Little did I know when we started this internship that it would be as successful as it is. In the Summer, we had nearly 20 students attend (which if you look at our 40-80 spread, that's pretty darn good) and that in the Spring (after school mind you), we would have 12 attend. In fact, we have students who have up to a 30-minute drive one way just to be apart of it.

As we've looked to the future, we can clearly see this is one of the key areas where God has called us to lead with our students. Not only do we have a viable way for them to continually serve, but implement students into leadership, we know what we're getting. And due to the level of work required, we know they are going to actually lead, speak definitely of matters in the youth ministry and lead a generation. The Spring / Fall schedule will look the same and the Summer schedule will repeat each year (though we'll probably move the days to Tuesday-Thursday, not MWF). Each semester will have a different emphasis. Here is what they are:

Spring (Feb - Jun) Leadership
Summer (Jun - Aug) Doctrine
Fall (Sep - Dec) Community

For those of you who were asking, and for those of you who have stumbled upon it, I tried to be as in-depth as possible, without going overboard. If you still have questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email and I'd be glad to help. We're still a work in progress, but at least we know where we're working to.

One of the greatest lines you could ever hear from one of your leaders is the following:

"I want you to dream up something big. Not something dinky or small. Something big. Something you could never pull off but you would find to be necessary to The Factory. I want you to dream it up and then I want you to give it to me and I'll make it happen."

These are the exact words of Jon Cron, one of our leaders within The Factory. At this point, I didn't have anything. I wasn't dreaming a big dream. I was trying to make it through that week! But as we had a chance to dialogue more and as we worked through needs in The Factory, one of the things that kept coming back was the success of the Summer Internship. We had students who were coming after school each and every day looking for ways to help because they enjoyed it so much. Which again led us to the same place as the beginning of the Summer Internship, why not make this available for everyone. We put in some work, crafted a schedule and came up with the following, which we implemented in January:

SUNDAY
8:30-1:00 - Church Services

TUESDAY
4:30-4:50 Start-Up / Prayer
4:50-5:20 Leadership Course
5:20-5:40 Team Building
5:40-6:10 Follow-up / Invitation
6:10-6:30 Debrief

WEDNESDAY
4:00-4:20 Start-Up/ Prayer
4:20-5:30 Service Prep / Service Time
5:30-6:00 Dinner
6:00-6:30 Student Led Prayer Meeting
6:30-8:30 The Factory
8:30-9:00 Post Service

THURSDAY
4:30-4:50 Start-Up / Prayer
4:50-5:15 Leadership Profiles
5:15-5:25 Student Recap of the Reading
5:25-5:40 Student Led Team Building
5:40-6:15 Student Led Accountability and Prayer
6:15-6:30 Student Led Debrief

Our mission for the Spring Internship is Leadership. For the Summer it was Doctrine, but for the Spring, we wanted to be developing leaders within our Student Ministry. Not just leaders who would lead services, but leaders to impact society. In fact, I shared with their parents:

"Our mission with this internship is to create a program that rivals that of anything else your student could be involved in. We will develop Christian leaders better than anyone else in town. And the level of commitment involved is going to look really good on a college application."

So we did. We have the students reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This is apart of the Leadership Course taught at Evangel University as part of one of their degrees, a course in which Jon took. As he is passionate about proactive leadership and The 7 Habits, that passion gets turned over to the students and translates into really effective leaders. I can say that within two months, they have completely redefined our Student Ministry. And they're just getting started.

Again, one of the biggest joys is what Jon said to me in the beginning. Little did we know when we talked about this, that the birth of my son would have me decide to become less involved in a lot more and to not take on any additional leadership responsibilities that were not absolutely necessary. The Internship falls into this category. Yet Jon, with the help of Jaime, Student Ministry Administrative Assistant, run the internship. I am able to occasionally say hello, but it's all them. One of my greatest joy to be able to say is that I could not do it better myself. In fact, if I was in charge, it would be worse.

This is why I love the Body of Christ and everyone getting to use their gift.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about where we're heading and what's next for the Internship.

As our internship developed, we find some things to be really crucial and vital to what we were doing, and other things we found could be accomplished in a matter of moments and didn't take nearly as long which left us scrambling. Here's a bit of a play by play:

God Time. One of the key parts of The Factory is our desire to see every student be apart of a weekly prayer meeting (we host one at 6pm on Wednesday Nights). As they are apart of that, they can then begin to lead a prayer meeting on their campus.

