Loving Radically, Real Ministry

Here's the deal. I met I guy while at Dunkin Donuts and we talked for a really long time. Have you ever experienced something that was so divine and incredible (even something small like a conversation) that we fear to tell someone about it because there is no way that they are going to fully grasp the same experience you had. If they're not going to fully get it and I'm not going to fully be able to portray it the way it happened, why try? Yeah, it was like that.

Basically, this guy was leaving and felt a tug by the spirit to come talk to me. After I told him that I was a high school pastor at The Bridge, conversation ensued. Come to find out our ideas of how ministry needs to be done today lined up. The old way of doing church is just that, old. It tends to (when done incorrectly) focus primarily on the keeping of legalistic traditions only to overlook the hurt and need in people's lives. So many people are so burned by church that they wouldn't dare set a foot in one again for fear of another burning, which is completely understandable. This guy and I come to find out that we know a lot of the same people and he went to college with my dad. Here's this 56 year-old man that tells me his life as a traditional Church of God pastor who hears from God "I didn't really like how you were as a Church of God pastor for so many years. Let's be done with this." This guy over the last 12 years, gets his whole view on ministry rocked when he decided to get involved in other, non-traditional ways of ministry. He begins to do ministry on the street, takes the living word of God to the homeless, lives with them and gains insight. It became more of a ministry to him as he began to truly understand what the ministry of Jesus was and how we tend to downplay it as "oh, that was then, this is now. Life is different now." Life is more similar today than we realize. Too often are we preaching to the choir, people. The choir don't need preaching to. They should be the ones preaching. One of my favorite verses is Mark 2:17 when Jesus says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." What are we doing about that in our churches today? Would a homeless person feel welcome in your church. What about when they see what everyone else is wearing or how they are acting? What about when some traditions are being performed that they don't know about? Will they continue to feel left in the dark? Will they feel accepted? For some people who have been burnt by the church, this next time they show up is you only chance. Show them a Jesus that would accept them and love them, the same Jesus that hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors and all those "sinners" that were looked down upon by the "religious leaders" of that day. You got one chance to show them the church Jesus had intended all along. One chance or ... they're gone. "That's it! The last straw! This is no religion I want to be a part of!" Me neither.

"You're not as radical as you think you are," this guy tells me. Of course, I get a little defensive, telling him all the ways we are reaching out to the community, loving others who have never been loved and all this. At the beginning he asks me, "What is God doing? What can you see happening that is getting you excited?" I tell him how I came to The Bridge and how they only way we are going to be able to do this is by raising our own support. God keeps providing the money, God is providing in so many ways. I thought that was pretty radical right? No, he tells me "You're not as radical as you think you are. There are 2 places that I send these people on the street to for church and The Bridge is one of them. You guys are doing great things. But you are not as radical as you think you are there." We explore what that word means. He tells me, "You have one chance with these people that I send to your church or else they're done going to church forever. Do you notice them, are you creating a community that notices them, and then are you following up with them on the streets?"

We were sitting there talking for a long time. He asks me, "How many homeless people have you seen walk past this window?" I said that I noticed one and described him. He said, "Yeah, that was Paul. What about the other 3 (and he names them). He says, "I know 2 of those guys closely, the other 2 I just know who they are." He then asks, "Do you see Jesus is those people." I said (sheepishly), "I know that I should..." I mentioned my one time I went to a prison to do ministry there. He told me about this prison in Noblesville that he goes to twice a week (By the way, in no way was he ever portraying himself as better than me or a better Christian of whatever). He said that he goes there specifically because of the large amount of sex offenders that are in there. He said that the sex offender is the modern day leper to the church. "No one wants a sex offender in your church when there's a children's ministry, right? You know the ones down the street because they have already commited a crime and that information has to be made public." There is one on Kylee's and my street. We were warned by people on our block what he looks like and the car he drives. They all steer clear of him... This guy says, "What about the sex offenders who haven't done anything yet? The sex offenders that, given the right situation, snap and commit their first crime. That's why we need to see Jesus in everyone. All people need to experience this life-changing love of Christ before it's too late."

What are you doing to show that love? What aren't you doing? There's an urgency and expectation that needs to be realized in the church today. Does your church have that? Does it even want it? It's a big responsibility Jesus asks of us, to represent him. It is detremental to how Christianity is portrayed to the world and no wonder some people get a bad taste in their mouth when someone uses the words "Christian" or "Church." If you don't see it, please stop looking inward. Look at all the hurt. There's so much to be seen. Not only seen but noticed. Sometimes we see it and close ourselves off to it. We shelter ourselves from it. Jesus went straight for it, held nothing back and he gives us the same power to do so. Jesus was fully human. Some of the things he did seems superhuman... no, he was fully human. The same power that lives in him, lives in us. Everything he did, we can. This guy told me, "Don't let your generation fall into the same lie that my generation did: that we were living radically. The church isn't the head, Jesus is the head. We got really good at worshipping on Sundays a believed that was ministry. We came to believe that the only thing sacred was when we came together one morning out of the week to worship together."

