BFYG Blog

2011-04-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

Mt. Rainier is so beautiful. People come to Seattle for the sole purpose of catching a glimpse of it on a sunny day. The problem with having one of the amazing crowns of God’s creative achievements is that we forget about it. We get used to it. We become home blind to it.

This happens with other things in life too. My wife for instance. She is amazing! And she is also beautiful! I realize that I become home blind when I get used to her, I take her for granted. When she gets dressed up for a date night (which rarely happens, the date night, not the dressed up) I get a chance to get healed from my blindness. She is a knock-out, and it took me taking her on a date to remember it!

This is the same way with our amazing leaders God has called into youth ministry at Believers Fellowship. God is moving in this world, calling up missionaries that do amazing things for the down and out. Think of the impact of Mother Theresa and how many people know about her. Think of IJM and Gary Haugen and what he is doing. But God is also at work on the home front. He is at work in our midst…and it’s exciting to see God using these homegrown heroes to make a difference in the lives of teenagers in Gig Harbor.

So in our new series, we will get a chance to hear about what God has done in the lives of some of the leaders/mentors to raise them up to have a heart for teens. We will see what God is doing in their lives recently, and see how we can learn from some of these homegrown heroes right in front of us!

This Wednesday Phil Hoffman will teach us a lesson in John 15, and Dave Columbini will teach on Thursday about what God is doing in his life!

See you there!

2011-03-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had over forty parents from Believers Fellowship come out to Real World Parents! RWP is a seminar put on by Wisdom Works ministries, and was presented by Johnny Pearson.

We came together, no one as experts, but all as seekers in how to connect our story into God’s story of love and redemption. We saw how our role as parents fits well with what Paul calls every Christian to be…an ambassador. In 2 Corinthians 5 we read “and we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were making his appeal through us…” We desire to model what an ambassador looks like to our family! When we become ambassadors, our home becomes an embassy! We were challenged in making our home an embassy to the world. This was contrasted with the way we tend to deal with the "world." We tend to isolate from the world, or putting rules on how much world comes into our home, or agree with the world...yet when our homes are embassies we transform the world.

Many parents came expecting to learn about behavior, but were pleasantly surprised to be challenge to live for God and that will be the biggest lesson their children will pick up. When we only deal with behavior, we miss the heart. The heart is formed in the home, not by our culture!

So hang in there parents! Your job is incredibly important and God wants to work in your heart so you can work in the hearts of your kids! Our prayers are with you as we strive to raise up the next generation of Christ followers that will make a difference in the world, in this city, in their schools, and in your neighborhoods!

Don't worry if you missed out, we are already planning another seminar for the fall!

We are back!

2011-03-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here is blogging 2.o

We are going to give it another try, and get the word out that we have a blog, that is updated, that is a good source of upcoming events AND recap of old events.

Spread the word, and read on!

Johnny

Backpack Attack in need of retreat?

2009-08-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

We recently took 28 kids into the wild on a three day two night backpacking trip. I LOVE this trip! To see the kids challenge themselves as they pack up what they need for the trip, sharing the load of supplies and food. To see the kids challenge each other to be real and genuine in sharing what God has done in thier lives. And to see God challenge them on the mountain top, getting rid of most of the distractions of cell phones, personal music, cars, and comforts of home and personal space.

All in all, it was a great trip to see how we as Christ Followers need to follow Christ. We looked to an unlikely source to see how to do this better. According to Ghandi, if we are to make an impact in this world for Christ we need to live more like Christ, present the Gospel unadulterated (meaning we need to present the gospel as the Bible shows it, not how western washington sees it), and we need to practice what we preach!

Thank you Ghandi for those profound statements. But here is the deal...he is right. If we don't see people like Christ saw them, and continue to love them like Christ loved them, then we will not make a difference. If we don't present the gospel as the Bible presents it (a powerful, hopeful, healing message that changes our hearts and revamps our lives) then we don't do it justice; a watered down version of truth will make a watered down impact. And if we don't practice what we preach, what does that make us? Answer? A hypocrite! Lets be real with our struggles, letting people see the healing process! When we hide our pain and put on a happy face it portrays a fake joy, one that doesn't last and burns us out. This is what we talked about three miles above see level...and it rocked our faces off!

But is backpack attack in need of retreat? The title implies that backpack attack may be to aggressive...and maybe a name change is needed. I say this because one of our fearless leaders had a major accident. One that required many stiches and finger reconfiguration...yes, a trip back down the mountain and into the ER.

Billy is fine, he is up and running and has no hard feeling about the Attack...in fact, it makes for a great story. But maybe if we changed the name we wouldn't have as many accidents (lots of bee stings, scrapes, cuts, and bruises as well).

What are some good, non-aggressive names for this event? Share your comments below!

Summer Fun

2009-08-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

The days and weeks have flown by since camp! Sorry I haven't updated you about whats going on (by you I mean Dave).

After camp, we left to Montana on a mission trip...one of the hardest ever! We then had a great day of boating and bbq-ing. There were a lot of leaders and a couple of students that went on another mission trip to Mexico. And then there were a couple of Amazing Races. And we are still not done with the Summer schedule!

As I said, Montana was very hard! It was different than any mission trip we have been on... different is good and different is bad. We had a great time as a group. Our fellowship brought us all closer together and the community that we are bringing back to the group is something I hope spreads around to the other kids and we continue to grow as a youth group! It was hard for a couple of reasons. First, the schedule was packed! We always seemed like we were tired, and that is hard to process everything that we are taking in. Second, the Native American culture is a hard culture to minister to. They need HOPE! They need JESUS! Hopefully the time we spent there made an impact, but we can't help but feel that one week there of helping clean up neighborhoods, painting houses, and working with a handful of rowdy and unruly kids made any difference. It only shows us how bad they need Jesus in their life to change their hearts! Pray for the Blackfeet Reservation, pray that people will come in there unashamed and teach them, not about "church" or "christianity" but about Jesus Christ and Him crucified!

As far as other events in the summer, who doesn't love the Harbor in 80 degree weather? We pulled some of our elders together to solve the mystery about who they are, and they then hung out with the students and towed them around on their boats. It was a blast! I loved seeing some of the kids I hadn't seen all summer long, and reconnect with kids I saw at camp and the Montana mission trip.

Mexico is a blog in itself! Come to church August 30th for the re-cap on that. :)

The High School Amazing race was yesterday! It was hard to compete with the epic two day race the year before, but I think it did okay. The sights seen and the challenges met were well worth the zero dollars the kids had to pay. Seriously, how often do you see a methane flame geyser? Or play putt putt at a hundred year old mansion? Or go to a farm to get the freshest fruit available? Congrats to the winning team of Erika Moss, Amy Moss, and Chelsea Demoss as well as Beth Moss (driver). Way to go girls!!

Stay tuned for the end of the month update where you will get re-caps on CORE groups as well as Backpack Attack!

much Love,
jp

Letters to home from Capernwray

2009-07-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Monday:

Dear Mom,

Wow! What a long day...after waking up at 4am to catch a bus, a ferry, another bus, and another ferry we took a short walk to the camp! Wow, the grounds are beautiful! It all over looks the ocean (we are on an island after all). I saw a volleyball net, a horseshoe pit, a bunch of canoes and kayaks, some motor boats, as well as a disc golf course! No shortage of activities!

So, we walked to our cabins...they are like five miles from anywhere...but comfortable enough. After dinner, (they call it supper here, isn't that wierd?!?) we went up to the worship place (another five miles!) and were led in worship by "the band". They were loud and really cool! And then Jeremy got up, I remember him from last year, he is so funny! He introduced our theme...WANTED. He says that God wants our heart. I agree! He talked about how camp is like getting a flu shot...where we get just enough flu so our body learns to deal with it. He says that we get a Jesus shot at camp...where we get just enough Jesus to not need him anymore. We need to stop getting shots of Jesus! God wants our whole heart, not just a little.

Anyway, I love you guys, miss you lots! Tell my annoying little sister that I am learning a lot!

Love,

Your average high school boy that went to camp.

Tuesday:

Momsie and Popsicle,

OMG! I love this place! The band is so cute! They are all so talented and smell SO GOOD! They where V-necks and skinny jeans. They are really good at leading us in worship too. They are a real band when they are not here at camp. Roman vacation...no, Roman Holiday! Anyway, check em out! They have a few shows coming up too. July 4 at the fair grounds and July 31st at the liberty theatre. Can I go when I get home?

Don't forget to feed my fishies!

I heart you,

your average teenage girl that went to camp

Thursday:

Dear Mother and Father,

Hello, how is life down in the United States of America? Things in the great white land to the north are grande. Did you know that they spell things different here? Yes! Apparently we are staying at Capernwray Harbour. How about that?

Anyway, we are having a grande time! Our days are quite full, and they fly by so fast. I can't believe tomorrow! I am getting to know a lot of other kids from other churches...I ran into a girl in my spanish class and had no idea she went to church! I guess that is a good thing about doing camp with other churches in Gig Harbour.

I am learning a lot about God. I get a chance to to journal each day and think about what I am learning. We have talked about how God WANTS our heart, God WANTS our future, and God WANTS our commitment. Tonight Jeremy is talking about how God WANTS our friends. I can't wait. Anyway, can't wait to see you tomorrow! We will get home late...like really late. Like we will get home Saturday morning!

Love you!

camper

The new perspective on Jonah

2009-06-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

When we think Jonah, we think fleeing from God's call. We think big fish. We think veggietales. But yesterday we had a new perspective on Jonah. We didn't look at how we run from God. We didn't debate wether the fish is figurative or literal. We sang no songs about pirates who don't do anything.

We looked at the reason why Jonah fled. If you remember, Jonah didn't go and preach the word of God to the Ninevites because he didn't want them to know God. He didn't want them to repent. He didn't want them to recieve grace from God. He didn't think they deserved it.

Who is Jonah to say who can believe in God? Who are we to say that? Our attitudes can be the same as Jonah. We don't want to love our enemies...we want them to get what they deserve! But that is not what we learned on Sunday. That is not what we learn from Jesus either.

Jesus tells us that we must love our enemies, and pray for those who want to
harm us

Isn't that a pill that is hard to swallow? But get this. When we love our enemies...it drives them crazy! They can't stand that. They would have us return evil for evil instead of turning the other cheek. They would have us give them the attention they are crying our for. But...its easier said than done. Most of the time we are not like Jesus. We don't love people...we judge people. We don't give people our time...we are to busy to hear thier story, to busy to care, to busy to share grace. We have better places to go (like Tarshish) and nicer people to minister to.

Next time God prompts you to be Jesus (compassionate, gracious, loving, merciful) to your enemy...don't run to the other end of the world. Instead...BE JESUS to them!

Thanks John Pleau for teaching us a new perspective on Jonah!

much Love,
johnny

My pet monster

2009-06-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

We had breakfree worship last Wednesday. It was awesome worship led by the high school worship team. I am so proud for where they have come this year. They have grown musically, but more importantly, they have grown spiritually. Breakfree was worship, prayer, and a short message by Scott.

Scott reminded me of my childhood on Wednesday. He put into my mind an image of breaking free from the chains of sin that bind us tight. He gave me an image of my pet monster. Most of you wont remember, because most of you were not alive in the late 80's. But my pet monster was a 2 foot tall stuffed animal, that had real looking plastic hand cuffs on. One of the links in the chain was collapsable, making it seem that the monster could get so mad that he broke free from the chains that were keeping him.

Wednesday was a good night to break free from old habits that have deveoloped oved the stressful school year. Have you ever wondered why after a mountain top experience with God (like at camp or on a mission trip) you claim that you won't let that feeling die out...but then school starts. And you fall into the same old patterns, you find the same friends that bring you down, you wonder where God is while you are in the valley that seems to have dipped so low from the mountain.

Wednesday night was a breakfree opportunity. A chance to pray with each other, to praise God whole heartedly. It was a welcome night for many. What if we had breakfree opportunities more often? What if we realized that there is a weak chain in the cuffs that bind us, and one strong tug (accompanied by a great triumphant monster yell) could break the bonds and we could be free to love God and love others?

Well, we can. Maybe we just needed a reminder.

much Love,

johnny

A day of welcome...

2009-06-10T13:16:00.001-07:00

Sunday was a day of recognition for the high school group here at CWSM. The morning started off very early for the upcoming seniors as well as the upcoming freshman! The to be seniors and the CSL team had a great time "initiating" the frosh coming up.

It started off by surprising each incoming student in their bed, (we called ahead of course, expect once...sorry to Joe's parents!) waking them up and giving them 10 to 30 seconds to brush their teeth (boys need less time than girls apparently) and then ushering them out of thier comfortable houses in thier pajamas and a giant name tag around their neck.