As such, we gave students 30 minutes of personal devotion time each day. We'd play some light worship music and allow them to spend time in the Scriptures, prayer and worship. For the final 30 minutes, we would pray on one of 6 topics (Campus, City, Nations, Passion, Intercession, Healing). We would pray passages of the Bible and then get after it.

Accountability Groups. We wanted to create space for students to get to know each other a little bit more as well as hold to each other to encountering God at their house. Our Accountability time was built around: How are you doing at home? How are you doing with your family? How are you doing with God? Were are you struggling? How are you doing well?

Staff Meeting. This was a was a way to give Alan a chance to run a Staff Meeting as well as a chance for our students to know that they were accomplishing something. It was a time for us to see what God was doing and where we were going.

Skill Building / Team Building. Initially our hope was that we would be able to develop skills and harness abilities of our students. If they could play guitar, we wanted to help them play guitar better. If they had media skills, we wanted to help them do it better. Unfortunately, for how much time we had and for the fact that we were lacking experts in every field we wanted to develop, instead we decided to use it as Team Building exclusively. Games. Activities. Events. Competitions. Anything to get students connected with one another (a key part of our mission in The Factory) and to keep it light. As you'll see with our Ministry Training, we came at it really strong and heavy. In order to do so, we needed to have something that wasn't so heavy. Our Team Building was the perfect out.

Ministry Training. One of the great parts about our Summer Internship is that we have a lot more time. Seeing as that's true, we wanted to use it as a way to strengthen doctrine, right belief and help students think through things they may not have before. Here's how it worked:

We used the book Doctrine by Mark Driscoll as the backbone for our discussion. The reason I liked it was two fold:

1. He brings all major doctrines.
2. The book is a result of a teaching he did at his church which is available to watch.
   

What that allowed us to do was to watch the video on Monday to finish out our day, have the students read during the week (which was easier since someone walked them through what all the words meant) and then on Friday we would discuss questions that the students has as well as the ones that were included in the book. It made it a perfect fit for what we were looking to do.

Service Prep / Follow-Up / Service Invitations. I haven't been one to do "a lot" when it comes to themes for series. I just haven't feel the effort ever paid off. But with the interns, I begin to see how much joy came for being able to have a part in making a service happen. From the smallest details: snack shop stocking, Guest Card making, handout cutting, chair stacking / sorting, painting, reorganizing, fine tuning. All of these became a way for them to have a part and to be a viable part of The Factory.

Not only that, but they helped in one of our biggest gaps. Follow-Up / Service Invitations. If you have seen in previous posts, this has been one of biggest areas of improvement for quite some time. It started with our interns. We were able to give student-to-student follow-up, have students calling students for invites and it paid off in dividends. Let's just say that we went from a student ministry of 40-80 at the beginning of the summer. To one of our last nights of the summer we had 100+. All credit goes to our interns. (Hence, why we started up Spring and Fall, but that's coming later).

Service Projects. When we dreamed the dream of internship we thought it would be fun to get students serving in the community and helping out local projects. There were two problems:

1. We had a lot more interns than we had transportation for.
2. 1:00-5:00 MWF is not an ideal time to serve anywhere.

So we improvised. Instead of serving outside the church, we had them serve inside of it. Our interns took what they were doing for service prep within The Factory and made that happen for the rest of Hope. Interns were stocking guest cards for the Sanctuary, cleaning toys for the nursery, prepping meals for dinner, organizing closets, helping with events, sending out letters for missions. It was phenomenal to see. One of the things we kept hearing from staff members at our church was:

"The interns have been such a blessing to me and this church. They have done things for me that I've been wanting to do for years but have never had the time going from week to week. Tell them how thankful I am for them."

This happened again and again and again. I call that a win.

Tomorrow, I'll let you know how this developed this into both a Spring and Fall internship.

Here is a look at the weekly schedule for our Summer Internship:

SUNDAY
8:30-1:00 Church Services

MONDAY
12:00-1:00 Lunch (optional)
1:00-2:00 God Time (Personal Devotions, Corporate Prayer Meeting)
2:00-2:30 Accountability Groups (how you doing at home, with family, Jesus)
2:30-3:00 Intern Staff Meeting (upcoming events, this week's work, etc)
3:00-4:00 Skill Building / Team Building
4:00-5:00 Ministry Training (Video Teaching)

WEDNESDAY
12:00-1:30 Lunch (Summer Event for All Students)
1:30-2:00 Staff Meeting (service prep, tonight's material, etc.)
2:00-3:00 Service Prep
3:00-5:00 Follow-up / Service Invitations
5:00-6:00 God Time
6:00-8:30 The Factory Service

FRIDAY
12:00-1:00 Lunch (Optional)
1:00-2:00 God Time
2:00-3:00 Ministry Training
3:00-5:00 Service Projects (around the church)

Tomorrow, I'll give you some perspective on how they worked.

