i am starting a new collection of sermons this sunday i would love for you to hear. we are also re-opening the upstairs bathrooms … which is VERY exciting to us. we would love to see you.
teenagers need you
this week i haven’t been able to stop thinking about youth ministry. there are 2 reasons for that.
our new church has an interest night for a new youth ministry we are launching tonite + the last week of march always brings a flood of Facebook memories from years of spring break trips i led, genuinely some of the best moments of my life.
i spent 7 years working with middle + high schoolers every week. it feels like the dark ages now as the big thing in my era was students being on facebook and a livestream bible study my brother landon used to lead in like 2011. we worked really hard and were constantly coming up with new ways to connect + serve teenagers and help them meet the real Jesus.
i would do so much different now. i wasn’t as empathetic to others when i was younger (like that time i questioned why a girl with one arm would go on the bachelor from stage and somehow a visitor with one arm was there, CRINGE) and being from a stable family, i didn’t realize how teasing + joking affected other people differently.
that said, man we had some great times. i think often of the ways God moved, the people who developed gifts they are still using, the worship times that felt like heaven might come down, the leaders who served so faithfully, the laughter + joy. we had a great run. almost every day on my social media, i see people commenting on posts or hanging together that i remember when they met in our youth ministry.
the last few years have ravaged youth ministries in many churches, but i think the time is now to invest in the young folks. we know they need to be integrated into church. we know safety needs to be a higher value than it used to be. we know emotionalism has limited long term affects in life change.
but …. TEENAGERS NEED US. it’s a crazy world, and any investment we in them is meaningful.. a few things that came to my mind thinking about teenagers.
youth ministry relationships tend to last - some of the dearest people to me are friends i made in youth group as a teenager, people kristen + i pastored, + people we served with. my 8th grade small group leader was my closest friend into my early 30’s. my parents still hang with a wonderful woman who was in a youth group they pastored 40 years ago. etc etc etc. … there is something powerfully bonding about this season in life.
young people are a wonder to behold, not a problem to solve - my friend marko has spent a lot of time writing + teaching on this subject. because their brains are still forming, teenagers make some TERRIBLE decisions, yet they also are able to feel + see things us older cynics miss out on. they are perfectly equipped to be lights in this dark world, IF adults build them rather than constantly try to fix them (screens are bad, juiceworld is bad, rich white guys have all the answers etc)
young people are more capable than we release them to be - we smother + control them. their academic + sporting lives are set-up to make them feel special, with endless trophies and A’s they only kinda earned. yet, we so infrequently let them loose. our desire to keep them safe often keeps them from doing something great. if most of the best lessons you or i ever learned came from failure, why can’t we believe the same might be true for the teenagers we love?
anyway…i love teenagers. and they need us. and maybe we need them?
so let’s get to work.
“we do not lose heart.”
2 Corinthians 4:1
Those five words haven’t been far from my mind since I read them earlier this week. The beast of discouragement is a tricky one, for me it seems to come out of nowhere or give me another punch when I’m already down. It’s ugly. You don’t chose discouragement for a day, it instead chooses you and washes over you like waves that just keep crashing in.
Paul knew we would need these words, so much so that he says it twice in one chapter. This chapter reminds us in several ways of the things around us that make us want to lose heart, they are real and so easily weigh us down. But God has made a way for us and his reminder at the end of the chapter is so crucial - eternity is long, what we see isn’t all there is.
Let’s not buy into the lie that life on this side of heaven is going to be easy, if we think that and believe it we waste too much energy confused on where we got the formula wrong and not enough on the One that matters. Eternity is far longer than our finite minds can think of and if our hearts and minds are set more on that than these fleeting moments here our gaze can be refocused.
We will be afflicted // it’s promised - but you will not be crushed.
You will be perplexed // it’s promised - but you will not be driven to despair.
You will be persecuted // it’s promised - but not forsaken.
You will be struck down // it’s promised - but not destroyed.
Let me close with this piece of good news: He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). I am praying for you today, that no matter what you are facing, you would not lose heart. Jesus is with you and for you and loves you so very much.
Cup of Leadership
make peace, don’t keep it
peacekeeping is usually trying to stop conflict to allow space + time for reflection. this can be a good thing, but it isn’t a complete thing.
peacemaking is the process of helping two people with a broken relationship work through forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration.
peacekeeping minimizes conflict, peacemaking works to solve it.
peacekeepers wants everyone to be quiet, peacemakers wants them to be well.
we live in a world at war and most folks think that just because they don’t have a uniform or gun they aren’t part of the army. anytime you step between people with broken relationships and try to mend them, you are making peace + pleasing God.
so make peace, don’t give energy to trying to keep it.
Super Christian Guy
Saturday Morning Book Review
the art of neighboring - jay pathak + dave runyon
what if Jesus was being literal? what if when he said the world translated ‘neighbor’ he wasn’t being metaphorical? that’s the premise of this wonderful little book. the authors make a compelling case for the necessity not getting stuck in our bubbles, but building connections to the people in proximity to us.
the authors also do a good job of giving loads of practical ideas on how to go about doing this. for Christians who have struggled to reach out to those close by, a great book for you.
Things to Click On
1. my FAVORITE song this EASTER .. ooh man.
2. we put together a spring playlist .. tunes across genre to help us feel the spring vibes …
have a great weekend…
luke+kristen