Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

What Do People Know About Your Church?

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When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”

When John’s disciples came to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, Jesus could’ve easily responded with loud rhetoric proving who he is. After all, that’s the style of argument that many use today: the louder you are, the more arguments you’re likely to win.
Or he could’ve come up with a systematic theological statement that we seminary students would dissect and argue over the smallest of words until our face turned a shade of blue mixed with purple and black. (“Well, you’d have to look at the word ‘a’ in its Hebrew and Greek… you know, the original context. Just because the English language uses ‘a’ to describe one thing, that doesn’t mean Jesus would’ve used ‘a’ to describe one thing. Besides, this is 2012 where we use ‘a’ to describe almost everything that is singular. During Jesus’ time, they probably didn’t have an ‘a’ to describe things with.”)

But, Jesus simply told John’s followers to, “Go tell John what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard.” Jesus let his actions do his proving. His work with the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor was his answer to John’s question.

I’ve always been amused by how people (non-church goers and non-believers) describe a church in their community.

(these are actual things I’ve heard people say)
Oh, that’s the real big church with the new fancy building.
Oh, that’s the weird church that meets over there.
Oh, that’s the church that basically hates anyone who’s not a Republican.
Oh, that’s the church that welcomes gay people.
Oh, that’s the church that’s suing the other church that uses the same building.
Oh, that’s the church where all the socialists go to.
Oh, that’s the church where kids go after school to fight, because the parking lot is hidden from the main street.

I’ve heard church members describe their churches in various ways, too (again, actual things people’ve said).
Oh, we’re a family church.
Oh, we’re a Biblically based church.
Oh, we’re a church with the most amazing choir.
Oh, we’re just a small church hoping to stay open for a few more years.
Oh, we’re a church for people who don’t like church.
And let’s not go into how church-going folks describe other churches in their community.
But, I hope that we, as a church, can soon be known for what we do more than our theology or what we issues we stand for or what sins we require people to repent of.

I want churches to be described as, “Oh yea, that’s the church that serves the homeless.”
“That’s the church in our community trying to help the schools in that struggling neighborhood.”
“That’s the church that throws a banquet for the struggling people within their neighborhood.”
“That’s the church that makes our community a better place to live.”

Or something like that. You know, known more for our actions rather than our rhetoric.
I think if more Church’s took Jesus’ tactic of letting our actions (and not just our words) to show people we are a church, then, perhaps, we’d have less people using church as a scapegoat. We’ve all heard people say things like, “I believe in God, but I don’t believe in church” or “I believe in God, but I don’t need to go to church.” If the church really lived by their actions of unconditional love, then as Francis Chan writes, maybe they’ll say, “I can’t deny what the church is doing, but I don’t think I believe in God.”
If people, who never stepped inside your church, were to describe your church by what they’ve seen and heard, what would they say?
How would they know you by?

Would they even know that you exist?

Warm Bodied Based Ministry

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We, as churches, need to really find ways not to employ the Warm Bodied Based Ministry. That’s when there’s a need for a position to be filled (whether paid or by a unpaid servant) and we just put whoever’s nearby to take that leadership role. That person might be the most ill-equipped person, but they have the most important qualification- they are present.

Only because my experiences in ministry have been deeply tied to the Korean churches, I know that Korean churches do this more often than not.
Let’s take someone that I know very, very well.
She is a very gifted person. Called into serving God, no one can doubt that. She has been a very faithful and effective youth worker in the previous ministries that we have served.

But here’s the thing. As much as we both love children, her gifts simply do not lie in that area of ministry. And she doesn’t mind me saying that. She doesn’t have the passion (nor the calling) to serve God in that capacity.
But in the previous Korean churches that we have served, it was funny (okay, more frustrating than funny) to see the church leadership try to force her into children’s ministry. Not because of her gifts. Not because of her calling. But mainly because she was there because of who she was married to.

Presence is not the best of qualification for serving the church.
It’s a good quality to have. But if we’re only plugging people into service simply because they’re there, the church is not going to move forward.
Sure, sometimes we’ll get lucky and discover that the person is the perfect fit for that ministry- both the unpaid servant and the ministry thrive in service. But, let’s be honest. That doesn’t happen as often as we hope.

