Varsity Faith

4 Ways to Grow Your Faith This Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:17:00 +0000

Churches have different strategies when it comes to what to do (if anything) over the summer.

My first church internship was at a tiny church that didn't have a person to lead the youth ministry during the school year. They brought someone in each summer and said, "Do a bunch of things and keep everyone occupied."

My second church internship was at a very large church that mostly shut things down over the summer. They had summer camp, a mission trip, and some sporadic small group outings, but there was no "regularly scheduled program."

I'm finding that the second kind of church is the norm, so I wanted to offer you a few ways that you can continue growing in your relationship with God over the summer.

1) Read the Book
By "the book," I mean the Bible. And I know how this sounds. You've gone through months and months of school and reading already, so why in the world would you spend any time reading something else before you start back to school in August?

Well, there are a couple of reasons. The biggest and most obvious one is that the Bible is one of the ways through God have revealed himself (and continues to reveal himself) to us. The second reason is that the Bible is alive and powerful: "The word of God is alive and powerful...It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires" (Hebrews 4:12 NLT). The Hunger Games is a great series of books, but they aren't alive and powerful. Read the Book.

2) Sing the Songs
I'm not a singer, but I know that there are times in my life when I just need to let it out...so I turn up the volume and sing! There's something about singing that allows you to express emotion better than just talking. This has been a common practice for the people of God for a long time: "You thrill me, LORD, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done" (Psalm 92:4 NLT).

Oftentimes I find that songs actually give me words when I can't find the words I'm looking for. When you're afraid, you can sing about the "God of angel armies" who is always by your side. When you're in awe of God, you can sing about his "majesty" and grace that found you just as you were and changed you: "empty-handed but alive in your hands." Wherever you are emotionally or spiritually, there's a song for that. Sing the Songs.

3) Live the Life
This isn't just about avoiding sin; it's also about doing good. Philippians 2:15 says, "Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people" (NLT).

So be on your guard this summer, that you don't fall to temptation. But also be lookout for opportunities to help someone who needs your help. Be on the lookout for a person who needs a friend. Be on the lookout for ways that you can shine like a bright light in someone's life.

4) Tell the Story
When people know you're reading the book, and they hear you singing the songs, and they see you living the life, they will probably ask you about it: What makes you different?

First Peter 3:15 tells us, "If someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it" (NLT). So when they ask that question about what makes you different, you can tell the story of how God enacted a rescue mission to save the world from sin through his Son, Jesus Christ. And you can tell the story of how God saved you when you put your faith in Jesus.

Even if your church is stopping it's regularly scheduled programs for the summer, there's no reason why you should stop growing in your relationship with God. Read the Book, Sing the Songs, Live the Life, and Tell the Story, and your faith will be stronger when you head back to school in the fall.

Related Posts:
Reading Sermons Is Good for Your Faith
What Would You Do?

Together Everyone Achieves More

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:05:00 +0000

Most things require more than just one person to make happen. There is so much that you can't do by yourself; it takes a team.

There's an old acronym for team that says:
Together Everyone Achieves More.

And you'll find that that's usually true.

Tiger Woods wouldn't be as good as he is at golf without a coach.

Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh aren't the only players on the Miami Heat. They need other players to share the load.

Steve Jobs may have been the technological genius behind Apple computers, iPods, and iPhones, but he needed guys like Ron Johnson to figure out how to get those products into the hands of consumers like us.

So whether we're talking about sports or business, it's usually true that we achieve more together.

And think about the last group project you had to do for school. You probably got more done together - as a team - than you could have gotten done all by yourself.

The same thing is true in the Christian life. God doesn't call us to be lone ranger Christians who go off on our own to figure everything out and try to accomplish everything he wants for us. Instead, he gave us the church to be a family of people, a team of people, who are striving together to know God and make him known.

We can do better together than we can on our own.

Related Posts:
Who's On Your Team?

Audience of One

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:19:00 +0000

image credit: longhollowwomen.com

Paul told the new Christians in Galatia not to worry about doing the old traditions that were handed down through Israel. Those traditions and those ways had served their purpose and God was doing a new thing now.

"The real children of Abraham...are those who put their faith in God" (Galatians 3:7).

God was gathering his people ("the real children of Abraham") together in a new way. And the only sign that marks out the people of God in this updated plan is "faith expressing itself in love" (Galatians 5:6).

But that claim didn't sit well with some people. These people came from Jerusalem and insinuated that Paul was a compromiser. They told the new converts that Paul was watering down the message and trying to make it more acceptable to people. The problem, they said, was that Paul wasn't really giving them the full scoop.

That's the attack that has Paul all worked up when he writes the letter to the Galatians. And here's his response to that accusation:
"I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10 CEV).

He's justifying his motives. He says, "I'm not a people-pleaser who does whatever makes people happy and comfortable; I'm a servant of Christ."

Here's where each of us should check ourselves. As you go through your day - in the classroom, at the lunch table, on the practice field, on the job - are you trying to please people, or are you trying to please God?

Of course we care about what people think of us, that's fine. The issue is that we don't let what other people think of us define who we are and what we do.

Christian people live for an audience of one.
We live for the approval of God alone.

Related Posts:
Jesus Plus...
Consider This

Is the Story of Ruth True?

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:09:00 +0000

Have you ever read the story of Ruth in the Bible?

It really is a good story, full of word-plays, ironies, twists, and turns.

It's got everyone thing you would want in a story: drama, decisions, death, and a damsel in distress.

