In honor of

My friends at Fuller Youth Institute have been researching what makes faith stick as youth transition to adulthood. The study they did with 500 youth group graduates revealed three surprising and key findings. I wanted to focus on the first key finding.

“While churches across the U.S. have tended to allocate financial and personnel resources toward building strong and dynamic youth groups, teenagers also need to rub shoulders and build relationships with adults of all ages.”

Programs and staff are nice, but it’s really about relationships, relationships, relationships. If we as youth workers are not leveraging potential relational connections between adults in our church and young people we are missing the mark. I’m reminded of what John J. DiIulio, the first director of the White House Office of Faith & Community Based Initiatives under President Bush, said about preventing juvenile crime and substance abuse among teens:

“Strategically, the key to preventing youth crime and substance abuse among our country’s expanding juvenile population is to improve the real, live, day to day connections between responsible adults and young people – period… No policy, program or intervention that fails to build a meaningful connection between responsible adults and at-risk young people has worked or can.”

DiIulio was talking community-based programming, but do we really think that it is any different within the Church? Sure we have the Gospel, but look at what the Apostle Paul’s method with the church in Thesslonica. He wrote, “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well,” (1 Thessalonians 2:8, NIV). He brought the Gospel, but didn’t shirk meeting relational needs among those in the church there.

Youth need be exposed to many different adults, period. The Search Institute with their 40 developmental assets note that one key asset for a youth to have is “other adult relationships” this is measured by a young person receiving support from three or more nonparent adults. If we’re not doing that in the church where is it going to be accomplished? Anecdotally I’ve noticed in my 20 years of youth ministry experience that the kids who tend to “stick” are the ones who are engaged throughout the life of the church, not just involved in the youth ministry. Why is that? I’m sure it’s not in small part due to rubbing shoulders and developing relationships with a variety of adults throughout the church.

If youth within the church need this how much more do you think kids on the outside do? Many kids that I know and serve through Serve Our Youth Network lack “significant other adult relationships.”

In fact many I work with don’t have any adult working with them who isn’t paid to do so. Think about that for a second. How would you feel if that were you? If the only way to get an adult to spend any significant time with you is for somebody to pay them – that would really stink wouldn’t it? That is the reality many adolescents face every day. If we in the church don’t spend time with them, who will? Most likely the answer is nobody positive.

The simple fact is that youth within the church and without need people like you to spend time with them in meaningful ways. What are you currently doing where you can include a kid in your life? If we prioritize we’ll likely find we have more time than we think. For the sake of the next generation and for the future of those who will come after this is a need we must not leave unmet. Even if you don’t feel like you will make any impact at all you don’t know what God may do with seeds that you plant.

It is never, ever a waste of time to love a kid.

Related articles

• The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Youth Ministry (king.typepad.com)
• Good News vs. Good Behavior (caffeinatedtheology.com)
• The State of Youth Ministry in America Part 3: Intergenerational Service (followthenarrowroad.com)
• Why Young Adults are Leaving the Church (kimlouvin.wordpress.com)
• Are We Losing A Generation? (friendedbychrist.com)

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I find that this book hits a nerve with men:the temptation and lure of sexual sin. How can I battle against such a strong foe? How can I be free from the bondage to this sin? It’s very relevant, given the number of men within the church who struggle with some type of sexual addiction, but especially that to pornography.

While the books does have its good points and parts, I think it really misses the mark. “Bouncing the eyes” is the main solution the authors have to offer–in other words, when you see something suggestive that tempts you, bounce your eyes somewhere else. Not bad, but with the all-pervasive sphere of our visual culture, I’m just not sure this is going to work at all. Besides, I had an Old Testament prof in college who told of how the Pharisees would do this, literally, whenever they saw a woman, suggestively clothed or not. They would literally turn toward a wall (he would jokingly add that was why so many of them had such large noses, from breaking them by running into walls all the time). What this becomes is just another law that slays us.

The authors talk about the cross only minimally and when they do, they seem to assume that the reader is familiar with the cross, Christ’s work upon the cross on your behalf and the power it brings to bear upon your life in Christ. I think this is a dangerous assumption.

You can hear more details about my review by viewing the video book review I’ve just posted over at Random Thoughts From a Cluttered Mind.

Go easy on me; this is my first video review!

Related articles

• Book Review: Healing is a Choice by Stephen Arterburn (blogcritics.org)
• What makes a heart hard? (wordsofgrace.wordpress.com)
• Only God (wordsofgrace.wordpress.com)

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She answered:

The students involved in our research definitely tended to view the Gospel as a list of dos and do-nots, a list of behaviors. We asked our students when they were college juniors, “How would you define what it really means to be a Christian?” and one out of three—and these were all youth group students—didn’t mention Jesus Christ in their answer; they mentioned behaviors.