I also think it shines upon our impatience and laziness. Or, actually, our desperation. When looking for a candidate in any job (whether paid or volunteer) and we select someone because of our laziness, impatience and/or desperation, chances are high that things may end badly.

I know how desperate we can get when we need a children’s pastor and it’s been months since we’ve sent out word into communities of our need. I honestly don’t know what I would do if I was in that situation. But, I don’t think putting in a warm body to fill that hole is the best solution. Sure, we can say that it’s a temporary fix. But because we have someone serving in that capacity, our desperation sort of wanes out and we sort of feel that we can go longer without the permanent solution. Chances are, in this scenario, the warm body burns out, the ministry becomes idle or both.

We need to be more proactive in being a gift/talent based leadership, where we try our best, as a church, to plug people into ministry based on their gifts and talents. That takes a lot more work and coordination, but ain’t it worth it?
This is also requires us to be active in recruiting. That means, less relying on announcements from the pulpit – “we need Sunday school teachers, if you’re interested, don’t mind all the stories you hear about how crazy those kids are, go talk to so-and-so, because he will be happy for anyone to be Sunday school teachers”-, less relying on sign-up sheets (if you want to be a Sunday school teacher, there’ll be a sign up sheet next to the coffee and donuts. Just leave your name and number and someone will get back to you), and, instead, be bold and courageous to actually approach someone and invite them to serve in the ministry – “you know, I was praying for a Sunday school teacher, and I feel like you might be a great fit for this ministry because, first and foremost, the kids absolutely respect you and they loved that one time you spoke on Sunday morning about your faith.” The worst thing that could happen is they say no. And often times they do. But also, a lot of times, they come back and say something like, “I don’t know why I can’t shake off our last conversation… I think I’m interested…”

Of course (and as always) this is so much more easier said than done.
But I know that when we incorporate a warm-body based ministry, the potential of our church and ministry becomes vastly limited.

There are people out there that are a perfect fit for ministry.
Sometimes, we just got to go look for them. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Quick Post about Rick Perry, Christians and Reason

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Or none of the above, for that matter. I have about 30 minutes before the youth start filing in for our Thursday evening small groups. So, I don’t know where my mind is. (Which is sort of ironic considering what I’m going to say… Or not.)

Anyway, you may or may not have seen this by now:

It’s Rick Perry’s “Strong” ad.

This has spawned many spoofs, some hilarious but too inappropriate to show here. (I’m using restraint. Please be proud.)

But here’s a spoof that I can share:

I just want to say something quick.
I found this funny. It made me laugh.
But, I’m tired of people saying that Christians are not intelligent and don’t use logic or reason. (A lot of the parodies were using that to make fun of Rick Perry and other Christians).
I have met many Christians who love God with ALL of their hearts… but for some reasoning, seemingly choose to check their brains at the door when entering the church.

We’re supposed to love God not just with all of our hearts, but with all of our MINDS as well.
Reason is a gift from God.
In the Wesleyan tradition, we understand that the core of Christian faith is revealed through/in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience and confirmed by reason (¶ 104 in Book of Discipline, emphasis mine).

I don’t think science is the tool of the devil or an evil thing to further separate us from the knowledge of God. I don’t think that God or the Devil or someone planted bones of the dinosaurs to trick us or whatever the thought is. (Please don’t take away dinosaurs. They’re so cool. They have to be real! And on this side tangent, does it really matter if the world is 6000 years old or 6 billion years old? Isn’t the heart of the story that God created the world?)

And it’s tiresome, as a Christian, when atheists “attack” us, they challenge our reasoning skills and belittle our intelligence. And at times, I don’t blame them.

Of course, I realize that I’m only describing a handful of Christians. But they’re the ones non-Christians associate all Christians with. Seemingly.

Anyway, there’s the other side too, where Christians have pretty much reasoned God out of their faith… or explaining miracles to say what really happened… which wouldn’t make it miracles anymore…

It’s all about balance. We need to love God with all of our hearts, minds, soul and strength.
We need to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Not one or the other.

Reasoning is a gift from God.
We were given brains for a reason.
We shouldn’t check knowledge or common sense at the door just because we’re at church.

And I don’t care if I’m 31. Dinosaurs are awesome.

Did You Know That Your Pastor Has ESP?

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Oh. You didn’t?
Well that’s good, because we don’t.

