Jack Bauer vs. Hiro and his friends

Ok. So I love Monday night TV. I work a lot of Monday nights and haven't actually seen it on TV in a few weeks. The internet is great for catching up on my two favorite shows. 24 and Heroes. I've been a 24 fan for a while. Since my friend John Raymond turned me on it somewhere near the beginning of the 4th season I think? I don't recall exactly. I have several friends who are bigtime 24 fans. This guy, this guy, and this guy all are devoted fans. This may disappoint them, they may disown me, but I feel the need to get something off my chest.

This season of Heroes is better than 24.

There I said it.

The character development and storyline for Heroes is simply amazing. I was comicbook fan as a kid. I liked both Spiderman movies and I'm looking forward to the third. But I'm not a comic geek. I'd never heard of the Daredevil orvghost rider before they were movies. But Heroes is everything great about a Super hero show. We get to see how the characters discover their powers, and how they cope with using them and how others around them deal with the changes that occur in the lives of their friends, family and lovers. It's an ensemble which is so great. Sure there were a few episodes this season that felt like they were slow, but it's starting to pick up. As character meet each other for the first time and push forward toward the mystery of how they got these powers it makes for great tv.

Sure this is the first season and future season will likely turn into the losing us like LOST does for me. Sure character can only meet each other so many times. Sure I'm comparing the 6th season of 24 to the first season of Heroes. But this season Heroes is better. 24 is still amazing tv. I still watch every episode. Sure, next year I may say 24 is better, but this season, as amazing as 24 is... Heroes is the best.

What is the Role of a Youth Pastor

I'm curious about what you think on this. I certainly have an opinion.

From your experience, what do you think the role of the should be/ is?

Tony Jones Article

Three Choices in a Pluralilstic society.

I really like what Tony has to say here.

A New Normal - Part 1

My list earlier was what is widely considered normal in youth ministry. This might be what life was like in the future if churches addressed the systemic issues of the church related to youth ministry.


A new Normal.
1. Youth pastors and churches stay committed to each other and they each deal with the issues that currently lead them to break off relationships. This kind of commitment is viewed as a long term relationship and both parties work hard to assure the other is healthy and cared for. Turn over will never go away, but the expectation and norm for the "New Normal" will be longer committed relationships between church and youth pastor. To see this happen, churches will think about specific expectations ahead of time for their staff. The expectations will be managed by non-staff people who are committed to supporting the congregation and the pastor. These expectations will be reasonable and healthy for the youth pastor. In the "New Normal" churches who are unwilling to do this difficult task will find themselves without a youth pastor, as youth pastors will learn to pass over these kinds of congregations.

2. In the New Normal, the success or failure of the spiritual nurture of our students will rest on the local community starting with, but absolutely not limited to the parents. A youth pastor will still play an important role in the nurture of kids, but the ministry and spiritual nurture will not longer hinge on their ability. Ine the New Normal, Churches will remember what the role of the pastor is, while developing better habits of doing life together, and have a level of expertise in the congregation. (aside from a youth pastor) These congregations will be fun to work with as a pastor, and will give consistancy to students in their discipleship.

more later

The Gospel we Preach

Yesterday I had a conversation with Dr. Danny Grimes of Oral Roberts University. He's in Phoenix with the Free Methodist education bigwigs and has been visiting with really smart folks. I won't include who Danny is quoting, because I'm not sure it was a comment for public consumtion, though I think it would be fine. Ted Haggard came up in the conversation and something close to this comment was made to Danny.

"Ted has always preached a gospel that would allow him to do what he did."

Wow.

I immediately began to wonder, what does the gospel I preach and live allow for me to do? Thanks for asking great questions Danny and sharing that with me.

Something I'll be chewing on for a while.

Of course I know my answer right? It's the stuff I deal with and have always dealt with. The gospel I preach allows for that. But how? What would change?

Things to think about.

and the Oscar goes to...

Here are my picks and commentary on the Oscars:

Best Film:
I've only seen the Departed, Babel and Little Miss Sunshine. So, it's a bit of a guess here.

