a heart for children

I'm not old yet, but I'm old enough that I remember when I was getting started in ministry. And some of my fondest memories of that time are of people giving me a chance, of placing trust in me, and listening to and affirming my dreams.

So it was with joy that our church hosted Khory Allen and his family this past Sunday. Khory is establishing a ministry of conducting children's events for churches and equipping those who work with children in church settings. He and his wife worked with our MiniTemples on Sunday morning, and then Khory spoke to our Learning Environments group on Sunday evening.


I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Khory, as we talked about his journey and how God has equipped him for this work. We also had some great conversations with Joshua and Shameer about life as a follower of Jesus in our time and space.

One of my favorite things is to pick up on something that one person enjoys, then connect them with someone else who shares that interest. The shared backstory allows conversations and relationships to form and grow much more quickly. So when I picked up on Khory's enjoyment of video games, I knew he could hit it off with some of our guys, and he did. It was great fun to watch them "nerd out" a little. (And I use that term with the utmost respect. I do the same thing, given the opportunity.)

I'm thankful that God allowed our paths to cross, and I'm excited about what lies ahead for Khory, his family, and their ministry.

work

My FedEx Ground route boss told me I'd need to stay out late tonight, because he needed me to cover some pickups for a truck that had to go in early.

It took two hours longer than expected, which put me leaving work at 8:30 pm, and the truck was so packed that I had fifteen packages with me in the cab on the way back.

I've realized some things about work that have shaped my attitude:

- Work is sacred. To do it with excellence is to honor God.

- My children are watching me. They are shaping their attitudes about work, about responding to adverse work conditions, and about stewardship of what God provides by watching and listening to me.

- My church family is watching me. Young men. Families struggling to make ends meet. Older men who have been through far worse conditions than mine. My attitude about this job shapes their attitudes.

So I am thankful. I do not complain, even when I grow weary. I work hard, and put the needs of others ahead of my own. And in so doing, I pray that God finds this part of my life acceptable, and receives glory from it.

picking up the story

I firmly believe that now is a better time to be alive than any other time in human history. Although...nope, this is it.

One reason is that, more than ever, story is being recognized as the most effective means of communication. And there are more ways than ever to tell your story.

That's why I love to blog, and tweet, and use social networking sites. My story's unique, and different parts of it resonate with different people. My story stirs questions, starts conversations, explains directions. (So does yours, by the way.)

But blogging is a discipline that takes time, and other pursuits have taken priority recently. I continue to tell my story, but it's in a lot of personal contexts, conversations and the like. God continues to do His thing, and I'm more excited than ever to be part of it.

I plan to get back into the rhythm of telling my story here. In the meantime, what's your story? And who are you telling it to?

i'm not the new guy

As I've shared before, sometimes we take Wednesday evenings to visit other churches around the city, to meet other followers of Jesus and see what God is up to. Tonight, we visited Colonial Hills Baptist Church, whose facility is located just south of 82nd and Keystone.

It is a fairly large, established work, with an extensive midweek program for children and teenagers. The kids had a great time playing with the other kids and taking part in their Master Club program.

I sat in on the Bible study in the main auditorium, and walked up to the pastor to introduce myself. I started to describe our location within the city, and he smiled and nodded. Then he explained that he had no idea what I was talking about, because he'd been the pastor for a couple of weeks, and was still learning his way around.

It turns out that the new pastor is Dr. Charles Phelps, who had served as president of Maranatha Baptist College in Watertown, WI prior to accepting this pastorate.

Dr. Phelps seems to be a gracious man, and I look forward to getting to know him. And it was a joy to see hundreds of smiling faces, families and friends enjoying each other, with the joy of Jesus obvious on their countenances.

i'm just sayin'

Some of my friends on Facebook have been passing the following video around. They have expressed appreciation for it, and rightly so. It's moving, witty, relatable. It's great stuff.



But as I watched my friends passing it around and enjoying it, something occurred to me:

This would have never happened in your church.

It's a skit. These guys don't even gloss over it - they call themselves The Skit Guys. It's not preaching, or singing, or soul winning, or visitation, or a testimony, or any of that.

In fact, some might even refer to it as - wait for it - a drama.

If these guys had approached the leadership of many of my friends' churches, and said they had a skit that they thought would be a blessing, they would've been told to have it ready for the next teen activity.

Here's my point: there are many ways to articulate the message of what it means to live in relationship with God by following Jesus. If we're not careful, our churches will lock ourselves in to a select few, and miss many, many opportunities for people to express their faith in ways they've been uniquely gifted by God to do so.

And then we'll think it's really cool when someone else does it.