Near and Far Faith

Seriously... how far removed from reality are you to think that this works?

First watch this.



Then this.



Now go here and see why I love David Crowder - His rendition of the tune in the video above.

If anyone knows anyone that, even 7 degrees removed, is closer to the almighty because of this, please... tell someone. I'll bet anything that members of both of these bands still wear the same clothes. It was their 15 minutes - why throw that away!

Trade leadership potential for true leadership. - I know I rave about our Student Leadership Team - they rock and blow me away daily - but a hard lesson I've had to learn is to ignore leadership potential and go after manifested leadership. We can all see potential for the most part and love the challenge of building a student into a leader (like someone did for us), but there's a lot of time wasted on students that have potential but don't care. A true leader that's ready will be leading already. All you'll have to do is point them in a direction. The problem with students that have potential but no desire is that they're usually the popular ones that you think will be good leaders. They don't lead though, as true leaders create more leaders. These students simply create followers.

You can find true leadership in the students that others want to be like already. As harsh as it is, the best thing to do with students that exhibit potential is not to give them attention, as it will back fire into an attention party - pulling people away from the vision.

This is not to say that we don't make acceptions. When we do though, we are clear and strong up front with the standards. If they get off track, they're done. The true leaders that are ready for leadership are focused and remain on track... for the most part. They're still students.

Small is short lived, so love it - So our numbers dropped over the summer and for the first time I embraced it. There's a fight that rages in many of us as ministers to bring the numbers back up when they drop. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for it. For me, larger numbers means more ears to hear the Word. But God often presents us with the unique opportunity for intimacy and we miss it. There's a dynamic that, for most of us, is a season that's short lived in smaller numbers. Whether it's because of the summer, or the fan being hit by the proverbial selfish poo, I'm embracing a season of the small crowd. See, there's an intimacy that we strive to create in the small group ministry that we often miss in the small crowd.

Here are some benefits: getting to know each one better so I can speak more directly, focusing less on media quality (like graphics and videos) because those that are here are, for the most part devoted, allowing Student Leaders to learn to lead more hands on. Embrace the small crowd and don't miss the chances that are coming.

I've been so encouraged though our student ministry lately that I thought I'd take a few posts to talk about what I've been learning. I started participating in student ministry in high school leading worship, but I've been doing it for a living for about 5 years. I feel like I just started to figure out what works - after three years here in the Lehigh Valley.

Learn from students. It's a simple concept but how often can I humble myself to the point of being real with a student and saying "Thanks for teaching me that"? The past few weeks God's been reminding me of this concept over and over: that to lead by example is to truly lead like Christ. If I want them to learn from me, I need to learn from them.

A great example of this is our challenge to students to get out of their comfort zones and invite their friends to our events and to create dialogs with them about their following of Christ. We all have those students that latch on and get it... but when was the last time I latched on and shared my Christ-experience with one of my friends? Simple and basic, but profound. It's easy to know what to do. But often what we should be doing though is watching them go after a task and mimicking their results.

I love this thought from Steven Furtick. It's been on my heart for a while and he does it total justice.

Check out his post, Comfortable with Controversy

Steven Furtick came up with this idea two years ago and we jumped on board then. This year they came out with a free do-it-yourself kit. If you've never done it before it's amazing. DO IT! If you wonder why we do it, you can read a little about it on Steven's Post.

Read Steven Post about it here.

Get the kit here.

This is the first election that Cher and I are both excited about voting in. ONe of the coolest things that has been done this election year is Rick Warren's Civil forum in which he interviews both cantidates. It more than helped us choose our vote.

If you missed it...

Check out the video of the forum here.

Or come to my place and we'll watch it together on my DVR.