mikey boy

my good friend mike johnson is about to arrive in an hour. this should be a fun weekend. the kids are gone to atlanta with abuelo and abuela, and lisa is on her weekend retreat. it’s just me and mikey boy (oh, can’t forget maggie, my dog).

i did manage to cross off some items on the honey due list. vacuumed the house, installed a new ceiling fan and light fixture in the den, did all the dishes, cleaned the cook top, cleaned out the refrigerator and cleaned the counter tops. and i did all that before noon today. not to shabby.

our plans for the weekend include but are not limited too:

1. sleeping in
2. hanging out
3. laughing
4. watching lots of college football
5. grilled flank steak in a red wine marinade, served with a chimichurri sauce, jasmine rice, black beans, maduros and tostones (we like to cook good food)
6. create mike a website
7. good conversation
8. lead worship on sunday at church for the 9 AM service
9. sing the offertory on sunday at church for the 11 AM service
10. whatever else we deem necesary

hanging out with mike is a very good thing for me. it’s always good to hang out with one of your genuine friends. he’s like a brother. we have had our tense moments and now have reached a place where honesty rules every conversation. good stuff.

wednesday night laughter?

there was an awkward moment tonight during our youth worship gathering. not while the youth worship band was leading worship. not during my teaching (although there have been some of those). tonight’s awkward moment occurred during announcements. i’m not bothered by the fact that an awkward moment occurred. i’m bothered with what caused it.

i was making announcements as usual, and i brought up a new announcement tonight. we would be serving dinner to a local football team later in november. to my amazement a large percentage of the students started to laugh. here are some reasons it was awkward.

1. the youth group i serve is 99% white.

2. the football team and school they represent is 99% african-american.

3. the laughter was one of shock, not of humor.

i would like to think it was for some other reason, but unfortunately i don’t think that is the case. this is an area that i am very sensitive about, and i knew that one day i would have to face the issue. i am a youth pastor in an extremely segregated city, one with deep roots of racism and bigotry.

this is a challenge in which i need the wisdom of others and the prayers of many.

retreat debrief

thank you to all who wrote notes and prayed for me this past weekend as i attended walk to emmaus. lisa goes on her walk this coming weekend so please send notes and support her in prayer.

what a transforming weekend. i had attended a similar retreat in the past at the age of 17 so i knew many of the surprises. there was one that i didn’t expect, but i cannot elaborate because i want lisa to have the same pleasant surprise. all in all, a wonderful experience and encounter with Christ.

i continue to process through my brother’s accident and my mom’s battle with cancer. when you live a life void of tragedy, it feels like bombs are going off all around you when tragedy does strike. there are so many layers to dig through as you come back out of the rubble. for me it has been spiritual rubble. as you grow in Christ you develop a sense of who He is, but if that sense is not grounded in scripture then you are in for a rude awakening. which was my case.

i had become a very selfish person through the tragedy but, i didn’t even see it. it was during our first talk of the weekend that i realized just how selfish i had become. it began with my relationship with God, but it spread from there into other relationships. i was putting just enough into my relationships to get what i wanted back out. this doesn’t work, especially in our relationship with God.

how easily we forget the extravagant love of our Father. i thought that if i followed God’s calling on my life and was faithful to it, all things would go well. that didn’t happen. so i reformulated my relationship with God, and what i was trying to do was earn His love. i had forgotten the essenceof God’s love. in the busyness of life and vocational ministry i had forgotten God’s prevenient grace. God wooing us to fall in love with Him. no matter what baggage or misconceptions we bring, God loves us.

i have known this all my life, but this weekend solidified my understanding of God’s love. i had experienced glimpses of His love, but this weekend i experienced the fullness of His love.

