Ezekiel 37

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Ezekiel 37 – the valley of dry bones.  Every time I read this passage I pray that God would do a work like this in our church and in our ministry.

Ezekiel is written to a nation of discouraged and disillusioned exiles in Babylon and the valley of dry bones is God’s way of saying that he is going to bring life to the life-less.  And if that isn’t a mission statement for student ministers than I don’t know what is.  There is so much pain and hurt in the world and specifically in the teenage world, and God has called me/us to bring life to the broken down, the depressed, oppressed, dried out, dead, forgotten generation.

Father, Help me to speak the words that you call me to speak.  And I ask that these words would not by my own and that they would be life giving.  Lord I want so badly to see the valley of youth ministry come to life in our church, and in churches across the world.  Father help us to reach this generation.  Lord raise up leaders who will speak life, raise up churches that will support life, raise up students to carry on this life giving.  We need you now more than ever.  Father, we plead that you would do a work in our world.   We do this for you and for your alone so that you will be glorified and that your kingdom may flourish. Amen!

Eat This Book – Review

 

Eugene Peterson, author/editor of The Message, is in the middle of a five book series on Christian Theology, the first book in the series was Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, the second is Eat This Book.Eat This Book is a study in Spiritual Reading, particularly the practice of Lectio Divina. Peterson shows that the Bible is not meant to be a snack-bite, sound bite, fortune cookie experience, rather it is supposed to be a meal that nurishes our soul and transforms our lives.One of the most intersting parts of this book is in the third part where Peterson does a quick study of how we got the Bible, discovery of paprii and translations to greek and all that. This is a very interesting section that shows how amazing a book the Bible really is.At times it seems that Peterson gets a little overly scholarly but overall this is a great read for anyone who would like a little help making the Bible a more vital part of their lives.

Moving to Thursdays

>>beyond>> is moving to thursday nights this week!  I am really excited about this shift in date and time.  I think it can be a really positive move for our ministry for a couple of reasons.

1) It will be good to get back to more of a service format.  I think that will really help our ministry to focus again on our core values and our purposeof helping people discover trust and love Jesus Christ.  We had a season of experimentation where we met as cell groups and then we met at my house over the summer and that was fun, but it will be good to get back to  a service and since we will have more of a family night my hope is that parents will bring their kids.  That’s the hope.

2) Meeting mid week will bring us to a closer connection to our students school life, and to their friends.  Meeting on sunday was a challenge because we were all alone as far as church programming goes but we were also two days removed from school time.  So I am hoping that we will be able to build some positive momentum during the mid-week.

So if you are a student reading this I hope you are excited about this change, bring your friends.  Let’s help them meet Jesus.  Let’s make a difference in our worlds with the power of the Gospel because it sets people free.

If you are a parent please bring your students out to ethos.  The best way for our ministry to partner with you in helping your students grow closer to Jesus is if they are there.  That is the best way for us to connect, build relationships and to challenge, encourage and equip them so please bring your students out, and if you don’t have a course that you are going to then hop into the worship time that will be gathering at the same time.

See you thursday.

Vacation Tomorrow – Inbox Zero – Peace of Mind

Inbox ZeroSo tomorrow I am going on vacation and I am currently sitting at Inbox zero. My goal is to try to get down to inbox zero all by the end of the day every day, but that doesn’t always happen.  So this makes me very happy.  If you want to know why I try to get to inbox zero you should check out these great resources

43folders.com

Davidco.com 

I will be back next monday and I’m sure I will be overwhelmed by what happens in my inbox in the mean time but today is a good day and I am excited to go to the happiest place on earth

New Gay

well when it rains it pours, maybe I’m posting a bunch because I’m going on vaction tomorrow, I don’t know.  But I thought this article on Christians as the New Gay was very interesting.

Will & Grace could be a totally remade show about how people try to live in God’s Will while depending on his Grace.  That would be a hilarious premise.

what are your thoughts about this?

thanks to Challies