And that's just the thing:
The story is so good that it makes you wonder if it's true.

It's not a new question. James Kugel, professor Emeritus of Hebrew Literature at Harvard, said, "The story itself has a fablelike quality" (How To Read the Bible, 403).

Maybe it's that fablelike quality that got the book of Ruth placed in the Writings portion of the Hebrew Scriptures.

"Hebrew Scriptures" might be a new term for you, but it's a designation for what Christians also call the "Old Testament." The main difference between the "Hebrew Scriptures" and the "Old Testament" is the order in which the writings are placed.

In our Western English Bibles, the Old Testament is divided into 3 categories:
Historic (Genesis-Esther);
Poetic (Job-Song of Songs);
Prophetic (Isaiah-Malachi).

In that order, Ruth is included in the historical section, right after the book of Judges.

But Jewish people don't classify or organize their scriptures (our Old Testament) that way. They use 3 categories also, but they're different:
Instruction, or Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy);
Prophets, or Nevi'im (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi);
Writings, or Ketuvim (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles).

The Hebrew Scriptures (also called "Tanakh," which comes from using the first letter of each of their categories - Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim - and adding vowel sounds) end with Chronicles, while the Christian Old Testament ends with Malachi. That creates a very different sense when you reach the end.

But it also raises the question:
Does it make any difference that Christians include Ruth in the "historical" category, while Jews include Ruth in the "writings" category?

Robert Alter, professor of Hebrew language at UC-Berkeley, says, "The Book of Ruth, ...is, because of its realistic psychology and its treatment of actual social institutions, a verisimilar historicized fiction" (The Art of Biblical Narrative, 34).

You might or might not agree with Dr. Alter, but he's a scholar on these matters and his opinion is worth noting.

It's not just Kugel and Alter who make the case that the story of Ruth is more like a short-story than a newspaper article. Eugene Peterson, author of The Message Bible, is trained as a Hebrew and Semitic Languages scholar. Here's how he translates the opening words of Ruth: "Once upon a time..."

So, is the story of Ruth really true?
If you're asking the literal-factual question (Did each of the events actually happen?), then I think you're asking the wrong question. Ruth isn't that type of literature. It would be like listening to Jesus tell the parable about the Prodigal Son, and then asking him if that was a true story (Did it really happen?).

Even if you couldn't go out and find the younger son walking around Jerusalem, it doesn't mean that the story isn't true. It's true on a different level than facts, figures, and data are true. It's not a literal-factual story; it's a historical-metaphorical story.

The same approach might be useful when reading the story of Ruth.

It matters if some events/stories in the Bible really happened (the call of Abraham, the exodus, the promise to David, the resurrection of Jesus, etc.). If those things didn't happen in actual time-space-history, then Christianity is on shaky ground. Historical accuracy, then, matters very much in those cases.

But the story told in the book of Ruth isn't like that. If it functions more like a parable than a historical report, it doesn't shake the foundations of our faith. Whether the actions of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz actually happened or not, they are still incredibly powerful and instructive for us today.

Related Posts:
Do You See What I See?
Some Discernment Required (Always)
Keeping It Together: How To Read the Bible

Be Curious (and Creative)

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:06:00 +0000

We were fortunate to have one of the older ladies at our church join us last Sunday morning and share some words of wisdom with students.

She's from Benson, NC (home of Mule Days), became a Christian at a revival when she was 12, has been married for 56 years, and has lived in many places around the world.

About marriage, she insisted that honoring her marriage vows and saying, "I love you" every night were the secret to its longevity.

About Bible reading, she encouraged students not just to read their Bible, but to mark them up. "Make notes. Write in it," she said.

She encouraged us to be curious people who take notice of the people and things around us.

Be curious people. Yes, all of what she said was good, but this one stood out to me.

And the more I've thought about it, it really is a great piece of advice:
Be curious people who take notice of the people and things around you.

I'm a naturally curious person. When I worked at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, my favorite part was driving customers home after they dropped off their rental car. It was a great chance to ask them about their story:
Who were they?
Where did they come from?
What line of work were they in?
How did they get into that field?
What did they enjoy doing?

I heard about places, companies, occupations, and hobbies that I never knew existed!

Those conversations opened the world up to me. It reminded me that no one is stuck where they are. The possibilities are endless. You could take out some student loans today and be a doctor in 7 years. You could move to another part of the country tomorrow if you wanted to. It's really fascinating to consider the possibilities of what the future could hold for you.

And, now that I'm thinking about it, there's a natural connection between curiosity and creativity.

You can never be inspired to reach for things that you don't know exist. If you didn't know that people actually become airplane pilots, then you'll never believe you could become one. If you don't know that kids go to college and keep their Christian faith, then you'll never know how you can do it.

Mark Miller helped me see this. He wrote, "When you expand your world, you expand your creative potential - you add colors to your palette" (unpublished manuscript for Eureka: The Path to More and Better Ideas, 38).

So go out and meet someone new today. Learn something new today.
Ask a question and see where the answer takes you!

Related Posts:
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Keep Reading

Jesus Plus...

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:12:00 +0000

The message that Jesus is alive was spreading. Paul, a missionary to Gentile (non-Jewish) people, was leading many to put their faith in Jesus - to repent of sin, to confess him as the Lord and Leader of their life, and to be baptized.

But there are always people who want to add things (usually good things) to faith in order to say who really is and who really isn't a Christian. But in so doing, we actually forget the grace and love that brought us into the faith, and spend our time building walls and barriers that end up keeping people out of the faith.

