my irish prophets

i have been a U2 fan for a long time. in a household where the only music that could be played was from christian music labels like Sparrow and Word, there was this anomaly. a band of Jesus-followers (3/4 of them anyway) on Island Records, which was I was sure was not a Christian label, or even a very good one. they sang songs which should have found their way into christian bookstores and CCM TV, but they did not, because Bono, the Edge, Larry, and Adam also cussed smoked and drank, and rarely wore suits, or went to church services. but they were my prophets. i have never been to a U2 concert, so i have always doubted my credibility as a true fan. thursday night, October 1st that will change. i will see these dubliners live at scott stadium on the campus of the university of virginia with some friends. everyone has prophets. i have some that go by the name of Jack and wrote "wonder-full" books for children and adults, and one who was a weird midwestern troubadour who took Franciscan vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience) even though he was never a catholic. and then i have these other four guys who swear, drink, smoke and have tattoos, but are God's mouthpiece for me, reminding me of God's overwhelming love and grace in the world and my need to participate in that love and grace actively and intentionally. in honor of my upcoming "true fan credibility" i leave you with "magnificient" from their newest album. i encourage you turn up the volume or turn the pages on your modern day prophet.

Magnificent lyricsSongwriters: Clayton, Adam; Eno, Brian; Evans, David; Hewson, Paul; Lanois, Daniel Roland; Mullen, Laurence;
MagnificentOh, oh, magnificentI was born, I was bornTo be with you in this space and timeAfter that and ever afterI haven't had a clue only to break rhymeThis foolishness can leave a heart black and blue, oh, ohOnly love, only love can leave such a markBut only love, only love can heal such a scarI was born, I was born to sing for youI didn't have a choice but to lift you upAnd sing whatever song you wanted me toI give you back my voice from the wombMy first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, ohOnly love, only love can leave such a markBut only love, only love can heal such a scarJustified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, ohMagnificent, magnificent, oh, ohOnly love, only love can leave such a markBut only love, only love unites our heartsJustified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, ohMagnificent, magnificent, magnificent© POLYGRAM INT. MUSIC PUBL. B.V.; UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP.;

Weeping for Jo-Cel and Gavin

This past Sunday night as we explored "the Path Project" I told the following story:

"Nobody should be treated the way I treated Jo-Cel. I met Jo-Cel Tagnesi at Barboursville Elementary School as we both began our kindergarten adventure together. On the playground Kindergarteners would typically be running around playing tag and kickball. Jo-Cel would not. Her muscular-dystrophy meant she moved about on braces surrounding both her legs and aluminum full-arm crutches. Her walk was labored and distinct. Now, if you are like me, you look back on some moments in your life with deep pride and satisfaction, and there are some moments you wish you could wipe away. In one of those latter moments I can remember taking various opportunities throughout elementary and middle school, along with some friends, to walk along the hallway behind Jo-Cel mimicking her awkward gait, rocking back and forth...right foot...left foot. I acted in ways which attempted to diminish her value, perhaps hoping to raise mine in the eyes of my peers. I'm not sure if she ever knew. I think perhaps she did. I think it may have just become the landscape of her life at school, and fairly typical of each weekday experience. I had not thought of Jo-Cel much until a couple of years ago. Our oldest son Gavin was 4 years old at the time and some complaints on his part led us to seek the help of an audiologist. Through that journey came a day when they told Lisa and I that Gavin had a neural hearing impairment which would require hearing aids. We took our boys home that day and put them to bed that evening. Then I went into our bedroom and I wept. I wept not for the diminished quality of life my son was experiencing because of his limitations on hearing. I did not weep because this was uncharted territory, though it was. I wept because I was afraid that people would miss out on the beauty of my son because they wouldn't be able to see him as anything other than the hearing impaired kid. And I wept for Jo-Cel Tagnesi, and for her parents, and for a world that had missed out on the beauty of their daughter because we couldn't see past the braces on her legs..."

this month's path project is about the foundational statements of Jesus where he says that we are to love our neighbor like we love ourselves and that we are to do unto others as we want them to do to us. we also shared the apostle John's words that we are total liars if we say we love God and we go on hating other people. we shared that our love for God was directly related to how we loved others. we should treat people kindly, patiently, generously, compassionately simply because God has declared their value. God has also declared our value, so we shouldn't spend time trying to steal it from others through destructive words and actions. during each remaining day in september we are putting these ideas into action with a task a day. these tasks include specific ways to use our words and our actions to remind others (family members, friends, and not-yet-friends) of their great value to God and to us. And to remind ourselves of our great value as well.

want to find out more about the path project and how you, your child, or your family can participate? click here.

