A cop stopped me for speeding. He said, “Why were you going so fast?” I said, “See this thing my foot is on? It’s called an accelerator. When you push down on it, it sends more gas to the engine. The whole car just takes right off. And see this thing? This steers it.”
S. Wright
Archive | February, 2007
Wednesdays w/ Wright
28 FebSnowing . . . Again, February 28th — Huh?
28 FebSo here we are a day before March, when the Seattle area is generally raining and warming up. But here we are yet again with snow. I can’t figure out what’s going on this year with weather. It’s crazy, and it always seems to be snowing on Wednesdays which has messed up Transit more than once.
Slowing down the pace of youth ministry
28 FebReally youth ministry happens through relationships. Tonight I was privledge to hang out with one of our guys, Jordan, who rocks. We played some Wii and we talked about our cell groups. I thought it was good, and I need to do more of this kind of ministry, slowed down, relationship oriented type things.
I think it would be interesting to see what percentage of effective youth ministry is done scaled back. The show and production is great, but that isn’t really how you connect people to Jesus in a lasting way.
Excited for Youth Leaders Summit
28 FebSo this week is our Regional Leaders Summit. I love this event, in the past we brought a team and it worked really well, but this year we are just going Kathy, Judah, Myself and Emily Millard, who got the time off work. So it’s a smaller group but it’s going to be dope!
Josh from Simply Youth Ministry linked to this video so I thought I would share it with you as well. Tis Funny!
When it rains it pours
27 FebI’m feeling rather reflective today. I have been really wrestling with the state of our student ministry. We meet in cell groups 3 out of 4 weeks and it’s happening but it’s not really working the way I want it to. I received an email from one of our students and I also talked with a parent this morning about what’s going on. And we have some wins here and there, but we are struggling with our corporate gathering times, and we have been even before we switched to cell groups.
I want what we are doing to be something that blows the doors off of hell and rescues lost people. I want to equip students to experience life change, and lead others in life change in Christ. And I want to be surprised by what God can do through us. So I’m very quiet today, and reflective and I keep reading stuff that challenges and encourages me and I just have to post at least one more thing, from Seth Godin
If you want the word to spread, if you expect me to take action I’ve never taken before, it seems to me that you need to do something that hasn’t been done before. It might not feel safe, but if you do the safe thing, I guarantee you won’t surprise anyone. And if you don’t surprise anyone, the word isn’t going to spread.
I had a little silent motto that I used when I was dreaming of how I would be doing youth ministry, “Do something that would surprise God.” Now I know that’s impossible, but it challenged me. The thought behind it was people expect a certain level of acheivement from others, and I wanted to surpass all of their expectations and start encroaching in God’s expectations and live in such a way that He would always be giving me new dreams and bigger goals and visions. Somewhere I think I lost that, I’m too busy, I’m too tired, I’m comfortable.
Sound Familiar?
Well I’m tired of that, so if you are praying for me, and I beg and covet your prayers, pray for that. I’m not ready to give up on Cell Groups, I really think they can blow the doors down, but I need God to do something, I need some fresh inspiration to flow through our ministry, our leaders, our students, to see that we don’t have to do things the way we’ve always done them. That’s part of the reason that we moved to Cell Groups. We don’t have to be what people expect us to be.
I love Jesus for many reasons but one of the main reasons is he took losers and equipped them to turn the world upside down. And when I look at my own life, I could be a prime candidate for that kind of discipleship from Jesus. Use me, Use Us!
I’m Rambling now, but what do you expect from the title of this blog?
Church Innovation
27 FebHere’s a great post about innovation in churches Church Marketing Sucks.
Innovative Churches: Does Size Matter?
Part 9 in a series on Innovative Churches. Be sure to contribute to the Most Innovative Churches list.
Does size matter? What about smaller churches and those with limited financial resources? Or, is innovation more difficult for larger, more established churches?
Innovation is difficult for every church because it is not natural for groups to be innovative. By nature we’re drawn to the lowest common denominator of a group, so innovation can sometimes be squelched for the sake of unity. History is riddled with individuals who are known for innovation. It’s been only recently that companies have started to provide outlets for innovation, realizing that some people need to be alone and others want to be in groups. Either way, innovation is always a challenge because it takes time, commitment, resources and failure.
Yep, failure is typically a huge part of the innovation process. And what churches are OK with failing? I am encouraged by the increasing amount of church cultures that do foster innovation, but the size of these churches has run the gamut.
Tomb of Jesus
27 FebThere has been much hub-bub about the “Tomb of Jesus” and I wanted to think about a good response to it, but Challies dot com got it pretty good. If this is something you are interested in, please take a minute to read this post.
My basic take on it, is that Jeshua was a very common name, it means basically my God saves, and when you think about the era in which Jesus lived, salvation from the oppressive Roman regime would be something that every mother and father would hope for.
Find a Tomb with the names Mary, Joseph, Judah, Matthew, and Jesus is the equivalent of finding a tomb with the names John, Jane, Joe, Bill, and Will. doesn’t really tell you much about anything.
And DNA evidence is pretty ridiculous because there is no comparison to anything else. Verdict: Laughable.
Mondays w/ Mitch
26 FebI rent a lot of cars, but I don’t always know everything about them. So a lot of times, I drive for like ten miles with the emergency brake on. That doesn’t say a lot for me, but it really doesn’t say a lot for the emergency brake. It’s really not an emergency brake, it’s an emergency “make the car smell funny” lever.
– M. Hedberg
Winter Camp 07 – recap
23 FebWell it’s been a couple of days, and I haven’t posted on Winter Camp yet. Honestly, this was one of the best camps that I have ever been it. I am incredibly grateful that Tim Wicks invited our ministry to be a part of this incredible Camp.
Jeffrey Portmann was the speaker, as always he came across as real and personable. He has an incredible way of encouraging people. Every time I’m around him, I leave refreshed and energized. He loves students too and he always encourages my students too. He Rocks.
The Band was really great too. Mike Brandow led worship, and they have a great sound and great chemistry. So that was great.
This camp was also very relaxed. Which was way cool. Too often camps feel like they are trying to do a million things at once, and craming tons and tons of activities into a small space of time. This camp was very flexible and that left room for lots and lots of fun. It was great.
And most importantly God worked in student’s lives. I had the opportunity to talk and pray with a couple of students who have been struggling, and trying to do the right thing. So I’m really glad that they made it to camp. God works when we don’t even realize it, and he has been tugging on hearts for some time.
All in all, this was a great camp. And I hope that we can get back to the Firs Chalet next year with this group. It was incredible.
Church Blogging Survey
22 FebA while ago I participated in a church Blogging service. You Can see who else did by reading more.
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