8.30.2009

Today was Confirmation Sunday. We had 8 students make public declarations of their faith in Jesus as their savior.

It was definitely a day full of joy. I was most proud of the students as they read their statements of faith for the elders the evening before. I love every kid who comes thru the doors of the church, so being part of this milestone in their life was rewarding. Needless to say, I cried a bit today.
Thomas

Reflections: Hebrews 12.1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

This was the text today in my Daily Reader on the Blackberry. Sidenote: Having the Youversion Bible on my phone is super handy because it has a daily reading plan. Back to the selected verses.

Great cloud of witnesses: I think this refers to the example set by other Christians who have dealt with their own brokenness/sin or had to go through great suffering. These might be Christians of long ago or not so long ago. We can learn from these people who have gone before us. Not only that, but they are a source of support for us in our times of temptation and trial.

Throw off: It's interesting that the writer says throw off referring to sin. In the ancient world, clothes were cumbersome and weighty. When people competed in sports, it was often stark naked. This could be an allusion to the Garden of Eden when man and woman walked with God naked and without shame. As we run this race, we should take off the sin that's weighing us down and run "naked" in the way God originally intended us to be before Him. Note: I am not endorsing public nudity, streaking, or anything similar. Nakedness is a metaphor for having our lives exposed.

looking to Jesus: Ultimately, our focus is Jesus, who is the one who teaches us how to run. He experienced the greatest suffering of anyone. He endured the cross because it was a temporary suffering compared to the eternal joy he would experience after the resurrection. We have this same joy to look forward to. After the resurrection, all things will be made new for eternity and we will live in God's presence.

This is what I got out of this passage today. I can bear my "cross" with great joy because the way things are is only temporary. There is a greater joy down the road to which I can look forward!

Staying Gospel-Centered by JD Greear

I saw this post on the Resurgence website. I thought it was powerful, simple, and compelling. Here it is:

"Dear, Lord, three things I pray..." I know that sounds like the opening to a bad Ben Stiller rendition of the Lord's Prayer, but there are three things that I pray every morning that help me begin my day centered on the gospel.

I don't offer these as a formula or mantra, but just as a practical way to live a gospel-centered life. (I, for one, have found that it is easier to espouse a gospel-centered theology than live a gospel-centered life!) Embracing these principles each morning applies the gospel to my heart, helping me to subdue my idols, counter my propensity to works-righteousness, and grow in the grace of God. Enough intro. Here are the three things I pray:

Unmerited Love and Grace

"God, because I am in Christ I know there is nothing I can do today that would make you love me any more, and there is nothing I have done that makes you love me any less."

As Martin Luther said, the default mode of the human heart is "religion." Even after we are converted, our hearts gravitate back toward works-righteousness unless we continually set them on the gospel. This prayer helps me remember who God has made me, by his grace, in Christ. According to John 17, God loves me now as much as he loves Jesus. Wow. On that basis, the notion that I can add to or take away from his love becomes absurd.

Joy In Christ's Sufficiency

"God, your presence and approval is all I need to have joy today."

This prayer helps me battle against my natural proclivity to idolatry. John Calvin described the human heart as "a perpetual factory of idols." We were made to worship, but we substitute the creature for the Creator (Rom 1:25). We turn anything that we find pleasing into an idol, looking to it for happiness rather than to God. This sentence helps me remember that I don't need man's praise, monetary blessing, success, or even "happiness" to have joy.

Resting In God's Goodness

"God, everything the gospel tells me about your intentions for my life is TRUE."

In the gospel, God shows me that his intentions for me are blessing, not cursing; hope, not despair; and resurrection, not death. This completely changes how I approach the day. I realize that God's plans for me, my family, and my ministry are good beyond even my wildest imagination. The sky is literally the limit (Ps. 103) on the salvation he wants to work in and through me. It helps me to, in the words of William Carey, "expect great things from God, and then attempt great things for God."

Abiding Through Meditation

Meditating on these three things allows me to leave the house "abiding" in Christ, which is, as Jesus said, the way to abundant fruitfulness. Meditation, though a lost art among Christians, is essential for gospel-centered living. It is different from Eastern meditation, where you cleanse your mind of everything, commune with Enya, or lie naked in the grass and listen to John Denver. It is meditation on God's promises, which brings God's presence into our lives.

jumpstart

Life is accelerating in Wisconsin.

