Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.

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Did you know you can go to http://www.claus.com and check out your naughty or nice rating? Find out how Santa has ranked you.  I am not too humble to say that I was “super nice.”  Maybe everyone is.

There’s an idea in youth ministry philosophy that we (the professionals) are simply trying to create “good little boys and girls,” people who would escape the naughty list and find themselves instead on the nice list.  That we’re confusing teens with the idea that works and good behavior produces holiness.  Here is an example of this idea.

I think most of our teens are smarter than that.  I think they’re discerning enough to know if their youth pastors, Sunday School teachers, etc. have motives to make them behave a certain way or if the desire is to see them pursuing Jesus, and living (as a result) in a way that reflects Him.

Christmas is a time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus as a man.  He was born of a virgin on this earth in a humble manger and ultimately died and rose to save us from our sins and deliver us to righteousness, right?  And since he delivered us…

“and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.  I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.  For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
Romans 6:18-19 NASB

I think we can note a few things of importance here.

• Freed From Sin – This conversation applies to Christians only.  Our goal in youth ministry is to produce Christians.  No.  Our goal is to produce disciples.  Which are Christians who are following Jesus.
• Human Terms – I think Paul means that this talk about “slaves” is a metaphor.  So what does it mean?
  • Just as slaves are owned by a master, we were “owned” by sin.
  • Slaves do what the master orders, or there are consequences.  We did what “sin” told us to, or our sin would “beat us up” (keep tempting us and wearing us down).
• You Presented –
  • Notice the past tense.  This is how you USED to be.  As mentioned above, we have been freed from sin.
  • YOU gave yourself willingly to it.  If you were sold/captured into slavery, it was at your own hands.  Your sin is not someone else’s fault.
• So Now – This comes back to the freedom from sin again.  Because you are NOW free…  We noted the past tense earlier, but this moves us out of the past.  Don’t dwell on the shame and guilt of a sinful life and don’t give in to that OLD way; that’s over!  Live NOW!
• Slaves to Righteousness – So, what about now?  Give yourself over to righteousness.
  • Switching metaphors for just a moment- 70% of women still change their last names when married.  10% hyphenate or legally change it but continue to use their maiden names professionally.  Only 20% keep their maiden name. (source)  When a woman is married, she becomes a new person, a wife.  Her identity changes.  (I don’t mean to be all misogynistic and anti-feminist by that – a married man becomes a new person as well, a husband… but the name doesn’t change).
  • OR ***spoiler alert***- when Anakin Skywalker crossed over to the dark side he became Darth Vader (I guess that’s backwards, since he actually went from good to bad… but anyway).  He changed his identity because he was a new person.
  • Listen.  When we are freed from sin and united with Christ, our identity changes.  Ownership changes.  We are no longer slaves to sin, but to righteousness- and our Master is now Christ.
• Resulting in Sanctification – What’s the result of giving ourselves to righteousness?  Sanctification.  That is the PROCESS by which we become holy. It is a process in which we have to learn along the way.  This is where this whole idea of producing moralistic teens sounds to me like a good thing – at least as a part of the plan.

So, are you naughty or nice?  Remember that none of us is completely righteous (Rom 3:10) and we’ve all sinned (Rom 3:23).  And we all still have this struggle (see Romans 7).  But with freedom from sin you NOW have and the Holy Spirit in you, are you naughty or nice?  Are you being good little boys and girls?  You should be.

Merry Christmas.

ramblings about the world today

The following is some slightly coherent ramblings about the condition of our world. 

You know that heartbreaking feeling you get throughout your whole body when you see a traumatic (or near traumatic) event? For instance, a few years ago we lost our youngest son for just a moment at Chick-Fil-A. In that moment, I kept calm and acted quickly to find him (it all turned out okay- no worries). But my entire body was in turmoil with that feeling. You know the feeling I’m talking about?That’s how I feel about our local church, the global church, our nation and the entire world right now. So many bleak and disastrous tragedies are happening all around me all day long every day. It hurts my heart (yes… even this stoic, Vulcan-like man is moved with emotion). And here I sit, on my couch, scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed for the last three hours making witty comments and laughing at some silly memes, all the while putting off mowing the lawn or cleaning the garage.  

