tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.comments2011-11-03T18:12:31.003-04:00Christianese Radio BlogJoe Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03420930916767113650noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-81410819245960183672011-11-03T18:12:31.003-04:002011-11-03T18:12:31.003-04:00Amen!! So encouraging to see this!! I will be pass...Amen!! So encouraging to see this!! I will be passing it on!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-22678548173483136812009-11-23T18:27:05.308-05:002009-11-23T18:27:05.308-05:00I'm a leader at a youth group... not the Youth...I'm a leader at a youth group... not the Youth Pastor, but one of the staff members. Don't feel obligated to drive all the way across the country on my behalf. :)<br /><br />One thing my pastors (youth AND adult church alike) are always saying is "Anything you create, you have to sustain. Anything God creates, He will sustain." The more you bring people to a church or kids to a youth group by program and entertainment, the more program and entertainment you'll need to keep them coming back. But preach the truth, and it will grab them and keep them coming back.<br /><br />That said, I don't see anything wrong with playing games at youth group, or having a "cool" pastor... it just shouldn't be the focus. In fact, there can be benefits to both.<br /><br />A couple examples. An icebreaker game can be a great way to start off the meeting. It gets people loosened up, and makes sure everyone knows any new people, and builds relationship between teens.<br /><br />Also, the pastor of the youth group I help lead is also very "cool". He worked at Guitar Center for years. He has dreadlocks (tasteful... not HUGE). And this gives him street-cred, which is important in Tacoma, WA. There are people that we simply WOULD NOT reach in the community if he looked like a "normal" youth pastor. They'd shut him out before he had a chance to demonstrate the gospel, much less SPEAK it to them.<br /><br />But again, this MUST NOT be the focus. You need scriptural teaching at the core. If your ministry is not bible-based, and saturated in prayer, it is ultimately doomed to failure.<br /><br />It's amazing the doors that "being cool" can open, if kept in context. We are currently, as a youth group, in the process of opening up an all-ages concert venue based out of a rented space in our church building. This is one of our youth group's outreaches (not funded by the church).<br /><br />The goal is to get the kids of South Tacoma into a safe environment where we can just live out our faith with them and get into their lives. We won't get up and "preach", although every one of us volunteers are deeply rooted in God. Rather, we'll live it, and speak when we're in the kids lives. Actions speak so much louder than words, and we want to speak the love of our Savior in a tangible way to the community... to the kids who would never set foot inside a "church".<br /><br />That ministry would be impossible without the confluence of both being cool and being rooted in scripture and prayer. So, long story short, "coolness" and entertainment are nothing if you're not earnestly seeking God. But if you are, they can be powerful tools in His hands. Scripture and the gospel are KEY.<br /><br />Thanks for staying with me for this whole rant, and God bless. :)<br />-Matt "Welldigger" Dupea<br /><br />P.S. Feel free to read this in the podcast, Joe, if you think it would add anything to the show. Or not, if you don't. :)Welldiggerhttp://www.facebook.com/welldigger?ref=profilenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-12116648175962408692009-11-22T21:33:02.240-05:002009-11-22T21:33:02.240-05:00*Cough cough* And um, Joe- well done ;-)*Cough cough* And um, Joe- well done ;-)ISRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02446932992151612866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-22930596823166636512009-11-22T21:32:25.166-05:002009-11-22T21:32:25.166-05:00Dooglio sire, that was awesome.Dooglio sire, that was awesome.ISRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02446932992151612866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-27674898888579410132009-11-22T14:43:04.987-05:002009-11-22T14:43:04.987-05:00My thinking is that yes, if you don't cater to...My thinking is that yes, if you don't cater to what attracts them, you will lose "market share." But I do remember someone in the New Testament tearing up a market place....hrm who might that be? :-)<br /><br />Teach what you believe. Never deviate from that for *anyone* for any reason! Bravo!R. Douglas Barbierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702394504378377999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-33110354219695829602009-10-08T08:42:11.371-04:002009-10-08T08:42:11.371-04:00I still think it's SO odd that I didn't ev...I still think it's SO odd that I didn't even think that way until like this year. Actually it's hard to explain, because I kind of feel like when I heard about the Holy Spirit I did always kind of feel like He wasn't an 'it' but it was one of those things that I just never really THOUGHT about, you know? Like it's like I don't think I ever thought about Him as an 'it' (I could be lying though?:-D ) but I just never really thought about what He really was. So it's been a very interesting journey actually, really realizing how crazy and COOL it is that it's not like it's this disembodied robot ghost 'it' inside me. He's much more important and real than that. Pretty darn awesome.Sarah and Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09757558305242483362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-12860690571914371222009-10-03T15:22:02.844-04:002009-10-03T15:22:02.844-04:00Oh yes I remember all of a sudden feeling very vul...Oh yes I remember all of a sudden feeling very vulnerable and unable to really protect my wife from the "killer" which surely was just on the other side of a thin wooden door. Even now, now especially with kids, all kinds of fears can arise. What we can do is "take every thought captive to Christ", and too, God is not disinterested in our desire for protection- and while He has not spared all from tragedy, we shall never know what evil host was turned away because we prayed. So then, pray when you worry, turn it immediately to God rather than meditate overly much. I have heard it said worrying is us praying to ourselves. If that is true than I have been very devout to myself.ISRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02446932992151612866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8549085961019690214.post-30219865969097190372009-09-30T16:09:27.016-04:002009-09-30T16:09:27.016-04:00Well, as FDR said "there is nothing to fear b...Well, as FDR said "there is nothing to fear but fear itself." And Frank Herbert wrote in his Dune series,<br />“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear... And when it is gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear is gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”R. Douglas Barbierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02702394504378377999noreply@blogger.com