ready. set. grow.

my son

2010-03-04T00:31:00.003-05:00

world, meet grayson grigsby blake.

5 pounds, 12 ounces, 18.5 inches long.

full head of hair. super cute.

:)

- tim

Anticipation, a baby, and the second coming

2010-03-03T09:55:00.003-05:00

So for the last week or so there's one word that describes my life: ANTICIPATION.

Waiting for baby Blake to be born has been the most anxiety-ridden, excitement-filled, nerve-wrenching time of my life. I can't remember any other time in my life, other than maybe right before I proposed to Trisha and right before we got married, when I have been this sweaty-palm-anxious.

I literally haven't been sleeping. I'll wake up several times in the middle of the night just to look over at Trisha and see if she's asleep, awake, in labor, etc. The worst part is the not knowing. He could come at any time, and while I think I'm ready, I have to keep my mind set on his arrival.

Wait. Am I still talking about my baby?

The thing is, I'm really learning a lot of what it means to wait with anticipation for Jesus' return. I'm sorry to say that when I think about the arrival of baby Blake I really experience a wide range of emotions that I've never tied to the arrival of Jesus. But now that I'm experiencing them I'm beginning to tie together the two experiences in ways that are opening up my eyes and heart to a new reality.

He is coming again. Maybe in my lifetime, maybe not. It could be in the middle of the night. It could be before I finish this sentence. It could be a million years from now. But He IS coming.

I'm excited.

- Tim B.

Beautiful Things

2010-02-20T10:29:00.002-05:00

This song is beautiful! I'm learning how to play it and can't wait to try it out in worship.

- Tim

Love?

2010-02-15T10:01:00.002-05:00

(This is from a group devotion I did at our Valentine's Day party at FBC Youth!)

What is love? It's a question that poets and songwriters specialize in, and the rest of us just kind of fumble our way around. When it comes to what love really is, most of us just best-guess our way into it, and then either desperately cling to what we believe "love" is or move on to something better when we realize that what we held wasn't really love at all.

The problem is that we have no reference point for what love is really all about. It's sort of like if I had a blank canvas and asked you to paint it. You would ask "what color do you want me to paint it." I would respond "Philly. Paint it Philly." After you made sure you heard me right, you would realize that Philly is not a color you'd ever heard of before. If you went ahead and painted that canvas the color you thought I might be talking about when I said "Philly", you would be only guessing your way through it.

If I told you "Philly" was actually a shade of red, here's what might have happened. You might have made a really good guess. You may have picked out a shade of red, or pink, or even orange - which isn't too far off. Your canvas may look a lot like what I intended it to be, but odds are it isn't exactly right. More likely is that you were way off - maybe you went for a blue, or yellow, or off-white, or black. The point is that you may have convinced yourself that "Aha! This is what love - sorry - Philly is, so I'm going to paint it this color!" but the truth is that you aren't even close to being right.

The point is this. God made you relational. He made you to love - Him first, then others. And because He designed you in a very specific way, He has a very specific plan for you when it comes to romance, sexuality, and love. When was the last time you actually asked God to define what love is for you?

1 John 3:16 lays it out perfect - "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us..."

Here's the deal: You simply CANNOT know what love is without knowing Jesus. You may best-guess your way in to something that looks a lot like what God intends love to look like. But without having a reference point - a compass that points true north when it comes to love - you'll never fully live in the amazing story God wants to write with your life.

So do you know what love is? Do you know who Jesus is and what He did for humanity?

"Greater love has no one than this..." - John 15:13. Look it up and read the rest on your own.

Happy Valentine's Day!

- Tim

reading is good

2010-02-01T10:40:00.011-05:00

as a staff we're reading the book "good to great in god's eyes" by chip ingram. today's chapter that we discussed in staff meeting was called "read great books", and our discussion centered on the importance of reading great christian works in addition to studying scripture.

i'm super-passionate about reading because i really believe in the ability books/articles/blogs/etc. have to shape both your view of god and how you live your life. i really hate it when people don't pick up a book simply because they "don't like to read". in his book, ingram says that "God himself appreciates the value of books, as evidenced by the fact that he chose to reveal himself to us in a collection of them." another favorite author/speaker/teacher of mine, dave ramsey, always says that "one year from now you'll be the same person you are today except for the books you read and the people you meet."

if you want to grow in your faith, personal life, relationships, profession, etc., you've got to read books!

here is a list of books that have been formative in my life in the last ten years. you may want to check some of them out!

-----
Theology/doctrine:
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
Simply Christian - NT Wright
desiring god - john piper
theology for today - elmer towns
across the spectrum - boyd & eddy
Lectures in systematic theology - henry thiessen

Christian Living/Spiritual Development:
The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother lawrence
the unquenchable worshiper; facedown - matt redman
every man's battle - arterburn, stoeker, yorkey
experiencing god - henry and richard blackaby
live like a jesus freak - various
blue like jazz; searching for god knows what; a million miles in a thousand years - donald miller
he chose the nails - max lucado
i am not but i know i am - louie giglio
peace with god - billy graham

Marriage/Relationships:
sacred marriage - gary thomas
when god writes your love story - eric and leslie ludy
boy meets girl - joshua harris

Ministry/Church:
to know you more: cultivating the heart of a worship leader - andy park
purpose driven youth ministry - doug fields
what matters most - doug fields
conspiracy of kindness - steve sjogren
church re-imagined; preaching re-imagined - doug pagitt
emerging church; they like christians but not the church - dan kimball
the be with factor - bo boshers
simple church; simple student ministry - eric geiger, et.al.
contemplative youth ministry - mark yaconelli

Fiction/Allegory:
in his steps - charles sheldon
the screwtape letters; the chronicles of narnia - cs lewis
a tale of three kings - gene edwards
pilgrim's progress - john bunyan

biography/life stories:
the narrow road - brother andrew
jesus freaks; foxe's book of martyrs - various

miscellaneous:
the message bible - eugene peterson
total money makeover - dave ramsey

This is My Story

2010-01-27T20:40:00.002-05:00

Made this little intro video for our last night of the "This is My Story" series. That's my hand, so it's my story!

- Tim

Coming Back...

2010-01-27T12:55:00.003-05:00

Though my primary task at our church is youth ministry, and we don’t officially have a college-age ministry (other than a Sunday morning Bible Study), from time to time I’ll have the opportunity to interact with college-age young people, especially those who have spent time with us during middle or high school.

One of the most common reasons that young adults get in touch with me is because they have a desire to “come back” to their faith. It is a reality of youth ministry that many (if not most) of the students we work with will at some point in their late teens or early twenties have a time of “falling away” from their faith practices and Christian community.

This week, after sending a mass invitation over Facebook to an open-mic-share-your-story-night, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a former student on the topic of “coming back” – both to the living out of her faith and to community. I thought you might benefit from seeing her questions/concerns and then my response. I’ll obviously withhold her name for confidentiality’s sake.

Good luck in your ministry to young people!

----------

Hi Tim.

Although I would like to tell my story of how I found Christ I'm scared to admit that I feel I have been falling off the path of God. Lately I feel as though I want to rebel against the word of God. I believe in God as my savior, but I've been feeling as though he's not been listening to me. I feel I have been crying out for help and things haven't been getting any better.

That being said I was wondering if you had any advice or any verses I could read that maybe I could have some reassurance. If you could do that I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

----------

Hey -----! Good to hear from you.

It's super-common for young people to have a bit of a "falling away" once they get around the time of junior or senior year in high school and then on into your early twenties. The "falling off the path" and rebellion you're talking about is definitely not spiritually healthy, but don't feel like you're alone or the only one going through something like that. And you're certainly not alone in the feeling of not-being-heard you're talking about. Everyone goes through that, from saints to sinners - it's one of the toughest aspects of our faith (but definitely one that can be overcome)!

I would love to give you some passages to read (at the bottom of this message) and I'm here to talk anytime you would want to pop in to church/youth group/my office/whatever, but let me put something out there for you to think about. I think from what you've said here that you're already leaning into understanding this truth, but let me give it words for you.

There is a HUGE difference between being saved and being surrendered. In other words, it's totally possible to know Jesus as your Savior but never really live for Him like He's your Lord. That may sound all lofty-spiritual-religious or whatever, but it's true. There are so many Christians that get their "ticket to Heaven" and then go on with life as usual, but God has so much more planned for you!

I would challenge you to not only read the verses I've listed for you, but also to meditate on these thoughts:

God has a plan for your life.

You've got to discover that plan by seeking Him (through prayer, reading the Bible, serving others, and being around other Christians).

When you start living out the plan He has for you, then and only then will you really feel ALIVE.

I hope this is helpful. I'll pray for you and I'd love to hear back from you what you think of all this and how things are going over the next few days and weeks.

Talk to you soon,

Tim

Check these out:

Jeremiah 29:11 - God DOES have a plan for you!

Psalm 139:1-16 - God knows you more intimately than anyone else...

Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes. They have always reminded me of what I need to become if I want to be closer to God.

1 John 3:1 - About the Father's great love...

Matthew 14:22-36 - A time when Peter doubted...

Psalm 40:1-3 - About God hearing those who cry out to Him from the depths of despair...

Psalm 51 (the whole thing) - This is my favorite Psalm, written by David who also went through a time of falling away. Really let this one soak in by reading it over and over and over...

you can't force it

2010-01-25T18:34:00.005-05:00

one of my biggest struggles lately has been coming to terms with my inability to birth passion within the lives of students.

don't get me wrong. i believe that in youth ministry part of our calling is to foster passion within the lives of students - passion for god's fame, his glory, his kingdom coming, and their story within the kingdom.

you could look at it as watering the soil, if you're into agricultural metaphors.

the thing is though, you can water the ground all day long, but if there's not a seed below the surface, nothing is going to grow there. in the same way, if there are no seeds of passion within a young man or woman's soul, our efforts to inspire them for the sake of the gospel is, ultimately, in vain.

even though i know this in my head, i still get frustrated when faced with the spiritual apathy of so many young people, especially the ones who have been in church their whole lives and think that the whole thing is one giant cliche.

here's the fundamental thing I have to realize though.

i am not god.

shocking, right?

in john 6:44 jesus says "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." i just have to keep reminding myself that god is the one doing the real work in the lives of the students in our ministry. i am, in a very real way, just there to work the soil of their lives. and in the same way that gardening or farming takes time, patience, hard work, and a willingness to wait for the right season to see the harvest, god will, in His time, plant the seed and cause it to grow.

so i will keep working. watering. tilling. getting down deep into the lives of young people and praying to be able to witness the seeds of passion take root and break through to the surface of their lives.

and it will so be worth it.

- tim

A Prayer for Haiti

2010-01-20T15:42:00.004-05:00

Heavenly Father,

I pray for Haiti.

I pray for a country that is facing a crisis I cannot imagine. Be their Savior.

I pray for people who have been injured. Bring them healing like only You can.

I pray for those who have lost their homes. Shelter them under Your wings.

I pray for those who have lost loved ones. Comfort them with Your great love.

I pray for thousands of orphaned children. Be a Father to the fatherless.

I thank You for those that have been rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings.

I pray for those who may still be trapped. Help rescuers to find them.

I pray for all the relief workers who are on their way and who are already there. Give them strength, courage, and wisdom.

I pray for the leaders of Haiti. Help them to turn to You in the days, weeks, and months to come. Give them compassion and wisdom.

I pray for the people of Haiti to turn to You, God. Help them find the healing, peace, and salvation that comes only from Your Son Jesus.

God I believe that in all things You are working.

May we see Your hand in the midst of tragedy.

Bring Your peace in the midst of crisis.

Show this world Your glory.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

I have a dream...