I'm going to say that it will be between the Departed and Letters to Iwo Jima...
I saw the Departed by myself on my birthday (a during the day b-day present to myself) and I left the theater stunned and in shock from the violence of the movie, amazed at the acting. Jack, Leonardo, Mark Walberg, Martin Sheen, Matt Damon all give some of the best dramatic performances you'll ever see and the story itself was captivating.

Best Film Pick: The Departed

Best Actor:

I have no idea, but my instincts tell me it will be either Leonardo DeCaprio or Forest Whitaker. "My instincts" are almost always wrong.

Best Actor Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actress:
Are you kidding me? I haven't seen any of these movies.
Judi Dench might get it, but I can't vote for her in that role.
Penelope Cruz is up for an oscar?? seriously?

Best Actress: Helen Mirren will win though

Best Supporting Actor Pic: Alan ArkinIt's a crime that Brad Pitt didn't make the cut for his role in Babel. It was the performance of his career. Better than fight club!

Best Supporting Actress Pic: Rinko Kikuchi - If she doesn't get it she was robbed!

Best Director:
Scorcese or Eastwood - how do you vote against either of these guys?
Pick Scorcese!

Craig Ferguson

Go here. Click on Feb 19th and listen. This is great stuff. It's like (and I'm not saying he is) he's using his platform (where the monologue and the half funny jokes go) to talk to Britney Spears, but without talking to her... He is definitely looking toward the restoration of people. I appreciate that. You will be better for watching this.
(ht to Kyle )

A post for Marko

A special forth post for Marko. Marko my friend, today it's been about 70 degrees here in Tulsa. How is the weather in Grand Rapids. :-)

Funny Demotivator

Angry... I'll show you angry

I wrote this in late January 2001. This was the first rant I every wrote. It's called Pastors or Prostitutes... it's a pretty good representation of what I have lovingly named the "detox" period of my life. A very important, but pretty raw time of my life. I'm going to include my second rant that I wrote in my "detox" as well.


Pastors or Prostitutes:Warning: prostitutes might feel offended by constant references to being like pastors.

So are you a pastor or a prostitute? Seems like an obvious enough question. Maybe not. Have you ever substituted prayer and spiritual depth for programs and religious activity. Simply keeping the people we're charged to lead to the Most High busy, is the job of a prostitute pastor.

Sacrificing self, calling, and private devotion for the golden calf of religiosity that amounts to idolatrous (worship of things or people other than God) and adulterous (cheating on our true love) activities. All in exchange for money. (stop giving them what they want and you'll find yourself looking for a new place of employment).

Most pastor prostitutes make the choice to sell themselves. Many were hired to get the job done, quite simply because they could. They put together resumes about how they will "make things happen." They are interviewed about how many activities they will have, what they will look like and how many people will attend. I've been there. I've sold myself. Hey.. It's exciting, there's a certain thrill. If I make enough things happen, satisfy enough folks, soon you're perceived to be a great pastor. But I wasn't a great pastor. I was a great programmer. I was a great speaker. I always had the right answer for people's problems. Soon enough I was thinking, "I'll be like God".....not that I noticed my completely flawed theology, or my utterly ridiculous stance.. But I had fallen into what many pastors fall into.. First innocently speaking and leading people toward God...then deep down thinking I might be like God.

At some point living in this "one country under God" we have become "one country under god" (ie.me). We are the consumer church. The Bride is no longer seeking the groom... it is now seeking self glorification veiled in vigorous religious activity for the self-improvement of it's multitudes.

While pastors across this "great country" are getting themselves off to programs they have created "to the glory of god," others develop a sort of "program envy" wishing that their program was as big and aspiring as First willowback, saddlecreek or over there on mars hill. Though we may not have started this "towering idol" of consumerism we all fall into it and I would venture to say... none of us truly has any idea how deep we are in.

