Fall Retreat only a little late

Well it has been over a month since I last blogged, but here are a couple of updates. First off fall retreat was terrific. We joined several other churches in the area for a weekend filled with singing, reflection and of course goofing around.

During the weekend we were asked what we were standing for. In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord compares two men, one with a foundation of stone and the other with a foundation of sand. He talked about Ignoring Gods word and how it can lead to a foundation of sand. There are times where we think what we are giving our lives too will withstand the storms, only to realize amidst the storm that our foundation is doomed.

Best Group Ever

Although these words are true what I will remember most about the weekend are the relationships built with the kids. The times were they really opened up about their spiritual lives and what their doubts were. I told them plainly that I didn’t have all the answers, but I was ready to walk with them to seek those answers out. I encouraged them in the meantime to stand for the Gospel, that Christ is faithful to his promises.

Christ's ambassador to the lunch room.

Pray for me as I spend two lunch periods a week with kids.

As some of you may or may not know I have been given a terrific opportunity that allows me access to the schools and it is perfectly legitimate. I do not want to put too many details up on the web just because I want the organization I work with to be able to keep a low profile. If you ask me in person I will tell you all about it but for the purposes of this blog the best description is that I am a glorified volunteer. When the school needs people for logistics they call us. When they do their activities based around character days, they call us.

This also means that twice a week I get to go to lunch at the school and be around young people. Of course I am not allowed to share my faith unless the kids ask direct questions about it. It gives meaning to the often quoted “Witness to the Gospel always, and when necessary use words.” Some of the kids there know I work for a church and they ask great questions but many do not know and may never ask.

This is going to be an exciting adventure to learn how to have what I believe about Jesus be obvious to the people around me by the way I handle myself. Pray for me!

40 Ridiculous photos and God's special revelation.

You can see me suddenly realize a picture is being taken.

I have about forty more equally ridiculous looking photographs on my cell phone from where it got taken from me by a Junior High Student. The student then proceeded to go nuts with the camera and just take photo after photo of me and others when we didn't know that we were on camera. You may be asking why I see this as significant enough to share with the web.

The venue is what makes this special. This is not an afternoon Bible study and we are not stopped at a McDonald's on the way to a mission trip. In fact we are right down the street from the Middle School were the students attend.

When we get together and just hang out, we create space. Safe space to invite others to join us. To see us interact as friends who love Jesus. It is a witnessing opportunity. Even yesterday as they ran into people they knew we invited a couple of them to Youth Group. Our hope is that they would come and get to hear the greatest news ever carried by man.

In the first chapter of Johns Gospel there is this phrase, “And the word became flesh and made its dwelling among us...” Jesus puts on skin and comes here to spend time with us. He gets into man's stuff and lives as man. One of God's greatest revelations of himself is...himself, walking on the earth interacting. It is my hope that this can be a value of Grace UMC's youth ministry. That we put on our Jesus skin and walk among our friends. We let the overflow of Gods goodness splash all over our friends and family so that they too can experience the Glory of God in the flesh revealed through us.  

The Other Debate...

There was a great debate last night. This one was not televised nor will the media talk about a winner. There were no policy discussions or talk of taxes and deficits. But in a small city in a small church, a small gathering of pilgrims talked about the tough questions of the Christian faith. Is the message real? Is the Bible anymore or less important than other great works of literature? If I cross over from “Egypt” to the “Promise land” what awaits?

These are tough questions. I have significant experience in the field and I would admit to you I rarely feel like any answers I could give could conclusively win the day. Ill tell you what I can do, I can love young people more than advertisers. I can be more convinced the Gospel leads to true life than Apple can be convinced small devices leads there. I can tell them that Jesus love for who they are is greater than Cosmos commitment is to there need to wear a size 1.

There is a battle that takes place for every human heart. Young, old, rich and poor. Although conversations last night can feel a little like World War ones Battle of Verdun, were much was sacrificed and little gained, the good news is that our King reigns victorious over all creation. He is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. HE has my full devotion and this morning I kneel in prayer to get my orders, to better serve my king.

Grace and Peace

Andrew

Kidmin

Singing out

You didn't see me around the church the weekend for a reason, I was out of town. I was attending a conference in Chicago called Kidmin and I was highly affected by it. First off let me say this, children's ministry workers are some of the kindest most passionate people working in the kingdom. They love God and kids in a way that could inspire the rest of your congregation if they could just see it in action.

