Cooperland

Genesis 4:9,

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’  ‘I don’t know,’ he replied.  ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”

While reading this, I was overpowered by a simple question: Why not? In other words, why am I not my brother’s keeper?

Cain and Abel lived in a family community, but Cain destroyed that community by allowing his jealously of Abel to develop into hate.  This hate drove him to kill Abel.

Our lives are meant to be lived in a community with others based on love, not hate.  We are to help each other and give support to each other.  Hate destroys; love builds up.

And I’m not just speaking about churches.  This goes for neighborhoods, too.  Get to know your neighbors.  Help them.  Let them help you.  It’s stupid to be all up on Facebook and Twitter yet you have no clue the name of the person living next door to you.  Sure, social media websites are great to meet new people and to keep in touch with those you know, but that doesn’t take the place of a physical face-to-face relationship.

So to answer Cain question of am I my brother’s keeper? Then, yes, yes I am.

Last Sunday was a great day.  The main reason was that the teens of the Crossover Drama Team performed a drama that they have been practicing since January.  They have been practicing their drama “Break Me Down”, and plan to perform it at the annual SCIPHC Talent Quest in March.  But first, to celebrate their hard work and to reward the people who have volunteered time and money to help, they performed it for the first time outside of practicing.

Keep in mind a couple things:

1. Yes, we know the lighting is dark, and the signs are hard to read or unreadable.  It’s okay.  Just go with it.
2. It was their first ever performance (even during practices) using the signs, and they did an outstanding job managing them.

I’m so proud of them, and of Bridgett leading this great group of performers.  Enjoy.

If you like it, be sure to be at Life-Givers Ministries on Sunday, March 7th for our Family & Friend Day when they will be performing it once more before their competition.  It’s going to be more awesomer (yes, I know it’s improper grammar).

I’m not much of a traveler.  I’ve never rode on an airplane, or a bus, or a train (unless you count the one in Dollywood).  In fact, the farthest I’ve ever been away from home is Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas while on my honeymoon, and that was on a cruise.  Driving has taken me to Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida, but that’s about it.

Even though I don’t travel much, I can say one thing.  It’s good to finally arrive home.  To see the yard and walk in the front door to find the one place I feel the safest (from a human perspective) and the most familiar.  And to lay in my bed with Bridgett beside me is the greatest.  There’s just something about arriving home.

How cool and awesome will it feel to finally arrive home in Heaven?  To walk through it’s gates, and to see Jesus face-to-face, and to get to worship my Father God for all eternity.  Sure, I can be in God’s presence here on Earth, but there won’t be anything like finally arriving home, and to know that I won’t ever have to leave.

Awesome.  Simply, awesome.

Well, it’s another Monday, and here’s the weekly Monday Morning Rewind post with my thoughts over the past week.

• Church attendance numbers aren’t important. What’s truly important are people, and building positive relationships.  Which one are you focused on?
• I woke up for church yesterday singing the song, “Arise My Love.”  I LOVE that song.  Especially the lyrics, “Arise my Love. Arise my Love. The grave no longer has a hold on you.”  The grave no longer has a hold on me either, because Jesus died for me, was risen, and I’ve been forgiven by his grace. HALLELUJAH!
• Real life is in a community with others.  No person is meant to be an island.  Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.  And living in a community means that we must be transparent from time-to-time.  We can’t live with others (figuratively speaking) and not be open about our lives.  Privacy is important, but too much privacy costs us valued friendships.
• Why is it that every Sunday that the Crossover Drama Team is to perform everything wants to go wrong?  It’s okay though.  It tells me that God wants to do something great through their performances.
• Speaking of the Crossover Drama Team, didn’t they do an outstanding job performing their drama yesterday?  If you don’t know, that’s the same drama that they will be performing at Talent Quest on Saturday, March 27th in Lake City.  I am so proud of them, and of Bridgett for leading them.
• Excellence = Doing the best you can with what you have available. God wants your best.  As Colossians 3:22 states, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
• I love my church.  The people of Life-Givers Ministries are the greatest people to worship and serve God with.  Are we perfect.  Absolutely not!  But it’s not about being perfect.  It’s about being after God’s heart.
• I love the students of the Beyond Youth.  I can honestly say that God has given me a love for them, and I will protect them from any harm.  But on the other hand, I also know that they must experience God and life for themselves and that includes some good and bad times.  Oh, but what a life they’ll live if they remain loyal and obedient to God.
• Never underestimate someone’s significance. This is one of the best lessons I ever learned, and I’m forever grateful to Pastor Tim Hodge for teaching me.  1 Samuel 16:7, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
• Not many people saw this, but did you notice that LGM has a new sound board?  We now have 20 channels to hook up equipment instead of only 8.  This will really step up our media abilities.  Now, we need 2 media computers: 1 for presentation slides, and 1 for recording sermons.

