What I learned at VBS

Sunday we wrapped up a very successful VBS at Monrovia. It was a good reminder of God's love. I wanted to share with you some of the things I learned or was reminded of.

I learned we have a lot of talented people in our church family. It is a reminder of the truth we find in 1 Corinthians 12:12, "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ."

There are so many people that chipped in to help us "blast off". Brian Kello and Jennifer Hamlett led the charge in organizing the weekend. Brian really brought a lot of passion and encouraged our young people with his excitement.

Brian leading our final session

There were so many crew leaders and people working behind the scenes that I can't mention everyone here. I do want you to see the rocket Bryan Bates constructed from scratch. It was incredible.

 Our kids participated in what was called "projects with a purpose". Katy Brown and Heather Bates came up with two great projects to allow the kids to serve. One night they put together a care package for the homeless. The next night, they stuffed toy owls to give away to traumatized kids in the emergency room and on ambulances. 

 

Finally, I want to recognize the Waltons and the Selfs. Amy and Christy served as story tellers to the kids and really made the scenes we read about in the Bible come alive.

Amy Walton, dressed as a Capernaum resident, showing the kids the hole in her roof 

where the paralytic was lowered to see Jesus

 Thanks to all who participated. I know the children had a great time and learned a lot. Our theme verse for the weekend is also a good reminder to all of us. It comes from 1 John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." Throughout the weekend, Brian would say, "God loves us, sooo...." And the children would shout back, "love each other." No matter where you are or what you've done, God loves you very much. For us as Christians, it is our mission to share that love with everyone.

Your books and your faith: A parent's influence

I have a test for you. Pull your hands away from your keyboard, and look at your fingernails.

Go ahead... do it.

Okay, so now that you did, I want to analyze how you looked at your fingernails.  Scientific studies have shown that the majority of men will look at their nails by holding their hands palm up and curling their fingers so the nails show. Women, on the other hand (pun intended), holds their hands palm down and fingers straight out. Did you look at your nails the "correct" way for your gender?

I don't know much about the science behind it, but I do believe there is some truth to it. It does seem to work that way most of the time.

Here is another one: Think about how you carry a stack of books. If you're a dude, chances are you carry your books in one hand, pressed against your side. Girls carry their books in front of them, with two hands wrapped around them. One of my college professors first brought this to my attention as he explained that the way we carry books is handed down from our ancestors. My professor said men carry books like our ancestors carried their weapons and women carry books like our female ancestors carried their babies.

Once again, I am not sure how much of a part biology plays in this phenomenon. More than anything, I think how we carry our books is a learned behavior.

Over the last ten months or so I have learned many lessons about ministry and developing adolescent faith. Those lessons have been the result of first-hand experience and academic study at Lipscomb University in a pair of youth ministry classes with Dr. Surdacki and Dr. Fraze. One of the most important lessons I learned was how important parents are in developing faith.

From hobbies to behaviors, we learn much about life from our parents. Last summer I had dinner with a couple of my high school classmates. As we were sitting across the table from one another, I began to notice how much they each looked like their fathers. But, it wasn't just looks. they sounded like them too.

One of those former classmates was telling me about how he was volunteering at our high school by coaching the junior varsity baseball team. His dad was a high school baseball coach. I know they talked a lot about baseball when we were growing up and my friend's dad even helped coach some of our teams. The point is, it was a learned behavior. His dad loves baseball and now he loves baseball.

The go to verse here is Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." 

How about Deuteronomy 6:4-7:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

In Almost Christian, Kenda Creasy Dean writes about this passage, explaining that, "The law called upon Jewish parents to show their children godliness—to teach them, talk to them, embody for them their own delight in the Lord, 24/7." I believe Christian parents have that same responsibility. Parents have a major influence on the lives of their children. Dean concludes, "in the end, awakening faith does not depend on how hard we press young people to love God, but on how much we show them that we do."***

When I started writing this post (about a month ago), we had just wrapped up our Senior Sunday as we honored the graduates in the Monrovia Youth Group. On that Sunday morning, we showed the following video. It was a great reminder of the impact a strong family has on the life of a teen.

 

*** Dean, Kenda Creasy (2010-06-12). Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (p. 120). Oxford University Press.

Dear Graduates...

This past Sunday, we celebrated the graduation of our seniors at Monrovia Church of Christ. First of all, congratulations! I certainly wish you the best in your future endeavors.

I had the opportunity to speak Sunday morning and shared some advice. We have an awesome group of guys that stream our service online Sunday mornings and record the sermons to make them available. So, I am able to share with you the message we had Sunday morning for our graduates...

Words are the most powerful tool you have as a human

When I was interning for WREG in Memphis as a senior at Auburn in 2006, I was interviewing then Memphis football coach Tommy West. I had one of those moments you see on TV when a coach goes on a rant. I was asking a series of questions that my sports director had told me to ask about the Tigers season thus far. Memphis was not having a good year. They only won two games that season. However, the upcoming game was expected to be a win against a lesser opponent. One of the questions I asked was something along the lines of, "do you expect to get some quality minutes for your backups to get some experience?" Mr. West did not like this question and proceeded to put me in my place. To summarize his response, he said, "hey stupid intern, we aren't worried about getting experience, we are just trying to win a game," (his words were much more colorful than mine).

I learned a lesson about words that day. The words I used elicited a very negative response. His words hurt. This incident reminds me of Proverbs 12:18, "the words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

This story was part of our lesson on words today at Madison Academy as I was filling in as a substitute bible teacher. Sometimes we take for granted just how powerful our words can be. Consider the following quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne:

 

I think about Hitler and how he stirred the masses to great evil with his words. Martin Luther King had a huge impact on the Civil Rights Movement with his words. 

Words stir emotion and can leave a lasting impact. Check out James 3:

³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Take responsibility for your words and choose wisely. You only have a certain number of words to share in a given situation and they are your most powerful tool.

Let love explode and bring the dead to life

Outside of Monday night's basketball game, I have been a bit of a recluse this week trying to get caught up on some school work, preparing lessons, and getting some planning taking care of for some upcoming MYG events. Therefore, I have spent a lot of time at the house studying, etc.

Today around noon I got a knock on the door asking for some help. It was my neighbor who needed help loading a table into a truck. I provided a hand and then proceeded to get ready to head out the door on the way to the church building.

When I got in my jeep, I still had my iPod hooked up so I pressed play. The song was God's Not Dead by the Newsboys. The first line of the song really hit me: Let love explode and bring the dead to life.

 

I thought, "what have I done this week to let love explode?" Maybe that knock on the door was a reminder to get to work. 

Ephesians 2:10 tells us we were created in Jesus Christ for good works. I think that's what this lyric is all about. Letting love explode means letting your light shine so that others may see your good works and glorify God (Matthew 5:16).

That is where the dead find life, only through Jesus Christ!

What are you doing this week to let love explode?

What is goodness (according to the children)?

One of my favorite parts of speaking at Monrovia is interacting with the little ones at the beginning of service. Yesterday I preached on goodness and we got that conversation going, when I asked the kids some questions about what is good. You never know what kind of answers you are going to get...

Five things teens need to hear more often.

It was a Friday night in South Texas. I was working as a sports reporter about an hour and a half drive away from Victoria, the city the TV station I was working for was located. I was shooting a high school basketball playoff game and the team from Victoria was struggling to score and losing by a considerable margin early in the first half.

 

It was one of those moments when you are thinking in your head, that coach better call a time out or this thing is going to get out of control. But, instead of a timeout, the coach stepped out on the floor, while his team was in transition and yelled, “FUNDAMENTALS!”

 

I think we need that moment in our lives sometimes when we are reminded to get back to basics. That said, this list of five things teens need to hear more often isn’t ground-breaking or particularly deep. It is just a simple reminder of the "fundamentals".

First a disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert on child rearing. In fact, I have no experience whatsoever as I am not a father. However, I am very blessed to be on the receiving end of good parenting. Plus, I now work as a youth minister, so I get to interact with teens on a daily basis.

