teenagers and "moralistic therapeutic deism"

There's an interesting article on cnn.com about teens and faith. Check out the full write-up here.

I didn't really agree with the whole thing (mostly because their claims relied on weak anecdotal support); however, I thought this passage in particular was compelling:

How 'radical' parents instill religious passion in their children

... [Dean] says parents who perform one act of radical faith in front of their children convey more than a multitude of sermons and mission trips.

A parent's radical act of faith could involve something as simple as spending a summer in Bolivia working on an agricultural renewal project or turning down a more lucrative job offer to stay at a struggling church, Dean says.

But it's not enough to be radical -- parents must explain "this is how Christians live," she says.

"If you don't say you're doing it because of your faith, kids are going to say my parents are really nice people," Dean says. "It doesn't register that faith is supposed to make you live differently unless parents help their kids connect the dots."

What do you think? Comment on here if you have any thoughts.

Pentecost and Babel

In honor of Pentecost Sunday tomorrow, I thought I would post an unique message I wrote a few years back.

Pentecost and Babel (Genesis 11 & Acts 2)
Think about the events surrounding the first Pentecost, and let’s look how it fits in the story of the Bible, God’s story—the story of Redemption. All the way back in the beginning, God created human beings in relationship to himself—in Eden, we see a picture of humanity at ease with God, close to him and one another, in a place of their own where they belonged… and it was good. When sin entered the world, God cast them from their home, sent them away from himself and began to tear them apart from one another. The good that was God’s image within his creation was marred and broken—we see this in Cain and Abel, in the evil during Noah’s days, and in the tower of Babel story. But in Genesis chapter 12 in the story of Abraham, God begins the work of redeeming his people, restoring what was lost, the beginning of bringing his prodigal sons and daughters back into the family.

In this story of God’s redemption of humanity, Abraham is the beginning of God fixing the problem and Jesus is the climax (and of course, the great wedding banquet in heaven is the final resolution). So what you have is a kind of roller coaster movement… it starts up with Eden, goes down with the Fall, begins to ascend again with Abraham, peaks with Jesus and resolves toward the restored kingdom at the Day of the Lord. So now at Pentecost we begin to see God working things out, the beginnings of the restoration, the reversal of the curses enacted at the Fall.

If you have studied literature to any extent, one thing you would be taught is to pay special attention to foreshadowing and mirroring in the texts because they bring fuller meaning to what is being said. This happens all the time in Scripture, too. God indeed is the Great Storyteller. The big theme is the curse and its effects and then the redemption—the reversal of the curses—and its effect. People, place, presence taken then restored. God’s image taken away and then restored in us.

But I want us to look particularly at two stories of two communities: Babel and Pentecost. Babel is the last story before the beginning of redemption and Pentecost is the first story after the climax of redemption in Jesus… immediately before the upturn and immediately after the downturn… the perfect spot that you might expect to see some parallels.

In Babel, the evil of mankind had grown and grown, their focus had moved away from God and completely on themselves (v.3-4). They had replaced the worship of the Lord with worshipping themselves and their own greatness. On Pentecost, however, we see a community that was amazingly selfless (v.42-47). Their focus was not on themselves but on God.

Again, in Babel, we see a people building a great tower so as to “reach the heavens,” essentially trying to achieve through their own strength a place with God. You see here humans working upward to God. But with Pentecost, you see God reaching down, entering into humanity’s lowliness. Men and women confessed their weakness and need and God gave himself to them there (v.37-38).

And what was the curse of Babel? What was God’s judgment on their self-centeredness and seeking achievement? Disunity through confused language (v.6-8). Ever since Babel, humanity has been cursed to live separated from one another, primarily by language—but more than that—by a failure to be on the same page and to have a singular purpose.

What happened at Pentecost? I admit there’s a lot about the Holy Spirit evidenced by tongues that I don’t understand, but could it be that Pentecost was an indication of God’s redemption, beginning to reverse the curse proclaimed at Babel? What do we see with this early community of believers? Not just understanding each others’ languages, but the restoration of unity, the beginning of real fellowship and community, living lives together with a single purpose… “All the believers were together and had everything in common…” (v.44-47).

So what does this mean for me? Are you living together with other believers? What is keeping you at a distance from real fellowship and community? Have you allowed all of God’s redeeming grace to work in your life? Have you allowed him to save your soul without letting him repair your relationships with others? Think of the community we could be by living in unity!

Listen to what God says about this kind of unity: “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” God wants to make us great and empower us—not for our own glory and not to attain a place with God—but in humility and by God’s Spirit we could make a huge impact for the kingdom of God right here. If what we celebrate at Pentecost is the birth of the church, what does this say about what church should be? I guess it means that church is a community of selfless people where God has come and, therefore, shares in real unity and fellowship with one another.