Now that we've been here a year, I feel as though we are truly starting life and ministry. It's been a long road full of lots of wilderness, but we're starting to see a bit of clearing. If you looked at our schedule, you'd probably say, "Yeah right, Thomas. You're going to be nuts in August." I disagree. I'm really looking forward to the mission trip, confirmation, and camp coming up. But I think in late July when we get to start planning for the next year, things will be absolutely golden. I'm a big picture thinker. It's easy for me to lose details as I'm thinking through ideas. Being able to sit down with calendars and brainstorming about the coming school year will be marvelous! I'm really excited to get cracking on the new year. This will be the time when things actually shift from the previous "Jesus through Robby" paradigm into a more "Jesus through Thomas" paradigm. I say "Jesus through..." because this ministry isn't and hasn't been about either me or Robby, but about Jesus meeting students where they are. My hope is that we can become a place without doors, walls, and windows. Something that is more about life than Wednesday nights. I'm not sure what the details are, but I think it will be great when we get there.

Free iPod

I know these mostly seem like a scam, but I saw this offer through another youth pastor. He had the link for the referral and everything from his end seemed legit.

If you want to get a free iPod touch (up to 32GB), click on this referral.

Thanks, guys!

ESV Study Bible

I was snooping around the Bible Study magazine and saw that the ESV was coming out with a new study Bible. I looked into it, and just had to buy the thing. It is huge and exhaustive (but by no means exhausting). It has so many notes, maps, and articles that are super helpful in understanding the Bible and the faith in a deeper way. I got it on sale at Family Christian Store, and I absolutely love it!

Love them... then everyone will know

I was reading Blue Like Jazz last night as I waited till I was tired enough to go to sleep. I came across a great thought by Don. He talks about how he used to hate all the super conservative Christians who he thought was giving Christ a bad name. I can totally relate to this! I've had my fair share of experiences when I've disagreed with another Christian and I've let that build enmity between us. I've been guilty of hate towards my brothers and sisters because I didn't think they were doing what Christ wanted. I was convicted of it last night. I don't want to become the bitter Christian guy who no one likes because I've let my way get in the way of Christ's Way. The message of the Gospel is that God loves us even though he hates what we've become. Why should I do anything less?

Truly Epic Fail

I blogged about ordering NT Wright's New Testament for Everyone set of the Gospel commentaries from Amazon. I received another email from Amazon saying that none of their distributors were able to fill my order. This makes me super sad on so many levels. I've started reading through the backup copy I ordered from Family Christian Store, and these commentaries are truly great literature. I'd recommend them for anyone who wants to go to further understanding in their faith journey.

Amazon, you failed again. Tom Wright, you've succeeded on so many levels.

The Singing Lady Moved

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the lady living in our apartment building who would sing loudly in the morning. Apparently, she moved away. It seems that a hip, young, twenty-something guy moved in over there. I overheard him talking to the movers through the paper-thin door say that his name was Will or Dave. One of the movers has the other name, so that's why I'm confused. This will hopefully mark the start of a quieter wing without tons of passionately bad singing. Plus, we might meet the dude in hopes of striking up friendships.

The Lord's Prayer

I pulled this from Jon Foreman's solo EP Spring. The song is called Your Love is Strong. It's a powerful and moving song that I can't help but sing at the top of my lungs and get teary.

Heavenly Father, you always amaze me
Let your kingdom come in my world and in my life
Give me the food I need to live through today
And forgive me as I forgive the people that wrong me
Lead me far from temptation
Deliver me from the evil one

Our God in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Above all names
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us weary sinners
Keep us far away from our vices
And deliver us from these prisons

Amazon Epic Fail?

Sometimes I forget I have a blog...

Almost 1 month ago, I ordered Tom Wright's New Testament for Everyone Gospel set to help in the doing of the Matthew book for our Mexico mission this year. I still have not received the book. This is quite disheartening because it was at a great price (maybe explaining the book's disappearance from the face of the universe). Not sure if I should buy a copy to use and return later or just deal for now until the end of April... Probably going with the former!

Parent Ministry

One of my big goals is to get parents ministry running for middle and high school teens' parents. I'm not really sure where to start. My guess would be to offer an informational class for parents. I'm thinking of starting with a social networking class like "Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter... OH MY!" Does anyone else have ideas of topics on which parents might like hear the perspective of a 22 (almost 23!) year old guy with crazy hair?

WHOA!

It's been a couple of busy weeks with the winter retreat and Youth Sunday back to back, but it was fun while it lasted. Now that it's over, I have a little time to focus on cleaning my desk and computer a bit. I've got some old download files that I don't remember...