My friends suggest we are all in deeper than we think. We perpetuate all this self-indulgence consumer crap in most of what we do. We ask "what makes our church unique to this city?" as our Ikea-congregations are trying to figure out which local "building-based group of people who call themselves Christians" best represents me as a person, we are well on our way to helping folks categorize themselves away into superficial oblivion. ...I drive a $50,000 Range Rover because I like the idea of being perceived as an outdoorsman, heaven forbid, I drive a mini-van... I own a $375 North Face Gortex though I only ski once or twice a year, it promotes the idea that I'm an outdoorsman... though I never camp... that's what I think of myself.... I go to ________ Church because it will make me a better businessman, and my kids the homecoming queen and football captain. Jesus is a great enhancement into my almost complete life.

Pastors forsake Christ and following him, for lots of people being busy in the church, and a whole lot of rules and slogans like "church should be fun" or "Jesus is cool"...try telling a Christian in Sudan either of these completely bogus lines of sh*t. I'm tired of youth pastors prostituting themselves to parents for a "fine religious education." Most of them are young enough to sense they're selling out. I'm tired of arrogant evangelical pastors seeking to have people with perfect theology, teaching propositional truths based on poor hermeneutics or sheer laziness. Demons have good theology and the "morning star" knows the scripture better than any student enrolled in the newest bible bowl competition. But many ministers still get a "theological woody" at the Platonic idea that education changes behavior. But why would anyone not do what the people of the congregation want. I mean after all we are here to serve them.. would you like fries with that sir? "am i buggin you.... don't mean to bug ya" - bono



"4 ways to say I'm tired"
(thanks to Charlie Wear for the title)
I'm tired.
I'm tired of churches who preach self-improvement over, into, under, and around the gospel. I'm tired of 5 "biblical" steps to a better marriage, all beginning with the letter "C". I'm tired of sermon titles like "8 easy steps to being a successful Christian with the first letter of each point spelling a self-help acronym) If you want an acronym for 8 steps to understanding "self-improvement" churches it would be B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T.
Self-improvement teaching in churches is nothing more than exogesis in a modern pop-psychological-Rush Limbaugh world view. The "autonomous knower" already knows what he wants to tell "his" people. So he reads into the scripture "principles" that will help them.
This LAZY pastor is prostituting himself again. Self-help sermons belong in the church as much as that Golden TBN furniture belongs in a bachelor pad. Most bachelor's don't live in Versailles and they don't have the middle name "wolfgang".
I'd say that self-help sermons are about as theologically correct as the "left behind series". Sure they both have their own sections at Barnes and Noble and you hear about them in church, but taking them to their fullest extent leaves you completely and utterly frustrated. Why? Because of focus. Self-Help is primarily about self.
It seems to me that scripture talks a lot about God transforming us. That it's by God's power we change. It's by God's help we become "better". That the junk in our lives is removed only by God and that anything we do to change ourselves is simply in vain. I'll give self-help pastors this... we are all messed up. We're all drowning with land in sight. I just wish we'd focus our effort in a different direction.
How about this? Instead of spending inordinate amounts of money on Dr. Phil books or the latest Oprah mag. How about shutting-up, getting alone, being still and listening to the only one who can make a difference in our lives. If you find yourself at a church where they preach "self-help"... get out and find someone who's really interested in you. Someone who's interested in getting to know you, and accepts you where you are, and not as you should be.
Self-help pastors only care about what you can do for them. Most likely because they can't help themselves and they are stuck just like you. Anyone read Matthew 23 recently? Of course... I could be wrong.

Marko jokingly says my last post is a bit cranky. I'm not so much cranky as disappointed and unwilling to live with the status quo of youth ministry any longer. (that's why I'm investing my life in what I am) Cranky feels angry, which I was 3-4 years ago. I also want to be clear, that I'm not casting any blame in this post. If you really read the list and let each point soak in a bit, you'll recogonize that to blame one group of people like senior pastors, youth pastors or church leaders would be far to limited in scope. Pointing fingers might be the easiest thing to do, and it certainly is the most natural thing to do, but would be a significant waste of time, emotion and energy.

My friends, things do not have to stay this way. Your frustration and energy would go far more to invest looking at the big picture and then making small simple observations and corrects as we go. (which is easier than it sounds)

From the Intro to my Book Proposal / A glimpse into my preferred future

So I'm finishing up a section of the introduction to my book and here's what I've written. As I was writing it, I thought that it might be a glimpse into my heart for what I believe to be the preferred future of youth ministry might look like.
This is a list of things the church has come to accept a normal, but that you and I can no longer accept.


