Last night was busy something fierce. New people in Youth which was cool. Seems like there are always new people. One of them was from another outreach ministry that I work with. He doesn't look like a straight laced kinda kid but he has an amazing testimony. He says he'll be coming back and I'm gonna ask him to share his testimony in a couple of weeks. He has lip rings (yes plural) and ear hoops and all kinds of either things like that, but he really does get it so that is frigintastic.
I filled my last 2 spots of Acquire the Fire but also had a couple of teens ask about going so I'm gonna have to try and get them in with one of the other groups we are going with.
Anyways, we also had some not so great stuff happen. There was a fight last night. I didn't get out there but it sounds like one of my new volunteers dealt with it very well. I'm very excited to have this guy here helping. It seems like he is doing everything perfectly right now. Praise God for answers to prayers but we are going to need more workers so if you are praying for me keep praying for that.
I talked to one of the parents last night, one that doesn't go to church, and she thanked me for what we are doing. She said her son really looks forward to what we are doing each week. Honestly that was pretty cool but I'm gonna have to give that credit to God because I really don't know what I am doing half the time. God is good.
Last night I shared the Great Commission and talked about how the Church often has it totally backwards. We go out and tell people how to behave and heap rules on them then try to get them baptized then finally talk about the gospel as another rule for going out and getting others saved into our burdens. I challenged them to understand that they are the church and they can be the solution. We can share the power of the gospel as the means of freeing us from burdens. The burden of sin, death, and heaps of rules that we can't keep. Freedom to live and have a relationship with God through Christ.
Oh, and I also fired off my t-shirt cannon and got one really good shot that I'm gonna upload next week. I fired off skittles too but didn't get any good shots of that. It was pretty cool but I need to dial in the pressure.
One last thing. I am having more fall out from growth. I'm worried about some of the ones that have been here for years. They are getting frustrated with the new students. I talked with them so many times in the past year about the right way to act to people and they seemed to get it but now that there are new people they are acting just like the other brother in the prodigal son. They are hung up on the past and mad that the new ones don't "act right." Even after the sermon last week that dealt with this same thing ... I just don't know. I need to sit down and talk with them about it. Help them understand the powerful truth that Jesus was sharing in that parable. If they continue they will become just like the Church that I was talking about in the sermon last night.
Yeah I know kinda random but what did you expect.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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5 comments:
I was watching that Brennan Manning video I posted a couple of days ago; reading along with it. It's so easy to lose touch with the concept of Him loving me and being patient with me.
And then you talk to others about this love for them and you think they get it, but then they turn around and start acting a little jerky to one another. So, maybe they only get the "God and me" thing, and not the "Love one another" thing. I'm talking to myself, too. Love God. Love your neighbor. I think I need to start chanting this or something, especially at the end of the day with a couple of tired grumpy kids and a grumpy mom whose husband travels a lot.
Hope your daughter's okay, BTW.
I found the same thing frustrating as a teacher. Luckily I taught in a Catholic School, so I had plenty of opportunity to teach (and model) forgiveness. They need to be reminded over and over again, just like adults sometimes. On the bright side, you get a little glimpse at how God must feel when He sees us needing to relearn lessons over and over....
I was one of the "old" kids at my church. Our youth group sounded a lot like yours. A not huge church with a youth group that saw large growth and lots of unchurched kids as a result.
Now that I'm an adult I see it differently. But then what we saw were a bunch of teens coming in and getting all of the attention and emotional energy from the leaders. We were there, Sundays, Wednesdays, dinners, cleaning, you name it, doing the right things, being good, and no one seemed to notice. What we noticed was that these kids (to our teenage minds, after all, they were going to church so they should know better) were hypocritical, coming to youth group and calling out to God, getting all the love. And then going back to school with no changes to show for it. I'll admit, it was hard to stomach at 15-16 yo. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that. The non-squeaky need attention too!
Long. Sorry. I guess it's colored me more than I realized. To this day I feel like pastors (youth included) should spend more time shepherding the flock they already have instead of bringing in new ones. If the flock is taught (and loved) correctly, they will take care of the harvest. . .
Chris,
I agree that the work of the pastor is the teach the congregation to do the work of the church which is to preach the gospel first and foremost. The fact is, however, that the only way for a pastor to train others in evangelism is to be involved in it. The congregation will emulate the pastor.
Of course it is also important for the pastor to focus on those who were faithful. Look at Jesus for the best example. He picked a small group compared to the rest of the disciples and poured into them. He didn't let that stop him from going out and evangelizing the world though. He got them involved with it and sent them out. He also gave them the inside scoop. He would share a parable that confused people then give them the details on what it meant because he was replicating himself. He also rebuked them for keeping people away from him like the children.
This is why both Paul and James caution us about becoming leaders/teachers because there is so much to do.
I will say that with my church I do work hard on giving attention to the ones who have been there. I take time to talk with them and plan extra things with/for them. I'm also planning some changes that should make things easier for them while also helping to reach out to more students.
Yeah so I skipped a few comments but that's ok I'm getting caught up now.
@katdish,
C is doing much better after several visits to the Dr and finishing antibiotics this weekend we think she'll be ok.
@helen,
Yep you have to keep on showing this in your own life. I think in the past YPs they have seen would shut down problems pretty quickly. The previous one worked as a prison guard for years so you can imagine.
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