Good Moves to Jordan on this website. Looks very nice and very youth pastor “hip.”
Catalyst should be a blast. This will be my fourth time attending. It should be unique as the past few I was a college student or just starting as a youth pastor. The application will certainly be different but great I’ve got a year under my belt. The trip down shall be good as well. Rewarding to discuss with fellow pastorals.
Well see how well we keep up with this blog deal. Keep the fire hot.
Rhett
We are back! (and then leaving again…)
Just kidding! Rhett and i are on our way to the Catalyst conference coming up in October. It’s going to be awesome. We will post a few… posts about what’s going up and feelings we are having. Who knows, maybe we will even get back into writing this thing again. After all, being youth pastors, we have nothing better to do.
What’s Catalyst? Catalyst is all about shaping leaders in the Church, presenting the next big ideas, practices and content. Catalyst exists to ignite passion for Christ and develop leadership potential in the Next Generation, equipping them to engage and impact their world. Every year, 10,000 next generation leaders converge on Atlanta in October for the Catalyst Conference, the leadership experience of the year. But Catalyst is more than a conference- it purposes to serve as a leadership filter, continually providing relevant training, innovative events, and cutting edge resources for leaders in the Church.
See you there!
-Jordan
I’m sitting in one of my favorite places. The Mean Bean Caffeine Lounge on the corner of the busiest intersection in Delaware. From where I sit I can watch as people stroll by. From where I sit I observe cars turning left and turning right and driving straight through the lights.
Sitting here I can taste the aroma of coffee in the air. This aroma sticks to my clothing, only to remind me of my day when I remove them later tonight before bed. It’s a reminder of life. It’s a reminder of gift I have of living. I’ve had little interpersonal contact today. This is unique for me, but it’s a much needed escape. I sat in a little sandwich and coffe spot earlier for a few hours. And I have been here at the Bean for the last few as well.
Me, coffee, Macbook, Bible, thoughts and Sigur Ros palying through my headphones. It’s a refreshing day as I ponder the pace and movement of my life. It’s rigorous at times. However, I’m one of those men who manages to keep a pretty calm pace of life. Sometimes I wonder about the things that really stress us out. I wonder why we get so stressed out. I wonder why we manage church like a business. Why we’ve implimented Fortune 500 business strategies to win souls. Seems too man-controlled and manipulative. I don’t have faith in it like I have faith in God.
I wonder how our dwelling upon past experiences and future ambitions influences the day of today. How it causes us to miss the very thing we are to gain in the present. What if we focus too much on what’s to come?
What if I put all my eggs in one basket to try and grow my youth group God’s given me? Or what if I set out a course for what the next 5 years will look like for the youth group? Then after that, what graduate work I will do and how I will position myself to get into what I think I should be doing? And then what my life will look like in 15 years? And then perhaps God has made me pyschic and life is easy, I just have to work hard to achieve. These thoughts make my blood pressure raise. I’m not sure if I can really control my destiny, or if I even want to control it for that matter.
I think to attempt to control our destiny might leave little room for God to be… Himself.
Maybe we lean on control to try to understand the scary parts of God that leave us uneasy. Didn’t Jesus say that we should not worry about tommorow? Sure that doesn’t mean it’s bad to expect to do some things tommorow. However, this truth is so revolutionary to me.
Today I haven’t really thought much about church or my job or my students or what I have to do the rest of this week. There’s stuff there. But I can think about it tommorow. Is messing with it right now going to make me any more effective when I deal with it? Nope.
I like being at ease in my Spirit. I don’t want to miss life as it passes me by because I was planning too much or getting stressed out or convinvcing myself of how right I am.
I want to be able to breathe. I’m obedient to God when I have days like today where I don’t let my mind veg… but I go somewhere. Read some things. Write some things. Think about some things. I did “devo’s” today. I read half of chapter 18 in Genesis. Then verse 15 engaged my mind so I began to write 4 pages of it’s implications in life today.
It was beautiful and freeing. I’ve met God today. We’ve just been hanging around. Relaxing. Not getting too far ahead of ourselves. Just breathing. Maybe we confuse the pace of God with the pace of our surrounding, self-righteous beliefs.
Tonight before bed I’ll say thanks to God for the aroma of coffee on my clothing that reminds me of today.
~RGE~
So here I sit in the humble little ChelleyBelly. A classy little sandwich/soup & coffee spot in downtown Delaware. I’m listening to the new album by Derek Webb called Mockingbird. It’s pretty good. And he gives it away to people. See Free Music link to the right.
