Summer Camp Prayer Points

Our Prayer Ministry Leader Brian sent me these prayer points for camp today. Please be praying for camp really hard the next two weeks! Check it out -

Collision of Worlds:

Prayer List

Theme of Camp: “Collision of Worlds”

Prayer Points Over our Theme:
1) Every person going to camp will have the revelation that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins. (vs. 39)
2) The work that God wishes to accomplish in each life represented would be accomplished. (vs.38) Jesus accomplished what He set out to do on the earth and on the cross.)

Prayer Points for Pastors/Speakers:
-Danny and Jamie, Steve and Taunia, J.O. and Raydeane Owens, Doug and Donna Lasit, Joe and Kirsten Tuttle, Stephanie and Trevin, Caleb, Kyle
* Acts 6:5-10
1) Pray specifically that they would have the anointing to break all forms of resistance (vs. 10)
2) That they would all carry a greater level of wisdom and discernment to speak to certain students and change the atmosphere (vs. 10)
3) That the passion they posses would be rubbed off on every person (vs.7)
4) They would be full of faith and power to preach the word (vs. 8)
- Also be praying against sickness in their bodies, that they would be healthy, their sleep would be good, nothing would come up to conflict their schedule,

All Leaders Counselors/Co-Counselors)
1) Ask God to remove any vain spirit from you (Ps. 127:1)
-And that the Lord will build His house, you would just simply be obedient (Ps.127:1)
2) Pray that God would give you a clear vision for your cabin/those students you will be pasturing (Prov. 29:18)
*Don’t just go to camp this year, this is the ideal time to gather people for your small group and see them brought into the church and discipled
3) (Staying w/ the theme of our youth staff meeting last Sunday): We have to have a violence in our spirit to see that these kids live in the perfect will of God (Matt. 11:12, Matt. 6:10)
-pray that God would stir in you a righteous violence to overcome

Worship/Sound

Ps. 40:3 “He has put a new song in my mouth- praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”
Ps. 50:23 “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God.”
*God is putting an “aggressive passion” on our worship team. I believe He is giving them an anointing to overcome obstacles that would cause resistance in our kids’ hearts. As they lead us, God will place a new song in the heart of our kids’ that will carry on to their campuses, in to their homes, and on to their friends.
1) There would be a new song put in our mouths
2) That in the presence of God, every person would know that God is in control and He can be trusted with our lives
3) There would be an atmosphere of: freedom, repentance, and deliverance in worship(Ps. 50:15)
4) Pray for worship team members by name
5) The supernatural power of God would be present to see healing (Ps. 30:2, 2 Chron. 7:14, Ps. 147:3)

Sound Team:
-Pray for Lorelei, Casey Jordan, and Jonathan Schaffan
-Pray that we wouldn’t have any technical problems, sound issues,that they would be able to adjust quickly to the room, etc.

Games

1) For safety, that we wouldn’t have any broken bones, concussions, etc. (bumps and bruises are inevitable )
2) Pray for organization (specifically praying for Kyle/Trent who are leading)- we need everything to run smoothly to save time
3) Pray that they kids would have the most fun they have ever had at camp!
The NXT/Pulse as a Whole
*Proverbs 14:14 “The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above.”
1) Pray for a consistency in our lives after we leave from camp
2) Pray against pride and being filled with our own ways
3) Pray that they would get planted in the house of God and they wouldn’t turn away from church
4) That they would make the choice to live as disciples of Christ
-I believe God is wanting to target those kids with parents who are not saved
*Pray that in spite of what parents would say, they would choose to trust God and believe that what happened at camp can happen every day.

-Thanks for all that you guys do, please be praying over these few points throughout this next week. This year is going to be awesome!

Product Review – Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament

I recently signed up for a program through Thomas Nelson Publishing where they will send books and resources to bloggers for free if they commit to review them honestly on their blogs. If you’re interested in reviewing Thomas Nelson products on your own blog follow this link - http://brb.thomasnelson.com/. So this is my first review of the first resource they sent me.

I finished listening to the Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament on MP3. Honestly, this audio version of the New Testament was not my favorite. It is specifically marketed to children and youth, which was one of the reasons I decided to listen to it for review. All of the voices used for the narratives are young people – mostly teens. This sounded like a cool idea but listening to it was honestly a little annoying.

