Last night we had "Attend & Encourage Another Student Ministry" night.
Yes - you heard me! Yes - we told students we weren't gonna meet and we sent them to other ministries in Katy! And yes, the questions have come in: What? Why? Don't we pay our own student pastor to have ministries for our students? What if they teach something we don't believe? What if they like another ministry better? Yadda, yadda, yadda....
This idea actually came up last summer and our leadership students loved it! So why have a night like this? I can think of several reasons:
- Students need to see the greater body of Christ in action! It's easy to get caught up in your own "student ministry world" and lose sight that there are other ministries that are not only doing a great job but, like iron sharpens iron, we can learn from and collaborate with. I've worked hard for years to see ministries in Katy encourage each other and work together. These ministries care for students and have the Gospel down!
- Students can forget what it is like to be the "visitor." It's easy to get comfortable week after week with the same friends - even ones you bring. But whenever you come into a new place, a new environment, a different structure, it can be awkward and a bit scary. One student who went to the ministry I showed up to last night grabbed me by the sleeve and begged, "Please stick close to me Mr Bill!" I was amazed because only 2 months ago SHE was the visitor to our student ministry! I want students to know this feeling because it can make them more sensitive to students who visit our ministry.
- It can help students take ownership. Want students more involved in your student ministry? Send 'em elsewhere and have them come back with ideas to make yours better. They can, they do and it works!
- It creates faith-building teaching opportunities. What if they attend another ministry where they heard false teaching? Great! I'm not sending them elsewhere every week. The weeks they are in our ministry I guarantee they get Bible truth and that will help them discern truth from error. And even if this happens, you do what every parent does when their son or daughter asks a question. You discuss it together. Doing this helps students take ownership of their own faith which is a must, in my mind, before they leave high school.
- Students usually come back with a greater appreciation of their own student ministry. I heard this from most all of the students after last night. Now - our students know I have no desire for our ministry to become any type of "club", but I do want them to have a place in the body of Christ where they feel a belonging, because, sadly, for some, this is the only place where they feel that.
So, I don't feel threatened a bit by sending my students to visit some of the great ministries in our town. As a called minister of God, I want to give my students the best and work hard to do so. And if our ministries aren't the best (and you have to define best) - then shame on us, let's get them there! But if for whatever reason, a student (and/or their family) finds a better fit where they can worship, love & serve Jesus - I am totally cool with that!
Ok, I said a lot. And for now, I still have a job :)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Palm Sunday Takers...
Here is a pic of some of the students who took the palm challenge...
Pray for them this week...
Palm Sunday Article
Palm Sunday Article
Friday, April 15, 2011
Palm Sunday
“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” – Matthew 21:8-9
This Sunday is Palm Sunday – a pretty historically significant day in the life of Jesus! On the Sunday before his upcoming Friday crucifixion, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. The crowds knew He was coming, they had heard of all He had been doing, so they laid palm branches down as a sign of worship and were screaming “Hosanna” which means save us.
They wanted Jesus to save them from Roman rule but He had something far greater in mind. He had come to restore their relationship with His Dad – a relationship that we too lost because of our sin. Tragically, many of those yelling “save us” on this day, were the same people just a few days later yelling “crucify him.” Why is it that often we seem to be content with lesser, when God wants to give us better?
Jesus was killed in our place, to remove our sin, to restore our relationship with Him and to offer us our place in heaven for eternity with Him and his Father. And He offers this to ALL who simply trust in Him!~ I was twenty one when someone first shared this with me and I believed & received! How about you? Have your ever put your trust & faith in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of eternal life? You can right now, right where you are, by simply telling God what is on your heart: “I’m not perfect, I’ve sinned. You God are perfect and must punish sin. But I believe Jesus took the punishment I deserved and today I am trusting in Him alone to remove my sin and make me right with You!” The moment you believe this you begin a journey with God that starts now and lasts forever!
SO WHAT?!
