Student Ministry Transferables

I recently had a great time with some new friends in Austin, Texas. We spent the weekend together at their church getting to know one another and their youth ministry. They have the desire to build some foundations for their ministry that will be transferable even with different youth directors. I have the privilege of help them with this process.

The first weekend was all about observation. There was copious amounts of time spent with parents, youth committee members and students. As I listened to the heart cry of each group there were a few themes I believe to be true not only for this church but for almost every student ministry.

Here's a few...

Students want more than fun and games

As I spoke with these students it was obvious they were hungry for relationship. One theme that kept coming out was their longing to know each other. Every student is looking for community and will find it somewhere. It could be the lacrosse team or the band, but as youth workers our longing is the body of Christ becomes their most meaningful community.

The other comment that resonated with me dealt with wanting more than simply knowing about Jesus, they want to know him personally. In fact one student used the illustration of "knowing about Sam Bradford vs. knowing Sam Bradford. Unfortunate quarterback choice but I got the point.

Yes, there is a place for games but student need opportunity to get serious about relationships. Notice the nice segue.

Relationship is King

Students engage in activities where they know others and are know by others. "Sometimes you want to be where everybody knows your name" is a heart cry of every student. Students connecting with students and caring adult leaders must be a value of every student ministry.

Volunteer Leaders want to be equipped and supported

Adult leaders are busy. The delicate balance of providing support and training but not demanding too much time is an issue in my own student ministry and every student ministry I've seen. Leaders don't want to be dropped off at some island with middle school boys and told to fend for themselves. They also don't want endless meetings that bring little value.

It's more of an art than a science to figure out the balance, but it must be constantly discussed and tweaked.

Parents want their kids to want to go to church

Sure, parents have other goals for their kids, but if their son or daughter doesn't give them a hard time about going to church they're pretty much satisfied. I'm not real sure how I feel about this, I just know it's common to every student ministry situation.

That's my 2 cents worth. Are these observations true of your context? If they are what are you doing to address them?

See you later, I have a lot of work to do in my own student ministry.

Am I Fat? Part 2

Earlier today I mentioned some things we're thinking about as it relates to teen age girls and body image. Here's Shelley's thoughts on the weekend she just spent with girls talking about this stuff.

"Last weekend the 8th-12th grade girls loaded the vans and headed to Sky Ranch for a "girls only" retreat! We had a blast...lake and pool activities, ropes course, the land blob (a favorite for the girls), eating A LOT of junk food (so much so that we had a vomit from the top bunk @ 5 am and it landed
in another girls bag...I know...y'all wish you were in Student ministry),
and so much more! The focus of the weekend was "how our insecurities affect our relationship with God and our relationship with others." We spend time
meditating on Phil. 4:8 and Psalm 139. I was reminded throughout the weekend just how much pressure teenage girls face on a daily basis...pressure to be
the skinniest, the prettiest, the smartest, and the list goes on and on. God moved in some big ways! Here are what some of the girls are saying"

hey Shelley :)
I wanted to thank you for asking me to go on the sky ranch girl's retreat, I'm so glad I went !
I loved it and I had a really good time. I feel more secure with myself now, and I finally understand why God made us the way we are.

I am so happy I got to go Shelley it was amazing!!!! Thanks (:
and I have done from head to toe, thanked God for all of my body parts and why. Still two more haha(: ill let you know asap. Byeee

Hey Shelley! I just wanted to let you know I had a great time at the
retreat! I haven't been comparing myself to anyone and I've been looking in their eyes but I have been comparing my accomplishments to someone elses. But that was only once!

Don't you love their honesty! Attached are a couple of pics from the weekend...ENJOY!

Shelley

Do You Think I'm Fat?

This morning I find myself burdened and frustrated.

If you work with middle school or high school students you know that teen aged girls struggle with body image at a deep level. The reality of this struggle hit me in a fresh way yesterday.

Our girls just returned from a retreat over the weekend. Shelley, our associate pastor, led them through a discussion of how God made them beautiful and valuable. For the most part our girls buy into truth when they're discussing it, but when their gaurd is down and boys aren't around it's easy to see what they're really feeling.

They play the comparison game, they talk about what they hate about themselves, from their hair to their toes. It seems there's a deep perversion of the truth that God made them beautiful and valuable on the inside and out. In reality 80% of American women say they're dissatisfied with the way they look.

