American Idol Winners

We just held our second annual American Idol Lip Sync Contest (with props to Tom Roepke, who originally had the idea) last Sunday, and it was awesome.  We added a new category this year - music videos - and I believe those submissions will provide the longest lasting memories.  They were insane.  Below are our winners by category.

Best Performance: Annie (with help from Rachel)

http://www.vimeo.com/21493969

Best Costume: Tim

http://www.vimeo.com/21495438

Best Video Submission: Grant, Max, and Company

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=LtFDG5M12l0]

When I'm home

Have you ever wondered what a pastor does when he is at home?  I think the answer to that mystery is widely varied, but there are really only two basic categories of answers: being home or working.  Either you are spending quality time with God, your family, or yourself, or you are taking phone calls, answering e-mails, or working on other things for the job.

When I am home, I am home.  I do not see Sarah and Jakob when I am at work.  I probably talk to Sarah for five minutes during the day, because my lull times line up with Jakob's nap time, and I always hope she's asleep, too.  I wouldn't want to wake her.  So when I get home, I want to be home.  From the time I get home to the time Jakob goes to sleep, I have  less than four hours.  If he is up from his nap, I play with him first thing.  He sees me come in the door, and he runs for his room laughing.  That's my cue to chase him, and when I catch him - always on his Michigan chair - he expects me to tickle him.  Then I let him up, he runs to the living room, and I catch him out there.  Repeat cycle.  We have fun.  If I walked in the door on my phone, and he took off running, I wouldn't be able to chase him.

Chase is followed by dinner.  I do not want to get food on my computer, phone, or Bible, so besides putting Sarah and Jakob first, there are practical reasons to ignore work while I'm eating.  Besides, you don't want me to chew in your ear, and I don't want my food to get cold.  Everyone loses in this situation.

After dinner, Jakob usually watches his last episode of his show for the day, and he'll sit on my lap for a few minutes of it.  He can't stay, though, because he has to get up and dance.  Sometimes, I've been known to dance with him.  Actually, that's a common occurrence, because he has more fun jumping up and down when we're doing that together.  Post Imagination Movers, I hang out with Sarah.  Jakob chases the dog or cat, or "reads" his books, or plays his drums.  His drums are really anything he decides to hit with his drumsticks.  It's cute for now.  Sarah and I talk and watch him play, and we watch TV, although there's really only one day where we enjoy TV, so usually we ignore it.

Bedtime for Jakob comes between 9 and 9:30.  Sarah gets him ready, gives him a kiss, and hands him over to me.  I give him a hug and a kiss, pray with him, and give him another hug and kiss goodnight.  I never leave his room without telling him that I love him, whether he's awake or asleep.

The last hour of my day is me and Sarah time.  Lately we've been spending that time reading our Bibles next to each other in bed and periodically talking sporadically throughout our reading.  She will tell me something deep she's picked up, and I'll point out something I thought was funny in my reading.  We might turn on a movie and watch some of it, or we might just go to sleep.

So, when I am home, I am home.  There are few exceptions to the rule.  If I get sick and cannot get my work done during normal office hours, I do some work from home.  If Sarah is out with a friend and Jakob is napping, I might work a little.  God has changed my message for the weekend on the weekend, so I work from home then.  I might even take a phone call, but if it's not an emergency, I will tell you that I'll take care it tomorrow and call you back.  If it's an emergency, we can take care of it right then.  Sarah's understanding and flexible about that.  Emergency is defined as follows: someone is hurting, in the hospital,  needs talking down, or a teenager needs to talk to me.

My family is the most important ministry I have.  I can't neglect it for the others I've been called to do.  I don't want Jakob's childhood memories to be of  he and Sarah spending time together while I was on the phone or spending time with someone else's family.

Christian Atheist: Eternal Security

I am a nighttime worrier.  If there is something to worry about, I will wait till it’s bedtime.  Anyone else like that?  I suppose it’s because there’s nothing to distract me from this distraction.  I’m often too busy or over stimulated to be bothered worrying.  What kinds of things do we worry about?