Law. Liberty. Life. Love. And a bunch of other values, morals, and principles are all being threatened or taken away. Babies washing up on shore and ripped from wombs. People killed for their faith. People killed for their jobs. People killed for their skin color (whatever color it is). People jailed for their religious convictions, even though it means actually obeying the law (because SCOTUS’s “decision” doesn’t actually change existing law- right?). Haven’t we had enough of all this? It’s all been going on for millennia, I know. Maybe it’s just due to social media, regular media, and technology that we see it more. But perhaps it’s all really grown worse than before.  

I pray about this stuff. Do I crawl into a closet on my face and plead with God to end it all? No. My prayers are more like “God, comfort the grieving families of those lost. Help the [insert group/person/etc.] see the error of their ways and reveal yourself to them. Strengthen and encourage the persecuted.” That kind of stuff. I believe in prayer and all the passages about powerful and effective prayer and persistent prayer. I believe it. I also believe in both the sovereignty of God and the free will of man.  

I know there’s all that “contact your representative/congressman/senator” stuff. And theoretically that’d work for some of this nonsense. 

But what I’m struggling with in this moment is the seeming feeling of powerlessness. Let me take you back to the time we lost Konnor. Had it not been for that CFA employee who found him (as he was looking for us- btw, this all happened in a matter of about 2 minutes or less), he could have wandered out into a street and this story could have had a very different ending. At the moment that mattered, I was powerless and had no ability to truly impact the final outcome of the incident. 

That’s how I feel about this world we live in today. Do I believe there’s some innocence left in this world? Yes. Do I raise my boys and work with my students to try to influence the world for the better? Absolutely.  So wear your blue today, and share those great articles, and put red “x”s and crosses, and Arabic letters on your profile pic.  But is it enough? It’s like there’s an urgency that can’t be accommodated. Like we’re all watching the real-life, grander scale version of that AT&T texting commercial happening in real time and we can’t seem to do anything about it except wait for its finality.  
But hey… it’s college football season now. So there’s that, right?

Baseball Fundraiser Cards

Hey folks… these wonderful boys of ours are playing baseball again this season.  Kohlton’s team is selling Sonic coupon cards for $5.  If you’d like to purchase one and are not local, visit http://baileyplanet.wix.com/baseballcards to purchase via PayPal.  We’ll drop it in the mail for you.  Thanks!

Sleepy Graphic Design

I’ll keep this brief because, well, I’m sleepy.  I found this resource today for simple graphic design.  canva.com.  It’s super easy (at least at first glance).  So I just threw together this quick little deal here.  Looking forward to playing around with it some more.  But for now (at 12:36am) I’m going to bed.  ‘night!

My Worship Is Better Than Yours

That’s right; I said it. But why on earth would I say something like that?  Well, because I think the same thing is being said by those who believe the worship pendulum is swinging back to a more traditional position.

For a number of decades (at least), the church has been engulfed in a civil war of sorts.  Many have cleverly called it “Worship Wars.”  This phenomenon has pitted those who prefer the traditional style of worship music (hymns, organ, choir, etc.) against those who prefer the more modern style (guitars, bass, drums, praise team/ensemble or soloists, light shows, etc.).  It’s a tragedy, really.  But there have been those peacemakers and out of the box thinkers who’ve tried to create “blended” worship services.  It’s a very noble effort and sentiment, and in some cases I think it’s effective.  But my experience is that blended often means “traditional with some contemporary elements.”  (Don’t even get me started on the semantics and evolution of verbiage in the last 20 years… suffice it to say that “contemporary” is not the same as “modern”.)

Last month, Mike Livingstone blogged about “The Heresy of Worshiptainment.”  He cites A.W. Tozer having said more than 50 years ago (that’s like half a century!) that churchgoers wanted to be entertained in their worship services.  This MAY be have been true then, and most certainly is today; but I don’t think it’s the heart of the worship wars issue.  It’s more about enjoyability than entertainment.  And that’s where I take issue with this whole topic.  To his credit, Livingstone, quoting Tozer, actually references Matthew 16:24 (or Luke 9:23) when Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and carry our cross.  It is a valid point to consider, but I’m not entirely sure it applies to this discussion of worship.  If you look at the context, in both gospels, Jesus is talking about his impending crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.  Its’ a conversation about life and salvation, not whether worship music should be enjoyable.

