Resources

I Will Wait For You

fun video, identity, love

When you speak, I will be reminded of Solomon’s wisdom.
Your ability to lead will remind me of Moses.
Your faith will remind me of Abraham.
Your confidence in God’s word will remind me of Daniel.
Your inspriation will remind me of Paul.
Your heart for God will remind me of David.
Your attention to detail will remind me of Noah.
Your integrity will remind me of Joseph.
And your ability to abandon your own will will remind me of the disciples.
But your abilitiy to love selflessly and unconditionally will remind me of Christ.
But I won’t need to identify you by any special “Matthews” or any special “Marks” ’cause His word will be tatted all over your heart.
And you will know me, and you will find me
with the boldness of Esther
meets the warm closeness of Ruth
with the hospitality of Lydia
as aligned with the submission of Mary which is engulfed in the tears of a praying Hannah.
I will be the one drenched in Proverbs 31
Waiting for you.
But to my Father,
my Father who has known me before I was birthed into this earth
Only if you should see fit.

Watch the whole thing. This is my favorite excerpt. The ending stinks, to be honest. But stinks in a way that every woman needs to remember. You are waiting on that man, but first you are waiting on the Lord. Even if I never marry, I’m already engulfed in the biggest love story I will ever experience. God has been showing me lately how crazy his grace is, how he sought me and bought me with his redeeming grace. It stinks to think of the possibility of never having an “earthly love”, but I remind myself that no man could love me like the Lord does anyway ;)

Free Student Ministry Curriculum: Poverty

lessons, youth ministry

One of my “platforms” in ministry (because we all have them) is poverty and other social injustices.  This is in part from experiencing poverty first-hand and seeing God’s provision.  But it’s also in the fact that I cannot hear about the 30,000 children dying each day from malnutrition and not be moved, not want to do something about it.  I can’t hear about the millions around the world dying from AIDS because they aren’t educated, dying from malaria and other diseases that are perfectly preventable.  I just can’t.

When planning for the 30 Hour Famine, I realized that there seems to be a lack of curriculum dealing with poverty.  So I went hunting!  Here is a list of some curriculum that I found, thought wasn’t too shabby, and suggest for youth groups to use!

Perspectives on Global Poverty–$10 or download online for a donation (or for free). 8 Lessons
The Least of These: God, Poverty, and You–$50. By the YM360 team! There is a free sample on the site so you can preview a full lesson before you buy! 4 Lessons
30 Hour Famine: How to Study the Bible–Free. Written by Tim Schmoyer.  You need to scroll down a little for this! 4 lessons
Ending Poverty in Community–Free. 6 Lessons
Hungry for the Kingdom–Free. Written by Kara Powell and Fuller Youth Institute especially for 30 Hour Famine. 4 Lessons
Bead for Life–Free. Not faith-based, but interesting facts and approaches.
The Five Talents–Free. or 4-6th grade, but can be adapted for other grades. 4 lessons.
Compassion by Command: Perspectives for Urban Ministries–$50. Targeted towards urban ministries. 4 Lessons.
Taking Root: Hunger Causes, Hunger Hopes–Curriculum for the whole congregation! Varies in prices (about 2.50 per book)
Hunger and Malnutrition–Free. Not faith based, but great curriculum nonetheless. Differing age groups. 3 Lessons.
Poverty Curriculum–Free. Not faith-based. Has curriculum on differing aspects of poverty.
Walk With the Poor–Free. Light curriculum. 4 Lessons

If you have any others, or have used any of these, please comment and let me know!  When I am finished writing my 30 Hour famine curriculum, it will get posted here:  _______ :)

Miriam: a woman of Position, Pride and Prejudice

bible, god, lessons, women

On Sunday mornings, I have the privilege to take my already-small youth group and break it down to where I teach an even smaller group for Sunday School.  I contemplated if I wanted to change the way I do Sunday School since the group is so small, but I like that I only have to teach the high school girls on Sunday morning.  And it’s enabling us to do the Women of the Bible right now!

So I planned on doing Women of the Bible, and I planned on doing Miriam yesterday…then Sunday Morning I found out the middle school boys’ teacher was gone, so they came in with me.  Oops!  But this lesson STILL spoke to them!  Awesome :)

Miriam was Moses’ sister.  I honestly knew very little about her, even though I’m taking a Pentateuch class, even though I’ve read through Exodus, even though I’ve heard the Moses story 3974421 times AND have taught on it before.  But no matter how many times I read a passage, I find that God still finds ways to teach me (just as when I taught Jonah!)

Miriam was a leader.  In fact, in Micah it says that Moses, Aaron, and Miriam were the ones who lead the Israelites.  God acknowledged her as important and essential.  She led the women in praise after they crossed the Red Sea.  She led the women to adorn the tabernacle.  Not only was she a leader, but the Bible names her a prophetess, meaning that God spoke to her.  This is a very special title for someone.  There is no doubt about it–God was using Miriam in special ways.