the image in ourselves and others

youth ministry is always, or i think "should always", include a mixture of same and new. there is a need for a regular, dependable rhythm of connections among students and a need for innovation and unfamiliar territory. there are times when i am very excited about the new ways we are exploring as we seek to become better students of Jesus. our mentor program was one of those exciting moments, inviting adults from various walks of life to invest in the lives of teenagers by providing "presence". another venture which i am truly excited about is our focus on sunday nights, entitled "the path project". this is an adventure in moving beyond learning what Jesus said/did, to doing what he said and did. we are intentionally taking the teachings and commands of Jesus out of the classroom.

our first segment of "the path project" deals with value/worth in ourselves and in others. later we will investigate Jesus' teachings on generosity, hospitality, humility, justice, sabbath, and forgiveness, and this first segment provides the foundation for those experiences.

i think we struggle a great deal with 2 parts of the story in which we find ourselves. we struggle with "getting" 2 concepts, often referred to as the imago dei and the missio dei. the imago dei is the idea that we, along with every human, bears the image of God. that there is something about us which reflects that "identity" into the world. there are differing views on how this plays out, but the underlying awareness is that when we are most like our "created selves" we represent certain things about Creator God.

Our focus on value and worth hits on this idea of Imago Dei. We will be discovering Jesus' teaching that we should respect, love, care for all of the human family, without respect to their ethnicity, language, age, gender, or behavior, simply because they were created with inherent value. they are worth those things because they were made in the image of God, and to treat them unkindly would amount to missing that likeness in them.

there is a second aspect to this teaching. Jesus says we are to love God, and we are to love our neighbor, as we love ourself. this says that not only are others made in the image of God, so are we and we should treat ourselves with love and respect. 2 things which God grieves: us thinking more highly of ourselves than we should (treating others with disdain) and thinking less of ourselves than we should (treating ourselves with disdain) this is incredibly important for adolescents as they live in constant doubt of their worth. messages from magazine ads, the locker room, and the classroom sometimes drown out this message from Jesus, and they struggle with believing that they are worth love, care, and kindness for themselves.

the path project is our way of holding up the "invitations" of Jesus to live a certain way. our first segment will deal with why we should live this certain way. everyone is valuable, everyone is worthy. this will become an umbrella under which we will find the other teachings of generosity and hospitality, justice and forgiveness.

we encourage you to embark on this adventure as a family.

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - the good news according to Matthew, a student of Jesus

vox: voices of community

on saturday, september 19th we will host a coffee house event for high school students called VOX. VOX is latin for voice. The great part of the event is that the entertainment is provided by high school students for high school students. we are asking contributors to provide their original artwork, or poetry to the event. We are encouraging their original or cover songs, or their short films. The crucial parameter is that the contributions must all touch on a common theme. in september the theme will be community. what does that word mean, particularly expressed through the arts, and by high school artists. it is an interesting opportunity to learn from each other, rather than one lone individual, regarding an important facet of our lives. what is community? what happens when we don't experience it? what happens when we don't invite others into it? not a contributor yet? there is plenty of room for you too. come and experience being immersed in this idea of community, through sight, sound, touch, and perhaps taste and smell. i am excited about hearing the various voices included in next month's VOX.

check out www.cafevox.com for more info.

learning labs

a few posts back i mentioned that i fear we focus a great deal on knowing and we miss the way that translates into doing and being. "discipleship" programs tend to be heavy on data and fairly light on practice. i mentioned that Jesus' discipleship program would probably not fly too well within our current faith communities. it had a great deal to do with doing things, sometimes scandalous things. i am excited about an adventure the youth community will be heading out on this coming school year. our sunday nights will revolve around this idea of putting faith into action. we will define a follower of Jesus not just as someone who knows what Jesus taught, but rather as someone who does what they know Jesus taught. this will lead us to engage the various invitations of Jesus, causing us to enter into monthly "projects" which would shape us and our world. we hope these experiences and conversations find their way into each student's home, causing dialogue within families about how we might enter into these invitations of Jesus together. Here are the "projects" per month:

September: value/worth of God's creation "love your neighbor as you love yourself"
October: generosity "store up treasure in heaven"
November: hospitality "when you give a dinner, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind"
December: servanthood "whoever wants to become great among you, must be your servant"
January: justice "woe to you who tithe spices but forget about justice, mercy, and faithfulness"
February: sabbath "come unto me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest"
March:forgiveness "don't forgive seven times only, but seventy-seven times"

I am excited about where this may lead us. I am wondering what it will ask of my life as I participate in these "learning labs" with students. I think there are wonderful things waiting on the other side of these invitations...

