Category: Uncategorized

Posted in Uncategorized

I love the VMA’s (here’s why)

Posted on by Wick

I missed out on all the VMA fun last night, thankfully.  We don’t have cable, and I wasn’t even aware it was happening, until I woke this morning to the twittermath.  (aftermath + twitter)  Apparently the producers of the show were a big fan of the recent movie “The Purge“, which I also haven’t seen thankfully.  It’s a movie based on the premise of allowing people freedom to do whatever they want with no legal consequences for a while, as a natural way to “purge” society of it’s “unwanted elements”.

Mtv_moon_manThat seems to have been the aim last night, as all sorts of madness hit the stage.  (Which apparently is nothing new, looking at a quick history of the VMA’s…there was never any promise of moral decency.)  Most of what I found about the VMA’s quickly, and rightly so, flagged the content filters we have on our internet.  But just in case they weren’t justified, I was able to read articles on a few news-sources.  Giant teddy-bear dancers surrounding a barely-clothed Miley Cyrus going to great lengths to prove she’s no longer a family-friendly Disney star?  A morbid Kanye West performance with more bleeps than an elevator ride up the Empire State Building?

It seems like something out of a really bad post-apocalyptic science fiction movie. I’m guessing there were other performances of the evening too, judging by the awards given, amount of time JT was on stage, and an NSYNC reunion.  Some of those might not have been horrible.

Unfortunately, the effect of these attention-getting acts is nothing close to a “Purge”.  In fact, the publicity these artists are getting for unbelievably horrible performances only seems to increase ticket and album sales.  I doubt anyone is still lamenting allowing their daughters to be “Hannah Montana” fans.  That innocence was lost years ago.  But I would definitley hope people are realizing that allowing “popular culture” to have influence on their children is much more hazardous to their health and morality than they realized.  And, well, we know what scripture tells us.

But before I come across as a completely cynical “Debbie Downer”, I want to offer a bit of hope.  There are amazing sources of role-models out there “off stage”.  There are women young and old who are caring for others, changing the world, and transforming lives.  There are men and women of all ages making incredibly beautiful art, and creative music that expresses hope, suffering, and other aspects of our humanity.  There are men both young and old who treat women with respect, and know how to use the English language enough to not be overly offensive.

One of the tasks we have as parents, is to give our children older role-models and relationships that will influence and inspire them into who they’re becoming.  This is a VERY important part of parenting, because if you leave this task unchecked…we see what our culture is offering them. Who is someone, either famous or famous-to-you, alive or from the past, that you are purposefully connecting the lives of your children to as they grow??

I’ll start with a quote by one of ours, Phoebe Palmer:

“I see the new creation rise, I hear the speaking blood;
It speaks, polluted nature dies, Sinks ‘neath the cleansing flood.”

Posted in Different Learning, Different Moments, Uncategorized

gym night.

Posted on by Wick

I have a confession to make – I’m a youth pastor who hasn’t been a big fan of “Gym Night”. The one night each month where I don’t get to talk in depth about scriptures, or spend time in small group conversation, or lead teens in extended moments of prayer.  The purpose is plain: invite your friends, reach out relationally, play together.

But God’s been reminding me of some important aspects of what “Gym Night” can offer.  In a world that increasingly treats our bodies as objects that we’re meant to/encouraged to shape and mold as we see fit.  Where pursuits of beauty and athletic ability make any pain and sacrifice worth the “gain”.  Where we’re encouraged to prove we’re not aging, and our young people are encouraged to prove they can ______ better than ________.bowling

There are very few, if any, places our young people (or older people) can go these days to simply have fun.  Places where it’s safe to fail, and you’re embraced as one who is beloved.  Youth group gym nights at their best can be a safe place for play to happen.  Often providing games/experiences that are either too unique or goofy for anyone to brag about their innate or developed skill at them.  (Sure, they’ll still try to brag they’re the best at smacking your feet with a pool noodle….but just stare at them and smile for a while….they’ll come down from the pedestal.)

In his book “Ethics of Hope”, Jurgen Moltmann reminds us: “People who feel that they are accepted and loved can also accept themselves and their bodies as they are, and as they become as time goes on.  The experience of the divine love makes the believer not only ‘just’ but also beautiful……The incarnation of God has really already given us a counterimage to the modern ‘human being as machine’ and to the artificial products of ‘performance’ and ‘beauty’.  God became human so that we might turn from being proud and unhappy gods into true human beings.”

