Ten Things I wish Jesus Never Said - #3

I'm still reading through Ten Things I wish Jesus Never Said by Victor Kuligin. As I read, I am talking about each "thing" mentioned in his book. If you haven't read parts one and two - click on them and get caught up. Today we move on to #3 - "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God" - Luke 9:62. OK, this is a real hard one for me! I really really wish he never said this, because this statement shows the true and utter commitment God desires from us. If you are not familiar with what Jesus is talking about - let me clear it up a little. He using the comparison of farming with the plow - basically when farming with a hand plow pulled behind oxen,etc... - if you look back after the plowing begins - even the slightest of glances - your row will be off. EVERYTHING will get screwed up. Jesus basically saying - "once you choose to follow, its all or nothing" - rocks me to the core. I can't tell you how much of my life as a believer and follower of Christ has been wasted, squandered, and not lived at full potential and capacity. It would have been so much nicer and sweeter if Jesus would have said, "well, once you accept me, you can live right on a part time basis. You follow me around certain friends. You can treat some people with grace and others not so much..." He didn't say that - ALL HEART - FULL TIME.

Student Ministry Volunteers

Do you guys know that our Student Ministry Volunteers are probably the best servers in the church (No, I'm not biased at all - I am completely objective). I thought it was about time that I did a blog post about my peeps. These people work round the clock to pull off awesome environments for teens every week. I can't say enough about what they do. Sometimes I wonder how in the world we do what we do - but when I look at who I have working - I know how we do it. We have the best team. And let's face it - they work for me! Do you know how hard I am to work for? I just can't say enough about 'em. I thought I would give you a sneak peak into the Student Ministry Leadership Team. Now, there are lots and lots of people who work with em - but these are the primary leaders in Student Ministries at NHC.

• Melinda - Spiked Director - ever seen a horse ridin' rapper? That's Melinda.
• Wesley - Club56 Director - short, redheaded, weight lifter - brawn definitely beat out brains!
• Jon - Worship Director - California dreamin' - looks like Buddy Holly
• James - Worship Leader - James can talk the fastest out of all of us - yes, he even beats out Melinda
• Steven - Tech Director - behind the scenes telephone man - be careful - you never know when he is recording you! (Uhhh - that sounded bad. Not what i meant!)
• Carrie - Club56 Director/Big Event Director - firecracker executive, she'll keep ya straight!
• Josh - MS groups Director - knows every movie on the planet and has had MRSA - need I say more
• Jenny - HS groups Director - seems to always have a baby stuck to her in some way!
• Zoie - Serving Director - Dates rats! (I'll let her explain - but I'll tell you, they are not her husband - Hmmmmmm....)

A member of the church of NOW...

I asked a new "member" of the church of NOW to say a little sumin' - Here she goes...

Hi my names Steph and the masta Adam asked me to do a guest blog. So I'm going to talk bout how I feel bout Spiked and what it has done for me. I have been through a lot and when I say a lot - I mean a lot. When I came to Spiked, it was like everyone cared about you and were always telling you that you can talk to them about anything at anytime. Spiked for me is a place where I can go and know that I will be safe to talk to anyone and just fit in. You wouldn't think that teens just could not wait to the next Sunday to go to church - but at Spiked they make everything so teen related and so much fun. When Adam gets up there and talks - somedays you see so many emotions and everyone really listens and really gets into it. They way Adam says everything really touches everybody. All the people there are just so amazing. But just last weekend Adam was sick (he had what we call the collywoobles) so Melinda was going to speak the message that night. Her message was about how so many things happen to you and you just don't think that God is there - but he is and you should never think that he's not. She talked bout some of the things that she went through when she was a kid and some of those things are what I am going through. All the things that she was saying just some how touched me and I knew that God was trying to tell me something. So I started to cry and James(our awesome worship dude) came over and sat beside me and we talked for a pretty good while and then that night I e-mailed him and told him that tonight I am choosing to hand my life over to God and I stayed up forever talking to God and telling him how amazing he is and asking him to just work over me. So that night which was Sunday I handed my life over to Christ and the feeling it gave me inside was just amazing. I don't think I could have chosen a better thing to do or a better time.

Sickie, Sickie!

I've been really sick since Thursday - vomiting all over the place - needless to say, it has been pretty bad. Anyway, today is Monday and I am feeling much better. Heading back to the office in the morning. James (our worship dude - who will have a blog coming in the near future) and I will be working on the youth room tomorrow morning. Thanks for the prayers and ecards. I'm all better. Just FYI - Valorie had to call my mommy over to make me feel better.

