This is an interesting article (see below) from The Galveston County Daily News. I know nothing about the church — other than what their website and the article below portray.

I am familiar with the “cell church” and know quite a few people of faith who share the cell church philosophy.

An all volunteer staff? Shared sanctuary space — with two other “unrelated” congregations? Going to get the homeless instead of expecting them to come to you? I like it… I am sure this church isn’t the only one doing such things — but I would think that churches like Galveston Community Church are still far and few between.

Here is the link: http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=82158d1fb9468639

Thoughts?

I made my way through the smoky air this morning from the hotel to the airport. It isn’t the kind of smoke that you can’t breathe in and see through (yet) where the NYWC is taking place. However, the smell of fires and the thought of the tens of thousands of people who have already been evacuated from their homes and the thought that many more may still be directed to leave all that they have and probably much of what they know, leaves my heart very heavy this morning.

I met some youth workers at the convention whose church (Mailbu Pres) burned down yesterday morning…

I am eager to see my wife and kids later today and mixed into my heart are two very different feelings. There is the joyful thought of the reunion I plan to have with my family when I land in Chicago and the anguishing thought that there are families and communities all over Southern California that are being dispersed not united.

You can pray for the families and communities more intelligibly by learning more about the fires HERE.

I had a conference call this morning with the senior leadership team and youth pastor (not on the senior lead. team) of a new but rapidly growing church here in the greater Chicago area. Very nice people. Great hearts and an obvious passion to see people live, love and lead in the way of Jesus.

I was first introduced to this church when they attended our Enroute Learning Experience over a year ago. I have had the privilege of sharing in their journey from a distance as they update my with emails and phone calls. I would name the church (because I think it is such a cool place!) but the senior leader asked me not too, which is also very cool…

The church is only a couple years old but has grown from 50 people to about 350 people in less than two years. They are not trying to build a huge church and they do not see numbers as important — other than the fact that they need to move forward with expanding their staff in order to best serve the people. So, numbers are important to them but only in the context of being sure they are laying the foundation and basis for a staff community that can truly serve people. I get a very cool vibe from these folks…

It is an innovative church really seeking to discover ways to (these are my words to follow) help people belong to a community, recognize and experience God in the journey of life and join the others in the community as they seek to join God in his mission to restore the world.

The main issue they wanted me to help them think through was specifically related to their growing youth ministry. Here is the question they asked, “What do you think about us hiring a mature adult, maybe a man or women in their late 40’s to early 50’s, who has raised teens to come along side our youth pastor for mentoring? This person would give the bulk of their time to investing into the parents of the children and teens in our church, helping them to realize the importance of their active role in their kids’ formation. What do you think about that?”

Wow! What a great question! I was speechless — truly a momentary loss of words. I was totally expecting the normal next hire staff positions to be thrown out. You know, the worship person, the outreach person, the programming person, the creative arts person, the administrative person, etc. But no! One of only a few times in my consulting experience this church came to me with the very idea I was going recommend to them. Very fun. Once I shook out the absence of words in my head, I said, “Great idea! Let me know if you need help finding this person.” And then we talked more about what this person would do, the advantages to the position and the disadvantages, etc…

I was deeply encouraged by this phone call. (I know my friend, Mark Riddle would be too. Mark, I wish you would have been on the line with me!) What a great move — hiring a person who has raised teens to mentor the youth pastor and invest their time primarily in inspiring and equipping parents in order to see themselves as (and be effective at being) the critical piece to helping their own children grow spiritually.

So, this made me curious. Are any of you thinking along these lines? Would this be your next hire? Has it already been your “next” strategic hire?

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?