But we find in chapter 15 that Miriam and Aaron got a little jealous.  And I can just imagine this whole thing take place–I’m SURE that Miriam had to start this gossip, as I know how women are (and she was the one punished!).  They start talking about Moses’ wife, an Egyptian woman of who God had no problem with.  So why were they against this woman if God had not said Moses could not marry her?  Most likely had something to do with their own prejudices against darker skin.  Then one of them suggests, “Has not God spoken to us too?”

Uh oh.  Pride alert! WEEEEOOOOOOOWEEEEEOOOOOWEEEEEOOOOOO! (that’s a siren sound!)

I love this part:  God comes down in a pillar of smoke. Ha! Calls the three of them together into a meeting room.  Then God blocks the doorway with the smoke!  I can just IMAGINE being Miriam!  It’s like I just hit my sibling, and I turn around and Daddy’s at the door with the paddle!

And a spanking Miriam got!  She turned white with leprosy, an ironic punishment for two reasons: (1) Her prejudice against Moses’ wife had to do with her skin color, or the fact that she looked different from everyone else.  Now Miriam would look different from ALL of them!  (2) Miriam wanted power, she wanted to be recognized.  But having Leprosy means that she would be exiled.  She wouldn’t be able to be around people in order to lead them.

Aaron quickly humbled, as he turned to Moses and said, “My lord, do something!” Calling Moses “lord” showed his respect for him.  Then Moses talked to God, and asked him to do something.  And God stood his ground in his punishment, but compassionately let it only last 7 days.

You see, God knew what he was doing.  God knew that Miriam was usable, that’s why he chose her in the first place!  God could have just wiped her off the planet, struck her down, turned her to dust.  But he gave her a punishment that was fitting.  She needed to be humbled, and I think after this she was.  I can’t imagine the “Walk of Shame” that took place as she walked back to camp.  What’s amazing is, it was time for them to move on in their travels, but they waited for her.  They obviously respected her a lot.

This story shows us that even God’s greatest leaders can struggle with pride.  It also shows us that if a person has pride, God will knock it out of them!  The punishment will be devastating, but needed.

When I was little, I got some whoopins.  I grew up with boys, and they were constantly getting me in trouble.  But spankings didn’t change my attitude, so my mom came up with a new punishment:  essay writing.  Oh, how I hated this!  It lasted hours, it caused me to think about what I did, in many cases it was pretty ironic because I usually said dumb things and had to pay for them…and it was rewarding.  I changed my behavior.  It humbled me to think about the stupid things I did, and I learned.  Great job, mom!

Our Daddy is doing the same thing when he punishes us.  Encouraging, but scary.  Sometimes the spanking is quicker and “painless”. ;)

Spiritual Gifts in Youth Ministry

lessons, spiritual gifts, youth ministry

As a youth minister beginning a ministry basically from scratch in the church I began serving in five months ago, I knew that I needed to create a mission statement.  Not just to be all Baptist and cool like that, but I knew I needed something to focus on–something as a template and frame for the ministry.  I came up with, “Grace Fellowship Baptist Church Youth Group exists to unite teenagers together in the Bolivar community to teach them Biblical Truths, disciple them into mature believers, and equip them to express their faith through the use of spiritual gifts to reach the lost world.”

So far, I had been teaching them Biblical Truths. I believe (and hope) that I had been discipling them into mature believers.  But that last part?  Equip them to express their faith through the use of spiritual gifts? Whoa. Spiritual gifts?  Yep, that hadn’t been done for the first few months of ministry (unless you count our epic Christmas skit).

So I knew I had to start somewhere. The first night, we looked at scriptures from Ephesians, Corinthians, and other passages and came up with a list of gifts. I gave them an inventory (you can find one like it here) to begin with.  Although I know these tests aren’t completely reliable, it helps us think about what our gifts could be.  I have a notebook from when I was 13 and first took a test; and the gifts that I scored “high” in then, I score high in now and actually consider them my gifts.  I had completely forgot that I even took one then, so it’s kind of cool to see that the test was “right.”