On to our list…

  

1. "I love you." Allow me to be captain obvious for a moment. I believe this one is the most important. Every child, regardless of where they come from or what they have, needs to hear they are celebrated and desired. Isn’t that what love is? It is not about what they achieve or accomplish, they just need genuine love for who they are.

To learn more about love, you should read all of 1 Corinthians 13. I will share with you just one verse: If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

2. "You are important." This one falls in line with the previous need. It is important that your kids hear they are important!  Teens are searching for identity. They need to hear that you value them as people. They need to know their decisions matter. There are ways to say "you are important" without using those words. I found a post at angelamaiers.com to be helpful. She suggests the 12 Most Important Ways to Let People Know They Matter. Following are a couple of her suggestions (more at the link above):

- Begin and End your sentences with “YOU”

• I believe in you
• I hear you
• I understand you
• You were awesome
• You rocked it
• You amaze me

 - Ask Mattering not Matter-of-Fact Questions
Question are a window into our minds and intentions. We show people how much they matter by the questions we ask. How important do these questions make you feel?

• What rocked your world today?
• Who’s world did YOU rock today?
• How can I make your day?
• What can I do to make it better?

3. "Slow down." We tend to live our lives in the fast lane. This is especially true for most kids nowadays. School, homework, practice, youth group, chores, after-school jobs, and social commitments are all on the schedule regularly. This is not to mention things like social media, where kids voluntarily plug in to an almost necessary 24-7 network that requires their time and attention. We could go on. This is normal life for most teens. The problem here is you are just as busy and have to take the time to slow down and tell them. Is there intentional down time in your schedule to spend time with your kids? Take a time-out and remind your family that sometimes you just need to slow down.

 

If you remember, God himself took a timeout after creating the world. Genesis 2:2 says, "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." Therefore, I see great value in slowing down.

4. "I'm here for you."  In Hurt 2.0, Chap Clark writes about the mid-adolescent's need for committed, stable, trusting relationships with adults. Systemic abandonment is a major problem among teens. Clark references a Stevie Smith poem about swimming in the sea to give us a better understanding of what he means, “’They are not waving, they are drowning.’ And just when they most need help, they are unable to take their parent’s hands.” How do we fix this? The simple answer is "be there". Clark writes, "May we, the adults who love and care for them, not be fooled. They are busy, yes, and stressed, but they want someone to demonstrate in word and action, 'You matter to me.'" It is like the old two birds with one stone idiom. You show your kids they matter by being there for them.

In Galatians 6, Paul says you fulfill the law of Christ by bearing one another's burdens. This is especially appropriate among those you love the most. He adds to this sentiment in Romans 12. In the ESV, the section is entitled "Marks of a True Christian". In verse 9 he begins this "section" with, "Let love be genuine". Part of the how is found in verse 15: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."

  

5. "My faith is important to me!"  I have read a few books, attended a few conferences and taken a couple of classes addressing faith formation among teens. It never fails, study after study shows the most influential models of faith among teens are their parents. Therefore if you want your children to take their faith seriously, you need to tell them about yours. Of course, it goes beyond words. During my teen years, one of my dad's favorite sayings was, "you can walk the walk, or you can talk the talk. But, your talk will never walk as loud as your walk can talk." Got it? It's just another way of saying "actions speak louder than words".  

What does walking the walk look like? Check out John 13:35 "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Passing along your faith has always been important for God's people...

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  - Deuteronomy 6:5-9

 

Remember that high school basketball playoff game? Despite falling behind early, the team from Victoria battled back and won the game. According to the Victoria ISD website, Coach John Grammer is still on the court in Victoria some 7 years later. He probably doesn't remember that game. However, I guarantee you he still teaches fundamentals.

 

John Grammer, Courtesy: Victoria Advocate

May we all remember the importance of getting back to the basics.

  ***A lot of the "fundamentals" from this post were generated after reading Hurt 2.0 by Chap Clark.