In every aspect of church life (and life in general for that matter), we human folk want to be comfortable and enjoy ourselves.  Sure, we try to focus on Jesus and those who need him.  And we try to be selfless and sacrifice our own comfort… to some extent.  But how many of our churches are outfitted with not only padded pews and air conditioning, but also carpet, sound systems, plush leather desk chairs in the pastors’ offices, and dare I say stained glass windows?  And why not?  Would we really want to adhere to the misguided practices of flagellation?  Would we even go so far as to simply cut out all the comforts and enjoyable elements of church life?  Do you want to sit in a sanctuary on a hot July morning with no AC?  It’s 2015 for crying out loud!  Of course not; that’s absurd.

The following statement may initially seem to be heresy, but I assure you it is in fact not.  Comfort is not categorically contrary to Christianity.  It’s alliterated, so it has to be unquestionably true! Right?  I understand that this sentiment, taken to an extreme, could easily lead us to things like the “prosperity gospel,” which I am certainly not promoting here.  However, when considered in the context of worship music preference, I stand by it wholeheartedly.  And by the way, it’s not just the music style that matters here.  Consider the atmosphere and ambiance in the room… the décor and the condition of the facility… the delivery and presentation of any ordinances involved.  I am infinitely more likely to truly worship in a setting that I enjoy than when I am uncomfortable.  We may think it necessary to disagree with that as a matter of words.  But I can tell you that as a matter of practice that those who have a strong preference for traditional worship  do not generally enjoy modern worship and vice versa.  And what’s wrong with that?

BTW, I fully recognize and have taught too many times to count the position that “worship” is more than music and more than an hour(ish) long service we attend once a week.  But for the sake of this discussion, by “worship” I mean the worship service and the elements therein.

Look at Jesus’ discussion on worship in John chapter 4.  I think the emphasis and the heart of Jesus’ message here is found in verses 23-24.  His worshippers will and must worship him in spirit and in truth.  He’s been given the debate about the location of worship.  And he basically says that neither the mountain nor Jerusalem is God’s preference.  Rather, God prefers that we worship in spirit and in truth.  Is it too far a leap to say that this desire not only applies to location but also to style?  I would say that the location of Jerusalem is easily associated with the position of traditional worship style and the mountain with modern.  And show me somewhere in scripture where we’re told to worship in an un-enjoyable fashion… go ahead… show me.

So, my worship is better than yours.  Not really.  Let’s just stop saying stuff like that.  Let’s recognize the value in diversity.  Let’s admit they we all have our preferred styles of worship.  It’s not necessarily entertainment that we seek in our worship, but enjoyment.  And enjoyable worship leads all of us to a more spiritual and truthful worship.

Let me add a final note, if you will.  I have an appreciation for all styles or genres of music (even that rap stuff that barely passes as music).  But I don’t enjoy all of them.  And even if I occasionally enjoy one style, it doesn’t mean it’s my favorite.  I actually like using hymns and hymnals and choral pieces on a Sunday morning.  But that doesn’t mean I enjoy singing all hymns, every Sunday in a traditional style.  Give me a guitar swell and a drum beat and I’ll be happy almost every time.

On Being Churchy

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Okay… so I found this blog post about the church being “churchy” from Samuel Kee in my FB newsfeed.  Let me start by saying that I totally loved this article!  Kee definitely on point at calling the church to task… and I’m with him 99.99%.  In fact, I loved the following lines,

 …if you’re a jerk, then, by all means, stop being a jerk.  But, don’t stop being the church.  Those who don’t like us must not dictate who we are.  That’s like allowing a blind man to lead a seeing man through the gauntlet.

Let me tell you about the .01% that I think is missing.  A few years ago, before everyone and their dog started sharing their opinions about why people are leaving the church and how to know when your church is dying etc., there was some talk about redeeming things.  An old abandoned box store could be redeemed as a church building, or perhaps a certain song may be redeemed by providing an unintended allegory of God’s love or something.  And so on.  No doubt the thrust behind this redemption movement comes from Leviticus 27 or Colossians 1 or any number of other scriptures.

And that’s the angle I think Sam is missing… redeeming the “secular.”  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really disagree with anything he said, but I would posit that (at least sometimes) when the/a church looks like the world around it, the motivation, the method and the message can still be pure (wow – look at that!  I just pulled an old Baptist preacher trick right in the middle of this article and alliterated what could easily be a three point sermon.  Where’s the poem?)  What I mean is that if Tomlin, Smith & Herbert write a worship song about a dance floor that looks very worldly (HELP! I saw a blog about this just a couple of days ago, but can’t find it), can that not still be useful and God honoring?

