Sad Day For Youth Pastors

Goodbye Marko. I'm really sad.

Passion Theology & John Deere

This is an excerpt from Kendra Dean's book, Practicing Passion:

"... Nowhere did we suggest that theology may be partly responsible for the church's diminishing influence on young people.  while youth ministry has routinely capitalized on the passions of adolescents, little (if any) attention has been given to connecting them to the Passion of the Christ.  Most congregations confine divine passion to Holy Week, and view adolescent passion as a hormonal rite of passage, not as the fingerprint of God.   Prevailing wisdom suggests that passion, like algebra and acne, should be endured, not exegeted.  Churches routinely praise youth ministry while exiling it to a fellowship group in the church basement.  Outreach to young people beyond the congregation normally threatens established ways of "doing church," and consequently seldom occurs beyond carefully circumscribed weeks during the summer.    The sign potential of adolescence - the possibility that young people might point to something fundamental about who God is, and about who God created us to become - has often been completely overlooked."

I strongly believe that the Church is meant to be intergenerational and that, because of it's design, would have some sort of inclusive purpose for all stages of member development.  So what is it about adolescence that sets it apart?  Is it the passion?  The driving, raging emotions and what else?  I wonder if passion wasn't on sale during the tween's season and was bought out by the early bird customer who beat the Church that first noticed the Final Days ad in last week's paper?  I mean, is there any room left for divine passion in our students?  What about us?  Do we have room for passion?  

I ask because I'm at a crossroads as to whether I want the passion that may have existed in my youth back or not.  I only question because I've seen enough already to know that passion moves.  It does not settle.  Passion is driving, not passive.  I fight the urge to live passionately for fear that it may sweep me to places I fear.  I wonder if other people (including youth) are reluctant to embrace dangerous passion.  

The closest I can picture are the guys that I went to high school with who would race their trucks across the parking lot in the evenings.  They were your stereotypical farmer kids with chew in the glovebox and at least one item of John Deere paraphernalia.  But man, were they passionate about racing those trucks!  I can't help but admire them now.  I think they took greater risk (socially and physically!) than I am still reluctant to take.  Maybe I should buy a John Deere cap...

Take Time To Be Holy

Nothing too original here today and I apologize. It is just amazing what you can find in a Nursing Home storage room at 2:00 in the morning and how God can use it. I found an old, OLD Nazarene hymnal on a storage shelf and flipping through it I found a hymn titled "Take Time To Be Holy".

I'll throw the words down for you here but I must share that God is teaching me through the simplicity of this song. I feel dry right now. Despite having found a new church community to participate with (thanks so much Lord!) and slowly getting back into the swing of being a youthworker, I feel like my guts are made of sawdust. I'm missing substance. As most anyone reading this could predict- my prayer life has gone down the drain. It's hanging by a thread at best. I often ask God to remind me to pray. Is that weird?

So as I play with this blog on and off and the concept of having (and still defining) an Experiential youth ministry, I'm realizing at my age of 24 that if this concept or dream or idea (whatever it is) will ever leap off of the internet and out of my head it will require far more discipline from me. I'm pretty terrible at disciplining myself. I think that was God's bright idea behind the Church and community. Maybe marriage too but I'll steer clear of any treacherous waters with that thought. . . Ha Ha.

Take Time to Be Holy

Take time to be holy. Speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.

Make friends of God's children; help those who are weak,

Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy. The world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.

By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be,

Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy. Let Him be thy guide;

And run not before Him, whatever betide.

In joy or in sorrow, still follow thy Lord,

And looking to Jesus, till trust in His word.

-W.D. Longstaff & Geo C. Stebbins-

Experiential ministry isn't much without the experience. Take time to experience God.

Experiential Project - Home Share

Recently my wife and I have left the booming metropolis of South Lyon for the liberal hippie-laden culture of Ann Arbor. And I love it here.

We're participating in a Home Share program that we recently discovered. The home share program put's willing renters (us!) into the home of an elderly person in the area who may be in need of mild physical assistance (ex. grocery shopping, shoveling snow, moving furniture, etc. . . ) and/or social stimulation in exchange for cheaper rent. So we have found ourselves living in the basement of a 77 yr. old lady. I feel like a cave troll. After a week I'm finding that this is already going to be a challenge. This process has helped me to realize not only how many material items we own, but perhaps more imporantly how strongly I cling to them. I can tell that this will be a very sacrificial season in my life. I'm finding that it half excites me and half angers me. The anger is a result of my comfort being challenged. I'm confident that this is an experience at the heart of experiential ministry because I'm finding myself on edge after only a week.

I was talking to a former student of my this week who deemed the idea of a Home Share as being absolutely crazy on account of his "trust issues" as he dubbed them. I think that is one of the issues that gets pressed in this experience. This has caused me to reflect on my belief that trust is a gift. A great gift! And as the 8th grader had observed- it could backfire on you at anytime. Love works the same way. Forgiveness works the same way. Greasy pizza at midnight can work the same way. What is good and beautiful can always be abused, perverted, misplaced, and can shake your bowels to tears. It's a risk we take because God took the same risk on us.

Keep being uncomfortable and be open about it with your students. Victory without struggle is an illusion that too many people fall for.

The Donkey Kong of Church Ministry

I know it has been some time since I've tossed up some thoughts but I had a long drive home from Indiana the other night and decided that I might share a bit of what has been on my mind.