Since October of 1982 when I put my trust in Jesus, God has put a desire in my heart to both Know Him and Make Him Known. If today is your first day as a new believer, He will give you that desire as well. If you’re already a believer, God wants us share this great news with as many as we can so they too can be brought into this amazing relationship with Jesus!
Here is my challenge for us all: Rather than palm branches reminding us of what Jesus did for us, how about using the palm of our hand?! Think of 3 friends today who don’t know Jesus yet and lets write their names on our hands. Then lets ask the Lord, as we look at those names this week on our hands, to remind us that they are crying out “save us”. And then, lets ask God to give us the opportunity to talk to them about Jesus this week!
What an opportunity, what a worthy cause.
Live THE Cause!
This Sunday is Palm Sunday – a pretty historically significant day in the life of Jesus! On the Sunday before his upcoming Friday crucifixion, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. The crowds knew He was coming, they had heard of all He had been doing, so they laid palm branches down as a sign of worship and were screaming “Hosanna” which means save us.
They wanted Jesus to save them from Roman rule but He had something far greater in mind. He had come to restore their relationship with His Dad – a relationship that we too lost because of our sin. Tragically, many of those yelling “save us” on this day, were the same people just a few days later yelling “crucify him.” Why is it that often we seem to be content with lesser, when God wants to give us better?
Jesus was killed in our place, to remove our sin, to restore our relationship with Him and to offer us our place in heaven for eternity with Him and his Father. And He offers this to ALL who simply trust in Him!~ I was twenty one when someone first shared this with me and I believed & received! How about you? Have your ever put your trust & faith in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of eternal life? You can right now, right where you are, by simply telling God what is on your heart: “I’m not perfect, I’ve sinned. You God are perfect and must punish sin. But I believe Jesus took the punishment I deserved and today I am trusting in Him alone to remove my sin and make me right with You!” The moment you believe this you begin a journey with God that starts now and lasts forever!
SO WHAT?!
Since October of 1982 when I put my trust in Jesus, God has put a desire in my heart to both Know Him and Make Him Known. If today is your first day as a new believer, He will give you that desire as well. If you’re already a believer, God wants us share this great news with as many as we can so they too can be brought into this amazing relationship with Jesus!
Here is my challenge for us all: Rather than palm branches reminding us of what Jesus did for us, how about using the palm of our hand?! Think of 3 friends today who don’t know Jesus yet and lets write their names on our hands. Then lets ask the Lord, as we look at those names this week on our hands, to remind us that they are crying out “save us”. And then, lets ask God to give us the opportunity to talk to them about Jesus this week!
What an opportunity, what a worthy cause.
Live THE Cause!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Unleashed-Unashamed-Unlimited!
Last night was amazing! When you UNleash students to be UNashamed of Jesus, what God can do is UNlimited!
This April is "Outreach" month in our student ministry and so for this first week we invited students to a night of sharing their faith.......with strangers! I do this fairly regularly, so not the first invite, but for whatever reason (prayer I believe), last night was special.
20 of us met at La Centerra in Katy at 6:00pm. I handed out some surveys about God, some tracts & some pencils, we prayed and off we went, nervously in twos & threes to share the LOVE OF GOD with people. I took a young man with me who has been coming the past month to our student ministry who's got some issues with God, and his family. It was great to get repeatedly shot down at first as we tried to talk with people - Ha! But it was also cool because as we walked and talked, I saw him smile for the first time! Later on he joined a group led by one of our student leaders and hung out with them. So here we all were, just walking around and trying to make Jesus known. By the way, this is not my favorite WAY of witnessing - it's risky (I've been escorted out of many a mall), it's scary and it's uncomfortable for everyone. But is A WAY. A lady who was watching DL Moody do evangelism once told him she didn't like the way he was sharing Christ - that he was too blunt and brash. His reply? "I don't like the way I do it either! What do you do?" Sheepishly she replied, "I don't.", to which he said, "I like the way I do it better than the way you don't!" So hey, I'm proud of those who showed up - scared or not!
After an hour or so we met back at our home to share and to pray for those we had spoken too. This was when Cool God Stuff started happening! A hispanic student shared how she didn't want to come but that one of the other students called her and talked her into it. She went around with a group, not saying much, until they met a Gabriella, a Spanish speaking lady. This student was able to share the good news of Jesus with her! And at the end, this lady was able to tell our student that his was just what she needed to hear and thanked her for sharing Jesus with her! A couple of guys spent the entire time just hanging out with Jason, a UPS guy who wanted to discuss his beliefs about Jesus with them. Two other young men got to talk with Will who even asked for prayer about buying a house. There were these three junior high girls - 2 atheists & a baptist (sounds like a joke in the making) who I think ALL of us got to share Jesus with at some point - Ha! One of our students brought an atheist friend with him as he went around sharing Jesus! He also took that student and another, got them food, and shared Jesus with them - kuddos! And the students kept going on & on & on sharing about who they were making Jesus known too!
Then it was time to pray. It was awesome to hear students who were talking to people about Jesus now talking to Jesus about people! And such heartfelt prayers! In the middle of it I heard a voice I didn't recognize, so..... I "cheated and peeked"! One of the students who has been attending the past couple months was praying - for the first time! Thank you Lord! Afterwards I went up to talk with her and before I said anything she hugged me and said "I was sooooo nervous to pray!" Total God moment for her!
All of this to say, when God is doing cool stuff, just get out of the way! We "planned" this outreach month long ago, but maybe GOD intended it before the creation of the world!~ I truly believe eternity was affected last night, both in salvation and in edification. It certainly mattered to Kevin, Will, Reed, Chris, Gabriella, Jason, Tim, the JH gals and everyone who Knows Jesus and Makes Him Known!
Finally, I had to "encourage" students to go home, but before I did, I shared something a pastor friend told me this week. He said he began asking God to BOTHER him. I was like, there is no way I'm praying that! But ever since then God has been bothering ME! (grrrrr) So, since I don't like going alone, I challenged all of us there to take the 48 hour challenge of sharing Jesus with someone who needs Him! AND that God would bother us until we do! How about You? I pray God bothers you & I with the things that bother HIM!
Philemon 6
This April is "Outreach" month in our student ministry and so for this first week we invited students to a night of sharing their faith.......with strangers! I do this fairly regularly, so not the first invite, but for whatever reason (prayer I believe), last night was special.
20 of us met at La Centerra in Katy at 6:00pm. I handed out some surveys about God, some tracts & some pencils, we prayed and off we went, nervously in twos & threes to share the LOVE OF GOD with people. I took a young man with me who has been coming the past month to our student ministry who's got some issues with God, and his family. It was great to get repeatedly shot down at first as we tried to talk with people - Ha! But it was also cool because as we walked and talked, I saw him smile for the first time! Later on he joined a group led by one of our student leaders and hung out with them. So here we all were, just walking around and trying to make Jesus known. By the way, this is not my favorite WAY of witnessing - it's risky (I've been escorted out of many a mall), it's scary and it's uncomfortable for everyone. But is A WAY. A lady who was watching DL Moody do evangelism once told him she didn't like the way he was sharing Christ - that he was too blunt and brash. His reply? "I don't like the way I do it either! What do you do?" Sheepishly she replied, "I don't.", to which he said, "I like the way I do it better than the way you don't!" So hey, I'm proud of those who showed up - scared or not!
After an hour or so we met back at our home to share and to pray for those we had spoken too. This was when Cool God Stuff started happening! A hispanic student shared how she didn't want to come but that one of the other students called her and talked her into it. She went around with a group, not saying much, until they met a Gabriella, a Spanish speaking lady. This student was able to share the good news of Jesus with her! And at the end, this lady was able to tell our student that his was just what she needed to hear and thanked her for sharing Jesus with her! A couple of guys spent the entire time just hanging out with Jason, a UPS guy who wanted to discuss his beliefs about Jesus with them. Two other young men got to talk with Will who even asked for prayer about buying a house. There were these three junior high girls - 2 atheists & a baptist (sounds like a joke in the making) who I think ALL of us got to share Jesus with at some point - Ha! One of our students brought an atheist friend with him as he went around sharing Jesus! He also took that student and another, got them food, and shared Jesus with them - kuddos! And the students kept going on & on & on sharing about who they were making Jesus known too!