What feeds this perversion? Where does it come from? After discussing this with Shelley yesterday it seems there are primarily 2 sources; media and words.

Our media sets a standard of beauty that's ridiculous and untrue. Our culture applauds the outward and rarely focuses on what's on the inside. Most girls fall victim to the lie that beauty is what you see on the front of cosmo. Take some time and watch some television. From Glee, to Dancing with the Stars to The Bachelor; these shows set a standard of beauty that's really just skin deep.

This is a great video article on media and gender issues. Warning: It's PG 13 stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufHrVyVgwRg&feature=player_embedded#!

The second cause for unhealthy thinking about appearance is words. Words from parents and friends. A mom says, "you need to lose 5 pounds" or a boyfriend says, "why are your calves so fat". When a person already feels insecure these "innocent" comments can send a girl to a very dark place.

So my question is this, how do we change the culture? How do we help young women see themselves the way God sees them?

I hope you have some good answers because I'm not sure I do. Here's a couple of thoughts...

Let's look for ways to compliment that have nothing to do with how one looks or what a person wears. We should go out of our way to share with our girls positive things that have nothing to do with appearance.

What about challenging the culture? I'm not sure the best way to do this, but somehow we have to open the eyes of our girls and all our students about the lies of media and culture.

I'm also thinking about ways to help the high school guys I'm around think differently about what makes a girl (and themselves) valuable.

Finally, make sure you have "Shelleys" around. If you're a man in ministry do whatever it takes to get women around to love girls well and see the body image issue clearly.

Do you have any input? I hope you do. This is a big deal for those of us who long to see students embrace Jesus and follow him well.

Somtimes You Need To Hear It (or read it)

So I ran into a student on facebook last night. To be honest we hadn't talked in 5 years. She was very active in our youth group her freshman and sophomore years but after that we kind of lost track of her...until now.

I'm not sure why we didn't peruse her better when she left (maybe we did and I don't remember) but as she told me about the next 4 years of her life it made me really sad and angry. She told me story after story of struggle and betrayal. People that should had taken care of her but didn't. I couldn't help but wonder "what if"?

What if when we didn't see her around one of our adult leaders had pursued her a little more?

What if she had felt such a strong community connection that she didn't wander off?

Here's the cool thing. As I told her I was sorry for things that happened in her life she told me she doesn't really regret her past, she actually appreciates it. It's as if she can see God's hand directing her on a journey, some of the journey enjoyable, other parts miserable but all for her good to get her where she is today.

She's now graduated from college and says she's fulfilling her purpose and passion in life. She's teaching special needs children. I could sense the joy in her words as I read them on the bottom right corner of my screen.

I'm so proud of her.

So, why did she "im" me last night? She just wanted to make sure I knew I had made a difference in her life, that's all.

Until she told me I didn't realize it. To be honest I really needed to hear that from her. It's funny how those we serve eventually end up encouraging us.

As I've thought about my chat with her last night here are 3 thoughts for you and me.

• If you work with students you're making a difference whether you realize it or not. God gives the increase and many times we don't see it this side of heaven.

• There's probably someone you need to send a message to today and tell them thank you for the difference they made in your life. As you know that little glimpse of how God has worked goes a long way.

• God works in lives of those around us even when we're not there. Yes, God can get things done without us.

So today, be encouraged that God is working and make a phone call or send a facebook message. I am.

Are you lonesome tonight?

"It's at night when its' the hardest. When I'm alone, that's when it really hits me. I wish it was tomorrow already so I could be with the people"

Last night cruising through facebook I found this quote written by one of my students. If you were to casually see her around you probably wouldn't catch on to the fact that she is lonely. Many times I forget people around me are struggling with loneliness. This is true of adults I encounter but perhaps even more true for students. The truth is all people feel lonely sometimes and some people feel lonely all the time.

"The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody"

Mother Theresa

Here are a few random thoughts on loneliness...

* Loneliness has little to do with the absence of people

Sometimes people who are the life of the party are the ones who feel the loneliest. Don't be fooled by the person who is in the center of everything. It could be they're trying to ease the pain by acting loud and together.

