Launching Pad

The notification came through on my phone and I saw who the Tweet was from. My heart did a little flip of excitement as I read the words by my dear friend, Spending the weekend painting+sharing #scripturedoodle at the @umyoungpeople youth rally. Wish you were here @MeganEFaulk

I wished I was there, too. So, I replied: @Worship_Artist @umyoungpeople Talk about a #FlashbackFriday !!! Some of our best moments! Proud of you! Love you always! Xo 

My friend was sharing her love of worship through art at a Youth Rally for 4,000 teenagers and adult leaders that we helped produce when we were just teenagers and young adults. We were raised in ministry when someone saw our gifts as young people. They put April (@Worship_Artist) and I in the same places, a lot of the same time, and required us to make things happen for the Kingdom. We experienced the power of the Holy Spirit together at a young age, cried, laughed, shared, oh, and were on a fantastic team of laborers who put that youth rally together on the eastern shore of Maryland.

April and I both moved away from our hometowns to fulfill God’s calling on our lives and are always excited to see each other whenever God allows our paths to cross. I went to Philadelphia for college and she went to South Carolina. She stayed south, found an amazing man to marry and have a family with, and an incredible church which supported both she and her husband’s gifts in creative ministry.

I moved to New Jersey after college graduation and began walking out a calling that rocks my world in youth ministry daily. We’ve both made some hard decisions that pushed forward God’s Kingdom here on the earth because we’ve chosen to trust Him instead of please people. I have a vivid memory of a mentor we shared saying “You girls are dangerous,” when we were just seventeen years old. I didn’t know what that meant then, and I’m kind of only really learning what that means now.

April paints on stages for thousands as she worships Jesus, her first Love. She shares the dream of #ScriptureDoodle by meditating on God’s Word through, well, doodling, and teaches people to do the same! I blog a little bit, write for different youth ministry resources, speak at random conferences, and have a calling to a local church ministry that is real and crazy and often really crazy.

Here’s the thing, though: On Friday night as we were tweeting, floods of memories came back to me! We were young, making mistakes, planning big events, praying with people to receive Jesus, and there were very impactful adults all around us pushing us to do these things. They saw gifts in us and LAUNCHED us into ministry. I became overwhelmingly thankful for our launch pad!

Let’s be real, youth workers, we didn’t get where we are by ourselves. We’ve let conviction compel us, passion push us and righteous anger energize us. Whether your launching pad into youth ministry was because of someone or something, or in spite of someone or something, we could never do this alone. We all came from somewhere.

I’m convicted today to be thankful for my launching pad. For the people who poured their lives into mine from the beginning, for the people who put me in settings to do ministry at a very young age, because they knew God had gifted me with heart for His Kingdom.

Where’s your launching pad? Who is on it? Have you said THANK YOU lately?

Our calling is real, deep, emotional, exciting, fun, exhausting, challenging, and sometimes downright hard, nonetheless, we must be thankful to the people who launched us into that place.

Not only was I convicted about my lack of thankfulness to my launching pad, but also wondering who I was deeply investing in as caring adults invested in April and I. You might think that’s a silly conviction for us as youth workers, since, well, all we do is invest our lives in students.

Are we merely investing to invest, or are we investing to launch a future generation into a ministry that severely impacts the Kingdom of God? Are we discipling or are we just teaching to teach? Who are the students in our ministry that God is calling forth to be lights in their darkened and depraved generation? Who is God calling into a life that will be messy, hilarious, and filled with glimpses of His power?

Let’s commit to be intentional about our investments in students this year, friends. Let’s ask the Lord for His guidance and pray for our students to receive deep callings into ministry to bring Hope to a world that desperately needs to encounter it.

Questions for Consideration:

  1. Who launched you into your calling to Youth Ministry?
  2. Who are you intentionally investing in to launch?
  3. Write a Thank You note. You know to who.

[guestpost]Megan Headshot

Megan Faulkner is a Delaware native, now claiming the shores of New Jersey as her home. She graduated in 2007 from Eastern University in Philadelphia with a B.A. in Youth Ministries and Communication Studies. She’s been in full time youth ministry for eight years now, and has loved most minutes of it!

She can often be found on an airplane to and from Haiti (not kidding), on the beach, or swimming/biking/running. She recently completed her first Iron Girl Triathlon with the goals of not dying and not coming in last!

