In the paper

A newspaper writer for the local Visalia Times called me yesterday because he wanted to know why churches have alternatives on Halloween night and why we encourage the kids to not wear frightful costumes. I know it was the paper, but I didn't know that he would pick and choose different comments I made and post it in this mornings paper. Here is the second part of the article that included my quotes and misquotes.
Misquote: "Halloween shouldn't be about scaring people" I honestly never said that. I said that we don't encourage frightful costumes because it will scare the kids.
Oh well, at least it advertised the event.


Title: Churches taking the gore out of Halloween

Grace Community Church, at 424 Lovers Lane, will also hold a Halloween kids' event Wednesday, called the Harvest Festival.
It will take a similar tack as the Harvest Carnival. It, too, will be open to everyone.

"Halloween shouldn't be a night to be scaring people," said Eric Putman, pastor of junior high programs for Grace Community's youth ministry. "It should be a night to have fun."

Harvest Festival, slated for 6-8 p.m., will also feature games, bounce houses and free candy.

It will be "kid-friendly," Putman said.

The world advertises Halloween as "evil," Putman said. "And, obviously, our church is against anything that is evil."

Benefits that dont benefit?

It has been quite some time that I have posted something that has had any true value or even deep thought to it. But for some reason, I thought that today, I would share what God has been teaching me lately. So enjoy yourself readers(or reader)Today is that day.

The last few weeks, my relationship with God has been crappy. Seriously, crap. I don't blame Him though. I have been in this state of complacency. A place where I feel like a hamster spinning on a wheel everyday. Nothing new, nothing exciting. I go to work, I go home, I go to sleep, and the cycle continues.
For some reason, the connection with God's love just has not seemed to be there lately. I don't really know how to explain it. This has lead to some deep thinking that has made my head want to explode.

I sometimes wonder if Christians have selfish motives in their relationship with God. Truth, God blesses us. It is wonderful. He gives, He provides, old self, old habits, old perspective have all completely been turned upside down and spun around.
But, the question is, am I just in it for the benefits? Am I?
There is no doubt that having a relationship with God, you will have beneficial transformation. But sometimes it seems as if its nothing but a consumerist approach to God's love, doesn't it? It's like I've been attracted to this one-stop-shop of Jesus fixes, Santa Clause, rub the lamp, kind of relationship. but if that's all I'm in it for, then what about the parts of the Bible that I'm reading that talk about uniting with Christ's suffering and pain in our connection to the world? Loving our enemies, giving better than receiving, that's not all that desirable to me. Where do all these things fit into my consumption of "Benefit(ME) Jesus

The sad part is, when all these things seem to fade, its as if Jesus Himself abandoned us.

But this is what I have realized. I have realized that I cant just go on consuming God's love. Instead I am letting His love consume me. I am letting it surround, penetrate, overflow through me.

Karl Barth, was asked one day what the most profound discovery he ever found of God in all the scriptures.This was asked of a brilliant aged man who spent countless hours contemplating and living this gospel his entire life. Amongst some of the other greatest intellectual theologians in the entire world he simply answered, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Jesus loves YOU, and He loves ME, and He loves His whole creation!

I can only explain my previous disconnect with God's love was the result of my lack of acknowledging it was within my midst. Other things have always gotten in the way of me knowing, experiencing and seeing God's Love. Who would have thought the the benefits of Christ would be one of those things?


"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away." Romans 8:38 NLT

My Birthday Wish List

I am turning 28 in a couple of weeks. Basically, I am becoming an old man. Seriously, Im almost 30. That's ridiculous. My dad was married with 3 kids at my age.
Since I am still a kid at heart, I will due what kids due on their birthday and make a wish list. I am not wanting or expecting anyone who reads this to get me anything. I just wanted everyone to see what my heart desires.

The Karate Kid Collection (Four Film Set) (1994)
Cowboys Sideline Flex Cap - Grey
Taylor Made Burner Driver
Carrie Underwood -Carnival Ride
Remington 12 gauge shotgun
The Journey - Billy Graham
Transformers
This Jacket
Phil Wickham cd
NBA season pass on direct tv
and last but not least
Procerin Hair loss treatment
At this age, I should be going bald any day now.

This about does it. If I get just a couple of these, Ill be a happy man.

Not Looking for Controversy

I am in the midst of a new book by Joel Osteen called "becoming a better you."
I know you can't even mention his name without criticism coming up, but I have to be honest with you. I love his book and his ministry. It is really inspirational and helps me be determined to become better at everything I do. Do I agree with everything he says? No. But who is out there, that you would agree with 100% time?

I understand that there would be criticism. (what well known pastor isn't criticized?) but I don't understand how people, especially pastors, spend so much time knocking a ministry that is helping millions all over the world. Thousands are coming to Christ every week through his ministry. That is pretty amazing stuff.

I just think that it is an abnormal concept for most people, to try to be positive all the time. Some think its weird, some think its fake, but I honestly believe that Joel is sincere in all that he does and I think the world would be a better place if there were more positive people out there.

Starburst Commercial

We played this commericial at an event a couple weeks ago, and my students are still singing the song every time I see them.