I’m impressed by junior high guys. Lastnight my guy Seth and I had prepared for our small group with these young laddies and we were trying to discuss what it ment to be MOM’s. (Men on Mission). They pretty much had it down. They are a lot smarter than we probably gave them credit for. Eventually what happend was a young guy named Michael who goes to a Catholic church in town starts asking questions about other religions.
The room goes quiet. The guys actually stop mumbling and they start asking more and more questions to me and a 16 year-old bro. Asking about the paths people take to God, God knowing different stories that people need to draw them to Himself, and the event of purification in one’s life helping to live a good life.
My jaw dropped. This one in particular 6th grader was asking questions I usually avoided thinking about in college because I didn’t know an answer and was jaded by so many different biases and opinions dictating spirituality. So I settled for the classic “God knows what’s up and I just put my faith in Christ being who He says He is and who I am.” Then I can go on with my day.
I sat amazed at my 16 year-old allie as he kept spitting off all these answers of things that he has learned over the years. Wow. I was pretty humbled. Not guilty, but cracked down a little bit. Challanged and provoked to think a little more about such things.
Who would have thought that I would have been so thoughtfully provoked my middle school kids. They don’t want to be spoon fed. Perhaps to quiet them and get them to pay attention… we should discuss something that really has meat. Asking questions. Not fearing that they are going to bail out on life. If they know they are loved and they accept that… I don’t think they’ll bail, unless they feel it stronger somewhere else.
We can just keep talking. Asking questions. Finding out answers together. Imagine the impact on some of these young guns, learning how to walk at a younger age, perhaps they won’t bail on church and God when they graduate high school because their youth group experience was laced with questions, learning, and experiencing life in a true form, surrounded by people who love them.
Just some mutterings.
RGE
I used to be a swimmer for most of my life. Since I was a youngster. I was swimming. Even before I was out of diapers, my mom would say. So if you look at a big pool there are typically two ends. Shallow and deep. The baby pool is the peak of shallow ends right? Now it pretty much comes up to my shins or knees. But the deep end. That requires treading water. That requires a little more risk right? Because you suddenly have to exert more energy to keep yourself above water, breathing. Each breath becomes a little tougher because it requires a little more of your whole self to experience life’s breaths.
I’ve recently been having some tough conversations where I’m discovering, in a new light, that I go swimming in the baby pool far more than I dive into the deep end. And it’s harmed things. Think about it. What happens in deep water? We gotta put our whole body to use right? Treading. Just that thought doesn’t sound very appealing. That word itself is like in the same category as gasping, pleaing, and needing. Egh! No thanks.
The baby pool, you can lift your legs and really run through the baby wakes. You’ve got total control in the shallow end. Maybe you slip up a few times, the floor of the pool does get slick sometimes. You’re embarassed but you can get up and redeem yourself. Regardless the deep end demands more of your life.
I’ve often viewed myself as one who is the master of the deep end. But, I don’t really like getting tired. And treading makes me real tired and exhausted. It’s not fun. What about you? Is it something you look forward to? The reality is you can connect with God in the baby pool. You can connect with other people there too. And have a great time. And that’s valuable.
However, when you’re chillen, alone in the deep end, you might become much more aware of your need for another and your weakness begins to show and vulnerability takes place.Perhaps you discover too a greater need for God. And maybe a need for someone who can join you through that vulnerable state. Vulnerable because you are putting to use much more of your whole self. Where there are greater demands on your existence and sometimes it really gets tough and it hurts and aches and you might have a cramp later. But to share in that with another… is strength.
Which prepares you better for the next day? Which prepares you better for what might be encountered next week? Which will ready you more for this kind of life that God provides? Which will help you understand another who is treading themself?
Swimming in the baby pool or treading in the deep end?
Truth is, I’m learing how to tread again. Because I’ve forgotten how.
R
Eminem has this song called “Lose Yourself.” Perhaps you’ve heard it before. The song basically has to do with not missing your one opportunity to make something of yourself. In his case his hip-hop abilities. But this concept gets me thinking about the moment. Losing yourself in it.
I recently had a conversation with one of the most spiritually influential people on my life. His name is Brent and we’re in two very different worlds. He on the verge of striking it big as the drummer in his band, very connected to the secular world. And I… well I work for a church in the outer crust of Columbus. Very different worlds and experiences and different approaches to understanding God and our relationship with Him in Jesus.