I love the story of God. Because Jesus has come and died and lives again, God has begun to restore us to his family and is making that family whole once again. Won’t you be a part of that story with me?

notes from symc

Last weekend, I attended the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago, Illinois with two of my youth volunteers. I always love these conferences, and here I'll attempt to give a few notes from that great trip. (Note #1: Gino's East pizza is amazing!)
One of the best quotes from the weekend was from Doug Franklin's seminar on student leadership. He said, "Youth ministry is not the church's ministry to students; it's the students' ministry to their world." When I heard it, I realized he had articulated clearly what I've been thinking for years. I love this shift in perspective, and I hope I can instill this in our congregation and students.

The "Branding Your Youth Ministry" workshop gave me a lot to think about (and makes me really wish I was a professional graphic design artist!). The purpose of branding is to build trust and connect with the group of people you are targeting. I know it sounds kind of business-y, but our church can do so much more through images, phrases, music, video, and other medium to speak more effectively to our culture. I sometimes go back and forth on how much to do this in my youth ministry (that, and I'm pretty uncreative), but I think I'd like give significant attention to our youth space in the upcoming year.

Also, we have a youth-led worship Sunday coming up in May, and I have several great ideas for it. Some possible skits and creative things, as well as some themes and thoughts to share with the congregation about our student ministry. I get excited thinking about our students leading in worship.

One of the workshops I attended was related to family ministry, basically supporting and communicating well with parents. I really liked some of the ideas for getting families more involved in my ministry, but an idea that I thought of while I was in there listening is a parent experiential calendar much like the Lent calendar I am following throughout this season. It would have a different exercise each day for parents to do, such as pray with your kids, lead a family devotion, write an encouraging letter, share a particular memory, play together, etc. I might try to do it next year during Lent or Advent, or some other time of the year when I want to encourage parents to step up in their role as spiritual leaders for their children.
Finally, this was the first year I attended one of these conferences with some of my volunteers. We had a great time eating Chicago pizza, hanging out, and talking about working with teenagers. Usually this has been a conference I attend with my wife, or even sometimes I will have been their with my brother who's a youth minister, or have seen other youth pastor friends around. But it was nice to see a few of my adult volunteers experience this kind of atmosphere where 2500 youth workers who love God and have a passion for students come and hang out together. I'm excited about what this might mean for them and what God is doing in their lives.

Random other notes--
* Set up a shared google document with my volunteers to share ideas and notes, especially with my small group leaders.
* "If you add something, you must drop something else." Very wise.
* One Meal One Day event sponsored by Compassion on October 20th, I'm looking at participating in.
* I heard Les Christie, a workshop leader, say that creativity is often tied to location, and so we might need to find other places than our office to spark creativity. I think this is true for me.
* Doug Fields' final thoughts to wrap up the weekend: Lead Strong + Love Stronger = Lasting Legacy (1 Timothy 1:3-5).
* Oh, and here's a little video from the conference for your amusement :)

inconvenience at SYMC

Well, I'm not having any luck finding free wi-fi internet, and on top of that the local CBS channel is showing the Notre Dame game instead of the UK/ Tennessee game. Not cool, people. Not cool. :(

Lent

As a typical Baptist, I don't usually do Lent very well. It has always seemed a little too stuffy, religious and legalistic to me (as most traditions do). But over the years I have slowly come around.

This year has been significantly different already. This is the first year that I received ashes on my forehead. The Ash Wednesday service at the Episcopal church was beautiful and meaningful, but I was still very aware how out-of-place and uncomfortable I was with it all. Nevertheless, I was glad to be connected to something that Christians all over the world were a part of.

Then there is the commonly observed practice of giving up something for Lent. It is meant to be a time of self-denial and repentance (which in it's true form indicates a change of behavior) that leads to the Cross of Good Friday and the Empty Tomb of Resurrection Sunday. So with a fairly honest assessment of my life, I committed to drinking only water for 40 days. Giving up soft drinks (of which I typically consume several each day) was the big one, but it includes everything else, too. It may be healthy, but it is not meant to be a diet or for health reasons; it is meant to set me free from something in my life that has been addicting. I cannot allow anything in my life to compete with Jesus for control over it.

Another part of Lent this year is our church's emphasis on listening through the New Testament together. We have been encouraging the congregation to join us each day in listening to a few chapters of an audio version of the New Testament. I have to admit, after trying out the material we were distributing, I went back to my old copy of The Bible Experience audio Bible because it is so much better of a dramatic reading. I'm now in the first few chapters of Luke, and this has been a really nice part of this season as well.

Finally, thanks to a link on a friend's blog, I found Mars Hill Bible Church's Lent 2010 experiential calendar. This calendar is set up so that on each of the 40 days I will participate in an activity that challenges me and stretches me to grow toward Christ and his love. This includes activities like doing something you've been putting off or making a phone call to someone you've had a falling out with or shoveling snow from a neighbor's driveway or fasting from food or technology or music. I like that it helps Lent to be about more than just giving up something for a duration of time, but it also adds in spiritual exercises to your life in a wide variety of areas.

