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Rock Our Souls

I have been planning for this weekend for longer that I thought I was.

This weekend the Heights Youth Ministry at Arlington Heights UMC where I am blessed to be the Director of Youth Ministry is having a retreat at our church for our youth to deepen in their faith, their identity in Christ, and their call to live a full life in love and grace. The actual retreat have been on my mind ever since I started at Arlington Heights.

Teenagers need an experience away from school, family, and stress of life to focus completely on God. We all need that, but it is crucial to have that experience in your adolescence, because these experiences ground you in the only identity that you should concern yourself with.

I am additionally blessed that I have the pleasure to lead this retreat with a co-speaker, Jason Weaver, my best friend, my brother in arms. We have always dreamed what it would be like to do ministry together and this weekend we finally get to experience what crazy ministry God is going to do. Even more so our worship team is a team of two of my other brother in arms. Joseph Cisneroz and Timothy Miler. It’s a scary thought the four of us together, but nonetheless I am excited.

Personal moment over.

What I need from you is prayers. We have over 15 students coming to stay with us this weekend from Arlington Heights and I want you to pray for them consistently through the weekend. Pray for them to cast aside all distractions and to focus completely on God and God alone this weekend. Pray that God rocks our souls with His mighty love and grace and that through that they cement their identity in God.

It’s going to be amazing to see what God does in us, through us, and thankfully in spite of us.

Amen.

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Don’t Pull A Homer

 

When I was younger and even now I was a big fan of a certain TV show, The Simpsons. The Simpsons have been on television since December of 1989, for the majority of my life. For those of you who do not know the Simpson are an interesting family. Homer and Marge Simpson are the parents and they have three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. As I have grown in age my love for the show hasn’t changed but I have. Homer is one of comedic aspects of the show, but as I have grown older this character has become somewhat of a cultural norm for us.

Homer is what the world expects of us. He is who we are comfortable being, or maybe not. I am not comfortable with my life being like Homers. So, today we are going to analyze who Homer is, where he is going, and why he is going there and through this we will see hopefully that there is a better way.

A week in the life of Homer J. Simpson is a bleak one. He drinks, a lot, goes to work which is pretty much a joke to him which is quite telling, because Homer works at a Nuclear Power Plant, where if he pushes the wrong button the whole community could have a nuclear explosion. When he is not at work he is at the Bar, Moe’s Tavern where he is drinking with his buddies, usually coming up with a terrible scheme to get more money or fame, which always ends badly.

To answer the question Homer isn’t really going anywhere and being anyone.

Hey, from our end its funny. Sort of, until this becomes our life.

Parents, how many of y’all want your kids to grow up to be a Homer? Not many of you. The most telling of this entire thing is Homer goes to church, but you wouldn’t be able to tell, because he is like many of the current state of the church. Not transformed. Just present in a pew, physically present anyway.

His life is not changed however by his presence at church because He is not really there. His being at church is not a decision on his part but one where Marge, his wife has said we are going to church. Going to church doesn’t make you a disciple just like a car just being a garage makes it a GTO. Our lives are not changed by a presence of osmosis, but by a decision, a commitment, a covenant with God.

God wants so much for us, so much more abundance and we see Christmas’ go by every year and we set New Years resolution and fail them time and time again. Jesus wasn’t bored to tears in heaven; His coming may the most intentional creation that God has done in the history of everything. He meticulously designed this great moment and has been leading to this moment and every part of this moment screams to all of creation who God really is or more importantly who He is not!

He chooses Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, Wise people from across the world and a stable to reveal Himself to the world. All will be a part of this story and in this very action God is saying all are welcome in my kingdom and in this abundant life.

Mary today is possibly the best image for what we do now. “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.”

No negotiations, no complaints, just faith and surrender. I am sure she thought of all the doubts, the concerns, and all that would happen.

Mary continues on in verse 46 by praising God:

“Mary said, “With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior. He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant. Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored because the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. He shows mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next, who honors him as God. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations. He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, just as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.””

Listen to something similar from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement:

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven.  Amen.

Who are you and I? We are Gods children, we are no longer slaves to fear and doubt but at our core we belong to God and He to us.

Where are we going? Where He leads us and we are going there because He is good and worthy of our trust and faith.

Don’t let this season of renewal in Christ go by without saying Yes to the life that God deeply wants for you, so much that He gave His own Son. Let us transformed from the inside out so that through us we can partner with God in transforming the world.

Don’t just exist in the life that God has for you, LIVE that LIFE with ABUNDANCE.

Amen.

 

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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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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!