Megan loves social media and connecting with other youth workers, especially through writing. Her blog, Joy in the Journey, can be found at meganfaulkner.tumblr.com

Ways to Connect:
@MeganEFaulk (Twitter & Instagram)
facebook.com/megan.faulkner.31

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Say Thank You

Sometimes after a big event, the temptation is to send out a quick thank you email to those who helped you pull off the event. But today I want to encourage you to take an additional step.

After your next big event, send out a thank you email, as you normally would, but this time send it to EVERYONE on your mailing list. Don’t just include those who helped out, or attended the event, but your entire mailing list.

After doing so, be sure to post this Thank You to all your church publications (all-church email or social media accounts.)

Here is the email I sent: http://eepurl.com/bb2xi1

This simple task will do two things:

1. Publicly thank those who put in the hours.
2. Encourage others to volunteer for the next event.

No lie, after doing this, I had three parents contact me about helping out at our next event! Why would you not start recruiting help and looking for ways to get more people involved in discipling the next generation?

What else have you done to publicly thank your leaders? Comment below!

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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7 Thoughts on Winter Retreats

This week has been a rush. And not in a “it’s been exhilarating,” type of way, but more of a “where did my day go?” kinda way. You see, it’s retreat week. We are gearing up for our annual Disciple Now weekend retreat. Over the years I’ve discovered that regardless of how much preparation you put in prior event week, somehow the small things jump up to grab you!

This doesn’t give you permission to slack in your preparation, but rather should be your impetus to be so prepared that you are ready to handle any curveball that comes your way.

In the following list you will find eight things that I did to prepare for our upcoming retreat, or things I wish I had done in preparation for this weekend.

7 Thoughts on Winter Retreats:

1. Outsource the the speaker and the worship.

While this might seem like an obvious decision to many of you, our brother and sisters working in small congregations often have to chose between a band and speaker for budgetary reasons. Why pay a speaker when you can simply pay a band and carry the preaching load yourself? Answer: Relationships and sanity. It is extremely difficult to get mentally ready to preach when you are also the conductor/director of the schedule. Trying to wear two hats will prevent you from doing either at 100%. It might tighten the budget, but outsource.

2. People still like print materials.

This year, we took all sign-ups, schedules, and packing lists online. It has worked beautifully for around 80% of people, but left 1/5 of our parents confused. Make retreats easy for parents.

3. Put a retreat team together.

If you have multiple paid staff, divvy up the duties and execute. If you are a solo youth pastor, recruit a parent team that will totally take meals, lodging, transportation, recreation, and registration off your hands. This leaves you free to be creatively planning sessions beforehand and free to engage in relationships during the retreat.

4. 1-Minute Reflection after messages.

Many students will not take notes. After speaker finishes, have a 1-Minute reflection time where students are prompted to write down what they heard.

5. Intentionally make your grades intermingle.

For the bulk of the weekend, students will stick with students in their own grades. As a Youth Worker, be intentional in making sure that you are foster a gospel community that feels like family. You can do this by having a game where students are strategically placed into grade diverse groups.

6. Discussion is key.

If you have a speaker coming in, break-out into discussion immediately after the entire session is over. Student can use their 1-Minute reflection notes (mentioned above) to discuss what they found insightful during the message. Get your leaders to pry!

7. Make sure your students know WHY they are coming to the retreat.

The truth is, student attend retreats for a wide variety of reasons (friends, they want friends, they are being forced to go, they have nothing better to do, it sounds fun, etc.). I would offer that only a small few want to go for the purpose of “growing spiritually.” Maybe your students are just more spiritual than mine, but students need to be continually reminded the WHY of the weekend. Regardless of what brought them, make a continual effort to focus them on hearing from God and building gospel community.

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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Why Juniors & Seniors Leave Youth Ministry

Why Juniors & Seniors Leave Youth Ministry

I’ve recently been thinking about the attrition that happens among juniors and seniors in youth ministry. If you are a youth worker, then you may have noticed this trend. Classes or small groups that were once booming have dropped off and those smaller junior and senior classes have disappeared altogether. After processing this…I think I know why.

So why do junior and seniors disappear?