We went to 16 houses that morning and picked up 16 unsespecting souls. We then had breakfast at our tiny apartment (breakfast made by student leaders) and had a blast getting to know each other...we found out that most of the students crumple thier TP as opposed to fold.

The other transition was to recognize our graduating seniors! We honored them and they honored us with advice to stick in there. They all shared a bit of what they learned through their four years...and then we had the chance to ask them some hard questions! Questions like "What was your biggest temptation through high school and how did you deal with that?" Sounds intriguing, no?

So as you can see, we had a great time!

much Love,
johnny

Confessions of a Pharisee

2009-06-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

The other day I was so excited to have a meeting with our 5th Grade parents. It was a meeting to give all of our crazy info about the summer. But, I was really encouraged to have some of the parents ask me about some of my ministry goals for this next year. One of them centering around prayer.
If I'm honest that is a place that I fall short many times. I want to make sure that I get everything done and then after I am done with that then I will lift up a short prayer to God. But, that is not how I want to live my life. I want to be in constant prayer both for ministry and for surrounding me. I have failed lately in that way. Prayer is essential and if I tell people to pray but don't do it I am a lot like the Pharisees. I think about the passage in Luke 18 where it says:

" To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men- like this tax collector, I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

So here is confession time. I am a sinner. I am a youth pastor and I have told people to pray and to trust God but then when it is my turn I walk away and do my own thing. There are many times that I wish that I would have trusted God more but I like to control situations. This is my simple and earnest prayer that God's will be done. Help me Father to get out of the way. Don't let me take over any longer. I am beating my breast and asking you to forgive me.

Grace and Peace,
Scott

And God was praised...in silence

2009-06-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you experienced silence? Where you intentionally (and not just before bed) turned off the radio...turned off HGTV (all that we watch these days)...took out the ipod...turned off the cell phone...and had quiet.

Noise is all around us. We create noise all around us. Even in places where people try and be silent they can't help but make noise.

Not all noise is bad...sometimes it can lead us into praise and joy. But a lot of times noiese can block us from hearing God.

Are the noises in your life so loud that you can't hear God?

On Sunday we had another Experience God Sunday. The high school and middle school groups joined together to experience God in a unique way. This time they were led in a silent devotion.

We led it from the big screen typing out the words as opposed to saying them...we needed silence. It turned out to be really cool, sort of like the kids were reading a text or IM or something. And they were silent. And they studied the word of God, and worshipped and praised Him through mini journals.

And God was praised...in silence.

much Love,

Johnny

Pizza at the Pleau's!

2009-05-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

There is an old proverb dating back to the 14th century...
"All good things must come to an end -
There is an end to everything, to good things as well."
These are hard things to hear...but are true in our present circumstance of a year of Connections.

Yes, we are done with our mid-week meetings at Believers Fellowship. We ended with a night of tradition. Every year the Pleau's open up their home to Believers Fellowship Youth Group to host a night of "Pizza at the Pleau's". The kids look forward to it so much as the finale of fun, fellowship, and jumping in the cold cold sound water.

We ended our year looking back on the growth we have made in Loving God and loving others (luke 10:27). I see our group as growing in leaps and bounds in love for God and love for others. If someone wants to be here...they usually feel pretty accepted into the community. Of course it takes time to develop friendships, but the relationship is started. When someone wants to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength; community can't help but follow.

I can't wait to continue to learn about God through out our busy summer! We have some awesome events planned...so be sure to check the calendar regularly, and check back here for updates on how they went!

Thanks for the awesome year!

much Love,
johnny

p.s.-check out these awesome pics of how nice it was! i love the sun!

How long O Johnny...will you wait to eat your cookie?

2009-05-24T12:27:00.001-07:00

I have to tell you that I am loving the minor prophets right now. They seem so fresh to me and are challenging me in so many ways; like to study the Bible better, to see how to make the connection to "real life", and to learn more about the history of Israel.

Today we looked at the book of Joel. This small book is only three chapters long, jam packed with the rich theology I have come to love in the minor prophets. Mainly, wrath of God followed by the Love of God.

In Joel the wrath of God comes in the form of grasshoppers. These locusts have just come and gone leaving a gaping hole in the economy of Judah not short of the great depression. In fact, the book starts off challenging the people to see how great the devastation is, so great that their kids will talk about it, and grand kids, and great grand kids. Sounds similar to the American great depression, does it not?

The Locusts represent an even greater problem. Yes, it is a day of the Lord where justice has at last come to a country that has made the God of the universe a god among many...but the insects also represent an even greater army from the north that God is raising up to destroy the nation if they do not repent and return to the Lord.

That is the wrath of God. Followed quickly by the mercy and love of God. In 2:12-13 God speaks...

"Yet even now," declares the Lord "return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments."

Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindess, and relenting of evil.

This is the love of God. He doesn't want us to go through the motions. He wants us to stop putting on a show of our suffering and turn to Him (rend your heart, not your garments). When ever we suffer, it should push us back to God. Hopefully we don't suffer long. But when we suffer (whether it is from choices we make, choices others make, or the wrath of God) it should always point us back to God. He is there waiting for us to return, waiting for us to embrace him with our hearts.

Another thing that I am picking up in reading all of these minor prophets is the language. I sometimes sit and reflect about how these messages that I give can challenge me as well as the students. With all of these minor prophets challenging the people, a phrase that comes up a lot starts with "how long O...".

So in my life I wonder what it would sound like if the prophets were to follow me around for a week. They might say something like...

How long, O Johnny, will you continue to run after the things that do not satisfy? They are like salt, tasting so good at the time but leaving you thirsty for satisfaction.

How long, O Johnny, will you wait for "something" better to come along before you rest at the feet of Jesus? It is like you have a cookie, so sweet, yet wait for milk. Enjoy the blessings of God around you and be content with what God has given!

This is the language that I start to use around the house...it is sort of catchy.

Try this...imagine a prophet has followed you around for a week. What would he call you out on? You can post anonymously...but I would just be thrilled if you would start off each "challenge" with the same phrase. "How long, O soul, will you...(insert deepest darkest sin here)?

Lets see if we can encourage each other in a creative way, and get right with God in the process. Comment away!

much Love,
Johnny

May the grace of Jesus Christ be with your spirit

2009-05-21T11:03:00.001-07:00

It took us five months, but we did it. It took us five months, when really it could have been done in twenty minutes.

Why is it that when we try to read the Bible on our own we read a few verses or a chapter? Wouldn't it make sense to read it like we read other books? Think about this. Take your favorite book and read it for two minutes every week. You would be so lost, having to go back to see what you read, and you would get next to nothing out of it. Why do we do that to the Bible?

In order to get the entire story, the big picture, the whole enchilada we need to take the extra time to read the whole book all at once. Why not? Depending on the book it only takes 20 minutes (for a short book like Philippians or Gatatians), 60 minutes (Romans and Hebrews) or even 90 minutes (Matthew and Acts). One more thing to try. Read it out loud. Yeah, you read slower and more "dramatically" out loud. Try these two things and it will enhance your love for the Bible.

We tried these last night. I reached a personal goal that someone challenged me to do a long time ago, I finally memorized the book of Philippians. It really only took a couple of days, but it has been on my heart for 7 years or so. Last night we got to see the whole book in its entirety with a dramatic recitation. And hopefully God brought to mind the major themes of the book that we took five months to cover.

Themes like Joy in unity, in suffering, in contentment. Joy in dwelling, in relationship with God, in others. Joy in putting the past behind, in pressing on, in anxiety. God has taught us and will continue to teach us through this tiny book to a church in Philippi. I can't wait to study it again.

So as in Paul's final words to the Philippians...may the grace of Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

much Love,
johnny

2009-05-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

I am sure that deep down, we all want to be used by God...as long as it doesn't take much effort on our part. If that were the case, we would all line up to make a difference and be God's voice in this world. But sometimes being used by God might mean a lot of effort. It sure did for Hosea.

Hosea was a prophet OF God who was used BY God in a BIG way. He didn't just go around talking to people about Him...he used his life to send a message to the Israelites. What would you do if God asked you to marry someone you knew was going to go sleep with other people? What would you do if God asked you to marry a prostitute, not to change her, but to love her no matter what she did (continue her employment)? What if God even asked you to name your kids "un-loved" and "not mine"?

God asked Hosea to do this, all for a reason. To show how the Israelites have been treating God. To show how God feels about his people at this point in time. And to show the mercy, compassion, and the unfailing Love of God.

Sunday morning we looked a little deeper into the first of many minor prophets we are studying in our series "the Bible Jesus Read". We won't have time to finish all the books of the Old Testament this year, but I didn't want to skip the minor prophets. Here is a good made up statistic. Studies show that most studies of the Bible don't study the Minor Prophets. Although I just made that up, in my experience (and most likely in yours) it's true. We tend to stray away from these books because the language is weird, the times are very far away, and we feel that God is too mean in them.

But they are so rich in the themes of God and the Bible. Yes they talk about justice and judgment. But they also teach us about comfort, grace, mercy, and salvation.

Back to Hosea. My favorite part about Hosea is chapter 3 (chapter two is a close second though). In chapter three, Hosea goes and finds Gomer (his prostitute wife). In Chapter three we see that after a hurtful relationship of her sleeping around and having kids that are not his...HE still takes the first step in loving her. He buys his wife back from the life of prostitution; he literally redeems her for 15 sheckles of silver and some barley. Hosea here is taking the final step in forgiving his no good wife by redeeming her. I can't miss the foreshadowing here.

Hosea = God
Gomer = Us

Hosea redeeming Gomer = God redeeming us

Gomer moved from lover to lover hoping to find some satisfaction. Only out of some sort of obligation did she ever go to Hosea to be loved.

We are like Gomer. Instead of going to God to be satisfied, we find false community, false hope, false joy in things that do not last. When we go to God it is because we feel obligated.

Hosea takes the first step in forgiving and loving his wife. He redeems her.

God is like Hosea. He took the first step in reconciling us and redeeming us through Jesus.

I am shocked at my made up statistic and wonder why more people don't read and study the minor prophets. I can't wait till next Sunday!

much Love,
johnny

I heart Bevievers Fellowship

2009-05-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday showed me yet another example of why I heart Believers Fellowship.

The 5th Annual Believers Fellowship Youth Group Plant Sale is a mouthful to say. But aside from the long name, it is our easiest fundraiser to do. Mainly becuase I do nothing for it. The Annual Believers Fellowship Youth Group Plant Sale is put on by a small elite group of gardeners. Literally. Where else do you have a group of God Fearing Master Gardeners (sounds like a ninja name or something) who are willing to plant, grow, cultivate, fertilize, care for, and then pot a variety of species for the sole purpose of selling them for a group of students who don't even know their names. We had a plethora of plants for sale, all donated, where all proceeds go to this Youth Group!

Amazing I tell ya. Although no one reads this except for my father in law down in Fortuna, Ca. (hi Dave) I still want to thank those ladies who put it on with a thank you over the amazing world wide web; Carol Linden and Robbie Heath...as well as Pat Jorgensen and Judy Bergstrom! You ladies rock! Thank you so much for all that you do!

A big thank as well to all those who helped by buying plants or collecting money and setting up.

With their help we (and by 'we' I mean the amazing ninja gardeners) raised over 1200 dollars! What a blessing! I guess it would be more appropriate in this case to say that I heart Believers Fellowships 5th Annual Believers Fellowship Youth Group Plant Sale. I think we will have to make some stickers next year...what do you think?

much Love,
johnny

Fishing for skittles

2009-05-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last night was our last in depth study in Chaotic Joy. Next we will wrap it up with an overview, but we dove headlong into chapter four, digging for yet another nugget of truth and wisdom in which we can apply to our life.

We found it last night in a secret. Yes, a secret that I will share here for all the world to see. A secret that is easy to say, harder to learn. What I am about to tell you is the secret that Paul (the author of Philippians) finally found after going through the last half of his life as a missionary for Jesus. In his travels he endured many, many hardships. He was well fed at times, yet he also went to bed hungry some nights. He was well taken care of, although he needed nothing. Through all of his years relying on God he learned this secret that I am about to share with you.

Lean in close.

Closer.

So close that the words are blurry.

Now back up so you can read the words.

The secret is...that Paul can do all things through Christ who gives him strength.

Shocking I know.

But now you know what I mean when it is easier said that done. It is easy to say that you will trust Christ to take care of your every need. It is easy to sing on Sunday morning that "All of You (christ) is more than enough for me (you), for every need" but come Monday we go on living life as usual.