The most disappointing part of the product was the voice of Jesus. The guy that did Jesus’ voice throughout the whole New Testament sounded like a weak, tired and broken little man. Every phrase sounded like he was about to die on the cross. It just made Jesus feel fake and unbelievable – like he wasn’t a real guy with a normal voice.

Other than the voices everything else is pretty good for an audio New Testament. The background music was enjoyable. The format of the MP3’s on the CD was easy enough to navigate on my ipod. I could find different chapters of the New Testament quickly with no trouble. Most of the expressiveness of the characters were fine…it’s just when the most important character in the whole story sounds like a weak and dying teenager it ruins the whole thing for me.

If you’re looking for an audio bible for your teenager, I’d pass on this one. Maybe the adult version has Jesus sounding like the man he was. Give that one a try.

Creating Culture Part 3 - Serving

The next culture I want to discuss is the culture of serving. This one is a little more talked about in the church, although most people getting involved still need to catch the revelation on the value of serving in the kingdom. Jesus was a servant and is into his followers having the heart and life of a servant.

Matthew 20:25-28 - ^25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. ^26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. ^27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— ^28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

John 12:26 - If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
Mark 8:6 - And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.

One culture I'm desperate to create in the NXT is a culture of "serving down". Meaning that the older students value and serve the younger. My young adults should be laying down their lives for the high school students. And the high schoolers should be serving the Jr. Highers. This is what really makes our generation model work well. If we were really to establish this culture effectively there's no telling what could happen over the course of a couple years.

Do we as a church give people clear channels to serve the Lord? Do we do well at articulating a vision of serving Him and not merely building our own kingdom? Do we really serve those that need it in our communities? How do we get better? What can we do to create the "serve down" culture?c

Prayer Requests for March

Hey all -

Thought I'd post some more prayer requests for you. Thanks for your continued covering. Prayer literally paves the way for life changing ministry.

• Pray for our sermon series going on right now called "U & Me". We're tackling the huge issue of dating and preparation for marriage. It's a big deal in the lives of young people and I'm believing God to bring alignment in all of our relationships.
  
• Continue to cover the issue of purity in our young people. Something broke loose in the church last month in this area and it's caused a great deal of work for us pastorally. It's the best though - young people are being set free!
• Pray for our upcoming mini youth conference called "Define". The date is March 25th. It's kind of a last minute thing, but it's going to impact our youth and our region. Pray that Pastor Poncho Lowder is anointed to bring a powerful word to the youth of our city. We're also going to be doing some service projects at Nampa High School that day.
  
• Pray for Pastors Steve and Taunia. They continue to need health, rest and peace as they fight the good fight of faith and continue to heal from the accident.
• Pray for advancement in every area of the church. We're not in a season of retreat. It's time to advance. Pray for advancement in individual lives and the church as a whole.
  
• Pray for our new semester of life groups that launches on March 8th. It's going to be the best set of groups we've had so far! New groups include Brian Gorseth's and Calvin Abbott's. I'm really excited about them.

Thanks again! We're all in this together.

Creating Culture Part 2 - Encouragement

On with our discussion on creating culture (although I sure would like a few more of you to chime in on this discussion). The culture we're going to look at today is a culture of encouragement.

I think one of the most common weapons used by the enemy on Christian is discouragement. As a youth pastor, if there's anything that can slow me down in ministry it's becoming discouraged that my ministry isn't working, that we aren't reaching enough kids, that my leaders just aren't getting it, etc. With the devil working around the clock to bring discouragement, one of the most important cultures we must have in the church is encouragement.

The church should be a place where people can come and be built up and encouraged. They should leave our gatherings filled with hope and faith. I believe there must be a more concentrated effort from leaders to encourage young people in their life, ministries, and their calling.

Romans 1:11-12 - For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— ^that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

The challenging part is that we're committed to biblical community. So while we want to bring encouragement, love, and hope to people, we're never going to stop preaching against sin and challenging people to change. That would be unhealthy for everyone. We're in youth ministry to transform ordinary young people into radical, world changing disciples.

Our strategy in accomplishing this so far is to have a two pronged attack. From the pulpit, I really preach hard against sin and foolishness. I never apologize or hold back. We bring real, relevant truth to the young people every Wed night. The second part of the strategy is this - there's a youth staff of around 50 young leaders who understand that their main job is to love and encourage young people like they've never experienced. These youth staff minister to students from a place of encouragement and unconditional love.