Wake up church! Live outside of yourself. Real ministry happens in real life circumstances. Often the real life is ugly but that's where Jesus hung out: in the ugly, with the ugly. We are too quick to shut our eyes and ears to what we deem as "worldly" and "ungodly" but not quick enough to shut our mouths about it. That's not how change happens. There is no regard for people as people that way. They are just another number, another soul to convert. Look out! This is not the way of Jesus, this is not the way of the everlasting. That will never bring everlasting life. Jesus is grace, Jesus loves without condition, Jesus allows for self-discovery and never forces himself upon anyone! The choice is individual, and we better not feel like we have the responsibility to make them see what we see as truth. Truth is a personal discovery. God, Jesus, is personal discovery. It will never be provable to everyone, ever. Even when Christ seems so completely evident, people will still choose hell (Luke 16:19-31).

What are we to do? Simple. See Jesus in others and love them as Jesus would, seeing their whole person inside of them and paying attention to and identifying with their needs. Love. That's what it comes down to. Unconditional. Love. No strings attached. They don't owe you anything. You don't owe them anything. The love of Christ you have been shown needs to overflow and become the same love that you show everyone you come in contact with. And that's the only reason. But that reason is good enough. Because that love is radical.

The Simplest of Things Often Have Life-Changing Effects.

Two weeks into this being a youth pastor thing and I feel truly blessed by the people that I have around me. This week was one of those weeks where I'm being reminded over and over again of the support that I have. I am so incredibly lucky to have people who love me enough to let me be and see how I grow. People who love me enough to encourage me as I continue to evolve into who God is making me and who he will continue to make me. Growth has to be an on-going process but if no one is there to tend to it, encourage it, help it along, it won't happen. Unfortunately too many people haven't experienced this kind of support so I hope to help offer that to them so that they too can experience the great joy of knowing that you have a group to get your back, to support you through hard times, and take joy in your successes. As corny as it sometimes sounds, simple joys and trips and experiences that come unexpectedly so many times end up being some of the greatest blessings one can experience.

My pastor always encourages us to "create memories." For small group this week, 2 high school students and I on a whim became extras in a movie that some Ball State students were putting together. It may not go anywhere but the fact of the matter is that a memory was created. It was a blast, hilarious, ridiculous, unexpected, imaginative, random...a memory. There are so many good people in the world and when they come together, great things happen. But the fact of the matter here is that they NEED to come together. The best things happen in a community, when we experience life TOGETHER. Love gets happened upon in being together because true love is not a one way street. Love, joy, happiness seems too cliche only because we been made to believe that it only happens in silly little chick flicks and gooshy ramantic novels... But these things are possible when we come together and be together and experience together and love together.

So what's the hold up? Everyone always has something that holds us back from this, because, ultimately, it is EXACTLY what satan DOESN'T want us to experience. So he brings into our lives the very things that we hate but are brainwashed to love only enough to realize we hate it only enough to feel we can't have it only enough to desire to have it only enough to ruin our lives as we continue to choose it over what is truly important, what truly matters... which are those who bring us life by experiencing life (its ups and downs) along side of us.

Take delight in the simple things. Don't take for granted all the things we deem as "cliche" that truly have the power to bring a smile to a face or brighten a day, or save a life...

I like this video. It is of an old neighbor of mine who used to live below Kylee and I. He gets it.

This word needs some redeeming. Will you help?

I'm reading a book entitled: "unChristian: What a new generation really thinks about Christianity...and why it matters" by David Kinnaman. That's pretty self-explanatory. This guy runs surveys for research as a profession. His findings are pretty alarming but, ultimately, it starts with us who proclaim to be "Christian." What image are we portraying? FYI, he calls those who are not of the Christian faith "outsiders," for they are outside the Christian faith. But he does explain that he has trouble using this term because it has a tendancy to define them as what they are not. Here's an excerpt that I read and like. Can you relate or have you had a similar experience with those who proclaim to be Christian?

"One thrity-five-year-old believer from Claifornia put it this way: 'Christians have become political, judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive. Where is the living God, the Holy Spirit, an amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness? This type of life, how I yearn for that.' Jesus was called a friend of sinners, relentlessly pursuing the down-trodden. What an irony that today his followers are seen in the opposite light! How can people love God, whom they can't see, if those of us who claim to represent him don't respond to outsiders with love?"

A lot of those outside the faith of Christianity appreciate what Jesus had to say and how he lived his life. It is becoming more and more evident to them that the church today is far too often claiming to be followers of Jesus without living his same lifestyle. This, understandably so, is not the kind of faith they want to associate themselves with. The book also talked about many young believers today who avoid saying that they are Christian so that they can distance themselves from the current "branding" of that word. Then, they say, it is easier for them to bring their friends into a relationship with Christ.

Hmm, interesante and sobering. I'm only 25 pages into the book but I'm realizing that it's time to wake up... actually it has been time to wake up for quite some time... It is time that this word "Christian" gets some redeeming. We are called to be that, the hands and feet of God. It is up to us, the way we represent him, our love which needs to be unconditional. If you have experienced this love, we are called to give it to others. How selfish are we if we hold onto this experience and keep it for ourselves. You are the light of the world! You have been given this power! Christ says, "Freely you have recieved, freely give." It is not to be abused. Representing our God is a life or death task. You have the ability to destroy his image to someone. But you also have the ability to represent the true loving God and also, maybe most importantly, restore that image to someone who has recieved a contradicting one. Let's wake up. The time is now.

