I don’t know if you’ve seen this or not, but we’ve been using these videos from Sparkhouse Media since last fall. They are such a HUGE hit, and help tell the Bible stories so well for middle and high school students. They are theologically stringent, funny, creative, and provoke conversation. And no, I’m not getting reimbursed for this. I just think they are a great resource. You can find out about them at http://reform.wearesparkhouse.org/ancestors/
Here is a sample video on Moses. Enjoy.
I have been telling my 13 year old daughter not to worry so much. She has a deep held belief that the Mayans were right, and this is the year it all ends. I keep trying to convince her that it’s not true, that we follow a God who doesn’t hold to the Mayan calendar, etc. etc. Then, we run into a three week run of temperatures in the 60′s and 70′s in Indiana. In March.
Maybe the Mayans weren’t so off after all…..
So, with this apocalyptic weather pattern, I figure if the world’s gonna end, I might as well ride my bike as much as I can in the days we have left. So, yesterday, I got out for the first real ride of the year. I took off on one of my favorite routes that drops me way south and winds along the Flatrock river, which is blue this time of year, and beautiful. As I’m riding along, I was talking to God about some decisions that I am facing, and some that I can sense are headed my way in the near future. Now understand, usually I’m so focused on a) not falling off my bike and b) not throwing up that I don’t spend a lot of time in deep prayer, other than “Oh God, please help me not fall off my bike and throw up!” Yesterday, being the first ride of the season, I took it a bit easier (READ – “I’m out of shape from a winter of donuts and Starbucks.”) Since I wasn’t at top form, I had more ability to talk to God as I lumbered along.
I was just asking Him what He’d like me to do? How can I best serve? Neither option is clear cut, it’s not a decision of sin versus obedience. These are two options that really don’t have moral complications. His answer, while similar to all of His other answers (He’s nothing if not consistent), still caught me a bit off guard, and gave me great peace. He talked to me about how I can do choice “A” in my options, and it will result in blessings on a wide scale, and He will use me and bless me as I’m faithful. Or, I can select choice “B”, and it will have a much deeper impact closer to home and in my community. Again, as I’m faithful, He will use me and bless me. Not because of anything that I am, or because of what I am doing, or anything that I have earned in any way; but simply because He is good, He is not limited by my choices and options, and He’s just not that worried about it. So, as the choices come, pick one, and let’s go.
This brings me so much peace. The options I’m facing, when left to my own devices to decide, is fraught with potential problems and mistakes, and the pallor of regret could hang over the wrong decision fairly easily. When both options are placed in His hands, it all fades down to Love God, Love Others, Serve the World. He has the details. I just need to trust and watch Him work.
HERE is where I begin to see that He’s not kidding. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. He really, literally means it.
What is that you are wrestling with, debating, worrying over? Could it be that if you will simply trust Him, He will carry you either way?
Our church is part of the Sticky Faith initiative from Fuller Youth Institute. If you haven’t heard about it yet, I’d really encourage you to check it out. They’ve released a curriculum for parent’s that is terrific. Here is the first video, for you, for free. How great is that?!
A week ago, we discussed Four Reasons NOT to Put Student’s in the Children’s Ministry. In it, we went through four of the wrong reasons to use middle school and high school students as leaders in the children’s department. Today, here are four beautiful ways we have found to be successful at Shelbyville Community Church.
1. Choose well – Choose the students who are ready. We look for students who are
2. Place strategically – Don’t confuse students for the mouse on your computer. Students are not “plug and play”. You have to consider their maturity, gifts, abilities, and experiences and place them accordingly.
3. Train them – Our children’s pastor has specific training meetings with our student leaders to give them tools, listen to them, and pray for them with their specific needs as young leaders.
4. Let them lead – Do NOT assign them to babysitting. Give them real responsibility, with adult mentors standing back to support and coach them. Let them run, but don’t abandon them.
These are some of our core values. I’d love to hear from you on yours. Where have you succeeded? Where have you struggled?
We are supposed to like change. It’s expected. Change is good, change is forward progress, you can’t grow if you don’t change. It’s become such a mainstay of how we think in Western culture that anyone who doesn’t like change is seen as a dead weight, someone opposed to growth, even opposed to what God is doing. Recently, I was taught a truth that resonates deep within me.
“People don’t resist change, they resist loss” – Dr. Scott Cormode
Yeah, that’s much more the issue. I like change. It energizes me. It’s just the personality I was born with. It’s not a strength, it’s just a face. But I don’t like loss. At all. So, I read Mark 2 today, and go past the stories of Jesus forgiving/healing the guy brought to Him on the mat by his friends, Jesus eating with the tax collectors, Jesus not fasting, and Jesus eating on the Sabbath. In all four stories, His answer to why these things are happening point to a new way, a new change, that He is bringing in.
So, in our culture, we read it, and because we are conditioned to endorse change, at least outwardly, we think “Oh, Jesus wants to change to new ways. I’m down with that.” But what about loss? Are we so quick to embrace loss?
Here are five questions to think about today:
1. What is God pointing out in my life that I need to change in order to follow Him?
2. What will be three things that I will lose if I obey Him?
3. What will be three things I lose if I don’t follow Him?
4. What fears will I need to have Him help me overcome in order to obey?
5. What is the first step in obeying Him in this today?
I would love for you to share your answers if you’re willing. Or feel free to push back on the questions, or add to them.
