Archives for April 2008

One of the traditions of our desert trip has been some team building activities.

Year 1 was a task that involved taking a 20ft 4×4 and moving it though a set course in the vertical position, using only ropes to keep it off the ground and upright.

Year 2 was a GPS activity where we had hidden pieces to a giant trebuchet in the rocks a mile from camp and students had to find them using only a GPS coordinate. They then returned to camp with them and we assembled the pieces and it to chuck huge rocks until we broke it, and then we burned it in a massive bomb fire!!!

Year 3 (this year) was a PVC pipe tallest freestanding structure contest and two other pipe games too in the morning

and then a rope maze game later in the day:

While I loved all of them, this years were more mentally than physically challenging. But nothing can top the depth and teaching impact that the rope maze had. It was awesome! By far my favorite team building activity I’ve ever done or facilitated… and that’s saying a lot cuz the 4×4 one from year one was sweet. But, I’d do the rope grid thing again in a heart beat. It was so awesome that I blogged an entire post on how to repeat it for your own youth group or family event on the PDYM Community Blog. You should check it out here. It’s so worth it!!!

Wrote another article for Simply Youth Ministry that surfaced today.

Here’s a bite size chunk:

Some surprises are fun. An unexpected birthday bash with your best friends. Christmas presents. The prize winning bottle cap from a Snapple Contest. A Willy Wonka golden ticket. Your boss gives you a raise because you are doing such a great job at the church. (In that case, it would be a miracle.)

While all of these surprises are very cool, they are also very rare. But over my years as a youth pastor, I’ve come to realize that most of the surprises youth pastors experience in ministry are not this much fun.

Surprise! We can’t find one kid at the theme park and we’re supposed to be on the bus and headed home now.

Surprise! We don’t really have a purpose for this meeting we just called.

Surprise! You’re leading this week’s teaching.

Surprise! Your annual budget reports are due on Friday.

Surprise! Small Groups are canceled for this week.

Surprise! Our summer camp is one month away and it’s going to cost $450.

Surprise! Our senior pastor just resigned.

If you’ve ever experienced one of those surprises, then you’ll agree with me—they are overrated and not much fun. So in the name of healthy surprises, here are some ways to keep from catching your team off-guard.

You can read the whole article here.

That’s what I’m expecting this weekend on our annual high school mens trip to the desert.

This year we’re taking 23 high school young men and 9 adult mentors from our church along with 12 students and 3 adults from a church across town. 47 total. This is the one trip I vowed that I’d never stop doing as long as God has me in youth ministry. The women go to a resort on the beach and the guys to the desert. I don’t really care where they each go, but getting them alone with one another and inviting God to change them into men and women whose lives are fully devoted to Jesus- that’s a non-negotiable for me.

In preparation, today I went around and bought duct tape, buckets, rope, and stakes needed for some team building activities we’re doing.

Then I went to costco with some of our team and bought the food. $1012 to feed 47 men in the desert for 2 days. Dinner number one:

• 38 lbs of steak are soaking in two 5 gallon buckets of yoshida’s terriaki sauce in the church fridge right now awaiting a HUGE bbq.
• 40 lbs of potatoes are in my oven baking and awaiting aluminum foil so they can be re-heated in the fire coals.

• 10 loaves of french bread are ready for garlic, butter, and some heat.
• A bucket of carrot sticks are awaiting a vat of ranch dressing.

This year we have a 50 man tent to set up army/circus elephant style, tons of firewood to create the ultimate bonfires, a shooting range for both 22’s and shotguns, a battle planned with 30 sling shots firing paintballs, and several talks lined up on Moses and what God taught him in the desert.

Should be a memory maker.

This question comes in waves, maybe every 6 months or so. It’s been mentioned 4x to me in the last week.

The last time I gave it any real thought I was looking for a job and in a state of transition and I actually seriously considered making a run at this. I even pitched it to some of my friends with a start up proposal because people kept asking me and I thought maybe God was trying to tell me something. Yeah, well since I’m not a church planter, guess you can decipher for yourself where that ended up. God said no.

What’s the answer today: “Um, I have no idea if or when this will ever happen.”

There ya go. Let me know if God tells you something he’s not told me. I’d appreciate the advance notice ya know.

I saw this on the 268 generation blog. It’s how they started a sold out woship event called Passion Atlanta last weekend. Cool reading to do for yourself in silence today or a great way to start a worship service I think. Kinda freaked me out a little to see my name in the last paragraph though. Made me read it a few times.

Welcome To The Silence.

Hi. Welcome To The Silence. Life Is So Loud Sometimes And Just Being Still Even For A Few Minutes Can Powerfully Rearrange Everything That’s Assaulting Our Minds And Our Hearts. Especially When God Is In View. After All He’s The One Who Said Be Still And Know That I Am God.

So We’ve Turned The Volume Down As We Start What We Hope Will Be A Beautiful And Raucous Night In The Hopes That The Things We Need To Hear Most Will Become Really Really Loud

God Knows Who You Are. Where You Are. And He Knows What You Need In This Moment. He Is Not Looking At A Massive Crowd But The Eyes Of The One Who So Easily Spoke Galaxies Into Their Places Are Looking Right At You. Amazingly He Knows Your Name And The Color He Painted Your Eyes. And He Knows What Makes You Laugh And What Makes You Cry. He Is Not Distracted By What You Think About Him. Or What You Want Him To Think About You. He Knows What He Thinks About You And How He Feels. And He Wants To Say Something To You In The Silence.

