Blogelemy

What we do the Wednesday Night of Holy Week

For the past two years on the week of Holy Week, the Crave Senior High has participated in an Biblical exercise.  Instead of having someone share the events of what took place the week of Easter, we think that it is better for all of us to hear this directly from God himself.  In order to do this, we provide an environment by which the students can spend time (typically 30-45 minutes) reading through the gospel accounts of the week leading up to Jesus death and resurrection.  This is a stretching night for some of our students (and leaders).  Plus, there usually is a number of first time visitors and I often wonder what their first impression of Crave is as a result of this night.  All of this doesn't matter because what is most important is the hope that everyone (including myself) leaves with a greater appreciation and understanding of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for each of us.  There's no better place to find that than his Word.

 

The following is the text from the handout that we provide on this night:

This week is significant!

This week we remember the most important life-changing event in history.  Our hope tonight is that you will leave here with a God-given understanding of what He did for you on the cross.  Instead of us telling you about it we thought that it would be best if He told you himself through His Word.  Tonight we are going to dwell in his Word and read the story of Jesus taking our sins to the cross.  This piece of paper’s purpose is to lead you to the areas of Scripture that describe this story.  Prayerfully, read through it at your own pace – please don’t rush.   You might not finish during our time together.  That’s alright, take it home and continue to read it.  Our prayer is that you will take this seriously and will leave here with a better sense of gratitude and understanding of what Jesus did on your behalf.  If for some reason you are unable to participate in this time of worship, you are free to leave.  Please be respectful to the others around you.

The Triumphal Entry- John 12:12-19

                Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-40

The Plot to Kill Jesus- Luke 22:1-6

                Matthew 26:1-5, 14-16, Mark 14:1-2, 10-11, John 13:21-30

The Passover and Last Supper with the Disciples- Matthew 26:17-30

                Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-23, John 13:1-20

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane- Mark 14:32-42

                Matthew 26:36-46, Luke 22:39-46, John 17

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus- Matthew 26:47-56

                Mark 14:43-50, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:1-11

Jesus before the Council- Mark 14:53-65

                Matthew 26:57-68, John 18:19-24, Luke 22:66-71

Jesus before Pilate- Luke 23:1-25

                Matthew 27:11-26, Mark 15:1-15, John 18:28-40

Jesus Delivered to be Crucified- John 19:1-16

                Matthew 27:27-31, Mark 15:16-20

The Crucifixion- Luke 23:26-43

                Matthew 27:32-44, Mark 15:21-32, John 19:17-27

The Death of Jesus- Mark 15:33-41

                Matthew 27:45-56, Luke 23:44-49, John 19:28-30

Jesus’ Side is Pierced- John 19:31-37  

Jesus is Buried- Luke 23:50-56

                Mark 15:42-47, Matthew 27:57-61, John 19:38-42

The Resurrection- Matthew 28:1-10

                Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24: 1-12, John 20:1-10

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene- John 20:11-18

                Mark 16:9-11

Jesus Appears to the Disciples- Luke 24:36-49

                Mark 16:12-13, John 20:19-23

The Great Commission- Matthew 28:16-20

                Mark 16:14-20

The Ascension- Luke 24:50-53

 

 

The Greatest Influence on High School Students

The Greatest Influence on High School Students

An article I just submitted for the Eden Prairie Sun-Current Newspaper.

Our student ministry leadership team is often asking: “Who or what are the greatest influences in the life of a student?”  What prompts students to think, move, or change?  Is it the social media through Twitter or Facebook they find themselves connected to; is it the people they hang out with, music they listen to, shows they watch or the advertisements they are bombarded by?  Simply through the lens of observation and conversation, we feel strongly that we have answers to what two of the top influencers are in the life of a student.

Most of the time parents are still the most significant impact on the life of a young person.  By God’s design, parents have the incredible responsibility and opportunity using God’s Word, the Church and the community around them, to shape, mold, and discipline their children.  Students may not want to admit it but they are greatly influenced by their parents.  It’s clear that the way a family system deals with conflict, handles stress and expresses emotion will have an effect on the children of that home.

