Category Archives: Discipleship

Discipleship, Faith in Action

Cutting It Off

I am a few days into a 40 day fast.

I’m not fasting entirely from food but I am fasting from one particular facet of my diet that, in all honesty, has ruled my life for far too long.

My head hurts. My body aches. I am struggling to focus.

I am still waiting for that “clarity” that many people talk about during their fasts. I am ready for these headaches to end.

I have to remind myself that I am dedicating this time to God. This isn’t a “my-life-will-be-healthier-without-X-in-my-life” pursuit (no matter what my wife says). No, this is pursuit after God and a greater reliance on Him and His ways.

It hasn’t been the greatest week but I do find myself meditating a little more. I have been more conscious of my surroundings and I’ve taken more time mulling over my words.

When I see and desire the thing that I’ve given up (And this stuff is ubiquitous! It’s everywhere!!!) I am finding myself thinking of my promise which in turn reminds me of His promises and his faithfulness.

It hasn’t been easy but I didn’t expect it to be.

Regardless, I am in hot pursuit of delving a little deeper in my walk. In that regard it has been a great week.

If you want to join me I’ll be fasting through Oct 14th (It’s a little over 40 days). Drop me a line if you’re interested.

Discipleship, Ministry, Religion, Theology

Are You Illiterate?

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Religiously Illiterate that is.

This week I have been reading Stephen Prothero’s masterwork Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know- And Doesn’t. Prothero’s “radical” idea that religion should be taught in public schools got a little play earlier this year when his ideas were featured in the April 2nd issue of TIME. In the article The Case for Teaching the Bible author David Van Biema quotes some staggering statistics from Prothero’s book.

According to Religious Literacy, polls show that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the Bible holds the answers to “all or most of life’s basic questions,” but pollster George Gallup has dubbed us “a nation of biblical illiterates.” Only half of U.S. adults know the title of even one Gospel. Most can’t name the Bible’s first book. The trend extends even to Evangelicals, only 44% of whose teens could identify a particular quote as coming from the Sermon on the Mount.

As a minister I know that these statistics are sadly the rules and not the exceptions. I get frustrated very quickly when I find that I cannot lead a Bible class or a religious discussion very far or deep because students (and adults) have a very, very limited working knowledge of Scripture.

At the outset of the book, Prothero provides the reader with a copy of a Religious Literacy Quiz that he gave to his university students in the Spring of 2006.

I took Prothero’s quiz and scored a 45 out of 50.

Are you interested in how you would fare in this basic exam? Many of you that read this blog grew up in a conservative background where you were at church if the doors were open and many of you were leaders in youth group and at school and you have continued to lead in the workplace. I know that you take your faith seriously. I think that many of you can pass this quiz with flying colors.

I have provided the quiz below and I will post the answers in the comment section. I am interested in how well you fared taking the quiz so leave a comment with your score or with comments on what you think about the quiz or teaching religion in schools. Good luck.

Religious Literacy Quiz
1) Name the four Gospels. List as many as you can.
2) Name a sacred text of Hinduism.
3) What is the name of the holy book of Islam?
4) Where according to the Bible was Jesus born?
5) Pres. George W. Bush spoke in his first inaugural address of the Jericho road. What Bible story was he invoking?
6) What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?
7) What is the Golden Rule?
8) “God helps those who help themselves”: Is this in the Bible? If so, where?
9) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God”: Does this appear in the Bible? If so, where?
10) Name the Ten Commandments. List as many as you can.
11) Name the four Noble Truths of Buddhism.
12) What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism? List as many as you can.
13) The First Amendment says two things about religion, each with its own “clause.” What are the two religion clauses of the First Amendment?
14) What is Ramadan? In what religion is it celebrated?
15) Match the Bible characters with the stories in which they appear. Some characters may be matched with more than one story or vise versa.

1. Adam and Eve
2. Paul
3. Moses
4. Noah
5. Jesus
6. Abraham
7. Serpent

a. Exodus
b. Binding of Isaac
c. Olive Branch
d. Garden of Eden
e. Parting of the Red Sea
f. Road to Damascus
g. Garden of Gethsemane

Discipleship

Who Do I Say Jesus Is?