It was mentioned that Heaven is not the point and Hell is not the point. Read carefully so that you do not read something I am not saying. But, think about how people’s focus is simply on Heaven. On what’s to come. And how presently we must just endure this life until one day we are in Heaven. Or on the other side of it, people live with a fram of mind that is just thankful that they are avoiding Hell. Missing the point. They’ve chosen to point on what is coming or where they aren’t going. Not the moment.
With a focus on the Heavenly encounter we can more easily control our world. We can set up a system or order to how we live out our Christian walk that is very predictable and simple to follow. When this occurs we have great control. Everything is scheduled in and so the need for the work of the unpredictable Spirit of God is rather avoided. We’re comfortable, everything has it’s place. We’ll know that when we die we lived right because we’ll reflict on all of our involvements, services, and studies which have made us feel safe and secure.
On the other hand people can control the way they dwell on the past. Old wounds they keep pulling open to settle in. Always discussing the way things used to be and essentially what happens is people ar avoiding anything that could be going on currently because they are so consumed with what they are avoiding in the eternal sense. What if I constantly talked about how I used to talk this way or that way. Or what if I always focused on the fact that I’m not a heathen. I’m saved and that’s all that matters in life.
Both sides of this coin bring a focus more on ourselves than anything. And in fact develop a level of pride or superiority over another. Either you need to get saved like me or your need to get ahold of your life order like me.
I fear we’ve lost what it means to be like God in the way that He, although has powers beyond my wonder, does not just move us like chess pieces. He grants us the freedom to break His heart any moment of our life. He certainly wants us to want Him more than anything, but there is a point where it’s like we’re in the unpredictable moment. We have a choice.
Jesus certainly understood Heaven and Hell and understood that that wasn’t ultimately the point. There were things going on all around Him. Needs to be met. Not just material, but emotional and especially spiritual. He was atune to the Spirit of God to move and act when He was prompted. He knew what that voice sounded like.
I think about what it would be like if I gave up more control. If I learned more about being in this moment where things could change as quickly as the tide of the sea. To try and sit in that spot would mean there would be somethings that are hard to deal with. Some things that I can’t understand and that I don’t have answers for. There would this sense that I’m not as superior at things as I thought. That there might be some common, simple move that God wants me to make right now.
But I miss it because I’m going Heaven and I’m not going to Hell.
Rhett
Three months I have stepped forward and taken the reigns. It feels good to drive the carriage when the horses are moving to the same rhythm. It seems that for so long I always pictured a writer. You know the type; the guy who sits in coffee shops starring at computer screens through thick rimmed glasses, the guy who pours out his thoughts on a hard drive, the guy that can’t wait for the rest of the world to read some theological points on life, the guy that wants so badly for an audience to “get it.”
I always thought the story started at the beginning.
When good writers write their stories, they start at the middle. Think of the last time you did this. Think of the last time you started at the best part of the story and filled in the beginning and the end as you went along. It’s a cultural thriller to sit on the edge of your seat waiting to hear the details. “How did he get like that?” “How is this going to end?” Totally hanging on by the seat of your pants.
I love it.
Sundays are like that for me. I wish I could start in the middle of the day on Sunday. Take a little of the morning and a little of the evening to fill in the missed details. To place it all together so when I come home at the end of the day I relax and thank God for the great things that happened. I think I could truly reflect more if this phenomenon happened or existed.
Maybe I’m not making any sense.
What about life? What if you could start in your 30’s or 40’s, or 50’s? What if you could fill in the details as you went along? Don’t you think being older or younger would have a greater effect on you? Don’t you think your life would mean so much more?
I do.
I think Christ started at the middle with us. We don’t know anything about His teenager years. We have no idea what it was like for Him to go through puberty, be different, or have a full time job. Maybe that stuff really didn’t matter. It was just details. He really just wanted us to see how great the story was and we see the rest.
I love Sundays
-Jordan™
So I’ve been reading some things lately that seem to be affirming some thoughts that I have had lately. The word creativity is a bit of a buzz word as of late. The trend word. The popular church word. Whatever you want to refer to it as. I’m getting into this book called Experiential Storytelling by Mark Miller. It’s a very good read thus far.
Basically the book is about re-thinking the way we approach teachings and sermons in the church context. Not merely telling a story to illustrate but crafting a teaching in a way where the listener is not merely that… a listener. But is actively engaged in the teaching. Crafting it in a manner where a person can resonate with some part of it, make it their own, and hold onto what it was all about. Have some experience identifier with the truth. Not principle to principle or point to point. But essentially using the God-given creativity He’s put in each of us to be different in the telling of this truth, story, narrative, Word of God.