I've had some questions recently about out internship for students 6th-12th Grade here at Hope and within The Factory. This week, I will walk through our Summer Internship (beginning) and Spring Internship (future). First, I have to start by saying that the idea came from two people:

First, one of our students, Brooke Agee, asked last summer if she would be able to come by the church during the week and help to get ready for services and help around the office. That was the easiest yes I ever said.

Second, one of our leaders, Alan Fay, asked if he could intern during the summer as part of his continuing ministry development. Again, one of the easiest yes(es) I have ever said.

With the two of them, we decided to create something more substantial and worthwhile for Alan to lead, Brooke to be apart of, and to invite other students to join. I called my buddy, Jared Newman, to get some ideas and we were off to the races.

Our main emphasis has been in leadership development and further developing one of our key missions: "Lifelong commitments to Christ." With that in mind, our internship wasn't developed to pass time or occupy students during the summer (nothing against those), but we wanted to utilize the summer as a chance to further develop our students and do more with them during the week than we were ever able to do during the school year.

Tomorrow, we'll look at the schedule and what the week looked like.

As evidenced, the idea of moving slowly and progressively has taken me by storm recently. It's not only come as encouragement for the season I'm in, and have been in, but also comes as preparation for seasons to come. The previous two posts have come as practical analysis and things that I've learned along the way. Here, however is a Biblical context.

In the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, God speaks to Moses and says that as Israel is going to enter the Land of Promise (Canaan), God is going to drive the people out before them. God has many methods by which He is going to do so, but He also tells Moses that this is going to take a while.

Exodus 23:29–30 (ESV)
29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

The same is confirmed later.

Deuteronomy 7:22 (ESV)
22 The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.

God's reasoning for moving slow was for the good of the nation. God's reasoning for going slow was to benefit everyone. God had a reason for going slow. But name the last time that was ever a good reason for you?

We live in a world that is consumed with fast. Everything is becoming more instantaneous. I've shared this multiple times before (of which some of you have heard it), but there are certain McDonald's that you pull up to that state if you are not pulling out of the drive-thru in 2 minutes following your order that you will be compensated for that. You can now have a meal prepared for you in 2 minutes. Phones are instantaneous. The internet is becoming more instantaneous. TV is instantaneous. Our life is becoming progressively more instant. And yet, God still carries this part about His character that does not move that (and not because He's not able to).

As I look ahead, I can see why God wants to go slow. In the midst of it, I can't help but get fidgety. As we look to build for life, I can see how that journey is a lot longer that a couple of months. In the midst of it, I wonder why it feels like we're battling inertia.

I don't know where you sit or what is happening in your life. I don't know what is going on or what you feel about God. If you're in a season where things seem slow, where it feels like nothing is happening, where inertia is staring you in the face and sometimes it feels like it's winning, brace yourself. It could be that God is driving out things before you. Build for life. Build slow.

No sooner did I pen the words of my previous post was I given the ultimate test of building slow.

Our son, Jude, has taken to waking up every hour on the hour for no other reason than the fact he wants to be help. This has happened for two reasons:

1. A week or so ago, he was waking up at 5:00 and I wanted to be able to give Rachel some more time to sleep. So I took him out into the living room while he and I sat on the couch and Rachel got some rest. One thing lead to another and she was waking us up at 7:30 as we both were sleeping.
2. As I was playing father mom, I did my best to help him go to sleep and to take the naps he should. Little did I know that I would create a child who was becoming dependent on someone holding him in order to go to sleep.
   

Fast forward a week. Insert Daylight Savings Time. We now have a child who is waking up at 2:00, 3:00 and 5:00. 2:00 is normal (though we're trying to work on having him sleep through the night). 3:00 and 5:00 have been nice little additions he's given to us.

Here's how building slow comes into this. The easy fix is to get him out of his bed, hold him, rock him to sleep, call it a night and we're good to go. That's the easy fix. However, if we fast forward a couple of years, we're going to have a 4-year old who won't want to sleep because he has been put to bed and held in bed by mom and dad since he was born.

Solution? We have to build slow.

