Sticky Faith 1

As training for my youth ministry team, we are reading through the book "Sticky Faith" by Dr. Kara Powell and Dr. Chap Clark.  Chapter 1 sets the stage for what this book is trying to accomplish.  Powell describes a story of a teen who came through her youth group only to fade away towards the end of her Senior High years.  A few years later Kara finds out that the girl is now pregnant.  Kara was able to reconnect with this former student in the hospital after giving birth to her new baby.  Kara Powell explains a look between her and the teenagers' father that I completely connected with.  I often have wondered what can we do to help teens stay connected in the faith.  All too often I see specific areas where we tend to loose some kids:

1.  The transition from Confirmation into youth group
2.  The transition from Junior High to Senior High
3.  The transition from early Senior High into later Senior High (jobs, car, social life)
4.  The transition from High School to College

I have seen some 7th grade classes that were huge in number fade down to a core group of a much smaller size by the time they were Seniors.  And this doesn't even factor in the final transition which appears to be the toughest one of them all.  One one hand, with this book, I feel a sense of relief that this is not just my problem or my church's problem. Rather it is a national problem within the global church.  But after taking that sigh of relief, it still doesn't help within my local context.  I still have a righteous anger over why and how faith seems to take a back seat with some teens as they grow up.  Enough negativity.

Another observation that I made was in the importance of the relationship of the parents to the teens.  The most influential people in a teen's life is their parents.  This fact alone sets a priority for us as youth leaders (who are mostly parents of teens), and other parents of teens within our church to understand the importance of parenting.  What we model at home and live out day to day will have a huge impact.  This is one of the main reasons that I feel like, at times, when a teenager fades away, it is sometimes beyond anything I can do to keep them active.  If the parents don't demonstrate an active faith and make their faith a priority in their own lives, how then do I expect a teenager to excel above and beyond the most powerful influences in their lives?  So how do we help parents to live out an active and robust faith?

Finally I want to answer the questions at the end of the chapter:

1.  When people decide to read a book, usually they are trying to solve a problem. What problems are you hoping to address by reading this book?

My hope is that we discover ways in which we can help teens live into their faith through each transition in life.  My heart's desire is that we retain more and more teens to stay active in their faith from 7th grade all the way up into their adult years. 

2.  How would you define sticky faith?

A faith that sticks through all the transitions in life, all the good times and bad, all the challenges both expected and unexpected.  

3.  How does it make you feel to think that you are the most important influence on your child's faith?

I actually feel good about that.  Sometimes it is easy for a parent to doubt their influence and wonder if they have lost control of their teens' faith.  But I also understand that it takes a village and I am deeply grateful for all the other adults in my church and in my family who have had a significant impact on my kids and have affirmed all that I and my wife have tried to teach them.

4.  As you think about how you've parented thus far, what have you done that has contributed to your kids' faith? What do you wish you had done differently?

I believe that loving and caring for my kids through good times and bad times have been instrumental.  I have also been honored to be their "youth pastor".  But I also know that they would be the first to sniff out any hypocrisy or inconsistencies if I acted differently at home than I do at church.  

I wish I would have made more time for us to enjoy dinner around the dinner table.  All too often I feel like we are all running in different directions and eating on the go.  There was a time when they were younger where we would have family prayer before everyone went to bed.  I really liked that.  

5.  What do you think of the suggestion that parents trust the Lord with their kids and beg the Lord to build Sticky Faith in them?  

This is a great step 1.  The authors demonstrate a humility in admitting that this is not a book with "all the answers in 10 easy steps".  The fact is that we need to be constantly in prayer over our kids and acknowledging the importance of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  To be used of God to help in the transformation of people is the greatest thing ever, especially with your own kids! Let's make sure we are lifting up our teens, small groups and our own kids in prayer on a regular basis.   

Sermon on Galatians 1:11-24

Title: God Gave You A Brain!                                                                  June 8/9, 2013

  

Galatians 1:11-24 (NIV)

¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; ¹² for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴ I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁵ But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being,¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; ¹⁹ but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, ²² and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; ²³ they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

Galatians 1:11-24 (The Message)

^13-16 I’m sure that you’ve heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God’s church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother’s womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him.

^16-20 Immediately after my calling—without consulting anyone around me and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was—I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus, but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter. I was there only fifteen days—but what days they were! Except for our Master’s brother James, I saw no other apostles. (I’m telling you the absolute truth in this.)

^21-24 Then I began my ministry in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. After all that time and activity I was still unknown by face among the Christian churches in Judea. There was only this report: “That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy.” Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me!

SERMON

Well it is that time of year that is like Thanksgiving time for youth pastors! Why you ask? Because one fourth of your teenagers have graduation parties that I get invited to!  Every weekend, for about 3-4 weekends in a row, it’s a Thanksgiving feast celebration for one graduate after another.  Of course, this is the way we youth pastors pack on the carbs and extra baggage to make it through mission trip season. 