  1. Skewed Priorities – Let me just insult these students right out of the gate. Many of the juniors and seniors that drop out of youth ministries simply do not see their time at church as worth their while. While this sounds harsh, many of us need to realize that what we are offering simply doesn’t stand a chance compared to other options. Yup, that’s right. Not everyone is as crazy about gospel community as we are!

It’s not that our preaching is bad or our worship dated, but that our services and small groups have become routine. In other words, students know what to expect and believe friends or Netflix could better entertain them. All of the above points to the fact that many students have their priorities out of whack.

  1. Busyness – The reality is that along with all the extra-curricular activities that all students face, juniors and seniors are busy padding their college applications, working to prepare for college costs, and writing 2,000 word essays on why they deserve a scholarship from the “I Love Chicken Wings Club of America” (could you tell I made that one up?) But seriously…just talk with the juniors and seniors in your ministry. Their Wednesday schedules are brutal!

Wake up around 7, workout or tutorials, class from 9-4, tutoring and athletics until 6:30, squeeze in dinner, youth from 7-9, homework, chores, and bedtime hopefully before midnight. Students are exhausted. They have been thinking and social all day and they are ready to be lazy and disconnect.

  1. Freedom – By junior year, most students can drive and have been given increased independence by their parents. As underclassmen, they had to beg and plead their parents to hang out with friends. Where parents wouldn’t get out to drop off their student at a friends house, they don’t mind taking their student to church. Thus, for the student, youth serves a social purpose rather than a spiritual one.

Once students have the freedom to drive themselves, they no longer need youth group as an excuse to meet up. They can now get together anytime, anywhere. Why be social with adults who want to control our time at youth rather than go to Starbucks or the mall with no agenda? Where students with skewed priorities have become bored with the routine of church, these students may have never seen church as a priority. Rather, church was a means to an end, an avenue to socialize with friends.

So what is the answer to junior senior attrition? How do we engage juniors and seniors? Stay Tuned…unless you have the answer, then please comment below and share your wisdom!

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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5 Youth Ministry Books for 2015

As we open the doors to 2015, it’s time to think about how we will grow and expand our understanding of youth ministry. Each year, I like to make a list of books that I plan to read. This list includes books I already own, books I still need to buy, books that haven’t come out yet, and books that have been out for years.

This list isn’t exhaustive. I pray I get the opportunity to read more than five books in 2015, but these are simply five youth ministry books in my reading queue. My youth ministry launch pad for 2015. But to be fair, they aren’t all necessarily directed at youth ministry…what?! Yes, that’s right, youth pastors can learn about youth ministry from books not about youth ministry!

If you have read these, I would love to hear your thoughts. If you haven’t, take a look and see if they deserve your time as well!

Here are 5 Youth Ministry Books for 2015:

1. Youth Ministry in Post-Christian World by Brock Morgan

Per Amazon: “Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World is the collection of humble, story-driven, pragmatic and Jesus-focused reflections of a fellow youth worker forced to reconsider everything he knew about youth ministry: everything except the gospel, that is.”

 

2. Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence by Laurence Steinberg

Per Amazon: “In Age of Opportunity, Steinberg leads readers through a host of new findings — including groundbreaking original research — that reveal what the new timetable of adolescence means for parenting 13-year-olds (who may look more mature than they really are) versus 20-somethings (who may not be floundering even when it looks like they are). He also explains how the plasticity of the adolescent brain, rivaling that of years 0 through 3, suggests new strategies for instilling self-control during the teenage years. Packed with useful knowledge, Age of Opportunity is a sweeping book in the tradition of Reviving Ophelia, and an essential guide for parents and educators of teenagers.

 

3. Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together by Andrew Root

Per Amazon: “The youth ministry focus of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life is often forgotten or overlooked, even though he did much work with young people and wrote a number of papers, sermons, and addresses about or for the youth of the church. However, youth ministry expert Andrew Root explains that this focus is central to Bonhoeffer’s story and thought. Root presents Bonhoeffer as the forefather and model of the growing theological turn in youth ministry. By linking contemporary youth workers with this epic theologian, the author shows the depth of youth ministry work and underscores its importance in the church. He also shows how Bonhoeffer’s life and thought impact present-day youth ministry practice.