Both the winter retreat and Youth Sunday went superbly. Thanks for all the prayers!

I attended the IGNITE leader's conference at Blackhawk Saturday (3/7). It was very informative. I took the Discovering Your Leadership Style workshop. It was great to know that I have very little leadership when it comes to detail. I'm more of a visionary/entrepreneurial leader with team-building, shepherding, and bridge-building elements in that. Good to know for future use. Now to brainstorm how I can use that to enact discipline in youth group. It could be interesting.

RE:formed and RE:ligion

I have to admit that I am becoming more and more in line with reformed theology. Things that once caused me to shudder (God's election and the like) are becoming so much more beautiful and meaningful to my faith. You may accept this or boo me to the grave, but here I will stand. I bought John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion to understand his thinking better.

It's funny how much that one word above (religion) can cause division. Here's something to chew on: I'm not right. I'm never right. In fact, I cannot be right. But Jesus was right, and the Holy Spirit through me is right. Jesus calls us to acts of piety (such as prayer and fasting) to deepen our connection to God and remember our commitment to His kingdom. Jesus also calls us to let the Holy Spirit do acts of good will through us to show God's mercy and grace.

In a totally unrelated thought train, I'm doing our taxes today...

Thomas

Green

I'm so green at this "doing youth ministry" thing...

Father,
Give me the patience to be shaped by you, even if it hurts sometimes.

Thomas

Lovers Anonymous

I'm gonna have to say that one of my pet peeves are petitions for worthy causes.

Don't get me wrong! I think we should all stand up against evil and injustice in the world. However, it's too easy to sign a petition and think you've "done your part." This is especially difficult for me to grasp since I'm a hands-on kind of guy. Don't just write your name down (or type, which is even easier). Put your name down with sweat and blood. Jesus did it for us on the Cross.

We're finishing a three-week look at Romans 12 tonight in (grace)land. Paul is exhorting the church in Rome. He sums the thought process here with a list of ideas that play into living the life transformed by the Holy Spirit renewing the mind and compelling us to a Jesus-centered lifestyle.

Thoughts from 1 Peter

Mars Hill (WA) is on my podcast list right now. They're doing a series through 1&2 Peter. Here's something Mark said in the first sermon:

"If your gaze is only to how the world responds to you, you will live with no joy, or you'll sin and compromise in an effort to pursue joy where there is none to be had in the approval of those who don't love God. If you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, understand His great love for you, the fact that He's chosen you, that He won't leave you, that He won't forsake you, that He loved you before time began, that He loved you before He created the earth for you to walk on, that He loved you knowing you're a sinner, that He pursued you before you pursued Him, that He chose you before you chose Him, you'll have joy and you'll be able to live a life patterned after Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Great stuff.

A Fine Line...

I feel like I am walking a fine line with my future. On the one hand, I want to see the church grow and expand like Jesus wanted. On the other hand, I have a deep love for youth ministry. I want to stay in youth ministry, but for some reason sense a small call to more than "youth ministry" (i.e. college ministry, church planting, etc.) The Church is my third love (after God and my wife, of course) and tied with (but not exclusive from) missions. I think I should journal more about this...

Thomas

simplistic procrastination

I know I should be working on other things right now (see previous post). However, I decided to clean up the blog a bit. I had removed my "labels" gadget in the toolbar because I simply could look no longer. There was a long list of one-post wonders that I decided to narrow down. I'm not here to get a bunch of fame and glory. This is my "journal." I didn't need the 25 different labels, so I brought it down to about 10 categories that I hope to regularly blog about.

Back to work...
How Great Thou Art by Becoming the Archetype just came onto iTunes!

Thomas

YM explosion

Things are getting really hairy around here. Before you say anything, yes, I'm shaving still. I'm simply becoming a smidge overwhelmed with the retreat at the end of the month, Youth Sunday coming up, Mexico on the horizon, and Confirmation looming. There's lots to plan for. Hopefully, I'll have a jumpstart for next year when this summer comes around. Watch out for me... I might start looking like a Sasquatch or something.

Thomas

Eureka!

I had my eureka moment! It was in the Becoming a Man seminar that was taught by a 26 year old guy. It was geared toward 20 somethings, but there were a lot of teens in the room, too. There were a lot of really good ideas in the session that were taken from Daniel's life. Josh, the speaker, was engaging and had the quirky nose-wipe going on. I'll have to post my notes from it separately.

