Chase the Setting Sun...

It's been one of those days already. We all have them. Those days where we wake up not feeling like ourself, like we don't want to get out of bed, bummed out for no apparent reason. Today has been one of those days.

I have been thinking a lot lately about Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Of course I think about it a lot since I lead two adult worship teams as well as a student worship team. Lately, my thought process has shifted from just leading the teams to really focussing on the content of the music and lyrics itself. I have to say, the more I focus on the content of the lyrics in many of these songs, the more I become bored.

My wife Courtney and I are coming up on the first anniversary of moving into our first house up in Fishers, IN. We moved in last May. We have officially owned the home for over one year now.

Through some recent conversations I have realized something that I have known all along, but have come to a deeper and weightier realization...people just do not take Scripture seriously.

A lot of us have been in a church worship service and recited the Lord's prayer in unison with the congregation. I grew up my entire life reciting this prayer in church, most of the time in a monotone, uninterested manner. I always made fun of it because we all sounded like a bunch of mindless zombies as we recited, "Our Father, who art in heaven...".

Our father, in heaven

Hallowed be your name

Your kingdom come

your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

and forgive us our debts

as we also have forgiven our debtors

And lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

As I was studying this prayer the line "your will be done" struck me particularly hard. As I thought about Jesus' example of prayer for my life I realized how often I bark orders at God and completely ignore His will.

For a while now I have had an aversion to the word "radical" when used about the Christian faith. Yet, it seems to be the 'buzz word' for Christians these days when we talk about living out a faith that resembles Jesus and the Apostles.

The short list of you that read my blog know that I 'dabble' in student ministry, contemporary worship, and young adult ministry. Inevitably within these three areas of ministry I will get requests to try new things and branch out into new directions. Sometimes I'm the one pushing to do new things.

I am constantly asking myself what makes something worth trying or continuing. I recently read through the book of Galatians. In Galatians Paul questions the relation between faith rooted in Christ and faith rooted in culture or tradition. Specifically he talks about circumcision. The Jewish Christians were expected to be circumcised as a cultural sign that they were indeed a practicing Jew and Christian. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (non Jews), did not believe that circumcision was necessary and that it had little value if the person's heart was not rooted in Christ.

Often in a church setting we are faced with decisions on whether to start a new ministry, continue existing ministries, or adapt the culture of our local church in order to continue to be relevant to the times and our community.

So what should be our criteria for determining what ministries should continue, be started, or be adapted. Often we want to look at things like money, numbers, new attendees vs old members and on and on.

After I finished reading Galatians I decided to listen through a sermon series from Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle Washington, on the book of Galatians. In the third sermon of the series Driscoll covers chapter two of Galatians and gets into the argument of culture, tradition, and what makes a ministry worth having. He suggests two things that I think fit what Paul is saying in Galatians.

1. Does it help the Gospel?
How does it advance the Gospel by getting the message to new people and deepening the Gospel in the hearts of those that already believe?

2. Are People Worshiping Jesus?
Does this ministry succeed in helping people to worship Jesus in a real way?

The more I think about it, and pray about it, the more I feel that if these two things are being done, God will take care of the rest. Of course, churches still have to pay staff, mortgages, utility bills etc. So money and numbers are unavoidable things to consider. Unfortunately, church is also a business that has to have a certain amount of money to keep the doors open.

Maybe if we focus on Christ and the advancement of the Gospel even more than we already are, God will take care of the rest. Maybe I'm too idealistic and don't have enough church ministry experience to decide what is worth continuing/starting/adapting.

What do you think? What criteria do you and your church use to decide what ministries, worship services or styles, are worth starting/continuing etc?

OK, I love this song by Leonard Cohen. I've posted a different video of the Myles Kennedy version before but Corey Willoughby turned me on to the Phil Wickham version yesterday and it's pretty amazing too! They both take a different approach and I enjoy both. Hope you do too!

Phil Wickham - Hallelujah


Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge) - Hallelujah

Every Wednesday I have a group of students that come over to the church after school to hang out and play video games. Most of the time they play Madden 2010 or Halo.

I am not your typical youth pastor. I almost never play video games. Seems that most youth ministries have a huge focus on video games; having multiple game consoles and TVs to play them on. I'm just not that interested.

I've been thinking about different Holiday traditions as Christmas quickly approaches. I decided to put up a list of my top 10 favorite holiday traditions (in no particular order)

1. Peanut Butter Balls

• Those of you from Ohio might call these "Buckeyes". We were always forbidden to call them that because most of my family attended Indiana University for college. They are basically a mix of peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar rolled into a ball and covered in chocolate. Pretty phenomenal!