Another top influence on the life of a student is… another student.  Students will change their schedule, the way they dress and how they talk based on what other students are doing, wearing and saying.  Some students will transition from one friend group to another taking on the personalality of each group as they move.

At the “Dare to Share” student conference last March we witnessed several students responding to the weekend by sharing their faith with their friends.  Several students shared that they had experienced their friends enter in to a relationship with Jesus Christ as a result of their phone call during “Dare to Share”.

Shortly after “Dare to Share” there was a meeting for Fellowship of Christian Athletes where a handful of students led the meeting and shared personal stories of how a person can enter in to a relationship with Jesus Christ.  They watched 12 friends take that step into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The results of these two events showed us that a student has an amazing ability to not only influence a student to dress, talk or act a certain way but they have the opportunity to motivate their friends to consider life’s most important decisions.

Churches can maximize the power of both of these powerful influences in the life of students.  If the family system allows for it, an excellent ministry strategy is to come alongside parents as they strive to Biblically disciple their sons or daughters.  It is also important to challenge students to passionately encourage their friends to be influenced through a growing relationship with Jesus Christ which is the greatest influence any of us, young or old, could be moved by.

 

What is a "Man of God"?

Last week I sent out the following email to our Pastors and Elders asking them for their opinion on what it a "man of God" looks like:

For the next three Wednesday Nights (Jan. 19, Jan. 26 & Feb. 2) at Crave Senior High we will be splitting our guys from our girls to have a heart-to-heart discussion on topics that are relevant to each specific gender.  Typically this is the necessary purity and sexuality talk, and while I see that taking place, I would like to take a different approach to it this time around.  Instead of just talking about “fleeing sexual immorality”, remaining pure and the like, I would like to help these young men understand the characteristics and qualities of being a man of God. 

 

Instead of just sharing my thoughts on this topic, I would like to hear yours.  If time allows, please respond with what Scripture, character traits etc. come to mind when you think about what it takes to be a man of God.  Another way to look at this would be, what would you tell a high school guy who is hungry to know what a man of God looks, acts, and thinks like?  Don’t feel like you need to answer with an exhaustive list.  

I received a handful of excellent responses to this question.  I thought that I would throw it out the same question to the readers of this blog.  Thank you in advance for your responses!

"Parents, it could be worst" video

I got a kick out of this video created by Saddleback Church's Wildside ministry:

 

Where would we be without text messages?

I recently became aware of the following website: When Parents Text  It is hilarious, I literally "lol" when I read through the submissions.  See for yourself.

As I was reading through these it made me reflect on how text messages has drastically changed the way I communicate.  

Student Ministry: In student ministry the best way to get the word out to students is to text them.  One of the best things we are subscribed to as a ministry is a service that allows us to send text blasts reminding students, leaders and parents of upcoming or cancelled events.  Text messaging has definitely changed trips and events.

The other thing that has changed is communication to parents in real time.  I grew up in a youth group that was notorious for returning much later than expected from trips.  It was near impossible for our leaders to communicate this change in ETA without cell phones.  Now with students wielding their own cell phones and our use of Twitter, these changes are reaching parents. Some parents don't even anticipate our arrival without a text from their son or daughter.  This definitely takes the pressure off when something does come up on our return trip.

On a few rare occasions I have had a student text their parents when they are dissatisfied with their rooming situation, or a leadership decision that has taken place on a trip.  As a result, I have had a few interesting conversations!

Another way that we have used text messages in the past has been through polling our students.  We have used polleverywhere.com as a way to survey our group in realtime.  We really like how this tool displays results immediately.

Text messages can be a great tool for ministry but it can definitely be a distraction.  We have students and parents who ignore emails and mailings only rely on text messages as the only way to get information. This causes quite a stream of last minute personal text messages leading up to events.  "what time are we leaving?" "what are we supposed to bring?" "can I still sign up?" "what's the promocode?"

