So, tonight, we had a fun outing...Movie Night! We took 40 or students and adults to the see Monsters University...you might be asking yourself; "where is the spiritual depth in that?" or, "how is that theological?"....It's Not, Haha! It's about having a good time and earning the right to be heard in the lives of the next generation. They are going to go to the movies anyway, so why not take 1-2 nights out of the year and do something with them that would do normally any way...
I didn't lead anyone to Christ tonight...no one walked away with a deeper understanding of salvation, righteousness or that Christ is the Paraclete (look it up) for us. What did happen tonight was a chance for friends and acquaintances, regular attendees and first time guests to hang out together, in general fellowship...not biblical fellowship...just good, ol' fashioned hanging out.
It was a blast! Being greeted by students jumping on you and hugging you when you walk up! Random and goofy conversations! Listening to hyperactive students in a groups of 3,6 and 9...tell me, all at once, about what they did 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 hours and 15 days ago! I won't recall all of it from memory, but that's not the point. Being there, right there on that sidewalk, taking the moment to be present in an environment where I usually don't get the chance to be...in their world, doing what they do...just being there.
So, is this the reason I still feel the love and call of Youth Ministries in my heart? Absolutely not! If I did, remove me right now! This stuff is just icing on the cake! This type of night/event, is like enjoying the fruits of your labor...sitting down to have a meal of fresh veggies that just came out of the garden. Did you catch that analogy....The labor in the field makes the meal that much more enjoyable.
The discipleship, the counseling, the planning, the budgeting (or trying to budget....bleh!), the staying late to listen, the stopping in the hallway to take advantage of a single moment when there are 100 other things to get to, the ministry of continuous interruptions, and so on...are all part of the labor, the call, the movement of this generation into the leaders of faith in the next generation. It's the Moses to Joshua principle.
When I was at the Catalyst Conference last October (a 3 day leadership conference for church leaders), Perry Noble started the whole conference off with a message that has been with me this whole year. It was right out of Joshua 1 and it sets the stage for something like tonight.
In Joshua 1, God is energizing Joshua for the transfer of leadership among the Israelite Basically, Moses is dead and Joshua is taking over. The greatest era that the Israelite's had recently known was over, or so they thought. The great Moses had delivered them out of slavery, taken them on a wild journey that shouldn't have lasted near as long as it did (but there are some huge implications as to why they were out there that long), brought them to the brink of the promised land, so close they could taste it, and then Moses dies.
Perry made a great connection to past and future generations with his message. The reason it was so important to tell Joshua that Moses was dead was to prepare him for being the next leader. Over and over, God tells Joshua to be courageous and to not be afraid. He mapped out a successful plan for the successor. "Moses, my servant, is dead." Yikes! What was in the past was great! It set the stage for what was about to happen and Moses helped map the way...but imagine if Joshua had not been ready? What if he had not been paying attention to how Moses lead, how he communicated with God, how he battled with stiff necked people and dealt with unfaithfulness and adversity This walk in to the promised land would have been a disaster, but Joshua was ready and the next generation of leaders was about to step it up and do what the other leaders couldn't. They were about to make the delivery!
There is a lyric from one of my favorite songs by REM from the 80's called "King of Birds" that goes, "standing on the shoulder of giants, leaves me cold...." For every future generation that leads forth and blazes a trail, there were giants that helped get them get there and they are to be recognized and remembered, yes, hallelujah and amen, but we are not supposed to look back and admire the work that was done...the focus is on the work ahead! This is why many churches and organization sputter and ultimately fail to move forward. Expecting the next generation to admire the trophies in the case without preparing them to continue the legacy forward is a for sure way to dissolve into the shadows of "what once was."
How is that accomplished? Millie Kim, our newest associate Pastor, delivered a message this morning at church, that helped connect what Perry was talking about last October, into July 1st, 2013. By discipling, mentoring, coaching and leading the next leaders to be strong and courageous! Now (pause)....
We usually hear a message like that, get all fired up, come up with plans and devices to carry this rejuvenation movement out and we miss the greatest step....God! We get so focused on the courage and strength part, that we miss the "how to's" of being strong and courageous. That strength and courage usually comes from within. We "pull up our bootstraps, pull on the work gloves and start getting dirty, without reading on. God tells Joshua, "be strong and courageous, by carefully obeying the laws given by God." He continues the importance of this by stating, "do not swerve to the left or right." Be centered, balanced and directed by God!
If we are honest with how we normally react in a situation like this, the strength and courage we usually muster up is mostly internal. We give ourselves one of those "coaches talks" right before we come back out on the field, after halftime. We psyche ourselves up, get pumped up, put all hands in the middle, give a chant and motor back on to the field, with new determination...only to give up 30 more points and get clobbered. Why does that happen? That is not the Disney movie ending we all expect. The reason is this...if the strength and courage we muster up comes from within ourselves, it will fall flat because what starts with us, ends with us. We aren't capable of pulling off the the great upset in our strength alone, because it is limited and insufficient. You can't keep drawing money out of the bank without putting money in the bank (have you ever received an insufficient funds notice?). Our strength is insufficient for the calling God has placed on the next leaders. It can get us to the edge of the promised land, but it won't get us over INTO the promised land.
This is why I love youth ministries and still feel the call as strong today! If no one is leading them, teaching them how to deposit and withdraw, who will? How will they ever succeed in their Godly ambitions and desires? I like what Perry Noble says about the next generation of church leaders...."you can either fund them or fight them." This is the labor in the labor in the fields. This is the reason youth ministers all across the country understand the term we use, "there is no such thing as a stupid question, stupid statement, stupid story".....because they are all building blocks to the future!
They may seem pointless now, until you have a student express her desire to be in full time ministry as a missionary...until you have a student spend a whole month in Paraguay, assisting a missionary...until you have a moment when a student returns home from a beach retreat, ready to share the Gospel with his whole family (weeks after the retreat has ended)....until you have that normally shy student want to get up in front of their peers and sing in the praise band or give a testimony...until you have that one student look at her community and prayerfully consider how she can get a missions based organization started at her school...and does!
All of a sudden, those silly, goofy and ridiculous conversations and events come full circle in this process of preparing , mentoring and leading the future generation, right in to the next generation of leaders the church needs. Not based solely off of what worked in the past, look what we accomplished in 1983 or 1993...rather, let's get ready in 2013 for what God is going to be doing through these students in 2023 and 2033!
In-Despicable Me 2 comes out in a week...anyone want to go build leaders?
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