I’ve noticed something curious as I mature in my vocation.
There are some people out there who just expect the pastor to know.
Know what?
I don’t know. But we, as pastors, should just know.

And when we don’t know, people get upset with us.
Do you know what I’m talking about? You don’t? Well, you should know.

I think the most silly (frustrating) thing is, when someone is sick, and they don’t let anyone know they’re sick, and yet still complain that the pastor has not called them once.

Now. If you called the pastor or left a message at the office, you have every right to complain and be upset that the pastor never called or visit.
But if you never called the pastor or the church office, chances are, we pastors may never find out.
Sure, you might have let everyone else in the congregation know, but there’s still a chance that no one tells the pastor.

I think there may be two reasons for this. One, people don’t know what exactly a pastor does. Maybe they think that pastors just sit around their office and wait for the phone to ring. For their Sunday sermons, pastors just make it up as they go along, because it may often feel like that. So, since the pastor has all the time in their hands, they should know when a parishioner stubs their big toe against a coffee table.

Or.
They just don’t want to bother the pastor because they think the pastor’s too busy, they’re too embarrassed, etc.
But here’s the thing, at least for me, I’m always honored that you called and want me to stop by the hospital. I want to visit you. I want to make sure you’re okay. I call as soon as I can, when I find out you’re sick. I try to make it to the hospital as soon as I can, when you let me know you’re there. At best, I want to be there to talk story and see how you’re doing. At worst, I go, because it’s part of my job. But it’s part of my job I like.

Just because we’re pastors, we don’t have a direct line to God. God doesn’t often work that way. Sometimes God does, but not all the time.
And we don’t know what people don’t tell us. We’re not mind readers. Believe it or not, we’re human beings. Yes, even those pastors who think they’re the ultimate gift from God… they’re still a human being. No super powers. A super ego, maybe.
So please, let us know how to serve you better. We can be more efficient if we find out from the source than through the grapevines.

Besides.
You wouldn’t want the pastor to have ESP. We’ll know so much about you. Like how much you really can give in offering. ;)

Where the Grass is Greener

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Grass

Image by kh1234567890 via Flickr

Ministry envy can reach to a point where it can be dangerous and have negative affects on our ministry.

I think it’s natural to visit a multi-million dollar campus and be like,  “Man, I’d love to do ministry here.”
Or experience a very moving worship service and think, “I’d love to be part of something like this every week.”
Maybe not healthy, but normal.

But if we’re not careful, ministry envy can become nothing but excuses and a derailment to the situation God has called us into.

We start thinking, “why can’t my people be like that?”
“Why can’t my church give money for us to build a new campus?”

Or, “If I had their resources…”
“If my church members were more like that…”
“If I did ministry there…”
“If I lived there…”

And we start wondering and dreaming about how much greener the grass is over yonder. And when we snap back to reality, we see how brown the grass is where we are standing. For some, that starts making us feel resentful and we start looking for the first way out.

We have to constantly remind ourselves, the grass is not greener on the other side. The grass is simply greener where you water it.
If you’re staring at brown grass in your current setting, could it be that, instead of watering the ministry and working to grow it, you’ve been working really hard complaining about your church and comparing your ministry to others to see how far yours is behind?

And we have to face the reality that we have romanticized the other ministry.
Truth is, when we go to a different setting, we’re just exchanging one set of problems for another.
From megachurches like Saddleback to a small congregation United Methodist Church, each church has their own set of problems. One’s not particularly easier to deal with than the other. Headaches and heartaches are going to exist, wherever we go, whatever ministry we are a part of.
There’s always going to be toxic people. There are always going to be haters. There are always going to be problems, struggles, criticisms and so forth. To think that the thriving church down the street is without problems, well that’s just silly.

I honestly believe, in whatever ministry we are part of right now, whether we are struggling or thriving, God has sent us there for a reason.
God has placed us in our situation, because maybe God believed we were the best fit for it.
God never said it was going to be easy, nor did God say we will always get our way.

But, I think that’s the perspective we should start taking.
We should stop comparing ourselves with the mega churches down the street or around the country. That’s them. You’re you.
We should stop thinking about how much greener the grass is on the other side and work really hard at making the grass around us much greener.

In the end, we should fix our eyes and our hearts on Christ and do ministry that way.
Remembering that wherever we go, God is always with us.