Youth Ministry Stuff

I'm sitting at my home computer - which is amazing in itself because I never use our home computer (dial up - need i say more) - and I am listening to Valorie talking to Olivea on the baby monitor. It's the sweetest thing. She is trying to get her to settle down and go to sleep. Maybe I will write more on this later, but it is amazing to watch the woman you have been with for 13 years (married 8 of those 13) turn into a "mommy" or "momma" as I like to say. It's wonderful, amazing, inspiring, and weird all at the same time. Anyway, I was sitting here thinking tonight. I had an OK day today - lots of meetings - and I am not a meeting person. All in all, it was pretty good. But as I think back on my time in the ministry - some great times and lots of not-so-great times - I have come to some conclusions. They all start the same...

1. I have never been in the middle of so much change at one time. I mean this in a good way. I feel God stretching me. You know how when you're out of shape and you stretch for the first time in forever and it HURTS! I'm a pro at this stage of stretching. But then you keep doing it and it begins to feel nice - still hurts - but in a good way? That's what this change is doing. To sum it up, although there is a lot of anxiety about all this change (not just for me - but for my family as well) I think it is good and God is working.
2. I have never been so confident in the direction of a ministry that I am a part of. Some of the above referenced changes are big ones for student ministry at NHC. We are starting a second Club56 service on Saturday nights! And, the biggie - we are moving Spiked (our service for teens) to Sunday mornings! This is a huge move. How awesome is it that a family can walk into New Horizon Church and their teenager have their own, relevant gathering. They don't have to come to church twice. Their parents don't have to drag them in the morning, and then figure out how to get them back in the evening. They don't have to sit through a service designed for their parents. Do you know how many teens are at the morning service at NHC that don't come back at night for Spiked? Lots. And it's not because it sucks - it's because it's hard to do both - to be at both. That makes for a long day - I know personally and just ask my volunteers. We are about to do what no other church in our area is doing in student ministry - and I dig that! We also are taking our community groups into homes! Now that's forward thinking. Read about it on Dave's blog to get some more detail here and another one here.
3. I have never felt the way I am feeling. Don't ask me to explain. Those of you who know me know it is very, very hard for me to talk about stuff like this - especially in a forum like a blog post. I really can't explain. Ministry is nothing new to me. I am about a year or so past the "7 year" mark. It's no different in ministry than it is in marriage. You know how "they" say that the 7 year mark is that phase in a marriage where things can go downhill, go uphill, go stagnant - etc... It can be that testing time. Ministry is the same way and I am in that time. Haven't figured out what it all is - but I'm here. I have to admit -I have a feeling it will never be the same after this point.
4. I have never eaten a bowl of cereal. OK, you didn't really think I was going to be serious for this entire blog post. (Yes, that is true!)

OMG! I am pretty sure this is the longest blog I have ever done! I bet you're bored!

Monday thoughts

For me, Mondays are like other peoples Saturdays. It's my day off. And since Olivea was born- every Monday is Daddy/Daughter Day. We hang out and do stuff together. She likes to play alot and eat alot - sounds just like her daddy. Anyway - today we slept late and then went into town to get some milk. Right now, she is asleep in her carseat - while I sit outside of a coffee shop in the car taking advantage of free wireless! I love free wireless - I don't even have to go in the store - I just sit in the car and pull up the internet - it's great. Anyway, Olivea and I are having a nice day togehter. On another note - one of my students let me borrow an Angels and Airwaves CD the other day. I have never heard this band before - but I can't get enough of this one song. It's called Lifeline. Click here to hear it. Well - Olivea just woke up and is ready for lunch!

Post Spiked Bullets

So, Spiked just ended. If you are new to my blog, Spiked is NHC's worship gathering for students grades 7-12. It is an awesome time every week. This week, we continued with part 2 of Rhythm - our 4 part series during the month of August. Go back a couple of blog posts and you can get the bottom line of the Rhythm series. Here are some bullets from tonight!

• The band rocked some Foo Fighters - Best of you
• I talked tonight about us being in Wonder of God - God capturing our attention versus other stuff catching our wonder and amazement.
• We were back in the book of Genesis - come on people - you know the first book of the bible - with Adam, Eve, and the Serpent - We talked about the serpent tonight
• The snack bar introduced Low Carb Monster drinks - Does that really make it any better for you?
• Told a story about a ministry buddy of mine - old youth pastor like me - who got out of rhythm with God and ruined his life.
• I actually ended on time - can you believe that?
• James - our worship dude - did an awesome acoustic version of my favorite song EVER to end our service tonight - Lifehouse - Everything
• And last but not least - Duct taped a kid - here's proof!

Oh, no she didn't...

Oh, yes SHE did! Our Spiked Director - Melinda - said it! She threw it out there. She exposed a problem. She told it like it is! She "ain't skeered" to say what needs to be said. And the youth pastor master (that's me if you're not paying attention) just put his stamp of approval on it! Curious? Click here to read it for yourself!

Movin' on up!

