The Heart of a Kids Pastor

My heart has two main purposes.

To pump blood through my body would be the first because otherwise I would be dead and not writing this blog.

The second is to show kids Jesus.

I talk to kids who have had the crap beaten out of them for years, who wonder why they are in foster care, and who don't have a single idea of what it means to live in peace. I get to show these kids Jesus. I get to teach them that God does love them, that He wants their lives to be amazing. I teach them that life is really hard sometimes, but God will give them peace when the hard stuff happens. I don't lie to kids and tell them that life is always going to be awesome and that they will not have any problems if they follow Jesus. I tell them the truth. Which is what hurting people, kids included, need to hear.

I want kids to know that they are not alone. My heart is to bring hope to kids who have never known hope and peace to kids who have never had peace. My heart is to have parents love their kids like Jesus loves their kids.

My heart beats to bring Jesus to families so that kids can grow up knowing what it means to be selfless and to love others. Kids matter because these kids are going to grow up and either change the world or follow the mistakes of their parents and ruin it through their own selfishness.

Now is the time to bring kids Jesus. They are going to be the church, and how we deal with them now will dictate how far they reach for the impossible.

Who wants to be like Jesus?

I am a Christian.

That is all....

No wait, that's not all.

I grew up thinking that faith was a solo act. It was just me and God against the world (was that to melodramatic?). As I grew in my faith I realized that without other people I am, well, alone. Who wants to be alone? God made two people so that they wouldn't be alone, Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches that we need to meet together so that we can be encouraged. We were made to go to church.

I love The Crossing. It's mission is to have Jesus change the lives of everyone who lives in Elk River and the surrounding areas (like New York city). This is not a small vision, this is a huge undertaking.

Pastor Eric's heart is to be like Jesus, and that is why this vision is happening. Honestly, I have been in church for most of my life and I have known a LOT of pastors. Pastor Eric is the Godliest man I have ever met. He eats, breaths, drinks, and lives Jesus.

God uses Pastor Eric for His glory.

If the goal of every Christian is to be like Jesus then Pastor Eric is doing a great job. I pray for my pastor every day because he and his family are doing something incredible for the kingdom of heaven.

The Crossing, Pastor Eric and Pastor Kelly all boil down to one thing, one solitary vision.

It is always only about Jesus

That is what I want to be like.

Spray Paint

So I was spray painting circles for my classroom today. Why you ask? Because circles are round, duh. Anyway, I found myself praying as a painted (which means that I got more on my hands because I wasn't paying attention) and as I prayed I started to think about the amazing things that are happening in our church. God is moving at The Crossing. Not a little shuffle mind you, God is dancing a jig at this church. He is MOVING.

A move of God is often seen as a hysterical uprising.... a mass of people coming and committing their lives to follow Jesus. I see it as one person making a commitment. And really that is what God is all about. He doesn't need a stage or a show to make someone commit. All He needs is one person evaluating their life and realizing that without Him they are..... blank circles. They are going around and never really getting anywhere. They are bland and blank. God wants to show them that their lives can be full of color and excitement. God wants one person to commit his or her life in the quiet of their hearts. That is a move of God.

On TV you see masses of people at a stadium coming forward to make Jesus the leader of their life. This weekend there may be one person sitting in the auditorium of The Crossing, and that one person will quietly commit to follow Jesus. Then that one person will tell others. They may or may not believe, that is up to them. But for a moment they are given the choice. God moves one person at a time. Never forget that. When you talk to people, serve people, and preach to people, the goal is that one person will have their lives changed forever. That is how God moves. That is why God is moving at The Crossing. One addict, one suicidal, one hurt person is sitting down and deciding whether or not to put their trust in Jesus. And in that moment God moves.

Spray Painting is AWESOME! (I swear it's not the fumes)

Holy

Why do we say God is holy? Not wholly or holey, but holy. The definition of Holy is: Exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. Did you catch that? Complete devotion to one who is perfect in goodness and righteousness. I am praying and worshiping right now and I was thinking..."why am I doing this?" Why do I take time to read my Bible, pray, and sing worship to Jesus? Why do I devote my life to this religion and not another?

It's easy if you read that definition again. I am devoted to Jesus because He alone is perfect, He alone is good, and He alone is righteous. I am none of those things, and when I look at other faiths, or no faith at all, I do not see goodness and righteousness. I see pain, emptiness, loneliness and nothingness.

This is what I see in Jesus:
He is Loving
He is Kind
He is Firm
He gives me a Choice
He wants my life to be Amazing
He pushes me to be a Better Man
He gives me Hope
He gives me Strength
He helps me when life Sucks
He heals my Addictions
He is...

perfect in goodness and righteousness. He is Holy.

Giving it up

Have you ever said, "Man, I could never give THAT up!" when describing your favorite thing. It could be coffee, movies, fast food, steak, beer, drugs, or anything else for that matter. If God asked you to give something up, would you be willing to do it?

If you are not a Jesus follower then I am not talking to you because you can do anything that you want. However, if you are a Jesus follower then my question is for you.

We believe that Jesus is the center of how we act, eat, drink, and talk. There are rules that we follow so that our lives don't get flushed right down the crapper. We follow Jesus because when we do we have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control- in other words, our lives function at a higher level.

What would you give up if God asked you to? God wants your life to be amazing, but if you are not willing to give up something that would be IMPOSSIBLE for you to give up, then you are not following Jesus.

"Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus challenged the disciples to give up their family and job to follow Him, and they did. God gave up Jesus, His only son. I was asked to give up certain things that were hard to give up, but I did. What do you need to give up so that Jesus can make your life function at a higher level? Find out what that is and then decide to give it up. It could be for a year or forever, but give up the things that God asks you to, even the impossible things.

Not What you Think

I have decided that I don't want to be a Christian.

It's not what you think.

A lot of Christians believe because that is how they grew up, or it's just how you do things. Their faith is that of a child. I want my faith to be lived out because God has made it real to me. My faith is not based on "because it's the right thing to do", but based on "it's real and God continues to grow me up".

I was reminded of this because I talked to a pastor this weekend who has had his ass handed to him by "Christians" who are nothing more then whining babies who want everything their way.
"We don't want to pray, we don't want to give, we don't want to serve, we don't want to grow" How sad....that the world sees these fake believers and true Jesus followers are labeled as being just as petty.

So, I don't want to be known as a Christian. I want to be known as a Jesus follower who will do anything, short of sin, to show someone the love of Jesus. That is what I think.

When Worship Sucks

Sometimes my worship sucks. It's the truth. My worship sucks because I am more focused on how I sound then who I am singing to. God is worthy of my best and I sometimes lay a huge fricking sucky egg in front of Him. I am not focused on the things that I should be.

Worship is not just singing, it is serving. That means that when I fail to do my very best my worship sucks. When my attitude about serving is bad then my worship sucks. When it becomes about me then my worship sucks.

Jesus gave me everything and He is worth living for. So I need to give my best in all things because my worship to Jesus is my life not just my singing.

Silence

There has been a recurring theme in my life over the last few days.

Silence.

Silence is a funny thing because it drives some people totally crazy or it is a place of total serenity for others.
Who has time for silence? I mean really, how are you supposed to be silent when everything in the world screams "LISTEN". God is waiting in the silence for you to listen to Him. He does not blast His message to you on the radio. He does not have a bullhorn. He is in the silence.
When you stop to listen what do you hear?
Some people shy away from silence because it means that they have to listen to themselves think. People like to hide in loudness. God is waiting in the silence.

Have you ever shut the door to your room and just listened? In the quiet of that moment God can finally talk to you. This is your moment to listen. This is how you can hear God, by listening. Not listening to the radio, or the neighbors yelling at their kids, or the sound of traffic outside of your window. Listening to the quiet voice of God can only be heard when you stop listening to everything else. Can you hear it? Can you close your eyes and listen? This may be the hardest thing you have ever done, but God is waiting for you to listen.

Where is your heart?

I know, it's in the middle of your chest, but the question is actually much deeper then that. Where does your motivation come from? Your actions reflect your heart. Romans 2:17-29 hits those of faith right in the face. If YOUR heart is bragging about how great YOUR faith is, and how righteous YOU are, and how much YOU know about God, then YOUR heart is all about YOU. God wants our heart to be about HIM. How great HE is, and how awesome HE is, and how our faith is moved by HIM, and how great it is that you can know HIM. When your heart is motivated by how great you are in your faith, then your faith has nothing to do with Jesus. When your heart is motivated by how great He is, then your faith is about Jesus.

The more we focus on ourselves the less we focus on Jesus. Romans 2:17-24 Paul pretty much slaps those of faith right in the mouth. How can you say that you are great in your knowledge of God when you do not even practice what you claim to follow? The Jews knew everything there is to know about God, they were perfect in their faith. Or so they thought. Then Paul rips them a new one by pointing out that their focus has been on them and not Him. This is what makes faith so interesting, you have to balance it by not becoming focused on what you know, but what you do with that knowledge.

Like the Jews, the church gets into the rut of thinking that "we know everything to know about God and therefore our faith is great". I believe that this type of thinking is faulty because it assumes that you can obtain perfect faith. Our belief in Jesus does not mean that we know all there is to know. We know as much as we understand with our finite brains. Faith reaches beyond the limits of what we can understand in order to connect to a God that is infinite in nature. Can you understand infinity? The concept of knowing a God who by definition is beyond understanding is literally mind blowing. What Paul was saying to the Jews was that they believed that they were holy because they thought they understood God, but they did not even follow the God they claimed to know. How can you understand God if you don't follow Him? Perhaps the church needs to refocus its attention from understanding God to following God to the best of their understanding. Where is your heart? Mine is knowing that my faith is only as great as my serving.

Life goes SPLAT

I have been playing with a splat ball. If you have never played with one they are one of the coolest things ever. You throw the ball against the wall and....SPLAT.... it looks like it goes all over the wall. Then the ball reshapes itself into it's original form. The one I have looks like a tomato. So cool!
I think this toy is the perfect example of life. So many times it seems that our lives go SPLAT and that we are never going to be whole again. Maybe it's sickness, maybe death, maybe divorce. There are so many examples of how life can go SPLAT, and if we are not careful then our lives will never take form again. We will continue to live life like we have been thrown up against a wall instead of being reformed into who we are. By ourselves we cannot continue to survive the eventual wall that we get thrown into, but with Jesus the process of being reformed is easy. We have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5 :22-23). These are called the fruits of the Spirit and all that means is that as you live life devoted to Jesus then the byproduct is all of the above. Even when life goes SPLAT. Especially when life goes SPLAT! When we take our eyes off of Jesus and try to reform ourselves, the eventual outcome is that our lives are going to be jacked up. If we let Jesus reform us, then our lives will be made whole again. No matter how hard we are thrown up against the wall.