Category Archives: Faith in Action

Discipleship, Faith in Action, GNC, Invisible Children

7 Days and Counting

guncam.jpgI spent most the morning and this afternoon at one of the local high schools talking about the Global Night Commute happening in Arlington next Friday.

I am so excited about this event and as the date draws closer more and more people are beginning to show interest in joining us.

If you have not seen the documentary Invisible Children please do so now but be advised: You will be changed forever!!!

In 2003, three college students traveled to Africa with a video camera and a desire to see and to capture on film what was happening in Africa. The story that they uncovered is one of an abhorant warlord who abducts children to fight in his illeagal war. Since 1987, thousands upon thousands of children have been abducted, tortured, and forced to kill in the Lord’s Resistence Army led by Joeseph Kony. The atrocities that these children are forces to endure are too numerous to count. It is truly heartwrenching.

Invisible Children shows how children walk miles every night so that they can sleep in large, public places where the will be safe from Kony and his child soldiers. Every night they walk into the cities and then every morning they walk back to their homes.

This apparently has been happening for 20 years. It is past time for it to end.

Last year’s Global Night Commute saw 80,000 students from all around the country march into cities to sleep in parks and on the steps of government buildings to hightlight the night commuter problem in N. Uganda.

This year it is our turn.

I am so proud of my students who saw the film and asked, “What can we do to help?” they have taken this issue to heart and made it their own.Way to go!!!

If you live in the DFW area and want to join us next Friday drop me a line.

Arlington Night Commute Event

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action, Stories, The Word

Not in the Earthquake

1Kings 19:1-13 TNIV

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

Who would have blamed Elijah for looking for God in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire? Certainly not me.

One chapter ago, Elijah was riding high on seeing the LORD nuke the holy snot out of his sacrifice on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal found themselves completely humiliated in their false service to a false god and it was all down hill for them from there.

Then along comes Queen Jezebel’s threats and Elijah runs away hiding himself in despair.

Elijah wanted to die he was so depressed (19:4-5). Although angels attended to his physical needs something in Elijah was still lacking. Anyone who has ever suffered through a season of depression knows that it is your spiritual needs that must be met in order for you to move forward.

In this need, the LORD showed up.

After the display on Mount Carmel Elijah would of course be tempted to look for God in the loud roar of the wind or in the rocking of the earth or even in the heat and sulfur of a great fire but if he had only looked in those things he would have missed that gentle whisper. He would have missed the LORD.

Over the last few months, I have been trying to remind my heart that while God can be found in the big and amazing things going on around me He can also be found in the gentle whisper of the rhythms and patters of life.

While I have stood in awe of some amazingly huge God moves recently, I have been more humbled by the whispers of God in my life. In being humbled I have grown closer to my Father and my heart has become, day by day, more sensitive to His ways and more sensitive to the world around me.

So what have I been hearing? Where and how do I hear the faint cries of the Almighty? What is the LORD trying to say to me through this season of life and ministry?

If I told you now I wouldn’t have something to post for later.

For right now, just take some time and do a heart check.

Are you only looking for God in the big things- the wind, the earthquake, the fire- or are you open to the whisper?

Books, Discipleship, Faith in Action, Leadership, Ministry, Questions, Resources, Theology, Youth Ministry

Providing Answers AND Questions

Part of my job as a youth minister is to create an enviroment where teens can feel free to ask questions and a place that helps them answer their questions. While reading Youth Ministry Mutiny by Greg Stier, the protagonist provided 30 questions that his youth ministry centered all of their teaching around. The minister said that, “Every teen and adult should know, live, and own the answers to these questions as a result of our ministry in their lives.”

