Teaching Missions

We listen to the pastor say the word "missions" and we hear "grass hut, jungle, wicked snakes".

As parents part of our responsibility in discipling our kid is to teach them what missions really is all about.  As youth pastors we need to give students and parents the opportunity to experience missions first hand (together when possible).  There is no better teacher than experience.  

After we had a week long local missions project last summer I received an e-mail from a student who chose not to participate.  The student asked this question, "When are we going to go on a mission trip?"  Evidence that this student and many others aren't quite ready for a "missions trip" because they don't see reaching those around them as missions or as important.  Why?  Because they haven't learned.  Either the youth ministry isn't doing a good enough job communicating missions or parents aren't teaching their kids about missions or students are hearing but not listening.

I'm stoked about Sunday's Contagious.  Students have gathered all the food needed to deliver complete Turkey dinners to families who are in need.  Each POD is going to go with their leader, and a few spare parents, to a family's home and deliver the box.  Simply to say, "Happy Thanksgiving.  NHC youth cares about you and God loves you."

After delivery we will gather back at the building and the PODs will discuss their missions experience together.  Should be a great youth group gathering.

My Brother's Story

I went to my brother's baptism yesterday at Blue Ridge Community Church.  Here is my brother Scott's story.  It was a blessing to get to be there.

A Church Making an Impact

I have been attending church my entire life (43 short years) and in all those years the churches I attended had baptism services seemed like an afterthought or something to tag on right before the offering.  

The very 1st step in obedience as a believer, a follower of Christ, is to be baptized.  Christ set the example for us.  When we read about the birth of the church in the book of Acts we find that the early Christians believed and were baptized.

Since baptism is such a major moment in the life of a believer, the opportunity to make your followship a public declaration, how come it becomes an afterthought or a "tag on"?

Yesterday I once again attended Blue Ridge Community Church in Lynchburg, Va.  This church has exploded in the past several years in growth.  BRCC is making an impact in their community.  They are reaching the lost, they are meeting needs in their community.  Blue Ridge is far from traditional.  The moment you pull onto their campus you can see that they are intentional in what they do and they know why they exist as a church.

This is the first church I've attended that take baptism to a different level, not just incorporating it into the service they build the entire worship experience around baptism.  Both times I have attended a baptism service they have had a couple folks share their story.  The impact is more powerful than a sermon preached by a pastor following a baptism because real people sharing their real story, their encounter with Christ, is powerful.  You can check out BRCC's baptism service here, I'm sure they will have it posted and available on video on their podcast page soon.  Yesterday over 40 new believers were baptized!  BRCC has baptism services like this several times a year.  (BRCC's team of volunteers have a system down to a science, something to behold)

Yesterday's baptism worship experience for me and my family was extra special because we got to hear my brother's story and watch him be baptized.  An awesome time for our family.

One of the coolest things they do is baptize in a tank that is placed near the front of the stage and then family and friends can gather around the tank on the stage to be a part of the moment in the life of this new believer.  The baptizee is baptized by a friend or family member or pastor who has played a role in their faith walk.  Again a powerful witness to show the church that it is our responsibility to share our faith and the love of Christ with those we come in contact with.

How does your church "do" baptism?  

Is it time to perhaps re-think, evaluate and change so this important step in the life of a believer can have an impact on those who perhaps are on the edge of taking a huge step of faith by trusting in Christ as their Savior?

"Everybody Needs a Little Time Away"

I'm on vacation!  Taking an extra long weekend.  I needed it.  I'm not a work-a-holic and I can sure tell when I need to vacate for a while, rest, relax, reenergize.   I'm sitting here about to sip some hot apple cider with whip cream.  I watched a doe and her two fawns graze just a little bit ago.  I'm in no hurry, got nowhere to go (except the Texas Inn).

I drove white knuckled most of the day yesterday in the storm.  It was much worse inland that it was on the OBX.  It was a little unnerving for the first 3 hours.

Last night as I wound down I realized my throat was pretty sore, then the chills set in, fever.  No fun!  Rough night of sleep and I probably kept Misha up as well.  So I spent the first hour of my first vacation day at a doctors office.  Great doctor, asked about our church and the OBX.  Prescribed me some drugs and after the drugs and a Goody powder I'm feeling much better.  I'm glad it's just a sinus infection and not H1N1.

So plans are just to do some chillaxin.  

Too Cool Not To Share

From Branded With Love

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Last Night at Contagious

Last night we had a great group of students hanging out during Hang Time.  I went up and chilled on the balcony with some of the students, including a guest who is checking things out.  