That's happening to some new Christians in a place called Galatia...and Paul is ticked about it. People have come in and told the Galatians that they've only gone 1/2 way. They needed to do something more, something else.

They needed Jesus + the Law.
Jesus + eating Kosher.
Jesus + Sabbath.
Jesus + something.

The book of Galatians is Paul's response, which can be summarized a few ways:
1) What Jesus did on the cross was enough to make you right with God.
2) Jesus + Nothing = EVERYTHING.
3) Good works enrich your relationship with God, but they don't establish it.
4) You are accepted by God - fully, completely, 100% - when you place your faith in Jesus.
5) "If anyone tells you something different than this, let that person be cursed" (see Galatians 1:9).

Related Posts:
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Israel, Jesus, and the Church

Why Baptism? (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:58:00 +0000

I found this great video about baptism. It was put together by Granger Community Church.

Related Posts:
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Water Cleanses...and Kills

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:53:00 +0000

I wanted to share an interesting footnote about water in the Bible.

In the Bible, water can cleanse. That's why they had ceremonial washings. It was like taking a bath as a symbol that you are pure again.

That's why guys would sit by the bathing pools hoping for healing. They knew that water had the power to cleanse the body.

But they also knew that water can kill. In the story of the exodus (see Exodus 13-14), the people of God cross the Red Sea on dry ground. But what happens to the Egyptians who are chasing them? They drown in the water.

In the book of Revelation, many of you might not have noticed that in the description of the new heavens and new earth there's something that is excluded:
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone" (Revelation 21:1 NLT).

Why would the sea by gone?
I know people who like going to the beach!

It's gone because water not only has the power to cleanse; it also has the power to kill.

In the new heavens and on the new earth, no one will need cleansing because sin and sickness and death will be gone. And there won't be a chance for the sea to swell up and bring death.

In the Bible, water can cleanse, but it can also kill. Both of those images are brought together in baptism:
When you go under the water, it's the picture of death. You are dying to your self, dying to the old way of being you, dying to sin and its penalty and power over you. When you come up out of the water, it's the picture of life, of cleansing, of newness. You are whole, you are well, you are newly empowered by God to live the life to which he's called you.

That's why, when we baptize people, we say that you are "buried with Christ and raised to walk in new life."

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The Water's Fine: Baptism as Declaration

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:44:00 +0000

In the last 2 posts, I've looked at baptism as initiation and baptism as participation. Now in this post I want explore the idea of baptism as declaration.

Declaration of what?

Baptism is a declaration of discipleship.

It's a public thing. You can believe in Jesus in the private sphere of your heart, but there's something about going public with your faith that makes a difference.

In fact, in Islamic countries a Muslim person can believe in their heart that Jesus has saved them from their sins, but it's only when he makes it public through baptism that he's cut off from his family, called a traitor, and loses his property to the government (see "Baptism and the Muslim Convert to Christianity" by Azar Ajaj).

Baptism isn't just a little extra seasoning on Christian faith; it's a big deal.
It's a big deal because baptism shows your primary allegiance.

Mark 1:9 says, "One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River."

When Jesus went into the water and allowed John to baptize him, he was saying, "This guy is telling the truth. You can believe him. I'm declaring publicly that I am not ashamed to identify with him and his message."

Christian baptism in the name of Jesus says the same thing.

Stanley Grenz put it like this: "Through [baptism], we declare our intention to follow the pathway of discipleship" (Theology for the Community of God, 680).

So baptism is, in the words of Andy Stanley, a public declaration of a new association.

It's an announcement of a new decision to follow a new way. At its core, Christian baptism says, "I'm now associating myself with the mission and message of Jesus. I'm publicly declaring myself to be his disciple."

Related Posts:
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Coming Alive: Following Christ to the Cross

The Water's Fine: Baptism as Participation

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:41:00 +0000

In the last post, I explained how baptism serves as an initiation to the Christian community. Now I want you to see that baptism also signifies your participation with Christ.

It wasn't just him who died, it was you. It isn't just him who came alive, it was you too.

When I say that baptism "signifies" your participation with Christ, I mean that baptism is a public symbol of the spiritual life that is now yours because you belong to Christ.

Paul says it like this in Colossians 2:12:
"You were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead" (NLT).

Baptism is a picture, a symbol of what has happened to you now that you know Jesus as your Savior and follow him as your Lord.

This is the theme that comes up most often in the New Testament when it talks about baptism. In fact, one theologian stated the importance of this theme by saying, "Above all, baptism symbolizes our spiritual union with Christ" (Stanley Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, 679).

"Above all." Yes, there's the initiation theme that is present. Yes, there's the anticipation theme that is there. Yes, there's the declaration theme too. But above all, more important than those themes, is this one: baptism signifies your participation with Christ.

Paul says it again in the book of Romans like this:
"We died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives" (Romans 6:4 NLT).

You are united with Christ. So the "old you" has been buried; the "new you" has come alive.

Related Posts:
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Rededication (and Repentance)

The Water's Fine: Baptism as Initiation

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:19:00 +0000

image credit: dioceseoftrenton.org

Baptism can definitely seem strange if you haven't grown up around church or church people. Even if you did grow up in church or around church people, it can still seem strange!

In the next few posts I will share some thoughts about what baptism is for and why it's important.

Baptism serves as an initiation into the Christian community. It's an entrance into the church.

