Words

Discovery 14 had a theme this year.  That theme was Because of God I Am.  We talked all weekend about finishing that statement.  Each disciple group finished that statement.  Each individual person involved in the weekend finished that statement by putting a word on a canvas.  Each talk finished that statement by focusing on one word.  The theme song for the weekend was "Words."

It's ironic that there were many times during the weekend that if I had all the words in the english language I couldn't describe to someone how I felt.  All I could do was smile.  Seeing all the youth have so much fun having a "dance party."  Seeing three churches come together for the weekend and have so much fun together.  Seeing the seniors who I have known since 6th grade lead Discovery so well (I can't believe how they have grown).  Hearing all of the thoughtful and personal talks from selfless senior high who knew just how to strike a chord with other youth and adults.  Seeing the youth praise band lead worship so well for the church.  Hearing Revelation Song sung like I have not heard it sung before.

Because of God I Am....speechless.  I have no words that could describe the chills I got so many times during the weekend.  I will let other people try to put the weekend into words.  I will remember the feelings that I had during the weekend and chalk it up to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Grace & Peace
Kevin

Lifesavers

     I am no longer surprised by anything that our youth today do.  In fact I have not been surprised by the things they are capable of for a long time.  They are such forward thinkers.  The only questions are which youth will step up next, when, and what great thing will they decide to do.  I got the next answer to those questions on Wednesday night.
     There was an article in the hood county news on Wednesday about a Tolar youth organization called Lifesavers.  Two of our youth from Acton were featured in this article which gave Blane Morris and Matt Moody the chance to speak for a few minutes about Lifesavers.  Their mission is for kids to inspire kids to choose to make a difference in this world and their communities through simple acts of kindness.  The youth started the program to help others in need which has included collecting food and clothing for the food pantry, raising money and groceries for a janitor who was injured and out of work, adopting 40 Tolar "angels," and feeding 250 homeless and volunteers later this month.  They will also be collecting new unwrapped toys for Tolar Christmas for Kids and Families.

 *Our AUMC youth will be bringing unwrapped toys on Wednesday to donate to this program if anybody who reads this would like to bring some items to donate*

     These youth saw a need and met that need on their own.  And that is what we need from these young people is to be self starters.  See a need and meet a need in any way they can.  As long as we continue to have young people who think about the needs of others we have great hope for the future.

Thank you to Matt, Blane, and the rest of these Tolar youth.

Grace & Peace
Kevin

Making Disciples

"Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." (Mission statement of The United Methodist Church)

     It is a great mission statement.  But like with other things, it is easier said than done.  In the great commission the last thing Jesus says is "go and make disciples."  If Jesus said it than it has to be important, right?  It is easier said than done, but that is no reason to give it any less than our best.  So how do we make disciples?  It's a tricky question because there are so many ways to do it.  It's like philosophy which I liked more than math because a lot of times there was no right answer just the having an opinion and defending your answer well.
     So how exactly do we make disciples?  Well there are a lot of ways but I have found some simple things that a person can do to help make disciples.  At least these are the 4 Simple Things that helped me:
     1.  Family:  Having a family who believes in the importance of faith, church, and disciple making was very helpful to me.  It is much easier to believe in making disciples when your family believes in its importance as well.
     2.  Church ministries:  Not just going to church but being a part of a church and being able to participate in church ministries and contribute to the church as a whole.  One of the biggest influences on my life was going to youth group when I was in junior high and high school.  It made a huge impact on me.  I do wish that youth could have and been allowed to be a bigger part of the church as a whole, which is why I am have advocated for it for our current youth.
     3.  Mentors:  I think mentors get left behind a bit in how big a part they play in helping make disciples when we look at #1-3, but realize that mentors are of significant importance.  I did not have a so called "mentor" in name growing up, but looking back on it over the last few years I have come to realize they were there in a mentor capacity and still are today.  Mentors are so important because they provide honest feedback, are someone to lean on, you can bounce ideas and concerns off them, and they are there to help you unconditionally no matter the situation.  Mentors are huge in facilitating discipleship development.
     4. Understand that it is now about you:  Making disciples is not and will not be about you, it is about someone else.  But along with that, I have been able to walk with youth and others in their faith and that is rewarding to be able to have an impact on others.  And to know that those who disciples will make disciples, who will make disciples is what it is all about.

I know there are numerous ways to help making disciples so feel free to chime in.  There is no exact science on how to go about making disciples, we just do it.  My hope is that you find a way to make disciples that works for you.  It is of great importance and we are all capable of doing it.

Do or do not, there is no try :)


Grace & Peace
Kevin

Would it Matter

Notes from Last Nights Youth Message:

"You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight.  You'll never, ever know."

"Here is the message I want to send to you: you are just as valuable as any other person on earth."