Consider a missionary who goes into a remote jungle or hillside where a people group has no recognizable language.  Does the missionary set up shop with the gospel in his native language and expect the people there to just figure it out?  No, he learns their language and delivers the message of the gospel in methods they can understand all from the motivation of love.  Right?  Well I agree that to an extent the church is to be churchy… that whole holy thing.  But if we don’t at least look a little bit understandable, we’ve lost.

So, as Sam encouraged us, “…stand firm.  Be churchy.  Be Jesusy.  Be the light of the world.”  But by all means, be “churchy” in a good way.  Some donut shops are better than others. Donut shops are different than they were 20, 50, 100 years ago. Should the church not strive to be effective? And Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23… does it make a case for at least an element of “fitting in” (I use quotation marks because I realize that phrase could easily be exaggerated and no longer describe what I’m trying to say) in order to accomplish the task of the gospel?

Bye Buddy… (aka “Mike’s Christmas Blog”)

“Bye Buddy.  I hope you find your dad.”  This is for some unknown and bizarre reason one of my favorite Christmas movie lines.  It’s from Elf.  Duh.

Well, it’s not a very spiritual movie – okay, not at all.  But I’d like to redeem this sentiment for the One who brought us the holiday which inspired this movie in the first place.

It is my Christmas wish that everyone could find his/her dad.  By “dad” I am referring to the Heavenly Father.  There are a couple of passages in Matthew and Luke that tell us all about the Christmas story – the days surrounding Jesus’ birth.  Even John tells us about Jesus being made flesh and dwelling among us.  But rather than going to those passages, I’d like to draw attention to the whole purpose of the Incarnation.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8

The reason Jesus left his place in glory and came to dwell among us for a few brief years was because God loves us and wants us to be restored to himself.  He did what had to be done to provide that opportunity.

So, Merry Christmas!  …I hope you find your dad.

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Domo Arigato…

Mr. Roboto.  I mean, Pastor Roboto.

In case you didn’t know, October is dubbed as “Pastor/Clergy Appreciation” month.

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It’s widely known (at least among those in or close to the field of ministry) that pastors live with an odd amalgamation of pain and joy.  It is a profession with high stress, often low(ish) pay, minimal support and rare acknowledgement.  Most of us are not in it for the money or recognition, and few in the field actually have much of either of those things.  But that’s kind of okay because we are in it for God and his people and his glory.  I should clarify that “pastor” includes those in other vocational ministry positions as well, not just the senior or lead pastor.  If you Google “pastoral stats” you’ll find a number of ominous statistics about those in ministry.  The first result is this post from pastorburnout.com.  I appreciate that he adds a disclaimer that some of the stats we hear are unreliable… but not all of them are.

What I want to do in this moment is to express my appreciation and gratitude to several people whom I believe deserve it (by God’s grace of course).  If you’re a minister/pastor whom I’ve done life with and you’re not on this list, it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate you; I’m focusing on those who’ve had a big impact on me.

Billy Morgan – Billy was my youth minister when I was in high school.  I am 100% convinced that if this man had not invested in me as a youth, I’d not be the Christian I am today.  Billy wasn’t the only person in my teen years that impacted me.  He enlisted and coordinated several men and women in Sunday School, Wednesday nights, camps, etc. and poured into other teens who also invested in my life (a lateral thanks here to VB, Tony, Melanie, Ken, Russell, Edie, Kevin, Rhetta, Cody, Marc, Beau, and countless others – BTW Melanie, the laundry bag you gave me for graduation almost 20 years ago is still used regularly).  It was under Billy’s ministry that I found the call to ministry myself.  He undoubtedly spent countless hours trying to figure out the best ways to encourage and enhance my spiritual growth.  I recall one time when he randomly came and picked me up to go visiting with him, and another time there was some kind of conference I had decided not to attend because of the funds and he just showed up with the full van and took me anyway.  Thanks, Billy!  You hold a very special place in my heart and always will.  You’re like a tough biker pastor now, but we all know you’re still a big softy and you’re probably crying by now 😉  I love and appreciate you.

Jimmie Don Gibson – The first pastor I ever worked with/for.  I don’t think I could have asked for a better mentor.  His hospitality (okay, I gotta give Joyce some credit for that, right?) has been unmatched to date.  And that’s not a discredit to any subsequent pastors, but a recognition of how great they were.  Jimmie Don was also a great story teller and preacher/teacher.  I remember several of us wanted to get “I Love My Pastor” tshirts made for the time he came to speak at OBU Chapel.  It was an incredible honor to work alongside you and to learn from you.  I love and appreciate you.

