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In Faith in Real Life

Post Creation 2008

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So, we are back, and officially had a great time.  The scalp is not burned for those of you who were worried.  Fear not… So, I saw some great bands… Two of my favorites right off the cuff were David Crowder Band, and Phil Whickam.  Here they are folks!  


I have tons of things going on in my head, but I need a little time to let them coagulate and then I will definitely post them.

Here’s a list of some of the bands I saw, I’ve ranked them:

  1. David Crowder Band
  2. Phil Whickam
  3. Switchfoot
  4. Chris Tomlin
  5. Skillet
  6. Newsboys (even though Peter Furler still scares me)
  7. Parachute Band
  8. Thousand Foot Crutch (Throw up the rawk fist!)
There will be more pictures to come… But we had a sweet camp site.  Here’s a shot of how close we were.  Just check the top left of the picture.  We were right next to that RV.  Awesome!  
Some people literally were a mile away, we however were on top of the main stage.  LOVED THAT!  Seriously… I LOVED THAT.  
We heard from some great speakers too while we were there.  Some of my favorites were…
  1. Bob Lenz
  2. Duffy Robins
  3. Reggie Dabbs
  4. Justin Lookado
If you were at Creation 08, who was your favorite band?  And if you weren’t at Creation this year, but you’ve been in the past… what was your favorite band that you saw?
~Peter
 
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In Faith in Real Life

Creation Festival ’08

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So, as this is being posted today automatically by a very clever yet equally cunning wordpress.com I am driving home from Creation Festival ’08.  I will hopefully have some comments and thoughts for you on the happenings of Creation ’08.  So… hang tight, and I will get them posted up here ASAP!  I hope my head didn’t burn!  

~Peter

 

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In Faith in Real Life

Talk to me Goose…

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Have you ever had one of those lines that you use all the time?  It may be a quick one liner, or it might just be a quick catch phrase.  For example back in the 90’s that little taco bell dog got everybody saying, Yo Quiero Taco Bell.  I need to admit something.  I have a phrase that I use all the time.  It originates from my days working with a crew of stone masons.  I find myself using it in any different number of applications.  I will say it to other people, I will say it to inanimate objects, I will even say it to myself from time to time.  It’s quite possible that I have even said it to you.

Here it is.  

“Talk to me Goose” 

Name the movie that this line comes from! 

So, I’ve been thinking… Every time I stand up in front of an audience, wether it is before the Youth Group or even before the church body as a whole, in my mind I hear them saying, Talk to me Goose…  Or more appropriately, communicate to me.  But no matter what you do… Communicate well.

Here is a fictional letter that I might recieve… 

Dear Junior Pastor,

         I see that you are a youth pastor!  Congratulations on being in training to becoming a real pastor.  Is that like some sort of apprenticeship or something?  I have been in church a few times, and I have seen you around.  You seem to be going all over the place…  Um… I wanted to write to you though because I am kind of confused.  I am wondering… when you were up there on the stage, I was really confused by a couple things you said.  

          One time you said that I needed to be born again…  That sounds yucky, and I am not sure that is even possible.  But, I was wondering if you could explain that to me?  Oh and the other thing you said was you kept telling me that I needed to  have devotions.  I mean, I’m pretty devoted.  I work out, I am on a traveling soccer team, I play paintball on a competitive team, and I play classical recorder.  I’m a pretty devoted guy.  It kind of made me upset for you to assume that I’m not a devoted person.  

          Oh, here’s the one that really lost me…  Were you even speaking english the whole time?  I don’t know…  I guess I might come back… I mean everyone else around me was shaking their head in agreement with every bulleted point that came up on the TV screens.  But I didn’t get it.  Could you talk a little more like a normal person next time?  Then I might be able to really get what you are trying to say…  Thanks man…  Oh, by the way, sweet mic.  You look just like Justin Timberlake!  