So, this leads me to think about the fact that I like to be different for the sake of being different. I like the fact that I’m not like everyone else. I don’t want to fit into a mold. I don’t want to teach, look, and talk like every other Christian or especially Christian Teen Pastor. Here’s where it gets interesting.
I say “I want to be different.” I say “I don’t want to be like this or that.” And I hear the response… “That’s cool, as long as you aren’t just doing for the sake of being different.” Typically my response would be “hmm yea you’re right, I just think I approach things from a different angle, it’s cool, whatever.”
Weak, cowardly, ignorant and scared of what people think… what a wuss I am.
Well… I’m realizing something. And it helps me become more grounded in who I am. It’s this realization. That when I’m asked why I want to be different and I say “just because, why not?” I may in fact be more in tune with an attribute of God’s creativity. Creativity is basically the ability to think and act different.
So, I have that capacity. I have that ability. So do you. To act on it would be right, proper, and completelly in line with a creative God. (Have you stopped to take a look around lately? There is no argument for the creativity of God.) Now sure you might say that you don’t have much of a creative personality. I slightly agree that some are just less creative than others. It takes more for them to get going (it’s very possible though.) I then think about risk and taking baby steps. Trying new things. Asking questions of the most basic, taken for granted things in this life.
For example. Why do we pray? Who says? Why do I go to church? How come I like listening to Coldplay right now? Why do I get so excited when I get a call on my cell? Why do people get married before age 22? Why aren’t there more books in the Bible? Why do I listen to a pastor tell me what I should do each week? Why do all our churches tend to look a like? Why do we always follow someone else’s curriculum to teach? Why do I need the internet? Why am I asking so many questions? Why can’t we serve real wine at communion’s when they did in the Bible?
Here’s a few more. Why not try a new hairstyle? Be open to a new band? Try a different clothing brand? Watch a movie you wouldn’t want to see. Mix up your prayer life intentionally. Ask the most childlike question about a a passage of Scripture. The list could go on…
Here’s what I’m discovering. Most people I run into don’t stop to ask questions. We tend to just kind of follow the leader and do what everyone else does. Why? Because we want what works. More caught on a succesful looking deal than being true to the person God made us as. The Purpose Driven Life sold lots of books and Rick Warren’s church is big and succesful looking. Why don’t we all do a “Purpose Driven” themed teaching and church philosophy? Funny thing is lots have. And it’s not that thrilling. I don’t doubt that Saddleback people have great hearts and intentions for making their resources available.
In fact I’ve even checked out some of their youth guys stuff. And I like them, I don’t want to steal their material. But, I’ll listen to their ideas you know? But then figure out what my kids need. This is of course all done through the goodness and mercies of God who helps these decisions. Someone else’s idea can prompt my own creativity more. And that’s great. I don’t know if Saddleback or Willow Creek really just want everyone copying their stuff.
So what’s my point through all this randomness? Being different is right. It’s good. It’s a reflection of our Lord in such a powerful way and we should be intentional about it. Nothing that God created is just like another. So when I’ve found myself stuck in this mold of routine, common lingo, similar outfits and hair do’s, and a place where the goal is to adjust things like this or that… it’s just sucks life from me. So the point is to be different… why? Just cause. You are different.
Everything about each of us is different. Some similarities sure, but embrace the fact that you are different than everyone else and live it out. People maybe fear that you have to be a jerk about it. I say you don’t because if you have the mind and heart of God in it then it’s all gravy baby. But what do I know? I’m different than you and you probably have good things to say about it too…
Are you different?
Rhett
With the passing of the seasons the ladies in the church seem to have the itch to clean house. These women sort and discover old treasures. Books, tapes, and DVD’s are starting to collect dust in their homes and need to be discarded. It seems that these new and interesting items find their way to our church library. I love our church’s library. It’s small, dark, and has some real gems in it. I scan through all the books from time to time that people have read and studied. I stare in wonder and awe at how someone could part with such an old classic. Church libraries have a certain feel to them. It seems to be almost a presence.
Like God is waiting to be found.