righteous head-banging

i thought nick was a quiet guy, until i realized he would talk to anyone who cared to talk to him. at the middle school mission camp i attended a few weeks back with 12 of our middle schoolers, nick was alone a great deal of the time. other students from his church did their own thing, leaving him plenty of time to sit by himself. as you may know, my long hair and beard give the appearance of Jesus (at least the euro-centric/movie version) and many people freely remark about this. nick said he could see the resemblance, but he felt i looked alot more like Chad Kroeger, the lead singer for the band, Nickleback. Being the rockstar-wannabe I am, I thanked him for his compliment. We chatted off and on throughout the rest of the week. If you have ever been on a weeklong experience with teenagers, you will know that something interesting happens on the last night there, whether on a mission trip, or a camp. Whether the Spirit knows that hearts are more vulnerable, or teenagers know their time together is ending, I don't know, but it seems more magical than all the other nights. the last night of MAP (metro atlanta project) was no exception. couple this with the awareness that this group had just finished re-roofing 16 homes, bringing the all-time MAP tally to 100 and beyond, and you have cause for some holy moments. if you talk to me for a period of time you will know that I sometimes have concerns about the way we experience/communicate worship. i see dangers in always equating it with group-singing. I definitely believe group-singing can be an act of worship, but I think we have too narrowly defined it, and I think too often it becomes more about us liking to sing than us expressing a life bent God-ward. I can say this truly because I often find a void between how well I sing, and how poorly I live. All this to say, it was worship time at MAP. The band was playing and kids were embracing. It was pretty neat to see. Rows of kids were swaying, attached in a line of arms-over-shoulders. And there was Nick. He was by himself. And who could blame us. he was not playing by the rules. When songs about God are sung, you are supposed to stand, raise your arms, close your eyes, maybe clap...but you should definitely not be head-banging...and nick was head-banging. he had not gotten the memo about worship-singing etiquette. he had missed the meeting. he was standing close to the front, enough so that I could see some students in the back pointing and laughing at his inappropriate display. i would see one tap another on the shoulder, mimic a head-bang and then both crack up laughing, shaking their heads. then it happened. it's the kind of thing you can miss so easily. some of the people who had dared to talk to nick during the week saw him head-banging, ...by himself. and they did what no one else would. they acted. they went over to nick and threw their arms over his shoulders and begin to head-bang together. while others swayed, they jerked their heads around on their thin necks. at that moment I had the feeling that God was saying "now that's something". i have often felt (and scripture seems to echo this) that most acts of worship are acts of service, and inclusion, and acceptance. it seems that God hears most clearly our proclamation of God's worth, when we are most loudly proclaiming the worth of creation...of each other. in this simple act of disallowing exclusion and loneliness these worshippers were declaring the goodness of the artist, through the act of valuing the art. this is my hope for me and the community in which i serve. i fear we too often say things in melody together on sunday, which stand in stark contrast to the story we live out on monday. i pray for harmony,...for the beautiful blending of the two. song and story in the same key. may it be so.

Jesus in the wheelchair

i have been an avid braves fan since 1985. therefore, it was so exciting to make the move from tampa to atlanta 4 years ago, knowing I would be living in the land of "America's team". I get to turner field as often as I can...hitting the game with guys from my small group, my sons, and friends who come in from out of town, needing to feed their baseball fix. i was at the game yesterday when the braves finally pulled one out against the red sox, supported by jones and anderson home runs. we stayed until the last pitch. it was that good of a game. as we left we walked down ralph david abernathy. on the way we met several familiar faces with buckets stretched out. one played the conga, one had an electronic harmonica and several were sitting in wheelchairs. i rarely carry cash anymore. i swipe my debit card for everything. someday that will get me stuck, but that day hasn't occured yet. i did find myself wishing i had money to give yesterday. i know i don't know their story, and once the game is over and people have cleared out they may hop out of their wheelchair and into their Bentley. But I'm not living their life. I'm not sowing on their behalf. Jesus says an interesting thing: "give to whoever asks of you". did he mean just those i've done research on and am fairly sure will only use the funds in healthy life-giving ways? i do believe in responsibility and not enabling those who are making destructive choices. however, i also see time and time again Jesus giving someone the benefit of the doubt when their track record was less than spotless. For all Jesus knew Zaccheus could have used his connection with Jesus to further exploit people as a tax-collector, the woman caught in the act of adultery could have smiled at those in authority the next time they saw her take a man into her bed, having been absolved of the death penalty by a popular rabbi. There may have been some at the wedding in Cana who traveled further down the road of alcoholism when Jesus turned the water into wine. The man whose hand Jesus healed on the sabbath, may have gone home and beat his spouse with his newly restored fist. There was no guarrantee that good was going to be returned for good when Jesus stepped into people's lives. Free will leaves us with risk. However, Jesus believed that lives lived within the harmony of God's intent for the world would eventually be so powerful that our wills would be wooed out of destruction and into life-giving ways. Jesus understood the unstoppable force of grace in the world. Against which the "gates of hell will not prevail". This is how the kingdom will come. One act of risky compassion at a time. One moment of irresponsible kindness bestowed on our broken brother or sister. It is how we are being changed and how the world is being righted. I need to carry more cash in my pocket. But I also need to go further. I need to know their story, because I have stepped into it. I need to invest more energy than the wrist toss it takes to get a $5 bill into their bucket. I think the way of Jesus teaches that we can't know Jesus unless we know the poor, the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the stranger. Though I call myself a follower of Jesus, yesterday, it's sad to say, I didn't even know his name...