Me in a cape

Kidmin was put on by Group Publishing. I say that because often I am skeptical of vendors. If you have spent any time in youth or children's ministry you have received the glossy post cards peddling this or that. This weekend I got to look into the hearts of the people who make this stuff, and there is the fingerprints of Jesus all over them. They love my kids almost as much as I do.

I am excited for next year to invite my volunteers to join me in Columbus to experience what I got to experience first hand. In the mean time I am inspired to pray for my fellow worker. Those of you know the power of God and the sensation of finger paint. Those who have sat on chairs so small your knees ache so you might have the opportunity to tell kids the best news ever told, emmanuel, God is with us.  

More on this one later...

How would Jesus Ref?

I love football. I don't get to watch a lot of it but when I can I give it my full attention. I did not get to see last nights game, but from what I heard there was some seemingly poor judgments made on the field that changed the outcome of the game. I heard that this is a systemic problem birthed of a Referee issue. I could not comment on the all of that as I do not watch sports news or much commentary on the NFL as an industry.

I can comment on the Gospel. It is something I do consume in large amounts, unlike football were I consume only were I can. God is also a Referee, a cosic Referee and no thing will escape his watchful eye. Some people say they do not want a judgmental God but I do know think they know what they are asking for. There are terrible things that man does to man on this earth for which we all want justice. Justice requires a judge. I think people do not want a God who judges them. They are not comfortable with the decisions they have made and do not want them exposed.

What scares us is the knowledge that the Referee who lives in Heaven has not missed any of our lives. We know that we are not playing by the rules and we are afraid that instead of fifteen yards, these infractions may require an eternal punishment. We know that God has thrown the yellow flag and apon further review the call stands. Guilty of rebellion against the creator. Guilty of ignoring justice, guilty of not showing mercy, guilty of lacking humility.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," (Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV).

My attitude changed when I became a Christian. From fear of a good judge to excitement in the judge who is called faithful and true and I end every day that I can singing the same song to my Daughter in praise. “Doubt not His love or power to keep, He never fails, nor does he sleep.”

We Sang Praise Music Last Night!

Let me say this, in small group ministries, singing together with a group that is not used to singing or does not like to sing can get awkward pretty fast. Last night I decided to take a risk with my high school and junior high students. I pulled out the old guitar and printed some song sheets.

As we began our meeting I plainly told them that singing was going to take some getting used to. I told them that we may not have a recent history of singing as a group but its worth doing poorly a few times to get to the point were we could do it well. Like all other things it would require practice.

Here is the twist, it didn't go badly. The kids actually did sing and sang well. We sang songs I am pretty sure they had never heard but I could be wrong. I felt like the Holy Spirit came into the room and helped us through that patch. I am very thankful as I really enjoy leading worship and hope its a mainstay or our identity at Grace Youth. Until the next time here is one of the songs we sang together.  

Hunger Games Post Mordem

Is that Seneca Crane?

This weekend, as you may have already read in this blog, we had our Hunger Games game night. I cant pretend it was a smashing success. The Kids had a great time but nothing really went according to plan. I am often crushed by failure. I have never been good at bouncing back, but it is necessary if you are going to work with youth. Youth ministry is one of those areas where the church should remain flexible and on the edge, trying new things when ever possible. I tried to create a couple of games. None of them worked. They wanted to fall back on that old hide and seek mainstay, sardines. I was afraid they would get bored.

After it was all said and done all the kids told me they had a great time. How does that not qualify as a success? As the days get shorter and there is more of a push for things to do indoors I hope to try many evening events at the church. We will use the redeemed space that Grace church sets aside for worship to allow kids to be kids, to see them come fully alive. The way God has designed them to do. Grace is a small church with a big heart and a lot of space, space that holds nothing but the opportunity to make in impact in the lives of young people.  

Empty Chairs on Patriots Day.

I did not know until a few weeks ago that September 11^th is Patriot Day. I know that it is important in our national identity and that since then our world is significantly different. Each year I take a few minutes to reflect on the events of 2001 and where we have been since. First off I remember the day of where I was, who I talked to, I was in college so we all wondered if there would be a draft to go into a full scale conflict with an enemy nation. Over the past eleven years I have had the conversation a few dozen times.

Today I cant help being heart broken over the empty chairs. Families, some of whom I know, that have an empty chair at the dinner table. For some the vacancy is temporary, but for some that chair will remain empty. I daily go to my work convinced that I would go to death for the cause of Christ, these empty chairs are a reminder of our friends who for the zeal of their cause actually went to death or are at least in harms way.