To put it simply, it's no longer acceptable that these things happen in most churches in North America.


Things We Have Come to Accept in Youth Ministry.
1. Youth pastor turnover- That a youth pastor will only stay for a short time.
2. That the success or failure of the spiritual nurture of our kids is based primarily on the giftedness or lack thereof, of a person filling the youth position.
3. That the assumption by church leadership is that best youth pastors are young.
4. That a youth pastor can/will/should disciple themselves without the guidance of a senior pastor.
5. That a healthy gauge to tell when youth ministry is going well is when there are no complaints.
6. That Senior Pastors should not be involved in youth ministry.
7. That parents should not be involved in youth ministry.
8. That we give lip service to parents being the primary spiritual nurturers of their children, but do absolutely nothing to actually support parents in our church.
9. That so many youth pastors who feel called to ministry, leave vocational ministry before they turn 30.
10. That youth ministry is church for teens.
11. That youth have different basic needs than adults.
12. That youth have been systematically abandoned by adults within the culture and the church has done the same.
13. That having a youth pastor means the youth ministry is taken care of.
14. That the best youth ministries keep kids busy.
15. That it's a sin to bore a kid.
16. That kids don't think about theology or they aren't ready for it.
17. That we do very little theological reflection when it comes to why we have a youth ministry.
18. The assumption that kids just want fun and games rather than relationships and theological engagement.
19. That Christian Education is an answer to all our problems.
20. That parental involvement in the spiritual development of their children is optional.
21. That the systematic estrangement of adolescents in our church is best for the kids and their “age level appropriate” activities and living out the gospel.
22. That kids only receive the benefits of a youth ministry/youth pastor and do not need to contribute to make this ministry happen.
23. That youth ministry is something only some of us in the church do.
24. That youth ministry is something that happens in a program at the church.
25. That all problems can be fixed with a program.
26. The perception that once I’ve grown my kids into college that I no longer need to work with youth.
27. That the youth pastor is actually just a director of activities.
28. That we no longer remember what a pastor is in many local churches.
29. That youth pastors have forgotten the reason they got into youth ministry in the first place because they are burdened with responsibilities they are miserable at accomplishing.
30. That the Jesus himself could not live up to the wildly inappropriate expectations a church has for a youth pastor.
31. That there is no healthy way to manage the expectations of the church.

Is this what you think of?

Is this what you think of when you think of Consulting? I found this here

My Playlist for Today

Rise up with Fists - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
World Spins MadlyOn- Weepies
Kiss Off - Violent Femmes
Spanish Harlem Incident - Bob Dylan
Lua - Bright Eyes
Forever My Friend - Ray LaMontange
some Bill Mallonee
and the amazing Yo-Yo Ma - UnAccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G major

Happy Birthday Valentine

Today Mikayla turns 2 today. I love you sweetie!

Travel Woes

Yesterday was a long day. Todd Littleton and I spent Monday in Northern Virginia with the great folks of St. Matthew's Episcipal Church of Sterling. Tuesday we were scheduled to leave at 6am from Washington Dulles. Our flight got cancelled and Todd's flight left at 6:55am and I totally scored a 9:30am flight. Which means I didn't have to get up at 4:00am EST. My flight to DFW was uneventful and packed. Former Congressman JC Watts was sitting in coach a few rows ahead of me. There were other famous people onboard I'm sure that I didn't recognize, which I'm convinced is always the case. ORU Head Coach Scott Sutton and former Oklahoma State great / Assistant coach Cory Williams were on my flight from DFW to Tulsa. This is my second flight with them in three weeks. Only the other flight was to Chicago.

Anyway I got to DFW, and saw there was a 12:15pm Tulsa flight boarding in another terminal. I quickly asked a American Airlines desk person if there were any seats left. She said, yes. 76 seats were open. Sweet.

