Hey...I just wanted to post before we leave for The Gathering in Orlando next week....
Here are a few thoughts about the last few weeks:
1. I told you previously that we had 7 different Christmas events to go to...I counted the mileage...and we traveled 1006 miles! I feel a bit car lagged!
2. This past Friday, seeing that the District Ski Trip got cancelled and our ski trip got cancelled...I was stupid and decided to have an all day event...we started Friday morning at 730am and went to Pokagon and Ft. Wayne and back for an overnighter and I left the Oasis at 930 am on Saturday! 26 hours of fun... :)
3. We are getting ready to head to Orlando for a wesleyan pastors gathering...our church is sending both Pastor John and Beth and Sarah and I paying for flight and the conference! Amazing...
4. I am glad that 2006 is over...it has been a challenging year...filled with change and growth
5. This was my first full year of marriage and I am falling in love with my wife it seems every day...God truly has blessed me with Sarah...
6. Christmas was busy but we were so thankful that we could spend time with our family and friends...living so far away makes that hard to do for us...
7. I hope that God blesses you this new year...
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Some christmas time updates
Hey...sorry I haven't updated in a while..I have been a little busy...so here is a quick bullel laden update.
1. Sarah has strep throat...pray for her...she isnt feeling well.
2. Christmas shopping is all done! A salesperson laughed at me at a store where I was shopping out of pity (how do I know it was pity? Because right after she laughed, she went awwww)
3. First, the District Ski Trip got cancelled. Then I made plans for our own ski trip/ overnighter next Friday and now I am not sure if it is going to be cold enough for them to make snow! So pray that it will be colder than what they think.
4. We are half way through our Christmas Tour...4 down 3 to go.
5. I started my first pre-marital counseling sessions this week for the wedding in February...it will be the first one for me!
6. I want cold weather...and I want it NOW!!!
7. Sarah and I went and seen The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and his son...it was one of the saddest, best, inspirational, and amazing movie I have seen in a long time...I would recommend it!
8. Christmas is different this year...even when you try and slow down and enjoy the season...those around you aren't slowing down and they are just going through the motions...frustrating...very frustrating!
9. Last, Merry Christmas...and slow down these last few days
1. Sarah has strep throat...pray for her...she isnt feeling well.
2. Christmas shopping is all done! A salesperson laughed at me at a store where I was shopping out of pity (how do I know it was pity? Because right after she laughed, she went awwww)
3. First, the District Ski Trip got cancelled. Then I made plans for our own ski trip/ overnighter next Friday and now I am not sure if it is going to be cold enough for them to make snow! So pray that it will be colder than what they think.
4. We are half way through our Christmas Tour...4 down 3 to go.
5. I started my first pre-marital counseling sessions this week for the wedding in February...it will be the first one for me!
6. I want cold weather...and I want it NOW!!!
7. Sarah and I went and seen The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and his son...it was one of the saddest, best, inspirational, and amazing movie I have seen in a long time...I would recommend it!
8. Christmas is different this year...even when you try and slow down and enjoy the season...those around you aren't slowing down and they are just going through the motions...frustrating...very frustrating!
9. Last, Merry Christmas...and slow down these last few days
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Selling on Sunday...
Here I go again...
I am going to start with my two favorite words it seems for this blog...Growing up, Sunday was a no-nonsense kind of day. We never thought about eating out on Sunday. No getting gas (unless the sun went down??? explain that one to me?), no watching T.V., no playing outside, and definitely no fun!!! (just a joke) Anyways, we never ate out until after the divorce...I mean NEVER! There wasn't a time I can remember ever doing this. I think my Dad would have rathered starved us kids than to buy something on a Sunday. Strict. Stern. Unmoving. I can remember always trying to slip past my parents bedroom without getting noticed just to try to have some of that one f word (fun that is). I remember one Super Bowl sneaking upstair, during service mind you, and watching a little of the SB! Now, when the sun went down, the TV came on, and all bets were off. Interesting. Very, very interesting.
