This post is in response to this article.  I’ll give you the rundown, the UMC is spending 20 million dollars over the next 4 years targeting 18-24 year olds.  Part of this campaign is running ads in Times Square.

Although I don’t think we should try to keep up with secular companies dollar for dollar when it comes to media and advertising, it doesn’t mean we should ignore it all-together.  A lot of the comments I’ve read about that article are saying that instead the money should be use to train missionaries, etc.  This isn’t an either/or situation (either we advertise in main stream media OR we train missionaries), it’s a both/and situation.  And that’s what we’re really doing.

The thing that makes me happy is that the people getting upset about this “waste of money” are church people that think the world thinks like they do.  Church people think that lost people are looking for a nice, big building with a fancy preacher and contemporary worship music.  That’s really what church people are looking for.

I read an excerpt from a book by Ed Stetzer called “Lost and Found” that gave the results of extensive research into the young adult demographic and their thoughts on spirituality, the church, and God.  When asked what appeals to them the most about a church:  music, small groups, connection, and teaching, the results were not what most church folks would expect…

63% said they would be more likely to attend if the teaching was understandable and related to their life
58% said a church that cared about them as a person would make them more likely to attend
46% said they would be willing to join a small group to learn more about the Bible and Jesus
31% said they would be more likely to attend if the music sounded familiar to them

31%!!!

And the thing that gets me the most, is that half of those items don’t deal with just what happens on Sunday’s!  It’s about connecting with other people!

Once again the church (in America) is finding itself playing “catch up” when it comes to actually meeting the needs of what people are looking for.  I’m glad the UMC is doing SOMETHING!  But all the advertising in the world won’t make up for a church unwilling to welcome newcomers and unwilling to let go of the “stuff” (ie., traditions) and grab on to what God is doing!

So most all of our friends and family are aware that about a month ago I began looking for a job after things did not work out for us in Rockmart. After a few weeks of hunting and watching God do some AMAZING things to get us by, we have officially taken a student pastor position at Wynnton United Methodist Church in Columbus, GA!

This was a complete God thing as we were looking for where we could minister to students and get plugged in to a community church. After going there to interview and meeting the students (and some parents) we are confident that this is the next stop on our ministry journey.

To answer a few FAQ’s…

• Yes, it’s a full-time job. I will be the Youth Minister so it means a lot of work, prayer, and delegation.
• I’ll be officially starting sometime in mid-March
• Yes, we have a house in Rockmart that needs to be sold. This is the worst time to try to sell a house, but we’re believing that God is going to do something BIG and it will be sold with no problem (Pray with us).
• Crissy will be finishing up her semester at KSU while I get things started in Columbus (job, look for a place to live, etc.). Until then we’ll have to do the long distance thing for a couple of months. Not fun, but we’ll get through it.
• After this semester she will only have 2 more classes to finish her degree in Biology. One online class in the summer and hopefully one class at Columbus State University as a transient student to graduate in December from KSU.
• Yes, it’s a Methodist church. Some people have already looked at me funny (being raised in the Baptist church and all). Bottom line, I’m called to be a minister of the Gospel and there are a lot of students in Columbus that don’t know how to have a relationship with God. There’s work to be done and I’ll be setting up my headquarters at Wynnton UMC to get this task done to the glory of Jesus Christ.

So that’s the big news. Please pray for the house situation and also that we will find favor with the students and parents at the church.

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted to this blog. Mostly for the selfish reasons of not having my personal life become everyone’s business. I know, I know…I could just write about something else, but that just wouldn’t be my style. And it’s hard not to write about the one thing that’s turned your life upside down and inside out.

I recently became a statistic of yet another person looking for a job in the worst economic times since I was born (’82 was not a good year). So I’ve been spending a lot of time on ChurchJobs.net, YouthSpecialties.com/jobs, and various “church ministry” job boards. Putting out resumes, sending emails, and beefing up my web design site http://thelokey.com (now complete with portfolio).

Needless to say I’ve kept fairly busy. On the lazy side, I’ve spent way too much time on the internet, playing SPORE, and watching a lot of Netflix movies. I just got canned, give me a break!

All that to say is that some days I wanna scream and shake my fist at God for allowing this to happen. Some days I’m optimistic and God and I are on the same “something good is going to come of this” page. I never know what kind of day it’s going to be until my feet hit the floor.