 

4. Hopecasting: Finding, Keeping, and Sharing the Things Unseen by Mark Oestreicher

Per Amazon: “Why are some people full of hope, while many of us struggle to get past the snooze alarm? Hope often seems elusive—both to explain and to experience. So we find ourselves instead clinging to lesser substitutes. From self-medication to lazy clichés, we apply these balms to our pain and experience little to no comfort. But we know, in our guts, that these replacements aren’t the hope-filled lives we long for, the lives we were made for. Mark Oestreicher gets it. Through hard-wrought experience and robust-bordering-on-desperate theological reflection, he offers here a fresh perspective on Hope, that virtue that God carries to us even as God carries us. Read Hopecasting and discover a good God casting hope your way.

 

5. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City by Timothy Keller

Per Amazon: “In Center Church, Timothy Keller offers challenging insights and provocative questions based on over twenty years of ministry in New York City. This book outlines a theological vision for ministry – applying classic doctrines to our time and place – organized around three core commitments: • Gospel-centered: The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ changes everything, from our hearts to our community to the world. It completely reshapes the content, tone and strategy of all that we do. • City-centered: With a positive approach toward our culture, we learn to affirm that cities are wonderful, strategic and underserved places for gospel ministry. • Movement-centered: Instead of building our own tribe, we seek the prosperity and peace of our community as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

What’s on your youth ministry reading list for 2015? Comment Below!

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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Productive Youth Ministry in 2015

It’s that time of year again! It’s time to dream, plan, and schedule what the coming year will look like in your youth ministry. Every year, I progress through the same routine to ensure that I’m operating at the top of my game for the glory of God.

This routine involves creating 3 different calendars. Watch this video I made last year that explains how you can crush 2015 and make it your most productive year yet:

Get My Ideal Work Week   (Excel File)

Thanks Michael Hyatt for the new template!

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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Video Monday: Suffering

We don’t talk about suffering very much in Youth Ministry. More specifically, we don’t talk about suffering as Youth Pastors.

Sure we make silly jokes about not being taken seriously, or getting paid less than everyone else, but rarely do we talk about suffering IN THE MINISTRY.

So for this edition of Video Monday, I wanted to share this video I recently came across about suffering as a leader by Matt Chandler in his talk at Catalyst 2014. He has a few really good one-liners in there that we in youth ministry can take to heart:

“God’s at work in the mess.”

“Following Jesus can end badly.”

“The man goes in the ground, the message moves on.”

Take a watch: 

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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4 Things Youth Ministry can learn from Trivia Crack:

4 Things Youth Ministry can learn from Trivia Crack:

Unless you have been on Sabbatical, like me, then you have undoubtedly heard your students talking about the #1 App in both the Free and Paid Categories on iOS and Android.

Meet Trivia Crack. In Trivia Crack you spin a wheel and try to answer three trivia questions so that you can answer a fourth question and earn one of the six needed characters to win. Sound confusing? It’s actually simple and addicting…check it out.

As I was playing Trivia Crack, and really when I’m doing anything, I asked myself: “what can I learn from this?” After running out of hearts and having to wait 30 minutes to play again…I came up with 4 things Youth Ministry can learn from Trivia Crack:

  1. Students like competition. In competition…people lose.

One of my biggest pet peeves in youth ministry is “everyone’s a winner.” I hate when youth ministry games end with “everyone wins!” And if I’m being honest, I’ve done it a few times myself as not to break the heart of a puppy-eyed 6th grader. But it’s my firm belief that we are doing students a disservice by letting them always win.

Why? Because they will experience this nowhere in life after high school and it distorts their understanding of pain and suffering. If students believe they are suppose to “win” at everything, what happens the first time they experience failure in their pursuit of Christ? Or, what happens when God uses struggle to grow them, but they completely miss the lesson of the journey because the end result doesn’t look they way thought it would?

By allowing our students to lose, and encouraging them in their pursuit, we can teach them the beauty of failure, and force them to reflect on the One who has overcome.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

  1. Students like validation…even if it’s in the form of a cartoon character.

There is this sense of validation whenever you answer four correct trivia questions and receive a small cartoon character. Why? Because we all like recognition and praise for our successes. While it might sound like I’m talking out both sides of my mouth after that last point about letting students lose, I think youth workers need to up their game when it comes to random encouragement.

When is the last time you intentionally reached out to a student just to validate their pursuit of Christ. I’m not talking about congratulating them after a game, performance or at graduation; I’m talking about in the middle of a week where nothing spectacular has happened. You would be surprised at the confidence capital that is built through a simple, “I truly see Christ working in you, and I just wanted to say I’m proud of you.”

