Graduate Letters

I have spent some time today working on letters to the class of 2012. Several years ago I began the practice of writing letters to our graduates with a word or two of encouragement and perhaps a memory or two from their time in the youth group. It's a bittersweet moment each year. It always brings a smile to my face and the occasional tear as I look back on how God has worked in a particular student's life. This group is especially difficult for me because it was the group I began my ministry with at FBC Statesboro...but I get to keep working with many of them as they begin their collegiate careers at Georgia Southern University in the fall.

St. Patrick's Day and SHS Theater

Last week I had two life experiences that reminded me of the biblical theme of creation, fall, and redemption. We made our annual pilgrimage to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day on Thursday. It's always an opportunity to see family, old friends, and meet new people. We decided this year that we would watch most of the parade from a fixed point with chairs, snacks, etc. It sorta worked out okay. I made my way to the parade route around 8 AM to reserve a spot. We spent the better part of the first 3 hours of the parade watching and enjoying the scenery. The celebratory aspect reminds me that as Christians we have the privilege of celebrating the redemptive work of Christ each day not just on set days and festivals. The life of St. Patrick is a reminder to us as Christians in a post-modern context to meet people where they are with the bold truth of the gospel!

There is ample opportunity for truth to be proclaimed, not with a bullhorn and a sign like one street evangelist I saw, but with a simple, quiet, uncompromising way we can live out the gospel story so that it impacts the lives of the people we come in contact with at a parade, at work, at home, even at church. Among the throngs of people enjoying the festivities one was reminded of the beauty of creation with the majestic oaks and Spanish moss of Savannah, the fall of humanity with the excesses present all around, and the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit to redeem all of creation for the glory of God.

Friday I went to see some of my students present The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe at Statesboro High School. They all did a fantastic job of presenting C.S. Lewis' beloved story that vividly presents the theme of the gospel more clearly than most churches on Sunday morning. It struck as I watched that you had students in the play and people in the audience who would actually miss the whole story that Aslan and his friends enact as creation, fall, and redemption are told in magical ways.

Youth Week 2010

I am super pumped about the "wicked awesome" Youth Week we have planned for 2010!! Josh Burnham, a good friend is going to be speaking and our worship band will be leading us in worship this week. I can't wait to hear what God has laid on Josh's heart for our students and see how God works this week. We are kicking things off with a trip to Wild Adventures in Valdosta tomorrow (how I loathe theme parks!).

Wednesday: Worship @ 5:30 PM followed by the 135th annual Redneck Olympics

Thursday: Mexican Frisbee at Mill Creek @ 9:30 in the AM (Ultimate Frisbee and lunch at El Som)

Friday: Worship @ 7 PM with game night/Lock-In to follow (Lock-In)is for Rising 7-9th graders only!

Can't wait to see God rock our faces off this week!

M-Fuge Birmingham 2010

Have you ever been on a mission trip, retreat, or summer camp and you come home and people ask how it was...but you struggle to put into words exactly how God moved? I have found myself in that situation this week. We attended M-Fuge at Samford University in Birmingham, AL last week, which was a great week! God really showed up and did some incredible things in and through our students.

Eyes were opened to how fortunate we are, how God looks past skin color and education, and to a realization that God doesn't work in a set way each time he moves in our lives. My students taught me the value of looking at others the way God sees us as they loved on kids, senior citizens, other youth groups, and each other. They sweated their fannies off last week playing basketball in gyms without A/C, painting and scraping paint on houses, cutting grass, doing backyard Bible clubs and everything in between.

A few of the highlights for me...1. seeing students get excited about doing missions 2. hearing stories of how they were challenged and inspired by other students from other churches at their ministry sites 3. watching as God broke them about sin and disobedience in their own lives 4. seeing former students begin to really take on the roll of adults and leaders as they found themselves on the "leader" end of this trip.

All in all, I know that I saw God work in some incredible ways, but to really vocalize that has been a challenge...partly because of the fact that some of what happened last week was intangible. Conversations between students, with students, moments of challenge and encouragement and moments of sheer dependence on God just to stay awake during worship or church group devotion time. God showed up! And he showed up BIG!!

I will post some pictures later.

