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Jurassic: Old Habits Die Hard

At First Cleburne Student Ministry we  are officially in Christmas Break with our programming but in just a couple of weeks, we are starting a new sermon series that I am really excited about. On January 6th, we are beginning a three-week emphasis on Habits with a series entitled, Jurassic: Old Habits Die Hard.

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Teenagers have lots of habits, but some habits go way back and they are destructive, so destructive it’s like a T-REX is attacking you spiritually and further separating you from the abundant life in Christ. Each week we will hear a message about a habit that most teenagers can relate to and how we are called to let this habit die.

Week One: Creating Drama – Following our own selfish desires will eventually cause drama in our relationships.

Focus scripture: James 4:1-12

Week Two: Dating to Find Self-Worth – Don’t look to find your identity in a dating relationship, find it in Jesus.

Focus Scripture: John 4:1-30

Week Three: Lying and the Misuse of Social Media – The new life we receive through Jesus should change the way we engage with others in person and online.

Focus Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-32

Additionally, with this series, we will take on a 21 day Habits Challenge. This challenge will involve Adults and Students alike for 21 days, where we will challenge ourselves to daily do the follow things:

1. Hang Time With God – Spending 5-10 minutes reading scripture or spending time in prayer with God.
2. Accountability – Once a week meet with a close friend or mentor and discuss how things are going in your life.
3. Bible Memorization – Make reading and remembering the Word a priority.
4. Involvement – Get involved with the ministries of the church. Help in the office, pray in the prayer room, there is so much you can be doing.
5. Tithe – Give a tithe or a monetary or time-based gift to the church
6. Study Scripture – Pick a scripture and study it over and over and see what God does.

So why is this important and why am I sharing this with you? Simply because prayer works and I believe in its power. So I ask that you pray for all the students of First Cleburne Student Ministries and the Student Ministry Leaders (Staff & Volunteers) as we journey together through this series.

If you are interested in this series and more like it I would highly recommend Ministry Pass. Jurassic is a series that was originally created by them. It’s a great resource!

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Thank You God

Youth Ministry is just like any other job in our world, it has good days, great days, bad days, and awful days. Then you get a day like yesterday, where God shows up and blows you off your feet. I need to rewind back to August right quick to explain what happened yesterday. In August or September, I can’t remember which really we had a Student Leadership Retreat. At these retreats we gather together and put everything on the table for the students to know about, in this case, I showed the team what 2015 – 2016 looked like for the Student Ministries, at First United Methodist Church. Conversations that day were great, we were thinking and re-thinking, but there has always been an event that was hit or miss. Our Student Ministries Christmas Party. Last year at our party we had a whopping 55 students show up and the plan for the right was a progressive dinner and a white elephant gift exchange.

  1. Have you ever done a Progressive Dinner with 14 vehicles? Well, I wouldn’t recommend it.
  2. Have you ever done a white elephant gift exchange with 55 students!? Again, definitely, wouldn’t recommend it.

So, we had a quandary and a good one at that. We had more students than we expected to show up, so it was time to rethink how we celebrate Christmas as a Student Ministry. There are moments in student where I am immensely proud of my students. In response to this Christmas party experience, they decided this year in lieu of receiving gifts to give back to the volunteers of the student ministry. Last night was our Volunteer Ministry Awards Night, our very own VMA’s, and it was filled with great fellowship, a fun game show and incredible worship.

During worship our speaker, Will Whitworth, who is a junior of Cleburne High School said very eloquently this:

“If youth are the hands and feet of Christ and they are as we all are, but volunteers you are the arms and the legs. The hands and feet can’t function without the help of the arms and legs. We are connected in one body.”

What a powerful image of God and the ministry we have been called to do. We are all connected, and while we don’t do all the same things in the community we all connect all these things to the Kingdom. I am beyond blessed to walk the walk of faith with such as these. Thank you, God for all that you have given us and that you, in fact, are Immanuel. You are with us!

