New York and Beyond

Over spring break I along with three other churches will take off for the Big Apple to serve for a week. This is going to be an amazing trip and I believe that it will be one of many other trips. I have spent time praying and seeking God on where he would like for us to go next. As I was praying and searching online I came across this website City Connexx. At first I was looking at the prices but as I started reading I found that this group was more then just a mission trip booking company. This group was about connecting other ministers in cities across America. There ministry is based off of Acts 1:8. 

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The point is that we are called to serve with in our own community. Our youth have grown to understand that and they do a very good job at outreach and understanding the needs of others. We are also called to reach out to our neighbors. I was also looking at the price and they start as low as $110.00 plus transportation there. You are connected and they ask that you build a relationship with the people there and make that your mission field. The had the following on their website.

Even if you are going global with your missions program for 2010, here are some serious things to consider. As youth leaders, we risk teaching our students that being missional is an expensive something you "go to". It needs to be something we all become. Seriously, we need to offer our students both options, global and US, not one or the other.

• Help our students understand and live the whole Great Commission
• How often can a student (or parents) afford international? Big bucks $$
• How often can a student (or parents) go international?
• What about the youth that can't afford it? Don’t they deserve to be missional also?
• What about using a less expensive USA mission strategy to help your students reach out to their friends and other students in your area or in their school?
• What about an active Jerusalem or Judea mission program for your Jr. High or Middle School students?
• Your impact will be felt long after you and your students leave
• Make lasting relationships- we want you and your students to stay connected and we will help you do just that

So my prayer is that this summer we will take another trip and take another group of students either in the Denver area that is 12 hours away or in the Houston area that is 8 hours away. I know more information on Denver and we would serve at a Hip-hop church. It is in an inner city area, they have many recovery and prevention programs for children and teens. Houston I am going to have to call and get details on. My prayer is that we build a relationship with people and we make it apart of our ministry. 

Here for one another

 

This was an amazing  video from Hillsong United So many times in life I believe that we forget that God is the one that transforms the heart and not us. The past three weeks of youth group have been great, which is a blessing because we have had many struggles. One of the biggest struggles that I have been talking with the students about is being a "poser." Now please understand my students don't play the "christian" game. We have been talking with them about the fear they have to allow God to do something awesome in their life. Walking through personality traits and their gifts. I made the statement I could careless about where they have been, but where they are going in life. I believe working with this group of students has helped me grow more than I'll ever know. The one think I have learned from them is that they have such a deep respect for someone being truthful with them.

Change the World

I believe in the last several months God has been putting an awaking in my life and giving me a new vision. It's way different then what I thought. My heart is still for youth and teens but I must admit I have been looking at the way we do youth ministry and asking what is most important to the changing the world. Do our programs work? That is a question I have been asking myself? I work with an interesting group of students on many different levels and there are times I ask myself, "What do we need to do different?" After allot of prayer this is what I started to understand about them and us. It has nothing to do with how much I might know or what I say, it's all about what I do.

1 John 3:18 Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

This is something I believe we all know, but the question is do we truly understand it? I don't and I am not always sure if  accomplish this. But after spending time and asking people question what I have started to understand is that we change a life, when we build a relationship. I don't mean just a hey I know you! But I want to get to know you more. I am not talking about entertaining a person, but I mean knowing what makes them think.

My prayer is that we really look at what we do and less of what we say. I must work on it more then anyone! But I am finding that to be important part of our faith!  

Here is our King

He is our God" and since he is our God what does he command from you and I? For so many people the Bible has more to do with what we are to do and not to do. I believe most of us would understand "the rules" but do we truly understand what it takes to live as our God? We read about his son on the cross and how to the end he loved. He was a man that was spit on and looked down on. Before we he was sent to that cross he was beat and was a savior that went last so you and I could be first. The cross is something that should be celebrated by his people and at the same time we should show the cross to others.

I believe the one thing that would have changed my life growing up would be someone showing me the cross. I must admit, it is so hard to show. We make it seem easy but it's not. That day on the cross it was so much more then just a man hanging there....it was man hanging there calling us out of death and into life. To think at one point I was dead and now I am alive is not easy to understand. But what I do understand is that my life should show the same dedication.

1John ^7-8My dear friends, I'm not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you've known it from day one. It's always been implicit in the Message you've heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!

In 2010 when I look around I ask myself is this what God had in mind? I know God knew what would happen and what is to happen. But the last couple of weeks with an earth quake in Haiti and mud slides in California it makes you think for a minute, is this the way God wanted? I believe the answer is NO! However I am understanding what God wants more and more.... I believe he wants the cross to be a blazing light in a dark world. When I read about human tracking I ask myself, "What can I do?" I believe showing that God is love and allow the cross to do it's job will make the true difference.