Christ’s Peace.

conversations

i have had some interesting conversations with a group of new students at elements. they are not your normal church going types, which i appreciate. not to say that there is something wrong with church going types. i appreciate their honesty in conversation, and i hope that the dialogue that we have started continues in our time together.

last night i went with a group of students to harvest moon, a delicious pizza joint here in albany. it was nice to go out after church and hang out. that is one thing i miss most about atlanta. heading out almost every wednesday night to fellini’s. more great conversation was had. just goofed off and watched a guy take laps inside the restaurant. he was a bit inebriated.

off for the weekend. woo hoo!

banana = creation

thanks to my good friend ash mangham for this gem of a video. seriously? i should try using this one with my senior high group.

cheesy christians take 2

i posted a video a couple of weeks ago that was taken off of youtube at the request of the way international, the creative entity of this wonderful video. it has been reposted on myspace. thanks marko for the heads up.

CLICK HERE to see the video.

walk to emmaus

i am looking forward to this coming weekend. starting thursday night and through the weekend i will be on a retreat called, “walk to emmaus.” it’s in the same vein at “tres dias.” i am most looking forward to not having to make any decisions. i will be instructed where to be the entire weekend. nothing for me to figure out. as a youth pastor you plan and lead so many retreats and events through out the year. it’s nice to go on a retreat as a retreatant to disconnect from life’s busyness and connect with God. i am greatly in need of this time.

i covet your prayers this weekend.

MMA and Jesus

since my move to albany i have become a fan of MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting. i used to watch pride and UFC whenever i happened to catch it. i now find myself knowing the fighters, watching the reality based show “ultimate fighter,” and know the names to many of the submission holds. i have my friend tim morris to thank for my growing love of this sport.

in MMA fighting there are 3 ways to win a fight:

1. judges’ cards (you win the a majority of points)
2. KO (the fan favorite knock out)
3. tap out (who get your opponent into a submission hold, and they tap out indicating their surrender)

there are many companies out there that produce products for fans of MMA fighting. there is one in particular that i was made aware of by tim. the company is www.nosubmit.com. they have a product line under “Jesus Didn’t Tap.” yes, this is MMA apparel for the christian MMA fan.

the link below will take you to a particular shirt that i am not sure how to respond to. all i can say is what tim said when he sent me the link, wow! seriously?

https://www.nosubmit.com:40009/myoffice/storeonline/default.aspx?orgId=13972&category=2581&item=287356

 

frustrated

this week has been frustrating.  it was productive. i got to check off many annoying items on my to-do list, but i felt scattered and disconnected all week. my friend and fellow youth worker Chad Mullins taught on wednesday night which allowed me the opportunity to lead worship. even that rare opportunity was a bit frustrating. the band worked hard and did great, but there is nothing more distracting than having people carry on a conversation right in front of you as worship is taking place.

on the plus side, we have had new people visiting the past few weeks. the best part is they keep coming back. the are not normal church attenders which is very exciting. i am not interested in having students that normally attend another church to visit. they need to support their community. since my arrival to albany, i have always shared with my volunteers and those i answer to that i want God to bring us the kids nobody else wants or the ones others have given up on. i also want students that don’t attend church and want to see what it means to follow Christ.

i have been visiting schools. this has been eye opening and a great experience. i have also started riding along with the albany police department. one of the officers is a youth leader at the church. he is ministry minded in his work. i will have an opportunity to talk to students who are making poor life decisions. although this is a bit intimidating, i know that this is just another door God has opened for me.

pray that God continues to open doors for me to cross paths with those student i mentioned, and that we will welcome them into the community with open hearts. pray for the youth of our church, that God would continue to soften their hearts for the lost and outcast.

wednesday night update

last night went pretty well. the youth worship band did an incredible job. it’s the best they have done since my arrival. not only did they play the songs well, but more importantly they led worship as a band. they didn’t overplay, they listened to each other and connected with everyone else in the room.

we introduced “how He loves us” by John Mark McMillan. here is a video with John Mark McMillan leading the song and explaining the story behind the lyrics. this is a very powerful testimony.

it was well recieved. we followed the arrangement by Kim Walker. i learned about this song through www.simplyyouthworship.com, and i experienced it live for the first time at BigStuf camp this summer.

my good friend Chad Mullins will be teaching next week and i will be leading worhsip. a little change a pace is nice.