8th Grade Promotion... AZ style.

After being a youth pastor for one decade... I've been to my fair share of Middle School promotions. Today I went to my first in Arizona. Some Observations about where I live:

There were only 60 students being promoted. This allowed for the ceremony to be inside... out of the elements, and there was plenty of space for friends and family.

It's not even memorial day... and school is out. While the rest of the country does Dads and Grads. It's going to take me a while to get used to Moms and Grads.

It was at an elementary school. This was the first 8th grade promotion at one of the oldest schools in Maricopa county. They are actually moving away from the middle school model in favor of a k-8 model. This is still a very interesting discussion to me.

Where were the white people? While I understand and appreciate the racial diversity of my neighborhood and long for the day when I don't notice skin color, today I did. Out of the 60 students, three were white. Today I have been pondering what cultural implications this must have as a young church plant trying to serve the community.

Not Making Things Happen

Part of me... will always be a youth pastor. Recently Mark Riddle wrote a fantastic piece for ys about youth pastors feeling the pressure to make things happen. I think the same pressure is often felt by church planters. His article was a good reminder to me that it is really HIS church (not Mark's but God's).

It’s important for you to understand something.
You aren’t called to make things happen in your church.
Oh, you may be paid to make things happen, but it’s not God calling you to plan, lead and pull off all that unsustainable stuff. It’s not God calling you build it all, or convince others to build your vision either.

Driving in the Snow

For most of my life I have spent Martin Luther King day in the San Bernadino Mountains. I have spent more Martin Luther King Days playing in the snow than I have doing anything else. After several years of planning a "snow trip" and being frustrated with what became a mountain top shopping day and picnic at a park with out snow, we have in recent years charged big bucks to go to the place that makes the snow. Yesterday, that wasn't neccesary. Students paid $20 bucks to spend 4 hours on a 1974 Crown bus, 3 hours in the snow, another 90 minutes in the bus, dinner break at Burger King, and then another hour in the bus. I, being the bus driver, was a little bit frustrated. Funniest thing I over-heard... Two middle school girls, talking to two freshmen guys.
Girls: So are you guys like geeks.
Guys: We're not geeks, You're just not that smart.
Wow! What would Jesus Do? I had to laugh.

Sabbath...Sorta

I should probably stop doing this because I pretty much suck at keeping a sabbath. Here's to a little bit of virtual accountability. Had four kids to the ball park before 8:00AM. The boy played his last game. Season batting average... .000. Never even stepped into the box. It's cool he's four. Today a line drive nearly took his head off but he told me it was cool. Left the boy and the wife to watch a buddies game, and I took the girls to the bank, which doesn't open till 10. We strolled around Stater Bro's Market until someone was available to take my money and then went back to the ball park. Picked up wife and son and watched almost a half hour of flag football before heading to Shakeys for the team party. Four toddlers at a Pizza place, lost in the "fun zone", politely asking for more tokens... "daddy!". Ran into a ministry mentor/ buddy and was able to catch up a little. The boy was honored (he got pizza, pepsi, a pin and a punchball...WOOHOO!). I thanked the talented, patient, and extremely gracious coaches for a great season, before we headed out. We just got one of these in our town and the wife wanted to check it out for upcoming B-Days or Youth ministry stuff. The place is like Chuck E Cheese on Steroids. Came home. Snuck over to church and did some work (I told you I suck). Came home and took a nap (counts as rest right?). Was able to go to a high school play, just me and my wife, where we ran into a bunch of our students. Picked up the kiddos (Thanks Mom!) Did a little more work and am now writing this grammatically messy confessional Sabbath Post.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time seperating work, ministry, personal time, family, etc because it all seems so connected. I desire for all these areas to be integrated. I desire to be healthy, to feel whole, and to know peace. I'm just not there yet.

Undisciplined... and Wierd

I sleep as late as possible, no matter what. I went to bed last night at 11:30PM, thinking I would get up early and get a jump on my day. I woke up at 5:30AM. I handled some paperwork in the hall...er office, and noticed it was still dark outside. I went back to bed. I got up again at 7:30. Did a few of the things I was trying to get a jump on, showered, headed out, and arrived at work four minutes late. Granted, the fact that I was up and moving at 7:30 is a real testimony to where I came from. However, my inability to be the early worm (Is it the bird? I'm terrible at mixing metaphors.) makes me feel terribly undisciplined.