So being a small, old-fashioned church, this is still an issue. I was reemed last April for selling things at a youth group chili cook off on a Sunday night...harshly. Scripturally speaking, The Wesleyan discipline is vague (imagine that). I had to do some searching and found that in Nehemiah there is a passage where he kept the selling merchants out of the city and scolded the people for buying on the sabbath. That's it. So here are my questions/points:
1. If we are going to follow a Levitical law, why are we not following them all? Why are we just picking and choosing which ones have relavence in our lives and churches?
2. The church I grew up in was legalistic and that is putting it mildly. However, the people of that church may have looked on the outside like holiness people but I know for a fact that they are doing some "illegal" things. Not wrong from a biblical stance per se, but definitely from a legal one. Picking and choosing, eh?
3. A majority (90%?) of the church I am at now go out and eat on Sunday. Enough said...picking and choosing!
4. I could get technical about it and say that the sabbath was on a saturday and sunday is the lords day but I won't. However, I just want to give you this verse to chew on...this was after Jesus and his disciples had...(gasp)...picked some grain on the sabbath...and was questioned by the Pharisees...Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
5. What is the real reason behind the Sabbath or the Lord's day? In that passage the NIV study bible puts it like this, "Jewish tradition had so multiplied the requirements and the restrictions for keeping the Sabbath that the burden had become intolerable. Jesus cut across these traditions and emphasized the God-given purpose of the Sabbath-a day intended for man (for spiritual, mental and physical renewal)". Does buying dinner so that I don't have to cook fall into that category? :)
6. I don't think this is an issue for larger churches. It seems to be a small church type of thing that gives them something to talk about. I may be wrong but I have a hunch that I am not.
My final assessment on the issue: Wesleyans and protestant-holiness types are picking and choosing from the Bible to placate their own traditions.
What do you think?
I am going to start with my two favorite words it seems for this blog...Growing up, Sunday was a no-nonsense kind of day. We never thought about eating out on Sunday. No getting gas (unless the sun went down??? explain that one to me?), no watching T.V., no playing outside, and definitely no fun!!! (just a joke) Anyways, we never ate out until after the divorce...I mean NEVER! There wasn't a time I can remember ever doing this. I think my Dad would have rathered starved us kids than to buy something on a Sunday. Strict. Stern. Unmoving. I can remember always trying to slip past my parents bedroom without getting noticed just to try to have some of that one f word (fun that is). I remember one Super Bowl sneaking upstair, during service mind you, and watching a little of the SB! Now, when the sun went down, the TV came on, and all bets were off. Interesting. Very, very interesting.
So being a small, old-fashioned church, this is still an issue. I was reemed last April for selling things at a youth group chili cook off on a Sunday night...harshly. Scripturally speaking, The Wesleyan discipline is vague (imagine that). I had to do some searching and found that in Nehemiah there is a passage where he kept the selling merchants out of the city and scolded the people for buying on the sabbath. That's it. So here are my questions/points:
1. If we are going to follow a Levitical law, why are we not following them all? Why are we just picking and choosing which ones have relavence in our lives and churches?
2. The church I grew up in was legalistic and that is putting it mildly. However, the people of that church may have looked on the outside like holiness people but I know for a fact that they are doing some "illegal" things. Not wrong from a biblical stance per se, but definitely from a legal one. Picking and choosing, eh?
3. A majority (90%?) of the church I am at now go out and eat on Sunday. Enough said...picking and choosing!
4. I could get technical about it and say that the sabbath was on a saturday and sunday is the lords day but I won't. However, I just want to give you this verse to chew on...this was after Jesus and his disciples had...(gasp)...picked some grain on the sabbath...and was questioned by the Pharisees...Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
5. What is the real reason behind the Sabbath or the Lord's day? In that passage the NIV study bible puts it like this, "Jewish tradition had so multiplied the requirements and the restrictions for keeping the Sabbath that the burden had become intolerable. Jesus cut across these traditions and emphasized the God-given purpose of the Sabbath-a day intended for man (for spiritual, mental and physical renewal)". Does buying dinner so that I don't have to cook fall into that category? :)
6. I don't think this is an issue for larger churches. It seems to be a small church type of thing that gives them something to talk about. I may be wrong but I have a hunch that I am not.
