woke up this morning at 5:46 a.m. for no good reason…just awake.

last night was “commitment” night here at Hume SD.  it turned out to be a good night.  what i mean by that is i felt like i accurately communicated the gospel – that’s all my job entailed.  

i’m always a little afraid of these nights, and especially with jr highers.  in my opinion, we take these nights too seriously.  

don’t get me wrong, i think we should take them seriously – just not as much as we typically do.  it seems like we view the commitment night as the end, rather than a means to a much greater end.  sometimes we act as though this is the only time in which a student is able to accept the Lord and if they don’t we’re hugely disappointed.   other times we think of it as a one time prayer rather than a lifelong process for people.  

i think all these attitudes will eventually turn these kids off.

i have to admit, i’ve manipulated kids in the past on commitment nights.  this wasn’t malicious in anyway.  i wasn’t intentionally trying to do harm.  i really do believe my heart was right in what i was doing.  but, talking about the pain of the cross or even giving an extended amount of time of awkwardness in hopes for kids to come forward just never seems right to me.  now i avoid these at all costs and even encourage the opposite.  i don’t allow a lot of time at the end, i don’t even have kids come forward.  i talk about activities that are open, dismiss everyone, and let the kids know that if they want to talk to someone about what they heard they can stay behind.  but, if not, its 100% totally cool and they should go have fun.  

so, here’s my thoughts on commitment nights:

1. making kids feel awkward about leaving or not coming forward is manipulation.  our heart may not be to do this, but we can often do it in VERY subtle ways…and they feel it.
2. it’s not the end
3. my job is to set up the youth leaders for conversation about the gospel message, not to have kids come forward and pray with me.
4. as a speaker my responsibility is to explain not only what Christ did in regards to washing away sins, but also that his death wasn’t just about us being forgiven.  it was much bigger.  it was also so that those who are living no longer living for themselves, but for him who died (2 Cor. 5:15).  kids have to think about this as well
5. the power is in the gospel message, not the pain Christ endured
6. when we focus on the emotional aspects of the gospel, especially with jr highers, they can often make emotional decisions – especially as the week goes on and they get more and more tired.
7. altar calls are dangerous – not bad – just dangerous.  sometimes we feel like “we have to give them an opportunity to accept the Lord” and what we mean is them coming forward.  this can be good in the sense they come in front of their peers, but this can also ONLY be for their peers.  i know coming forward can be a part of a process, but the process can also happen without coming forward.
8.  i think commitment nights at camp are good, healthy, and even necessary – but not for college-age people.  it’s a much more complex process.

I didn’t sleep that well last night – I never seem to do well away from my family.  Every time I’m away I always think I will catch up on sleep, but it never works out.  There’s always something that keeps me up – thoughts, conversations, worked up from chapel…something. 

Despite my minimal 5 hours of sleep last night, today has been good.  After the counselor meeting I grabbed breakfast and ate outside looking out over the ocean!  Peaceful.  Then I wrote for a few hours in the coffee shop here on campus.  I’m a little behind schedule, so it feels good to make some headway on that.

Then I spent some time with my friend Jay Johnson (on left).  This guy is a flat out stud.  What a great guy!  He’s worked at Hume for 10 years, is so solid, and is AMAZINGLY gifted!  It’s amazing the things he thinks of and then actually does it.  

Quick comments about the picture.  First, notice the shirt.  I explained the theme in an earlier post, but know this: I WILL NEVER WEAR THIS SHIRT OUTSIDE OF THIS CAMP.  Wow.  Good camp shirt, but this one’s a bit over the top for everyday use.  Plus, I need another camp shirt like I need a hole in the head!  Secondly, notice the ocean in the background!?  Yep, all week I look out my apartment window at that. 

As I talked to Jay, we watched a little recreation.  You can see the shirts…well, you can’t miss them that’s for sure.  Rise of the Kinematics brought back neon to the fullest extreme.  I guess robotic themes means neon…?

I just had lunch and a coffee with my friend Brian Berry.  We went to high school together and he’s now a youth pastor here in San Diego so every time I’m in the area we connect.  He’s a great guy too.  I’m having dinner tonight with a Hume staff guy who was a student of mine when I worked at Hume in ‘99, so that should be fun.  Good people, good conversations, good times.

But, right now I’m going to try to catch a few zzz’s!  Then, I’ll put together my talk for tonight (it’s “decision” night) – which I will share more about thoughts on that later because they’re always a little weird for me – and then to dinner, the meeting, and hopefully bed at a decent hour.

There goes my wishful thinking again I’m afraid.

I had a cool thing happen to me today.  This morning, before chapel, a counselor walks up to me, introduces herself and tells me that one of the other counselors from her church knew me.  I asked what her name was and she told me.  It didn’t ring a bell.  Then, she told me that she knew me because I spoke at the camp she had accepted the Lord at.  That was cool.  

But then she told me that it was a Jr. High camp and she was a student!!!  Ouch, that made me feel old.

I met her and she’s a very cool girl.  In college now she is serving in the Jr. High ministry for her church, which is why she was here this weekend.  She told me about her experience at that camp and how that, for her, was the pivotal point in her relationships with God. Apparently ever since that camp she’s been walking solidly with the Lord. Man, it’s always cool to hear stories like this!

 I remember this camp and I remember leaving doubting if it was worth it.  You ever have those times when you’re just not sure if anything happened?

This was a reminder for me that God works beyond us.  If you’re feeling like you haven’t had any fruit come out of your ministry lately: first, know those are just feelings, and second know that God IS doing things in the lives of those you’re around…you just might not hear about it until later!  Keep going…

Well, just got done with the first night at my first camp of the summer!