On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.

(A post I wrote a week and a half but forgot to put on here:)

It's like this. Kylee and I raise support in order to do what we do, much like an out-of-country missionary does. Sometimes I see ourselves as missionaries. Sometimes Anderson, IN is as foreign as it gets. For two years now, we've set our goal to raise a certain amount and have met it. We started out the first month of raising support mainly focusing on phone calls and whatever money came in, we bit the bullet and built up a little cushion in our support raising account. As money comes in from our supporters, it gets deposited into that account. From that account, we get paid. No money in the account = no paycheck. This has never happened. As the account begins to dwindle, God moves in the heart of someone and the account gains a little health...but not until we get a little wake up call first...

You see, the only time in the Bible where God actually challenges us to test him is in the area of tithing:
"...Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:7-10

During the first year, we were struggling to get enough pledges to meet our goal. We were challenged on the tithing end. We decided to tithe at whatever 10% of our goal was. Within the next month, we met our goal. And that has never stopped. There are plenty of similar stories where God has "thrown open the floodgates" and has blessed us beyond belief...and it keeps us humble; it keeps us in our place. This summer has been insane as we bought a house and moved on top of our normal responsibilities. Obviously this house thing has been a test on the financial end...and our account, it's dwindling.

I was reading in Genesis (I'm no saint, I don't remember the last time I purposefully sat down to read my Bible) and read through the story of Abraham's obedience being tested when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac...his only true son...the one through whom God promised would give birth to a great nation. Yet, Abraham agrees. As they are reaching the place on the mountain where they were going to sacrifice, Isaac is wondering where this lamb is that they were going to sacrifice. Abraham replies beautifully: "God will provide the lamb." It comes the time when Abraham had tied down his son and raised his knife when an angel stops him saying that the LORD has noticed his obedience and does not want Isaac to be hurt. God said that because of his obedience, he will make his descedants outnumber the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Then God provided a ram that was caught in a nearby bush for Abraham to catch and use as a sacrifice. This gave birth to a saying of that day, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

It clicked for me and a desire to test God was renewed. Abraham knew that though his own reasoning made sense to him, God must understand the bigger picture and, though he would much rather do what made sense to him, he had to obey God. "God will provide the lamb." God will provide a way...or a way out. In the end, God is still God and things will work out as He plans, and that's okay. And God did, but not until Abraham was willing to sacrifice. You see, God needs a willing soul, someone with the desire to give up something for the sake of gaining God's way.

In order for God to provide where I need Him to provide, I must be willing to sacrifice. And sometimes sacrificing your money in today's economy can feel like giving up your firstborn. I caught up on tithing today and am another step closer to fulfilling our pledge to our church building campaign and I've already seen God give a blessing. We got a utilities bill from our last apartment and one for our new house for this last month, both of which I wondered were off. I went in and found out that both had errors and were going to end up being significantly less. Sometimes the blessings come quickly. Other times they don't, as when Abraham had to wait for the birth of Isaac that God had promised years ealier. And sometimes it does feel like we are stuck on the top of a mountain with no where else to go but down. In fact, it would maybe just seem easier to jump... but who's mountain is it? Let us not forget: On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided. So hang in there.

On Renovation and Relocation

I have spent the past two weeks performing gross, frustrating, exhausting, and time-consuming tasks. I pulled up carpet and yanked up staples. I shoveled and swept away a bug metropolis off the patio (as Phil went on a "murderous rampage with liquid death" aka...bug sprayed the entire perimeter of the house). We've hauled garbage, scrubbed floors, painted, scraped, packed, unpacked. Our house is a mess...just one big stack of boxes and drawers and furniture and I can't find my tweezers and I have a uni-brow.

I'm loving this.

The more I work, the more I fall in love with this place. Every staple pulled (every blister added) is one step closer to making it OURS. One step closer to our dreaming. And God is teaching me that He feels that way about me too. Everything he works on, pulls out, cleans up, is him falling in love...him fulfilling the dream he's dreamed of me. This makes me feel beautiful and special...worthy and humble...loved.

Among these, I also feel displaced. Like I don't quite fit yet. Like it's not quite me or mine or...where should I put my toothbrush now? Things aren't the same...and someday this might be normal, but it isn't normal yet. And this reminds me of myself too. How, in going with God's "renovations" there is a certain level of not fitting quite right into my own skin at first...even if it is a somehow improved skin. Even if I know the metaphorical carpet was nasty...I am not sure what to do when the floors are stripped, swept, mopped.

I guess I'm learning about patience. God's patience because he loves me; he has the "vision" for me. He's gone from room to room. He's fallen in love. He's in it for the long haul. He's paid off the mortgage. And I've learned a little about the patience that I need...I learned it from my house. My house sits here, and it lets me fix it and clean it and love it. And it gives me a place to love others and be loved by them. What more does God ask from me?

