Friday give away

LIfe in Student Ministry...A Friday Give Away

Last night I got to spend some time with a wonderful group of people from the Lafayette Association. I had the privilege of talking about Student Ministry to many of the workers from the Churches in the association. On my drive home (about 100 miles) I had an opportunity to reflect on the night and some of the questions that these dedicated workers ask me. I am convinced more than ever that student ministry workers want to deliver the goods! We talked last night about making sure that we keep our ministries all about the gospel! Our students are coming because they want to learn and understand theology and the things of God! We need to utilize all of the tools available to us to reach this generation for Christ. I traveled to this conference to teach and encourage and left knowing that I learned something and was very encouraged.

One of the tools that I discussed at my conference was a book by Dr. Alvin Reid called Raising the Bar. Every student ministry worker needs a copy of this book! It has been out for a while but it is still very relevant! I have a brand new signed copy of the book that I will send to one of the readers of this blog! All you have to do is leave your name on this blog post comment link, then I will enter all names on to random.com and choose a winner! Look forward to hearing from you! Good Luck!

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Won't you be my Prince of peace

Won’t you be my Prince of Peace…

Peace, many search for peace! To often people search for peace through worldly things because they believe that if they could just get more things, all will be ok! Unfortunately material items may bring you peace for a little while they will not bring lasting peace. New cars get old, new clothes fade, electronics outdate themselves so quickly and it always leaves us wanting more, better, faster, brighter so our quest for peace through things leaves us unfulfilled and weary. The writer of Ecclesiastes realized this in his on personal quest for the good life when he figures out in the very last chapter he simply writes “Fear God and keep His commands.” The Bible teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! Believers need a healthy reverence for God! He is God! To those who truly know Him, they also know that He is true peace! Cease striving know that He is God! Peace! I love you all!

There is a spirit of a storm in my soul...

I believe everyone has a spirit of the storm brewing in them. Someone once said, you are either in a storm, heading for a storm or coming out of a storm! Where are you today. Scripture teaches us to rejoice in the Lord always...we know this is not an easy thing to do. Sometimes we feel so overcome by the storm that our rational thought process just kind of goes out the window and often we flounder and struggle. We must always remember that our Lord controls the storm! Our God has our best interest at heart, and while we are in the storm you can be assured there is a lesson to be learned. In my life there have been many storms...God has always navigated me through and I have always come out on the other side having learned a valued life lesson. I don’t relish the storm, but I do relish the maker of the storm. He has never left me...or forsaken me. So when the dark clouds began to gather about you, and the wind begins to blow...trust Jesus...don’t dwell on the storm...think about the Son! <><

If your going my way, I'll go with you...

As believers, we have somehow gotten our priorities all mixed up. The 21st century church has become very proficient at trying to justify God’s existence. We work hard at trying to make God fit neatly into our little lives. We have conjured up all kinds of theories to make our selves feel better about what we do not know, about the Creator of the Universe. Our personal theology in many ways has become very self serving. We gladly follow Jesus until the road becomes rough and then automatically are looking for an alternate route! I listened to well meaning students talk about their “camp high” in speaking of how awesome it was to be with God for the week of camp. Many students felt the overwhelming presence of God during the week. I believe it is because they went to camp with an expectation that God was actually going to do something. I gently reminded them that Christ Jesus is also with us in the valley. His word teaches us that He will never leave us nor forsake us! The Creator of the universe has our best interest at heart even though sometimes we don’t act like it! I was listening to a Jim Croce song this morning and one of the lines of the song stuck out for some odd reason. I have heard this song at least 500 times in my life, but for some reason some words in the song really caused me to think. The song is “I got a name” and the statement that Jim made in the song is “if your going my way, I’ll go with you” I think what really made me think is so often we treat our Heavenly Father this way. We want God to go the way that we want Him to go! We will not say that, but in reality it is the way that we act. What would you do if God ask you to go and do something that you did not want to do? Our Pastor ask of our congregation this morning “What if, God ask you to sell your house, and go to a city where the gospel is needed and start a church?” Would you be willing? It is so easy for us to say that we would really having no intention of leaving what is comfortable to us. Don’t get me wrong, I am not beating up on you in this blog...I just want all of us (me included) to think about the direction that we are going. We need to search out the direction that God would have us to go...and head that way, not questioning God or wondering if this is going to meet the expectations that we have for self. Like the song says “I’ve got a dream” and part of that dream is to head down life’s highway! Can I tell you this morning the journey of life requires a sovereign guide and His name is the name that is above all names. There is power in His name! Ask Him today for direction