Enjoy.

This is almost a week late, but it’s still cool. How’s this for the end of the Daytona 500. Watch the #88 (Dale Jr.) move from 10th to 2nd in less than 2 laps.

I cannot count the number of stories that I’ve heard from people about their experience of learning to swim. One of the more popular stories involves having their father pick them up and throw them into a pool or lake with the purpose of the kid’s survival skills to kick in. In other words, either sink or swim.

Over the past 4 weeks (and for another 2), I was thrown into a sink or swim situation at work. I was quickly hired in order to fill in for a lady taking maternity leave. I received no formal training; only what I could pick from the brain of the lady I would be filling in for. This lasted for 3 days. Then the baby came. From here on, I am on my own. Commence freaking out. Or maybe not.

Sink or swim situations are extremely uncomfortable. There’s no denying that. One reason is because it involves risking yourself, and risking anything brings an unknown of the future.  Will I sink or swim?  Will I fail or succeed?

It also involves hard work in order to succeed.  Nothing easy about a sink or swim situation.  If you want to succeed, then it’s time to get the ball rolling, and get to work.

As long as the person works hard to succeed, then it doesn’t matter the outcome. Personal growth is in the work, not the outcome.

What sink or swim situation have you ever been in?

Every youth pastor that I’ve ever spoken to has discussed the idea of rules for their youth ministry.  Most of them are asking, “What rules have you set in place for your ministry?”  It’s a catch-22 for youth pastors.  Teenagers want their freedom, and if a youth pastor doesn’t give it to them, then the teens will view the him/her as a dictator and bolt.  Since the students are still technically kids and still learning to be adults complete freedom can’t be given.  It would be foolish of the youth pastor to do so.  Therefore, a structure must be set in place to govern the teens.  What to do? What to do? What to do?

I’m a big fan of Shawn Wood’s idea of providing low control along with high accountability.  In other words, present to the teens as few rules as possible (low control) while explaining that these rules will be strictly enforced (high accountability).  Sounds pretty common so far right?  Sure, until you hear how many rules I have.

So, how many rules do I have as a youth pastor?  One.  That’s right.  Only one.  Here is my rule.

Respect

It means, “giving special attention to something or someone.”  It’s a simple rule that’s not hard to follow, and to be extremely clear this rule is broken into 5 parts.

1. God.

   God is at the center of everything that my team and I do in the Beyond Youth.  Nothing is done without first considering if God wants us to do it or not.  I cannot make a student believe in God or to do what is right, but as long as he/she is in this youth ministry you will respect Him.  This ministry was founded by God and it stands to serve God.  If a student is going to be involved, then he/she will respect Him; even if he/she choose not to believe in Him.

2. Each other.

   We are all God’s creation.  No one is more important than anyone else.  So, each person is going to be treated with respect.  Matthew 7:12 states, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  Keep in mind that to earn respect, one has to give it.  As an addition to respecting each other, respected will be…

3. The leadership.

   This is an extension to #2.  Who are the leadership?  They are any person in church leadership including any specific ministry leader/director.