Then it was time to pray. It was awesome to hear students who were talking to people about Jesus now talking to Jesus about people! And such heartfelt prayers! In the middle of it I heard a voice I didn't recognize, so..... I "cheated and peeked"! One of the students who has been attending the past couple months was praying - for the first time! Thank you Lord! Afterwards I went up to talk with her and before I said anything she hugged me and said "I was sooooo nervous to pray!" Total God moment for her!
All of this to say, when God is doing cool stuff, just get out of the way! We "planned" this outreach month long ago, but maybe GOD intended it before the creation of the world!~ I truly believe eternity was affected last night, both in salvation and in edification. It certainly mattered to Kevin, Will, Reed, Chris, Gabriella, Jason, Tim, the JH gals and everyone who Knows Jesus and Makes Him Known!
Finally, I had to "encourage" students to go home, but before I did, I shared something a pastor friend told me this week. He said he began asking God to BOTHER him. I was like, there is no way I'm praying that! But ever since then God has been bothering ME! (grrrrr) So, since I don't like going alone, I challenged all of us there to take the 48 hour challenge of sharing Jesus with someone who needs Him! AND that God would bother us until we do! How about You? I pray God bothers you & I with the things that bother HIM!
Philemon 6
Thursday, March 31, 2011
This is the Surgery Day the Lord Has Made...
I'm gonna rejoice and be glad in it!
Ok, I'm about to head to foot surgery and this verse is my devo for the day...
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Maybe God has something BIGGER in my than just my surgery?!~
We'll see.....
#livethecause
Ok, I'm about to head to foot surgery and this verse is my devo for the day...
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Maybe God has something BIGGER in my than just my surgery?!~
We'll see.....
#livethecause
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Mr Bill's Having Surgery - Ohhhh Noooooo!
Hey Gang -
I'd appreciate your prayers as I am having a "bunionectomy" Thursday morning at 6:30am.
(Memorial Herman Surgical Center on Kingsland in Katy)
Not too detailed, but here's the scoop:
They've got to cut off a chuck of bone growth next to my toe and put a screw in. (guess I'm screwed at airport security). It's outpatient surgery, takes about an hour and a half, then I'm horizontal for two days, then in a boot thingy for 10 days, and not suppose to be able to do anything rigorous for 6-8 weeks. (they've got to be kidding) This will be the first time since arriving in Katy in 1990 that I will have to sit still this long and it may kill me!~
Here's my TOP 5 PRAYER REQUESTS:
- For me to see beyond the surgery. Maybe God grew me a bunion so I could be a witness to those working on me.......just sayin'
- That God would move in Dr Jacobs hands (the surgeon) to do exactly what needs to be done.
- That the recovery would be swift and I'd be back to abnormal as soon as possible :)
- For Jean as she deals with an inactive husband and all the extra work around our home
- For finances to pay for this thing
Thanks tons - I appreciate it!
Hizkid...
I'd appreciate your prayers as I am having a "bunionectomy" Thursday morning at 6:30am.
(Memorial Herman Surgical Center on Kingsland in Katy)
Not too detailed, but here's the scoop:
They've got to cut off a chuck of bone growth next to my toe and put a screw in. (guess I'm screwed at airport security). It's outpatient surgery, takes about an hour and a half, then I'm horizontal for two days, then in a boot thingy for 10 days, and not suppose to be able to do anything rigorous for 6-8 weeks. (they've got to be kidding) This will be the first time since arriving in Katy in 1990 that I will have to sit still this long and it may kill me!~
Here's my TOP 5 PRAYER REQUESTS:
- For me to see beyond the surgery. Maybe God grew me a bunion so I could be a witness to those working on me.......just sayin'
- That God would move in Dr Jacobs hands (the surgeon) to do exactly what needs to be done.