I had the chance to speak at SOULstice last night in Minneapolis. It was great fun. I spoke on the discipline of confession or telling God the truth. Scot McKnight in his book Jesus Creed provides some great insight into what confession means and looks like. I borrowed most of my thoughts for the night from the book…

If you do not already own a copy of the Jesus Creed get one and if nothing else (although I think you will find the whole book extremely helpful) share the section on becoming a truth-teller with your students. There is no doubt that you and they will benefit from Scot’s thoughts on confession and the result of awakening forgiveness. McKnight also gives a great teaching outline from Luke 3 when John the Baptist is baptizing people in the Jordan…

Brian Mowrey (pictured below in the middle with the black guitar) shepherds the Soulstice community. Soulstice is a really diverse community of people both in race and age. Their vision is to experience the rhythm of change together. I love that vision…

Brian is a very gifted emerging leader with unbelievable talents and potential. I look forward to seeing how God continues to use Brian in the coming days. If you are ever in the Twin Cities on a Sunday evening or you live in the area currently and you are looking to experience worship with a God-loving, people-loving community then participate in the gathering of Soulstice.

So I am on the phone with a friend and fellow youth worker yesterday that I haven’t spoken to in nearly 3 years. It was really cool to catch up with him. At one point in our conversation I asked, “So what can you tell me about your student community”? He said, “Things are going great. I have been very successful here in my 8 years.” I said, “Really? What do you mean?” He responded by saying, “Dozens of my former students are now serving in some kind of vocational ministry. A couple of them are youth pastors in New England, one is a missionary in Mexico City and three are serving as Christian school teachers, and so on and so on.”

His comments took me by surprise. First, I thought that he was joking so I kind of joked back and when he said, “No really … I am serious. This is one of the ways I measure my effectiveness.” I just about fell off my office chair… Second, I was surprised because I always remembered this person as one of the most humble men I know. I was shocked. I never heard him talk in terms of ’success’. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with idea of success but they way he was measuring it was alarming to me…

I let a few seconds of silence go by and distance us a bit and then said, “Dude. Do you really measure your success by how many of your students leave your ministry and go serve in vocational ministry.” He said, “Absolutely. Don’t you?” I said, “No. Not really.” “So how do you measure success?” he asked. “Not sure, exactly.” I remarked. “I am not sure measuring success is for me to do…”

I told him that I would think about his question through the rest of the day and then post about it. I asked his permission to share our little interchange and he obviously was cool with it or I wouldn’t be posting… :>

So, here is what I have come to decide my dear friend (and all of you who are now involved)…

First, what is success anyway? Where does that take and drive me? Where or what does the pursuit of success take me from? Is that what I (and you) are supposed to be enamored with? I don’t mind thinking in terms of my commitment to God’s calling on my life, my desire to honor God with my faithfulness, my passion expressed through my gifts, etc. and assessing who I am or who I am not and possibly should be or could be. But determining what I think is and what isn’t success really isn’t my role.

Second, since success isn’t for me to determine then what is, right? Well, I think I need to assess who I am and who I am becoming. Hopefully I am (and evolving more deeply into being) an open, alert, honest, accessible, listening, caring, trusting, loving, God-dependent shepherd or guide that is concerned with helping students…

* on their way toward theosis
* realize that unique to how God has created them and called them, they are a significant part of his story and mission (no matter where they end up working)
* to critically think and journey their way to beliefs and convictions that ultimately determine their behaviors and practices that serve God in his passionate pursuit to restore people to himself and to each other
* to see that they are a part of God’s story and mission but also a part of his people or community — the church
* to realize that I am not concerned with them as a product coming out of my ministry but that I am concerned with their spiritual journey as a dynamic process for the rest of their life

So, my good friend, to answer your question I do not to measure success as it relates to how many of my students go into full-time ministry. I think that is a great calling – but it is not a better or worse thing so much as it is just how God chooses to place his servants. How will I know if I am doing a good job? I guess by assessing my faithfulness to what God has called me to do (the above). I think if I were to measure success as you do, I would become preoccupied with things like numbers, decisions, programming superiority, etc. How do I know? Because I would simply be returning to my old ways… Much love, brother.