My final assessment on the issue: Wesleyans and protestant-holiness types are picking and choosing from the Bible to placate their own traditions.
What do you think?
Monday, December 04, 2006
December newsletter article
December newsletter article
The wonder of it all
Most kids want to grow up. They want their freedom to do whatever it is that they want to do and whenever they want to do it. They can't wait to be able to date and drive and the list goes on and on. It is as if they wish away their lives. Being an adult does bring some things that are very nice to have however, during Christmas time, I have found myself wishing more and more that I was that pre-teen kid all over again.
You see, I can barely remember the feeling I had waking up those Christmas's when I was young. Going to bed the night before and hardly being able to sleep with anticipation. The weeks leading up to that brought tree decorating and light hangings. I caught myself remembering even last night the trips that we would take to neighboring towns to see their Christmas lights. As I got older and life happened, those things slowly had less and less excitement and awe to them. Why has that happened? It is because of the responsibilities of growing up? Or is it because we are moving way too fast to even notice those little things that used to make our stomach's tingle in anticipation? As for me, I am going to try and take this Christmas a little bit slower this year because I want that tingle back in my stomach. I want that feeling of snuggling up under a blanket and feeling that everything in the world is content for at least that moment. I want to slow down and remember the wonder of it all. Jesus has come and that is enough to make anyone's Christmas bright!
Christ has come,
Pastor Andy
The wonder of it all
Most kids want to grow up. They want their freedom to do whatever it is that they want to do and whenever they want to do it. They can't wait to be able to date and drive and the list goes on and on. It is as if they wish away their lives. Being an adult does bring some things that are very nice to have however, during Christmas time, I have found myself wishing more and more that I was that pre-teen kid all over again.
You see, I can barely remember the feeling I had waking up those Christmas's when I was young. Going to bed the night before and hardly being able to sleep with anticipation. The weeks leading up to that brought tree decorating and light hangings. I caught myself remembering even last night the trips that we would take to neighboring towns to see their Christmas lights. As I got older and life happened, those things slowly had less and less excitement and awe to them. Why has that happened? It is because of the responsibilities of growing up? Or is it because we are moving way too fast to even notice those little things that used to make our stomach's tingle in anticipation? As for me, I am going to try and take this Christmas a little bit slower this year because I want that tingle back in my stomach. I want that feeling of snuggling up under a blanket and feeling that everything in the world is content for at least that moment. I want to slow down and remember the wonder of it all. Jesus has come and that is enough to make anyone's Christmas bright!
Christ has come,
Pastor Andy
Too much fun part 2
For the third time in about 2 months I have heard from someone who’s child goes to the youth group that they don’t think that their child is getting much from the group and all they do is have fun. What do I have to say about that? UGGGGHHHHH!!! Here are some observations:
1. I don’t think that we have too much fun. However, I do feel that we do more activities that could be construed as just having fun. Such as, an overnighter almost every other month. Most of the youth pastors that I know and have told this to have said that I was crazy but heres the thing: My teens LOVE overnighters! They eat them up. What else? Well we have had game nights the past few months. Simple times just to hang out and “be” together.
2. I think the issue is that parents think that the activities that I would call “extra” are what they perceive to be “everything”. You see, if you were an outsider looking in, you might look at a list of things that the youth group has done the past month and think wow, they are all activity and no substance. Take for instance October…here is a list of what our YG did: We had around 5 game nights, we had an overnighter, and we had a pumpkin carving night. Here is what you don’t see in the headlines: At that overnighter, we had around 10-15 teens praying around the altar…then some of them gave testimonies after they prayed (how many of our church attendees do that?). Before we went to carve pumpkins we talked about how we must be a light to the world around us or they will stay in the dark and not know Jesus. The Wednesday night services where we have fun and eat some food but are growing stronger each week as a group. The Sunday night discussions during the month where the girls talked about self esteem and the guys talked about lust. Those things never make the headlines of what the students tell their parents. Never!
