PRESIDENT

I hope the title caught you. Seeing how this election is seemingly taking over peoples lives and every thought, I thought I would bate you on the topic of "The President". Honestly though, I'm not here to talk all Obama or all McCain. I am writing this little ditty to bring forth some questions about a book I am currently half-way through.

It seems that a ton of my blogging recently has been my reading fodder, which is not such a bad thing, but I know it can be excessive sometimes. However, I am reading the book entitled: Jesus for President. It's a new book released just this March by Zondervan. The thing is, I really like a ton of what the authors (Claiborne and Shaw) are saying, but then I feel they go all extremist on you within a turn of just a few pages. I don't know if I am reading into it all but mostly I feel like this: "Yeah guys, preach it!! Keep preaching that, I think the world needs to hear that..." then out of nowhere I feel like this: "What the heck are you smoking, no we shouldn't do that...I really don't think that's true. What the freak did you just say?! I want to put this book down now..."

If you're out there and you've read the book and felt similar reactions, let me know...I hope (and suspect) I'm not alone. Like I said, the messages in this book are pretty profound...some are prophetic even, then I feel like they throw their own stuff in and it ruins the flow of the HS I'm getting reading it.

This seems to be the only place/way I can wrestle with these ideas. Oh yeah, what's up with the authors always saying "The Way" so much. I know it's true, but every time I read them saying "The Way" I think they are big fans of the cult and are trying to propogandize the readers...???

OK, I'm done, please, please tell me your thoughts...I am just hungry for feedback on this book.

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The Great Divorce

I had never read C.S. Lewis' book entitled: The Great Divorce until this week. I started reading it on Tuesday and finished it early this afternoon. I am astounded at it's prophetic voice, as well as it's direct reading of the human heart. Lewis, in my opinion has written within the pages of this book, a accurate reading of why people don't let go of their sin and why in fact they themselves choose the death of hell.

The story is a dream sequence in which a man goes from Hell to Heaven on a bus. However, it's not quite Heaven, you still have to choose to go to the "mountain" where the reader is to believe Heaven is fully realized. A man is there, with the choice still before him, eavesdropping on other peoples conversations on letting go of certain things in order to begin traveling towards "the mountain". The conversations that are overheard by the gentleman are conversations we ourselves have seen in life. People choosing to deny God, choosing to continue to embrace deathly habits, even after they've been to what is called "Hell" they choose not to embrace what they are experiencing as "Heaven".

I can't do justice to Lewis' great work, I can only attempt to convey in some small way, the depth of the story. There is one exchange in particular that I will be using for my sermon on October 12th. I will post the sermon sometime around the 14th so you can listen in. However, I will say that it is an extremely telling (not only of my own heart, but that of the world's heart) of our absolute depravity without Christ.

I'll stop here and encourage you all to pick up your own copy. It's no more than 160 pages ad is a pretty easy read, but it's very, very good!

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Youth Groups!!

Time has again, slipped away from my grasp! I was going to blog about Tuesday Night Youth Group, but was distracted by a day of meetings yesterday...today however, I can write about both Tuesday and Wednesday Night!

On Tuesday Night, we were again discussing the overall topic of releasing your burdens. This weeks burden was on Grief. Grief is a gigantic topic for anyone, so of course we didn't cover the whole realm of it. However, Marko (he taught this week) talked for about 7 minutes, describing his bouts with grief, going back to Psalm 23 and describing David's writing of the Psalm. Right after Marko's 7 minutes, we started a Nooma video titled: Matthew. (For those of you who don't know, Nooma is a video series done my Rob Bell and his church). This Nooma video described the the pain of loss that Rob Bell felt, and how he grieved it. Grief is OK, but we don't need to carry it around. The message was powerful and amazing and many teens were touched.

After the video, we immediately broke into small groups, and discussed some grief in our own lives, or things that happened in out lives that we had not yet grieved. It was a great time of openness and great discussion!


Jr. High Youth Group was a lot less INTENSE than last week. We had about 20 students and most were calmer and better listeners than they were last week. However, there was still some stuff. Anyways, God used the time we had together! We had tons of fun playing "malady volleyball" in which people on each team had some maladies of varying kinds and had to play the full time with that malady!

After the games, we started our talk on IDK JC (#2). We saw the old accusations of Jesus being Liar, Lunatic or Lord. I shared with them how I believe Jesus was/is Lord. I shared again about the change in the disciples, and how they wouldn't die for a lie. The students seemed to really catch this fact, because they wouldn't die for a lie. I also shared a little bit about my life and shared how I now God is Lord, because of how he changed my life and my families life. This really connected with them and they were quiet the entire time I discussed my life and the change God brought.

God is an amazing God and despite what Satan tries to do, God always shines brighter, always works better and always defeats the darkness!

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I Got An Itch

Every once in awhile, I get an insatiable itch to write. Now is that once in awhile. I am aware that making a super long blog post would quite possibly bore the bojangles out of all of you, so I will spare the bojangles, and simply give a heads up on what I've BEEN writing and what I plan to write (not necessarily on this blog).

Recently I've been writing a book titled: Transparent. It is a guide to authentic relationships with both God and men. It came from an expository sermon series I did with my teens called Walking in the Light taken from 1 John 1:5-2:14. I have the entire booked laid out and about 60 pages written (waiting for a publisher t take it on before I finish it). I am extremely passionate about this book and what God teaches through the scriptures listed above. God took my mind and my thoughts about him, blew them to smithereens and then showed me how little of Him I truly understand while I went through this series (and the book). I'll let you know what happens.

The book I just envisioned is an authentic look of the successes and failures of youth pastors. I know for myself that I am tired of reading the "I'm so awesome" youth ministry books and want to read the "this is how I failed, this is what I did in this situation and here are the results" type ministry book. (I recently read Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll and was insipred that this type of book should be written by youth pastor as well as a church planter/Senior Pastor.). I realize that I am young and not nearly seasoned enough (nor well known enough) to write a book like this and expect people to read it, so I will proably interview several hundred youth pastors to hear and read their stories, write my own, string them together and write the book. I am passionate about this too, because I am going through some stuff in ministry that "isn't in the books" and would love to share moment-by-moment what I am going through so one day, it can touch a guy in my position.

I know it's a long post despite what I said above (sorry about those bojangles). However, if you are a youth pastor and want to share an authentic moment of failure, hardship or success, e-mail it to me, so I can begin compiling and writing! My e-mail is: pastormarv@hotmail.com or pstrmarv@gmail.com

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Books!

Hey, quick post of the day...I love books as most of you know and I am currently reading (Fantasy-wise) the third installment of the Inheritance Cycle titled: Brisingr. It is the best in the series so far and I'm highly interested to see what's going to happen. I recomend this series, so if you're a fantasy fan, go pick up all three!

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Recipe For Disaster...

Here was the recipe I concocted: 22 Jr. High teens, including boy-crazy jr. high girls and caffeinated jr. high boys; with only three adult leaders and lastly, I was talking about Jesus.

I must be totally honest when I say that I have NEVER in all of my time in ministry, (even though I am young, I've been doing Youth Ministry for 8 years) seen this much Spiritual Warfare. Our Jr. Highers are ALWAYS rowdy, but tonight was absurd. They couldn't be controlled most of the night, especially when it came time for the talk. It was like a BOLT of demonic energy was put under 80% of the teens chairs. Seriously, when I got up to speak, the heightened disobedience was incredible to witness.

After about 8 minutes of this, I stopped trying to get them to listen by yelling at them and I said: "You know, I believe there are demons in this world, and I am pretty sure they are affecting you tonight in such a way that is causing all of this craziness, because Jesus wants to speak to you." While I was talking about this, was the quietest time all evening. I prayed, then went back into the lesson on Jesus. The talking continued (though not at the same volume) and I kicked a couple kids out of the room.

The games were a blast tonight and the kids were engaged in all of that, but when it came time to talk about Jesus, there was supreme oppression, the likes of which I've never encountered. It doesn't strike me as odd though, because Satan doesn't want these teens hearing about Jesus.

However, the timing strikes me as ironic, because I am reading a book by a Pastor in Seattle and he talks of frequent demonic encounters with his people. I asked God (literally and without lying) yesterday why I haven't seen demonic attacks within the youth ministry. Asking if I were doing something wrong, or un-threatening to Satan and his minions. Tonight showed me that even though it's tough, we're on the right track.

My two other leaders really stepped up and helped me reign in the teens that needed reigning. I realized the supreme loss of one of my leaders (who is now a Youth Pastor down the street). He had a tremendous impact on our teens and was an amazing help in times similar (yet nowhere near as bad) to this evening.

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Sermon titled: "Jealous God"

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Tuesday Night Youth Group

This month, the Sr. High theme for this month Releasing Our Burdens. We are taking the youth through Psalm 23, listening to the insights that David gives us on our way to releasing our burdens unto God. This week, we discussed the issue of releasing the burden of guilt.

Guilt is a dominating force in our lives if we let it. We have to realize the difference between guilt and conviction. Conviction is the sense of "wrongness" that the Holy Spirit gives us in order that we may repent. Once we repent, the Lord forgives us and puts the sin as far away from us as East is from the West, he also throws the sin behind his back, no longer looking at it or bringing it up. Guilt is the lingering feeling that we are losers because we sinned, we did wrong. It's the constant voice that reminds us of how pitiful we are because the sin we already repented from was done.

