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A NEW ERA - Why invest in the youth?

This month kicks off a series of weekends@bshop where we are hosting young people from all around the city to join us in our mission to know God and make him known on the West Side of Grand Rapids. This summer we will be hosting youth groups from around the city for 10 days at a time to join us in this mission for a trip called Immersion. It may seem sort of strange that we would invest so much of our time and energy into young people that aren’t living in our neighborhood, when the heart of our ministry is to reach the lost in our neighborhood. Let me tell you why we are sacrificing so much to do this. 

First, we believe that this bridge from the youth groups of Grand Rapids to the streets plays a very small part of a much larger issue. We are under the strong conviction that this young generation is pivotal to the future of Christianity on a global scale. The fact is that young people are not content with the Christianity of their parents and have seen the emptiness of the American dream. We are living in a sober world where Christianity is no longer central to our society, where truth is seen as relative rather than objective, and young people are being drawn away from the faith in droves. Take this excerpt from Gabe Lyons in his new book entitled The Next Christians:

“Research organizations like the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, LifeWay Research, Time magazine, and UCLA now say that most Protestant teens are leaving the faith after high school. Why? Fifty-one percent said they left their childhood religion because their spiritual needs were not being met. Today, there are 31 percent fewer young people who are regular churchgoers than in the heat of the cultural revolution of the 1970s.”

It’s time for the church to step up and respond to this reality. This generation is growing cynical and hard, yet starving for truth and purpose in life, which is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. We want to reach as many young people as we can with a vision of a life knowing God and purposed for advancing his Kingdom on earth. This Kingdom won’t just happen all by itself, but requires us to take hold of it with ardent faith.

This generation is hungry for first hand experience. It is no longer sufficient to tell young people what is true. They need to experience it. Frankly, if our churches don’t offer significant spiritual experiences to our young people, they will find more appealing experiences elsewhere. Wicca and other forms of neo-Pagan witchcraft are more popular now than ever. Hollywood has cashed in on this through TV series’ such as Twilight, Harry Potter, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Charmed to name a few. Sociologist, Helen Berger, who spent over 10 years as a participant and observer of the neo-Pagan community estimates that in 1999 there were between 150,000 - 200,000 Pagans in America. Her census revealed that 7.3% of New York, 7.6% of Massachusetts, and 15.7% of California’s population considers themselves Pagan. These numbers have very likely increased in the last decade. Many of our friends on the West Side practice some form of Wicca or Pagan witchcraft.

Walking with Jesus by faith should be leading us into a life filled with incredible experiences. So where’s the disconnect? Why are so many young people leaving the church unsatisfied? The apostle James who walked with Jesus in person said this: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Lets give our young people that are “all about Jesus but not religion” a religion worth suffering for, even dying for. You will be hard pressed to find one young person who is willing to suffer and die for what happens on a typical sunday morning within the four walls of the church. Any church that focuses most of its energy inward will fade from existence before long in this environment. The only churches that will survive, and I believe can thrive in this era, are ones that are engaging with the world, willing to give anything to make a significant impact for God.

The second reason we invest so much energy into young people is because our mission to make God known on the West Side of GR would be impossible without them. The youth of this generation are not only the future of the church, but they are the church today. If you still think that young people just want to have fun, play video games, and eat Doritos, then its time to wake up from your 1985 youth ministry dream world. We need to be giving the youth opportunities to do big things for God right now, not just preparing them for the future. If you asked 10 random high school students, “Hey, how you doing?” you will most likely hear in their response, “bored.” Young people are waiting for opportunities to engage with something that has significance, and we need to be providing those opportunities for them. Not only are they missing out, but the world needs these youth to be the hands and feet of Jesus to reach people that the rest of us can’t.

We’re excited for what God is doing with young people in our city, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to serve alongside them in loving the poor of the West Side. If you would, please hold the Bridge Street House of Prayer, Weekends@BSHOP, and Immersion2012 in prayer. Thank you!

a definition of “Intentional Community”

What draws people together? We are drifters in life, making the best of what we’ve been given. Some are born in boxes while their brothers are raised in mansions, but the glory fades. The fact remains that we are all human, laboring under the same sun, giving up our frail bodies to toil for something over the sun, something deeper than the ocean, something mysterious within. As deep cries to deep, the depth of my being weeps for a brush with the Divine. My body aches with inexpressible groans to be safe, accepted, invited, loved. What could possibly have drawn me to God but God himself? I long to be holy, but not for holiness. No, it is the One who is holy that my heart beats for. Oh to gaze on the beauty of the Lord! Oh to seek his face! Transfixed on the Lamb sitting on his throne, with fire in His eyes, I should have been burned up by now. But His wounds are still bleeding profusely, His open veins spewing salvation down his robes, across the floor, and saturating my ripped jeans and old T. Now Righteousness is all he sees. 

What draws us together but commonality. Bound to earth and time, in dirt we find ourselves together, unable to get clean. In this place of brokeness and insecurity we find ourselves together on our knees seeking peace with God crying out, “please! Make me like you and heal this fatal disease!” This is how to find community. From the dust, we rise as one, forgiving our brother as we have been, and lifting up a tremendous shout for his victory. Remember where you’ve been, but run to where you’re headed. Eternity has already started. Lock your eyes on the Author and He will write your story, just love Him so you can love your brother. No matter what, love one another.