Bulloch Academy Baccalaureate

Last night I had the privilege and honor of getting to speak at Bulloch Academy's Baccalaureate Ceremony! It was such an incredible experience for me to get to share in a special moment with graduates and their families. I am grateful to the senior class as well as Anne Lomax and Deborah Carico for giving me the opportunity to share my heart and advice on such a special occasion.

It's strange to me to think about graduating from high school and getting to start a new part of life's journey as you begin college. In many ways, because of my own experience at Mercer University and the people (faculty, staff, students, community) I would love to get to do it all over again, except for the studying part. The years that Cyd and I spent at Mercer formed us and shaped us more than any other time period in our lives. We are so grateful for parents who sacrificed to put us at Mercer, the wonderful people (too many to name) who poured into our lives, and the churches that reached out to us and feed us spiritually, thanks hardly seems sufficient.

To all of my incredible students who are part of the class of 2010 I wish you the best of luck and God's richest blessings on your life as you continue along your journey with Him!! Thanks for letting me be a part of your lives the last 4 years!!

Do Hard Things

I don't usually like most books written for teens because they usually are full of sub-par expectations that lead to below average teenagers! Enter Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. I was skeptical at first because of some of the endorsements, but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, it's among the best books written for teens that I have come across in the last decade. Note, this book isn't for parents or youth workers although reading it would be helpful for those two groups, rather this is a book that seeks to challenge the status quo of teen culture by challenging teens to rebel against the cultural norm of low expectations for teens.

One of the strengths of the book is that it isn't just a hard-core Christian manifesto to "Do Hard Things", it is a challenge for teens regardless of faith or beliefs to rise above the conventional norms that society has placed on them. At the end of the book the twin brother, clearly present the gospel and challenge their readers to search their own hearts about their relationship with God.

I usually don't endorse many teen books from a Christian perspective because I believe that teens should be reading the same books as adults when it comes to faith. Teenagers aren't the future of the church, they are the church! Nevertheless, this would make a great Christmas gift for anyone who has teenagers in their lives.

For more information about the book and the movement check out www.therebelution.com.

Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend has been so busy. We went to see my mom on Friday night. We wanted to take her out to dinner, but she offered to keep the girls for Cyd and I to go on a date. We readily accepted her offer of a few hours without children. Cyd and I enjoyed each other and some good food at Olive Garden before heading back to mom's house to check on everyone. We visited for a little while and watched as Charlotte spilled not one, but two glasses of chocolate milk. We finally got everyone packed and loaded up to come home.

Claire had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, so in between setting up for the GSU tailgate we got the present wrapped and sent the girls off to the party. They then met me at Georgia Southern's RAC for our Student Ministry tailgate. We try to tailgate at two games a season. GSU football is a great part of living in Statesboro! Many of my students and their families attend the games and tailgate before the games, so it was fun to get to finally make it to a football game this year. Claire and Charlotte were dressed in GSU cheerleading uniforms, too cute! Unfortunately the rain showed up before I could get a great picture. I also got to catch up with two friends from high school at the game, two other dear friends that I haven't really talked to in a long time, and enjoyed the view from a skybox for a few minutes at the game.

Sunday of course is always a full day at our house. I heard two great sermons (Dr. John and Dr. Stewart) and was really encouraged by all of our youth Sunday school teachers!

While some in the house have been resting this afternoon, Claire has been talking non-stop while I have been trying to do some work in preparation for some different things coming up this week.

I'm so thankful for good times with my wonderful family and my great students!

2009 FBC Graduates

I really can't believe that another school year has come and gone, which means another graduating class. Sunday we honored our grads during one of our worship services. It's amazing see how God works in and through teenagers!

