Near and Far Faith

I wanted to post these weeks ago but here are my notes from the Orange Tour conference that I went to in D.C. on 9/15. It was awesome and deep. just enough info to spark some good wise change.


* Key issues we all must wrestle with:
o 1. Allignment of leadership - getting everyone on the same page.
o 2. messaging - how to keep it fresh and relevant
o 3. relationship/community - classes (sunday school, kidzone) don’t disciple on their own)
+ no one has more potential to influence a child than a parent, but the parent is not the only influence a child needs
o 4. Influence - discipleship to students is linked strongly to serving as much or more than teaching. they will feel significant as they do something significant
o 5. Family and our view of it’s potential
+ our time with kids = 40 hrs per year. family = 3000
+ what would happen if i leverage my influence with theirs?
+ the light of the church and the heart of the family should be synchronized
+ everyone is influenced by family (good or bad) only some are influenced by church
+ only 23.5% of families in America are defined by married couples living with biological kids
+ pointing today’s family to a stock picture of what we think can derail their spiritual desires to grow
* Questions for myself...
o how can i make my influence count more?
o how can i grab the influence of families and use it for the kingdom?
o as a church are we reaching and preaching for today’s family or our stock picture of it?
* what is my picture of the ideal family?
* there’s something bigger going on in families than just a picture to hold them up to
o families are messy - Adam and Eve, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, David
* God doesn’t use perfect pictures, he uses broken people - it demonstrates his ability to redeem and restore
* we should never buy into the lyth that we need to become the “right” kind of parent, rather learn to cooperate with whatever God desires to do in your heart so that our children with have a front row seat for examples of grace
* families don’t need a better picture (your family should look like this), but a bigger story (to know that wherever they are God is using them and fitting them into his plan)
o this gets parents to invest in the direction of the story and expands my influence
* the “better picture” philosophy disconnects anyone who is broken from taking part
* the senior pastor has the most airtime with parents
* Questions for myself...
o how can i shift from a “picture” mentality to a “story” mentality?
* The state of the family and the church - barna group partnered research project
o are we thinking about the families OUTSIDE our church?
o 50% of families said that children didn’t effect their connection to a church
+ they are attending most churches and leaving unaffected
o 5% said that the church could help them with biblical teaching or knowledge
o 21% said it could help with “good advice”, 12% with emotional support
o do we give them a plan or strategy to help them? “this is what we’re doing to help”
o one of the best gateways to the unchurched is through the heart of the parent, not an adult alone
o 45%of parents with recent church experience are clear about the church’s expectations on them as parents
o can we reduce our purpose as a church to a few memorable things to help us communicate it to parents?
o parents need hope, not a list of things to do and not do
+ we must create easy to use tools to help parents win - and teach them to use them. they want help!
o 63% of parents have tried to help their children develiope meaningful relationships with adults outside the home
o are our volunteers showing up to fill a need or to follow the discipleship path God has for them?
o people behave and learn relationally, not programatically (it has more to do with relationships build than with the programs we plan. our programs should center on relationship)
+ burnout is a lot faster in a program-based strategy
o what other adults are going to influence my kids besides me?
* Questions for myself...
o how can i better equip my parents to help their families?
+ keep it easy and simple
* middle and high school students are naturally moving towards independance - don’t push against it
o we shouldn't back away though but reengage in a new way.
* we need to help students understand the importance of the relationship with their parents even if it’s not reciprocated.
* don’t replace the parent - rather, but yourself between them as a conduit
* students need to know that the relationship with their parents is worth fighting for
* invest resources in relationships, not programming
* how do we measure success for Ignite? how does the senior pastor? elders? parents?
* it should be by the percentage of participants that are in ministry serving.
o how many are plugging into serving opportunities? how can we get more to do it?
o spiritual growth comes through service
o it breaks the consumer mentality of church
* to make these and any changes the leadership must be on the same page when it comes to the essential principals, like success and strategy.
* Questions for myself...
o what could our students do in our community that would revolutionize the community’s view of the church?
o LVU outreach to pastors ( i don’t remember what i was thinking here)
* 95% of 20-29 yr-olds went to church during elementary school
* 55% went during high school
* 11% during college
* if they went to church when they were 18-22, only 6% of them leave the church now (who are now 23-30 yr-olds
* the church is programmed to draw the finish line at 12th grade
* what happens to the college age student is all of our jobs
* small groups should begin to transition to more independence in 9th - 12th grade
* myths about college ministry:
o the church doesn’t need to get involved, campus ministries will do that
o not enough budget for another ministry - this is about deepening relationships, not programming
o this isn’t a college town
+ only 30%-40% of college-age students go to school full time
o we don’t know how to appeal to that crowd - authenticity and passion is all that’s needed
o we’ve tried and failed - was it a program and did it “fail” because of low attendance?
o it’s not a long-term investment - they’ll leave when they graduate
+ this is in opposition to the kingdom mindset
+ they must know that they are part of a bigger story
o we can’t hire another staffer for college-age ministry
+ this should be a collective church effort
o these are years when they should be growing on their own
+ owning my faith and doing it alone are completely different
+ we should be creating environments where they can wrestle with their faith while they are surrounded by love
* the faith stakes are highest at graduation... when we often choose to disconnect
o we loose our relational influence when the felt need is the greatest
* adulthood indicators don’t show up til 24 yrs-old and older
* the biggest change we can make now it to get students serving