Jim Tribble – What a guy!  First off, I want to say a huge thanks to Jim for spiritually bringing up the incredible woman that I have the privilege of calling my wife.  Good job!  Also, Jim has always been a source of wisdom and consoling in our difficult times in ministry.  Jim, I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you.

Matt Miles, Monte Erwin & Steve Haley – I’m lumping these three together on purpose.  The thing I really appreciated about this team was that in we met together in the mornings and prayer walked our sanctuary praying for members and for God’s movement in the church.  I learned a great deal from these guys about perseverance.  Thanks guys!  I love and appreciate you all.

Steve Passmore – I’ve worked with some music guys that are passionate about worship and about the God we worship.  But I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone whose exuberance rivals Steve’s.  When I think of Steve, I visualize him bending into an almost semi-squat position and building up to an explosive bound with the most genuine smile, singing out “I am a friend of God” or “Days of Elijah.”  Thanks, Steve for teaching me about joy and sincere concern for church members.  Just to mix things up here, I appreciate and love you, brother.

Sara (Saleh) Beck – Sara was actually one of my students.  Now, all these years later, she’s all growed up and is working as a youth minister.  Just yesterday she shared with me that she’s joined the ranks of the clichéd cheesy youth ministers in a puns-r-us kind of way.  Sara is a student, a friend, and a colleague.  I can’t speak for all the other ministers out there, but when I see so many of my former students’ updates on social media and hear about their lives, it’s not really what I’d hoped and prayed for them.  To look at the handful out there (represented in this case by Sara) who’ve stayed true to their faith and even taken it to a higher level, it’s encouraging to me as a minister.  So thanks, Sara, for showing me that it’s worth it.  I love and appreciate you.  (p.s. did you actually draw that cat yourself?  it was a cat, right?)

Honorable Mentions: Jack Robbins, Cody Deevers (look at that – you made the list twice!), Scott Grein, Ryan Goodrich, Clint Carter, Sammy Smith, Corey Woods, Matt McGee (and all the other Cimarron Baptist Association guys, circa 2003-2006), Mike Tignor, Terry Ward, David Hixon, Gene Moren, Nick Ferguson, James Ehrlich, Mark Powell, Bryan Cawley, Andy Peck, Gary Siebert, Derek Cheek, Kenny Kelly, Brian Cloud, Shawn Thomas, Jordan Henderson, John Russell, Johnny Tonihka, Brandon Henry, and countless volunteer ministers.  And of course my wife.  She’s not technically a pastor of any sorts, but some days I feel like she does my job just as much as I do – if you’re on the personnel committee at FBCPV, don’t read too much into that statement 😉  Dear, I very much love and appreciate you.

Thanks guys.  Happy October, Pastor Appreciation Month.

Connection to Servers Failed… What?

Remember when you could put a game in a console and then play the game?  That’s how it’s supposed to be, right?  We had a coupon for a free rental and went to get the kids a video game to play.  We rented a Plants v. Zombies game for the Xbox 360.  We put it in to play and it tells me we have to connect to their servers to play.  Great!  Another online account I have to set up.  Well, as it turns out, we already had the needed account for a different game.  But I had the hardest time figuring out the password.  Finally recalled it, realizing I needed to capitalize one of the letters.  Then, I have to download a 1.57 gb update onto the console?  Really?  Come on.  Why can’t I just put the disc in and play?

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Sorry, #Gotham… I Can’t Do It.

Well, I tried.  I was super stoked about the new series #Gotham.  It looked like it’d be a really good Dark Knight becoming story after the likes of CW’s Smallville.  That was a good show (haven’t ever watched Arrow or their new Flash). After the first episode, I felt it was dark, but good.  I especially like Detective Gordon.  Episode 2 was weird and reminiscent of the old Batman series.  It included a hint at an existing lesbian relationship between Detective Montoya and Barbara Gordon.  Bad move, Fox.  Then the third and fourth episodes aired.  It was too much.  It’s not just the one, but multiple lesbian/bisexual relationships.  I didn’t watch the 5th episode and don’t plan to go any further with it.

Dear #Fox,
Stop pushing the GLBT agenda in your media.  Stop it.  Seriously, just stop it.  This would otherwise have been a great show, I think.  But you’ve lost me now.  I would have thought that with your more conservative history, you’d take it easy on this kind of stuff.  Pity.

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