June 30, 2009
Beth Moore is great but I’m a dude!
Okay, I think Beth Moore is a fantastic speaker, writer, and leader. Maxine has been doing her Bible studies for years. I’ve watched her go through these massive books and learn so much. It keeps her on track and encourages her faith.
Remember, I like Beth Moore…
But I’m a dude.
No, seriously, Beth writes for women and I, being a dude, have much different needs. Men are a special breed and we need guidance and direction. We think different and learn differently.
We are men…hear us roar!
Much has been made of the “feminization” of the church. I’ve thought a lot about it.
When I lead praise, I’ve tried to stop using words like “precious” because, well, I would never call Marty precious! (He would probably spear me out of my chair I did!) It just isn’t a word that men use unless they are talking about their own baby or their vintage Harley.
But, I need a Bible study too! So I went searching and found one that I really am enjoying and I’m getting a lot of out.
I’m using Max Lucado’s Life Lessons series. I’m currently going through the book of James.
It’s a great tool. You answer an intro question then read the section of Scripture. Then there are three or four questions about the verses. Then he has a story and a few questions about the story. A time of prayer and journaling follow.
In all it takes about 15 minutes to complete. I then wrap it up by reading the corresponding chapter in Chuck Swindoll’s James Study Guide.
In all, this takes about 20 minutes.
Guys, let me encourage you strongly to be reading your Bibles every day.
No excuses. Now you have some MANLY options!
If you have any questions, let me know.
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June 29, 2009
Songs we did on Sunday
Throughout my time as a worship leader, I have people ask me for the song list from our worship time. A lot of people aren’t very familiar with worship music and I love to help people find stuff they like.
We are currently keeping the sets very simple with songs the band knows well since we are only practicing on Sunday mornings during the summer.
Here’s the set for yesterday:
“Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech (Hillsong Church in Australia)
Step by Step by Rich Mullins (unbelievable song writer who died about ten years ago. Wrote many songs including :Our God is an Awesome God.” Here’s a video with Bebo Norman and Rich. We just did the chorus)
Better is One Day (by Matt Redman. This video is by a group called Kutless, one of my favs. They lead worship at the Willow Creek student ministry conference SHIFT that we attended in April)
You are My King (written by Billy and Cindy Foote. This video is of the Newsboys doing the song.)
Some people ask how do you pick songs? I try to pick songs that go with the sermon. It’s that simple. Songs that will set up the sermon and allow us to encounter God. Songs whose lyrics are Biblical and whose melodies are singable.
If you ever have a question about any songs that we do, let me know.
Here’s the video we ended with called Stained Glass Masquerade by Casting Crowns.
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June 28, 2009
Prayer of Confession
This morning, I used a “prayer of confession” during our praise time in service. This is something that some churches do every week and my in-laws church did it when I attended last week. I didn’t write this prayer. I don’t know who did but it’s a great way to express confession.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us oue sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - I john 1:9
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, to real to hide, and deep to undo. Forgive what our lips remble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgement. Set us free from a past that we can not change; open to us a futire in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in Your likeness.
Through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. AMEN.
Here’s the video we showed this morning called Stained Glass Masquerade by Casting Crowns.
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June 27, 2009
Moonwalking
I was 15 years old when I saw this and tried to moon walk for days afterwards. Pray for the Jackson family, especial his three children.
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June 26, 2009
What if Church was like an NBA game?
To follow up from my post from yesterday…
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June 25, 2009
The 1992 Marriage Draft
Well, I’m back from the best vacation we’ve ever had. IL to Memphis to Tyler, TX to Corpus Christi, TX, to San Antonio, TX to Tyler, Tx to Memphis and back home. 3,100 miles of driving but a great family trip. You can check out my Face book for a lot of pics.
Tonight, I will do something I’ve done every last week of June for 20+ years. I will watch the NBA draft. (Well, actually I will watch the first ten picks then DVR the rest and watch that tomorrow).