Can you imagine being there when Jesus asked his disciples the question, “Who do the crowds say I am?” If it was anything like the scenes in our classrooms there might have been a few seconds of awkward silence before one of them offered up, “Some say John the Baptist.”

“Well others say Elijah.”

“And some of them say that you are one of the prophets.”

I imagine Peter to be a bit like me. I lived for class discussion because it usually kept us from doing busy work. I was never one to offer up the first comment but I was always prepared to make my opinion known.

I can see Peter listening but staring at the ground. He hears that his friends are giving the easy answers to the easy question. He wants to answer but that question leaves him wanting. Let’s be honest, Jesus served them a softball pitch that first question and Peter was never interested playing softball. Jesus brings the heat with his next question:

“Who do you say I am?”

In essence Jesus is saying, “No hiding behind what others say. This isn’t about them it’s about you. This is where the rubber meets the road. Who do you say I am?”

Still staring at the ground I see Peter say, “You are the Messiah.” He looks up right into the face of Jesus, clears his throat, and purposefully repeats his answer.

“You… are the Messiah.”

Andrew had told him years ago that they had found the Promised One and now Peter believes that it is so. He is ready to make the leap from seeing Jesus as a good teacher to the Son of God.

In the book Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry, author Rick Lawrence recounts a time in his life where he was wrestling with this very question. He implores the reader to step back to this scene and answer this question for themselves.

I took a page from the book and I led a discussion with my teens asking them the following question:

Which word comes closest to describing the way you see Jesus- nice, fierce, or mysterious?

Not surprisingly many of them wanted to answer nice. Frankly that’s because we have made Jesus nice. We gloss over the Jesus who was so passionate about true worship that he overturned tables with one hand and wielded a home-made whip with the other. We downplay the Jesus who was so outraged at the religious leaders that he told them they we tombs filled with dead bodies. That Jesus is anything but nice.

Our discussion that night was one the best we’ve ever had. After they argued and discussed whether Jesus was nice, fierce, or mysterious I broke them into groups and challenged them to come up with a description that they felt captured Jesus better. They opened their Bibles and dove head first. They came up with Almighty, Passionate, and (my favorite) Hardcore. It seemed that for the first time in a long time we were all challenged to answer the question anew.

I’m not sure that I will ever have the “right” for this question. My answer is as messy as my own life. I just know that I want to spend the rest of my life connecting and serving and worshiping the one who asked it.

Who Do I Say You Are Jesus?

You are the Christ. The Son of the Most High God. You are a Lion and a Lamb. You desire mercy and pure heart. You take away the sins from your children. You take away my sins. You call me from a small life of fishing in the sea to a grand life of fishing for men. You are the Beginning and the End. You conquered death. You are nice, fierce, mysterious, passionate, hardcore, and almighty. You are my first love. You are who I want to serve. You are the Christ.

Who do you say Jesus is?

Discipleship, Ethos, Ministry, Questions, Youth Ministry

The Three Questions

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Every person on the planet deals with three basic questions:

  • Who am I?
  • Do I Matter?
  • Am I loved?

In youth ministry I see students trying to answer these questions everyday. I see it in the way they behave, what activities they pursue, the way the dress, and the way they interact with one another. However most adults still wrestle with these questions too.

To be completely honest we never stop trying to answer these questions. It isn’t as though one day we wake up at 27 and we no longer have acne and suddenly have all the answers to life’s journey. The acne still crops up every once in a while and these queries still stare us in the face every single day.

The problem with these three questions is that they rely on us to answer them by ourselves. It is up to you and I to indiviualy answer these questions under our own power. I have a hard time making a decision at the gas pump whether or not I want a receipt after my transaction. I cannot even begin to answer these life-defining questions on my own. I’m limited.

I have been working through Rick Lawrence’s newest ministry book Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry and Lawrence reframes these three questions in a way that turns the focus away from ourselves and send us running to Jesus for the answers.

Here are the questions I am now asking:

  • Who Do I Say Jesus Is?
  • Who Does Jesus Say I Am?
  • Who Do I Say I Am?

I have been working through these questions for the last few weeks. Tomorrow we will look at the first one: Who Do I Say Jesus Is? I hope that you can join in on the conversation. See you tomorrow.

