Last night in youth I taught from John 14:1-6. We’re in a series that I’m calling “Who Is Jesus?” The answers we are looking for are found in specific instances were Jesus stated. “I am the ...” Last week we looked at “I Am the Vine” and last night was “I Am the Way.”

I know that it’s not considered sensitive to other religions, but Jesus in this passage leaves no wiggle room. He states unequivocally, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV). If you believe what Jesus taught (which I do), then he makes it clear that there is only one way to be with God, and that’s him.

To clarify, we don’t make it to heaven by just following Jesus’ teachings, we don’t make it by being a overall good person, we don’t even make it by selling everything we have and working for the oppressed. We make it by having a relationship with “the way.”

As I was in my Bible this morning, my reading brought me to Proverbs 10:29. “The way of the Lord is a refuge for the righteous, but it is the ruin of those who do evil” (NIV). I thought it was fitting. There is no doubt that Christ is a refuge for his people, and sadly for many, he will be the ruin of all that reject him.

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Last night in our youth service I taught from John 15:1-8. In it Jesus describes himself as a vine, us as the branches, and God the Father as the gardner. The passage has some serious implications if you ponder the truth that God completely cuts away branches that don’t bear any fruit. Serious implications as these branches are described as then being thrown into the fire.

While I dealt with that, the main emphasis was the second part. We are told that those that bear fruit can expect God to prune their lives so that they can bear even more fruit. I headed to Wikipedia* to learn a little more about pruning. Here’s the relevant portion I found.

“[Pruning] usually entails removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, or otherwise unwanted tissue from a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots.”

Pruning is getting rid of the all the junk in a plant that hinders it from reaching it’s full potential. I like the two aspects presented. Some of the material removed can be diseased which in turn could destroy the the entire plant. Other items removed may not necessarily be harmful, but definitely not productive.

If we examine our lives, we will find that God is wanting to do the same thing in us. Often times we’ve allowed things into our lives that are harmful. Sometimes it’s things we even enjoy. Yet, if we are to follow Christ we must allow God to prune these things away. In the same vein, sometimes there are things that come into our lives that are not necessarily wrong, but they can begin to consume us. Sometimes God will choose to prune these things out of our lives as well. And, to let you in on a little secret, I don’t think most people enjoy being pruned. It’s hard to hear the Lord’s whisper telling us to change something. It’s hard to have the Lord direct us away from things we enjoy. It’s hard to hear him say “No.”

I guess what it comes down to is an issue of trust. Do we really believe that God knows what’s best? If we really do, we can honestly say, “Even though it hurts Lord, please prune away at the junk in my life.” Not always easy, but so necessary.


*For the intellectual purists I’d like to mention that I know Wikipedia can be hit or miss on the accuracy of their information. While I wouldn’t trust it when writing a thesis, I do trust it enough to gain some insights on a subject as simple as pruning.

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Tomorrow night will be the last night of our youth ministry's Dating & Sex series. Without a doubt this is the one series that seems to turn youth against me. Youth that laughed and loved me suddenly have a chill in their attitude. Not outright hatred, but a cooling of the relationship. I look back over my years in youth ministry and this has always been the topic that does it. My best guess is that what I preach hits far too close to home and they don't like it. I believe everything that I teach is Biblical concerning the subject. Popular? No. The truth? Yes. What bothers me is not the fact that I get the cold shoulder, but that they're rejecting the truth.

Let me share a word with any of my students that might stumble across this. I love you more than you even realize. I love you enough that I promise to always share the truth with you, even if it hurts sometimes. How could I call myself your friend and do anything less? My only alternative is to lie to you, but then I wouldn't really be your friend.

Last night my wife and I had the pleasure of spending all night with our youth. It was our youth ministry's annual all nighter. We've been doing them for several years now and believe we know what to expect. This year we experienced something different. All the teens that were there seemed more subdued than most years. We still had a lot of fun, but overall there wasn't as much hyperactive craziness. As we discussed this, my wife made an interesting observation. Normally we have the all nighter right near New Years Eve. This year we had to wait later into January. This means that our students came after having woke up early in the morning and having spent an entire day at school. This is in stark contrast to them normally having been on Christmas vacation for a week and itching just to get out and do something. A day of school completely affected how they acted during the night. Perhaps they got a little taste of what the leaders go through to be there. From a leader standpoint, I think we should do it this way every year.