From,

     The guy who had the confused look on his face most of the time…

~Peter

Los got two of these letters too… check it out here and here.

 

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In Faith in Real Life

The Bread of Life

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This was a blog post that I published several months ago.  However, I’ve been listening to Pete Wilson’s sermon series, SYNC and this came to mind…  (If you want to listen too click here)  It’s good to have a refresher.  

Matthew 6:25-34

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

   28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

   31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

   34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

 

I was sitting and reading this passage at a Panera bread [I must admit that was my second meal at Panera that day.  My wife who is an avid Panera Bread lover would be so jealous if she only knew] after having looked at these beautiful loaves of bread all day, I couldn’t help but think about how Jesus, (who calls Himself “the Bread of life” in John 6:35) came down and satisfied my needs.  

 

He seriously came down and met my every need.  I was reminded today that Jesus will fulfill our needs, not our greed’s.  Boy, that is startling isn’t it?  How often do I have greed’s that I feel are needs.  

    

Panera has some really delicious bread.  And being a self-proclaimed {starch-a-holic} I know a good loaf when I see one.  I don’t even need to say loaf of what.  You other starch lovers know what I’m talking about.  Nothing like a good loaf of carbohydrates which go right to my ever-expanding waste line.  I’m told that carbs in control is the way to go.  However, since I can’t seem to get that right, I’m starting a club called Carboholics Anonymous.  

 

What if we had a group so addicted to Christ, The Bread of Life, that we had a Carboholics Anonymous class.  Addicted to the bread of life?  Well, here’s where you can come and meet others who are equally addicted.  Or are our Churches and Youth Groups filled with people who are on the Spiritual Atkins diet.  You know, cut the carbs, and never eat those evil carbs again!  It could sound something like this,  “I like religion, I like Jesus, but I can only have 1 portion of Jesus a day, and I prefer him with jelly.  In fact I’ll take some more vegetables please.”  Do we forget to learn from the Bread lovers?  I pray that God makes me a lover of others more than self.  However, what if I was so in tune with relying on the bread of life instead of the bread of strife?  

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In Faith in Real Life

First Movie Ever…

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Today I took Noah to see a movie.  There is a movie theater near us that every tuesday morning they show a free movie!  How cool is that.  Today it was the Polar Express.  A little bit out of season, but that’s okay.  I think that they turned the air conditioning way down to help us feel like we were in the midst of a wintery wonderland.  

Noah was captivated.  I got him popcorn and a soda to complete his whole movie going experience!  Check this out…

So, forever Noah will be able to say that the first movie he ever saw in a theater was the Polar Express.  I remember my first movie theater experience.  I went to see Bambi in the theater.  What was your first movie?

~Peter

 

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In Faith in Real Life

To God Be the Glory

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Last night at The Refinery (our Sr. High Ministry) we had an incredible service.  It was awesome.  Throughout the past 5 weeks we have been talking about what it means to be the body of Christ.  This has been a good series overall I thought.  We called it “Our Ipods are Different”.  Last night it was great to see what God was doing in our group.

We had a great time in worship before my lesson, and then we opened the Word and looked at the idea of “What do we do now?”  We have walked through 1 Corinthians 12 & 13.  We ended this series looking at Acts 2.  The Apostle Peter just got done preaching a sermon in which 3000 people believed what he was saying about who Jesus was.  The church added 3000 people in one day.  I wondered, what did they do next?  They did four things.  Probably those four things would apply to us too huh?  I think so anyway…

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.  This is what we need to be doing!  This is the next step for our ministry!  To devote ourselves to each other.

That was my message in brief summary.  The response that we had was overwhelming.  What occured in the next 15 minutes literally brought tears of joy to my eyes.  I looked around, and I watched as you guys took communion with one another, prayed with each other, and then I watched as students began to put their arms around one another and sing in unison.  We were singing of how good God has been to us.  How God’s blood has washed us white as snow.  Thank you God for working in our midst.