Many people get caught-up with that word "initiation." But initiation isn't a bad thing. Initiation gone bad is called "hazing." Baptism isn't hazing.

Initiation is just an activity or ceremony to mark the entrance and acceptance of someone into a group.

The person being initiated is saying, "I would like to be a part of this group and what it's about." The group doing the initiating is saying, "We welcome you and accept you as one of us."

This group solidarity and unity is on Paul's mind in 1 Corinthians 12:13:
"Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit."

He's saying, "We all came from different places, but now we're in this together."

So initiation rituals serve to build, reinforce, and maintain the identity of a group.
And baptism serves that purpose for the community of Christians around the world.

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Consider This (Logizomai in Romans 6:11)

Consider This

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:26:00 +0000

image credit: Touch2Touch

There are always new situations, circumstances, choices, and challenges that we need to bring to the cross. Things pop up in my own life and I have to say, "No. I'm not going to let that live. That needs to die."

The things change, but there's always something.

Whether it's lust or selfishness or laziness, or being quick-tempered or me-centered, we have to choose every day to die to some things so we can come alive to better things - the meaningful things that God has for us.

The Apostle Paul put it like this: "Consider yourselves to be dead to the powers of sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11).

If you want to die to your self and come alive to God, there is a "considering" that needs to happen. The word Paul uses for "consider" in this verse is logizomai (pronounced "low-gee-zo-my"). It's a Greek word that was used a lot in the context of making business decisions.

Logizomai conveys the sense of thinking right about something, or seeing it for what it truly is.

It's related to our English word logic.

So it's like he's saying, "Let's think logically about this: You are truly dead to the power of sin, and you are truly alive to God. That happened because you followed Jesus to the cross, where death was swallowed up in life - first Jesus, now for you. Believe it, because it's true."

We're able to see ourselves differently, and see other people differently, and live our lives differently, because it's not about us trying to do it on our own. We died to our own desires and we died to the power of sin at the cross. And then, just like Jesus, we come alive to God's desires for us and his power comes alive within us.

Related Posts:
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Coming Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:05:00 +0000

image credit: http://coming-alive.com

Even though the cross has become a fashion symbol in modern society, its original meaning was an embarrassment and a scandal.

Crucifixion was a method of execution that was invented by the Romans to publicly shame, humiliate, and eliminate the people they thought posed a threat to their established kingdom.

Jesus preached about the coming kingdom of God. The Romans saw that as a threat. So they crucified him.

But on the journey to his final confrontation and crucifixion in Jerusalem, Jesus made it clear that the path of self-giving sacrifice was to be the path for all those who would be known as his followers (see Mark 10:43-45).

To follow Jesus to the cross is to follow Jesus down the path of self-giving sacrifice for others. There's no doubt that there's something scary about that kind of life. There's some uncertainty and risk involved if you actually do what Chris Tomlin sings about: "Where you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay. When you move, I'll move. I will follow you."

But there's also something very intriguing and exciting about it. When you die to your dreams and desires, the grace of God doesn't leave you in the grave; it raises you in a new life filled with God's dreams and desires. That's what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he said, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

Does your life look more like it's just you, or more like it's Jesus in you?

We die, but then we come alive.
And in this new life, it's no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

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The Fastest Way to Make a Harlem Shake Video

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:26:00 +0000

So you wanna make a Harlem Shake video with your friends?

You better hurry up because the trend is sure to end soon.

Joe Berkowitz at Co.Create has traced the evolution of the phenomenon.

The template is simple: One person dances for 15 seconds while everyone else just goes about their business as usual. Then the place erupts with everyone dancing, shaking, and moving in crazy ways with crazy props or crazy costumes.

Even if you have a video camera and iMovie, the fastest (and simplest) way to make a Harlem Shake video is to download the app on someone's iPhone or iPad.

The app is free to download, embeds the song in the video, and does the video splicing for you. Plus, it only costs $.99 to unlock the ability to save and share the video you create. Maybe the best reason to use the app is that you'll be able to post the video to YouTube that same night for all your friends to see and share!

The process is super-simple:

1) Open the app.

2) Record the first 15 seconds.

3) Give everyone a chance to get their costumes and dance moves ready.

4) Record the next 15 seconds.

5) Save the video to your camera roll (it costs $.99 to unlock the ability to do this).

Your video will have the song, the screen break, and even the slow-motion that is standard for the last 2 seconds. It doesn't get any simpler than that!

Here's a video that I made with the app. I'm still not sure how I was able to convince my wife and kids to do it...but they did!

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A Sense of Urgency - John Kotter

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:26:00 +0000

Title: A Sense of Urgency
Author: John Kotter
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Year: 2008
Pages: 195

John Kotter is a former professor at Harvard Business School. That means, among other things, he knows what he's talking about!

I first heard about John Kotter when one of my professors in college made constant references to another one of his books: Leading Change.

In Leading Change, Kotter laid out the 8 stages of how to lead change. It's definitely worth your time.

The connection between this book, A Sense of Urgency, and that book is that the first stage in the change process is, "Establishing a sense of urgency."

Establishing this sense of urgency - which Kotter defines as, "a gut-level determination to move and win, now" - is important enough to warrant a book all on its own because change efforts most often fail because change leaders "did not create a high enough sense of urgency among enough people to set the stage for making a challenging leap in some new direction" (p. viii).

