The end looks different up close.

For those friends and family who haven't heard yet, Sandy and I, after nearly TEN years of youth ministry here at Cedar Park, are taking a senior pastor role beginning in May. Now don't worry, because it isn't far away (sorry to disappoint a few of you)--we are going to be lead pastors at Cedar Park NorthShore, over in Kenmore (only 4.5 miles away, which greatly increases my commute)!

Over the past few months as we have been a part of this process of transition, we have spent most of our time thinking about what we are going to rather that what we are leaving from. However, this being my last official week as youth pastor at Cedar Park Bothell, I am experiencing a few different emotions. While I am more than excited about our future at NorthShore, and so glad that Brad and Leah Fox will be following us as youth pastors here, it is difficult to leave. As we say our goodbyes, and pack up the office, and give everyone hugs, things look a little different. Not bad different, just different different.

It really reminds me of the difference between making plans, and making progress. The latter does not always tranlate into the former. God has called us to be people of action, not just plans!

Priorities and Presence

There are three great loves in my life:

• My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• My Wife and Children.
• The Church and its Mission.

There are three small loves in my life:

• Music (writing, performing, listening)
• The great outdoors (hunting, fishing, hiking, camping)
• Technology (I really am a geek, cleverly disguised)

Often such ideals are expressed in terms of priority, in the form of a bulleted list with the most important residing precariously at the top. I have found that while there are things that are more important than others, they are not expressed in real life scenarios in bullet form. Often the less important and the more important are next-door neighbors, and often roommates. They all occupy the same space and time. In fact space and time are what make them important. While it is true that I love my family more than I love music, I can easily spend more time on an average day listening to music in the car, in my office, on my ipod, than I do with my family. Does that automatically require that it move up the bulleted list of values in my life? I believe this to not be the case. While one cannot dismiss the quantity of time spent on something as an indicator of importance, it is not the only indicator. One indicator that I believe is crucial to declaring value, and priority is presence. We all can make a list of events that we attended that we were not present at. Whether it was a Sunday morning church service that we spent most of checking the scores of the game on our phone, a meeting where the most of our mental energy went into something taking place elsewhere, or a family dinner that we were disengaged from because of some distraction. I believe that the more we multi-task during a given event, meeting, or relationship, the message that we proclaim is that it may be important, but there are many other things that are just as important right now, so I will share this time with them. Back to the music and family analogy—I may listen to music while I am responding to emails or making phone calls, but in our house we do not typically listen to music during dinner. For me it is not a mood setter, but an attention getter. I do not have the capacity to allow music to be white noise. I will feel the need to analyze lyrics, musical features, and it will be splitting my attention from my family. I try and practice the discipline of presence to show my family and my self that this is a priority moment.

Recently I had a moment of epiphany regarding this idea of presence. As a lover of technology, my phone is one of the interfaces with technology that is important to me. I can check sports scores, send and receive text messages, emails, phone calls, browse the news, watch videos. It is simply amazing what can be accomplished on a phone today! However, all of these tasks and conveniences come at a price. That price is often seen in presence. How many times have we allowed an important conversation to be interrupted by an incoming call, or text? How many times have we allowed our attention to stray from the moment, to somewhere else because we were reading an email. The prophet Isaiah describes people who “have eyes but are blind,” and “have ears but are deaf.” I believe that by denying our presence to a given moment we are denying the ability of our eyes to see and our ears to hear. God gave me this thought,

“what if the things that I am listening to are keeping me from hearing the things that I really need to? What if the things that are occupying my time are not the most important things?”

I was convicted by this thought, and I resolved that I would make efforts to be present, especially when it came to the big 3 in my life. I made the decision that for a given period of time I would only carry my cell phone during business hours. When I arrived at home I put my phone away. If someone called during that time, they could leave me a voicemail. If they texted me, I would text them back tomorrow. If they emailed me, I would delete it tomorrow (after I replied of course)! I found this to be a freeing exercise. I was no longer being pulled in several directions at one time, but free to be present in the moment that I chose. Since that time, I have resumed carrying my phone with me, but I no longer feel the need to look at who is calling every time it rings, or to answer every email or text immediately. In my opinion, the more instant a communication is does not render it more efficient, simply more convenient. We should never confuse convenience with efficacy.

I think there is an important distinction to make here. I am not saying that in order to communicate priority and presence your environment must be completely clear of any form of distraction. What is required even more is a focus, or mental clarity in any given scenario. The environments that you are able actually control are likely to be non-existent, which would require more of a mental and relational discipline rather than a physical one. However the physical manifestation of such discipline can be the gateway and even catalyst to the mental and relational practice of it. This is what was demonstrated in my phone fast. The initial physical act of placing my phone away, lead me to an adoption of that discipline in a mental and relational form. Now I can carry my phone in my pocket and still maintain mental focus and presence in spite of it. My ability to be in the present is not dictated by the distractions.

So the theory is, the things with a higher level of importance are treated with a greater degree of presence. More presence, more importance.

What are they ways that I elevate the important things in my day?

What are the things that are the primary usurpers of my presence?

Do the things that I give more presence to result in a greater outcome than those that receive less presence?

Does it irritate me when others are not present in a moment that is important to me?

