Advertising for Church events is FUN!

Hey, here's a quick video my Intern(Marko) and I whipped up to advertise out church Men's Pig Roast!!! Enjoy!!

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Weird Blip of the Heart...

Have you ever had one of those events that occurs that really hits you in the heart and you can't explain why? Not 2 hours ago, this happened to me. I instantly prayed and asked God why it stung so much. Because it was a simple joke, nothing more, nothing less. A funny thing really, yet it struck a chord in my heart that made me want to run away and hide.

This is a rarer occurrence then it used to be. I used to get wounded more often because I struggled with pleasing man, rather than God. However, it still hit me in an odd way.

The best I can explain it is this: You're playing football and you're the running back. You get the hand off and you run straight for the goal line. You get HIT really hard, but you get up and walk off the field as if nothing happened. Later, you realize that the hit you took stings a little and it is actually annoying you. You also soon realize after the first realization that if you don't nip this pain in the bud, it may very well overtake you.

That's ind of what happened, so I prayed. Still don't know why it stung the way it did. Could quite possibly be something Satan is trying to trick me with...

I know we all have these types of hits, so just wanted to let you know about mine :)

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College Movement

Imagine a College Ministry that motivates college adults to "mobilize their faith". Imagine a community of young adults serving not only the church, but the community in which their college is set. Imagine...Imagine

This is exactly Living Christ's goal for college age adults. We desire to create a mobilizing, learning, serving community of young adults. We will begin this journey on Sept. 7th and follow the college schedule in Rockland county. Positively affecting both our church community and surrounding community! Get ready to MOBILIZE YOUR FAITH!

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Excited about New things

New things are incredible. Some people hate change, but sometimes I seem to really thrive in the midst of chaos. We are doing some new things inside our leadership in the youth ministry. We are doing some new things in youth group and we are doing new things inside the church.

a New thing for me is reading, which I am a HUGE fan of now. I used to hate reading...always loved writing, but reading never captured me the way it does now. I really got into reading about 2 yrs and some odd months ago, slightly before I got married. Being a husband is sorta new too, since it's only been 2 yrs and almost 3 months (Aug. 27th= 2 yrs, 3 months).

New things provide new challenges, things yet un-explored (or maybe things that were failed but now have a 2nd chance).

Another new thing for me has been writing this blog (and writing books), however, I won't bore you with this again, since I've already clearly defined all that just recently.

So ma' point is New things are good...don't fear the new or the different, embrace it, love it and tackle that new thang...cuz it could be the best thing you do!

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Some Stuff

Hey! I just got some cool books that are pretty interesting. One is Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and it's pretty good! I'm doing a lesson on Wednesday Sept. 17th IDK JC which is themed I don't Know Jesus Christ, and I will use tons of this good stuff!

Pray for me as I am trying to get re-motivated to read my ordination stuff and write my ordination stuff...don't feel motivated AT ALL...so give up some love to the Big Man for me on this one! Thanks!

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When Lightening Strikes...

I'm not sure yet whether I love it or hate it when God smacks me in the face... Well, it happened not 10 minutes ago and I wanted to share... I've decided to do some reading this week and as I was reading about PRAYER, I re-realized how important prayer really is...and how little I do it.

Prayer is essential to any believing Christian, but especially to the "pastor", which really means shepherd, someone who leads others. If a shepherd isn't praying, where is he leading the people following him? I'm gonna be real when I say I don't pray nearly as often as I should. You may be saying "oh, OK...don't give me fake humility" and I say, "NO really! I haven't been on my knees!"

This being real thing isn't easy and it hurts to admit ones junk. I was extremely convicted by my lack of prayer. I realized for instance that sometimes, I just write my youth group lessons, without praying before I start writing them. What is that!? I also realized that I haven't prayed over my manuscript for my book, which is supposed to lead people into a deeper, more authentic relationship with God and others. Sure I prayed when I wrote the chapters, but have I prayed beyond that? NO!

I'm just really convicted. I felt God whisper to me: "Yes, you can hear my voice in the inspirational books you read, the devotionals you read and MOST definitely in my Word...but are you praying? Are you listening to my voice in your ear? Are you hearing my voice in what you read and applying it to your heart or simply reading for head knowledge?!"