I remember, as a student, always looking forward to being done with finals.  That nice long sigh of relief that I have survived another semester of classes, projects, tests and finals was always a great feeling.  Of course, when it came to turning on the radio I could always expect 2 songs in particular to put a big, giant grin on my face.  Do any of you have a guess about which songs I might be referring to?

Well the first was more of a rebellion towards my teachers by listening to Pink Floyd wail out that “We Don’t Need No Education”. We don’t need no thought control.  Of course I never fully lived into this song.  I knew deep, down inside that an education was a good thing. But I sure did I love jamming to this song once I finished with a semester.

But the ultimate song that is so much fun to crank up as you are driving away from your school after finishing your last test is the classic Alice Cooper song “School’s Out”! Some of you get to sing loudly that “School’s out for Summer!”  Others of us get to sing even louder the lyric that says “School’s out For Ever!”

If you were here last week you know that we just began a new series.  Doug kicked us off as we began picking apart the letter of Galatians.  Doug explained to us that this is Paul’s angriest letter to one of his church communities because they were trying to impose additions to God’s salvation received through grace alone.  There were those who believed that Paul’s explanation of salvation through grace was just too simple and easy.  It made more sense to some of those in Galatia to add on some extras to make salvation more worthy of attaining. In order to be an exceptional Christian and stand out from the others you needed to jump through certain hoops to turn you into a super-Christian! 

Now based on what we learned last week we know that Paul used very strong and angry sounding language to oppose this line of thinking.  But as we look at the rest of this chapter I find it interesting how Paul helps us to understand how we are to think. 

After attacking those who are trying to add to God’s grace, Paul takes a breather and goes back to his past to help understand what happened to him personally that transformed him from a “law-abiding” and “law-promoting” Pharisee to a grace-filled Christ follower. 

Paul explains that he was one of the best of the best when it came to receiving his religious education.  He was so passionate about his beliefs that he would vigorously attack and persecute Christians.  But then something dramatic happened.  And it is important that we understand the difference between what Paul knew then in contrast to what he knows now.  All of a sudden, Paul received knowledge of God’s grace through the work of Jesus Christ. 

What I want us to wrestle with is what does this do to the knowledge Paul received prior to becoming a Christ follower?  This is why it is important for us to get this.  Is Paul advocating an anti-knowledge agenda here? Does education help us or harm us? There are some in the 21^st century who have tried to attach the label of ignorance when it comes to Christians.  Some even say we are anti-science.  Is there truth to this claim?

Let’s consider Paul here.  I do not believe that Paul is rejecting his formal education.  Instead he is promoting a new way of interpreting the body of knowledge that he has been brought up under.  He has the education that he received in the past but now it has been transformed through his relationship with Christ!  The old grid of Judaism has been replaced by a new mental grid in which the work of Jesus reinterprets all that he has come to understand.  So it is not a repudiation of knowledge more than it is a process of transforming knowledge through a new grid.

And Paul makes it very, very clear that he did not run off to a different school and sit under other teachers to come up with this new way of interpreting life.  His formal education in the past was under some of the great teachers of his time.  But Paul makes this point, that this transformation that happened to him was specifically NOT a result of a new book or teaching that hit the stores.  Instead, it was an act of God that took everything he already had and reinterpreted it through a new and transformed way of understanding.   

There is no way that we would have the depth of wisdom and theology in all of Paul’s letters if it were not for his intense education in Judaism.  Just a quick reading of the letter to the Romans one will conclude that the writer is extremely knowledgeable and highly educated.  Granted, I do believe that the writings of Scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit but that inspiration could have equally been involved in the intense training and education Paul received beforehand as well as in the moments he sat down to write out his letters. 

There are 2 things I want us to capture in this passage that Paul concludes with. The first thought that Paul leaves us with in this passage is that the transformation of his thinking had a dramatic effect on transforming his actions!  “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.”  The knowledge that inspired persecution has now been transformed to knowledge that inspires the proclamation of the faith! 

Now, why does this matter?  We are gathered together on this weekend to celebrate our graduates.  Many of you are also celebrating the end of a school year and the beginning of your Summer break.  But as we look to the near future, many of you are heading off to colleges and universities to specialize in a degree through intensive learning in a particular field of study.  Receiving knowledge and applying that knowledge to life is not necessarily a bad thing.  But how we process the knowledge we receive and then apply it to our context could potentially be good or bad though.

Let me demonstrate. When I first got out of seminary and got my first job as a youth pastor I was so excited to use the education that I received and start applying it to my first major ministry.  Now, in the field of youth ministry, back in the early 90’s, only a few colleges recognized youth ministry as a field worthy of study.  Many in youth ministry were people who just loved teenagers but had no formal education in youth ministry. 

