Last 4 Months

So its been about 4 months since I have last chronicled my thoughts on the ole blog!  So much has gone on, been accomplished, been so close to coming together... its an exciting time!   Had an intern for 7 months, Britton Asbell.  What a tremendous job he did while he was here.  He was all about the students... such a huge help to me since 1 person can only connect with so many people.  We said goodbye to him Sunday, he will be missed.   we are looking to the future, whats next, what does God want from us, where does he want us to invest our time/energy/resources into?  I love this stage, because it takes me out of the equation because I don't know the next steps... only GOD knows... and I'm OK waiting on Him!

My prayer life needed a shot in the arm and got one after reading "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick (lead pastor at Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina)  I pray like a sissy not a juggernaut, its time to get serious about it, time to start making strides in my personal relationship with God. It is hard to lead others to grow when you are not going after it with all you have.  Ive seen that in my life and it is changing and will continue changing!!  LETS GO!!  

Join me... join me in the pursuit of God and worshiping him for who He is, what He has done and what He is going to do!!

The Student Leader

Leadership is something that is sought after in all areas of life, workforce, home.   We are constantly trying to develop and bring about leadership in people.  Some have so much potential to impact people in a positive way yet they dont fully take hold of those opportunities, they let life slip away.  Some do not have a lot of potential or may not be wired that way but work at it extremely hard because they UNDERSTAND why leadership in any aspect in life is important!  If we can develop at a young age students heart for leadership no matter how gifted or how much potential they have; then we are developing people who can change the world. 

The student leader is every student ministries pastors best friend.  Without these leaders then we find ourselves looking for ways to motivate, create energy and get students to buy into whats going on in the ministry.  Student Leaders are essential for the vital health of the church as well.  These are the next generation of church leadership, a group that will rise up and take hold of the awesome responsibility of spreading the Gospel. 

Its hard to start from scratch and develop leaders, here are a few tips for starting out...

1. Open your eyes - lots of students have the natural ability, people gravitate towards them, they can be the life of the crowd.  Those students need some coaching but have limitless potential.

2. Solid Trumps Popular - students who are grounded in what they believe will be more committed than the popular student who isnt as focused and isnt dependable.

3. Consistency in Meeting - meet with these students on a regular basis, consistency breeds accountability and allows them to be encouraged consistently.

4. Poll the student body- ask them who they look up to, who do they look to for spiritual matters, who would they follow... they usually get it right!

5.  Challenge - Dont make it easy on them.  Give the student/s something to strive for, something that will stretch them and allow them to fail.  Nothing says learning from experience like having a task and bombing!!  You learn real quick what to do and what not to do!

6.  PRAY like crazy - In order for God to do something huge through these students then you must intercede for them on their behalf. 

My desire is for students to be equipped to change the world.  There is nothing to big that God cannot do...  dream big, live big... impact people for Christ!!

Dream...

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore" - Gide

If you could do anything in your ministry what would you do?  If cash was no object and you could have any facility you wanted and could totally redesign your ministry what would you do?  

Ive been asked to think about these things a few times...  so I have!  The more I contemplate this facilitates the wrong mindset for me and for the student ministry and Sugar Grove Church.   When I dream for myself I come up with programs, atmosphere, lights, flat screens and Ipods... "stuff."  I think this happens to all of us in Youth Ministry at some point or another.  We want all the bells in whistles so we can make our student ministry "cool" or a place where your students want to bring their friends.  Wanting your students to enjoy coming and invite their friends and instill pride in their church is all well and good.  This, however, does not reach the heart of why we should be doing what we are doing.

If we focus on the outward we miss the inward.  As hard as it is to not be consumed by those things we should be more worried about our students being sold out for Christ.   We want to help bring up fully devoted followers of Christ and no light board, flat screen or sweet video is going to do that.  None of those things are bad unless they take precedence in your ministry.  

