November 9, 2009
Ok, so I’m a kids pastor, but I am also human. I’m going to let that preface my next point: I am the King of snap judgments. I can meet you for the first time and if you are awkward, or if you are strange or if you make a bad joke, my brain automatically categorizes you as such. I’m becoming better at not being this way, but for so many years I was, so this is a process in my life that I am going through, and growing through.
God has been tweaking me a lot as a leader in these last few months, and showing me things about myself that I never would have noticed otherwise. In John 8, a group of Pharisees bring an adulterous woman to Jesus, and ask Him for his snap judgment in a sense, they say to Him “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commands us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” What Jesus did next was so life changing for this woman, He knelt down next to her and began to write the dust, as He did that the mob kept badgering Him for an answer. I love what He does, the Bible says, “He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone.” (The Message)
This mob of ”religious” men brought a sinful woman to Jesus- the sinless God-man, and He defended her, He showed her love, He gave her undeserved mercy.
When you have a chance to whip out the ultimate snap judgement, remember that the one who has the right to judge you, defended you…showed you love… and gave you undeserved mercy…
November 7, 2009
Rob Morris the co-founder of Love146 came to speak to us today about the abolition of child sex slavery. He gave us some staggering reports, like: every minute, two children are sold into slavery. That is ridiculously insane. Rob went undercover into a brothel, to see children between the ages of 5 and 10 locked in a room, sitting in front of a television watching cartoons,waiting to be sold to the next “client” there dignity has been stripped from them. They have become objects to a perverse and sex craved people. they have even the dignity of a name taken from them, all that they have is a number. Rob tells of his undercover journey to the brothel, enraged to see such a sight, watching through a window at these helpless children, there lifeless eyes watch the TV, but he noticed one, one who still had life in her eyes..Her number was 146. We as a generation can help this cause. We can live to make a difference, to find out how go to www.love146.org
November 6, 2009
Oh boy, the subject that is so taboo to talk about in church…SEX ahhhhh! Oh come on, your high school can talk about it, MTV can talk about it, VH1 talks about it, even Lifetime talks about it, but as soon as it’s brought into the church, it’s all of a sudden unmentionable. Pam Stenzel came from Minnesota to speak to us at the Generation Conference about sex. She rattled off lists of STD’s she had facts galore about the consequences of sexual sin. But it all boiled down to our love for Christ. do you love Christ enough to stay abstinent? Are you willing to do what it takes to save what God made for the context of Marriage? Be the difference in this Generation… Live to Make a Difference.
November 6, 2009
So often we are living our lives toward the goal of safety. Yet, we thrive, we long for the next action flick to come out, to be able to sit on the edge of our seats, to feel our heart beat, to feel our palms sweat, to sense the adrenaline to pulse through our veins.. we leave a theatre feeling a sense of heroism, and we are ok with that.. we had our danger fix for the day… week.. month, and we go back to our boring, mundane lives. We leave and go back to the safety of our home.. not making a difference.. Pastor Mark Schilling told us so well at the Generation Conference, we need to get out of our safety mindset, and live a life that is dangerous.. a life that is impacting others.. where are you? Are you impacting people? or are you thinking all about you? think about that.. Live to make a Difference!
October 2, 2009
Here I am, sitting behind a desk working on Sunday prep on the church’s amazing MacBook Pro. The artificial light is looming above me, the sound of Hillsong United is blaring at me, the smell of Starbucks bold coffee is looming refreshingly through the air.. Can life get any better? …
Here I am , the same person on the Mac, with the bad lighting, good music and good coffee sitting all alone behind a desk, and I’m lonely.
in 1st Samuel, there is a time in David’s life that he was lonely. He was hiding in a cave of Adullam, in fear of King Saul. He was running for his life… King Saul wanted to kill him! But if you skip ahead a few books, that same David who was running for his life wrote Psalm 91. He says, ” He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ” He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”"
We become lonely, we get in hard places where we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, or we just have bad days, but always reflect on what God has done, and that will help you get through- He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust!!