Parenting models aside, I hope you get what I'm saying here. I'm the last person who wants to let a baby "cry it out." I'm the last one who thinks, he can keep this going and it'll all be worth it. But as I was sitting in my bed (this morning), all I could think of is:

"The next years are going to be worth these hours, nights and mornings."

In fact, I can remember talking with Rachel and saying the exact same thing.

Now take this to leadership, and in my case ministry. Are we building with years in mind or are we building for the moment. It's easy to give what people want in the moment or what leadership demands in the moment. That's the easy part. But is that building you for where you want to be in years. The commitment to follow Christ is one that affects the rest of your life. It will have an impact for years to come. It is continual day in and day out.

Would your teaching style change if you were building for years?
Would what you talk about change if you were building for years?
Would the way you minister to students (or whoever it is for you) change if you were building for years?

What would change if you weren't just building for the moment, but you were building for years to come. I've found that I would do a lot differently. But I'd start, by Building Slow.

I've always wondered why it can feel like it's taking a long time to build something. There are days in ministry where you wonder if you ever going to "break the ceiling." As I've committed to be at Hope, I knew I was building for the long haul. It wasn't going to be a flash in the pan. It wasn't going to be something that comes and goes. I wanted to build for longer than that.

Rick Warren shared this quote which I loved:

"I can show you how to grow a healthy church. I cannot show you how to build a healthy church fast. A church that explodes from 0 to 20,000 in 6 months is not a healthy church, there's a word for that. It's called cancer. Churches that grow that fast are the hottest act in towns. They're not conversion-growth churches, they are transfer-growth churches... You cannot build a healthy church fast. You can get a crowd fast. But a crowd is not a church. I'm not interested in crowds. I can teach you how to get a crowd but a crowd is not a church. I'm interested in disciples."

I've been at Hope for 5 years now.

I can say that I've thought about being the crowd guy, knowing I could. I've seen other hot acts in town come and go. I've seen a lot of other youth pastors come and go. Now, I'm beginning to see the joys of building for the long haul. I'm having more fun in youth ministry now, then I've had before. Because the long haul is paying off.

In the last months, we have begun top hit discipleship hard with our students. Not that we were going soft earlier, but we've been coming at it strong the last couple of months and everyone in leadership shares the same feeling, "It's like we're falling off the edge of a cliff." We know the bottom is about to come out. But you keep feeling that it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Is it coming? Did we get this right? I can tell you this though, when that bottom does come out, it's not going to be a flash in a pan for us. It will be the beginning of a revolution.

We build slow so we can build large.

For a long time, I've known the internet is awesome and enjoyed it as such. Though, anyone who is a product of internet in the 90s can attest to the fact that where we are in computing and the internet is far greater today than it was back then (need I remind you of this).

I can remember my first uses of Twitter and how everyone asked:

"What's the point?"
"What's different than Facebook?"
"What will you talk about?"
"Have you said you've gone to the bathroom or what you've eaten yet?"

Their wittiness has yet to be matched. This week, the use of the internet, but more specifically Twitter, proved it's worth.

I've been working through some of our systems within the Student Ministry and one of the key areas being that of our Guest Services / First Time Impressions. Up to this point, we have had very limited interaction but have continued to develop anymore. Then I put the internet to use. This week I had conversations with the following Youth Pastors that helped us begin to refine some of our systems. Big thanks to all of them.

Stephen Dickey - Youth Pastor at Fuse* Columbia Campus, New Spring Church, Anderson, SC
Jason Laird - Youth Pastor at Epic, Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA
Brian Cromer - Youth Pastor at Revolution, Northchurch.tv, Oklahoma City, OK
Nate Derenski - Youth Pastor at The Switch, Church on Fire, Cincinnati, OH
Joseph Kellogg - Youth Pastor at Seven, The Oaks, Dallas, TX
Jon Brown - Youth Pastor at H20, Kenosha First Assembly, Kenosha, WI
DC Curry - Youth Pastor at GSM, Granger Community Church, Granger, IN
Chris Smith - Youth Pastor at Epic, Peoples Church, Oklahoma City, OK

The astounding part about this is that I've only met two of these guys in person. Yet, I was able to ask of each of them for some help and get more in a matter of moments than I would have been able to do with years of research. Again, I'm thankful to each of these guys for taking time to answer some of my questions.

The internet is awesome.

The US Army has gone through many mottos and slogans.

From 1971 to 1980 it was "Today's Army Wants to Join You"
From 1980 to 2001 it was "Be All You Can Be"
From 2001 to 2006 it was "Army of One"
From 2006 to presents it is "Army Strong"

I can remember when my dad first told me the new slogan / motto was Army Strong. I thought it was lame in comparison. Army of One has some punch. Be All You Can Be continues to be one most people's thought when it comes to the Army.