The challenges to true urgency are complacency and false urgency.
Kotter observes that "Complacency is almost always the product of success or perceived success" (p. 20). And the success doesn't even need to have been achieved recently. "An organization's many years of prosperity could have ended a decade ago, and yet the complacency created by that prosperity can live on, often because the people involved don't see it" (p. ix). The complacency remains mostly because "the complacent do not alertly look for new opportunities or hazards facing their organizations" (p. 21).

While complacency is demonstrated by acceptance of the status quo, false urgency is seen in the frenzy of activity that keeps busy with activities of low-importance. "With a false sense of urgency, the action is much more activity than productivity. It is frenetic. It is more mindless running to protect themselves or attack others than purposive focus on critical opportunities" (p. 25).

Ultimately, Kotter wants readers to recognize that "both the business-as-usual behavior associated with complacency and the running-in-circles behavior associated with a false sense of urgency are increasingly dangerous" (p. 7).

His term "increasingly dangerous" stands out to me. Either of these two mindsets have the potential to kill your organization. They are deadly. That simple acknowledgment, alone, can increase your urgency. If we don't act, and act in high-impact ways on high-importance projects/tasks, then there will be no future for us.

After explaining what true urgency is not, Kotter begins to unpack what it is and how to create it. He says, "The winning strategy combines analytically sound, ambitious, but logical goals with methods that help people experience new, often very ambitious goals, as exciting, meaningful, and uplifting - creating a deeply felt determination to move, make it happen, and win, now" (p. 47).

He offers four tactics, which serve to elaborate on the "methods" he mentioned in the quote above. Those tactics are:
1) Bring the Outside In.
2) Behave with Urgency Every Day.
3) Find Opportunities in Crises.
4) Deal with the NoNos.

Each of these tactics are matched with case studies that illustrate their importance, as well as practical suggestions (and cautions) for how to use them well.

In the end, Kotter counsels a kind of "urgent patience." With this term, he means to suggest, "acting each day with a sense of urgency but having a realistic view of time" (p. 118).

I recommend this book for anyone who is involved in the hard work of leading change. Change takes time, but if you create a true sense of urgency at the start then the time it takes and the challenges you face will be significantly less than if you don't.

* For more on this topic, see this post by Michael Hyatt.

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Book Review: The Culture Cycle by James Heskett

Lead Me to the Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Believing in Jesus isn't necessarily the same thing as following him. To believe in Jesus is to agree with a set of beliefs that our parents or a pastor or a friend or someone explained to us somewhere along the way. To follow Jesus, though, is to go where he says to go and do what he says to do.

But Jesus can be unpredictable. When Peter acknowledged that Jesus is "the Messiah" (see Mark 8:29), he probably had other ideas of where Jesus was leading. He probably thought Jesus was getting ready to launch a military campaign to overthrow their Roman oppressors.

But Jesus rebuked him: "Get away from me, Satan!" (see Mark 8:31-33).

Why?

Because following Jesus doesn't lead to celebrity; it leads to the cross.

The cross is the place where Jesus died and secured the forgiveness of God for us, but that's not all that the cross represents. The cross is also the place where we die: to our desire for control, pride, power, greed, and popularity. In order to live, we have to die.

When we die to the things that hinder us in our walk with Christ, when we let them go, then we gain the space and the strength to carry the things that matter - the things that make the life that Jesus is calling us to.

Related Posts:
Helpless Scarecrows & the Living God
Rededication (and Repentance)

Series: Boyfriends & Girlfriends

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:47:00 +0000

Cover Slide: right click and "save as"

Text Slide: right click and "save as"

Dating and relationships dominate the conversations at many middle school and high school lunch tables. This series will help your students better understand the who, what, why, and how of "boyfriends and girlfriends."

Message 1: You Be You (preview and download the .doc file)

Confidence is the most attractive thing about a person. Help your students understand what confidence really is and what they can base their confidence on.

Message 2: Before the Beginning (preview and download the .doc file)

Boundaries are essential for healthy relationships. Help your students think about their expectations and boundaries for relationships before they start. This message also identifies a few different types of relationships that just aren't healthy for students.

Message 3: Beginnings and Endings (preview and download the .doc file)

All relationships go through a series of stages: infatuation, reality, and decision. Help your students understand the emotions involved at each of those stages, as well as what to do when the decision stage leads to a break-up.

NOTE: As always, my hope is not that you would say what I say, but that your own thinking and teaching are informed and improved by this resource.

How To Breakup with Someone

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:04:00 +0000

As I said in the last post, every relationship goes through 3 phases.

The final phase is "accommodate or evacuate."
If you decide to evacuate the relationship, to breakup, there's a right way and a wrong way to do that.

The wrong way looks like this:

The right way to breakup has 3 parts:

1) Figure out exactly why you're breaking up with the person.
Here's a list of possibilities:
* I've changed. I'm not the same person I was when I started dating you.
* I don't think we really communicate well.
* We argue too much.
* I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone right now.
* You are way too controlling and I have a life that doesn't revolve around you.
* There is way too much drama in your life.
* We have different morals and they just aren't meshing together.
* Your expectations of relationship are different than mine.

Those are all good reasons. So, if you want to breakup with someone at least take the time to figure out why. It will save you from being mean or talked out of your decision in the next step.

2) Have the conversation.
Breaking up is hard to do, but at least have the decency to tell the other person yourself. Don't send a friend to do it. And do it face to face if you can. The other person deserves to understand what's happening and, just in case they didn't see it coming, to ask you why (that's why the first step was so important).