The last year of my life I believe I have made a huge change in how I think and believe. I believe so many times we make the cross selfish and we feel that God is most satisfied when we feel good. I am understanding more and more, when I don't feel very comfortable that is when God has me right where he wants me. Please hear me, I am not saying we are bad people because we want the American dream. I am saying I believe God has something bigger for you and I. I believe it has more to do with how we respond!

So with Haiti how will I respond? We'll last week I did my # whatever to give but I believe I am going to follow the lead of a fifteen year old I know. He was at lunch one day and was thinking about the people in a land of poverty and distress and how they were living before an earthquake. So he made the choice to still take the lunch money from his parents but use that to give to a fund. His friends started follow his lead and now there is a lunch table at a local school with a bunch of students who throw there lunch money and a bucket and have started to fast from food one meal so someone else could get the help they needed.

You see at the cross we find something more then just love, we see what sacrifice should look like. I have kids in our youth group that is going to start fasting so that they can give. I believe with all of my heart God has called his people to so much more then just living a life and Going to a Bible study so we can grow spiritually. I believe we must receive from him so we can give to others. I now believe that is a time for God to show up and rescue his people from what Satan meant for evil. This is our chance to fulfill the will of God and to open our eyes to what God has for you and I.

My prayer: Dear God please help us and rescue us from ourselves and what we believe to be comfortable. God show us what it means to carry our own cross. 

Haiti Earthquake

My heart goes out to the people in Haiti and the family members who do not know where their loved ones are. Through this whole situation we have heard some really dumb quotes from people who say that they are followers of Christ and people who are on the radio. I will not bother naming these people but however I believe this is a time for all of us to come together. At this point the amount of bodies on the streets have forced this country to use bulldozers to remove bodies. We all need to keep in mind that these are God's people and we must pray and give.

Text Haiti to 90999 and a ten dollar donation will be made to the American Red Cross and you can pay it on your cell phone bill.

Compassion International

World Vision

American Red Cross

Salvation Army

Please keep in mind that this is the calling of all Christians not just some. I know that we are not all able to be there, but we must support those who are there. Please pray and give.

Reality Changers

It was in Nashville, Tenn. that I first heard about this group and it brought me to tears for many different reasons. I believe the biggest reason is because I saw something different in youth ministry. Here lately I have been hearing a group of students talk about how college is not for them and they would never be able to pay for it. I do believe that we at times do a poor job at showing our youth that their is a way. I must be honest and say that I didn't know there was a way for me. But what I love about this organization is how they are taking a group of students who might never have a chance and helping them receive scholarships to be the first to attend college. Watch this please and then I will give you a few thoughts going through this small brain.   

I love this because God is working through many different peoples lives. I have a strong desire to work with students who have put themselves in a bad situation and help them get out of it. It's weird because I am from Eula, Texas home of the hicks. While attending school there I always thought there was more to life but things seemed so far away. Now 2010 I am a 27 year old man who has a desire to work with a group of students who have used drugs, made horrible choices, and many people have giving up on.

This is my point God has made you and I different and I believe to achieve different things to better the world. I am not sure why we have spent so much time trying to change the talents of people when we should promote the good they have and help them build what God has called them to.

I just took a spiritual gift test and my top three are Discernment, Evangelism, and Mercy. before my prayer would be that God would give me some different gifts. But I have changed that prayer now....my prayer is that God would use my gifts and talents for his purpose and for his kingdom. What I believe needs to happen now is the following.....

Real People, With Real Problems, With a Real Purpose, To make a Real Difference  

I have been learning here lately that we must be honest of where we are at in life so that people can see we are human as well. Man can we just use are talents and be honest with God's people. I am struggling with that, how about you? 

   

Will You be a Hero?

Hero: a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

I found that skit online and I found it to be amazing for many different reasons. After spending almost three years on a school campus and seeing what takes place I am always reminded of some things that we must teach our youth. We seem so amazed when we hear about a teen killing another teen. We act surprised when we hear about a teen committing suicide. Or the one that bothers me the most is when we think that that this is just a girl issue when teen suicide statistics show differences in the ways boys and girls handle suicide. While girls think about attempted suicide about twice as much as boys, boys are actually four times more likely than girls to actually die by killing themselves.

Why does this take place and what can we do about it? I believe it takes place for many different reasons and I believe if all made a choice to treat people in a different way things would change. So many times in life we sit back and watch students or other people be treated like they are some type of animal and we do nothing. I am guilty of that is many ways. Also when we sit down and really look at what we do to the boys now I believe that we might understand why we have the problems we have. It has been amazing to me of how many of our boys have been told lies about who they have to be to be a man! Lets be honest we have started treating boys like they can handle anything and they just need man up. Then we wonder why around thirty they have so many social problem. One lesson that I have done a school is the power of words. I asked the kids to write down one work the the kids hated to be called. With the boys it was amazing to me, it was simple....Worthless and Gay. Those two words attack their manhood more then any other words. But lets be honest we allow students to throw those words around.