I love the NBA draft. It’s an opportunity for players to “go to the next level” and prove they belong. It’s also an opportunity for general managers to be remembered for making a brilliant pick (Utah, 1984, # 16, Hall of Famer John Stockton) or being embarrassed by a lousy pick (Washington, 2001, #1, Kwame Brown - that was Michael Jordan’s pick, ouch!).
Choosing a college player is part science and part art. Just because a player is a beast on the college hardwoods doesn’t mean he will be a good pro. Everyone is wondering if “Psycho T” (Tyler Hansbrough) will make an effective low post threat again guys much bigger than him. (By the way, I think Psycho T will do just fine)
The scouts have to comb over their stats but they also interview them and put them through personality tests. This is a billion dollar business and a wrong draft pick can tank a franchise for a decade. Right, Clippers fans?
Some guys get to the NBA and blossom into great players. Others fizzle under the pressure. It’s hard to tell who will do well and who won’t.
Some players are sure lottery picks (top ten) and some are known as projects. These are players who have tremendous raw skills and a huge “upside” but haven’t quite reached their potential. Think of a skinny 18 year old named Kevin Garnett drafted right out of high school in 1997. Or think 7-6 Manute Bol. It’s hard to “read” potential. In basketball…or in marriage.
All of this to say, that I was thinking about my wife today. After spending 13 straight days with her, I can honestly say that I love her more than when we got married nearly 17 years ago.
In 1992, she was on the clock to chose a husband and she chose me. Looking back, I’m still not sure why she chose me. I was a skinny, arrogant kid who always wore his baseball cap backwards. Did I have some raw talent? Yes, but with an ego to match Stephon Marburys! What was it she saw in me? I had been a Christian for less than a year. There was nothing there to indicate that I would end up going to seminary and becoming a pastor. She married an “unemployed writer.” The head of the agency we worked for sat her down and told her not to marry me. But she went with her heart.
The the first and only pick of the Maxine Deacon marriage draft I pick…dramatic pause…Jeff Williams.
Smattering of boos from the peanut gallery.
With time, I understood that she saw something in me that I couldn’t see yet. She saw potential.
Recently a student told Maxine she wanted a husband like me. Maxine just laughed. She told her that she didn’t marry the Jeff everyone knows now. She married a “project” and spent 16 years training me!
I’m glad I’m Maxine’s franchise player. I’m a little slower but a lot wiser. And I get to play for the best wife in the world!
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June 18, 2009
Vacation Pics 2009
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June 11, 2009
Vacation and Blog
By the time you read this, I will be on vacation. We are leaving Thursday June 11 and returning on Thursday June 25. We will traveling to Memphis to see my Dad and Rose. We are going to church with the old music minister from our church in Mississippi and hanging out with some old friends. Mostly laying in dad’s pool. Then to Tyler, Texas to see Maxine’s Dad and Pat. Then to Corpus Christi, Texas to be on the beach for three days. I haven’t been in the ocean in ten years, which is a sin in some parts of the country. Then over to San Antonio to see the River Walk and Alamo. Then back to Tyler for Father’s Day. And back to Memphis for a day before heading back.
That’s a lot of driving but it’s worth it. Please pray for our safety and that we would have a great time as a family,
I might post some pics along the way but will not be blogging much.
I’m unplugging.
See ya in two weeks!
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June 10, 2009
Opportunity to Serve- Vermillion Players
We decided that we were not going on a “big” mission trip this summer but would do many small missional opportunities. The first one of these happened last Saturday at the Salvation Army. The second one was tonight at the Vermillion Player’s dress rehearsal for “Singing in the Rain.” Eight students and myself served tonight by assisting the nursing home residents to and from their shuttles, passing out drinks, and helping with chairs. We got the added bonus of seeing the play which, by the way, is outstanding! Go see it if you can.
