The Way

Last night in youth I taught from John 14:1-6. We’re in a series that I’m calling “Who Is Jesus?” The answers we are looking for are found in specific instances were Jesus stated. “I am the ...” Last week we looked at “I Am the Vine” and last night was “I Am the Way.”

I know that it’s not considered sensitive to other religions, but Jesus in this passage leaves no wiggle room. He states unequivocally, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV). If you believe what Jesus taught (which I do), then he makes it clear that there is only one way to be with God, and that’s him.

To clarify, we don’t make it to heaven by just following Jesus’ teachings, we don’t make it by being a overall good person, we don’t even make it by selling everything we have and working for the oppressed. We make it by having a relationship with “the way.”

As I was in my Bible this morning, my reading brought me to Proverbs 10:29. “The way of the Lord is a refuge for the righteous, but it is the ruin of those who do evil” (NIV). I thought it was fitting. There is no doubt that Christ is a refuge for his people, and sadly for many, he will be the ruin of all that reject him.

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Book Review - Steering Through Chaos

This book review gets a nice introductory story to go with it. At the beginning of this year I seemed on a roll in winning free things. I won a free iPhone app, an ebook of my choice from O'Reily Media, a book by Scott Wilson, and then a book by Margaret Feinberg. For the Scott Wilson book, my name was mentioned in a live interview as having won a copy and I replied to confirm it, but my name was never listed on the Web site as being a winner. I assumed that there had been some mistake. A few days later I had an opportunity to get a free copy of the book by agreeing to blog about it, something I already do with books from Multnomah. Since it appeared that I wasn't getting the free copy I thought I had won, I signed up for a copy to review. The very day I signed up to review it my free copy arrived. I tried to email and cancel the other book, but a few days later it arrived. So, I will do something that I haven't done for awhile. I will give away the second copy free. Just post a comment on this and I will randomly select a winner next Thursday.

My Thoughts
Great book. That was easy. I know this type of book isn't for everyone as it is primarily written for pastors and those in church leadership, but it is definitely worth reading. The book deals with the various things that we are going to face as we attempt to lead a church through change. It discusses ways of getting people on board, dealing with the struggles that arise, keeping yourself from burning out, and how to communicate. Not only that, but it goes into depth on why we need to prepare for change in advance of actually needing the change. It's a challenging read and you come away from it both thinking "I hope I never have to go through that" and "I need to prepare for this." Some books I read and then I don't mind getting rid of them. This is one of those books though that will become one of my reference books, something that I can refer to from time to time.

For full disclosure, I met Scott at a minister's conference that he taught at. He spoke on the topic that he covers in this book. So my review comes out of both reading the book, hearing him teach on it, and having the opportunity to talk to him. That, and he gave me a free copy of his previous book because I jokingly questioned his ability to teach us. Yes, making fun of the speaker before he teaches sometimes scores you free stuff.

You can read the first chapter of the book for free at www.scribd.com.

I've also embedded a YouTube vide below where Scott discusses the book. It's worth watching. I don't know if Facebook notes will pull in the video or not. If you don't see it, you can either see it on my blog or on YouTube itself.

And don't forget a comment could win you a free book. Show a little comment love if you can.



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Good Morning!

Continuing a thought from yesterday, I really believe that God wants to change things in our lives. In this, sometimes He points out the problem or the change He desires, and then we have to begin working on it. For me it’s my mornings. God wants them. The struggle resides in the fact that I’m a night owl. The hours after 10 PM are my wide awake time of the day. Yet, I’ve sensed for quite some time the need to be awake and spending time with Him early in the morning. I think it’s something that needs changed.

So I’ve prayed and asked the Lord to help me, resolved within myself to actually get up and do it, and finally I got someone to check on me. I’m a big believer in community. We were not created to be lone rangers of faith. We are to help and receive help from other believers. To that end, I decided to do something crazy. I asked for a student volunteer in my youth ministry to check on me, and one of my awesome young ladies said she would do it. For two mornings in a row now, she has called my cell phone as she gets ready for to school to make sure that I am awake. I know that she reads this and I want to say a big “thank you.” I was wondering if she would chicken out but she didn’t. I’m sure calling her youth pastor early in the morning isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but she’s doing it.

I’m no where near perfect, but I try to model authentic faith to my students. In this situation, I’m hoping that they will see two things. First, that there are always things that God wants to work on in our lives. Second, that we will always need other believers to help us and, in the same breath, we need to be willing to do the same in return.

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Permission to Prune

Last night in our youth service I taught from John 15:1-8. In it Jesus describes himself as a vine, us as the branches, and God the Father as the gardner. The passage has some serious implications if you ponder the truth that God completely cuts away branches that don’t bear any fruit. Serious implications as these branches are described as then being thrown into the fire.

While I dealt with that, the main emphasis was the second part. We are told that those that bear fruit can expect God to prune their lives so that they can bear even more fruit. I headed to Wikipedia* to learn a little more about pruning. Here’s the relevant portion I found.