Did you catch that?  Being a Christian, in their minds, is about what they DO.  Not what was DONE for them.  Their response is antithetical to the Gospel message itself.  Our behavior isn’t what saves us; so how is it that many define their faith by it?  This really isn’t (unfortunately) surprising as many adults view Christianity in this way as well.  We are saved from the law, but then the focus for many tends to go back to the law.  Michael Horton in his book, Christless Christianity, explains why this is a problem:

The law guides, but it does not give.  For all who seek to be acceptable to God by their obedience, love, holiness, and service, the call to obedience only condemns.  It shows us what we have not done, and the more we hear it properly, the more we actually lose our moral self-confidence and cling to Christ.  It stops our inner spin machine that creates a false view of God and ourselves, (pg. 132).

It’s not about a list of dos and don’ts.  We are followers of Christ because of good news, not good behavior!  Christ came into the world to save sinners.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works,so that no one may boast,” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV).

We need to be continually reminding our kids about grace, grace, grace… preach the Gospel to them (and to ourselves as well).

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Before we are inspired about how to show love to others, we must first ask why?

Quite simply it is because in Romans 12:10 & 13 we are told to be devoted to one another in brotherly love, to honor one another above ourselves.  We are also told to share with God’s people who are in need and to Practice Hospitality. Notice the vocabulary: practice, not perfect.

In America, as a culture and as individuals, we are suffering in part because popular media gears everything to perfection. We are bombarded with messages that if we aren’t the very best at something, we just shouldn’t bother. We compare ourselves to others, rather than knowing our worth in God’s eyes.

I suffer from insecurity and wonder if I can be creative enough to inspire.  Are my tips original? Are the photographs beautiful enough? Are my suggestions too simple for some, but too fancy for another?  The problem: my thoughts revolve completely around me. My creativity, my skills, my ability.  This is not about me but about God’s purpose for me. I suddenly realize the bigger picture; I can’t do it, but I can through Christ who strengthens me.

This dance in my mind between my preciousness in His sight and the enemy’s interjections has slowed me down at times, but God showed me this dance is the very reason for us to love others; to encourage each other. Because we are human we suffer from doubt, insecurity, and rejection of one sort or another.  We are God’s tool to encourage others. God uses us as His hands to love others, but make no mistake it is His power, His grace and the Holy Spirit that do the real work, not ours.

God’s path of creativity in me began with a family history of silversmithing eight generations back, a degree from USC, design school in Paris, then design school in Los Angeles. Call them spiritual or otherwise, but they were the gifts God saw fit to give to me. Who am I to argue with my Creator? They are unique and I celebrate them. What are your magnificent and unique gifts that you can use to inspire others?

I do not want the gifts received as a blessing from God to “turn into spiritual dry rot,” as Ann Voscamp suggests in her book One Thousand Gifts, as the manna did when it was hoarded in Exodus 16:20. I want to use my blessings.

Inadequacies and all, imperfections and all: I want to inspire others to practice Hospitality and to LOVE others.

Creative Ways to Encourage Others on Valentine’s Day

KIND WORDS

A handwritten note with quotes, scriptures and words of encouragement is a wonderful thing to find in the mailbox.

Leave a sticky note on your child/husband’s pillow or be bold and write your note on the bathroom mirror or car window in red lipstick saying “I love you”.

Even an email just to say “thank you for your hard work, you bless me” can make a person’s day. A cute poem, scripture or old photograph will remind them they are remembered.

If someone has lost a loved one, kind words of some way that loved one inspired you to do something better will let them know that their loved one’s legacy is living on.

AN INVITATION, TIME

Take some time out of your days to meet someone for coffee, lunch, a long walk, or even just leave a phone message with a sweet sentiment. If you have more time, take a picnic basket to their home. Set up a lunch, tea or coffee, with all your tea cups and a candle. It is a lovely surprise! Just rinse when you finish and pack back up so they don’t even have to do dishes. They will have a lovely memory of a special time.

THOUGHTFUL GESTURE

Hang flowers on the front door handle, leave a pretty tiny package in the mailbox with a beautiful red bow, or cookies delivered to the front door. Create a breakfast plate for your child that says you are special . This is especially significant if your child has struggled with something recently.

A BEAUTIFUL DINNER

Of course this takes more time, but try for a beautiful table setting complete with candles, fresh greens or flowers and a lovely menu either handwritten or printed out on your computer. (Visit Roxanne’s Pinterest account, via the Inspired Design blog, for darling printouts, including gift tags, and much more.) Don’t concentrate on the gourmet or complicated quality of the meal: remember it is about relationship and encouragement!