Build relationships, grow disciples, show Christs love to the people you come into contact with, pray for your students, challenge them to take risks for Christ, make an impact...  from the inside out!

Whats the heartbeat of SGC

Recently I have really been thinking about the heartbeat of our church... what is it?  What is God calling us to here in Elkhart County??  What is Sugar Grove's role in it all??

I want to ask you those questions... what do you think?? 

Love to hear your thoughts on it...

Top Ten of Memphis 2010

Here we are after 2 weeks being in Memphis, TN.   What an amazing trip it was... serving the people, loving the people... showing them Christ!

It was a life changing trip, here are the top ten things that happened on the Hope Experience:

10 - hottest slip n slide of all time, actually baked the grass underneath


9 - stripped down and painted 2 homes in intense heat


8 - dancing with the kids at Memphis Athletic Ministries, proving that white people cant dance! :)


7 - the rolls and bread at The Grove campground = shocking

6 - making a whirlpool in a rectangle pool...  that just happened

5 - Teaching Refugee's from countries around the world English and how to fill out a job application, very humbling and exciting to be able to help them

4 - Rendevzous Ribs - no napkins, no silverware just Tshirts - so fun

3 - Warrens Denim Scrubs

2 - playing with the kids at the refugee apartments, letting them paint your face with sidewalk chalk, seeing their smiles and giving them blankets... priceless

1 - hearing about how Lauren & Patrick had the chance to lead someone to Christ at Holy Community Church... Sharing Faith, Giving Hope, Showing Love

Unbelievable Trip...

The Elijah Effect

The story of Elijah is an amazing and profound statement of one mans faith in God.  Elijah takes on the prophets of Baal and Asherah and challenges them.  The Lord answers Elijah's prayer! (Check out the full story in 1 Kings 18)

However I want to send a little "high five" Elijahs way.  Here is a man that was THE LAST PROPHET of the Lord, the one and only, no one else around, no one to help keep him accountable, no one to laugh with, cry with, pray with, confide in... only one left.   Elijah stood for the Lord, and the Lord blessed him.   This fires me up, not only cause Elijah stood up and defended his belief in God but because he had no help doing it.  It makes me wonder if everyone with like faith would band together and stand for up for our belief in God what would happen?  If all of us would have the same fire, the same passion for God what could be done?  How many people need to know about God and His unconditional love for us, His mercy, His grace, the hope that he gives... if we stand up and have faith that God is with us, think of the impact on this country we could have.   This challenges me and humbles me because I can only imagine how much courage that takes...

Whats holding us back?

Elijah was one man... we have thousands and millions to help encourage and push eachother onward.

We need an Elijah effect!!!

Refining Leadership

Today leadership is more crucial than ever before.  You can see it all around you, solid leadership breeds consistent, functional, productive ministries, teams and businesses!  When you see something that has or is successful in their field, more often than not the people that are in leadership positions within that organization are constantly looking for ways that they can better lead.  They are continuing to refine their skills, knowledge and practices.  The refining process happens to increase value & quality. 

Gold is one of those precious metals that has benefited from this economic downturn in the last couple years.   Gold has increased in value and people have started cashing in on this.  Cash 4 Gold stores, Joe's Gold... you name it stores are popping up buying gold from people who are strapped for cash and then turning around and selling it for more than they paid.  The more refined the gold, the more pure the gold is the more its worth.  Gold is refined in intense heat, the dross(impurities) is taken out and the gold is made more valuable because it is a higher quality.

In order to grow as a leader the refining process needs to take place!   Everyone has a limitless ceiling when it comes to leadership.   Continuing to grow as a leader is important, here are some things that can help refine you as a leader:

1. Learning from those who have gone before you
2. There are great books out there (Leaders are Readers)
3. Blogs
4. Conferences
5. Ask those you lead how you can improve

**Be in Gods word daily, Be in constant communication with Him (prayer), ask for Him to be the leader in your life.

Dont Stop, Keep Leading!!