In the conversation try to focus on why it's important for you to move on rather than making statements about what's wrong with the other person. So instead of, "You always..." or "You never...", you would say, "I just don't think this relationship is what's best for me right now."

And if you're the one being broken with, don't try to convince the person not to break up with you. You might make them feel bad enough to reverse their decision for now, but the relationship won't be the same as before they tried to break up with you. And they'll eventually break up with you again, and when they do it will probably hurt even worse.

3) Keep your distance.
The distance should be both physically and socially, at least for a while.
Don't gossip about it. Don't talk trash about the other person.
Don't keep calling them. Don't keep apologizing.

Just be respectful of that person's feelings, update your relationship status and take the pictures off Facebook, give it a rest, and let it blow over. Things will be normal again, I promise.

Related Posts:
What You Really Want in a Boyfriend or Girlfriend

The Three Phases of Every Relationship

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

It's been said that "Life was so much easier when you clothes didn't have to match and boys had cooties." Maybe it was. But we can't really back there. Puberty has kicked in and your hormones are in full swing.

Boyfriends and girlfriends are in your future. And when you eventually have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you can be sure that every relationship will move through 3 phases.

1) THE BEGINNING
The beginning of every relationship is an exciting time. Wow! She said yes! He wants me to be his girlfriend! It's exciting. It's so exciting, in fact, that you overlook each other's faults during this phase. This is also called "infatuation," which is a word used to describe an intense, yet short-lived passion for someone.

Infatuation actually makes chemicals release in three areas of your brain. That simultaneous release gives you an adrenaline rush, makes your heart rate go up, and decreases your attention span. In other words, it seriously messes with your judgment! That's why people who are in this phase think that if the other person breaks up with them then their whole life will be over. They have no idea what they're thinking because they're infatuated with the other person.

But people don't stay infatuated forever. They move on to phase two.

2) REALITY
After anywhere from a week to a year, the infatuation begins to wear off. This is where the other person comes down from the pedestal you had built for them in the clouds. You thought they were just so perfect, but now you're seeing some ways in which they aren't so perfect.

Welcome back to reality. And in reality, no one is perfect. And now you're noticing it.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to breakup. It just means that you're about to enter the next phase of the relationship. And here's the thing: people get to this place in the relationship at different points. Like I said, infatuation wears off somewhere between the first week and the first year.

I know a guy who went all they way from Phase 1 to Phase 3 with a girl in two weeks. He broke up with her and she was still "oohing and aching" about how wonderful he was.

It's when you're at drastically different phases in the relationship that the breakup seems like it's going to destroy you. Of course, it won't destroy you, but it just feels like it for a while - especially if it happened while you were still getting high on the hormones of infatuation.

3) ACCOMMODATE or EVACUATE
The infatuation has worn off and reality has kicked in. What are you going to do now?
You have two basic options:
a) The first option is to accommodate the person you see standing in front of you. Now you know that they aren't perfect. But that's okay. The imperfections they have today are things that you can learn to love about them tomorrow. And that's what you decide to try.

My wife and I have been married for almost 8 years. We argue about some things. I do things that she thinks could be done better. She bites her nails, which I really don't like. But we learned those things about each other when we were dating. And when we each got to Phase 3, we both decided to accommodate rather than evacuate.

But that's not the right decision for every person or every relationship. Sometimes the flaws you see are too big to let go. Or sometimes you recognize that there really isn't any chemistry between you. Or sometimes you just change your mind. All of those things and fine and understandable. That's the time to breakup.

Related Posts:
A Quick History of Dating

A Quick History of Dating

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:24:00 +0000

You shouldn't be surprised to learn that dating hasn't always happened like it does now. In fact, in the ancient world there really wasn't any dating. That's partly why the Bible has nothing really specific to say about it.

Sometimes men from one clan would raid the village of another clan and take the women they wanted as wives.

No chance for dad's approval.
No chance for a proposal.
No chance to "Say Yes to the Dress."
Just, "You. Come. Now. We go."

But the men from the village that had some its women stolen didn't think too highly of that. So they went out looking for the new husbands and wives.

The guys weren't dumb enough to go back to their own village with their newly captured women. Instead, they hid in caves for about a month - the time it takes for the moon to go through all its phases. And, according to an old French custom, while they hid in the cave they drank a special drink called metheglin, which was produced from honey.

So the couple went away from home for awhile, drank a honey drink, and watched the moon.
And do you know what we call that today? The honeymoon!

If the girl wasn't captured and taken off by someone, then it was likely that she would have an arranged marriage. Arranged marriages were used to sweeten business deals or make political alliances.

So if you wanted to buy 100 cattle from a guy down the road, but you didn't have quite enough money and other stuff to trade for it, then you might toss in your daughter to make the deal more appealing to him.

Or if you had political power and you wanted to keep another group from attacking you or joining forces with someone else, then you might offer your daughter to be married to that other group's king...or maybe the king's son. Today we have peace treaties. They didn't have those. That's what marriages were for!

That explains why there is so much polygamy in the Old Testament. For instance, 1 Kings 11:3 says, "He [Solomon] had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines." He wasn't playing "Happy Home" with all these women. He had had made political allies to keep from being attacked.

In the medieval period (500 AD - 1500 AD), the idea that romantic love should also be part of marriage became more common. Theater was a growing form of entertainment, and life imitated art as men starting taking more cues from the helplessly-in-love characters on the stage.

These men bought flowers and wrote poetry for the women who had captured their hearts. They sought women who were known for the virtues of chastity and honor.