Here they are:

  • Who is God and what is He like?
  • What is the Trinity?
  • Who is Jesus?
  • Why did he die on the cross?
  • How do I know he really rose from the dead?
  • Who is the HS and what does He do?
  • How do I get plugged into the power of the HS?
  • Is the Bible really God’s Word and how does it apply to my life?
  • What is truth and can I know it with certainty?
  • What is sin and how does it impact my life and my relationships with others?
  • Why does God allow evil in this world?
  • What is a Christian and how does a person become one?
  • If Jesus is the only way to Heaven, are all other religions wrong?
  • What about people who have never heard about the Gospel?
  • What is the Great Commission and how does it relate to me?
  • Is the really a heaven and a hell and what are they like?
  • Is there a judgement day and what difference should it make in my life?
  • Can I really be forgiven for all my sins, even the really bad ones?
  • Will God ever leave me or forsake me?
  • Who are Satan and his demons?
  • How do I engage in spiritual warfare?
  • What is Church and why should I be involved?
  • What are spiritual gifts and how do I discover mine?
  • How should the return of Christ impact my life?
  • What is prayer and how do I do it?
  • Why should I study my Bible and how do I do it?
  • How do I defend my faith?
  • Who am I, where did I come from, and what is my purpose?
  • Which is true creation or evolution, and why does it matter?
  • How can I worship God in everything I do?

As I looked over these 30 questions I felt like they covered just about everything I’ve tried to pass along to my students. Of course this list isn’t/shouldn’t be exhaustive but they gave me a great jumping off point. What do you think? Anything you’d add? Anything you’d take away?

Books, Ethos, Faith in Action, Politics, Stories

Challenge With My Coffee

An estimated 300,000 child soldiers now fight in the more than 50 violent conflicts raging around the globe. Far removed from the world of pundits and journalists, policymakers and diplomats, a 13-year-old boy names Ishmael Beah became one of these young warriors in Sierra leone, Africa. Now in his mid-twenties, he courageously tells of the horrific road that led him to wield an AK-47 and, fueled by trauma and drugs, commit terrible acts. In poignantly clear and dauntless storytelling, Ishmael describes how he fled brutal rebal soldiers, traveled miles from home on foot and gradually regressed to a life of raw survival instncts. Yet, unlike so many of his peers, Ishmael lived to reclaim his true self, emerging from Sierra Leone as the gentle, hopeful young man he was at heart. (Reading Guide)

Childhood is a precious and sacred thing yet it can be taken away in one fell swoop by evil men intent on taking power by any means necessary.

Ishmael Beah and I were both born in 1980. While I grew up in the comfort and security of this country Ishmael and his family were living thousands of miles away in the African nation of Sierra Leone. While I was going through the supposed trials and tribulations of junior high, Ishmael was living through a very real hell fleeing from rebels in a land torn apart by war and unspeakable savagery. In 1993, Beah was kidnapped and forced into an army made up of his peers- mere children. The whole idea of children forced into fighting a war is despicable yet this evil happens everyday. The only way to stop this treachery is to become aware of it and to become vocal about its abolition.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishamel Beah is his account, in his own words, of his capture, torture, and malipulation by the hands of his captors into becoming a child soldier. Beah was able to escape but the same cannot be said for the thousands of other young boys snatched from their homes and huts everyday. Beah story is harrowing and needs to be told.

A Long Way Gone is on sale now at your local Starbucks. Pick up a copy and get educated. There is also a reading guide bookmark available at the POS.

Over the next couple of days, I will be blogging through the book. I will be posting additional information on how you too can get involved. If you would like to read it with me drop me a line and let me know that you are interested. Also, on March 6, I am planning on attending the book signing and conversation with Beah at the Starbucks on Greenville Ave in Dallas. Let me know if you are in the area and you want to attend with me.

There are fires burning that need to be put out. It’s time to let your actions speak loudly.

Discipleship, Faith in Action, Film & Theology, Heroes, Leadership, Ministry, Politics, Resources

My Great Change

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Monday night I headed over to downtown Ft. Worth for a screening of the newest film from Walden Media, Amazing Grace.

The film tells the story of William WIlberforce.

Wilberforce was a member of British parliment near the end of the 18th century and early part of the 19th century. In 1784, a “great change” occured in his life. He became a Christian.

This “great change” influenced the way he lived and lit a new fire in his belly. Wilberforce set out to abolish slavery in all of the British Empire. It became his all consuming passion. He dedicated the rest of his life to this end. Friends were lost and enemies were made but he never gave up. For 34 years, he continued to push for an end to the “horrors of the slave trade.”

Three days before he passed away, Parliment passed the Slavery Abolition Act, freeing all slaves within the Brish empire.

One man. One Faith. One Pursuit. Millions of lives changed.

While watching the film I was struck by the thought that one person can make a lasting difference in the world. I used to believe that as a kid but somewhere along the way that belief turned into merely a pipe dream.

My least favorite sentances in the world are:

“It’s always been this way.” and “We’ve never done it that way.”

Those are the two biggest lies that cripple young dreams and vibrant life. Well, I’m not buying it anymore.

Yesterday I read Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce by John Piper. It was a great little read. It is under 80 pages so you could read it in about an hour. It again drove the point home to me: One person can make a difference.

The movie was very good and I am hoping to promote it with my teens and their families. The film opens on February 23. You can go to the film’s website to see where it will be playing in your area.

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action, Leadership, Ministry, Religion, Theology

Great Reminder From a Great Man

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace. Men far and near will know the church as a great fellowship of love that provides light and bread for lonely travellers at midnight.”

-Dr. Martin Juthur King, Jr.

Books, Faith in Action, Theology

Judge a Book by the Cover


Synopsis:

A tongue-in-cheek look at contemporary culture through the eyes of a screenwriter who pens a hit about the last unbeliever on Earth navigating a thoroughly Christian world.
An unwary “pagan” discovers he’s one of the last remaining unbelievers in a world populated by Christians. Or so imagines Larry Hutch, a screenwriter with hopes of writing a hit movie. While struggling in his faith and dealing with personal crises, he imagines a strange new world where song lyrics are altered to conform to “Christian” standards (the Beatles belt out “I Wanna Hold Your Tithe”) and French fries, newly labeled “McScriptures,” are tools for evangelism. Larry’s screenplay is a big hit with his agent, Ned, but Ned’s Southern Baptist wife is less than amused. Both men’s futures will be on the line when the world witnesses A PAGAN’S NIGHTMARE.

From the author Ray Blackston:

Some will call this new novel a comic spoof of legalism. Others may call it controversial and insensitive. I hope at least a few will call it humorous and daring!

I can testify that I felt obedient in writing this book. I wrote it for this reason: Over the past couple of decades the Christian community in America has created (for better or worse) its own subculture, complete with videos, audios, non-fiction, fiction (I’m a tiny part of that!), trinkets, clothing, billboards, bumper stickers, and buzzwords. In some instances, originality is sacrificed on the altar of profit as we, the Christians, “sanitize” secular products for our own benefit. Now, whether all this is healthy or not is a topic that can be debated for days upon days. (And I am not volunteering to moderate such a discussion!) But consider this: if the only thing the lost world ever observed was our products and buzzwords instead of our authenticity and grace, if they were only exposed to the commercialization of religion but never introduced to the person of Jesus, the result might well be . . . a pagan’s nightmare.

May God grant us the grace to laugh at ourselves.

Looks interesting. Not my genre but thought-provoking nonetheless.

Faith in Action, Ministry

Saddle Up Your Horses

Ad-ven-ture noun

an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity

Out of the 50 top grossing films of all time roughly 46 of them would be considered action adventure movies. Haven’t we all longed to join up with Frodo to journey into the darkest realms of Middle Earth? Who hasn’t imagined what it would be like to spend the afternoon with Indiana Jones deep inside an Egyptian tomb or swing through the streets of New York with Peter Parker? Personally I would love to accompany Luke and Han Solo as they rescue the Princess. That is as long as I get my own light saber!

