There is not twist. See how that works? When I first took over in Youth I started doing strange things with their chairs. Originally there was a point to it. I took all the chairs out the first time I preached and talked to them about being a servant and how someone has to serve by getting everything setup and ready for them even thought they don't see that. That went on for a couple of months where I found ways to move the chairs around each week and somehow tie it into the sermon, then one day they walked in and the chairs were just setup like normal. They looked around trying to figure out what I had changed and even asked me several times.
I made the big announcement that the difference was that I had left things alone. It was something I was gearing towards because sometimes that kind of things happens. So much stuff in our life gets switched around all the time and then one day we wake up and feel like something if wrong or different and we are going through our day looking for what has changed waiting for the other shoe to drop and generally missing the fact that we are having a good day with a back to normal life. We can obsess over those things and totally miss out on life. Sometimes the big thing in our life is that things have been going pretty much normal.
I think that is a cool illustration of how we can drive ourselves crazy worrying about things and not even know what we are worrying about.
Friday, January 23, 2009
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4 comments:
Update on teens by Mo:
Ooooooh this past week-end was golden!
The children’s ministry was great, but I wanna talk about the teens.
Sat. nite Robert came in with his earphones in, I asked him to take them out. He smiled but argued. That was when I had him talk to the other leaders, one that had taken the time to look up lyrics to about 15 ICP songs. It is hard ground, but we did plant a seed. We continue to hug him & tell him with love him. And b/c we love him we didn’t want him to listen to music that mocks God & morality.
Sun. nite as the teens slipped in, I took them in small groups & explained. We have children’s ministry on Sundays from 2-5PM, there I teach them how to listen with respect & how to praise God. Then I have the teens Saturdays from 5-7PM (then take them skating from 7PM-11PM, then home) & I teach the teens how to listen with respect & how to praise God. Sunday we have invited adults to come at 7PM, however teens have come instead. The trouble is I want time that I’m not making someone mind, but where I can praise God. Now I am asking you to either join me in worship (that can mean sitting quietly) & not joking or laughing or talking when there is someone teaching or singing. The teen that became so defensive last week & really disrupted Sunday nite service started talking to me “their music” & how it does not affect him. I told him his actions last week showed that his music had a hold on him, how his response could have been “so” instead of becoming defensive & even disruptive. He listened.
Sun nite the teens that lead worship asked that we pray before they started. I was amazed at their prayer & how they were sincerely seeking God. We had about 20 teens including some children plus 4 adult leaders & 2 more adults. The teens for the most part respected & participated. The only disruption came when Robert came in late, with his ICP shirt & attitude. He was laughing & talking to one of the girls on the front row, when I ‘butt blocked him’. Yea I 1st stood right in front him, blocking his view of the band. There was a seat between he & a girl that he was talking to. Since it was a stadium seat, I popped the seat up with my knee & put my butt right between him & the girl, yea another ‘butt block’! In spite of this the band was so on, & the teens listened as the head of the band spoke. The Spirit of the LORD fell, as my husband spoke. When he finished he asked if anyone felt the presence of God & all hands went up, another teen coming in late, as he made his way to the front he said, “I felt it when I came through the door”. Two came down for serious prayer, after prayer & dismissal, the teens just stood there not moving, not talking, like they didn’t want to leave. (Usually they rush out the door in search of food.) They just hung around a while, not laughing or talking, just quiet. For most of them they felt the Holy Spirit for the 1st time & they were stunned.
I like the illustration!
Very cool. We always sit on the floor at my youth group though - I'll have to get some chairs so we can experiment with this!
Mo,
Sounds like a great time. I pray that they continue to learn what to expect in church beyond what is allowed in Youth. I am trying to get more of my Youth into church on Youth night so they can get some transition. Youth night isn't quite like regular service but it is much more reserved than Youth most of the time.
Steph,
Thanks
Jordan,
Plenty of other ways to make the point. I like to work outside the box. We did a service outside once so I could make a point. I don't know if I'll try that again because there are too many distractions outside for my ADHD so I barely made it through the sermon.
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