Why do we secretly hope people will bless us with things. Why don't we just be content with what God has given us in the present; and if God wants to bless us (or other people want to) then we graciously accept the blessings and move on blessing others.

Last night we see how Paul truly is content. He is in prison. God called him there for a reason, and he was fine with that. He would go on serving God in prison. Paul's being in prison got around to all the churches, and the churches started praying for him. One church in particular (the Philippian church) thought they would take it a step farther and give a gift to Paul. So they send it over and Paul is over joyed.

Paul didn't put the word out hoping someone would give him a gift. He didn't need too. He trusted God to provide. We do the opposite when we fish for gifts. What I mean is that we hint at something we want until the person realizes that we want it, and feels so guilty that they cave and give in. And when they offer, we act surprised.

It might look like this:
Oh, what are you eating? Skittles? Hmm, that’s cool, I love skittles, plus my mom forgot to pack a dessert in my lunch...and it wasn’t a very big lunch anyway so I am sort of hungry still. Not so hungry though, just sort of hungry, I don’t need a whole bag of skittles...but they are small and tasty aren’t they. I notice you don’t eat the yellow ones...interesting. That's my favorite color.

Paul didn't do that. Paul is content. But notice...the Philippian church did what Christians ought to do. They see a need, they fill a need. They were loving, they were compassionate, they were generous with what they had.

Two things here:
1. Christians need to be content with where God has called them in the present.
2. Christians need to look for ways to bless others with what they have.

And 3 (why not?) I think these both go in line with Paul's secret. We CAN do all things through CHRIST who gives us strength. Keep at the forefront of your mind that God will supply every need that you have according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, and every so slowly we will start to be content.

much Love,
johnny

Compassion, love, grace, mercy...the business of God

2009-05-12T16:54:00.001-07:00

I hear a lot about churches being run like a business. This week alone I have had to give the church address as "business," not residential. I suppose I am okay with that. But I want to be a part of God's business, which, in reading about the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus' ministry on earth, the saints in the New Testament, and looking at the hands of feet of God today...the business of God is compassion, love, grace, and mercy. All of that. That is where I want to be.

This past Sunday we saw a very "nooma" like video (in regards to production quality) where I taught on the road. Yes, I was not at Crosstalk, but I still gave the message.

We started looking at the prophets in our "The Bible Jesus Read" study. The prophet we looked at never recorded his teachings in a book, but I am sure that his servant Gehazi told everyone around what God was doing through him (like raising ax heads, feeding 100 people with 20 loaves, causing oil to last a long time) so that we now have the story of his ministry in the book of 2 Kings 1-8. I am of course talking about Elisha.

We focused in on one aspect of his ministry, his compassion on the women from Shunem. She was childless, yet still very nice, so God gave her a son. We see how the son dies, and Elisha brought him back to life. The jist of the teaching showed how God has compassion on people, and how Elisha walked around the earth with similar motives as Jesus. To show God's love.

How can we continue on the business of God today? How can we show compassion to the people around you? Can you buy someone a chocalate milk at school? Can you start a conversation with someone who looks lonely, or sad, or mad, or depressed, or happy, or whatever? Do it. Join Elisha, Jesus, and other people in being a part of God's business.

I will post the video later on so you can watch it in full.

much Love,
johnny

What we dwell on makes a difference

2009-05-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Growing up I read the entire Sherlock Holmes collection (by growing up I mean in college, it was a great mind vacation from school). In said collection, the great detective had a theory that you only have room in your brain for so much before you can't remember clearly all that you put in there. So he committed to only learning and remembering practical things. Like observation, and the skills of observation. (I really want to see the new Holmes by the way).

Now, I don't always agree with Sherlock. But I think that he is on to something here. When I backed up my prior research of reading about the greatest detective to come out of the UK with the very sophisticated "wikiAnswers" I found a similar reading. We can store stuff in our mind until it is displaced or removed.

How true it is with our heart and minds! Jesus tells us that whatever comes out of the mouth, is really from the heart (matt. 15). Potty humor, from a potty heart. Encouragement, from a loving heart. What we dwell on makes a difference.

On Wednesday night we are continuing our Chaotic Joy series through Philippians. Last night in Phil. 4:8 we are encouraged, no, entreated to dwell on things that matter to God.

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Let your mind dwell on these things. We can go through the list and see what we are dwelling on and putting in our hearts and minds. We won't be very proud of the things we see there. Here is how the early church dealt with this. They fixed their eyes on Jesus!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3

The early church fixed their eyes on Jesus! That is what they were committed to. What He taught, how He lived, how He obeyed, how He suffered, how He rose again. Shame on me for distracting people from Jesus. He addresses and answers nearly every problem we encounter! Let us fix our eyes on Him!

What are we dwelling on? Are we dwelling on our past? Our sufferings? Our anxiety? I pray that we put those behind us and continue to run the race with our eyes fastened on the prize. Let us run the race in a way that He will be proud, and say well done my good and faithful servant.

Are we putting mindless movie quotes in our heart? Are we focusing on the latest lyrics from your favorite band (unless it's dc talk, then its all good in the hood)? Or are we treasuring the word of God in our heart?

much Love,
johnny

Stopping the trend...

2009-05-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

Can you look at your family history and see a trend? I can. And others can as well. Studies show that if your Grandpa was bald, and your dad was bald, the chances of you being bald are pretty good! Which is why I have started using this.

Studies also show that if your grandpa was an alcoholic, and your dad was an alcoholic, the chances of you becoming an alcoholic sky rocket! Same goes with college, divorce, abuse, and other various trends.

This past Sunday at CrossTalk we saw how a young King named Josiah broke a trend that haunted his past. Josiah's dad was one of the worst kings in Israel's history, promoting so many pagan gods that child sacrifices started to be the norm. This was a trend that was started way back in Solomon's day...400 years before! God ended Josiah's Dad's reign abruptly, and Josiah took over at the age of 8. Not very old to be king, but we see in his story (2 Kings 22-23) that he rose to the occasion. When Josiah was 26, he decided to clean up the temple of God, which had fallen into disrepair because no one was using it. When the high priest at the time reported that they found a book, Josiah read it. That book was the book of the Law that Moses had written 900 years earlier! It was just in the corner with junk piling up on it. That is how bad it had gotten with religion and Israel!

What happens next is really cool! Josiah reads the book, and it changed his life! He gathers all of the people together and they all read it together. The whole nation repents and renews the covenant with God. They tear down the temples to other Gods that have been built in the mountains, and start new with their relationship with the one true God.

Josiah couldn't have stopped the trend with out God's help. This is true in our lives as well. My parents are divorced. My wife's parents are divorced. My wife and I have decided that we want to honor God in our marriage by not getting a divorce. We can't do that on our own, we need His help.

If you have a family history that you want to stop...then decide today to commit your life to Christ and His way. With out Him, you will end up continuing the trend. With Him, you start a new trend for generations to come.

much Love,
Johnny

Student Led Connections!

2009-04-30T12:08:00.001-07:00

We are in our "Chaotic Joy" series, studying Philippians. It is going great! Last night we had our student leaders lead every aspect of our program. What a chaotic joy!

Each component was led amazingly! God was worshiped last night my friends. The students did a great job moving us along after dinner into a very fun mixer. We had a four team relay. The funny part was that they had to run around with garbage cans on top of their heads! There were a lot of near misses and some good collisions. I wish I got a picture...

The worship was led by students, and after a shaky practice (it happens) God totally used them to lead us in some amazing worship. What a joyful noise.

The message was led by students, and after a shaky practice (it happens) God totally used them to deliver His word. Thank you to Aundi Ragan, Ariella Woods, and Stefan Siqueland who put lots of time and effort to share with us how to to have Joy through overcoming Anxiety. (Phil. 4:4-7).

Even the small groups were led by students! Seriously, they did AWESOME stepping out of their comfort zone for a very smooth Connections.

much Love,
johnny

Sunday ReCap, experience God:Prayer

2009-04-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was experience God. Let me tell you, I have grown to like experience God Sundays. I like that the younger kids get to see the older kids step out. I like how the older kids are great models for the younger kids. And I like how the younger kids speak out after seeing the older kids speak out. I like saying the same things over again, but in different ways.

But all kidding aside, I think it was a good Sunday. Prayer is something that many believers don't know how to do very well, simply because they go to God with three requests. "Help!", "Thanks!", and "Sorry!". But we see that prayer can be so much more than that!

Sunday the kids did a couple of simple prayer activities. We didn't teach them A.C.T.S., but we showed them the Ignatius of Loyola prayer method, and a little bit of Lecto Divina. Aren't you impressed?

I was! To see the kids sit in a big circle, meditating on God and phrases from God's word was really really neat. To hear what the kids picked up out of it was also encouraging for them to be honest and open about where they are in life. To see them apply what they just learned through taking a psalm and praying through that was also very cool.

If you missed Experience God, don't worry. We still have two left. And they are already planned. :)

much Love,
johnny

A heart breaking weekend...

2009-04-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a nation wide 30 hour famine. Our church partnered with other churches in the area to raise money for World Vision, and raise our awareness to how hard some people have it in the world.

We raised our awareness in many different ways, but keeping the focus on kids in developing countries. We did this through fasting for 30 hours. This was the obvious hard part, but every hunger pang that we felt was an opportunity to remember what children go through everyday, thus giving us a reminder to pray for them.

We had activities throughout the weekend to keep us focused. We watched a documentary called "invisable children" to give us a glimpse of what life is like for children in Sudan. We set up a "fam cam" in a cardboard booth to share with each other through video about what we are learning and how it will affect our lives. We wrote prayers and scripture on pieces of cardboard to put in our rooms to remind us of the kids.

And that night (friday) we built a cardboard city and slept in the "shacks" to give us a glimpse of sleeping with out a proper shelter.

After tearing down our box city the next morning, we all built 300 little crosses out of popsicle sticks. We spent some time in prayer, and then pushed our crosses into the dirt. After looking at all of them for a moment we learned that in the 15 minutes it took for us build 300 crosses and push them in the ground, 300 children had died. A cross for each child...

We spent all of Saturday doing service projects...on an empty stomach. We helped move the NW Furniture Bank into a new warehouse, then split off half way through the day to help eldery people with yard work.

We finally made it back to Chapel Hill to break our fast with Communion and dinner.

We are still raising money, so I will let you know the totals that come in. I can tell you this though...I am so proud of all the kids at Believers who came out to show that they care about more than just themselves.

much Love,
Johnny

Chaotic Joy

2009-04-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Last night we had another night of looking into Philippians to find a chaotic joy in our life.

It
was
a
hard
night.

What made it hard you ask? I wish you could have been there. The passage in Philippians was 3:12-14.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

This is an innocent sounding paragraph. But the great thing about the Word of God is that it is simple to understand, but has so many applications!

When Paul says our goal is to press on, he gives two ingredients to do that.

Step One: Forget the past
Step Two: Strain forward toward the goal

Sounds simple. But in order to "forget the past," we have to deal with it. This, just, got, hard.

Dealing with our past can be hard. We all struggle with confidence, depression, the way we look, anxiety. That can be hard, and when you throw in the stuff that we have been through personally (addictions, cutting, abuse, suicidal thoughts, divorce, loss of family) it can be very hard to deal with that.

Our small groups last night started that process! I have heard great things (don't worry, no details) about how open a lot of people were about their past and how they need to deal with it.

The reason we need to work through step one (deal with the past) is because it can hinder step two (grow in God). So many times we feel that we are not becoming more like Christ because we are still hurting about our past.

Guess what? We have an amazing God who is the Remedy for broken-ness, pain, hurt, loss, (insert your past situation here).

When are you going to forget the past? What steps have you taken to deal with the past? What is keeping you from forgetting the past?

much Love,
johnny

p.s.- I am still trying to forget this part of my past!

Sunday ReCap

2009-04-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a great Easter/Spring Break/vacation for Brooke and me (johnny), which is why I haven't blogged much. But I am back in full swing, we are back on our regularly scheduled programs (wed/sun meetings) and are working hard to finish the series we started a long time ago!

So, in our Crosstalk Sunday school we are in the midst of our "Bible Jesus Read" series, where we are looking at the Old Testament book by book. Last Sunday we were in the book of Job, where we over viewed the whole book, looked at what the main point was, and then asked what the heck we can learn from a book thousands of years old. There was much fun had by all.

The book of Job is poetry. We lumped it in with our "wisdom" literature section where we have looked at the Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclessiastes. Job is a great book. The first couple chapters set up the heartbreak and questioning of God. Because of what happens to him (Job) he starts to as the tough questions in life; Why do bad things happen? Why did you do this to me God?