It was there I realized that recently, I've been reading without prayer, without asking God to REVEAL himself...I was simply looking for JUST a cerebral experience, content to leave Him and his voice as a fixture to look at and think about applying to the text.

Let me be completely honest with you...prayer sometimes gets boring to me. I get twitchy, thinking about what's next, where I need to be, what I need to do. I don't sit quietly for a long time very well. However, I know that once I get BEYOND my twitches, once I forget about what's next, God meets me and sometimes I could lay on my face for hours...yet, it's HARD for me to get to that point. It's TOUGH to just be, just listen and just wait.

This is REAL.

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See Through

Some of you may notice, the change on my blog site. I felt it was time to make a more mature look to the site. I also felt it necessary to use my WHOLE life, and not just my life as a youth pastor. I will still blog for the parents, teens and church members, but I wanted to give a see through look of my life..showing the chair as it really is...imperfect but beautiful.

I hope you enjoy the new look and I truly will make an effort to be see through in this blog. No fake stuff, but real in your face life. It's key for us to be Transparent with our lives, so people know we're real people.

Get ready to BE REAL!

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Mastication

mastication

noun

biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow [syn: chew] Mastication Mas`ti*ca"tion\, n. [L. masticatio: cf. F. mastication.] The act or operation of masticating; chewing, as of food. Mastication is a necessary preparation of solid aliment, without which there can be no good digestion. --Arbuthnot. To chew, the thought might bring good tasting food to your mind, giving you the simple desire to be chewing a Starburst for example, or a chocolate bar. However, I want to talk about the chewing of God's word. Masticating the word of God. Making it "soft enough to swallow", that "necessary preparation of God's solid ailment, without which there can be no good digestion". To swallow what God has for us, we HAVE to chew. We HAVE to wrestle with his word, we HAVE to mull it over in our mouths so we can better understand wha God has for us. We can't just hear it and claim it. Our bodies don't all digest the same, so we need to do some chewing too. I like the word mastication because it is descriptive of grinding things into a pulp so it can indeed be swallowed and better digested. This idea of digesting the word of God is a passionate thing of mine. I've recently been studying the book of Ezekiel and if I didn't masticate it...I'd be lost, not understanding a thing! So I wanted to encourage us all to MASTICATE the word of God. Eat it up, chew it up and then swallow, to allow your spirit to digest what God has for you!

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The Drive of Passion

When something becomes a passion of mine, I've noticed my no holds barred attitude. The drive of "sticktoitaveness" that comes so easily with the passion. The ideas flow like a waterfall down a high graded drop. The words move like a strong flowing river, demolishing all that's in its path. It will last as long as the river of the grand canyon, waiting to carve its way into existence, or shape a new path for the future. This is the new-found passion I have for writing. As you can see by the previous post, I was rejected. Now the rejection number doubles to the number 2.

Here's what I'm struggling with...is what I have good enough for publication. The e-mails are written nicely, to gently let me down to know that hey...we just can't publish this. The e-mails say nice things, like good job, keep it up oh and we hope somewhere, someday you can get published.

I really wouldn't mind being told: hey what you have is crap...the words you've pounded into the keys that came up on this paper, or electronic paper of yours is just not good. Don't try, give up. I would appreciate that type of transparency. However no one has said that...does that mean it IS good enough, just they're not willing to take the risk on a 23 yr. old with no famous clout? Is that the reason?

I struggle because I don't want to waste my time, my energy...or this new passion. If it's only good enough for myself...then fine, tell me and I'll stop. However, until I hear that, I will press on, I will keep trying to publish. Again, Michael Hyatt got told NO 30 times...What about me? only 2 so far...28 more to go!

That's the Drive of passion...foolish, silly and darn crazy. This is MERELY one of my passions...what are yours?

