with action and compassion. This is what it means to be alive. I am alive and I cant wait to be home, home is when I am with my wife, home is in Des Moines, home is where I am alive...

Holy Crud!

2006-09-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

I am writing this bolg on my plane flight home to California. And I am just sitting here (next to a guy that kinda smells) and imaging how bad it smelled at CRUD WARS! Yet with all the smelliness and grossness of the massive food fight, I was so thanksful for the awesome time that we had and how God used it to bring new students to expereince Him through us as a church. CRUD WARS was our first really big outreach event for Jr. Higher students, and we told the students that it was $5 if you come alone, or free if they brought a friend. And the students responded! We had 73 students come out to the event and 36 of them had never been to our church before, and 4 others came Sunday morning for the first time. Super awesome!

We have set up our ministry with strategic "Wins" for each type of program that we do so that we ensure that the event is actaully fulfilling its purpose... For our Enter (Evangelism) events, our win is that a new student would say, "I can't belive I had that much fun at a church event. I can't wait to come back!" The highlight of the night for me was that 3 students that we new said our win back to us almost exactly, without knowing what they were even saying! One guy said, "I never knew churches did fun stuff like this." to which his friend who is a regular attender responded, "Yeah we do fun games and have cool music on Sunday mornigns too." His new friend then turned to me and said, "This church rocks!" It was a sweet, divine and holy moment, even if he did have pork and beans on his face, and chocolate covered noodles in his hair...

Thought this was interesting...

2006-09-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

With all the talk about "Going Green," someone came up with a test about which type of green I am... O well. Good for a laugh I guess.

You Are Emerald Green

Deep and mysterious, it often seems like no one truly gets you.
Inside, you are very emotional and moody - though you don't let it show.
People usually have a strong reaction to you... profound love or deep hate.
But you can even get those who hate you to come around. There's something naturally harmonious about you.

What Color Green Are You?

I dont know why these things make me emerald green, but I guess thats another deal....

Makes me think of UCSB...

2006-09-15T19:21:00.000-05:00

I just saw this article on Jesus' face appearring "miraculously" on the froth left from a pint of beer. Sounds like something you should hear from a college student trying to justify his party lifestyle and leading a Bible study, but its actually a real story, see it here.

It is amazing how many people want to see Jesus, and we as pastors and leaders just need to learn how to speak in their language and help them see God in their own culture. It is important to remain relevant and use the tools that God has placed in our culture to speak to people a clear and compelling way to lead them to understanding Christ's love and plan for their life.

Anyways, sorry for that rant, i just turned a sighting of Jesus in beer into a spiritual conversation. I think I hear the Southern Baptists getting upset...

Camp?

2006-09-15T09:17:00.000-05:00

It seeems like summer just ended and yet we are already thinking baout next years summer camp. Crazy! We are debating the pros and cons of driving a bus load of students down from Iowa to Panama City Beach, Florida for Big Stuf camp. Some of you may have heard of it and others are like "What?" so let me continue....

It's lilke the second best camp in the nation (only to the mighty Hume Lake, which will never be surpassed!) and its at the beach, and most notably of all, its put on by Lanny Donaho and the people of North Point! So you know its gonna be off the hook! Anyways... Thats the deal right now... Thinking... Pondering... wanting to be at the beach... stuck in Iowa... ok not stuck I actually love it hear, but I miss what water feels like...

I was just reading my buddy Jake Rutenbar's blog and he just moved to San Clemente to be the youth pastor at Saddleback's extention campus down there.... Pastoring on the beach! Lucky! At least my mansion in heaven will have hard wood floors and a movie theatre!

just kidding....

Big Week For Us...

2006-09-14T19:57:00.000-05:00

Check this out...

This was a big week for Point of Grace! We were featured in an article in Des Moines "CityView" Magazine on megachurches in the MidWest. Jeff Mullen, our lead pastor was interviewed and there were a ton of pictures, all but one, of our church in the article. You can view the article here. Super cool!

Also, the Student Ministry was featured in Waukee Today and The Dallas County News showcasing our ministry for young families in our area. Pretty sweet for the first two months! Its exciting that the community is seeing us as a movement of hope for students and families in the Des Moines area. Nothing like some free publicity!