VALENTINE’S DINNER

A beautiful table for Valentine’s simply consists of reds, pinks and perhaps some purple. (Although it could be beautiful in all white too.) Of course, it has to have some hearts and some colorful candles. Leave kind words of some sort on each place setting. Every Valentine’s table should have its share of sparkle, of course!

Visit Roxanne Packham’s blog at www.InspiredDesignPublications.blogspot.com for more pictures and Inspired Design ideas for Valentine’s Day.

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All because of this ad.

And there sits the shirtless Denver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow posing for the underwear manufacturer Jockey.  Tebow has become quite a sensation and has had a phenomenal year with the Denver Broncos.  As a Christian athlete he has had many opportunities to talk about his faith, and his “Tebowing” has been placed center stage.

But let me ask you – does this impact his witness?  I’m not against guys being shirtless playing ball, at the beach, in the pool, etc.  I don’t believe there’s anything immoral about that.  I don’t personally go around shirtless.  You can thank me now… no I mean really, you can thank me.

This, however, is different than just going around without a shirt because you now see headlines like this:

“Praise Jesus!  Man of the moment Tim Tebow appears shirtless in new Jockey ad – and surprise, surprise underwear sales soar”

What do you think, is it appropriate or not?

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Beliefs have always shaped history. . . . The (Nazi) gas chambers disproved once for all any misguided notion that ideas are neutral. Today ideologies determine how the state governs, how the economy is managed, how the news is framed in the media, and how the education system shapes the next generation. Wrestling with worldview questions is no mere intellectual exercise. It should always be done with an overwhelming sense that we are dealing with questions of life-and-death-importance. . . For young people, learning the skills of worldview awareness can literally mean the difference between spiritual life or death. Ideas exert enormous power when set to music in a YouTube video or translated into glowing images on the theater screen. . . . When you go to the theater, do you simply let the story wash over you? Or do you have the skills to analyze what a film is saying? . . . T.S. Eliot once noted that the serious books we read do not influence us nearly as much as the books we read for fun (or the movies we watch for entertainment). Why? Because when we are relaxing, our guard is down and we engage in the “suspension of disbelief” that allows us to enter imaginatively into the story. As a result, the assumptions of the author or screenwriter may go unnoticed and seep all the more deeply in our consciousness. When we “suspend disbelief,” we must take care not to suspend our “critical faculties.”

This is also a great reminder of why the Church must be salt and light in music, movie, and the arts.  It’s also a warning to us to make sure we look upon culture through the lens of a Christian worldview lest we be taken in

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I would like to suggest a different kind of pragmatism.

Years ago, I was suffering from neck pain from whiplash suffered in a farm-tractor vs. car accident. A friend recommended that I see a chiropractor. Dubious, if not downright skeptical, I visited my neighborhood chiropractor. He won me over almost immediately with a brochure that portrayed chiropractic as a discipline that approached healing by addressing the root cause. If you had a rubber band wound tightly around your finger, that finger would hurt. Mainstream medicine, the brochure argued, tended to treat the pain with medicine (4 doses of aspirin every day for the rest of your life) or with surgery (cut off the finger). Chiropractic medicine, it posited, would find and remove the rubber band. Well, this is not a blog for or against mainstream medicine; but, as I said, the approach sounded good to me.

Let’s try the chiropractic method of finding and addressing the root cause. What is the root cause of our economic woes? Doubtless, theories abound. Let’s look at one.

For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted (Isaiah 60:12)[1].

In this verse, God is promising that nations that do not serve Him will be wasted. As a nation, we are turning away from God. And we are being wasted. What is the remedy?

If we vote for a business man who has a track record of balancing the budget and is in favor of aborting some babies and shaming God by counterfeiting marriage, his economic policies will not serve to preserve us from economic ruin if God would bring ruin upon us. If we vote for consistent libertarian who will not serve God but intends to legitimize the perversion of sexuality and turn a blind eye to abortion, his political ideology will not defend us against God’s justice if God intends to remove our civil freedoms. If we vote for someone who can save us from Obama, we will discover that his arm is too short to save us from God.

No attempt to slow down or avoid the impending train wreck will succeed—if God is driving that train. We will experience financial ruin; we will be subjected to invasive, confiscatory government; our liberties will evaporate; we will fall as every nation before us has fallen; all this and worse will happen to us—and no man or group of men can help us, if God is against us.

