Live video stream

Tonight there is a live video stream of beginning at 8:00 p.m. MST.

Click here to find out more information about how to access the live video stream.

Hope you can join us. Picture from our time will be coming soon...stand by!

Flat tire and a deer

Our travel day to Challenge was filled with the unexpected! We stopped to see how Gary and his group was doing after he ran over a deer. Gary's from Calvary Bible Church in Boulder. He and his group were fine...the van wasn't and the deer...well, it didn't last either!

After we stopped to help them out we headed to Salt Lake and got a flat tire on the front right side as we were going through the mountains! We got into dinner literally as it was closing at 6:30!

Starfield is playing our music and last night Francis Chan spoke...more on this later!

Challenge 2008

Today we head out to Salt Lake City, UT for Challenge 2008! I am prayed up and pumped up for what God has prepared for our students and leaders to hear, see and experience this week. I and the rest of my team will be posting here throughout the week about our experience!

You will be able to experience it with us if you aren't going! On Monday night we will have a live video stream available. More details on that later today or tomorrow morning. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 3 has captured my heart this week and it's going to be my prayer for our students all week.

"14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

All I want for Christmas

Both boys are missing their front teeth! Only Noah is going to get them for Christmas! Sorry Josiah, you've got at least two years bro!

TV Show Lost & The End Times

One of my FAVORITE youth ministry books is Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry by Andy Root. It's a must read! Today, I came across a piece he wrote for Next-Wave Church & Culture, "The TV Show Lost and Eschatology."

The article is HERE.

He is looking at Lost through the theological lens of eschatology.

Put on your thinking cap!

Proclamation of Jesus

"1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction." - 2 Timothy 4:1-2

This is the clarion call for our student ministry this summer! May we be a ministry that proclaims the Word - the glory of Jesus Christ as revealed in the book of 1 John.

Missing Poland

Today I am missing not being in Poland for our annual English Camp with the church in Zielona Gora. It's the first time in 8 years we won't be serving alongside our friends. I am missing hanging with Dan, Laura, Jacob, Alice and the gang. There is a deep ache in my heart for that ministry and not experiencing it with the students in our ministry this year has left a hole in my heart.

I am hoping and praying that in 365 days I am in Poland.

Permanent silence

A GREAT friend of mine shared this with me on his blog last week. It's been on my desk and will be on my desk for a long time. Thanks Jim. Jim's blog is worth following as he's a 20 year plus veteran of youth ministry and now serving at Youth Front in Kansas City. He is an unbelievable gift to my ministry and my life!

“Can we only speak when we are fully living what we are saying? If all our words had to cover all our actions, we would be doomed to permanent silence! Sometimes we are called to proclaim God’s love even when we are not yet fully able to live it. Does that mean we are hypocrites? Only when our own words no longer call us to conversion. Nobody completely lives up to his or her own ideals and visions. But by proclaiming our ideals and visions with great conviction and great humility, we may gradually grow into the truth we speak. As long as we know that our lives always will speak louder than our words, we can trust that our words will remain humble.”

Henri Nouwen

VBS

It's VBS at our church this week and I am so excited to be involved! Historically, today is the day we would be leaving to go to Poland, but we aren't going to Poland this summer. I am pumped to have LOTS of our high school and middle school students serving in our church this week! We've canceled our normal mid week meeting to focus our attention on serving here! It's going to be an awesome week. What's more, I am excited to see our students serving Christ in their own church community. I am praying that God grabs their heart for greater service in our community in the up and coming year. I am pumped to be the 6th grade guide!

"Pray for the Broncos"

Last night as I prayed with Adah and we went through out normal ritual: chase her up the stairs screaming, "GET YOU DADDY," sing songs, talk about the day and then pray (she prays then I pray)!

BUT she changed the ritual as I was leaving the room and from out of nowhere said, "Pray for the Broncos."

I shed a tear and we spent the whole night in prayer, praying that the Broncos would move up the power rankings from number 23!

I LOVE MY DAUGHTER! SHE MAKES ME LOL! Where did that come from?

Holy Water

The other day I saw an object in my lawn that didn't belong there. IT WAS LITER! I was furious. Seriously, I love my lawn. It's like my fourth child! I protect it at all cost! When I got to the piece of liter I saw that it was a bottle and that the bottle had been opened. As I approached the bottle I noticed that there was some writing on the bottle. It say these two words -

HOLY WATER.

The bottle was empty. Was it a sign from God? Who would make such a bottle? Is this the balm of Gilead Tony Jones was telling me about that they are selling at the Church Basement Roadshow? Is this a blessing or a curse? Did Fritz bring this back from his trip to the Holy Land and drop it from a plane as he flew over this beloved state? Maybe it's a subtle hint from one of my neighbors that I need some help as a youth pastor?

Is this better for my lawn than Scott's fertilizer and revive?

All I know is that I have an empty bottle of HOLY WATER on my lawn and I'm not touching it!

Serious disciples in small groups?

"Small groups are things that trick us into believing we’re serious about making disciples. The problem is 90% of small groups never produce one single disciple, ever. They help Christians make shallow friendships for sure. They’re great at helping Christians feel a tenuous connection to their local church. And they do a bang-up job of teaching Christians how to act like other Christians in the evangelical Christian subculture. But when it comes to creating the kind of holistic disciples Jesus envisioned, the jury’s decision came back a long time ago – small groups just aren't working.”