And this God… no matter how brown the grass may be, or how many dead bones fill your valley… this God has the power to bring forth life. Even with dem dry bones.

Summer With an Intern

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This summer, our church had an intern through the Transgenerational Ministry.
The intern was a former youth student of mine when I was in Hawaii. And he stayed with us in our tiny apartment for the duration of his internship (a looooong 6 1/2 weeks. Heh.)

It’s been a full week since he’s been gone.
I can’t say that I really miss Dae, but it’s a bit boring without him here.

For Dae’s sake, I was glad that he was able to do his internship in a non-Korean church. He’s been part of a Korean church all his life, and his leadership skills and organizational experience is all rooted in the Korean church culture. For him to see something that’s definitely not Korean, I hope it was every bit helpful, as it may have been frustrating here and there.

It was weird to be his on-site “mentor.” I think I may have damaged his ego and pride and feelings more than helping him. Hey, all the jokes I made at him, he deserved it. And, I only kid because I love…

In all seriousness, being his on-site “mentor” was a bit weird. The other on-site pastors who hosted interns were far more experienced and gifted in ministry than I am and those guys are people I look up to in ministry.
But here was this kid, shadowing mostly me, throughout the summer.

We had real great conversations throughout the internship.
I tried to share with him whatever experiences, insights, knowledge I had gain so far in my short ministerial career. I shared with him the hardships and the joys that come with ministry. I shared with him the amount of frustrations that I faced in both Korean church and anglo-churches.

And in all these, I didn’t scare him away from ministry, yet.

I also realized, how important it was for me to actually follow through and live up to the advices and suggestions that I was sharing with him. They say that the person that receives the most from a sermon is the preacher him/herself.

I felt the most important thing that I could share with him right now in these times of my life was for him to not focus on the results or the lack of, to not get stressed about the results or the lack of, because most of the times, we don’t know the type of impact we may have had on the church until we are long gone. And, especially in a Korean church, where numbers are a primary indicator of good results, when the amount of people who show up don’t meet up to the numbers we envisioned our heads, then we can only walk away feeling like we have failed. Instead of focusing on the end results all the time, it might be beneficial to focus on the journey that God has on right now. To see where we are, where we may be going, not just what the end would hold for us.

I’m learning more and more, it’s about the journey.
I feel that we often put too much emphasis on the results, and not focus on the journey enough.

I also got to share with him how one of my former senior pastors berated me by telling me that there is no joy in ministry. That there is no such thing as a happy pastor. That we’re not in this for joy or happiness.

I wanted to make sure that Dae knew that there is plenty of joy in ministry. There is plenty of love, joy and grace, because we serve a God that is full of love, joy and grace.

While I wish I could take credit for the leader Dae is turning out to be, since I was his pastor and his on-site mentor, I know that’s an asinine thing to think.

What I am, though, is honored and humbled to have been part of his journey, as he continues to search for his purpose and role in God’s kingdom.

I think our staff and the church saw that God was definitely calling him into ministry, and that God has a special plan for Dae.

He and I have talked about/joked about/dreamed about planting a church together or being involved in ministry together in the near future.

I promise to be a bit more nicer and more affirming, if we ever get to work together. But, he has to get that Hawaii Slowness out of his system. Haha. Hopefully spending the entire summer in the mainland helped with that.

Dae,
It was great to have you stay with us throughout the summer. You know that our home is open to you whenever. I hope that, not only did you learn a lot, but that you also had a lot of fun. We all see God’s calling in your life. We can all see that God has a special hold on you and has something planned for you. So go do your thing, brah. Or more like, go do God’s thing in you. Just don’t talk to Pastor John that much, because he might want to replace me with you. Hah.

Good hunting.

It’s Okay to Steal, As Long As You Pray… Or Go to Church… Or You’re a Christian

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I’m sure many of you have seen this decal/sticker on cars of Christians.
It’s a picture of a little kid praying in front of a cross.
But if you know anything about comics and cartoons, you’d know that this isn’t just any kid, but Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson.

I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes. They always have a soft spot in my heart. My brother, for a wedding gift, got me the the entire collection of Calvin and Hobbes.
And any Calvin and Hobbes fan will tell you that the little boy praying in front of the cross is mosdef, Calvin, with his spikey hair and striped shirt.

