The last...

Aren't you glad there were no computers in Biblical times!

Worship is.....

Yesterday at Firehouse we had an awesome time! We had a discussion about worship and what it looked like in there lives. Everything that goes on in our daily lives should be worship right? Unfortunately, we tend to get caught up in other thing's that take our focus off Jesus. I stand guilty of that. Maybe sometimes we struggle with the question that we ask our selves. Is what I'm doing right now worship? Jesus is in this right? Whatever it may be we can often battle with that question. I know I do. Worship as defined in Websters dictionary say's...to regard with enthusiastic esteem,devotion,honor and respect. I often need to evaluate the thing's I'm doing and really ask myself that question. I want to be able to honor God with every part of my life that He alone gives. Our worship to God is a big thing. It's definitely not all about music...it's part of it,but not everything. That's often the misconception. It's not me or anyone else expecting to receive for our selves something from worship, it is about us giving our lives(again) to God. Not the feeling's we receive when we sing or even convincing God to bless us. It's all about God and Him alone! We look at God and place Him above all else. I've been praying about our students having a band in our ministry and the focus in doing this should be all about God,because He's worth it. That's were it starts. I pray that our student's have an understanding of this before anything else. That's all. Peace out!

FEAR

This mornings service was awesome! We kicked off our new series "Fearless". I love the fact were going to look at several people in the bible that conquered fear in the name of Jesus. The best thing about it is that there just ordinary people like you and me that God used. Broken in some way or another, doubt filled and at times with a mind set that they weren't good enough for the task. But God had other plans in mind. All through out the bible you don't see God using "perfect people with status" but your everyday "run of the mill people". Wow... I believe God see's His creation as a fighter, one who's ready to put His armor on and throw down. It's time to GO the distance people! No matter how much we try and hide from our fears we can't. We are not alone in this,God is the rock that can't be shaken and He want's us to trust him. It's not easy for a lot of us including me. I pray that through out this series God challenges me to face my own fears and that others too will do the same in Jesus name AMEN! I didn't mean for that to rhyme really... Like I said this morning was off the hinges yo! God has been blessing us with new visitors and is shaking peoples socks off. NO FEAR! Peace out.

"SLANG 09"

If you ever wanted to know about today's youth culture and more go here... http://www.cpyu.org/ . I love this website. Walt Mueller put up this site for the soul purpose of understanding youth culture. It's great for teachers,parent's,youth pastors and anybody else who's willing to learn about the world our youth live in and anything else. I read this article recently...



NEW SLANG
From povo and myselfish to retox and ''kward, the terms to know for 2009
While we understand the fleeting nature of slang and promise we are not "trying to make 'fetch' happen," each year ushers in a bevy of new words you might hear and may even want to use (though we urge you to do so sparingly). 2009 introduces us to a vocabulary inspired by pop culture and technology, and here are a few of the favorites heard from the streets, our bloggers, and Gen Ys who know...

RECESSION-INSPIRED SLANG-Povo (po-vo)adj. Spawned from the increasing popularity of new HBO series Summer Heights High, the Aussie slang for poor has infiltrated the vocabulary of recessionistas everywhere"Caroline, I can't go out to dinner tonight: My pay cut has left me totally povo."

RELATIONSHIP SLANG-Ex-hole n. Your ex boyfriend/girlfriend who dumped you via Post-it/text/drop-off-the-face-of-the-earth-disappearing-act and who is now flouncing around town with a new love interest "I bumped into my ex-hole this morning - she said she was so sorry that she cheated on me, blah blah blah. I wanted to puke."

Cupcake v. To stay home with your boyfriend/girlfriend to cuddle "It's raining and cold outside; I think I'll skip the bars and cupcake tonight."

Hot Room n. A social setting that involves a mix of people whose relationships to each other are, well, complicated"I was sitting next to my current flame and then my ex-hole walked in with his current girlfriend, who I had a falling out with in high school - total hot room!"

DIGITAL SLANG-Pwn (pone)v. To "power own" something or someone. Derived years ago from World of Warcraft smack talk, this slang has been adopted throughout other online games, and has since surfaced in the mainstream real world"I pwn-ed Stephen last night in Wii Tennis."

Epic Fail n. A frequently used term in the video game community that quite simply means you really messed up and/or something/someone is an utter failure"Dude, your attempt to get that girl's number was an epic fail."

