Take On Me - Literal Music Video. Pretty Hilarious

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Hilariously Awesome!

Who dares to rise to preach in the face of such need?

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I received an Email from my pastor's wife in Mississippi. It contained this short little note, but it re-enlightened me to the seriousness of what we do on a weekly basis.

IN A PLAIN BROWN WRAPPER

The song service is finished. The sermon begins. During the first three sentences, expectant faces look toward the preacher.

A single mother sighs, praying her children will let her make it through the sermon, maybe even listen. An older man in failing health turns up his hearing aid. Frustrated and angry with diminishing strength and energy, he searches to make sense of his losses. A high school sophomore listens with an MTV-conditioned attention span. She is not trained to listen long. A successful business person, caught in the depths of depression, hopes for an alternative to suicide.

A Bible class teacher dealing with major failure clings to faith by a fingernail. A married couple, sitting together in the pew but hardly speaking at home, hopes for renewal of lost affection. A frustrated parent of an angry teen looks for confidence. A widow’s eyes fill with tears as her hand touches the empty seat beside her. A cancer patient needs a reason to suffer through another chemo session. Their mate is desperate for strengthto persevere.

A contractor, competing with kickbacks, cheats, and a rough economy, wonders if his ethics are antiquated.

A nurse, exhausted from a twelve-hour, pressure-packed shift, hopes for renewal. A lonely soul hopes for connection with others. New Christians listen to build faith. Long time members hope for revival from spiritual lethargy.

Debaters want a convincing argument. Condemners want a reason to feel superior. Tired church volunteers long for a boost. Frazzled church staffers need a shot in the arm. Elders need power to persevere through the pressure. Deacons need to be uplifted.

The confused seek wisdom. The guilty seek forgiveness. The sad seek help. The mad seek release. The glad seek rejoicing.

And the preacher stands.

For three sentences everyone listens intently, wondering, “Is there a word from God for me today?”

Who dares to rise to preach in the face of such need? Who can meet such a multiplicity of expectations?

God can. Only God can.

God speaks through the preacher’s faltering words, stiff outlines, and over-used illustrations. God speaks through his words, his tears, his personality, his hum or, his gestures, his spirit. God uses unworthy vessels to anoint hearts, persuade minds, lift spirits, comfort pain, and enlighten understanding.

The power in preaching is NOT the preacher. It is God. God speaking through a man, gives a beautiful gift “in a plain brown wrapper.”

God has a word for you. Shhhhh. Listen…

Interesting Online Student Leader Magazine

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The Shack

What an amazing book this is turning out to be. The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. I will give you a short synopsis and no spoilers. The main character lost his daughter on a family vacation to an abduction and evidence that she was brutally murdered in an abandoned shack deep in the wilderness.

A few years later he receives a note presumably from God inviting him back to that same shack for a weekend.

The conversation he has their with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is astonishing. The theology that is discussed is so deep and seems so simple at time.

This is the type of book that just makes you go "hmmmm..." over and over.

The "Hmmmm Factor" forces you to take frequent breaks to process information and causes you to read and reread sections. While some of the theology may be questionable and a bit out of the ordinary. The journey of the main character is captivating.

I am about two-thirds of the way through the book and I started it yesterday. I'll let you know my final thoughts when I finish the book. But at this point allow me to recommend this book to all of you.

Interesting Book

The Book is called Ministry Mutiny: A Youth Leaders Fable by Greg Stier


This is a book that I have been intrigued by lately. I haven't heard much about it but is seem like a great book. Have any of you read it? Is it good?

First Post

Youth Ministry can be a funny thing.

I have only been doing this for about 10 months and it has already had it's fair share of ups and downs.

I have had some great opportunities to council with students who are struggling with real problems in their life. Problems that I never had to deal with and never even thought of while I was in High School.

Almost everyone of my students comes from some sort of broken home. They deal with fighting parents and going from one house to another depending on what week it is.

I realize how lucky I am to come from a home where my parents love each other and both loved God.

I have found though that the greatest thing I have done for ministry is picking students up, and dropping them off at their homes. That has become the best way to build relationships with them. It is true that relationships will teach so much more than lectures. That is discouraging when I think about how much time and effort I put into lessons. Trying to make them exciting and practical. But as my relationship grows I quickly realize that this is when they are willing to let me into their lives and allow me the influence them with the things of God.

Kind of a ramble for my first post. Just the thoughts of my own little corner of Utah.