So, the Calvin praying sticker is on a lot of Christians cars. I saw two on my way to Starbucks just now.
But here’s the thing that gets me.
It’s not legal.
Bill Watterson spent a good portion of his professional life fighting  merchandising Calvin and Hobbes in any shape or form. 

They are illegally using Bill Watterson’s work and making some profit off of it.

So. What does that say? What does that mean?
When you see a car rocking the praying Calvin decal, what’s your reaction to be?
Oh. Cool. This guy’s a Christian! But, he doesn’t care about copyright infringements or anything like that.
And what about these companies, presumably Christian companies, that sell these decals?

Are we above the “earthly” law because we are to obey the “heavenly” laws, or something of that matter?
Aren’t we sending some sort of mixed message (for those, like me, who know the history of this awesome comic strip), about prayer and illegally using someone else’s work?

It really is a shame of how we Christians blatantly rip off things from “secular” culture.
And, you know, some of these Christians also get bent out of shape when their ideas for ministries are used/copied.

We have creative people that can do cool, original stuff. We don’t need to rely on ripping off people to make our presence known.

Besides, I don’t think anyone really gets “saved” because of what they read on the back of your car.
And. Remember, if you have Christian bumper stickers on your car, put one on your dashboard to remind yourself who you belong to as well.

In The Words of the Great Song Writers/Lyricists, the Black Eyed Peas, “Where Is The Love?”

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Okay. I hope you know that the title is rather sarcastic.
I feel like the Black Eye Pea lyrics can be taken from a 1st grade “write about your day” class. But that’s besides the point.

But seriously. Where is the love when it comes to us Christians?
I recently wrapped up the book of Romans for my devotions, and this time around, the parts that were embedded in my head comes from the latter half of chapter 12 and the latter half of chapter 13.
And, I ask the question “Where is the love” in my life and to me, first and foremost. There are areas where I need to work on. I’m still a working process. I know that this jar of clay often resists being molded by the Hands of the Creator. I know that I often turn a blind eye towards what God is showing me. And I often argue with God about who I am to  love.

With that said, I think anyone who claims to be of Christ… we all need to just take a step back and reevaluate our hearts, our lives and our actions.
There’s too much disagreement. And not many cordial ones, but disagreements that goes beyond resembling anything like love. Disagreements that lead to fisticuffs or condemnation.

And we have lost our way, when non-Christian see us and the last thing they see is love.

Here’s what have been sticking in my heart from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Hmm. But sometimes, I want others to be devoted more to me in love and to honor me over themselves…

Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Ah. Have you notice that there is no qualification to the people who are in need? What bothers me is when we have prerequisites before helping someone. “Are they Christian?” “Are they going to come to our church every week?” “Are they willing to be baptized before we do this for them?” Etc. No. It simply says share with God’s people. And who are God’s people? Anyone and everyone. And yes. That includes gay people. And yes, that includes (shock) Muslims, even the extremists. Yes, that includes people of the Westboro Baptist Church. That includes illegal immigrants and day laborers. I mean, God’s people is everyone. But yet, we try to put boundaries on where boundaries shouldn’t exist.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse

Don’t we find it easier to just curse. And condemn.It’s easier to label someone a heretic, rather than trying to listen to their hearts and their stories. I’m willing to bet we have more in common with people than we’d like. If only we gave each other a chance…

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

I like that verse because Paul left a HUGE loop hole. “If possible” and “as far as  it depends on you”… We can say that we are trying, without really trying at all. Because it all depends on me to live at peace…

And finally

Love does no harm to its neighbor

Wesley’s first general rule is “Do No Harm.”
I’m embarrassed to admit (even think about) all the harm I may have caused. Even if it was unintentional.

I always get a chuckle when someone comes up to me complaining that Christianity is hard. (And am always surprised too).
Where have we (as leaders and pastors) gone wrong in leading people to think about Christianity?
Those few verses I just recited, there is nothing easy about following those simple verses in of itself.

I think the thing that gets me the most especially about myself and my fellow sisters and brothers is that we don’t try.
We know. We see the path that we are to take. We see how hard it’s going to be. And we see how easy it is to not go down that way. And so, we say that we’re Christians, but we take the easier path. We say with our words, but not so much with our actions.