Family:  I don't have any text exchanges from my own parents that I can send to whenparentstext.com but text messages have definitely changed the way I communicate with my parents, sister and wife.

Related Posts: TXT MSGS

New Years Eve Worship

For the past three years I have been involved in partnering with our student ministries team to host a New Years Eve Bash.  At this event we have strived to create an incredible event where our students could invite their friends to a fun, over-the-top, safe and life-changing environment.  This has by far been the largest annual event that we hosted as a Student Ministries.  After last years event we all felt God's leading to move the night in a new direction.  We still value creating events where students can invest and invite their friends to (this year it will be a "Big Game" party on Sunday, Feb. 6th - I can't use the S&p%r$owl word without paying the NFL a lot of money).

This year our program director, Jed Culbertson, got the vision for a time of worship to end the year and start the new year with for the entire Church body.  We offered a variety of ways to worship in an "open house" (come and go as you please) from 1:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.  It was challenging and rewarding to be involved in a night like this.  Challenging in that it was hard to know what to plan for as far as the number and demographic of people in the room.  Rewarding in that it was personally a great experience of worship.  It is amazing to be able to have the freedom to allow God to do what He wants with an evening.  Honestly, my role in the evening was more of a support role which increased my opportunity to be a participant.

You can read Jed Culbertson's reflections on the night on his blog.

God sent His Son so that YOU could become His child.

 
Our student ministry team decked out for the parties (please forgive me if you were the one who made this vest)

Yesterday we had our Christmas party (view pictures here) for the Crave Senior High.  This happened to be the last Wednesday night meeting of 2010.  I gave a brief "Christmas" talk from Galatians 4:4-7.  The following are my notes from that talk:

 Big Idea:  God sent his Son so that YOU could become his child - Galatians 4:4-7

“But when the time had fully come

 What an incredible "Time" that was.  History – Jesus was there for it all – imagine angels waiting for this exact moment in time!

God sent his Son, born of a woman

Fully human, Fully divine.  Jesus humbled himself as a human with human needs – Baby needs

Born under law, to redeem those under law,

The law was established to show us our sin.  The law is the standard by which we are to live but here’s the catch none of us are able to live up to the standards of the law.  Jesus humbled himself to live under the law of which He was a greater authority.  He did this so that we – who can’t EVER measure up can be saved from the sin we are slaves to.

That we might receive the full rights of sons.

He did this so that we can have access to the Father, not just access but so that we can be adopted as his son’s and daughters.  And by being a son (or daughter), he has given us ALL of the rights as his children. –> His favor, eternal life, father’s love…

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,

Those who have accepted Christ as their savior have become part of his family and have received his Holy Spirit who takes up 24/7 residence in our lives to guide, comfort, convict and equip us!  Jesus said that it is better for us to have the Holy Spirit in our lives than for he himself to be with us.  Wow

The Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’

This very Holy Spirit helps us realize our standing with God the Father.  Because of Jesus we are no longer distant from God, we are also no longer reliant on a priest to intercede on our behalf.  Jesus has done this and we are the beneficiaries. 

So you are no longer a slave, but a son;

The result is that we are no longer a slave to sin, rather we are part of the family of God.  That’s what happens when we combine the results of both Christmas & Easter!

and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir”

What does it mean that we are an heir to God?  We received the inheritance that he has reserved for his children.  We receive the blessing of being at the table he has prepared for us.  We receive the Father’s love that is unlike any other love we could ever understand on earth. 

God sent his Son so that YOU could become his child 

 

VIDEO: We got owned in this snowball fight

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Entitlement

Last Wednesday night I wrapped up a two-week teaching series for our Senior High students where we focused on what God's Word has to say about obedience.  The first week we talked about our need to submit to the authorities that God has placed over us (Romans 13:1-2 & I Peter 2:13-15).  We need to be asking the question "who" is asking us to do something rather than "what" they are asking.  We followed this up by taking a good look at Jesus' call for us to abide in Him through obedience as seen in John 15.  

