• Lies of Youth Ministry, part 2

    The second lie of youth ministry is that it is all about discipleship. This is a lie which starts with bad hermeneutics, continues with training built around selective theology, and is encouraged by inward looking church leaders.

    Here’s how this lie plays out. Most youth ministers are wholly focused on building the size of their program. If they work for a church, having a large and busy youth program means that they can justify their salary and spend their time thinking about ways to add more programs to make their programs bigger and busier. If they work for a parachurch it’s even simpler as givers like to see numbers… as in the United States big numbers mean you are significant so “hundreds” sounds so much more significant  than “tens.”

    The thinking of both is backwards because we think that if we disciple a lot of people, we will grow. And, if you are in a church context the busier you keep the church kids the more “discipleship” you are seen as doing from the bosses and parents perspective.

    In fact, as I was trained, discipleship predicates evangelism. To state the lie more clearly, most youth ministries training programs teach that in order to reach more people we have to focus on training those you have. And some of the training I’ve received suggest 2-3 years of discipleship before you try to reach a single person.

    Two quick theological points for this lie.

    #1 Check out the parable of the lost sheep. When you do ministry in a community with “lost sheep” (meaning students who haven’t heard the gospel) do you think you should focus your attention on “the 99?” I think youth ministry should be focused primarily on evangelism and reaching the lost and secondarily mentoring the found. A lot of my fellow youth workers like to mention that Jesus only had a small discipleship group of 12. But let’s not forget that he had 12 disciples while reaching, feeding, and performing miracles to the multitudes.

    #2 In a single sitting, read Acts 2-4. Go ahead. I’ll wait. So what did you see? I saw that the leaders didn’t wait for 2-3 years while new believers were being discipled. They were compelled by the urgency of the gospel! In fact, they discipled while reaching multitudes. The more institutional the church gets the less people they reach. So while many youth workers build programs, they miss thousands of opportunities to be on the front lines at their schools reaching lost kids day-by-day.

    You see, if youth ministry is all about discipleship, it never would have gotten started in the first place! The reason parachurch youth ministry got rolling in the 40s-60s was because the “church” thought Jesus’s salvation was for the church kids.

    Youth workers (paid, volunteer, expert, rookies) don’t get caught in the lie of reaching the found and being satisfied with the lost finding you. Coddling the apathetic, baysitting the saved, and entertaining the church’s youth is not why we do youth ministry. We do youth ministry to reach the lost!

    And we disciple our church kids best by being Christ-like in our walk with Jesus. Read Acts 2-4 again... it’s a two-fold plan for discipleship, isn’t it?

    Church leaders: Wanna see your church grow? Try reaching people without a program. Get out of the office and start serving IN your community instead of serving OUTSIDE of your community.

    Part one: The 10% Rule

    Part two: It’s about discipleship

    Part three: You have to have a youth pastor

  • Lifeway, you need to change your mind

    Let’s speak some truth here. This just isn’t right. I hope that they stop treating this magazine as if it were porn… hidden under the counter. What is this 1927?

    What do you think? Did this story shock you or do you think the magazine is inappropriate?

    HT to Mark

  • DIY Antimetabole

    Tonight on NPR’s On the Media there was a segment that talked about the hot trend in politics to use antimetabole. For those who need a refresher from 11th grade english literature class.

    antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order (ex: “I know what I like, and I like what I know”). It is similar to chiasmus although chiasmus does not use repetition of the same words or phrases.

    So I thought it would be fun to challenge you, my readers of the highest intelligence, to create your own antimetebole.

    Some famous examples:

    #1 Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. (JFK)

    #2 The first shall be last and the last shall be first (Jesus)

    #3 “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” (Winston Churchill)

    A couple of my own examples:

    #1 Do I love to eat spicy Thai food or does it like to eat me?

    #2 Can I find my phone or will my phone find me?

    Your turn! It’s a challenge of your brain and antimetobole wit. Leave a comment or start your own blog post with your favorites.

  • Photo post: New Children’s Museum

  • House, mouse, cat, rat

    What is this little guy?
    What is this little guy?

  • Saturday Tunes

    Not sure how I missed this the last few weeks. Ah well, here we are. It’s Saturday morning and the family is doing the family thing. Originally we planned on headed to Vegas to see mom this weekend… but I didn’t find the best deal on rental cars so that was out.

    As usual, here are the next 10 songs I’m listening to this morning. No cheating, ratings included.

    #1 Basket Case by Green Day *****

    #2 What it Means by Jeremy Camp **

    #3 I’m Shipping Up to Boston by The Dropkick Murphy’s *****

    #4 Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 *****

    #5 Hosanna by Christy Nickels ***

    #6 Great is the Lord by Starfield ****

    #7 Earthquake by Family Force 5 ****

    #8 Sister Rosetta by Noisettes ****

    #9 Satellite by P.O.D. ****

    #10 Rain Down by David Crowder Band ****

  • Dedicated to English Language Learners

  • Shifting Passions

    If you listen to Dr. Phil you’d think a zebra couldn’t ever change his stripes. I’ve heard him say things like, “You can’t change a man’s heart.” Well, here’s news for Dr. Phil. God changes the hearts of men all the time.

    Over the past couple of months Kristen and I have seen our hearts change a lot. We can feel our heart opening to a new community, different situations, and the passions of our new life. Concepts, events, and programs that kept me up just a few months ago no longer get me charged. (Notice people aren’t on that list, you can’t ditch me Romeo people.)

    But here are things we see ourselves getting passionate about:

    – Family time. Dude, don’t tread on my family time.

    – Our community. Not all of San Diego, just our hood.

    – The mission of YS. The more I get into this gig, the more I believe in its a needed thing.

    It’s just odd how much passions can change so quick.

  • Unintended consequences

    Oops.

  • Checking in with Megan and Paul

    School has been in session for a couple weeks now, here’s how they are doing.

    Megan loves her teacher. And who wouldn’t? Her teacher is very cool… even if I can never remember her name. Of course, she is doing great. The first spelling test she got 25 of 25 words correct. (Only one in her class.) She’s your typical first born as she always has to be the best. The school also has some rewards built in that she is hooked on. There are behavior rewards and she has 7… she claims this is more than anyone else in 2nd grade. They have a regular assembly and she is shooting to have her name called. They also have a physical fitness reward. For every 20 laps you run before school starts you get a necklace. She got her first one yesterday. We’ve not heard about her having any good friends yet, so we keep praying for that. Yet she is like her mom/dad, not the easiest person to let her guard down enough to get close to.

    Paul is also loving his teacher, Mrs. Cohen. Each day Paul tells me all about his day. What he did, what he learned, what was for lunch, and what he did at each of his 3 recesses. (All day kindergarten) Paul is learning all about letters and math and other cool things. His teacher has picked up on his baby talk, so we think Paul’s going to get hooked up with a little speach therepy. (Got the eval coming, trying not to freak out about the “special ed label” to that.) Paul’s a lot like me in kindergarten… it’s all heavenly. Last night before bed Paul asked what day today was. When we told him it would be Wednesday in the morning and he had a full day of school he raised his hands above his head and ran off to bed, “I can’t wait!” I will remind him of that moment in 12 years.

    Kristen and I really like Darnall. First of all, it’s in our neighborhood and we’re all about getting to know people in the neighborhood. Second, it’s a charter school. I’m digging that we’re not deeply involved in the corruption and crappy politics of Romeo. And the uniform thing… it’s so not a big deal to them now that school started.

    Long story short, the kids are settling in and the learning has begun for this year. Praise God for a smooth transition.