Then I had an opportunity to listen to my dad speak.

I can't tell you what he spoke about, but I can tell you what happened at the end.

My dad ended with the following words:

"Army Strong."

The response was deafening. Every solider within that room responded with an Army "HOOAH!"

Recently, my dad received a very notable promotion. As part of that promotion, I was able to attend with other members of my family to support my dad for his promotion. In the room where my dad was being promoted were 300 of the most powerful and influential men within the US Army and other branches. As my dad made his way through his remarks, everyone in the room understood why he was the man selected. How did he end?

"Army Strong."

The response of the room was enough to shake your bones and give you the chills.

As I look to leadership, I can help but think of how this could have an effect on how I lead. Something about ending with the same line every time and actually meaning it can be enough to continue to motivate even in dry seasons. To call strength out of you even when you are weak.

Wherever you find yourself leading, and you lead if there is breath in your lungs, Lead Strong.

The following was written as graffiti by a believer on the walls of a basement in Koln, Germany as they were hiding out from the Gestapo.

I believe in the sun even when it isn’t shining.
I believe in love even when I am alone.
I believe in God even when He is silent.

One of the hardest things within the Christian faith is the answer to prayer. It's not the answer yes and it's not the answer no. It's the time at which it feels like there is no answer at all. The times of silence. When the heavens are deafening with their silence.

Most of us can handle if God would say no. At least He answered. But it's when God allows us to walk through season where there is no answer yet, that prove to be the hardest. I remember coming across the following passage around the time of reading this book that connected a lot of dots for me:

Mark 5:21–43 (ESV)
21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

What a time for Jairus. His daughter is sick and Jesus is known for miracles. As they are walking to Jarius' house, a woman touches Jesus and is healed. Who knew it was that easy?! Immediately following this is the news that Jairus' daughter has died. Too late for Jesus now. I love how Jesus jumps right into the situation with the line: "Do not fear, only believe."

I don't know about you, but that's not quite an answer. That somewhere between yes and no. Unanswered.

How long of a walk must it have been for Jairus. His daughter is dead and his life is hanging on "do not fear, only believe." Sometimes faith requires more than the McDonald's yes and no(s) that we expect from God. Sometimes, if I remember correctly, it is the substance of things hoped for, for that which is yet unseen. Everyone wrestles with seasons where God is silent. Will you hold on to faith? Will you not fear? Will you only believe? Will you take the long walk from the point at which you asked to the point at which God responds?

The above mentioned graffiti is a part of the inside cover of a book called, God On Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Grieg. If you recognize the name Pete Grieg, it's probably because you've heard of Red Moon Rising, a book about 24/7 prayer and how he nearly pioneered the modern prayer movement. While Pete was being championed as a hero of prayer, he was also wrestling with the prayer that God had not answered yet. If you're wrestling with a prayer today, this book will be a HUGE help to you. At the time I read it, it was to me.

That was a line in a video from Seth Godin. You can check out the video, On the Difference Between Management and Leadership, below.

Thoughts?

The Ten Commandments are listed in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The most frequently broken is found in Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15. Both of these highlight one Commandment. "Honor the Sabbath."

Ask yourself the question, when was the last time you truly took a Sabbath. Not a day off where you finish the to-do list. Not a day where you catch-up on things you missed. A day where you actually did what God asked and took a Sabbath.

This video by Rick Warren helped to spark a lot of this in me. Feel free to watch the whole thing, but you'll want to pay special attention to 3:14-5:03.



"God cares so much about it, He put it up there with murder and adultery."

"Don't call it your day off because you'll never keep it. Call it a Sabbath because if you break that your sinning."

He definitely brought it.

So the question is again, when was the last time you took a Sabbath?

In the Pentecostal church, we are all about the filling of the Holy Spirit. There are initial physical evidences. Outward workings of physical fruits. Manifestations of gifts. One of the few places I have seen someone gift filled with the Spirit in is in the following:

Exodus 35:30–35 (NIV)
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. 34 And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers.

In the denomination I accepted Christ in, we were all about the call to "the ministry." This was a descriptive term for working in a church. There would be services in which people would be prayed for and "if anyone feels the call to ministry or missions, would you come forward and we'll pray for you." I don't know if I was ever apart of a service where it was asked "and if you feel called with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts: artists, designers, filmmakers, carpenters, mechanics, why don't you come forward to be prayed for." Following these times of prayer, someone would say "what these people have committed to is something very special. Let's give them all and God a big clap of praise (round of applause)."