I Love You.

Let That Sink Into The Silence And The Stillness And The Soil Of Your Heart.

God Loves You. Oh Don’t Believe The Words On The Screen Or The Words Of Somebody. You Don’t Have To Take It From A Third Party. No. The Father Has Spoken Directly To You. The God Of All Creation Is Engaging You In A Pretty Stunning Conversation. And As Is Always The Case God Is Speaking First. Not Waiting For Your Proposal Or Assessment Of Where You Feel You Are. Or If You’ll Ever Be As Amazing As Something Deep Inside Tells You That You Were Meant To Be. He Isn’t Waiting To Hear About All Your Screw Ups Or Your Great Deeds To Make It Up. No God Is Eager To Share His Take On You.

Here It Is.

Mess Up.
Definitely.
Deeply Loved.
Anyway.

Both Are True And Both Things Set Him In Motion Shaping History With A Story Fueled By Unstoppable Grace. You See God Was Not Shut Down By Our Failure. Nor Did The Consequences Of Our Rebellion Dim His Beautiful Heart Of Love. No We Were The Ones Shut Down When Sin Caused Our Souls To Die. And Die We Did. It’s Bad News Death.
Because Dead People Can’t See. Can’t Breathe. Can’t Help Themselves. Dead People Can’t Do Anything. That Is Why They Call Him Savior. When We Were Dead And Could Not Touch God Jesus Came Down And Touched Us. It Is The Most Phenomenal Thing That Has Or Will Ever Happen To You And Me. Divinity Rushing Into Humanity. God In Skin Marching Steadily To The Beat Of His Own Love. And Nothing And No One Could Alter His Course.

It’s True.

We Were A Mess.
Yet We Were Deeply Loved.

Because Of Our Mess His Embrace Would Demand A Cost Beyond Compare. Because Love Was Accompanied By Justice And Justice Demanded Someone Cover Our Debt Of Sin And Shame Someone Would Have To Stand In Our Place And Pay Our Fee. Someone Would Have To Come To Our Aid.

Even If We Wanted To Pay Off The Price Required By Our Mistakes It Could Not Be So. Dead Men Cannot Stand Up For Themselves. So Another Would Have To Take Our Blows And Swallow The Death Our Sins Deserved. But Who Could Do That For Us. It Couldn’t Be Just Anyone. Because If The Price To Be Offered Was Death The Price Would Have To Be Exacted From Someone Who Was Alive. Yet The Whole World Was Dead In Darkness Until A Miracle Happened And A Light Shone Above And In A Manger.

In The Night The Hope Of Us All Was Born Alive. The Only One Ever Born Alive. And The Only One To Live A Spotless Life Of Pure Faith In God. So On The Friday We Call Good Jesus Was The Only One At The Cross Who Could Possibly Die. Because He Was The Only Living Soul On Plane Earth. Hallelujah. Jesus Was Alive When God’s Love Drove The Nails Our Sin Screamed Out For Into His Hands And Feet. Nails Of Love Punctured Flesh As Blood So Precious Streamed Down To The Ground. A Puddle Of Incomprehensible Love Soaking Into The Soil.

His Innocence Now Gone He Gasped And Cried. Purity Now Covered In Muck And Shame. And When The Sun Fully Scorched The Beautiful Bloom Of Grace Jesus Could No Longer Suck In Enough Air To Breathe. And Finally His Heart Stopped Beating.

In An Instant All Hell Broke Lose And Darkness Covered The Moment As His Lifeless Mangled Body Hung For All The World To See. God’s Undeniable Expression.

I Love You.

His Death Shocked Everyone In Heaven And Hell. Everyone Except His Father Who Was On A Mission Of Love And Saw This Day Coming From Before There Was Time. But All Else Missed It. That’s Why Some Wept In Disbelief As Others Exuberantly Shouted Death Has Won.

The Darkness Threw A Party. But As It Turned Out Hell Partied Too Soon. God’s Story Was Just Getting Interesting As He Spoke To His Son. Rise Up Son I Love. Rise Up Oh My Son.

From The Clasp Of Death Christ Rose His Father Exhaling Glorious Breathe And Neverending Life Into His Lungs. So Tonight We Will Throw The Party And Invite The World To Come. Because Our God Is Mighty To Save. And The Christ We Celebrate Has Overwhelmed The Grave.

He Is Here Now. This Same Jesus Is Here Now. Offering His Life To All Men. To You. Not You Trying To Live A Better Life. But Christ Living His Life Inside Of You. If You Want A Big Theological Word It’s Called Incarnation. It You Need A Simpler Word It’s Called The Gospel Of Grace. Christ In You The Hope Of Glory.

I Don’t Know What The Loudness Has Been Pumping Into Your Heart And Brian. I Don’t Know If You’ve Been Dragged Into The Depths Of Despair Or If Your Standing On The Deceptive Heights Of Your Own Doing. But In The Stillness Hear This. A Miraculous Offer Is On The Table. God’s Love For You Moved Christ To Take Your Blows So That Now In Him You Can Stand Forgiven And Alive.

And There’s More. Christ Lives To Be In You What You Alone Could Never Be.

Say Yes.