At our church we do a monthly outreach service, well, once a month. I work together on this with the young adults leader and the senior pastor. It seems like anytime I suggest something, they both look at me like I'm crazy. For November I chose the theme and scripture. This month our theme is Rhythm and the theme verse is from Isaiah 55; "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. I have had to explain this idea over and over again. Each one of us has a "rhythm" to our lives. The "rhythm" the world offers is much different than the "rhythm" God offers. Is this really that abstract? I guess so. Makes me feel like the wierd odd ball.

Broken

Barna research has released some pretty significant findings in regards to how 16-29 yr olds feel about Christianity. Yeah, I know. I barely made the research group. Here is what they found;

The new study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals.

Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians.

When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus."

But then, as we probed why young people had come to such conclusions, I was surprised how much their perceptions were rooted in specific stories and personal interactions with Christians and in churches.

I think maybe the church is doing something wrong. Check out the whole article here.

The Ground is Shaking

This is where I live. That red square represents the micro quake that just rattled my windows and doors. It's still supposed to rain tonight or tomorrow, but it is beautiful outside. Tomorrow I take students to Six Flags. Hopefully the sun is shining and the earth is not shaking. I may ride Tatsu, but will probably spend most of the day looking for a good illustration. Don't Forget! Topherspoon is throwing some smack on Sunday! I love living in SoCal... sometimes!

Changing Seasons

New things in my life...
started campus ministry at the high school
started campus ministry at the middle school
started after school small groups
started fall volleyball league
started Friday night "5th Quarter"
started Men's monday night football fellowship

Things that ended recently...
Sunday's relaxed Traditional Service dress code

At least when Brown worked you around the clock, you got paid a little bit more. Don't worry. I'm not getting bitter. It's all good. It all just seems a little overwhelming right now.

Topherspoon will be preaching on Sunday the 23rd. 6PM.

Positive Change... I think so.

Today I had an unscheduled, closed door meeting with my s.p. There was clarity. There was healthy dialogue. My ministry, as well as our friendship, were both re-affirmed. I feel like today's meeting was an answer to prayer. Thank you to those who have been praying with me, and for me. God is good.

The Conspiracy continues...

Ever since I made some wise acre comments about ys' new logo I have no longer been getting my wednesday ys updates. Oh well, most of them are just links to Marko's blog. Still... What's up with that?!?

150th Post... Kids in Crisis

If and when I write a book, Dean Merrill is the one I want to edit it. He sent me a copy of his new book and I've jumped in with two feet. It has a slight clinical slant to it but seems to focus on the old "relationship with rules" approach. Very helpful and written in an accessible manner that should me helpful to parents, youth workers, and anyone else who is making a difference in the lives of young people.

Doing what I love

Just in case I start getting concerned calls from my previous post... The "Holy Sweat" Trip was fantastic. The students did wonderful. We touched the lives of about 40 unique children over four nights and helped families connect with a wonderful church, South Bay Christian Fellowship. We passed out nearly 1,000 fliers in a community with a population of about 14,000. I saw first hand some of the challenges of ministering in a small coastal community but only 14,000? It gives some hope to the "Let's see the whole city saved" kind of vision casting. It was very refreshing though to hear Pastor Dan's heart and know that this body is all about building big people, not neccesarily a big church. I got to lead and watch six high school students introduce Jesus to little kids and be divine encouragement to an 86 year old lady. I saw these six diverse and unique individuals become a team and begin actually being the church. We shared many meals together, got to hang with sea otters in the bay, prayed together under a pygmy oak tree, and saw some crazy things from the windows of a '75 Crown bus. This is discipleship how I like it.