So I book it to the other gate and .... they've already boarded. Nobody to help me. The plane is still there. But noone to let me in the door.
Plane pulls away and I'm dissappointed.

I have a seat on a 3:15 flight, so I decide to eat some lunch.
My 3:15 flight turns into 3:55. Then 4:15. Then 4:55 boarding time.

So I read 400 pages of Peter and the Shadow Theives, something my son Zachery has been urging me to do for a few months now. Then I watched the two hours of 24 that I'd missed on the Fox MySpace.

Finally I land at about 7:00pm in Tulsa. (did I mention that originally my first flight had me arriving at 10:15am in Tulsa?) Ugh!

Zach and Planet Wisdom

Friday afternoon I had lunch with Mark Matlock of Planet Wisdom in Tulsa. We ate at the Full Moon Cafe. It was a good lunch. Mark and I had been trying to get together for about 5 months for an extended conversation. Mark is a businessman who is also able to nurture the artist in himself. He does both well. He invited Zach and I up to the conference on Friday night so we went. Zach like the worship band Addison Road and he absolutelty loved the Skit Guys. After the skit guys did their thing we went back stage and hung out with everyone and talked with Mike Work (who is an amazing youth ministry veteran who works with PW and Denver Seminary). Zach talked a bit with the skit guys and the leader singer to Addison Road offered Zach some candy, which he took.
I special treat was the fact that two of the churches I'm currently working with had brought their kids to event. So it was good to see them.

The rest of the weekend Zach kept repeating the Skit Guys skit. He had a ton of fun.

VOX

Had a good gathering last night at the house. We talked about community in suburbia. We watched the Police open the grammy's. We ate great Chicken Cortez thanks to chef Daniel!

Next week we are meeting at 4pm on Sunday.
You are welcome to join us.

Myth #4: God will Show Us our Next Youth Pastor

If you don't read this whole post you might misunderstand my point, so please don't jump to conclusions.

I spend a lot of time around search teams, senior pastors and church leaders responsible for hiring a churches next youth pastor(s). I often ask the question, "How will you know when you've found the right person?" Almost always the response is, "God will show us." Sometimes it's said, "We're trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us." and theirs the occasional, "We'll just know."

For clarities sake, I believe that God does speak to people and that God does connect pastors and churches in often mysterious ways. God is greater than our search process and can and does orchestrate a good deal of good things in the hiring process.

That being said, the idea that God will just "show us" sounds very weak from where I'm sitting more often than not. Can I be frank here? It's just lazy not to have a better explaination than that. To be fair, most search committee's have never been a part of a search team before. In the truest and most noble sense they don't know what they are doing. Some churches throw parents in to lead the team because there is a particular issue that parents have been vocal about in the past and they are available to lead or need to be appeased in someway. Some churches throw a business person in to lead the team. These are the more sophisticated churches. They probably do everything by the book. But it comes off feeling like a business... and churches should rarely hire like a business. Some churches throw a volunteer youth worker in to lead the team. Regardless of who is on the team, or what variety of folk, most churches are not good at hiring staff, especially youth pastors. This can be disasterous in the long run for everyone involved.

After I ask, "How will you know you've found the right youth pastor?" and the response is "God will make it clear to us." I've started asking a follow up question.

My response. "Yes, God will show you. But you have more criteria than that for making such an important decision. What is that critiria?"

Often there is extended silence.

The reality is this. Most search teams have very specific ideas about what they are looking for in a youth pastor, but they are not aware of them. (or most of them)

"God will show us" sounds very spiritual, but it comes across as lazy.

Saying, "After spending hours in prayer together, and days in a prayer on our own and after hours of conversations and evaluations of our situation here is what we feel God is leading us to and here is the kind of person who we believe God will bring to us." Then specific characteristics follow. Specific vision follows.

For those of you who are still upset that I called this a myth. Let me use a common subject for pastors and preaching from a few years back.

Pastor #1 would say, I'm not preparing for my preaching. I'm going to show up and talk about what God inspires me to say. The problem with this is that ironically the preaching becomes very pastor focused because he says pretty much the same thing every week.