Everyone one of us longs for true adventure. We get bored with the everyday and grow listless by being strapped to our desks. This boredom can turn to criticism and selfish behavior. The truth is that we long for adventure because we were created for adventure. We were created to live an unusual and exciting life with our Creator.

Matthew 28: 18-20
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 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 last words that Jesus spoke on this earth tell us that we are to take the glory of the gospel into the world around us.

We have been invited on an incredible journey. Gary Haugen, of International Justice Mission, reminds us that “Jesus is waiting for us. He is strapping on his boots. He is gathering his gear and He is headed out into the wild.”

I don’t want to miss this adventure and I don’t want you to miss it either.

This Sunday I’ll be preaching on the adventure of community. The greatest thing about our adventure is that were aren’t going at it alone. We’re a team and its high time that the church understands that fact. The adventure’s on. Let head out. Together.

Ethos, Faith in Action, Ministry, Popular Culture

The Way I See It #4180

As I sit here at my desk typing this, the radio in my office is tuned to the satilite station XM 75: Hear Music. The mood in my office is always rich and smooth, just like a certain hot beverage. The soothing voice of the on-air personality wispers, “The sound of Starbucks” as the latest David Grey tune gently begins and I feel like I’m right there at the coffee shop- sans the sounds of coffee grinders and foaming milk, of course. Then, when I hear a new artist or a great new song, I can just pick it up at the register the next time I’m ordering a tall White Chocolate Mocha.

The bottom line for Starbucks is that it is first and foremost selling coffee but they are more interested in selling a lifestyle of laid back, hipster cool. And guess what? It works. It works because it seems to be a natural occurance. Starbucks isn’t trying hard to force you into buying their coffee and then thrusting the lifestyle on you. It happens almost organically.

You walk in to buy a cup of joe. The atmosphere is warm and inviting. The cashier asks for your name and scribbles it on to your cup. While you wait for your Carmel Machiatto you peruse the CDs, mugs, coasters, and brewing machines. You walk out with your drink, a tumbler with “Starry Night”, and that ultra-cool Sam Cooke compilation. You climb into your SUV and flip the channel to 75. Tracy Chapman sings to you as you travel to work where you can buy a cold frapachino from the vending machine near your cubicle. That night you head out to go see the latest flick with your favorite actor, Larry “Cowboy Curtis” Fishburn. On the way home you pop that Sam Cooke compilation in the dash and smile. What a day.

Starbucks not only sells Coffee but Music, Movies, and Mood. Starbucks is branded as a lifestyle more than a beverage. And that got me thinking…

I posted this back in April with a promise to write a second chapter expounding on my “Starbucks-as-lifestyle” belief. My theory is that there is something about the way Starbucks does buisness that can help us in the church help reach our communities. The problem is that I kept hitting dead ends. My thoughts and feelings kept getting derailed by commerce. There are enough chuches selling things whether they know it or not and I don’t want to turn Jesus into some sort of trinket that is this year’s must buy. Consumerism is killing our churches and I didn’t want to add to that.

However, I knew that there had to be something else. Something deeper. There was truth to be found beyond the coffee, books, and music but I found myself unable to connect the dots.

Then I found out the Len Sweet, theologian and futurist, would be releasing a book early next year entitled, “The Gospel According to Starbucks.” I knew that if Sweet was writing about the coffee giant than I was surely on to something. I had to connect the dots.

But where to begin? Commerce had been a dead end and the growth patterns seemed just as helpful. That’s when I found it.

The Green Apron Book.
Be Welcoming. Be Genuine. Be Knowledgable. Be Considerate. Be Involved.

Everything I had believed to be true about how the church should be more like Starbucks was contained within that tiny book given to partners (employees) no bigger than a passport.

I am trying to get a copy of one for keeps. I found one manager that allowed me to read the book while in he store but wouldn’t allow me to keep it.

My fingers brushed along the pages. My mind raced as I gazed through my incredible find. My heart pounded like a bass drum and I took in the entire experience.

The answer isn’t in books and coffee beans. The answer is in the ethos. In the heart.

More to come…