This hits home also as a parent, watching my daughters learn to play games and dress-up.  They’re so talented and beautiful.  But not because they can do an amazing “grande jete'” or because they share a rich inheritence of physical beauty from their mother. (although both are true)  They are beautiful and valuable because they are loved by God.  To pursue beauty or value from any other source is to participate in a reality we don’t believe exists.  An economy already proven bankrupt in the broken and ugly crucified Christ.

So if you come to one of my gym nights, you’ll probably find more pool noodles, balloons, and nasty foods than basketballs.  If you visit my home you’ll probably find my daughters dressing up like Fancy Nancy more than Barbie.  And if you stick around either, you’ll find people who are learning how to exist genuinely as those Christ has called His “Beloved”…

Posted in Uncategorized

hard sell?

Posted on by Wick

I’m a pretty good salesman.  I’m also a horrible salesman.  It depends on what you’re measuring, I suppose.  When we first followed God’s call & relocated closer to family, I took a couple different sales jobs.  I volunteered at a small church in town, and learned what it was like working 9-5 (or 8-6, as it often was).  A few months was spent in Radio Advertising, and almost a year was with Pitney Bowes, selling “postage meters/folding machines/etc”.  I was pretty good at connecting relationally with my customers.  I even closed deals.  I could talk excitedly about what I had to offer them, and honestly believed I could help them out.  But when they asked me for the best deal – I’d usually give it to them.  So even though I made sales, I wasn’t the profit-generating machine that was celebrated in the sales realm.

Because of working on the world of advertising/ROI and the like, my radar picks up on sales-pitchy things much more than legosit used to.  I shrink back quickly from anything that smells like being a “salesman for Jesus/Heaven/Youth Group/Church”.  Unfortunately, that’s a large percentage of what’s out there for people seeking Christ to consume.  Bible studies, self-help books, and small group curriculum all geared toward convincing/reminding humanity that to come to Christ is to come to the end to all of your problems.  To arrive at the doors of the church is to arrive at an oasis of plenty.  To believe in Jesus Christ is to have all your prayers answered, every day is a holiday, and every meal’s a feast.

In a broken world, that sounds awesome.  We’re in debt, and even credit is running out fast.  We realize that something better than what we’re experiencing must be out there.  So when the man with the Bible, the nice smile and smooth words tells us that coming to church (and perhaps buying his book) will help fill the void we’ve got, and open doors of potential we previously thought were closed….we’re quick to follow.  The problem comes after some time of believing.  Time of offering our devout faith to a God/Genie, and becoming frustrated when nothing we ask for happens.

You might be nodding while reading this, agreeing that yes – we need to be honest about our expectations.  We need to remember that a call to follow Christ, is a call to the cross.  That we’re not promised what we want will work out the way we plan, by simply “trusting really really hard”.  But at the same time, I want my children to know the Hope we have in Christ.  I want them to experience putting their faith in Him, and having a life transformed.  I suppose it all depends on what we emphasize:

1 – We could emphasize the wrong things to our 5 year old.  Tell her that God wants everything to go perfect for her, and if she invites Jesus into her heart, it will enable all her dreams to come true (Jeremiah 29:11, right?).  Or, we could take the threatening route and tell her that someday she’ll either spend forever in flames or in golden streets and whipped cream.  If she asks Jesus into her heart, she won’t have to burn.  Sure, these spiritual things are bigger/different, but it’s important to speak in a language they simply understand, right?

2 – We could be honest with our 5 year old from the very start.  Tell her that people have made some really bad choices, that make this world a hard place to live sometimes.  But tell her how God has moved in our family already, and how He’s calling & enabling us to be different.  That we can choose to love/forgive, even when it’s hard.  We can be humble, and look for ways to serve others & love our neighbors globally.  We can pray, and know that spending time in God’s presence changes us.  We ask him to fill us with His love, so that in the simple ways we live, God is changing the world.

Sometimes that will lead us down paths where people know our name and smile or applaud.  Other times it may lead us down paths where people know our name and angrily yell.   Still many more times it may mean know one knows our name, but God is with us.

We are never alone, and that seems to be a pretty big point to a savior who was called

“Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’. “

But in a culture where more and more churches and youth ministries are selling the fun/loud/exciting/blessing/health/prosperity/nice teeth/etc…it may become increasingly difficult to be heard.  Still…this is what we speak.