Living Little, Loving Lots

Today Kylee and I went to a pool to do some reading/studying/chillaxing. Then we came back and watched A Beautiful Mind.

While I was reading Becoming the Answers to Our Prayers by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove at the pool, I came across two quotes. One by Mother Teresa: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it." And another by Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community." In A Beautiful Mind, John Nash (Crowe) struggles with schizophrenia and isolates himself from social activities. At one point in the movie, he returns to Princeton to talk to the Dean (a fellow former Princeton student and academic competitor). Nash mentions how he and his wife believes it would be best for him to gain some social interaction in a familiar setting in order to gain control over his life again. He just wanted to get permission to hang around the campus. The Dean (the name escapes me) agrees and says something to the effect of “that’s what friends are for.” Nash responds, “Is that what we are, friends?” The Dean says, “Of course. We always have been.”

While in the library, Nash learns to interact with other students and offers one his sandwich. Soon students gather around him and intently listens as he continues to share his wisdom and offer input on their theories and whatnot. Nash learns to love others and community is in turn built around him. Nash remains on the campus for the rest of his life, sharing many experiences with many others in community.

The first part of the quote, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community” is one that I have take to heart. I’m one for dreaming and loving what I dream. ‘What’s the best way to make this community come into existence and for it to remain successful?” Then, “How can I make it grow?” This is the wrong motive, this will destroy. The revolution of Jesus is to just love. That’s the Love Revolution. It’s easy, and it’s done in small things with great love, not in great things... not in things we deem successful by world’s standards (growth, return, etc.). Only through small things with great love will others catch the vision. Think about it: How many people were in Jesus’ community that he used the change the world through love? Only 12. But he focused intently on helping them understand this love that he offers. We must love on the micro level, not the macro. In micro acts, we build relationship and acts are personal and done in love. People (relationship-wise) get lost in macro acts. Acts are not personal and done only to fulfill worldly desires of growth, success, return, ego, recognition, whatev. This “love” will not change a person, it will not change the world. Live in the little and love lots.

The best way to commit to Christ and to the Father is by loving others. This gets me fired up:

"So whether it gets us awards or gets us killed, we have chosen to follow Jesus and to cry out with his prayer. His last words on the cross were a cry to his Father, 'Into your hands I commit my spirit.' We want to live and die with the same resolve. We will dance the revolution of God till they kill us, then we will dance some more."

My Call to Youth Ministry Explained.

From Phil:

Summer of 2003, God really revealed himself to me. I was a full-time dishwasher up at Trout Lake Camp. God proved to me that he is extremely evidently active in this modern day world. The only reason we sometimes miss is just that, WE miss him. We don't look for him. God had been revealing to me some truths about him through someone in particular and God began to mold me and my faith. My faith started to become my own.

I remember filling in for a cabin's nightly devotions because the counselor was sick. I was put on the spot and out of my comfort zone and God delivered. I was speaking on the power of the Holy Spirit and that when we accept Christ, we have the ability to tap into that power. One of those powers, the ability to heal, was one that I had felt a desire to touch on. I found out the next day that one of the campers was not feeling well at all that night and after I talked about God's healing power, the camper felt well again. This was confirmation to this new kind of God that I had been learning about that summer. I began to actually BELIEVE that God had a call on my life. I sure had heard that before, but there's a definite difference when you begin to believe it. I also began to realize that I had a voice. I had something to say to the world. Something so worth saying that it can heal the sick (on so many levels).

Summer of 2004, I was a full-time counselor at the same camp. I had to give devotions every night to my campers, which was really nerve-wracking to me. Is there even enough to talk about God to do it every night of the summer to these campers who mostly could care less (yes)? Some devotions were prepared but some were derived from the experiences of that week within my cabin. One of my first weeks, one kid was being continuously picked on and scoffed at throughout the week. My devotions focus a lot on that issue without directly calling kids out (no kid wants to go to camp only to hear another authority figure scold them). At the campfire on the last night, all the kids went up and talked about how God had used me to change their outlook on treating those around them. They spoke specifically about the devotion time and how crucial that was to their camp experience. I was finding my voice. I had never lead in this capacity and I was out of my comfort zone and God was stretching and growing me. I truly FELT like a light to a dark world.

Summer of 2005, I was really out of my zone. I was "Head Counselor" at Trout Lake Camp. I no longer counseled campers but more or less counseled the counselors of the campers. I was becoming use to being a leader to kids...but being a leader to people my age or older? There is a lot about that summer that I would do over again but the fact of the matter was that I was again stretched and was grown that summer. I learned a lot of things, especially through error. One of the things that I learned was that my passion was in leading youth, not adults. You see, you can still be stretched and grown even when you are not lined up with your passion. But when your passion AND discomfort zone (where you are stretched and grown) are in line, there is nothing like it.

Summer of 2006, I stayed in Indiana to play gigs with my band. We had recorded an album earlier that year and played around that summer. I enjoyed the interaction that I had with the teens that listened to our music. Some would think I'm cool or something because I played in a band (...silly kids). This would provide an opportunity for good discussion. I had been told by someone that the song I wrote on the album had meant a lot to them and helped them through things. I really enjoyed this. What if, I thought, the band was more than just a band playing music, but a ministry movement. We started to become more intentional with our on-stage interactions at the shows and presented a five minute message. My wife began to speak at the shows and we knew that we wanted to be in ministry together. We thought that maybe this was it.

Summer of 2007, I realized that I didn't have to be in a band to change the lives of youth. In fact, it wasn't the band's members who I grew up listening to that greatly affecting my life, it was the youth leaders who lived life along side of me. Kylee and I joined The Bridge staff as "youth interns" and Raising Daybreak played its last show (ironically for The Bridge youth). And I was stretched for a time. I lead worship on both piano and vocals (never done that before, let alone either one by themselves). I occasionally spoke and met with kids one-on-one and discussed life's hard struggles (often not enough time in one week to get to that point at camp).

Summer of 2008, I continued to help out a little with the youth ministry at The Bridge as my primary role switched to the church's website designer and video editor. Sure I was stretched here, but I quickly realized that, again, I was not in line with my passion. I learned a lot about website administration and video production but I was not feeling fulfilled. Something had to be done about that.

Summer of 2009 (so much growth seems to take place in the summer), I officially became the High School Youth Pastor of The Bridge Community Church. What's this going to do. It's going to grow me. It's going to change me. I will be brought out of my comfort zone, speaking 20 minutes messages on a weekly basis, developing relationships and reaching out to as many kids as possible. Leading small groups and one-on-one's and developing both student leaders and adult volunteers. The greatest thing? I'm in line with my passion. I can see optimum growth for my near future as I am finally allowing God to grow me in the most expansive way possible. You see, I shied away from accepting this call of speaking because it scared me. I told people it wasn't my gift while I heard God saying, "You're only limiting me when you say that."

So here we go. I'm jumping in and not sure how I'm going to land. But that's the fun of it, and that's when God strengths are made perfect in our weaknesses, and that's when we truly learn to rely on him. If not now, when? Might as well be now. Embrace passion, embrace change, embrace growth and embrace discomfort...but discover fulfillment. Are you fulfilled? What scares you? That's normal. But don't be normal...and embrace it. Normal won't welcome change and change is was stretches and grows. And stretching and growing gives fulfillment. Does it scare you to be uncomfortable? So what, go in blind, with nothing, you have nothing to lose. That's what Christ asks of us. When we clinch too tightly to what we find comfortable, how are we ever going to take the hand of Christ and let him lead us. And Christ WILL lead you to true fulfillment.

The Hunt for Belly Boy

Hey all. This is a video that we did during our series entitled, "Urban Legends." Sometimes laughter is the best medicine. I give you "The Hunt for Belly Boy."

Camp Endurance 2009 - Memorial Day Weekend

Finding Comfort Uncomfortable

There is a quote that I read. It says, “Between what is said and done... there’s a lot more said than done.” Man, that gets me. I do say I lot of things and I do want a lot of people to understand what I say, catch the vision and do it. Make the changes, live a righteous life, love your neighbor, give back to the world... And I continue to write these things, say these things and my own heart too many times doesn’t quite make it there. I’m concerned with my own life, my own success, that I fail to see the needs of those around me. I often want to fit in, so I often try to be the funny one, the likable, barely-scratch-the-surface kind of guy. When in reality, most people do crave the person who is genuinely interested in delving deeper. What keeps us from going there. Is it too much work? Too risky? Too... uncomfortable?

I often will go through a period of my life where “everything is good” and I become... comfortable. Usually after being comfortable for some time, I wake up and realize it. I become uncomfortable with being comfortable. I get scared and realize I’m not living genuinely and intentionally with those around me. I say “I get scared” because that is exactly the kind of person I don’t want to be. I’ve always told myself that I didn’t want to live a “normal” life. I definitely didn’t want to “conform to the patterns of this world.” And when Kylee and I met, that is an interest we both shared with each other (one of the many things that attracted me to her). We didn’t want to be “normal.”

You know, I think that is a desire that God instills in those who yearn after him. That’s what the ministry of Jesus was all about. Jesus broke the “social norms” and made a lot of people angry because of it. I think they got angry because they felt convicted. Often when we feel convicted, we are so stubborn and prideful that our default reaction is defensiveness. When someone challenges our beliefs or what we see as “socially acceptable” by living a life different from the way we live it, it becomes personal and we hate that feeling. “Who do they think they are?” “Do they even realize the image they are portraying?” “What are they trying to prove?” “Do they have any regard for those around them?” Do you find yourself dealing with these questions? So did the Pharisees. So did those who put Jesus to death. So did those who cared so much about their own way of life that they were too blind to see another way of life, another world, an alternative lifestyle to the norm. They became blind to the Savior of the world, because what they had going for them worked for them. They weren’t about to change. They weren’t about to sell everything they had to follow his lifestyle. And instead of realizing their short-comings and accepting their need for this Jesus to help them, they walked away from him trying to rationalize, “Well, if I can’t make myself sell everything that I have, then there must be something else I can make myself do that’s close to if not equal to that.”

