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August 18, 2010 in Missional 0 Comments

Invite the Poor

Do we really believe every word of the Bible?  Do we take as truth the teachings of Jesus Christ?  If we do we sure are having a hard time doing what it teaches.  I would argue that we don’t really believe every word of the Bible, this belief is from my own life not others.  Simply understanding the truth is one thing but do we put our head knowledge into practices?  Hear what Jesus says in Lk. 14.12-14

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

When was the last time you invited the poor to dinner?  When did you have people over to your house that you could maybe careless about? I leave you with this passage from James – 4.17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

August 10, 2010 in Community 0 Comments

Real or Fake Gospel Community

Here are just a few different things I thought up to see if one is living in a real or fake gospel community.  There are many more but this is the start of the list.
Add yours below.

Real –
- Shares struggles
- Does life together
- Challenges each other to grow
- Preaches the gospel to one another
- Ask for forgiveness when wronging others
- Encourage the loving rebuke of others
- Make each other fell loved

Fake –
- Hides struggles
- Hang out with people, not live a gospel centered life
- Tell people what they want to hear
- Says “your a Christian, I don’t need to preach the gospel to you”
- How many friends you have on Facebook, or followers on Twitter
- Just makes people ‘feel’ good about themselves
- Hides mistakes they make from others

Which one describes your life?  Are you living in a real or fake gospel centered community? Can you add some?

August 3, 2010 in Community, Youth Ministry 3 Comments

Community is Messy

One of the central factors all of our youth ministries need to have within them is community. I plan on writing more about this down the road, but here is a thought that I had today about community.

Community is messy.

  • People will break their promises
  • People will fail
  • People will not want to be held accountable
  • People will continue to sin
  • People will be hard to deal with
  • People take time
  • People are stubborn
  • People are inconsiderate

But we should always remember, we are doing the same thing. To someone else we are “people”.

July 26, 2010 in Community, Youth Ministry 4 Comments

Get the Men!

Pastors, you need to get the men! And get them now, this needs to be one of your main focuses! Here is why…

Biblical President – It seems that throughout the whole of the Bible there have been called out men who are set-apart for the fame of Jesus and the glory of God. We all know that Jesus called 12 to himself and personally trained them for Kingdom work. One cant forget the training relationship that Paul had with young Timothy, calling him his own ‘child’ (1 Tim. 1.2). This idea and understanding of training young men for the services of Church has been something that not only happened in the New Testament, but goes as far back as the Pentateuch and the prophets of God.

Old Testament – We see Moses training young Joshua to lead the millions of people as they captured the land God has promised them. Sinclair Furguson points out that this was even God’s heart with the prophets. Furguson citing (2 King. 2.3, 5, 6, 15; 4.1, 38; 5.22; 6.1) points out that the word ‘sons of the prophets’ “give us a hint.” They show us God’s heart that “He was gathering around the prophets young men, devoted to His name, gifted in His service, and loyal to His servants.” (pg 6 Man Overboard!)

2010 – We have a real problem among most youth groups. For the most part there are more girls then guys, and the guys that come only come for the games. We need to be identifying the key guys Jesus has put around us and pour into them our everything. Here are somethings we need to do with these guys

  • Eat
  • Watch movies
  • Pray
  • Challenge
  • Have them to our house – this shows them how we are as fathers, husbands or just with our family
  • Have them do ministry with you
  • Confront their sins
  • Confess your sins
  • Study together
  • Play Video games
  • Go shopping
  • Do life!
  • What can you add to this list?

Who are the young men that you need to build into for Kingdom work? If you don’t have some then get on it, they don’t have to be perfect, we all know you and I weren’t when we started.


July 22, 2010 in Community 2 Comments

Live to Die – Together

Read this quote by Sinclair Furguson and think through your youth ministry. Are you developing this in your group?

“Early years of spiritual fellowship invested in study, prayer, discussion, evangelism, and the sheer exhilaration of seeking to discover the will of God for our own lives, and the purpose of God for our fellowship, repay vast dividends in the future….. We ought to thank God with all our hearts if we have had the privilege of being bound together with fellow Christians like this, to live and to die for Christ and His cause.” Man Overboard!: The Story of Jonah (page 7) by Sinclair Furguson

Are your students fighting sin together? Studying together? Living to die for Christ together?

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