Pastor #2 would say, "I'm preparing very thoroughly for my preaching with detailed notes and stories or even an outline. I'm going to trust that God will show up in my preperation and will be present as I'm actually preaching. If I need to I can deviate from my notes.

Search teams who can only really say that "the Holy Spirit will show them" as their criteria are like pastor #1. Their hearts are in the right place, they genuinely want to follow God and hear his leading, but when the rubber hits the road, because they failed to do the hard work of preparing, they end up being dazzeled by the most compelling candidate, not the best fit for their congregation.

So if you are searching for a youth pastor right now, what is your response? How will you know when you've found the right candidate? How are you preparing the people of your church to search for this person?

Wow of Vista

Seth Godin sees the irony of this photo. Not one person on stage looks happy to be there. Seth's take, "Just because a marketer says something is amazing, exciting or just plain wow doesn't mean it is."

Vox Community

Dear friends who live in or around Tulsa, a small group of us are starting a community of people who will live into the kingdom of God. We'll be meeting on Sunday night at 5:30pm at the our house. (mark@theriddlegroup.com for directions)

This is a community for single, married, young and old, teen and children.

We'll be eating together, so even if you know the way to our house, call and we'll let you know what you can bring.

mark

Myth #3 - The Buck should stop with Youth Pastor

After every big youth event, someone will be upset with you? Have you learned this yet?

This is not a post griping about that... there's actually nothing to gripe about when it comes to this pattern... the quicker you accept this reality as normal the more sane you will be.

This is a post about who is responsible for the actions of the congregation. Is it the youth pastor who is responsible for the mistakes the community makes in regard to youth ministry?

A quick story.
Rob and Jill were the parents of Bobby, a sixth grade boy in the middle school program. Rob and Jill are great folks, and committed and balanced parents of 5 kids. Bobby was the middle child you could alway find him in a crowd by dependable screeching shrilly noise he would make when you asked for a cheer, or enthusiastic response from these early adolescents. Bobby, was a bit nerdy, but the kids really liked him. He would however, sometimes be the brunt of a bit of teasing, often initiated by Bobby's uncomfortable and unhealthy way of connecting with other kiddos.

So when my boss, the executive pastor called me into his office and told me Rob and Jill were upset about the retreat last week. Evidently, Bobby had been picked on by a few older middle school guys and sought out the help of two of our adults, Todd and Pete. Todd and Pete evidently dealt with the issue temporarily, but teasing continued after their discipline. Todd and Pete also failed to let me know any of this was happening, so I learned of the situation when my boss called me to his office.

So far nothing to get to upset about. Average disfunction right? Somewhat correctable.

Everyone was very nice and respectful.
My boss, Rob, Jill and I were in the room. They told me their frustration. I thanked them for letting me know about it and I apologized for the behaviors of the two volunteers (and later talked to both of them about better ways to handle situations like those). I still think this was the right thing to do. However, there were people missing from the conversation. In most churches today, the buck stops with the youth pastor. If something happens that's bad in the youth ministry the youth pastor is ultimately responsible. According to this logic, in this situation, I suppose I could have been more organized, trained my leaders better to communicate with me the exact situations that need my attention and a few other things. All to keep this kind of thing from happening. Ever.

This taps into the "I just need to work harder" mentality I posted of a few weeks ago.

What we don't see, is that handling this situation, in this way, with the expectations limited to the youth pastor creates a big problem.

Here are a few of the problems:
1. It re-enforces the idea that the responsibility for spiritual nurture belongs to the paid staff people.

2. It removes the opportunity for discipleship from the youth workers. Think about how great it would be for the youth workers to engage in this process with the parents and student.

3. It re-enforces destructive behavior in youth pastors who desire to please their pastors and parents and kids.

This kind of scenario goes down in a dozen different ways in a youth ministry. It's rarely exactly the same in my church as it is in yours. But you get the idea. This is part of the systemic behavior and structural problems in a lot of our churches. Certainly there are some churches who would say that the 3 points above aren't really problems. Those are points that re-enforce what they actually value. I certainly appreciate their desire to minister to youth. But I think that they are often harming kids and their long term walks with God.