The thing is, we will never fully be not of the world. Because we sin, we slip up, we find ourselves getting comfortable with what we have and forgetting about the uncomfortable state of the majority of the world stricken with poverty, famine, slavery, lack of clean water, abuse, neglect... But what we must come to realize on a daily basis is that we are in need of a savior, to become uncomfortable with our comfort, to learn from our feelings of conviction, to live in humility enough to remain open to an alternative way of life... This is a daily realization, a daily death to our own ideas of success and the common misconception of the need to achieve comfort. Perhaps in actuality there is more fulfillment in being reliant on a daily basis and knowing not what tomorrow will bring and understanding that today is a gift that you did nothing to receive.

See, the world tells us to be successful for comfort’s sake. But comfort leads to complacency and complacency leads to seclusion and seclusion is not living how we are designed to live. We are designed to live in community. And we are designed to live in community because we are designed to love. We are designed to love so that others, who have never experienced love, can experience love. And we need to experience love because the soul yearns for the very thing that brought all of creation into being in the first place: the love of a divine creator... and this love is not of this world... and this love is not comfortable.

Be the Eucharist, Heal the World

I’m reading a Rob Bell book, “Jesus wants to save Christians.” It is a great book. It gives a very good portrait of The Bible as a whole. Bell’s book brings to light the overall message of The Bible in its context and explores well the reasons behind a lot of what is written in The Bible, especially its stories on empire and oppression (very applicable to someone living in the United States today...).

It had been about a week since I had picked it up. I left off in the middle of chapter 5 and read into chapter 6, “Blood on the Doorposts of the Universe,” a good bit. I was extremely delighted as to what it talked about, especially since it was Good Friday. It’s no coincidence. God just wants me to share with you what I read on this very day. His sacrifice is huge and is for everyone. So hear this message and give thanks for the sacrifice that was given on this day.

Many of you know the story of Moses and his encounter with Egypt’s Pharaoh. Pharaoh was seen as a god. He was believed to be sent by the other gods to govern and rule. After the Pharaoh died, his firstborn would become Pharaoh. Therefore, the firstborn was seen as the same rank as Pharaoh himself. The future of the Pharaoh’s reign depended on his successor’s survival. If the Pharaoh died, his firstborn would take his place. But if His firstborn died...?

So here’s these slaves of the Pharaoh, the Israelites, God’s child, His firstborn (Exodus 4:22). Here they were waking up, building Pharaoh’s brick, going to bed, waking up, building Pharaoh’s brick, going to bed... wake, brick, bed, wake, brick, bed, wake... No end in site, all hope seemed loss. But God heard their cry, the cry of his firstborn, and He answered. Moses was God’s voice and Pharaoh paid no attention, he didn’t let God’s firstborn go.

So then it was the night to change history. The Israelites, the slaves, were warned to sacrifice a lamb, an innocent animal, mark their doorposts with its blood and share in a feast, the Passover Feast. The Spirit of God rushed through Egypt, taking the life of the firstborn of each household that didn’t have the lamb’s blood on the door.

The next day Pharaoh’s firstborn was dead. He had no choice but to let God’s people go. This God was obviously more powerful than him, a god, and his gods. He couldn’t dare mess with Him anymore.

Years later as the time of Christ’s arrival approached, prophets far and wide came to realize that all of creation is in a sort of exile and, therefore, in order to redeem all of creation, there’s going to be a much bigger sacrifice offered than the blood of an innocent lamb. They began to prophecy of a coming suffering servant who will be a firstborn child among God’s firstborn nation, Israel. He will not only be the atonement of the sins of Israel but of all humanity.

In this Israel nation, Mary gave birth a firstborn, Jesus. About 33 years later, Jesus gets taken away to be that sacrifice. But before that happens, Jesus has a meal, a Passover meal with his disciples. He takes the bread and says, “This is my body,” and he takes the cup and says, “This is my blood.” Jesus is setting the stage as he is making Passover about himself. In the face of corruption and empire, Jesus chooses to take the path of the lamb. And this time his blood is not just on the doorposts of the Israelites.

In Colossians 1:15, Paul describes Jesus as “the firstborn over all creation.” Everything and everyone every where is being redeemed through the sacrifice of this innocent firstborn, the Lamb of God.

I like this part:

What do we do with such a huge sacrifice? The Scriptures continually say over and over again to remember and be thankful. The Greek word for thankful is from the verb eucharizomai - the Greek word eu, which means “well” or “good,” and the word charizomai, which means “to grant or give (now I’m not pretending to be smart here; this is taken directly from the book... cuz I’m not smart...) And this is where we get the word Eucharist in English, which means the “good gift.” Jesus is God’s good gift to the world. “Eucharist” is also the word we use to describe this ritual at Passover, a.k.a communion or The Lord’s Supper or Mass or whatever. We continue to perform this ritual, this meal, as a way to remember what God has done through Christ and give thanks.