My wife’s been beating me up about this. Well actually, she said one comment that just stung (and it needed to).
I want to try. I want to try to be a better Christian. I want to try to be a better pastor. I want to try to be a better son, husband, brother, friend… person.
But, as the wise Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

So here’s to me, stumbling along doing, and not just trying.
Here’s to all the failures I’ll run across in doing and not just thinking about trying.

But here’s to God, whose grace continues to surround me; continues to push me; continues to open my eyes and heart to really see and feel; continues to change me.

And here’s to the most absolute truth I can say, that no one can disagree with. God is so worth it.

Excuse me while I get rid of all the excuses that have filled my heart…

Convenience Driven Life

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Last night, we had a visioning meeting as we were visioning and talking about what a third worship service might look like at our church. We invited a church member who works in the entertainment industry to do a demographic test in a 4 mile radius from our church.

As he was explaining his findings, he finally ended with, “in our business, and in all businesses, convenience is king.”

People choose websites based on convenience. They choose Netflix over Blockbuster because of convenience. They choose movies based on convenience. They choose where to shop based on convenience. And ultimately, they choose churches based on convenience.

How convenient!

Not surprisingly, I’m sure many people choose to put faith in God when it is convenient for them.
Perhaps that’s why our churches are failing to a point. We don’t combat the convenience of faith, but maybe we play part in encouraging it. We cater to what people are really looking for. We’re trying to make it as convenient as possible for them. Which isn’t completely wrong, but it’s not completely right either.

And, still not surprising, you may find that people view God as a convenient God. God doesn’t want anything from you. God just wants you to be happy. God just wants you to be good. God just wants you to try your best, mmmkay?

From my gathering and reading of the Bible, I don’t think that’s the God I read about.
God is anything but convenient.
This God is a God that crosses boundaries for the sake of love. God, in Jesus, crossed the boundaries of life and death; of heaven, earth AND hell; of spirituality and physicality, all for the sake of sacrificial love. And not surprisingly, this God also calls for us to love sacrificially. I mean, after all, if we are followers of Christ, shouldn’t we follow in his foot steps? John writes in 1 John 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

Oh. But you see. We have tried to make Jesus look more and more like us, rather than us looking more and more like him. Because, it’s easier to follow Jesus when we stuff him in a box that he doesn’t belong in. But the Jesus that exists outside of our boxes, or outside of our bubbles, that’s a scary Jesus. That Jesus wants to change us. That Jesus ruins our lives. That Jesus pushes us where we don’t want to go. That Jesus makes up plans for us that we don’t want to do. That Jesus tells us to go to places where we wouldn’t be caught DEAD in.
As I kid, if something scared me to death, I’d throw it under the bed, so that I wouldn’t have to see it.
In a sense, for the sake of convenience, we throw the real Jesus under the bed, so that we don’t really have to see Jesus and what he really stood for; who he really loved; who he really served.
Jesus is much easier to follow when he’s a Republican like I am.
Jesus is much easier to follow when he’s a Democrat like I am.
Jesus is much easier to follow when he hates the same people I hate.
Jesus is much easier to swallow when he believes in what I believe in; when he is a champion for a cause I believe in…

We were made in the image of God, but for the sake of convenience, we returned the favor.

But Jesus is anything but convenient.
Christ is asking his followers for more than a commitment, he is asking for our lives. All aspects of our lives. There’s nothing convenient about that.
And perhaps we don’t talk about it as much in churches, but this God makes demands. Yes! Jesus makes demands!
“Have no other gods before me!”
“Love one another as I have loved you!”
Jesus called fishermen to follow him, and they dropped their nets and left at once. By them dropping their nets, they were leaving behind a world that they knew, they were leaving behind what they were comfortable with, they were leaving behind their families and friends… where’s the convenience in that?

I have fallen into some traps of convenience here and there.
This Lent season, I’m going to focus on the words of Jesus in the Gospels, and have the Spirit lead me out of my comfort zone. I’m going stop settling for convenience. I’m going to stop stuffing the scary Jesus in a box, under my bed. Instead I’m going start letting Christ lead me. I’m going to start letting Christ “ruin” my life.

Acts 29

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from our weekly updates/devotion for our youth ministry

I’m in my last week of my 40 day prayer journey and the one thing that constantly kept coming back to me as I was praying was, MOVE. I didn’t know what that meant. Move? So vague. I was pretty sure that God wasn’t telling me to move, as in, pack my bags and leave Awesometown. At least not yet. I mean, dude (as I often call God in my prayers), I haven’t even been here for a year.
No. God didn’t mean that kind of move.