September 16, 2009
Whenever I have a major change in my life, whether I move, or change jobs, I always seem really tired in the process. I throw my body out of whack and all it can do is get sleepy on me. These past few weeks have been a good example of this: I moved from Utica to Albany, and the first week wasn’t to bad, I stayed pretty darn busy (Thanks Pastor Gareth..lol). This second week is where it all came to a crashing halt. I moved into a new house with all my earthly belongings (three Rubbermaid bins of clothes) and started two new jobs. Change and I have a love/hate relationship, I love it because it challenges me, but I hate it because it forces me out of comfort… I’m only 20, and so far I’ve learned that my greatest growth comes out of either adversity, or discomfort. So in this next season of my life, I’m looking to see what God has in store for me, and where I’m going to grow…
Don’t be disgusted by change, embrace it, and watch how much more you grow and succeed…
August 15, 2009
In Matthew Jesus states the two most important laws- Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and love others like you love yourself. Jesus is telling us to prioritize our life in a way that keeps Him center. If we can learn to keep our focus on God, if we can put our energy toward loving Him and living our lives for Him, everything else will be taken care of.
So often we try to stay in the lines of the “law”, the do’s and the do not’s of life. What we need to learn, is that when we focus on loving God, the word’s that we aren’t supposed to say don’t come out anymore, the thoughts that we aren’t supposed to think, we’re not thinking, and the bad attitudes that we used to have, we just don’t have anymore.
We try to fix ourselves, we try to whip ourselves into shape, and make ourselves better, but we can’t do that by just telling our heads no. The one way that we can improve ourselves is by learning to love God, by getting into His Word, by cultivating a real life relational prayer time with Him. Once we give God a little room to work in our hearts, we will project His thoughts and His ways through what we do and what we say.
So this week, when you assess yourself, begin to equip yourself with the Word of God, and you will notice a difference.
July 12, 2009
I’m a younger guy and I’m still learning, but I think one of the keys to being creative is to have yourself surrounded by creative minded people. If you are around them long enough you will begin to think like them, act like them, see things through a more creative perspective. Have you ever noticed that when a couple are married long enough, that they begin to look like each other, talk like each other, finish each others thoughts(and meals)? That same kind of thing happens when your surround yourself and join with people who have the same vision and goals that you have. So my goal in the next few years is to join myself with creative people that have a vision for kids ministry like I do, so I will think creatively, I will talk creatively, and I will act and speak with creativity pouring from me!
July 9, 2009
I love being young. Most people would tell you that being young is hard, because your not established at all, your not sure of anything really. I disagree, being a younger guy has been a blast, not to say that sometimes it’s hard, but I see things through fresh eyes, I am not hindered by past experiences that would change my perception on issues, and I love it. I am not much of a puzzle solver, Sudoku is the devil, word scrambles are impossible, and I would rather choke on a marble then play scrabble, but for some reason the adventure of becoming who I was created to be excites me. It is a puzzle everyday, and as much as I can’t stand puzzles, my life interests me. I am not tied down to any one specific way, I have no relationship to consider when making life choices, I am not married to my minimum wage retail job, I am free. So right now I am not worried about the future, but not being worried does not mean I don’t soberly consider my future endeavors, because I do; what I mean is that I have people in my life that will and do give me wisdom that they have acquired along their life’s journey. I have learned to cherish the wiser and not to despise them like most of my generation has, and I have learned so much from them.
I choose to keep moving forward, and not let myself stay where I am in life. I can’t do that on my own, I have people with more wisdom and experience coaching me and mentoring me through my beginning steps as an adult. There are a few steps that I believe we should take in our youth, so when we become old, they will not be a hassle to achieve. First, we in our youth should learn to be servants, to serve anywhere and everywhere, instill servant-hood now and it will stay with you for life. Second we need to heed the words of the old, there experiential knowledge will help us through our walk in life. And lastly, we need to learn to be quick forgivers. Forgive and let it go, don’t let it grate on you.
Youth is an amazing thing, use it wisely and accomplish a lot!