* Loneliness is many times covered up by busyness

People do a great job of medicating the things that hurt. It makes sense. You have a headache you take an aspirin. You feel lonely when you have nothing to do, you fill your life with all kinds of activity. Activity only eases the symptom. A person is truly healthy when they're comfortable alone and comfortable in a group.

* Loneliness is ultimately being homesick for God

This thought isn't original with me (like anything truly is?) but I love it. God has made each person with a longing for togetherness, to be together with Him and then together with one another.

For those of us who work with students it's our mission to connect students with God and with each other. It's become vogue in the last few years to speak of authentic, God centered community, but that's actually what the church should be about.

Keep pressing students toward intimacy with God. Keep encouraging students towards community with each other and the rest of the body. Your group is more than a high school band or middle school football team. Yes, students will find community somewhere but there's only one person and one community that meets the deepest longing of the soul.

It's hard to believe
that there's nobody out there
It's hard to believe
that I'm all alone
At least I have her love
the city she loves me
Lonely as I am
together we cry

Let's make sure students know there's more than a city that loves them. There's a savior and his people who become family for those without.

Do churched students understand and embrace the gospel?

Over the last few days I've been speaking with some students who have been in church for years.

As we begin to talk about God and the gospel it becomes clear they don't fully understand the story of God redeeming his people. Sure, many students cannot as clearly articulate the gospel as preachers or seminary professors, (well to be honest, some students can share it more effectively) but that's not the issue here. They truly don't seem to understand faith, sacrifice, repentance and the basic pieces of the gospel story.

So I'm curious. If you work with students when and how often to you talk about the gospel?

When sharing the gospel here are the major points I want students (or adults) to hear.

God created us for himself - Col 1:16

Often students see God as a cosmic Santa Clause. They treat him as if He exist for us to give us what we want. The truth is all things were created by God for God. The gospel must begin with God.

We don't live for him we live for ourselves - Is 53:6

God created us to live for him but we're like sheep, we go our own way and rebel against God. That's called sin.

There is a penalty for sin, death - Rom 6:23

Students seem to understand and long for justice. They also understand death, however this is a difficult truth to swallow; that the penalty for their sin is death, physical death and spiritual death.

At this point it's good to talk about how all this is bad news. To be separate from God and face the penalty for our sins is not a good thing, but there's good news.

Jesus paid our penalty - 1 Peter 3:18

This is when it gets exciting. Students light up when they think about Jesus taking the punishment we deserve. Sometimes it's good to give a corny illustration like "if you were caught robbing a bank and received a 25 year sentence and someone came and went to jail in your place, that's a microscopic picture of what Jesus did."

Our response, belief and repentance - John 3:16

At this point it's all about responding to the gospel. If a person believes and embraces the story of the gospel then they enter into relationship with God and their sins will be forgiven, not based on anything they have done but only based on the grace of God.

So I'm going to more often talk about Jesus doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The gospel not only brings us into relationship with God but also gives the power we need to live for him but I suppose that's a entirely different blog post.

So, what am I leaving out of the gospel story? How often and how do you share the gospel?

Bad Friday?

My son Zach (17) just asked me if today was Good Friday and if this is the day we reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus. He then asked an even better question, if it's the day we think about the death of Jesus why do we call it "good"? It would seem that thinking about the torture of Jesus might cause us to call today bad Friday.

Today is the day we reflect on what I believe is the greatest collision of all time. The cross is the place where the perfect love of God and the perfect righteousness of God collided. God has a perfect love for his people so by his grace he made a plan to redeem them. God has a perfect righteousness and is just so he must punish sin.

These 2 pieces his character came together at the point Jesus was on the cross, in fact there is no event in history that more clearly reveals the true character of God.

The cross makes a way for us to receive forgiveness for our sins and enter into relationship with a holy God and his people. Without the cross we are still guilty in our sin and separate from God.

That's why this is a very good day. Wouldn't you agree?

Keep It Fresh

To be honest I've never been that great of a bike racer. I raced for 4 years and had a couple top 5 finishes. Our team did very well and won some races. It was great fun to be a part of a successful team but in reality I was pretty mediocre as a cyclist.

Even though I wasn't winning races I was fit. Saturday mornings would consist of a 3 1/2 hour training ride that was about 70 miles. The ride averaged about 22 mph which is actually pretty fast. When I was training I would ride around 175 miles a week.