As often is the case, I learned a valuable lesson about obedience and authority a few weeks before this series started.  God tends to make sure I know my own weaknesses with a given subject, topic or command in Scripture before I try to teach on it!

Here's what happened.  My wife, Greta, was away on a much deserved retreat away with the other Pastor's wives at Grace Church and I was doing my best to manage our three kids.  It was a Thursday evening so our oldest had Tae-Kwon-Do at the Community Center.  Instead of carting all of our kids into the community center, we decided to (for the first time) drop him off at the front door and then pick him up afterwards.  When it was time to pick him up, I parked in front  of the main entrance so that there would be no way for him to miss where I was since it was dark (and cold).  Several Tae-Kwon-Do students exited the front doors and finally my son came out to get into our van.  At the same time a police officer decided to pull up and tell me that I can't just park at the entrance of the Community Center because it is a fire lane.  The officer wasn't rude or pushy but for some reason a real frustration and anger swelled over me.  At that moment I couldn't believe that this officer had the audacity to tell me that I couldn't do that.  Couldn't he see that I had young kids in the car, couldn't he realize that my son needed me to be parked directly in front of the entrance so that he would see me.  After I cooled off (which took longer than I would care to admit) I realized that this police officer didn't do anything unjust.  He wasn't rude, or forceful.  In fact he could've done far more to make sure I understand and follow the rules.  I realized that I felt a strong sense of entitlement for what I believed at the moment was my "right" to do my own thing because of my unique circumstances.  I often find students and adults treat authorities in their life in the same way.  We often feel like our circumstances are different and require a different set of rules than everyone else.  When an authority draws clear boundaries and doesn't cater to unique situations, we tend to get upset and vocalize or rebel against these authorities.  Honestly, I don't think this is what God had in mind when he inspired Paul to write the following:

Romans 13:1-2 - Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Moving on Up (why we transition students the way we do)

Summer marks a time of transition for Student Ministries.  Specifically, we move up our incoming 9th graders at the beginning of the summer from Junior High to Senior High.  At the same time, we move our graduating seniors into the college-age ministry.

Both transitions (or should I say hand-offs) are crucial.  We have found that the hand-offs from ministry to ministry is the time when most students can fall through the cracks.  If students don't quickly feel connected to the next life-stage ministry, especially the ones their parents aren't forcing them to attend, then they might withdraw and never reengage in Church community. 

Incoming Freshman

We strive to leverage the summer with the incoming 9th graders to have a head-start on being a high schooler.  We hope to forge relationships by which these students can feel a sense of belonging to the high school ministry.  We hope that when they step foot on their high school campuses for the first time that they know there are quite a few friends who care about them. 

Graduating Seniors

Our ministry just graduated the most influential and dynamic group of seniors that I have ever experienced in youth ministry.  While I hate to see them go, I would hate for this to be the end of the road for them.  I have watched numerous students in the past, graduate, move away to college and then feel like there is no way to connect with their home Church.  This move can sometimes be harder for the remaining high school students who have made strong friendships with these Seniors. 

I also need to create a vacancy of leadership whereby the next group of upperclassman can rise up to.  As a result I am drawing the finish line hard and fast for these seniors.  I want them to connect, engage and thrive in the college ministry so that they can continue to transition through the next season of their life.

Interview video with Pastor Clark

While I was gone on vacation with my family last week (more about that coming in a later post) Pastor Clark Crebar taught the high school group.  The following video was how he was introduced: 

again this video was written, directed, edited and created by Jed Culbertson

Q&A Video with Pastor Troy

Senior Pastor Troy and his wife Cheri were gracious to spend some time with the senior high students this past Wednesday night.  The following video created by Jed Culbertson was how we introduced them: