There has been one area, however, that has always escaped us and that is the area of Sunday evenings. We have tried a variety of different lesson plans group divisions and activities but could never get more than a few students involved.  Then this past spring a student saw a book in my office that hand been on my shelf for almost ten years. The book was entitled “Why So Many Gods”. You may have heard of it or you may not have. It is a book written for teens in a reference type format. It details the distinctions of various world religions and cults and contrasts them to Christianity. When the student saw the book they expressed a desire to be taught about what other people believe and how to talk to them about Jesus.  Upon hearing this I gave a half-hearted agreement and promise to teach it on Sunday evenings. We advertised for about a month and after a couple of delays in our start date began the series 4 weeks ago. Now while for weeks is not long enough to give an accurate assessment of the class it is worth noting what has happened.

The day I began the series I had several youth show up that NEVER came to anything else we were doing beyond Sunday School and Wednesday nights if we were lucky to see them then. Still class size was below ten in attendance and so I expected that it would be the typical response to everything else I had done on Sunday nights.  I was wrong.  Each week we have seen more and more students attending to the point where we have had to add chairs in the room we were meeting in. I have been both amazed and thrilled.

If attendance was the only marker I would only put moderate weight on the growth. Knowing that as school starts we would see a cycle of kids dropping off and out to handle homework and get ready for the school week. But there is something else going on.  The interaction of the students is remarkable.  I have fielded questions from everything from Church History and the formation of our Bible to angelology and demonology.  Our students have shown week in and week 0ut that they are hungry to know more than just the Bible stories but to know the inner workings and deep reasonings of our faith.  This hasn’t surprised me but has caught me off guard and I have felt ill prepared to handle the questions.

What does all this mean?

Evidence is mounting that gives us concrete proof that it is time to take off the kid’s gloves with the people of God within the church and teach them and lead them in the study of doctrine. Many church leaders skirt teaching Church History or Systematic Theology for fear that people will find it boring or worthless. Seemingly the sentiment is that it is only important that pastors know and understand this information. But the truth is that if we teach it and prepare it in a way that is interesting and speaks to the curiosity of our people that we will find that they consume it in the way a starving beggar consumes a small scrap of food.

It has been said, and I do not know by whom, that if a teenager can understand  and be taught Algebra , Geometry and Physics then the can handle the teaching of Theology within the church context. It is our responsibility as their church leaders to feed them and when they wander away starving the blame will and should fall on our heads.

My friend Joe Donahue has written his first book and in order to build awareness he has allowed me to get an advanced reading of the book in order to do a review. Now I have to say that at first I was worried about doing a review for a friend but after reading the book my fears are allayed.

Urgent is an incredible story of Joe’s life and the torment that he went through as a child. The personal and detailed account of physical emotional and sexual abuse is terrifying but captivating. I was so drawn in to the story that I could not and did not put the book down until i finished the last page.  Through highs an lows Joe weaves a tale of how God can reach those hurt and broken in our world and how God can do amazing things in your life.  He calls us to develop a sense of urgency, not primarily for others, which is what I expected in reading a book by an evangelist but rather an urgency for GOD! With this urgency developed other areas will follow suit and soon we will have a sense of urgency to do and to see God’s Kingdom come.

There is not a lot to criticize in this book as a matter of fact I can only come up with one shortcoming I saw and that is that it wasn’t enough.  No, it made it’s point but I was so captivated by Joe’s story and the miracles of God in his life and the message that I was left wishing there was more and hated that it came to and end. I have already bought a copy of the book and highly recommend it to anyone. It will bless you, convict you and encourage you all at the same time.

• Don’t be a parent who let’s your fears hold your children back–this does apply to church and how we do it people
• God takes us to the edge and says JUMP
• If we won’t jump the next generation will– and we will resent them for it
• The Church should be leading innovation and outdoing the likes of NBC Disney and Microsoft cause we have the one thing they don’t the Holy Spirit
• 4 Factors we need to embrace

1. Desperation
2. Sacrifice
3. Recognition
4. Strategy

• God wants us exposed and vulnerable so that we HAVE to be DESPERATE  for Him (read Gen 34 and Josh 1-6)
• If your church is following God your back will always be against the wall financially
• Everybody loves progress, Sacrifice…..eh not so much
• We are more concerned with attendance than repentance
• What if God doesn’t want a person to enjoy your church service? What if He wants to make them mad, embarrassed UNCOMFORTABLE?
• We will give our lives for our children and grandchildren but not our music style!
• To many pastors are trying to impress other pastors and not preach the gospel truth
• We have problems in the church because to many leaders don’t recognize Jesus when they see Him (Josh 5:13)
• DO WE WANT TO BUILD CHRIST’S CHURCH OR HIM TO BUILD OURS
• One size DOES NOT fit all— just ask Perry
• There is one sure fire strategy- Listen to God do what He says.
• If you really think numbers aren’t important stop counting the offering
• We need to stop depending on the strategy of the moment and depend on the supernatural
• If you can fully explain what is happening in your church then God isn’t involved enough

And that was just the first session!!! I will bring Part Two tomorrow. I will let you chew on that until then!!

As a youth pastor this is a never ending issue. There is always some person in the church banging their drum condemning the youth or children for acting badly in the church.  I hear daily about the lack of respect that some of the kids we have come show the church building or leaders. To which I always explain that kids that don’t have Christ in their lives or in their homes have no reason to respect the church or anything else and it is up to us to help nurture that in their lives.  But it goes further than that doesn’t it.  How many times have church people expected visitors to be presentable in a Sudnay morning worship service? How many times have we expected a drunk to sober up before he comes to our church or a man and woman who are shacking up to find seperate residences before they become regular attenders? How would YOUR church react if a homosexual couple started attending and sitting on the front row?

We must come to a place where we can realize that the fixing is God’s job and that we cannot force any change nor can anyone bring about change in their own lives. Mark Batterson identifies the problem in his book “Wild Goose Chase”.  We have tried to take the place of  the Holy Spirit in people’s lives condemning them and convicting them instead of what Christ has asked us to do….loving them.

Lets remember the idea of the speck and the mote.  We have enough to worry about on our own and despite what we think we don’t have God all figured out. When we see people acting like they don’t know Jesus let’s show them what he was all about.

This is an incredible story. How many pastors today are doing things in their church out of selfishness and pride. How many have overlooked what is pleasing to God at the cost of His church. What about plain old Christians. I know so many people who have blamed God for their children’s death when in all actuality if their child had been living a life that was acceptable to God more than likely they would not have been in the situations that led to their death.  Could we show total acceptance of God’s will in those situations. It makes me wonder and pause to evaluate where I am at in my walk with our Lord. 

I like Moses’ summation of these events.  In short Moses reminded Aaron that God had said to never disregard His commands.  That was the command and the warning. God had a one and done policy. I am thankful that when I screw up I receive grace. How about you?

Anywho… I wound up getting some great swag.  Including

I was slated to preach both services Sunday so Saturday I went over the church around 9pm for prayer and prep. I spent a good long while walking around the sanctuary praying for the service and praying for the people of the church, some by name. Sunday morning rolled around and I was nervous. For one there was bad weather being forecast and I wasn’t sure many people would show up in the cold rain.

Service started and as I had expected several people ducked out attendance was low and we had no new visitors.  I had been unable to get with the Music Minister prior in the week and had not been able to coordinate the music. Truth be told there was no need. He could not have picked better songs…well he could have if he had the freedom to pick anything but being that we are a Baptist Hymnal type of church he did amazing things with what he had to work with.  All the songs pointed to the glory of the Lord, a key point in my message.

I rose to speak and was a little spastic at first and forgot to say a few things I had meant to but I got on track quickly and seamlessly. I got into the meat of my sermon and took off to the races.  Since I knew we had a bunch of home folk I decided subconsciously to move away from any evangelistic material and stay in the “preaching to the choir” matters.  As I wrapped up I felt God moving on me to be transparent talk about my weaknesses and misgivings in my own life and how I related that back to what was being preached.  I gave the invitation it was quiet and somber, one lady came forward to pray and suddenly one of our Sunday School teachers came forward and asked to address the congregation.

I am never one to quench the Spirit. I am wary of pulpit hounds but I sensed that he was going to say something important. As he rose I shook in anticipation. He spoke words of affirmation. He recognized and declared to the congregation that the Spirit was here and was speaking to them.  He stated that he was blessed that I had preached a sermon all of them needed to hear and was glad that I had not been afraid. He also warned the congregation to not think hat the words came from me but only from the Holy Spirit.  His words brought me to tears.

I received so many encouraging words afterwards. I also got many dirty looks. I had many people hug my neck and boost my confidence. It was a great day.  I had one woman say that she was going to join the church very soon and another say she felt like she had been at church.  Those were highlights of my day.

Unfortunately though I did not get to do my follow up sermon that night as we wound up canceling services due to snow.

Today was a snow day for the schools and I stayed home with my children and had some snowy fun and will do the same tomorrow as schools have been cancelled again. I am taking advantage of these days off to spend some time cathcing up on things around the house and playing with my kids.

It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It by Craig Groeschel

Sticky Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series) by Larry Osborne

Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts by Thom S. Rainer and Sam S. Rainer

Wednesday Night: I am talking on faith. We are doing a series called “What to Wear” a series covering each aspect of the full armor of God and tonight is the shield of faith.

Sunday Morning: I am taking a look at the story of Healing the Blind Man in John 9:1-7 we will look at
The Misunderstood Motivation of the Question that the Disciples Posed
The Situation of the Blind Man
The Sovereignty of God in the Life and Work of Christ
The Desperation of the Blind Man

Sunday Night: I will be looking at the call on the Church related to 1 Peter 2:5,9. I am using Revolution in Leadership by Reggie McNeal as a source. We will look at how we are called to be the priesthood to the world spreading the ministry of Christ. We will compare

Being a Refuge Church vs Mission Church
Being a “Come and Get It” Church vs a “Go Get Them” Church
Being a Church of Avoidance vs a Church of Loving Relationship
and
Shifting from
A Top Down Church to a Flat-line Church
An Inside Church to Inside Out Church
An Outside Church to Outside in Church

I am excited about it but expect to be well worn out when Sunday ends.

Feel free to share your thoughts on these