Just my honest thoughts... hope you can get something from it. One change we're making right away is to match small group leaders with a group that they'll stay with through high school instead of grouping by age - as an example.

Faith as it points to my family and day to day life is more and more vague as my relationship with God matures. Why is that?

It was at first very simplistic - trust Jesus, that He died for my sins, and live to be like Him. As we mature though, God begins to invade every crevice of our heart and call out to us to release it and let Him reign there.

As we start that process at salvation, those areas are usually large and obvious - that sinful sexual relationship, drug abuse, deceitfulness. Not that we overcome those sins and are never tempted in them again, but we are now held accountable for the knowledge that they are not in line with the kingdom life - the way that Jesus works in the kingdom that he rules in. And that is new knowledge.

Maybe I'm way off here, but as I grow closer to Christ (as a side note, I really despise the word "mature" here. We are to grow to be more like Him but many Christians have used "mature" as a benchmark that they set for themselves to look down on all who aren't there yet. So... despisementness) I find that there is less and less "stopping" the sinful and more and more "calling" to the radical. We are burdened for the homeless and "poor in spirit". We are impassioned about the injustice we see and brokenhearted for God. We are more and more Jesus and less and less Tucker. It's like god says "You know what is in line with my kingdom now. We've walked through that already. Now expand it with me."

I think that's the way it should be. There should be this joyous vagueness to my life and faith as the boundaries are erased between what I want to call "me", even though I am not my own (1 Cor. 6:19 - You do not belong to yourself), and faith. Thoughts?

I'm loving Perry Noble's new leadership podcast. He's been doing it since the spring and it really gives you insight into more of who he is. I take a lot from his leadership and it's cool to know him better. We're friends now. He also had a great post on pastoral burnout today.

Looking forward to the Stress In The Ministry Conference in a few weeks. A friend of mine turned me onto it. You apply and if you pass the gulling tests... of name and church phone number... they fly you down to Houston for a week of group counseling and teaching. The common reaction I've been getting from people is "Is the ministry stressful?" Ummm... YES! And it says nothing about your church, only you. Pastoring is not a job but a calling and those of us who grasp that pour every drop of creativity and prayer and energy and resources and love into it. It leaves us empty so God can use us. But never think that you can survive alone. We should take every chance to bolster our marriages, our senses of humor, and our love of humanity.

Derek Webb had a cool post the other day. It echoes my heart to a T.

Oh and I started following Jon Foreman on Twitter. you should too. He's the lead singer of Switchfoot who also has some amazing solo acoustic stuff.

That's all.

So it's not too often that I get to preach the same message more than once anymore. A few weeks ago I taught on John 12 at Ignite - we've been walking through John a chapter a week since April (check out the Beard Challenge). It ran long. I preached for almost an hour. I hate when speakers do that... unless of course no one notices. That's when you know you're speaking truth and not ego. So Mark Culton (Ebenezer bible Fellowship Church) asked me to teach for him while he was away and last night I got to spend time with their high schoolers. I felt pressed over the last few weeks to do the same message again on the story in John 12. It went for an hour last night. But it felt good - confirmed. I speak so little lately, compared to a year ago, that I forgot how much passion comes when the Spirit truly moves in you.

I was convicted as I taught though and it bares repeating. Not because I dreamed up this concept and I'm amazing (true... but not the point of discussion). But because saying it out loud to all of you (6) who read this brings accountability. It was a simple concept of Kingship. This is what came alive to me last night: A king of old times owned it all. If he wanted your house, it was his. Your bride? His. Your money? Taxed. We loose this concept of Jesus being our King because as Americans we are bred to be independent with a vote in everything. The idea of dominance is frowned on. But that's exactly the concept scripture was utilizing in verses like Zech 9:9, quoted as fulfilled prophecy in John 12:15. Not just a physical King though. And this is no enlightening moment for many of us. However, what would life look like if Jesus was my king? Where would fear fit? Shame and guilt? Purpose?

At the end of the passage in John 12 He says that we have the chance to be children of light - and he is the light. So here it is: do I live the reality that God is my Father-king? And how do you know? I don't have strong faith. I question God and his logistics. I don't believe an un-questioning heart is called for. But I do believe there must be a ruling concept of dominance splattered on our lives.

So it took me most of the morning, but I just couldn't justify paying for hosting for this blog anymore. So here's my free version. I miss my old theme, but this one's cool and I like the twitter app for it. I'm still working on getting the podcast back up and I hope to do a new episode here soon.

Just a quick heads up do to my own lack of promotion. This Sunday is our final fund raiser before the West Virginia mission trip. Instead of a spaghetti dinner like we've done in the past, we're changing the menu up a bit and having a BBQ (pray the rain holds, though we'll have it either way). We'll also have a dunk tank that Jon Weeks will entice and tease you into getting angry (righteously... cause it's church) at. Suggested donations are $7 per Adult, $4 for kids 4-10, and free for kids 3 and under. See you there!

I'm coming up on 5 years here with Carpenter's and I've been reminded a lot lately of the many seasonal changes we've had here. I think it's not as much the change itself that embeds in our hearts through these things but the challenged growth. God brings seasons about - we don't and circumstances don't. In fact, many times we don't realize they've changed until half way through them. Paul tells Timothy to not let the seasons effect the message, exhorting him to be ready in and out of season though.

My point is this: in the middle of seasons often we are challenged towards new growth and our temptation is to force a seasonal change. Be encouraged. Just like our earthly seasons, we cannot change them, but they will come. Our reoccurring theme with Ignite Students has been this concept of remaining in Christ - His heart in mine. He never will never call us out of a season, but will often call us to be the instrument he uses to bring about change within it. Most of the time this begins in us. Don't miss it. It only makes the season last longer. He will never give up on you but will pursue your heart until he has the glory he deserves.

Growing up in the church, sharing the story of Jesus lost its luster. It was never something that I was passionate about, but something that "should be done" as a good Christian. If we're not careful, many of the passions that Jesus once motivated in our hearts care turn sour if we choose not to grow closer to him. In fact, it's a good spiritual barometer to gut check your heart on these things, asking "How passionate am I about..." . For me it's always been easier to preach in front of a crowd what we should do rather than walk through those things on-on-one. But as my faith has been tested and refined lately I have seen passions be renewed, especially in the area of sharing Jesus' story with people.

We began a new series of talks and discussions at Ignite a few weeks ago called "Believe". We're walking through the book of John a chapter a week. I know that the scriptures cannot be read for long without igniting passion in our beliefs and faith, so I've issued this challenge to Ignite Students: I won't shave my beard for the duration of our John study, which is 21 weeks. If any of them can memorize an entire chapter of John, when the study is concluded they can shave my beard however they wish and I'll wear it that way for 48 hours. To be honest, I'm so much more excited about seeing students passionate about God's Word than about wearing a "different" beard for a few days.

So each week I'll post a beard picture to keep the interest alive. It's going to get manly... or nasty weird.

So... it's been a while. But the storm of stuff is subsiding. I've been so blessed to see God in many different ways lately that I wanted to share them in hopes of encouraging you. We have had a rough few years. It has been trial after trial of great intensity. But there are people in our lives on purpose. Often, though, our expectations rob them of any notoriety. But I am just very grateful for these...