D'oh!, Discipleship, Movies, Popular Culture, Stories, Youth Ministry

*Blink* It’s July

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Can you believe that it is July already? I can’t. The summer is nearing the half-way point and I am already gearing up for the fall. I have been away from home for the past three weeks. I called the bank to see if I still had to pay the mortgage even though we didn’t use the house this month. They informed me that I still had to pay. Bummer.

I haven’t had time to update as often I would like this past month. Let’s play catch up.

3 States in 3 Weeks
On June 16 I flew out to Washington, DC. We arrived back home on Friday, June 22. At 6:30am the next morning we left for Ruidoso, New Mexico for our high school mission trip. The trip was a great success and I cherished the time I was able to spend with some of our high schoolers. We drove back to DFW on Wednesday, June 27 (Due to weather and our jonesing for some Chili’s we actually arrived at 12:30am Thursday morning) and were able to sit and rest for a full day! We left for Uplift in Searcy, AR on Saturday, June 30. After a great week of camp we returned safe and sound on Thursday, July 5. 3 weeks, 3 states. Whew!

Beep, Beep
So, as we cross into New Mexico I’m feeling pretty good. The trip has gone well and we have passed the halfway point. I feel like east NM looks a whole heck of a lot like west TX. It’s flat, dusty, and OH! A Road Runner has just walked out in front of the van. Ok it’s turning around. Not enough! Get out of the way!!! Is it is making eye contact with me? *dump-dah*

Yeah, I hit the state bird of New Mexico with our giant rental van.

Uplift
For the second year I taught a class at Uplift. This year’s class was entitled Involvement, Ministry, and Leadership. Anytime I can talk about leadership issues I jump at the opportunity. As we were planning for the class we wanted the students to leave camp with an idea of what they were gifted in and how they were going to impact their ministries back at home. Later this summer I hope to post what we did for the class and I want to expand what I taught into some sort of eBook. If you are interested, drop me a line and I’ll put you on the list to receive a copy.

Transformers
Metal-on-Metal action reminded me that I am a boy and that I love robots, explosions, rock ‘n roll, and Optimus Prime. Popcorn movie to the max!

Seriously- better than Spidey, Jack, and Shrek. It was so much fun that I want to see it again.

Awesomenessness, Book Review, Discipleship, Faith in Action, Leadership, Ministry, Remarkable, Youth Ministry

Catch A Fire

holy.tiff Let It Burn Within.

I have been stuck in the refugee camp Atlanta airport most of the day. I’m trying to make my way to Washington, DC. but I have had a rough go at it.

On a positive note I was able to start and finish Bill Hybels’ newest book, Holy Discontent: Fueling the Fire That Ignites Personal Vision.

I am extremely tired and weary but I have to say that it was just what the Doctor ordered.

Hybels describes holy discontent as the one thing that motivates you to act. What upsets you? What injustice boils your blood? What makes you stand up and say, “Hey, I’m not going to take this anymore!!! Something has to be done and I’m doing it.”

Hybles does a great job at reminding us that it isn’t enough to be discontented on your own. We must marry the things that break our hearts to the things that break the heart of God. That where the holy comes in.

My mind is swirling right now with my holy discontents. What are they?

I smell a post series!

Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry, Sermons

Life in Transition

Sunday was our Graduation Sunday.

Next weekend each of these students will be graduating in ceremonies all over the area and in a few weeks each of them will be moving from their homes and onto college campuses. There has been a lot of preparation for this moment by their parents and families. Lots of apprehension and a little bit of anxiety as these students take the big leap and head out into the world.

Life is full of transitions. Graduation from high school is but one of the many stages of life that we pass through. While Seniors are leaving for college their parents are having to transition into a new stage of life as well. The only constant in life is that things change.

The message I delivered on Sunday was on the life of Hannah.

I think Hannah has a lot to say to us today. Hannah transitioned from a life without children to having a child to dedicating that child to a life of service in ministry.

Here are some of the highlights from my message on Hannah:

I believe the story of Hannah speaks to those you who are parents. I think is Hannah were here today she would ask each of you who have been blessed with a child,

“Have you given your children back to God.”

Right off, let me say that Hannah is not telling you to drop your kids off here at the church office for me to raise!!! If you did that I would respond like Eli and ask you if you’ve been drinking!!!