Thanks to Audrey, Chloe, Timmy A, Josh A, Austin, Eric, Garrison, and Park for being the hands and feet of Jesus tonight and worshipping by serving. The next OTS is this Saturday at Prairieview Mennonite Church for the Heart to Heart fund raiser. They need help setting up. The event is from 4-6. Call the church if you want more details.
You can check out my Face Book for all the pics but here’s the group that rocks the serve!
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June 10, 2009
Luau 2009
Thanks Josh!
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June 09, 2009
Preview at ISU (Welcoming Posh to Preview)
Maxine and I had the honor of accompanying Shiann to her freshman orientation at ISU today. We did the parent classes and met with her advisors. We had a good date lunch at Macalsters in the Bone’s Center while Shiann ate with the other students. We toured the campus, visited the Campus House of Encounter (the ministry that Ken and Kara met at), and got to see a dorm room.
They met with the adults and told us that when the students come in, the tradition was that the adults tried to embarrass them any way possible. All the students (about 300 of them) came into the auditorium in their groups and parents started yelling at them and taking pictures. Not to be outdone, I jumped up, ran up with aisle with the video camera on and then escorted her to her seat. The parents cheered and laughed as I continued to video Shiann.
Watch this and enjoy. (Although she wouldn’t admit it, she loved it!)
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June 06, 2009
Are you AWAKE?
Just got back from the Awake outreach in Cornell. It’s still going on but I’ve got to lead worship in the morning…and I’m old. Check out my Face Book for all the pics I posted.
I am very proud of Shawn Jensen and his friends for putting this outreach together and spending the past week out door-to-door inviting people to the event. There were quite a few unchurched students that I know that were there and that made it all worth while.
There were dramas,testimonies, and a concert by “I am Terrified.” These guys were just signed by Goatee Records (Toby Mac). They are hard core and it was a small gym so it was really LOUD! But I really appreciated their hearts. They prayed as they started the concert that our vision would be focused on God’s face and their lyrics were full of Biblical references.
I checked out their MySpace page and came across a really interesting paragraph. Check this out:
“Main songwriter Schefano, in fact, comes from a small, musically austere Southern Baptist Church that featured one woman on a tiny upright and a small choir. But all three members mined their church hymnals for spiritual perspective and sonic structure, the fruit of those excavations showing up years later in the innovative, experimental music of I Am Terrified. “Hymnals are a huge inspiration to our band,” shares guitarist Folse, “which you’ll hear in our lyrics, as that was what most of us grew up on.” Actually, I Am Terrified has traveled a great sonic distance from those early southern Baptist roots, but you will enjoy the stirring fire-and-brimstone component in their pounding hardcore sound.”
Their name comes from Job 23:14-15: “He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.” With the sermon being about grace tomorrow, its always good to remind ourselves that God is worthy to held in great awe and even feared.
Pease pray for Shawn and his friends as they continue to do these AWAKE events throughout the country.
Check out this video. I watched these guys engage some hard core students tonight that I could never reach. Pray for the guys in “I am Terrified.”
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June 05, 2009
Happy Birthday!
One of our students has a birthday today and I was roaming around online trying to find her a funny birthday video to send her. (Happy Birthday Lena!)
While searching through videos entitled “Happy Birthday” I came across this song by Flipsyde and Piper. This is not a Christian song and I can’t speak for the rest of this guy’s music but this song is very powerful.
With the murder of the abortion doctor Dr. Tiller this past weekend, the sanctity of life is being debated across our nation. But, in many ways, it is so theoretical. This song brings all down to a very personal level, “So I picked up my pen/happy birthday to who you might have been.”
Watch this video then ask yourself what you will do to support our CPC in the next week.
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June 04, 2009
New student cookout! Welcome 6th graders!
Last night, we hosted the new 6th grade student cookout at our house to welcome them officially into the student ministry. You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful night for food, fun, a fire, and a ferocious game of baggo! We had 11 6th grade students attend with their families (39 people in all!). We ate hotdogs and chips and rice crispy treats. The students played basketball, bounced on the trampoline, hung out in the tree house, spun themselves silly on the tire swing (one student even lost his dinner after that!), and played baggo. We made Smores by the fire and the then I talked about our opportunities we have for junior high students to grow.