The funny thing about this season of Lent is how these added observances have bumped up against my regular life. The ashes coincided with a youth mission project, which helped me reflect on serving others as a proper response to repentance from self-centeredness. The audio Bible listening has been mixed in with a variety of activities throughout my day. The nothing-but-water fast creates tension whenever I go to the refrigerator or out to eat. My experiences from the Lent calendar are not always convenient with my day-to-day schedule so I have to find ways to make it work.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago, and I'm going to be thinking and talking a lot about youth ministry. I'm hopeful that my deeper observance of Lent this year will also pay off in a fuller understanding of ministry as I reflect and study it together with some other great youth leaders. (Btw, I'm planning on blogging from there this weekend, too... or you can follow me on twitter.)

what's up? oh, not too much

So here it is, late February, and I'm just now getting around to my first blog post of 2010. Sorry folks. It's not that there hasn't been anything going on to report... in fact, it's probably because of the opposite, too much going on that I haven't found (or made) the time to post.

Here's a little taste... (if nothing else, you can enjoy the pictures)

The kids are big stuff.

Kate has moved up to a "big girl bed" now. When she saw it, she said, "Thank you Daddy for making me a bed." Even though it's passed down from Amy's great-grandmother, she thinks I made it just for her. She so sweet. And on top of that, in the past few weeks, she's even graduated out of pull-ups at night. She really is becoming quite the big girl.

Ben has started taking piano lessons. Not only is he doing great so far, but he also loves it. As my mom can attest, I, however, was not so accommodating when I was a kid. He makes me proud, and I love to listen to him practice.

And Will and I have a new connection. I'm leading the music for preschool chapel, a new initiative with his preschool on Friday mornings. All the preschoolers love it, but I'm still not sure if he thinks it's cool or not that his dad is doing the music.

Also because of the snow-pocalypse of 2010, the kids have now missed ten days of school. But at least we've gotten to enjoy the snow a little bit.

Thanks to the Elswicks, we've had a couple great afternoons of sledding on the slopes in their backyard! Kate loves to push, and Ben and Will really enjoy the sledding. (I think Ben offers the most promise for a snow skiing companion in the near future!)

And then there was the water leak. One Sunday morning as I was getting ready to head out for church, I heard a hissing sound and looked up to see a water stain line across our living room ceiling. We turned off the water into the house and got a plumber to look at it on Monday. He couldn't find it the first time, but when the water had been turned on for a few hours, the water stain came back. The plumber came back and cut a hole in the bathroom closet looking for the leak. Couldn't find it there. So he cut a hole in the living room ceiling where he found the leak in the cold water pipe leading into the bathtub on the second floor. Leak fixed, but now we had a huge hole in the ceiling and closet.

Now, my drywall skills aren't all that great, but I think I did a pretty good job fixing the holes. I got the texture pretty decent but still need to see if I can match the color better with some primer. All in all, I'm pleased with my results.

On top of that, as our Christmas present from Amy's mom, we had all the carpet and linoleum replaced in our house. A very nice upgrade in our home, but it certainly was a lot of work and adjustment to have it installed.

In the midst of the chaos when our carpet was being installed, my cell phone was lost (while our home phone was disconnected because of the work being done). The next day I got online and found that someone had used my phone, and, long story short, I got it back by offering a "reward" and driving to the next town over to get it from a guy who handed it to me with a washcloth because he didn't want his prints on it. Honestly, I'm just glad to get it back.

It's been a very active time in ministry, too.

In January, I had the chance to pray with Faith and Angelica to receive Jesus, and I was blessed to have the opportunity to baptize them during worship. Truly, this is the best part of my job!

We also set some record numbers in 2010. On the 17th of January, we had the highest attended lock-in since I've been at GBC with 58 students. Here's a video with some of the kids dancing to the Nintendo Wii game, "Just Dance." (I think there's some dance footage of me floating around somewhere out there on the internet, too.)

We had a record number attend our annual winter retreat, too. We took 36 people (29 students and 7 adults) to Pigeon Forge a couple weeks ago. We had a great time together with our games and teaching sessions based on Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. We also had a good time in downtown Gatlinburg, at the Comedy Barn, and at the outlet stores before heading back. It went remarkably smooth for the number of students who went. I have amazing adult volunteers that make this trip so much fun every year. We also collected a record number of warm clothing items for our association's annual Souper Bowl Party where they distribute the clothes to low-income individuals and families in the Lexington area. Last year, we collected probably about 50 or 60 items from our church to donate to the project. This year, the students turned it into a huge competition between the 14 adult Sunday School classes (complete with weekly skits and videos) to see who could donate the most, with the prize being a tasty continental breakfast for the winning class. The competition was fierce, and we ended up collecting almost 1000 items. Our students did a tremendous job, and I'm very proud of their hard work!

And just in this last week alone, we celebrated Chinese New Year (see Amy's blog here), Ben broke his bed by jumping on it (!), our youth group delivered 28 meals to some of our senior adults, and our church staff celebrated Mardi Gras (oh, and Ash Wednesday). And yesterday, because it was yet another snow day, we decided to get the youth together to shovel some snow and then go out to the movies and dinner together. A busy, but fun, week.

Oh, and every time I thought about sitting down to write a blog there was another big distraction--UK basketball!!! What a great season we're having! So, with that acknowledged, I guess you should expect my next update sometime after April 5th :).