How Do You Pray?

So how often do you pray? When do you pray? Where do you pray?

Thriving Church = Thriving Youth and Children Ministries

I hosted a parent meeting last night and these verses really stuck out to me.

Be real, honest, and yourself!

“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,” and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.”

-Matthew 5:33-37

3 Sentence Post To Check Out

Wow a 3 sentence post?!:

My Wife: incredible mom, hottie, & wisdom

Annie is amazing. She’s HOT. She’s an incredible mom. She’s HOT. She’s an incredible youth pastor’s wife. Before youth group started she gave me a little gift. It’s a frame bout the size of a post card with a scripture quote that reads, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 2:5-6).

It’s Not About You

“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty. 1 Corinthians 12:21-23.

Youth Workers Check this Out (includes candy!)

I like to compare teenagers to those mixed bags of candy you see during halloween. You know, the ones that are huge for $5 that hold everything from sweet tarts to laffy taffy’s to bubble gum. Ok, for the record I’m not literally comparing youth to candy, but just walk with me for a minute!

Spiritual Warfare Last Night

Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Dreams for 2010, Got Any?

Last night I preached to our youth ministry about dreams. I had them write out 3 dreams (goals, hopes, etc) about 2010. I asked them to really think about this upcoming year. What do you want to see happen? The rules were to write one goal about their spirituality or lack of and the other two goals about anything else in their life that needed to change.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

Ever watch the Discovery Channel or National Geographic? I know as a kid I was always fascinated by the big cats. I’m talking cheetahs, tigers, lions, jaguars, etc. The panther in the Disney movie, “the Jungle Book” was my favorite character…what kid does that? EVERYBODY  KNOWS BALOO was the man (bear), but I loved the panther.