I’m in San Diego at Point Loma University (unbelievably beautiful campus!!!!) for a Hume Lake camp they do here. It’s pretty cool, I must say. If you know anything about Hume you know they do camp “right.” They do everything top notch and with a great heart. Their camps are filled up at Hume (packing in almost 2,000 students a week), so a few years ago they started to doing camps in San Diego in addition to the camps at Hume. They now have four full weeks of camp here and each having about 6-700 kids.  Amazing.  

The theme is great: Rise of the Kinematics.  Kinematics is a scientific term describing the study of motion without cause.  It’s a robotic theme that talks about how our faith is not one to be lived out without cause.  I love it.  They always have great themes, but this one is perfect.  Recognizing that a large percentage of young Christians can only describe their faith in terms of Christian experience, action, or service it’s great to ground those actions with theological truth.  So, the idea is rather than being like a robot, we need to understand the reasons we live the way we do – the foundation on which we stand.  Nice.

Here are a couple pics from tonight’s meeting.  I took a couple more from stage, but the lights were too bright so they didn’t come out.  Tomorrow I’m off for wake boarding and wind-surfing…should be fun!  Off to bed now, I’m tired.

ok, so i’m writing a chapter in my forthcoming book on the issue of truth. it’s in a section where i’m explaining how college-age people think through 5 different areas of life differently than any other age-stage – one of those being truth. so, i have finished my draft of this chapter. well, i still have to finalize the conclusion. but, i thought i would throw out this question:

what are the major things you see affecting college-age people as they pursue finding what they personally believe to be true?

i have my thoughts, but you’ll have to read those in the book. just kidding. i’ll tell you, but before i do, i wanted to throw out the question to see what thoughts you may have…

working with college-age people is one of the most rewarding things ever…but we have a lot to learn, concentrate on, be aware of, understand, embrace…you name it. here’s a video that is well worth watching…

There’s an ongoing debate in the Christian community right now: whether or not we should have life insurance.

On one side you want to trust God with everything, while on the other we think, “What if God would provide for us through life insurance?” On one hand we can say biblically that the Church (meaning people, not institution) should care for my family if I die, while on the other we could say that I shouldn’t place that burden on others.

The question for me is something a bit different though. It’s not really about life insurance. Aren’t questions like this really a matter of whether or not we want to REALLY live biblically? We all say we do, but do we really desire that…or is it something else and we just say that because we feel better? When it comes to issues like life insurance, which perspective is actually biblical, and which one is American that we rationalize using the Bible? It seems to me that Scripture is much more counter-cultural than we would like to admit, or even realize. It’s “grey” areas like life insurance where we enter the gauntlet of intellectual debate and, I’m afraid, end up much more in human-American wisdom than we do in Godly-spiritual understanding of these issues.

Oh, to be filled by the Spirit and freed from cultural influence and ideals! Maybe it was because Christ constantly walked in the Spirit and in Godly wisdom that caused church people in his day to not fully understand him.

I do know one thing to be certain: it is often people in the church that try to rationalize away my convictions. They’ll call it extreme, or unnecessary. It does however seem that what we would call radical today, Jesus just held as necessary to be a follower of him. What we deem as radical, or even unnecessary, people used to just call Christian.

Well, how far do you take it then?

It’s asking that question that’s the problem. Is it just me, or am I the only one that’s asked that just so I could rationalize away having to actually live the way Scripture calls us to…

well, i’ve been working in this coffee shop all day. some ladies just came in and straight up set up shop!!! it’s not just those of us in ministry that don’t need office space these days! wow.

In the book of Colossians 2:5 Paul expresses his delight in a characteristic the people possessed – orderliness. It’s a term that’s not typically used to characterize college-age people!

The verse reads:
“For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.” (NIV)

The word Paul uses for orderliness is the Greek word taxis. This term has a strict military tone to it. It speaks of structure, purposeful living, organization, and orderliness. Sound like college-age people?

Paul is “delighted” to see this virtue of orderliness in their life. Paul structures this sentence so that the term is uniquely linked to their stability in their faith. The orderliness of their life has played a significant role in their firmness of faith.

Have you talked to a college-age person lately that’s struggling with their faith? How might their lack of discipline/orderliness affect that? We might also take a deeper look into the role discipline plays in our faith – 1 Timothy 4:7-10. The inability of college-age people to link discipline to their faithfulness is a major concern we must all pay attention to.

How are you helping college-age people link discipline to faithfulness? they can’t lack discipline, and have godliness…

We need to love college-age people. This may seem obvious, but sometimes it’s not as much – as automatic – as we might think. 1Corinthians 13:4 gives us a list of characteristics of love, and the first one listed is patience. I have seen far too many people in ministry living with frustration toward those in their ministry, rather than walking alongside them in patience (therefore not in love). Love is also kind, not rude. It doesn’t insist on its own way and doesn’t approach people arrogantly, thinking “you just don’t get it.” Love speaks truth, doesn’t laugh at wrongdoings, nor does it get irritable or resentful when people don’t follow its instruction. It’s patient, always there and never failing.

Do you really love those you’re ministering to?

In my opinion, this is the most important part of discipleship in a college-age persons life. Do you get frustrated at them when their flaky, or do you view this as an opportunity for discipleship? When you see inconsistency in their life do you arrogantly deem it immaturity, or do you view it as God showing you where you can help? When they’re constantly going against your counsel do you give up on them, or do you love them – always being there and never failing on your commitment as a shepherd?

Do you really love your students?