Life Groups

2006-09-14T16:38:00.000-05:00

We are getting our small group program underway (called Life Groups). It has been amazing to see God just provide through all my stress... We have decided to do small groups in a different way than most and are taking some hints from Saddleback and North Point Church and moving them into homes rather than having them on the church campus. This has been an interesting expereiment, and has taken a ton of extra work and contact with host homes, teachers and small group leaders. It has been so rad as God has litterally opened doors to amazing families and homes to give students a place to connect and grow. We are so excited about our Life Group Launch on October 4th. It will be a blast with a big night of worship fun and small group connection. We are praying that we have 100 students hooked up in small groups this year, because we believe that spiritual growth happens best in that context.

We have made the Life Group program the "win" for our ministry. It is our prayer and desire that students move from casual attender to committed member of a small group, and we feel that we have not done our job effectivly until our students are "Connected in a Life group with other Christ-following students and a caring adult." That is the goal of our organization and the way we attempt to accomplish the mission that God has entrusted with us.

It is such an amazing phenomenon, as students begin to connect they are more readily unleashed to DO the work of the church. This is why small groups are so key for us, because they directly relate to evangelism and ministry. We care so much about going somewhere as a ministry and not just being a place, but a movement, that we have put all our chips on our students. It will be an exciting ride.

So here is how we are doing it: We are actively marketing this as the goal of our ministry. We are using signage and consistant publicity to give students as many entry points into groups between now and October 4th, which is our launch. We are having an entire weekend service revolving around the importance of small groups and we are creating resources to assimilate students into groups that are targeted to their age, school and specific needs. In "Creating Community" Bill Willits describes how the "closed group" model most effectively allows leaders to care for small group members and growth to happen because there exists a level of dependability among members of the group. So we have, in our own way, adopted this idea of a closed group, so as students sign up for groups, they are committed for the year, and the groups do not add members, but are closed, to provide the feeling of a family. If students want to invite friends, we encourage them to bring the to a more targeted program for their unchurched friends, such as a Reach Night or a Weekend Service. We are excited to see how God will use our efforts in this approach to help students connect to each other and grow in real fellowship and authenticity through our Life Groups.

This Weekend Was Awesome!

2006-09-12T11:41:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a total highlight! We had over 120 students this weekend! It was unbelievable! We began our series called "The Essentials," discussing the 5 purposes on which the Student Ministies will operate. This weekend we were talking about how God wants to use us to help our friends enter new life with Christ. We used "Enter" as our student-friendly word for Evangelism. It was so exciting to see student catch the spirit of God this weekend as we challanged them to take a risk and pray for their friends and for opportunities to share their faith story with their friends. I think that students of this ministry are going to change the tide of their campuses this year through our Invest and Invite strategy. We encourage students to invest in their friends lives, to get to know them, care about them, build relationships and let them know that God cares about them. I am so thrilled to see students picking up the habits or being excited about their friend's spiritual growth, and not being selfish Christians. It is such a joy to work with them as God moves through us to change our area.

I was reading this morning on Perry Noble's blog about his take on prayer being an excuse for inaction. It was so encouraging as I read his thoughts and then thought about our students here who ARE moving and inviting their friends to come to church and to know Christ. It has been incredible to see the growth of our group in just the past two months that we have been here. I know that everyone critiques those churches that always talk about numbers as their only basis for determining success, and I agree. I hate the numbers game, numbers are not the measure of success... They are ONE measure of success because numbers are people too. I don't care if we have 120 students showing up to church. That doesn't mean anything to me. I do care that out of the 120 that came and heard the message, that almost 75 students were mobilized for evangelism through our Invite and Invite program called "Green Means Go." That is exciting! Because even if half of those 75 people bring one person to church or tell one friend about Jesus, then that is almost 40 more students in Heaven because of one week! God is good! That is an exciting stat. So yeah numbers are people, and that is why they are important.

Now, as we head into this next week of the Essentials series, we will be talking about Merge, which is our word for connection of fellowship. It will be very cool to see students hook into small groups and really develop friendships and learn how to do life together in a real and authentic way. It will be a fun series. Its only been one week and I am already stoked on what God is doing and excited about what He will continue to do in and through us. The ministry is becoming a movement and Advancing the Invisible!

Craziness!

2006-09-02T22:28:00.000-05:00

This week has been pretty intense... We got an entire new stage set up in our youth room, with cool moving lights and fun gobos to display. Ill post pics soon. We launched, and survived our first Saturday night 42, which is our high school program. It was fun, with pizza and games and pop (which is what Iowans call soda... I still don't think I like it.) Katie spoke on Igniting creativity. It was really good. So yeah, things seem to going pretty well, but are busy.