Any of you ever watched "The Jeffersons" - the t.v. show? This family - led by George and Weezie - started their own business, made some money, and "moved on up" to a new apartment - where "beans don't burn on the grill." Here's their intro theme song on youtube. Anyway, that's kinda what happened to the student ministry office this week. We moved on up! Literally, we moved upstairs. The new office is on the balcony of the auditorium. It poses some new problems and strategy - but it is directly beside the youth room which will be nice. Our biggest concern is making sure we are quiet during service times. I tell all the staff that I got the penthouse! Anyway, here are some pics of the new crib.

Vertical Edge Climbing

Hey Guys - just a reminder that all Spiked Students (7-12th grade) are invited to go rock climbing with us tomorrow night at Vertical Edge in Durham. It costs $5. You have to bring a vertical edge permission form and clean socks (i know that's hard for some of you). Show up AT vertical edge at 6pm and have someone pick you up (or drive yourself home) 8pm. Anything you want to eat or drink is on you! This is a great time to bring a friend. Get there at 6 and check in with Rob! Reminder* You CANNOT climb without a vertical edge permission form with your mom or dad's signature! So, don't forget it! If you have any questions - shoot Rob an email at rob@newhorizonchurch.tv

Pre-spiked thoughts

I'm sitting in my office reviewing my message, hanging with some old buddies. I think God is going to rock Spiked tonight. There is something about this new series - Rhythm - that starts tonight. Can't really put it into words, but I just feel like the lid is going to fly off soon. Melinda, our Spiked Director, feels it too. She is doing one of the messages in this series. Today is a great day so far. One of my favorite students ever - not cause he is "good" our "churchy" or anything like that - but he just tugs my heart - showed up today at NHC 0utta the freakin blue. And I cried and cried and cried. Anyway, gotta go spread the love - the awesome love of God - my king - my life.

Community Groups Startin' up!

Spiked Student ministries is looking for adults to lead Community Groups of students in the fall. Want to find out if this is for you? Next Sunday! August 17th! Immediately following the 11:00 service! In the youth room! Be there! Join us for a short but sweet informational meeting about leading or hosting a Community Group of middle school or high school students. We will cover the responsibilities of the role, time commitment, community group format and answer any questions you may have. Even if you were a Spiked Community Group Leader last year, you need to be at this meeting! We have some big and exciting changes that you'll want to hear about! If you need more information - contact Jenny - Spiked Community Group Director - jennyl.james@yahoo.com

Dave's Blog

The BIG DOG - our Senior Pastor - Dave Bowman - asked me to do some guest blogging on what's goin on in student ministry at NHC - check it out on Dave's Blog.

Rhythm

Have you ever noticed how connected everything is? It's almost as if there was some type of unseen structure to all of life - a rhythm. Many of us are oblivious to it until things are out of sync. We know something is wrong, and we can maybe pinpoint a few things around that are culprits - but deep down we know something more is going on. We are out of rhythm - with God - with ourselves - with others. Starting this week - we'll be talking about Rhythm. Here's the rundown for the series! 8/10- The Song 8/17 - Wonder 8/24 - Discovery 8/31 - Passion............... I know you guys were challenged by our awesome Spiked Director (Melinda) to bring all your friends this week and DOUBLE Spiked! I know you can do it - but let me tell you - this is a series that is VERY important! You and your friends need to be here for it!

I'm Back!

I’m baaaaaacck! As you can see, I’ve been on vacation so I have not been blogging at all! Valorie, Olivea, and I got back yesterday evening from the beach. Olivea loved the water – we had to drag her kicking and screaming (literally) out of the pool and ocean. She played in the sand and smashed the sand castles that we built. And she loved the people. Everyone who looked her way got a special treat – she talked to them, gave them toys, and locked them in with her beautiful eyes. Yeah – I think the beach is going to be a dangerous place for Dad in the near future as she gets older! Her mommy even allowed her to wear a bikini! I was outraged (not really, but I did get a little protective). We had a great time. Valorie turned the big 30 while we were away – and we celebrated our 8^th wedding anniversary. Whoa, those eight years have been much harder for Valorie than for me – but I didn’t need to tell you that did I? Anyway, I came back to find videos of kids dancing at Spiked, pictures of students and adults wrestling with baby oil and watermelons, and some cool gifts on my desk! I even found out that while I was away – my club56er’s washed the windows on my truck! Sunday was a serving day for them. It’s something we do during the summer – One Sunday per month they serve around the church during club56. And, don’t you know that those sweet little boogers washed my windows! How cool is that? It’s like Jesus washing the feet of the disciples – except not feet. What awesome servants! Wesley Chilton – our club56 director – and his crew of stellar volunteers lead Club56 every Sunday in a great and positive direction. I am so proud of that team! To all of the people who make student ministry happen – whether it is at NHC or another church – thank you. There are lives changed every time you interact with them – and you may never fully be aware of the impact you are having on them individually, the church as a whole, and our entire world!