~Peter
So yeah it’s 3:34 and I am bowling. I’m whooping up on them all too! What can I say. Anyway.. All nighters… Got to love them. 88 people all night long! What could be better than that? No seriously, I want to know… What do you think could be better than that?
~peter
Last night at Youth Specialties, Pittsburgh, we heard from a woman who easily could be my grandmother. In fact she even looked like a combination of my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandmother. I mean seriously this one was scary. It was so close to what I’ve grown up with that when she got on the stage, I almost ran up and hugged her. She has to be just about near ancient.
BUT! And hear me say BUT… She rocked my world last night. Here’s the gig. She gave in an hour the very best overall bit of church history that I have ever heard. Including any sermon, any lecture, and any time I ever spent at Philadelphia Biblical University. Then she didn’t just stop there…. no…. here is this woman who was a titus woman to Eve explaining to me what our church is currently going through. You know, the things that “only young people feel”. The questions, the longings for more, the generation x factors… She tore it up! She went systematically through it all and worked up an amazing explanation of where the church is today and not necessarily claiming to know where it was headed, but just said this… “It’s going to be okay… God is in this.”
I will forever be thankful for my Grandmother??? Mrs. Phyllis Tickle… Oh, and Matt Maher led us in worship. LOVED IT! and Taylor Mason made me laugh… And they- being YS seriously handed out John Tesh Dance DVD’s. HONESTLY! I”M NOT KIDDING. JOHN TESH! WOW. That is all I’m saying… So, watch out… in the near future you may be seeing a contest here on the salt lick, with a grand prize of a JOHN TESH Dance DVD!
Stay tuned… I’ve got to go fill the tank at Au Bon Pain… GOOD MORNING!
~Peter
So today has been great! We heard from Francis Chan. This guy is amazing. He was incredibly genuine, and sincere. I loved listening to him. He drew me in and held my attention for 45 minutes easy. He gave us some great thoughts to think about. He taught us several things about knowing God, and how we can become a better disciple! Here was a very challenging thought for me.
“Unless you are willing to go the whole way you can’t follow Jesus.”
Crazy huh?
So what keeps you from going the whole way and following Jesus?
Ouch cuts a little deep huh?
~peter
Okay, so what truly scares you? I hate spiders… They creep me out, scare me, and just all around bother me like nothing else. Several months ago, I hear my name being yelled from the basement of our townhouse and Tiffany says, get down here now! So, of course like any good husband would do, I bolt down there to aid my damsel in distress. I get down there to see a monster spider just chillin’ in the middle of our carpet, hanging out like I wanted him there or something. So, upon seeing the sight, I said, what do you want me to do about it? You kill it! Talk about manly, knight in shinning armor momments, this was not one of mine. I hate spiders… Did I mention that? I think I threw a stack of magazines in that general direction in hopes that my shot gun approach would in fact disable the spider to the point of death. I was successful.
So, we are back to Acts today. Acts 9:10-19… Check it out here…
Here is this guy Ananias who gets a call from God to go and do the scariest thing possible. Go and visit Saul. Saul (later Paul) had permission from the High Priest to take out any of the believers that were following “the way”. Ananias says, “God, I’ve heard the bad things this guy can do to me… Like for real? You want me to do that?” God replies yes! I have called you to this… This is for you. Face your fear, and be obedient to me.
Ananias, a normal guy, we have no idea where he comes from, or where he goes after this, but God has called him to this task. To face his fear and obey God.
What scares you? What do you think God is asking you to do that just terrifies you? Let’s hear em…
~Peter (still scared of spiders)
I’ve been reading in Acts, and I’ve come up to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. It’s actually Acts 9:1-9. Check it out here.
So, anyhow, I was thinking about this today, and I have been pairing my reading with a great book by a huge thinker in our day, N.T. Wright. He writes a book called Acts for Everyone. It makes for an excellent study aid. Here is something I never knew before… So, back in the day, the Jews used to meditate on certain scriptures, chapters, and such. One such meditation is from Ezekiel 1:26-28. They would actually look to see God in the sky, coming in on a chariot. They would meditate on this.
Can you imagine Saul’s surprise to find out that he is literally looking upon the very God of the universe with his own two eyes?
It made me think… What are the meditations of MY heart. What am I longing to see God do? What do I set before my mind at all times waiting to see what God will do with it?
So, here’s the deal, Saul, got what he was meditating on, with an added twist. “Saul, why do you persecute me?” That must have been a shocker, eh? Here is a guy thinking He is doing the right thing, seeking after the right and God honoring thing. Then, BAM! He is asked that question… Why do you persecute Me?
So… This made me think about the things that I am seeking after, meditating after, longing for, and yearning for. Are these things that would please God?
What do you think? Respond, lets start the coversation…
~Peter
I found this over at Los’ blog. This is just too funny not to share with you all. Do you think that we could cover this and play it next week?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NOZU2iPA8&eurl=http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/]
~Peter
I’d do it again, tomorrow morning if I could. We had such a great time! Here is a quick video of our trip…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuugaK5H3EU]
It was awesome to just relax with my family and enjoy spending time with each other. The thing is that we really didn’t do a whole lot. We took “nature rides” on our golf cart. We played with stones, and we had campfires. That was exactly what we needed. We needed to just relax and be together. Noah and Grace loved it. We all loved every second of it!
~Peter
Today marks the first full day here at camp Conrad for our junior high student ministry. I am excited about many opportunities that lie before us. We have a great chance to be with our students for the next several days and spend quality time with them and laugh, play games, enjoy life and simply talk with these guys. I am excited to watch our leaders step up to bat and love on out students. Nothing excites me more than when a leader takes a serious interest in the life of one of our students. I can proudly say that at have the kind of leaders that are doing this even as we speak. That thrills me! See in my humble opinion, youth ministry is not about the youth pastor. Those guys(myself included) will come and go, we will one day be a distant memory. I think that real youth ministry, good ministry is done by the volunteer leaders who invest oodles of time in their lives. It IS about the late night talks you have with them, it IS about the card games you played with them, it IS about the time you lovingly wrestled with that 7th grade guy. Ministry is all of those moments combined. I am so honored to be leading a team that views all of this as important. This is what is going on here at camp. We are right now in the process of loving students and living out Gods love for them. I’m pumped for these next few days.
Please pray for us that we would be safe, that God would change lives this week, and that our group would grow together to be the body that God has called us to be.
It’s 12. Time to get these lights out!
~Peter
checked out deeplyrooted.tv yet? It has taken off with great success! I love reading what our leaders have to say. I am so encouraged by our leaders in both the Refinery and at Ignite. Our church is so blessed to have people that give up of their time to work with and love on each one of our students. It encourages my heart to see the passion that they have for each of our students. But have you checked out www.deeplyrooted.tv yet? If not, you need to go there now. www.deeplyrooted.tv (shameless advertising)
www.deeplyrooted.tv
What encourages you?
~Peter