2. Christmas Vacation

• This is by far the greatest Christmas Movie of all time! No matter how many times I watch it I think I pull a muscle laughing every time. Just watched it last night with my parents and Grandmother for the second time this season (their first time ever!) and it was amazing. After the movie my 89 yr old grandmother said "Well Joe, I think that is the first movie I've seen since Hoosiers. (in the theater)". At that rate, unless she lives to be 120 it might be the last movie she sees. What a great last movie! (I'm not sure she'd agree with that statement).
  

3. Edward Scissorhands on Thanksgiving Day with Courtney

• This tradition started our first Thanksgiving together when we were dating. The movie was on TV and I was (still am) a huge Johnny Depp fan so we watched it. We've seen it most Thanksgivings since (although we missed the last couple years until this year).

4. Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls

• Every year since I can remember we have had Pillsbury cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. We would awake to the smell of garlic and onions sauteing (Mom preparing her famous stuffing for Christmas dinner), open presents, then stuff our faces with cinnamon rolls. Courtney and I continue this tradition.

5. Putting up the Christmas Tree (Mexican Style)

• Every year growing up it was always fun to put up the Christmas Tree. When I was growing up that usually occurred either the 1st of December or sometime after Thanksgiving and before Dec 1st. Now, although Courtney likes to try and get me to put up the tree sometime closer to HALLOWEEN, it is still a lot of fun. We make queso dip with mexican seasoned ground turkey (a tradition her family started...I think without the meat though) and play Christmas music while decorating. Definitely more fun this year now that we have a house and don't have to move half of our furniture into another room to fit the tree.

6. Dinner Rolls

• See previous post "On a Roll...a Holiday Tradition"

7. Starbucks Peppermint Mochas

• Most of the year I can restrain from too many Starbucks runs...Christmas season kills me though with the Peppermint Mochas. I'm addicted (and drinking one as I write this).
  

8. Christmas Eve Service

• Last year I participated in the 6pm Contemporary service on Christmas Eve at Castleton United Methodist Church. This year, now that I work at the church, I was responsible for picking music and organizing the service. As much work as it is to organize a Christmas Eve service, it really is a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the actual service. I'm also looking forward to next year, hopefully I'll be able to take the service to the next level. This year I stuck closer to what is expected from the past as my first Christmas Eve.

9. Phao Student Ministries Family Christmas Dinner

• This year was our first annual Phao Student Ministries Family Christmas Dinner. Last Sunday we had about 100 people show up to Fellowship Hall in a snow storm to join us to celebrate the Christmas season and our ministry. We gave out thank you gifts to some of our great volunteer leaders, had a white elephant gift exchange with the students and gave out information for summer mission trips. Props to Steph for the idea and everyone that helped decorate and pull it together!

10. Snow!

• I've been loving the snow this year. I think having a house really adds to the enjoyment of the snow. I don't really even mind shoveling the snow. It's been a lot of fun watching it snow while in my living room drinking coffee and enjoying the warmth of our fireplace (even if I have already burnt through most of the wood we have).

Anyway, I am enjoying this time of year more and more as I get older I think. What are your favorite foods, movies or traditions during this Holiday Season?

**Our Contemporary Christmas Eve service this year will be at 6pm in the Castleton United Methodist Church Sanctuary of of 71st Street and Shadeland Avenue, Indianapolis. Join us!

Right now my Young Adult Discussion Group is reading through "Messy Spirituality" by Mike Yaconelli. This week we are on chapter 5, "Odd Discipleship."

Mike is talking in a part of this chapter about the church he pastors and how it is an odd group of people and how their service is "growing".

"I pastor the slowest growing church in America. We started twelve years ago with ninety members and have ungrown to thirty. We are about as far as you can get from a user-friendly church--not because our congregation is unfriendly but because our services are unpredictable, unpolished, and inconsistent. We are an "odd friendly" church, attracting unique and different followers of Christ who make every service a surprise."

We often try to justify what makes a good service by the quality of the "product" we produce, the quality of the music/sermon, the number of people in attendance, the amount (or lack) of awkward moments, blunders and other oddities.

Maybe what makes a good worship service are those oddities, blunders, awkward moments. Maybe it's as few as ten or fifteen weirdos coming together as the Body of Christ and worshiping together and enjoying fellowship with each other.

As we continue Renovate, our Saturday evening contemporary service, my thought on what makes a good worship service is changed and molded weekly. It is so easy for me to worry about the quality of the band, the sermon, the numbers in attendance...when really all that matters is that a few people that might not attend a church anywhere else are coming together and interacting with Jesus in some way, even if just for a few minutes.

