Tag Archives: family

Sticky Faith Session #2 – Thursday 11/17/2011

The church is a Family of Families

Family – clusters of relationship which function as a family. This can include nuclear families, blended families, empty nesters, groups of simgles, etc.

Students ranked their parents first as the place they turn for support.

Other adults in the church came in last.

At church, we operate under the Adult Table/Kid Table model.  We divide by age all the time.  Very, very little overlap between the ages.

Picture of one earred Mickey Mouse.  Where the head and ear touch is so small.  That is often how the youth group overlaps the rest of the church.

The more students were involved in intergenerational worship/community, the better their faith sticks.

There is a large gap between multi-generational and inter-generational ministry.

IDEA – could we use the Ceraland campout for the fall retreat?
         – Have the food team collect favorite recipes from senior adults, go to their house, fix food, and share the meal.
         – Could we recruit senior adults to write to our college students?

Working with parents
When we talk to our kids about their faith, we also need to share about our own faith.
IDEA – can we set it up for the kids to interview their parents?
         – invite parents to share their testimony at youth group
         – send out newsletter with recent pics, review of where we’ve been, where we’re going, discussion questions, etc.

What To Do When Jesus Annoys You

Our church is taking part in a study called the Amazing Race, and as a church we are reading through the New Testament together until the end of the year.  I thought I’d post my thoughts on the days readings, and I’d love to hear what you have to say.  If you don’t attend SCC, I’d still love to invite you to read with us, and weigh in with what you are learning as well. 
Today we read Luke 12:35-14:35.
The stories we read today mostly center around Jesus and the religious leaders squaring off.  At this point, the religious leaders want Jesus dead.  They just don’t see any other way to stop Him from ruining everything.  They know it, and Jesus knows it.  
What strikes me is the number of times Jesus heals someone, and does it on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath is Saturday, and it’s the Holy Day of the week for a Jewish believer.  The religious guys had developed a ton of rules on how you are supposed to rest.  They had effectively turned rest into a full time job.  One of the things they didn’t want done was for anyone to be healed on the Sabbath, because that was work.  Remember, God gave us a Sabbath day so we could rest and keep our bodies, minds, and souls healthy.  But if someone tried to heal someone’s body, mind, and soul on the Sabbath, that was wrong in their minds.
So, Jesus just goes ahead and does it.  
It doesn’t make them happy.
Obviously, we don’t have the legalistic issues that the religious leaders had on working on the Sabbath.  But we do have issues with Jesus.  Sometimes He wants me to forgive people, even when they haven’t asked for it. (Actually, that’s all the time.)  Occasionally He will ask me to be generous with stuff that I want to keep for myself. (Well, He expects that everyday, to be honest).  He can get crazy from time to time and want me to tell myself “no” about some action I want to take, and use self discipline. (That is really an expectation of His all the time.)  I mean, sometimes He annoys me.
Just like He annoyed the Pharisees.
It’s all about whose Kingdom we live in.  That is part of the reason you have the Kingdom discussion in the middle of all of these stories.  Who is in charge of my life, of the religious leaders’ lives, of your life, anyway?  That is the big question.
Today, right now, take some time to talk with God about what it is that He does, expects, or commands that bugs you.  Be honest, He already knows.  You have nothing to lose.  At least you don’t if you admit it.  Act like everything is fine, and you’ll find yourself mad at Him for healing people all around you, when you can’t seem to be healed.  It’s your, and my, choice.

A Tale of Two Kings

In 2 Kings 20, 21 we have the story of two kings.  No, it’s not the show off the Disney channel either.  It’s about two actual kings.  Hezekiah is the first king.  He honestly tried to serve God and follow Him as the ruler.  He cleaned up the worship, got rid of the fake idols, and turned the nation back to God.  A lot of what he did was tremendous, and God blessed him for it.  But, the story shows he wasn’t wise, because he showed an enemy nation all of his money and riches, basically tempting them to come take it, which they eventually did.  He also was selfish.  When he was told by Isaiah that his children would lose the kingdom and be carried off into slavery one day, his response was “Oh well, at least it’s not going to happen to me, so no big deal.”  Yeah, not someone we would consider a hero.

The second king was named Manasseh.  He’s the king in 2 Kings 21.  He is just the opposite of Hezekiah.  He didn’t want anything to do with God, and worked very hard to be as unGodly as he could.  He had the nation worship everything except for God.  He murdered his son as a sacrifice to a fake God.  He put an idol in the Temple, where God was supposed to meet with the people.  He was incredibly intentional about being evil.

What is surprising is that Manasseh was king immediately after Hezekiah.  Even more surprising is that Manasseh was Hezekiah’s son.  His own son.  Raised in his house.  As a prince.  What happened?!  How can a king follow God and do so much to set the nation straight, only to have his son undo all of it and go even farther in the direction of evil?  Hezekiah didn’t live a life of influence on those closest to him.  He did a lot of great things publicly, but didn’t work to love and influence those in his own house.  It destroyed the nation.  Thousands of people were killed and lost their homes and families because of it.

Who are you influencing?  No, seriously, who are you influencing?  Are you spending all of your time trying to impress those outside your home, hoping to create a good name, an attractive image?  You’ll probably succeed.  But what will it cost you?

Or are you intentionally focusing on those God has placed closest to you?  Influencing those friends and family members who are with you everyday may not be as glamorous or intoxicating, but it is what we are called to do.  It’s how the truth and good news of Jesus gets passed on.  Parents, are you intentionally training and teaching your kids?  Kids, are you working to influence and model a Jesus kind of life for your parents, brothers, and sisters?

It’s what we are called to.  And when we don’t, we destroy entire kingdoms.

So it’s ONE! TWO! THREE strikes you’re out at the …..


Today was such an interesting day. It was the first day of Liv’s (my 9 year olds) softball season. Jill and I are coaching again, and I always feel out of my league. Never, ever played softball. (Baseball has really different rules a lot of the time.) Thirteen 9 and 10 year old girls. I don’t necessarily like doing things where I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. So, it’s a bit stressful. (Did I mention the 30+ mph winds blowing across the infield the whole game?) Plus, I hate to lose. Very competitive. I just keep it buried anymore. BUT, I don’t want to be one of those coaches I had (there were many) who could care less about how much fun it is, they just want to win. So, it’s a huge balancing act, and it leaves me tired.

But I also saw Liv make an amazing catch, and look right at me to make sure I saw. I watched some girls do better than they’ve done at anything in a long time. I watched one little girl whose parent’s just finished up a divorce have some time to laugh again. I am amazed at the power of positive encouragement in the life of a young girl. They just beam from within.

So, yeah, I’m tired. But it’s a good tired. I fully realize how worn out that phrase is, yet its true. I’m going to bed now. . . . . Very slowly. . . . . .