We KICKED It Off!!!

Last night was our Annual Back-To-School Kickoff event for our Youth Ministry. We had a great turn out thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of our students promoting the event. Great job everyone! Some of the highlights: The Premiere of our new Praise Team (who sounded fantastic after just one practice!)

A crazy dance party during worship time.

And a (potential) world record of 48 pens stuck in an epic beard!

I am excited to see everyone return next week as we start of study WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE: a look at our Identity. Peace.

The Beard is Back (or The Return of the Blog)

Life is cyclical. Trends come and go...and come again...and go again. It seems like lately everywhere I look there are beards: on TV, at church, on EVERY youth pastor at camp, and even on high school kids. It's crazy. So I did what any good person would do...I gave in to peer pressure and grew one. But the truth is, no matter your beard-motivation, this is not a new trend. Recently, my wife's aunt, who is a family-tree guru, looked up some of my ancestors. Here's my Great Great Grandfather Homer Rufus Elliott: Now that is a great beard! Well, all this talk of trend-cycles has inspired me to more than some scruffy face hairs; It has also inspired me to resume my blog. My plan for this space is to make regular posts that inspire thought and discussion as well as have some fun. I will largely use it as an extension of my personal devotional life and the lessons I teach at church. So I hope you join me in pondering the deep things of life. And if you wonder what this particular post has to do with those deep things, check out what the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon had to say about beards:

God bless.

Giving Getting

For pastors and leaders we find ourselves giving a lot. There's the counseling in times of crisis. There's the pressure of making tough decisions and calls. There's the great emotional energy it takes to teach and preach God's Word.

And these are good things. And a part of the calling. But we also must balance it with getting.

For me lately, I've been looking to a lot of blogs and online sermons to encourage and minister to me. My current favorite resource is the resurgence.com.

...and inspiring videos like this one:



So what's your current form of "getting"?

What Was That...?

Remember how I told you that most cover songs are awful ideas.

Well this video I showed tonight is an exception:



Yes. That is Willie Nelson singing.
Yes. That is a Coldplay song he is singing.
Yes. Those are claymation pigs in a video about sustainable living.

Does it get any better than this?

Better Late...

Greetings all.

I pray that you survived the crazy candy-fest that is Halloween. My family had a grand ol' time and is still recovering from bloated belly-aches this morning!

We actually started a new tradition yesterday of truly making my day off a day of rest and ending with a traditional Shabbat meal. (More on this in a day or two)

But in honor of my costume last night (I dressed as a Procrastinator - "I'll work on my costume...tomorrow!") I thought I'd post this truly informative and helpful article on the holiday of Halloween:

What Christians Should Know About Halloween on theresurgence.com

Let me know your thoughts and where you land on the whole issue. God bless.

Simply Put...

The word of the day for me has been "simple".

It keeps popping up every time I turn around.

Like the lady who talked to me about growing up on a farm - feeding chickens, fishing in creeks - and how it was a better time. She finished her moment of nostalgia with the statement: "I guess it was simpler times."

Or the numerous comments about the hotdog & marshmallow roast one of our Sunday School classes had this weekend. Is it a coincidence that they all loved it and all identified that it was restful time to have no agenda other than to visit around the fire?

One lady referred to it as "simple".

See, so often I feel this pressure to do more. Do bigger. Do faster.

I confessed to the "simple"-comment lady that I always feel this pressure to have an agenda, thinking that's what people want.

But maybe we just want things to be simple. Maybe God even desires that for us.

One of my favorite statements regarding the disciples is found in Acts 4:13

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

See, the disciples were just ordinary men who were used by God to do extra-ordinary things.

Maybe it was because they had rid their lives of complexity to the point where God could use them. Too often my plans, my agenda, my calendar get in the way of listening to God and loving others.

Maybe we need to try to be more simple. How can you simplify this week?

A Crisis...

Approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with it.

Up to two-thirds of your body is made up of it.

And yet the lack of it is the largest crisis facing our planet today.

Water.

Up to a billion people on our planet today do not have access to adequate clean water. That means one in every six people alive do not have the most basic need of life. That is mind-boggling. Especially when we turn our faucet on without a second thought that anything other than clean, cool water will come out.

As followers of Christ, this problem should concern us.

Jesus said that the second greatest thing God asks us to do is love our neighbor as ourselves. He also makes it quite clear that our neighbor is anyone that we discover has a need for which we have a solution.

So let's start obeying Christ and being part of the solution!

This year our youth ministry has committed to raising enough funds for a well in another community. We will be partnering with Living Water International to accomplish this task.

For the next month we are making a renewed effort to raise funds and awareness for this project. We are challenging all of our youth to come up with individual creative ways to raise money and get people involved.

Asking each of your friends for a $1.

Giving up soda, movies, shopping, whatever; and then giving the money you save.

Drinking only water for the month and spreading the word.

The possibilities are endless.

We will then have a special offering on Wednesday, November 9th.

In addition to these efforts, some of our members have also organized a benefit concert in November at the Lemondrop in Springfield, MO. All proceeds will go towards this project.

So I pray that you will get involved and be the neighbor God commands us to be. God bless.