An interesting and well articulated summary of the tension many young people in the church are feeling today; their aching desire for a respectful, honest, gracious conversation involving members from all parts of God’s big family pursuing truth and a spirit of love. Is their desire a utopian fantasy or a hopeful possibility? The Future of Evangelicalism: A Twenty-Something’s Perspective
Simply Youth Ministry Podcast
If you want a youth ministry resource that you can watch weekly, the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast with Doug Fields is super fun with some good tips along the way. If you work with Jr. High, also check out Kurt Johnston’s Simply Jr. High Podcast Subscribe to their Podcast on iTunes and you can download right onto your iPod and watch or listen any time. Have fun!
Small Groups ARE Making a Big Difference
Received this hopeful and exciting message from one of our middle school small group leaders yesterday:
“So one of the kids in my small group shared the gospel with one of his friends at school. His friend is now thinking of accepting the Lord and supposedly coming Sunday for service. Pleased that the message is getting through as crazy and as loud as my group may be at times.”
Church: Why Bother?
Today was my day off and I enjoyed finishing up Surrendered and Untamed by Jason Clark and also read the short little book Church: Why Bother? by Philip Yancey. A very good book. Highly recommended. Here’s Yancey’s description of the book:
This short book addresses a question that seems more and more widespread. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m spiritual but not religious”? Churches are morphing into new forms–emergent churches, shopping mall churches, megachurches–yet surveys show that an increasing number of believers are opting out altogether. Is involvement with a local church really that important?
I describe my own checkered history with the church (I sometimes joke that I’m “in recovery” from my childhood church), toy with some images of the ideal church, and ponder why the New Testament seems to place so much value on such a motley assembly.
Surrendered and Untamed
Eighteen years ago, in August 1993, I opened the door and walked into my first college dorm room and embarked on my Bible college experience. The number one memory of that first day was meeting the most beautiful woman I had ever seen who would 3-years later become my wife (and, yep, she’s still married to me). A distant second was meeting my two roommates Doug Cowburn and Jason Clark.
In addition to our studies, each of us had to work our way through school. Having no transportation I got the prized job as Lead Dish-Washer in the cafeteria. Actually, it was just plain old Dish Washer. The “Lead” part just sounded so much cooler.
Doug had a car and consequently the sweetest gig. He worked at Pizza Hut. When I say a sweet gig, I mean it was a sweet gig for Jason and me because each night Doug would bring us leftovers. When you’re living on a steady diet of Ramen Noodles, leftover Pizza Hut is like filet mignon. When Doug got home from work, our room would fill with the aroma of pizza and breadsticks.
When Jason got home from work our room – check that, the entire building would be taken over by a different smell – the smell of gas. No, I’m not talking about the gas smells that fill typical male college dorm halls. Jason got a smelly gig as a gas station attendant in town. It only took about a week before there was an official petition and poor Jason had to start taking off his clothes outside and get hosed down before coming into the dorm. Did I mention this was in the winter; in the typical 10-feet of lake-effect snow of western New York? OK, I’m exaggerating – about the hosing down, not the snow.
On to the point. I recently found out through the beauty of Facebook that Jason had written a book called Surrendered and Untamed and he asked if I would give it a read and review it. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I was thinking of some killer payback for the pranks he played on me that freshman year. Oh, wait, I was the one playing the pranks. Never mind.
The book was a great read with even better content. Jason is a man who has devoted his life to passionately pursuing Jesus with reckless abandon. Anyone who has received a promise from God knows that there are days, seasons, years when you wonder if you heard God correctly. Why? Because we look around and don’t see the promises being fulfilled; at least they don’t appear to be. Jason opens the book talking about his experience as a gas station attendant (thus my opening reminiscing) along with other experiences during which He was questioning God. He doesn’t use this language, but I would say he describes what St. John of the Cross called the Dark Night of the Soul.
An incredible story-teller with a real gift for creating word-pictures, Jason takes us on a fascinating journey through his years of personally questioning and discovering God, and shares the life-changing insights into the heart of God that he has learned, and is learning, along the way. As I was reading I kept thinking, Man, Jason sounds like one of my favorite authors, Erwin McManus – they are singing songs on the same album which our generation needs to be listening to. (My suspicions were finally confirmed on p. 101.) His call to a lifestyle of surrendered and untamed worship to God is one that our generation is desperate to hear. Jason’s voice is added to the call of those of us who want to see a generation rise up and see the world as God sees it and respond in ways that honor Him. The apathy is dissipating and passion is rising because people like Clark are setting forth God’s vision and sounding the alarm that it’s time for the sleeping giant of the Church to start living in the promises of God, not for selfish gain, but to see the values of the Kingdom of God experientially lived out on earth as they are in heaven.
I also got to see a preview of the DVD which follows South African explorer Alex Harris to the South Pole and hosted by Mark Batterson. Fantastic! Totally worth obtaining for personal or group study with the accompanying Participant’s Guide by the same title.
Nine-year-old loses leg while saving little sister’s life … Incredible Story!
The Power of Love!!!
Read the article here.
How People Change
“Nothing is more obvious than the need for change. Nothing is less obvious than what needs to change and how that change happens,” say Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp in their book How People Change which I have just finished reading. I came upon the book at the recommendation of a friend as I was searching for a resource to help someone who is trying to work through some issues in her life. After selecting the book, browsing through it, and giving it to the person who was seeking guidance, I also decided to pick up a copy and read it myself.
It was a good book offering a biblical foundation and approach to life change. It would be a very beneficial for anyone who desires to understand and apply principles for godly change in their life. It would also be good content if you need something to walk a person through any kind of restorative process. My only real critique is that it felt a bit long at times, and my biggest desire is that they would offer it in more of a workbook format. There are chapters filled with good questions and it makes sense that there would be space provided to interact with the material.
REVKEVJR.COM 