So Jesus came to fulfill the law. Verse 20 is really interesting: "I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is setting people up to make sure they know that they will never earn their way into heaven. The pharisees were insane about keeping the law. That's all they cared about. They were uber-religious about it. Then Jesus says that you have to do even more than that to get into heaven. Obviously it would be nearly impossible to better than they were doing, so they must have been missing something.
Jesus was trying to point back to himself. I've done something more than the pharisees because I've placed my faith in Jesus alone and not in my religious devotion to rules. My devotion to rules flows out of my love for Jesus, and that's a key difference.
Jesus always had a cool way of putting things. He always made you think. Made things real and impacting. I wish I could adopt some of that style into my speaking. There's so much about Jesus that is amazing. JM
1.06.2007
Men's Ministry
So I've seen several places that mention that the best way to reach families is by reaching men. If you reach the woman you have a 17% chance of reaching her family. If you reach the man you have an 87% chance of reaching the family. That's a pretty significant statistic. I didn't really understand why that would be until New Year's Eve.
My wife and I went to two different parties. When we left the first one she said to me that she wished that we could stay at that party because I get along with those guys better. My wife gets along with everybody. She just likes to be around people. I'm a bit more difficult because I'm not much of a man's man kind of guy. I'm not overly effeminate, but just not your prototypical alpha-male.
So wives are willing to sacrifice so that their husbands are connecting with other males.
I don't think that separating men's ministry out is the way to achieve reaching males. They need to enjoy and appreciate every aspect of the ministry that our church is doing.
I think this even carries down to students. I try to tailor my middle school ministry to what would be appealing to boys. If I have lots of boys, I remain fairly confident that the girls will come, even if it's just to look at all of the boys. JM
My wife and I went to two different parties. When we left the first one she said to me that she wished that we could stay at that party because I get along with those guys better. My wife gets along with everybody. She just likes to be around people. I'm a bit more difficult because I'm not much of a man's man kind of guy. I'm not overly effeminate, but just not your prototypical alpha-male.
So wives are willing to sacrifice so that their husbands are connecting with other males.
I don't think that separating men's ministry out is the way to achieve reaching males. They need to enjoy and appreciate every aspect of the ministry that our church is doing.
I think this even carries down to students. I try to tailor my middle school ministry to what would be appealing to boys. If I have lots of boys, I remain fairly confident that the girls will come, even if it's just to look at all of the boys. JM
1.05.2007
Matthew 5:13 - 16
Verse 16 is awesome. It's Jesus basic method of evangelism: "Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your father in heaven." There are two keys here. One is obvious: do good things. Lots of them. The way people should be able to recognize that we're connected to God is by all of the good things we do. It always makes me sad to talk to people who wait tables and how they hate waiting on people who just got out of church. They're usually the rudest, most demanding, and least appreciative customers out there. Pretty sad.
The other part of this verse is that our lives need to be lived in public view of non-believers. If we surround ourselves with Christians and all the good things we do are for those who already believe, how will anyone ever be able to see it. We have this typical mindset that says once you meet my criteria, then we can hang out and be friends. Pretty pathetic. JM
Nap Time
So we're trying to get Ana to only take one nap during the day. To do this we try to hold her off from sleeping until around 1:00 PM (she wakes up around 8:30 AM). This way she sleeps for a couple of hours, and then wakes up around 3:30 PM. The process is repeated in the afternoon trying to keep her up until at least 7:30 PM. But this way she sleeps 12 - 13 hours at night. It's awesome.
But it's tough trying to keep her up. This was taken at like 12:50 PM today when she was about to go down for a nap. She had just finished her corn dog and was full and tired. She's so stinking cute. JM
Take A Stand
My daughter is amazing. She'll be 10 months on Sunday and she already can stand by herself. Not for a long time or anything, but she can stand up just from sitting down. It's awesome to watch. I think she'll be walking within the next month or so. And she knows how to wave bye-bye. It's awesome to watch. JM
Goals Descriptions
1. Bring middle school ministry process in line with overall church ministry process - Currently we have a middle school ministry process, but we are just now developing one for our church. So once it is created and finalized, I'll just align what I do with that.
2. Do no programming simply to do programming - I try not to do time-killer babbysitting programming, but I still do some. I ended a program this fall that I felt was basically babysitting. What I'll have to watch out for is the programs that tend to pop up either to accomodate church-wide programs or to fill in "slow" times.
3. Have over 75 students and 25 visitors at our Super Bowl party - This is one of the biggest things we do all spring. Last year we had 72 students and 16 visitors there. I'm hoping we can increase both of those a little bit.