Lets Go

As we go through our lives we all experience seasons that we just go after it, we take life and slap it on the tail.  We have our to do list, we check things off, we crumple the paper/delete it from our Blackberry/Iphone/Droid and keep on moving.   These times are amazing, we accomplish a lot when we get into these modes!   More often than not we use these seasons to benefit ourselves, our families, our homes, OUR lives.   What would happen if we leverage this season of life, the season where we make things happen for ourselves and use it to impact the kingdom of God.   We use our internal motor that is pushing some serious RPM's and impact our neighbors, co-workers and friends with the Gospel! 

If your like me (pray that your not :))  you go from week to week and sometimes you have it, sometimes you dont.   Sometimes it comes quickly and leaves just as fast as it came.  Sometimes it sticks around for weeks, maybe even months and other times it comes for an hour and then its back to the couch (I mean come on, the World Cup is on).  I believe God is calling all of us (His children) to go after life!  When things are happening that means that oppurtunity is passing us by.   "The Go Effect" happens as we go through our life with a narrow view of our world.  The narrow view that says this life is about ME, and just like that... we have missed it.   We have missed what God is calling us to do, go and make disciples, go and love, go and take care of the orphans and widows, GO and take care of the least of these.  Most importantly we miss the most important thing of all and that is GO and love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Take time today as you are getting things done, as your motor is movin, and remember that God has you here for a reason... LETS GO!

Pink Potty

We are currently involved in a fundraiser right now for the students going on the missions trip this summer to Memphis, TN.   Doing some searching online I came across the idea of putting toilets in peoples yards and making them pay to get them removed... buy potty insurance... send them to someone... etc.   We painted the potties pink and called it our Pink Potty Fundraiser!!  Novel concept.  So far it has blown away expectations, I keep hearing about people that drive by and see them in peoples yards.   Makes me laugh every time.  Big Thanks to the people at SGC for making this a very fun experience. 

Best part so far was we placed all the potties in our lead pastors yard the first day!!  He didnt have insurance.  needless to say he was gracious in supporting the students and will be purchasing the insurance ASAP!  Here are some pics...

John Wooden

The other morning I was listening to Mike & Mike on ESPN radio.  They were talking about the Legacy that John Wooden (legendary coach from UCLA, won 10 national titles and impacted many people by his example and character) left when he died this past weekend at the age of 99.   They ended up interviewing several former players and coaches and asked for the thing they would remember about Coach Wooden.   All the answers were great, thoughtful and heart felt.  One stuck out in my mind, Bill Walton.

Bill Walton is one of my least favorite analysts on ESPN, that being said his gratitude and love for Coach Wooden I will never forget!   He got choked up when talking about his former coach & friend.  He told Mike & Mike that without John Wooden in his life he would have given up years ago.   "He made such a huge impact on my life, he encouraged me when no one else was there, he coached me through my darkest days," (roughly what Walton said).  Walton was at the end of his rope, he was ready to call it quits when the man who has always been there for him made another huge impact and showed love & compassion to Bill. 

The power words have on someones life is immeasurable.  You don't have to be a legendary Coach to have an impact on someones life.  You don't have to have written books or have catchy quotes to speak truth to someone down in the dumps.  What you do have to be is willing!  Willing to step out and help, willing to show love, willing to sacrifice time in order to make a difference.  Bill Walton was forever changed by his coach, mentor, friend.

love me some facebook

Oh how we love facebook... we probably love it because its all about ME... and stalking others who you barely know!   If you can nod your head yes to more than 75% of these points then you are officially on facebook to much! :)

1. your status starts and ends the day the same... "bored..."
2. you "like" more than 25 comments a day
3. facebook is the only way you correspond with your family...  in the next room
4. you respond to someones status within 1 minute of them posting it
5. Your profile pic changes more than 3 times a day with pictures you took of yourself in your bathroom using your own camera and a mirror with the same pose every time with different outfits...
6. You use facebook as a platform to argue with everyone who doesnt see things as you see them...
7. the only time you talk with your significant other is on facebook chat
8.  you use the relationship status to break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend
9. You get depressed enough to take meds when no one sends you specialty animals in "Farmville"
10.  You consider someone your best friend after you read over their Info on facebook and not from hanging out or talking...