We jumped over a lot of the dialogue between him and his friends (pretty much the bulk of it) and skipped to the end. This is where God speaks for himself and answers Job (a pretty gracious act in itself) and we see why God is doing it. Actually, we see in God's answer that He is God, and we are not.

Essentially what we learned on Sunday is that we need to remember what it is like to fear the Lord. The main question we can ask ourselves is this: HOW DO I HUMBLE MY SELF BEFORE THE LORD?

We discussed this, and we asked another question: DID JESUS COMING TO EARTH MAKE US FEAR GOD LESS?

I think it did a little. What are your thoughts? And how do we humble ourselves before the almighty God?

much Love,
johnny

Vancouver Mission Trip

2009-04-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

This week we got back from the first Middle School Mission Trip. This was so exciting and there is so much to share but I decided that I would just talk about one or two things that stood out to me this week.

The first one was how amazing our teenagers did when it came to talking with complete strangers about life. If I'm honest the first day scared me and I did not know what we were going to do because all the kids were in shock after the first day. It was almost like the forgot how to talk to people but, as they did it more and more it became more natural. By the second day transformation had taken place. They were talking to people at the Chiliwagon all by themselves and were getting to know more about their stories and what life was like for them. It was amazing for me as a youth pastor to see all of these things that we have been talking about actually happen. It seems like everything that we have been talking about in Transit was starting to take place. These kids were starting to live out the very words of Christ right before my eyes.

That led me to the next thing that I learned. I learned that these kids are hungry for more. They want to know more about Christ and they want to live out what he says and I have to help them to see that. These students were hit with a lot of hard issues but I think that they walked away being more hopeful of what they can do instead of bogged down with what they can't do. One student said it best when she said, "We could have done nothing and could have steered away from these conversations but I'm glad that we didn't and now I know and now I have to do something about it." This is some of the incredible things that these kids have learned this past week.

I'm excited for what is next. What God has in store for these kids but, I'm leaving it up to God to show me that at the proper time instead of trying to do it myself. So, my prayer to God is that he will break all of our hearts for the things that break his.

Peace,
Scott

Today I went...

2009-03-30T17:52:00.001-07:00

Today I went skim boarding, boogie boarding, In and Out, studied the Trinity on the Beach, talked about the Creation in the sunshine at picnic table, played beach volleyball, threw a frisbee into the ocean, and worked on my tan!

Yeah, and its only 6pm!

We have more in store for the rest of the week too! We are planning on going to the boardwalk (yeah, from the song), surfing, white water rafting, rock climbing, in and out again, and more studying about God and answering tough questions!

This is the senior trip, and we are having a blast! See you on Sunday!

much Love,
johnny

What a night!

2009-03-26T11:58:00.001-07:00

Last night we had a great time at Connections! It was a little different, but I think at the end of the night, we were glad to do what we did.

Some of you that missed it are wondering what we did...well, we affirmed each other. Yeah, and it was great! It was hard for those who were visitors, but we got to know each other and were hopefully able to affirm those visitors with some encouraging words.

Thanks everyone who make connections a welcoming place to bring your friends. I think you all are great, I really do.

much Love,
johnny

Come to Connections tomorrow!

2009-03-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a "normally scheduled" connections, which means we won't be "chill" in small groups or separating guys and girls to do guy stuff and girl stuff. It means that we will be back to dinner at 6:30, upstairs for worship, message from the Word of life, and then into normal small groups to talk about what the heck Johnny just said and how does it apply to real life. Sound fun? You betcha.

Tomorrow is Chaotic Joy through Philippians. We are talking on Phil. 2:12-18. Check it out...

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life..

How cool is that? I can't wait to share with you about what relationship with God looks like, and how because of that (right relationship with God) we then have the opportunity to shine like stars in the universe to this generation!

Here is a cool video about just that.

much Love,
johnny

Sunday's Challenge, revisited

2009-03-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

In Sunday School a few weeks ago we talked about David and his biggest fall (2 Samuel 11 and 12). We saw how he repented from his sin and sought God's forgiveness. Some of you took me up on the challenge of writing your own psalm of repentance, in view of David's psalm 51.

Well, today we looked at the book of Psalms at a glance. The p in psalms is psilent by the way. We saw today the different kinds of psalms (lament, rejoice, wisdom, messianic, trust) and how they can enrich our prayer life incredibly! Today there is another challenge out there. After hearing the couple of people's psalms of repentance, some of you want to write your own psalm! But it can be any genre, joyful, trusting, repentance, crying out to him. Anything at all.

To write your own psalm and post in anonymously, go down to the comment section just below this post. Click on the comments, write your comment, "verify" the word they ask you to (to ensure that you are not a robot), and post your psalm. It is a great encouragement to us all!

much Love,
johnny

Girls Mystery...revealed!

2009-03-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

Hey all! This past weekend was a busy one for the ministry! There was a middle school 30 hour famine, there was a guys retreat, and a girls retreat!

I will recap the guys weekend for you tomorrow, but today I want to share with you what the girls did, through the lenses of a leader. Courtney Danielson was on the mystery retreat, and here is a reCap!

From Court,

This weekend, many of the girls from our church's high school group went away for a spiritual retreat. I was blessed enough to be a leader on this weekend away, and even more blessed to be able to teach a bit on the theme: lavishing love. For those of you who weren't able to make it, and for those of you who were there but would like a refresher, here is a recap.

On the first night, I introduced the idea of God lavishing His love on us. We focused on the weekend's key verse, 1 John 3:1 - How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!...etc.

I discussed how difficult it can be for many of us to understand and accept God's love for us. Hoping in God's love often seems like the biggest risk anyone can take, especially if our personal experiences with an earthly father figure have been disappointing and hurtful. But His love for us is true and good. We can count on it. We are His children and He loves us. I finished by asking the girls to spend the weekend loving on one another as an expression of God's love for them.

In the morning, Alison did a devo on loving one another and the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit will be revealed in us through our actions - the way we treat one another. If we possess the fruits, we will treat one another with love. She made a point that love is the first and foremost fruit of the Spirit. Without it, we cannot obtain the other fruits. So we must seek the love of God.

That evening, Kelly took us through the book of 1 John. She did an incredible job first showing us how to study our bibles, then opening our eyes to what 1 John says about God and us. She discussed God's faithfulness and forgiveness. She discussed what God says about sin and led us through a process of recognizing and confessing our own sins. The evening was powerful as God stirred the hearts of many.

On Sunday morning, I gave the final talk on how to apply what we've learned to our lives. I discussed the effect we have on one another. A few of the girls shared how being encouraged by one another over the weekend, as I asked them to do on Friday night, made them feel unified and loved. I shared how when we have healthy human relationships we experience the fullness of life.

We looked at 1 John 4:11-12, which discusses how God first loved us, and that is how we love another. But if we do not first receive God's love, we cannot love one another. There is this mysterious parallel between the amount of love we receive from God and the amount of love we are able to pour out on others.

We also discussed the definition of love - that it is not a feeling, but an action. Brad Henning, a speaker on sex and relationships, defines love as choosing the highest good (or the best) for the person receiving the love. That could be others, or that could be ourselves. Love is an action - a choice. If you say you love me, I want to see it in your actions. If you say you love God, I want to see it by the way you live your life.

I challenged the girls to decide what priority they want to have in their life. God or themselves. I asked them how their relationship with God is: what are they holding out from God? When we allow God to remove sins and stains in our lives, we are able to receive and give more of His love. When we refuse His work in us, we are keeping ourselves from experiencing once again the fullness of life.

To receive God's love, we need to spend time with Him, soak in His Spirit, pray often, listen to what He has to say to us, and read the Word often for it gives life. It often seems hard, but as we challenge ourselves to persevere, we find that we start to crave the scriptures.

Receive God's love. Then go out and pour it on others.

sounds like quite the weekend! They certainly did a great deal of studying, and I know they had a lot of fun doing girl stuff (shopping, hot tubbing, singing songs around a campfire, etc., etc., etc.!)

Thank you to all the leaders who invested in the girls this weekend! They are Alison Patterson, Courtney Danielson, Shannon Means, Dana McClain, and Kelly DeMoss. Brooke Pearson also went and worked very hard to coordinate all of the mysterious and fun things they partook on. I have heard a lot of great things from the weekend already, great job ladies!

This ministry would be nothing without the people God uses. Please keep praying for the leaders!

much Love,
johnny

Connections tonight!

2009-02-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight we continue our study in Philippians and look at how to have joy in living...regardless! Regardless of suffering, persecutions, slander, gossip, unjustice, lying, and all the like that comes with all of that!

I am truly having to practice what I preach when it comes to having joy in all things. It really comes down to us defining joy. Come out tonight to hear how the Bible defines it, and how we can have it...even in a chaotic world/life/school/home/schedule.

Come hungry and ready to worship the LORD as well as discuss some heavy topics in your small group. After all this suffering discussion we need a chill night soon. Don't worry, we have one on the calendar in March!

See you tonight at 6:30!

much Love,
johnny

Come Experience God!

2009-02-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

Don't forget, tomorrow is "Experience God" Sunday! This Sunday we will experience God in a fresh way...through serving. Many have already volunteered for the nursery and childrens' sunday school classes, but we have many more spots to be filled in our service sunday!

So see you all tomorrow at the second service to experience God!

much Love,
johnny

Connections tonight!

2009-02-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

We are back to a "normal" connections after a couple of love weeks. Remember two weeks ago was Brad Henning, then last week we had "love life." We are back in the book of Philippians tonight! I can't tell you how excited I am, we are talking about having a joy in this chaotic life. Tonight we are talking about joy in suffering.

I know that sounds odd, but really, it is possible! Come tonight to look at Paul's example of how he had joy in suffering. If you want to read ahead, read Phil. 1:12-18.

See you tonight for dinner, worship, bible, and small groups. All starting at 6:30!

much Love,
johnny

Winter Break

2009-02-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

I will have to be honest with you, I never had winter break growing up. I actually feel like it is a waste. Why do you need a whole week off? Don't you get a week off in like a month? Didn't you just get a week off like two months ago? Why then? Why this week, which extends your schooling into late June? I don't like it, but I will roll with it.

So, this week, you have no school! Come hang out with us at the church! Yesterday we played RISK, the game of global domination.

Today, at one pm, we are going to play ULTIMATE FRISBEE! Be here today! Bring water, shoes that are good to play in, clothes that are good to sweat in, and meet at TCC Gig Harbor. That is kitty corner across the street from the church.

See you there!

much Love,
johnny

Sunday's Challenge

2009-02-15T07:22:00.001-08:00

Sunday morning in High School, we talked about the unrelenting Grace of God. God pursues us, seeks us out, makes us realize our sin. When we realize what we have done, its called conviction. This is hard, but so good! When we are convicted, we have the opportunity to repent. Repentance is turning from sin. Its a spiritual turn around!

We read the story of David and Bathsheba on Sunday, and we saw how the fence of Grace is moved to let us in...regardless of what we have done! We looked at David’s response to his very messy situation; his psalm of repentance. It is Psalm 51...and amazing! Check out the first six verses.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

I want to challenge you! Go ahead and face your convictions. Remember them, and remember the repentance that you went through. My challenge to you is to write out your psalm of repentance.

Click on the comments link below and write them out for us all to be encouraged by it. You can comment anonymously to protect your identity, and be as real as you want.

much Love,
johnny

Transit tonight!

2009-02-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

Step on the transit bus tonight for the unveiling of all of the questions you have been asking and answering about the opposite gender! We have tonight..."Revelations" all your questions answered! Plus there will be fun games. You will all make new friends, and make fun with the ones you have, in the "Newly Friend Game!" So come on out for valentines Transit. See you at 6:30-8:30!

Love Life Connections!

2009-02-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the night for love! That's right, tonight is "love life" connections. There is a lot that goes into nights like these, so lets enjoy them!

We will start with a fancy dinner, followed by the handing out of valentines!

We then will move upstairs for some announcements and worship (can't leave our love for God out!)

Then, let's get in the Word to see what God has to say about love...

Then it's on like donkey kong. Brush up on your love songs, because we are going to play a special "Don't forget the love lyrics."

Followed by the "Newly Friend Game" and we have our selves a fun night of love life!

Don't forget to dress your best! Come as fancy as you can...you only do this once a year, so have fun with it. But please dress modestly!

See you tonight!

much Love,
johnny

Some photos of the Gala

2009-02-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from the Gala, there will be these and more at our smug mug account. You can get there by clicking on the link that says "pictures you can download from cwsm events."

