Unfair or Unsafe…

So as I was driving home yesterday from a long day at church I saw 4 teenagers standing on a corner holding up a sign for a fundraiser they were doing for ____________. You can fill in the blank cause the kids are there for everything, youth groups, cheer camps, choirs & bands, school fundraiser. I see this a lot. It is not an unusual thing at all, and in fact our student ministry has done it as well.

What got me thinking this about this more was that this particular corner last week my wife and I pulled over to help a young pregnant teenager. She had wording written on a piece of paper in a spiral notebook. We stopped to hear her story and see how we could help. As we pulled in a cop pulled in a few minutes after us asking us to leave and the girl to move along. At the time we didn’t think anything about it but seeing these ‘more well off’ kids standing on the same street corner asking for money caused me to ask…

What is the difference here?

I know we have a panhandler and then you have a fundraiser… but why is one who is in need forced to move on, while others who are desiring something more (new skirts, new trumpets, new shoes, bus to go on a mission trip) they can wave their signs and get hand outs.

I’m not sure how I feel, but the big Justice filled Gospel question comes into my mind and makes me wonder, why is one ok and the other is not.

What are you thoughts?

Friday Five: Five Sites I visit Most

Yeah its a lull kinda morning and I’m a little dried up with creativity after putting together a vision/mission plan for our youth pastor this week. So I thought I would simply share five sites that I use and read the most.

• ChurchLeaders.com: Church leaders has great articles and resources for ministry.
• Ted.com: Incredibly creative and inspirational talks on just thousands of different concepts and thoughts
• CreationSwap.com: I was nervous about giving this one out. This is a beta site that I use to gather great pictures and images for ministry.
• the99Percent.com: Great articles and encouragement on becoming more productive, tapping into more of your creative side, and creating systems that allow you to get more done.
• simplyyouthministry.com: I love Simply. They are a great company that cares for the youth worker and their ministry. They have tons of great deals year around, tons of personal articles that help youth workers connect with Jesus, give advice about youth ministry ideas, and challenges the reader to understand their calling as a youth worker.

What about you? What are a few of the most visited sites you check out and why?

What I meant was…

We rarely get a chance to repeat ourselves. We live in a world of sound-bytes and quick quips. It feels like more and more people are becoming ‘great politicians’ with their speech. I believe it is because many are realizing that people here and react to what first comes out of our mouths.

We don’t give people much of a chance to explain, to unpack, to paint a better picture for us. We go with what first pops out of their mouth. When I was younger and first starting in ministry I recall many a time when I hadn’t fleshed out an idea that I would just take off and hope to land it at some point with out to much turbulence. I have learned that this style is a great way to lose ‘passengers’ in your conversation & teaching.

The more I spend time in Proverbs I see time and time again comments on our words, choosing the right words, not overly using words, not wasting words, sharing encouraging words and others. Our words are either Life or Death (Proverbs 18.21) not only to the listener but even to us as well. When we speak our words rarely get a second chance.

So why say all of this. choose your words wisely, be ever so slow to speak. Begin to see your words as an actually currency in your life and to others. Don’t be quick to bankrupt yourself and regret what you invested your words in later.

So as a parent learn to be slower with your words with your children so that you know you are encouraging and giving life to spur on your child

…to your spouse don’t be so eager to be ‘right’ all the time, you might find yourself wishing you could take back some words…

…in ministry be SUPER intentional with every word that is ever used. You are speaking the very gospel that saves and every word either draws near or pushes away. Don’t be careless cause you may never get a chance to share it again.

So instead of wishing you could take something back or wish you could say it over again, slow your speech and speak the words right and well to begin with.

Book Review: Healing the Hurts of Your Past

I had the privilege of reviewing Remy Diederich, Senior pastor at Cedarbrook in Menominee Wisconsin, book, Healing the Hurts of Your Past: A Guide to Overcoming the Pain of Shame, over the last few months. As I have begun to do more and more advocacy work at Faith, I realized I needed more training and wisdom from those who have been doing counseling and advocacy work. Remy pastors the church that Stacie’s, my wife, was a part of in college and had heard about his book so I picked it up.

Remy’s approach in the book isn’t like your typical self help book or counseling book. He truly does approach the book as a guide to helping folks overcome the effects of shame. The theme of the book comes at the many different angles of shame, how shame roots itself into our lives, the fruit of it and the damage it can cause through out.

The book does a great job at giving great solid illustrations through out referring to movies, and personal stories of Remy’s past. The reader will have no problem connecting with the illustrations at all. With Remy’s experience as a pastor, a consultant at drug and alcohol treatment centers, and possibly most reliably, his own story of growing up in a house of shame and pain, Remy walks you through step by step how to reflect and see your shame and to overcome and be healed of the shame that is found in each of our lives.

The book works similarly to a workbook as each chapter has sections that invite the read to pause and reflect, to make action steps and choices to move beyond or deeper into an area of their life. The reflective questioning at the end of the chapters is a welcomed change to most books of this nature.

This book is birthed from a deep place in Remy Diedrich and is written in a manner that wants to help others find healing and freedom from the shame that has been placed on them by others and by actions. This is a great-easy read for anyone who works with people and must for the library of pastors who specialize in counseling. You can pick up your copy by clicking here.

Restless Nights!

Restless nights don’t come to me all that often but when they do it drives me crazy. They are nights where my brain will not shut off. Rarely am I everything thinking of anything of real substance, but I can’t figure out why I can’t shut it off.

The past few nights have been Restless nights for me. Last night I finally began to listen. Those moments are normally indicators from your body or soul trying to get your attention. I finally was able to quiet myself enough to hear God saying, “HEY!!!! I want to talk to you.” Have you ever been on such an autopilot mode that you even those little God interruptions seem like turbulence that is meant to be overcome?

We can become so streamlined that we need those restless moments to make things uneasy, to cause us enough discomfort that we take the journey off of autopilot and reengage with our selves and Jesus.

Last night I was reminded just how much Jesus wants to speak to me, how much he wants to be involved in my day in day out happenings. The moment I become to tired and worn out, the moment I hit autopilot and just start coasting is the moment I leave him out of the picture.

If you experience restless nights, or restless days, take heed to ask your soul, “Is something wrong?” I have found that in these moments my soul is trying to tell me something, and I need to clear the calendar to listen to it, to take time and be with God a little more intentionally today that normal.

What would you do with…

What would you do with $398,000,000? It’s a simple question. It is crazy thinking just how much money that is, and even crazier thinking that out of the millions of people buying tickets for the MegaMillion price of $500,000,000+ the ‘odds’ of someone winning is like 1 in 180million. Those aren’t great odds, but still exciting.

So, what would you all that money? You say it wouldn’t change you, but it would. In what ways do you think?