More time passed, and in the Victorian Era (1837 - 1901) people began viewing romantic love as the primary reason for people to get married.

But how can you know if you feel that kind of romantic love for someone? You've got to spend some time together.

But this was still a very formal time, so if you liked a girl you couldn't just walk up and start a conversation. You had to be formally introduced to her by someone close to her.

Almost almost dating/courting was done in the girl's home with her parents in the room. After a while, you might get to second base: the chance to sit with her on the front porch at her house.

Before you think this kind of thing is all weird and outdated, think about the difference between how guys and girls treat each other on Jersey Shore (or Buckwild) and that more than half of marriages today end in divorce. And then check out this line from a love letter that Mark Twain wrote his future wife: "Out of the depths of my heart wells a great tide of love and prayer for this priceless treasure that is confided to my life-long keeping."

Ladies, which one would you rather have? Perhaps we need to recapture something of the chivalry from earlier times: guys opening doors for ladies, letting them go first, leaving a rose on her windshield (or mailbox), being respectful of her parents, of her words, of her feelings, of her decisions.

That could go a long way, guys.

Related Posts:
5 Ways to Know if He or She Likes You
You Be You (Confidence is Attractive)

5 Ways to Know if He or She Likes You

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:51:00 +0000

Here are 5 ways to know if that special guy or girl is "in to" you:

1) They tell you.
2) They show up around you more than they did before.
3) They ask a lot of questions about what you like and don't like.
4) They "accidentally" bump into you (more than once).
5) They yawn right after you do ("The Yawn Test").

I want to elaborate a bit on "The Yawn Test."

When we were in 8th grade, one of my friends and I came up with this great idea for figuring out which girls liked us. We called it "The Yawn Test."

Here's how it worked:
Yawns are contagious...when you see someone yawning, then you yawn right after they do. So right after you yawn, look around (subtly) to see if the person you hope is yawning is actually yawning. If they are, then it means they were checking you out!

But consider yourselves warned:
This is not an exact science.

One day this friend of mine sat down at the lunch table. He was super-excited. He said that he had just performed the test and couldn't believe what happened. The girl that every one of us wanted to slow dance with at a middle school dance had yawned right after he did! And you know what that means: it was obvious that she was into him!

So he strutted over to her lunch table and asked her out.
And what do you think she said?
She said, "No."

So it doesn't work every time. If the results are positive, you can be sure that it's not a false-positive if and only if you've noticed some of the other signs happening too!

In other words, don't just rely on The Yawn Test. Use it as more of like a final confirmation after you've noticed that the other person is showing up around you and talking to you a bit more than before.

Happy Valentine's Day...and good luck!

For more pointers, see the helpful article (with illustrations) over at Wikihow.com

Related Posts:
What You Really Want in a Boyfriend or Girlfriend

What You Really Want in a Boyfriend or Girlfriend

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:34:00 +0000

I want to offer you 6 questions to ask about a person before you become their boyfriend or girlfriend:

1) Do they have Christian faith?
2) Do they respect people who are in authority positions (parents, coaches, teachers)?
3) Do they seem trustworthy?
4) Do they appear confident?
5) Do they demonstrate responsibility?
6) Do they have ambition (dreams and goals)?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no," then I would say that person is not ready to be your boyfriend or girlfriend.

If the answer to any of these question is "I don't know," then I would say that you need to get to know that person better before making the jump into a committed relationship.

If you can't answer "yes" to all of these questions, then entering into a closer, more significant relationship with that person is more likely to leave you with regret when the relationship is over.

So you are looking for someone who has Christian faith, respects people in authority, seems trustworthy, appears confident, demonstrates responsibility, and has ambition.

Is that a high standard for a guy or girl to meet?
Of course it is. But remember: you're worth it.

Take the time to think about these things before you say yes.
It's like the Proverb says, "Wise people think before they act; fools don't - and even brag about their foolishness" (Proverbs 13:16 NLT).

Dating should be fun. It's supposed to be a fun chance to learn how to be around, talk with, and care about another person. And if you take the time to sort these things out before the beginning of a relationship, then you'll save yourself from a lot of headaches and heartaches down the road.

Related Posts:
You Be You (Confidence is Attractive)

You Be You (Confidence is Attractive)

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:55:00 +0000

image credit: emmenation.com

Love is in the air, so I wanted to spend a little time talking about relationships. More specifically, I want to spend a little time talking about boyfriends and girlfriends. Contrary to what most people think, however, the person to begin with for this topic isn't another person; it's you.

It's interesting that survey after survey reveals that the number one thing that people find attractive in another person is not looks, popularity, money, or intelligence; it's confidence.

Confidence. A comfort-level with the skin you're in.
A sense of identity. A sense of direction.
An awareness and acceptance of who God has made you to be.

People with confidence don't change everything about themselves to impress a girl or keep a guy.
They remain true to who they are.

When people don't know themselves as recipients of God's love and grace, then they usually don't think of themselves as having any inherent value. They must create their value and project it for everyone else to see and affirm.

The primary ways that students try to create value apart from God are through accomplishment and appearance.

If I look pretty enough, then people will think I'm special.
If I get my biceps big enough, then people will think I'm special.
If I am the best player on my team, then people will think I'm special.
If I can be the class-clown, then people will think I'm funny...and special.

It's not that accomplishment and appearance are bad things.
They just aren't meant to be the measuring stick of your worth.