Great is Thy faithfulness

2009-02-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! The Gala on Saturday was the longest day of 2009 by far! Followed up by worship on Sunday, it could not have been better. The theme of the Sunday's worship was the Faithfulness of God. How fitting it came after the 2nd annual crosswalk gala, the day we have been working towards for over two months! We did a lot of prep before hand, but there is only so much you can do. Some of it you have to do the day of. Brooke and I were talking on Friday night that we just wanted it to be here. We felt like we packed for a trip two weeks in advance, and now we just wanted to leave on it. I suppose the best way to understand it is this: it felt like we were pregnant with the gala. There was so much to do, and we felt we were ready to birth it, but the due date was a week away.

I have never been pregnant. And I can't imagine it. But...(can you seriously put a but after that?).

Yes, but... I have heard women talk in their 8th and 9th month of pregancy, and they are ready to go. They are so uncomfortable, and achy, and they can't sleep at night. They are ready to have that baby. And when they do...it's beautiful. Maybe not at first because they are really tired and the baby is covered in whatever babies are covered in when they first come out. But the next day is a beautiful.

That was the gala for us. It was long, and tiring, but oh so worth it. The Gala was a tremendous success! Thank you everyone who participated! Thank you for your contributions (both in giving of your talents and skills by donating an item) and thank you for your contributions (by buying items). Thank you students for working so hard in getting items to auction off. You all did great!!! We had over 100 items to auction off and we raised nearly 11,000 dollars!

So, this brings me back to the Sunday after the Gala. The theme of worship time was "the faithfulness of God" and it could not have been more fitting. I clapped to the beat, and raised my hands with out shame, and I sang at the top of my lungs in praise to God for His faithfulness in my life, and in the life of this church! Join with me in praise to God!

much Love,
johnny

So much to do, so little time

2009-02-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder why God only put 24 hours in a day? Sometimes I wish that he made 28 hours in a day. Think about that...if only we had four more hours to do whatever needed to get done. If I devoted fours hours completely to learning the guitar, I would rock. Or if I shot a basketball four extra hours a day, I would rarely miss. Or if I spent four hours more with my wife everyday, we would have an even more awesome relationship (she might get tired of me though). Or, this is going to sound crazy, but what if we spent four hours a day just hanging out with God? Reading His word, memorizing it, singing to him, praying to him. That would be amazing!

But to be honest, I don't think I would use the four hours productively all the time. You know what I mean. When you heard "four hours more" some of you were like...yeah, I could use four more hours of sleep. Or yeah, four more hours of WoW (which I have never played, simply because it seems like a colossal time waster in which I would then need 32 hours in a day to make up for all the lost time a spent playing a video game).

I guess what I am trying to get at...is that I want to do too much sometimes. And I think that some of you out there are on the same track. We try to do as much as we can because we like people, or we like sports, or we like music, or we like ______ (that's a fill in the blank, duh).

But God is good. He made the day with 24 hours in it because he knew that if we had more time, then it still wouldn't be enough. We would still have days that were productive and glorifying to Him, and we would still have days where we have a million things to do and do only one of them. But what are the important things? What are the things that we should be doing no matter what? I don't think that it is an actual thing to do...I think that it is a thing to be.

We need to just be sometimes. We are not human doings, but human beings. We are not defined by what we do but who we are. Being good at music doesn't define me, or being good at basketball or WoW doesn't define me. It is not what I do, it is what I am.

So, regardless of what I do in a day, am I the best husband I can be? Am I the best son I can be? Am I the best child of God I can be? Am I the best youth pastor I can be? I think if we ask these questions to ourselves we will end up doing the things that need to be done, because of who we are. Think about that.

I was really tempted to go into the theology behind DC Talk's (not so) hit song "time is tickin away" but that might be too much decent Christian talk in one week. So lets strive to be, as opposed to do, and I think it will all fall into place.

And yes, I wrote this because I wish there was more time to prepare for the busy weekend. But God is good and He has it all planned out for us. We just need to be his children.

much Love,
johnny

p.s.- my favorite line from that song..."get busy like a school boy makin' an A, cause time my brotha' is tickin' away." I know. Profound.

Transit tonight!

2009-02-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

Step on to the transit bus and come on out for some fun! We are in the book of Matthew (duh) and we have a special treat tonight. Christer is giving the message! We will also have some worship led by some of your peers. So come out and meet God tonight. Remember...Love God:Love them.

Publish Post

Brad Henning was great!

2009-02-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who came out to hear Brad Henning talk on relationships, love, and sex. This was perhaps the best area wide event we have ever done, with over 200 kids from Gig Harbor to hear about how to have healthy relationships and why it so important to wait to have sex till marriage. I can't recap all of it, but let's talk about love!

We got a great definition of love from Brad!

Choosing the highest good for the other person.

Remember, love is not an emotion. Love is not a feeling. Love is not a ditch (that you fall into). And love is most certainly not sex (remember how he showed that? woah!)

Love is a choice. It is an action. It is an action word. It is a verb.

I can't believe I am about to do this, but...remember the DC Talk song "luv is a verb"? Yeah, they nailed the definition a long time ago (like 20 years!) with that song. How does it go? Ah yes...

"Pullin out my big black book
Cause when I need a word defined thats where I look
So I move to the L's quick, fast, in a hurry
Threw on my specs, thought my vision was blurry
I looked again but to my dismay
It was black and white with no room for grey
Ya see, a big V stood beyond my word
And yo that's when it hit me, that luv is a verb

Words come easy but dont mean much
When the words theyre sayin we cant put trust in
Were talkin bout love in a different light
And if we all learn to love it would be just right

Thinkin of a way to explain-o
Cause ya know when Im flowin like a bottle of drain-o
Simple and plain, l-o-v-e
Aint all that junk that ya see on tv
Put soaps on a rope cause they aint worth copin with
Its a myth that there aint no hope and
Luv is enough if its unconditionally
Givin now youre living out the great commission

Back in the day there was a man
Who stepped out of heaven and he walked the land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice
With a heart full of luv and the truth in his voice
Gave up his life so that we may live
How much more luv could the son of God give?
Here is the example that we oughtta be matchin
Cause luv is a word that requires some action"

Now those are some good love lyrics! Words to live by my friends, words to live by.

I am pretty sure that Brad Henning should be introduced to the crowds with any DC Talk song playing in the background.

much Love,
johnny

Special Connections Tomorrow!

2009-02-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Don't forget! Brad Henning is coming to the Maritime City (that's Gig Harbor for all you locals who had no idea our nick name was the Maritime City).

This is an area wide event and it will be held at the Best Western hotel on Kimball. That is sort of by Burger King and Kinza. You should see it if you head that way!

Brad is going to be talking about relationships and sex. And waiting to have sex. And the benefits of waiting to have sex. And why having sex is bad. And why having sex is good (in marriage, duh!).

So don't miss the party! Tomorrow at 7:00!

much Love,
johnny

Sunday ReCap, high school

2009-02-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

What a day! Sunday is not a sabbath. It is the Lords day. The difference? Resting vs. Working! Sunday was so busy for the staff here at the church! We had so many little responsibilities with the Gala, that it is stressful! Praise God that He worked out that I (johnny) would not be teaching yesterday, but Courtney!

Court did a great job giving us an overview of the book of Ruth. She showed the suffering that happens in life, highlighting the fact that when you become a Christian it is not a tea party all the time (she didn't say that exactly, but she spent some time in England, where the tea party originated. I hear they are quite fun).

She also talked about suffering in her own life, with her plans being thwarted by God, just like Naomi. Only she didn't lose a husband and kids like Naomi, she lost a career that she was headed toward because a disease in her wrists. Ask her about it.

But what I loved the most about Court's teaching, was that the story doesn't end with suffering. The story ends with redemption. Just like the book of Ruth, Naomi is given a "kinsman redeemer", showing us that God had a plan all along! And when Court's suffering came to an end, she realized that God had a plan after all! The career change was God's plan, and she is now on staff at Believers Fellowship! (Can you believe it?!?)

Yeah, it is part time. Really part time. 20 hours...a month. But we are so excited to have Courtney on the team. Her love for God is shown through her love for students. Her main role will be helping with Middle School Girls Ministry! We are excited that God brought her around, and we look forward to seeing His plan unfold. Just like in the book of Ruth!

much Love,
johnny

Connections tonight!

2009-01-28T09:58:00.001-08:00

Don't forget to come out for Connections! It all starts at 6:30, finishing up at 8:30. There will be dinner, praise music, a short message, and a long small group.

We are in the midst of our study of Philippians, so bring your Bible and we can figure out how to have a chaotic joy.

See you tonight!

Experience God Sunday...express this!

2009-01-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday we had an Experience God Sunday. For those of you who don't know...we take the last Sunday of the month off from teaching, combine the two age groups, and try to experience God in a fresh new way. This week was through expressions.

The kids had the opportunity to express how they felt to God via different crafts throughout the youth wing. We had painting (on real canvas!), we had songwriting/poetry (really poetry, but songwriting sounds more manly), we had clay for molding, we had a cool magnet like wall with a ton of words on it and kids could move them around to make sentences (scrabble praise?), and we had a community collage (on a really big canvas!). These were great avenues to experience God in fresh ways!

On top of these options the kids were "required/encouraged" to do two more things. They all wrote a letter to themselves that will be delivered to them in one year. They were to challenge themselves, and write down where they are spiritually...and in one year they will look back and hopefully have changed. The second "required/encouraged" station was a video journal. We asked the kids to answer one question in front of the camera, where we will make a cool montage out of all the answers. The question was "How have you seen God work in the past year?"

It all turned out great! Check out these sweet photos!

much Love,
johnny

Peace that surpasses

2009-01-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

So, I would love to tell you about an answer to prayer. I have routine in my life! I remember when the new year came along and it had been so spontaneous! But now, I have routine. We have Connections every Wednesday. Transit every Thursday. And Crosstalk ever Sunday. That is a lot to plan and prepare! Both Scott and I are both very busy with those two weekly programs. But throw in the bag of chaos some more events.

Events like Guys retreat, and Girls retreat, and Senior Trip, and the Crosswalk Gala, and special Connections...and that is just in High School! The middle school has the Gala, a 30 hour famine, Mission Trip to Vancouver, meetings for that mission trip, and so much more!

It sounds like these "programs" are keeping people busy. They are. But these programs are not the reason I do ministry. And I am pretty sure I can speak for Scott and Brooke as well. We don't feel called to just put on events. We feel called to care for young people. We feel called to build relationships. We feel called to tell young people about a God who loves them and wants to give them a peace that surpasses all understanding. So I hope that these events and programs are avenues that God uses to do just that.

We have been praying for each other as a staff during this "busy" time of ministry. And for me, my prayers have been answered. I have a peace in craziness. And only God can do that.

Read Philippians 4:6-7 today. It will lift you spirit.

much Love,
johnny

Special Connections Tonight!

2009-01-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Tell your friends. Tell your cousins. Tell your parents. Tell your parents' cousins' friends? Maybe not. But do come to Connections tonight! We will have dinner. We will worship God through song. Then we split into our respective Genders and talk about...guy stuff (or if your a girl you would talk about...girl stuff). This doesn't mean we will talk about the typical stuff we talk about when we get together (as in the opposite sex), but we do want to talk about the upcoming opportunities to go to a retreat that is built just for you.

If you are female, you are invited to the girls' mystery retreat! In the end of February (as in the 27th, 28th, and March 1st) you will be headed to who knows where to talk about some lavishing things. The cost is $50, but it covers everything for the whole weekend! (Scholarships available)

If you are male, you are invited to a guys only retreat! In the end of February (as in the 27th, 28th, and March 1st) you will be headed to who knows where to talk about how to "shoot straight" as a man of God. As opposed to shoot crooked...or bad...or bendy. The cost is $50 dollars and it covers everything for the whole weekend! (Scholarships available)

So come tonight at 6:30 where you will hear more about the retreats, and start our discussion on...(finish sentence below)

If you are a girl finish the sentence above with "the lavishing love of God"
If you are a guy finish the sentence above with "what it means to be a totally awesome super cool man of faith that the Bible calls us to be regardless of what the world around us says we should be! Boo Yah!"

much Love,
johnny

Sunday ReCap, high school

2009-01-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

Judges. Lots of cool stories of God raising up warrior judges to lead the people back to Him. When you sit down at Forza to take the half hour this week to read it...remember that it is very bloody at times and war like. Probably rated R for violence. But don't let that stop you!

And when you read it remember to look for the "judges cycle." That is: the people turn from God, suffer oppression from surrounding nations, cry out to God for help, God raises up a Judge, they turn back to God. This cycle happens a number of times in the book and we can learn a lot from it today.

