spiritual war

I am convinced that this church is in the midst of a spiritual war. Regardless of our intentions, the longer we continue to bend and sway with the ebbs and flows of our offering plates, the closer we come to allowing evil to defeat good within these walls.

The Bible, in Ephesians 6, gives us a recipe for victory as we struggle against "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." This recipe calls us not to scramble for shelter when financial winds blow but to "STAND FIRM!" And we are to stand firm fully suited in a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, battle shoes crafted from the gospel of peace,  a shield of faith, a helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.

Donning this equipment may cost more than the soldier has, but he would never even consider walking into battle without it. Instead, he trusts his commander to provide for his protection as he stands firmly where the commander has placed him.

And get this! Verse 18 of chapter 6 really is the kicker: the faithful soldier stands with the FULL support of his commander and not only can but should continually make all kinds of requests of the commander.

As God's soldiers at Avondale Estates First Baptist Church, should we cut back on ministry opportunities or the fundraisers that make them possible? By no means! If, instead, we will trust Him enough to follow His command, standing firm in ministry with Him, He gives us the right to make all kinds of requests. Let us, then, stand with Jesus, holding forth our shields of faith to block the blows of financial woes with our trust in a God who is able to provide above our wildest imaginations.

Prayerfully and Faithfully Standing,
-mo

ministry

11th grader S has been a part of our youth group for several months. He accepted Jesus as his Savior in November and joined our church the following week excited about serving as a full-fledged member of aefbc and the larger body of Christ. Before he has even been baptized (which is scheduled for a couple of weeks from now), he has been looked down upon, chastised, and just plain insulted by adults who have a problem with the fact that he wears shorts and a hat to church. I could not be more disappointed, hurt, angry that they have so attacked MY student with their petty lists of dos and don'ts. And I could not be more proud of S for continuing to live out his faith in the face of such contention from within his own church.

What does the Bible say about worship attire? Well, when it comes to shorts, nothing. And on the issue of hats, men are told to uncover their heads whenever they prophesy or pray. (for the record, S has never prophesied, and he does remove his hat whenever we pray.) BUT, the overwelming message of scripture is that God's focus is on the heart. I can almost guarantee those adults could learn a lot about respect and reverence from S if they'd just pay attention to his heart.

This kind of picky, prejudicial criticism from church members is completely inappropriate and intolerable. Our students are young and otherwise unchurched. Teaching them appropriate respect and reverence is an ongoing process that requires that we first earn their respect and then lovingly introduce them to our Savior, which will, in time, itself lead to a natural awe of and reverence for who He is. But to criticize them with legalistic lies about how worship is "supposed" to look or feel is unbiblical and inexcusable and does nothing to point them to Jesus.

The call of the Church is NOT discipline; rather, the call of the Church is discipleship.
-mo

my first 5k

This happened yesterday! Amanda and I ran with some of our students from aefbcYOUTH.

rainbows

i've just seen my second rainbow in two weeks. what an awesome reminder of how awesome and awesomely faithful my God is.

life is crazy. in two weeks, i've taken a comprehensive exam; spent a week at camp with three boys; spent a week driving a bus and ringing a bell for vbs; started studying for a second comprehensive exam; started looking for a new place to live; and house/pet sat for two women in my church who have 3 cats, 2 dogs, 1 bird. also, i have seen two rainbows, two reminders of God's constant faithfulness in the midst of life's craziness.

camp really was fantastic. michael and i spent the week at north greenville university with three of our boys. we shared a ton of laughs and made so many memories. i am so grateful that God called me to work with these guys for this time. i love the youth i serve. youth ministry probably is not my lifelong calling, but God has been so faithful (rainbow) to rain down so many blessings as i have followed his lead. what an awesome LORD!

God, grant me the wisdom, the courage to follow you always. with each rainbow, remind me not only of your faithfulness but also of the debt of obedience i owe you.
-mo

rainbow

Wonseleah spotted this awesomeness during our church group devotion tonight.