Every attempt to repair the damage God inflicts upon us will bring more. Isaiah 9 tells us of God’s chosen nation attempting to defeat God’s chastisement by rebuilding stronger.

The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 9:10-13)

When the goodness of God does not lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4), God chastises His people so that they will turn away from their sin, neglect, and coldness. The enemies of God are under His wrath and sometimes experience punishment in this life even while God continually holds forth grace in His gospel. We cannot escape either chastisement or punishment by electing good Republican candidates who just happen to be in favor of unrighteousness on “a couple of moral issues”.

Scripture tells us that God raises up our nations rulers “And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Daniel 2:21). Who do you think keeps giving us wicked judges? God gives us what we deserve. If we want better than we deserve, if we want better times and better rulers, we need to serve Him.o

The first priority is to serve God; everything else, economics , national security, etc., are secondary priorities.We all know “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33), let’s believe it, and let’s live it. Having God on our side is the ultimate in pragmatism.

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

And, by the way, chiropractic worked for my neck pain.

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Christian love will show itself in the general spirit and demeanor of a believer. It will make him kind, unselfish, good-natured, good-tempered, and considerate for others. It will make him gentle, affable, and courteous, in all the daily relations of private life. It will make him thoughtful for others’ comfort, tender for others’ feelings, and more anxious to give pleasure than to receive. True love never envies others when they prosper, nor rejoices in the calamities of others when they are in trouble. At all times, it will believe, and hope, and try to put a good construction on others’ actions. And even at the worst, it will be full of pity, mercy, and compassion.

Yeah, I’m not there yet.  Lord, please help me to demonstrate this type of love.

HT: J.C. Ryle Quotes

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• YouVersion – this is a free online tool where you can select from any number of plans, versions of the Bible, you have the ability to take notes, and there is a variety of ways you can access the plan either online or use one of their apps (Blackberry, Palm OS, Android, iPad, iPhone/iPod, Mobile Web, or Windows Phone).
• Bible Gateway – They also have a variety of plans to choose from and you can have it delivered via RSS feed, iCal or email.
• Addition: Bible.cc – Jacob Johnson recommended this site via Facebook.  He said, “It has parallel version and commentaries for every verse. Plus it has a lexicon in Hebrew and Greek.”

For those of you who prefer non-online versions and want to actually use *gasp* – a Bible with actual pages and paper – here are a list of plans complied by Ligonier Ministries:

• 52 Week Bible Reading Plan: You read through the Bible in the year, but each week is focused on a different genre: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, and Gospels.
• 5x5x5 Bible Reading Plan:  Read through the New Testament in a year, Monday through Friday, and the weekends are set aside for reflection and other reading.  Good for those who are new to the daily discipline of Bible reading.
• Bible Reading Chart: Read at your own pace, just check them off when you’re done.
• Chronological Bible Reading Plan: Read through the Bible in a year in the order the events took place chronologically.
• The Discipleship Journal Reading Plan: Four daily readings beginning in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew and Acts.  Duration is one year.
• ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan: Four daily readings taken from four lists: Psalms and Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch and History of Israel, Chronicles and Prophets, and Gospels and Epistles.
• Every Word in the Bible: A three-year plan where you read a chapter a day alternating between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
• Historical Bible Reading Plan: The Old Testament readings are similar to Israel’s Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament readings are an attempt to follow the order in which the books were authored.
• Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System: Reading ten chapters a day, in the course of a year you’ll read the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters four to five times, the Old Testament wisdom literature six times, the Psalms at least twice, Proverbs and Acts a dozen times, and the OT History and Prophetic books about one and a half times.  There is also the Facebook 3560 Challenge.
• Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan: Read the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once, you can do this in one year or two.
• Straight Through the Bible Reading Plan: As you guessed, a one year plan where you start in Genesis and end in Revelation.
• Tabletalk Reading Plan: A one year plan with two readings each day; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.  Ligionier Ministries also has an app for this whether you use an Android phone or an iPhone/iPad.
• The Legacy Reading Plan: This plan does not have set readings for each day. Instead, it has set books for each month, and set number of Proverbs and Psalms to read each week. It aims to give you more flexibility, while grounding you in specific books of the Bible each month.
• Two-Year Bible Reading Plan: Read the Old and New Testaments once, and Psalms & Proverbs four times.

Then of course you have a whole selection of One-Year Bibles which have been helpful for me in the past as well.  Whatever you decide to use I pray that your time in the Word would be fruitful, draw you into a deeper love relationship with Jesus, and transform your daily life as you apply it.

Update: Cathy York, a friend on Facebook, suggested Back to the Bible as a website that has several reading plans as well.

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From Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional:

God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it.

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