I Love Jesus!

At Allegheny Center Alliance Church for the Middle School Youth, we are going through a 12 week series on Jesus. To check it out, go here: http://emergingyp.blogspot.com/2009/10/old-skool-jesus-weeks-1-2.html

I really want to share the content of this series to help others! So, feel free to steal (or use) all the content you desire!

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Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 3)

*To fully comprehend what's going on within this post, I suggest you read: Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 1) and Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 2) *

As I've said in my last two posts: I loved this book, it's clear insight and it's candid view of where we are to go next.

I think one of the constant threads that is going around in not only Youth Ministry, but Ministry as a whole is that you can't use other people's programs, ideas and methods and expect what happened there to happen where you are. So know, that this isn't a book that says: "Hi, I'm Marko and I've done YM right...here's how you can copy me". Marko simply lays out where Youth Ministry has been, what has worked and what hasn't. Then Marko takes us to the present times within Youth Ministry and shares the same (what's working and what's not). The methods and ways of doing ministry will look different depending on where you are. However, the heart-beat of the needs that are within Youth and their culture will be the same. This book highlights those needs and sends the reader back into YM armed with that knowledge to pave his/her own path with the students God has blessed them with.

With that said, let me wrestle with this book one last time with you on a piece that caught my eye. It comes in Chapter 6 of the book on page 113-116. Marko entitled this portion: "Finally, Don't Be Driven".

Here's what he says: "Teenagers desperately want to experience passion, but they sure aren't interested in being driven! And youth workers who embrace a Youth Ministry 3.0 mindset and approach will stop being driven by job descriptions, measurements, buildings, time demands and Messiah complexes. Instead, we'll slow down enough, deconstruct enough to be fully present". (page 114)

It strikes me that when I worry about how many teens are there on a given night, I get depressed when attendance is low and excited when attendance is high. This is WRONG! I won't be fully present when I'm depressed about numbers. And honestly, I won't be fully present when attendance is average. Being passionate is saying: "even if I have one freakin kid show up, I'm going to be fully present and do what God asks me to do!"

This is especially hard for me right now. My job description changed from full time to part time. I had to switch my Youth Group times and the teens aren't showing up. I've allowed it to get me down from time to time. It's affected my lessons, my games and my attitude. I need to be PASSIONATE, not DRIVEN. Trust me when I say wrestling with this little book isn't easy. Trying to SHIFT your YM mindset is hard. However, if we are to succeed, it must be done. Does it have to be 100% what Marko says? No. BUT, he's on to something and if we as Youth Workers don't see the same train...it won't be easy to get on it later.

I appreciate the time, effort and wisdom that Marko poured into this book. I truly believe this is only the beginning of this discussion. Shifting will take time and effort. It will take humility and trust. It won't be answered and done with one book, or with one person. We must (as Marko humbly admits he needs too) collaborate, discuss and work through this together. We must be humble to accept correction and wise to give it. I hope we can all learn from one-another, connect with one-another. Giving no Youth Pastor, or Youth Worker "rock-star" status but being all on the same plain and same page, pushing forward in the name of Jesus so that His name can be Great and students can come to know Jesus as we do!

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Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 2)

As I stated in my first post on this book (HERE), I am going to unpack further some of the ideas that Marko opens up in his book: Youth Ministry 3.0.

Today, I will deal with two: 1. Getting small; 2. Belonging.

Marko contends (rightly, I believe) that in order to meet this new wave of Youth Ministry, we have to have a "get small" attitude. This is a MAJOR shift within Youth Ministry, because it's has been (in the YM 2.0 mode) all about GETTING BIG!

I remember when I was a student doing things that were called: B.E.O (code for Big Event Outreach). These were the big deal outreaches where you get kids in, throw Jesus at them ad hope they come back. There was TONS of money spent, tons of hours planing and tons of people invited. The bigger, the better was the mindset. It was programming for the sake of programmimg in a lot of ways.

Sadly, what ended up happening was it seemed disingenuous, fake and all about numbers. Marko states in YM 3.0 that this obsession with numbers must CEASE.

