Category: light force

Tonight my talk at Light Force is going be pretty dark. We’ve come to the point in our study of Luke that we’ve reached Luke 8:26-39 where Jesus heals a demonically possessed person. Scary stuff if you ask me.

A couple of points I’m really facinated by in studying this bit of Jesus’ story. [The talk will be available for download in "my talks" by clicking the link on the left]

– Context is everything. When you keep in mind what Jesus is doing, showing his disciples that he has power over the natural world, demons, illness, and death, the whole thing just makes more sense.

– The demonic world is real. Since Christians can’t be indwelled by demons… if you don’t know Jesus and are not indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you are at risk.

– Even if you are being attacked by demonic powers, Jesus has the power to heal.

There is no such thing as a "sheep too lost." Tough message, not "geeked" about teaching it, but it is going to be really good.

I spotted this on a Florida youth pastors blog. [Go here] I thought it was worth passing along.

Last night we had our first Pizza Worship and Prayer night.  It was an
idea I stole from a blog I read by Adam Mclane.  It was great.  We
started off with kids just hanging out and munching on pizza.  Then we
moved into a time of awesome worship.  I intersperesed praise songs
with meditation elements from Sacred Space.  It went really well and I
think the kids needed it.  I think it was cool to combine the pizza
with the worship.  Traditionally I usually only did the Pizza and game
night thing, which is cool, but the early church new what they were
doing when they combined the meal with the worship.  It worked out well
and I think we will do this on the first Sunday of each month.

In the ministry world, when someone "steals an idea" it is a compliment. You see, we youth folks are all about sharing ideas that transform lives. There is almost nothing I look forward to more than the monthly COP&P.

Last night was the annual Christmas party for Light Force.  It was the first time we’d had a full on youth group event at our new house and it went really, really well. I wasn’t actually sure if our house could hold everyone and was secretly hoping that we’d only have 15-20 people! But alas, about 40 showed up and packed our house. It was the first time I felt like the new place was small! If we do another party… I think we could easily go up to 100 if we were inside/outside.

I had games planned and a cool "end of the year speach" that I never got to do since there were so many people. (How do you get 40 in your living room for a PowerPoint game when there are already 22 in there playing Halo and it is too smooched? Ah well, it was a great time and we look forward to doing it again. 

This was our first and last Light Force for December. Just the way it worked out with the schedule. I hope it’s a precursor to 2006… because tonight rocked. We just had a good feel from everyone. Now it wasn’t a night of uber-warm-fuzzies or anything like that, but all in all LF is just cruising along and going well.

Tonight we said goodbye to one of my favorite students. Nicole is moving to the Chicago area next week, and tonight was her last LF. I mean… if you are going to move, Chicago is a good place to go… but it is sad nonetheless. I don’t like seeing studens go.

In other news, we had a lot of visitors. This is a weird phenomonon as we aren’t and haven’t focused of "bring a friend" but that is just happening. The talk, I felt was pretty good. (Not to pat myself on the back.) I just felt like the story we read (Luke 7:36-50) is just stinking powerful on it’s own.  Here’s my dirty little secret from the talk tonight. I didn’t have an ending planned. I got to that point in preparation and I just said… "I need to feel this out." It was a weird bit of freedom and I think it was a good ending.

This is a rendering of what Romeo will look like after Phase 1.

Last night was our regular monthy concert of prayer and pizza night. I have grown very fond of this "crazy idea" that we launched in 2004.

The really incredible part about what is happening this year is that we’ve been asking students to just come and share their stories. These stories of intruige, salvation, and messy life stuff may be the most powerful stuff the youth group has ever said and it didn’t come out of my mouth.

The idea was born out of desperation. As an intern I ran a large high school group going through a nasty transition. When I was given the reigns as the interrim… the whole thing was a mess. The adult leaders didn’t trust the church leadership. The students didn’t trust the adults or the church leadership, they had even been meeting on their own in addition to our weekly times. The previous youth pastor had left, sadly, unprofessionally and it was all very messy.

It was a time for that group when the 3 hours on Thursday nights was just too much and wasn’t helping anything… in fact I feared that it was making problems go from bad to worse. So one day I asked the leaders, "What do you think about asking people to share stories?"

It began simply but as the months wore the stories began to get more and more of what’s really going on in my life.

It’s that feeling of meeting the "what’s really going on" needs that LF wants to go for. We just wnat to help guide students and point them to the cross…

Today we saw the first snowflakes of the season. No accumulation, but snowflakes nonetheless. Sick and wrong. But it has also been very cold. With yesterdays rain… more than 2 inches… and today’s freezing temps…. it has instantly turned into near winter. We may see some accumulation tonight, but I doubt it. Further north there will definitely be a lot of snow, up to 12 inches in Gaylord.

Tonight’s Light Force was a bit flat. I thought it was a solid night, but not our best. We had a good crowd and all, but something about it was just flat. We are entering a funky time period with a lot of distractions ahead. I am already looking to getting Light Force back on track after the holidays. I love the holidays, but they are a distraction!

Here are a few reasons I thought tonight was a particularly good Light Force.

1. We’ve got a mojo right now. While we are not, and never will be, "the coolest hippest thing in town" we do have a good feel. Environmentally, I think it’s a good mix of chaos/control and inquisitive/talkative.
2. Solid, simple games. We’ve been doing old school, Scooby-style favorites and they are classics because they are classic.
3. Content. I am decidedly uncool, but God’s word is always cool. I think that Bible teaching is one of our strongest points.
4. Solid leaders. I can’t say enough about the crew we have. They are calm, helpful, caring, dedicated… I could go on forever.
5. A level playing field. While we aren’t all the same, I think we do a good job establishing that we are all a big mess just trying to find Jesus, chase after him, and sit at his feet.
6. Worship. We all know this is an area we need to grow in… but just like everyone else, I am waiting for God to do something. But for now… the worship team is right on. Looking back 2 years, it is clear this has been a growth area. Even though our worship has never been perfect… we still do it because we know, and I beleive strongly, that our act of obedience in worship releases God’s power among us.
7. Fresh faces. Seems like every week there is someone new. Maybe they don’t always come back… but they are checking us out and that adds a fresh flavor.
8. We are still not a "dating group." I’ve never been anti-dating but I am pro not dating. I think one of the cool vibes we have going is that it isn’t a meat market.
9. Different people. I got to spend time tonight with some students that I’ve always really like but never really connected that well with. Personally, that made my day.
10. That would have been nice and round to have 10 wouldn’t it of…. but I only have 9. So take that!

I spent my afternoon today raking leaves with some of the younger students. This was pretty cool since I rarely get to spend any time with the 7-10th graders all alone. But since I spent all last weekend with only 11-12th graders… this was a nice pay back.

Later on, I’ll be shopping at the Salvation Army for some special outfits for tonight’s talent(less) show. I’m just waiting for the phone call to hook up with Jaimie. Two guys shopping together? Don’t think about that one too much!