Derelict Theology

For some reason, I found this to be of the utmost hilarity this morning…..

So, if you noticed, I didn’t get to update after the second day of the convention, mainly because I was simply disgusted with the idea of paying 10 bucks a day for wifi for two more days.  So, I braved a new, internetless world and simply disconnected.  That’s way, way hard for me, so it was a step in the right direction, and quite possibly a step towards where God really wanted me this past weekend.  More on that later.

Looking back over the Cincy YS, I can definitely form a few solid opinions.  It was a wonderful, refreshing weekend, and God touched my heart in ways I haven’t felt in a long time.  But, it wasn’t the best NYWC I have been to.  Some of the general session speakers just didn’t live up to my expectations.  The seminar rooms were too hot, making my pregnant wife suffer.  So, we bought a lot of seminars on CD.  The food court in the Hilton was way too overcrowded: standing in line for 35 minutes for 2 slices of pizza, a Mountain Dew the size of Tic’s head and a slice of sinfully delicious chocolate cake, all for a mere 13 bucks wasn’t really as great as I just made it sound.

But, saying all those things really takes the focus off what was really important about the weekend, which was what God was trying to tell me about myself and my ministry.  To me, the major theme that emerged over the weekend was “change”.  At least, it was to me.  I am changing, and God meeting me in that change.  My ministry is changing, and I can’t be left behind.  My priorities toward my ministry are changing, and they are causing me to slow down.  That’s a good thing.  Doug Field’s “What Matters Most” became a really important book in my life this weekend.  I signed up for a session with a spiritual director, and though she told me some things that I’d suspected for awhile, it was good to hear another human say them.  I left the session feeling great, feeling lighter than I have in a long time, and a trip to the prayer labyrinth right after that was simply one of the defining moments of the trip for me.  We stayed through to the end, left after the last general session, and drove 8 hours back home to get my Nintendo Wii, which has also kept this update from happening.  So, this is my last update from, or about Cincinatti.  Thank you YS, and thank you God for everything!

Wah mee?  I don’t know.

Me and Dave the Horn Guy

Nadaddy from Family Force 5.

Family Force 5, greatest live show I’ve ever been to.  Please YS, if you are reading this, get these guys back and give them as much time as they want!

I’m so blessed.

Today was a busy day. I broke my usual YS rule and did everything, but I did walk out of a seminar, which means I slightly kept it. (The rule, for those of you who are clueless to what I’m talking about, is to skip at least one thing each day and just do something fun.) So, I walked out of seminar series 1 about 45 minutes into it because I figured out where it was going. I guess I just like surprises. However, my Early Bird seminar, taught by the jovial and quite funny Dan Kimball, was wonderful, on the subject of turning youth groups into groups of youth missionaries. Dan has some mad puppet skillz, in front of the projector.

Today’s General Sessions were wonderful, a great mix of worship and fun. Sometimes I find myself falling into the opinions based on how I was raised in the church, of what is appropriate and what is not, but today I rationalized that keytars an beachballs in worship was just fine with God. Especially keytars. Mainly though, both of today’s speakers, Phil Vischer and Donald Miller, drove home a point about change. In fact, it seems that all I’ve heard about here today is change and I can only take that to mean that something is about to happen in the ministry God has allowed me at home. Just thinking about it gets me excited.

Sitting here and reviewing my day, I’m wondering why we fear change, especially when we have a wonderful God who seems to specialize in it. Be it name changes (Abraham), position changes (Joshua), to life changes (Paul), God is in charge of change. In fact, when we embrace the very nature of God, it calls us to change, and causes us to change into something beautiful, something beloved, like a butterfly emerging from it’s dry, dull cocoon into a brilliant world of color and adventure. Praise God that He calls us forth from our husks and births us into a life of vibancy and true living!

Tonight was also good for me, as I got to sit down and talk with a friend about ministry, but it seemed like most of the things I was saying to him were things I needed to hear as well. You ever do that? Small town youth ministry is tough, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. There is a harvest there just like there is a harvest in the big city, and it is of no less importance. Sitting there, talking with him, he reminded me that almost 9 years ago, we were sitting in my room (when I was still around 17 or 18), and I looked at him and told him, “You’re going to be a youth minister, I just know it.” He didn’t believe me then, but I promised him that I knew it, and now, here we are, both of us in youth work. I don’t think that’s coincedence. Instead, I think it’s the God we love and serve drawing us back to a moment where he spoke life in and through us, and He lets us see His words fulfilled.

My desire is to go home to Adamsville and be an agent of change. It seems like something I’ve forgotten, but this convention has already reawoken that desire in me. But, it’ not about me. God must be the change agent through me, not beside me, behind me, or along with me. It’s the only way for lasting change. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this weekend holds!

And now, some pictures:

Finally, after what has seemed like forever, we are finally at the National Youth Workers Convention in Cincinnati. I’m coming into this convention drained, a little burnt out, and definitely in need of some healing. Finding our hotel was relatively easy (Erin and I are in the Hyatt, which is across the street from the Duke Energy Center.) This, of course, was after a 45 minute traffic jam which was caused by some guy on the side of the road in a machine the size of a tollbooth. It was very anticlimactic.

But, today was very relaxing. Caught up with a friend, discussed ministry and life over dinner at a mexican restaurant called Margarita’s (where I had a huge burrito), and then went to see Leeland in concert. They were perfectly, absolutely amazing. Wonderful band. I’m impressed. Tomorrow, hopefully I’ll have more pictures for you, but for tonight, that’s it. Notes from day one go up after the Flickr Rock Show tomorrow night!

Huzzah!

A few weeks ago, we started Children’s Church on Sunday nights at FBC. For the most part, it’s been going great. We have two adults to help each week and one youth, and they all do a great job. But, like I said, for the most part it’s been good. That doesn’t count last night. But, to understand what I’m about to say, you also have to know about our recently started bus ministry.

We had a Fall Festival on Halloween that went really well and because of that, 4 boys wanted to come to TeamKid the next night. They didn’t have a way to get there, so they called the church and I went to pick them up in the van when I got there. If you can imagine 4 ping pong balls soaked in Vault and then shocked with electricity, then you have the personality of these 4 boys. They are great kids, very wonderful, but they have no clue what to do at church. So we get there, after they stood up in the van all the way there (they are all short. I’m serious. Like, 2 feet of space above their heads in the van short), and they rush in and begin to devour our Wednesday Night meal. I felt kinda proud of myself, for bringing them, even though I really didn’t do anything. We’ve started picking them up for everything at church, and so now we have an official bus ministry. So, they came to children’s church last night.

Which brings us to the worst night of it we’ve had so far. Last night we talked about Noah, and how God made him a promise to never flood the earth with water again like he had just done. I gave the kids each a stick and told them to break it, and then try to tape it back together. Some were able to do it, and others were not. I told them the sticks represented promises and that it’s much easier to break a promise than keep it. But, this led to swordfights. With the sticks. And lots of mess. Which led to our youth helper telling one of the boys to stop repeatedly, until he “got his feelings hurt” and turned to face the wall for the rest of the lesson. So, I stopped what I was saying and tried to get him to pay attention, which caused him to argue with me during the aforementioned lesson. So, I dropped it and let him stare at the wall and tried to hold the attention of 14 other kids.

But, why did all that happen, I wondered? But then I found the answer, as we finished the lesson part and went to the gym to play. A girl approached me and told me she wanted to talk to me. She’s 9, and a friend of my wife and I. Their whole family has kind of taken us in, and we’re happy about that. She wanted to talk about being saved. She knew she was saved, but said that she didn’t feel like it sometimes, so I got to sit down and talk with her about that.

Sometimes the devil tries to throw us off from things that he knows will bring the victory to God. What is the devil trying to throw you off of today?

What is it with stars today? First, video comes out yesterday of Kayne West storming the stage at MTV’s VMA Europe show after not winning, and today we get video of Faith Hill’s reaction to not winning Female Vocalist of the Year at the CMA’s…(which, by the way, is priceless). Once again I say…give me a break.

Interesting news this morning from MSN, that Kevin Federline played to an almost empty club full of people recently in New York. The place could hold 1500, but he only drew about 300, waiting 3 hours past his start time to let more people show up.

Read the whole story here:

So, vidoe hits the internet today of Kanye West storming the stage at the MTV European VMA’s after losing in the Video of the Year Category. Y’know, I’m sorry that his million dollar recording contract, huge amounts of material possessions, and staggering popularity can’t satisfy him enough, so he has to ruin the celebration of another artist in order to voice his feeble opinion. I’m also sorry that he’s a spoiled brat of a “star” who still enjoys staggering popularity even though he has an ego the size of Texas. Seriously, having the audacity to walk on stage while another group is speaking and say “if I don’t win, this show loses credibility.”

Someone should give him a swift kick in the pants.

EDIT: Sorry if you couldn’t see the video, but it seems that all videos of this are being taken off youtube. If you can though, go to msn.com and look at their videos…it’s there, and boy, it is ever stupid.