This "cycle" happens because "everyone did what they saw fit" (Judges 17:6, 21:25). You see just how bad society is when you read Judges 19-21. It has gotten very bad in Israel! I don't think USA is at the point where the book of Judges ends, but similar to our society, the moral code is loosening greatly in recent years. Take for example sex before marriage. 60 years ago it was frowned upon in our society. Now, it is practically expected to have sex if you are dating. Because society says it okay, does it make it right? Is there a higher standard that we are to live by? Yes!

And this puts Christians in a tight spot. We DO have a moral code to live by, regardless of what society says. But it is becoming increasingly more difficult to BE a Christian. To constantly choose God over our selfish desires. To constantly be a light to this crooked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:15). I am praying for you!

God has set His standard higher. I am once again reminded of the classic DC Talk song, "I don't want it." It is very poetic (a stretch of the word) about how Christians should live in a society that has loose morals about sex. Check it out!

much Love,
johnny

Connections ReCap

2009-01-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hello! Grace and Peace to you in all that your chaotic life is bringing you today! If you and your parents are in a fight right now...how great would it be to experience Grace and Peace in that relationship? If you and your best friend are really not seeing eye to eye right now...how great would it be to experience Grace and Peace in that relationship right now?

Grace and Peace is what we need...with God, with each other.

Last night we looked at the first step in finding a CHAOTIC Joy is finding Grace and Peace with God, and then sharing that with the people we encounter.

We saw last night that the apostle Paul is all about grace and peace. He opens every letter with it. The same way. Grace and peace. When asked to define Grace and Peace you all did a pretty awesome job!

Grace according to you: the undeserved love of God, favor, acceptance, unearned, mercy

Peace according to you: harmony, reconciliation, a little bubble of Jesus wrapped around us that is full of serenity, calmness

Some good thoughts. What if we treated each other with Grace and Peace? What if we didn't add to the chaos around us and we were "little bubbles" of grace and peace in our community?

What if?

grace and peace,
johnny

Life can be chaotic

2009-01-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

So, Brooke and I are in a young married home group here at Believers Fellowship. We joined this year because we wanted to meet more people in our situation. Young and married. What we have found has been great! There are so many faithful young married couples here, and all of them get together twice a month. You may be thinking "Twice a month? That doesn't seem like very often...how can you have quality fellowship when you only see each other twice a month?" Well, we do wave to each other Sunday mornings...

We can't meet more than that because we have such chaotic busy lives...but, we are creating good fellowship! Because we know that all of our lives are so chaotic, we go twice a month with a purpose. We go with intentionality. We all want to grow with each other and learn from each other in the Lord.

Why all this talk about young married people? You are not married. You are in high school, or middle school even! That may be the farthest thing from your mind. Well, I want you to glimpse at the future. For many of you, you have a chaotic life right now. For many of you, your focus is on school, sports, family, drama (the good kind on stage), food, sleep, boys, girls, drama (the bad kind that is annoying), and many other things that compete for your attention. Oh yeah, and don't forget God.

Guess what. When you get married and start making babies, life doesn't get less chaotic. Life is always busy. Good things happen and your like "hooray!" then bad things happen and your like "man, again?". Life is life. And in our American mind set we will have chaos.

So, we need to start learning how to have Joy in the midst of chaos right now. We can learn from the apostle Paul to not have a cow when things go south. We need to allow joy to have its proper place. I want to endow you with the opportunity to learn to rejoice always. Any how, starting tomorrow, we are going study the book of Philippians, which is all about a Chaotic Joy.

See you there!

much Love,
johnny

Sunday ReCap, high school

2009-01-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

Who says a book thousands of years old isn't relevant today? We have seen time and time again how the Old Testament still speaks boldly into our lives; showing us morals, giving us examples of faithful (and unfaithful) people, and challenging our choices.

We are in the midst of our "The Bible Jesus read" series, where we take a glance at each of the Old Testament books, and then dig a little deeper into a passage. Yesterday we talked about Joshua. We noticed a couple of key verses that would be great to put into your brain (as in memorize them) in 1:8 and 24:15. We saw that Joshua is a book of war, where G0d leads His people in capturing the land that was promised to them 500 years ago. We saw the two fold redemption process of deliverance from Egypt and possession of the land. But where we really dug our heels into was Joshua 24:13-15.

After all that God had done in the midst of the people, in giving them cities they did not build and letting the people eat from gardens they did not plant, they were laid with a choice. They needed to choose for themselves who they would serve. Would they choose the gods of Abraham before he was called by God? Would they choose the gods of Egypt? Would they choose the gods that were already in the land where they now lived? Or would they choose to serve the living God? As for Joshua, he and his house will serve the Lord!

This is theme throughout the Bible! (check out 1 Kings 18, it is awesome/and John 6:66-68 where the disciples of Jesus were given a chance to choose!) We are constantly battling who to serve, ourselves or God. We are faced everyday to make a choice of sin or serve God. Please know that I am praying for you all and the choices you make.

As for me and my house...we will serve the LORD!

much Love,
johnny

Transit tonight!

2009-01-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

We are back in the bus tonight! Come on out for fun filled games, a challenging message from the book of Matthew, as well as taking what we learn to another level in small groups! Get caught up on all the happenings tonight at 6:30, here at the church!

So glad to be back

2009-01-08T10:51:00.001-08:00

It was great to see all of you smiling faces back at Connections last night! I spoke with some of the leaders and they share my feelings...we missed you! Sure we get to talk to you on Sundays, or at Forza (where you know at least one person every time you go there), or even on the phone or facebook.

We may chit chat at those places, but on Wednesdays its different. We sit over a meal together. We worship together. We discuss spiritual topics and the Bible together. And then we go even deeper in small groups. Last night I challenged the small group leaders to turn a corner with the groups. To really dig into our lives and let God change us. Hopefully you were a help in your group by setting the tone.

We might have a blast on our big retreats like Mt. Baker and Mission trips...but lots of times we leave the commitments we make on the retreats at the retreats. I challenged you last night not to leave the remedy behind. Even if you didn't go to Baker you can still be healed from whatever is in your past. You can be free of that "thing" that is keeping you from growing in God. Let go of whatever you are holding onto and start looking at things with an open palm.

Remember, spirtuality is not a pull yourself up by your bootstraps sort of thing. God never tells us to heal our selves. So if you gave something to God last night or at Baker, don't wait to start telling people about the change in your heart. Even if you feel "unchanged" right now. These things take time, but God is really cool. It says in Philippians 1:6 that "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ." Don't wait until you are totally changed before you tell the world about Jesus, start telling them now...even with your "unchanged" life!

much Love,
johnny

The gala is coming!

2009-01-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

The Crosswalk Gala is upon us. Less than a month away. You can still help! Get your auction packet and help us by gathering donations from around the area. It is very important to help out if you are planning on going to the Montana mission trip, or even the Vancouver, BC middle school mission trip; because the Gala is required if you want to go on these trips.

Also, if you want a discounted price on Camps this year, then please help out. Even if you are not planning on doing either, it will be a fun experiment being part of the group! So sign up to help out on the auction day or continue to get some donations!

much Love,
johnny

Connections is back tonight!

2009-01-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

It has been 28 days since our last Connections. That is a month on some calendars! I hope you are all jazzed about getting back in the groove! We are re-capping Remedy tonight, knowing that it is not a one time thing to be healed by God, but an ongoing process for most of us. As usual, we will have dinner, worship, a message, and small groups. Welcome back all!

much Love,
johnny

I just had an Epiphany!

2009-01-06T11:35:00.001-08:00

Happy Epiphany day! Today is the traditional day the church (in general) celebrate the end of Christmas. Epiphany day is where we recognize the Magi coming and giving the gifts to the baby Jesus, and according to the picture, Jesus is able to give the awesome finger blessing gang sign (pretty dexterous for a baby)!

We could focus on the Magi sacrificing by giving really nice gifts (which is where it all started). We could also focus on the magi leaving everything to follow a star that God told them follow (still very cool and faithful). But what I want to focus on today is another meaning we could pull from the celebration of Epiphany day...that God sent His son not only for His people the Israelites, but also for the gentiles (non-Jewish people).

I have always known that, but back in the day the Jews were expecting a Messiah to be sent for them! To set them free, and give them fullness of life. But it has always been God's plan to bless the nations through them (Genesis 12:3). I am used to reading in Acts 10 as the first Gentile exposure to the Gospel...but we have a gentile exposure when Jesus is still in Bethlehem. How cool!

So today, as the celebration of the Christmas season ends, remember that you were always a part of God's plan.

So share the love of God with others around you, because they are part of the world that God sent his son into (john 3:16) and tell them Happy Epiphany day. They will look at you weird at first, but then you can explain what all of it means.

much Love,
johnny

On the last day of Christmas...

2009-01-05T15:35:00.000-08:00

Today, January 5th is the 12th, and last day of the Christmas season. We all know the cheesy song. For some of us it is the most annoying song of the holiday season. For others, we have to start on the tenth day to even enjoy it. Yes, I am talking about the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Historically the church had a Christmas "season" that celebrated the 12 days of Christmas after advent. We as Americans in the 21st century have gotten used to idea of Christmas being a one day celebration where we eat food and open presents. We try to justify being selfish by telling ourselves that we give (and receive) gifts in remembrance of God giving us the perfect gift.

Now, I would be a hypocrite if I told you that I don't do that. I do. And my kids will more than likely do that as well. But I can't help but look at the past two weeks and realize that I missed out on an opportunity to celebrate Christmas different. From now on I won't let the 25th of December be the last day of Christmas, instead it will be the first day. And I will try for twelve days to reflect hard on what it means to celebrate the gift of Jesus. And maybe my kids will learn something different. Maybe we will spread out the presents over the 12 days, at least the presents will be cheaper with the after Christmas sales...

But it will also show them that we should slow down with the gift giving, and be more about the reflecting of what it all means. Maybe we will also watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special on all 12 days too, that way they will memorize the real meaning of Christmas.

So, all this to say...Merry last day of Christmas!

Tomorrow is known as Epiphany day. That is where the Magi came and gave gifts. Again, another justification for the commercialism of Christmas. But I will let you know tomorrow about the thoughts on the wise men.

much Love,
johnny

Spontaneity, what's that?

2009-01-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to get back in the swing of life! Maybe swing is too spontaneous of a word. I should say, I look forward to the routine of life again. I have no idea how "spontaneous" people continue to live life spontaneously. I feel that even they would have some kind of routine that needs to continue in order to feel normal. Take for instance this one guy I know. He and his wife are always surprising each other with special "nuggets" of love, and dinners, and vacations. They are really spontaneous! Even tonight, he was talking about surprising his wife with a trip up to Seattle for a special sing along to the "Sound of Music" musical. Again, the word for this is spontaneous. He just got back from a surprise trip to see his family that his wife got him for Christmas. Again, spontaneous. Do these people have routines at all? Or are they living in this world where anything goes? I think I would want in. That sounds kinda fun.

But then I tasted that life. For that past two weeks it feels like my routine loving world got thrown into the magic bullet I got for Christmas two years ago. We had an amazing Christmas party planned, but it got canceled because Jack Frost wanted to follow me from Chicago to give us a white Christmas. So no Connections party, and no Transit party. Sad. Very Sad.

Then my routine for the past bajillion years got ruined. They canceled church. Yeah, every Sunday, week in, week out. Canceled. I did get a snow ball thrown at me by the pastor though, so that was fun.

Then the power goes out on Monday, and I don't go in to the office, and my routine is going out the door completely. But Christmas time is here, and we should be full of cheer. But wait. Brooke and I don't have any family around, so we have an "off" Christmas eve. But that will be made up for on Christmas day when we have an amazing family Christmas breakfast...at a truck stop in Ellensburg. Spontaneous! More like Bizzarro world.

All this to say that I look forward to 2009. We sent out the new calendars with the next five months planned! We are back to the Bible in Connections, studying Ye Ole’ Testament in Crosstalk, there are mission trip meetings, bible studies, special events that are planned. Ah, the routine is flooding back into my life! This doesnt mean it's going to be boring…with this five month planner calendar we just sent out, it means we can plan in fun events that would normally be considered Spontaneous! Like the special Luia Connections we have planned. Planning these five months was hard for me, but what I can I say? I like routine.

Which is why I joined a gym. The new membership means that my daily routine is this: wake up, walk dog, eat breakfast/read the bible, work out, go to work, come home, dinner with wife, watch "lost" season four, walk dog, sleep, repeat. I will try to get some tips from all of you (and that spontaneous guy I know) about being spontaneous occasionally, but for now...see you at these planned events!

much Love,
johnny

Longing to be better...

