6 Valuable Lessons for Youth Pastors

6 Valuable Lessons for Youth Pastors

1. Be flexible. Majority of our day-to-day tasks in youth ministry are very random. It isn't uncommon for my day to go from a brainstorming meeting, to a counseling session and then a hospital visit. Flexibility is one of the main ingredients to longevity in youth ministry, and it actually relieves the stress of ministry. Those who are a step-by-step, can't-miss-a-beat type of person usually don't last long in youth ministry. So be flexible.

2. Go the extra mile. Make things the best that they can be. Consider the task you are assigned as the bottom floor. When given a task or project, look for ways to save time and money. Sometimes that means making sure you don't have to make another trip somewhere or completing the whole task instead of just the part you where assigned.

- See more at: http://ministrytodaymag.com/index.php/ministry-life/youth/21165-6-valuable-lessons-for-youth-pastors#sthash.OMVIyGQQ.dpuf

What is an evangelical?

What is an evangelical?

We're evangelical. We're passionate: about God, about the Church and about the Bible.

We're evangelical. We've decided to live our lives with Jesus –the saviour of the world and son of God –at the centre.

We're evangelical. We humbly and lovingly believe that the best thing for our families, friends, neighbours, nation and world is that they live their lives with Jesus too.

We're evangelical. We believe that God is with us and empowers us by His Spirit.

We're evangelical. We love the Bible. It bears witness to God's revelation in Jesus Christ.It invites us into the story of God and the world. It guides us in how we live our lives and has so much to say about what it is to be human and how we should do life together: with God and with each other.

We're evangelical. So we just can't keep quiet about it.

We're evangelical.

7 Traits of Pastors Who Lead Breakout Churches

7 Traits of Pastors Who Lead Breakout Churches

If you want to experience an "a-ha" moment about revitalizing churches, this research may be the near the top.

Most of you have heard the dire information and statistics about congregations in North America. Indeed, I have been among the purveyors of the negative news. For sure, the overall picture is gloomy. There is no hiding from that reality.

- See more at: http://ministrytodaymag.com/index.php/ministry-leadership/personal-character/21162-7-traits-of-pastors-who-lead-breakout-churches#sthash.tdMRWFRW.dpuf

My uttermost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Are you ever troubled

John 14 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Jesus comforts his disciples

14 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.’

Jesus the way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’

6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’

9 Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit

15 ‘If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me any more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?’

23 Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 ‘All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 ‘You heard me say, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.” If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

‘Come now; let us leave.

There are times in our lives when our peace is based simply on our own ignorance. But when we are awakened to the realities of life, true inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus. When our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace, because the words that He speaks are always “spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Have I ever received what Jesus speaks? “. . . My peace I give to you. . .”— a peace that comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment.

Are you severely troubled right now? Are you afraid and confused by the waves and the turbulence God sovereignly allows to enter your life? Have you left no stone of your faith unturned, yet still not found any well of peace, joy, or comfort? Does your life seem completely barren to you? Then look up and receive the quiet contentment of the Lord Jesus. Reflecting His peace is proof that you are right with God, because you are exhibiting the freedom to turn your mind to Him. If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security.

Read more here:

Mark Driscoll Steps Down From Mars Hill Pulpit

Mark Driscoll Steps Down From Mars Hill Pulpit

Controversial Seattle megachurch founder Mark Driscoll will step down for at least six weeks while church leaders review formal charges lodged by a group of pastors that he abused his power.

The 43-year-old pastor has been under fire in recent months for plagiarism, inappropriate use of church funds and improper behavior toward subordinates.

Returning from vacation Sunday, Driscoll addressed Mars Hill worship services through a pre-recorded message.

"I want to say to my Mars Hill family, past and present, I'm very sorry. I genuinely mean it," Driscoll said in his address. "I'm very sorry for the times I've been angry, short or insensitive. I'm very sorry for anything I've done to distract from our mission by inviting criticism, controversy or negative media attention."

Driscoll said he will not do any outside speaking for the foreseeable future and postpone the publication of his next book.

"I have begun meeting with a professional team of mature Christians who provide wise counsel to help further my personal development and maturity before God and men," Driscoll told the congregation.

Mark DeMoss, an Atlanta public-relations consultant and former adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, has been brought in to work with the congregation.

DeMoss, who represented the late Jerry Falwell Sr. and now Franklin Graham, said he attended the services in Seattle today on his own expense as Driscoll's friend.

This gay-friendly makeover of the miners' strike is deeply patronising, Telegraph

This gay-friendly makeover of the miners' strike is deeply patronising

 Modern culture is obsessed with the idea of gays giving straights a moral makeover. Apparently gays are really politically switched-on and super-fashionable – not to mention dab hands at interior design! – and so they are encouraged to grab straights by the scruffs of their badly dressed necks and turn them into better people. You see this trope everywhere these days: in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; in the Aussie reality TV show that sent a busload of drag queens to “educate” the beer-swilling inhabitants of South Australia; in Glee, in which pretty much every storyline involves a monosyllabic jock having his prejudices corrected by a shy, erudite gay kid. The TV Tropes website describes this kind of character as the “Magical Queer”, who has “all of the wisdom in the world because he is gay” and who is often charged with “bringing culture to his heterosexual brothers and sisters”.

  

Well, now the “Magical Queer” is being sent back in time to give a moral makeover to historical figures. Consider the striking miners. These angry, blokeish fighters for jobs and pay of the Eighties are clearly seen as being a bit too macho for our soft, caring times, and so they are being made over in an attempt to make them more palatable and sympathetic to modern sensibilities. Who is making them over? Gays, of course! There have in recent years been two major mainstream movies about the miners’ strike, and it is surely not a coincidence that both of them have had strong gay themes. We’re witnessing the gaying of the miners’ strike. (There have actually been three mainstream movies about the miners’ strike – we’ll get to the third in a moment.)

I grew up in the 1980's and although I remember the miner' s strike, I don't remember any Gay activists having a great impact  on  the strike. 

Read more here:

Smashing the Myth of American Church Success

Smashing the Myth of American Church Success

There is a myth of church success in America that says, "The bigger the building, the bigger the budget, the bigger the attendance, the more successful you are."

In the sight of man, this might equal success. But in the sight of God, it may have nothing to do with success. In fact, it might simply be the beautiful facade hiding all kinds of spiritual rot and decay.

To be clear, I have had the privilege of preaching in some of the finest megachurches in America, replete with large buildings, big budgets and multiplied thousands of attendees. And I can personally attest to the fact that some of these churches are healthy in many ways: focused on Jesus, reaching the lost, making disciples, and giving themselves to prayer.

And some of them are doing this at least as well as many smaller churches and house groups.

So, I'm all for "big" as long as that "big" equates to maturity in Jesus, effective outreach to the lost, compassionate giving to the poor, life in the Spirit, and a powerful expression of the Great Commission. It is in that context that Acts records the growing numbers of disciples (see, for example, Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7).