My youth ministry and I went back to the Warren Family Mission today. It was an awesome experience because I basically had to do nothing. My students jumped right in and just did the work. They hung out with and played with kids that were there. They were flexible when our plans for the day had to be changed in an instant. Basically, they did what needed to be done without much prodding from us. I literally sat and was able just to watch them in action.

A lot of my position is to lead and be out in front. Just a couple years ago I would have had to do everything, but that’s not the case anymore. It’s a good feeling. May there be many more opportunities for me to sit and watch my youth do ministry, and then more opportunities to work right beside them.

Wednesday.

Permission granted for youth to meet together during service instead of their normal classes.

January 14, 2009 - Special Youth Service Canceled (weather)

January 13, 2009 - Youth Canceled (weather)

Winter always throws a monkey wrench into church services. We want to have services, but sometimes the weather makes travel unsafe. My youth group has been hit extremely hard as of late. Check out my review of the last month.

December 16, 2008 - Youth Canceled (weather)
December 23, 2008 - Youth Canceled (weather)
December 30, 2008 - Overnighter (bad driving home)
January 6, 2009 - Youth Canceled (weather)

Now I turn my gaze to tomorrow. The forecast as of now is calling for up to three inches during the day and potentially three that evening. One thing I read yesterday mentioned winds up to thirty mph causing blowing and drifting snow. Now I know the weather can change and it might not happen at all, but it gets really frustrating when you want to have youth and it doesn’t happen.

To all my youth that read this I want you to know that I miss being with you. I’m sick of the snow, ice, and freezing rain coming every Tuesday too.

Well, I will hopefully be able to update this tomorrow with the news that we had youth.

I think the hardest thing about heading away on a retreat is the fact that you have to come back to reality. Life and the enemy are relentless in their combined purpose to strip away all the good that God accomplishes. I know some of my youth are already battling this with mixed success. To those of them that read this I have one thing to say. Don’t let go of what God did in your life. No matter what happens, no matter what others may say, and even if the power of that moment with God begins to fade a little in in your mind, don’t let go. I was there. I witnessed God doing some powerful things. Continue allowing him to work.

Maybe a message tailored more to my youth, but it holds true for all of us.

Note: Don’t forget the current book giveaway going on right now. Click here for more info.

I got to spend an incredible weekend with my youth group. There’s something powerful about getting away from everything and having a time to be with each other and God. From what I’m hearing, God did some incredible things in some of our students lives. Experiencing God’s love, forgiving people that have hurt them, and realizing that God does care.

Planning a weekend retreat is stressful, tiring, and sometimes a downright pain. But seeing God do some great things makes it all worth it.


Note: Don’t forget the current book giveaway going on right now. Click here for more info.

We just got word today that our missions trip to Mexico is going to happen. It really was a God ordained event that brought it about. My youth are pumped for something that is still over 10 months away. I’ve even got youth attempting to learn Spanish. To be honest, I’m even excited.

Set a goal for my youth group to head out on an out of country missions trip within the next two years. It’s a big goal for us and I wasn’t sure if we could pull it off.

Enter God.

Two days a later a nearby pastor mentions they might be heading to Mexico next summer. If it works out we’re free to join with them. Praying hard that it works out because we want Mexico.

I’m spending the week substitute teaching. Another long day in the classroom, but at least tonight kicks off our Fall semester of youth. Really praying that we hit the ground running to see some great things happen this year.

I had a great day with my Servant Core student leadership team today. Did some training and then some dreaming about the future of our youth group. God’s doing some great things and I want to see them continue.

Anyway, today is Saturday and weigh day. My current weight is 231.4. That’s a 1.4 pound loss from last week. I was really looking forward to breaking that 230 mark, but it looks like I have to wait. Actually, I’m quite glad for the loss that I had. Had a bad day during the week, but overall I was good this week. Unfortunately today was bad and Monday won’t be great since it’s Labor Day. Gotta keep hitting it though.