2008-12-16T11:53:00.000-08:00

One month. Well, not quite. Two days shy of one month. That is how long it has been since a post on this site. How can we expect people to read it for the most up to date info and happening of CwSM if we don't give it to them? That is what went on in my head when ever I opened the internet and this blog came up as the home page. So I want to tell you the reader (yes, you the only reader) that Scott and I long to be better bloggers. We owe it to you. We are sorry.

So, we are recommited to the new way to get info out there. We will post reminders, updates, and little things that God is teaching us in our lives. Look for it, read it, and comment on it if you like. :)

Thanks for your patience,
much Love,
Johnny

Project Serve Squared Before

2008-11-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to serve lately. And we were talking about it a lot this week at church and I think that sometimes we get so consumed with this attitude that I need to serve other people that we forget to serve God. Another question that came up as I was studying this is who do I allow to serve me?

I think that we are so use to serving other people that we don't remember that sometimes we need people to help us or serve us. If I can be honest this question makes me uncomfortable. I don't like being served I like to do the serving. It makes me "feel" better to serve than to be served.

How do I let people serve me? I'm not talking about a person at a hotel serving us or having a server. I'm talking about really reaching out to someone and telling them what is going on and why I need help.

I think that serving becomes something that we can easily get addicted to. These are a couple of thoughts that are entering my mind as we are heading into project serve.

One thing that I want student to walk away with is knowing that they are not the only people in this world. That people are in need all around them. But, it takes us asking those tough questions to find the need.

I don't know some of these answers and I feel like these are questions that have been wrestling in my spirit for a while. So, I'm left just thinking which is a good place to start

Peace,
Scott

Sunday ReCap, high school

2008-11-17T10:14:00.000-08:00

What does Back to the Future and Leviticus have in common? Not much to be honest. Back to the future is about a time machine, which runs on electricity, but needs a nuclear reaction to create the 1.21 gigawatts of power to achieve time travel.

Leviticus is a bunch of details about how to properly sacrifice when performing different offerings, what is clean and unclean, various laws about sideburns and tattoos, and which feasts the people of Israel are supposed to keep.

However, consider this. Time travel can be dangerous...mainly because of the hazards that are involved with nuclear technology and stolen plutonium. If you notice all the precautions people take when dealing with the stuff (plutonium, not time travel) then you can see some similarities on how the priests of Israel were to approach God. Very Carefully. Special clothes, special cleansing (before and after), special rules. God can be dangerous if not approached properly. Check out Leviticus Ten to see how dangerous...

Se what we get in Leviticus is that we have a very Holy God that can not look upon sin. That is why He demands the sacrifices for the forgiveness of our sins. So if we have a mighty and holy God who we can't approach because we are sinners, what do we do today when we don't have priests making offerings on our behalf all the time? What do we do today to approach this mighty and holy God?

I am glad you asked! Today, we don't do all those offerings. Today we don't have priests go in on our behalf to sacrifice to the Lord. Today we don't have to fear coming into the presence of God. Today things are different. Today we have a great high priest. That man is Jesus. Check out what Hebrews says about our great high priest, and how different it is today!

Hebrews 4:14-16 "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who as been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Memorize it. Seriously. Do it. It will do wonders for you.

When you are going through rough times, it will help you. Believe me. When you don't think you can go to God because of what you have done, remember that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence because of what Jesus did for us!

much Love,
johnny

Generosity when you need it the most

2008-11-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is a personal post about something that God taught me recently. In early October it was Carina's birthday and we went out to celebrate. When we were out to eat someone thought that it would be cool to break into our car and steal my backpack which had a laptop, a camera and the Bible that Carina got me for our wedding. When it happened I was really upset. I did not know why someone would do that to us. I definitely played the role of the victim. I did not know how we were going to regain the stuff that I had lost. It's funny how you feel like you can't live without something until you live without something.
Anyways, Carina and I started the process of finding a new laptop. The great thing about my old laptop is it was a Macbook and if you have ever used a Mac you know how awesome it is. We had a little bit saved so we could look at computer that were cheap but when we were going through the process of looking for a new laptop I got really frustrated again. I told Carina I did not want a laptop I wanted my laptop. We decided that we wouldn't talk about it right now and we would continue to save for a while. I know that this wasn't the worst thing ever but it just felt frustrating at the time. I finally sat before God and just said that we don't need it.
The next day I got a phone call from my dad who called to tell me that my Grandma who lives in San Fransisco had heard about our laptop situation and said that she wanted to buy us a new laptop. She said that she wanted us to get a new MacBook. I'm not writing this because I feel like if you pray for a new computer than you will get a new computer I am writing because I am blown away by my Grandma's generosity. I am blown away at how much she gives. The amazing thing about my grandma is she doesn't care how much it is just that she is able to help provide.
So I guess the challenge for me now is how do I give. Do I give generously or do I not even care? Do I see those who are in need and don't even care? Do I give my time to help those that are hurting? Do I give a care to those seeking justice? Do I give generously to those who need it the most? Well, if I were to answer that today I would say no. If I was to answer this question in a month I hope that would change. Join with me in giving generously not just in this season but make it a continual practice.

Peace,
Scott

Sunday ReCap, high school

2008-11-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Crosstalk High School continued their series on "The Bible Jesus read," which is essentially an overview of the Old Testament. We covered Exodus last week, which is a wildly popular story on how God delivers us...ie. the story of Moses.

Since it is such a popular story, that of which we already know the overview, we decided to look a little deeper at the calling of Moses and the assuring of his call.

We have a God who calls us and assures us of that call.

In Exodus 3 we saw how God calls us. It goes something like God:us:God. God draws us near (say for example with a bush that is on fire, yet is not consumed), then we take a step of faith toward God (like Moses saying to himself "I will go see this site"), then God giving us a clear Call and direction He wants to take us (the rest of chapter 3). Take note of the God:us:God format. We are all in the process of God:us:God. Whether He is drawing us closer, we are stepping out in faith, or we are getting a clear calling.

We have a God who calls us and assures us of that call.

Moses gets assured of his calling in chapter four when he starts to doubt his ability. In verse nine he's like (paraphrase warning) "Dang, God, You can do this without me! I can't do it, I am crappy at talking good."

The next verse rocks! God is like, "Who do you think gave man speech? Who makes man to talk and hear, and dumb and deaf?"

God assures Moses of his calling, regardless of the weakness he thinks he has.

Paul summed it up nicely for us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"But He said to me 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my grace is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Read it again.

No, really, read it again.

His grace is sufficient for you! When you are weak you are strong, because there is less of you and more of Him!

We have a God who calls us and assures us of that call.

much Love,
Johnny

Here's the cat...heres the bag

2008-11-10T09:26:00.001-08:00

If you have been on the edge of your seat wondering where this years' student mission trips are going to be, you had to wait no longer than yesterday! I was so pleased to see the parents' interest in taking part in the meeting and getting the information first hand, a big thank you from Scott and myself!

So, after much prayer and consideration, we are staying close to home; relatively.

Vancouver, BC, Canada is relatively close to us, yet it seems like another country. That is where Scott is headed for his 7th and 8th grade missions trip (he prefers the "s" on the end). He is excited to lead the trip and watch how God can grow in the hearts of the middle schoolers. The dates for this trip are March 30th to April 2nd. You do need a passport, so get started on that soon!

As for the High Schoolers, our mission trip (no "s") is relatively close. Meaning a 10 hour drive to beautiful Glacier Park, Montana; where we will be working on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation bringing the hope of Jesus to a community that has been struggling to regain their hope for a hundred years. This trip is scheduled for early or mid July, depending on how many spots are available, we will know the dates for sure by December.

So there you have it. The cat is officially out of the bag, mostly.

IMPORTANT NOTE!
We had the Crosswalk Gala Auction meeting as well. Remember, remember, remember, that if you want to go on either trip you must participate in the auction. Please start to collect your items now, for the gala on February 7th.

much Love,
johnny

Upcoming event: Desperate People

2008-11-04T17:07:00.001-08:00

We have an event this Saturday! It is called desperate people. Are you desperate to give back instead of take? Are you desperate to serve God? How about desperate to worship Him? You can do all that this Saturday!

This is an area wide event where we are getting together with other churches in the area to serve our community and worship God. The cost it ten dollars, but that includes three meals, serving all day, and amazing worship at night. We will meet at 8am at Chapel Hill, and in the evening at Believers Fellowship with dinner and worship.

This is a great opportunity to serve God and meet others who desire to serve Him too!

much Love,
johnny

Sundy ReCap, high school

2008-11-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

We are back in our series "The Bible Jesus Read" which is a basic overview of the Old Testament. This week we looked at the Patriarchs, with a focus on Abraham. We see in the story of "Father Abraham" that he was an amazingly faithful guy. Picking up and leaving his comfortable known surroundings of his hometown and going to the place that God would show him. Very faithful. Trusting God to give him a son in his old age. Also very faithful. I love that it says Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Yes, he had faith in God, and it put him in right standing in God's eyes. Abraham must of been practically perfect to have faith in God and be in right standing with Him.

WRONG!

Yes, I said wrong. Abraham was faithful. I am not taking that away from him. But to put things on the realistic side, he was human. Just like you, and just like me. He made mistakes. Just like you and just like me.

Take for example Genesis 12. He had faith in God because he went to the new place...but when it got hard (a famine coming into the land) he high tailed it down to Egypt. It gets worse, he then lied to Pharoah about being married to Sarah. They took Sarah, because she was a very beautiful women (even as a senior citizen). Abe got paid off the dowry and all was looking pretty good. But God had plans for Abe and Sarah and would not let his sin get in the way of those plans. He rebuked Pharoah, Sarah went back with Abe, and they went back to Canaan.

This was just one example we looked at...but we see that God still forgave Abe and used him for His plans. Do you realize what this means? We can still be used by God! Even when we make a mistake, we humble ourselves, seek God's forgiveness, and move on. How refreshing grace is!

We also talked a lot about spinny rides vs. roller coasters. But that is the stuff you had to be there for.

Much Love,
Johnny

Sunday ReCap, experience God:Wisdom

2008-10-27T10:04:00.001-07:00

We had a great Experience God Sunday yesterday, if you missed it, I feel for you. I literally feel for you. And I have no idea what that means...I suppose it means I am sad that you missed it for a number of reasons.

Reason number four. I "feel" that you had a great opportunity to be with the whole group. If you are a middle Schooler then you missed out hanging with the high schoolers. If you're the opposite, then you missed out setting an example for the younger ones (and their are some really cool middle schoolers this year!).

Reason number three. I "feel" that you missed a rare opportunity to do something different on Sunday morning. If you are tired of me or Scott (or Scott!?, yeah right) giving messages every Sunday then you missed out on hearing some wise people answer your life questions.

Reason number two. I "feel" for you because wiser people than me had some great Godly answers to your very unGodly questions. Just kidding about that last part, but we had some great questions from the heart of where you (teenagers) are today. Questions like "Do you ever feel like you can't do it anymore?" and "What did you do when you feel like God is trying to tell you something but you don't know what?" and "Can we have chairs hanging from the cieling?"

The number one reason why I feel for you is...boy, a lot of suspense for this one. If you missed this Experience God Sunday where you could have had wise people like Jim Ramsey, Kevin and Dana McClain, Kelley DeMoss, Matt and Brooke Edwards, and Carina Schubert answer some very tough questions (yes, tougher than the silly hanging chair one) then you will never be wise. Well, you can. It just takes some trial and error on your part, and it would have been easier for you to hear how older and smarter people than you went through the same problems and questions that you went through. So for that, I feel for you.

much Love,
johnny

Sunday ReCap

2008-10-16T09:47:00.001-07:00

In case you missed it, Crosstalk combined Middle School and High School last Sunday. They did so because most of the workers were down in Cali soaking up the sun on a youth worker convention. But if you did miss Sunday school, here is what went down. My great friend (funny how you can have great friends you have never met) Louie Giglio taught on how great our God is. It was all about Creation. Creation of the stars, but also creation of us...human beings. I have heard from a number of people that the video was amazing! It totally rocked their world with statistics and the like about how small we as humans really are, and then how intricate we really are. That picture of Louie is him explaining that in the center of a giant star is a black hole, and the hubble telescope looked in a took a picture of it...and there was that cross right in the center of the black hole. Wild! I don't really know what that means, but it is still pretty wild!

So if you want to see the video, maybe because you missed it, or maybe because you want to see it again...I have it. You can borrow it. Keep in mind that you want to set aside about forty minutes, and then another forty minutes to get your mind back together after it blows up. Just kidding, it won't blow up. Just kidding it will. Just kidding though, it is a figure of speach.

much Love,
Johnny

What a busy week!

