Tag Archives: christianity

Summer Camp Series: When the Music Fades

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It is Monday. The bags are unloaded and the vehicles have been vacuumed. Camp is over.

What do you do when you have had an amazing experience with God, but then come back to the regular routine? Can the passion be kept or will our commitments fizzle out in a few weeks?

Here are my thoughts on holding on to what is important.

  1. When you take something out, fill the hole. – During camp or other church events we can make commitments to cut out unhealthy behaviors or habit. This is good! Romans 6 asks if we can keep on willfully sinning as believers. When we intentionally remove certain things from our life we should also intentionally fill the newly vacated time with Godly behavior. The more we can remove the unholy things/attitudes/behaviors in our life and replace them with holy things/attitudes/behaviors the better off we will be. When we make the commitments but do not make a replacement, the probability is that we will fall back into our old patterns.
  2. Emotions are not rock solid identifiers of God’s will.  – Emotions are good. God created us to feel deeply. When we encounter God we are deeply effected. Think of Isaiah in chapter 6 of his book. He said he was “undone”. I gotta believe that is on some level an emotional reaction as well as a spiritual reaction. Even though we need to allow ourselves to feel the move of God, we cannot trust emotions as a solid understanding of God’s will. At a camp or other situations where the music and lights are right and you are just a little sleep deprived, the tendency is toward an emotional response. When the music fades and the lights and smoke are off, what is God still saying? God will confirm His movement. Do you see consistency between what you have heard and what He has already said in His Word? Will older, wiser believers affirm what what they see God doing in your life? Do not trust your emotions, but trust the Bible. God has spoken and will continue to speak through it to you!
  3. Accountably is the key to retention.  – When we really want to make a life change, you have to tell someone what has happened. I know, it sounds simple, but many decisions and commitments are made that are never shared! If you really want to see genuine life change, take the first step by telling others what God is doing in your life. Surround yourself with people who will hold you accountable to your commitments. We were not created to live life alone. God made Adam, and before sin ever entered the world, He said it was not good for him to be alone. God created the Church and told us in Hebrews not to forsake meeting together. We need relationships to live the life God intended us to live. Allow others to really know you and speak truth into your life.
  4. How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time. – Many times when we experience God in a deep and personal way we (unwittingly) think we cannot have this in “real” life. It can only happen at camps or retreats, but it is not practical for everyday. To live life in the presence of God is a tall order. This style of living is not one you can turn on and off like a light switch. Jesus disciples asked him how to pray. We have to learn how to read the bible. In our spiritual life we draw close to Him through a lifelong process called sanctification. It is a big task, like eating an elephant, but it is worth doing. We start one bite at a time. Set aside time to read your bible and pray. Commit to a local church. Slowly when we persistently practice the things of God we get close to Him. God wants that real close relationship with us everyday! Even without the hype of camp we can live in the presence of God in real life.
  5. Eliminate Distractions – When we leave our normal routine and get focused on God, what do you know, He shows up. What is the difference between that location 8+ hours away and our own hometown? It is NOT that God only chooses to work there. God is the same in both places. The difference is in us, not with God. When we focus on Him and eliminate the distractions we hear His voice more clearly. If you want to continually hear from God, LISTEN! Make intentional time to worship Him each day. Make intentional time to dive into His word and pray. These are the things we do at camp, why can’t we do them at home too!?!

http://youtu.be/PH-snsXw1as

Your fellow worker in the field, Adam

Summer Camp Series: Expository Preaching Works!

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This week we have been studying everyday in the book of Hebrews. I know what you are thinking…that is a heavy book for a bunch of teenagers. Well, yes it is, but when we push them I have always found that teenagers rise to occasion. They have been doing great! Soaking up the Truth and letting God speak and move in real ways!

Here are some reasons I like focusing on one book of the Bible at a time:

  • It affirms that all of the Bible is important.
  • It keeps us tied to the Word of God for our content.
  • We never get bored by just focusing on the familiar passages.
  • We are forced to deal with issues I wouldn’t normally choose because the text deals with it.
  • It keeps us connected with the authorial intent; as we track through book we see the overarching themes the author wanted to communicate.

Praise God for faithful teachers of the Word!

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam

Summer Camp Series: Priority of the Word

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Just yesterday I was sitting with my students at our camp worship rally listening to Bobby McGraw preaching From Hebrews. He was laying a solid foundation for all the teenagers to understand the necessity of the Bible to real life.

The antidote to spiritual drift = NOT trying  harder BUT submission to the Word.

1)   The Word of God pierces our hearts. (Heb. 4:12)

…..a)    When you read this book, it reads you.
…..b)   It exposes the sin in your life.
…..c)    It discerns your motives.
…..d)   Through it God changes our outlook.
2)   The Word of God propels us.
…..a)    When you still need milk, you have become dull. (Heb. 5:11)
…..b)   It is written for every stage of life (1 john 2 is written to little children, men, and Fathers.)
3)   The Word of God produces maturity in us.
…..a)    One of the strongest warnings in the bible.
………..i)     Called to keep pressing on
………..ii)    Press on in what? The Word.
……b)   Get practical (Heb. 6:1)
…………i)     Read it! – this is not profound…but profoundly missing in many lives.
…………ii)    Receive it! –  Do you put yourself in positions to be exposed to the Word? Or do other priorities take precedence over preaching of the Word?
…………iii)  Respond to it! – You always will make a response, either negative or positive, there is no neutrality.

Summer Camp Series: What Camp Does for a Student Ministry

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First priority: remember why we are taking students to camp in the first place!

Youth Camp in my church has always been a very important event! Frankly, in my own experience as a youth pastor seeing what God has done in students’ lives at camp that led me to include youth camps as one of the key events of my annual calendar. In case you have not thought about this deeply for awhile, let me share my top four reasons for “pushing” camp with my students! As a youth minister camp is:

• THE BEST WAY TO INTRODUCE LOST STUDENTS TO CHRIST: Camps provide a unique 5-day “window” in which unsaved young people can be exposed to the claims of Christ! Think of it! Where else can I get that amount of time in that kind of spiritual environment to “show” an unsaved student what it is like to be part of the eternal family of Christ? They are surrounded by His love, His people, His Word! Hey, they come for the friends, the girls and the sports and recreation, but they could leave with the best friend of all, Jesus Christ!

• MY BEST SHOT AT STRENGTHENING CORE STUDENTS: Camps provide the best opportunity to deepen the spiritual walk of my “core students.” Teens are so distracted today with so many things tugging at their busy schedule! Camp is my best shot at getting their undistracted attention for at least a week! During camp, I spend time with my campers re-enforcing their love for Christ.

• MY BEST (if not only) HOPE OF BUILDING UNITY: Camps do wonders for the unity of my student group!  Only mission trips exceed the bonding effect of camp, and it is usually more costly to get ALL my students to participate in a mission trip (plus the focus is on others’ needs, not our needs) so that leaves camp as my best opportunity to spend a week building the loyalty, togetherness, and focus of my ENTIRE youth group!

• MY BEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO PREPARE MY STUDENTS FOR THE UPCOMING SCHOOL YEAR:

Camps help me focus my students both on their commitment to Christ AND on our purpose as a youth group…to glorify Christ by reaching our unsaved friends at school. It is my best time for my group to regain focus before school begins again and we are back into the heavy school-year schedule with plays, sports, clubs, etc. It is my favorite time to ask, “Okay gang, where are we going this year? What do we want Christ to do among us?”

Adapted from Roger Glidewell at Global Youth Ministry.

Summer Camp Series: Why Go to Camp?

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Right now I am in Laguna Beach, FL with an awesome group of students and leaders for Summer Camp. Here are some of my thoughts on why a week like this is beneficial for groups of students.

  1. A Fresh Environment: When we drive for 8+ hours we leave the normal routine behind. Students are not hanging with the same friends, playing the same xbox games, doing the same old same old. With this fresh environment  I find openness to a fresh experience.
  2. Avoiding Distractions:  When away from the normal routine we also get out of the normal distractions we allow to dominate our lives. Social media, gaming, friends, are all great, but can easily take our focus away from God. When at camp we are get away from these things and can hear from God in a clearer way.
  3. Saturation in Scripture: A primary factor in choosing where I will take my students to camp is how they handle the Word of God. While at camp we soak in scripture. When we are constantly feasting on God’s Words we hear His voice and see His hand moving in a clear way.
  4. Intentional Prayer: The key to meeting with God is communicating with Him. At camp we take special time to pray for God to speak and move among us…and what do you know…He does! These times refresh us and get us ready for the daily routine when we get back home.
  5. Group Unity: When we are stuck with each other for 5 days straight we get to know one another better and realize that we do genuinely need each other. That is how God created the church. I find when we get away from home and have shared experiences we not only grow in our individual spiritual lives, but we brow in unity as a group. I make intentional times for group affirmation. This small investment pays big dividends when we get back home.

