As Christ-followers we are called to be a light to our world. The question we should always be asking ourselves is that if what we are doing is being a light to those around us? Or in essence, “am I doing what I can to let people see Christ in me and through me?” Or are we putting our light under a bowl?

One of the things that bugs me as a Christ-follower is that we have to have a “Christian” alternative for everything. Just do a simple Google search for “Christian MySpace” or “Christian Facebook” and you will find that there are a half dozen or more of these alternatives to Facebook and MySpace (do people still even use MySpace?). There was also an alternative to YouTube called GodTube, which is now Tangle.

Today, I just found out that someone created a so called Christian alternative to Twitter. It is called Christian Chirp and it even labels itself as “The Christian Alternative to Twitter”. Maybe they should have just gone ahead and labeled itself “The Place Where Christians Can Put Their Light Under a Bowl”.

I am really tired of people in the church finding new ways to hide from or take themselves out of the the world, because they are afraid of being influenced negatively by the world. But that is not what the Bible tells us to do. Check out John 17:15 (TNIV) – “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”

I am thinking that as Christ-followers we should have the same prayer as Jesus and instead of trying to constantly finding ways to remove ourselves from the world, that we would find ways that we can be that light to the world. We need to pray and ask God to protect ourselves from the evil one and trust that He will do His part while we go and do our part to be that light in the world that we are supposed to be a part of.

I believe that all of these Christian alternatives that we create are showing our complete lack of faith in God. And I believe that in some small ways that we are even setting ourselves up to be bigger then Him by doing this. If we don’t believe that He can keep us safe then we are really taking over the reins of our life and kicking God out of the driver seat. I am not saying that this gives us the right to make foolish decisions, but I am saying that we don’t need to wrap ourselves up in bubble wrap, because we are so fearful of the big, bad world. God will honor the prayer of the faithful asking Him to protect them.

I am choosing to not be a part of those things because I don’t want to hide my light under a bowl and I would rather set my light up as high as possible for everyone to see. I hope that through my life other people will see the love, mercy, grace and forgiveness of God. I want God’s kindness to show through me, so that others will be led to repentance.

However, I get that sense now. There seems to be a difference in this case though, because when Yac died Marko was already in place as President and kept the spirit and heartbeat of Yac’s dream for YS alive.

Now YS seems to be a ship with no captain. Zondervan, who bought YS back in 2007, has always been quite a bit more conservative then YS. I always wondered how that relationship would work out and it seems like we may be seeing that it really hasn’t. I had a friend say to me that it is like those cute little quirks that your fiancee has, but then when you get married you realize they annoy you. It appears like Zondervan has gotten annoyed with those quirks, which is the only reason why I see in them getting rid of the person who not only had the heart and soul of YS but was also it’s leader.

I think that this will be a huge win for Group and Simply Youth Ministry along with the SYM Conference. I think that a lot of people are going to jump to there products and to their conference, because they feel that YS is just not going to be the same.

However, I think that this could be a loss for youth workers. We will now no longer have that place where we can all gather together and be stretched in our think by the speakers. One of the hallmarks of NYWC is that we were able to hear from a broad spectrum of people and so it forced us out of our comfort zones and made us think. I just don’t see Zondervan continuing with that and I hope that I am wrong.

In the meantime I will be praying for Marko, and I agree with Len that “YSMarko now stands for You’re Special Marko”. Of course, Marko was always special. I look forward to what Marko does to bless youth workers in the future, even if it is just a return to blogging.

But I will miss his antics like this….

And this….

I saw this video recently and thought it was pretty cool. I don’t know if it is true or not, but I like it anyway.

I just saw this video on the Macworld website and it makes me sad. I was really hoping that come June when Apple’s contract with AT&T ran out that Verizon would get in on the iPhone. But, sadly, with this commercial I think that they have now shut the door on that possibility.

I just don’t get why Verizon would take aim at one of the best selling smartphones on the market when they are so close to being able to get it for themselves. I had heard from people that it looked like a done deal with Verizon getting the iPhone, so I was very hopeful and counting down the days until I could get an iPhone on the Verizon network. I love my Verizon mobile phone service, but this will just now cause me to want to walk away from them when my contract ends.

Can someone at Verizon explain to me the logic behind this stupid move? I think that this will end up hurting Verizon in the long run.

I am uber excited for the Star Trek DVD to come out. I thought that this movie was amazing and a great way to get the movies back going.

HT to Matthew McNutt.

I just recently found out that someone that I love and care for very deeply will be losing her battle with cancer soon. Her name is Loretta and she is the wife of the man who was my youth pastor growing up. These two people have meant the world to me and have invested so much into my life. I feel in many ways that I am losing a parent. Dan & Loretta have loved me and cared for me in so many ways. Words just can’t describe the feeling that I have for them.

What can you really say or do for someone who has meant so much to you and done so much for you? The words “thank you” just seem so trite and meaningless. These two people invited me into their home when my parent’s were gone away on vacation, so that I wouldn’t have to alone and get myself into trouble. They invited me into their lives so that I could see how to live as a godly person. They invited me into their marriage so that I could learn how to be a good husband for my wife. They invited me into their ministry so that I could learn how to be a good pastor when I became one. They invited me into their hearts so that I could learn that I would always be loved no matter who I was or what I became.