That was 2 years ago.

Saturday I went on a group ride with some fast riders. At first I thought it wouldn't be a problem to hang on and enjoy the ride. You see, I haven't really been on a serious ride in about 8 months but something in me believed I still had "it" whatever "it" is.

Within 30 minutes or so I was suffering immensely. I couldn't hang on just because I was in good shape 2 years ago.

Here's the deal. It doesn't matter how fit you WERE. All that matters is how fit you ARE. This is true for bike racing and true for ministry.

Are you ever tempted to lean on how God used you in the past? Are you always telling stories of what God did a few years back but don't have stories about what God is doing now?

I'm not saying we should forget God's faithfulness of the past but if ancient history is what you remember most fondly perhaps it's time to do a serious assessment of your life and ministry in the now. It's often an uphill battle to stay fresh and live in the now. God longs to work in you and through you now, not just in the future or in the past.

So here are a couple of suggestions of how to stay fresh. I hope to apply them to my life soon...

Take a 1 day refreshment retreat

Go to your immediate supervisor and ask for permission to get away for a day to reflect and pray. When I do this I take a book, Bible and pen and paper. Sometimes it's great to go with no agenda. Just sit and listen to God. Take a nap, read or just daydream.

Go to a conference

Ok, you may not learn anything new, but being around people who do what you do is almost always energizing. You may not learn anything new but you may be reminded of something you forgot.

Visit another church

Worshiping in another setting where you have no responsibly is awesome. I need to try this a couple times a year.

I know you have some suggestions of what you do to stay current and fresh. Please post them for all to enjoy.

May we be pastors and leaders who experience the presence and work of Jesus NOW. Let's fight to stay fresh.

Jesus in a Prom Dress - Update

So proud of our girls. Here's an update. If you missed the original article you can find it here

http://david-inrepair.blogspot.com/2010/03/jesus-in-prom-dress.html

The Irving Womens Network highlighted the work that the High School girls have done with the prom dresses.

Here’s the latest count on items donated:

• Dresses: around 150
• Jewelry: between 30 and 40 necklaces and around 50 pair of earrings
• Shoes: about 45 pairs of shoes
• Purses: 25

Also, many people have donated beautiful mirrors and decorations! Thanks to all of you have generously given to the girls of Irving!

Shelley Lee

Does God Drink Mountain Dew?

Sometimes you have one of those conversations. Just the other night I was hanging out with a student who is absolutely brilliant. She was struggling with the idea that God is always present. In fact she was even using big words like omnipresent. Pretty impressive huh?

For most of us God's constant presence is a comforting thought. Who wouldn't want a loving, caring compassionate God to always be near? But for my friend the reality of God's constant presence is very confusing.

You see, she's a victim of abuse and can't quite understand how a God who is loving could have been present in the middle of her abuse. She understands God's presence intellectually and theologically but struggles tremendously with her feelings. (doesn't that makes sense?)

She asked a great question, "if God is always present was he even there during my abuse?"

My response? "Where do you think God was?"

In an appropriately angry voice she replied,

"I don't know, maybe sitting in a lounge chair drinking a mountain dew or something?"

It's a raw and honest response.

The whole conversation made we wonder. There are many students in our ministries who are hurting and confused. I want to be careful that I don't over simplify and give antiseptic / simple answers to deep difficult questions.

Yes, Jesus does bring restoration. Yes, he is always present. But struggling through the problem of evil is very complex, especially for those who have experience evil first hand.

As a reminder to us all, let's not over simplify complex issues, especially this issue of evil. Statements like, "life hurts God heals" and "Jesus brings healing" and "all things work together for good" are true but typically come in a long process for people who have been hurt deeply. In fact, those promises only become fully true when we go to heaven.

Jesus has a tremendous amount of compassion for us and our students who have been abused and forgotten. There are no quick fixes, let's not give the impression there are.

For the record, I don't think God enjoys Mountain Dew. I'm just saying.

Precious is in Your Youth Group

I watched the movie "Precious" the other night. As you probably know the movie is about a teen girl growing up in New York city. Her entire life has been characterized by physical, verbal and emotional abuse.

Now before you rush out and watch the movie please be aware that there are disturbing scenes of physical and sexual abuse. There's nothing erotic about the scenes but to be honest it was difficult for me to watch.