one good return deserves another

we recently returned from the high school summer retreat where we focused on a hebrew term "t'shuvah" which literally means "return". However, we often read this translated as repent. We get this idea of turning from our sins, and this is partially true. But the idea of T'shuvah is more about turning toward something/someOne than turning away. It is a return to God and to our true selves. The thoughts of a Rabbi on t'shuvah are very helpful:

". . . . The prospect of teshuva frightens many of us, because we consider it a calumny against who we already are. The English term "repentance" implies that I am a despicable sinner, loathsome in my own eyes and in the eyes of God, sullied by my actions, like a filthy, smelly vagrant in need of a bath.
Rebbetzin Tzipora Heller points out the true Jewish attitude toward teshuva: Not, "How wicked I am because I did that," but rather, "How could someone like me have done something like that?" Teshuva is an affirmation, not a rejection, of who we are on the deepest level. Rather than being characterized by our lowly actions, we repudiate our lowly actions as being unworthy of the holy souls we inherently are.
We cry on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when we reflect on what we could have been, when we compare our majestic potential to our shabby reality. Every one of us has the potential to be spiritually great, to perfectly accomplish our unique task in this world, to valiantly meet our challenges, and to dexterously fix our shortcomings. On the High Holydays, we reflect on the perfected vision of ourselves, and cry over the mediocrity we permitted in its place.
* We could have been magnanimous. Instead we were petty.* We could have been generous. Instead we were stingy.* We could have been honest. Instead we told self-serving lies.* We could have buoyed up others with kind words. Instead we wounded them with deprecations.* We could have esteemed our parents for their ongoing contribution to our lives. Instead we made them feel useless and outdated.* We could have made our homes sanctuaries of love and peace. Instead we degenerated into bickering and blaming.* We could have spent our spare time studying the profundities of the Torah. Instead we opted for cable TV.* We could have become the person God created us to be. Instead we settled for a mediocre imitation."

WOW. I hope this is what students discovered this weekend. I hope they were encouraged that God desires them to become the persons they really are and that t'shuvah is the act of removing from themselves all the falseness of identity that weighs them down. May t'shuvah provide freedom to be fully ourselves, sons and daughters of God.

to will the one thing

This past Sunday Will Hardy taught the Java Hut session around the topic of busyness. He used a video which shared a quotation from a great philosopher which said "purity of heart is to will one thing". In the video a father told a story of being at the beach with his family. His sons had been collecting fragments of seashells all afternoon, when a starfish was sighted bobbing up and down in the water. They shouted to one of their sons to go out and get it. He excitedly rushed toward the spot where the starfish drifted, only to turn around and head back to shore before accomplishing his mission. He did this several times, each time returning to shore without the starfish. His family was cheering him on, saying "You can do it!", "It's Yours!". Finally he shouted, "I can't get it!". When asked why he replied "Because my hands are full of shells". The broken fragments of shells he had accumulated had kept him from grasping the "one thing". This was an important lesson for me, and hopefully for the students gathered this past Sunday morning. We do try to get a little of everything. Hitting 15 minutes of that meeting, half of that game, a quick drive-by conversation with the family, and off to something else. What if we said yes to only a few things, or only one? What would our life look like if we could define that one YES to which we would give ourselves, thus knowing all of the necessary NO's that come with that focus. I think deep down we know this is right, but we also know it is hard. We have to say NO to good people and good things. We have to be okay with a certain reputation. We have to control our priorities rather than allow everyone else to do so. I'll end with the same benediction given on the video "May we drop our shells in order to grasp the one thing!"

