full life

i have been trying to think through john 10:10 the past few months.  i am constantly attempting to answer the question, “what does it mean to have live and have it to the full?”  i believe that full life is the greatest “marketing” asset the church has to offer creation, possibly as enticing as salvation (though, i find them to be extremely intertwined with one another).  i believe this full life to be a call to return to a way of life we were originally intended to live.

(note:when i first typed the paragraph above i wrote “has to offer people.”  i believe that to be lacking the holistic purpose of having full life.  i believe full life includes the rest of creation.)

i have erroneously or immaturely believed for many years of my youth that the church’s primary responsibility was to “save people.”  we were to deliver and offer the gift of salvation and eternal life provided to humanity through the person of Jesus Christ.  the gift was given from the Father and it’s giving and the methods which we chose to deliver that gift were guided by the Holy Spirit.  as a youth worker i believe this to be a major purpose of my ministry.  however, i believe my ministry ceases to effectively move persons beyond a salvation experience into the “full life” we promise they’ll experience post-salvation.  doug fields, in his book purpose driven youth ministry, hints at this same idea in the first few chapters of his book (i’ll find the quote later).

recently, though, i have discovered that my understanding of post-salvation experience life or what i would call discipleship is very narrow.  it consists of reading your bible, prayer, telling people about your following of Jesus, and like activities.  our youth program is in the process of creating opportunities to help “disciple” kids by getting them reading the scriptures, praying, and practicing other spiritual disciplines.  but when i read genesis 1 i recognize how narrow my potential  methods of discipleship are.  

salvation provides us the opportunity to reunite with God’s intended purpose.  discipleship is becoming like  Jesus Christ, in that we are reclaiming the purpose for which we were created as, both as individuals and a collection of individuals.  the intended purpose, as stated in genesis 1, is to “fill the earth,” “subdue it (earth),” and “rule over…every living creature.”  

i think a handful of results flowing out of this filling, subduing, and ruling of earth are the creation of cities, farming, education,  soccer (that’s not a joke), solar energy, sewage systems, and ipods.  to paint with a broader brush, creating culture and living in healthy community are aspects of our job description God gives us in genesis 1.  

if the ministry i am apart of continues to function as an entity of the body that simply provides students the salvific experience that is the foundation of full life we are cheating our students.  the question i have been asking myself lately is “how do we not cheat our students out of full life that Jesus came to give?”  how do we invite them into a lifestyle that fills, subdues, and rules the earth in a manner that glorifies God?  how do we help kids discover that the Christian life (that full life Jesus was talking about) isn’t JUST about prayer and reading the bible (though that’s a critical element of it)?  how do we invite them into reclaiming their intended purpose?  how do we assist them in discovering how they are apart of this filling, subduing, and ruling over the earth?  how do we teach them that the engineer, doctor, and trash man are all equally involved with filling, subduing, and ruling the earth?  how can a discipleship program introduce students to a more holistic understanding of full life?  how do we move students beyond salvation and into full life?

this blog is messy, i know.  but most of my thoughts are.

the joys of working with youth

i woke up to a scene of white in my front yard.  after quickly reminding myself that i no longer lived in ohio and that even if i did it is currently june and snow would not be on the ground, i discovered the white material covering the lawn and my car was toilet paper.  it only took about 45 minutes to clean up the “snowflakes” that blanketed the lawn.  the students thought it would be exceptionally effective to shred the small sheets of paper before dispersing them on the dew filled lawn, and it was.

i cannot complain though.  i can recall many a nights i spent vandalizing…uh, i mean loving on my youth pastors home with such tactics.  karma sucks!

francis chan on ohio

the church that francis chan works at planted a church in ohio.  two members of the church that assisted in planting it are now being sent out to be missionaries.  a few weeks ago francis was talking about the two of them moving to ohio and now being sent out internationally.  here are a few of his words about them and about ohio:

“the thing i’ve appreciated about you guys is that when you are here doing your deal you’re content with whatever the Lord wanted them to do.  i remember visiting them out in their house in ohio.  i don’t know if you guys (the church congregation) have been to ohio….but yeah, there’s no point.  it’s not like ‘oh you got to go see it!’  it’s more like, ‘no you don’t.’  it’s…it’s…it’s ohio.  i remember being at your house and it had rained for like five or six weeks straight….and they had contentment.”

dedicate

i have decided to rededicate myself to blogging.  i had taken an unplanned hiatus from blogging due to my schedule.  although, i think it is quite simple to plan 15 minutes every other day to jot down a note or two.  so thus begins my reinstatement as, at the very least, a weekly blogger.