Youth group was almost over when the screams came (from some of my young men no less). Bat! With a door open for air flow a bat found its way into our room. The next fifteen minutes were some of the funniest I’ve witnessed as my youth attempted to direct the bat back out the door. Tablecloths, pvc pipe, poles, and even a flag were used in the endeavor.

The final culmination came when the bat flew into the tiny foyer leading outside. One of my young men practically dove into the foyer to face the beast while my wife shut the doors leading back into our room. Yeah, our main concern was to get rid of the bat.

Anyway, the bat flew away severely traumatized and my youth got a memory they’ll never forget.

Going into youth last we already knew that it would a smaller group. I had a message prepared, worship music prepared, and a new game ready to go. As we sitting around the welcome table talking before youth, I went ahead and decided just to unplan the evening. We got in a circle and just began talking Bible. Some crazy questions at times, but genuine interest in what God’s Word had to say. An hour flew by before I even realized it.

Planning is good. I live by calendars and to do lists. However, sometimes we need to be willing to unplan and just allow spiritual life to happen.

Spent some time today trying to dream up a new and stupid game for youth group. I had success. Yes, that’s the life of a youth pastor.

Had a blast today heading out with a bunch of my youth for several hours of water balloons, swimming, and then roasting hot dogs. In my opinion this was the best event so far in this week of events. Just hanging out in a pool playing stupid games was refreshing. Won’t deny the fact that being in the water sure felt good on my back. Of course, the water allows you to move a lot without realizing it and my back is letting me know that tonight. Still, incredible fun.

I’m a strong believer that any group, whether it be children, youth, or adults, need time to just be together to laugh and have fun. It’s been one of my heart cries recently for my youth group. I want the Lord to draw us together. Jesus prayed that there would be unity among believers. May it be so.

Tomorrow our youth event called “The Week” begins. It’s sort of our welcome to youth and last blast before school event. Band camps and other school events force us to have it at the end of July. Basically, it’s four events scattered throughout the week. It’s a lot of work and planning, but it’s usually a great time. However, there’s nothing quite like Friday afternoon when the last event ends.

Our youth just finished up a pepperoni roll sale. I walked away really amazed at how much money could be made by selling some simple food. As I was pouring over the numbers in preparation for placing the order, one of our young ladies stood out. She sold thirty more than the next closest seller, and that next one was really a tag team of two sisters. Here's how it happened. Everyone basically sold to their families and the people in the church. A few had parents that took in order from into work. All fine ways of selling. This young lady though, took it upon herself to go to various businesses in her community and sold to the workers. From what I understood, her method of selling was to tell them that she would deliver them on the set day for lunch. People have to eat lunch. Why not drop a couple bucks if it means that you don't have to worry about bringing lunch that day. She was creative and the sales showed it. How are we doing being creative? Are we examining our teaching, preaching, serving, giving, and a host of other things to see if there just might be a better way? Maybe it's time to try something new again. My goal, in the next couple weeks, is to do something completely different in youth. It might work or it might not, but at least we will try.

I've been challenging my students to join me in prayer after the Sunday morning service. If we want to see God move we need to be willing to seek his face. Today, I came up to pray during the altar time. While I was still praying, pastor dismissed the service. I prayed a little longer, then turned around. Four of my youth were up there praying. It was an awesome thing to see. Sure, I want to see more of them joining us, but there were at least four. This was without any reminder or encouragement that morning. I'm excited. When people humbly pray, God takes notice.

The day after Sunday usually is a hard day for ministers. It's the day where you review your success and failures of the day before. It's also the day that the enemy loves sneak up to your ear and whisper sweet lies. Lies about how worthless you are and how you're not making a difference. For me that day is Wednesday since my youth meet on Tuesday night.

As I write this, I could write a long list of the problems and struggles my students are going through. Deep painful problems. Problems with no simple solutions. It weighs heavy on my heart. I know the enemy delights in using pain to pull people down into the pit. There's always someone in our lives going through a trial, but right now the number in my little youth group exceeds what I can count on both hands.

For those that actually read this, please take a moment to pray. I know it's the same for students everywhere, but these are my students. These are the ones that I pray for and agonize over. They are my burden and I humbly ask you to share it with me even if for a moment.

There are some lions that need to die and I want to see some students rise up in Christ and slay the lion of their pit. (Yeah, a small reference to the book).