Can’t wait for 2016 VMA’s!

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Much More

Today is Thanksgiving. A day of feasting, football, and loads of fun….which leads to some epic napping. Anytime we greet a day we should do so with scripture and today I feel that we need to hear from the Apostle Paul.

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

I have so many great memories of thanksgiving days growing up. Playing football in my grandparents front yard with my family, there is nothing like trash talking with your family on the day we give thanks. The food that we shared together: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, broccoli cheese casserole, and many more. Of course we can’t forget football, that would be very unlike us.

The most treasured memories that I have of this day are of family, friends, and the love that we share in our Lord Jesus Christ. Today is not about food, its not about football, its about gratitude. In this passage we find the Apostle Paul encouraging us to do three things all the time. To rejoice, to pray, and yes to give thanks. What is especially obvious to us is the way he instructs us to give thanks. Give thanks in every situation, that is where it gets interesting and hard.

We have innumerable situations that we find ourselves in, and these situations may cause us to be joyful, frustrated, and even others that bring us pain. Today may be a tender day for you because there are empty seats where someone we loved once sat, and that is sad because they are not with us physically. I won’t get to give my grandmother a hug on thanksgiving again until I meet her in eternal rest and that wears on me, but thanksgiving is about recognizing that we have more than we did yesterday and that those people made us better. Put simply: Our lives our better for simply knowing them.

As I write this I am listening to Kari Jobe’s song, “I know you are for me” and may be that is the best way for us to express what thanksgiving and thanksliving is all about. It’s about recognizing that no matter the situation we find ourselves in God is for us. He is working for good in your life and in my life, always. So, in response to the goodness and love that God is literally breathing into your life.

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

May you experience the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ today and may you not just hold that in, but share it, because this love and this grace is meant and created to be shared with all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Grandma

I wanted to share something that I wrote for my Grandmother’s memorial service. I think it clearly expresses even more what a great woman of God she is.

Hi my name is Bradley Alexander and I am one of Mary K’s grandsons. As I stand here this morning I find it difficult to honor someone that did so much for so many people. Where do you even start? Mary K or Grandma was like a connection magnet. She loved connecting. From early on in her life she was deeply connected with God and his son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior and even was known to say that doing ministry to and with the least of these was a deep connection she had as well and we all have.

She was deeply passionate about her faith and living out that faith. She was actually very passionate about connecting with her family and it was always too soon when we had to depart. Definitely feeling that today. She revitalized our family reunion years ago and it has been going to decades under her leadership. Grandma always loved connecting with people, she just did. She loved being around people at church, teaching Sunday school, being with family on holidays like thanksgiving and christmas.

The deepest that Grandma gave us though was something else entirely. She connected all of us to who she saw us to be. She would always tell me when I lived with Grandma and Granddad while I attended Texas Wesleyan University that I was so capable of doing many great things, it was just about showing up and seeing yourself for who you really are. Before the Texas Rangers ever used the phrase Never Ever Quit Grandma used it frequently by the way she lived her life and loved the people in her life.

Grandma, I love you and thank you for all that you did for me and I promise that I will always seek to do what you taught me. To Love God, To Love People, Speak from the Heart always, and to speak the truth at all times even when it hurts. Even further I promise to follow the recipes as written in our family cookbook.

I love you Grandma!

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A question worth asking, actually two.

On Easter Sunday I will be bringing the message at the Sunrise Service at Edge Park United Methodist Church and that message centers around one question. 


“What if the Resurrection never happened?”


As you can imagine this question is quite loaded, but important for us to ask ourselves all the same. 


“How would our lives be different?” 


If you are close to the DFW area I hope you will consider coming to Edge Park UMC’s Sunrise Service to discuss the previous questions and how even today they affect our very lives. 
Edge Park UMC Sunrise Service
5616 Crowley Rd. 
Fort Worth, TX 76134 
6:30 am