So I really believe we need to take the time and ask ourselves do really ask our youth to live as a hero and do we really spend the time investing into our youth both boys and girls but understanding that there are some differences but both really need the same thing. They need love, compassion, and Grace.

Another way to be a hero is to take care of the single mothers raising kids. Most people don't know but one of my ministries is picking up a kid everyday from practice. The mother is a single mother and doesn't have a car. I do this for him but my heart has really gone after her as well. She is also a widow after losing her husband in a car wreck when my student was 8 years old. It's amazing the things we talk about.

Mentoring is more then likely the biggest acts that a person can do. It is the hardest at the same time. Building a relationship with a at-risk kid can be rewarding and heartbreaking all in the same day. I had the chance to go into a classroom of a class that worked with at-risk freshman. I started mentoring a few students in different ways. They use words that my grandmother would die over and the smoke whatever they can find. But what makes it all worth it is a student that was in that class last year who got what we were trying to pour into him. He keeps coming back and I will spend spring break with him in New York City on a Mission Trip because the teacher is taking him along. It works and it does make a difference.

“Without heroes, we are all plain people, and don't know how far we can go” Bernard Malamud

I believe in order for you and I to learn me must become a hero but allow God to do the life changing. If we go into it believing that we can change a person then we have missed the point. But if we go in building a relationship and trying our best to better someone but also allow them to better us well we will see a change.

Last semester I just grew tired and grumpy for whatever reason. When Christmas came around I was happy and I needed a break away from students to search myself and find out what was going on with me. After I did that I felt the need to call a student and tell him I was sorry. It was amazing to me his response. He was okay with it and understood and then started telling me his struggles. Being a hero is easy, it being who God made you. and going with that. We all have a different calling and a different gift.

So reach out to someone today but try to keep reaching out the same person and see a life change by just spending time with them.

FOXNews.com - Can the Church Remain Relevant In 2010?

i was online looking at FoxNews.com when I cam across this article from a pastor from Arlington. I find it amazing for many different reasons, it's 2010 and we're still trying to figure it out. The more we live the more we should search. Always keep it in mind that no church will ever get 100% because we are human, however keep in mind that God word never changes! 

FOXNews.com - Can the Church Remain Relevant In 2010?

Posted using ShareThis

Take a look

This is very awesome...Found it on a friends blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very cool video on Worship

I will waist my life for a calling higher then me....

I know when you read that you think "waist your life?" I have come back to a struggle in my life to where I am struggling with the idea of life in America. Today in Sunday school I had all of her students take their shoes off and trade them with somebody. It was amazing how they were not happy about this idea at all. Comments went on like these are my shoes, his feet stink, and my favorite was if you mess up my shoes I will drop you right here and right now. There was one girl in that group that didn't complain about it at all. She told me that here shoes were not new and she knew how it was to go with out shoes. She went on to tell the story about her dad having her walk with out shoes in Mexico to show her where he came from in life and how lucky she was to have shoes. I was amazed by this because in America look at what we have. I am mad because I am guilty and then we make up all sorts of excuses for ourselves.

I was asking God what is that you want me to do, and it was weird I heard he wanted me to waist my life in the worlds eyes to bring him glory. God has told us to be a true disciple of him I must give up my life to him. Easy RIGHT??? Well no this means the following.....

Luke 14:26 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

So what does that look like?? I don't know I can't tell you to save my life?? I believe it is not the way I am living though and I am not sure how to change it. I believe it has nothing to do with money or time...it's all with my heart. What amazes me the most is how people can not admit it to anyone...When I start talking about it all I hear "It's ok to have....." but I am not sure if I am making my point. Stuff is what we worship.

Christmas is over now and Valentines day is next just like Christmas people expect a gift. Is it okay to give gifts...yes and is it ok to receive? yes! But we make such a big celebration out of it and we go crazy with it. 

So this is the way I am looking at it right now....everything we have should bring him glory no matter what. Our cars should be a place for him, our jobs a place for him, our homes, school, bank accounts, and etc. We own nothing. Lets take our life and stuff and waist it on glorying him and expecting nothing in return but being thankful when we do. 

Mentoring

I believe mentoring in the number one way to change a child who is at risk. This something I believe in more an more!