This one and only time in my youth ministry career I was convinced to do a mission trip to the city of Pittsburgh.  As a Cleveland fan I have always known that there were a lot of pagans in Pittsburgh, but to go there and save them!?!?! My immediate plan was to jump in a boat and travel north up the Cuyahoga River to escape that fate only to have a large fish swallow me up, then swim over to the Ohio River and spit me up at the three rivers crossroads that is the heart of Pittsburgh.  But God did not have to do that because I went willingly! 

As I was there I had one of my adult leaders acting up a lot.  He would drink several energy drinks and then be bouncing off the wall.  In my highly-educated way I tried to have an adult conversation with him expounding on my vast knowledge of adolescents and how he needs to act more like an adult rather than a Junior Higher (no offense Junior Highers).  In this conversation, I could tell he sensed that I was pulling out the “education card” on him because his defensive response to me was “Do you think you are better than me because you went to college?”  And I can say with all honesty that deep down in my gut I wanted to yell back with much emotion, “Yes! That is EXACTLY what I am saying! I am much better than you in understanding youth and mission trips because I got an education and YOU DID NOT!”

There were also times in which I sensed some strange vibes from my adult leaders as I tried to lead them with the vast resources of wisdom that I had in adolescent development and ministry to teenagers.  They sometimes seemed to act smugly towards me because they actually were in the process of raising teenagers in their own households, whereas, I had perfectly adorable little children that all the teenagers wanted to babysit and play with.  I could see these adults’ piercing glares and their judgmental attitudes as I know that they thought “You just wait Russ until YOUR kids are teenagers! Then we will see who thinks they know sooooo much.”  But I equally would give those leaders the side glance of skepticism as I would think, “Oh yeah, well I have spent more years studying everything there is to know about teenagers than you have had in just raising them so there! Plus your teenagers think I am cool and you are not!”

Well as some of you seasoned parents know, there is nothing like personal experience being your teacher.  You can read all the books you want, but when it comes to raising your own, it is easy to feel completely clueless about how to parent in all the various and interesting situations that arise throughout these years.  It is in these years where you see the importance of relying on God and trusting in his promises so that you don’t make a big mistake in parenting and you are able to help your kids grow up in a reasonable healthy way – spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally.  Books and knowledge can only take you so far.  With the wrong attitude towards our ideas of parenting we can add so many unrealistic expectations that our teens end up not doing well.  Or we could use all that we know, pass it through the grid of God’s grace and love, and trust that God will use you in the right moments to be an effective parent. 

I use this illustration as an example of how we must understand Paul’s approach to his education.  At one stage of life, prior to coming to know Jesus, he used his education to judge, divide, and persecute others.  He used it to inflate his ego, expand his pride, and make a name for himself among the elite in his field of study.  Once he encountered Christ, the grid in which he interpreted all he came to know, changed!  Now he reinterprets his education in light of God’s grace, mercy and love!  Instead of having a judgmental view of people who did not believe like he did, now, with his new worldview, he is compelled to reach out and include as many people as possible in knowing Christ as their Savior.  This is not a repudiation of his education, more than it is a reinterpretation of it.

Students, many of you have just finished another year of school.  You have had teachers pour into you all the truths of their particular fields of study.  Some of you are going to be taking the next step in your education soon by going off to college.  You will encounter some teachers and professors who are believers and you will no doubt have some who are most vocally not.  The fact of the matter is this, all truth is God’s truth, no matter what the worldview of the teacher might be.  The question becomes how do you interpret these truths?  Allow the knowledge that you gain to pass through the grid of God’s love, grace and mercy.  Allow God to redeem everything you learn in order to use it all for God’s glory. 

And finally, I want you to notice the reaction of the people to Paul in the last statement of this passage.  It stated,

“There was only this report: “That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy.” Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me!

The way in which Paul previously used his education and knowledge produced persecution and fear among people.  They knew he was out to destroy them.  But now that Paul has been changed through Christ, the people’s response was to recognize and worship God because of him. 

May this be true for each and every one of us.  As we use the brains that God gave us, may we come to know him more, and be in awe of his vast wisdom and knowledge that he has designed for us to discover all throughout his creation.  May the knowledge we gain through formal education or the school of experience, be redeemed through the work of Christ as we become vessels of God’s grace, love and mercy to a world that is suffering and longs to know God.

May it never be said of us that we allowed our education and experience to enslave us into stroking our ego, or building our own mini-empire, or separating and dividing people who are not like us.  This is what Paul was attacking in the Galatian church.  Instead let us live into the freedom of seeing and experiencing the world through the grid of God grace, mercy and love, knowing that he has empowered us to continue the work of Christ right here and right now.  May we be the people of God of whom when others looks at us they are compelled to worship God for all that He is doing in and through us.  May we be a blessing to our families, our church and our communities.  And finally, May it be said of us that we use our education and experience to glorify God in all we do. Amen.