Saying Goodbye

Tonight we are saying "goodbye and Godspeed" to our seniors. In this group of graduates I see a lot of myself as a senior in high school, some good and some bad. I've known most of them for the full three years I have been at FBC and so I am humbled to have been a part of their lives. My prayer with all of the students who I have met and been a part of their lives over the years is always that the gospel would be at the center of everything I do and say. I'm not perfect, most people who know me can tell you that, but I pray that I have been as faithful as possible to proclaiming the gospel, but more importantly putting the gospel into action for my students. I came across this passage from Dallas Willard the other day that reminded me of why I do what God has called me to do. "Does the gospel I preach and teach have a natural tendency to cause people who hear it to become full-time students of Jesus?" (The Divine Conspiracy p. 335)

All Joy, Hope, Peace and Love

I have worked with teenagers in some capacity for over 12 years. Teen culture has changed dramatically over the course of those years and the locales that I have been. It seems to me that one of the few, perhaps only consistent thing in teenagers is their inconsistency...yet I have found that many of them are wrestling with some of the most difficult and complex issues that 10, 20, 30 years ago only adults struggled with. They are bombarded by ideas from different people about who they are and who they should be as they genuinely grapple with acceptance, love, death, and depression both in their own self and the others around them(including peers and parents). The tragic thing is that if someone doesn't speak truth into their lives they become adults with the same nagging questions about life, faith, love won and lost, and promises made and broken. I have recently been reminded yet again of the frailness of the human condition, not just teenagers, through a couple of different scenarios. At the same time I am reading the new book by Brennan Manning that someone passed along to me that speaks to the heart of all our issues...realizing the genuine acceptance and love of God just as we are with all of our faults, failures, cracks, and questions. In the back of my head for the last week or so a Bill Mallonee song has been playing. He played a version of it when he did a show at FBC Statesboro nearly 3 years ago. The lyrics are posted below from www.billmallonee.net/
The Kidz on Drugz (or Life) Year: 2004 | Run Time: 5:42

Written by Bill Mallonee for CyBrenJoJosh (BMI) ©2004

i dunno if the kid's on drugs or life
why should that come as a shock
life hasn't fallen out just quite
in those neat suburban boxes

and i wonder about the conversations that you're having
you know the ones with yourself
where you feel like a failure yeah and you're losing heart
and that race has barely gotten started
and you wanna ask God about things like cancer
but you don't think that you'll get much of an answer
i hope you will find and i pray you will see
all the joy that your life brings to me

and the baggage that we all carry around
has this way of dragging you down

and there is no map for this growing up
it's just a street through a town called weird
and you never do feel like you'll arrive
with a destination so unclear
ah but i met this girl with the Holy Ghost
hey she turned me onto the Clash
we made love all night long to Love Tractor and Pylon
but in the morning we played Johnny Cash

and it really shouldn't be so hard
to get yourself free
but with all these lines in the sand and love with its strings
God fear is such a funny thing
I dunno if the kid's on drugs or life
maybe it's a little of both
i know love has this way of holding the day
like that girl with the Holy Ghost
Did You Know?

Bill has said this is one of the hardest songs for him to sing because of the "heart-breaking content." He says, "that song was loosely about a number of kids I've met (and the kid in us all perhaps) who don't have a clue... they come into life with a lot of strikes against them, start trying to awkwardly 'figure it out,' and sometimes get sidetracked for years in the process... I was such a kid... Me? I got lucky: I found the 'Girl with the Holy Ghost who turned me on to the Clash,' as it says in the tune... one of my favorite lines ever."

Disclaimer: The girl with the holy ghost, was Bill's wife, Brenda.

There are days in talking with people that my heart bleeds for them like this song says. "I hope you will find and I pray you will see all the joy that your life brings to me." I'm not 100% sure what the songwriter's intention was, but the more I listen to this song the more I hear the voice of God speaking in those words to all of us who are broken, hurting, struggling, doubting, and questioning. I see that a lot in many of the students I work with and the hope that I have in the cross and the furious longing of God to live in relationship with me is what keeps hoping against all odds that somehow, someway God will speak truth, his truth, his LOVE and ACCEPTANCE into the lives my students and anyone else I come in contact with for that matter.

If the gospel of grace is true, which I firmly believe, then the very heartbeat of God seems to be echoed in the words "all the joy that your life brings to me." God delights in his children, he loves us immeasurably!

Movies and Motown

Last night Claire and I went to Movies and Motown presented by the Statesboro High School Chorus. It was a wonderful production. It was evident that Lisa Muldrew, the director, had invested in the students and worked hard with them learning their music. We had a handful of students in the show, so it was great watching them perform with excitement and enthusiasm. One of my students, Jessie Mooney, had a "solo". Actually she rapped in "Joyful, Joyful" from Sister Act 2. She and all of the students did a great job.

