Thanks Yo!

Not too much to report this month. So I will take this opportunity to do something that needs to be done. To all of you who have paid into our student ministry, I say thank you. There are numerous people working in numerous ways to help build this ministry. In fact, there are so many that I am not sure that I could safely list names for fear of leaving someone out. The many college-aged types, parents, and senior types that pull together to host, prepare, teach, tote, encourage, discipline, and manage to create a general environment of motivation and safety are greatly appreciated by me.
I cannot do this on my own. In fact, I should not do this on my own. I have one of the rare jobs where you constantly try to work yourself out of a job. To build a ministry you must develop ministers. If I am successful, I will encourage and equip people to come alongside me and ultimately be able to what I do. It sounds crazy, but for a ministry to grow this must happen. Granted, I do enjoy my job and do not wish to be cast aside, but it is a calculated risk. Ideally, we grow, causing me to constantly shift my focus to expand our ministry... which is also tricky, being that we want to keep our ministry as simple as possible while still remaining as effective as possible.
So to all those who cook, teach, host, tote, love and CARE, in general, about students, THANK YOU. You are greatly appreciated. There is so much more that we have yet to realize. But you, friends of the student ministry, are key to an improved future. Thanks, from Kevin.

Non Ministrari sed Ministrare

I don't know too much about Wellesley College. I have heard of it. Some quite famous and influential women are graduates of this highly regarded liberal arts school for women. The name I have heard, but the details I recently learned. (A nod to Louie Giglio and the Passion Podcast) Wellesley is a pretty small school, only 2,300 students. However, folks such as Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright are noted alumnae. So, not everyone knows that, but hey if it ever comes up in a game of Trivial Pursuit, you’re in good shape. Of course, while knowing Hillary Clinton's alma mater is nice, that is not why I am writing this blog. I am simply waxing eloquent to set the stage for this interesting bit of Wellesley lore.

Wellesley's motto is Non Ministrari sed Ministrare. I don't read that language, which I am pretty sure is Latin, so I am very glad that there is a translation on the Wellesley web site. The translation of that phrase is "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister." I like that. Like I said, I don't know much about Wellesley, but I know I like that motto. Can that be the way we think as a group of Christ following folks? Can that become the starting point for our efforts? That would be quite nice. Granted, we do think that way many times, but we can do better.

Minister more, get closer, and love much!

I like that motto.

Student Ministry Home Prayer

We are starting an organized effort to get student ministry participants of all degrees together for regular times of prayer. Starting in November we will meet on the second Thursdays of the month at 6:30pm. We will be meeting in varying locations, but we will start at my house. All students, student ministry partners, and parents are invited. However, keep this in mind, there is no organized transportation. We need to make a focused effort to spend more time communicating with God. This effort will address that. We hope to carry the prayer focus started with the 40 days of prayer we just completed on. So, keep Thursday, November 9 in mind. I hope to see as many of you there as possible. Please RSVP in some manner so that I can plan appropriately.

Email Kevin by clicking this link.

Passion Regional 2008

The time has come to start thinking about Passion 2008. If you are younger than 26 as of April 2008 or you will be 18 by next April you can go. The date is Friday April 11 and Saturday April 12. The cost will be $95.00. Payment is due Sunday March 9, 2008, late payments are $125.00. Pay early and save $30.00, that way you can eat a nice meal in Atlanta. But keep in mind that the conference could sell out by then, so it would be in your best interest to pay as soon as you have decided that you wish to go. I will reserve your spot as soon as I have your payment. So, you give me $95.00 tomorrow and I reserve your spot with the Passion office tomorrow. The $95.00 includes your conference fee and hotel room. Currently we have four rooms reserved within walking distance of the arena. So 16 people have a place to stay. Transportation and meals are both on your own. Let me know as soon as you can.

Get more info from the Passion Website.
Or you may email Kevin.
Or call the office 850-877-4141

Consumer or Consumee

Some of you might find this blog somewhat familiar. It is a reedited repost of an articled that first appeared in my blog back on Thursday April 26, 2006. The orginal is still there, if you care to see how I changed it. However, I figure that many of the folks that read the blog now where not reading it last year.

The natural state and activity of a consumer is consuming. From a very early age we learn to consume. It is only natural. No consumption, no growth. If you do not consume you die, there is no alternative. You cannot require a baby to produce milk, will not happen. As we grow we refine our consumerist ways, as babies we do milk, we move on to puréed apples and ham (they sell it, babies will eat anything), then French fries and chicken fingers, Baby Einstein, on to Best Buy, Olive Garden, Ford, a mortgage, and any number of other things that are much to numerous to list. Simply stated we consume. There really is nothing wrong with consumption because it sustains life. We must eat, we must get to work, we must have a place to live, and a computer or maybe an iPod are nice luxuries. We are, from the get go, consumers by nature.

Our whole understanding of reality is based on our experience. As a result, a change in how we understand our experience is required.

Consumerism just don’t cut it in relationships, but we see it all the time. We see marriages lasting 2 or 3 years because the participants have mined the relationship for all its worth. We see parents lose their ability to parent because they are more interested in being their child’s friend than their child’s parent. We see children using their parents as an ATM. Now, don’t hear me wrong, there is some good to being your child’s friend, and parents usually have more money than their children. But, it is safe to say that it is possible to reduce relationships to a very basic consumer level.

It can happen with God too. We carry our innate consumer mentality into our relationship with God. We hear that God wants to bless us with this or that. God loves you, He wants what is best for you, and it looks like a new house, a new car, a job promotion, I feel you probably get the gist by now. Look in the bible; while we do see some people blessed with material wealth and physical comfort, we also see many more who are not. For example, the Apostle Paul went through countless hardships in his life. Towards the end he said, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure (1 Timothy 4:6 NIV). Paul was giving out like crazy. He spent time in jail, he was “flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times [he] received …the forty lashes minus one. Three times [he] was beaten with rods, once [he] was stoned, three times [he] was shipwrecked, [he] spent a night and a day in the open sea (2 Corinthians 11:23 25 NIV).” He goes on to talk about how he was constantly on the move, in danger from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, the gentiles, in cities, in the country, in the sea, and false brothers. He labored and toiled, went with out sleep, was hungry and thirsty, even cold and naked (2 Corinthians 11:26, 27). Brother had it bad. It is safe to say Paul was no consumer. That man was used up, poured out big time.

We also see the early follower of Christ named Stephen. He was out doing “great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (Acts 6:8 NIV).” Got the attention of a lot of people that did not like his wonders and miracles. Stephen ended up dead because of his life of surrender. He too was poured out, used up, consumed.

I urge you, be consumed. It is not easy. It does not come natural. When you get together with other followers, when you go out from that get together, when you are in school, when you talk to your boss and coworkers, when you eat at Crispers, be a consumee. It probably will not be easy; in fact it will very likely require pain and sacrifice. Future, it is quite likely no “but” will be any where in the story. We do not see the story go, “be consumed and make a sacrifice, but it will be ok because God will give you this or that.” No, there may possibly be no earthly reward, there could be a great reward, but there could just as easily be no reward. Of course, the good thing is, we have already won, (sounds like it may make a good song). Christ is glorified in the cross. His grace abounds and we are His. It is not merely our duty to serve; our consumption is not based on an obligation. Christ is glorified, He carries everything you could never be in grace and an ultimate God sized love that is worthy. He gives us a way out of our tangled little messes so that we can have a profound existence unequalled by our finite earthy imaginations. I mean come on, He created the universe, do you know how big that is?

Be consumed, get closer, and love much!