School, tests, girls, boys, conversations we’ve had (did it all come out right?  Were they offended), financial security, future, salvation.

Some people live in constant fear of losing their salvation.

Has anyone here ever threatened to run away?  How did that go?

I did a couple of times, although I was too afraid to, thanks to my mom.  I guess that turned out to be some good parenting.  One time I did run away, and I made all the way to the pond ¼ mile from our house.  I sat on a bench for about 5 minutes, until I was fully bored, and I went home.  My great escape was brief and super lame.  It probably lasted 9 minutes in total, counting travel time.

Before I left, I told my dad that I was mad at him, and I wanted to run away, and I didn’t want to live with him anymore.  I don’t know what caused the fight, other than puberty, punishments, and an emotionally unstable 13-year old boy.  But I said some things I shouldn’t have said, and I walked away.

When I got home, my dad received me just like a father would receive a son.  What I mean is that he still punished me.  I was not liberated or emancipated.  I still fell under his fatherly rule, so he yelled at me, sent me to my room, and smacked me on the back of the head as I walked by, all in love for me.  By the way, punishment is a sign of a maintained relationship with your parents and with God.

Sometimes we run out on God, our Heavenly Father, too, right?  We ignore Him, don’t spend time with Him, get downright angry with Him and totally walk away.  Then, when we return, He receives us back as sons and daughters, and sometimes that includes a little loving correction.

But what if we do not choose to come back?  What then?



What do you think?  (The students mostly agreed that one could not.)

Are there any exceptions?  People often teach in error that a person can lose his salvation for the unpardonable sin, but that is not true.  That is a sin that can only take place before salvation, because it is the ultimate rejection of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately Jesus Christ and God the Father.  It can simply be taught as unbelief, because unbelief is what leads to rejection.  The Pharisees that were guilty of this had never believed in Jesus and never would, because they completely rejected Him, His work, and His Power Source.

 





Read 31-34a – Who can be against us?  How will He (God) not give us all things (seeing what He has already given us)?   Who can bring any charge against (or demand payment of a debt) against God’s children?  Who will condemn?

Read 34 – The answer to the questions is actually an answer that supersedes the questions: Jesus Christ died for us, was raised again, and is sitting right next to God interceding on our behalf.  If the Devil brings a charge against us, saying we belong with him, we’ve got Jesus serving as our defense attorney.

Read 35-39 – We have complete victory, and it doesn’t depend on us!  Once we’re in, we’re in.  We can’t be separated by dying.  We can’t be separated by living.  Angels can’t take us.  The devil can’t have us.  The things in our past can’t disqualify us.  The things in our present don’t own us.  The things in our future can’t defeat us.  There is nothing that has ever been created, including ourselves, that can separate us from the love of God, which we have attained through Jesus Christ.  It is the most solid bond that has ever existed.  There is no wedge that can be driven between us and God.  Once we are His, we are His.



Hebrews 7 discusses the High Priesthood under the old covenant, versus Jesus’ High Priesthood.

The High Priests of old were flawed, sinful, mortal individuals.  They needed to make constant intercessions, first for themselves as sinners, and then for the sins of the people.  Jesus, however, died once and paid for sin once and for all.  Then He rose again, and He lives forever to intercede for us.  Therefore, He is able to save us COMPLETELY!

We will never lose our Mediator, because He will never die, leave us, or forsake us.



What does it mean to be sealed?  If a King sealed a document, he would put hot wax on it and press his ring, or cygnet, into the wax.  That made it his official seal, and only specific people were authorized to open that document.

The Holy Spirit has sealed us with His divine mark.  Who can open this seal?  We see in Revelations that Jesus Christ is the only one worth to open the seals of God.

So the Holy Spirit is the one that seals us, and only Jesus Christ can open that seal, and we’ve already seen that He has sided with us once we place our faith in Him.



We see again that we have an Advocate.  This time it’s the Holy Spirit.  An advocate is one that pleads another’s case in a civil court.  Civil court is where payment of debts is determined.  We can never be held accountable for our civil debt – death in Hell – once we receive the Holy Spirit as our Advocate.