The next week we talked about the inventory, and laid out the “biblical foundation” for spiritual gifts.  I gave them the following list of spiritual truths:
1. Every Christian has at least one Spiritual Gift (1 Peter 4:10)
2. No Christian has all the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:28-30)
3. We cannot choose our gifts; God does that job (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
4. There is no gift that every Christian possesses (1 Corinthians 12:29-30)
5. Believers will account to the Lord for how they use their gifts (1 Peter 4:10)
6. Spiritual Gifts indicate God’s call and purpose for a Christian’s life (Romans 12:2-8)
7. Gifts used without love do not accomplish God’s intended purposes (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
8. Spiritual Gifts are for the common good to build up the Body (1 Corinthians 12:27)
9. We must use our gifts. (2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4; 1 Peter 4)
10. There is affirmation and positive feedback within the Body of Christ for the expression of the gift (1 Corinthians 12:7; Ephesians 4:16)
11. There is agreement within the Body of Christ that the Holy Spirit is at work (1 John 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:21)
12. The Holy Spirit provides peace in our spirits as we offer our gifts to the Body of Christ (John 15:26; Romans 8:16)
13. There is evidence of godly fruit in the life of the Body (John 15:8; Matthew 7:16-20)
14. Believers offer their gifts for the common good as others have need (Acts 2:44-45; 1 Corinthians 12:7)
15. Unless gifts are offered in love, they have no worth (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
16. We should strive to live a life worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1)

(I understand that some of those are redundant, but hey.)
When we were discussing that, I came up with a diagram. I’m big into diagrams, and I made this one up on the spot (and have tweaked it every week since). I’m actually quite proud of it (not in a prideful kind of way, haha).

It might seem confusing to you, but it is based off of all the verses in the “biblical foundation” I expressed before.
That took a night or two to go through, because I wanted them to really get into what the bible says and read almost all of the verses.

After that, we went through the gifts in depth.  (You can download the workbook I gave them here…I used “Baptist-friendly” gifts, haha).  We have spent a few Sundays going through it.  We aren’t reading all the scriptures associated, because they already understand that the gift exists through earlier scriptures.  We have spent more than a month of Sunday nights doing this.  I’ve been doing it with the Sunday night crowd for one main reason–the people who are most devoted to the church and to growing spiritually tend to come then.  On Wednesday nights, you never know who is going to come, so it’s easier to do it with the “regulars”.

This won’t be the first time we go through this sort of study.  The hardest thing is trying to get them to think of ways to use their gifts now.  It’s hard when you say, “I have the gift of administration, what can I do with that as a 14-year old?”  Part of my job is to help them come up with ways. Rethinking Youth Ministry posted a blog earlier today about how one youth pastor is trying to do it. I want them to get involved in any facet possible–music, ushering, recreation, leading studies/devotions, tech, prayer, etc.

What ideas do you guys have to help me out?  How do you discuss spiritual gifts with your youth group?  As a young minister, I would like help from those who have been through this before.

Joe’s Story

christmas
I generally like it when pastors put a spin on Christmas, and this year I found to love the theme.  Joseph–the guy who was told that his “virgin” wife was pregnant, and kept getting bossed around by angels to go places.  A guy who really had to trust in God and in God’s plans.
I love that God always finds a way to shake me and speak to me, and this Christmas was no different.  I was really struggling with a particular decision, and God made it clear to me what I have to do.  I listened to two sermons on Joseph the two last Sundays (different churches), that got me thinking about Joseph.  Here was this guy who was engaged to a woman who became pregnant, not by his doing.  You can see that he already had a worthy character, as he planned on divorcing Mary privately as to not disgrace her and get her stoned.  So right off the bat, we have a guy who is noble and Godly.  Then, an angel appears to him and tells him to get married anyway!  So does he argue it? No! He woke up and did what the angel said to do.  Then, after the baby is born, an angel appears again to Joe and says, “Herod’s trying to kill all the babies! Leave and go to Egypt!” So what does Joe do?  He got up!  Then later on, an Angel appears AGAIN  and tells him to return to Israel.  And Joseph goes.  He doesn’t argue, he doesn’t fuss at the angel or try to negotiate with it, he just goes.
Joseph is a man who does what God tells him to do without arguing.  He just “gets up” and does it!  I started reading “Radical” by David Platt, and I feel extremely convicted that when Christ called his disciples, he called them to do radical things, like leave whatever they were doing and follow Him (there will be a much more extended post as soon as I finish this book, trust me).  I don’t think we do that.  We rationalize, try to bargain with God to let us finish what we are doing, and THEN follow him (and not even the right way!).  But even when Christ was born, his earthly father had to leave everything he was doing in order to follow God and let the Messiah be born.  Crazy Amazing.  I think that the story of Joesph also shows us that God knew what he was doing when giving Jesus Christ an amazing earthly father!  I think there is a lot that we can take from Joseph and apply to our lives–trusting in God’s plan and following him at whatever cost it takes.
It’s funny because after I heard the first sermon on Joesph, I kind of brushed it off.  Then I started reading “Radical” and was convicted of a certain thing that I have to drop in order to follow Christ.  I didn’t drop it.  Then I heard the second sermon on Joseph at a completely different church!  I am now convinced!  At least I just heard a sermon and wasn’t swallowed by a whale in order to get a hold of :)
Also, another random side note…I heard this week something amazing:  Jesus died on the cross at 33-that is 33 years that he had to wait to die, knowing that he would have to do it.  33 years! It makes things that I am waiting for seem much less dramatic.