The Contagious Band kicked off Contagious with the song, We Shine.  It was rockin and a great song.  It's interesting to watch and see if the students are going to engage in worshipping in music or not.  We are new to having a band so some of the students are just getting the hang of it.

I taught the second lesson in the Thirsty series.  We looked at David, Moses, the nation of Israel, and Jesus.  One thing they all had in common was the fact that they had some wilderness experiences in their lives.  It seems that God often uses the wilderness times to teach us to thirst after Him and to strengthen us.  When in the wilderness we need to:

Stop - Students lives are busier than ever

Go to the Bible - we learned this from Jesus' wilderness experience

Pay Attention - Like Moses, God is trying to get a point across and prepare us for His use.

This coming Sunday I have reworked my lesson notes into a small group experience and the students will do the entire lesson in their PODs.

I hear stories from other youth pastors who serve in churches who don't get it.  They want youth group to be all about fun and games.  I love the fact that at Contagious we are able to accomplish both.  We have fun and we learn from God's Word, sometimes we do both at the same time ;).

I like doing lessons in a series because an important topic or subject can be picked apart and unpacked over several weeks.  The bummer is when a student misses a week they miss out on a key puzzle piece to the overarching theme and lesson.

Wingin It in Youth Ministry

Our Youth Ministry Team is wingin' it! Not wingin' youth ministry but we are going tonight to eat some wings! At this dinner meeting (over $.25 wings) I'm going to remind us about what we do and why we do it. There is a reason and a purpose behind all we do in youth ministry.

Here is a glimpse of what we are going to take a look-see at as we "wing" it:
>You are a youth minister (a shepherd).
>Your involvement in students' lives has an impact on them spiritually.
>You are part of God's plan for students' lives. That's huge!
>You are part of a team. Youth Ministry is a team effort.

>We aren't just wingin' it.

>Youth ministry can be messy (just like eating wings can be messy).

On a side note I hope to share with the team the proper way to eat wings.  Oh, yes, it's an art!

Winterfest

As a reminder to our parents and students - Winterfest balance is due on Sunday, December 13.

Trunk or Treat Update

Saturday night our church hosted a Trunk or Treat, we have been doing this for about 7 years now. NHC used to have a "Fall Festival" on Halloween night and children would come to the church in their costumes, play some games, eat some cupcakes and hear a Bible story. It was a good event for our church kids but was in no way reaching our community and wasn't growing. Our purpose as a church is to reach our community. So "Fall Festival" was scrapped and replaced with Trunk or Treat. The first year we had several cars set up with decorated trunks and had less than a hundred kids come through and each child received a gospel tract in their candy bag.

Trunk or Treat has grown from a dozen or so church partners involved in this out reach to around 100 partners participating on the trunk, traffic, food, set up, clean up and game teams. We went from just having a dozen trunks to 25 trunks, 4 big inflatable games, carnival type games, hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and drinks. The community can attend and there is no charge, not even for the food. Each child still receives a gospel tract in their candy bag.

This year we gave out about 1200 pounds of candy! We had around 2000 people from our community attend. Trunk or Treat is a way our church tells our community that we care for them. This is a great and fun event that NHC partners look forward to working together on each year.

Now it's time to evaluate and plan for TOT 2010!

New Series for Contagious Youth on Sunday Night

It's not a popularity contest

As a parent we often have to make hard decisions.  These decisions, the tough ones, can have an impact on our child's life not just in the here and now but in the future and also eternity. Because of the tough decisions we must make we don't always win the popularity contest.

One of the biggest dangers I see in parenting is when mom or dad or both view their role to be their child's friend, you know, their buddy. While we should be our child's friend to an extent more importantly we are to be their parent which is basically shepherding their life. Pointing them in the right direction, leading them in a way that pleases the Lord, protecting them. Again this shepherding approach won't always win us the popularity trophy.

So when making the tough decisions what steps do you take?

Recently we had to make a big decision and here are some of the questions I used:

>Will this decision protect his mind and body?
>Will this decision protect his future?
>Will this decision provide a sense of safety and security?
>Will this decision point him in the right way?
>Will this decision push him closer to Christ?
>Will this decision pull him away from Christ?

What I didn't concern myself with was the question of "will this decision be popular?" When it comes to shepherding my child's life I don't much care about popularity. I'm not concerned with what others think. I'm not concerned with what my child may think (I do try to help him understand). I'm concerned with what God thinks.

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6