Geequalsn. Two people who are equal in depth of arcane knowledge"I knew I had met my geequal when Frank showed me his Star Wars light saber iPhone app."

Myselfish adj. A term used to describe people's need for recognition and self-fulfillment via the Internet. This is accomplished with incessant Facebook status updates and TMI-Twitter feeds, and serves the purpose of making one feel important and/or noticed"My friends consider my need to Twitter detailed accounts of my trips to Trader Joe's, the gas station, and my opinions on anything, really, to be annoyingly myselfish. I consider it shameless self-promotion!"

THIS YEAR'S REHAB- Retox (ree-tox)v. To go back on your New Year's resolutions and do the opposite of the goals you set for yourself"Instead of following my resolution to get fit this year, I decided to retox and take up cooking classes instead. Oh well, no one follows New Year's resolutions anyway, right?"

Smashed Potatoes adj. Drunk, inebriated, similar to the term "hot mess""Sorry I bailed without saying good night, but I was smashed potatoes."

STREET SLANG- Hate-cation n. Taking a vacation from being a hater where you are committed to not saying anything bad about anyone or anything; synonymous with "moral cleanse" "Whatever, I know you have an opinion but just can't speak your mind because you are on a hate-cation."

Obama/Not Obama adj. London street reporters proclaim that our new President has become synonymous with "cool""Yeah, that is so Obama!"

Alt-worthyadj. A term used to describe people or things considered to be cool or trendy"The pop-up art gallery on Elizabeth Street is alt-worthy."

'Kward (kwerd)adj. Awkward"Whoa, that conversation was very 'kward."

Boards and Pizza

This evening our student ministry had a work night at our new church building. I have to say...I get super pumped when ever I see our students at work. I now I call it work, but it's way more than that. It's service! Service for our Creator. It was so great to see everyone who came out do there part. Even if it was just moving wood from one place to another. They got the task done and all had smiles afterwards. Not to mention pizza! Thanks Debbie! I was reminded how much I love those kids. I love God for that. I'm grateful for the relationships my wife and I have made with all if them. Like parent's seeing there own children growing up through out the years,so it is the same for us in our ministry with them. I'm happy with them and each time were all together is something totally new. Clarinda and I learn so much from them it ain't even funny. Praise God for all of it! Some other exciting news as well....Firehouse is going to form a band!! Yep, that's right I said were gonna start our own youth band. Is that awesome or what. We have a bunch of kids with God given talent it's just crazy. Were going to see how God works this out for us. It's going to be craaaazy! PRAY FOR US YA'LL. Peace out

Something Crazy

What's up ya'll? Today we had a great service at FOSM. This morning pastor Randy talked about risk. What risks in our lives do we need to quit putting off and pursue? There where many great point's made about several issues on this topic. I'm always challenged to look at my own life and see what changes need to be made. I see how Gods working through our church, through my ministry with youth and in the lives of people in our congregation and I can't help but to feel blessed. I want to see Gods hand in everything we do as a church and as a body of believers. It's just a matter of doing our part in overcoming the fear to take risks and becoming bold for Jesus Christ. God wants us to experience the madness of His blessing's and see life change in our town. Man, let's all come together and become fearless for the Lord! That reminds me, our next series is called FEARLESS and I can't to be apart of that one. Now is the time folks! What issues in your life do you need to conquer and in the name of Jesus. It's been a crazy 3 weeks with our series RESOLUTION at FOSM and God has revealed many thing's to me through it. I can't imagine what He's doing in the lives of others in our church. Let's start getting crazy folks! Peace out.

FSM on 1-15-09

Yesterday firehouse was awesome! We did a talk sheet on "GOD IN A BOD." We focused on the attributes of Jesus and whatever questions student's had about Him. And boy did it go great. There's always questions about Jesus especially with teenagers and yesterday we discussed some pretty good ones. I love these talks sheets because it gives the student's a chance to say what's on there minds and clear up any confusion. I believe with all my heart it's important to have these times in all youth ministries. I had fun with everybody.