How has busyness controlled your life? Leave your comments here to spur on the conversation.

a black belt in Jesus?

i think one of the most challenging struggles which christians experience is moving from understanding the message of Jesus as "things to think", "category to check" or "voucher to use", and instead experience it as "way to live". while i think 2000 years of practice (and even longer if you include the headstart given to us by Judaism) has helped us make some strides, it may have also caused us to lose our way a bit. if we were to rewind back to the life and teaching of Jesus and the early movement we might be somewhat surprised by what we would find. we would more than likely uncover a subversive, counter-cultural revolution begun by a teacher/savior/prophet/God wherein he begins an apprentice program for all those who would choose to live more fully human, what God intended from the very beginning. these apprentices were to learn by watching, listening to, living with, and mirroring their master. they were to learn how to treat "outsiders" and how to respond to violence and oppression. they "took classes" on living generously, practicing justice, and reconciling people to God and each other. they took tests on trusting God and themselves, and ruining their reputations by loving lavishly. by their apprenticeship of "do-know-be" they were being shaped into people which were shaping the world. they were embracing the role God had intended for people from the very beginning, being co-creators with God, "bringing out the God-colors in the world" as one paraphrase of scripture tells it. when Master Jesus left he commissioned this ragtag group as the next wave of rabbi, charging them to "Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." - the good news written of by Matthew, an apprentice of Jesus." Unfortunately, I think we/I have lost alot of the understanding of what Jesus did, and called the successive generations to do. The word disciple, which meant student, apprentice, pupil, etc. has somehow been reduced to "knowing stuff". When we say "discipleship" we often mean Bible study. However Jesus' regimen of disciple-making was much more action/experience-oriented, kind of like a disciple of a martial arts master. Sure, they talked about the Torah (even though it was often Jesus re-framing their traditional understanding by saying "you have heard it said...but I say..."), but Jesus' point in bringing to their attention the scripture was to help them form a "way to live" to which they could align themselves. He routinely pointed out that the religious leaders of the day had a wealth of knowledge about scripture, but had a broken way of living, not at all formed by a healthy understanding of God's agenda in the world. One of his students records him saying that those who hear his words and put them into practice are wise people whose lives are built on a solid foundation. He then says that those who hear his words but do not make them a life practice, will live "out-of-balance" lives. It is also interesting that the majority of Jesus' lessons were taught outside of a worship setting or religious building. The couple of times that tell the story of Jesus' church attendance he is either chasing people with whips or offending worshippers so greatly that they attempt to throw him off a cliff. Not your ordinary Sunday service. For Jesus, learning life with him meant attending weddings and funerals, keeping dining appointments with drunks and whores, chastising leaders of the religious establishment, playing with children, and walking on water. What would that kind of discipleship look like now? "As part of this discipleship study we will befriend loose women and drunks. We will be going to yell at the pastors down at the church, make sure and disrupt weddings and funerals with cheer, and we will practice "not worrying" this week. Next week we will clean out our houses and if we have two of something we will give one away, and then we will invite a white-collar crook to join us for dinner." Wow, and that's just Disciple I. Wait until you see the other studies!

several years ago i got to hear a speaker at a conference in nashville, mark scandrette. he too was working out what it meant to "integrate" the way of Jesus into every fiber of his life, becoming an apprentice of the Master. he began a non-profit organization in San Francisco and as part of that endeavor founded the "Jesus Dojo". He describes this adventure by saying "If we want to believe Jesus' message and become the kind of followers his early disciples were, we may have to shift our expectations of what spiritual education looks like-- leaving the metaphor of a lecture hall to enter "The Jesus Dojo." A "dojo" is a Japanese word meaning "the place where you learn the way." Jesus once declared, "I am the way, the truth and the life," implying that he is both a savior AND a teacher for life-- he provided the way to God and teaches us how to live in the way of God. We enter the dojo through new experiences and by moving from ideas to action."
I am reading Mark's book "Soul Graffiti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus" and am excited about some of the things it invites me into. While I don't embrace anyone's perspective without question, I do think this is a really helpful conversation. I am excited about how it might affect my life and the youth community i am a part of. i am excited about inviting teenagers to "enter the Jesus Dojo" where we are learning by living. One of the ways we might see these evolve this coming year is to invite teenagers to embrace 3 S's into the rhythm of their life: study (or discovery)- committing to learn the wisdom of the Bible and teachings of Jesus, soul-care-saying they will find a small community of adults and teenagers who actively care for one another, and service: practicing a regular basis of entering into others' lives in a way which serves them in love. Let me know your ideas for how we can learn from Jesus' classroom style...

for those who know me well, it is no surprise that i think about the practice of youth ministry a great deal. i am very much a student of the profession to which i have been called, as well as a contributor to the conversation of "doing good youth ministry". as i have mentioned before, in order to continue to become better at doing youth ministry we have to ask some important questions and call some things out at times. one avenue we are heading down at oak grove which excites me is the road of "redemptive relationships". we have said together that we want to invest in each other, student to student, and adult to student, in such a way that we make a difference in each other's lives. our mentor program is a huge step in this direction, as are our community groups. there are times in youth ministry in which i feel we are doing so much peripheral planning that we almost become "too busy for kids". that is an indictment i don't want to live under. i don't want us to become so wrapped up in event management, and administrative details in the pursuit of youth ministry, that we are left for very little time to pour into kids in casual conversation and investments of time. i feel like we are asking the right questions and making some good decisions about how to spend our time and resources. we'll get there.