2010-01-18T11:34:00.000-05:00

take a risk

2010-01-14T13:24:00.003-05:00

last night was part two of our current youth ministry message series "this is my story". i loved putting the message together for the service - it was one of my favorite in a while.

we talked about risk and how taking a chance and doing something crazy makes for a great story. this applies to some of the greatest stories that we tell. think about these examples:

- without taking a risk, frodo would have never left the shire. lame.

- without taking a risk, luke skywalker would have never went out to look for ben kenobi, and probably would have spent his life as a moisture farmer. boring.

- without taking a risk, cinderella would never have gone to the ball. sad.

if the characters in these stories never took a risk at some point, their stories would have been boring at best, tragic at worst. the same principle applies to our lives.

without taking risks, our stories aren't worth telling. and without taking risks, our lives aren't really being lived to their fullest.

there's a woman in the bible (luke 7) who took a great risk to get to Jesus. she risked being humiliated, rejected, possibly even being physically injured or worse, just to get to jesus' feet so she could worship him. when was the last time any of us took such a great risk to get to the feet of the savior and worship?

telling a great story with our lives involves us risking certain things.

our comfort.
our popularity.
the acceptance of others.

but when we put it all on the line in order to fall at jesus feet or build his kingdom, our stories change.

they become great stories.

stories that are worth being told, both here on the earth and one day in heaven.

what story are you telling with your life? what risks could you take to make your story great?

what are you waiting for?

do something crazy.

- tim

living water update

2010-01-11T13:32:00.001-05:00

check out this update/wrap-up video from our chritmas mission focus.

- tim

Rewriting Scripture?

2010-01-11T12:38:00.004-05:00

yesterday in bible study i briefly mentioned the practice of "rewriting" scripture, a devotional practice i've found useful over the years. i wanted to explain a little more in depth what i meant here.

when i rewrite scripture in devotion or prayer times, it is almost exclusively when i run across passages that address me personally (for example, any passage that has a phrase like "you should do this..." or "do you not know..."). i've found that copying these passages and inserting my own name into them can help the message penetrate into my heart in a much deeper way. let me provide a great example (that i shared yesterday) from ephesians 2 (from the n.i.v. bible, changes are noted in italics):

as for tim, he was dead in his transgressions and sins, in which he used to live when he followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. tim lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of his sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. like the rest, he was by nature an object of wrath. but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made tim alive with christ even when he was dead in transgressions - it is by grace he has been saved. and god raised tim up with christ and seated him with him in the heavenly realms in christ jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to tim in christ jesus. for it is by grace tim has been saved, through faith - and this not from himself, it is the gift of god - not by works, so that he cannot boast. for tim is god's workmanship, created in christ jesus to do good works, which god prepared in advance for him to do.

do you see how intensely personal this passage becomes when the general "you" or "you all" is replaced with my own name? check out 1 john 3:16-20 handled in a similar way (note that i'm using first-person perspective here instead of third):

this is how i know what love is: jesus christ laid down his life for me. and i ought to lay down my life for my brothers. if i have material possessions and see my brother in need but have no pity on him, how can the love of god be in me? Let me not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how i know that i belong to the truth, and how i set my heart at rest in his presence whenever my heart condemns me. for god is greater than my heart, and he knows everything.

awesome.

i would love for you to try this practice with these passages. once you try these two, be aware of others that come up in your devotions/readings that this practice could be beneficial with. i'd love to hear other passages you've made personal or how this practice helps you!

- tim

ps - some may balk at this idea and claim that i am "adding to" or "taking away from" scripture. while i do think we have to be wary of these things, i do not believe a personal devotional practice such as this would qualify as changing the message of scripture or threatening the integrity of the gospel. if anything this can personalize parts of the bible for an individual and bring god's promises to life for them in a fresh new way! and that is certainly something i don't think god would be angry over...

anticipating fatherhood

2010-01-09T11:37:00.003-05:00

before trisha and i got married, one of the many things i was excited about was the deepening of my relationship not just with her but with god as well. i believe 100% that marriage, in its proper expression, is a reflection of the relationship that christ has with the church. and i can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that in the few short years we have been married i have grasped in new ways the scripture that says "husbands, love your wives, just as christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (ephesians 5:25).

in the same way, one of the aspects of becoming a father i am most excited about is gaining a new perspective on who god is as our heavenly father.

have you ever paused to consider why god chose to reveal himself in the masculine, and specifically as a father? many believe that the bible reveals god paternally as a reflection of the patriarchal society and culture in which scripture was penned. however, if we are to "correctly handle the word of truth" (2 timothy 2:15) we must have faith that god has a great purpose in the way he presents his nature and role in relationship to us.

and he chooses to reveal himself as a father.

i have many ideas what i think god is trying to say to us, his children, by revealing himself as a father. however, when my son is born in a little over a month, i am fully expecting to see many of those ideas (and many i've never thought of) come to life in the great adventures that trisha and i will have in raising him. and it thrills me.

while i pray constantly for this boy i've never met - the son that will one day teach me far more than i will ever teach him - i'm also praying that in the years to come as i learn what it means to be a father, i will understand my heavenly father in still greater ways.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" - 1 john 3:1

how do i make better decisions?

2010-01-08T16:14:00.004-05:00

are you proactive or reactive?

what i'm asking is how much do you consider or weigh a decision before you make it? of course there are situations in life where we are forced to make split second decisions, but even those are filtered through some sort of thought process we develop over the course of our lives.

have you ever thought about that?

what is it in you that guides the decisions that you make? what filters in your heart and mind do your normal everyday decisions make their way through before they become action (or inaction)? i'm afraid that so many of us are simply instinctual, reactive creatures that fumble blindly through life making choices based on what feels good, what looks good, or what hurts the least.

though it may work for you at first, it doesn't take long to realize there's more to life than this.

do you ever crave wisdom? do you wish you had the tools to make better decisions - decisions that were based less on your in-the-moment gut reactions, even when they are made in-the-moment?

i'd encourage you to read the book of proverbs. as i shared with many of our students last week, what we put in to our heads and our hearts - what we read, watch, listen to, spend time doing - is eventually what makes it way back out to our mouths and hands. if you fill yourself with wisdom, discernment, understanding, and discipline, those things will shape the decisions you make!

if you are hungry for wisdom and the ability to make better decisions in any given situation and thus write a better story for your life, listen to how the book of proverbs begins:

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline.

read it, absorb it, and let your life begin to be shaped by it!

- tim

This is My Story

2010-01-06T07:11:00.002-05:00

Tonight we start a new series on Wednesday nights AND Sunday Mornings (in Bible Study Groups) called "This is My Story". I'm excited for this series - the basic premise is the question "what story will you tell with your life?"

this series came from two places of inspiration.

one is a book i recently read - "a million miles in a thousand years" by donald miller. this book is, in my opinion, a must read. the basic idea of the book is that every life tells a story, and if you want your story to be a good one you have to begin living out elements of a good story intentionally.

the second is my desire to inspire students to begin to understand the idea that their lives really do matter and that every single one of them has the potential to tell an amazing story with their life!

i'm excited to study several men and women from the bible who have incredible stories and see what god's going to do over the next month.

hope to see you on a wednesday at 7:00 or on a sunday morning at 9:45.

- tim

All Things New

2009-12-27T21:53:00.004-05:00

I taught a bible study this morning on revelation 21:1-5 and new year's resolutions.

it's funny the obsession we have with resolutions and with declarations of change in general. I would venture to guess that every person at some point in his or her life draws a line in a sand and says "that's it! no more! i'm changing!"

why are we like that? why do we have this desire to remake or change ourselves wired into the fabric of who we are? is it just that human beings are insecure, or in pursuit of constant self-improvement, or is there a deeper spiritual aspect to it?

In revelation 21, we see god remaking heaven and earth, and a description of what the new earth looks like. the passage is really a description of the culmination of what god has been at work at since the fall - the restoration, redemption, and ultimate re-creation of all things. god then says from the throne "I am making all things new."

if god is in the "remaking" business, and the work he's been about since the fall of mankind is re-creation, could it be that this innate desire we all seem to have to make new year's resolutions or other similar declarations of change is an outpouring of our soul's deepest desire for god to re-create us?

because the truth is, every one of us is, in some way, broken.

we are in need of fixing.

and not just a minor repair.

a complete overhaul.

we need to be made new.

and god from his throne declares "i am making all things new!"

what would happen if you and i realized that god is in the process of redeeming us by making us new? what if we surrendered to that truth, let god begin his re-creative work in us, and then began to live out our being-made-new-ness? what if by doing all that we were then able to join with him in his work of making all things new?

What if re-creation wasn't just happening in us but was also happening through us?

now that would be a new year's resolution!

Behold the Lamb of God

2009-12-21T22:52:00.002-05:00

Trisha and I and our friends Greg and Heather had a great time last night at the Behold the Lamb of God tour at Faith Church in Milford. Check out the video above for a glimpse of the evening and I highly recommend checking the album out. it's my favorite Christmas album of all time!

- Tim

Mary

2009-12-15T10:42:00.003-05:00

(The picture above is of the sculpture "Pieta" by michelangelo. i have seen it in person and it is probably the most amazing, beautiful piece of art i have ever seen.)

mary, the mother of christ. catholics make too much of her, protestants too little. our student bible study through the three gospels that tell us the story of the incarnation (matthew, luke, and john), brought us to luke 1 and a special look at mary this past sunday.

of particular interest to me on this go around was luke 1:35. when mary asked the angel gabriel how she could give birth, since she was a virgin, he answered: "the holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you..."

of course many students had questions about why some venerate the "virgin" mary (in quotations not because of her status at the time of jesus birth, but the fact that many still refer to her as the virgin mary when the bible is clear that she and joseph had other children who were not immaculately conceived!). on this go around teaching about mary and her part in god's story i was really struck by the phrase "the power of the most high will overshadow you". many forget that, while mary certainly has a place of "favor" in god's story, god himself and the work he was doing through mary overshadows any other aspect of the story, including mary herself.

this brings to light a great teaching point: when discerning whether or not a true miracle/work of god is happening in or around you, ask two questions. 1) Is it the work of the holy spirit, and 2) does god - his glory, power, and word - overshadow any human being involved?

mary's life and story is rich with lessons to be learned and applied, but it is god and his redemptive plan that overshadows and is worthy of the true glory in mary's life. and she knew this.

"i am the lord's servant... may it be to me as you have said." - luke 1:38

- tim

a hard thing about youth ministry

2009-12-15T10:18:00.003-05:00

my wife is full of wisdom.

last night we were talking about several of our students that are going through some rough patches. some are making some bad decisions and facing the consequences, some are just caught in the middle of other people's bad decisions. it's tough watching those that you are seeking to shepherd in ministry go through seasons like these.

trisha remarked that it's especially tough when we've been walking with them for so many years and can remember them when they first entered our ministry. it's heartbreaking to remember a bright-eyed, unburdened, laughter-filled middle schooler and see them today caught in the middle of a messy divorce, or succumbing to the pressure of a bad influence in their life, or choosing lying and deception over honesty and taking responsibility.

it's hard to watch children become adults.

kids are full of optimism, hope, simple joy, and laughter.

adults are (sometimes) full of doubts, pessimism, depression, and tears.

while it's all at once disheartening to watch this change happen in so many young people we care about, it's also one of our biggest privileges in youth ministry to walk with them during times like these and offer them friendship, hope, direction, purpose, and most importantly JESUS.

as trisha put it, "maybe a big part of our job is just to be there with them while they go through it all."

no maybes about it.

- tim

The Story of the Thirsty

2009-12-14T11:02:00.004-05:00

This Christmas Trisha and myself, and our students at FBC, are partnering with Living Water Internatinal to give the gift of clean water.

The clean water crisis that much of the world is facing is in many ways an untold story. You just don't see the headlines in the paper or on the local news that tell the staggering truth that for so many in the world clean/safe water is not a given.