God holds us within His hands.  No one is powerful enough to get us out of His hands.  Not the Devil, not even you.

I’ve heard it taught that a person cannot lose their salvation by sinning, but they can reject God and choose to lose their salvation in that way.  For that to be true, a person must be more powerful than Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.  They are all three actively working to maintain our salvation, and for me to be able to discard it, I would need to be able to perform a greater work than they ever could.  Do you believe that is possible?



There has been a lot of talk about Hell lately.  Would God send someone to Hell?  There’s a book coming out with the thoughts of a famous pastor on this very topic, and I like that Pastor.  I’ve read his stuff, listened to his sermons, and watched his videos.   I don’t dislike him.  I don’t hate him.  I do disagree with his latest assertion, though.  The thought of the book is that a loving God could not possibly send someone to Hell.  I’ve heard this argument before, and I can see where they take particular verses and reinterpret them in this way, but you have to interpret Scripture passages in light of other portions of Scripture.  Look at Revelation 20:11-15.

That’s not the best news.  So how do we avoid that?



There is good news!  There is a way, and it’s not universal.  All roads do not lead to God.  Only Jesus does.

It’s by grace and through faith.  Being a really, really good person doesn’t get us there.  Going to church doesn’t get us there.  Placing our faith in Jesus



There is no life outside of Jesus Christ.  Do you know Him?   Do you know that you have eternal life?  Why go to bed worrying about possibilities?  Go to sleep knowing you know Christ.



 

sweet to lick - repost

I love the Karate Kid movies - well, all of them except the one with Hillary Swank. To be fair, I've never seen it, and I probably never will.  Anyway, growing up in the 80's, karate was the coolest thing ever because of these movies. Dan and I used to practice our Karate Kid moves in the basement. We'd do the crane kick, the hammer punch, and the flip over the shoulder.  Whoever was playing the part of Daniel Larusso had to yell, "Step back, Daniel-san," in his best Japanese accent before performing the move.  The person to be flipped would stand on the arm of the couch, and the Daniel-san would stand on couch cushion right in front of it. It was pretty much amazing.

One line that always meant a lot to both me and Dan was, "Sweet to lick. You got a problem with that?" There's only one problem with that line: he was saying, "Sweep the leg..." We thought "sweet to lick" was a cool way of saying, "finish him!" Turns out we were wrong. We didn't even discover our error until a couple of years ago. But still, to my brother and I, the line will stay the same. We're too old to change. You don't like that? That's fine. If you bring it up, one of us might say, "sweet to lick," and the other one will finish you. Shake and bake.

Here's the video for everyone who likes punk music and sweeping the leg.



 

why children's and youth ministry?

Have you ever met a children's or youth pastor and walked away thinking they were crazy?  If for no other reason, you probably think we're crazy, because we choose to work with children and teenagers.  School teachers probably get the same kind of looks.  I think the people whose sanity is questioned the most would have to be someone that chooses to be a junior high teacher or junior high youth pastor.  When I was in college, I thought being a junior high youth pastor would be the best thing, and even other youth ministry majors thought I was nuts.

What draws me to children's and youth ministry?  Well, there are certain facts about me that I pay attention to.  As long as these facts remain true about me, I feel like this is the right job for me.  Someday, these will not be true of me, and then I will know it's time for me to "grow up" and be a lead pastor.  I'm hoping to hold onto my second childhood for another ten years plus, though, so don't you go worrying about me leaving.  I know that would just terrify every single one of you.  So what are these facts?  I will list them below in a well organized, bullet pointed list for your consumption.

• I like children and teenagers.  Spending my entire weekend with a group of teenagers sledding, tubing, and playing in the snow is a good weekend for me.


• I do not agree that they are annoying.  I probably find the person that says, "How can you work with kids/teenagers?  They're so annoying!," to be much more annoying.