     These are a couple of quotes taken from the book Almost Christian in regards to something that occurred in Gainesville, Tx in 2008.  Gainesville State is a maximum security prison which houses high school aged convicted felons.  Playing football for them is an activity that is earned and they only play games on the road.

     Before a game in 2008, the head coach of the opposing team from Grapevine Faith had an idea.  He asked half of their fans to cheer for the opposing Gainesville State team.  He wanted to send a message to those players that they mattered.  Since they play all their games on the road they usually don't have many if any fans cheering for them.  In the years since, other high schools have done something similar for the team.  Below is a video about this:

     We may never truly know the impact that we can make on the life of someone else.  You can make an impact, even if you don't know it right away. You matter.  Everyone matters.

Grace & Peace

Kevin

God's In Crowd

"I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future."  (Jeremiah 29:11)

     That has been pretty much my favorite bible verse for a while now.  It just keeps coming up.  It came up again last night when Courtney Traylor delivered an amazing message to all of our youth.  (I have on good authority that Jeremiah 29:11 is her favorite bible verse too.)
     I cannot give justice to how passionate and meaningful Courtney's message was so I will just give you a couple points to think about that Courtney brought up last night.
     First, remember that in times of struggle, and times of trial even if you yourself don't realize it-God is there.  You may not realize it at the time but He is there.  Courtney talked about problems that youth face in school such as bullying and being popular or not.  And in those times God is always with us helping us get through it, we sometimes just don't realize it.
     Second, to quote Courtney: "remember that you are always part of God's in crowd."  I really like that statement.  Not all of us are going to be part of the in crowd at school.  I sure wasn't.  Courtney, by her own admission, wasn't either.  A lot of us focus on being part of the "in" crowd at school but what does that really even mean?  Who determines who's in and who's out?  And does that really matter.  No!!  We shouldn't worry about that.  The in crowd that we should worry about is God's in crowd.  And we are and always will be part of that in crowd.  We belong to God and there is great hope in that!!

Grace & Peace
Kevin

Bullying

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." ~Micah 6:8

Most of us have probably heard this verse.  What then does this verse say about bullying?  Well nothing directly about bullying but more so about the absence of bullying.  To paraphrase: We are to be just, love mercy, and walk in the way God wants us to walk.  And I'm pretty sure that any form of bullying doesn't fall under what this verse asks us to do.  Sometimes that involves going against the norm.

No one sits with him, he doesn't fit in.

But we feel like we do when we make fun of him.

Cause you want to belong, do you go along?

Cause his pain is the price for you to belong.

These are lyrics from a Christian music song entitled Hero by Superchick.  This verse is about bullying.  I'm sure we have all known someone or are that someone that this verse is talking about.  It may not mean a lot to everyone, but it means a lot to some.  

Think about the last line: Cause his pain is the price for you to belong.  What image pops into your head?  Is it the bully or the person being bullied.  To me the image that pops into my head when I hear that line is Jesus.  His pain=your belonging.  Even Jesus was bullied.  People lied about him, made up stories about him, mocked him, threw things at him, and spit on him.  And most of them did it to be part of the "in crowd."  So they could feel like they belonged.  How twisted is that?  And do you know what he didn't do?  He didn't fight back.  He didn't fight back because he took that abuse for you and me and everyone.  He could have been mean, but he wasn't.  We are to follow his example and be just, love mercy, and walk humbly.  We belong just as we are.  Just as God made each and every one of us.  There is no need to tear each other down.

Grace & Peace
Kevin

Converge and Beyond

"Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among you."~Matthew 18:20


     Last Wednesday was See You at the Pole.  Students from all around the area gather churches gather at their schools in the morning before school and pray for their schools and the community.  That night area churches gathered at Decker Field for Converge (our annual community SYATP rally).  Converge is defined as: to tend toward or achieve union or a common conclusion or result.  The point of the Converge rally was for area youth groups to come together for fellowship and worship.  I am not sure exactly how many church youth groups were present last night but it was at least 13.  We do not all believe the exact same thing which is okay.  But we are able each year (hopefully more this year) come together to fellowship and worship together.  And that is what is important.
     Having met and planned the event with other youth directors, it was great to see how the event came together.  All of the planning was simply and easily divided up among each youth leader so that everything was covered which included: a speaker, a band, a location, advertising, t-shirts, giveaways, and food.  And it came together without a hitch.  I think this was able to occur because there were no egos involved.  As the above verse says, we gathered together for a common purpose which was to praise and worship our Lord and savior.  It was a great event with probably around 400-500 youth from Granbury and the surrounding communities.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and got along great.  I don't see why we can't do this again and more often.  All it took was some planning towards a common goal of prayer and worship of Jesus.  I think that is all something that we can all "rally" around again and again.

Grace & Peace
Kevin