- That the recovery would be swift and I'd be back to abnormal as soon as possible :)
- For Jean as she deals with an inactive husband and all the extra work around our home
- For finances to pay for this thing
Thanks tons - I appreciate it!
Hizkid...
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
SYMC - Monday Threading...
This morning's final session was an emotional one. Rick Lawrence led a beautiful "threading" lesson where we took the pieces of yarn that we all cut the previous day and tied them back together - illustrating how God mends our brokenness. Then each of us tied our knotted yarns with the people next to us until everyone in the entire place was "connected." Then we passed them all forward and there was this HUGE ball of threaded together yarn. God has a way of turning our little things (just my yarn) into big things. What a great reminder that JESUS is the thread that binds us all together amidst even our brokenness - wow!
Then Tommy, one of the skit guys grabbed us with a heart wrenching skit as well on influence.
Finally, Doug Fields closed us out. He said, "When you go to camp, the campers never want it to end and the leaders can't wait for it to end." Yet, as leader for this "camp", he didn't want it to end. He spoke from 1 Kings 19 where there is all this loud stuff happening & how God wasn't in it, but then there was a whisper and God WAS in that! You see, the problem with leaving is the danger of going back to the busy "noise" that drowns out the still small voice of God! God's Spirit has threaded a message this weekend and the danger is to go back to being a Martha! Then, the artwork that had been formed all weekend long began to spin around. Doug then said, "Behind the tapestry of our threaded lives is this one thing......and there it was a Threaded JESUS! Very impactful!
So as I look back on this amazing weekend, here is what I come away with:
- I am SO glad to be connected with my AWESOME God and so many AMAZING friends!
- I Don't need a prayer strategy, prayer IS the strategy!
- Keep it all about JESUS - culture may have a bigger budget, but we have a bigger Producer!
- It's the little things that God has a way of making big things!
Lord, today I'm back in Katy, the place You've called me to be me in. Thanks for this incredible and undeserving privilege. Please help me to Know Jesus and Make Him Known - Faithfully, Passionately, Sacrificially. And, without allowing life's noise to drown out His still small voice, help me to daily be a part of small things!
SYMC is a Small Thing, that helps us reconnect with the Big Thing, thru Whom we can do All Things! Cool God Stuph!!!
Then Tommy, one of the skit guys grabbed us with a heart wrenching skit as well on influence.
Finally, Doug Fields closed us out. He said, "When you go to camp, the campers never want it to end and the leaders can't wait for it to end." Yet, as leader for this "camp", he didn't want it to end. He spoke from 1 Kings 19 where there is all this loud stuff happening & how God wasn't in it, but then there was a whisper and God WAS in that! You see, the problem with leaving is the danger of going back to the busy "noise" that drowns out the still small voice of God! God's Spirit has threaded a message this weekend and the danger is to go back to being a Martha! Then, the artwork that had been formed all weekend long began to spin around. Doug then said, "Behind the tapestry of our threaded lives is this one thing......and there it was a Threaded JESUS! Very impactful!
So as I look back on this amazing weekend, here is what I come away with:
- I am SO glad to be connected with my AWESOME God and so many AMAZING friends!
- I Don't need a prayer strategy, prayer IS the strategy!
- Keep it all about JESUS - culture may have a bigger budget, but we have a bigger Producer!
- It's the little things that God has a way of making big things!
Lord, today I'm back in Katy, the place You've called me to be me in. Thanks for this incredible and undeserving privilege. Please help me to Know Jesus and Make Him Known - Faithfully, Passionately, Sacrificially. And, without allowing life's noise to drown out His still small voice, help me to daily be a part of small things!
SYMC is a Small Thing, that helps us reconnect with the Big Thing, thru Whom we can do All Things! Cool God Stuph!!!
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