Come As You Are

Sometimes I feel I need to "fix myself" before I can go to God.

Came across this amazing quote from Spurgeon today.  

Let it sink in and enjoy.  Jesus always accepts the one who will come to Him.

"This man receiveth sinners," but He repulses none.  We come to Him in weakness and sin, with trembling faith, and small knowledge, and slender hope; but He does not cast us out.  We come by prayer, and that prayer broken;  with confession, and that confession faulty; with praise, and that praise far short of His merits; but yet He receives us.  We come diseased, polluted, worn out, and worthless; but He doth in no wise cast us out.  Let us come again today to Him who never casts us out.

Thank you God that we come to you as we are.

Sticky Faith Cohort - Taking a Sip From a Fire Hydrant

What an amazing 3 days!

Part of the next gen team from my home church attended Fuller Youth Institute's Sticky Faith Cohort.  We and other churches from around the country are learning how to be more effective in preparing children, youth and families for the challenges they face after leaving high school and college, specifically challenges to their faith.

My team is encouraged, blown away and ready to tackle some issues.  We have never been more passionate about seeing the faith of our children and youth deepen as they grow and are released into emerging adulthood.

As I'm trying to wrap my mind around all we heard and learned these are some realities we're facing.

We have a lot of work to do.

We're not leaving discouraged, but know this journey isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.  To begin the process we're going to sit down with other staff members, parents and church leaders and take time to listen.  So often we can make the mistake of moving ahead without fully understanding.  So the question for us is simple, what can we learn from others that will help us develop and provide opportunities for the faith of our kids to flourish.

We must continue this journey.

As a team we're convinced that if we don't work to build authentic, grace driven faith in the lives of our kids and families, the church will continue to loose emerging adults.  For far too long the church in general has taught a theology of sin management instead of a transformational gospel.  As we invest in the younger generation we long to see fruit that remains.  Not just fruit that lasts through high school but for a lifetime.

We (next gen team) cannot do this alone.

The responsibility of handing authentic faith to the next generation involves parents, youth workers, volunteers, senior citizens, all staff members and everyone who is a part of the church family.  Sometimes we (youth workers) act as if we have to do this alone.  When considering the work ahead there is no room for a "Lone Ranger" attitude.  We need to see ourselves as ambassadors to the rest of our church family.  Our message?  Jesus has a special place in his heart for the younger generation and each of us who are older share the responsibility of loving, knowing and declaring God's greatness.

By the way, there is so much more we're thinking about.  While we definitely feel like flies taking a sip from a fire hydrant, we're going to slowly process what we feel God would have us put in practice.

Here's the good news, God is already at work in our churches.  What a privilege to be used by him to accomplish his heart and passion for kids.

Let's be faithful, creative, humble and patient as we work towards our calling to teach and model a faith that sticks.

Quote of the Day

The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be understood as follows: grace is the only thing that delivers human beings from evil; without it, they do absolutely nothing good, whether in thought, or in will and emotion, or in action. Grace not only makes known to people what they ought to do, but also enables them to perform with love the duty that they know.

Augustine

I Feel Guilty

To be honest I feel guilty much of the time. I wake up in the morning thinking, "I did that too much", or "I didn't do that enough" or " I was too selfish" or "My words were a little harsh".

Ok, I know. It doesn't seem very healthy does it? Don't worry, after a while I get over it and refocus my attention. My focus slowly turns from thinking about me and my inadequacy to God and his limitless grace.

Here's the point. God delights in his people.

Psalm 149
For the Lord takes delight in his people.

The word delight kind of blew me away this morning. It doesn't say, "the Lord tolerates his people" or "the Lord is constantly frustrated with his people", it says he delights in his people.

He actually enjoys and cherishes us.

It's important to be sensitive to sin in our lives and there's always freedom to repent and be restored, but even in that whole process God's grace and favor is evident.

So join me today as I focus on God's delight in his people. Yes, we delight in him but the feelings are mutual!