Sermon on John 20:19-31

Scripture:  John 20:19-31

^19-20 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.

^20-21 The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”

^22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”

^24-25 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”

But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”

²⁶ Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”

²⁷ Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”

²⁹ Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”

^30-31 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

Well, I would like to welcome you all to the weekend services AFTER Easter: otherwise known as Clergy By-Pass Sundays.  This typically involves the Sunday after Christmas too.  Youth pastors around the world get their crack at the pulpit. 

I have a confession to make.  I love FEAR.  I always have.  I enjoy scary movies.  The movie that scared me to death as a child was the old Steve McQueen movie called “The Blob”.  And I always had a cross by my bed to ward off any possible vampire attack. I can have a fluent conversation in a wide spectrum of horror movies from zombies, to the demon-possessed, to monsters of the likes of aliens, predators, vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein, mutants, Godzilla, King Kong, and on and on.  I could talk about some of the most notorious villains in film from Hannibal Lector, to Freddy Krueger, to Jason Vorhees, to Michael Myers, to the villains of Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Indiana Jones, the Star Wars universe, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. 

In fact if you think about it, the greater the fear in any given story the more intense and rewarding is the climax that eventually overcomes the fear with victory.  

I have always been one to play on people’s fears.  Ever since I was a little boy I would be so excited to wait around a corner of a room for one of my parents, preferably my mom, to come around so I could jump out and scare her.  Of course, if I got my dad I always knew the revenge would double back on me and I would be scared silly waiting for his retaliation move.  But, still to this day I do this now to my own kids.  If I am home when they get off the bus, I am always tempted, and willfully give in, to run to the door and hide so that when they come in I can scare them. 

But I will have you know that I, Scott Russ, do so have an arch-nemesis right here in Loveland.  When you see the picture of this person you may be shocked, but I tell you as Sigorney Weaver warned in the Aliens movie “BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!”  BEHOLD THE FACE OF FEAR!!!  I know, I know.  This young little girl looks very innocent and sweet.  This little girl goes by the name “Nayomi”.  She goes to pre-school and then gets dropped off at the church at around noon on the weekdays.  She has this uncanny ability to catch me deep in thought and unaware of her presence and then shrieks like a banshee right behind me as I am walking through the offices.  And here is the thing that really, really irks me to no end.  I, being in the nature of who I am, feel this overwhelming need to seek revenge.  No one can ever “one-up” me.  In fact I have made it my mission to never be “even” but to always be one-up on any of my arch-nemesis.  So I deploy the same exact tactics on Nayomi to scare her.  What does she do? She pouts and cries to the office staff and then I am the big bad guy!  I get sent back to my cave down in the youth room for scaring a sweet, little girl.

Anyhow, the kind of fear that I am talking about is manufactured fear.  For the past 8 weeks I have looked forward to Sundays more so than usual.  Is it because I get to see all my favorite teenagers throughout the day? Is it because I get to hang out with the coolest adults ever who lead our small groups? Well, yes to all that but these past 8 weeks I was also able to look forward to getting home and turning on my TV at 9PM to watch the latest episode of “The Walking Dead”.  Now that season 3 is officially over I promise to be a good pastor and watch “The Bible” series now.  It is on my DVR.  But people, my March Madness has been “The Walking Dead”.  This show provides great story telling with occasional zombie attacks.  Perfect television for me.  Just imagine how much better television shows would be if they all included random zombie attacks!  The Bachelor? Dance Moms? What many of you don’t know, for those of us who are really insane fans of The Walking Dead, is that there is another full, one-hour program right after called “The Talking Dead”.  For one hour, they dissect the story line and all the events that just happened.  I love it!  But a part of the benefit of this program is that you realized how they manufacture fear.  You get to see how they shoot certain scenes.  What they use to make blood and guts.  How they turn an actor into a zombie.

Now let’s try to transition into our Bible story.  We just celebrated Easter.  Jesus faced death on the cross, he took on the weight of the sins of the world, he overcame temptation and defeated Satan.  But the story did not end with the cross.  He rose again and defeated death once and for all.  He established his kingdom here and now.  Victory is his. Now he is taking back the territory that the devil thought he owned.  Where does he begin? With the very people who abandoned him at his arrest. 

As our story begins it is very important to recognize just where exactly are the disciples.  They are hiding.  Behind closed and locked doors.  They are afraid.  This is not a manufactured fear but a real fear that they have given themselves over to.  They are afraid of the religious leaders who were so zealous to work the crowds against Jesus and bring about his crucifixion.  They were afraid of the Roman government who seemed to cave to the demands of the people in order to maintain their control.  They were afraid of the common people who might recognized them and point them out to others who might feel free to persecute them.  They were in fear for their very lives.