The last time the United States engaged in a conflict that so robbed us of our innocence Abraham Lincoln declared ever third Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving. So we remember in this time the loss of innocents and life in the last eleven years with “Patriots Day.”

While others may use today to Pray for our nations safety or ignore it and go on about their day so as not to deal with what ever feeling they may or may not have; I am going to use today to pray. I am praying for Empty Chairs, I am praying for the families that inhabit the tables around them. I am praying for the men who only see their families over Skype and those who are learning to cope with a life long injury that they are bringing home. I will pray that as I conjure up feeling of Patriotism they are pushing back feelings of loss.

Let us never forget the hope of Christianity. That the mourner shall be comforted that the orphan and the widow have a heavenly advocate, and the dead shall live again.

God Bless.

Hunger Games Game Night

Hope to see you at our event...

As the Hunger Games DVD release meant that we got to enjoy our favorite movie based on our favorite book of the year I think about some of the plot points of the movie. Then I thought about our call as Christian to fast and pray. To deliberately go hungry so as to be reminded to pray.

This weekend we are going to have the Hunger Games Game Night. I am asking the folks in our Youth group to begin a fast at 6pm Friday night so as to pray for our Youth Group. We will convene to cook a spaghetti dinner at 4pm on Saturday so as to break our fast at six and then to celebrate together with a game night. My hope is that this event would be a witness, that we could invite our friends who would not noramlly find themselves in a church to come and have food and fellowship with us. The night would have very little spiritual content after we eat at 6. It is designed more to be a witness, we want God's Grace to overflow within us and spill over onto our friends. Hope to see you there.  

Wednesday Night Huddle

Let me share with you a little about last night. We are trying to think about our Wednesday nights meeting a little differently than how they were viewed in the recent past. As we strive to fulfill our mission to Witness to the good news of Jesus, Ignite the passion of the Holy Spirit and Nurture disciples. Wednesday is shifting from a time of Witness to a time of Nurture. From that platform we hope to create a Sunday night time that will serve to witness to a broader audience.

This means Wednesday nights is our boot camp, a time to help our young people grow close to God so that His hope and grace would spill over on to their peers at school. Last night we talked about Herod and his mighty fortress, the Herodian, that would have cast a direct shadow over the tiny town of Bethlehem. Literally at the foot of this mighty fortress that housed a great king is born the king of kings into a manger.

We listened to Ray Vander Laan talk about even still today in the shadow of terrible evil and oppression the Gospel can feel small as if it were being housed in a feeding trough. Nothing can be further from the truth. Jesus Christ reigns victorious at the right hand of the father. He still accomplishes the miraculous using ordinary people and it is our hope at Grace Youth to use Wednesday nights as an expression of Sanctifying Grace that would equip young people. Onward Christian Soldier...

Many Hands Equals Eternal Work

As you may have noticed in the last couple of weeks I have been asking people around our congregation if they would be willing to help with this or that part of our childrens or youth ministries. If you see me coming your way do not panic, let me off you these thoughts.

First off, I am asking folks for smaller commitments, maybe one or two hours a week in the nursery, or maybe to be a special events volunteer for the youth. There is no reason the same people need to be at every Wednesday meeting and Sunday School and retreat and lock-in. Actually I would like to have separate teams that do each thing only overlapping were we have to.

Second, if you do come on board I will be keeping up with you regularly to make sure that it is a good fit. If you volunteer for 1^st - 3^rd grade Sunday school and find out you want to work with older kids, that is great. As Erwin McManus tells ministry in Jesus should be the thing that makes us feel most fully alive. Finally We are excited about watching new families come to Grace as a part of what our Childrens and Youth group is doing and we hope you are equally excited as us.  

Hello from Grace UMC Hamilton

Hey Gang,

In a day in age when information changes so quickly it seemed appropriate to start a blog to share with you the goings on in the children's and youth program as they are in progress. This way we don't have to wait for meeting to hear the latest on what is going on in the life of these essential ministries.

The first thing I want to direct your attention to is the Big Top Connection. There is a bigger blurb about it on the church website but I mention it because its only 19 days away. Yes we are into September and the event on the 24^th is less than a month away. It will be for 4^th-6^th graders and will cost $5 a kid I hope we can make a good showing.