We are working on new ways or designing our program to work within the extremely visual lifestyle and workings of the students we are trying to reach. As seen in the MTV movie awards, big screen displays are at a premium. Creativity is such an important element in today's student ministry, or ministry in geneal... visual displays are a must. You can see our video about our program change here.

Multi-Site Revolution...

2006-08-30T17:07:00.000-05:00

Well it is official! As of October 15th, Point of Grace is going Multi-site! What this means is that we will become one church in two locations. We are launching a second campus in Ankeny, Iowa... which is about 30 minutes north of here and is a rapidly growing community. While it is a bit overwhelming and scary, it is an exciting time as Katie and I are young pastors trying to find our way, we are blessed to be gived an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of ministry. With the multi-site strategy comes a lot of learning on our part. I have been watching and gleaning from Mosaic, Life Church and Seacoast Church. They have been helpful in understanding the idea of doing chuch for students in a theatre type setting. We are taking over (in a rental sort of way) the Springwood 9 theatres in Ankeny on Sunday mornings. We are developing a catalytic team to run the same program in two different, and entirely distint locations. As the launch dates appraoches I am more and more excited about the possibility of God reaching hundreds of students through our efforts, even though we remain mostly clueless yet optimistic.
We will be implementing our "Enter and Elevate" strategy in both locations and seeing how God will use it. We are thrilled at the idea of being able to create a program that revolutionizes the lives of students in the cental Iowa region. When we launch we will be beginning out "Life 360" series, which will be a very exciting on, talking about the basics dynamics of following Christ, but wrapped up in an Xbox type theme. Should be cool.

2006-08-30T14:16:00.000-05:00

Fear...

As I was walking to class today with on of my housemates, he asked me what I was excited about. The conversation had flowed fairly normally up to this point, but at this question my body reacted the way my mind did, and I stopped in the middle of the street, knowing that while I have amazing things coming very quickly on the horizon of my future, I was paralized to learn that my excitement was overtaken by fear. This certain friend is one of maybe 10 people that I know I can be completely honest with and not have any fear of pretense or worry of judgement were he to see the "real me," so I let him have it. I told him how every upcoming event in my life that I should be excited about is gripped with fear. I am getting married in exactly a month, and while that is so exciting, there is a uneasiness that has a choke hold on my spirit, and I worry about providing for my wife-to-be, how will I be a loving husband, what will life be like on the other side? The joys and anticipations are swallowed up in the unknown. Other areas also feel uncertain, like my search for a career. I am graduating, sort-of, in a few weeks, and still dont have a job lined up. I hope that the church I feel I am being called to, feels the same and returns intrest, but so far its been very sporadic, and I am uncertain, and therefore fearful. I feel naive and somewhat stupid for being so caught up in the possibilities. I have definately fallen in love with the students of this church, simply though a quasi-stalkerish rampage of viewing Myspace profiles and reading their thoughts and thinking about the possibilities of the future. The more I read, the more my heart yearns to be with them and live life with them, it all seems so beautiful. Yet, it is still uncertain.

Uncertainty is one of those crazy experiences that force me to depend on God in a real way. I so often find myself in a whirlwind of emotions, that are based on my inability to control my own life. I want to hold on with a tight grip, having everything happen when and where I want it to. People often say, "Everything happens for a reason," and while that might be a true in some senses, in the moment, the situation just looks like chaos. This chaos happened a lot in the Bible, and I remember one story where Paul is on a boat with a bunch of other guys and they get caught in a storm that is tearing the ship apart. As the story unfolds, the captain asks Paul what they should do, and he tells them that the ship and everything on it will be lost or destroyed, but all of them will live. So often I look at that situation and it parallels my own life, and I get so frusterated by it. I worked hard to get what I have, and I try to follow Godand do the right thing to the best of my ability, why should I loose what I worked so hard for. But in that frustration, I miss the beautiy of what God gives me in that moment. Just like in the story of Paul, God promises that though the situation is chaotic, that things will not go the way I plan, that through all that, I might loose everything else, but I will be given the chance to live. This is what it means to follow Christ. Faith is not a staic knowledge of what is real, but it is an active progression forward, even when I dont understand the situation or dont know where my foot will land. I am not saying that this makes anything better, or that the fear is not real. It is not like faith is a sedative that numbs me to the emotions I am feeling. They are real, and the fear and pain is real. But I move forward, faith in one hand and fear in the other...