First, my wife. Who, through an intense schedule of 3 jobs has held our family intact, sometimes single-handedly. I began this schedule in September as i took on 2 part time jobs - one with Lehigh Valley Christian High school advising their student worship band, and the other beginning my own remodeling business. All that on top of still leading both the music and student ministries here at Carpenter's. There have been days at a time when the only time we see each other is when it's dark and the only thing we have left is a vegetative grunt. But as things calm down and family time reemerges, I am eternally grateful that despite the stress I know she still loves me and she shows it. That, for me, is unconditional. She doesn't think does much, but she has done it all when it comes to my family.

Second, the band. We have walked an intense road over the last 6 months together as ministers and musicians. The elder team began months ago looking at ways to relieve my responsibilities at the church and that relief came to fruition because of a hand full of people willing to step up and lead, no matter the discomfort or, at times, tremendous scrutiny. They have stayed strong and grown stronger. Jim, Justin, and Steff have stepped up to share the worship leading responsibilities which means I only lead worship every 4 weeks or so now. I still choose to play occasionally, besides leading, but these are no longer part of my job description at Carpenter's, rather an exercising of my gifts. Tim Cunningham, Mary Lou, and Tim Beam have stepped up into leadership roles - Tim C. as the Deacon of Media and Technology and Tim B. heading up the tech team. These two guys have grown in front of my eyes into great heroes for me. They will never know the full weight they took off my shoulders. And Marylou - handling the scheduling admin that I so despise.

Third, for Bob Hampton. He came on as our Sr. Pastor just over a year ago (April fools to be exact... cause we're cool like that). I think I speak for many when I say we were reluctant to think that anyone could help us out of where we were. But Bob has been an amazing example of simply knowing the Word of Truth and living it. He has been real, but led us to a place where the Word is changing lives. I hope people can say the same of me some day. He's not perfect... thankfully - he fits right in. But he loves his calling to these people and it shows.

And finally, the Elder board. My brothers in arms. They have pressed and pushed me into God these past 2 years and I can honestly say, that if it wasn't for them, I would not be as close you Him. They helped me see what He had next. They laughed with me/at me for hours at a time - those were our monthly meetings. And yeah, we're down to a monthly 2-3 hour meeting. THAT is church body success for us! We were just remembering yesterday the 4-5 hour weekly meetings!! It is because of the devotion of these men - Dave, Jerry, Jake, Mike, and Chris - that I can say confidently that Carpenter's is not perfect, but it is now healthy.

I hope that you can be thankful in the midst of trial so that you can take a deep breath on the other side, resting in the thoughts of purpose.

Had a blast this weekend with Tony Cruz as he shared all weekend with us for our Student retreat - Ignition 2010. We missed the recording for Friday night, but here are the recordings for Saturday morning, Saturday night, and Sunday morning.

Ignite Students podcast - Saturday messages

Carpenter's Podcast - Sunday message

It's been a while. It's been on my heart for a few weeks to get back to this blog but the events of life have been intense and plentiful, in a good way. I'm currently working two other jobs besides pastoring at Carpenter's. Both are part time. One is as the Student Praise Band Advisor at Lehigh Valley Christian High School. I took this on at the after hearing about the need from Bob Brennan - the principal - whom I've bonded with through Lehigh Valley Unite. I've also begun my own home improvement business - Olive Tree Home Improvements. Couple those with a move to Nazareth a week from today and it's been a bit nuts, but who's life isn't?

I've been thinking about this and confused by it for some time and just today it's come to light more: what is the kingdom of God? It's used in different ways throughout scripture - inheriting it, seeing it, its "at hand". After some months of discovering various thoughts and prayers on this, here is my conclusion:

I was at first convinced that it was a way of life - following Christ and doing the things that Christ did in sacrifice and love. But recently I've seen that it simply doesn't fit with some passages. Through 1 Cor. 15 and some thoughts from "Desiring God" (which has been changing me), I've come to see that it is much bigger than that, while that is part of it. Simply put, it is the knowledge of God's glory - that being his greatness and love and compassion and... we could all go on. To inherit it is to know Him. The sacrifices from Matt. 13 fit in that it is far more valuable than all else.

This is the tip of the iceberg of these thoughts. I'd love to hear yours. It's good to be back on the blog.