I'd love for you to watch the video above - The Story of the thirsty - and then check out Living Water's website by clicking right here.

- Tim

joseph

2009-12-07T15:14:00.003-05:00

yesterday in youth bible study groups we took a look at matthew 1:18-25. during december we're looking at the three gospels that tell the story of the incarnation - matthew, luke, and john - and focusing on one member of the holy family in each gospel (joseph, mary, jesus, respectively).

we started things with joseph. here's some things we know about jesus' adoptive father:

- he was a jew of the tribe of judah and a direct descendant of king david.

- he was a blue collar worker. it is traditionally believed he was a carpenter, and taught jesus this trade, but the greek word that is translated carpenter in the new testament could mean any sort of artisan/craftsman/manual laborer.

- he was probably in his late teens/early twenties when jesus was born.

- he was a man of faith and integrity. he believed the angel's message and obeyed god's instructions, and he maintained the purity of he and mary's premarital relationship even after mary became pregnant and everyone probably already assumed they had slept together.

- we don't really know what ultimately happened to joseph. the last time he is mentioned is when jesus is around 12 years old (when he was left behind at the temple). most scholars, and myself, believe that joseph most likely died for two reasons: 1) his absence would be puzzling, although not completely inexplicable if he was still alive and 2) when Jesus is on the cross he tells john to take care of mary, a strange thing to do if his father was still alive.

from the brief account of joseph's life in scripture we see a compassionate and devoted husband, a loving adoptive father, and an obedient and surrendered man of god.

here's an interesting question about joseph to leave you with: if god was, in a very real sense of the word, jesus' heavenly father, why did he place jesus into a family with an earthly father as well? in other words, why didn't mary get pregnant before her betrothal? why was joseph included in his plan and what was god saying by placing jesus into the family that he did?

- tim

Amazing!

2009-12-06T14:41:00.000-05:00

So good...

Advent Conspiracy

2009-12-03T10:21:00.004-05:00

Last night we introduced our students at FBC to Advent Conspiracy. The challenge we're giving to them, and the heart of AC, is to completely rethink Christmas.

When you think about it, there are two competing stories being told.

One is the story our culture tells - the story of buy, buy, buy. The consumerism version of Christmas says that love is available for a price, and comes wrapped in a box in the form of stuff. This Christmas story seems to escalate in intensity every year and has some serious consequences when lived out - people going into gross amounts of debt, people measuring love and value through money and material objects, and the spiritual dulling of our hearts, minds, and souls.

The other story is the story of Emmanuel - God with us. It is the story of a Father, reckless in His love and zealous in His mission to get His family back. It is the story of the invasion of our planet by God's redemptive grace through the advent of His Son, Jesus. This story compells us to live out what Jesus' incarnation really meant - compassion, grace, mercy, love, hope, peace, joy.

The challenge - really, the choice - for us is to choose which story we're going to participate in this Christmas.

On the one hand you have the consumer story, a story that seemingly ends when the gifts are opened and that hollow feeling in your stomach settles in on December 26th but relentlessly continues on into the new year through credit card bills, buyer's remorse, and the inescapable sense that we simply missed the point.

Alternatively you have Emmanuel's story, a story that throughout history is growing and growing and will one day ring out throughout eternity, forever and ever.

Which story sounds more appealing?

If you haven't visited Advent Conspiracy's website, do it now by clicking right here.

You should also visit Rethinking Christmas and Living Water International.

You are free to conspire.

- Tim

the giving of thanks

2009-11-26T11:57:00.003-05:00

here's a stream-of-consciousness list of things i'm thankful for today:

- my relationship with the giver of every good and perfect gift through his son jesus.

- my beautiful, supportive, encouraging, brilliant, funny, wonderful wife trisha.

- our little baby boy who is being knit together in his mom's belly this very moment. i'm thankful for his health so far and for the blessing being able to have a child is.

- my family: both the one i was born in to and the one that has grown up around me in the last several years.

- my life's work: youth ministry. i'm thankful for the opportunity to be present in the lives of students and families who need to know how much god loves them and wants them to be a part of his story.

- having enough (and then some). i'm thankful that trisha and i have always had enough to be comfortable. we're not rich by our standards, but by the standards of most of the world we are. we've never gone hungry, been without a roof over our head, etc.

what are you thankful for today?

- tim

tradition

2009-11-26T09:17:00.007-05:00

it's thanksgiving morning and i'm sitting in front of the tv with trisha and her mom watching the macy's parade. i always get a funny (nostalgic) feeling when engaging in these life-long holiday traditions. it has me thinking about tradition in general and when it is a good thing and when it is not. here's what i think:

tradition is good when it is the glue that holds families/people together. anytime tradition facilitates the growth of healthy community and relationships it is a good thing. thanksgiving is full of great examples of this - the parade, the meal, even the (dare i say it) shopping on friday morning can all foster the connections between friends and families.

tradition is bad when it is a wall that keeps people out. we can become absorbed in traditions that are so "us" that there's no way anyone new can ever break in to our community/family.

churches can be super-guilty of engaging in this brand of tradition.

music is the classic example, but it could apply to organizational structure, preaching, building style, etc. a certain generation or group of people may authentically engage with a tradition and it can create a genuine bond for them. the problem arises when their "traditional" way of doing things limits their ability to draw in new people who are not a part of that tradition.

the question we have to ask ourselves then is whether or not our traditions (in families, groups of friends, or churches) are "open" or "closed". could a new friend, addition to your family, or visitor to your church be easily welcomed in to what's going on in the midst of your traditions? or would it be difficult for them to jump in, possibly leaving them feeling disconnected, alienated, or excluded?

i'll tell you this much - there's room on the couch this morning for one more. ;)

idolatry

2009-11-21T23:19:00.004-05:00

just put the finishing touches on tomorrow morning's bible study group session on idols and idolatry. this is an extremely relevant topic in every christian's life, and especially in the life of today's teenagers. they live in a culture saturated with unhealthy devotion to celebrities, athletes, musicians, politicians, etc.

here are some key points from tomorrow's content:

- idolatry is the replacement of god.
- idolatry is the opposite of worship.
- idols leave the soul empty and unfulfilled.
- jesus satisfies our every longing.

hope to see lots of students there and help them apply these truths to their lives!

- tim

pictures!

2009-11-19T22:23:00.005-05:00

trisha and i had pictures taken together for the first time (outside of our wedding pictures) by the super-talented sadie collins. the one up above is a sneak peek, and if you'd like to see more, click right here.

let me know what you think!

- tim

reBlog

2009-11-19T22:20:00.003-05:00

Alright - here we go! After several weeks off the blogging wagon, I'm back on! Let me know what you think of the new look and feel and please make any suggestions. I'm hoping to get some great new content up pretty soon.

Later!

- Tim

Blog Redo...

2009-10-28T09:36:00.001-04:00

Bear with me while I update and redo this blog... :)

Sermon Audio

2009-10-12T13:34:00.002-04:00

Hey there! You can listen to or download the audio from yesterday's sermon by clicking right here.

I'd love to hear any thoughts or feedback!

- Tim

Weekend Services

2009-10-09T21:59:00.002-04:00

I'm super-excited to have the opportunity to preach both morning services this Sunday at FBCCS.

The contemporary worship service is at 8:30am - I'm also leading worship with several of our high school students at that service - and the traditional service is at 11:00am.

I'm preaching on having "A Committed Faith" from Matthew 26:36-46.

See you there!?

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-10-09T21:40:00.003-04:00

Theme/Message Title: "Deeper" Part 2 - Bible Study

Worship Setlist: "I Will Not Forget You" (Waterdeep), "By His Wounds" (Mac Powell et.al.), "Word of God Speak" (MercyMe)

Game/Fun Element: We played a fun new game called "Paper, Rock, WHATEVER!" Basically students faced off up front in a traditional game of paper, rock, scissors, but instead of throwing one of those they could throw whatever they wanted and then the audience voted for the winner. Super funny stuff.

What I Loved: Again this week I loved our "I Believe..." video. You can check out Jake's video up above.

What Needs Work: We're having some trouble with several distracting students during the service. It's sad to see students who are really engaged in worship and the message be distracted by someone in front of, behind, or next to them goofing off. Bummer!

Sermon in a Sentence: Part 2 of our "Deeper" series had us looking at going deeper in your relationship with God through Bible study. The big idea: Stop studying your Bible for INFORMATION and start going to it for TRANSFORMATION. (See Hebrews 4:12!)

Can't wait for part 3 next week!

- Tim

4 Years!

2009-10-09T14:51:00.002-04:00

Trisha and I have been married for FOUR YEARS... Oh my, how it has flown by!

Here's a song I wrote for her as a gift on our anniversary. :)

- Tim

Big Bonfire

2009-10-05T16:46:00.001-04:00

This is going to be a BIG fire.

Pray for no rain.

Have you invited a friend?

- Tim

Bonfire

2009-10-01T14:50:00.002-04:00

Super-excited for this. As long as it doesn't rain... :/

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-10-01T09:52:00.004-04:00

Theme/Message Title: "Deeper" Part 1 - Prayer

Worship Setlist: "Not to Us" (Chris Tomlin)... and then a string on my guitar broke, so that was the end of that! :)

Game/Fun Element: We played one of my favorites last night - "IN YO' POCKET!", basically a pocket scavenger hunt. Items pop up on the screen (penny, school ID, hair from someone else's head, etc.) and the first person in the room to bring that to the front won a Jones PURE CANE Cola. (What was I thinking???) Super-fun.

What I Loved: Easily my favorite part of the night and something I'm really excited about was premiering a series of video shorts called "I Believe..." that will run the next month during the Deeper series. Each video features a student from our ministry sharing some of their thoughts on God. Check out Roni's video below.

What Needs Work: Friend-bringing. That's all I'll say.

Message Recap: We kicked off the first night of "Deeper" with a message on prayer. During this series we're becoming more conversational and opening up the message time with some open-ended questions that students can chime in on. We had a great discussion on the question "What is prayer?" and then spent the majority of the time talking about prayer as communicating within a relationship rather than performing a spiritual or religious ritual. Good stuff.

Hope to see you all next week for part 2 of "Deeper"!

- Tim

LAVA!

2009-10-01T09:50:00.002-04:00

Check out this video of the FBC Youth CORE Group working on a team-building initiative. It took them 25 minutes. :)

- Tim

Job 22:21-30, The Message

2009-10-01T09:46:00.001-04:00

21-25 "Give in to God, come to terms with him
and everything will turn out just fine.
Let him tell you what to do;
take his words to heart.
Come back to God Almighty
and he'll rebuild your life.
Clean house of everything evil.
Relax your grip on your money
and abandon your gold-plated luxury.
God Almighty will be your treasure,
more wealth than you can imagine.

26-30 "You'll take delight in God, the Mighty One,
and look to him joyfully, boldly.
You'll pray to him and he'll listen;
he'll help you do what you've promised.
You'll decide what you want and it will happen;
your life will be bathed in light.
To those who feel low you'll say, 'Chin up! Be brave!'
and God will save them.
Yes, even the guilty will escape,
escape through God's grace in your life.”

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-09-24T09:24:00.002-04:00

Theme/Message Title: One Shot - "Holiness"

Worship Setlist: "Holy" (Brenton Brown), "God of Wonders" (Paul Baloche/Third Day), "Holy is the Lord" (Chris Tomlin)

Game/Fun Element: We opened the night with a HILARIOUS video from Student Life called "Edwin's Corner". As usual we also had a great announcement video made by our students.

What I Loved: You'll read more about it below, but what I really liked about last night was the response from our students to a message that we showed by John Piper. I was nervous about it being over their heads or them being turned off because it was an "old" guy, but the response was great!

What Needs Work: Even though the DVD message worked out great, it brings to light one thing I'm praying for. When I cannot speak at youth for whatever reason, my pool of guest speakers is EXTREMELY limited. I basically only have two options as of right now - Pastor Ronny and a parent of a couple of our students who is a former youth pastor/current pastor-in-transition.