It wasn’t until this past Sunday, I finally got what God meant. Actually, let me be honest. It wasn’t until this past Sunday, I accepted and listened to (read: stopped ignoring) what God was saying.

Let me take you back a bit, so that you can get the whole story. If you don’t know me by now, it’s good to know that I’m painfully honest and transparent. Maybe to a point that it’s harmful more than helpful…
The word “paralyzed” probably describes it best. For the most part, the jr. high ministry is doing well. The kids are responding. Our Unpaid Volunteers (or Soul Shapers) are teaching God’s Word. The kids are hearing it. Whether they’re listening to it can be debated :) , but they’re there. And they’re bonding. Growing. Maturing.
Then there are the high schoolers. A flourishing group, that is until I came. Or, until school activities consumed them. Either way, I took it as a reflection of me. I didn’t know what to do. To tell you the truth, it was very tempting to let the senior high ministry just be, and focus all of my energy on the jr. high. But, I refused, refused, to think that way. It would be a betrayal of the students that I came to know and love and to who I am as a person. I can’t give up that easily.
There was a huge load of work ahead of me. The Korean word is “Jung” (정) and it translates into “spirit”/”essence”, and I felt that our “jung” didn’t quite match. My “jung” was different from the Sr. High’s.
So. I would sit hours in Starbucks, visioning, and planning and writing out my thoughts and ideas. The reason why it was easier with the Jr. Highers was that I got to work with a clean slate. The Sr. Highers had 5 years (an eternity in many youth ministries) of love and care from the youth guy before me, who was far better than me at the craziness and silliness that the youth ministry needs. How to meet on the middle ground?
That was my battle. I spoke to the senior pastor about the fears welling up inside me. He assured me that it wasn’t because of me that we saw this dramatic drop of kids. It was nice to hear. I only partly believed him.
Something in me said that one of the best ways to get things moving was through service projects. So, with the help of a few adults, I researched the perfect outreach project. In this world, perfect is hard to find. But I knew it had to be out there. And I kept searching. Along the same lines, I knew that the perfect solution for the senior high ministry had to be out there too. So I kept reading books, articles and blogs to find the perfect solution.
Then came this past Sunday. In the 2nd worship, during the call to stewardship, I said that the passage that we read from, and the passage that was referred to in a testimony given by a church member were from the book called Acts, or in its entirety: Acts of the Apostles. It isn’t called Watching of the Apostles, or Sitting of the Apostles, but the Acts of the Apostles, because these men and women acted upon their faith.
Ah. There it was. Acts. The book of Acts also wasn’t called The Researching for the Perfect Solution of the Apostles either.
Move. God meant, stop thinking, stop planning, stop visioning, and start doing. Start moving. Just do something, instead of thinking about it.
One of my terrible weaknesses is staying in my head too much. I like to vision, I like to think, I like to plan, so much so, that ends up taking most of my time. Being in my head. But I can’t always be stuck in my thoughts. Sometimes, we just gotta do something. Anything.
You may have looked in your Bibles to see what Acts 29 is about, only to find that there are only 28 chapters of Acts.
We’re gonna add to the story of the apostles and be the continuing story of the Acts of the Apostles, after all, the word Apostle basically means “one who is sent” and we are all sent by God.
Instead of finding the best project available, we’re just going to continue the tradition of making sandwiches and heading out to LA. May be next time to San Fernando Valley, as well.

Instead of trying to research the best solution, we’re just gonna go old school, and like Paul, win the hearts of people through actions spurred by God’s love and grace.

I know what I’m good at. I know what I’m not. So I’m hoping to find people along the way to balance out my weaknesses and others to be better at the things I am good at.

In the mean time, it’s time to get moving. And less talking.

I do have a vision for our youth, both high school and jr. high. Now it’s time to move and act on them, one step at a time, one heart at a time.
So be patient with me please. Change is brewing in the air.
I don’t know how things will turn out, but I do know that I want every kid to feel loved and welcomed.
So while we work on writing Acts chapter 29, may our prayer be: “God, equip us where we are weak. Humble us, where we are strong.”
And may we continue on our journey of making a difference in the lives of people through the grace and love of God.