I read this today in this post and it got me thinking...are you?

I am so grateful to have a team of small group leaders in my ministry that are serious about making disciples in their small groups.

Worshiper first...worker second

"God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship." - AW Tozer

I wrestle daily with this tension and don't see and end in sight.

Grudem's Systematic Theology

I was excited to find Wayne Grudem's, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine, now online.

I will incorporate this resource into my up and coming senior study with the Class of 2009.

Happy Anniversary

12 years ago Julie and I tied the knot in an all day rain storm,

June 15, 1996.

I am excited for year 13.

Staying at this hotel in Playa Del Carmen for our honeymoon seems like it was just yesterday. Funny memory...the Macarena was popluar. Hey Macarena!

Father's Day

Three amazing gifts: Noah, Adah & Josiah. I thank God for how all three of you remind me daily of God's forgiving and accepting love by showing it to me over and over. I love being your dad!

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do

My friend Chris over at A New Kind of Youth Ministry has an excellent post that I will be watching in the next couple of days about the dangerous things we should let our students do in our youth ministries. His spark for this discussion came from this TED presentation on "5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do." Watch it!



Here are Chris' 5, actually 6, dangerous things we should let our students do:

1. Dance with doubt
2. Discover truth for themselves
3. Disengage from reality every now and then
4. Dispatch their story, not someone elses
4.5 Determine their own future
5. Deconstruct what they are told, see and come to “know”

Holographic Video Feed

This is unbelievable!

UNBELIEVABLE!

Watch the TelePresence video HERE.

This conversation could go so many ways. For example, we could have all our staff missionaries on stage presenting once a quarter during our Sunday morning services. What do you think?

Self Leadership

I busted out this article from the archives and found it to mean as much to me today as the first time I read it.

The Art of Self Leadership by Bill Hybels

"So a leader must lead down, up, and laterally. But perhaps the most overlooked leadership challenge is the one in the middle. Who is your toughest leadership challenge?

Yourself."

The toughest challenge is to lead the person you see in the mirror.

Die for His Kingdom

One of the biggest problems I see in youth ministry today is that a lot of teenagers are getting the wrong message about why our youth ministries exist. Several youth pastors are promoting a "join our group" mentality when they should be promoting a "die for His Kingdom" declaration. I wonder what Jesus thinks of youth pastors who are longing for "market share?"

Hmmmm

Do you ever say, “I am overwhelmed with astonishment to find that the Lord has converted souls through my poor ministry?" Mock humility! Your ministry is poor enough. Everybody knows that, and you ought to know most of all; but, at the same time, is it any wonder that God, who said “My word shall not return unto me void,” has kept his promise? Is the meat to lose its nourishment because the dish is a poor platter? Is divine grace to be overcome by our infirmity? No, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. – Charles Spurgeon

What do you think?

Wanna row?

Carlo Caretto “God gives us the boat and the oars, but then tells us, ‘It’s up to you to row.'”

I want to be part of a community of people who rows together. I want to be on this faith journey with someone who is rowing who can help me when I get stuck. I want to be with someone who wants to learn how to row. I want to teach someone how to row. I want someone to teach me how to row with rhythm. I don't want to row alone. I want every student and adult in our ministry to know how to row and how to do it with others. Wanna row?

Sign generator

Seth
pointed
me
to
this
sign generator
in
an
email
recently!

What an awesome tool!

Have fun!

My summer reading list

I am so excited to read this summer!

1. Soul Guide: Following Jesus As Spiritual Director by Bruce Demarest
2. Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie
3. Brain Rules by John Medina
4. An Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth by Geoffrey W. Bromiley
5. Church Dogmatics: A Selection With Introduction by Helmut Gollwitzer
6. A Community Called Atonement (Living Theology) by Scot McKnight
7. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
8. The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry by Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster
9. The God-Hungry Imagination: The Art of Storytelling for Postmodern Youth Ministry by Sarah Arthur

Adolescent brain development

CPYU has a great podcast on adolescent brain development here. Two things really caught my attention in the last 4 minutes of the interview that I need to immediately act on. First, we need to allow for cognitive dissonance in our student ministry. Translation? We need to start saying "I don't know." Second, I need to do a better job of connecting and emotional and cognitive experiences that take place in our high school ministry when I meet with students.

HT: ypjim

2 former students

Today I am rejoicing that Dani and Justin are new leaders in our high school ministry for this up and coming school year. I am blown away that I get the privilege to serve alongside students who were in my ministry while they were in high school!

How cool is that?

Jameson Jack Lord

I am a new uncle. Jameson Jack Lord was born early Sunday morning around 3:00 a.m. Josiah got some cuddle time at the hospital.

Freshmen Initiation

Yesterday we welcomed the class of 2012 to our high school ministry. We woke them up, dragged them to Clement Park for some Lamar Donuts and then headed back to the church to officially welcome them to our spiritual community! After they introduced themselves we put them into their small groups to meet their leaders and the other students. It was a GREAT morning! I can't wait to get to know them!