No, by asking you if you have given your children back to God she is asking you if you have fully invested in your child’s spiritual life. Are you making real sacrifices so that your children can know God?

Are you praying for and with your child? Are you living in such away that your children know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the love of your life is Jesus Christ? What are you teaching them about the importance of growing and maturing in their faith?

Do they know that their relationship with God is the most important thing or is it something that they can work on only after their school work, sports team, or other extra activities their are involved in?

Samuel had a relationship with God because his mother had the courage to do something radical. She showed him true faith looked like.

What does radical sacrifice look like in your life? What sacrifices might you have to make to ensure that your children know God and have a deep, rewarding relationship with Him?

  • Does it mean that you pull you child from one extra activity so that you can have a family devotional?
  • That they see you or your spouse reading the Bible more?
  • That you make a stand and keep a hedge of protection around Wed. and Sundays even if it means that they can’t participate in …. (you fill in the blank)?

I think I would have a hard time giving Hannah any excuses as to why I was letting the good things of the world get in the way of the greater things of God. Hannah shows us that faith and devotion often require radical sacrifices.

The story of Hannah doesn’t just speak to those who are parents.

Hannah speaks to everyone who’s life is in transition because she shows us what it means to grow up.

Growing up means…

  • Making Decisions


    • Hannah made the decision to lay her broken heart and her broken womb before the Lord. In times of transition are you more apt to try and work everything out on your own or are you willing to ask the Lord for help?

  • Making Sacrifices


    • Hannah made the ultimate sacrifice to make sure that the Lord was honored and that she followed through with her promise. Are you making any sacrifices to keep the promises that you’ve made to God?

  • Making Connections


    • Hannah made connections with the Lord (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and with her son Samuel (2:18-20). Are you connecting with God and with the people in your care?

Discipleship, The Word, Youth Ministry

Live With It

Yesterday we celebrated our Graduation Sunday. We honored our four graduating seniors with a breakfast, DVD slideshow, and a new Bible.

Rather than buying thinline, no-frill Bibles for these students I took them to a Bible bookstore and walked them through a few translations and editions.

I told them to choose a Bible that they could live with. By that I meant a translation that they can read, one that has tools that can help them understand or navigate through, and one that they can fall in love with.

2 (maybe 3) of these students will be attending Christian universities so I encouraged them to get a study Bible. I know that mine was indispensable during my freshman Bible classes and I wanted to get them something that would be helpful to them. The fourth student chose the new TNIV College Devotional Bible.

Again, I could have just picked up a catalogue or walked into a store and purchased any four Bibles that I saw. Instead, I spent the afternoon with the students presenting options and answering questions so that the students could choose something that they wanted and that they could see themselves using.

Tomorrow, I’ll post about the message I presented.

Discipleship, Hope, Leadership, Ministry, Religion, Resources, Youth Ministry

Robert Webber

Becoming a disciple, just like becoming a fully mature being, takes time, takes the involvement of committed people, and takes a process of growth and development that is intentional and well worked out. The problem that we are dealing with is not only the problem of individual Christians who don’t grow but the problem of local churches that don’t have a process for nurturing and growing new Christians into mature disciples.

I never got the chance to meet Dr. Robert Webber but he had a profound impact on my life and my ministry. His writing took my theological box where I stored my ministry paradigms, ideas, things I thought I knew, my church upbringing, and what I thought was my safe, little god and dumped it out on the floor for me to examine. When all was said and done I decided to do away with a box altogether and just make Christ my pursuit and my all consuming passion. When I first read the words quoted above I immediately knew that I had found my calling. I wasn’t just a minister. I am a disciple who makes disciples. As simple and profound and challenging as that. I promptly devoured everything by him I could get my hands on. I have even spent the year walking with him through the Christian calendar, something I would have never been able to experience without his prodding and help, by using his book Ancient-Future Time. I will be forever grateful.

Dr. Webber’s battle with cancer ended on Friday.

I also echo the prayer that was posted on the press release:

“Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world; in the name of God the Father Almighty who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you; in the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you. May your rest be this day in peace, and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God. Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Bob. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.”

Thank you Dr. Webber for your work and your life. I am indebted to you for insight and your relentless pursuit of Christ Jesus, our Lord. He is the Victor. May you rest in His arms tonight.

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