Bears, Springs, Golf & the Future of YM Org.’s
I have taken a few days to get away and talk through a decision I need to make with my good friend and co-worker, Matt Wilks. We are in Radium, British Columbia. I am smack dab in the midst of what I believe is some of the most beautiful landscape on planet earth. On the way up from Calgary, AB we stopped for a few minutes and gazed at a bear who was looking for food along the highway. Very cool. We were less than 10 feet away when I took this pic on my phone. He didn't even care to know we were there...
Last night around 10PM Matt and I went down to the hot springs to relax and talk. Very nice. They collect the water that runs of the mountains, heat it up to about 104 degrees and make you lay in it until you are so relaxed you can't get out -- but then they close the place at 11PM. It is quite nice but quite unfair if you ask me...
This morning we went over to the golf course and hit a few balls at the range. We are looking forward to a 5PM tee time tonight! I haven't been golfing in nearly three years, so we'll see how it goes. Here is a pic I took this morning from the tee box...
The entire flight up to Calgary from Chicago, most of yesterday and nearly the entire day today I have been consumed with thoughts surrounding the life expectancy of the national youth ministry organization as a whole such as the one I lead, Sonlife. I can't help to think that as postmodern thought and practice continues to emerge and change the way we "do youth ministry" the national youth ministry training and resourcing organization will have to rethink the way that it serves the church.
I don't mean cosmetically or even structurally. We have been already doing that for years. What I think I mean (thinking out loud here) is that the complete ethos of the organizations will have to change. I am thinking that the day of the 3 or 4 major youth ministry organizations leading the way might be over but is most definitely dying. How will the "national" youth ministry organization position itself to inspire, empower, serve and support the emergence of more local or regional voices?
I am thinking that in the end, the more glocal (local ministry with comprehensive impact over time is how I am choosing to define this word), contextualized voices we can cultivate and sustain the greater hope we instill and the greater the impact might be. In other words (and in the words of Seth Godin), I think that Small is the New Big". More on this later...
Stealing or Revealing the Identity of Jesus?
I am up late these nights. Mostly flipping through the channels as I am to worn out to think straight enough to write well or read well, but not worn out enough to have my mind become inactive enough to fall asleep. I know, this is something that doctor's can fix. I am on it, believe me...
Last night (actually early this morning) I happened to see a commercial putting forth identity theft prevention techhiques around 1:30am. This commercial brought me back to a not so fond memory of when my wife and I had our identity taken. We spent months, almost an entire year, working with the banks and creditors to fix the problem. I can't remember all of what the lady who borrowed our identity spent our money on but it was random things like, Dell computers (which brought unspeakable disgust since I have only owned Apple computers for some time now), a TV, some groceries, Aerosmith concert tickets, etc. I confess it feels funny when someone robs your identity and then uses your life to amplify or elevate their life.
I think there are times when we do this to Jesus. I think we may be guilty every now and then (or perhaps even more often than that) of using Jesus to amplify our life. We have behaved or currently behave fraudulently and we misappropriate Jesus in order to create a phony persona that we stand behind in order to be right, relevant, etc. There might be good reason for us to be classified as identity takers.
I realize that the teachings, miracles, deeds, etc, of Jesus that we have recorded for us in the Gospels were illustrations for us to replicate and imitate -- to make our own or to live out ... so that we might reveal to all of humanity that God is working to restore the world back to its original intent and condition. However, this is not be done fraudulently or even in order to amplify our own personal life. This imitation of Jesus is not to allow us to live a better life, to make us feel good about ourselves, to help us rest in what is right and true in a world that is wrong and false, etc. To the contrary, to illustrate Jesus is to bring amplification to who he is, not who we think we are or even what we think others should be.
We steal the Identity of Jesus when...
- We use His teaching and claims where we see fit and where it helps us not necessarily where he intended them to be used therefore making them out of context.
- We make theological assertions of what we know in order to hide behind what we don't know.
- We put Him in our pocket and "bring him along for the ride" instead of surrendering and disciplining ourselves to be led by him.
- We tag Him as our friend and forget or intentionally ignore that he is our King. So we end up doing life with him instead of to honor him.
- We become so familiar with who he is "after all these years of study" that we spend more time telling people who the "real" Jesus is instead of seeking to become like the real Jesus.
- We put our phony persona forward as opposed to our real self and consequently can never really be who we are or who He wants us to become.
- We state that working for him is our undeniable calling when really it might be just an undeniable convenience.
- We seek to build into His Kingdom our own pet preferences and opinions rather than seeking to reveal or expose it for what it is fully capable of being about on its own.
- We read His red letters like it is some kind of collection of self-help slogans instead of fundamental precepts fit to come only from a King.
- We play “the Jesus card” on someone to excuse our bad behavior or real but impure motives.
In what other areas of life might we be convicted of stealing the identity of Jesus?
I think it is of utmost importance that as we shepherd our students and leaders amidst the daily priorities of our individual youth ministry's that we work hard to help people understand that stealing the identity of Jesus is a dereliction of our role as agents of God's restoration and love. We don't shepherd well when the people around us find it appropriate to misuse and abuse Jesus for the sake of amplifying or enhancing their own lives -- regardless of how tempting it may be to make Jesus fit or work for the times.