I shared with the students and their parents that it is our mission is to CONNECT students and their families to Jesus and then to EQUIP them to be growing and faithful followers. We want to partner with parents to raise up a generation that will change the world. We talked about our summer program “Wildside,” our junior high Sunday morning Bible study “EQUIP,” and our junior high outreach during the school year “Cross Roads.” Most of our new 6th grade students are younger siblings of students who have already been in the student ministry. One student told me she’s been waiting “forever” to be in student ministry! It was strange to realize that my Austin wasn’t just there because it was his house. He’s now a 6th grade student too!
I shared my testimony with the students and then we had a great time just hanging out the rest of the night.
Thanks to to the student ministry team leaders that helped make last night wonderful!
Would you take a minute and look at the picture below and pray for our new 6th grade students and their parents as they enter the adventure of junior high?
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June 03, 2009
MTV Music Awards
I can remember when MTV first came on the air. I was about 13 years old and immediately wanted to marry Martha Quinn. I was introduced to a whole new world of music videos and MTV quickly became one of my favorite channels - For those about to rock we salute you!
I loved to watch the MTV music awards because I could see my permed-haired, spandex-clad super heroes perform live.
Well, Sunday night I watched the 2009 MTV music awards and I can tell you - this ain’t your daddy’s MTV.
MTV has long abandoned the actual music in favor of reality tv shows. And the music awards had little to do with actual music.
So why would I watch the MTV awards show?
Well, according to Cabletelevsion Advertising Bureau (CAB);
* MTV is the number one media brand in the world
* It is the favorite and most watched network for teens age 12-19
* MTV targets young adults ages 18-34 who represent 29% of the U.S. population.
Tony Morgan quotes a previous CAB report that said:
“MTV’s median age is exactly when a majority of young Americans adults begin to form life long brand loyalties. Young adults 15-17 are excited consumers and extremely impressionable. Now is the time to influence their choices.” (quoted in “Killing Cockroaches” by Tony Morgan).
This is the “audience” that the student ministry is trying to reach. The older segment of MTV’s audience is also leaving the church in droves.
I want to understand where our youth are and what they are being told and sold. I don’t watch things like this to be considered “hip.” I passed hip 17 years ago. I want to be a student of our students and learn what makes them tick.
With all that said, the awards show was short on actual awards and long on commercials. In fact, it felt like the whole show was one big advertising mechanism. Even the host joked about it.
There were the usual MTV “shock for shock’s sake” incidents but even those seemed contrived and stupid to this 40 year old un-hip dude - sorry Eminem.
When the trailer for the newest installment of the Twilight series “New Moon” was announced, the screaming girls nearly drowned out the audio. Back in my day, the girls screamed for the “gloved one” (That would be Michael Jackson for the Mosiacs) now it’s vampires. Go figure.
I was able to hold back my snickering (I was watching the show with two teenagers) until Twilight won for best movie of the year. Best movie of the year?! Seriously?! I laughed out loud.
I read several blogs about the show afterwards and was struck by the fact the ratings were up 78% from 2008. Having Mr. Twilight (Robert Pattison) and Mr. HSM (Zac Efron) on the same show probably didn’t hurt.
If you are wanting to learn more about our students and the world they live in, watching the MTV awards show is a good start. Be aware that a PG-13 rating may be gracious and there was some offensive material that honestly wasn’t funny at all.
There are some that would say that watching such a show is not something a youth pastor should do. Something along the lines of, “You don’t have to get in the gutter to know what garbage smells like.”
But we know that Paul was a student of culture (see Acts 17) and didn’t shy away from using what he learned to share the Gospel.
What about you? What do you think? Would you watch it? Did you watch it? Do you think I’m evil for watching it? How do you keep up with youth culture?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/03 at 07:14 AM •
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