Guilt can consume a person, but Christ eliminates our guilt with the power of the cross. We are no longer guilty, but saved ad forgiven. This was the message we brought to the teens last night. We discussed this issue in small groups a little more in depth...but these are the main points.

To be honest, the games last night stunk (I sometimes pick games that in my head and in theory look awesome, but when done in actuality STINK). So, if you have some sweet ideas for good games that in actuality ROCK give me a holla!

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Sermon_Gal._5.mov

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New Men's PIG ROAST Ad

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Youth Groups!!

The School year is back in swing so, my youth group blogs are back in session too! This week, I am doing a 2-in-1 deal where I will share what we did in each night. I will start with Tuesday.

This Tuesday Night for the Sr. High, we kicked off our series on Releasing Your Burdens. Each week, we'll look at Psalm 23 and see what insight it has for us on Releasing our Burdens unto the Lord. This weeks Burden was the burden of Self-Reliance. We as people rely on ourselves WAY too much. I described times in my own life (like messing up the head gasket on my 89' Crown Vic) where I have relied on myself and not God nor the help of others and how it fell apart. David had the right idea, when he admitted to God "LORD, you are my Shepherd". David knew the stupidity of sheep and admitted himself as being one of them and the only person he can rely on is the LORD. I shared this with the Sr. Highers and challenged them to rely on God, rather than themselves. Our discussion time was centered around the "how" of doing that and many of the youth were engaged and willing to see how they can stop relying on themselves and begin to rely on God.


This Wednesday, we kicked off our series of IDK (which stands for I Don't Know). This wee, we talked about how we don't know our ID (Identity) because the world tries to tell us who we are, how we should dress, how we should act, and how we should talk. However, God gives us an Identity, he made us in his image (Gen. 1:27) He made us for a purpose (Jer. 29:11) and we are his workmanship (translated poema or poem). He cares for us and took time to make us who we are and our ID is in Him, not in what the world tells us. I let the Jr. Highers know that God made them, so they aren't an accident and God cares about them, so they are not (ugly, worthless, fat, an acident, aweful or whatever people may call them), nor do they have to live up the what the world says they should live up to! I showed a video of a kid who tries to find his identity, but seems to just be peeling off layers of himself. The video is right below. Our small group discussions went well, in which the teens really engaged with the ID that God was giving them!!

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Biggest Loser

Hey, it's official, I am the office's BIGGEST LOSER!!! No, I'm not just talking as in being the office dork (which is porbably true too), but the weight loss loser! I am now weighing in at 190lbs and lost a total of 27lbs so far! I only have 5 more pounds to go to my goal!!! I have won $70 to Barnes and Nobles and plan on spending it....TODAY (maybe)!!!

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Wished I Had an Ephod...

I've been doing some word Study about the priests' ephod. I never knew what it was, or why God would have his people make one. I had no clue just how important that little vest was until I read 1 Samuel.

For the longest time, when I heard the word "ephod" I always thought it was a royal stick, similar to a King's staff. After reading 1 Samuel and seeing David say: "Bring the ephod" (1 Samuel 23:9) right before he asked God a question. It was then I realized that this "ephod" (which I thought was a stick) acted as a heavenly oracle. Then I asked myself...what the heck would a stick do? So I studied further the word "ephod"

It was then I discovered that an "ephod" was a vest that the priests of Israel were to wear, emblazoned with 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Here's what my research of these stones uncovered: "Each of the stones carried the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The high priest wore the breastplate on the ephod. When the people of Israel inquired of G-d concerning an important issue, the high priest asked G-d the question. G-d answered through the twelve stones. For example, when they wanted to know whether they should go out to war, the high priest asked G-d and G-d answered through the breastplate in this way: the relevant letters of the name of the tribe shone and together they formed G-d's answer. It was in this special way that G-d spoke to Israel." (www.templemountfaithful.org/img/b_plate.jpg)

This BLEW my mind...God would answer his people through lighting up stones! Then I got kind of jealous and wished I too could have an ephod. All the answers to my questions could be answered.

It was there when I thought that idea God whispered into my ear: "You don't need an Ephod Marvin. When I descended into your heart my Spirit (the Holy Spirit) became your ephod and if you seek my answers to your questions with a pure heart and earnest desire to know...I will answer through my Spirit."

Not only did Christs death and resurrection make it possible to go to heaven, no it's MUCH more than that! We can communicate with him in ways only Kings and Priests used to be able to! The Holy Spirit is our Ephod! AMEN!


Ever felt like you wanted an ephod?

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Why Twitter?

