I was blessed with the opportunity to take 11 of the kids from our youth group to ICYC. It was a powerful weekend with a powerful message, Abandonment.
When I first read the title for the weekend, Totally Abandoned. I thought the teaching was going to be about us going all out for Christ, recklessly abandoning the world to best follow Jesus. I was surprised to hear the message was actually, the totally abandoned youth of America, who have lost their way. It was a deep message, "a heavy one" as my friend, and speaker for the weekend Mark Christian put it.
That heavy message was received well, and I think it will change the kids lives. I taught a lesson on Renewal, it wasn't very well attended. It must have gotten out that I wasn't any good. It was my first time teaching a workshop there, so it was fun to try out. I think I will do it again next year if the powers that be, allow me.
Something really nice happened to me this week. I received a great gift. I had to make a fool of myself, but it turned out to be worth it. I won a brand spanking new Macbook, and this is officially my first blog with my new mac. I like it. I vowed I would never buy a mac, it was getting to popular and anything that gets that popular I tend to dislike, but this machine is impressive. It is certainly an upgrade from my laptop I bought in my Junior year of college. This February will make it 3 years old. I think technology has changed since then.
But that's just a material thing. I had a wonderful week with the kids, and I think it will change how we interact with each other. The kids weren't overly excited, but the intial verdict was that they had a great time.
It was a great weekend, and I am extremely thankful I had the opportunity to get away from my preaching duties to enjoy this weekend and fellowship with the kids.
A special thanks goes to David Rinker for filling in for my responsibilities at EGCC. Thanks Dave!
Anyways, I am beginning the long process of no longer being a PC. It's hard, but I think I will learn to manage :)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Turkey take away
I had an exciting night of ministry. We've been planning for the last couple of weeks the 25 Turkey Drive. I asked the congregation to donate to 25 families, 25 Thanksgiving meals. Tonight was the night we would deliver the meals to the families in need.
At 6:15 we were to meet up, grab some grub, break out into groups and hit the streets. It was 6:10, and there were maybe a half dozen folks who showed up. I thought it was going to be a long night of turkey delivery. About 10 minutes later we had nearly 70 people. 20 were young kids, ready for a meal and a lesson. 17 were in the youth group, and 30 were adults ready to distribute some turks.
At first, my lack of organization skills were noticed. I just didn't know how many people were going to show, so it was hard telling how to go about doing it. I never did it before either, I should have a better grasp of it next year.
It was a great evening though. I really did not know what to expect. I had a hard time finding the houses that we designated, and others weren't home to receive their turkeys. It was kind of frustrating. I took the youth around with me, they were anxious to distribute turkeys, it was cool. Eventually, we found who we were to give turkeys too. The first house was a guy that was totally out of it, he said like two words. It was weird though, the door swung wide open, and their was no one at the door, the teen that opened it hid behind the door. From our perspective it looked like the door swung open magically because the guy was way inside in his living room and their was no sign of the person who opened it.
Eventually he popped out from behind the door, i think he was trying to scare me.
One turkey down, four to go. We then went trekking through the trailer court trying to find the right lot number. That was half the battle. The problem was half the trailers didn't have numbers showing which lot they were, and there was terrible lighting. Eventually i just stopped and asked where people lived, i got sent in the right direction, and the turkeys started finding a home. The next person we went to hardly said anything at all either. It was some kid that was just watching the place while the owner was out "doing s#%*" I thought that was interesting. We gave them the turkey, and wished them a happy Thanksgiving.
The next house was almost the exact same way.
There was a house that we missed before, the owner wasn't home, but before we called it a night, i decided i needed to try again.
The guy was outside of his house, locked out, and broken. He said he lost faith in people, he didn't think i was coming.
Without going into great detail, the guy was going through a lot of struggles, looking for answers in all the wrong places, and he was left with the question "will it ever get better?" I proceeded to tell him about a way that life could be better.
I don't feel like recapping the whole conversation, but I shared the beginnings of the gospel message. He belonged to a "church" a long time ago, but he had too many tattoos to be a Christian, and he smoked to top it all off. the nerve...
He knew a lot of scriptures, he knew about Jesus, he just hasn't seen the hope of a life following Christ. I challenged him that if he showed up to church on Sunday, i could share with him a lot more about a way to start getting things better, a way to find answers he was looking for.
It's exciting when you are in the place God wants you to be, doing what he calls you to do. God didn't suddenly inspire us in some crazy, out of this world way to pass out turkey's, he just called us all to deny ourselves. The congregation i serve had a little taste of what its like to deny self. I certainly did. and I'm left hoping that it will catch on, and we will do it more, and find ourselves more and more often in the place God has called us to be, abiding in his will.