But then, all of a sudden, Jesus appears to them.  They knew his body was not in the tomb, but at this moment they weren’t sure what to think.  Now with the doors locked, Jesus all of a sudden is there.  Are there new properties to Christ’s physical resurrected body? It is very possible.  But I think the bigger lesson here is that no locked door is going to prevent Jesus from entering in.  Because the disciples chose to hide in fear, they missed the greatest event ever, the resurrection of Christ!  Their fear of the world prevented them from seeing what God was doing so as to be a witness to His resurrection. 

And I also find it interesting what Jesus says to them over and over again.  I remember learning in seminary that often times in Scripture when you see something repeated 3 times it is very, very important!  Jesus three times says, “Peace to you.” 

The first time Jesus says this, it helps the disciples to understand who the source of peace ultimately is, Jesus.  All the disciples just went through an experience that was anything but peaceful.  They were in fear for their lives.  They were afraid of a gory, horrific, agonizing death just like they knew Jesus went through.  But now Jesus stands before them alive!  As painful as all that was, Jesus ultimately defeated death!  He was a visible demonstration that there was no longer any reason to fear death.  He defeated it!

The second time points the disciples in the direction of where they are to take this peace: “Just as the Father sent me, I send you.” They are all hiding behind closed and locked doors.  They have disconnected themselves from the outside world.  Jesus was there to bust open the door and send them out in many directions as a visible demonstration of God’s peace and love.

And the third time is to help them understand that even in the face of doubt, there is peace.  We trust in the accounts of those who were there and wrote about it.  But as we live our lives in the 21^st century it is easy to be just like the disciples and hide in fear and doubt when we look at the world.  It is easy to cave into the divisions and dissentions that stoke fear in people.

In case you haven’t noticed lately, the very things that we enjoyed in science-fiction stories as kids are now becoming reality as adults!  Han Solo and Chewbacca saved the Rebel Force on the planet Hoth by attacking the Imperial drone that was scouting out the planet.  Now we hear stories of drone technology, robots, war machines and Google glasses that will be able to track our every move.  There are even those who are celebrating the year 2045 as the date of the Singularity.  Computer technology will be so advanced that you will be able to take all the information from your brain and put it onto a computer chip, then when your physical body dies you put the chip into a synthetic body and live forever.  Then all our brains can be connected into one collective consciousness.  This is the futurist’s idea of eternal life through science!  It sounds like another horror movie to me.  It increasingly is becoming a strange, strange world that we live in.  Technology is moving so fast that we don’t even have the time to ask ethical and moral questions as to whether we should or should not be pursuing this.

We live in a culture that is just saturated in fear.  People are buying up guns and ammunition like crazy because of fear; either fear of a made-up bad guy that they imagine, fear of the government (who by the way has science-fiction type weapons now!), fear of the unknown, and there are even people who truly believe in being prepared for a zombie apocalypse.  Of which any zombie expert would know that guns would only make the matter worse because the sound would attract even more zombies.  You need a good sword or crossbow to quietly defend yourself against roaming zombies! Duh!  There are many understandable reasons why a person may buy a gun but when the driving force is fear, we really need to be honest with ourselves that that really does say a lot about the nature of our faith, our culture and our society.

We have good Christians around the world who have to deal with fear all the time due to persecution.  I am not talking about some lame “war on Christmas or Easter” as if the American Church is being persecuted.  I am talking about the Christians in Egypt, India and Iran; the Christians all throughout the Middle East who suffer and face death for their beliefs.

The fact is that we live in a world that at times seems to be going completely insane.  Do we give into that insanity? Do we allow the fear to penetrate our hearts and control our thinking?  Do we hide behind closed doors with locks thinking that we are sheltering ourselves from an evil world out there? 

Jesus told his disciples to take his peace and open up that door and go out into the world and be visible demonstrations of God’s peace.  The church is called to be counter-culture when it comes to fear. 

I will be straight up with all of you.  I do not want to die.  I want to live a full life and then have Jesus return so I do not have to deal with a physical death.  But the fact of our faith entirely hinges on one event: THE RESSURECTION!  Jesus defeated death.  He triumphed over sin.  He empowers us to be his kingdom people.  Come death, disease, war, terrorism, or even a zombie attack, through the power of the Holy Spirit, death will not have the final say, but one day I will live in God’s Kingdom with a resurrected body.  It is in knowing this power, this outcome, this victory that helps us understand how to live in peace when there is so much around us that screams out just the opposite.