But it’s far more significant than that. Paul continues to write how he is persecuted and struck down, but not abandoned or destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Though stuff is getting tough for Paul, he’s not losing hope. He says, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). Just as Jesus allowed his body to be broken and blood poured out in order for us to receive His good gift, Paul is doing the same thing. He’s doing all that he can to spread the news of Jesus and it isn’t easy; it’s costing him something. He continues, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Corinthians 4:11). In preaching of the good news of Jesus, there is something “being given over.” When we commit to healing the world with the message of Jesus, we must identify with the suffering of our neighbor, which is costing something. Paul continues still, “So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you” (2 Corinthians 4:12).

This is how the Eucharist works: if one thing is received, one thing has to be given. For someone to be fed, someone has to provide food. If someone benefits, someone has paid something. God gives the world life through the breaking and the pouring of Christ, and he continues to do it through the body of Christ. And Paul tells the city of Corinth that they are the body of Christ.

Those who follow Christ are living Eucharists. A Christian is a living Eucharist. The Church is a living Eucharist. You must allow your body to be broken and your blood to be poured out if you desire the healing of the world.

How do we do this? Paul meets them where they are. He says, “to the Jews I became like a Jew, to those under the law, I became like one under the law, to those not having the law, I became like one not having the law, and to the weak, I am weak” (1 Corinthians 9:20-22) Paul does not say the opposite like he did the previous; he doesn’t say ‘to the strong, I am strong.’ This is because Paul knows the power of identifying with the suffering of your neighbor. At an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (Bell’s example), everyone is open with their struggles. No more are they hiding, no more are they putting on a front, no more are they pretending there is nothing wrong. I’ve experienced this with my church’s Celebrate Recovery meetings. Everyone shares, and everyone, in some way, identifies. Bell quotes Anne Lamott when she says that the most powerful sermon in the world is two words: “Me too.”

What are you doing to identify in the suffering of those around you. It seems to be the trend in most “Christians” to be the “pastor” and offer advice and a cure, as they look down their nose at this poor, struggling soul. What would happen if you listened and identified? If you met at the same level? If you put your pride aside? If you became a Eucharist? If you acted as Jesus? ...World: healed.

There is a student in our youth group who plays guitar and writes songs. Sometimes he'll come over and have Phil record these songs in our music room. Last night, Phil played me his latest: "Lullaby." The lyrics were variations of "sleep so sweetly," "I'll never leave you alone," and "when it gets dark, I'll protect you."

I giggled as I pictured him giving the burnt CD to his girlfriend, thinking about how I would have eaten that up as a high school girl :). Phil told me, though, that when he asked the student if he was giving it to his girlfriend, the student said that he hadn't really had her in mind when he wrote it. He had been thinking more about his future children. ...this student never knew his dad and has a kind of rough relationship with his mom. How beautiful is that?

I love my job at The Bridge, my actual job in the arts ministry. I love working with adults and the creation process. It is challenging and fulfilling. In the last few months, it has seemed to me that my "call" to youth ministry was fading.

But...it's not.

In the past weeks, God has rebroken my heart for these students. I talked with one beautiful 16 year old who had started cutting herself again, who told me that, "she just felt like she deserved it." I've watched with pride as new students have stepped into positions in the worship team. I've been cried to, laughed with, yelled at, and hugged. I've been reminded of how confusing, and just how much work it is to find out who you are. And I just know that it's God in my heart, filling it with love for them, because I love them so much.

I think part of my frustration with youth is that I can't fix anything. You can't really even tell them anything. You give advice, but they don't take it. You teach them things, but they don't learn much from your teaching. I'm realizing now, though, that some things...you just have to learn yourself. Some pain, you just have to lean into. What's my role, then? Just to be there. And to stay there.

Random Update

Howdy everyone. It has been a while since I've posted in here. Life's good. About a month ago was the ski trip (which I talked about before) and then followed by the next week at the Superstart conference. Some of you family maybe recognize this because Superstart is put on by CIY, Aaron Smith's employer. It was awesome to see my cousin that weekend. He was telling me about the High Schooler conference that is actually held on Anderson University's campus. He just sent me the link to it yesterday... looks like something we might do. It's cool sharing in the ministry of family and how God is crossing our paths so that we can be a part of each other's story of what God is doing. It was really cool to see Aaron in his element. The guy could have a pretty good paying job, have his MBA and all... but he discovered that having the sort of affect that he does in kids lives is far more fulfilling than any thing this world could ever offer. I drop off my rent every month in the business school at Anderson University and on my way out, I ran into one of my old professors. "Now, what are you doing these days?" (the typical question I get from him whenever I run into him...)... I told him that I was still with The Bridge... the next question was, "You making a lot of money?" ... I was quickly reminded of why I was turned off by that place... So much stock in stuff of this world. I've never liked money... It deters us from relying and creates complacency, which is nothing that we are called to be, as ones who are not supposed to be of this world. I believe God can indeed bless through monetary means but I feel that an over-emphasis in money as who we are, our identity, the topic of conversation after not having seen someone for quite sometime is placing it on the pedestal that cries for a more fulfilling object of worship and devotion. Wow... didn't know that this post was going to take this turn. Just don't let your job and money define who you are... okay? k bye.

Love,
Phil

Snow Blast 2009!