At 6:15 we were to meet up, grab some grub, break out into groups and hit the streets. It was 6:10, and there were maybe a half dozen folks who showed up. I thought it was going to be a long night of turkey delivery. About 10 minutes later we had nearly 70 people. 20 were young kids, ready for a meal and a lesson. 17 were in the youth group, and 30 were adults ready to distribute some turks.
At first, my lack of organization skills were noticed. I just didn't know how many people were going to show, so it was hard telling how to go about doing it. I never did it before either, I should have a better grasp of it next year.
It was a great evening though. I really did not know what to expect. I had a hard time finding the houses that we designated, and others weren't home to receive their turkeys. It was kind of frustrating. I took the youth around with me, they were anxious to distribute turkeys, it was cool. Eventually, we found who we were to give turkeys too. The first house was a guy that was totally out of it, he said like two words. It was weird though, the door swung wide open, and their was no one at the door, the teen that opened it hid behind the door. From our perspective it looked like the door swung open magically because the guy was way inside in his living room and their was no sign of the person who opened it.
Eventually he popped out from behind the door, i think he was trying to scare me.
One turkey down, four to go. We then went trekking through the trailer court trying to find the right lot number. That was half the battle. The problem was half the trailers didn't have numbers showing which lot they were, and there was terrible lighting. Eventually i just stopped and asked where people lived, i got sent in the right direction, and the turkeys started finding a home. The next person we went to hardly said anything at all either. It was some kid that was just watching the place while the owner was out "doing s#%*" I thought that was interesting. We gave them the turkey, and wished them a happy Thanksgiving.
The next house was almost the exact same way.
There was a house that we missed before, the owner wasn't home, but before we called it a night, i decided i needed to try again.
The guy was outside of his house, locked out, and broken. He said he lost faith in people, he didn't think i was coming.
Without going into great detail, the guy was going through a lot of struggles, looking for answers in all the wrong places, and he was left with the question "will it ever get better?" I proceeded to tell him about a way that life could be better.
I don't feel like recapping the whole conversation, but I shared the beginnings of the gospel message. He belonged to a "church" a long time ago, but he had too many tattoos to be a Christian, and he smoked to top it all off. the nerve...
He knew a lot of scriptures, he knew about Jesus, he just hasn't seen the hope of a life following Christ. I challenged him that if he showed up to church on Sunday, i could share with him a lot more about a way to start getting things better, a way to find answers he was looking for.
It's exciting when you are in the place God wants you to be, doing what he calls you to do. God didn't suddenly inspire us in some crazy, out of this world way to pass out turkey's, he just called us all to deny ourselves. The congregation i serve had a little taste of what its like to deny self. I certainly did. and I'm left hoping that it will catch on, and we will do it more, and find ourselves more and more often in the place God has called us to be, abiding in his will.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Great insights at a minister meeting
I went to my monthly minister meeting today. There were some great thoughts, none better than:
when ministry becomes a job, you can:
Prepare without praying
Call without caring
Lead without loving
I have only been at this ministry thing for a little over a year, but I really needed to hear those truths. I haven't felt like ministry was a job yet, but I know its within me to feel that way. Hopefully these thoughts will guard against that.
when ministry becomes a job, you can:
Prepare without praying
Call without caring
Lead without loving
I have only been at this ministry thing for a little over a year, but I really needed to hear those truths. I haven't felt like ministry was a job yet, but I know its within me to feel that way. Hopefully these thoughts will guard against that.
Monday, November 10, 2008
maybe blog more
Well, i said i would start blogging more, then i stopped blogging. So i guess i should clarify, i will TRY to blog more.
At EGCC this week, we are going to do something pretty cool. WE have raised enough money to buy more then 25 Turkey dinners and give them to family's in need. I am really excited about it. I have spent the past few weeks preaching about the change that happens within us by following Christ, and what it ought to inspire us to do. The call has been for the whole church to shift from "consumers" to "Contributors." People who give, and not take, its a call to out serve one another.
I hope this is the beginning of a monumental shift in the congregation, for me: to think of others before myself, to give of self, and start denying self for the cause of Christ. I'm excited to see what God will do with such a congregation.
That seems like a tall order from a bunch of turkeys, but my prayer is he will multiply our efforts.
At EGCC this week, we are going to do something pretty cool. WE have raised enough money to buy more then 25 Turkey dinners and give them to family's in need. I am really excited about it. I have spent the past few weeks preaching about the change that happens within us by following Christ, and what it ought to inspire us to do. The call has been for the whole church to shift from "consumers" to "Contributors." People who give, and not take, its a call to out serve one another.
I hope this is the beginning of a monumental shift in the congregation, for me: to think of others before myself, to give of self, and start denying self for the cause of Christ. I'm excited to see what God will do with such a congregation.
That seems like a tall order from a bunch of turkeys, but my prayer is he will multiply our efforts.
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