My wife is my hero! Again and Again and Again. When I feel like I'm getting old, maybe burnt out, and grumpy she is always there, hearing His voice, being an advocate for students, and seeing the need in ways that I either can't or just don't. Oh yeah, my kids are the best! And that is why I hauled three goldfish (prizes from the kids extravaganza) 300 miles in plastic bags they were in for 30 hours. I can't believe they are still alive! But they are. They are eating beta food in a bowl on my kitchen counter.

Where's the Rock?

This morning I'm in Los Osos, CA. Our high school missions team is doing well as we minister to families, kids, and our church plant here. We spent the morning praying in the "Elfin Forest" for the surrounding communities of Morro Bay, Los Osos, and San Luis Obispo. Our traditional means of going door to door and delievering about 700 flier invites have been met with mixed results. We contiue to pray that God would bring unchurched families that could connect through the Kids Extravaganza we are presenting. The team is also doing some good old fashioned weed pulling as we convert a weed feild into a sport's play area. All the soil here is like sand. It's wierd. We will finish the volleyball court today and maybe plant a tree that will leave a permanent mark of not only us being here but what God is doing in the lives of our team members. Yesterday while doing said weed pulling one of the guys got something in his eye and even after much rinsing and washing it was red red red. He was starting to have trouble seeing, was having tremendous pain, and wasn't sure he'd be able to play drums, play his part in the skit, or wear his puppet mask. We prayed and by "showtime" he was healed. If you are the praying type... please pray with me that our time here would be effective, and that we would be a blessing, pray that some of those unchurched kids might come hang out with us.

Preaching...Again

Pastor Dan at South Bay Christian Fellowship asked our team to take the whole service Sunday Morning before we start our Kids Extravaganza. Very flattering but probably more than our team is ready to handle. The students are going to do a skit, and Topherspoon will be running his smack. We will sit back and enjoy their community for the rest of worship.

The cool thing about being a guest is you can reuse old material. I'm praying about the possibilities of using the "Blvd of Broken Dreams" sermon, re-packaging the "Less is More" sermon, or finishing a "Disciples of Jesus are Big Tippers" sermon I've started based on Matthew Chapter 10 and 11.

I'm also praying our T-Shirts arrive tomorrow. I just ordered them last week. They shipped Tuesday and I'm trusting USPS will drop them off tomorrow. I am continually amazed at how small the world is becoming. My boy Jason from TeamScreen is my very best T-Shirt printer even though he's based on the opposite coast. Amazing.

Pray for an awesome week of ministry. I will try to update TTSM if I can.

Reflections on Camp... Liability... and Grilling Burgers.

So last week I promised some updates on camp. Here's one. Sometimes as a youth pastor one experiences moments of true delight that seem like "heaven on earth" and make all the crap of the job worth it. Many times they are super spiritual and sometimes their not. Last week I had the joy of once again running all the afternoon activities at camp. A camp favorite, and the most stressful for the activities director, is boating. We rent these little 4-6 seat outboard aluminum fishing boats and the campers get to drive them and go exploring on the lake for one hour. I ALWAYS tell them not to crash other boats, not to "fall" into the water, and not to come back late. After a decade of doing this I anticipate all of these things happening. So last week I sent out nine boats of campers and workers, ALL NINE CAME BACK ON TIME! Most of them were soaked from "falling" in and I know they were playing bumper boats but the fact that they all came back on time, just might be my crowning achievement in youth ministry... (plus, like my bro, I teach good, just not English). The only problem was I went three times to pick up the scenic chair lift hikers before I figured out they must be really lost. Everyone was safely back at camp by the end of dinner but losing three campers and two counselors really but a damper on my "having punctual boaters" celebration.

Earlier this year, we made a big change in our church policy. We decided to let 18 year olds attend the young adults class... even if they were still in high school. It always cracks me up when the church makes rules for adults to follow. Anyway, it has been very helpful for this group to come up with some appropriate guidelines for defining their group; 18-30, not married, no kids allowed. But somehow in this change, and in these definitions, there arose a huge misunderstanding about what to do with my seniors who just graduated from high school who happen to be 17 still. (It's the same fall birthday Kindergarten thing) To me, it seemed simple... let them go to young adults. However, me and the young adults leader did not see eye to eye right away. There was this huge question about liability and legal minors. (Here comes a rant) I know the folks at Guide One and Church Mutual probably hate me, but I send kids out on rented boats, I treat 17 year old graduates like adults, and while I'm at it... I let kids skate in the church parking lot. PEOPLE must come before POLICY. (ok, end of rant). In the end, everyone is doing things my way, but I still don't understand why it was a hard decision.