One item that found its way from the library selves to my hands was a DVD on the gospel of John. I love watching Jesus films. They are absolutely terrible. The worst pieces of crap ever. Most Christian producers haven’t realized what good film-making is. Anyway, I put “The Gospel of John” into my PS2 and started watching. I stared at the man that was playing Christ. What a role, Christ. He did an alright job but I could not get over the concept of Christ. What an outstanding concept. What a role to play, a true challenge. A unheard of task.
I have stumbled across a lot of Jesus films in my time. To tell you the truth the more I read my bible, the more I start to understand Jesus. I wonder how I would have been toward Him. I wondered how i would have acted at the concept. What if I lived when He walked? Would Ii like Him?
I think back to what it must have been like to walk in those days. Jesus was a radical, different from the norm; a rebel. He made people upset, stirred the waters, spoke a God language to the humans. He even did things that people absolutely despised. I want to say with all my heart that I would have believed in Him if I lived back then. Who am I kidding? The more I watched the film, the more I realized that I would have been one of the first ones to drive that nail into His hands. I might have even been proud of it.
Scary concept.
What am I getting at? Doesn’t it strike you that we can believe so strongly in something that happened over two thousand years ago? How easy it is to get stuck in our Christian mold. We get upset when someone comes along who is different, a rebel, a new teacher. We strike out against people and speak harshly against them because they go against the way in which we have always done things.
We always do things the same way.
It had to have been hard to understanding Christ. It had to have been even harder to understand Christ if you couldn’t see or speak in His time. How easy is it to open a book written in another language and say “I can’t read this, I don’t read this language” It must be even harder to read the same book and say, “I don’t even believe that book exists.”
You can learn the language. You just have to start with the belief that it can be learned. A God like language isn’t easily obtained. It starts with admitting the book is there, in front of your face. It’s another thing to just forget about truth, about reality.
you drove the nail too.
-Jordan
Jordan mentioned that we approach things with two different sets of eyes. Here’s how I understand this coming about. If you are familiar with C.S. Lewis (author of things such as Mere Christianity, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Til We Have Faces) then you might be aware that he and JRR Tolkien (author of the Lord of the Rings series) met regularly over pints in an English pub to discuss the things of the utmost importance in life as we understand it. Here are the key players in this story. God, that big mystery that you know deep down has something to do with all this stuff we can’t explain in life. This guy Jesus, whom many seem to be really aware of and they talk about Him, but yet so many people don’t care to know this guy. Hmm… Other key players. You, me, and the guy you drive behind that you get hacked at because you want to get someplace 5 minutes ago. We’re all key players. Emotion is a key player. Our minds and our thoughts and our hearts and especially our bodies and how we function in this world.
I was not in on those conversations with the men who are know my acronym. However, I would love to have been. From what I understand those two men were of different affiliations. CS Protestant, JRR Catholic. Yet they shared a pint together over brotherly love and no doubt were ticked at each other in discussion, but could always be united in love and friendship.
I’m no CS and Jordan is no JRR. However, I am Rhett and he is Jordan. And from what I understand we are capable of speaking the truth because of someone divine within that allows transformation.
Jordan and I have not really been friends for several years, ok maybe like two. Friendship probably really began one day when I may have smiled at him and asked how he was and he actually knew I cared. I never knew how to take him. He probably thought he had me figured out right away. He probably did and does and I still do not have him figured out… yet. We began meeting this past year, our senior year, on a pretty regular basis talking about the things of life that really matter. In fact all of the above key players were right int he midst. Because they’re part of the conversation. Often drove the conversation.
Sometimes we yell at each other. In love of course. I get my ears pierced, he let’s his holes heal up. He decides to participate in less of the freedoms, I choose more. He prefers to read men of old, I lean towards the one’s of new. Without hesitiation he will tell you exactly what he thinks and what you need to hear. I sit back and try to assess the necessary question to be asked and not make you feel uncomfortable. He says to me what I need to hear, when I’m afraid to tell myself. I share what I feel when he needs to think about something new. He has a cheezy grin that can win over a million. I have an ease that can put a baby to sleep.
These will be our thoughts for all who would like to read, reflect, comment on, challange us on and whatever else. We share a common position in the same organization, and we share the same giver of breath. However, we do approach things from different parts of the table. We are, however, always reaching from and for the same turkey dinner that is sitting in the middle of the table. It’s what brings us to the table. It’s what we feed from, it’s what we need for nurishment.
Please, as Jordan invited, pull up a chair. We aren’t serving pints here, but everyone has a seat at the table because ultimately we are searching for many of the same things. We just approach as Rhett, or Jordan, or fill your name in…
Welcome
Rhett