4. Create a time sheet for each week to budget time better - I'm hoping this can alleviate some of the stress between my wife and I. I'm pretty good about making sure that I don't always work, but it sure is tempting. This will also hopefully help me apportion the right amount of time to the right things.
5. Improve front-end portion of Crucible - The Crucible is our 8th-grade guys rite of passage event. It's a weekend event that has about 7 weeks of study on the front-end. I'd like to make this portion a bit more thought-provoking. This is the coolest thing I get to do all year. It's awesome.
6. Improve Chrysalis - This is the 8th-grade girls rite of passage event. It's a good idea, but it needs some attention, direction, and modification to make it life-impacting.
7. Have over 75 students attend D-Now - I can't remember how many we had last year, but I'm pretty sure we'll hit this number.
8. Have over 150 students and 75 visitors at Mission Impossible - This is the biggest outreach event we do all year. It's awesome. Last year we had 126 students and 68 visitors.
9. Spend at least 2 hours per week on UpRising opening - This is the opening for our Sunday morning small groups. Normally I spend about 20 minutes on it because it's a lower priority. With me doing less now, I can do more things with excellence. The opening is only about 20 minutes long, so 2 hours should be way more than enough time to bring in some creativity and excellence.
10. If UpRising small group attender misses 3 weeks in a row, they get a call and a card from both their leader and a peer - In our area, you can easily miss 2 weeks in a row, but 3 weeks in a row kind of shows some effort to not come. Currently they'll just get a call or an email from their leader. I'd like to increase that to a card and a call from both their leader and a friend.
11. Age and gender grade all A-Teams - Right now we would need to add 2 leaders in order to accomplish this, but I think it is probably our most pressing need. A-Teams our are small group discipleship classes, so I'd like to keep the topics relative and the sizes small (4-6 students).
12. Have crew teams have a gig at least once a week - Our crew teams (ministry teams) are currently under-utilized, so I think setting up expectations like this will help make sure they get the opportunities they need to minister.
13. Have all student ministers read "contemplative youth ministry" - This book is expressing ideas that I've had for the last couple of years. It's amazing. I haven't even finished it yet, and it's changing how I look at ministry to students.
14. Have at least 4 student ministers attend at least a portion of the NYWC - This is the National Youth Workers Convention, which will have a conference here in Atlanta this year. So I'd like to have several of my workers go to get some training. (I'm going to try to go to the whole thing.)
15. Develop a functional outreach program where students will attend consistently and be presented with the gospel - I've revised our outreach program at least 4 times in the 3 years that I've been here. I'm doing it again. This fall we created a program that was good for getting guests, but it didn't have consistent numbers (some weeks low 20's and some weeks mid 40's). I'm trying to create something that kids will enjoy so they will invite their friends and can hear an applicable Biblical-based message containing the gospel.
16. Have my title changed to remove associate and more accurately reflect what I do - Currently my title is Associate Youth Minister. Since I came, my position has fleshed out to be running the middle school ministry, the creative elements of the youth ministry, and creative development of overall church ministry. What my title should be, I can't say. Probably something like Minister of Middle School and Creative Elements. That's a horrible title, but at least it's more accurate.
So that's what I'd like to accomplish. We'll see how it goes. JM
2. Do no programming simply to do programming - I try not to do time-killer babbysitting programming, but I still do some. I ended a program this fall that I felt was basically babysitting. What I'll have to watch out for is the programs that tend to pop up either to accomodate church-wide programs or to fill in "slow" times.
3. Have over 75 students and 25 visitors at our Super Bowl party - This is one of the biggest things we do all spring. Last year we had 72 students and 16 visitors there. I'm hoping we can increase both of those a little bit.
4. Create a time sheet for each week to budget time better - I'm hoping this can alleviate some of the stress between my wife and I. I'm pretty good about making sure that I don't always work, but it sure is tempting. This will also hopefully help me apportion the right amount of time to the right things.
5. Improve front-end portion of Crucible - The Crucible is our 8th-grade guys rite of passage event. It's a weekend event that has about 7 weeks of study on the front-end. I'd like to make this portion a bit more thought-provoking. This is the coolest thing I get to do all year. It's awesome.
6. Improve Chrysalis - This is the 8th-grade girls rite of passage event. It's a good idea, but it needs some attention, direction, and modification to make it life-impacting.
7. Have over 75 students attend D-Now - I can't remember how many we had last year, but I'm pretty sure we'll hit this number.
8. Have over 150 students and 75 visitors at Mission Impossible - This is the biggest outreach event we do all year. It's awesome. Last year we had 126 students and 68 visitors.