Message Recap: Because I had to make a quarterly appearance to give a ministry report to the church I could not speak last night in youth. Instead I showed John Piper's talk on holiness from Passion's One Day event in 2003. The message is UHmazing and is centered on this question: What is holiness, and what does it mean that God is holy? The talk isn't available online but if anyone is interested in borrowing the DVD, let me know!

Remember, next week we start our new series "Deeper". Be there and bring a friend!

- Tim

Lying. Loony. LEGIT.

2009-09-20T20:36:00.002-04:00

Tonight in CORE Group we had a great discussion on John 14:6: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The following may spur you on to a great conversation with your friends/family. By making this statement Jesus made the Gospel clear: the ONLY way to God is through Jesus. HE alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

There are three ways to view this claim:

1) He was LYING. Does Jesus seem like a liar? What about the Gospel and the testimony of those who have lived and died for Him? Does it all seem like a bunch of lies? If so, what is gained by these lies? Lies are almost always told for the benefit of those who are telling them. Why would Jesus lie Himself right onto the cross? This option doesn't make sense!

2) He was LOONY! John 14:6 could be the ravings of a complete lunatic. Jesus' claims to be the sole way to Heaven could have been born of His insanity. But again, after reading the Gospels do you get a sense that Jesus was a madman? Are His teachings and His Gospel just utterly LOONY??? The reality is that the Gospel sounds less like madness and more like truth.

3. He was LEGIT. The only remaining option is that Jesus' claims to be the way, the truth, and the life were LEGIT. If He's not a liar, and He's not a lunatic, He must be LORD. If so, then it doesn't become a case of whether or not Jesus IS the way to Heaven, it becomes a question of how we respond to His claim.

How have you responded?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

- Tim

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

2009-09-18T09:04:00.002-04:00

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of Heaven and earth...
Lord of Heaven and earth...

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-09-17T13:13:00.003-04:00

Theme/Message Title: Playlist Week 4 (Finale) - "The Heart of Worship"

Worship Setlist: "I Will Not Forget You" (Waterdeep), "Here I am to Worship" (Tim Hughes), "The Heart of Worship" (Matt Redman)

Game/Fun Element: We opened the night with a simple Powerpoint game - Zoom-in - and as usual had a funny announcement video made by our students (see above).

What I Loved: While I was nervous because our attendance was way down, participation in worship and the overall attentiveness to the message was the best its been in a long time. Worship was powerful last night!

What Needs Work: We still have a few fringe students who are sitting alone and not connecting with games, worship, or the message. We need students and adults who will reach out to those on the outside and bring them in to what's going on! Takers? :)

Message Recap:

When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come...
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

'Nuff said.

Great end to the Playlist series. In two weeks: Deeper. Exciting!

- Tim

Deeper

2009-09-17T10:05:00.001-04:00

Pretty excited about this one!

- Tim

Dare2Share

2009-09-17T09:53:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday my friend Greg and I drove up to Columbus for a youth leader training lunch put on by Dare2Share called "Firestarter". This training was a sort of precursor to Dare2Share's "Blaze" conference this February.

If you're not familiar with Dare2Share you can click here to check out their webpage. Basically they exist to further the cause of evangelism and raise up students to reach their generation for Jesus. Good stuff.

Here's some take-away thoughts I had from the lunch:

1) The best way to reach this generation is THROUGH this generation. Students reaching students.

2) We have to recapture the URGENCY of Jesus' mission - to seek and save that which was lost.

3) A hard question - what would Jesus say about our youth ministry? Hmmm...

4) This generation of teenagers is "cause-oriented" - they want to live their lives in such a way that makes a difference. The Church has THE cause to end all causes! We need to put THE cause of causes (the Gospel) center-stage in our ministries.

5) We need to stop looking at evangelism as a RESULT of our students' spiritual maturity and start thinking of it as a CAUSE of them becoming spirtually mature.

6) Evangelism accelerates spiritual growth in our students because it gaurantees that they will experience some form of persecution/rejection from their friends. Persecution is spiritual "protein" - it makes you stronger by calling into question whether or not you actually believe what you are saying.

7) Evangelism helps students choose what they love more - acceptance from friends or obedience to Jesus.

8) Evangelism is a risk. Without risk there is no chance for success.

Good stuff! What do you think?

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-09-10T13:29:00.003-04:00

Theme/Message Title: Playlist Week 3 - "Slow Fade"

Worship Setlist: "Meet With Me" (Ten Shekel Shirt), "One Life" (me), "Glory to God, Forever" (Fee)

Game/Fun Element: We started the night with a crazy clothespin game (see video below) and also had a pretty good announcement video our kids made in CORE Group last week (also posted below).

What I Loved: I loved the announcement video that was made (mostly) by our students. I also loved preaching the message (once everyone calmed down) as it had the potential to make a big difference in some of our kids' lives.

What Needs Work: Every once in a while we'll have a night where everyone is a little too wound up. The first half of last night was one of those nights - I had a really difficult time getting our students to calm down enough to get into the message. BUT, once everyone calmed down a little bit, the night picked up from there.

Message Recap: Night three of our Playlist series had us looking at the Casting Crowns song "Slow Fade". The night was centered on Psalm 1 and its picture of the slow fade of a man. Rather than me recapping everything here, check out the video up above with Mark Hall - lead singer of Casting Crowns - that hits on all the good stuff from last night.

The Wednesday That Never Was

2009-09-03T13:19:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! Usually you'd find the Wednesday Wrap here, BUT this week you won't - reason being because last night's midweek youth services were cancelled due to a very large funeral/visitation going on in the building and many students being out due to the fair parade.

Soooo, instead of having service last night we walked over to the park with the 14 or 15 of us that were there and played basketball, homerun derby, swung on the swings, etc. It was good times for sure.

We'll pick up with part 3 of Playlist next week - bring a friend - and until then you can check out the announcement video that we were going to play last night up at the top of this post. Octodean, Susan, and Herman - love those guys!

- Tim

Slow Fade

2009-09-01T13:49:00.001-04:00

Here's the video for Casting Crowns' song "Slow Fade" - featured in part 3 of PLAYLIST tomorrow night at FBC Youth.

- Tim

Reading List

2009-08-31T22:46:00.013-04:00

So I went from one book on my reading list to FIVE today. Here's what books I'll be reading over the next couple months:

Crazy Love - I'm finishing up Crazy Love by Francis Chan - the adult youth leaders at FBCCS have been reading this together over the last month. This book has been ultra-convicting and I'll post some thoughts on it here within a week or two after I wrap it up.

Sunday School in HD - This book is required reading, given to me by our pastor yesterday. Every so often we'll read books together as a church staff and then digest the content in our weekly meetings. We attended a conference with the same name as the book earlier this year and I'm assuming the book will cover the same ground - how to improve existing Sunday School discipleship programs. Like the other books I'll talk about here, I'll post any thoughts I have while reading on here!

Simple Student Ministry - I'm excited to read this book. We read Simple Church by the same author a couple years ago as required reading for FBCCS staff and I'm anticipating the book will adapt those principles to the context of youth ministry. Looking forward to this one.

Think Orange - I'm also super-excited about this book. Coming out of Northpoint in Atlanta, this book, from what I can tell, seeks to move away from "silo-ed" youth and children's ministries within the church to a holistic family ministry oriented approach. I'm planning on passing it along to our children's ministry team and pastor after I read it, if it's as good as I'm hoping it will be.

Dare 2 Share - Last up is this book by Greg Stier on student evangelism. I'm reading this as a preface to our evangelism push in youth ministry and our planned trip to Dare 2 Share's BLAZE conference in Columbus in February.

There you go! Should keep me busy for several weeks at least.

- Tim

On Cheap Grace...

2009-08-31T09:54:00.000-04:00

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, (it is) baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-08-27T10:10:00.004-04:00

We're coming off a great midweek worship service at FBC Youth last night, and I'd love to tell you all about it. Here comes the Wednesday Wrap!!!

Theme/Message Title: Playlist Week 2 - "Give Me Your Eyes"

Worship Setlist: "I Will Not Forget You" (Waterdeep), "Let Us Be" (Robbie Reider/Vineyard), "Awesome God" (Rich Mullins)

Game/Fun Element: We started the night with a new game I made up (yikes) where everyone had a balloon with their name written on it. On GO everyone had to throw their balloon up and then put their hands behind their back. The goal was to keep your balloon in the air as long as possible using no hands, feet, or TEETH. The winner was Stephen! We also had a funny announcement video you can check out above.

What I Loved: I loved everything about last night - I literally have no complaints. The worship was off the hook, everything flowed so smoothly, and as a whole everyone seemed to be pretty engaged. What I loved the most though happened after the service. I got more e-mails/Facebook messages about last night's message than any message I've ever given before. It was AWESOME to read everyone's reactions and responses. Thanks to everyone who wrote me last night! Keep them coming today!

What Needs Work: I was pretty happy with last night. The only thing we're continuing to work on is student involvement. I'm having a super-hard time finding students who are willing to pray/read the Bible up front before worship. Any volunteers out there???

Message Recap: Night two of our Playlist series had us looking at Brandon Heath's song "Give Me Your Eyes" (check out the video for the song on the post below). The entire premise of the message was centered on the chorus of the song:

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I've been missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the brokenhearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for those forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

It was powerful to dream for a moment what it would be like if we strived to see every person we pass in a day through God's eyes. We asked ourselves the question: How does God actually see people. We learned from Scripture that God see people PERFECTLY (Hebrews 4:13), AS A FATHER (Philippians 4:20), WITH LOVE (1 John 4:7-8), and LONGINGLY (2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 23:37). Understanding how God sees people is crucial to us being able to see with His eyes.

Good, good stuff. My favorite night in a long time. TGBTG.

- Tim

Give Me Your Eyes

2009-08-26T12:50:00.002-04:00

Here's the video to Brandon Heath's song "Give Me Your Eyes" - the second song we're looking at in our PLAYLIST series on Wednesday nights. Check it out!

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-08-20T09:38:00.002-04:00

Hey-o. Thanks for stopping by today to check out the Wednesday Wrap - a recap of last night's FBC Youth midweek worship service! We had an amazing time kicking off our new series "Playlist" and I'd love to tell you all about it. Here we go...!

Theme/Message Title: Playlist Week 1 - "The Motions"

Worship Setlist: "I Will Not Forget You" (Waterdeep), "Psalm 4" (me), "The Motions" (chorus, Matthew West)

Game/Fun Element: To kick off our new series that is all about good music we held an impromptu dance contest at the front of the night. I don't know... I don't want to use the word "bomb", but it might have... :) We also had a super-funny announcement video (watch it above) starring my friend Erik.

What I Loved: I love this series already. Knowing the huge impact that music has had on my faith and my life I'm excited to see how doing messages based off of individual songs will speak to students.

What Needs Work: We probably could've done without the game at the beginning, and we didn't have any first time visitors last night. :(

Message Recap: We kicked off Playlist with Matthew West's song "The Motions" (click here to watch the video). This is an amazing song - check out the chorus:

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all-consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions

We talked about the difference between going through the motions (the routine) and really living out a passionate love for God everyday (the relationship). We took a moment to let ourselves be concerned that we might be just going through the motions and then examined what God's response is to people who live like that (see Isaiah 1:10-17). The challenge was to identify at least one area of your life where you are going through the motions and then resolve to STOP and begin to live a life of surrender to God's never boring plan! Good stuff!

And that was the night. I'd love to hear any feedback anyone might have. Comment this post or e-mail me at timisbatman@yahoo.com

Later!

- Tim

Frustration

2009-08-17T09:11:00.004-04:00

Ah, there's nothing like starting your week with a healthy dose of frustration. I don't care who you are, what you do, or how you do it - at some point ALL of us get frustrated. It's an unfortunate fact of life.

Sadly, in ministry I feel like I'm constantly dealing with frustration. I've come to the conclusion that those of us who work in people-centric vocations have two settings: frustrated and VERY frustrated! The problem is that we are all (me too!) uneven - we have imperfect personalities, we're full of shortcomings, and we have fragile egos that are all-too-easily wounded.

And the things is that when you rub two uneven surfaces together you always get the same results: FRICTION.

So when working with people - in my case in ministry - you're always going to have friction and therefore there will always be certain amounts of frustration you're going to have to deal with. The big question, of course, is how do we deal with frustration when it comes?

The Bible says "in your anger do not sin." (Psalm 4, Ephesians 4) Isn't frustration a form of anger? We become angry that circumstances or people just aren't going the way we want them to go, angry that there is so much friction when we want things to go smoothly. The Bible is permissive when it comes to anger - it's okay to get mad - but emphatic in its command to "not sin" in our anger.

In other words, it's okay to be frustrated, but DO NOT LET YOUR FRUSTRATION LEAD YOU TO SIN. You can tell you've crossed the line when, out of your frustration, you begin to be bitter, resentful, angry to the point of ill-will or violent thought, when you start to gossip, undermine, backbite, or attack, or when you nurture your frustration to the point that it keeps you from doing the things you need to do and being the person you need to be.

Are you frustrated with something today? I know I am - there are hardly any days I'm not frustrated with something. BUT today I choose to use my anger, my frustration, this FRICTION in my life, to smooth me out, to fuel me on toward accomplishing bigger and better things, and to make me more like Jesus.

Think about it.

- Tim

PS - If nothing I've said makes sense and you're still hopelessly frustrated, print out the picture below and use it until your frustration is gone! :)

Featured Article

2009-08-13T08:58:00.004-04:00

There's an article I wrote featured over at MoreThanDodgeball.com today - a youth ministry blog run by Josh Griffin, high school pastor at Saddleback Church in California.

Click the link above to check it out and leave me some commenty-fresh love!

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-08-13T08:40:00.003-04:00

Hey-o! Thanks for stopping by today for the Wednesday Wrap! We had an excellent time at FBC Youth last night and I'd like to tell you all about it! Here we go:

Theme/Message Title: "Come Together"

Worship Setlist: Holy (Brenton Brown), Glory to God Forever (Fee), Sweetly Broken (Jeremy Riddle).

Game/Fun Element: We played a game (trick) called "First Kiss". It turned out super-funny, you can check out the video above for the results - BUT it might be a case of "you-had-to-be-there".

What I Loved: I loved, as usual, student involvement in worship and up-front stuff. I'm excited to see more of our kids get involved in the next month or two as we pick up our school-year momentum. I also loved the message last night and its focus on working together to accomplish the greater mission God has given us - to make Him known to everyone we meet!

What Needs Work: I'd still like to see me doing less on Wednesdays. I'm praying for a great upper-classmen or adult who will take the opening M.C./game/fun/intros duties away and for a student or two to step up to the task of leading worship. Hopefully those will come soon!

Message Recap: Last night I spoke out of John 17, specifically verse 23, about how when Jesus prayed for us (future believers) and the mission He gave us - to make Him known - He didn't pray for us to be wealthy, to have a lot of stuff, to have cool ministry facilities, to be COOL AT ALL... He prayed for us to be "brought to complete unity" in order to make Him known. I love that - that when Jesus prayed specifically for me and you, He prayed that we would have unity and THAT is what would make Him known among our friends, families, communities, and the whole world. What a challenge!

There you go - an overall GREAT night at FBCYM. Can't wait for next week!

- Tim

The Ultimate Youth Pastor

2009-08-12T14:59:00.002-04:00

You may not "get it", but I was dying while watching this - our secretary had to come in to my office to see what I was laughing at. If you are in youth ministry though, this is a MUST WATCH.

Take ten minutes. Totally worth it.

- Tim

Burden-Bearing

2009-08-11T08:48:00.002-04:00

We did an excellent activity in Bible Study Groups a couple days ago that you may find useful if you work with students.

(Before this experience we distributed small sheets of paper and something to write with to each student, instructing them NOT to write on it yet!)

We began with a reading of Galatians 6:2 and a brief introduction to the idea of bearing each others' burdens. After that we asked each student to write down something that they were struggling with in their life, while being general enough to not give away their identity. For those kids who couldn't think of anything we asked them to write down something they've recently gone through/struggled with or something they think kids their age might face regularly.

After they finished writing down their "burdens", we collected them in a jar. We then told the students that we would pull each burden out of the jar and read them, and then let them (the students) offer advice or encouragement to that particular situation. We made sure to remind students to not laugh or make fun of any situation and to be helpful and edifying in their answers.

It went beautifully! Trisha and I barely had to offer any insights on the situations as several of our students really got into the roles of helpers/encouragers. Not only was this exercise good for students to hear encouragement/advice for their situations without putting themselves on the line in front of the whole group, it also helped us to identify those youth who have a heart to bear others' burdens.

If you get a chance, you should try this. We will DEFINITELY do it again!

- Tim

Worship

2009-08-10T09:20:00.002-04:00

(This is a repost of a blog from last year - I'm using it in our church staff meeting this morning for a devotion, so I thought I'd repost it here!)

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you. - Genesis 22:3-5

The first time the word worship appears in the Bible it is associated with the heart-wrenching story of Abraham and Isaac and God's request that the father sacrifice his "son of promise". Is it a coincidence that the first time the word worship is spoken in Scripture it is associated with such weighty sacrifice? And let us not miss the fact that Abraham says that "we" will worship. While Abraham's worship would involve great sacrifice and faith, Isaac's worship required total submission and obedience to his father's will.

Sacrifice. Faith. Submission. Obedience.

How often are these a part of our worship on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, or any other given day of the week when we meet with God in the secret places of our lives? They should be. When we worship we should be placing our faith in the God of all creation, offering up meaningful and costly sacrifices from our hearts and lives, and submitting to Him in perfect and willing obedience.

Today, for me, this is worship.

- Tim

And while we're on the topic of distractions...

2009-08-08T12:13:00.001-04:00

I just can't get anything done around here!

- Tim

Slightly Distracting...

2009-08-08T11:57:00.002-04:00

I met a student at the library the other night to talk to him about some stuff going on in his life. As we started getting into a pretty serious conversation/counseling session, I couldn't help but notice the bookshelf in front of me.

We had to move.

- Tim

Singing Psalms - Psalm 17

2009-08-06T19:50:00.000-04:00

Singing Psalms - Psalm 4

2009-08-06T18:05:00.003-04:00

Singing Psalms - Psalm 17

2009-08-06T17:40:00.002-04:00

Just finished up my latest Psalm-to-song from Psalm 17:7-8. Here's the lyrics, and in just a little bit I hope to have some video of both this one and Psalm 4 (see several posts down) so you can let me know what you think.

- Tim

Psalm 17 (The Wonder of Your Great Love)

To the God who saves
By His mighty hand
Those who run to Him
Would You look on us
And take us in
The shelter of Your wings

Show the wonder of Your great love
Show the wonder of Your great love for us
Show the wonder of Your great love
We'll live to see the wonder
The wonder of Your great love

What wonderful love is this You've shown
Such wonderful love we've never known

And Now For Something Random...

2009-08-06T10:56:00.001-04:00

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-08-06T10:06:00.003-04:00

Hey-o friends. Hot off the presses, it's a recap of last night's FBC Youth worship service - THE WEDNESDAY WRAP. Yay! Here's the night at a glance:

+Countdown Vid
+Game - Back to School Brain Challenge
(winners = Ninja Monkey Pirates GO!)
+Vid - Now for Something Random, starring Elliott
+Worship/Music - You Never Let Go, Psalm 4, I Lift My Eyes Up
+Greetin'/Offerin'
+Message - "Dream"
+Closing Prayer

That was the night! We had a great time - such a good spirit and response to everything going on. I have such a good feeling about this coming school year - I know God is going to do amazing things through our youth ministry, I can just feel it!

Last night's message was entitled "Dream" and was really a back-to-school message centered around letting go of the little dreams we come up with for the school year (being popular, funny, liked by the opposite sex, successful in sports, etc.) and grabbing on to God-sized, world-changing, history-making dreams! 1 Timothy 4:12 says "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young." (NLT) Remember this school year that you can do amazing things for God when you set your heart on Him and His Kingdom and plan for your life NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE.

A great moment at the end of the night was getting to share the story of Brooke Bronkowski, a 14 year-old from California who made a huge impact with her tragically short life. Her essay "Since I Have My Life Before Me" should be an inspiration to every Christian seeking to live their life for Jesus. You can read more about Brooke's accident and life by clicking right here, but I'll finish this post by putting her essay and a little bit more of what happened after she died from Francis Chan's book Crazy Love below. Read it - it's powerful stuff.

- Tim

"Since I Have My Life Before Me"
By Brooke Bronkowski

I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.

You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I’ll wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.

I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!

Brooke Bronkowski was a beautiful fourteen-year-old girl who was in love with Jesus. When she was in junior high she started a Bible study on her campus. She spent her babysitting money on Bibles so she could give them to her unsaved friends. Youth pastors who heard about this bought her boxes of Bibles to give away.

During her freshman year in high school, Brooke was in a car accident while driving to the movies. Her life on earth ended when she was just fourteen, but her impact didn’t. Nearly fifteen hundred people attended Brooke’s memorial service. People from her public high school read poems she had written about her love for God. Everyone spoke of her example and joy.

I shared the gospel and invited those who wanted to know Jesus to come up and give their lives to Him. There must have been at least two hundred students on their knees at the front of the church praying for salvation. Ushers gave a Bible to each one of them. They were Bibles that Brooke had kept in her garage, hoping to give out to all of her unsaved friends. In one day, Brooke led more people to the Lord than most ever will. In her brief fourteen years on earth, Brooke was faithful to Christ. Her life was not wasted. The words from her essay seem prophetic: “You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age.”

Singing Psalms

2009-08-05T08:48:00.002-04:00

So I'm going through a new devotional/songwriting exercise. I'm reading through the book of Psalms and taking any that stand out to me and crafting them into worship songs. My goal isn't necessarily the end result - the song - but rather the glimpse it gives me into the heart and craft of the various psalmists and who God is as revealed through their work. I'm also hoping along the way to hone my ability to craft songs born entirely out of Scripture, as I'm becoming increasingly convicted that we (the church) know song lyrics better than we know the words of the Bible.

And if a song or two that can be used in corporate worship pops out, BONUS!

Here's the first:

-----

PSALM 4

Answer me O God, ease my burdened heart
Be merciful to me and hear my prayer
For You have filled my heart with greater joy
You alone O God are my safety, my safety

Let the light of Your face shine
Upon my life O God You are my joy
My safety, my light, my light

How long O Lord will I believe the lie
That anyone or anything
Deserves Your glory in my life

-----

Only over a hundred more to go!

- Tim

Revival?

2009-08-03T14:21:00.002-04:00

This morning I was moved to pray (not lightly) for revival in our church. Not "a" revival, but simply revival of hearts and passion within our people. Thinking more on this today, I'm praying specifically for these things:

Revelation --> Brokenness --> Surrender --> Obedience

Revelation - a fresh or deeper understanding of who God is given by the Spirit through the Son - is the necessary first step for a people to be renewed.

When faced with a revealing experience or moving of who God is in our midst we then come face to face with all that we are not. This should prompt brokenness - over our personal sin, our inadequacy, and how far we tend to stray.

