Category: light force

Just like when we rolled out a lot of the transition stuff at the Parent’s Meeting, the church leadership meetings were full of great questions and positivity. That doesn’t mean that the next steps aren’t going to be a bit bumpy, but it is very good to know that the majority of people in leadership are excited about what we are doing. So, I’m pretty pumped with how the last 24 hours has gone!

I saw this last night on Pimp My Ride. This is absolutely incredible.  It’s a blow-up movie or TV screen that you can put in your front yard or anywhere. I haven’t decided if we need one for Light Force or if I just need on for myself yet.

It’s like 10 feet across and very portable.

It’s the Blimpscreen, and you can get it at their website. This one comes with a projector and is only $4000. Feel free to just have it shipped to my house.

Last Spring we decided that we were going to do something a little different over the summer. We wanted to see what would happen if we did something just for a group of people we felt like we often times overlooked. Our middle schoolers. (In the last year… most of our numeric growth has come in this age group even though we weren’t "aiming" to specifically grow in that age group.)

What we came up with was something called Middle Madness. It met off site all summer on the "off-Wednesday" from Light Force. And I would consider this a big hit. Here are some highlights…

1. Students came! Only the very first one had a small amount of students. Most of them had between 8-12 students.
2. Students brought friends. Always a good sign.
3. It was fun. We played some wild games, some tame games, but we had a lot of fun overall.
4. Lots of good conversations. Seems like a small thing, but I loved having the chance to talk to the middle schoolers of Light Force without the big pushie high schoolers fighting for attention. This was huge!

All of this points to a couple of central "things learned." First, I am glad we are going to a small group model. Our middle schoolers need to be heard and need to be challenged. Second, I am glad we did this on so many fronts… it’s my hope that we will continue to value middle schoolers enough to zero in our efforts on them.

Last night we had a long awaited parents meeting where I could roll out the full extent of our changes for Light Force this fall. There are a lot of them… and some of them are hard to swallow.

Here’s the highlights of what is changing. Go to the read more for that…

In the students eyes, tonight was a worship and game night. I’m certain there are some students who are miffed about how it went down since they originally wanted it to be a student led thing and it ended up being a Dave & Jason led thing. At the end of the day… I should have stepped in and led this thing from the beginning or not let it happen at all. Life is about learning from mistakes. Oh well, win some and lose some.

(more…)

Last night we wrapped up the summer Light Force series on Mormonism. If you want to catch up… here are the topics we covered.

As I shared with our students each time we talked about this, I did this series in response to what’s happening here in Romeo. Over the past year or so Mormon missionaries have been making more and more concerted efforts to talk to high school students. With the planting of a local LDS church in our area coupled with high school students being heavily recruited… it was the goal of this series to fill our students with as much truth as we could about this different faith.

That said, here are 4 talks that point to why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are not an expression of Biblical Christianity.

– There is only one God
– The Bible is God’s Word
– Women Have Equal Access to God

This weeks talk, Mormonism and Salvation, contrasts a works-based vs. grace-based salvation.

(more…)

Late Summer is traditionally wild for me. I’ve got to participate in my summer activities and gear up for the Fall programs all at the same time. So, while most of my students are chilling at the pool, staying up until 3 AM, and sleeping in… I’m cracking the whip and falling into a pile at the end of the day.

What’s doubly crazy is that this year is twice as mad as usual! Why is that? Well, starting in September we are implementing a lot of changes to the youth group. "Changes, I thought we were a Baptist youth group?"

Yeah, we’re morphing (not changing really) the make-up and philosophy of ministry for Light Force. I am saving a lot of the details of this until a Parents Meeting on August 16th… but let’s just say it’s BIG and it’s really exciting for us.

The net result is that I have lots and lots to do and I’m trying to break it all up into bite sized pieces. I love everything I’m doing… just panting like a dog to get it done.

Buried deep in an article on CBS’s economic website, it seems that Congress is trying raise the minimum wage nationwide.

The bill calls for the minimum wage to rise to $7.25 an hour from $5.15
an hour, an increase that would be phased in over the next three years. [Read the rest]

Obviously, this hasn’t passed through the Senate yet… but raising the wages of our lowest paid employed persons out there is good news. It’s kind of sick to think that someone could work 40 hours per week at Wal*Mart and bring home less than $200 after taxes. This would take that 40 hour take home pay to about $250.

Postscript: This doesn’t mean our babysitters will be getting a raise. In fact… we didn’t know we could pay so little!

This is my 3rd installment in a five part series on Mormonism that I am teaching at Light Force.

Free From Bondage, John 11:21-43

Jail-Free-Jail

Imagine that you had done something really bad and were sent to prison for life. Over the course of a few months you would likely begin to recreate a new life based around y our prison experience. Since you were there for life, you would quickly lose yourself in the politics of prison life, the daily routines, etc. You’d form new friendships and likely forget about the outside world altogether. You aren’t free but you learn to adapt to life in jail.

Well, a few years later you are unexpectedly released from jail. You very quickly remember how cool freedom is. You embrace it, run with it, settle down into freedom-based friendships and jobs. Some more time goes by and you’ve nearly forgotten about your jail experience. You get a decent job, fall in love and get married, and start a family. The old prison life is a distant memory.

Until the knock comes at your door. Instantly, you are taken from your "free life" and thrown back in prison because they have mistakenly set you free. So, you tasted some freedom but head straight back to jail.

– What would that emotion feel like?

o To
be in jail, all alone in the world.

o To
be set free, to experience the ability to do whatever you wanted… to start life
over.

o But
then to be put back in jail.

–        My guess is 
this would actually be worse than if you were just put
in jail and never tasted freedom at all.
 

Tie-in: This is exactly the type of thing Mormons
seek to do with women.

Chrisitans believe that we are born into sin, but yet can confess their
sins and turn to Jesus and away from sin and it’s bondage… and He promises to set them free. Christ is their
mediator. In Him they find true release and freedom.

Mormons believe that
there is no freedom for women. Their freedom can only be found through
marriage. Their husband becomes their source of salvation. So even if they are freed from sin’s bondage they are merely rebonded to a sinful man. There is no true release and freedom.

(more…)

This morning we went over to the Fisher’s to play paintball. It had been a long time since I had done it… but it was the same thing. The best part of it was seeing a side of the other 14 people that I had never seen before.

Despite being extremely tired and notably getting picked last, I did have a good time. I think some of the people there thought I was mad or just being a jerk but the real deal was that all of the activity is really catching up with me and I was real tired. I need some serious downtime.

I’m not sure if I shot very many people. And I definitely didn’t go through as many paintballs as other people. But it was a good time. I didn’t wear camo and I don’t think that hurt me either. I did get shot in the legs (I wore shorts) but I also didn’t get nearly as hot as the other people. Plus, getting hit on the skin didn’t really hurt me much. Sting? Yes, but not hurt.

An observation: Paintballers are no different than golfers. They stood around for 15-20 minutes after each round comparing strategies, sharing stories, and complaining about equipment.

We take off very early for Cedar Point. We’ll leave the church at 6 am and likely be back around midnight. It’s a big, long, hot day. But if you are into adreneline rushes… this is the place to be. I’m looking forward to riding the big rides all day long. Put me on the Dragster all day long.