Category: light force

For anyone in and around youth ministry very long, you know it has it’s cycles. There are cycles when everything is great and there are times when everything is bad. There are times of YES and their are times of NO. There are times of excitement and their are times of blah.

So where am I now?

What is cool to me right now is the amount of new faces we’re seeing. I am not arrogant enough to think it has anything to do with me, but there are some people inviting new students… just as there are regular students who are fading out. So, it’s just interesting how it works as time ticks along.

In the morning we’re going to be driving deeply into God’s Word as we study together Romans 6. Looking forward to this.

This has been a common question. "Is Dave really coming?" The definite answer right now is I don’t know for sure but I am pretty sure!

We would both like for it to happen. We know what Dave would do here in Romeo. We know he’s available and we know that he can stay with us and I really want to help him answer the big question "Do I belong in church ministry?" If he did come, he’d be here from late June until late August.

So that is where we are. At this point there isn’t much left to do than say… "Yes, 100% Dave is coming, I bought his tickets and everything."

Who is this guy? Dave is a great guy that I lived with, served with, and learned to love as a brother in Christ. He’s great fun and filled with creativity. But Dave has a deep side as well. He’s terribly insightful and really hungers to know God in a deeper way each day. OK… let me be clear, he’s not perfect at all, but he’s a lot like me. "Good kid, lot of problems but a good kid."

More on this soon.

Here’s my image that I’ve been working on for a while tonight for Sunday School in the morning. Somehow, this ties into Hebrews 4. Really, it does.

I spent the day down in Utica at the Digital Storytellers conference. Glenn and I learned a lot of cool things about taking media to the next level at Romeo. (Speaking of which, have you seen the new look to our website? I’m loving it.)

This will also apply for using media in Light Force better. Very excited about that.

Amazingly, we’ve made it all the way through Luke 13 in our series "Tell me your story." So far it’s been a good study. One of the things that it interesting to me is that we could easily spend much longer than one school year in Luke.

Last night was particularly important as we see Jesus’ teaching on salvation change from a corporate faith to an individual decision.

Tonight I will be talking on Luke 13:22-30. This is such a relevant chunk of Scripture. There are many, not only in Light Force, but all over who think they know Christ, but Christ doesn’t know them.

So the obvious reply to this quandry is how do I know if Jesus will open the door for me?

p.s. On a personal note, I am the only McLane not sick this morning. Kristen and Megan were still in bed when I left, Paul was watching TV but already telling me he didn’t feel that well. I suppose the only good thing about my schedule lately is that I haven’t been around long enough to be sick.

Last night’s LF talk was from Luke 12:1-12 and it asked the really big question Am I a Fake Christian?

Here are a few cuts from that.

Opening Story: (I decided not to publish a link to this blog)

bye kids. tired of church and its abuse of people’s lives. tired of God and what he allows his commissioned followers to do in his beloved son’s name. tired of bad dreams and newsletter scraps from churches gone by. tired of compliance-based "christians" selling real estate in heaven to which they don’t have the deed. tired of finding myself fighting back tears during worship, not because of what Christ did for me, but because of whatever flashback hits me triggered by a hymn, a verse, or the way someone looks at me. tired of being a failure in the eyes of so many. tired of the quiet dark speculating time during the night when i consider whether it was a mistake to leave youth ministry. tired of preaching to the choir and stroking ego’s as a means to an end that i’m not that sure of myself. tired of hailing a new class of "emerging" celebrities. tired of pretending things are ok. tired of apologizing in my sleep to hundreds of former youth across the country for being part of the machine that is truly full of *edit*.

and tired of the church as it stands.

— when God wants me back he can *edit* well ask.

            

This is the way he describes himself:

No longer a Christian. I thirst for the experiential faith I knew before seminary, before the propositions and peer-pressured altar calls. When passion was stupid but somehow right. When I prayed for someone out of sheer compulsion, not because I was paid for it. When I didn’t care what anyone thought, except my best friend and my dog. The cold wet grass of camp, after a late night of teenage theology swapping. When future and potential tumbled out and was replaced anew with every breath. When Jesus was my savior, not my attorney. With faith as a child. I feel it once in a while and it is glorious. I want more. I want more.

My question for you is the same as it was for him? Did he have faith at all?

I think what helps me not attack Andy, like most of my other “Youth Ministry friends” have, is that I can see myself doing the same thing… bolting. Sometimes I wonder if I have “enough faith” to withstand the peeks and valleys of a life with Jesus.

The reality is that there will come a time in each of our lives where we will have to decide… this faith in Christ… is it worth holding onto?

Or will I bolt?

Will I pretend to not know him?

Here’s the reality… I think that for most of you… that decision needs to be made now.

When life gets tough… are you going to get goin?

And here are the takeaways. You can know you aren’t fake or a hypocrite, that you are an authentic Christian by observing these 4 things from Luke 12.

– Be authentic(v. 8)

– Be transparent (v. 11)

– Be public (v. 2-3)

– Be sincere (v. 6-7)

Tonight was our monthly Concert of Prayer & Pizza night. Once Wednesday night a month, instead of our regular youth group, we take the entire night to worship and pray. So anyway… long story short here are three reasons I think COP&P rocks.

1. It’s 100% student led. From the ideas to the execution, it’s the students who do it.
2. It’s goes places. This thing isn’t stuck in repetition and it doesn’t just do easy stuff.
3. It’s respected by everyone. This is our 2nd year doing it and I’ve never heard negative feedback about it.

I was speaking with some students yesterday and one of them mentioned that some colleges are starting to use the web to learn about their potential students. Oh be careful little fingers what you type on your MySpace or LiveJournal. You never know who is reading!