THANKFUL

I have to say I'm very thankful to God for everything He is in my family's life. I look back at my life and never imagined that I would be serving a God who completely showers us with His crazy grace and mercy! He has blessed me and my family in so many way's that I can't help to be humbled and honored to be His creation. I was broken in every way before I meet Christ and thought then I had it all together. I realize now that everything I went through in my life then was preparation for where I am now. How awesome is that! He knew me, he loved me, he wanted me. The journey still continues and I'm not even going to say I've arrived, because I haven't. I battle with many thing's just like everybody else. Only God knows His will for my life and I choose Him. Seventh Day Slumber is one of the many bands that I love, just because through there music is so much of me, my life and how I feel about Jesus Christ. Theres one song in particular. These are lyrics to "Believe".

Well I’m living with a power and I have never felt this way before Oh my mind is thinking clearly now The chains are broken and I’m standing tall Oh the Lord has never left me He’s always there to catch me when I fall Chorus: I believe in Jesus. Oh He’s Lord of Lords And King of Kings I believe in Jesus. He rescued me It really wasn’t long ago that I was bound by chains and trampled on I felt like all my days were numbered I felt so all alone, but I was wrong Oh the Lord has never left me.He’s always there to catch me when I fall (Chorus) That’s where I find my strength. Falling down like rain. It washes over me. He’s taken me so far.From where I used to be. He’s my everything.That’s why I believe...

Stand strong, stand firm in Christ folks! He is the Rock. Peace out ya'll!

Out for the count!

I got home today from work and saw the funniest thing. We have a miniature hamster (Noctie) that we keep in my room right. Well, lately our cat (Cashew) has been hangin around it's cage just staring the thing down. As I was checking email I turned around just to look at what cashew was doing. As I did the little varmint decided to go up to the cage next to the cat. As soon as it did cashew gave him a hard paw right against the cage! The hamster let out a squeak and was knocked on it's back. Noctie didn't know what hit him! It was just hilarious. We have some pretty funny animals I tell ya. Just check out the other pic. Yup, head stuck in a tissue box. Peace out

Fresh Start

This past week I've been preparing for the message on Wednesday. It deals with fresh starts. Yeah, I know it's the beginning of the new year and theres always going to be topics on this. But while studying and really understanding the scripture in Isaiah 6:1-8 I understood even more that it's not late for fresh starts. Jesus is all about the new! New birth, new life and new relationships with Him. Isaiah realized many things in his life that weren't God honoring. In doing so he realized his need for God even more and because of his experience he was ready to do the will of God. Scripture say's his sins were atoned for meaning they were payed for, his sin was gone! I know in my own life I feel that I'm not even worthy of serving God. I battle with things just like everybody else, but having those feeling and struggles helps me want to do something about it and it's then that I realize my need for Him even more. I think that's how we should all should see our trials and struggles. Those walls we hit in life should be a motivator to draw nearer to God. I know I'm not perfect, but I do have purpose! God reminds me of that as He should to all. Isaiah could of thrown in the towel and just gave up, but he drew his strenght from the Lord and pressed on. It's not an easy thing either. The enemy reminds us of our failers and wants to make us ineffective while were here on this earth. He does this because for many of us he's lost us for eternity. Because we salvation through Jesus Christ and will spend eternity with Him so the enemy wants to bring us down anyway he can. We need to recognize our need for God in everything we do. I'm doing that now. It's not about us at all, it's about God! Us drawing near to Him. Read what the Bible say's in Hebrews 10:22

22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

God's all about the new! He gives us all the assurance that we are His by His Love and Grace. Peace Out!

New Years Reflection

I've been praying and preparing myself with goals for this year. There are things in my heart that I need God to confirm that it is from Him. I'm not a very smart person, so I gotta ask the Lord to show me very simply. The thing with that is, He's probably showing me already but I just fail to recognize it. I know one thing's for sure I've always felt that we needed a youth facility were student's can come and hear the Gospel and be trained in becoming "agents of restoration" full believers of Jesus Christ! This facility will also be one were students can hang out with friends to do after school homework eat and just plain chill out all within a safe and welcoming atmosphere. I believe and have hope that God will make this happen! This year I want to see more students being baptized. Also for our kids to become more and more lead to bring there friends. I know that all this starts with God. I'm want to do whatever I can do become a effective student leader for these kids. Were going for a ride this year! It's time to start seeing change in more and more lives. God has the power and we have a mission! Amen. Peace out!