As in every movie there were points in the movie I shed a tear or two but "Precious" has impacted me in a more profound way than other movies. For 3 days I haven't been able to get "Precious" off my mind.

I've been wondering, are there students I come in contact with that are in similar situations? Sure it may not be as extreme, but isn't there a good chance that if you are like me and work with students, every week we are making eye contact with students who have been neglected and abused?

1 in 3 girls and 1 and 7 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. This means it's very likely that students we are brushing up against every day have experienced abuse. That statistic doesn't even cover other physical and emotional abuse.

So here's what I've been asking myself. How do I see students? Do I simply look at the exterior? What are they wearing? How are they behaving? Or do I take the time to look beneath the surface?

When we come across a student that is difficult to handle and perhaps not that much fun to be around there's a chance there just acting in a way that makes sense. When we encounter a student who seems to have extreme anger issues maybe they're angry because they should be.

You never know, we may be the only source of hope a student has. As youth workers, we could be the first person who has ever really shown a student compassion. That's a really big deal.

So, tonight or this weekend when you're around students, and THAT kid is there, take some time to look beneath the surface. Let's remember that Jesus is in the business of making all things new and even in the toughest situations he can bring restoration. Jesus loved the unlovely, let's keep doing that but even more.

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!

Jesus in a Prom Dress

This was written by one of our super star volunteer leaders, Mary Pruitt. Shelley is the associate pastor in our youth ministry at Irving Bible Church. She's an incredible leader. I'm so proud of our girls and their leaders.

Enjoy

Shelley first asked several high school leaders if we thought our girls would like to help set up a store for homeless teens to go and be fitted for prom dresses. Of course, we jumped on the chance, because we are always looking for ways to our girls engage with Jesus and serve others. We have amazing girls who love to serve. As Shelley described the project, I realize, this might be the ultimate girl’s service project ever! They get to donate their old dresses, set up a shop and serve all at the same time! We had a brief meeting with the girls and sent out Facebook messages as reminders. The girls showed up with old prom and banquet dresses, shoes and even a few decorations for the shop.

The shop is located in an old antique shop in downtown Irving. The space is lined with empty individual rooms; the prom dress room is located at the front of the store. When we arrived, the room was empty except for two racks, an empty jewelry case and a chair. When we left, the racks where filled with dresses, we had an area to display shoes, the walls were brightly decorated, and a mannequin in a beautiful gown was set up in the front window.

While we were setting up, we went to the back of the space to locate items for the prom room, and we passed other empty rooms. Shelley explained to me they were going to make one a room for baby clothes, so the homeless teenage mothers could shop for clothes for their children. There was a room that was devoted to young men. Another area would be for the teenage girls to shop for everyday clothes. Passing the empty rooms, Shelley and I discussed bringing the girls back to help set up more rooms.

We didn’t even have to convince the girls that our work there wasn’t done. Before we left, we had all caught a vision for what our roll might be. Several girls were talking about things they had at home to add to the prom room, and all agreed we should return to help again. Not only did our girls set up the room, they prayed for the girls who would be receiving the dresses and entering the shops. They prayed they would feel beautiful and they would feel the love of Jesus. They prayed for hope. I love them! And I love how Jesus works in us and through us, exactly as we are…even if we are 16 year old high school girls who most of the time think about ourselves AND even if we are 30 year old leaders who most the of time think about ourselves…I love Him!

Is Accountability a Dirty Word? Part 2

Most don't naturally run towards accountability, they run away. Think about it, why would anyone want people looking at the deepest areas of life? When you have honest vulnerability you often lose control when you let someone else into the struggle. They may question what you don't want questioned. There can be friction. I believe that's why it's called "iron sharpening iron".

After the last blog someone questioned whether or not accountability was Biblical. I'm not sure the word is in the Bible but the concept is definitely all throughout the scripture. For example, confessing your sins one to another is very Biblical. The Romans 12 description of the body and how we all belong to each other, gives us sense in which not only do we have permission to poke around in each others lives, we have a responsibility to.

Again, because of the seduction of my flesh I'm not sure how I would do without having space in my life for others to honestly help me in my struggle and failure.

Here are few lessons I've learned along the way in regards to my accountability relationships. I hope this will challenge and motivate you to find people with which you can be totally transparent.