McDonalds Monopoly

I don't know why but this year I am determined to win some money by playing the monopoly game at McDonald's. I bought a "rare piece" list for a dollar off eBay. But being the nice guy I am, I will give you the list.
If you receive any of these pieces, don't throw them away. Either keep them and try to win or send them to me. Here you go.

Rare Piece List:
Mediterranean Avenue (Purple)
Vermont Avenue (Bluish Gray)
Virginia Avenue (Maroon)
Tennessee Avenue (Orange)
Kentucky Avenue (red)
Ventora Avenue (Yellow)
Pennsylvania Avenue (Green)
Boardwalk (Blue)
Short Line (White)

Half Marathon Picture

Just got back my pictures from the Disneyland half marathon. I just wanted to show proof that I actually went through with it.
It was very difficult to complete considering I had only one leg. But I still did it.

Open Mouth Insert Foot

I just had a short conversation that ended up not going too well.
I saw an advertisement at church that said "Disneyland 4 day Park Hopper Pass, 1 person, 100 dollars."

I came in and told my co worker about it.
I said that it was a great deal, but who would want to go to Disneyland 4 days in a row? That would not be fun.
He then informed me that Disneyland is the place that him and is wife are going for their honeymoon next week.
oops.

Im going on the radio

We have a Christian radio station in our area called KDUV. For being a Christian station, it is actually not that bad. It goes throughout the entire central valley. Im not sure how many people actually listen to it though.
They are starting a new segment on Friday Nights called LIFELINE. They bring youth pastors on for an hour to talk about youth ministry and to take questions from callers. I will be on at 7:00pm on Friday, November 9th.

Here are my thoughts:
1. Friday night seems like a strange time to have this segment. (there definitely wont be teens listening.)
2. What if there is a question that I don't know the answer to?
3. Being live, what if I say something I shouldn't say on the air?
I know there wont be cursing but what if a "that's what she said" joke comes out? Could easily happen.
4. Should I use my normal voice or come up with a radio voice?
5. Even though I'm not really looking forward to it, this could be a great experience that could help someone out there.

If you actually have nothing going on Friday night at 7 on Nov. 9th, tune in to www.kduv.com and listen to it live on the web. You could also call in and make me look good.

What Teens Look For In A Church

Found this article from Barna that breaks down what teenagers are looking for in a church. Pretty interesting stuff. It really makes me wonder how to prioritize our ministries to be more effective to the common teen church attender.

A new study from The Barna Group explored the spiritual lives of today's teens and what their expectations are in a church. For teens, prayer was the most common spiritual activity. Three quarters of teens (72%) said they pray in a typical week. Attending worship service (embraced by 48 percent of today's teens) was the next most common activity. Approximately, one-third said they attend Sunday school (35%), attend youth group (33%), participate in a small group (32%) and read the Bible (31%).

Teen expectations related to church were also explored. Forty-five percent described that "to worship or make a connection with God" was very important and was the most common element sought by young people. Other elements were "to better understand what I believe" (42%), "to spend time with close friends" (34%), "to get encouraged or inspired" (34%), or "to volunteer to help others" (30%).

Teens were asked to identify the most influential teaching they received from church in the last 12 months that helped to shape their views. The most common areas of content revolved around moral and ethical standards (65%) and relationships (62%), followed by faith traditions (55%) and personal evangelism (50%).

Less than one-third of churched teens said they remembered any helpful content related to the following topics: media, movies and television (35%); money and finances (30%); the supernatural world (28%); leisure activities (27%); government and law (26%); art and music (22%), health issues (21%) and technology (9%).

My niece and nephew are coming

My brother and sister-in-law are coming to visit California in a couple weeks.
Although that is excitement in its self, they are bringing the twins (obviously) and I get to meet my new niece and nephew for the very first time. The sad part about it is that they are 9 months old and Im just now meeting them. That is one of the major flaws about living across the country from your family. But they are coming and I am excited to teach them everything I know.

Unbelievable!!!!

I just watched probably the most exciting football game I have ever seen tonight. It was the Cowboys vs. the Bills. Just the match up brought back memories of the two Superbowl's in the 90's that Dallas won.
Dallas was down the entire game, the qb was sucking it up, and T.O was dropping passes left and right but down 9 with 24 seconds left, we had a touch down, and onside kick, and a last second 53 yard field goal to win the game.
I think I might cry because Im so happy.

I need sleep

We just had our Jr. High Allnighter outreach event this past Friday. It endued up being really good. We had almost 300 students come.
The rally was Price is Right themed, and we made sure that it the real deal.
We had everything from Plinko to the wheel. The wheel was 8 feet in diameter. It was massive.
We had a guest speaker, Matt Furby, who came in for us. During the message, I felt really bad for him because I have never seem so many students this disruptive during a message before. Talking, texting, writing notes, It was unbelievable and discouraging. But the Holy Spirit must of moved in because dozens (I dont have the exact count down) of students made commitments for the first time and went back to talk with counselors about their decision.

Then we stayed up allnight rotating to different venues.
I finally got to sleep around 10am but Im still feeling it.