Love me some Facebook!

American Idol...

Really??  American Idol in its 9th or 10th season has hit the plateau of reality TV.   They have been the Juggernaut for some time but lets be honest... its getting old!

Only a few winners have been outstanding... Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, just to name a few!   Most have been disappointing, most have benefited from poor competition or a nice smile!

Its time for Fox to go back to the drawing board and get creative again!   Has the show been entertaining, yes.   Has American Idol been one of the most successful shows ever, yes.  Has Fox made unbelievable amounts of money from it, yes.  Now, with almost all of its original judges gone and Fox scrambling to add life to the panel with Ellen; it may be time to hang it up!

Some people really love it, I get that.  Some people really liked "My big fat obnoxious fiance" as well...

Lets look to the future, say good-bye to Simon, Paula and the gang!  Thanks for everything American Idol... you will be missed... sort of!

Intern

We have a new intern here at Crossfire student ministries!! Hooray!!

Lets give it up for Britton Asbell

You can find him on Twitter & Facebook... get to know him!! He'll be here for the next 7 months!

Junior High vs. Senior High

two groups... do different sets of needs... or is there??

recently I have been kicking around the idea of splitting my middle school students and high school students up. The reason being to give them what there age group needs and is looking for, amongst a number of other reasons!

Is it really essential?? Are those groups so different that they cant thrive in an environment together??

Unity is crucial... not looking to give that up!!

Middle School Students = activities and relationships
High School Students = relationships and content

can those both be accomplished on the same night??

Love

How difficult is LOVE,wow! Its more and more clear to me as I get older how difficult it is to LOVE everyone I meet! God calls us to LOVE our enemies & neighbors; there was no asterisk by those verses giving you an out if they have wronged you in any way or treated someone you LOVED badly.

How hard is it to LOVE people even though they struggle with things and have their own shortcomings... but in spite of it all, LOVE them!

WOW... chew on that for a little bit. LOVE the person who act one way at church and a different way outside those walls, LOVE the person who is mean and sarcastic with everyone at work, LOVE the person who mows their yard and sprays their grass clippings into your yard, LOVE the person who wants to be around you all the time because they want to be just like you but annoys you to no end, LOVE the person that struggles with things that make you uncomfortable!

LOVE your neighbors, LOVE your enemies, LOVE people who are like you and those who arent at all like you!

Remember that you are a person that people are trying to LOVE as well...

What If

What if...

Ive been thinking about this for the last couple weeks. All the "What If's" we use in life, give use this false sense that we are in pursuit of something more but we really aren't. We use "What If" to dream, we use "What If" to get ourselves to do something different or change, we say "What If" to get people to take notice, we use "What If" to raise issues, we use "What If" to threaten, we use "What If" to give hope...

The more I think about "What If" the more I hate it!

"What If" means nothing. "What If" is this magical saying that we use sometimes to make ourselves feel good. Most of the time we know that we say it with good intentions but nothing will ever come of it. "What If" is a crutch!

Without Purpose/Action/Follow Through "What If's" DIE!

You want to make your "What If" happen?? Be convicted about it, let God move your heart so much that you have no choice but to do something about it.

I listen to people all the time that say this... "I just told myself I wasn't going to do that again..." or this "I made up my mind that this time it would be different..." Intentions are fine... but without your heart changing your mind isn't enough to bring about a change of course!

Without your heart involved your "What If's" will never happen. If your heart was where it needed to be already then you wouldn't need to say "What If", it would already be done!