My question is, what if Bezalel and Oholiab were vital to what God was accomplishing through Israel. Without these two, the Tabernacle would not have been constructed. This being the key location beginning in Leviticus and continuing until the construction of the Temple by Solomon. Hundreds of years of importance. Completed not by a pastor. Completed not by the priests. Completed by those "31 filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship."

The Church needs more people to filled with the Spirit of God with skill, ability and knowledge.

We also need some Oholiab(s) with the ability to teach.

We need to pray for and consecrate them too.

I just finished reading through Exodus and two passages from Exodus 35-36 struck me:

Exodus 35:21 (NIV)
21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.

I love this passage about giving. There is no guilt. There is no shame. There is compulsion. There's no heart wrenching presentation. Moses tells the people what they need. The people respond by filling the need.

If you continue to read you find that each person / family brings something different. Some are bringing cloth, some bring gold, some bring gems, but everyone is bringing something and everyone brings what is unique to them.

It gets better. The story continues:

Exodus 36:2–7 (NIV)
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.” 6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

I don't know if these words have ever been uttered by any pastor from any pulpit at any point in history. Can you imagine?! No man or woman is to make or bring anything else because what we have is already enough to do all the work.

I think this presents the paradigm with which we see giving. Most of you have heard all the other verses before about God loving a cheerful giver , we won't bring to God an offering that costs us nothing and how God will rebuke the devil for our sake as we give. But what happens when everyone is willing, cheerful and whose heart is moved as they give? There is plenty to go around.

Think about it.

There is one question that has been hitting me hard this week:

If this were my house and I were inviting students into my home, what would I do differently with our systems?

Think about it. If a student was coming to your house, would you treat them differently? What if every student was coming to your house tomorrow night? Would you go about your systems with them differently? What would change? What would stay the same?

I'll say this, there are many systems in The Factory that are changing. We're inviting students into God's house. It should be one of the greatest homes they've ever visited.

Worship in modern evangelicalism is one that is constantly evolving. In fact, worship has almost become a sub-genre complete with its own idiosyncrasies and mannerisms. Worship looks different depending on the church, the city, the band and the style. Yet, one of the many places where worship seems "to drift" is in regards to maintaining biblical worship.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting on the soapbox that so many have before, which only leads to the place where we can all say, "We don't want to be a first century church. They met in homes and in the synagogues (no one has gone there in a while). They were hunted down and murdered." No one is striving for this. I'm also know that we are talking about contextualizing a 1st century message to a 21st century world. None of that is what I'm speaking of.

As I've had a chance to be a part of many services of many different styles and many different locations, I have found that there are times where things occur within the service that have no biblical context and yet are celebrated as certainly godly. The long line of saints that have responded in this way shows the authenticity of the Christian experience.

Here's what I know. If not kept within the pages of the Scriptures, worship can go to the dogs (literally). It can also go to the birds, lions and the shakes. All of which I'm sure happened with the best intentions by really great people.

Yesterday with our students, we had an opportunity to outline and give some guidance as to where the youth ministry will head and how it will keep its bearings in the future. We read 1 Corinthians 12-14 (understanding the book of Acts) and used this as the baseline by which we guide all future worship experiences (and we've had some good ones! Healings of a brain and a broken foot. Verifiable peeps!).

Would be curious on your perspective. Feel free to comment below.

It's 11:30. I can't sleep. I'm just too excited and can't "come down" from what God is doing in this generation and what He is doing in The Factory. Tonight, we had some fun, but more than that, we encountered God. Here are some reasons why I'm excited:

1. Incredible Leadership. First and foremost, I need to give HUGE props to our Adult Leaders and our Interns. Our Adult Leaders are unrelenting. Fantastic! Words can't describe our Interns. In the short amount of time we've had with them, they have changed the game for us.
2. Love for the Scriptures. Our students are loving the Scriptures more and more. As we spend time in books and build our series around studies of the Bible, it is beginning to connect. Can't help but smile as the Scriptures "stick" with students.
3. Untamable Worship. Someone called us "the crazies" tonight. I (and we) took it as a compliment. What God is doing is a lot more than emotionalism and hype. Even on "down" times, our students are unloading during worship. Lead a generation. Reach a generation.
4. Prayer Meetings on Campuses. We continue to see great results from campus prayer meetings. God is doing work on local campuses and our students are leading the way!
5. The Floor is Falling Out. I've shared with many of our students and leaders that it feels like we are leaning over the edge of a cliff and are about to take the leap off. God is preparing us for something HUGE!
   