Twitter is the new thing and has been for months. I've been twittering for about 3-4 months now and think it is a fantastic way of connecting, getting to know someone and maintaining a relationship. Maybe you don't know what Twitter is and I will explain it now, then I will continue on why it's a good thing. Twitter is a micro-blog website, where you can give quick info to your followers, like: what you're doing currently, telling them to check out your new blog post, let them know how you feel about the news going on right now, give insight or thoughts about current events happening right now, update your "status" as you do on facebook etc. I think you get the idea of what twitter is. Now I will discuss WHY twitter is a good thing. For me, I like blogs, so when a blogger I'm following writes a new blog....I know right away. Also, I can let my follwers know when I post a new blog. Twitter is also good because I can see how my friends are doing. An avid Twittering person (A.K.A. Tweet) will update their moods and I can know right away if a friend of mine is going through a hard time, which gives me the option of calling them to see if they need to talk. Another good aspect of Twitter is say fro example I am watching the RNC or the DNC and I want to have a diologue about my current feelings on the discussions, forums or speeches, all I do is twitter a question, or a feeling and a diologue has begun.

Hilary (my wife) thinks that twitter is "Big Brother-ish" because you are constantly updating what you are doing. I agree that it can get that way, seem that way or actually be that way. However, in a relationship-driven culture like ours, people obviously want that...if they didn't they didn't need to twitter it. I try to let my tweets know what I'm doing about hourly, I might just run into someone along the way!

Lastly, the options on twitter are pretty sweet. If I am close with someone, I can have there twitter go directly to my cell phone, so even if I am not on the computer, I can see what they're up too...again they only twitter what they're doing so others know, so it's not all creepy and whatnot. It actually helped me to get a free book from Thomas Nelson, because I follow the CEO of the Christian Book company Michael Hyatt and within seconds of recieving his twitter about getting a free book for a review, I was able to be one of the first 100 people! So, you see twitter is actually pretty sweet and I think everyone should at least TRY it for a time.

Interested? Google: Twitter and it'll all come to ya!

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Truth: Ministry

Anyone who ever said that ministry is easy...probably has NEVER been in ministry. I was asked today by a promising freshman in the Youth Min department named Shin what Youth Ministry is like. I went into a passionate talk with him. To summarize, here's what I said:

{Youth} Ministry is the most enjoyable job as well as the most depressing. It has extreme highs and extreme lows. It can be extremely rewarding and at the same time seem extremely dis-rewarding. It's both the toughest thing to do as well as the best thing to do. After this "philosophical" diatribe I said that if you're NOT called into church ministry, {contextually Youth Ministry} DON'T DO MINISTRY. I also told Shin that one needs to surround himself with people he can be honest with, people that will encourage him and people that he can confess with. I told him that if he were to try ministry by himself, with no support, he would most likely die in ministry. I let him know that it's not all spotlight preaching and teaching. It's not all X-Box 360 and laughs with the kids. That's a piece of it, but not nearly the core of it.

I talked for about 20 minutes to Shin's Intro to Youth Min. class and was pleased when he took my suggestion of talking with me. He is serious about Youth Ministry and wanted to know the hard truth about it. I hope I shed some light to him as well as any of you out there!

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Weightloss Update...

I have now lost 23lbs!!!!! I was 217lbs when I started this process and I am now at 194lbs! I thought I was down to 191lbs, but I am closer to my goal then I ever thought possible just 2 months ago! Praise God...Still got 9lbs to go.

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Ever Wondered...

Has there been a time in your life you just sat down ad wondered what the HECK God was doing? Wondered what he was saying? Wondered what the lessons he was trying to teach you were? Ever wondered why he's slow to answer? Wondered why? Yea...yea...Ever wondered?

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God's in the Temple

I am reading through Ezekiel (albeit slowly). I just finished chapter 8 which describes the gods that were in God's temple. It mentioned the heart of the Israelite leadership as being torn away from God, giving themselves over to abominations and turning their backs on God. Even to the point of worshiping a cults God at the very doors of the temple, worshiping the sun inside the temple and hiding their idolatry inside their home, thinking that there is no Jehovah who will know and they can get away with it.

This chapter made me think hard. We've been going through the 10 Commandments which is all about our heart and the inner workings of who we worship and how we treat others. This chapter made me think hard because I had to ask myself: am I worshiping idols? Is there something in the temple of my heart that repels the essence of my God? Am I doing what the elders did?

I love it when the Old Testament comes alive to me. Because one could say: "this has nothing to do with my life...umm hello, we don't have temples today!" But, the Word of God says: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
(1 Corinthians 3:16). We do have temples today and it is us!

So it was made alive to me, because I felt myself probing my temple to see if there was any of this abominable stuff inside. It popped into reality once I realized the connection!

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