I believe he's RIGHT. All this obsession with numbers has hurt Youth Ministry rather than help. It has caused Youth Leaders to be depressed, arrogant and jealous. It has caused the focus of Jesus to be transformed into productivity. It has taken the role of importance from kids knowing, loving and living for Jesus into getting bigger, better numbers of people into the ministry.

Getting small would help down the road of true discipleship as well as create a place where belonging can be felt.

When I asked my Sunday School class of Sr. & Jr. High boys: "Where do you feel you belong...or in other words where do you feel most like YOU?" I received tons of good answers. One kid said: "with my music friends, doing music". Another said "with my fourth period friends" still another said "stage crew". Lastly one student said "At lunch with my lunch friends". I guarantee that you'd have similar answers if you asked the question.

We NEED to notice something about these responses...does anyone see it? OK, I'll help you...they are all...SMALL GROUPS!

Getting small, creating ways to be small in a BIG group will help bring students into a place where they can say: "I Belong". The students didn't say "At School, with everyone" or "With everyone at church" they said micro-groups of certain people. If we're honest...we'd have a similar response ourselves. We feel belonging in smaller places...less places to get hurt..less places to have people know our business and less places to be truly known.

I will continue to unpack this stuff. However, I ask you, the reader whether you are teen, youth pastor, youth leader or none-of-the-above to interact with this. Tell me what you think....good, or bad...I want to know!

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Youth Ministry 3.0

I've finally read Marko's Manifesto of Youth Ministry. I've read snippets, interacted with blips (Youth Ministry---What Must Die) and enjoyed what I've read of Marko's ideas for his book Youth Ministry 3.0.
Now, having read the book entire, I want to share, work through and interact with the content. Being it's a "manifesto" this will take more than one post to do it the justice it deserves.

Marko's main premise is that Youth Ministry has been through three different "epochs" or phases in it's history and we are now in the third epoch: Youth Ministry 3.0. He describes his premise well and each epoch in quick succession, giving the reader a firm historical grounding for his new ideas for this third epoch and why we need to embrace, understand and work within it. What I enjoyed most about this book was it's direct approach to the matter of Youth Ministry. There was no attempt by Marko to sound eloquent or smart by adding extra chapters. He kept it frank, to the point and very concise. His book felt a lot like Phyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence in this. Both books are shorter than 150 pages, but are packed with great information that needs to be added to our lives in ministry NOW.

I think one of the most amazing things about this book is the interaction Marko got BEFORE publishing and while writing! Most guys don't do this...they like their own thoughts too much. Here Marko shows not only his humility but his willingness to collaborate with other Youth Workers in order to design the best possible description of this new wave: YM 3.0. I was sad only because I couldn't add my "two-sense" to the mix. I didn't start following his blog until the book was already in the works of publishing. However, I am grateful for this act. It also shows we as youth workers can't be on our own islands. Even Marko, the President of YS admits he needs help from other youth workers...what makes us think we can handle this new wave alone?

Before I continue to write, let me define (as Marko does) what Youth Ministry 3.0 is. Youth Culture has shifted. There are three main things that Youth have needed and still need today, each epoch has had its own focus however. YM 1.0 was Identity, 2.0 was Autonomy and 3.0 is Affinity (belonging). Marko states that we must understand that teens are looking for belonging. The old mind-set for YM (numbers driven, crazy BIG) must be left behind and the new mind-set (creating a space for small, intimate belonging) must be introduced and used.

I will unpack this further in my next post(s). Know that this book is definitely worth the read for ALL Youth Workers. It is informative, insightful and in my opinion right on! I did a "test" this Sunday by opening up the question at Sunday School: "Where do you feel you most BELONG?" and it was encouraging to say the least.

*GO HERE for the second post!*

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Bi-Vocational Youth Ministry

It's funny how, when I typed into google images: "bi-vocational ministry" this little lego guy juggling legos popped up. I liked it and thought it true that bi-vocational ministry is a lot like juggling.