This week be praying that God will move and speak! Thank you for all the parents who have entrusted us with your children!

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam

Saturdays with C.S. Lewis: Where is God when I’m Grieving?

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We all will face struggles in this life. That much is for sure. This week in our series, Saturdays with C.S. Lewis, we get a glimpse of Lewis’ personal struggle with the loss of his wife, Joy Davidman, after 4 years of marriage. Even better than Lewis’s words are the words of scripture. Jesus is able to understand our weaknesses and our doubts in the middle of tragedy. While He is acquainted with the pain, He endured without sin.

Hebrews 4:15-6 says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

C.S. Lewis helps us understand where God is in the middle of loss. He also helps us understand where we are in the middle of loss. Read this excerpt of Lewis grieving the loss of his wife:

How far have I got? Just as far, I think, as a widower of another sort who would stop, leaning on his spade, and say in answer to our inquiry, ‘Thank’ee. Mustn’t grumble. I do miss her something dreadful. But they say these things are sent to try us.’ We have come to the same point; he with his spade, and I, who am not now much good at digging, with my own instrument. But of course one must take ‘sent to try us’ the right way. God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial he makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.

~C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, 1961 (emphasis added)

 

 

How Easy Is It To Lose Faith in College? Video – The Jacket

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How do students treat their faith after they leave your student ministry and head to college?

This 2.5 minute video illustrates the point very well. Will the faith of your teens be set aside like an old jacket?

Here are some discussion questions I would recommend you use with your seniors. If we never get real with them, what can we expect? It is my prayer that these will break the ice and open the way for real dialogue about the near future and how they will handle their newfound freedom, busy schedules, temptations, and choices.

  • What is your first response after watching this? What feelings or thoughts did it stir up?
  • If the jacket represents this student’s faith in Christ, how would you describe that faith?  What tends to happen to faith that can be taken on or off like a jacket? Why do you think that is?
  • What happened to the students’ friends as the video went on? How could isolation from supportive community be part of the problem for students who are tempted to toss faith aside?
  • One way people have described this kind of understanding of faith is that it’s mostly about behaviors—things we do or don’t do to act like a Christian.  What would you say in response to that? How is that different from saying God’s grace through Jesus Christ is at the core of faith? (Check out Ephesians 2:1-10 for Paul’s response to this).
  • What do you think a college student—or high school student—can do to keep their faith from becoming like a jacket? What would you say to people like the guy in the video who feel like they’ve blown it in some way and tossed their faith aside?

 

Age-Graded Apologetics Resources!

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Have you ever wondered where to find some age appropriate resources for apologetic training? Click the link, HERE, to see the full version of a very helpful list complied by Ratio Christi (A Student Apologetic Alliance). I have attached the high school, middle school, and elementary school recommendations. Browse and find some gems you can use in your ministry!