If both parties do their job, we should be creating a culture that is incredibly encouraging and challenging at the same time. This is a culture where young people can experience real life change. They can't listen to the message preached and stay comfortable in their sin. And when they respond, there are leaders there to walk with them and encourage them that they can and will succeed.

I feel like we are making some good progress with this approach. But I'm always looking for ways to encourage young people more.

What do you think?

What are some things we can do to create a culture of encouragement in the church? (BTW, you certainly don't have to go to FLC to weigh in. I'd love to hear from you wherever you are!!)

Podcast is Here!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the NXT podcast has officially arrived. Feel free to check us out on Itunes or subscribe at the website - www.the-nxt.com

Special thanks to Brent Earwicker, Evan Earwicker, Lorelei Williams and Caleb Brown who put in the time to figure podcasting out and get us rolling. It'll be fun to hear how God takes the messages and spreads them.

Enjoy!!

Creating Culture Part 1 - Inclusiveness

I think it was Erwin McManus who really started to get me thinking about the role of leadership in creating culture in the church. When we first got to Westside, Jamie and I read his book Unstoppable Force and learned about how his job title at Mosaic was a "Cultural Architect". He talks about his primary duty as a leader to create culture in the church and the city.

It's been a while since I've read the book so the details are a bit blurry. But I've been thinking a lot about how to create culture since coming on staff at Family Life Church. It was really interesting starting the NXT Youth Minsitry from scratch and having a huge part in creating the culture. It was an amazing thought for us when we realized that anything we did not like about the culture of our youth ministry was up to us to change. As youth pastors, we are cultural architects.

A couple weeks ago, Pastor Steve challenged his pastoral leadership to create culture in the church focusing on 10 specific areas. I thought I'd do a series of blog posts on the list and start a conversation about creating culture in each area. I'd love to know your thoughts, ideas, experiences, frustrations, rants, dreams etc. as we explore church culture over the next few weeks. Let's get some discussion going!

Culture #1 - Inclusiveness

The church in America has come a long way in creating a culture of inclusiveness over the last 10-15 years. But I think we need to go beyond just welcoming visitors and making services feel more comfortable and understandable. I believe that trend has run its course. God wants this to run deeper in our hearts.

It's a common complaint among young people that our churches have too many cliques. There's always a sense of competition and popularity when you're gathering a group of young people together. But the culture of inclusiveness can be created.

I remember being in high school and visiting different youth ministries in our city. The difference in the inclusiveness was one of the first things I noticed. As as new person, some groups cared that I was there and some didn't. I ended up making some of my best friends through the youth ministries where they had an inclusive culture. Why? Because they reached out and loved me - and I in turn responded to that. Pretty simple.

In our youth ministry we have a "connect team". Their responsibility is to connect with new students on Wednesday nights, set up coffee with them or something, and see how they can help get them involved in Family Life Church. But I really believe we need to do much more than just have a team of people who take this responsibility on. When inclusiveness becomes a robotic and starile or a delegated responsibility we're not truly acheiving our goal. I appreciate all that our connect team does, but I have a deep conviction that every member of our youth ministry should be on the team. In fact, I see a day where we don't need a team because it's just who we are. We include everyone.

I believe that inclusiveness must become a culture throughout the youth ministry and the whole church. I believe that God has called us to do supernatural things. And I believe it is supernatural to get young people to stop thinking about themselves, let go of insecurity and think about how new people can be included. I believe it's possible and I believe it's something that God wants us to focus on this year.

Time for you to chime in -

How do we as leaders create a culture in the church where everybody is welcome?

By the Hand - Part 2

Genesis 21:17-18

^17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ^18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”

It's not just sin that we need to lead young people out of. We need to lead them out of agony, depression, loneliness and pain. The toll that our culture has taken on the lives of our youth is astounding. Someone has to hear the Lord calling out and speaking to them - "lift up the lad".

It's our job as youth leaders. We're called by God to lift up a generation of young people who have a destiny in God that remains. He's the God who sees, as Hagar found out. He sees them right where they are at - desolate and wandering without direction or purpose. God hears their cry for help in desperation - wonderful, simple unorthodox prayers. Sometimes just tears...