Today was the Summer Heat Volleyball tournament. I'm always nervous when there is a church sponsored event and I don't have a job assignment going into it. Today was fantastic though! I did very little except chill with my kids and watch some pretty exciting volleyball. Nothing quite like changin' diapers under an EZ-UP while sippin' on a diet mountain dew. I did end up spending much of the afternoon behind the grill, but that too is very relaxing to me. The smell of smoke, the burn in the eyes, and the sizzling sounds of grease dripping past the grill onto the coals; not a bad way to spend a sabbath, although technically, I'm pretty sure I was working.

Tomorrow should be great. Our church is hosting a group of kids from Los Osos, CA (four hours north) and another group from Gilbert, AZ (four hours east). They will be sleeping on our floor tomorrow night and heading up to camp with us on Monday morning. Sounds like fun!

I need a new Torque Converter.

And this sounds expensive. Thanks to Ford's 75,000 mile power train warranty, it's only going to cost me $100. This is more than I have but with 71,000 miles on the odometer I'm somehow thankful for this timely break down.

So the soccer mom mini van will be at the dealership till at least Wednesday, so that left me and the family rolling in total style today... 1975 Crown Bus. It must have been confusing for the kids. We got some chilli fries for lunch and then fueled the bus. We got food for the house and cheap peanut buttter sandwich cookies for tomorrow's beach trip. My kids often just roll with what ever youth ministry event is happening, and I'm not sure how healthy that is, but we do try to communicate with them what's going to happen, it just doesn't always work. Today when we got back to church with the groceries my middle child, the outgoing one of the bunch, says "Ah man! How come we didn't go to the beach!" Tomorrow, Princess, Tomorrow.

Speaking of beach trips...I went to high school with this kid named Joe, I can't remember if he was Joe 1 or Joe 2. Joe is a Youth Pastor. Today Joe got fired. Joe... the rest of this post is for you.

Joe worked faithfully for seven years at the same place, he served his students, congregation, and community in ways that brought heaven to earth. Today Joe got blindsided in a meeting. It went something like this... "We're going in a direction...today is your last day!" As far as I know he did nothing illegal, immoral, or unsafe (possibly justifiable reasons to fire a youth worker on the spot). THIS STINKS! Makes me think of a quote by a friend of mine who's been gone for awhile...

I'm beginning to believe that if those who are called into youth ministry follow
the lead of the One who called them, getting fired is inevitable. Why? Because,
in general, the institutional church doesn't get it. The institutional church
has become hopelessly corporate, hopelessly tangled in a web of secularism.
Instead of the church being the Church, it has opted instead to be a
corporation. - Mike Yaconelli

I am so hopeful for the body. I do not believe this quote is true. But I keep seeing it prove itself over and over again. BTW: How come no one calls it "getting fired" when you work at a church? Transistion is always based on God's leading. "We just felt called somewhere else". Like it would be immoral to say "me and mister pastor are driving each other nutts! For the sake of each other and the body we need to do something different". I'm all for unity and avoiding division. I just think a little more honesty and transparency would go along way in the church. For Joe, and his wife, I hurt today. But as an advocate of students, I hurt for Joe's kids. The one's who were learning how to live out their faith in a pluralistic world, the ones who just got home from feeding the homeless, and introducing kids to Jesus. To the kids that were being led to a real lasting connected relationship with God, and now are confused and with out their leader, I want to say I'm sorry. I want to apologize on behalf of the church. I want you to know, I'm sorry your beach trip got messed up, and I hope God redeems this mess.

PS- I am not Joe. Joe's name is not really Joe. I didn't ask Joe if I could post this, but quite frankly, there's way too many Joes out there to even start asking them. Would you pray with me? May the church become more holistic in it's ministry to students. May the church start being the church regardless of our generational and cultural differences. May we all become a little more honest and transparent. And may we find the grace of Jesus in this beautiful mess.