In addition to these thoughts:

Should the church be added into the list of great loves of my life? I mean, as a believer have I ever been commended in the Scriptures to love the church? I know that the Scriptures give the command to love the Lord, love the people around me, and to love my wife (in the same way that CHRIST loved the church). Should I demote the church to one of the lesser loves in my life?

Why I Love the Biggest Loser

Part 3 of my perspective on what makes ministry fulfilling and worthwhile:

I love NBC's The Biggest Loser. I'm not really a regular watcher of the show, but I enjoy watching the premier, and the finale. I know that's not really the kind of fan that the executives over at NBC are excited about, but it's not the show that I love so much as the idea that it represents: It shows that America still believes that people can change. I will admit, for the most part the change that is seen on the show is pretty shallow, but there are some significant life changes that are made as a result of the show. People whose weight was a risk to their health and future literally, in front of millions of Americans, transform into new people with new habits, and a new lease on life.

Isn't that really what faith does for us? We have struggles, fears, habits, and vices in our lives that we feel are impassable (at least on our own) and the Spirit of Christ in us makes us believe that we can change, that we can as the Apostle Paul said "be transformed" (Rom 12:2).

Well, why is it that we can see change in front of us on TV every Tuesday night, but when it comes to our own lives, our families, co-workers, friends, and communities we so quickly throw in the towel of hope and say that there is no way?

It is time for a change in our thinking.

It is time that we begin to believe in the life transforming power of the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is time that we begin to believe the truth, that:
Anyone can change.
Anyone can be saved.
Anyone can be healed.
Any family can be changed by Christ.
Any situation can turn for the good.

In Mark 6 there is a story about Jesus' disciples rowing across the Sea of Galilee when a storm came up and prevented them from crossing easily. Actually by verse 48, I’d be willing to bet these guys didn’t even think they would make it across at all. It was at that darkest moment when Jesus appeared to them (actually he came to them walking on the water). It is interesting to me that Jesus chose to come to them walking on the thing that they were most afraid of at the time: the WATER. They thought they were going to drown, or be overcome by the waves, but Jesus showed that he was greater than their biggest fear.

I think he does the same thing for us today. Sometimes it gets dark and downright frightening. All we can see is the impossibility around us, and we lose hope. But here comes Jesus speaking confidently to us:

"There are no lost causes."

Call me and tell me what you think of this blog:

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Have Fun and Laugh A LOT

Continuing on with thoughts of what makes ministry fulfilling and enjoyable:

I have always been one to crack jokes...often at the wrong time (but that will be for a later post). Maybe it's because I am the baby in my family, or simply because I have an aversion for things overly serious, but one of my favorite things in life is to make people laugh, and to laugh myself. There is something healing and powerful about laughter. As proverbs 17:22 puts it, " joyful heart is good medicine."

So overlay this onto the grid of ministry--if we are not having fun and laughing (not all the time, but at least some of the time) then we are building a joyless ministry. WE should be able to laugh at ourselves, and not always expect everyone to be so serious and stuffy all the time. This is what actually keeps many unbelievers from coming to church...they think it is boring and dull, no laughter, no life, no fun (and much of the time they are right).

Now I know that life isn't always fun, but it can be a lot more fun! If we don't have any joy in our lives (visible joy, not just joy inside and a stuffy frown outside) then what in the world are we preaching?

So have fun and laugh a lot, laugh at yourself, hey, even laugh at other people.

Where is God NOT?

Over the next few days I think I am going to post some thoughts about ministry, and the identifiers that make it personally fulfilling and enjoyable to me. They won't be in any order of importance, but just stream of consciousness type publishing. These have been rolling around in my head and on a few documents that I have been playing with for about a year, but I wanted to put them out there somewhere for input from others, and hopefully to make all of us think about what makes life and ministry worth giving ourselves to.

The church should be in the marketplace, simply because there is no place where God is not. I cannot imagine being satisfied with ministry that only had an impact inside a sanctuary, or was limited only to Sundays. I have a strong feeling that as a Christian and as a leader, I am to be a Christ-like influence where ever, and whenever. I also believe that the Church is not a building, it is a people, therefore wherever the people of Christ are, the church is. Hence, if the church is present, it should be doing something.

So what does a marketplace church look like? The beauty is, that it doesn't have to look the same as someone else's expression. The thing it needs to be is a change-bringer into lives and society. Many churches run coffee houses that become little community hubs, some churches run schools, daycares, really the options are endless. Honestly it can be something as simple as gathering a group of co-workers during lunch and studying the Scriptures. The point is that Chrisitians have the right and responsibility to be the church, not only in the privacy of their own homes or places of worship, but in the marketplace, where they work, live, shop, relax, etc.

Also, it should not seem strange that churches as organizations reach into "secular" realms to have influence. Churches should be involved in the entertainment industry, in the restaurant business, and every significant area of life. There is no place where God is not. He is native to every area of life, and so are his people.

The Social Internet

I thought I would put up a video that I worked on for a class I took this Winter. Interesting facts about how new technologies and tools of communication can impact the way we do ministry.

You may recognize Steve Bolen up there, and music from Adam Isaac.

Ministry at 50,000 volts

I was going through some old stuff and found the video of me last summer, getting tazered to raise money for missions at Cedar Park's Men's Breakfast. I am not sure what I was thinking, but I hope those missionaries used that money well.
Here is the video:

The worst part of it was when the pulled the hooks out of my back and butt. Here is that footage: