Be with and sent out

Well we are now in Mark 3. This week we looked at where Jesus chooses the 12 of his followers to be his apostles. We does this for 2 reasons: that they would (1) be with him and that he might (2) send them out.

The challenge is to really see if we are only doing the first...just being with Jesus. Jesus calls us to him so that we might in turn go out and bring others to him. Often we tend to only do the first without the second; just spend time with Jesus and his people and never get into the world to bring others to him.

There is an easy question to ask to see how this plays out in our lives: How many non-Christian friends do I have?...really? Does my life make complete sense to everyone that I am around? Or does my life constantly puzzle those around me? If my life makes complete sense all the time then either I am a Christian that just looks exactly like the world (“luke warm”) or I am only around people who are exactly like me and have never been “sent out”. It is very comfortable for me to just live inside my Christian bubble and just “be with” Jesus and his people and to never be “sent out” into the world; to spend my life ‘preparing’ for something that never happens because I never take the step of faith to be “sent out” into the world; to get to know the other people that I see at the gym all the time, to get to know the guy who serves me my bagel at Enstein Brothers, to know my neighbors names that live next door to me and invite them into my life, to really be “sent out” so that others can see the reality of Jesus as my life.

This next sentence changed my theology on the Christian life: The only way someone can see the reality of Jesus as your life, is if they actually see your life...really.

Let others in. I’ve got to stop holding others at arms length.

If someone is honestly impressed with Russell, then all that means is that I am being fake.

Go team!

...Waiting for the meal

In Mark 2, Jesus talks about fasting for a brief moment. I think fasting is usually misunderstood so I was excited to get to talk about it with the students. We have so many idols that we do not even know that we worship; or really we have alot of things that we own that really end up owning us in the end. Some popular examples: entertainment, iPhone, Facebook, TV, video games, money, sports, sex, relationships, and of course food. Idolatry is a toughy because we often cast idols not out of evil things, but out of things that are morally neutral (such as the entire list just mentioned). Fasting deals directly with helping us identify the idols in our lives so that we may forego them for awhile in order for our hunger for God to be awakened.

Read this part: Here is the clearest picture of fasting that I have ever seen...

Imagine I call you up at noon and say that I want to take you to Outback for dinner tonight at 7, and I’ll pay for anything you want. Now imagine, 4pm roles around and you are starting to get hungry. You walk into the kitchen knowing that this incredible meal will be waiting for you at around 7ish; but then you stumble across the Twinkees and Doritos...You decide to nibble on some just to “hold you over” for awhile. But what typically happens is we end up filling up on Twinkees and Doritos and then heading to Outback a couple hours later. So we both get to Outback and eat some salad and bread and by the time our main course arrives we find that we are already pretty full...full on Twinkees, Doritos, salad and bread. And suddenly what should be an incredible meal of steak and shrimp, now becomes just an average meal because our appetite is gone...we are just a little hungry for it. All that is left is the leftovers of ourself.

Yeah, dinner still tastes good but that steak and shrimp isn’t nearly what it could have been if we had waited all day to eat. If we had forgone the Twinkees and Doritos, that meal would have been that much better...it would have been incredible.

So, we do the same thing in our lives. We nibble on the things of this world, and leave no room (appetite) for God, who is the incredible meal. Then by the time we get to Him, we are mostly full and He gets the leftovers of ourselves.

That is why we sometimes struggle with having a passionate desire for the Lord, and maybe why some of us aren’t growing spiritually...all we are eating are Twinkees and Doritos and ignoring the source of it all. In Psalm 63, David says, “my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you...Your love is better than life.” I don’t think David nibbled on Twinkees and Doritos during those days, I think he waited for the Lord.

I’ll put it this way:

-Stop watching 4 football games every weekend (turn off ESPN, they will be ok without you...)

-Get off the computer/video game.

-Stop idolizing sports and food.

Don’t ever confuse the created and the creator.

The end. Go team!

Why Mystery Mission???

Human nature is to be safe and to comfortable. That’s ok. It is a universal need in everyone to feel safe and secure. That’s why we lock our doors, password protect our things, and set our house temperature to exactly 73 degrees. There is nothing wrong with any of these things...

However, we tend to try and do the same thing with God. We want to make God safe and predictable and get him to fit into a box so that we can completely understand everything about him. We try to domesticate God and make him ‘user friendly’. This is why some people will spend their entire lives trying to answer some of the unanswerable questions about God. Personally I think it’s slightly arrogant for us to say or think, “if there is a God, I’d better be able to understand everything about Him; he’d better be able to fit completely into my 8 pound head.” The reality is that maybe we won’t completely understand everything about Him. And that’s ok too. I think that’s why we have to completely trust Him...not me.

There are 2 things I know for sure

1. We have become too predictable. We love what is safe because it makes us feel, well...safe. We fear and do not like the unknown. Sometimes it looks like our faith is starting to be the routine; starting to be the norm; that it is normal and cool to follow Jesus. I think you can start to see it in the American church as well. Church has become just another weekly activity that you do, and then unplug when you leave, like a recreational softball league or a class on crocheting. Where is the passion? adventure and challenge? Was it ever there to being with or was it always just another task to perform?...