Purpose + Conviction + Action = dead "What Ifs" & a heart that is ready to make a difference!

If you are a Christ Follower then you have a purpose in this life... to reach out to others and share with them about the unconditional love that God has for them. You have a deep seeded passion to make a difference, a conviction unlike anything youve ever felt. Faith without works is dead... go and do... no more "What Ifs."

Do you have "What If's" in your life? How can you turn those into something tangible? How can you start working towards making your "What If's" happen?

Fun Summer

Looking for ideas for summer theme activities...

WORLD CUP is this summer in South Africa... need some ideas along those lines...

anyone??

Focused Purpose

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Drive Conference in Atlanta, GA. It was a great conference, lots of ideas are coming from spending time at North Point Community Church. Listening to a great communicator like Andy Stanley is always inspiring but there is something else that was much bigger that I took away that week.

It wasn't necessarily all the bells and whistles that North Point implements in their services. It wasn't the enormity of the production or the cool elements they use to make their services unforgettable. It was the mission and focus behind it!! They are unified in their mission and goals as a church. That was inspiring to me! I have been rethinking the student ministry here at SGC to be more focused and more intent on figuring out where God is taking us and how He wants to use us in the future. We will be more purposeful with what we do in the future!!

Without Purpose & Vision things fall apart!

One More Year...

Today is my birthday!! My feelings are mostly jovial and excited about another year of life but there is that little bug in the back of my mind that is saying... "Kent... your almost 30... pretty much over the hill... in a few years you will need help going to the bathroom!" shocking I know...

Really when I boil down another year and what transpired, what were some highlights and some down times I come back to a single conclusion and that is that with every year that passes I learn more about God and the plan he has for me! That is the most comforting thing in the world!! Eph 2:10... he has a specific plan for me and its GOOD!!

Bring on 30... its another year I can learn about my Savior even more!!

Minute to Win it...

So the past number of weeks we have been doing "Minute to Win it" stunts at Crossfire (our student programming on Wednesday nights) Its hilarious to watch students be a part of these events and its probably just as funny for the person doing them. Last night we did Bobblehead... pedometer that counts steps strapped to your head and you need to get 125 steps on the pedometer in 60 seconds by bobbing your head as fast as you can! So funny... Ill be posting videos on my facebook account! If you are in student ministry and haven't tried these out its good stuff! Best part is there are over 70 games now! You can find all the blueprints for the games on HULU and on the NBC site! Go after it... 60 seconds... and GO!!

Nugget of Goodness

Some of the most fun, entertaining moments I have had with students are so random and not planned out. This past Sunday night in one of the Senior High Guy LifeGroups we were watching the Duke/Baylor NCAA Tournament game. While watching we decided to play a game of PIG on a kiddy hoop that was nearby. Coming up with different shots and craziness to get everyone else out was hysterical. Planned events and programs are a good thing and necessary sometimes!! Don't get so caught up in those that you miss the little random moments that make a difference as well!!

My shot of choice was nicknamed "granny on the square" - so good!!

Passion of the Christ

Showing this film on Good Friday here at SGC... rated R for graphic violence due to Christs torture and death on the cross. For a lot of the students they would have been to young to see it when it first came out a few years ago. In my opinion I believe they should see it with parents consent or with their parents. It depicts what Christ went through for us, Jesus made a way for us to have fellowship with His Father in heaven, made a way for us to have heaven as an option... without it we were a hopeless people! Ideally it would be to have parents come and watch it with their student!!

Good thing to encourage students to come and see the film?? Bad??? Thoughts??

Giving them a piece...

In student ministry its all about giving up pieces of the pie to get more people involved, delegate and allow the skills, talents and abilities of your volunteer staff and students shine!!

I am a control freak, I know what I want, I know what it takes and if its not done to the expectation I have for it then Ill just do it myself.