Home from Camp

The wife and kids and I are home from our week at Sa Ha Le for this year's youth camp. It was a fabulous week. I think I'm getting too old for this stuff... I'm exhausted. Anyway. The wife is asleep. The boy is watching 'Doogal'. The baby is eating salad, (and sharing it with the dog). The big girl is being very quiet, I better check on that. She's drinking 7up. It's nice to be home.

On the way up the mountain my van puked transmission fluid all over the highway and the bus I was driving threw it's power steering belt. We left the van on the side of the mountain and I drove 55 campers + various staff + my family from the van, all the way to camp with no power steering. My forearms are very buff and I now have six grey hairs in my beard. We arrived to camp safely and close to on time. Like I said, camp was fabulous and I will try to post more later.

For now, a wall of gratitude moment. My dad and I have a fairly... uh... fair relationship. In general we like each other, but don't seem to make too much time for each other. We live in seemingly different worlds. I live in a fundy church culture he left, and he lives in a world of family chaos I never imagined would be mine even with a "step" in front of it. Just to complicate things he's hard of hearing to a point where phone conservations are difficult and frustrating to both of us. I sometimes think he must be totally embarrassed by what I do, even though he goes out of his way to say how proud of me he is.

So on Sunday night, with campers anxiously awaiting the first chapel, and the van still sitting in it's own vomit, I called my dad and step-mom. I just wanted them to try to get the van to their house, which at the time, I was thinking was very close to their home. They bought a cart load of ATF and safely drove the van down the mountain, then all the way to my driveway. It was a very "Christ-like" thing to do and a very meaningful demonstration of the love this set of folks have for my family. My dad, who rarely attends church anymore, enabled some real life changing youth ministry to happen. That night, many students invited Jesus into their lives for the first time. There was a real authenticity to the altar time. And the evening set a wonderful tone for the whole week. I am so thankful for the parents God gave me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't remember, "I'm a Wotherspoon Boy!" I love my disFUNctional family and I am so glad my dad is my dad.

Why Riverside Sucks!

Evidently only Las Vegas, Miami, New York, and Virginia Beach are worse off when it comes to people volunteering to help. For the full report go here. The full report seems to be more gracious and puts Riverside somewhere in the middle based on hours and not percentages of those volunteering. However, I'm still shamefully embarassed by these results. No wonder I can't keep youth workers.

100th Post... Christian Skate Night

It's hard to believe I've already made 100 posts here at TTSM. I'm pretty sure Christian Skate Night is NOT worthy of such a note worthy post. Oh Well.

Tonight I was flip'n the wax as the DJ / MC / group leader for our church's annual all family skate night. Two hours of quality "christian only" music mostly done in the normal skating direction. Red Light Green Light, A Glo Skate, and a "Friend" Skate all were included. We played most of the christian skate night hits like Newsboy's "Shine" and Audio A's "Big House" but I somehow got to Cal Skate GT (our local rink) with out a copy of this. I think that qualifies as one of my most embarassing moments ever. Shame on Cal Skate for not having their own copy. We survived and a bunch of kids and students are that much closer to paying for summer camp. (Does anyone else minister in this kind of christian culture ghetto?) Thanks to all who were there. I'll try to make an anouncement here on TTSM if and when we do it again. All you locals can come out and get your groove on to "Jesus is still alright".

Also, the DJ from the rink, who specializes in "Christian Nights" did Bible Trivia all night and actually gave me this tract...

It's a zero $ bill because zero is the number of God's laws you can break if you are trying to get to heaven on your own. Like JDF, I hate it when the gospel gets reduced to a gimmick, but even if that's your gig... It's probably a safe assumption that the youth pastor heading up the "christian skate night" has already prayed the prayer. Save your bills for someone else.

Random Links

This list from Outreach magazine of "America's top 25 multiplying churches" is way interesting. I am way impressed with the churches that have planted churches outside their denomination.

This is a problem.

This is cool. Topherspoon gets some love from Marko.