In our brokenness the appropriate response is to surrender to the great love and power of God manifested in the grace and justice of the cross of Jesus. Surrendering to the rule of our Savior King enables Him to begin to work through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we surrender to a life of obedience we begin to live out His plan for us with passion. Loving Him, loving our neighbors, and spreading the Gospel of Peace to the ends of the earth is no longer a program, a ministry, or an obligation - it is an act of loving obedience to our God.

Praying for all these things...

- Tim

Daddy Issues

2009-07-30T21:47:00.002-04:00

HAVE YOU HEARD???

Trisha and I are pregnant! Crazy!!!

Let me slow down for a minute. TRISHA is pregnant. I'm just along for the ride! We've known for a little over a month, but just "went public" this week because of the chance of having a miscarriage. BUT on Tuesday we went to our first appointment with the doctor that will deliver baby-Blake (super nice and funny guy!) and he said everything was looking strong, SO... It's out!

What a wild couple of days it's been. At the doctor on Tuesday we got to hear our baby's heartbeat (amazing) and also see her/him for the first time via ultrasound (which we weren't expecting!). Wow - I can't really express the emotion when we saw the fuzzy image on that screen. I don't think I stopped grinning like a lunatic for a few hours afterward. I still look at that picture and feel all weirded out (in a good way).

After we left the office we pretty much decided that we needed to tell our families as soon as possible. We had originally planned on waiting another month - until we were into the second trimester - but after the ultrasound and the heartbeat that thought was out the window! So we went to Hallmark and bought these cool little frames to put a copy of the ultrasound in, wrapped them up, and took them to each set of parents on Tuesday night.

The reactions from the families were really cool. Trisha's mom cried (got a little choked up myself) and her dad was clearly excited, though he would surely deny the extent of that if you asked him now. My mom was pretty skeptical at first - she even tried to take the ultrasound out of the frame to see if it was a fake! Chalk that up to years of practical jokes in the Blake household... My dad reassured her that it looked real and they were both pretty excited as well. ALTHOUGH my mom, who usually cries for hours at the smallest sentimental gesture only shed a few tears. SO disappointing! My brothers were both pretty excited too, and it was cool to call them "Uncle" Will and Steve the rest of the night.

Last night we told our students in youth ministry, and that was super-cool. They were all pretty surprised (except for the ones who had guessed what I was going to say before I said it - Becca! Lamendolas!) and were really encouraging and congratulatory afterward. We've since then posted the news on Facebook and sent out texts and e-mails, so most everyone knows by now. The encouragement and comments thus far have been really affirming and big thank-you's to everyone we've heard from so far.

Whew! Like I said - crazy couple of days, but the memories will last a life time. You can be sure I'll be posting tons of thoughts on the whole process as we go through the pregnancy and eventually the birth of our first son or daughter. CRAZY. I can't stop thinking how crazy it is that I'm going to be a DAD. WEIRD!

Two things:

#1 - The due date is March 5th. That's around 7 months from now. Pray for me and especially Trisha as we see doctors, try to stay healthy ourselves, and make the necessary changes and adjustments we'll need to over the next several months.

#2 - The most reassuring thing to me during this whole experience, other than knowing that our faith in the Greatest Father in the universe is the solid foundation on which were standing, is that I'm going through all of this with my best friend.

Trisha - if you are reading this, know that I would not and could not go through this with anyone other than you. While I HOPE that I will be a good dad, I KNOW that you are going to be an AMAZING mom. I'll be right here with you every step of the way and every moment of our life together - me, you, our baby (and even Sprinkles!) - is a gift I'll never take for granted. I love you!

Alright, alright - get out of here and go Google Batman or something!

- Tim

Wednesday Wrap

2009-07-30T21:41:00.002-04:00

Hey all! Hope you're all doing great today. I'm just going to post a super-brief Wednesday Wrap this week because I really want to get on to the next post (which you've undoubtedly already seen above this one!). Here's a recap of the night:

\\Countdown
\\Game - Zoom-In!
\\Worship Singin' - Holy, Glory to God Forever, Prodigal
\\Greetin'/Offerin'
\\Message - "Defined by Grace"
\\Announcements

Lots of energy and good, good times last night. We were expecting a low attendance night with kids being out for marching band camp and some going to the Warped Tour, BUT attendance was pretty strong actually. Good to see all our regulars and also some new faces (shout outs to Ashley and Ryan!).

The message was a simple one from Luke 7 titled "Defined by Grace" about the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and anointed them with costly perfume. The main idea of the message is that while there is always temptation to define ourselves by our pasts and who we WERE, because of the great love of Jesus we are now defined by GRACE. It's a beautiful thing.

Alright - you've heard enough. I'm dying to write up my next post and you know why!

- Tim

Crazy Love

2009-07-27T14:24:00.002-04:00

Last night at our YMT meeting we gave all of our adult leaders a copy of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I'm excited for all of us to dive into this book together over the next month. It's not specifically related to Youth Ministry but it does have a lot to do with entering into "a passionate love relationship" with God (from the back cover!).

I know that we will only be effective ministers if we ourselves are living out a vibrant relationship with Jesus every single day, and I'm hopeful that we'll all draw a little closer to Him as a result of this book.

If you'd like to pick up your own copy of "Crazy Love" click right here, and be sure to check out some of Francis' messages from his church in Simi Valley, CA by clicking right here.

- Tim

Deep and Wide

2009-07-27T13:39:00.003-04:00

Last night we had our first Youth Ministry Team meeting of the '09/'10 ministry year. It was a great time - our team dynamic is really different this year as our volunteers are skewing a little (ahem) older and we've got as many newbies as returning adult leaders. But the vibe in the room was great - I think we've got a team that really loves Jesus and loves teenagers as well. I'm excited to see what's going to happen this year!

Here's a rundown of the team:

Tim Blake – The fearless leader. (Uh oh!)
Trisha Blake – BSG Leader and the brains behind the operation.
Mike Finke – BSG Leader
Jennie Finke – BSG Leader
Rick Frank – BSG Leader
Jerry Bihl – Prayer Partner
Ron Davis – Missions/Service
Cindy Wagner – Administration/Behind-the-scenes-stuff!
Kim Durst – J.O.A.T./Midweek

Last night we really spent the majority of our time casting vision/direction for the upcoming year - our catch phrase for youth ministry in '09/'10 is "deep and wide". I shared with the YMT my heart to do the following:

Go deep with the students we have:
-In worship (midweek service).
-In discipleship (BSG’s).
-In service/missions (inside and outside these walls).

Go wide with the Gospel to students in our community:
-Through evangelism (peer-to-peer, midweek service, BSG’s, church).
-Through service/missions (special opportunities).

I can't say enough how excited I am to grow together with this team and to serve in youth ministry with them over the next year. Let's get started!!!

- Tim

I (Kinda) Like Superheroes

2009-07-27T09:50:00.004-04:00

Loved this image on the Google homepage this past weekend - thanks Mike F. for sending it my way. Comic-Con must've been going on! :)

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap!

2009-07-23T10:45:00.002-04:00

Hey friends - thanks for stopping by today for the Wednesday Wrap (now on whole-wheat tortillas!). We had a super-crazy time at FBC Youth last night and I'd love to tell you all about it. Here's what was on the menu:

+Countdown
+Game - CARD NINJA! (Winner = Mandy)
+Opening Prayer - Becca
+Singin' - "Hallelujah", "God With Us", "God of Wonders"
+Welcome/Offering
+Message - "Are You Smelly"
+Closing Prayer

That's the night! Last night was HIGH ENERGY. Everyone was super-wound up (could it be the almost-time-for-school-start crazies?) which made for a pretty interesting evening to say the least. The game worked out really well - it was a new one I've never used before, but I think we'd definitely play it again!

The message last night was titled "Are You Smelly" and the verse we looked at was 2 Corinthians 2:14 - "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him."

Our central idea was that God wants us to "smell" a certain way. Our aroma is to be that of the "knowledge" of God. We talked about how we should "smell" like we've been around Jesus, and our students shared some great ideas on how to get that "smell" onto us and how to spread it around to others. Good stuff!

I'd love to hear any feedback or field any questions on the night. Feel free to leave comments on this post or e-mail me anytime.

See you soon!

- Tim

Twitter

2009-07-22T09:00:00.003-04:00

So I finally took the Twitter plunge. Why not add another completely distracting time-sucking internet obsession to my day? (Why not indeed!?)

My username = timisbatman. Check me out if you want!

Do you tweet? What's your username and I'll add you!

- Tim

Sermon

2009-07-20T17:50:00.004-04:00

If you'd like to check out the sermon I preached yesterday at FBCCS, you can watch it in the embedded file above or click right here to go to the church's official download page. Let me know what you're thinking afterward!

- Tim

Monday - Looking Ahead

2009-07-20T09:43:00.003-04:00

I might try out a new series of blog posts on Monday mornings. The idea is to basically give you (and me) a glimpse of the general direction and plan for the week. The first thing I do in the office every Monday is make a big to-do list broken down into three categories which reflect my areas of responsibility (Youth, Worship, and Miscellaneous). I won't recount all of them here, but instead just take a snapshot of where I'm headed. Here we go!

What I'm reading: Luke 6:17-49 (The Sermon on the Plain), Deep and Wide by Greg Stier

Recurring Projects: youth midweek worship, youth Bible study groups, youth pastoral duties, Sunday morning worship services and media.

Special Projects: preparing for Youth Ministry Team meeting on Sunday, wading through student responses to a survey on our youth ministry.

Goals: finish Deep and Wide, finish all recurring tasks early (my goal every week so I can get ahead), take some time off (this afternoon!) to catch my breath and decompress after a long couple of weeks, begin to lay the spiritual groundwork for this coming school year in our adult leaders on Sunday.

Praying for: Our Brazil mission team (they get back on Saturday), an amazing time of worship with our youth on Wednesday, our Youth Ministry Team (adult volunteers), the upcoming school year.

Here we go.

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-07-09T11:29:00.002-04:00

We had a great time at FBC Youth Worship last night. I'd love to tell you all about it. First a quick recap:

1. Countdown
2. Student Scripture/Prayer (Morgan and Becca!)
3. Singin' - "Glory to God Forever" (new!), "Sweetly Broken"
4. Offering
5. Video - "Who Are You?"
6. Message - "Identity Crisis"
7. Response - "Yahweh (Why Should I Fear)"

There you go! Last night was definitely one of those chase-after-God nights. From our worship to the reflective video (watch it above) to the message to the closing we were (I hope) waiting expectantly for God to show up, to speak to us.

And to be honest with you, after everyone was gone I was wondering if we missed Him. If I'm being completely transparent there are nights where I feel like everything is "right" - the worship is genuine and heartfelt, the message is clear and convicting, and the desire is there - but there is no visible evidence that God showed up in a big way.

Now, I'm the last guy to want to measure the spiritual success of our gatherings by how many people cried, or how many hands were raised during worship, or how many public decisions were made/shared. But I truly forget sometimes that while I'm waiting for God to show up LOUDLY He often prefers to work slowly, quietly, and inwardly.

So frankly I left last night a little down, a little frustrated, asking God this question: "I did everything You led to me to do, said everything You led me to say... why didn't You show up?"

When I got home I had three messages waiting for me on Facebook. Two were from students who were there last night and wanted to share what God had spoken to them through our time together. The other was from a student I haven't seen in almost two years who wanted to share that the time he spent in our youth ministry really meant something to him and he just wanted to encourage me to keep it up.

Isn't it funny? Isn't it funny that when we think God's not there and that He isn't working just because there's not a huge EXPLOSION of worship in the moment that He patiently, quietly, and profoundly corrects us?

I stand gratefully corrected.

Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out.

Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
that God has to ask his advice?

Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Romans 11:33-36, The Message

- Tim

iPreach

2009-07-08T09:29:00.002-04:00

Thought it might be of interest to you if I shared several churches/pastors that I regularly download and listen to off iTunes. In no particular order, here are some of my faves:

1. Rick McKinley at Imago Dei.
2. Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill.
3. Francis Chan at Cornerstone.
4. Johnny Hunt at FBC Woodstock.
5. Andy Stanley at Northpoint.

