I’m no longer a youth pastor, but I’ve been recently reflecting over my tenure in youth ministry. It hasn’t been all happy thoughts. In fact, much of it has been disappointing thoughts. I think being in youth ministry is one of the hardest areas of ministry, because you’re working with people who are usually not at all mature. Not only are they not mature in faith, they aren’t mature as people in general. They’re not stable. You can’t rely on them for very much. Yet you pour your life into them, looking for fruit, only to often find quite a bit of frustrating and disappointing results. I think with technology today, it makes it even harder. In the past, you could pour your life into kids, and just pray and hope that it would make a difference in their lives as they grow older, not knowing how their life would turn out. But today, with things like Facebook, you stay connected with them. I look at my friends on Facebook from both churches I youth-pastored at, and I am often extremely disappointed to see their attitudes, lack of faith in Christ, poor life-choices, etc. Part of me wonders if it was really worth it. Did Christ really do anything in their hearts? That’s why near the end of my tenure at my last church, I became increasingly aware that the best way to really disciple youth is to see their parents become genuine disciples of Christ. Too many parents think that being a Christian is just going to church and volunteering somewhere there. It’s been called “churchianity.” The parents do very little to teach their children what it means to follow Christ. They do not know very much about the Bible themselves, nor do they know how to lead someone to Christ. They struggle being able to even share with someone how to become a Christian and what that really means. On top of this, there seems to be very little eagerness in adults to change this. They don’t seem very willing to change. It’s a large reason why I tried to focus on working with teenagers, rather than working with adults. As a result, I shouldn’t be surprised...

This is something I’ve thought about quite a bit in regards to leading our church. What do we want our church to be like in 10 years? For the months of September and October, I met with our church leadership team and then our church body on a weekly basis to hammer through some of these things. As I’ve thought about this question, I keep coming back to the underground church. While so many churches are trying to become more like Willow Creek, or Saddleback, or North Point…I think the underground church even better exemplifies the kind of church Jesus desires. Why? I think the underground church relies more on the Holy Spirit, because it doesn’t have so many resources at its disposal like the American church has. Yet it seems like churches in the US are in a rat race to obtain more and more resources–bigger buildings, larger crowds, better giving. How is the underground church able to grow so exponentially w/out any buildings, paid staff, large crowds, or enormous giving? I think the underground church could care less about talent and cares more about spirituality. I keep seeing over and over how our churches in America crave talent. We want someone super-talented to work with kids or youth. Someone super-talented to lead worship. Someone super-talented to preach on Sundays. I think this is one of the worst trappings we find ourselves dealing with in America. First, it eliminates 98% of our congregations from leading ministries (and we wonder why so few are involved in our churches). Second, it infers that we rely on man’s abilities far more than God’s. Gone are the days of Paul, when he’d rather come in weakness, boast about his weaknesses, and ridicule riches, persuasive words, or talents. I think those who are involved in underground churches are more devoted to Christ than our congregations are. Because they follow Christ at the risk of their own lives, there is an authenticity to their faith. I am sure that when it’s praise and worship time, they press in (even though the music sucks or is completely absent). When it’s time to hear Scripture, they’re all ears (even if it’s the same passage over and...

I read an article a few days ago questioning what young people long for in worship services. You can read it here. I have mixed feelings about such articles. I, too, long for the type of worship service he says young people are longing for. Yet, I wonder if young people at large really do want that kind of service. If so, why do they flock to the “hip” services? Why aren’t young people abandoning these hip services and starting their own, if they really long for them? I think this article generally reflects the frustration of a few, probably including the author. But as a whole, I don’t see it. However, as a church leader, I think my time is more well-spent investing in this minority. Where are these people who desire authenticity and knowing Christ in a real, deep way? Let’s come together and do something substantial for the kingdom of...

