May 2007 - Posts

• Working and Ministry.

  I think I've posted about this before, but I think I will post about it again. Tonight was youth group. It went pretty well. Charity had to drive one of the youth leader's home, so I stayed around to talk with the rest of the youth and wait for their parents to arrive. Once everyone had left I began the treck home - three minutes by car, fifteen by walking. As I walked the heavy burden of working with teens on a part-time basis struck my heart once again.     I love my job. As a Network Engineer at Collages every day is filled with challenges. I have the opportunity to architect solutions and work with technology many geeks only dream of. But at the end of the day there are only so many more hours left. And yes, I do what I do with those hours. We meet on a weekly basis. We have special events two to four times each month. We see the teens outside of youth group occasionally. But that isn't to say that that is all there is to do. There is so much more.     First, there is learning. I believe that we teach out of the abundance of our own learning. If someone hasn't internalized material it is evident. Thus, every week I do my best to internalize my material. One way I have attempted to do this is by reading the portion of Scripture we will be working through every day of the week leading up to the event, as well a studying it using commentaries and bible dictionaries. But still, there is much more time that could be spent internalizing the material, as well as studying the intertextuality of the text. No Scripture passage is alone, rather it weaves a complex story interlaced with references.     Then there is the teaching. I can push myself, but there is a certain passion that comes with the well-rested soul, a certain clearness of thought, which must be ushered in through sheer willpower when exhaustion settles in, and cannot still make up for the real passion.     There is time spent in the community and in relationships. Attending sporting events and other school events - dramas, opportunities to tutor. There is establishing relationships with parents, teachers, and community leaders.     There is an insurmountable amount to be done, without even looking at duties outside of the youth ministry itself - assisting in a service, preaching a sermon, performing a visitation, assisting in communion, attending a funeral.     In my opinion, work and ministry should only be combined by those who desire "full-time" ministry when there is no alternative. Some have promoted the idea that one should perform both, and while I think it is a nice idea theoretically, it fails miserably practically. I would suggest that if we claim we can fulfill both roles without sacrificing something in one we need to re-evaluate the height of our work ethic or the comprehensiveness of our ministry.     For those of us who are relegated to performing both we must look to God as our strength, and as Paul and Barnabas did when they had to leave the believers in modern day Turkey after their first missionary journey - entrust their souls to the Lord, for He is capable even when we have nothing left  to give.  Posted May 21 2007, 07:21 PM by admin with no comments Filed under: work, youth ministry, part-time, ministry

• Prepping the Youth Room Part II.

  On the 6th of May I originally wrote about moving youth rooms and some of the initial endeavors I and others had expended in this direction. I suppose it is now time to give a partial update. This past Monday we had our first guy's group in the new youth room as well as the large group. It went pretty well, though over the next few weeks we will need to continue to experiment with the chair setup.     Then this past Thursday evening Pastor Dave and I spent over two hours working on the youth room. This began by disposing of a lot of old stuff that would never be used again - broken desks, some old non-folding chairs, and other such junk. Thankfully, others could use it and most of it was rapidly picked up off the side of the road.     By doing so we were able to clear out most of the youth pastor's room (which doesn't really exist, since I'm the closest thing to a youth pastor and I don't use it). We then moved a large orange cabinet into the youth pastor's room and out of the youth room, as well as taking the copier from the youth room and placing it in the youth pastor's room.     At this point there is still lots of work to be done, but we are getting so much closer. A lot of it now is coordinating with other people how they want to handle certain pieces of furniture. Hopefully I can get some of that accomplished this Sunday...  Posted May 11 2007, 03:47 PM by admin with no comments

• Reflections on Focus on the Family's Action Newsletter for April.

  I receive an email from Focus on the Family with a link to a pdf of their April edition of the Focus on the Family Action Newsletter. It was an interesting read and I would encourage you, if you have a moment or two to read it as well. Focus on the Family has offered the church some excellent services through the years. The Adventures in Odyssey series was always a favorite as a child, and can still be entertaining as an adult. McGee and Me were informative and quality VHS short films. Breakaway and Brio offered a wholesome magazine for teenagers. But on the whole I don't really know a whole lot about Dr. James Dobson or Focus on the Family.     In this edition he wrote about several interesting subjects. The first was in calling out the Democrats for their plans to revoke the last few years tax cuts. While I would need to read the opposite side's literature, at face value he seemed to pull out a pretty embarrassing plan to raise taxes across the board. Not that I am necessarily against tax hikes, or anti-Democrat. But some of the items mentioned in the war spending bill were disconcerting.     Then he goes on to discuss planned childlessness and how some couples are choosing not to have children. I won't comment on this topic right now, as I want to write a developed theological article on this topic but don't have the time at the moment. But, in any case, its an interesting and provocative read.  Posted May 08 2007, 08:41 PM by admin with no comments

• Moving Youth Rooms.

  Around three months ago I realized we really needed a larger space for the youth group. In one small room with a single bathroom we were fitting twenty-five teens, several couches, two fooseball tables, and who knows what else. This began a process of discussing with the Pastor and one of the elder's the possibility of moving into the main church building. This was attractive for a number of reasons: We'd be moving into a larger room. We'd be in the main church building, instead of separated from it, making it easier to utilize the rest of the church. The room had the library in it so we could merge the youth and normal church libraries into one. We would no longer have to heat or cool the old youth room and the new one was part of the main building so it was always heated/cooled. The guys and the girls groups could be in the same building, thus allowing us to better synchronize leaving small groups for different portions.     Anyways, its finally coming together. This past week I received the final go ahead and this past Saturday I spent six hours at the church - reorganizing the room and cleaning out closets (in order to make room for more stuff to go into them).     I'm pretty excited about all this...     Posted May 06 2007, 07:53 PM by admin with 1 comment(s)