I'm praying that there will be a whole army of leaders that hear from God and answer His call to bring hope, purpose and restored vision to this wandering and hopeless generation. I'm praying for an onslaught of leaders to arise and take a generation by the hand and lead them to the source of living water that is just around the corner.

The movement has begun...are you a part of it?

By the Hand

In Genesis 19, God is absolutely done with the wickedness of Sodom and Gommorah. Certain judgment is on the way for the immoral people of these two cities. There is but one righteous family the midst - Abram's nephew Lot. So God warns Lot to get his family together and get the heck out of those condemned cities.

I've always struggled with the character of Lot. 2 Peter clearly calls Lot righteous. But what was he doing living in a city of such depravity and wickedness? Highly suspect. Lot certainly was righteous (in a right place with God), but he was also entangled.

Genesis 19:15-16 - As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

He lingered. There was something in his heart that just wasn't ok leaving. There was something that longed to stay in the midst of the wicked culture. I believe that same thing was in his wife's heart...and Lot lost her because of it.

What are the things that cause you to linger? Linger at the party when you know its time to be home...linger at the boyfriends house when it's really getting late...linger on that website when you're clearly convicted by the Holy Spirit...linger in that conversation when its obviously going in the wrong direction. You feel me?

What hit my this morning was this - God's mercy was grabbing Lot and his family by the hands and dragging them out of the city. We usually preach the "Holy Spirit is a gentlemen" message. Apparently not this time. The angels grabbed them and forced them out of the city before it was destroyed.

Sometimes as youth pastors and leaders that's our job. Sometimes we reason, sometimes we plead, sometimes we pray. But I believe there are times when we're literally supposed to drag young people out of their entanglement in sin. Certain judgment is on the way. It may seem a little forceful, it may be a little uncomfortable, it may be awkward. But Lot was sure glad in the end that they dragged him out. Being a vessel of God's mercy doesn't always mean being mild and gentle - sometimes force is required.

A New Year for Reading

Hey All -

One of the best decisions I ever made in my life was establishing the discipline of reading the Bible every day. I'd list it in the top 5 choices of my life. Bible reading is something that is normally encouraged in church but often given half-hearted effort or ignored all together. One of the reasons people struggle with Bible reading is because they do not follow a plan. People tend to read the Bible with a shotgun approach, randomly selecting what they'll read each day. This is a really difficult and confusing way to approach the Bible.

When I started reading the Bible systematically through a Bible reading plan, my whole perspective on scripture, God and all of Christianity changed. At first I felt a little "unspiritual" or mechanical because I felt I wasn't necessarily reading exactly what God wanted me to for that day. I felt it might not as spirit-led. What I didn't realize was that as Christian that professes to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and absolutely true, I am responsible to know everything that is in the book. I believed the whole book...but hadn't even read the whole book. And the reason I hadn't read the whole Bible was because I was a shotgun Bible reader.

The other thing I learned as I grew up in Christ was this -

Hebrews 4:12 - "The Word of God is living and active"

God's Word is alive. Every word of it. I used to think I needed to read a specific part of the scripture in order to hear what God wanted to speak to me. I now understand that God can use literally any part of the Bible to speak to me and adjust my thinking and my life. He is able to breathe on any scripture and bring revelation that is unexpected and exciting. This makes reading the Bible an adventure worth taking every single day - in a systematic way.

Bible reading plans have been around for 100's of years - they're nothing new or notable. But what keeps changing with technology is how easy it is to follow them. I'm not sure how you feel about digital Bible reading, but I'm down with it. Some people really like to turn their gold leaf pages and all, but I believe it's the words that are powerful, not the leather or the special feeling pages. I do still read my bible out of a leather bound book a lot of the time. But I'm also a fan of reading it on my laptop and most recently on my cell phone from a mobile website.

I found a tool this morning that I thought would be worth sharing with you. It's a pretty awesome list of Bible reading plans from the English Standard Version of the Bible. But the coolest part is that it gives them to you in several different formats - Web, RSS, Email, iCal, Mobile and Print. Meaning you can get your bible reading plan in whatever format your most likely to use it - on a website, in your RSS reading (I highly recommend google reader by the way), in your email, on your calendar, on your cell phone or even on good old fashioned paper. It even offers an audio version for you to listen to that you can podcast to your itunes and ipod. There's something for everybody.

Check it out here.

Why don't you make a resolution to read more of God's Word this year? It's easier than ever.

Happy New Year!!