I know that I am not the only person that they have touched and I know that I won’t be the last. However, how do you honor a person who has done so much and meant so much to you, like Loretta has? I think that the best way that you can do that is to live your life to the fullest. To live your life in such a way that you give your everything for the glory of God and to live your life passionately for Him. I think that is the best way that one can honor a person who has meant so much to you.

That is what I intend to do. Not only that but I know that Dan and Loretta’s legacy will live on, because every life that God has given me the honor of touching will have been touched by Dan and Loretta as well. That is the beauty and legacy of every Christ-follower. It is not having a plaque on the back of a pew or the carpeting that is purchased from the generous donation left to the church in your will. It is the joy of leaving behind lives who have been touched, because you cared enough to love and invest in their lives. The question for you is what are you going to do to honor the lives of the people who have touched your life? What kind of mark will you leave behind? Will be a stupid brass plaque or will it be lives touched?

I am really looking forward to NYWC in 2010, because I am hoping that I will be able to meet up with more of my youth pastor friends from around the country and being in one location will help that. Plus, I really think that YS is on the forefront of something very big in the world of youth ministry.

Many people know that I am a huge fan of the TV show The Biggest Loser. I have watched it since the very first season and I have not missed an episode. It is one of the things that inspired me to put down the bowl of ice cream, get off of the couch, and change my lifestyle. I was borderline obese and I needed to do something. I had tried diets but it was time to change my life if I wanted to lose the weight, keep it off and live for a long time. I found that inspiration while watching The Biggest Loser.

In season 3 of The Biggest Loser I had a fellow youth pastor, that I knew through an online community (YMX), participate in the show as the representative for Maine. His name is Matthew McNutt and you can read his story on his website. This season there is another youth pastor that is participating on the show (and was sadly voted off this last week), whose name is Sean Algaier. It really got me to thinking, that in my limited view of the youth ministry world, there seems to be a lot of overweight youth pastors/workers out there.

I think that is a sad thing. Youth pastors are called to be an inspiration to the next generation and I think that we need to stop limiting that to only spiritual things. I believe that if we truly believe that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit then we need to practice that in how we take care of our bodies. I hope that in my current ministry that I am inspiring my teens to not only to live a godly life, but that I am also inspiring them to live a healthy and full life.

I am so grateful to Matthew and Sean for inspiring many youth pastors to start changing their lives and to start shedding their excess baggage, so that they can be their for their families and for their teenagers long term. I hope that this doesn’t just become a fad that ends up dying out, but I hope that youth pastors, pastor and Christ-followers everywhere take it upon themselves to push themselves and get healthy.

I love what Bob Harper of The Biggest Loser has to say about weight loss, “The key to becoming a big loser is mathematically very simple: Eat less, move more.” And if you need someone to get up in your face and push you, like Bob and Jillian do on the show, the find someone to do that. The most important thing is that you do it. I hope and pray that the Church in America can not only show the world that living for Christ is the best way to live, but I also hope that we can show them that being healthy is also important. And I hope that youth pastors everywhere will take the lead on this.

The week that we moved down here our new church was doing vacation Bible school. That gave us a great opportunity to meet some people at the church and to see people in action. It was neat to see people helping one another out and serving.

The church found me a great place to have for my office. I found a nice desk at Ikea as well. And despite the fact that we have gone there quite a bit since we moved down I insist that I am not addicted. However, I must admit that I was thrilled when I saw that there was an Ikea only 15 minutes from our new house.

Speaking of our new house, I am still in awe of how amazing it is that we have found such a great home in a very nice neighborhood. We are only 5 minutes from the church’s building and close to the kid’s schools. My daughter has a friend in her grade that also goes to our church only 2 doors down from us. My son has slowly began to make friends, which is a good thing because he really misses all of his buddies from our old neighborhood. It is nice to have a house where people can come visit and we can also have a group of about 20 parents come over. Our landlord is very nice as well.

I have already started making friends with some of the local youth pastors and they are a greta group of guys. They had organized the Unight Event before I came down, which was an amazing time for the teens to sing songs to God, listen to an amazing speaker named E.J. Swanson and then walk around Lakota East High School so that they could pray for their school and friends. How cool is that? I look forward to getting to know these guys better and seeing the amazing things that God can do.

We are also blessed to have an amazing group of elders at our church who are helping steer the ship while our church looks for a new senior pastor. Yes, you read that right. Our senior pastor resigned last week. I have been assured that my job is safe and that the elders believe that I am the man for the job. So during this time of transition the elders are going to be sharing the load and making sure that the church keeps moving forward. It is so peaceful to us knowing that God has entrusted this church with these five very competent men. The ship may be rocking in this storm, but knowing that Jesus is there in the boat is bringing us peace.

I am also in shock over how good the Michigan Wolverines did this past Saturday. They played a very good Western Michigan University football team and beat them soundly. I am looking forward to seeing what they can do when the Irish come to visit on Saturday. It is always a good rivalry game.

Last year, Michigan lost to all 3 of their biggest rivals for the first time ever and I don’t see that happening again this year. It was nice to see them win their opening game for the first time in 2 years and I hope that this year we can maybe also win our last game of the season for the first time in a long time. My prediction is that they will go 8-4 this season. GO BLUE!!!