For the rest of you out there… How do you feel about measuring/determining success? What do you use as a measuring device (or whatever)?  I know that “bearing fruit” is important but evaluated by what?  As always I invite you to comment or email me at chrisfol@mac.com.

The stance and posture of the missional youth minister…

Where do you stand? Not on specific theological issues, social issues, political issues or any other issues. Those are all certainly worthy issues to take a stand on. Specifically, where do you stand in relation to God and the broken world? And what is your posture?

I read this verse this morning. It may be a bit out of context but nevertheless it got me thinking and praying:

“Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord…” (Joel 2:17)

I couldn’t help but to think that where we stand and how we choose to plead to God to spare his people has something to do with our role as missional youth ministers. Shouldn’t we be standing between God and the broken world (with awe, fear, hope, etc.) and crying out to God to ’spare his people’?

Maybe one of the missing aspects of evangelism in youth ministry today is our neglected stance and posture between God and the world he is restoring. Perhaps we need to commit with greater regularity and passion to be pleading to God on behalf of today’s youth…

Last week I spent a couple of days with Mark Riddle. Mark is the lead consultant of The Riddle Group, a youth ministry consulting and coaching firm. Mark is a great thinker and has an unmistakable passion for the church. He is also a great friend and ministry partner.

One of the things that Mark and I discussed was a growing need for a youth ministry collective. Wikipedia — “A collective is a group of people who share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project(s) to achieve a common objective.

I am not sure how you choose to articulate your passion to see students find and follow Jesus but I am quite certain that our common objectives in youth ministry are very similar. We have given our lives to youth ministry for a very similar reason — to help God restore his world through serving youth and their families.

Our common passions coming together in the form of a collective could 1) help “all of us” identify the preferred future of youth ministry, 2) become the voice of “all of us” that speaks into and implements the necessary fundamental changes in youth ministry that will lead us toward the preferred future and 3) ultimately allow “all of us” to inspire more students to find and follow Jesus (or however you articulate it).

Stay connected to the dialog surrounding a Youth Ministry Collective here and on Mark Riddle’s blog:

http://www.theriddlegroup.com/blog/2007/02/
vehicle-to-new-youth-ministry-reality.html

Steve Argue is the Executive Director of the Contextual Learning Center at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and co-founder of the Intersect Community. He is hosting a one-day forum called, Where Youth Ministry Must Go on March 12th. The cost is only $40 and he has Mark Oestreicher and Kara Powell coming in to join him in three conversations around the theme. Sounds sweet. I am going to try and be there…

You can learn more about it at Steve’s blog:

www.intersectcommunity.com/blog

This morning I spoke to a group of high school students from the youth ministry of Christ Community Church in Leawood, KS. It was a blast! I was reminded how much I love teaching — especially students.

I spoke on Romans 2:1-13. Heavy, but fun stuff. I had a chance to dialog with a number of the students after I was through … I was also invited to pray with a couple of students. It was great to be a small part of their growth.

As I sit here in the KC airport (FREE WiFi — Nice!) and reflect on the morning a couple of thoughts come to my mind.

First, students are wicked smart. I couldn’t believe some of the insights that a couple of the students shared with me after I was done. One student was able to help me see some of Paul’s similar teachings in other parts of the NT that she has been praying on for weeks.

Second, I miss teaching students on a regular basis! Most of the students were very engaged today. They were intently listening and participating along with me. I was encouraged by some of the silent yet very noticeable connections I had with the students while speaking. You know what I mean? The eye to eye contact, the occasional head nod of interest or approval and the slight smile symbolic to resonating with the truth from the word. (Maybe they were just laughing at me — I guess that could be possible too…)

Lastly, I was rejuvenated by the students interacting with the worship, morning prayers, story-telling and the letter writing to the troops in Iraq. I confess that sometimes I forget how capable students are and how effective they can be at inspiring one another to tell, do, be and celebrate God’s story and mission.

‘Bout to board the plane back home to Chi-town. Peace.