On the way to church yesterday I prayed this:

God, show up in HUGE ways today.

Then i shut up for a second and thought to myself, “I bet God hears that a lot.” I bet a lot of times God would to reply, “I’m right here you dummy.”

I asked God for permission to restart my prayer as I had begun it off in a misquided way. Instead of asking God to be there (which he obviously is – do you really think God would miss church?), I asked God to open our eyes.

Think about the difference between a Sunday morning where only 10% of the people in your church gathering are aware of God’s presence compared with a gathering where 80% are aware of God’s presence.

One would feel like business as usual, the other would feel nearly magical.

Maybe as churches, we need to work less at putting on a compelling show on Sunday mornings and work more at turning on people’s awareness to the God who is already there.

Parents, the video below may make you feel old or like you don’t know what’s going on. Teenagers, the below video will shock you. You’ll realize that the “normal” of today is relatively new. I think this should help bring some clarity…..

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[via churchkreatives]

I just read through The (un)Offical Church Staff Manual: Youth Pastor Edition by Mark Riddle. While there is enough humorous material to make any youth worker smile – even after a the 10th reprimanding by the church custodian, there is a deep and heavy truth laced between the quips and jokes.

Here’s a brief example:

How to Crash and Burn as a Youth Pastor in Less Than Five Years

1. Believe that you’re a rock star – THE youth ministry expert in the church.
2. Take responsibility for everything that happens to, with, and for the kids in your church.
3. Completely ignore theology and its role in what you do week in and week out.
4. Spend time regularly in relationship-building adn one-on-one prayer with someone of the opposite gender.
5. Exclude, alienate, talk against, and look down on your students’ parents. Never to anything that actually supports parents in their ministry to their children.
6. Send anonymous hate mail to your pastor from your church computer.
7. Believe you ahve all the resources you need to lead a youth ministry at the age of 25. Its also helpful to believe that 20-somethings hold the most important and effective gifts for youth ministry.
8. Believe that you’re a wiser and more gifted leader than your pastor.
9. Never take a vacation or days off.
10. Feel surprised every time something goes wrong, because you believe there will actually be a time when everything always goes smoothly.

This is just a list from one page. The book is well worth the $5 bucks it costs. Great buy.

I got lunch with Mark Artrip today. In talking, I was asking him about finding leaders for small groups and he dropped some mad wisdom. He listed off three types of people who are often over-looked and who would actually be pretty likely to want a group of teenagers in their house….

• The Recent Empty Nester – There are probably a decent amount of adults in your church who are shipping off their last kid to college. They’ve got a truck-load of wisdom on teenagers and experiences that will help give perspective to teenagers that are struggling with parents. They’re 45-60, still pretty cool, and now have more free time than they’ve ever had.
• Moms who have All Sons – There are probably some ladies in your church who are the only female in their household. Their dream of dressing their daughters up in pink dresses never came true. Instead, they’re surrounded with camping, football, video games and sweaty clothes. Ask these women to hang out with a group of teenage girls and you’ll help make their dreams come true.
• Dads who have All Daughters – There are probably some dads in your church who are the only male in their house. They always dreamed of playing basketball, wrestling, camping and doing push-ups with their kids. Now, those same dads have a house full of tea parties, pink underwear, dresses and make-up. Ask these dads to jump in and

There are things I’m good at. God has wired me in a certain way and when I’m working in that certain way, I succeed a lot. There are areas in my life that God has stacked my deck. If you take some time to think about it, there are areas of your life where God has done the same.

But there is a problem, I like doing the things I’m good at. But I know there are things I’m not good at that I ought to be doing.

So…..

I’ve read a lot of books in my life. This book is different than all the others.

Jason and Craig shares remarkable stories about connecting the love of Jesus with those outside of the Christian sub-culture. This book is excellent. I’m going to buy a stack of them for my high school students. If I were a senior pastor, I’d buy a stack of them for the congregation.

If you work in a church, this book is for you.
If you are about to give up Jesus, this book is for you.
If you are exploring Jesus, this book is for you.
If you need to reach out to those outside of your christian bubble, this book is for you.
If you just needed to be reminded that Jesus Loves You, this book is for you.

Craig Gross is the founder of xxxchurch and regularly frequents porn conventions to spread the word that “Jesus Loves You.” Jason Harper is the Director of Outreach at Capital Christian Center and once became a Cable Guy to spread the word that “Jesus Loves You.”

Sunday Night Thought Barf. SNTB.

• Our student ministry has doubled in size over the last year. (So has my salary and budget. PSYCH!) I think it just hit me that I won’t be able to feel like I really get to “connect” with each student during our gatherings anymore. I’d worry about it, but our number of adult leaders also recently doubled. Seems like God cares more about my student ministry than I do (that’s a good thing).
• I went to Josh and Megan’s wedding this weekend. The only person I saw was my wife. No one catches my eye like her. Over the last couple of months, all other females have grown increasingly unattractive to me.
• I realize that I show up to church on Sunday morning to connect with people. The service and programming seem relatively unimportant with whether or not a Sunday morning was “good” or not.
• My buddy Kevin gets married Friday. I’m pumped for him. He’s my hero.
• I’m not setting an alarm tomorrow morning.