Camp

today

Sunday school today was great. Enough youth that I could assign each a chapter of Genesis to read silently then recount aloud to the group. They did an extraordinarily good job. We learned from the story of Joseph. I enjoyed them.

Clay began a series on the work of the Holy Spirit. Good sermon today. click here to hear it.

I love Christ's church at Avondale Estates FBC.

AND... Slept a good nap after coming home. First good sleep in several days.

big job

No one in my Sunday school class today could tell me what Easter is about. "Passover" was the closest answer I got.

On days like this, my job both astounds and overwhelms me. Every week, God trusts me to represent Him to teenagers who have only a slight clue who He is, much less what He is about. That's astounding. There is so much rich goodness to be taught from God's Word, and we can only tackle it one story, one topic, one Sunday at a time. That's overwhelming.

Love this job.

Eternally (literally) grateful for parents who taught me the stories of the Bible.

Eternally (literally) grateful for a loving God who is patient with my youth and me as we seek Him.

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Our second priority

Now that I am no longer in the youth department, I can write what I am about to write without being accused of self-centeredness.

How badly does a church need a minister of music? Out of tradition and habit, we have a tendency to believe that need is greater than it is. I love music. I believe it is an essential element of worship, the first purpose of the church. I love ministers of music (that’s you, Unc ;) ). But, having said those things, I believe a minister of music should be, at best, the third priority on a church’s list of paid staff. First, a church needs a pastor to shepherd the church in the direction of her Savior. After a pastor and before a minister of music, a church needs a man whose job is to minister to youth. In churches too small to hire three staff members, a youth minister is more important than a music minister. Moreover, the two jobs are too big in themselves to be combined into a single job description. The church as a whole benefits more from an on-fire youth group than from a perfectly tuned choir. A great choir special may have toes tapping or hearts worshipping for a moment, but a youth group sold out to Christ transforms a church and a community now and for generations to come.

The adults in my church do not seem to understand this concept as well as they should. My parents’ generation were some of the most fortunate youth in our church’s history. When they, themselves, were youth, they experienced the benefits that come with a minister wholly devoted to their discipleship. Their children, my generation, have seen the continued benefit; we have parents who were discipled. Unfortunately, we had to grow up only hearing about their youth minister. We heard about all the great experiences we were denied. Most of today’s youth, who are just a few years younger than I, have parents who are too young to be able to share those stories. Their parents were not discipled; therefore, the youth have not even known the second-generational benefits of a great youth minister. Why does my parents’ generation refuse to grant to their children the great opportunities for Christian growth that they themselves were afforded?

Our nominating committee is already seeing the results. We are growing whole generations of adults who have not been taught the joy of service. Even those who want to serve and/or who do serve, really do not know the Bible well enough to teach it to others. We are seeing the flipside of the statements I wrote above about the benefit to a church of a strong youth program. When we do not provide for the discipleship of our youth, our church dies.

So, my questions for small churches are as follows: what good is a music minister when a congregation is too dead to sing? What good is a music minister when a congregation fades away? Why are we willing to sit by and watch our youth fall victim to all the world’s enticing offers while we insist that we must hire someone to wave his arms behind a music stand?

Volunteer youth ministers certainly are blessings for which I am thankful, but I am sure those volunteers would be some of the first to admit that they simply cannot invest the time it takes to build a quality youth program. So, I say, let the volunteers pick the songs and wave their arms! If we rearrange our priorities such that youth come before music, I think there is a good chance that our church will grow enough that we will be able to afford a fabulous music program as well. We can sing with no one to lead, but in their most vital years of spiritual development, our youth need direction. Will we be faithful to see that their potential becomes reality? Will we teach them that whether or not we have a formal music program they have a real reason to sing? Will we fill in the cracks so they do not continue to fall through? Will we love them? What a difference we could make in our church, our community, our world if we would!
-mo
Moville