exploring out-vitation

the busyness of the season is accurately reflected in my absence of posts for nearly a month. we have had a great March including a Snow Day, Feedback Forum, Confirmation retreat, and Leadership Learning Party. I was even able to spend a full weekend with my boys while Lisa visited friends in Boston. I wanted to blog today about the sentiment explored yesterday in our Leadership learning party. Troy Earnest, former Oak Grove member and current Area Director for Northlake YoungLife, was our speaker. He shared YoungLife's focus of "being present" in the midst of the "messy lives" of teenagers. He echoed the conversation we have been having about the crucial need for caring adults invested in the lives of teenagers, especially beyond our calendared events. He gave deserving praise to the leaders gathered there and affirmed their tremendous impact in the community. I wanted to piggyback and start a conversation on the topic of out-vitation, something which we want to continue to grow toward. "The church" (Oak Grove and most others) often has a posture toward teenagers which appears as us standing with one foot inside the church building doors and one foot outside. We are waving our hand and inviting students inside, to our turf and our agenda. Now this is not to say that our turf and our agenda are not welcoming, hospitable spaces. It is only to say that teenagers are also issuing a welcome, though it may be subtle. They are inviting us to make an entry into their world. To spend time with them outside of the church building, and outside of our programs. They are wanting us to invest in their hobbies, to share a meal with them, to tell our stories and then listen to theirs. This takes courage and patience for their world is often scary and the work is often long. But it is so worth it. We will continue to invite them in, but we will also work to listen to their invitation to come out and be present there in the midst of their world. leave your comments on how you could see this working itself out here amongst us at oak grove church.

who you are makes a difference...

if you have an e-mail account you have no doubt come across the story of the "Who You Are Makes a Difference" campaign. If you are only aware of "inbox" as it applies to the overwhelming basket of "tend to me" items sitting on your desk, then let me review. A teacher instituted this program so that her students could share their gratitude and recognition for others in their life. She pinned each of them with a ribbon with the slogan printed on it, and then equipped them with 2 other ribbons each. They were to pin someone else, and then ask that person to pin yet one more person. This was how the ripple moved out from the teacher. The story ends with a father pinning the ribbon on his teenage son who was secretly contemplating taking his life that evening. It communicated the power behind reminding people of their great worth to those in their life. I wanted to take the opportunity to say this to those who are investing in the lives of teenagers. If you don't hear this often enough, hear it today.

if you are a parent... who you are makes a difference

if you are a small group leader...who you are makes a difference

if you are a teacher...who you are makes a difference

if you are a coach...who you are makes a difference

if you are a mentor...who you are makes a difference

if you are a friend...who you are makes a difference.

may you live a life that knows this.

Giving up invisible things

as i mentioned in my previous post, i am still fairly new to lent. however, in the last several years it has become a very meaningful part of my journey. for the last little bit i have focused on giving up things which you cannot see. this year i think i am being led to surrender "first-ness" for 40 days. i am going to try and give away the opportunities i have to be more important than other people. i have this opportunity at the grocery store (both with where i park and which checkout lane i choose). i have this opportunity at home with the wireless laptop and the tv remote. i have this opportunity on the road and in my marriage. it will definitely be a discipline. but i am hopeful that it will shape me, embracing Jesus' call to be first by being last. how are you going to be shaped this lenten season? how is God calling you to be formed into the likeness of Jesus by the invisible things you set aside in order to make more room for God's work within you? let me know (hit the comments link below)