It's that time of the year again. The holidays are here. The Christmas tree is up (and has been for a couple weeks...haha). There is an eternal flame in the fire place these days. Thanksgiving is a few days away and you know what that means...time to bake some dinner rolls.

Since my Grandpa Garrison died a few years ago I have taken over the task of making the traditional holiday dinner rolls for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Grandpa made rolls for decades up until the last couple of years of his life. They were always a tie for my favorite holiday food tradition, right along with Mom's stuffing. For a lot of years I think I barely ate anything else at Thanksgiving dinner. I bite of turkey, a plate of stuffing, and about ten dinner rolls.

I always get a few messages each year from family asking how many rolls I'm making, usually with a hint of "If you don't make enough you're dead" in their voices. It really is a honor to make them. I think at this point making the rolls is my strongest connection with my Grandpa. They are always good for bringing a couple of my cousins to tears with that first roll of the season. It seems that biting into them brings back all the memories of "helping" Grandpa bake bread when we were little.

Along with the honor of making them is a little bit of fear. I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to these rolls. I'm always worried they are going to be bad, or even just not quite as good as Grandpa's were. What if no one likes them this year?

So far so good. I've only tanked them a couple times. The first two times I made them and only Courtney and I had those.

Hopefully this year goes as well as other years and I can keep those memories flowing with Grandpa's dinner rolls. Tomorrow, once again I will try and channel some of Grandpa's bread baking expertise and whip up two or three batches of rolls, about one hundred rolls in total.

I'll have a long day of work ahead of me, but I always enjoy the house smelling like fresh baked rolls, the Christmas tree lit, and the eternal flame burning in the fireplace.

What are your family holiday traditions?

I have now been doing full time ministry for about three and a half months. November 1st marked the end of my third month here at Castleton UMC. There have been a lot of fun and exciting things going on here in Phao Student Ministries along with the Contemporary worship ministries here at Castleton.

Along with some amazing things that have been going on in ministry it has been a time of figuring out how to balance full time ministry with marriage.

As probably anyone in ministry will tell you, it takes up an incredible amount of your time and energy. The passion God has given those of us in ministry, for those we minister to, often occupies our minds long after we leave the doors of the church. Ministry is not a 9-5, 40 hour per week kind of job. It tends to be a "whatever it takes to do it well" kind of job.

I have run into the struggle of not only dealing with full time ministry's time commitment, but being involved in two (or three) totally different types of ministries presents maybe a greater struggle to balance ministry with being home with my wife. I am supposed to spend half (or maybe a little less than half) of my time working on contemporary worship for our two worship services, and the rest of my time ministering to teenagers.

As perfect of a job as that may sound, it is difficult because handling music, musicians, and organization of two separate services and bands tends to be more than a 15-20 hour a week job. Student ministry, even though I work alongside a great full time Director of Student Ministries, tends to also take more than 20 hours a week. Add on leading a Tuesday night discussion group for young adults every week and the weeks tend to get pretty long.

As much as I absolutely love my job, the struggle has been finding time to be home. Not just finding time to be home though; finding time to be home when my wife, Courtney, is home. My schedule tends to make it so it is easier to be home in the mornings while she is at work because ministry often extends into the evenings, when she is home.

I am constantly trying to find ways to be home more but I'll admit, it's pretty hard. I'm thankful that everyone I work for, and with, are supportive of helping me find ways to get more time at home with Courtney.

I'm sure this is a struggle that I'll be working on forever, or at least as long as God is using me in full time ministry. Every pastor, youth worker, church staffer, deals with this kind of thing. It's nothing new. It's not specific to me.

I'd be curious to hear from those of you that are doing this, or have done this before and are (or were) married. How do you, or have you, balanced ministry with home life and family? What are the secrets I haven't come up with yet? Thanks.

P.S. Courtney has been a rock star throughout these last few months, as hard as it's been, she has been more than supportive and willing to adapt her life to meet the demands of being a "youth pastor's wife." Thank you.

Well, I've only been at work since like 3pm today. It's 5:40pm. I officially can't concentrate and I still have two hours left. It's not like it's a long day of work or anything.

I got to work at 3pm, put together worship books and slides for worship for the Sunday morning contemporary band and then came over to the sanctuary to set up the stage for rehearsal. All the while having The Ride with JMV playing on the PA system so I could hear up to the minute Colts coverage.