I've recently re-entered the bi-vocational world and it is harder than I remembered. I was a full time pastor for a little over a year, and in that time I forgot about my "bi-vo" days. Now, I know that this is only the beginning of my new "bi-vo" time and it will get easier as time goes by for me to figure things out and re-organize my life, ministry and work schedule.

One of the major benefits to this new development is the fact that I can get a 50% discount at Chili's, since I work there now! I now take all my students to Chili's when I take them out to eat. It is now only SLIGHTLY more expensive than McDonald's, so it's a nice treat for the teens. I believe in relational youth ministry and for me a HUGE piece of that is one-on-one time with students eating and talking.

One of the disadvantages to bi-vo ministry so far has been my time with my wife. This is an area I desperately need to find a way to manage. I have spent very little time with my wife since starting my bi-vo time. One of the ideas I had was to go to my wife's work (she's a 2nd Grade teacher) and have lunch with her on days that this is possible. I think this will show her how much I care and also will allow us to spend some time together.

Another advantage to bi-vo ministry has been my time to write...well not yet but I believe it will be soon. I have about 4-5 hours by the time I wake up until the time I need to be at Chili's for the lunch shift (the times change). This leaves those open hours for my writing and reading. This excites me because I need my time to write out my thoughts, and read some good books that will aid me in my journey to getting closer to God.

The reason I'm writing this blog is to share will everyone, including Bi-Vo or Full time Youth Pastors that bi-vo ministry is possible and it can be a good thing. I was reading Rev-Magazine about 3 months ago where they discussed the issue of bi-vocational Youth Ministry and I remember laughing at it, scoffing at the idea...little did I know God was ready to humble my haughty position.

Being a man with a passion for cities, I recognize my Urban Youth Pastor brothers are mostly bi-vo youth guys. They have to put less time into their youth than I do and they still run successful, Christ-filled Ministries that are not only growing in their relationship with Christ, but numerically as well. This whole event of going back down to part-time has really changed my perspective on a lot of things...especially bi-vo ministry. I hope that we can cultivate an attitude as Youth Pastors and leaders that will help guys like me who find themselves in bi-vo ministry.

What ideas can you think of that would bring about some effective assistance to bi-vo ministries? Maybe some ideas to help minister to us who are in bi-vocational Youth Ministry?

Also, don't be like me who so easily scoffed at Bi-vocational Youth Ministry...it is a necessary piece of our churches and if the Rev Magazine is right, we are soon going to be seeing a lot more bi-vo ministers than we have in a long time...

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Temptation (Letters to the Corinthians Series)

Why is it that we don't discuss our deepest darkest temptations in the church? Most times we avoid the fact that we have deep nasty junk inside ourselves that Satan loves to pluck out to lead us into sin. The capacity to sin is within us and each of us has a "special room" for those sinful desires. Satan know that room, God knows that room and WE know that room.

A lot of times those rooms are built due to pain. I talked to the Sr. High teens last night about Temptation, and told them about a girl I knew in High School who had an abusive father. He wounded her and put a deep desire to be loved and accepted by men. This gave Satan a wound to work his temptation through. This girl became sexually active, so much so that she was having sex with boys in the school. Under the bleachers, in back stairwells etc.

The sad thing is...she had no one who would talk to her. She was constantly tempted to have sex, but didn't see her way out. 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 says that when we are tempted, God will always have a way out for us and he does...this girl just couldn't find it. She was also a member of our youth group...which makes it WORSE that there was no one to help her with her temptation, which was slowly becoming and addiction.

There are other what would seemingly be "minor temptations" that teens deal with every day. As Youth Pastors, parents, friends and fellow believers, its our job to help show them the ways out that God provides. One practical way that I offered was a phone call to me (for the guys) or my wife (for the girls). I told them that no matter what they are being tempted to do...give me a call even if its a temptation to steal a pack of gum.

I also pointed them to a great verse that helped me over and over again as a teen and now as an adult. James 4:7-8a " Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you."

I encouraged them to allow God to help them to "stand up under temptation" (1 Corinthians 10:12)

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The Great Get-Away

This weekend, I got away. I got away from my TV, I got away from my computer (I took it, but didn't bust it open ONCE), I got away from my Fantasy books (which I love reading), I got away from my house, I got away from my cat, I got away from my job and hardest of all, my wife wasn't there either.
I took the plunge and went up to a place called Lake Champion for a Youth Leader (and Pastor) Retreat called Invigorate '08. It wasn't you're typical Youth Leader retreat, in that it wasn't all about the coolest curriculum, the best sermon, the niftiest technology, the newest Youth Group game or the best way of doing small groups. It wasn't about connecting to Youth Culture, or even how to be the coolest Youth Pastor, with the sweetest lingo to connect with your youth. It was all about GOD. It was about how I (we Youth Leaders) need God. It was how we can be better connected to the source, which is Christ. On the periphery of the conversation was the Youth, but the main focus was how we connect with the Almighty.
I've never been to anything like it and I'm the better for going and receiving what God had for me. My eyes were opened to many things, all of which I will be 100% Authentic about. I will make this a 4 part blog-fest both for me so I can better grasp what God has done and for you, because although the context was for youth leaders...it's for everyone!
Let me preface this blog-fest with a couple side-notes. 1. Jason Ostrander (the speaker for the weekend) was used by God to smack us Youth Leaders in the face with what REALLY matters in Ministry. 2. God spoke directly to me about my failures, of which I will share. and 3. If you are a youth leader and weren't at this retreat, I challenge you to read all these posts.
I think what was opened up this weekend is something of high importance, that truly deserves discussion, so please discuss!

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God, the Shaker and Mover

God is TRULY doing a work in our Jr. High Youth Ministry! As you've read by my blog, the CRAZINESS that we've been experiencing has been a wild ride. However, I've learned to see that if you allow God to strengthen you during the wild ride, there is a HUGE payoff at the end!
Before I give some great news about Wednesday Night, I want to give some background into our Jr. High Ministry as of late. This is probably the MOST attended youth night we have as well as the MOST non-Christian attended. One week, I counted off 25 Jr. High teens and all but 5 were from non-Christian homes (most had parents who've NEVER been to church...EVER). We were still missing approx. 5 of our regular teens this night too! Well, as you can imagine, this many teens who've come from un-churched, non-Christian homes has been a bit of a challenge. There has been tons of talking during the lesson and tons of "he said, she said" fighting that goes on. One week, I had hit my limit and wandered what God was doing and if I was good enough for this calling. The very next week is when I hit something I didn't expect...I gave a teeny bit of my life's story and the teens were silent, listening to every word dripping off of my tongue. They loved the connection of my life to the Scriptures. Now, I'm a student of Youth Culture, and I know teens connect WAY more with personal stories, yet for some reason I never utilized it the way I did this one week.
Well, I prayed about this effect and since our Month's theme was: The Quest (Our Journey Towards God), I felt like this Wednesday, God wanted me to give my full testimony (which is pretty intense, I will Blog about it sometime soon). I did indeed give my full testimony and the teens again were intensely listening to what I was saying (something that doesn't often happen for the full 20 minute talk). God was moving in their hearts and when we moved to Small Groups (which I do every week after the talk, so the teens can then interact with the lesson together), God showed up in a BIG way. As a side note, the greatest fun during this time, was that one of our Sr. Highers (Ty Walker) was leading the small group discussion and he did great! When Ty got to the question of "Do you want to Go on this Quest towards God" 3 kids raised their hands, asked how they could and then PRAYED TO RECEIVE CHRIST! It was flippin' sweet and so much more sweet that a Sr. Higher was able to get these Jr. Highers to this point. I praise God for what he's doing!

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This Weeks Youth Group Adeventure

Let's begin with Tuesday Night, shall we? I'm being honest when I say I get more and more encouraged and excited when I get to teach/preach to these young folks. I am stoked when I get to share my life and the Word with them. This week, we began the series of "Serving With Eyes Wide Open". We've gone through this type of series, before, but this one is better, because it's Got a lot more Word in it. We're exploring the true meaning of service, what our motivations are and how we can Bring Jesus to the people of this world through our service.
One of the things I've been teaching my teens for the past year is how to be authentic. This series is no different...we are learning how to be real in and with our service. This week, we took a look at true service and our motivations for service. I ended with the fact that true, genuine service, is rooted in love and the eyes of Jesus. If e don't see the people we're going to serve with the Eyes of Jesus, we will most likely hinder rather then help...especially if we serve without love.


JR HIGH:

This weeks Jr. High crew was again rowdy as all get out. I have to be honest when I say that Satan doesn't want these kids to know Jesus! I mean we all knew that, but dude, he's fighting hard core to keep these kids in his hands. If you get a chance, please be praying for these students. We are right on the cusp of grabbing these non-Christian kids into the fold of Christ (PLUS their parents!) yet, they seem so far away.
This month , we are talking about "The Quest" (Our Journey Towards God) in which, we are following Joshua's story of his Quest for the Promised Land, and then i turn our Quest towards our Promised Land...the place where God is. This week, we talked about Journey's beginning and how Satan will try to throw GIANTS in our way to distract us from truly Seeing God...yet God can defeat those Giants. (comes from the diologue with the 12 men sent out to scope out the land, 10 see Giants and say run, yet two Josh and Caleb see God's power and say fight).

AGAIN, keep these teens in your prayers! God is good and more and more un-churched Jr. Highers come to Youth Group...they just need JESUS.

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Jr. High this week...

Sorry for the "tardiness" of this post! I should've posted it yesterday, but I was working on my October 12th sermon all day because my brother and sister-in-law will be in town next weekend and I wanted to get it done (mostly anyways).

ANYWAYS...this weeks Jr. High Youth Group was one of the best I've experienced in the last...IDK 4 weeks! Now, I didn't try to sit them down and have a lesson, but they still were more respectful, attentive and all around in good moods all night!

Every month that has a "5th week" in it, I do a game night (Jr. High only usually... because the Sr. Highers tend to think that game night means "lame night"). This October, as you will notice has 5 Wednesdays in it...so I had a game night in the BEGINNING of the month. Plus, one "tid-bit" my only other MALE leader had a meeting, so he could not be in attendance...I figured it would be best to have game night whilst he was gone, so that when we do have another lesson, he can be there to help "maintain control" (I really like putting phrases and words in quotations, so sorry if it bugs you...)

We played some really FUN games! We played first a game called Who Cares? which is a PowerPoint game in which the students break into team and had to be the first person to tap my shoulder in order to get the chance to answer. Most of the questions were ridiculous, but fun.

Next we played what I will now call a "dough flow" (which means you can win money). The game was called Total Recall, in which I played a 3 minutes clip of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and they had to answer my "in depth" questions from the movie. The prize was $5 (dough flow)!

We then went into probably the best game of the night, which is called Smackdown! In which the kids can beat each other senseless!! *That was a joke* No, really we had a soft object, in which the person in the middle of a circle (where teens are in chairs in a circle) would use the soft object to hit the knee of their intended "target" which could be anyone they wanted it to be. Then they needed to place the soft object (a hockey pad in our case) on top of a box and get back to their chair before the "target" could hit them with the object. It was a BLAST!

Lastly, we played a youth group favorite called cat and mouse, which is just that a cat chasing a mouse.

*Thank You Simply Youth Ministry Staff for 3 out of the 4 game ideas!*

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Sr. High, this week...

Here was the ending of the theme for September, which was: Releasing Your Burdens. Marko was the man in charge of games for the evening and he put together an amazing game which was like scrabble, but different. What you did was take letters, cut them out and roll them into balloons which then you'd blow up. The two teams had to go, get the balloon, pop it, take the letters out and try to spell something on their "board". The team with the most words, with the most letters used won.
Sad to say my team did not win :(. However, after the game, we went right into the talk. As never before, I will put my talk "outline" here on the blog, because I think it's important for those who read this to know exactly what was discussed, so here it is:

Releasing the Burden of Shame:

When I was a kid, I didn’t always think through my decisions. You’ve heard me tell many embarrassing stories, but this one takes the cake. I was around 4 or 5 and I got a Mickey Mouse drum set for Christmas. I was so excited about it and would play all the time. Well, the drum set came with a WHOLE lot of plastic wrap and shortly after Christmas, my friend and I came up with a GREAT idea, or so we thought. We placed all the plastic on the floor and decided that it was OK to pee on. I am NOT kidding when I say we said in our heads: this is just like a bathroom urinal, let’s go pee. So we peed on the floor. My dad came in FURIOUS. I was so ashamed of what I did, then he spanked me in front of my friend and the shame was enormous. (SHAME, pre-repentance, post-repentance)
You’re probably asking why I told you such a crazy, weird story and the reason is because of Shame. I felt a lot of shame after this day with my friend. I did something really stupid and was punished in front of my friend. And I know all of us have been burdened with shame. Maybe not the same kind, but we’ve felt like unworthy, ugly, horrible people. We’ve felt the hot breath of shame calling us no-good, saying that I can’t believe you did that and wrecking our lives with shame. Peter felt it when he betrayed Christ after saying he wouldn’t. David felt it when he allowed his body to rule over his head when he had sex with Bathsheba a married woman. We do wrong things and we feel shameful after they are done and our shame causes us to cover up our sin. God will forgive us our sins, we HAVE to bring them to him. Don’t allow your shame to block you from the Grace of God.
After Christ rose from the dead, Peter was still ashamed and he decided to go fishing, something he hadn’t done in a long time. So he and the guys go for some fish, when they are interrupted by Jesus. Jesus doesn’t scold Peter for being a lousy cuss who needs to get over it, no he welcomed him over for a hot meal of flame broiled fish. He sat Peter down and asked him 3 times if he loved him. Peter answered yes all three times and Jesus in that moment allowed him to leave his shame behind and embrace Christ once again. Peter was a transformed person from that moment on. Psalm 23:5 says: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. What does that have to do with shame you ask? Well, he is setting you there at that table and they can’t touch you!
When a shepherd prepares the field for his sheep, he scours the area for predators. (snake and oil). He covers his sheep with protection. We don’t have to fear those lies, because once we repent, the shame of our sin goes away. When Christ made that meal for Peter, he wiped away the shame. It’s a burden we’re not meant to bear, a tool of Satan to beat us down and make us feel like trash, something God doesn’t want…but guess what…He wants to dine with you! He’s got a plate of your favorite dish, waiting to prepare a table for you! Nothing can touch you with him here! NOTHING!

We then broke off into small groups to discuss, and God brought a freshman to me, who wanted to get rid of his shame and confess what was going on! It was a powerful night and I know God used the story of David (Pre-repentant shame) and the story of Peter (Post-repentant shame) to touch their lives!!

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Youth Groups!!

Time has again, slipped away from my grasp! I was going to blog about Tuesday Night Youth Group, but was distracted by a day of meetings yesterday...today however, I can write about both Tuesday and Wednesday Night!

On Tuesday Night, we were again discussing the overall topic of releasing your burdens. This weeks burden was on Grief. Grief is a gigantic topic for anyone, so of course we didn't cover the whole realm of it. However, Marko (he taught this week) talked for about 7 minutes, describing his bouts with grief, going back to Psalm 23 and describing David's writing of the Psalm. Right after Marko's 7 minutes, we started a Nooma video titled: Matthew. (For those of you who don't know, Nooma is a video series done my Rob Bell and his church). This Nooma video described the the pain of loss that Rob Bell felt, and how he grieved it. Grief is OK, but we don't need to carry it around. The message was powerful and amazing and many teens were touched.

After the video, we immediately broke into small groups, and discussed some grief in our own lives, or things that happened in out lives that we had not yet grieved. It was a great time of openness and great discussion!


Jr. High Youth Group was a lot less INTENSE than last week. We had about 20 students and most were calmer and better listeners than they were last week. However, there was still some stuff. Anyways, God used the time we had together! We had tons of fun playing "malady volleyball" in which people on each team had some maladies of varying kinds and had to play the full time with that malady!

After the games, we started our talk on IDK JC (#2). We saw the old accusations of Jesus being Liar, Lunatic or Lord. I shared with them how I believe Jesus was/is Lord. I shared again about the change in the disciples, and how they wouldn't die for a lie. The students seemed to really catch this fact, because they wouldn't die for a lie. I also shared a little bit about my life and shared how I now God is Lord, because of how he changed my life and my families life. This really connected with them and they were quiet the entire time I discussed my life and the change God brought.

God is an amazing God and despite what Satan tries to do, God always shines brighter, always works better and always defeats the darkness!

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Recipe For Disaster...

Here was the recipe I concocted: 22 Jr. High teens, including boy-crazy jr. high girls and caffeinated jr. high boys; with only three adult leaders and lastly, I was talking about Jesus.

I must be totally honest when I say that I have NEVER in all of my time in ministry, (even though I am young, I've been doing Youth Ministry for 8 years) seen this much Spiritual Warfare. Our Jr. Highers are ALWAYS rowdy, but tonight was absurd. They couldn't be controlled most of the night, especially when it came time for the talk. It was like a BOLT of demonic energy was put under 80% of the teens chairs. Seriously, when I got up to speak, the heightened disobedience was incredible to witness.

After about 8 minutes of this, I stopped trying to get them to listen by yelling at them and I said: "You know, I believe there are demons in this world, and I am pretty sure they are affecting you tonight in such a way that is causing all of this craziness, because Jesus wants to speak to you." While I was talking about this, was the quietest time all evening. I prayed, then went back into the lesson on Jesus. The talking continued (though not at the same volume) and I kicked a couple kids out of the room.

The games were a blast tonight and the kids were engaged in all of that, but when it came time to talk about Jesus, there was supreme oppression, the likes of which I've never encountered. It doesn't strike me as odd though, because Satan doesn't want these teens hearing about Jesus.

However, the timing strikes me as ironic, because I am reading a book by a Pastor in Seattle and he talks of frequent demonic encounters with his people. I asked God (literally and without lying) yesterday why I haven't seen demonic attacks within the youth ministry. Asking if I were doing something wrong, or un-threatening to Satan and his minions. Tonight showed me that even though it's tough, we're on the right track.

My two other leaders really stepped up and helped me reign in the teens that needed reigning. I realized the supreme loss of one of my leaders (who is now a Youth Pastor down the street). He had a tremendous impact on our teens and was an amazing help in times similar (yet nowhere near as bad) to this evening.

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Tuesday Night Youth Group

This month, the Sr. High theme for this month Releasing Our Burdens. We are taking the youth through Psalm 23, listening to the insights that David gives us on our way to releasing our burdens unto God. This week, we discussed the issue of releasing the burden of guilt.

Guilt is a dominating force in our lives if we let it. We have to realize the difference between guilt and conviction. Conviction is the sense of "wrongness" that the Holy Spirit gives us in order that we may repent. Once we repent, the Lord forgives us and puts the sin as far away from us as East is from the West, he also throws the sin behind his back, no longer looking at it or bringing it up. Guilt is the lingering feeling that we are losers because we sinned, we did wrong. It's the constant voice that reminds us of how pitiful we are because the sin we already repented from was done.

Guilt can consume a person, but Christ eliminates our guilt with the power of the cross. We are no longer guilty, but saved ad forgiven. This was the message we brought to the teens last night. We discussed this issue in small groups a little more in depth...but these are the main points.

To be honest, the games last night stunk (I sometimes pick games that in my head and in theory look awesome, but when done in actuality STINK). So, if you have some sweet ideas for good games that in actuality ROCK give me a holla!

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