Many of the disciples were transformed when they finally understood this.  They lived lives of courage and conviction spreading the message of God’s love and peace wherever the Holy Spirit directed them.  Many of them died a martyr’s death just like Jesus.  They overcame their fear with a peace that transcends all understanding. 

 In closing let me remind you what Paul said to the church at Philippi who must have been struggling with this very thing.  He says to them in chapter 4, verse 7:  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The grand and mighty peace of God, that transcends our puny little, limited-knowledge-filled minds, this all-encompassing peace will guard our heart, the center of our emotions, and our minds, the center of our intellect and rational thought, and keep us focused on Jesus.

For Lent I gave up something that was an important part of my morning.  I regularly would watch Good Morning America.  But I was beginning to realize just how much negativity was in the news and it would always start off my day focused on all of the fearful issues that made headlines.  I wanted to push all that aside for 40 days and give up the morning to focus more on Bible reading and prayer.  It definitely helped me be more focused at the beginning of the day on Christ instead of the latest crisis. 

Do not let the insanity of our world out there rob you of the peace that can only come from God.  Do not let your self-worth be determined by cultural standards.  Instead, realize that God has invited you into His Story.  He is sending you out to show an insane culture that it is possible to live in love and peace despite the latest news headlines.  Our inner peace will not be provoked by the constant stream of news.  Our peace will not allow us to run and hide behind things that give us some false assurance that we are safe.  Our peace comes directly from God who is the author and finisher of our faith.  He has defeated death and now offers eternal life to all who believe in his one and only Son.  Do you have that peace? Do you want to have that supernatural peace in your life? If so, give your fears over to God and open your heart and mind to the Holy Spirit’s power to transform your fears into peace.  Amen.

Remembering Grandma Ding Dong

It has been about a year now since my grandma passed away. Here is the message I gave at her funeral.

I am pretty sure that anyone here who is not connected to the family wonders how this sweet elderly lady got the nickname of “Grandma Ding Dong”. Apparently I am the sole source of the name. The story goes that when I was just a toddler, we would go visit grandma and one of the cool features of her house was that she had a crazy collection of clocks. And at the top of the hour you would be fully entertained as all these clocks would go off. As a young child, this provided an endless cycle of 59 minutes of building expectation and then a climactic explosion of sounds for at least a minute. I must have loved this so much that the very things attached to grandma’s walls became for me the sole way of identifying her. Thus came the nick name “Grandma Ding Dong”.

 As I grew up with my brother and sister, we would continually make trips down to Cincinnati to visit Grandma Ding Dong. With every visit, Grandma was sure to make sure we would experience Cincinnati. We would order LaRosa’s pizza. Then she would take us out to dinner at Montgomery Inn. Now this was typically a very big treat more so than now. The reason being was because my grandfather was good friends with Ted Gregory and was instrumental in giving Mr. Gregory his first loan to start his very own restaurant. With that history in mind, the Gregory’s never forgot about that relationship so whenever Grandma would take us to one of the now world famous restaurants, we would get the red carpet treatment. No waiting in lines, we would be seated immediately and have drinks and appetizers brought out to our table, and the feasting would begin. We were always impressed with her connections especially with Montgomery Inn. And I even still remember the times that Grandma would take us to King’s Island back in the days when Paramount owned it. Unlike my dad, grandma was never too old to hit the roller coasters with us. I remember being amazed that she actually went on the Beast with me when it first came out.

 Over the years though, grandma struggled with some addictions. These addictions took their toll on her as alcohol would bring out a dark side to her that often would lead to damaged relationships. As grandchildren we might have caught glimpses of this by seeing the pain and frustration in was taking on our parents. But if there is one thing that can be said about the women on my mom’s side of the family, it’s that no matter how they lived their lives, they seemed to defy all rules of health and logic and still live forever. My great-grandma lived well into her 90’s with a diet of fried chicken and ice cream. She lived in a 3rd floor apartment and continued to work at a movie theatre that used to be over by Kenwood Mall up till the time that she passed away. Grandma Ding Dong, at times in her life, smoked like a chimney, drank like a sailor, and had the temper and biting sarcasm of Marine sergeant.

 But once again, defying all logic, Grandma took the old adage of “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and just turned that one completely upside down, because in her later years in life, she had a dramatic softening of the heart. I attribute this to the faith of our entire family and the fact that God is always in pursuit of us. We worship a God that does not ever give up on us no matter what. I know from working in ministry that there are times where you just want to wash your hands of some people and convince yourself that you tried to help as much as you could, but it is a hopeless cause. Luckily, we worship a God whose love is relentless and never, ever gives up on anyone no matter what. What we have seen in the life of Grandma is that God came into her life and restored her life, rebuilt a community of love and affection around her, and helped her let go of the things that held her in bondage.