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Rejection

Writing has been a new found joy and passion for me. I was inspired almost a year ago to write a book about Transparency. How people need to be real with God an others in order to cultivate authentic relationships. I am passionate about this subject and wrote about 50 pages so far. I felt confident in my book idea, my pitch and my book proposal. Here is what my e-mail said from the editor of Youth Specialties (a branch of Zondervan Publ. Co.):

"We’ve read your proposal and while we think it’s good, we’ve decided that we just don’t have room for it on our list at this time. We’ve actually got a book coming out next year that is really similar to this idea. I wish you all the best in finding another publishing house!

Peace,

Jay"






Since I'm new at the submissions game, I'm not sure how to truly understand all that this means, but it sucks being rejected. However, I remember reading from Michael Hyatt's (the President of Thomas Nelson (a Christian Publisher)) blog that he'd been rejected by 30 publishers and that that book went on to be a best seller! He said not to lose heart in that quote and I won't!

I believe that God wants this book to be published eventually, so I will press on.

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The Faith of Barack Obama

Thomas Nelson (the Christian Publishing Company) recently held an open invitation to recieve a free book in exchange for a 200 word review. It was open to the first 100 bloggers to request the honor. I was among the first 100! The book is The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield. Below is my review on the book. It truly was a great read and definitely opened my eyes to who Obama is as a man of faith and what he truly believes.


"An excellent clear view of Barack Obama. The Faith of Barack Obama clearly defines the lines of his faith and politics. There have been many arguments about Obama, his faith and his values. From both the right-wing and left-wing, Barack has taken his punches. This book is a transparent look at how he allows his faith to define him. Not conformed to the right-wing of Christianity, nor fully defined by his Spiritual Father (Rev. Wright), Obama is and will remain a man of faith, defined by what he believes.
The Faith of Barack Obama answers many questions of those concerned about the mans faith. It takes you from the beginning of his faith journey to where he stands now. A moving piece of literature pregnant with the real hard facts. Stephen Mansfield hits a homerun with his literary piece on The Faith of Barack Obama. Not content to wallow in the mushy falsified attempts to discredit Obama as a man of faith, Mansfield highlights all of the key speeches Obama has made in order to define what he truly believes. I strongly recommend you pick up your own copy in order to clearly view Barack Obama and his faith."---Reviewed by Marv Nelson

If you have any questions about the book, please e-mail me and I would be more than happy to answer!

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Books!

While on vacation, I read 3 books. The first two I will mention were good and one just decent, but the third book BLEW ME AWAY! First up (3rd place) was John Piper's The Supremacy of God in Preaching. GREAT concept, but some SUPER Right-winged and old ideas (ask and I'll explain). Second up (and in 2nd place) was Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado. I love Max's books and I have read a lot of them. This is one of my favorites because of the main focus. I wish he would've gone deeper with some of the stuff, but overall Good read.


Lastly and 1st place in my opinion: They Like Jesus But Not the Church by Dan Kimball. This book is the most centralized Emerging Church book I've read to date! Dan is honest, gentle and Biblical. This book is strongly recommended if you want to find the heart beat of the emerging generation AND the way to share Jesus with them. I am starting a college ministry this new school year and this book will be a HUGE asset to me as I go to God with this new endeavor!

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The Power of Vacation

I have gotten back from my week-long sabbath rest with my family. I feel energized, alive, hyper and PUMPED about ministry again. I was feeling lag and disappointed and yea even a bit overworked and bored with ministry before I left. I was feeling down and really heavy. However, now that I am back I am READY for the school year, I am PUMPED about some new things we're going to do and I am more in Love with Jesus than I ever have been!

NEVER underestimate the power of a vacation. God usually puts this vacation in my life and t usually always has the same result...RE_ENERGIZING! My family is awesome and we get together as a body of family yes, but even more significant as a body of believers! We are all in ministry and have a strong connection with God. So getting together is like having a small church! We do devos together every night of vacation and just enjoy one another's company. We pray together, laugh together and worship together..ALL WEEK LONG! I feel like this Red-Bull
guy right now!!

I feel that God has placed this system in our lives so that we can come bcak and be re-energized to do His good work! I sat down today with Marko (my intern) and we did some pretty awesome stuff..planning the school year out with the new stuff and the old stuff..God is going to move this school year, and now, re-energized I CANNOT WAIT!

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