New Site

I’ll be posting here now:
mtseawright.wordpress.com

Religion, Sex and Teenagers

An interesting read.  Check it out.

I am a hypocrite.

Yup.  I know the problems.  I talk the talk.  But I don’t do jack.

The Bailout and Bono

Wow.  This sure makes me think.

Bono on the Bailout

What does it say about us as Americans?

The Youth Ministry Industry

Last week was the Youth Specialties annual conference in Sacramento.  Youth pastors from all across the country convened to talk about what it means to walk with students as they figure out their spirituality.  I didn’t attend, but thousands of others did.

You see, youth ministry is big business.  I get stuff in the mail (in e-mail) almost every day–an add for the latest book on youth ministry methods, a new retreat, or mission trip, or method.  Sometimes they’re selling a video series, or a new way to use secular media to connect with youth, or all kinds of stuff.

It all almost immediately finds its way to my recycle bin.

But it’s got me thinking–youth ministry is a big business!  A lot of people and a lot of organizations have a lot of time and money devoted to the business.  So I’ve been asking myself what it is that keeps this big business alive.

I think we’re looking for easy answers, for quick fixes.  We’re looking for the newest method or program or game that will convince teenagers that it’s “cool” to go to church.  We’re looking for the secret outreach technique (available for only $119.99!) that will result in youth pounding down the doors of our churches.  We’re looking for the easy way to boost attendance, to get the youth committee off of our backs, for any number of things.

I don’t think that youth are fooled, however.  They’re not idiots, and frankly, most of them are not interested in what the church is selling these days.  I don’t think they care so much about crazy games or hip music or applicable dvd lessons or exotic trips.

I think youth ministry, at its best (and I am by no means there…) is much simpler than all of that.  I don’t need a book to tell me that teenagers want what the rest of us want–community.  I don’t need a conference or membership to some organization to know that we live in an increasingly connected world but that all this connectivity has really only led to shallow relationships, and that teenagers want what we all want–meaningful connections.  A place to know and be known.  It doesn’t matter if there are 100 kids or 5 present.  Hip programs can never replace a hamburger at in-n-out.  Huge outreaches can never replace someone interested in their life and their friends.  Great dvd teaching can never replace Bible study and prayer with people they know and trust.  

I am under no illusions that I can single-handedly directly influence the lives of hundreds of teenagers every week.  Maybe other youth pastors can.  But hey–if I build a meaningful relationship with 10 kids, and walk with them as they follow Jesus, then they might do the same with a few of their friends.  Who might do the same with a few of their friends.  That’s discipleship.  It’s simple–it doesn’t require the newest books or methods or programs–just an investment into a person.

The Election is Driving Me Crazy

Yup, I’m going there.

The election (all of it–the candidates, the coverage, the constant talk) is driving me crazy.  I think I have managed to figure out 3 main reasons why the political season drives me insane.

1) I am totally all over the board when it comes to politics.

2) I HATE being stereotypical in this kind of thing.

3) My extreme cynicism.

 

First, I am so all over the board that I fit into no categories, and I certainly don’t fit into any political party.  I am pro-life but against the death penalty.  I think the government should help out those in need, but I think it should happen at the local level.  I think all war is bad and should be avoided, but I am not opposed to intervention in certain situations.  Agh, I dunno.

Second: I refuse to be just another evangelical voting for the Republican ticket.  I also refuse to drink the kool-aid it seems like everyone under the age of 30 is drinking in regards to Obama.  AND, I hate the idea of being a single-issue voter.

Thirdly, I hate politics.  4 years ago actually wrote in myself, because Kerry struck me as a skeezy politician and Bush struck me as an idiot.  Not that I am in any way qualified (I am not even old enough, according to the Constitution), but I don’t fell any better about the candidates this time around.

Agh, who am I kidding.  I just don’t like politics.  Well, that ad the fact that I flip-flop worse than Kerry and Romney put together.  Maybe it wouldn’t be such a problem if only I could make up my mind…

Word on the street…

Is that the emerging church is dead.

I have spent a significant amount of time in the last few years reading about the emerging church, talking with people…and I must say that a lot of it has resonated with me.  What has bothered me is that many of the emerging churches aren’t growing, and aren’t seeing conversions.

And so I have great hope about this new network, because I really like Kimball and MacManus and McKnight, and I love the idea of re-emphasizing evangelism.

Of course, if we are referring to the way Scott McKnight defines emerging, I think I am very much a fan:

“Emerging is bigger than “emergent,” the latter referring in the USA almost exclusively to Emergent Village. The word “emerging” refers to the worldwide, grass-roots level yearning for deeper connections to the church, to expansive ways of becoming missional and evangelistic, and to broader embracings of those in the universal Church. The emerging movement is alive and well, whether you want to call it “emerging” or not.”