 One of the final victories in her life was during the time that my dad was diagnosed with a brain aneurism. He had to go through a very complicated surgery that he very well may not have survived. Grandma told me after the successful surgery and recovery that she made a deal with God. If God would be willing to allow dad to make it through this surgery, she would be willing to give up smoking for Him. And wouldn’t you know it, she did just that. She dropped that most difficult habit that held onto her for decades like it was nothing.

 Grandma Ding Dong will be missed. But we know because of our faith, that it is only a temporary departure. One day we will all be reunited and brought into the kingdom of God. Jesus came to restore all things back to the way they were meant to be. He continually transformed people’s lives by taking away whatever was considered “unclean” in their lives and bringing them back into community with others. And he continues to do that today through the power of God’s Spirit.

 So if there is one thing you can take away from today’s memorial service it is this: God loves you, from the moment you were conceived, His love has been pursuing you, and he is calling you into a relationship of healing, restoration and wholeness. He has been calling you and me into a relationship the way it always was meant to be. You can fight it. You can ignore it. You can deny it. But the reality is that He never gives up on us. And when we finally come to terms with that and accept that, then we discover what it means to be in a right relationship with God and with others. And it is then, that we realize that we would never want it any other way.

Belize Trip Journal

Here is the link to our Trip Journal for the Belize mission trip with Praying Pelican Missions during the Summer of 2013 http://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/journals?tripid=2427

Washington DC #4

Thursday, July 26


Well, Doug and I switched back to our original groups.  We started the day out a few minutes early with me running down to get the van so that I could take the teens to the 7-11 right across the street so that they could buy some drinks for the day.  The weather report was warning us that it was going to be a very, very hot day.  So I wanted to get a head start and make sure the teens had drinks.  Unfortunately, our fearless leader caught our attempt to get drinks and said we didn't have time.  I grumbled inside my head but did not want to challenge him in front of the kids.  So we pressed on!  Ironically, we got to our mission site early and had to sit around until the kids started coming.  Grumble, grumble.


We headed across town to a ministry call Brighter Day Ministries.  It is a kind of day camp / summer school for lower income kids.  Now if there was one thing I was beginning to feel as a result of these mission trips, it was that kids are much more challenging to me than working with teens.  I am in my element when I am working with teens.  I ended up in a room with our leader Brad.  He and I tried to entertain a group of kids who were probably 5th-6th graders.  They were a very lively bunch.  Especially since any of the regular adults running the ministry seemed to disappear for a while as we played games with them.  After some time, Brad needed to leave and some other adults at the church came to be with the kids.  I took this as an opportunity to go to the other rooms to see how my teenagers were doing with the other age groups.  I found one group watching a movie so I settled in and enjoyed about 2 minutes of the movie before I was asleep on the floor.  When I finally woke up, I visited some other classrooms.  Jennifer was talking with one little boy and invited me over.  Once there, she told the kid to speak to me.  He looked me square in the eyes and said, "You an oooooold man!".  I casually smiled at him and said, "And you're a little punk!"  I got a great facial expression out of him because he clearly did not expect that.  But I told him I am just teasing him back and moved on!  


Many of the kids had an awards banquet the night before.  So technically their schooling was done.  So there really was not much structure to their time.  As a result things started getting a little bonkers.  A small fight broke out between some of the older kids and I got to witness first hand how the teachers took care of it.  It was real tough love, guilt trip kind of stuff.  The kids at fault ended up apologizing to each other and the class so it seemed to end well just as we were getting ready to leave.  


For lunch, we stopped at a little Jamaican restaurant.  We had a lot of fun eating some spicy chicken. 


Now after lunch, we had some time to kill until our next ministry site.  So we headed over to the museums and as quick as we could, we took in some of the sights.  First, we ran into the National Archives to see all the important documents.  But since there was a line and I was with impatient teens, we saw then from across the room over the crowd in line and took off for a gander at some other things.  Second, we stopped for about 45 minutes at the National Museum of Natural History.  There was so much to see that it just did not do justice to rush through it all.  But the few things I was able to stop and look at were amazing.  Next we hiked it over to the Air and Space Museum.  I got to see the actual Apollo 11.  I could not believe how tiny it was.  Talk about claustrophobia!


After that, we headed off to our ministry site for the evening.  We went to the DC Central Kitchen.  This was an amazing ministry.  Many restaurants in the area donate leftover food to this mission site.  They then take all their donations and make tons of meals out of it.  They are a main source of food for many soup kitchens throughout the city.  The organization of this place was amazing.  For the majority of the time that we were there, we cleaned, pealing and cut collared greens.  We had a lot of fun.  One of the guys who worked there was wonderful with us.  He told us his story of being a well paid cook but not feeling very content with his job.  He wanted to do something else that he knew would help people.  So he ended up taking on the job here at the DC Central Kitchen.  He said as a result, he feels more fulfilled knowing that he is helping to feed the hungry and teach and train them in how to be cooks.  