an impoverished youth pastor

i did not grow up within the united methodist expression of the "way of Jesus". Words like advent, lent, and good friday were reserved for my catholic friends. i am not sure i saw anyone with ash on their forehead until i was 22 years old. this is my way of confessing my novice stature when it comes to lent. i am still "getting it", or perhaps it is eventually "getting me". i had heard people state (or complain) about giving something up for lent. i wondered why they would do this. why is lent so painful? along the way i have discovered that at least for me, lent is a way for me to set aside what i have in abundance so I can be more aware of the things in which I am impoverished. i am making more room within the space of my soul. i do find that the things which i have crammed into my life in great measure are not ultimately making me more like Jesus (or what might be as much God's intent, more like Matt). when i wonder why God seems so distant at times, 40 sunrises of lent cause me to consider the things which may be stiff-arming God's approach on my life. are my calendar, my anxiety, my stuff, my pride, my jealousy, my lack of contentment, my struggle for control and self-sufficiency creating God-proof bunkers where i am often content to huddle in, hoping for a divine flare from the outside? when i set aside part of my life during lent i am more awake to the things which i do not possess, the places of my poverty. i realize how much i lack God's voice in my life, and the rest of grateful contentment, and the joy of seemingly small, but significantly holy moments. when it comes to these things i find that i have holes in my pockets, and a negative balance. im famished for these things. i am malnourished. it is during lent that i cling to Jesus' words that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. i used to think that those in this category were the most devout, always wanting righteousness. however, i have found that those who hunger and thirst after something, do so because they are dying due to the lack of it. so if i can stop gorging myself for 40 days on the empty calories of busyness, loudness, activity, more, and most, perhaps i can trade my beggar's bowl in for a stomach full of peace, hope, love, joy, wonder, and promise. i would love to hear what you are setting aside for lent in order to make room for the things in which you find yourself impoverished. you don't have to state your name, so you can fast anonymously, but we would love to hear about your journey this lent. hit the comment button below this blog to leave your thoughts...

Doing Differently in order to Make a Difference Pt.2

I apologize for not posting for awhile. A migraine kept me home and away from the computer on my usually blogging day and I have been playing catch-up since. I appreciate those who have added to the conversation begun 2 weeks ago regarding the "effect" youth ministry has on teenagers as a whole. It might help if I back up a bit and provide some clarity on my end. I want to make sure and clarify my attitude as being one of optimism and intentionality. I was blessed by those who provided comments which provided encouragement in what has occurred, reminding me of the potential for true life-change within youth communities. I want to make sure that I don't diminish what has been accomplished at Oak Grove, both in recent history and throughout past eras. I also want to celebrate what has occurred within other youth ministries in other places that have literally been "salvation" for many teenagers. I apologize if I too easily glossed over that awareness in my last post. I also want to make sure and communicate that I am not speaking about sheer numbers of students being involved. My desire for Oak Grove is that we would help MORE students move into a DEEPER expression of the "way of Jesus". My concern springs from my desire that we focus more time on redemptive relationships (with adults and other students) than we do events. And that we would focus more energy on helping students develop habits that integrate into the other 165 hours of their week rather than just experiencing these things when we are together 3 hours a week. Around this time last year I had conversations with groups of parents and volunteer leaders inviting them into a "re-culturing" of youth ministry here at Oak Grove. We discussed the opportunity to do the following: Expand “the village” for all teenagers; Invite teenagers to revolutionary living; Remind teenagers who they are; Do less?; Become a ministry to families; Expand view of youth community. I have also recently added 2 more "What If?" questions to the list. "Adopt a rhythm of life instead of a calendar of events" and "Move from Focusing on Being Attractional to Being Formative." You can find these discussed in greater detail by clicking on the link provided on my blog (www.ogumc.org/whatif) . In the vein of "expanding the village of adults", we began a new mentor initiative this past year with the intent of inviting caring adults to invest in the lives of teenagers without needing to lead a Bible Study, play Capture the Flag, or chaperone a weekend retreat. They were tasked with the challenge of connecting with teenagers in a specific grade group in 4 ways each month (correspondance, extra-curricular, youth-calendared event, and one-on-one). Though we still have a long way to go to perfect the system, I feel we are well on our way. Your child may have already experienced the blessing of a hand-written note of affirmation, or conversation over a Frosty, or someone with no blood relation showing up at their soccer game. This is fantastic! There is every indication that the investment of adults in the lives of teenagers outside of church programming provides tremendous help in navigating adolescence and learning to live the way of Jesus. I am excited about how we might continue to explore these "ways of being" together which help us in "creating life-changing communities through Jesus Christ". Let me know your thoughts on how these can be played out amongst us...

doing differently in order to make a difference?