1. I need to get over myself... enough said

2. God can speak through and use anyone... not the qualified, its the called

I am striving to get more people involved in the programming, event planning, mentoring, discipleing, the ministry will be more effective and YOU/I cant be everywhere all the time. Tap into the talent that your ministry has in its midst. God will use them, you just have to get out of the way!

Madness...

This is a great time of year, 65 teams with visions of a national championship!! Fighting to be called the best and greatest team this year. Tons of games, tons of brackets, tons of upsets... love it! Its a time where people cheer for the underdog, cheer for their favorite team, cheer for the team they picked to win it all so they can win their office pool... it boils down to Passion. Passion for the game of basketball & seeing the classic David vs. Goliath battle and the little guy winning. We love being passionate about things, its in our DNA, its how we were made.

God created us passionate, he wants the same passion we show to March Madness/NFL/MLB/Music/Clothing/Shoes/Friendships/College Football/Texting/Facebook/Twitter/Status/Success/wealth/cars/houses!! Not a piece of it, the whole thing. In Romans 12:1 Paul is challenging us to be living sacrifices, it's our act of worship!!

We Become what we worship...

Staying In Front

With technology the way it is today its more important than ever to stay in front of students any way possible. There are so many negative influences out there in media, something positive is a breath of fresh air. Twitter, Facebook, Texting, Blogs, Youtube... etc are ways that you can stay in front of your students and present positive messages that encourage them in their walk with Christ. There are a lot of people who don't get into these things for various reasons... I believe that these are tools that we can use to make an impact...

The story of the Prodigal son is a great display of unconditional love but it also shows us a reality of the elder brother... In that story the younger brother goes off to live wildly... a true elder brother would have gone after him and rescue him from destroying his life... the elder brother in the story doesn't do this because he is to concerned with his share of the estate, what people think about him and doing the things he was "supposed" to do. He missed the point... we miss the point a lot of times... We shouldnt be sitting back letting students come to us... we need to be going after them... encouraging them, challenging them to live for something bigger than themselves...

Stay in Front of them, Go after them, show them Jesus!

Great Conversation

Ministry gets hectic, crazy, overwhelming, trying etc... on and on sometimes... Its amazing that God can be working in so many areas and you get to see Him at work daily in tons of positive ways and yet those couple things that are negative seem to floor you...

I almost missed a moment with some students the other night that was profound and should have hit me the minute it happened... I had the privilege of joining one of our student LifeGroups Sunday night. We were in a discussion talking about how people in America get complacent in our faith, get to comfortable with where we are at and we take for granted our freedom to worship God and meet in small groups like this without any repercussions... then one student spoke up "it drives me crazy that there are so many hurting people in the world and we do nothing about it... we play video games and think about what we are going to do on friday night and we do nothing about the people who are in need..." WOW... pondering that later I realized I have been way to focused on me, myself and I and almost missed out on a few of our students who's heart is passionate about "the least of these" and helping out people in need...

Dont lose sight of what God is calling you to do... do let yourself get in the way...

Not About Me...

Lately I have found myself thinking to much into certain aspects of students lives, beating myself up about things that I cant control, worrying about certain students who have so much potential but just dont get it yet. I have came to the realization that my attitude here was that of control and "what am I doing about it" instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to guide the situations and let God work. How arrogant am I? This hit me like a ton of bricks this week... I haven't blogged in some time because I think I have been to wrapped up in what I am doing, whats going on at Crossfire because of what I programmed, said, did.

Dear God, forgive me for my pride, selfishness, arrogance... take control, do what you will in my life, use me but not for my glory God for YOURS!!!

Are you in the same boat?? Do you go through your week and not give God a second thought?? God wants 100% of you... not just a little piece... that means our status, career, family, friends, church... everything...

God is obsessed with us and we dont give him the time of day most of the time and we arent even sorry about it...

Obsession = Unashamed, Unbridled, Overwhelming LOVE

or in other words... what we OWE Him because of what He's done for us...