Student Ministry and the Church

We are living in a time where students seem to be leaving the church in droves and not returning. Both traditional and contemporary student ministries in my area have all felt drops in attendance with more and more of the student population choosing not to affiliate with the church. We have heard some national evangelical leaders question the validity or need for strong student ministries siting that society cannot distinguish a difference between students who actively attend church and those who do not. The easy believism of the 90’s has caught up with the church and many students do not see the need or have the desire to plug into ministry. I believe that we are at a critical point and that we need to help our students fall madly in love with our Lord and Savior! We need to invest in this generation of students! We need to let them see Christ in us and see how important a real relationship with Jesus is to us as leaders. For so long we have concentrated on having relationships with students and because of this we have failed to allow students to see what Christ is actually doing in our own lives. This has to change! This generation needs to be challenged. Student ministries must stop coddling students and begin to create an environment where leadership flourishes. We need to expect students to rise up to the challenge and become an active participant in the movement. One of the problems that I see, is there are very few student ministries that are actually challenging students to go to the next level in their relationship with Christ! What do you expect of your students? My prayer for the students that God has entrusted me, is that they genuinely involve them selves in the work of the church! I want them to fall in love with Jesus and because of a real life changing experience I expect them to rise up to what ever challenge that our God places in front of them. Students need to own their faith! It is not enough for them to believe our vision for the church and our student ministry, they need to have input on the direction we are going. In my own ministry we have created a leadership rich environment. I have trained my self to not give students solutions to ministry challenges so quickly. I want the their thought process to engage and want them to develop solutions that will help them in what ever challenges they face. I also encourage dialogue, and I listen no matter how off the wall their response might be. If we expect our students to be leaders in the church ten years from now we have to allow them to have input in the ministry that God has called us to lead. As leaders we must show them that we feel their input is valuable. They need to see the direction that we are leading and then they must buy into the vision. If they do not, you are not leading a movement, you are just doing ministry. So many churches are just doing student ministry. The solution is simple! Invest in students. Look for students who first have a deep love for Christ and give them the opportunity to lead. Let them know how important they are to the Kingdom of God and also let them know how important they are to you and the ministry God has called you to do. I tell students all the time that I cannot do ministry without them! Challenge them! They really want to be challenged! They want to learn the essential doctrines of the church and they also want to have opportunities to serve. Students are looking for a cause, something that they can pour their lives into! As a veteran college and student pastor, I believe our best days are front of us. We have a great group of leaders who are wanting to take the reigns! As student leaders we have to let them learn, let them live, let the love, and then let them Lead! Peace! <><

This is the day

This is the day which the LORD has made;
         Let us )rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24 NASB)

This is the day the Lord has made. Wow, what a statement the psalmist makes. We need to think about this statement each morning when we rise. We should realize that our creator has given us this day! What is unfortunate is that many people miss God each and every day of their lives. When you miss God, you miss the purpose of the day that He created. I am convinced that each and every day countless people miss the devine purposes that our creator has for us. Why you might ask, because sometimes we are so concerned with the messes we have created and it keeps us from recognizing the real purpose that our Lord has for us. We fail to realize that our God meets our needs each and every day! We fail to see that He meets our daily needs so it makes it hard for us to rejoice in the day! Our lack of faith keeps us from being prepared to realize the blessings that each day can bring. We need to turn from sin and selfishness, and trust the God that created the universe; trust the God that fearfully and wonderfully knit us together in our mothers womb! After we trust, we need to rejoice...look around, we live in a pretty amazing place. We have a lot to rejoice about, so rejoice today! Love God...love people...and rejoice! I love you all!