4. The facility.

   This includes anything that belongs to the church or that the church uses.  Everyone needs to take care of what the church has.  If not, then the church won’t have anything to use, including the Beyond Youth.

5. Yourself.

   If a student can’t respect him/herself, then no one else will.  As was mentioned in #2, no one is more important than someone else.  God created each person and that makes them very important and very special.

As with any set of rules there are consequences for breaking this one.  Simply put, as long as respect is given, then the doors are always open for student participation.  If not, then the offending students can hit the road.  They can come back when they can respect.  Keep in mind that leniency is given.  Student banishment is a last ditch effort to help the student understand how they have been acting, and is enforced only upon approval of the senior pastors.  This is to keep my wife and I accountable.

Last week, Bridgett bought me a black journal.  I’ve been wanting to start a spiritual journal for some time now, but I never would take it far enough to actually start.  Last night, I started, and it felt great to jot down some quick notes about the Scripture I was reading.  This is a huge step for me, and I’m extremely excited about how God will use this practice in my spiritual growth.

What’s also cool, for you, is that you’ll be able to read some of the notes from my journal on this blog.  Kind of like getting the raw material that I use for the messages I research and prepare, and this makes me excited to see how God will impact your lives through my notes.  Some of the notes will be used for full blog posts while others will be bullets on the Monday Morning Rewinds.

It’s amazing that this is my 20th Rewind post, and I haven’t missed a week.  I’m enjoying it, too, and I hope that you enjoy reading them.  Anyway, here’s my thoughts.

• I can’t remember how many people I heard say, “I loved the snow until the electricity went out.”  Made me think about how dependent we are on electricity, and how we freak out when it goes out.
• I love my family.  Doug, Candace, Bridgett and I spent Saturday morning playing in the snow, and building a snowman.  My first one in 20 years.
• The top item on God’s hate list is pride.  Pride can be found since the beginning when Lucifer tried to exalt himself over God causing his banishment from Heaven along with a third of the angels.  Pride was in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.  It is pride that is found in our sin that keeps us away from God.  GOD HATES PRIDE!
• There were 12 students at the Beyond Youth Experience yesterday.  That’s three consecutive weeks being in the double digits.  Let’s keep this up, and keep growing.
• Winter Jam was awe-awe-some.  So many great bands who played in a 4 hour show.  My favorite?  Third Day; obviously.  But honestly, I loved Tenth Avenue North and Newsboys, too.  If only Sanctus Real would have been there, and the show would have been phenomenal.  By-the-way, Newsong singing “Arise My Love” was fantastic.
• To be completely honest, I think waiting in line for Winter Jam was probably the best part of the day.  Getting to hang out with the Beyond Youth, the LGM children, parents, and leaders was great.  It’s all about building positive relationships.

Enjoy.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about why I got started blogging.  Overall, it’s evolved over a number of years.

Many people don’t realize that I started blogging in 2004 on Blogger.  I loved it at first, but each time I would start a blog I would eventually lose enthusiasm, and let my blog fall to the wayside.  Honestly, I think it was due to my youthfulness and impatience.  I was filled with pride, and wanted recognition.  That was why I blogged.

Now, it is different.  As a pastor, I want my blog to be an extension of me.  Not just my blog, but the words and posts that make it up.  Each post gets submitted to Twitter and Facebook in order for them to reach a wider audience than what my physical blog can reach.  In fact, I get more readers on Facebook than I do from any other way.  And they never read my words on my blog.  They are notes on Facebook.  But it doesn’t matter to me.  I just want people to read what I have to write, and for those words to do 3 things: 1) to give glory to God, 2) to show people that although I am a pastor, but I’m also a regular person, and 3) to help someone change his/her life for the better.

And here’s the kicker: those are the same goals of my life outside of blogging.  So, my blog’s main purpose is to be an extension of me; no more, no less.  That is why I blog.