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High School

Middle School

  • ACSI Apologetics Curriculum: In this program designed especially for middle schoolers, ACSI’s objective is “(1) to prepare Christian middle school students to defend their faith by teaching them apologetics in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades and (2) to strengthen the individual faith of students by introducing them to answers to the toughest questions and oppositions facing Christianity”.
  • Summit Ministries’ Lightbearers: This series “is a one or two semester video-based curriculum for 8th grade designed to help students clearly understand the tenets of the Christian worldview, and how they compare to the tenets of the leading humanistic worldviews of our day.”
  • The Defense Never Rests: A Workbook for Budding Apologists: “A fill-in-the-blank workbook on Christian Apologetics based on the work of William Lane Craig. Topics include various arguments for God’s existence, the Trinity, incarnation, atoning death, and resurrection of Jesus.” It is reccommended you also get the teacher’s handbook.
  • Apologia Educational Ministries’ What We Believe Series: A great series to teach kids the essentials of the Christian faith.
  • Cornerstone Curriculum: A one year worldview biblical worldview curriculum.
  • Accessible Apologetics Curriculum: “Apologetics Guy” Mikel Del Rosario’s essential apologetics curriculum is a great resource for middle school aged kids who are new to apologetics, but can be taught to all ages. It comes highly reccommended by various apologists.
  • Wrecking Crew Apologetics Curriculum: “The Wrecking Crew Apologetics curriculum utilizes a variety of teaching methods to equip young people to defend their faith, including readings, lectures, note taking, Bible inquiry, internet lessons, games, group discussions, role playing, debates, and mock trials.”
  • Spiritual Formation 4 Youth: “This curriculum is designed to help Christian teachers and youth pastors train students to break through the noise, temptations and fears by focusing on the full life that God offers for them.”
  • FBI: Finding Biblical Intent: “The purpose of the Finding Biblical Intent curriculum is to help teachers teach students how to investigate and understand the Word of God.”
  • RZIM’s ASK Curriculum: An apologetics curriculum; one for Indian students and one for North American students. Great for all youth, high school and middle school.

Elementary School

  • Big Thoughts For Little Thinkers: The Trinity: Wonderful apologetics book by Joey Allen for little kids. “In simple and precise language, God-centered theology is promoted, giving children a firm foundation in God’s timeless truth.”
  • Resurrection iWitness: Apologetics children’s book by Doug Powell that “gives evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ by using the easy-to-understand Minimal Facts argument. That means it relies only on the historical facts that all biblical scholars (including atheistic, Jewish, and liberal) accept and shows how only the biblical story of the resurrection can account for all these agreed-upon facts.”
  • Fact or Fantasy? A Study in Christian Apologetics for Children: A great book on simple apologetics for children by David Walters.
  • The Awesome Book of Bible Answers for Kids: “Respected Christian apologist Josh McDowell encourages children to stand on the foundation of truth with this contemporary gathering of concise, welcoming answers for kids ages 8 to 12.”
  • If I Could Ask God for Anything: Awesome Bible Answers for Curious Kids: “A unique kid-friendly book jam-packed with clear, fresh answers to important questions about God, faith, prayer, and Christianity in language that children can understand” by Kathryn Slattery.

Less “god”, More Jesus

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The Rooted Blog has a whole series on the effects of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism on teenagers in particular and the Church in general. Check it out. As youth workers and leaders, we need to be ready to address the major spiritual issues that impact this generation. Read this insightful article by Andy Cornett which connects with so many teenagers I’ve talked with in my years of ministry. We need to adopt some changes like he did so we can get real with the Gospel for this generation.

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam

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You know this feeling. You love teenagers, you hang out with them, you’ve studied and prepped for a talk, worked hard on a program, taught about Jesus and following him, and … at the end of the day, you find your beloved teens kind of unable to talk much about what they believe. Everybody wants to be “closer to God.” But when pressed, nobody has much in particular to say. You wonder … what is going on here? Are we that ineffective?

Your teens might be suffering from a case of MTD. According to “Soul Searching,” Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) has become the “de facto dominant religion among teens.” Though it’s without creed or organizers, MTD functions like as a parasite to its host, the church. Its chief tenets are that God wants us to be good (and get along) and go to heaven when we die, God wants us to be happy, and God is there for us if/when we need him.

Why do your teens have it? Turns out, they probably caught it from the adults at your church. In her absolutely devastating and wonderful book “Almost Christian: What the Fatih of our Teenagers is tellin the American Church,” Kenda Creasy Dean takes the argument further into the Christian territory of local church youth ministry. Dean (who was one of the researchers/interviewers on the NSYR that formed the basis of “Soul Searching”) offers both diagnosis and prescription for treatment. (Confession: this book is brilliant. I have read and reread it and have heard her speak; if anything good comes out of what follows, it’s properly her thoughts, not mine). I just want to focus on one tantalizing prescription:

Less “god,” more Jesus.

Dean notes that most of the teenagers in the study seem paralyzed when asked about Jesus himself (yes, of course, some did better than others). But here are a few observations that ought to both comfort and encourage us:

  • MTD banks on a default, ahistoric deistic concept of “G/god;” Jesus is vastly different, particular, personal.
  • MTD has some basic beliefs/practices, but it can’t tell a compelling story or capture your heart; Jesus is the best Story and captures hearts (and thus minds and bodies as well).
  • You can’t love MTD – but you can love a Jesus who has first loved you. (And as Dean says, “you learn best what you love most”).

Since reading the book, here are a few practices I’m learning to adopt in talking with students.

  • Start asking students about their relationship with Jesus – not “God.” In English, God is the default word for a deity, so those three letters become a box in which just park our own conceptions/feelings/thoughts/beliefs on the divine. We could talk about “God” all day and not being talking about the same “god.” As Christians we believe in One God- in the three persons of Father/Son/Spirit, and it’s time for us start using those names and asking students about Jesus. Who is Jesus for you? Do you sense that Jesus is with you? For you? What is one thing Jesus is doing in your life right now? And when you are done, pray with them and for them – to Jesus.
  • Use “Jesus” (and God, and Father/Spirit/Son) as subject, not as object. Talk less “about” God: talk more about what he has done, is doing, and will do. When God is the subject, it’s clear he is doing the action. We all know the red letters in the Bible of what Jesus says – but do you talk about what he does? I haven’t done this, but I want to go through a gospel and list out all the verbs where Jesus is the subject. With God (and particularly Jesus) as the subject of our sentences (past/present/future), we emphasize his ongoing, active presence in our midst.
  • Get personal: talk about your own faith story and what Jesus has done/is doing in your own life.  Let teens see the personal difference that Jesus Christ has made in you. Where possible, be explicit about the links between what you do and why. If you are taking some steps in following Jesus, be clear about his love that motivates you. If you are taking some risks in faith, be clear about your trust in him and his leadership. Model this yourself. Ask your leaders to do this. Ask parents to do this with their own kids (it has a huge impact).

It seems like the more personal God gets, the bigger difference he makes. But wait– isn’t that the whole story revealed to us in the story of Scripture? A Father who graciously sends his only Son and gives his Spirit freely that we might be united to him? Thought so.

Hatfields & McCoys in our Churches

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I just finished watching the Hatfields & the McCoys TV series on the History Channel. It was a great show, but sad. It showed the depths of human depravity and pridefulness. When left unchecked, our sin nature spirals downward and destroys everything that was once good. The spiritual vibes in the series were unavoidable. McCoy started off super spiritual, but through the bloody years looses not only his family, but his faith. Hatfield is the cynical one, yet the final scenes of the series show a repentant man being baptized.

Does the church act like these two feuding families? All to often we do. It is a shame too. We do not glorify God with bickering within the church. Just like these families, it is a loose loose situation. James writes to believers when he addresses this issue.

James 4:1-3  “1What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? 2You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.”

Identify The source (v. 1)

James’s readers were fighting each other for position and power. So, James called attention to the source of the fight: they were making comparisons between each other, craving what others had, and coveting what they didn’t have. As a result of those cravings, these Christians fought, competing against each other in a brutal war. When we’re driven by sinful cravings, there are no winners; everyone loses.

Deal with the cravings (v. 2)

So, how do we stop such a cycle? James tells us that we must first look within. There is a war inside of each one of us that starts with what we crave and desire. The word crave refers to seeking physical pleasure as an end in itself and pursuing physical desires (lusts) at the expense of other things. The word desire means a focused passion. Craving and desiring are natural consequences of making comparisons and contrasts. We feed those desires and cravings when we focus all of our energies and activities on obtaining what others have and we don’t. This passage teaches us that this is a meaningless pursuit. And even if we do obtain what we lustfully pursue, we have lost what is more valuable.

Find the solution  (v. 3)

To stop those sinful cravings, we must first recognize them in ourselves. Then, we must honestly confess those lustful desires and selfish passions in prayer. By doing so, we’re admitting that we see what we really need and know that only God can provide that. But we must also pray with the right motives. We fail to receive what we pray for when we ask with the wrong motives, primarily fueled by our own selfishness. We must allow Jesus to work within us, so that giving to others becomes our primary passion.

These insights and more are expounded by Mandy Crowe in an article about trying to measure up to other believers.