Category Archives: Ministry

Discipleship, Ethos, Ministry, Risk

You Get What You Ask For

When I posted my statement last week about taking risks for God and for my faith and for my ministry I had no clue that God was going to show up at the conference challenging me head on with this idea.

I feel a little like Neo tonight. I feel as though I’ve been offered a red or blue pill.

I can take the blue pill, enjoy the conference, sing the songs, jot some notes, board the plane home, and say “Well that was nice.” Of course, nothing will change. I’ll be just as effective as I am today. My faith will remain just as listless. My ministry be “good enough.”

or…

I can take the red pill and see how far the rabbit hole goes.

I think God is telling me something:

Yesterday Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, TX, challenged me to take a risk by focusing on spiritual transformation and being honest with people that the Jesus way is a sloooooooow process. He likened spiritual growth to a baby taking its first steps. No parent watches as their child does the initial step, step, fall and then berates their baby for the poor job of running. No they celebrate because the child gets back up and keeps stepping. We go wild with joy when a baby tries and “fails” but we freak out (not in a good way) when a disciple takes two steps and falls. We write them off as hopeless. Shame on us. Transformation is life-long process. In ministry it is a risk to be that honest with people. People want transformation and growth instantly and too often we tell them that they can quickly “get right” by reading their Bible, praying, and reading their Bible. Risk challenging people to go deeper.

This morning Andy Stanley challenged me to risk my influence just as Jesus did by washing the disciples feet. All power was given to Jesus and he willingly laid that power down to serve. It is a risk to lead like Jesus.

Rick Warren challenged me to surrender my identity and my ministry to Him so that He can make it come alive. In essence, risk losing control. Rick also challenged me to pray the most dangerous prayer in the world, “Lord, Use me.”

Finally, Francis Chan challenged me to risk seeing my ministry as more than a job. It is a divine appointment. I need to risk seeing my life and ministry as the intentional way that God created me before I was born. I love my teens and their families. They are more than a job to me. I have been appointed to lead. Will I do it because of duty or out of a deep seated love? I know which one is a bigger risk.

I have so much to process right now but I keep seeing God’s hand holding out this red pill of risk to me.

Am I willing to risk it all for the sake of the Gospel? Am I willing to say “God, you are in control. I surrender it all to you. Success, failings, heart and soul. It’s yours.”? Am I risking it all to remain faithful to the things that God is calling me toward? Do I care more about my safety, my status, my reputation, my tradition than I do about seeking after the glory of God?

It all comes down to risk.

Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry

Catalyst Day 1

For the first time I attended the Catalyst Labs. Labs are basically breakout sessions with different teachers on different tracks to help supplement your time here at Catalyst. They are a little more informal and they are a little more intimate.

Due to a slight rain delay in Dallas I arrived later than I had planned but I was still able to take in 2 incredible sessions and the evening round table discussion on the new research book, unChristian.

I’ll try and unpack some of what I experienced tonight over the coming weeks but I wanted to say something about Catalyst tonight before I hit the hay.

I was reminded again tonight why I come to Catalyst over any other conference.

At Catalyst I am not told what to think but challenged just to think.

There is a huge difference. Most conferences or books or seminars give you the step by step, cookie cutter approach to leadership.

I don’t walk away from this conference with a new curriculum or a new game or even a new lesson to take back home. I leave here with more questions than when I arrived. I leave here with my heart full. I leave here empowered to go out and make a difference.

I ask that those of you who read this blog will sincerely pray for me this week. This week is my spiritual renewal retreat. Pray that I will hear what I need to hear, change what I need to change, and connect more fully with my Jesus.

Thanks.

peace,
micheal

Discipleship, Ethos, Ministry, Tragedy, Wrestling With Scripture

Frustrations

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In the current issue of the Christian Chronicle, there is a two-page advertisement concerning a cappella music. The ad is presented by a group who identifies themselves as “younger ministers under the age of 55” who are concerned about the growing threat of instrumental music in the Churches of Christ.

I have so much to say about this ad but I think Mike Cope says it best when he writes,

“The world is disoriented, hurting, and lost. God is seeking to restore and repair what’s been broken. And someone is paying for a two-page ad in the Chronicle for this?”

My thoughts exactly.

As a youth minister I’m dealing with students who are disoriented and confused about who they are and struggle with questions and doubts about whether or not God really cares about them. I meet students and families who are hurting because of loss or because of sin. Turn on the news and watch as students are harassed or monks are shot dead in the street or entire ethnic groups are obliterated and you don’t even get a glimpse at just how lost this world is.

We are desperate for God’s healing and grace and yet… this ad.

I am not saying that this issue shouldn’t be discussed. I’m not dismissing deeply held beliefs on either side of the aisle.

I just want us to put as much time and energy in promulgating the gospel message of Jesus Christ as we do in pointing our fingers at each other and devouring one another.

I am not ashamed of the gospel. However, I am more than a little ashamed of that ad.

link

Discipleship, Ethos, Hope, Leadership, Ministry, Wrestling With Scripture

It All Comes Down To Risk

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Thanks to everyone who weighed in on the first Wrestling With Scripture post. Hopefully we can do this every week.

I think that the reason that I have spent so much time on this passage is because I marvel at the risks that Jesus took in his ministry. They pale in comparison to the risks that we take today.

In fact the only time I hear people discussing risk is when it comes to money. For shame!

Philippians 2 reminds us that Jesus risked leaving an exalted seat in heaven for the life of an itinerant preacher who was obedient to a criminal’s death even though he was innocent of any and every crime. Matthew tells us that Jesus risked leaving his ministry to fishermen and unskilled, ordinary men and women. the Gospels point out that Jesus risked giving glory to God and bringing life to the marginalized and broken even though his methods lay outside the box of tradition.

Part of me is just enamored and challenged that Jesus might have risked being labeled as an outcast by touching and healing the leper.

That is where I want my faith to be. Am I risking it all to remain faithful to the things that God is calling me toward? Do I care more about my safety, my status, my reputation, my tradition than I do about seeking after the glory of God?

It all comes down to risk.

Discipleship, Ministry, Wrestling With Scripture

Wrestling With Scripture

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Early Christians knew nothing of personal Bible studies. They wrestled with scripture together publicly in the context of synagogues and of the church body. In an effort to continue that tradition here at Kicking at the Darkness I want to begin a weekly discussion of passages in scripture that are difficult or that are thought-provoking. Hopefully the handful of you that read this site can benefit from healthy discussions and insights that we share with one another.

I’ll offer up the first passage for us to talk about.

I have been on Mark 1:38-45 for quite some time.

“Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.”

Here is something I’ve been thinking about. For most of my life I assumed that the reason Jesus was unable to enter towns again was because the man blabbed and that the authorities were angry with Jesus for healing (as they often were). Obviously there is an element of “now the secret is out” but I wonder if my modern day understanding of celebrity has colored that way I envision people mobbing Jesus for attention. I think that there is another reason why Jesus was unable to enter public areas besides ruling authorities and rushing crowds.

I am now wondering if it was assumed that Jesus was now infected with leprosy because he touched the man in order to heal him and that is why he was relegated to “the lonely places.” Lepers were not able to live or even enter into cities.

It is the phrase “lonely places” that has driven me to this conclusion. The Greek word is “eremos” meaning solitary, desolate, lonely, wilderness, unpopulated. This would definitely describe the areas where lepers were forced to live.

If this is correct, what impact does it have on us in 2007? If Jesus was identified with the very people he rescued what does that mean for our reputations with the world?

Discuss.

Ministry

Fall Cleaning

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My students went back to school today.

I passed by the brand new high school this morning to see a stream of cars and buses hurriedly trying to get kids to the building. I thought of all the emotions that go into a day like the first day of school.

I sent my students a text message last night encouraging them to read 1 Tim 6:11-16:

“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”

The first day of school is just as good as New Year’s day. It is a fresh start; a new beginning. I challenged my students to pursue God from day one this school year. My prayer is that they will.

For me today is a fall cleaning day. My office glorified closet should be declared a disaster zone. Seriously. I’m thinking about filing for federal disaster relief. When you’re gone to camp things pile up. When you leave for a mission trip the pile gets a little higher. By the time you are gone for the third week in a row you don’t recognize anything.

I spent a full week working from the sound booth in the auditorium because I was afraid to be in my office.

This has gone on long enough. A clean office: It will be a fresh start; a new beginning.

Photo Documentation:
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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, 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.

Book Review, Ministry, Parenting

Cross-centered Focus

Tony over at The Shepherd’s Scrapbook recently commented that it is difficult to find children’s books that are specifically cross-centered. There are hundred of titles that focus on the “adventures” of OT heroes such us Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and David but very few storybooks focus on the life of Christ. Almost none seek to responsibly describe the importance of Christ’s sacrifice in terms that children can understand.

Since reading Tony’s post my reticular activating system has been working overtime. (When you buy a red car and then you begin to see red cars all over the place- that’s your RAS)

Everywhere I look I have been surveying children’s books to see if they are cross-centered or merely moral tales of values and ethical behavior.

I have only found one book so far that fits the criteria of being a) a children’s reading book and b) focused upon all aspects of Jesus’ life, teaching, ministry, and sacrifice.

The Book of Jesus For Families (Bethany House, 2002) is a great little book that would dutifully serve countless hours of reading and teaching time for you and your child. The book is divided into 7 “chapters” or sections categorized by different points in the life of Jesus. Chapter Six is titled “When Jesus Died” and Chapter Seven is titled “The Big Surprise”. When was the last time you saw a children’s book deal with the sacrifice and resurrection? Each chapter has a variety of different essays ranging from one to five pages written by some of history’s greatest writers.

From the dust jacket:

Calvin Miller presents The Book of Jesus for Families, a keepsake collection of stories, songs, parables, and poems about Jesus Christ. Writings by Charles Dickens, Walter Wangerin, Pearl S. Buck, Calvin Miller himself, and many others depict the life of Jesus, his teachings, and the amazing things he did. Lavish, full-color illustrations bring the stories to life.

The selections, some original to this collection, have been especially chosen for a young audience to help parents introduce their children to the greatest man who ever lived and help children identify with Jesus as a real person, not just a character in a story.

Whether enjoyed together as a family or alone, The Book of Jesus for Families is a treasury of literature and art that will inspire and delight readers of all ages.

Unfortunately, it seems that the book might be out of print but maybe you can find it somewhere. It would be well worth the search.

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!