The evening reminded me of my days in the school chorus and showchoir...what a blast!!

I think my favorite numbers where "Joyful, Joyful" and "Proud Mary". My favorite singer, however might have been the faculty member sitting near me who was really, really, into the rhythm of the music.

The Almighty Protector

The following post was sent to me by a student of mine. I thought it was incredibly powerful, I guess you connect with Clifford when you have small children...I asked if I could share this on my blog, the person graciously consented.

When I was little I used to be obsessed with collecting stuffed animals. I’m an animal lover so I always loved pretending that the animal was real and was my pet or something like that. Hours of my time were spent playing with them with my friends or by myself. To this day I can’t make myself get rid of any of them- even though I have about five hundred- because of the memories and stories behind each one.

Each one had special assets to them that I loved about them, but there was one specific animal that held a special place in my heart. It was a Clifford dog that I think my mom had gotten while she was still teaching. I’ve never been able to figure out what made him so different from the others that made me love him more, but he was definitely my favorite out of the whole lot.

I had to take him everywhere. No matter if we were going to the grocery store five minutes away or on vacation five hours away. He had to come. If I didn’t have him it was trouble. During the day it was ok, I could just deal with it. But when it got to be bedtime, everyone would be searching franticly for Clifford cause they knew the consequences if I didn’t have him.

I had to have him to sleep. I couldn’t sleep without him. I would cry and toss and turn and when I finally would manage to fall asleep I would have bad dreams all throughout the night.

Of course it seems silly to me now, but then I really felt like I needed him to sleep well. It gave me comfort to know that he was there with me all night. Id wrap my arms around him and he’d “sleep” next to me all night, there to chase away the bad dreams and keep the monsters under my bed at bay. At that age, I had no reason not to believe that he would protect me from all my fears and worries, and things that went bump in the night. I could sleep peacefully, not afraid of what was lurking in the shadows.

As I grew older I soon grew out of Clifford, and didn’t require his presence to get a good nights sleep. I realized that as the boogie man and bed bugs weren’t real, neither was my need for a watch dog in the bed with me every night. I still got scared every now and then, but I was old enough to assure myself of the silliness of it, and thus no longer had the need of sweet little Clifford.

Now I’m teenager, and have much bigger problems and worries than what may be hiding in my closet coming to get me just as I fall asleep. I’ve traded my boogie man for worries like what I’m doing about college, and where I’m gonna go. Now, if i cry myself to sleep its not because I don’t have some stuffed animal I think I need, but for the hurt that’s been inside me for one reason or another. It’s now more than ever, when my fears have grown up along with me, that I need something to wrap my arms around and squeeze with all my strength, having confidence that the object can suck up all the bad things and chase away the nightmares, leaving me peaceful so I can actually get a good night’s rest.

Psalms 91:1-6
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty… You will not fear the terror of the night… nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness.

Matthew 11: 28
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Psalms 62:5-8
Find rest, o my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him…. He is my mighty rock, my refuge.


God is kind of like my grown up Clifford. He watches over me as I sleep and chases away my fears and nightmares. He gives me peace and helps me to rest. He’s the Almighty Comforter and Protector. I can take hold of Him when I’m scared, knowing that He will not only quiet my fears, but will go further even to help me conquer them. And I don’t even have to worry about forgetting to pack Him; He’s already there, waiting for me to embrace Him with all my strength and hand over my fears for Him to handle.

Middle School Winter Retreat

High School Winter Retreat Slideshow

Some of these pictures are absolutely hilarious!!

The Few, The Proud, The Marines

Nathan, Cameron, Heath
Me and Nathan
Me and Nathan
Me and Kelsey Deason (A former student)

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Marine Corps Depot at Parris Island, near Beaufort, SC. Two of my former students where graduating from the Marine Corp. I was extremely proud of Heath Scott and Nathan Holsenback. These two young men are examples of bravery, honor, and Godliness. It was amazing for me to get to see two young men who I met years before reach that level of maturity. I am very proud of both of these guys. While there for the graduation exercises I got to reconnect with students I hadn't seen in nearly two years. Yesterday was a wonderful feeling for me to see how God is moving in the lives of students. OORAH!