“[Pruning] usually entails removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, or otherwise unwanted tissue from a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots.”

Pruning is getting rid of the all the junk in a plant that hinders it from reaching it’s full potential. I like the two aspects presented. Some of the material removed can be diseased which in turn could destroy the the entire plant. Other items removed may not necessarily be harmful, but definitely not productive.

If we examine our lives, we will find that God is wanting to do the same thing in us. Often times we’ve allowed things into our lives that are harmful. Sometimes it’s things we even enjoy. Yet, if we are to follow Christ we must allow God to prune these things away. In the same vein, sometimes there are things that come into our lives that are not necessarily wrong, but they can begin to consume us. Sometimes God will choose to prune these things out of our lives as well. And, to let you in on a little secret, I don’t think most people enjoy being pruned. It’s hard to hear the Lord’s whisper telling us to change something. It’s hard to have the Lord direct us away from things we enjoy. It’s hard to hear him say “No.”

I guess what it comes down to is an issue of trust. Do we really believe that God knows what’s best? If we really do, we can honestly say, “Even though it hurts Lord, please prune away at the junk in my life.” Not always easy, but so necessary.


*For the intellectual purists I’d like to mention that I know Wikipedia can be hit or miss on the accuracy of their information. While I wouldn’t trust it when writing a thesis, I do trust it enough to gain some insights on a subject as simple as pruning.

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Book Review - Start Here

The book review for today is "Start Here" by Alex & Brett Harris.

My Thoughts
"Start Here" is a companion book to the Harris brothers book "Do Hard Things", so it is probably best read after reading the first book. Full disclosure, I haven't read "Do Hard Things". I have worked with some curriculum based off of it and from my understanding, the book is a challenge to teenagers to use their teen years doing hard things for God. It's calling youth to rise above mediocrity and culture's low expectations of them. I think "Do Hard Things" answers the question of why teens should be choosing to live this way. "Start Here" then answers the question of how do I get started. Put another way, it doesn't ignite the desire to do hard things, but helps those that have already had that desire ignited get started on their journey. While this book can be read on its own, I think it makes a lot more sense to read it after having read "Do Hard Things".

As for the book itself, I think it offers a lot of practical advice for teens that want to do a little something more in this world than simply hang out at the mall and play video games. The book covers such topics as finding God's will, getting help from others, and what to do when you get overwhelmed. I particularly liked the section that dealt with how to handle yourself when people start complimenting you. Pride is such an easy thing to fall into and I'm glad that it was addressed. Another important area that is covered is the possibility that a teen might try something hard for God and it might not work out.

One nice feature is that peppered throughout the book are true stories from teens that have already taken up the challenge. Hearing the tales of youth that have accepted the challenge and then accomplished something is surely an encouragement for anyone else considering doing similar.

So my final conclusion is that it is a worthwhile book for your teenager to read, but it really only makes sense to read it after you've read "Do Hard Things".

Publisher's Info
At the age of eighteen, Alex and Brett Harris wrote Do Hard Things—and launched a movement that would change a generation. Young people around the world were ready to be inspired, ready to move beyond complacency, ready to rebel against society’s low expectations.

Now the highly anticipated companion book, Start Here, answers the questions Alex and Brett have received from thousands of teens on their worldwide conference tour and popular online community: How do I get started? What hard things does God want me to do? How do I keep from getting discouraged or burned out? What is the best way to inspire others?

Filled with stories and insights from Alex, Brett, and other real-life rebelutionaries, Start Here is a powerful and practical guide for young people who are ready to take the next step and blast past apathy. Let the rebelution continue.

Authors Bio
Alex and Brett Harris are the coauthors of the best-selling book Do Hard Things, which they wrote at age eighteen. Today the twins speak regularly to audiences of thousands on The Rebelution Tour, maintain a hugely popular online presence through their blog, TheRebelution.com, and have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and in the New York Times. Raised in Portland, Oregon, the brothers currently attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia.


My favorite place to buy books is Amazon and you can find the book there. Or of you are inclined, you can find out more about it from the Random House web site.

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah, a division of Random House.

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The Truth Hurts

Tomorrow night will be the last night of our youth ministry's Dating & Sex series. Without a doubt this is the one series that seems to turn youth against me. Youth that laughed and loved me suddenly have a chill in their attitude. Not outright hatred, but a cooling of the relationship. I look back over my years in youth ministry and this has always been the topic that does it. My best guess is that what I preach hits far too close to home and they don't like it. I believe everything that I teach is Biblical concerning the subject. Popular? No. The truth? Yes. What bothers me is not the fact that I get the cold shoulder, but that they're rejecting the truth.

Let me share a word with any of my students that might stumble across this. I love you more than you even realize. I love you enough that I promise to always share the truth with you, even if it hurts sometimes. How could I call myself your friend and do anything less? My only alternative is to lie to you, but then I wouldn't really be your friend.