The priceless God has put his own image on you and in you (see Genesis 1:26-27).
That makes you priceless, apart from what you do or how you look.

Our source of value, then, is also the source of our confidence.
Who you are and what you have at this moment is who you need to be and what you need to have in order to succeed at this moment. Or to say it another way, you are and you have everything you need to do what God has for you right now.

When it comes to dating, become a person with confidence, spend time with people who are confident, and leave the cocky people to talk about themselves with someone else.

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Sexual Lyrics & Sexual Behavior
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Responding to Bob Burroughs' "3 Questions for Worship"

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:45:00 +0000

Someone sent me an article by Bob Burroughs called, "3 Questions for Worship" (abpnews.com, January 16, 2013).

They asked for my opinion.

If you click the link, it will open the article in a new window.

Read through the article (3 minutes) and then come back.

Ok. Here is my response.

Burroughs sets the scene and asks, "Did anyone care that these people [those who weren't singing at the moment he happened to be thinking about it] were not involved?"

My question to him is:
Is it right to assume that not singing is equivalent to not involved?

I think that's a bit of a leap. There are many times when the music/lyrics/vocals are so good, so strong, that the most worshipful attitude for me in those moments is to be quiet, listen, and allow the worship of the worship leader to lead me in worship. My own voice in that moment is an interruption even to myself. So I stand there, overwhelmed with the presence of God in our midst. It's unfair (and wrong, in my opinion) to assume that people who aren't singing are not involved.

In response to his scenario under the question, "Who is watching?", I would just say that I have witnessed the same thing at every church I have attended - big, small, contemporary, traditional, country, and suburban. Some people are comfortable and natural singing in public; others are not. I honestly don't think what he's proposing here is going to change that.

On to his proposals, then.
He suggests that the volume be turned down. For starters, in his opening example he explicitly said that the volume was "not too loud" so this is apparently just his pet-peeve and not a real issue related to the lack of singing he's talking about.

Even still, in my many conversations with guys my age on this very point, it's almost unanimous they will stop singing when the volume is too low. We aren't singers, so we want the volume turned as high as possible to allow our words to blend into the music...not stand out from it. So even though Burroughs made a guarantee at the end of his point, his guarantee is wrong.

He also suggests that worship leaders should teach new songs "properly." How does he suggest that happen? He doesn't offer any suggestions. Should we give everyone a cd? Should we put the .mp3 files for next Sunday's songs on the church website? Should we do a Sunday School (or Small Group) lesson on each new song before we do it?

In my own experience, when the worship team plays a new song that I like - but didn't previously know - I buy it on iTunes and listen to it. The first time I heard "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman, the worship leader said, "Here's a new one that we like. I hope you like it too." And I did like it...a lot. So I went up to him after the service and said, "Hey, who sings that song y'all sang that said "Bless the Lord oh my soul?" He told me what it was called and who sings it. I got on iTunes and bought it. The next time they played that song, I happily joined in with deeper engagement.

There is more I could say, but seeing that those were his major points, I'll just leave it at that. I appreciate what Mr. Burroughs is trying to say, but I don't think his proposals will get people singing on Sunday.

Related Posts:
And the Band Played On: Music in Youth Ministry
What Do Charles Spurgeon & Andy Stanley Have in Common?
Spatial Relationships, Belonging, & the Church

What Do Spurgeon & Stanley Have in Common?

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:32:00 +0000

If you spend any time around people who define themselves as part of the "reformed" stream of Christian faith, then you'll probably sense an admiration for Charles Spurgeon (d. 1892) and a not-so-favorable opinion of Andy Stanley. That's not always the case, but I have found to be true in almost 100 conversations now.

Of course, there are several points of contention between those who lean toward Spurgeon and those who lean toward Stanley. Based on their doctrinal systems, the two sides will always have quibbles about soteriology (thoughts about salvation), ecclesiology (thoughts about the church), and eschatology (thoughts about the end).

Beyond those debates, however, both of these men are known for their great preaching ability. (Spurgeon is actually referred to as "The Prince of Preachers.") And so I find it amusing when I encounter the reformed critique of Andy Stanley that hangs him out to dry based on one of the things he said, namely:

"While I'm a firm believer that all Scripture is equally inspired, observation tells me that all Scripture is not equally applicable" (Communicating for a Change, 96).

And the reformed guys (who pride themselves on verse-by-verse expository preaching) get all up in arms: "How dare you disregard Scripture! Haven't you read 2 Timothy 3:16-17?"

Settle down guys. I'm sure Andy has read those verses.

And before you right him off as a heretic while proclaiming the virtues of Spurgeon's preaching, you should know that Spurgeon himself said exactly the same thing:

"Although all Scripture is good and profitable, it is not all equally appropriate for every occasion" (Lectures to My Students, 81).

Did you hear that? They said the same thing.

And still I've seen Spurgeon praised in the exact same blog posts that take issue with Stanley's statement!

How about one more?

Andy Stanley: "Preaching for life change involves picking those passages that are more appropriate for and applicable to our target audience" (page 96).

Charles Spurgeon: "Among many gems we have to select the jewel most appropriate for the setting of the occasion" (page 82).

So there is at least one thing that Charles Spurgeon and Andy Stanley have in common:

They both believe that the selection of biblical text(s) is very important. And that every text, though equally inspired, is not equally applicable or appropriate for every occasion.

Say something memorable this Sunday.

Preaching: Light & Heat

Today's Learning is Tomorrow's Teaching