One thing I’ve heard quite a bit is that statistics show that 3 out of 4 new church start-ups in America fail. How can this be? Where did the power of God go? This statistic sounds totally pathetic to me. I’m sure there are several reasons for such a statistic. However, I fear many of those reasons boil down to simply a lack of faith in the power of God. Do we truly realize that we can trust in the same power that created the entire universe, supernaturally healed diseases, parted the Red Sea, and raised Christ from the dead? Did we not start up this church because He called us to do it? Are we not building a church in His name with His power for His glory? That is, if you really do believe God created the universe, supernaturally heals, parted the Red sea, and literally rose Christ from the dead. Do you believe it? Do you believe we have that same Spirit inside of us, and that this same Spirit is at work in the world? Then what can stop us? What is stopping 3 out of 4 churches from carrying out Christ’s mission? Wasn’t Paul convinced that neither height nor depth nor… and didn’t Jesus say that nothing could stop His church–not even the gates of hell? What has happened? Has God suddenly faced the reality that His power, though strong enough for back then, isn’t a match for our modern world? Here’s what I’m afraid that statistic really means: three out of four new church start-ups end up folding because they cannot financially sustain what they think it takes to grow a church. That’s right–it’s all about not having enough money. It’s too bad God doesn’t have enough money to fund His mission. The church had to be marketed and advertised, the pastor had to be paid, a building had to be rented or purchased, utilities had to be paid, and and support staff had to be supported financially as well (i.e. worship leader, youth pastor, etc). So if the church is unable to get enough people to start attending and give so that these financial issues are covered, God won’t be able to...

When people hear someone preaching that humanity is headed for hell unless they repent, most people take offense and say something along the lines of, “God is a God of love, but you are portraying Him to be the very opposite!” The funny thing is, this has always been God’s way of showing that He loves us. Because there is impending doom on the horizon, God clearly spells it out to warn us and encourage us to repent. It is all throughout the Old Testament in the history of Israel. It’s Peter’s first message on the day of Pentecost, the birth of the Church, when the Holy Spirit first came down. Look at the city of Ninevah. Wasn’t this God’s message to its inhabitants as well? That they were going to be destroyed by God! (Which is why God is accused of not being loving.) But what happened? They repented, and God’s deeper will (that all come to repentance) was fulfilled. You see, God really DOES love us, even though we are in serious trouble with Him if we don’t repent. This is why Jonah had run away to begin with–he knew the heart of God–that God would show mercy on repentant sinners. Remember: Jesus is coming back. The first time He came, the message was to repent and follow CHRIST (John the Baptist). It’s no different this time either. And remember this as well: It was the religious teachers who refused to be baptized by John. It was they who refused to believe that John’s message came from God. They also felt that it wasn’t necessary for them or their followers to follow Christ, subsequently. That’s because they thought God was pleased with their efforts at being good people as they followed their religion. These same people today are telling us that people who follow the world’s religions are ok with God because they are trying their best–“so stop judging them!” These religious “leaders “are fools. Why? Not only are they leading themselves away from God, but they are blindly leading many other blind people who look up to them into the same pit. These people take God’s message of repentance and surrender to Christ as a message...

Audra thinks I’m being too mean to Andy Stanley. She’s probably right. Actually, I don’t so much have a problem with Andy Stanley, as I do with the general state of the modern church that thinks that we must all strive to be a “success” as we see his church. It bothers me greatly that this is the picture in our mind of “success,” when that looks very different from what I see the Bible emphasizing when it comes to the important things about church. For example, everyone thinks it’s important to have a great worship band, an attractive children’s ministry, a great facility, etc in order to have a thriving church. It’s like we put the weight on the totally wrong things. While it’s great to have a strong organization (no one likes a failing organization), etc…is this really where are deepest issues as a church lie? I’ve been part of churches that try to focus on these things, but have seen how quickly and easily we can neglect the more important things such as: 1. is the music appealing to unchurched people vs. does the average person here really understand what worship is really all about and who we are worshipping right now? 2. is the sermon engaging vs. is the sermon flowing from the pastor’s personal communion with Christ and are we truly communicating His salvation and the call of Christ? 3. is every aspect of our service flowing from one element to the other vs. are we actively seeking the presence of Christ with everything within us? 4. are we attracting visitors vs. are people’s lives really being changed by the Gospel like our mission statement says? 5. do people enjoy our worship services vs. are our people abandoning everything in their lives for the sake of Christ? 6. do we have great programs vs. are the people in our congregations living according to God’s Word when they’re not in our building? …just to name a few. I’m afraid many churches pour their energy/resources into the first part of each question, and just hope that the second part of each question somehow happens as a result of their efforts making the first part of the...