That's just a few, there are many others I sporadically download and listen to. Enjoy!

- Tim

Book Review: Too Busy Not to Pray

2009-07-03T14:09:00.002-04:00

I just finished the book Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, one of America's largest churches. I've been seeking more depth and substance in my prayer life lately and after skimming several books on the topic I settled down to read Hybels'. Honestly I chose it because of its length - fairly short - and what seemed to be a simple and intensely practical approach to the topic of prayer.

After finishing it today I can say that this is one of the best books I've read recently, and one of the best books I've ever read on the subject of prayer. My all-time favorite book on prayer is Brother Lawrence's (a 17th century French monk) work Practicing the Presence of God, but now this contemporary work is at the top of that list as well. It's interesting because each one deals with prayer in a simple, practical way, but whereas BL's focuses on constant communion with God through a prayerful mindset, Hybels' deals more with creating intentional time and space to meet with God (commonly known as a "quiet time"). Each are crucial aspects to a Christian's prayer life.

All that being said, I've begun a new practice after reading practical books like this. I'm making a list of three things I will do or change after reading Too Bust Not to Pray. Here are the three things I'm going to do after finishing this book:

1) Create sacred space and practice. Starting this coming week I'm going to try meeting with God in different places and at different times and using different methods, in an attempt to find a place, time, and method that works for me. My goal is to settle into a daily discipline that will increase the depth of my prayer life and personal time with my Father. I'll keep updates on how that's going on this blog.

2) Start expecting answers to my prayers. Too often we pray with little or no faith that God is going to answer. The truth is that He answers every prayer one way or another. I think many times my prayers are just born out of what I feel like I SHOULD be praying for rather than a faithful expectation that God is listening and will answer, whether the answer is "yes", "no", "wait", or "grow".

3) Start following the leadings and promptings of the Holy Spirit. This requires a deeper relationship with the third Person of the Trinity - acknowledging, worshiping, and communing with the Holy Spirit in a way that I haven't necessarily done in the past. I believe doing this will lead to more frequent and more intense promptings on what the Spirit is leading me to do. Don't get me wrong - I'm not expecting to speak in tongues, fall on the floor foaming at the mouth, or feel led to heal people with holy headbutts - but I do expect to get a deeper sense of things I am supposed to do or not do in my everyday life. This is an exciting thing to look forward to!

There you go - TBNtP is a great book, I HIGHLY recommend it, and I look forward to putting many of the principles I've learned into practice. I plan on taking in a couple short books on my reading list over the next couple of weeks before diving in to my next big "learn-from-it" book: Andy Stanley's Communicating for a Change on the topic of speaking/preaching.

Later!

- Tim

Great Article - Church: Love It, Don't Leave It

2009-07-02T11:18:00.002-04:00

Just read a really good article over at The Washington Post called "Church: Love It, Don't Leave It." For anyone who loves or hates the church, it's a great read. Check out a couple excerpts:

For almost two millennia, it was axiomatic that Christians, like, actually went to church (or at least told other Christians they did). From Cyprian to Calvin it was believed that for those to whom God "is Father the church may also be Mother." But increasingly Christians are trying to get more spiritual by getting less church.

We love the church because Christ loved the church. She is his bride--a harlot at times, but his bride nonetheless, being washed clean by the word of God (Eph. 5:25-26). If you are into Jesus, don't rail on his bride. Jesus died for the church, so don't be bothered by a little dying to self for the church's sake. If you keep in mind that everyone there is a sinner (including yourself) and that Jesus Christ is the point and not you, your dreams, or your kids, your church experience might not be as lame as you fear.

Click here to check out the whole article.

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-07-02T09:23:00.004-04:00

(You just never know who's going to show up on a Wednesday night.)
Hey hey my friends. Hope you're all loving this fine overcast Thursday. You know what can bring a little sunshine into a day like today? THE WEDNESDAY WRAP! Here we go!

We had a great time last night at FBC Youth. Attendance was up from the past couple weeks which is great, and it was good to see everyone. Here's a quick recap of the night:

\\Countdown
\\Video - Camp40 Retrospective
\\Missions Moment - Iraqi Refugees
\\Worship - Meet With Me, It Is Well
\\Offering
\\Message - "When Things Go Wrong"
\\Closing Prayer

The message last night was a one-shot titled "When Things Go Wrong". We basically addressed this question: when things go wrong, whether little things like zits or BIG things like losing a loved one, how are we, as Christians, supposed to respond? We framed our answer to the question within the context of John 11 - the story of Lazarus' death and eventual resurrection.

Pulling from The Message Bible, here are the main points from last night's message (it might be helpful to read John 11 from The Message first - click here to check it out):

1. Know that God gets it.
“… a deep anger welled up within him… Jesus wept.”
One of our first responses when things go wrong in our lives is to assume that no one gets how we're feeling, especially God. But the truth is that God is not some distant deity, and when Jesus took on flesh (see John 1) and became a man He experienced all the range of emotion that we do. In this story in particular we see that He was both angry and deeply saddened. Whatever you're going through, God gets it. Another thing you have to do is...

2. Understand that God has His own timing.
“… if he loved him so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying?”
We are also super-impatient when it comes to trials that we go through. We want our problems fixed right now, but we have to understand that God has His own timing, and it's not always RIGHT NOW. Sometimes God will allow whatever you're going through to endure, and you have to...

3. Believe that God has a bigger plan.
“This… will become an occasion to show God’s glory…”
You've got to believe that whatever the reason is for what you're going through, there is a bigger plan going down. Not only do we tend to be so impatient when it comes to the troubles of life, we are also notoriously short-sighted. We have trouble seeing more than one or two steps ahead in life but the truth is that God sees it all - He knows the end of your story and He is working it out to manifest His glory in your life. And for those that are truly seeking the heart and will of God, there is the assurance that God has a bigger plan and if it requires you to endure then you, with great joy, will endure. Finally, you should...

4. Have faith that God CAN change your situation.
“Then he shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ And he came out…”
This doesn't mean that God always WILL change your situation, but He certainly CAN. Why is it that we always assume that God is not going to change our situation? We always lean more toward the battered Christian point of view - the one that says "this is my cross, I have to bear it..." But the truth is that there are times when God can and will change your situation. Sometimes He does it by changing your heart or your attitude. Sometimes He does it by changing your circumstances. And, like in Lazarus' case, sometimes He does it by raising the dead. None of these is less a miracle than the other - a changed heart is is just as much of a miracle as a dead man being raised to life. The important thing is to have FAITH that your situation can change!

That's the night - if you weren't there we missed you! Hope to see you all at Bible Study on Sunday... BE THERE!

Later,

- Tim

Camp40 Retrospective

2009-07-01T15:07:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow Night

2009-06-30T10:53:00.003-04:00

I hope you'll all make it out tomorrow night to our midweek youth worship service at FBCCS. I'm excited to prepare for what I think will be a relevant message for everyone - "When Things Go Wrong".

We'll look at the story of Lazarus and pull out a few principles that apply to anyone going through a rough time, whether it's as devastating as losing a loved one or as "little" as your car not starting in the morning.

Hope to see you there!

- Tim

Engaging Gay Community

2009-06-29T10:39:00.002-04:00

There's a great conversation on the Church engaging the gay community over on theOoze.tv (click here to check it out). There are some great thoughts in the conversation about presuppositions, genetics, missional engagement, etc. Here are a couple more that I picked up on:

1) If the Church prays for the Gospel to permeate the lives of those who are in the GLBT community, is God more likely to bring GLBT's to the church on the corner or give the church on the corner opportunities to enter in to loving relationship within the GLBT community?

2) Speaking in reference to Jesus' teaching on the speck and the log in Matthew 7, author Andrew Marin brings up a great line of thinking. Is the cultural acceptability and embracing of GLBT lifestyle among today's younger generations related to older generations' failure to put strong, loving Biblical marriages on display for their children?

Thinking...

- Tim

Back!

2009-06-29T09:27:00.003-04:00

Well we all made it back in one piece from Camp40 at Cedarmore in Bagdad, KY. We pulled out of the church on Friday at 2:30 and pulled back in on Sunday at 1:30. In that 47 hours we prayed, worshipped, studied, climbed, danced, laughed, ran, did push-ups (?), shot videos, got covered in bbq sauce, hey-hi-hey-what's-up'ed, wrote on each other in sharpie, fished, swam, pet horses, ate chicken-on-a-stick, got hooked on pix, drive-by-hugged, met some hummingbirds, ran from a chictopus, stayed up WAY too late, and didn't get enough to eat.

I think that about covers it.

I'll take some time to post some afterthoughts up here later.

- Tim

Article Round-Up

2009-06-25T14:19:00.003-04:00

Some interesting articles from around the interwebs:

\\To Write Love On Her Arms
The story of how TWLOHA got started and the desire they have to make an impact:
When I met her she was struggling with drug addiction, depression, self-injury and had attempted suicide. She had just been denied entry into a treatment center so my friends and I enthusiastically gathered around to support her. She spent the next five days coming back to life in our living room.

\\We Will Care For Any Newborn
A pastor says that his church will take in any newborn baby as an alternative for those considering abortion:
"I make a promise to you now and I don't want you to keep this a secret," the pastor pronounced, "the Peachtree Presbyterian Church will care for any newborn baby you bring to this church..."

\\Getting Twenty-Somethings Involved
An interview with Mark Batterson (pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C.) on engaging young adults:
It's not just about not doing anything wrong, it's what are you doing right? What kind of difference are you making? And certainly the Holy Spirit within us and the cause we're called to ought to mobilize us to be the ones who are making a difference! I think one of the tragedies of the modern church is being known more for what it's against than what it's for. But I think that's changing, and that's exciting to me.

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-06-25T07:57:00.002-04:00

Hello friends! Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog today. Here's our weekly wrap-up of our midweek youth worship service. First up, a snapshot of the night:

1. Countdown
2. Opening Prayer
3. Songs - Your Grace is Enough, Give Us Clean Hands
4. Welcome Time/Offering
5. Message - "Who is Jesus" (Matt. 16:13-19)
6. Assignment - "Names of God"

Last night was a great chance to scale everything down and really spend some time in worship, prayer, and the Word. Attendance was pretty down, but as I told the students that were there each of them was there for a purpose last night and I'm convinced God sets divine appointments for us (meaning that when we seek Him we are where we need to be when we need to be there).

All that being said we spent a good amount of time in Matthew 16 last night exploring the story of Jesus asking his disciples 1) who other people were saying he was and 2) who they, his followers, said he was. In this passage Peter makes "The Good Confession" - that Jesus is the Christ (Christos, Masiah - literally "the expected one"), the Son of the Living God." Jesus surprises us by saying that Peter doesn't know this because someone told him, but because God in Heaven revealed it to him.

So we spent some time just exploring the idea of answering the question - who do you say Jesus is? - and exposing the all-too-easy to make mistake of thinking our good confession can come from regurgitating something we've heard in a sermon, a small group, or read in some book somewhere. A truly good confession is born only out of God's revelation to an individual or group of people.

That's a super-short recap of the night. I'd love to talk more about the message or hear about how your devotional "homework" went if you were there. Comments are welcome! (Click "comments" below.)

Have a great week.

- Tim

Becoming More Like Christ

2009-06-23T08:45:00.003-04:00

Riffing off a thought from the missional dinner the other night...

As Christians (a word that literally means "little Christs"), we are to become more and more like Jesus. As we minister and seek to reach others for the sake of the Gospel, we are to put on more and more of the character of Christ. How then, are the following aspects of Christ's ministry lived out as we seek to reach others?

