invisible children. read it.

listen.

if you’ve known me for a few years, you know that i am super passionate about a few things. one of those being the invisible children. in short, they are a non-profit organization that is fighting for the people of northern uganda. there has been a war there for 23 years, and it includes the leader of the rebel army kidnapping children from 5-11 years old and forcing them to fight in his army. (girls are also stolen and forced to be wives and mothers to soldiers.) …for more background of the conflict, check this 30 minute video…

the invisible children organization was started by 3 guys in 2003. since then tons has been accomplished, in part due to n 2 peaceful protests, one to end night commuting and one to return the displaced to their homes. 
(while at grace i got to take a group of students to participate in the global night commute. and while in uganda i got to visit displacement camps…)

next month, there’s another peaceful protest: the rescue. this one, clearly, is aimed at rescuing child soldiers who are still held captive in the rebel army. the approach is creative and powerful.

and we. need. you. 

in 100 cities in 9 different countries, people will gather on april 25 and wait to be rescued.
for a quick explanation of what is happening april 25, check this.  
AND GO HERE to sign up (& see other ways to get involved) 

 

my heart aches over this. i believe Jesus Christ’s does too. we. can. help.

will you?

it’s not good to be alone…

This morning as I was praying, I thanked God for friends who are in ministry…

 I had been reflecting on the last couple days of the CE Leadership Summit, and the people we were surrounded by: youth pastors and volunteer workers from youth groups all across the country. And so many of these people are our friends. And I realized, it’s no small thing to have friends who understand your passions and your heart.

For us, they are people who…

 – know that ministry is way more than 40 hours a week

 – get excited about new ways to connect with a bunch of teenagers

 – love to learn

 – are critical, not just to be critical, but because they want to see things constantly getting better

 – are able to listen to a presentation and be facebooking at the same time

 – love free resources, no matter how old they are

 – know that it’s not about US. it’s about training up YOUTH to LEAD. NOW.

Seriously, what a privilege to know these people. Thanks for being a part of our lives.

CELS

the CE Leadership Summit starts tomorrow morning. A bunch of youth pastors and youth staff are getting together for 2 days of fellowship and training here in Winona Lake, Indiana. We’ll be sure to update about the info that’s shared and the connections that are made. And I’m sure there will be some great stories, because we get to reconnect with a lot of friends from all over the country. We know you wish you were out here too …

comment!

Someone asked me the other day if I was waiting to update the blog until we got a comment.
…If I say YES will that encourage you all to comment more often?! ha.

We just got home from Ohio yesterday. We met with some great churches.

1. Had a really good time meeting with Nick Cleveland & Josh Atkins at Wooster (thanks for not getting us sick Josh). They have an awesome facility, lots of good discipleship happening through small groups, and a great ministry to young adults. Check them out.

2. Powell dodgeball tournment: a great model of empowering students. Mark had teams sit together as he shared the gospel with the group, and then each student from their youth ministry had the chance to share ‘their faith story’ with their team. Regardless of whether anyone came to faith in Jesus or not, 40+ students had the opportunity to share their faith with their peers. Talk about successful.

3. We had students indicate that they want to be discipled at Worthington Grace, Northwest Chapel, and Woodville Grace (Mansfield). Those names got passed along to their youth pastors, and we are excited to hear what happens with these students.

Finally, one funny story:
We went to Panera one day last week. Stacie was tired and slept on the bench of a booth for aboug 2 hours while I did some work. When she woke up she went to eat some of the free bread samples that were sitting out. Then she wandered up to the counter and asked for a cup of coffee. The lady, who had been watching all of this, gave her the cup and said “just take it. You don’t need to pay…” Stacie didn’t think anything of it and came back to the booth and then said … “They think I’m homeless.”

Moral of the story: If you want free coffee, take a nap in a restaurant and then eat their free samples.

curriculum?

Question of the day:

Do you use curriculum in your ministry? Youth ministry, adult ministry, small groups, discipleship, whatever — do you have ‘something’ you go through?

Today we were at the Greenville & Daystar Grace Brethren churches, and in both meetings we talked about curriculum – what’s good, what’s not, do we have any we recommend, etc.

I’ll be real honest – I’ve never been a huge curriculum fan. I think it can serve as a good ‘jumping off’ point — to give a general idea of a direction to go — but the idea that a whole service or program or ministry could be entirely contained in a book or video is hard for me to believe.

What do you think? Do you have great curriculum you use? If so, what?? Since we get asked the question so often, is there something you think we should be telling people about?

catch up!!

I was doing so well updating. Oh dear. It all fell apart.

This week we’ve been home in Indiana. It has been so. so. good. We have reconnected with the ‘Winona family’ — our friends who we miss oh-so-much while we’re traveling the country — and with the CE staff — which feels like a little reunion all of its own.

Tonight 31 OB alum are coming for a reunion that Grace College is hosting. Stacie and myself, along with Matt Wheeland and Tracy Yoder, get to hang out with these students all weekend and talk more about what God’s doing in their lives. Man I love this stuff.

But what I’ve really wanted to share about is a book that I can’t get out of my mind.

Ryan Rodeman passed this book onto Stacie and I. He said it was a must read for people involved in church leadership. So I promptly … carried it around in my bag for about a month. A couple weeks ago I finished up ‘The Gospel for Real Life’ (by Jerry Bridges – buy this book now. I’ll have to write about it later.), and finally picked up this ‘must read’ – and could not put it down!

The book is about Jesus’ strategy while he was on earth. Like,

Have you ever wondered, since Jesus came to save the world, why did he spend so much (almost all!) of his time with only 12 guys?

I know that he did, and could probably have given an answer as to why, but Coleman articulates it so well, and draws out great implications. Basically, it’s all about leadership development. What’s the point of saving the world if there’s no one to lead them into deeper relationship with their Savior?

These same principles are so important even now. Yet, by and large, churches, ministries, believers in general seem to miss it. We have not done a spectacular job of raising up leaders. And we need to. We need to. If we don’t, our churches will continue to grow miles wide, and only an inch deep. Is this the way we want to steward the church the Lord has entrusted to us for this time?

Seriously. If you haven’t, read it. It’s only $6 on amazon. Do it.

Lastly, we saw Josiah and Erica get married last weekend (check out TK’s blog for their love story :) It was a blast.