The Game Today

Colts win by less than 7.

A Family Conversation

Zach and Jaden are playing on the Wii while I'm working in the living room.

Zach: Jaden take that cord off of your neck! That's how people die playing the Wii!

Jaden: No!

Me: Nobody's died playing the Wii boys.

Zach: I don't want Jaden to be the first!

Me: Well that's sweet. I appreciate that.

Zach: ... and I dont want to loose the Wii.

A Vehicle to a New Youth Ministry Reality

It's time for church leaders, youth pastors, and others in organizations who serve these folks to declare what the preferable future for youth ministry looks like. Not in a limited constricting way, but a robust vision for what youth ministry can be.

This must involve all of the people I mentioned above for this to work. The vehicle I'm suggesting is a collective.

Wikipedia describes a collective this way.

A collective is a group of people who share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project(s) to achieve a common objective. Collectives are also characterised by attempts to share and exercise political and social power and to make decisions on a consensus-driven and egalitarian basis. Collectives differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an economic benefit or saving (but can be that as well).

It's time to leverage our collective passion and energies toward the churches benefit. In my experience most church leaders, senior pastors and parents don't understand the reimagine youth ministry conversation and therefore don't see a need for it. A Collective would become the voice for this preferrable future, not just the lone voice of one youth pastor, nor the larger voice of a youth ministry organization, but all of us together. Our hope would be to create a new normal for youth ministry and fundamentally change the expectations for youth ministry within the church in North America.

What do you think? There's about 800 hunderd of you who visit everyday without posting, I want to hear from you as well.

We Are All to Blame: Part 3

So I've referred to this post few times now. This might be the last for a while. But I have one more thing to say.

If, for some reason you feel like only pointing the finger at YS for youth ministry of the past. This might be a good time to remember that no organization is going to save your youth ministry. No organization can take the place of you living in your context, listening to God and listening to kids and then taking the action accordingly. We in the church have forgotten this. In a day when you can buy your sermons online (or steal them from a hip guy in Michigan), study your bible based on some guy's thoughts you've never met, and follow the model for youth ministry of some other church in some other city you must take a long hard look in the mirror to your own culpability in this deal. Yeah that church, or publisher sold you a bill of goods that might not have been the best possible solution, but you bought it.

You

bought

it.

YS and other organizations have made a difference for good in the lives of youth pastors, youth workers, churches and kids. It is an undeniable fact. You bought that too. Perhaps the future of youth ministry involves a bit more wisdom on behalf of the youth pastors who don't do the work to understand context or (perhaps even moreso) church leaders who expect often unrealistic, unhealthy, and unbiblical things from their youth pastors and call it good and normal.

We Are All to Blame: Part 2

I wish I could magically freeze Marko's blog for a day or two and let this post hover around. Dang it! It's already on the second page of his blog! I don't want it to hang around because I want to talk about problems with YS, but with our assumptions about youth ministry. The past and the future. I wish we could take a day or two and dive into this together as a blogging community. That we can follow Marko's example and confess and have honest, frank and humble conversations about what youth ministry is really about and more importantly what our preferred future looks like AND the actions it will take (and not take) to get us there. This is a topic that demands reflection from us all.

So to leaders of ministries. Youth Pastors, volunteers, parents, Senior Pastors.

Pause. Listen. Confess if you feel led. But don't say you are too busy not to slow down and seriously consider your current climate.

We are all to blame Part 1

This post by Marko has spurred some thoughts. It somewhat reminds me of a post I wrote in January of 2002. Below is an unedited copy of what I wrote then. I'm going to read it with you, as I haven't read it in years. I'm assuming there is a bit of emotion in it, that may or may not be present with me now. But I'm guessing I'm going to draw the same conclusions. Here we go.