Every year, I try to set this goal: read 50 books. I while back I heard that during his presidency, President Bush would read 100 books a year (let's not get political with this). My understanding was that if the president could read 100 books in a year, then surely I could do half that at least.

Each year, I set out to do so, and for the past couple years, I have gotten closer. This year however, I took a bit of a step back. Let's just say that having a son, changed my schedule a bit. However, some have asked which books I read this year or ones I could recommend. Here are the ones I dug into. As you can tell, some of the books I read revolve around upcoming series (i.e. the sex books in the beginning). Others are given to me or are ones I'm reading with groups.

If you have questions about any, I'd be happy to help.

What’s Wrong With The World by G.K. Chesterton
Sexual Integrity by Edwin Louis Cole
Sex is Not the Problem (Lust is) by Joshua Harris
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ by Various Authors
Pocket Guide to the Afterlife by Jason Boyett
Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin
The Screwtape Letter by C.S. Lewis
The Noticer by Andy Andrews
Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni
The Walking Dead Compendium Vol. 1
Forgotten God by Francis Chan
The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel
Apostolic Foundations by Arthur Katz
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell
Power Through Prayer by E.M. Bounds
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
Father Fiction by Donald Miller
11 by Leonard Sweet
Primal by Mark Batterson
Chazown by Craig Groeschel
Permission to Speak Freely by Anne Jackson
Worldliness edited by C.J. Mahaney

For years, my friends Chris Smith and Sean Silverii have told me to read book by Andy Stanley. For years I agreed with them. Up until now, I have yet to do anything about it. When I attended Catalyst this year, I was so impressed with what he said, how he said and how he operated that to begin 2011, I wanted to pick his brain. My first such picking was Communicating for a Change (CFAC).

Seven Imperatives to Irresistible Communication

1. Determine Your Goal
2. Pick a Point
3. Create a Map
4. Internalize the Message
5. Engage Your Audience
6. Find Your Voice
7. Start All Over

CFAC is written a lot like a book from Patrick Lencioni. The first 1/3 of the book is a fable to open and connect audience to the concept as well as introduce the points. The following 2/3 of the book is the specific application of the points and opportunity for the you the reader to do so as well.

As I began reading CFAC, I was immediately met with what Andy knew would happen. Anytime a communicator is presented with an alternate form of communication, the first response is to say "I don't do it that way" and then to ignore the rest. Knowing that communication is a primary task of my job and a place of constant improvement, I kept on. Especially as he encouraged the reader to "Find Your Voice", I couldn't help but be encouraged with what he shared. It wasn't so much about modifying the style of each speaker (though that probably has happened). It was about rallying the speaker around the goal (in Andy's case: Life Change).

For those of you who communicate, I couldn't recommend this book more. Not so that you change the way you communicate, but so you can improve how you communicate. If you communicate regularly, pick it up.

One of my favorite quotes:

“Our approach to communicating should be shaped by our gal in communicating.” Andy Stanley, Communicating for a Change, pg. 93

There area two quotes recently that have rocked my world pretty good. The first comes from Perry Noble: "Hear from God. Do what He says." The next, came by way of Matt Chandler.



I'm currently reading Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley. In nearly every way, I agree with Andy. I think the problem becomes (and one he'll address soon), when I Justin, try to become him, Andy.

As Matt Chandler said, most young pastors find somebody who is working and follow them. It's just as easy for me to translate that to youth ministry with any number of guys I know who is doing well. If you read by blog on Modern Youth Ministry Myths, you've seen that there a billion ways to do youth ministry. None of that matters.

What matter is when God tells me Justin to do something, I fulfill what He has called me to do. Not like Andy. Not like Perry. Not like Brad. Not like Chris. Not like Jesse. Not like Sean. Like Justin.

Fulfill YOUR ministry.
Hear from God. Do what He says.

If you have followed this blog for any amount of time, you are aware of the Media Fast. In fact, you may remember the following posts (here, here, here and here). The Media Fast has been one of the most beneficial disciplines in my walk with Christ. Annually, in the Student Ministry, we try to set aside two times in the year where we can dedicate ourselves to such efforts. For those of you who don't know, it looks a little something like this:

1. Care out time daily for Bible reading, prayer and worship.
2. Worship music exclusively.
3. Books that focus on the pursuit of God.
4. Quality time for life with each other.
5. If you don't absolutely need the electronic device for work or school, turn it off and put it down.