first set

i am saving up to purchase my first set of bible commentaries.  i have two volumes of the new interpreters bible commentary set, isaiah – ezekiel and genesis – leviticus.  i enjoy those two volumes when i can.  does anyone have a recommendation on a solid commentary series?

pentecost

this past sunday marked the day of pentecost in the Christian church.  i think the lack of celebration or discussion about it could liken it to such american holidays as earth day, groundhog’s day, and arbor day.  i am surprised at how “un-celebrated” this day is on Christian calendars, in sermons, and among the community of believers.  it is, after all, the day the disciples were “baptized with the Holy Spirit, (acts 1:5).  maybe the phrase “baptism with the Holy Spirit” causes most denominations to stray from speaking about it because who wants to be associated with charismatics? (that was sarcasm for all you charismatics that feel offended.)  anyway, random thought of the day.

heart of the father

i have a couple of friends traveling the united states on motorcycles.  they are interviewing pastors of churches in every state to see how God is working big picture in america.  they record podcasts of the interviews for people to listen to during their trip.  if you want to listen to the podcasts search “the usa motorcycle trip” in the itunes store.

a couple of weeks ago they did an interview with the lead pastor of crossroads community church in winfield kansas.  i have listened to this interview, in its entirety, about three different times.  i have not stopped thinking about what it would look like for me to have this kind of heart for people.  here’s a quote from part of the interview.

“in a town like ours there are cool churches to go to, and we weren’t one of them.  and yet i was so convinced, as humble and as weak as (our church) is in it’s appearance…the whole heart of the father…the heart of the father has nothing to do with cool or trendy.  the heart of the father is not trendy. the heart of the father is this love that sent Jesus to the cross and it beats for every street and every forgotten person in every town on the face of the planet.  

there were days that i wanted to be a cool church.  there were days that i wanted to have what other people had.  but the motive for that…was because i wanted to be associated with the cool thing.

 i felt like the Lord kept saying (to me), ‘you don’t get it. i love these people.’  and when jesus stood in luke 4 and says ‘i have come.  the father has anointed me for a purpose, and that’s to preach the gospel to the poor, to go to the broken and to the lost and the separated and and the forgotten, and to tell them, the father has come for you.’”

magic

i can do magic.

extravagant

i have been listening to a song by casting crowns a few times a day for the past week.  i thought i would share some of the lyrics.  the song is titled “your love is extravagant.”

your love is extravagant
your friendship, it is intimate

i feel i am moving to the rhythm of your grace
your fragrance is intoxicating in a secret place

your love is extravagant

update

i have not written a significantly lengthy post lately.  if any of you have read my blogs with any type of regularity you will notice that i often write in spurts.  i will become crazed with blogging for two or three weeks writing at least a blog a day. or i can write one or two blogs in a month, neither of which have any depth in their ideas (lets be honest, rarely do any of my blogs have depth).

here is a brief update on what’s going on in my life:

my third quarter at fuller is slowly winding down.  i can honestly say it has better equipped me for Jesus following.  thinking back on where i was a year ago today (helping keep afloat the high school ministries at parkcrest while they were pastor searching), and i realize that i didn’t have the dang-dest clue to what i was doing.  i think this is an admission that i, as a youth worker, am supposed to hold internally until the age of 50 when i finally, sort of understand what i am doing.  however, i cannot help but be frank and transparent.  i had no clue, and i am slowly beginning to understand and grasp what it means to do leadership.

i am working at a church in long beach with junior and high school students.  i really enjoy the students here.  the church is quite different than what i am accustomed to, but it is great to learn to function and appreciate the diversity within the body of Christ.  it is quite interesting how the forms of church are often understood as being the church.  the stark contrast between the forms of church in my upbringing and current place of service help bring that to light.

i am still, above all, attempting and striving to be a Jesus follower.  this is the pursuit that is most important in my life (at least in theory).  the older i become, the more aware i become of the room for growth and maturity.  i have been meditating on a passage from philippians 3 the past few months.  i do not believe i can identify with the intensity of the words the apostle paul wrote here.  whether i mean them “as much” as paul did or not, i am overwhelmingly grateful for Christ, and i will (with the work of the Holy Spirit) continue to press on as a flawed and imperfect person to what Christ has called me.

“i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake i have lost all things. i consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. i want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. not that i have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but i press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. brothers, i do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. but one thing i do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, i press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”