Problem	Youth Has Problem* %	Mentor Helped "A Lot"** %
Negative feelings about himself/herself	55	62
Poor relationships with his/her family members	49	35
Poor grades	42	48
Hanging out with the wrong crowd	41	42
Getting into trouble at school	36	49
Getting into trouble outside of school	29	47
Skipping school	24	52
Smoking, drinking or drug use	22	45
Sexual activity	14	25
Running away from home	14	62
Physical or sexual abuse	10	55
An eating disorder	9	26

How do we serve?

I must admit if I knew what I know now I am not sure if I would have giving my life over to Christ. When I first grace I thought I was "good" because all I had to do was go to church and sing a couple of songs and I was done. The more and more I went to church the more I found myself asking....is there more? I must be careful because I love serving and I believe that is how I learn as a person. I set in a church maybe three months not serving. Now I don't believe I am a better person because of it, I believe that is what God has called me to and I still believe it is working with teens. I am not a youth pastor trying to climb up and become a senior pastor...At this point in my life God has called me to it and has not put that passion in my heart. My goal is to serve Christ to best of my ability because God has giving me that gift and I must obey it. However should serving be painful? I have asked God why did you give me this? I first years of serving were awesome and I loved it. I had the chance to sit down with two of my old students who are now in college or graduated from High School and I was amazed at how much of an impact the church and God had on there life. I was never sure if it was or not, but it was working. The trips, camps, dinners, movies, and all of the talks worked because of the relationship I had with the student. They are not the only one with the stories and I am so amazed with all that God has done. But what about the student who doesn't get it?? The student that loves to push your buttons and you grow frustrated with them, students, and life!

That has been me the last few months and I now understand why it was all because of who I was serving. I was serving them, trying to change them, and trying to be the "best" when God never meant for me to do so. My plans and God's plan was not matching at all and I was not cool with that! I know I had fights with God on it and I was making plans on how to solve their issues before looking at mine. You see serving will bring you great joy but it requires some suffering!

"Psalm 126:5 ⁵ Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. ⁶ He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy,  carrying sheaves with him."

I believe with serving you must also serve with some tears and begging God to change you so that you might be a light in a dark world. I believe it means more to the people you are serving when you stick around and you cry the tears with them and you allow them to see you in pain. Wait....I believe that, but I have to play Mr. Tough guy all the time and show no pain. Wow it shows that I am human. So when did I start looking into this?

Our worship team at Church started singing "How he loves us" and it is a powerful song with such a powerful message. Two weeks ago I was in worship and standing next to one of my students who has tested me the past few months and he said the following that brought me to tears and made more of an impact on my life that made me think about where I was at.... "Nick I know that this past year we have not been the best and it has been hard, but thank you for sticking around" At first I was like okay???? So I asked him what he meant by that comment and what he said struck me and I had to ask myself has my attitude been that of Christ. He went on to tell me that his girlfriend was talking to him and she had told him her church had gone through four youth pastors since she has been their. She had only been there for three years and she didn't trust anyone at Church.

That morning something changed in me and I started asking God to change the way I was thinking. I started asking myself what has changed in me and the answer was clear...it was love! I started begging God to change my heart for him and his people. So the weak before Christmas I set out to spend time in two different areas of my life...

A. With God which meant I must spend time with him and not just learning about him. I must slow down and and know that he is God.  This seems easy but I believe it was hard....through that time I found out something awesome about not only me but God as well. It was something so easy and simple but however it became hard to understand for some odd reason. HE IS GOD AND I AM NOT! This means ups and downs and this means times of laughter and times of tears. No matter what the day brought I could rely on the fact he never changes. What I learned about me...I was trying to be God of my life when nothing belongs to me and it all belongs to him. Hear me on this, I am not talking about STUFF! I am talking about time and the future. Stuff is gone in two years, we pay one car off and we but another one. My time belongs to him as well and I believe that is the most important gift.


B. God had told me I needed to spend time with some students one on one. God made that happen for me in a way that I found to not only be awesome but to give me some relief. I went to the movies and had dinner with them. (If I see Blindside one more time I have paid for half of their budget) I had a great time. I started learning more about them and where they were at and thinking back on my teen years and where I was at. The more and more I would listen in the car, the more I knew God was changing something in me. It was simple I needed to be me and that was okay.

Then on Wednesday the night that I found to be awesome, we had this event plan and some how the plans didn't go like I wanted them to. We had ten students go, but I will tell you this I had a blast with them. I started seeing something different in them, in order to really make an impact...we must have a relationship. How awesome is it in life to be able to say I made a difference....it's huge!

How do we serve??? Through the love we have for Christ. We must always keep in mind that God is God and we are not!

New Year

It's now 2010 and it's amazing to see how many people start thinking about their goals for this year. It is amazing to see what God can do in one year. I believe the one thing that we all should keep in mind is that no matter what happens in 2010, God is still in control. Allot has changes in 2009, but what is amazing is how God's love never changes!