I had a strage recollection of a childhood memory driving through Coldwater, MI. I was playing the classic donkey kong game on a system that I can't identify. (no, it wasn't a Nintendo) My father's friend was playing and I observed that there was a mallet on the screen that could probably aid his endevors to beat the level. When I inquired why he did not use the mallet he replied that he did not know how to pick it up. Now, this is the part that I remember most vividly- it was my father's giant hand of correction that smacked the back of hand when I retorted, "Well have you ever tried the red button?" Upon recieving a turn, I picked up the mallet with the red button and smashed my way to video game glory.

Here's where I think we need to go with this: We need to ultimately understand that we may not experience real success in our ministries until we are willing to try the things that haven't been tried. I want to live in a world of risk-takers. I want to bring that feeling of "I'm playing with live wires" into youth ministry. I want to see an experiential youth ministry that frees men and women in the church to attempt their dreams. Here's an example I came up with and I'd love to hear any thoughts on this one- destroy the office.
No, really- hear me out on this one. One of the strangest things I've observed about pastoral ministry in our communities is that the full-time paid minister spends most of his/her time not with people. Perhaps this is an inherrent weakness of making a church building the center of a community. . . But I found myself asking on so many occasions, "Wow, what am I supposed to do? My kids are in school and I work from 9-5 and then have to protect some of my evenings to be around for my family." What we spent our time outside of the office, in the community?

I may be opening a can of worms here which may ultimately lead to the question- what do we (or should we) get paid for? I've been working part-time at the local mall and a part of me loves it. I love how it gets me out of a Christian bubble. I love how it gives me opportunities to have relationships with not-yet believers. I love how it shows me the realities of people more than any book can. I feel that pastoral ministry as it is currently structured establishes a lot of obstacles that gets in the way of these important things. What could it look like if our churches were structured in a way that required pastor's to be in their world? I truly believe that we would be much more effective in impacting our cities and communities if we could bring that forth. I'm questioning if part-time youth ministry is the only way to achieve this. I hope not- many of us have learned that there really isn't such a thing as part-time ministry.

So there's where I conclude today. Find a way to grab that mallet and go further than you've gone before.

Update

I realize it has been several months since I've updated any posts on this website and to all two of my potential readers- I apologize.

Since November I am no longer working at the church community that launched my career. While we certainly has some rough spots in the relationship, I'm looking forward to this period of time I'll have away from church work. Though I miss it incredibly, I think the next few years will be an important time in my life for me to build and revise my youth ministry philosophy as I wrestle with all the things that an Experiential Youth Ministry could entail.

I will continue writing my thoughts and musings regarding youth ministry on this blog site but it may not be for some time. I need a season to detach from my former community and focus on more immediate interests such as 'providing for my wife' and 'moving out of town' and 'healing from a less than favorable church experience'. So please be patient and check back in periodically. I should be back in the youth philosophy grind sometime this summer.

Blessings and good things.

Thoughts on the Golden Compass

I wonder if perhaps this could be another Nietzsche or Lennon comment taken wrong by the Church. Nietzsche and Lennon are responsible for probably two of the most well-known and offensive comments made toward Christianity. Nietzsche with his famous "God is dead" quote and Lennon's almost-as-famous, "We've become bigger than Jesus Christ" [referencing his career success with the Beatles]quote. Both comments fueled an angry fire under the Christianity pot and the backlash from the Church was vehemently palpable.

While I am not praising their controversial statements, I wish to draw attention to what the Christians missed during these times. Nietzsche looked around his country and saw the poor who were getting poorer, the wealthy getting richer, and the Church doing nothing beyond the "motions of Church" - Nietzsche rightly concluded that God was dead in that the Church was not living in a way to convince the world otherwise. There was no concern for the poor and the helpless. There were no outcries against injustice. The Church had killed God in a figurative sense and ignored His passions in a literal one. Years later, John Lennon compared America's reaction of four Brits playing music to God dying for the sins of man. He concluded that the American audience was more interested in the rise of Rock and Roll than the rising of a crucified Savior. Was he wrong?

Now comes the His Dark Materials series written by an outspoken atheist who intends to, from what I understand, kill a senile God and his oppressive forces. I wish him the best of luck. I too wish to kill that god and destroy that church.

The God of Christianity is not an impaired God whose age has removed him from all reality. Nor should the Church of that God be an oppressive force. Perhaps now is not the time to withdraw from culture and voice our disapproval by boycotting any "anti-God" person or message. Rather I would suggest that it is a better time for us to love our enemies and take the time to listen and to learn. Most of the Church missed its opportunity to wake up to the realities shared by Nietzsche and Lennon. Will this be another repeat? Will we point our fingers and say "tsk tsk tsk" and "shame shame shame" or will we use this as an opportunity to teach our children about the importance of rejecting a God who is not the God of the Scriptures? Will we refuse to be a church who represses those who need the Church the most? The handicapped, the impoverished, the unemployed, the bitter, the broken, the sinful, the idol worshipers, the . . . atheists ? I'd personally love to see Philip Pullman's face (the author of the Golden Compass) when most of the Church in America watched his movie all the while knowing about the agenda behind it. And what if those Christians were to write him and say "Thank you Mr. Pullman because you reminded us that we should overcome evil with love, that we should live like our God is in control, and that we should pull the plank out of our own eye before we judge others. With love and thanks - The congregation of Somewhere-out-there Denominational Church"

I think we would have another C.S. Lewis - who used to be an atheist.