New Friends and Old Friends

Last night I headed down to Puyallup (South Hill actually) to preach at Destiny Christian Center's Youth Service. The youth pastor there, Matt Benson is a great guy, and a new friend of mine. It was really refreshing to visit a church in a different city, and talk with another youth pastor, and encourage each other, and share some of the tough spots. Matt is a great youth pastor who is doing great things in the south Sound region.

One thing I appreciated about him is the fact that he has been in youth ministry for 8 years.....at the same church! In the big picture that would be considered a youth pastor dinosaur. I think the average youth pastor is at one church somewhere in the ballpark of 18 months. This year I will have been at my church for 9 years. It is great to see youth pastors really sticking through some of the tough times and making a significant difference.

It was also great to see Suzy Reed (and Kyle too) who was an intern here at CP last year, and has been a good friend of Sandy and I.

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.