As this has been an integral part of the student ministry for years, this month it became a part of how our church does life. It was phenomenal. I could write for days and days about what God has done. Brought families together. Healed relationships. God sharing vision. God healing people. Countless people being filled with the Holy Spirit. New anticipation and expectation for services. I could go on and on and on, but I think one thing stands out. First things became first.

We're an interesting people. We look for something to fill "the space." Silence = emptiness and we yearn for each part of our day to be filled with something. At stoplights, we try to "squeeze" something in (email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Push notifications make sure that we don't miss anything. This things that once were deemed "freeing" by speed and availability have now hung milestones over our heads in which it's hard to break from our media dependence. And the things that should get the time (God, family, friends), instead get the leftovers.

I don't know a person who at the end of their life said that life was worth living because they watched this show, posted this picture, checked-in to this restaurant, commented on this status, was mentioned by this person or saw that thing on TV. Instead, most of the best moments of life are lived with and around people.

The Media Fast pulls us from junk and puts us where we belong and where we began with God. It also reconnects us with those that matter most when all the stuff isn't included.

Here it is, 300 blog posts. I definitely did not see this day coming. With all that could have been and all that should have been, hopefully we'll see this blog get to 1000.

The Miami Heat have received more praise, attention and focus for having done nothing than any team in history. The combination of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James brings with it the understanding that they will do something. As of now, they haven't done anything yet (in fact they lost their opening game last night).

As I thought on that yesterday, I couldn't help but think of how that translates to church leadership. Not that we are out trying to make "The Three Kings" or "The Big Three" in any of our churches, but the ways in which we allow potential to be worth more than actual work.

We've been sharing with our students from the book of Nehemiah over the past couple of months and chapters 2-3 were interesting to me. As Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he rallied the people to build. As it reads:

Nehemiah 2:18 (ESV)
18 And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

When we read further we see:

Nehemiah 3:5 (ESV)
5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

Everyone signs up for big vision. Everyone signs up for potential.

"The wall is broken but we're going to fix it! We're going to become a valued city again! We're going to restore what is ours! We shouldn't have to be like this." That along with our best Howard Dean impression. The potential is there.

Then it comes building time. Some would not stoop to serve the Lord.

What happens if Dwayne Wade is hurt? What happens if Chris Bosh is hurt? What happens if Lebron James is hurt? What happens when they don't play well? What happens when they lose more games than they should? What happens when they don't win more than 72 games and aren't the Michael Jordan Bulls? We've put all this energy, effort and "decision" into something that hasn't happened yet.

Can we pride ourselves on an idea? Or do we pride ourselves on seeing that idea fulfilled. The greatest day in Nehemiah's life is not the vision in Babylon while working for the king. It's not the four months of praying and fasting for God to fulfill that vision. It's not his arrival in Jerusalem. It's not rallying the troops. It's not the building of the wall. It's the fulfillment of all those things:

There are many perspectives on what makes modern youth ministry. Games. Activities. Camps. Retreats. Services. Graphics. Logos. Offerings. Food. Food. Food. Sex Talk. On and on we could go.

One of my youth leaders, Aimee Short, sent me the following story. I thought it was great! Here you go.10 Lessons Learned From 25 Years of Ministry
By Rev. Bill Shuler
Published October 15, 2010
| FoxNews.com

[Disclaimer: you may find through the discourse of said blog that the video above has little or nothing to do with the content of the blog. Other than the song title, inspiration and general concept.]

As I was away at Catalyst this week, I had one of those thoughts that is a constant, but took on new meaning. Here it is:

I entered into a contest while at Catalyst. Votes can be cast here. Check out this video below and make it happen!

Hope Community Church | Springfield, MO from AG Financial Solutions on Vimeo.

Last night I had a dream that I lost a lion named Simba after a Rambo style conflict which involved foreigns foes and other lions as well. Following the aftermath, he was too far-gone to hear my voice and return. Rachel told me that I "shouldn't have let him go out so far on his own." After deciding to find him, I grabbed my M60 and then returned to find my lion. "SIMBA!"

140 characters, nor a company with a new CEO can handle that.

Many students are finding life hard to balance. School. Sports. Clubs. Homework. Trips. Events. Friends. Family. Boyfriend / Girlfriend. Hobbies. Fun. Work. Sleep. Repeat.

Recently, my friend Mike McGarvey, shared in his newsletter a thought that both of us reflected upon while serving together.