9. Spend at least 2 hours per week on UpRising opening - This is the opening for our Sunday morning small groups. Normally I spend about 20 minutes on it because it's a lower priority. With me doing less now, I can do more things with excellence. The opening is only about 20 minutes long, so 2 hours should be way more than enough time to bring in some creativity and excellence.
10. If UpRising small group attender misses 3 weeks in a row, they get a call and a card from both their leader and a peer - In our area, you can easily miss 2 weeks in a row, but 3 weeks in a row kind of shows some effort to not come. Currently they'll just get a call or an email from their leader. I'd like to increase that to a card and a call from both their leader and a friend.
11. Age and gender grade all A-Teams - Right now we would need to add 2 leaders in order to accomplish this, but I think it is probably our most pressing need. A-Teams our are small group discipleship classes, so I'd like to keep the topics relative and the sizes small (4-6 students).
12. Have crew teams have a gig at least once a week - Our crew teams (ministry teams) are currently under-utilized, so I think setting up expectations like this will help make sure they get the opportunities they need to minister.
13. Have all student ministers read "contemplative youth ministry" - This book is expressing ideas that I've had for the last couple of years. It's amazing. I haven't even finished it yet, and it's changing how I look at ministry to students.
14. Have at least 4 student ministers attend at least a portion of the NYWC - This is the National Youth Workers Convention, which will have a conference here in Atlanta this year. So I'd like to have several of my workers go to get some training. (I'm going to try to go to the whole thing.)
15. Develop a functional outreach program where students will attend consistently and be presented with the gospel - I've revised our outreach program at least 4 times in the 3 years that I've been here. I'm doing it again. This fall we created a program that was good for getting guests, but it didn't have consistent numbers (some weeks low 20's and some weeks mid 40's). I'm trying to create something that kids will enjoy so they will invite their friends and can hear an applicable Biblical-based message containing the gospel.
16. Have my title changed to remove associate and more accurately reflect what I do - Currently my title is Associate Youth Minister. Since I came, my position has fleshed out to be running the middle school ministry, the creative elements of the youth ministry, and creative development of overall church ministry. What my title should be, I can't say. Probably something like Minister of Middle School and Creative Elements. That's a horrible title, but at least it's more accurate.
So that's what I'd like to accomplish. We'll see how it goes. JM
1.04.2007
Discipleship Equation
So my boss wants us to come up with a ministry process for our church. He started off by giving us the equation of People + Christ = Transformation. I think that People + Christ = Justification. While justification is a form of transformation, to say that this type of transformation is what God desires the church to be doing is incorrect, or at least not fully correct.
The church is supposed to teach, encourage, and grow strong (I Corinthians 14:26,31). If all we are seeking is justification, that is growth, but not growing strong, teaching, or encouraging.
I think the end goal of the church is to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus doesn't stop at salvation, or even baptism, but he continues to say "teach them to obey everything that I have taught you."
So:
People + Christ = Justification
and
Justification + Teaching + Encouraging = Transformation = God's desire for the church.
If this is true, then to design a process for church ministry would require avenues for introducing people to Jesus, teaching them the disciplines of the Christian faith, and encouraging them as they grow. As people are transformed, they would need to be provided opportunities to serve and lead both inside and outside our church.
I'll probably develop my design based on this thought-process. JM
The church is supposed to teach, encourage, and grow strong (I Corinthians 14:26,31). If all we are seeking is justification, that is growth, but not growing strong, teaching, or encouraging.
I think the end goal of the church is to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus doesn't stop at salvation, or even baptism, but he continues to say "teach them to obey everything that I have taught you."
So:
People + Christ = Justification
and
Justification + Teaching + Encouraging = Transformation = God's desire for the church.
If this is true, then to design a process for church ministry would require avenues for introducing people to Jesus, teaching them the disciplines of the Christian faith, and encouraging them as they grow. As people are transformed, they would need to be provided opportunities to serve and lead both inside and outside our church.
I'll probably develop my design based on this thought-process. JM
Ministry Goals 2007
So my boss wanted us to come up with our goals for our ministry for 2007. So I came up with this list for the middle school ministry:
1. Bring middle school ministry process in line with overall church ministry process.
2. Do no programming simply to do programming.
3. Have over 75 students and over 25 visitors at our Super Bowl Party.
4. Create a time sheet for each work week to budget time better.
5. Improve front-end portion of Crucible.
6. Improve Chrysalis.
7. Have over 75 students attend D-Now.
8. Have over 150 students and over 75 visitors at Mission Impossible.
9. Spend at least 2 hours per week on Uprising opening.
10. If Uprising small group attender misses 3 weeks in a row, they get a card and a call from both their teacher and a peer.