Incarnation
Crucifixion
Resurrection

In other words, if I want to reach a particular group of people (let's say middle and high school students in my case), how do I become incarnate (come into their world), how do I die to myself (make sacrifices for them), and how do I see God do an amazing life-regenerating work in them?

This is a line of thinking I am really excited to dive into over the next few weeks (months? years?).

- Tim

SBCPC Afterthoughts

2009-06-23T08:18:00.005-04:00

Trisha and I got back from the Southern Baptist Convention's Pastors Conference in Louisville late last night. This was my first ever SBC, and I have some afterthoughts I'll scribble down here, some having to do with the Convention itself and others that were random insights or one-liners from speakers. Here we go:

1. The SBC is weird. Really though. This was the strangest conference/convention I've ever been to - one that is apparently suffering from an identity crisis. From the speakers to the music to the exhibit room, everything appears to be in a state of transition. I've always thought it funny that when it comes to SBC churches and SBC life at large you can look into one particular church or experience and feel like you're in the year 2009 and look into another and be transported to 1959. The SBC and life at the convention certainly has its own unique culture and any "contemporary" or "modern" additions are simply that - additions. Rather than feeling like you're at a place with a people who are creating the culture around them (why shouldn't the Body of Christ shape and create cultural innovation) you feel more like you're with a closed niche group that ventures into culture from time to time to pull a trendy fashion, melody, or phraseology into the niche in order to preserve some semblence of relevance. Now I will say that there were moments (certain speakers and the missional dinner - see below) that did have tinges of revolutionary GOSPEL flavor about them. Those moments, as you'll see, really stood out to me. Here's hoping that moments like those increase in frequency at future SBC's.

2. Francis Chan's message was great in a heart-breaking kind of way. He spoke on Monday morning pretty much from the heart about his own experience in ministry and a crisis in faith he had regarding his church vs. the church we see in Acts. He asked a lot of hard-hitting questions, such as "If a man on a desert island read the entire Bible over and over and over again and then came to America and started looking for a 'church' (or at least what he thought it was from reading the Bible), would he find it?", "Do we really want to know God's will for our lives, especially if it means we have to do everything that we are doing completely differently?", and "Are our 'heroes of faith' really spiritual giants or are we all so small in faith that those with a shred of spirituality seem huge?" You can see how this could hit someone (me) square between the eyes. Good, good stuff though.

3. It's good to see old friends. Trisha and I got to see several people we haven't seen in a while - shout outs to Sarah, Steve, Mark, and John. I know life goes on and people move around as everyone gets older, but seeing old friends brings a certain comfort that is just plain nice.

4. We loved the missional dinner (thanks Steve!). Last night we attended a missional dinner hosted by some of our friends at the North American Mission Board. It was definitely the highlight of the weekend. A panel of four very different church-planter/missionary type guys shared different ways that living missionally has impacted both their own lives and their ministries. The audio from this panel should be online soon and I'll post a link here later. One comment/line of thought that really got me going and that I need to think about some more is the idea of living out the life of Christ in our own lives by being incarnational (heard that before) but also by living out the crucifixion - in other words, making great sacrifices to reach those that God has called us to reach (never heard anyone say it like that before). I was really inspired by the panel and loved our 60ish minutes we spent at the dinner.

That's enough for now, though I'm sure I'll dump some more info and links on here later.

- Tim

VBS Retrospective

2009-06-20T12:15:00.002-04:00

It's really over. A week ago Vacation Bible School loomed in front of us like an unstoppable juggernaut - 5 days full of kids and craziness. Would we ever make it through? Of course we did, and now 2009's VBS - Boomerang Express - is behind us.

Here are a few of my thoughts looking back on the week:

1. Change is good. This year we really went outside the box of Lifeway's prepackaged Boomerang Express materials. We wrote our own songs, did our own rotations with original activities, and went off script for a big chunk of Bible School. We basically used Boomerang Express as a shell/guide for all of our efforts. Don't get me wrong - it was a great theme with some good elements, but making it our own made a HUGE difference this year. If we had been afraid to make some of the changes that we did we really would've missed out on a lot of good stuff.

2. Excitement is really good. I can't say enough how important it is for student and adult leaders to be excited at kids' events. I could tell a huge difference between classes that stopped at the music rotation who had pumped-up excited teachers/workers and classes who had "I'm tired" teachers. Excitement is contagious and if we're not excited to be there, kids won't be either. Luckily everyone seemed to be super-excited for the most part this year and the kids really caught on to that.

3. Children say PROFOUND things. I can't count the number of times I ask a question of kids expecting silly or crazy answers and they say the most amazing things. This week I was asking kids what they thought God was doing while we were singing to Him. The answers were AWESOME. We really can't underestimate kids and the connection they have with God (you may have heard of "faith like a child", eh?).

4. Relationships are key. One simple thing we did this year was having sticky name tags instead of name tags attached to lanyards or strings. The old name tags were lost by day two, but doing a new sticky name tag each night made sure that every kid was identifiable every night. Being able to call a child by his or her name makes all the difference in the world and really enabled a relational connection we haven't had in previous years. Simple stuff with great results.

5. Volunteers are essential. We had a record number of student and adult volunteers this year and I can honestly say that every single one of them was completely essential to our success. Without people cooking, cleaning, teaching, HERDING, registering, etc., this VBS never would have happened. I'm grateful for all the people who helped out this year - you're all good, good people.

- Tim

Boomerang - Exclusive World Premiere!

2009-06-18T13:43:00.003-04:00

As promised - the 2009 VBS theme song "Boomerang" as played by the Down Undah Band.

You're going to love it!

- Tim

VBS

2009-06-17T13:10:00.003-04:00

I've neglected to post anything so far about our Vacation Bible School that's going on this week. I was hoping to be able to put some video up along with some good pics, but as usual technology is trying to rise up against me and take over the world. So far I've got the video camera and laptop under control, but it's been rough.

Nonetheless VBS has proceeded beautifully this week. I'm leading the worship rally (super-crazy-fun) and also a 10-15 minute music station for each class. We're having such good times this week - if you haven't been out to visit yet, we start at 6:00 and go until 8:30. You should totally stop by.

Hopefully tonight I'll show Skynet who's boss and get some footage of our theme song "Boomerang" to post up on here and on Facebook. Wish me luck.

Later!

- Tim

Update on Gao from China-Aid.org

2009-06-16T13:54:00.002-04:00

To everyone who is following the story of Gao Zhisheng, check out this e-mail I receive from China-Aid.org:

DAY 128: Chinese Ambassador Covers Up Kidnapping of Gao Zhisheng

With the increased pressure from people of justice around the world requiring the truth about kidnapped Christian attorney Gao Zhisheng, the Chinese government has been forced to respond. Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong recently issued the first official letter about Gao, in reply to a letter from Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman of Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

According to the Ambassador, Gao is "currently serving probation" and "the public security authority has not taken any mandatory action against him." Obviously, this is a misdirect of information as Gao was last seen being hauled away by Chinese security officials.

We are very concerned about Gao's whereabouts and his condition. In the past, Gao has been repeatedly kidnapped and tortured by Chinese officials for his work defending house church Christians and others persecuted for their beliefs. There is no reason to believe that this has stopped now.

Prior to his first kidnapping, Gao told his wife that if he should be persecuted for speaking the truth, he believed that people of justice throughout the world would stand with him.

Our friends in Washington, DC, have strongly encouraged us to increase the pressure on the Chinese government, and we need your help. Please help us by flooding Chinese embassies around the world with phone calls on behalf of Gao Zhisheng's wife and children to urge that the Chinese government immediately reveal Gao's whereabouts and condition.

» Go to www.FreeGao.com now for contact numbers for the Chinese Embassy in your region and a sample script for your phone call.

- Tim

Good Blog

2009-06-16T13:10:00.003-04:00

If you have time today, check out the blog of Greg Stier, president/founder of Dare 2 Share ministries (www.dare2share.org). Dare 2 Share is an organization that is focused on equipping and empowering teenagers to live their lives evangelically. I'm excited to take our students at FBCCS to a D2S event in February of this coming year as we focus in on evangelism for the '09-'10 school year. You can also check out Greg and D2S on iTunes (they have a great podcast to check out) or Amazon.

- Tim

Nehemiah

2009-06-15T15:43:00.003-04:00

Today I took the time to reread the book of Nehemiah in The Message Bible. What a great story. It's so full of lessons for people of all walks of life - leaders, followers, and people who are trying to "build" something with their lives. Definitely worth a read. Here's a passage that really stuck out to me:

"We kept at it, repairing and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work." (Neh. 4:6)

Something to think about...

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-06-11T17:06:00.008-04:00

Hey hey friends. I can't believe another Wednesday has come and gone. We had a great night of worship at FBC Youth. Here's what it looked like:

\\Countdown (feat. music by Molly!)
\\Game: On-The-John (BOMBED!)
\\Student-Led Scripture & Prayer (Stephen)
\\Worship (through music): Forever, God With Us, Prodigal (NEW!)
\\Welcome & Offering
\\Message - PS51

That was it. The game did totally bomb. I filed it today under NEVER AGAIN. The worship time was great though as we debuted a new song called "Prodigal" that is pulled right from the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31). I loved singing this chorus together - "You are a loving Father, and I've never wandered too far. I turn around, You see me, You run to meet me, I'm never far from home." BEAUTIFUL.

I also got to preach from one of my favorite passages of all time - Psalm 51. After getting to share "Prodigal" with everyone and talk a little bit about the experience of writing it, it was so awesome to transition to PS51 and talk about what David went through as he wrote that song.

Ultimately, the cry of PS51:10-13 is for God to create in David a changed life that changes lives. That was the thought we went after last night - that we would all live changed lives that are enable by God's grace to change the lives of others. I hope it resonated well with everyone. I know I'm still digesting the depth of that Word today.

One last note - I tried doing something different this week in scanning and displaying some actual rough draft notes I scribbled while studying this week in an attempt to convey more of my own process of reading/studying Scripture. I got some good feedback afterward so I might try it again. Below are all the slides/notes from last night. Check them out and let me know what you think.

- Tim

PS51

2009-06-09T17:27:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow night at FBC Youth we'll take a look at Psalm 51:10-13 together. PS51 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible and I'm loving revisiting it this week.

Hope you can make it out!

- Tim

Community

2009-06-06T16:40:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is promotion Sunday and we're kicking off the new ministry year by flipping the format of Sunday School.

Scratch that - tomorrow we start BIBLE STUDY GROUPS.

I'm excited about BSG's for a lot of reasons. I'll be speaking in the morning on the importance of community and our heart behind small-group-based discipleship. Here's a sneak preview.

Community Matters Because:

1. We were created for community.
2. We are stronger in community.
3. We grow in community.
4. Community is attractive.
5. Community mattered to Jesus.

Our heart for BSG's is to see students CONNECT.

- Connect to an adult leader who loves Jesus.
- Connect to their peers as they grow together.
- Connect to God's Word and what it says about their lives.
- Connect to their friends and invite them into community.

It's going to be a great year.

- Tim

The Wednesday Wrap

2009-06-04T10:02:00.004-04:00

Fresh out of the oven, it's this week's edition of the Wednesday Wrap. First, a recap!

+Countdown
+Game - GIMME LEMONS! (Winner = Austin and the guys)
+Opening Prayer - Erik
+Worship (Happy Day, It is Well, Yahweh)
+Welcome/Offering
+Message - "Worth Living For"
+Closing Prayer

There's the night! We've been way down in attendance recently, maybe due to the end of the school year/vacations/etc., but we had an excellent time of worship and a great conversation on whether or not what we get up for in the morning is really worth living for (btw, the only thing that's really worth getting up for is Jesus - see John 10:10).

Don't forget that Bible Study Groups (BSG's) start this Sunday at 9:45am. Hope to see YOU there!

- Tim