If Trivia Crack is building confidence in teenagers, how much more should the church?

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“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

  1. Students are capable of learning…so challenge them.

While some of the questions on Trivia Crack are incredibly easy, others are quite difficult. So just when we thought students didn’t like extra homework, they seem to be blindly consuming tests and quizzes because it’s in the form of a trivia game!

This should remind us that students are far more capable than we give them credit for. Yes they can be extremely apathetic, but they are capable nonetheless. So let’s set the bar high. Let’s ask hard questions. Let’s expect students to retain what we are teaching them.

Which leads me to a follow up question: How are you helping students retain the lessons you teach each week? There is nothing more depressing than asking a room full of students what you talked about last week and having no response! Find a system that reminds the students what you learned and then be prepared to push retention with follow-up questions the following week.

  1. If you’re not patient, you’ll pay for it.

If you’ve played the free version of Trivia Crack, then you know that after your hearts (sessions played) runs out, you have to wait 30 minutes before you can play again. This has become common in free competition apps and is possibly one of the most brilliant and frustrating tactics invented!

But they will not break me! I refuse to give in and pay for the “paid” version or buy any “in-app purchases” that give extra tries! If you are not patient, you’ll pay for it.

This holds true in youth ministry as well:

If you’re not patient with a student through their rebellion…you’ll pay.
If you’re not patient with parents…you’ll pay.
If you’re not patient with volunteers…you’ll pay.
If you’re not patient with other ministries in the church…you’ll pay.
If you’re not patient in your youth ministry tenure…you’ll pay.

And yes…somehow all of this came out of playing Trivia Crack…

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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Theologians on Christmas

Theologians on Christmas

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I would share some quotes from men far more theologically advanced than myself. Each of these quotes reflect some element of Christmas, Advent, or the Incarnation.

Reading these will help ground us in the meaning and purpose of Christmas. Enjoy!

Barth On the Incarnation:

Of the incarnation of the Word of God we may truly say both that in the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and His birth of the Virgin Mary it was a completed and perfect fact, yet also that it was continually worked out in His whole existence and is not therefore exhausted in any sense in the special event of Christmas with which it began. The truth conveyed by the first conception is that the formation and ordering of the flesh in the flesh is represented in the New Testament as a procedure which unfolded itself as it did with a necessity originally imposed upon Jesus. “I have meat to eat that ye know not of .… My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (Jn. 4:32f.). “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Lk. 2:49). He must work the works of Him that sent Him, while it is day (Jn. 9:4). He must be lifted up from the earth (Jn. 3:14; 12:34). He must go to Jerusalem, to suffer many things, and be killed, and rise again, as the Synoptic predictions of the passion repeatedly say. This is the necessity of His action given at the beginning in the person of Jesus—the incarnation as an already completed fact.

Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, III/2, 337


Athanasius on the Incarnation:

“The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus is happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord’s body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished.”

Athanasius of Alexandria, The Incarnation of the Word of God


Luther On Christmas:

The right and gracious faith which God demands is, that you firmly believe that Christ is born for you, and that this birth took place for your welfare. The Gospel teaches that Christ was born, and that he died and suffered everything in our behalf, as is here declared by the angel: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people; for there is born to you this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” In these words you clearly see that he is born for us.

Martin Luther, The Sermons of Martin Luther, volume I:134-160


Augustine on Christmas:

Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.  I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.
You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have been lost if he had not hastened ‘to your aid. You would have perished, had he not come.
Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which he who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.

Saint Augustine of Hippo, (Sermo 185: PL 38, 997-999)


Bonhoeffer On Advent:

“…And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

Click Share or Tweet below to pass on the Christmas Cheer!

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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Unwrapping the Incarnation

This last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach to my entire LifePoint congregation. I preach two services most Sunday’s to students, but it was nice to preach to both my students and the greater congregation at LifePoint Church.

There is just something special about intergenerational worship and showing the greater population of the church the flavor of the student ministry.

This last Sunday, I unwrapped Christmas by focusing on the incarnation. Watch it and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Unwrapping the Incarnation from LifePoint Plano on Vimeo.

[guestpost]David Headshot

David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.

 

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