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On The Road Again

It’s the summer so very frequently the song, “On the Road again,” occasionally goes through my head. This time it goes through my head as the month of June is coming to close with another mission trip.

After all its mission trip season.

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Mission Trip.

The time and experience where God shows us just how powerful he truly is. It’s during these that the above quote is truly heard and realized.

It truly also is a time where this scripture is realized for me as a youth minister.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Teenagers get a really bad rap. A really bad one. The truth is that sometimes Teens are better ministers and pastors than adults. Something amazing happens through them on mission trips. So, in response to that I have a simple request.

As the Middle School Students and Adults from St. Philip’s United Methodist Church travel to Winnie, TX please keep us in your prayers. Pray that we have an open mind and heart to what God will do through us this weekend!

Above all else pray that God is glorified through our actions!

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What We Stand For.

“The United Methodist Church believes God’s love is an active and engaged love, a love seeking justice and liberty.  We cannot be just observers.  So we care enough about people’s lives to risk interpreting God’s love, to take a stand, to call each of us into a response, no matter how controversial or complex.” (Book of Resolutions, Page 27).

This past week I had the amazing opportunity to be in mission with 1600+ of my fellow methodorks (also known as Methodists). We canvassed the entire state of Arkansas and parts of Southern Missouri and help various clients around the towns in those areas by doing some light construction work, yard work, cleaning, and sometimes just hang out with some of the coolest we will ever meet.

During the week we took excerpts from the text above. It is what I believe to be a core belief of not just the United Methodist Church but for the Universal Christian Church! If we said to love Christ with all we have then all this text should be seen in our lives.

At our living center we ended the week of worship with me prosing a question to them.

If you love Jesus and your life doesn’t show it then what good is your “love for Jesus?”

It’s a gut check for sure but one I think we all need to analyze ourselves and honestly deal with this question, because if we don’t then what good is our life.

Cause a life without is Christ in my estimation is a life not worth living, because Christ gives us the tools to “live life and live it abundantly.” So, ask yourself. Do your beliefs reflect in the way you live?

If your human and I expect that you are then there are times when you don’t live up to what you believe, that is where Christ comes in. That is the principal reason behind his sacrifice. He loved us so much that He even though He knew we wouldn’t live up to our beliefs, so he went the extra mile, because of His great love.

But.

If you are not actively trying then I believe you are wasting time. Our lives are a wisp in the wind so we can’t wait to really live our life. We have to do it now!

As a Disciple of Jesus Christ who just happens to be a United Methodist I stand for the following:

An active and engaged love.
To seek justice and liberty.
To not be a observer but an active participant, because there is no spectators in the Body of Christ.
Because we care enough about others lives to risk taking a stand, by responding NOW!

No matter what!

So, what do you stand for?

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The Moves We Make

Yesterday my worship leader, Jo-Jo Cramer went with me to visit some of the worksites. As we enter the house of which one of our work teams, the Leopards were painting the inside of the house and as I walked deeper into the house I heard something.

Every move I make I make in you…..

How fitting! The youth of the work team were singing the verses of “Every Move I Make.” As they were painting the inside of this house a beautiful yellow color they were singing with every stroke of this paint brush I am moving the love and grace and Jesus Christ into the wood of this house.

It was a supreme God moment.

This is why I love working with teenagers because they do amazing stuff like that.

Those teenagers ministered to me in that moment in such a powerful way that some of them may not realize. I realized in that moment a  part of the REAL being of God. Who He REALLY is.

That my friends is power, and is making a difference, and can and will change the world.

Every night at worship this week we have been sharing, “God Moments.” As we continue through our week I will be sharing some of those God moments because they are everywhere. I challenge you today to be mindful of what is going on around you and look for God in all things!

 

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Summer Lovin….

There is one constant during the summer with Youth Ministry, its constantly moving! A day after coming home from Annual Conference my brain must shift from Annual Conferencing to CTCYM. Tomorrow many of us in leadership at living centers will leave the great state of Texas for our destination. We will begin getting things ready for the amazing week that God has prepared for us.

So what you can expect this week is daily stories from me on what God is actively doing at the living at Central UMC in Rogers, Arkansas! Some may be blown your mind worthy, others may be solid reminders as to why we do what we do. I look forward to experiencing the spirit of service and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May we all glorify God in all we do!

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Annual Conference Day Two

Sorry for the lateness of this post, but yesterday was a day where my soul was filled with the presence of God all day long! Yesterday was Tuesday and by our tradition at Annual Conference every year this is the day that we listen to final words of the clergy that is retiring this year and Tuesday night we experience many of our colleagues receive commissioning or ordination as a deacon or elder.

I would really like to focus on those two in this post.

The same day that many clergy were hanging up their clergy robe and stoles many were being given theirs. There is something so powerful about that.

One generation passes on the baton if you will. The mission of God is something that is not limited by church buildings, generations, or anything else in this world. The mission is still the same. His mission continues on because the Lord God is the beginning and the end and because of that simple yet amazing truth His mission goes from the beginning to the end as well.

It is very important to mention that God has called us all in service of Him and we are ALL apart of HIS MISSION. We are all his beloved children and we are all ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ. In Colossians 3:17 it says we are all called to do all things whether word or deed in the name of the Lord Jesus.

All things!

That is more than Ordained Ministry that is all ministries!

Doctors, Construction Workers, Lawyers, Computer Programmers, Politicians, EVERYONE IN EVERY FIELD ON THE PLANET.

So no matter who you are and what you do you are called to do whatever you do for God.

So Go! And Do ALL THINGS IN THE NAME OF JESUS!