Thomas
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

No Regrets

I took a leap of faith and traveled to fabulous Milwaukee for the annual No Regrets men's conference. So far, it's a pretty typical conference with breakout sessions on familiar topics. The church (Elmbrook) is gigantico but still homey. I do appreciate the attention to providing natural light vs. artificial.

The teaching and breakouts have been pretty traditional; regular man stuff. I can't say I've had an "a ha!" moment, yet. Still, it's only the middle of the day. Part of me wishes I could attend the discussion later about what we can do to keep this going at home. (I've always been a fan of secret pacts/covenants. Too bad they've lost their allure to men.) All in all, this is shaping up to be a good day of refreshing.

Thomas
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Church Needs Dudes

I just saw this Youtube video from John Piper's Desiring God website. I thought it was really good in addressing the need for men in the church. I think Driscoll's right that our churches scream femininity and guys run away. How do we get men to come back to church without feeling like we're trying to feminize them?

Blogger's a Jerk

Blogger is being a huge jerk.  It won't paste text I copy into the stinking box for the message body.  It's really frustrating and is making me lose my desire to blog...

WINTER XTREME!!!

Jan. 16-18, we took a group of 8 middle schoolers to Timber-lee Christian Center for the annual Winter Xtreme. We had a blast! Jess and I went tubing and tobogganing, the group played broomball, we heard great music from Remedy Drive, and got a good word from Bill Allison.

It was definitely a challenging weekend. Middle school boys are often very high energy, but we made the best of it by throwing snowballs and swinging from trees. I'm super glad we got to go on this weekend. We had six students respond to wanting to become Christians. I'm definitely looking forward to next year!

Free At Last...

I've been overwhelmed recently by many articles addressing the oversexualization of our culture, media, world, etc. It seems very interesting to me that even many secular authors have been writing on this issue and the effects it is having and will continue to have on kids.

One thing that has always struck me as funny, though, is that there has never been many free Christian resources to help the church deal with and think through these issues. Sure, there's xxxchurch.com, a great ministry started by a couple of guys who now go to porn shows to witness to people (without overt condemnation). Still, there's by a lack of literature to spark discussion among Christians who struggle with pornographic lust.

In to save the day, my hero, Mark Driscoll. Yeah, I probably give the guy a little too much "hero worship" (by no means idolization). Everything I've heard about and from him has led me to believe he's theologically well-grounded, a committed father/husband, and a great teacher, but I digress.

He has recently released a free book in PDF format addressing the issues of pornography and "that M word." I find this a huge step in the world of Christian literature. I know for a fact that there are lots of Christian guys who struggle with this problem and everywhere you turn is another sexual image, so it's with a huge breath of relief that there's finally a free resource to help in the opposite direction. I'm glad he's willing to put his material out there for people to use. Check it out here. If you like it, you can still buy the book and have a copy that you can print to share with guys you may know who struggle with this stuff.

Prayer

At Blackhawk (the church Jess and I attend on Sunday evenings), they're two sermons into an eight-week series called Can You Hear Me Now. It's all about prayer. They're looking at eight prayers from the Bible (so far, Jeremiah's charge to pray for the city and Elijah's prayer for rain). Each week has had a prayer guide for the community-at-large to pray during the noon hour together across the county. It's been a pretty cool experience. This week's emphasis is praying big prayers and being earnest.

If you want to join in on the experience, check it out here.

Bad Blogging

I know, I know... I'm terrible at this blogging thing. I feel the guilt and shame of the entire internet on my shoulders for being a terrible blogger. Here's a quick recap of everything happening:

• MOVED! Jess and I moved to a ranch-style apartment downstairs. We now pay less on electricity and get a better vibe than we did in the cave we used to live in. (note: we didn't really live in a cave, rather a loft that often felt like a cave.)
• COUCHED! We purchased a new couch. It is chocolate brown with a chaise (bed-like attachment replacing a cushion). We love it!
• CHRISTMAS'D! Went to IL for Christmas. Had much fun. Received some gifts.
• NEW YEAR'D! Had a great time with our LifeGroup from Blackhawk EV Church. Lots of non-healthy food and party games.
• MILWAUKEED! Took a quick overnight to Milwaukee. It was a nice city. I'd go back. Did not have fun finding the ULTA in the suburbs...
• TWITTERED! Joined twitter... make any judgments you might.
• TIRED! Haven't been sleeping as well lately. Who knows?

That's the past month in a nutshell. Now we're ramping up for two retreats. I'm tempted to hibernate until spring.