1. Jesus was very mysterious and unpredictable. He would do things that would leave people completely baffled. He didn’t have a set schedule, and wasn’t really expected to be anywhere at any certain time. At times He was surrounded by people and couldn’t get away, and then at others He would completely disappear and no one could find Him (Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:13). Sometimes He would answer questions that people were just thinking, other times He would refuse to answer their questions altogether (Mark 7:5-6, 11:33). Sometimes He would heal everyone, and then at times He would leave people physically unhealed and go somewhere else (Mark 1:38). Sometimes He would spend a day with people and they would call Him the Christ (John 1), and sometimes He would spend months with people and they would desert Him (John 6). Sometimes He would say something that would change someones life in an instant (Luke 23:40-43), and sometimes people would have absolutely no idea what He was talking about (Mark 9:32, Luke 9:44-45, Luke 18:31-34, John 4:33). People would go from everyone praising Him to everyone being furious at Him and trying to kill Him 13 verses later (Luke 4:15-28), or go from being amazed at Him to being offended by Him 3 verses later (Matthew 13:54-57). No one really knew who He was except the demons. (Mark 3:11, 3:20-22, 6:14-15).

Lets get back to the mystery of God. Lets walk in faith of not knowing every single step we will ever take in our lives. Lets just trust that God is God and I am not...

2 months later...

The average youth pastor lasts 18 months...average...meaning that some last even less than that. I think I have an idea of why. I think most youth pastors try and do everything themselves...EVERYTHING. Maybe they want all the experience or the credit, I do not know, but I do know that anyone who tries to do everything will get burned out. They will.

Scripture is VERY clear on the subject that we/I was not made to do everything myself. Part of being in a church is just doing what you were made to do, and then equipping others to do what they were made to do also.

I just keep having the thought..."what if ministry is actually REALLY EASY?" What if there was nothing to it other than letting students know they are important, putting more voices in their lives, and then putting them in leadership positions where their faith is tested and stretched all while creating environments to promote unity among them...

Parents are so thankful for what we are doing...we aren't really doing anything new or special though. I think I actually have very little to do with the results. Don't tell them though.

New church, new job, new city...

Well, so Kinzey and I have officially arrived in Tyler (woot!).

We are currently living with my parents while waiting for our house to sell in Coppell (yay). Really, living with the parental units is not as bad as people think. I couldn't ask for better parents than I already have.

My new job at our church is working out great so far. I almost have my office completely ready and good to go. The kids in our youth group are so great so far. They are so positive and responsive to everything. It's funny how only 2 weeks in and it is really easy to see who the leaders in the youth group are. Just the other day at MS camp I was sitting there watching our kids and just wondering what they will be in a few years and what type of person they will be when they grow up.

It is really cool to see how positive EVERYONE at our new church is. It is great to be around people that really believe in you, I hope that I can do that for other people as well.

Right now my only frustration is waiting for our house to sell in Coppell. We cannot buy a new house in Tyler until our Coppell house sells. I was sitting thinking earlier today trying to figure out why God is waiting for our house to sell...I'm not really sure why He is waiting but I'm trying to trust that He is in control and knows what He's doing. I just really want to get a house so that we can start having students over for game nights and dinner and stuff.

This is just another of those times when I am not %100 sure why God does things but....here's to faith!

Our going away party.

This last Sunday night the church had a going away party for myself and wifey at FBC. It was alot of funzies: cake, drinks (not the adult kind), slide show, video, and random Russell stories.

It was funny to sit there and listen to student's favorite stories of Russell, but we'll get to that in a second...

Over the past 2 years I have spent countless resources on my DTS education (which I value very highly). I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours in classrooms, many a late night studying into the wee morning hours, as well as most of my mind pursuing my theological education. I know lots of fancy theological terms and different views on Biblical interpretation, I can hold my own in most Theological arguments, and people still seem somewhat impressed when they hear I am a DTSer. But as students sat there and told their favorite Russell stories over the past year, not a single one mentioned anything that had to do with what I know, or what I have taught them. EVERY SINGLE story that students remember had to do with water balloons, throwing volleyballs at each other, playing sardines at the church, game night at our house, wearing funny costumes...you get the idea.

Sometimes I think that we try to make ministry really really difficult when it may actually be really easy. This last Sunday night has reinforced in me that what really matters is just spending time with people...not just Sunday morning and Wednesday nights...but really spending time with others. Notice use of the word 'spending' because it really is costing you something when you do that. You are giving away of yourself, you can't get that time back, and I think that's why it is so important. No one can buy more time in the day...no one.

Just walk in Christ and love those that God puts around you...that's all...God does all the work Himself, I'm just along for the ride. GO TEAM!

Letters from Parents.

This last weekend, Chuck and I took 11 high school seniors on our annual Senior Sneak trip to Austin.

By far the favorite part of the weekend for most students was during our 3^rd reflection time. During this time we gave each student a hand written letter from his or her parents. In this letter we asked parents to tell their kids how proud they were of them, tell them what they have seen them become over the past 4 years, as well as encourage them for the future. This time of our students opening and reading letters from their parents was very powerful for all of them.

I’d love to encourage all parents everywhere to always let your kids know how much you love them…all the time. Kinzey and I discussed the parent letters afterwards and we set a personal goal for our future family. Our plan is that when our children one day open a letter from the 2 of us that tells them how proud we are of them, we want their response to be complete boredom. Our dream is that after reading our letter our kids say, “this is pretty lame. There is nothing new in this letter. My parents tell me these things all the time…constantly.” We want to constantly find new ways to encourage, love, and challenge our kids…always. We want to pursue them for their entire lives. That’s just our hope for our unborn children.

Please pursue your kids, fight for them, date them, always. It’s never too late to start over…never…

Go Team!