God provides airplane tickets

The point of me writing in this blog is not to tell the world about all kinds of meaningless happenings in my life as if the whole world-wide-web really cares to know what color socks I put on today and how I feel about cheese. i want to live a life that points to and exalts Jesus Christ and this is just a place to share those stories and hopefully lift your eyes to Him as well.
Here is a story about how God provides for those he loves:
My friends, Tim and Andrea are getting hitched on Saturday. Tim has been a faithful friend since high school, though we really grew to know eachother at Grand Valley State University. We used to make bets as to who would get married first, so now that it was actually happenong, i was dead set on being there. unfotunately, it was getting down to the wire, still didnt have a ticket, and the prices were skyrocketing. I had settled on my heart that I would not be able to make it. i gave up. Well, a few days ago, I was praying and reading the Bible and felt like God was speaking something deep to my heart. I had forgotten what a good Father I have and how he really likes me, He enjoys me, he delights in giving me good gifts. So, I said, “Hey papa… you know my heart. will you provide me a way to get to California?”
That was it. Nothing fancy. No weeping or fasting or anything like that.
Well, here’s where the story gets interesting. 2 days later, a friend at church pulled me aside as if he had something very important to tell me. Just for the record, I did not see this coming. He gave me almost the full amount of money for a ticket to California, saying, “This is for you to spend on yourself, not ministry.” i was floored. all I could think is “Wow, I cant believe that worked!” At this point, I was completely satisfied ad couldnt imagine things getting much better. As I was driving out of the parking lot, another friend that I had mentioned my California dream to, called me and said, “Hey, I prayed about it and I want to give you some money for a plane ticket to California.” I nearly drove of the road with excitement. The total sum paid for my entire plane ticket plus a little extra for food.
So here I sit in the airport in Pheonix, AZ on my way to celebrate with some old friends on my Father’s tab. He loves to give good gifts. Ask and you will recieve. God does not give stones to those who ask for bread. But he does give plane tickets.

a new season

You know that feeling you get, usually around late August, when you step outside mid afternoon, and you suddenly realize that for the first time in a long time the humidity is not hanging like a blanket? You realize all of a sudden that the grass looks a different color because the sun is hitting it at a funny angle, the trees blowing in the wind sound crispier than normal, and you know in that moment as it comes crashing in all at once: a new season is upon us.
Fall is my favorite season, though I cant necessarily tell you why. Yes, I love flannel, and doughnuts and hot apple cider from Robbinette’s, and lighting the woodstove for the first time all year. But there is something that I feel deep inside when fall hits that i dont feel at the changing of other seasons, and I especially felt it this year. It feels as though a very important page has been turned, causing me to celebrate the last chapter yet mourne its passing all the while looking with great anticipation to the mysteries yet to unfold in the pages to come. Life is so full of swirling emotion, stretching us, and contorting our insides into uncomfortable shapes. i think that is why when I open my mouth to praise God, something like this usually come out: “You are my rock” or “my refuge”, “my hiding place”. God has become my escape from the chaos of my natural life. At any moment, I can steal away, even if for a moment, and find peace in His perfect presence. There are so many other things that often clutter my thoughts and entangle my emotions on a regular basis. The cure, I think is putting on the right clothes. If my dad is the King, then why am I putting on rags? In 2 Cor 5, Paul talks about being clothed with our heavenly dwelling. if I just put on the right clothes and continually walk in my heavenly identity as a son of God, will not my heart be filled with gratitude, and my tongue with words of life? if I walk in my identity as a son of God, wont I be completely free from sin, anger, and selfish living? This is a big part of this next chapter. i am learning to exchange my rags and walk on with my royal garments on. My dad is the King of Kings, and its time to start living that way. Father, make me like you.

Turkey

Words are hardly adequate to describe when the creator of the Universe reaches out and touches simple, finite creatures like us. But this trip to turkey was filled with these moments of collision between creator and created.

First, our team from the BSHOP was such a beautiful picture of the body of Christ, quick to encourage, laying down rights and comforts for each other, serving the needs of those around us. We bonded so much on this trip, which is HUGE because we all share life and ministry together in our hometown, Grand Rapids, so we are still experiencing the ripple effects for the Kingdom.

Most of our days were spent with misisonary kids between the ages of 5-14. We did not come to Turkey to babysit, but to disciple these little ones to be passionate followers of Jesus. Not only were they tremendously impacted, but they taught us so much. One of the parents told us that these two weeks had been on the most formative experiences of his son, Jonathan’s life. Wow. Madelin (pictured above) would light up like a firecracker every time she saw one of us, run full speed into us and wrap her little arms around us and say, “I love you, I love you, I love you.” And I mean every time. Talk about a revelation of the love of Jesus! We were so incredible blessed by the kids.

Every evening, we led a prayer and worship gathering for the missionaries. Keep in mind that almost all of these missionaries were coming from Muslim nations that are hostile to Christianity. Many of them were able to make it only by the miraculous provision of God, and I’m telling you they were there to PRAY. We spent over an hour praying for a battered missionary team from Afghanistan one night. Tears flowed down their cheeks with gratitude for us coming all the way from the U.S. to encourage and pray for them. Many other missionaries expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the encouragement we were able to give. I’ll never forget that experience.

Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted by the end, but filled with joy. I had the privilege of taking a short vacation on Samos, a Greek island just off the coast of Kusadasi, Turkey where we were staying. Lets just say, it was really really hard to leave that place. I recommend it to anyone. Good food, great wine, cliff jumping, crystal blue water, rolling mountains, perfect sunsets, i could go on.

oh, probably the funniest moment was when Josh, Michael, and I took a taxi into town to rent scooters. I made the assumption that we had all driven a motorbike before… wrong assumption. We got our helmets on, pulled out onto the crowded city street, rode not more than 200 feet and Michael slammed his scooter right into a Turkish guy on a scooter. The guy was really mad, yelling at Micheal, and this huge crowd gathered around them. Eventually he cooled down and let him go. The only damage was Michael’s headlight which he fixed with superglue :)

Thank you so much for those who prayed for me and the team. Your prayers were answered and felt. And thank you again for all you who gave finances to make this possible. Now its on to the next adventure: Immersion.