To that end, we ought to seek to find ways to more effectively help our students die to self by taking up their cross and subsequently living out the identity (characteristics, virtues, etc.) of Jesus instead of stealing it. The goal of this Christian life isn’t to enhance our own lives but to join in the activity of God by revealing who Jesus is through our life in order that others might recognize who we belong to and who we are loved by.
Are we inspiring, challenging and equipping a generation of students to steal the identity of Jesus or reveal the identity of Jesus?
Not a typical day @ work…
I brought my son to the office with me today. I asked him, "Drew, do you want to go to work with me today?" He said, "Yes! I love the hot chocolate at Starbucks!" Apparently he is aware of my satellite office location too... It is not much of a secret anymore.
We stopped on the way to my real office and he and I indulged...
Having Drew with me this morning was a joy. It was work -- but it was unbelievably delightful. I really didn't get much done, of course. I managed about a 20 minute phone conversation with my friend Topher from YouthFront while Drew committed himself to putting Kix and mini-pretzels into the middle drawer of my desk.
I mostly cleaned up spills, scrubbed red crayon out of the carpet and played computer games all morning. Quite fun actually...
On the way to meet his mom and brother for lunch he said, "Dad. Thanks for remembering me today." "What do you mean, 'remembering' you today?" I said, as I looked at him in the rear view mirror. He said, "Thanks for playing with me at your work."
Today was a sweet day. I am reminded of what really matters most.
The Way of the Heart
In a few weeks I am speaking at a youth event on the subject of prayer. I have taught on prayer a number of times over the years, of course -- most youth pastors do at some point.
Lately, in preparation for my talk, I have been reading some books on the subject. I really don't want to present to teens the same old thing about prayer. So, I have been reading and I have been deeply challenged by some of what I have learned about prayer in recent days. For example, today I read a little (barely 100 pages) but hugely significant book written by Henri Nouwen called, The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God through Prayer, Wisdom and Silence.
I learned that prayer, according to Nouwen and many of the Desert Fathers he quotes from, comes out of silence. Silence comes out of solitude. So, when we talk about prayer, we must talk about silence and solitude -- for it is out of these two disciplines that prayer can truly help us "come to rest" with God.
Here is a part of Nouwen's work on the subject of solitude... (that can lead to silence, that can lead to ceaseless prayer)
"In order to understand the meaning of solitude, we must first unmask the ways in which the idea of solitude has been distorted by our world. We say to each other that we need some solitude in our lives. What we really are thinking of, however, is a time and a place for ourselves in which we are not bothered by other people, can think our own thoughts, express our own complaints, and do our own thing, whatever it may be. For us, solitude most often means privacy. We have come to the dubious conviction that we all have a right to privacy. Solitude becomes like a spiritual property for which we can compete on the free market of spiritual goods. But there is more. We also think of solitude as a station where we can recharge our batteries, or as the corner of the boxing ring where our wounds are oiled, our muscles massaged, and our courage restored by fitting slogans. In short, we think of solitude as a place where we gather new strength to continue the ongoing competition in life..."
Nouwen goes on to say...
"...solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather, it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the new man and the new women occurs."
As you think about how to teach and model to your students what prayer is, I would encourage you to take a few hours and read this book. I think you will discover some new ideas on what prayer is and how we can help our students and volunteers encounter God in fresh ways.
What a day… Part 2
Well, for those of you asking, the other shoe never dropped yesterday. The day finished like it started -- great. What a day.
Today is going exceptionally well too. If De La Hoya kicks Mayweather's butt tonight in Vegas then I will be on a role! (I hate violence --- but I love boxing. Not sure how to reconcile that really...)
Seriously, yesterday finished well. I met with a couple of dozen youth workers (and some senior pastors) in the afternoon who wanted to talk about my book, A New Kind of Youth Ministry and the one I am working on now called, Story, Signs & Sacred Rhythms.
We had a terrific time talking about challenges facing youth ministry today, challenges we could be facing in the very near future and the necessary environments we need to create within our ministry's in order to either provide solutions for current challenges or prevent the need for solutions down the road. I am going to dedicate a series of posts in the coming days around the conversation. I found the conversation to be very inspiring and hopeful so I am looking forward to sharing some of it with you and learning from you all based on your thoughts and particular contextual findings.
What a day…
Ever have one of those really great days? Seems like everything is going your way...
-woke up breathing again, which is always good
-no traffic going to the airport... i felt like i was the only one on the road
-free first class upgrade on a 3 hour flight
-found an old starbucks card in my backpack and it had enough on it for a venti americano
-saw a guy in o'hare that i haven't seen in about 8 years, parent of a former student my wife used to mentor
-flight landed on time, bag was the first one out on the belt
-checked into a hotel, one of my old high school soccer teammates runs the place and recognized my name, gave me a free dinner coupon and a note for me that he'll be in tomorrow and we'll connect
-got a text from a friend saying he is thinking of me today as he knows i have a few big decisions ahead of me
-i am about to go meet with a network of youth workers for coffee and conversation around a new kind of youth ministry.
Just one of those great days! BUT it is only a little half over so I am half expecting "the other shoe to drop", as they say. I'll keep you posted (for those of you who care)...