3. Maybe I do have too many activities. Maybe we do have too much fun. Maybe our activities are too fun. Maybe I need to make them boring and then the number of kids would cut in half. Maybe, just maybe, because I have the time and freedom to do so many EXTRA things with the kids the relationships that we are building will help them in their walk with Christ. Even if it doesn’t…does our world need less fun? Are there too many things at church that make you laugh and WANT to come back? Are there things that are making your WANT to wake up on Sunday morning to go to “REAL” church? I didn’t think so…and I won’t stop doing what I am doing. Most of what these people are calling fun is simply what I choose to do in my free time with the teens. I don’t have to plan all these activities. I want to and if that makes me wrong and a fun only kind of I guy, I don’t ever want to be right!
1. I don’t think that we have too much fun. However, I do feel that we do more activities that could be construed as just having fun. Such as, an overnighter almost every other month. Most of the youth pastors that I know and have told this to have said that I was crazy but heres the thing: My teens LOVE overnighters! They eat them up. What else? Well we have had game nights the past few months. Simple times just to hang out and “be” together.
2. I think the issue is that parents think that the activities that I would call “extra” are what they perceive to be “everything”. You see, if you were an outsider looking in, you might look at a list of things that the youth group has done the past month and think wow, they are all activity and no substance. Take for instance October…here is a list of what our YG did: We had around 5 game nights, we had an overnighter, and we had a pumpkin carving night. Here is what you don’t see in the headlines: At that overnighter, we had around 10-15 teens praying around the altar…then some of them gave testimonies after they prayed (how many of our church attendees do that?). Before we went to carve pumpkins we talked about how we must be a light to the world around us or they will stay in the dark and not know Jesus. The Wednesday night services where we have fun and eat some food but are growing stronger each week as a group. The Sunday night discussions during the month where the girls talked about self esteem and the guys talked about lust. Those things never make the headlines of what the students tell their parents. Never!
3. Maybe I do have too many activities. Maybe we do have too much fun. Maybe our activities are too fun. Maybe I need to make them boring and then the number of kids would cut in half. Maybe, just maybe, because I have the time and freedom to do so many EXTRA things with the kids the relationships that we are building will help them in their walk with Christ. Even if it doesn’t…does our world need less fun? Are there too many things at church that make you laugh and WANT to come back? Are there things that are making your WANT to wake up on Sunday morning to go to “REAL” church? I didn’t think so…and I won’t stop doing what I am doing. Most of what these people are calling fun is simply what I choose to do in my free time with the teens. I don’t have to plan all these activities. I want to and if that makes me wrong and a fun only kind of I guy, I don’t ever want to be right!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
A better time of year?
Is there a better time of year than right now? I don't think so...
We just got done with Thanksgiving...I think we still have some turkey!!!
A cold front has ended the ridiculously warm final week of November...I love it.
Monday starts the annual Christmas things...I think I have at least 7 different Christmas celebrations this year!
Indiana basketball is in full swing and they are doing pretty well.
We put up our tree last weekend and we found out that Lex likes to eat icicles...Sarah tells me that they could strangle his intestines or something...
I love Christmas lights...they make me feel warm and fuzzy..unless they are those crazy greenish blue and those for some wierd reason make me physically ill.
It is hot chocolate season again
So here's to another post-thanksgiving pre-christmas happy wish for you...
We just got done with Thanksgiving...I think we still have some turkey!!!
A cold front has ended the ridiculously warm final week of November...I love it.
Monday starts the annual Christmas things...I think I have at least 7 different Christmas celebrations this year!
Indiana basketball is in full swing and they are doing pretty well.
We put up our tree last weekend and we found out that Lex likes to eat icicles...Sarah tells me that they could strangle his intestines or something...
I love Christmas lights...they make me feel warm and fuzzy..unless they are those crazy greenish blue and those for some wierd reason make me physically ill.
It is hot chocolate season again
So here's to another post-thanksgiving pre-christmas happy wish for you...
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