i need to be honest about a fear i have. it is a fear i share with many other youth ministry professionals within the local church context. we wonder whether what we do is creating event-attenders or Jesus-followers. it is an important question because obviously the mission of the united methodist tribe is not to make event-attenders, but instead to "make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world". current data suggests that a great majority of adolescents, despite our hard work in youth ministry, are not continuing a journey of faith within the local church once they graduate from high school. According to statistics in Thom Rainer's new book Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts, 70% of youth will leave church by the time they are 22. (Statistic from pre-release review by Steve Murrell)
According to Barna, 80% will be disengaged by the time they are 29. there have also been significant studies done which suggest that those involved in church youth ministries do not by-and-large make different decisions than their peers who are uninvolved, when it comes to issues of sexuality, substance abuse, self-mutilation, etc. i don't share this information because i am an alarmist. but i do share it because i believe it calls for us to ask some very meaningful questions, some hard questions, some dangerous questions.
This past Sunday afternoon our adult and student leadership teams met for some planning and conversation. We engaged in an exercise where we discussed the following questions: "what do teenagers think of our group, who are not part of it?" "what do we want them to think/believe about us?" and "if we were to shut down the youth ministry tomorrow, who would miss us besides those who attend our events?". This provided us with some great conversation about who we wanted to be as a group and what influence we desired to have in the lives of others and in the atlanta/decatur community as a whole. another prompt that was offered to generate thought was "i can tell students among us are becoming better followers of Jesus because i see..." When that question was asked, a student responded that they were disheartened that she saw a large gulf between the ways students acted while on church grounds, and the way they chose to live elsewhere. we talked a little about what it meant to have an integrated faith, to embrace the same values and life pattern in all areas of who we are. in nearly 14 years of being involved in youth ministry in either a volunteer or paid capacity i have had the same disheartening awareness. now i want to stop and say that while it seems to be the rule, there are exceptions. i do observe real life-change and do experience students passionately committing themselves to the way of Jesus. that element is not missing, just rare. next week i plan on sharing why i feel this occurs and what we need to do to change directions. my point in beginning a blog this year was to open up a wider dialogue regarding youth ministry in the local church and how we might more faithfully become followers of Jesus here at Oak Grove. i would love if those who are interested in this conversation would post their insights, observations, and questions as well. Master Jesus said that where 2 or 3 are gathered in his name that he would be in the midst of that gathering. he never said it couldn't be a virtual gathering...

change...the only thing that stays the same

It is amazing that we still believe that there is actually a time filled with stability, predictability, and a "halting". "Once this is over, then..." How many times do we say that? We should stop fooling ourselves. I'm not sure I know anyone whose life is that static. We live dynamic lives, in a dynamic culture...always changing and adjusting. We find ourselves in the midst of that cycle again as we adjust to staff and budget change here at Oak Grove. It is sometimes discouraging to see momentum begin to ease as you turn another corner, slowing down to compensate for the change in direction. I have been doing this for 10 years, but am still slow to learn. I begin each ministry year expecting that there will be no change in variables, and that we have total control with how the year will go. It does not take long for that assumption to become challenged. We have journeyed through years of incredible grief within the youth ministry, never expecting to be working through the loss of 3 parents within a semester, as well as several other family crises that have drained us of our tears and prayers. We have experienced the disbelief, disappointment, and bewilderment of finding someone we had come to look up to as a leader to be acting out his hurt in ways that were extremely hurtful. We have gone through staff transitions, finding the right fit for important roles within the youth ministry and saying "hello" and "goodbye" so closely together, while attempting to wear multiple hats in ways which stretched and grew us. This year has had its share of "change the game" variables. Going so quickly from the hopes grounded in a focused middle school and focused high school staff format, to a place where we feel we've had to take a step backward. Needing to navigate the financial side of "ministry with teenagers" and trying to decide what a slimmer budget would allow us to accomplish. I don't know if the perspective I have at the beginning of each year is an ignorant one, or a hopeful one. I want to believe that the things which we are excited about seeing occur, will really come to pass. The problem is, that's not reality. A wiser man would know that the work which we are called to do is transitional, uncertain, and ripe for surprises. It is in the midst of grief, disappointment, and shifting logistics that God calls us to be present...and to be ready. Not waiting for the time when the waters will calm and "life as usual" will resume. THIS IS "life as usual" and it beckons us into the wildness of it. Not to tame it, or resolve it...but simply to ride it. I don't know what 2009 holds...but I want to be present to it...Awake to the Spirit and ready to hit curveballs.

m@

bearing Christ

i am wanting more than what has become of Christmas for me. i don't think i get it. don't get me wrong...Christmas eve was memorable and so was Christmas morning, especially with 3 and 7 year old boys. We even got to shoot up to WV for a few days to hang out with my parents, brother, sister, and their families. But I always wonder right around this time of year, if Christmas really holds the power we want it to in the world. I mean, the news' gauge on the success of Christmas is totally based on the bottomline regarding commercial revenue. We know whether or not it was a "good Christmas" based upon whether sales went up, down, or held steady. We even ask each other the common post-celebration question "d'ya have a good Christmas?" I am not sure how to answer that anymore. I mean I got to spend time with my family and friends, and I go to express my love for them with some gifts (hopefully well-intentioned). However, I am not sure how good Christmas is for the world. At least, I think I can do better. I have a good friend who did something different this year for Christmas (check out this link for details www.adventconspiracy.org) . His name is Keith and I am proud of him. I want to be more like him and let Christmas cover me, ...and the whole world. May the breaking-in of God continue to overtake us and make us whole,

M@