Author: Wick

Finally home again. Yesterday I was able to stay for one more session, and then hit the road again towards home…where we would begin a two day conference called “Living Sacrifice” right here in our own city.

It was a difficult final message. “Deep Ministry in a Shallow World”. The statistics of how many churched teenagers choose to go a different direction after high school are hard to swallow. Not the rough-edged ones that visit once in a while….but the ACTUAL church-going, dress-wearing, shirt-tucked-in teenagers. 50% of them, once entering the “real world”, seem to make choices that lead them further and further from the Church and from a relationship with God.

Kara Powell, the speaker, used a phrase that really got to me. “Red Bull Youth Ministry”. Youth Ministry that has so much hype, and so much energy and excitement….but lacks the nourishment and depth….so that when teens graduate and end up in the “real world”, they crash. The real world where decisions are tough. Where unlimited opportunities to alter your state of mind, and unlimited circumstances that will put our faith to the test….combine with a teenager who was coming to church because they really really liked the music, or atmosphere, or whatever…

Difficult to transition from that, into a conference where we as leaders have purposefully gotten a speaker with a dynamic speaking ability. A worship band that rocks. A venue that has unlimited audio/visual capabilities. It’s more than enough to send me to prayer. May our hearts/motivations/prayers be in the right place.

God did something, though. On the way home, I had another CD I’d burned of a podcast from Seattle Pacific, this time by Kallistos Ware. I’d read his book, “The Orthodox Way” back in college, and really enjoy him. Anyway, his message was “What is Prayer?”. A reminder of the “Jesus Prayer” used by the Orthodox church and many others…combined with the command “pray continually” from scripture.

It was perfect timing…because there was no other way to make it. So I found myself, standing in the middle of hundreds of teenagers…with loud worship music roaring…many teens distracted by the gossip of youth, until the key change where they boldly thrust their worshiping hands towards God…..reciting the Jesus Prayer “with my mind in my heart”, as Ware put it. My entire being was wrapped up in praying that God would use this. Not as a “red bull” moment…but as nourishment for the souls surrounding me that are hungry for the supernatural God.

Today, it continues…

ps. It’s good to be home. I love these Anderson females.

Today was pretty swell.

Heard a message on “What to do when you’re not with students”…which I’d assumed was going to be about time management, and organizational skills, etc. Areas that I TOTALLY need to work on. That I’ve been working on lately. As he got into his message, I realized it was more about how to spend time with Jesus, so that when you’re with students, you begin to think/act from the same Spirit. At first I was thinking, “shucks, I was hoping to get more training on time management”….but it became more obvious that God was saying “relax….you’ll get organized with experience, and because you want to…..what’s Truly important is you spending time with me.”

Oh. Yeah…I remember that.

Next message was about “Spiritual Parenting”, which I assumed was about how to come along-side teenagers as a sort of “surrogate” parent, in a ministry where so few of them have parents who actively participate in….well…parenting. She focused more on realizing the unseen battles in our ministries (and raising our children). About the spiritual warfare taking place, and the power God has given us in His Spirit, and in the power of speaking His Hope in the lives of these youth. Many faces/names from our group came to mind, and it was refreshing to just spend some time in prayer, and look forward to speaking words of Hope into their lives…I hope that is the kind of parent I can move towards becoming also. Not just a blind enthusiasm for anything/everything my daughters do….but actually seeing the potential God has placed in a future for them, and aiming them in that direction by the Words I speak…to them and in prayer.

Now that’s fatherhood. (didn’t agree with her gender-specific roles, but her heart was in the right place)

Finally, the issue of “Deep Justice in a Broken World“. Beyond doing short-term mission trips that we all love doing. Beyond throwing money or food at someone in passing. But being a Church that develops relationships with those being served, and even deeper….confronts the systems that require that service to even be necessary. We’ve all heard lately about human trafficking, and how it’s worse now than it ever was. With about 33% of the worlds’ population claiming to know Christ, we should be able to do something….right?

Pretty stoked about each of these areas. Personally. In my family. In our youth ministry. In our church. In our denomination. And in our Church. But we could never even begin to attempt these things on our own….I suppose that would continue the theme of being desperate for God to send us His Spirit in a new way….and enable us towards His Kingdom.

Whatever that looks like….

A billion things to write about today. The Spirit is moving in and through our denomination, and something really humbling is happening…we’re being involved. Heard a few great speakers too.

Brian McLaren spoke on his new book “Everything Must Change”. In perspective of youth ministry, what is it that we’re “recruiting” young people for? To be a light through issues of the church (doctrine, politics, drama, etc.), or to struggle through issues of the world (poverty, war, selfish-ness)? He reduced several lists made by world organizations on the major crisis’ of the world today down into 4 main categories: 1. Prosperity (at the cost of our environment) 2. Poverty (gap between rich and poor, the rich rule) 3. Peace (security, crime, terrorism, etc.) and 4. Purpose (religion failing to provide a frame for healing society).

These sound very similar to the 4 horsemen of the “apocalypse” who we see evidence of riding even today in our world. 1.Conquest 2. War 3. Famine and 4. Death Wonder if he borrowed from Revelation 6?

Also confirmed what we’ve talked about recently, about God’s Kingdom being set up in a completely “otherly” way. Exciting that we can be used towards that goal…which leads to the other speaker I wanted to highlight, Mark Yaconelli…my favorite of the day.

So many things I could write at length about, that I will just put a few memorable spots.

1. The Closer Jesus gets to his goal (in the gospel story), the less it LOOKS like a success. We can’t be measuring our effectiveness by the same standards as the world. And what if, in ministry, our gift IS IN our weakness? Peter was perfect for his calling, because he knew he wasn’t able on his own. This goes against the world that tells me to look/act/speak like I know what’s going on….so that teens will “dig” me. Do I risk telling my teenagers I have no clue how to command respect, or discipline them if they don’t? 🙂

2. The “good baby” is the one that doesn’t cry, that doesn’t need me. How often do we have that mindset beyond actual baby years? Why don’t we allow more time/energy/room for grieving, because it will definitely be needed, if we yearn to have the broken heart of God as our own. (Holiness) The world (and youth) NEED to see someone who can stay ALIVE in this world that deadens/hardens emotions and passions.

3. He spoke of Youth Ministry AS a spiritual discipline. I’d never thought of it this way before. In Youth Ministry, I’m challenged to grow in depth. Challenged to be real with my faith. To live it out genuinely in front of teenagers who may poke and prod spiritually to check it out. I like this.

Finally, we heard Shane Claiborne speak on the scandal of grace. He told quite a few stories of instances where something crazy (illogical) was done in the name of God’s love and grace. Really inspiring stories, very Jesus-ish. Quoted “It doesn’t matter how much we do, but how much LOVE we do it with.” I like that. Confirmed my desire to get our teens involved in the church food pantry this summer.

Then…a few hours of raw lifting each other up, and our denomination in general…praying that God would do a new thing (not to be confused with “nu thang”), and it might start with us. Intense focus on the Holy Spirit…..I dug it.

Oh yeah….then we went to Medieval Times for dinner. Our Knight (blue) totally got killed.