Make sure you're ready to be vulnerable.

My experience has been that most are not ready to let people into their lives. We may say we're ready and we may let people in part way but for these relationships to have greatest impact we have to be totally vulnerable. That means no secrets. Are you ready?

To be really honest sometimes I'm ready and sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm totally honest and vulnerable, sometimes I share just enough to get off the hook. If you're afraid to share struggle with others ask God to give you the courage you need. He'll give you what you need but you will continually need his help in this area.

Choose Wisely

This can be a long process. When I first moved to Dallas I began to pray that God would raise up a couple of guys with whom I could be vulnerable. For the first time in my life I'm hanging with a couple of guys who are a little younger than I am. (At least I look younger than them) When thinking through who I would invite to be in my group here's some questions I asked.

1. When I share sin with this person will they be shocked and think less of me?
2. Is this person self aware enough to realize they have struggles in their own life?
3. Is this a person I enjoy hanging out with?
4. Are they somehow involved in my daily life?
5. Is this a person who will listen and be teachable?
6. Will this person love me enough to ask the hard questions?
7. Are they too busy to spend time?

Again, this can take a while. Some of you are not naturally in places where vulnerability is valued. In fact the opposite is true. Unfortunately you may have to work to find a couple of guys or women. Pray, look and don't give up. You may be amazed what God may do.

Don't limit accountability relationships to a meeting

Accountability isn't a meeting it's a relationship. Sure, it's important to have a time when you sit down and have intentional conversation, but it's kind of weird and nonorganic when all you have is a meeting. Here's how my group works. We try to meet weekly and each of us shares how things are going in our walk with Jesus, our marriages and anything else happening in our lives. But we also talk to each other on the phone at least every couple of days. If Bryan is in a place of struggle he texts us and asks us to pray and check on him later. If I'm traveling and may have a more intense time of temptation my guys know what's going on and pray for me and check on me. Accountability relationship is a lifestyle not a meeting. Sure the meeting is important but it's just small part of the relationship.

Make accountability more than sharing failure

Confession is an important part of the relationship but what if we shared with our friends before a failure. I go through times in my life when I know I'm going to have a more intense time of struggle. For example, if I'm up in front of people in a teaching situation I may be more susceptible to arrogance and pride. My partners know that and may pray specifically for my humility. Learn your own struggle patterns and share with people who are in the game with you when you feel you might be in for a time of greater struggle.

So, are you an island or do you have people in your life who know the good the bad and the ugly? May we be men and women who not only talk Jesus but live it out. I desperately want my words to reflect what's going on in my heart. I long for what happens in public to be consistent with what happens in private.

Is Accountability a Dirty Word? Part 1

Do you like to be held accountable? Many people don't. When I think of accountability it reminds me of an exam at school. When taking an exam you are being held accountable for the information your professor has given. To be honest it doesn't really bring back too many happy feelings.

In Christian circles accountability has become synonymous with having a person or persons in your life with whom you share your sin. Somehow the pain of having to tell your "accountability partners" is motivation to stop doing whatever is bad.

I have a friend who is pretty vulnerable in her life but says, "I don't believe in accountability". To be honest I'm tempted to side with her. Most of time these groups are inconsistent and there isn't enough depth of relationship for true intimacy and vulnerability. Maybe there's a list of questions asked of each person that may or may not be answered honestly. At the end of the day there's not movement towards loving Jesus and others more. And isn't that the goal?

I'm a life long struggler with sin. Pride, lust, selfishness are all part of my daily walk. By God's grace sometimes I walk in holiness and these struggles seem distant. Other times they're as close as my shadow.

The other day I was struggling in one of these areas. I called a friend (an accountability partner) and shared what was going on in my life. I know, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but after we spoke and he encouraged me, my whole perspective changed. It reminded me that God never intended for us to take this journey alone.

So, to my friend who doesn't believe in accountability groups I want to say that maybe she's never seen accountability done well. Over the next couple of days I want to share some lessons I've learned from experience and others on this topic. There is no telling where I might be if I hadn't had Matt, Joe, David, Rick August, David, Tony, Bryan and Jason and others in my life at different times.

It's important. If you have input or concern I would love for you to share. It would be great to have the collective wisdom and experience of others chime in to this discussion.