• I'm okay with them acting like children.  They are children, after all.  It's when adults act like children that I get really upset.  If I turn into the youth pastor that thinks yelling at a student in front of other students is the right way to handle business when they act like kids, I should probably move on.


• I feel like I've met with Jesus every Sunday, even if I never make it into big church.  No offense to big church, but I usually feel as though I get a better glimpse of Him when I'm in children's ministry.  Ever seen a four year old get excited about saying their special words, an elementary student saying their Bible verse, or a 4th/5th grade student's light bulb turn on when they really get a deeper truth about God?  That's church.


• I love my job.  I want to do it well.  I want to do it well so much that I went to see the Justin Beiber movie.  I didn't like it, but I went, and only someone truly committed to youth ministry would do that.


• God hasn't said anything to me about it, and until He does, I'm not  interested, and when He does, I'll probably ask, "Are you sure?"

Children's and youth ministry is the place for me.  It could be the right place for you to serve at your church, unless of course, you're grumpy.  If you're a grumpy gus, I'm not sure where to tell you to serve.  See your lead pastor for other ideas.

Our very first solo winter retreat

Our church has gone on a winter retreat for several years.  I really don't know how long we've been going.  I just know it's happened consistently for at least 7, probably more.  For years, we went to Spring Hill, but the decision was made before I came to switch to Bair Lake, I'm assuming because of cost and distance.  I hear nothing but great things about both.  I've only experienced Bair Lake, since that's where we went last year, and it was good, but I like to reinvent the wheel sometimes.  I like to manage the most important variables: worship and teaching.  I don't want to do either myself, but I do want to have a say - a giant say - in who does them.  So this year, we did our very first winter retreat from scratch.  We didn't attend a program set up by someone else, which had its pros and cons, and in the end, it turned out just fine.  Perhaps better than fine.  Here are my quick thoughts on the work leading up to the weekend and the weekend itself:

• It takes more work and causes more stress for me to arrange everything myself.  I'm okay with that, though.  It's my job, and I love my job, and I'm willing to work at it.


• The greatest source of stress comes from not knowing if the kids will enjoy everything.  If they don't enjoy everything at the other camp, it's on the camp, not me.  This time, I decided what we'd be doing, so I felt more nervous.


• Every session was a home run in my opinion.  Worship was led by our very own Hannah C, who is a teenager in our youth group.  She led well beyond her age.  Then there's Joe, who was interesting, funny, and well prepared for his lessons.  Tired as I was, I didn't find myself drifting at all.


• Our students get involved in the activities and stay involved.  We had an hour long snow fort building contest, and all four teams kept working until time was up (and a little after).


• Riding a tube pulled by a snowmobile is really fun, but really nerve racking.  I'm an old softy, and I was worried about how I would feel if I had wiped out.  I guess I'll never know, because Dennis couldn't throw me, despite his best efforts.


• I love my youth group, the teaching, seeing my young youth leaders carry themselves like long time pros, and watching a student lead well.


• The students worshiped.  They didn't goof off and talk during the singing.  They worshiped.  It was amazing to see.  Then they paid attention during the lessons.  You can get pretty squirrelly being on a retreat and sitting through four sessions in 48 hours.


• Numbers


• 30 - the number of teenagers we  had.  That's the largest total number we've ever had, and in years past, junior high and senior high have gone on different weekends, so it the total number was split up.  P.s.  I loved only being away from my family and children's ministry for one weekend, as opposed to two.  That eliminated one  huge source of stress for me.  Oh, 30 is also the number of dollars saved per student versus what we did last year.


• 5 - the number of adults on the trip.  That's one adult to six students, and one of the adults was from outside of our church.


• 0 - the number of disciplinary problems  and injuries we had.


• 1 - the number of meals I wish I would have never eaten.  Going 4/5 isn't bad for camp food.  The rest wasn't great or terrible, which is great by camp standards.


• 1 - the number of students who threw up.

All-in-all, I think it was a great trip.  I will send out evaluations and verify my take on things with students and parents.  I got to talk to t he group in my van on the way back, and discuss what was good, bad, and ugly.  It was a nice talk.