Three hours to go then the Colts rock Monday Night Football against the Houston Texans for the lead in the AFC South division. Having a few friends over for Chili and football. Doesn't get much better than that!

So for the next two hours I will try to gain my composure and think about something other than the Colts...maybe.

As much as I love Monday night football, it would be better for me if the Colts didn't play on a workday ever. So here's lookin forward to Thursday Night Football in December and a productive day that day as well!!

Go Colts!

Over the last five or so months I have been helping to launch a Saturday Evening Contemporary Service called "Renovate". We started off to a strong reception right off the bat. Over the first few months we were averaging between 60 and 70 attendees with little to no advertising at all. We have consistently had at least one new person to the church attend this service each week. That alone has been impressive with no outside advertising being done.

The past month or so attendance has really dropped and we have realized that we aren't retaining many of these new people. So the obvious question is...WHY?

I have been going over that in my head again and again. Is it the music (for which I have control over)? Is it the sermon? Is it the time and day? Is it the environment? So many questions and variables as to why things have slowed down.

So in the last couple of weeks we have begun our advertising campaign. We began by doing some facebook "pay per click" advertisements that have reached thousands of people, we have erected two large yard banners on 71st street and Shadeland avenue. We will be plastering posters all over local college campuses and different locations around the immediate area. We will also be doing some targeted mailings.

As we begin to do all of this advertising we also want to hear from you all. What draws you to a contemporary worship service? What things do you expect out of a contemporary worship service? Are there new things you'd love to see done at a service like this?

If you have attended Renovate go to our Facebook page (link on the right hand side of my blog) and click on the "Feedback" tab at the top. There you will find a few questions you can answer to help us improve on the service and get some new ideas.

Leave comments here or feel free to go over to the facebook page and post on the wall or on the feedback tab. Thanks!

For the last month now I have been teaching a group of high school students in our Phao Student Ministries the book of Proverbs as part of our semester long series "WISE UP! Study of Proverbs" on Wednesday nights. If you've ever read Proverbs you know that the book is focused on searching for and gaining wisdom and knowledge of God.

I consistently have been hitting on how discipline in studying scripture and a focus on searching for wisdom and knowledge in many different areas of life can bring us closer to God. The writer of Proverbs is clear, wisdom can be found in many different places, not just church and Scripture, although Scripture should be our main focus.

As I am teaching the book of Proverbs to the high school students I am also leading a discussion with some young adults once a week on the book of Colossians. In Colossians, Paul is specifically writing to combat the Gnostics who believe that the only way to God is through knowledge. The body and flesh and anything created (actually including the incarnation of Jesus) is sinful and bad.

It's kind of a weird spot that I'm in. On one night I'm pounding home the need for wisdom and knowledge and a desire to study not only Scripture but study in school as well. On another night we are hearing about Paul's battle against the Gnostics in Colossae and their over emphasis on knowledge.

Obviously there has to be a middle ground or balance, right? So what do you think that is? Where is the balance between our desire to gain knowledge of God, and the wisdom of God, while not putting too much of an emphasis on those things, and still having a faith that goes beyond knowledge and isn't based on our limited ability to understand God?

Just something I'm thinking about. I would love to hear your thoughts!

I am now one month into my new job at Castleton UMC. It's been a fun and crazy month. Here's what's been going on for those of you that care.

Last night at our '20 Somethings' discussion group we discussed 1 Timothy chapter 2. In this chapter Paul gives Timothy his thoughts and instructions on worship. Paul discusses the importance of prayer for all people, kings and all those in authority in the first half of the chapter. The second half Paul deals with women in worship and teaching positions. Here's what he says,

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

~1 Timothy 2:9-15

Obviously there is a lot in this passage that could easily anger a lot of people in our society and culture, both women and men. Here are a few thoughts that I have gathered in preparation to lead our discussion last night. I'll break this up into a few parts because there is a lot of information here.

1. Culture

That was a different culture that Paul was speaking to in this passage. At that time men were the heads of the household, government, and churches. Women, in Jewish culture, were uneducated and not allowed to be educated. Therefore, it wouldn't make sense for an uneducated woman to be teaching anyone, let alone educated men.

Being that a man was the head of the household it would have limited his ability to lead his home if he was led by a woman in a ministry setting. Paul says in chapter three of 1 Timothy that a man must be able to lead his home first to be able to lead well in the Church. The two were interconnected. If a man couldn't lead one well, he wouldn't be able to lead the other well.

Also, if a man had been led by a woman at the church he would have been ineffective in his ability to be a role model to other non-Christian men outside the church and therefore not been able to lead them to Christ effectively.