2008-10-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday. Last Thursday I remember getting ready to go down to California for the National Youth Workers Convention. We had a blast! After a 12 hour drive down through the middle of the night, we saw a handful of great speakers, were led in worship six times by Lincoln Brewster and Starfield, went to some great seminars on a plethora topics, and almost got kicked out of the hotel room. Good times! Most of the middle school team went and a few of the high school team. We got back Monday night and both Scott and I had to hit the ground running on finalizing the details for the normal weekly events (Connections and Transit), not to mention iron out some wrinkles in the Midnight Madness schedule.

Oh yeah, Midnight Madness. That will be fun...a little different, but fun. That reminds me, its Thursday and I better take a nap if I want to stay up all night for the madness fun. Get some sleep and I will see you there...7pm to 7am.

much Love,
Johnny

The Great Pumpkin Chase

2008-10-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

I was sitting down and planning out some things for the Great Pumpkin Chase and I am so excited to see what happens. This is my first year planning this amazing event and it is going to be madness. The idea behind the Chase is that you are going around to different locations within the Harbor and you have to solve the clues in order to find out where the great pumpkin is hiding. This year we are going with a secret agent theme. All the students will need to follow each clue in order to find the pumpkins Kins or baby pumpkins. We will have some cool prizes for which ever team finds all the kins and also for the most creative pictures. We will be showing the slide show the following week at Transit. So parents beware that your students will be on the hunt on October 30th. We will be starting right at 6:30pm sharp. So don't be late. If you have any questions about this incredible event please let me know.

Peace,
Scott

Sunday ReCap

2008-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, for those of you who were out of town, or slept in, or were watching the Seahawks lose; here is a reCap of Sunday's lessons for High School Crosstalk and Middle School Crosstalk.

In Middle School, Scott continued teaching on worship. This week was worship through prayer. I love how all of the students dove right in and prayed for nearly forty minutes! It was great to hear how you realized that prayer can be creative. Scott had nine different prayer stations set up through out the Cabana and the Middle School room. The stations ranged from praying through art, through rewriting the Lords prayer in your own words, and even through praying for the world over a map. It was neat to see that there are all sorts of ways we can worship God through prayer, not just the traditional close your eyes and hold hands till they get sweaty while thinking about what you will eat for lunch. Hopefully you can continue to practice these creative ways to talk to God, and they will freshen up your prayer life.

In High School, we started a new series! Our new series is called "the Bible Jesus read" and it is going to be an overview of the Old Testament. We learned that there are a couple of main reasons (among many I am sure) that keep us from studying and enjoying the Old Testament. Mainly because it can be boring to our suburban western culture. We don't get it because we don't have land wars, and water wars, and arranged marriages. The other main reason is because it seems like the God of the Old Testament (which is the same God as the New) can be mean and offensive. He cares so much about the perfect sacrifice (no bent winged doves or limping lambs) but seems to not care about a whole human ethnic group like the Amelikites (God told Saul to obliterate the Amelikites; man, woman, child, baby, camel, goat, cow, all of it). These are two fairly legitimate reason why we don't study the Old Testament; its boring and offensive.

But we countered those two points with three. We need to study the Old Testament for these three (and many more) reasons.
1. The New Testament authors treated it like it was important. All the books except Philemon, 2 John and 3 John quote or allude back to the Old Testament.
2. The Old Testament is still applicable to our lives today. We find our selves in the pages! When we get more familiar with the culture and the weird words, we start to enjoy it because we resonate with the people who wrestled with walking with God.
3. It is the Bible that Jesus read. It is the prayers he prayed. The stories he heard at bedtime. The songs that he sang. The more we comprehend the Old Testament, the more we comprehend Jesus.

Thats what we did Sunday! It was a blast, because we ended it all with coffee cookie fellowship downstairs! And in my opinion, that was better than watching a poor performance by the home town team (by watching I mean by skipping church) (and by poor I mean really really really ridiculously bad playing) (and by home town team I mean the Seattle Seahawks).

much Love,
Johnny

Youth Ministry (2 month)

2008-10-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

So I just celebrated my second month of being at Believers. There are a couple things that I have learned and am really excited about so I wanted to share them with you.

1. I've learned that at BF parents really do care about what is going on in the life of their students. In youth ministry that is not always the case. Here it seems a lot different. The parents are interested and truly do love and care about their children. It really became evident through our Parent/Student Transit night.

2. I've learned that Middle School Students get it. By "get it" I mean they are hungry for God's word. Through Transit I have seen so many students ask questions like "what was Jesus doing until the age of 30" and "why is the genealogy of Jesus important?" It is awesome to see a student ask a question like that and find hope in the Bible through wrestling through the text.

3. I've learned how to truly rely on the Holy Spirit more than ever before. I think for people who are doing God's work a lot of times we forget this. We forget that God is in charge and no matter how awesome these events look and how much I plan, I still need to rely fully on God. It's amazing how when you step back and let God do God's thing it turns out so much better than you could have imagined. I have been blown away at how God works. God is doing something in the life of the Middle School ministry and it has been fun to see how God cares about these students so much.

4. I have learned what a great church Believers Fellowship is. Walking into this new situation can be very intimidating but everyone at BF has welcomed Carina and me with open arms. It has been so great to get to know your students and to see how God is very much alive and active in their lives. We have felt so much love from everyone at church during this transition phase. We are so blessed to be in this community and to see what God is doing in Gig Harbor.

I have learned a lot more and can't wait to share some more stories with you soon.

Peace,
Scott

I love Connections!

2008-10-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

We had Connections again last night. Yes, every Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 we will meet and do a number of things. Last night was great. We talked about the Bible being trustworthy and reliable. Indeed it is. I love connections. I really really like it. Here are a couple of reasons...

I love Connections because...

I get to eat a good meal
I get to see people I like
I get to work on relationships with people that don't like me
I get to worship God
I get to spend time with adults who care about students
I get to spend time with students who care about God
I get to spend time with students who don't know God
I get to study the Bible
I get to meet in a small group
I get to make memories

These are some of the reasons I love connections, how about you? What do you love about Connections? Feel free to share your comments!

much Love
johnny

Experience God Sundays

2008-09-29T15:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had our first "Experience God" Sunday at CrossTalk (our catchy name for sunday school). Scott and I thought it would be cool to bring the students together once a month to experience God in a new and unique way.

I thought yesterday was great. We wanted to experience God through Worshiping Him with singing. Sounds unique doesn't it? Well, we did it a little different than you might be thinking. It was set up as a "Worship through the Ages" and we looked at how people praised God through song in Jesus' day (or how we think the chant sounded), we then looked at what singing praises to God looked like for the monks. Thanks to Nate Cripps for showing us how Gregorian Chant would have sounded like, and even explaining the latin you were chanting.

We then moved on to more familiar territory. We sang old hymns. Starting back in 1707 we sang a song that has been praising God for over three hundred years. Very cool! We moved from hymns to the spiritual songs/hymns of the 19th century, then went right into the awesome 80's! Shine Jesus Shine still has a special place in my heart, a place that I don't like to think of very often...which takes us to the point of the day. God can be praised, even if we don't like the style of song we are singing.

Let me say it again. God can be praised, even if we don't like the style of music.

That is something that plagues our churches here in America! That is something that plagues our church at Believers Fellowship, starting with me. I need to remember that when I sing to God, it is about Him. It is about praising Him, and not about pleasing me or my favorite style (which is early 90's white Christian rap ie. DC Talk style).

So next time you go to church, and there is worship through singing, try to praise God even if you don't like that music.

Look for more "Experience God" Sundays on the last Sunday of every month. It will bring a fresh view of God as we experience Him in a different way every month.

much Love,
Johnny

Back from retirement

2008-09-26T14:31:00.001-07:00

Remember those cool Michael Jordan commercials where everyone would sing..."I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike!" Well, Michael Jordan retired from basketball to go play baseball. He didn't quite make the cut, and went back to basketball. Then he retired again because he was getting old...but he came back.

That is sort of like this blog. We didn't exactly retire, but we certainly seemed to. But on the flip side, I don't think anyone read those first two blogs to begin with. Hopefully that will change. And hopefully this blog will serve it's purpose.

A place to get the most up to date info on Crosswalk Student Ministries. For instance, we now have a purpose statement. It is...

We are a community striving to glorify God by growing in the Lord, living the grace of Jesus Christ, & sharing the truth to the people we encounter.

So look for all that we do as a ministry to reflect at least a portion of that.

This blog will also be a great place to hear the heart of what God is teaching Johnny and Scott. We will be candid and honest with you. We promise.

Oh, by the way! We had to say good bye to our awesome Middle School staff over the summer. We want to pray for Reid as he starts his career at Denver Seminary, where he will pursue a Master in Counseling. You can check what he's up to by going to his blog www.reidintoit.blogspot.com. Laura also stepped down from youth staff after graduating from the University of Washington Tacoma. She is still helping out on a volunteer level though, which we are very grateful for.

And with that team leaving, we say hello to our newest hire...Scott Schubert! He comes to us from Colorado via California. He is a really neat guy, and you should get to know him. He has a huge heart for training up students to love God with all thier might, and love thier neighbor as themselves. Look for future posts from him, as he will be sharing the blog with me.

And that does it. We are back from retirement...sort of. Look for info about midnight madness soon! It is going to be rad.

much Love,
Johnny

Small Vision for the future...

2008-02-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

I am now entering another world. I have read a lot of blogs...and they can get pretty intense. I am pretty sure that our blog won't have any controversial topics like injustice missions raiding abortion clinics, or emerging church vs. emergent church, or even if the roll should go over the top or underneath.

This blog was created because we as CWSM just wanted a way that we can communicate with you, let you know our hearts, and to keep you updated with the happenings around the church. For starters...we (the CWSM staff) are starting to toss around new ideas of why we do what we do...

Not that what we are doing is bad, in fact I have loved getting to know you as a group and as individuals. It's just that we don't have any clear picture of where we want to see students be in their walk with God by the time they graduate high school. We are working hard trying to understand YOUR needs. We are piling over adjectives to describe the young adolescent mind. We are racking our brains for the proper wording of a purpose statement that you can be proud of. We are discussing and deliberating over the proper usage of adverbs. All things that are very important when trying to create a new purpose statement.

As a sneak peak for all of you who are just dying to know what we are all about as a ministry (hundreds I'm sure) I will tell you this. Where we are going is not flashy. We are not going to train squirrels to duel with lightsabers in order to get you to come out. What we want to do is provide an opportunity for you to be able to connect with God, connect with other students, and connect with caring adults who are smarter than you and have all the answers. Wait, that last one should just read caring adults. Sorry.

It's as simple as that. What that looks like may be similar to what we are doing. There may be small changes in the coming summer and following year. Know this, we are praying for you, and for the ministry that God has called us to be a part of.
We love you (phileo that is) and we can't wait to see what God has planned for CWSM.

Johnny

Ladies and Gentlemen

2008-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

We'd like to greet you all with a warm welcome to Crosswalk Student Ministries' BLOG. All of us here on the CWSM staff is excited to be able to communicate with you all in a new format.

Our desire is that this blog might serve as a home base for CWSM on the internet. I know this is a little overwhelming and there are a host of emotions boiling up inside of you, but let me calm some of your developing anxieties by approaching some of the common questions.

Where are all of the amazing theological, cultural, and comical articles here that I can use to gauge everything in my life by?

Well, that does seem like an overstatement on the influence we have here, but
what is a rose by any other name? The truth is, since the creation of this
website there have not been any new amazing, theological, cultural, or comical
articles that have been produced. We, as CWSM staff, will be sifting through our
databases looking for such articles, but until we find them. Further, amazing
blogs are YTC (Yet To Come).

I go to this youth group! Where are all of the pictures of me?

Again, the pictures are on their way, YTC.

Is there a way I can figure out when the next event is?

Yes, as soon as we figure out how to work a blog, we
will upload any pertinent information.

Is this a blog where I can complain about everything I don't like?

No, please send the complaints to Reid's email with the subject "complaint," so he can to delete it. Haha.. Ahh, just kidding. If you are experiencing some sort of conflict involving the ministry please communicate that to us. This public forum might not be the best place, and I don't anticipate this blog functioning as such, that is just the modern assumption with blogs: Blogs are places where people without any creditials can polute even weaker minds with thoughts that aren't worthy to be put in any other type of communication medium (i.e. books, magazines, or newspapers).

So, this is it! Come, enjoy, interact as we dive into the wonderful world of blogging!

- CWSM Staff