Archive for category church
Unfortunately, Not the Last
This past Sunday night, I came home to an empty apartment after a busy night putting on a concert at FOCUS. My wife called in a panic and told me that her mother passed away. It was a shock to everyone.
I won’t go into the details because most are personal, but I want to share my own thoughts about my involvement in the funeral service (and life/death).
This was my first time preaching at a funeral. After being asked, I became extremely pre-occupied with what I was going to say that could comfort the family (and myself). It got to the point that more than anything I didn’t know if I could keep from breaking down in the middle of the funeral. (not what the family needs to see from the minister)
Once I finally settled on the message I prayed through thoroughly, I was ready to go. Until I got in the chapel and sat down. It was at that moment I felt completely unprepared, unqualified, and WAY over my head. So I prayed…HARD. Read the rest of this entry »
Timeline
Posted by thelokey in church, encouragement, new job, spiritual warfare, work on October 6th, 2008
Here’s the last 24 hours of my life…
10:30PM – Got home from helping Crissy’s sister move a washer and dryer into her apartment and took a Tylenol PM so I could get to sleep because I had to be up early to start MY FIRST DAY at a new church.
11:30PM – Noticed a small, but sharp pain underneath my left shoulder blade. I thought, “That’s weird, I took a pain killer earlier when I wasn’t even in pain.” Went to sleep.
4:30AM – Woke up with EXCRUCIATING pain in my left shoulder. It hurt so bad I was trying not to scream and I couldn’t take a deep breath. Not being able to breathe made me panic, making it harder for me to breathe (you get the routine). Took 2 Aleve to see if the pain would go away. Didn’t even take the edge off!
5:15AM – 7:00AM – Show up to Kennestone ER to find out what’s going on. After getting some IV fluids, they decide to take a chest X-Ray to rule out any lung problems due to the shortness of breath. After the chest X-Ray I was given a muscle relaxer and Vicodin for the pain. Slept for a couple of hours off and on while they waited for blood work to come back. The doctor concluded that I have a muscle spasm in my back in one of the muscles of the chest wall. Which explains why I can’t breathe deeply.
8:00AM – 9:45AM – Came home, showered, got dressed and drove to Rockmart (about 35 minutes away) to make it to the church (where I was supposed to be at 7:30AM). We got there right at 10:30 while the pastor was still preaching. About 10 minutes after arriving he calls me on stage to indroduce myself and share my vision for the student ministry.
11:00AM – Second service, same speech.
1:00PM – Went to lunch with Crissy’s parents (they were in town).
2:30PM – Took her parents to see the house we’re trying to buy.
4:00PM – Went to Wal-mart to get my prescription filled and kill some time before the Youth Service.
6:00PM – Got to the youth space and waited for the students to show up.
6:30PM-8:30PM – Hung out with some of the students, shared more of my background, and answered questions from them.
9:00PM – Finally took some pain meds, and decided to write this blog post.
Bottom line…Satan’s attacking, God is good, and pain meds are WONDERFUL. Good night.
Transitioning
So in the last 7 days I have officially resigned from my position at Lost Mountain Baptist Church to start as the Student Pastor at Crossview Community Church in Rockmart, GA. Needless to say it is a very exciting, stressful time for me and my wife.
Even as I’m typing this entry I am at my office at Lost Mountain working on what will most likely be my last video for this church. There’s a whole long list of things I have to train other people how to do before I leave so there won’t be “holes” left when I’m not here. It sounds a little arrogant to say, but I’m amazed at all the things I’ve been doing both in and out of the realm of the student ministry. I guess it just goes to show my inability to say “no”.
The church we’re moving to is a great place! It’s unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of before. It’s the kind of place I hear about other people being involved in and think to myself, “Man! I wish I could do something like that!” Well, we are.
This will be the first time Crossview has had a Youth Pastor in their short, two year existence. There’s no precedent, no traditions, no “old guard”. It’s brand new, starting from scratch youth ministry. I’m so terrified of messing it up it hurts my brain to think about it. But from what every person I respect in Youth ministry tells me, if you think you’re prepared to do it, you’re wrong and won’t rely on God.
So, here’s the start of the next great adventure…God, if You don’t come through, we’re going to flop! It’s a good place to be!
The Over-Celebration of Christmas
I purposely waited until after Christmas to post this in hopes that with Christmas past us, I wouldn’t receive hate comments about my “lack of Christmas spirit”.
No, I’m not talking about the over-commercialization of Christmas, I’m saying that Christmas itself, from a spiritual perspective is over-celebrated.
Let me first say that Christmas is great. It is a wonderful time to remember one of the most awesome gifts God gave to man, His Son Jesus Christ.
Let me also say that given the fact the Gospel writers took so much time writing about the supernatural events surrounding Christ’s birth, it’s obviously an important part of the story of Christ.
My problem isn’t with Christmas, it’s with how much we celebrate it compared to another holiday, Easter. We as Christians give very little recognition to Easter (when compared to Christmas). Yes, we do “Passion Plays”, we watch “The Passion of the Christ”, we have a big Easter service; but what do all of those things normally focus on? The crucifixion.
Now, let me say that the crucifixion is EXTREMELY important, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. But in the case of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, without the resurrection we have a dead guy that claimed he was God. It is by Christ defeating death and sin that we can have victory over it through His power that is at work in us today.
I’m sure most Christians would agree with the importance of Easter, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. My big question is “If all of these things are so important, how should we celebrate them?” We certainly don’t have many “Easter Carols”, Wal-mart won’t dedicate an entire wing of their stores to plastic “Resurrection Scenes”, and stores won’t have massive crowds of people looking for the perfect Easter present.
So, what do we do?