This past weekend, we went to Michigan to go skiing/snowboarding at Timber Ridge. It was an awesome time hanging out with each other. Some new friendships were made and some were strengthened. I love trips like these because it causes people who wouldn’t normally hang out with each other to spend time together. That is how a group gets stronger and closer: taking you out of your comfort zone and putting you in a situation where you have nothing else to do but spend time with one another. Walls get broken down and people become vulnerable with each other and stronger connections are made.

On the way home (probably not 20 minutes on the road), the power steering went out. We exited the interstate in Kalamazoo to check it out and stopped as the brakes went out. Gabe did an awesome job handling the chaotic situation. People were called and Greg and Zonda left in another bus on their way to Michigan at about 6 p.m. or so to pick us up… A cop came by to help facilitate the situation and some guy from a church a block away approached the bus. He said that his church has a bus that could pick us up and take us to their youth center until our bus got here. We arrived, had a nice place to chill and unwind… and then their evening service got out and word got around about a stranded youth group in their youth center. We were met with smiles, games, and PIZZA (again… but we were hungry enough!). The wonderful people of Berean Baptist were so welcoming and accommodating. They understood what it meant to serve and the mission of the church as a body of believers living to support one another. They prayed for us, Gabe spoke words of gratitude, they drove us further a few more minutes to meet up with Greg and Zonda who took us the rest of the way home! We got in about 12:45 a.m.

A further working of God: We had to leave the bus at Berean, as it was broken down. We found out yesterday that a guy in our church who manages a garbage collecting business in Indiana has ONE client in Michigan… in Kalamazoo… He’s going to have a guy check on the bus and probably get it fixed.

God is much bigger than any issue we will encounter… this trip home was a simple reminder of just that. Honestly, I was frustrated at first, very tired, and just wanted to see my wife… but God had other plans… He created a memory that these youth will never forget, a memory that these kids shared together, bringing them closer to those they might not have ever met otherwise.

It was a good trip.

Phil

p.s. there is another blog that the bridge youth staff started to keep parents of the youth informed on the latest happenings in the youth ministry. That blog is bridgeyouth.wordpress.com. This is one that all of us on the youth staff have access to updating and can be another reference for you to keep track of this ministry you are investing in.

World Change Is Right At Our Fingertips

Things I hate about the world today: The message that is communicated through mainstream media. It is so easy to be blinded by the message that true joy results from our circumstances or possessions, other than the truth of the matter: true joy is a result of a healthy spiritual and emotional well-being as well as the quality of the relationships we surround ourselves with (which help us lead to that healthy spiritual and emotional well-being).

Things I love about the world today: The ability to communicate a message through grassroots media. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can do this. If you are reading this, I am proof to that right now: ANYone. Who am I? In my eyes, nothing special. In the eyes of my creator, the kind of vessel He is looking for to communicate His message TO THE WORLD.

The best medium for WORLD change is not mainstream. In mainstream, there are a FEW main ideas controlled and manipulated by a HANDFUL (compared to the entire population with access to grassroots media) of people who have devoted their entire career to climbing the ladder of worldly success to gain this power. However, with new developments in social networking and communicating, it is grassroots media, that has gained its power through relatable information (everyday people, JUST LIKE YOU), that is doing the real world changing, because it is offering truly changed lives a stage to share from. Those who have developed a networking relationship with this changed life experience life change and share it with their networking relationships. When these networking relationships take this life changing information beyond the computer to THEIR world, a domino effect occurs and communities are changed, followed by cities, followed by a larger region, then a nation, then nations, then the world. God communicating His simple message to His listening children and His listening children relaying their Father’s simple message and awakening the ears of non-listening children is contagious.

Here’s a guy that I’ve developed this sort of networking relationship with. He is committing to eating only one bowl of rice a day until he raises $1,000,000 for hunger-related causes. Maybe you are to help him out in his journey. The second video is an inspirational video relating to my first paragraph.

http://www.simplesizeme.com
http://www.causes.com/simplesizeme





(PhilLarson.net)

Updates...

Well, it's been a couple months, I see.

This is Kylee writing...though you would have figured that out soon enough :) We had a wonderful Christmas break. We got to spend almost two full weeks in Minnesota visiting friends and family. It was great to see everyone, and it's always great to get home too. I feel like we're finally getting back into the groove this week at The Bridge. Things are going really well.

As you may know by our letters, Phil and I have been praying and asking you to join us in praying for wisdom regarding seminary and our housing. As far as seminary goes, we decided that it would be best to take a bit of a "sabbatical" this semester and drop back to only two classes. We'll see how it goes from there, whether I get back into a fulltime MDIV program, switch to a MTS degree, or just keep working part-time. The last two options mean that Phil and I would have to move out of seminary housing, as I would not be a full-time student. So, prayers in all of those directions would help.

I thank you all for praying for my sanity last semester too. Things got really hard there for awhile. I felt your prayers, and certainly feel them now that things have eased up.

So, this semester = sabbatical. I have half the school work to do, and I am not going to add additional hours to my work week at The Bridge. In the space created I plan on working on some art and doing some much needed reflection and writing...praying and resting. I'm excited to see what will come of this time...as I'm pretty sure I've never had such an opportunity before to be still. I'll keep you posted. :)