It was times like this that make times like this worth it.  It was times like this that make ministry the most amazing thing that I could dedicate my life to.

“To God be the glory for the great things He has done”

~Peter

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I laughed out loud…

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I’m a Youth Pastor, I believe my official title is student ministries pastor, but let’s not argue over semantics… I’ve been a Youth Pastor for a little over 6 years now I guess. Crazy, I know… But I have learned a few things. I have learned that as a Youth Pastor, there are only a select few people out there in the world who truly understand what it is that you actually do for a living. Then I found out that there are only a select few people in the “church world” who actually understand what it is that you do for your ministry. I’ve also learned that unlike our current judicial systems practice of innocent until proven guilty, as a youth pastor you are irresponsible until proven responsible. Maybe some of my colleagues have helped contribute to all of these stereo types. Call them what you will, alot of times they true. Youth Pastors are a special breed.

So, as i was getting my daily blog intake, I stumbled upon this little jewel. It comes from my man out in California. Non other than the Mr. Joshua Griffin. Josh is on staff at Saddleback, He authors a blog called, More than dodgeball, and today he posted on 4 hot looks for Youth Pastors this summer. You can read his entire post here. Here is a snippet of what he wrote…

“Here’s what I think are the hot looks for those male youth workers out there this summer:

The shaved head – an emerging trend in youth ministry, probably taken from worship leaders that sported them for a while. Hopefully we won’t also start frosting our tips next, too. WARNING: Have a bunch of sunblock ready for those outdoor events, and make sure you’re keenly self-aware how far your ears stick out before you start cutting that much off. PS: This one is often used to disguise premature balding, and can be used in combination with any of the following 3 other hot styles.

The soul patch – I’m sporting this right now, and loving it. Not too much maintenance, it is a bit understated and not quite as mainstream. It’s like discovering a great small-time band before they go big. Then everyone gets on the wagon and buys the album so it’s time to discover something else. That’s the fashion express train I’m riding. I’m also hoping that worship leaders won’t try and also take credit for this one.”

Um… just a second while I insert a picture here…

So, hmm… I’m not sure what all this means… But it is funny, and interesting. More funny than interesting though.

I would like to add a special note here too. For all of you skeptics… NO, I DID NOT JUST GO AND SHAVE MY HEAD BECAUSE JOSH SAID IT WOULD BE HOT!

And about the soul patch… well, I’m going to admit something and just lay it out there for you all. I have been babying those 27 hairs since I was in 10th grade. I think that I have shaved them maybe 3 times in the history of me shaving… So, the soul patch and I go way back…  Here’s proof, check out this old school picture of me rockin the soul patch, and the long hair from almost 3 years ago…

What style have you been rockin these days?

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

A Day in the Life of Peter…

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So, after reading los’ blog and checking out this post of his, I decided to record my day in time lapse mode.  I was really interested to see what I look like when I work.  It’s pretty funny actually.  I didn’t realize how funny looking I really am.  So, here is my day in 2 minutes.  Enjoy!  

~Peter 

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=ie7v6PANalU]

If you enjoyed that, check out what Pete Wilson did the other day of his Sunday!  It’s great.  Click here.

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The Hunger Site

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“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”  Proverbs 31:8-9

I got an email from Anthony recently and he wanted to point out something that he found over at Los’ blog; RagamuffinSoul.  This is really cool, and Anthony is right, the more people that we can get to know about this, the better it will be.  The site is called The Hunger Site.

 {Yes it seems to be legit.  You can check it out at Snopes, click here to read about it.}  So, anyhow, the concept is simple.  You go to the website and click on this image and the sites sponsors will donate food to the hungry people around the world.  

What a simple way to make a difference.  Just by clicking.  What if you did this everyday…  What if you even just did it right now?  You would be making a huge difference in the life of someone.  Pretty cool.  I thought you should know about it.

~Peter

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