11. Age grade all A-Teams.
12. Have crew teams have a gig at least once per quarter.
13. Have all student ministers read Contemplative Youth Ministry.
14. Have at least 4 middle school student ministers attend at least a portion of the NYWC.
15. Develop a functional outreach program where students will attend consistently and be presented with the gospel.
16. Have my title changed to remove associate and more accurately reflect what I do.
I'll break each of these out for individual posts to explain them in more detail later, but I wanted to get them all down first. JM
1. Bring middle school ministry process in line with overall church ministry process.
2. Do no programming simply to do programming.
3. Have over 75 students and over 25 visitors at our Super Bowl Party.
4. Create a time sheet for each work week to budget time better.
5. Improve front-end portion of Crucible.
6. Improve Chrysalis.
7. Have over 75 students attend D-Now.
8. Have over 150 students and over 75 visitors at Mission Impossible.
9. Spend at least 2 hours per week on Uprising opening.
10. If Uprising small group attender misses 3 weeks in a row, they get a card and a call from both their teacher and a peer.
11. Age grade all A-Teams.
12. Have crew teams have a gig at least once per quarter.
13. Have all student ministers read Contemplative Youth Ministry.
14. Have at least 4 middle school student ministers attend at least a portion of the NYWC.
15. Develop a functional outreach program where students will attend consistently and be presented with the gospel.
16. Have my title changed to remove associate and more accurately reflect what I do.
I'll break each of these out for individual posts to explain them in more detail later, but I wanted to get them all down first. JM
Be Happy
Matthew 5:1-12 is typically known as the beatitudes (I have no idea how to really spell that). But for me it's more of a list of qualities I don't have. How condemning is it to read that I should want to do right more than anything else, or that I should show mercy, or that I should be pure in my thinking? Man that's a tough list of stuff. Some of them are easy for me, but these three are pretty tough.
I act like I want to do right more than anything else. But deep down, I desire to do what's right for me.
As for mercy, I don't desire mercy, I desire accountability without mercy. Mercy is emotional. The only time I desire it is when I need it, which happens to be nearly constantly.
But the last one of these three is the worst. I am the least pure person I know. My motives are always impure for things. I feel like I secretly desire my own glory. It's tough to separate that out from the male desire to be a success in his profession.
But also the purity of my mind leaves something to be desired. It's a constant struggle for me. As I'm sure it is with most guys. Always good to have something to desire and to strain to achieve. If we're not improving ourselves, we're just dying. JM
I act like I want to do right more than anything else. But deep down, I desire to do what's right for me.
As for mercy, I don't desire mercy, I desire accountability without mercy. Mercy is emotional. The only time I desire it is when I need it, which happens to be nearly constantly.
But the last one of these three is the worst. I am the least pure person I know. My motives are always impure for things. I feel like I secretly desire my own glory. It's tough to separate that out from the male desire to be a success in his profession.
But also the purity of my mind leaves something to be desired. It's a constant struggle for me. As I'm sure it is with most guys. Always good to have something to desire and to strain to achieve. If we're not improving ourselves, we're just dying. JM
1.03.2007
Get Used
We have some friends that are very wealthy. A lot of times they will end up paying for stuff for us. We're always appreciative because we don't have a lot of money. But sometimes I wonder if they think that we're just using them. Do they think that we wouldn't hang out if it was us that had to pay for dinner that night? I hope not.
Jesus probably felt used a lot. I just read Matthew 4:23 - 25 and it talks about how all the sick from all over Syria were coming to him to be healed. People weren't coming to worship him. They weren't coming to listen to his message. They were coming out of selfish motivations. I bet that was frustrating.
But the paragraph end with this: "Many people...followed him." I think Jesus knew something that the church is just now starting to grasp. In order to reach people, you have to fill a need of theirs. People don't naturally care about God. They care about themselves. Until you can show them that what you provide benefits them, they're not going to be interested in what you have to say. But filling a felt need is like an open door to showing them that the best way to be selfish and lead a meaningful life is by discipling yourself to Jesus standard. Interesting. JM
Jesus probably felt used a lot. I just read Matthew 4:23 - 25 and it talks about how all the sick from all over Syria were coming to him to be healed. People weren't coming to worship him. They weren't coming to listen to his message. They were coming out of selfish motivations. I bet that was frustrating.
But the paragraph end with this: "Many people...followed him." I think Jesus knew something that the church is just now starting to grasp. In order to reach people, you have to fill a need of theirs. People don't naturally care about God. They care about themselves. Until you can show them that what you provide benefits them, they're not going to be interested in what you have to say. But filling a felt need is like an open door to showing them that the best way to be selfish and lead a meaningful life is by discipling yourself to Jesus standard. Interesting. JM
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