We ended up eating dinner at this site.  As we were waiting to eat, our teens broke out into a wonder rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.  I wish I could have tapped it and put it on YouTube.  It was priceless.  Then we sang the Benediction as our prayer for our meal.  The workers there were loving the attitude and spirit of our teens.  We then headed back to our home base.
  
Friday, July 27


Of course being our last day of ministry, we had to wake up extremely early for our morning site!  I had to be up at 5AM!  I remember the alarm going off, feeling quite groggy. And then noticing the shape of something on the floor that did not seem right.  As I cleared the sleep out of my eyes, I began to notice a very large cockroach staring back at me as if to greet me as the first one up!  I tried to move fast with a deathblow, but I did not move quick enough.  The roach darted quickly right to my luggage!  Ooooooh great!  What a way to start the day!


We headed off to an Episcopal Church that has a ministry called Charlie's Place.  This was an early morning ministry in which they provide a warm meal and clothes to anyone that needs it.  We were right by DuPont Circle which is a popular destination for the homeless. Our teens did a great, great, great job with this ministry also.  They dove right in to help serve the meal, give out clothes, and also sitting down and talking with just about all the guests.  At this point, I am not even needing to nudge the teens at all.  They are attacking the opportunity to minister however they can.  It was inspiring to watch.  


From there, we had a few minutes between sites so we headed over to the Fredrick Douglass National Memorial Site.  We saw a brief film on the life of Frederick Douglass.  And we got to hang out at his house.  He had a great view from his front porch overlooking all of DC.  Austin demonstrated just how steep his front yard was by rolling down the lawn.  This was a very funny thing to see as he was going much faster than he expected, with arms and legs flailing.  


Our final site was at the Children of Mine Youth Center.  We helped with some cleaning in the kitchen, a bunch of weeding in the gardens, and clearing out the tall grass and vines along the perimeter of the fence around the property.  The teens did well despite the fact that we were all tired.  The lady who runs this mission was very inspirational and passionate about all that happens at Children of Mine.  She was enjoyable to just listen to her tell stories and to hear her vision for the future of this mission site.


For dinner we met up with our other team and all ate together at the Old City Cafe of Jerusalem.  We ate some of the best Middle Eastern food shoved into a pita.  Some of the teens did not like it but I ate it up!  We also celebrated Kerri's birthday right after dinner.  


For our debrief time, we all headed over to the Washington National Cathedral.  It was closed so we did not get to see the inside of it.  But the architecture of the outside of the building was breathtaking.  As I gawked at the intricacies of the building, our teens started a lively game of Ninja in the yard.  After a while of fun, we had a long time to debrief as we spent some time talking about what we were taking home as a result of this mission trip.  All of the teens responded very positively.  When we got back to our home base, some of us ran down to Rita's for our last shot at the most delicious frozen ice ever!  


Saturday, July 28


Well we got up bright and early with every intention of getting back to Loveland at a reasonable time in the late afternoon.  But before we hit the road, we had to make a few more stops in DC.  All of the teens insisted rather emphatically that the very first stop had to be Starbucks.  I tried to convince them that McDonald's coffee is just as good and so much less expensive.  But they would not listen to my sage advice.  To Starbucks we went.


Then we began the Monument March of Death!  I took them on a quick tour of some of the big monuments that happened to be relatively close to each other.  We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the World War 2 Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.  At the WW2 Memorial we were able to take a picture with a veteran and thank him for his service.  All of these monuments were amazing and very touching.  I was especially moved at the WW2 Memorial.  There was a lot of emotion that you could feel in the air at just about all of these sites.  And now that the teens are really good and tired, it was time to zoom home!  


But part way into the trip, we realized it was going to take longer than we had hoped.  We realized that one of the tires on the van was vibrating heavily.  So we pulled off into a small town in the middle of nowhere.  We found an auto parts store.  The guy at the counter recommended a local mechanic that would see us even though all the garages were closed for the weekend.  We showed up at his house and over the next couple of hours, he spent time fixing the tire while we ate lunch at the local Sheetz.  It ended up being a good place to chill for a while.


Once the tire was fixed we headed off.  It took a while, but we finally arrived back in Loveland close to midnight!  Although the ride home did not end like I had hoped, overall this entire trip was amazing.  Once again, our teens rocked and were not only an inspiration to anyone they came in contact with, but they continue to be an inspiration to me as well.  Doug, Ally and Hannah all did a tremendous job helping out as leaders.  It was a very memorable trip with teens who were just excited to do mission work together.  


Thanks again for the opportunity to serve you and your families.  It is an honor to create and share experiences that, for them, hopefully will shape their spiritual lives forever and help them develop into the men and women that God is calling them to be.