My name Mark Riddle and I'm a Youth Pastor. I've built my life around being a lifer. One of those guys who said he would never be a Senior Pastor and dedicate my life to youth ministry. I excelled in my vocation. Leading groups of 20, 50, 150, 300 teens each week. I'm good at what I do. I've read a lot of books. Books on youth ministry, business and church life. I've been to all the cool conferences several times. You know the ones I'm talking about. The big "national" conferences where all the youth pastors gather and the small regional conferences too! I could give half the worships at these national conferences word for word I've been so many times. I even lead workshops at some. I'm fluent in what all the progressive churches are doing around the world in youth ministry. Ok... around my world..America. Chicago, Mission Viejo, Tipp City, Edina, Louisville, Tulsa, Eden Praire, Irvine, Dallas, Houston, Colombus, San Antonio, or Colorado Springs I knew churches there and what they were doing. Eventually I even gained friendships with some of the people employed by these churches. I use their names in conversations with other Youth Pastor's to help them look up to me. I know their programs and other like em... Purpose Driven (PDYM), Son Life, YoungLife, Youth For Christ, oneighty, Kingdom builders and Ground Zero. I know words like Post Modern. I know the litany of churches and people who profess to be post-modern. I've tried the postmodern youth minstry thing.
I've built programs. Boy have I built programs. Programs for Jr high students and programs for SR high. I've put programs with Purpose's, I've filtered programs through funnels and cones. I've built programs for students at various levels of commitment.. even seekers. I've done small group programs, Hyped-up David Letterman crazy programs written up in youth Group magazine programs, multi-level missions to the world programs , student leadership programs, youth worship services, enourmous outreach programs, concerts, retreats and Bible Studies. I've also built teams to build the more programs.
After over a decade of cramming for the Youth Pastor test in the sky and building youth ministry machines that will be perpetuated long after I'm gone, I have this very sick feeling. Something like Jack Nicholson in "About Schmit" I have discovered I have misspent a large portion of my life. I'm not called to be a lifer. I'm not called to be a Youth Pastor. You may ask how I discovered this fact? You may say that I've impacted the lives of hundred, if not thousands of students over the past 12 years. I would say to you. Yes I have impacted students.. but probably less for the good than the bad. I've taught them (unintentionally mind you) that the enourmous and diverse bride of Christ is a youth group. That life should be fun and that the church should cater to them. I've taught them that they don't need adults.. and any needs they have from adults should be brought to them by adults... I've enabled a generation of young people to leave the greater community of God to find a local church to meet their needs. I've taught them to be selfish spiritually. I've taught them that church is about fun and God. I've enable lazy parents when I've taken the primary spiritual nurture of their kids in my hands. Youth group is not real life. I was paid to minister to students on behalf of a congregation. What lesson am I teaching students about ministry, community and God when I leave for another job? I can't do this anymore. No. I will not do this any more. Teens need adults in their church, not volunteers. They need churches where communities naturally flow from relationships with various generations. Don't call me a youth pastor. I hate that term. I will not be a youth pastor to you or to anyone. I feel the weight and burden of misleading a generation of students. I feel the pain of creating, building andperpetuating a system that teaches a different Gospel. Am I being to hard on myself? I think not! The community is where God meets his people. The whole community. What kind of God does a group of teens isolated in their youth group see? What does he look like? Are you called to do this?
We must reimage what it means to be involved in the lives of students. We must reimage our role!
My name is mark. I used to be a youth pastor and I'm sorry I was. Will you forgive me?

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My thoughts today (Feb. 2nd, 2007). Ok. I remember some of what I said then. It's personally really interesting to me to see what I was writing then and see how I've most some of these very thoughts into action today. I feel on some level like I've been moving too slow. The line "I was paid to minister to students on behalf of a congregation." really stands out to me. I still say something like this almost every day as I work with churches to help them change the role of youth pastors and to actually own the ministry they have to kids.

I'm curious what stands out to you? Does it sound angry? IS there a line that you like? Did you read this when I originally started posting it a few years ago? Does it read differently to you today? I really want to hear your input on this.

You Might Seriously Consider This Event

Steve Argue is one my favorite people. I totally wish I was within 7 hours of Grand Rapids on March 12th. I would drive to Grand Rapids Theological Seminary for this event. Actually I'd go up on Sat. spend the night with friends, then visit Mars on Sunday (who's new website is very nice)and then go to the event.

Where Youth Ministry Must Go