Many women in Ephesus were likely very wealthy. They would have had money to buy fancy clothing and jewelry. They would attract attention to themselves (just like today) by wearing attractive clothing and jewelry that would draw attention to their bodies and sex appeal. Paul obviously thought this was out of place for the Church. A Christian woman's focus should be on Christ not on her own looks and body. This isn't to say Paul thought that a Christian woman should let herself go, but rather not dress in a way that distracts others and themselves from worship of the Lord.

2. Effective Ministry

As you read Paul's letters you easily can see that he felt an undeniable urgency for the Gospel. He knew that the clock was ticking and he needed to get the Gospel out to everyone he could while he still could. So, in line with that, the effectiveness of ministry would have been very important to him. If his ministry wasn't effective he would have been wasting valuable time.

At that time, because of a woman's place in society it would not have been the most effective way to present the Gospel if a woman was teaching it. Most would not have respected a woman's opinion on such matters and likely rejected her teaching. Also, if women were being a distraction in worship either by their dress, or speaking out of turn, that also would create an ineffective ministry.

Paul taught that women should learn in quietness and full submission. This did not mean they should shut up at all times and follow blindly. Paul consistently taught that all should be conscious of what is being taught to be sure that no one is adhering to false doctrines. The fact that Paul called them to learn at all showed a shift in thought from traditional Jewish culture. Women would just be a distraction if they had spoken up in worship due to the culture of that time.

3. Paul Had Great Respect for Women

While Paul was clear that woman should not be an elder, overseer, or deacon, he did believe that women had an important role in ministry and life. Here is a few examples...

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. ~2 Timothy 1:5

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much whine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. ~Titus 2:3-5

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. ~1 Peter 3:1-2

Obviously Paul had great respect for women and their role in teaching those around them. He gave great respect to the women that raised Timothy. He gave great responsibility to older women in the Church to teach the younger women. Along with that he showed women that the way they live could be transformational for their husbands and the men around them.

While women weren't allowed to teach, they had great responsibility in the advancement of the Gospel in their families and communities.

4. Final Thought

Obviously this is not an exhaustive scriptural study of women in ministry. This is just some thoughts and information I encountered in preparing for our short discussion last night. However, I think it does show that Paul not only respected women, he saw a great need for them in the advancement of the Gospel.

At the same time he had very certain thoughts on women in teaching and leadership roles within the Church. We can debate all day long whether we think these thoughts apply to our culture today or not. I would encourage you (as well as myself) to continue studying scripture, no matter what you believe. You may be right, you may be wrong.

We all have strong beliefs about certain things in our lives. What we need to do is be sure our beliefs are rooted firmly in scripture, not just in our own biases. Just because our culture has led us to believe something doesn't mean that it is Biblical.

I would also be curious to hear, as we're on the subject of women in ministry. What women in your life have had a positive effect on you and/or led a great ministry from a pastoral or teaching role? Leave a comment

My last post was on the Fear of God and what that might look like. Whether that be a simple reverence and respect for God or an actual fear, or terror, when in the presence of God. It is important to understand the fear of God. I'd like to talk about that a little more as I study through Proverbs for our Student Ministries WISE UP! study of Proverbs. There is a decision we have to make before we can be led into wisdom and an understanding of the fear of God.

"My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." ~Proverbs 2:1-5

This passage clearly presents a specific choice that each of us has to make in life to determine whether we go the way of the wisdom of God and on to a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if we turn away from wisdom and lose our salvation and life completely.

This is where the Church comes in. When I say "Church" I mean the people of the Body of Christ and not just the individual churches in our community (though they are obviously a huge part of this). The Church has the responsibility to present all people, but specifically young people, with this decision.

The book of Proverbs is clear that ignorance is not an excuse for not making this decision. It says that "Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech." Wisdom is out there and in our face, screaming in our faces.

The Church is where Wisdom screams it's loudest (or should be). We are the mouthpiece, or bullhorn, for Wisdom. We are the ones that should be screaming wisdom into the streets and to all that we come in contact with.

If we fail to do this, specifically for young people before they have a chance to turn the wrong direction, we fail and they do not understand that they have a decision to make. We need to make this appeal to our young people so that there is no confusion about the choice they need to make; to follow the way of Wisdom to Jesus Christ, or as Proverbs basically puts it, dig their own grave. "For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them."

Granted, a lot of you might point out that I am still really a young person at the ripe age of 25. However, I feel this call strongest of all being one of the Student Ministries Directors here at Castleton UMC.

I love Proverbs, always lights a fire under me!