P-Mike

Another Great Year!!!!!

2009-06-08T11:12:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys! What a great year we have had. With the explosion of the Youth Alive Club, the hectic weeks of preparation for Seven, the awesome 2 days of the Seven Project, students being saved, God's presence pouring out all over our services, not to mention you guys, who have worked so hard to make Defy the best youth ministry anywhere. Why do i know this? Simply because of your heart; to reach others, to grow in your walk, to worship God, and to find the calling He has put on your life.

This Summer should also be another incredible time together. As we transition some students who have graduated and diligently try to keep them involved in ministry around here, my challenge is to those of you who haven't stepped into your ministry slot yet. GOD IS CALLING YOU TODAY! As God moves people on and launches them into other areas of service, He prepares those students who are "in the wings," ready to bloom them into great leaders and influencers. My heart today is that you would search your own heart and life, finding out exactly what God wants you to do and exactly where He wants to be involved.

During this summer period, if you want to talk about your place, feel free to give me a call or text, and we cna get together for lunch, ice cream, games, whatever you want and talk about your dreams, because that is exactly why I am here, to make sure that your dreams come true, and that no one robs them out from under you.

My job is to make sure that you find God's plan for your life!

Signing off, a youth pastor who desperately wants to reach your friends, and who anxiously wants to put you right in the middle of it,

p-mike

Your Challenge

2009-04-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Paul talks alot about the sin nature that we are born into because of Adam's sin. (See Ephesians 2:1-5, Romans7 and 8, Galatians 5). This is because Paul battled it everyday just like we do, yet we found through God how to handle it, right? At the heart of our being, we are constantly fighting against that "nature," a nature which tells us certain things are ok, it tells us that we can do some things and repent later, it tells us that we won't get caught. The enemy is constantly trying to get us to fail, repeatedly throwing things into our lives as a temptation. God however, is not always sitting there telling us what to do in order to make it right; He challenges us to try, we make mistakes, but He helps us to learn from them. Really, the enemy today is telling us exactly what the serpent told Eve in the garden of Eden, that we can become like God; that we can govern our own life and make our own rules for what is right and what is wrong.

In many ways, everyday, we do just that. We choose what things are ok for our lives; we choose music, movies, television, internet sights, friends, language, etc. We justify things as ok for us, knowing that we are "Christians" and that we have eternal salvation through Christ. "We still get to heaven because we accepted Jesus. Surely God won't punish us that much for the things we did." By choosing those things, we are putting ourselves into a situation that is most easily defined by the word "complacent." Complacent by definition means pleased with ones situation, unbothered or untroubled, often unaware of some potential danger or defect.

Just ponder that definition for a moment............................... When I read that definition myself, knowing it would easily make my point anyways, it broke my heart about my own life. I saw the reality of those words actually written down and thought: Have we gotten so complacent as to allow things into our lives; that we are so comfortable, unaware that danger could be looming just around the corner.

Don't get complacent confused with content. There is a difference. Content means satisfied with what one has, not wanting more or anything else.

As i see it, each week I apparently hear students who want more of God, striving to seek Him more in worship, in study of the Word, in prayer, you get the point. If you didn't want to grow anymore as a Christian and felt that you were at a point where God was completely happy with your life, then you would be content. However, pride set aside, each of us should realize that we are nowhere near where God wants us to be, so we can't be content with our walk. If you are content, you can stop reading this now, because you have no need to grow anymore. You are perfectly happy with where you are at with God. However, if you feel that you want more, read on.

Warning: what you are about to read will challenge your faith. It will stretch some of you to a point you have never reached before, and it will cause you to make some very tough choices about your life.

I left Sunday School yesterday thinking to myself, some of these students call themselves Christians, and I believe that you are, but the point I want to make to you is simply this: sometimes you still don't get it. It's in one ear and out the other. One of your own make a simple plea as to what a Christian's life should look like. The innocence it should have, the ability to shun the world and be strong for God, the strength to look the other way when something "cool" or "wickedly awesome" comes along.

Your tough choices: you must choose Christ if you want your friends to choose Christ. If you want them to experience God for themselves, then you must prove that you are different and that it's worth it to be different. Some of you claim to be different, but iPods, jokes, tv shows, friends, movies, music, and other things would say just the opposite.

I am done talking. I guess just ask God what He really wants from you. Wait, we already know what that is. The better question is this: ask yourself where you want to be with God, and then line yourself up to fit it.

Trust me when i say this: it is worth it to be different.

Have a great day.

P-Mike

What could you do?

2009-04-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Our lives are filled with mountains and valleys. At times we feel like we can fly, and other times we feel like we don't even want to get out of bed.

