New Year and a New Blog

I tweeted earlier in the week that there were some interesting things cooking in my life and that I was really looking forward to a great year as God was doing some new things in my life and stretching me in some new ways.  The first new thing is a new blog.  Wanting to get really serious about blogging and putting more of what God has shown me in ministry, life and faith I bought a domain and took it live yesterday.  If your interested check out what Messy Faith is.  I will keep this blog up and who knows you may see some of my past posts end up on that blog.  Hope you have an incredible 2011!!  Let God do something different in your heart and life this year and BE DIFFERENT in all you do.


I'm Outie 50000,


Robb

Hide and Seek

The past couple of weeks have been busy but incredible to see God move.  I am not a huge fan of preaching that makes you feel bad, plays on your emotions to fill the altars.  I dont want to see teens kneel because they are scared of hell but kneel because they long for an incredible love relationship with God.  Yet the last two weeks at The Gathering I have preached with more intensity over this idea of Pure Salvation and Pure Sanctification.  As I look at the lives of teenagers in my ministry and that I come in contact with I see this desire to get out of Hell but not to be changed by God in a very radical way.  So I presented this series called Pure and really pushed my kids to experience REAL purity in their lives.

In the last couple of weeks we have had two teens accept Christ for the first time.  Two teens who were lost and are now found.  I have seen several other teens see the need for something more than just existing in their walk with God and it excites me!  Then last night I played hide and seek with my daughter for the first time.  Either my wife and daughter would hide together and I would try and find them.  Or my daughter and I would hide and Amy would come look for us.  Ally was so excited about hiding but there was this incredible desire to be found!  She would see one of us get close and take off the blanket, or peek out from her very obvious hiding spot if we didnt look at her soon enough.  It was almost as if she saw this person seeking for her so intently that she wanted to be found.

As I have been thinking and praying for my youth ministry, I realized that the teens that I am ministering to are wanting the same thing.  They are lost or hiding, whether it be in sin or in complacency in their walks but they are waiting to be found.  There is this expectancy to be found and when they see someone looking intently they cant help but peek out from their hiding place and hope that they will be seen.  They are longing to be found so that they can get out of where they are  into something new but they need to know they matter enough to be found.

As I was thinking last night and this morning about hide and seek, I wondered how often do we go "seeking" teens and we get close to where they are and they see us so they peek out, and we dont "find" them.  How often do we miss them because we think they are somewhere else or we think that they will want found enough that they will come find us?  I want to keep looking, not get caught up in this event or that search that I miss seeing where they are hiding.

I am Outie 5000,

Robb

Sleep and Dreams

Last night I couldn't sleep. Not earth shattering news or even remotely exciting but it was my night. I tried everything I could think of. I turned the tv on. I turned the tv off. I had a headache so I took a pain reliever with sleep aid. I turned the tv back on to some of the most boring television possible, nothing seemed to work. There would be moments where I would drift off and just as I started to get into a deeper sleep my mind would kick it into high gear and I would wake up and sleep would be just a memory. It came down to the fact that I could not turn off my brain. It was racing with ideas, wishes, thoughts, concerns, dreams. It was all over the place but mainly regarding ministry and my personal faith journey.

In just over a week we launch a new format of ministry. I am excited!! I dont know what is going to happen or whose lives will be impacted but I am excited about the potential. I want to see lives changed and people experiencing the life altering love of God. I want to see teens get passionate about God in a way that they have never been before. I look at these blogs and tweets from men and women in ministry that I respect and I see God doing amazing things and I long for God to move like that in MY LIFE!

Ok so I have to confess that this whole non-sleeping thing is not a new thing. It happens a lot. And by a lot I mean at least once a week if not 2-3 times a week. And regardless of what I am thinking about it all comes back to one thing. Am I allowing God to use me to the fullest that HE wants? I want to be the best youth pastor I can be to my kids. I want to be the best follower of Christ that I can be and I want God to be pleased with what He sees in me. Can He trust me with the smallest things? Yea I want to be trusted with the big things but can He trust me with the smallest of things? I dream big. I just do. I have big dreams and thoughts. I want to do more for Christ. But am I letting Him use me to the fullest? What do I need to change? What steps do I need to take so that He can trust me with the smallest things right now? Am I available to be used to the absolute greatest? If not what do I need to change? And am I willing to do that?

Thats all for now.

I am outie 5000,

Robb

Fall

It's hard to believe a couple things the first being I haven't been on this in FOREVER!! The second thing is that school has begun. It was a great but incredibly busy summer but it was awesome to see what God did in our youth group and how He is working on the changes for the fall. For my teens all of them are now back at school cranking away at the next year. While I typically get the summer off from my Grad work I did not this summer and it was incredibly tricky getting things figured out. I took a seven week "internship" at my own job in the midst of traveling for ministry events, vacation, and just being crazy busy. Probably not the smartest thing I have done but it was now or next summer. So I am now enjoying a nice summer "break" of a few weeks. Classes start back up very soon and I am diving into the heart of the core classes of my M. Div. This is the section of classes that I have to use this software called Logos, which I have used some in other classes but I have a feeling I will be living in over the next 2 years. It doesn't bother me though, which is weird, because I am pumped about using the NEW Logos 4 for the MAC!!! So totally pumped. Got an email last night letting me know that the brand new Logos 4 for Mac was shipping and would be out of beta in October but it was going out now. So I upgraded my current PC software that kind of worked to the Platinum version of the Mac software. I am getting a massive amount of books. Started downloading last night about 10 PM and this morning was only at 85% of the 7+ gig that needs to be downloaded. That's ok because I will have a killer library of books to help me be the best youth pastor I can be. If this sounds a little funny that I am talking up a product so much that's because I am entering a contest with this blog and hoping to win some new Mac products. Even though I have some ulterior motives I am still pumped about using this new Logos product to the fullest.

I am outie 5000,

Robb

Steering Through The ChaosI

I was given an opportunity to read a book titled, "Steering Through Chaos" and to be honest I was unprepared for what I would encounter. Scott Wilson's book was quite possible one of the most challenging I have read in a long time. I was pushed and stretched in ways that I did not realize that I would be but it was good. At first I was curious how, as a youth pastor, this would help me in my position, but as I continued to read I came to understand that this transitional time that he discusses is something that affects me as well. There was a re-occuring theme that I picked up on and felt that I need to add to my life is the importance of a mentor or life coach that will help me both casting and reaching a vision. Definitely a book worth reading and rereading to get as much as you can out of it. Not only is this a great book for pastors and staff but for anyone who experiences chaos and transition in life.