I hope this movement, which some call missional (which also means all kinds of things to different people) is alive and kicking, because it is a call that I find very compelling–a call to live missionally, to figure out new ways to evangelize, and to a broader ecumenism.

Great article on it all at Jesus Creed.  Check it here.

From the Wisdom Jar

“Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.

-John Stott

Identity Formation and Mark 1

Almost 3 weeks ago Pastor John started a series on Mark.  I was out of town this past weekend, so I missed the sermon, but I think he (in the interest of time) skipped one of my favorite early passages of Mark: the calling of the first disciples.  So last night we talked through this passage in youth group.

 

First we read the passage together.

 

Then we discussed this point together.

This is the point I hoped to make with this second slide.  Often when we think of the calling of Simon and Andrew, with think that Jesus is telling them that he is going to make them into evangelists.  That they will cast their nets and bring humans into the fold.  And I think this is part of it.  But I think that there is something even more fundamental going on here.  Jesus is telling them that he will reform their very identity.  They will no longer be fisherman, but now they will be what Jesus will make them into.  Jesus is the one forming their identity, which will no longer be found in the work, but in him.

The brothers are leaving everything they know behind, including the very things that define them.  They are leaving behind even their identity in order to follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is costly!  It is not easy, and there are parts of you that you deem important, perhaps even defining, that Jesus will call you to leave behind.  How do you identify yourself?  Are you so and so’s boyfriend or girlfriend?  An athlete?  Student? Actor?  Jesus is calling us to first and foremost find our identity in him.  We are not primarily even a race or gender or ethnicity or sexual orientation.  We are called first to be followers of Jesus, and he will make us into whom he wills us to be.

Jesus doesn’t have time to wait around for James and John to decide if they want to leave behind their father and work and identity–Jesus has got things to do!  A world to change!  A people to redeem!  He is all action.  

It is costly.  It cost James and John their family and their homes and their work.  They left behind everything they knew and everything they had worked for.  Get the point?

The students were interested in talking about “fearing the Lord” but I didn’t want to get sidetracked this week (I have gotten sidetracked significantly the last two weeks!).  

The students were astute on this one.  They recognized right away that most of us serve things other than Jesus.  School, friends, sports, music–and none of these things are bad, until you get to a point where you are serving them rather than God.  And should we decide to choose these things, even just for a period of time, it will be costly.  We talked about some of the costs of serving school first, or friends first.

Choose this day (as Joshua commands) whom you will serve.  Will it be Jesus?  Think through the costs–are you willing to go all in?  It won’t be easy, but the best things in life rarely are.

Youth Group: The Fall of Man

Tonight at youth group, I think we’re going to talk about the fall of man.

We’re kicking off our fall, switching to a new time and a new format.  Our Bible study time is no longer going to be straight middle school and high school Bible studies.  Instead, I’m going to talk about the passage a bit (10 minutes?) and then we’ll break into middle school and high school to apply/discuss.

Originally I thought I’d kick off the fall with creation, but I think that maybe it is a little early in my tenure to open that can of worms, especially since my view on the matter is not traditional at all.

So instead, we’ll talk about the fall.  This is what I want my students to understand:

The fall is not just about you.  And, by extension, Jesus did not die just to save your soul.  

I mean, the fall surely involves us.  And Jesus did die for our soul.  But to think that the fall mainly just screwed us humans and to think that Jesus died just so that you and me to go to heaven is pretty egotistical.  Plus it’s just bad theology.

I’m not going to lie–for a long time I thought the fall was mostly about our sin and the resulting chasm between us and a holy God.  I also thought that the gospel was mostly about the bridge diagram/4 spiritual laws, that Jesus died so that I can go to heaven.  And those things are true, but it’s only part of the story, and that is what I want my students to understand.

The fall didn’t just affect us, but all of creation.  Furthermore, the good news that Jesus preached wasn’t, “If you believe in me you can go to heaven when you die!  You can have a personal relationship with me!” but rather “the kingdom of God is near.”  I truly do believe that Jesus died to save me and that I can (and do!) have a personal relationship with him.  But redemption is about the restoration of shalom.  It is about God bringing all of fallen creation (not just us!) back to Himself.  It is about transformation of creation, of people and nations and institutions.  Humanity is not the only thing that distorted in the fall; all of creation did. This gospel is big–much bigger than the Sunday school gospel of a personal relationship (which is indeed a wonderful thing!)–it is a far larger plan.

I hope my students understand this: the fall (and by extension, the gospel) is not just about you.