Even more than that, our lives are really split into many different "categories." We have our personal life, our church life, our family life, our work life, our school life, and our friends life. There is definitely a separation there, but the challenge is "prioritizing" those lives. Here are some helpful thoughts for putting your life into order.

#1- our walk with God should always be number one. It is our faith in Him, our relationship with Jesus, and our growth through love of others and faith. This is the only one of the lives with "eternal" implications; therefore it needs to be number one for that reason. Your earthly life will end, and all you will have left is how you personally lived for God. (Not how your parents, friends, or youth group lived, but how you lived. Also: not "what" you did, but how you lived.)

#2- Family life really should fit here. Those are the people we live with who we will be in direct contact with for our entire earthly lives. They can help us with #1, as well as give us purpose outside of our faith (or in conjunction with our faith). Keeping family relationships strong will only make you a better person in the long run.

#3- At this point in many of your lives, either school or church should fall here. Church is not deemed as necessary to everyone, but it is very important if your list has #1 truly at #1. School is also very important because it is the starting line for future successes in life. I have learned that there are certain non-negotiables in life, and the rest of the things are up for discussion. Don't get me wrong, church is important, but church "work" can not and should not dominate your life outside of God and your family. Churchy people call it "being so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good."

#4- Friends, work, relationships, fun and other stuff can fall here. So often as teenagers, we allow something here to get too high up on our list, causing unbalance and problems in our lives. These are all things that need to be done with balance and knowledge. Spend time with good influences, like-friends, and acceptable fun stuff but don't let it dominate your life. Good balance leads to good living, trust me.

Consider re-prioritizing your life so that you can have good balance. God will reward your hard work.

A New Day???????

2009-04-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

So I have now found that almost 7 people read this blog. If you are one of the people reading it who still haven't let me know through email, text, or voice, please let me know.

Warning! What you are about to read is P-Mike getting some things off of his chest. He is not targeting anyone, so don't take it personally. Just read it, and find out where you can get better.....

Some days I feel so good about myself, my family, ministry, and all that good stuff. And then there are other days when I feel like everything I am doing is for nothing. Any way that i spin it, somebody always gets egg all over their face. last night, it was bo (lol), but normally it is my face. (BTW, that means that you try really hard to something, and you get nothing out of it; or you look like the foolish one.) If anyone ever wanted to know, youth ministry is by far the hardest ministry in the church today. There is no recognition, definitely last place on the importance scale, long crazy hours, many students who seem to not care about anything, and in the end i always ask myself, is anything that we actually do even working or even worth it.

Why does youth ministry have to be last? It's because students don't bring in money to the church, they don't come on Sundays, they don't seem to care about anything else that is going on, their music is too loud, they don't worship enough, they don't talk to old people, they have holes in their pants, they waste the money they do get, they disrespect their parents, and then there are the kids who can't sit still in a service for even 5 minutes. Why can't some kids just grow up and stop being so stinkin immature......

A day like today would mean a lot normally; coming off of a great night of fun and relaxation; no pressure from parents to transform their kids lives, or to have permission slips ready even if we just walk over to the park. No pressure from students to have a worship and prayer night, game night, small group night, fun message night, fusion stuff, speed the light, crazy games, a lock-in every other day, allow students to speak and preach, sing Break Free, Solution, and NEW stuff, special other things, recognize every birthday, all wrapped up into one night, because apparantly if we were able to fit all of that into 1.5 hours, then everyone would be happy, or would they? I think not, but thanks for trying....

Then there are kids who don't care what we do, as long as they get a few hours away from home, away from their life, so they can come and make their lives better? It's those kids who really need what we are doing, yet those kids are too stubborn and prideful to even consider living for God whole-heartedly. Well, their parents aren't doing it, so why should they. Somebody made them mad to day, so let's take it out on God. "No God, i am not going to worship you tonight because I am mad at my friend, who didn't talk to me for 20 minutes today, and on top of that my favorite American Idol contestant got voted, and that's more imporant than you. No God, i am not going to listen to your message because I have all the answers myself. That is why I am depressed, addicted, lonely, lost, confused, spiritually dead, and emotionally somewhere around basketcase. No God, I am not going to sacrifice for missions or the lost because if I don't get more useless stuff like games, clothes, food, or movies, then I won't be the "coolest" kid at school. I would just be average then. On top of that God, how come when I prayed for those things last month for 2 minutes you didn't give them to me. I really wanted them and I am mad at you for not giving them to me. I guess you are not real. I am going to tell everyone now that you aren't real."

Isn't it amazing that Jesus is sometimes like Santa; it's all good until you ask for a Pony for Christmas and get an X-Box. Then we stop believing in Santa, just like that. Or maybe for some it was because someone else told them that Santa wasn't real. It's crazy how it seems to be that easy for some to write off God, like He is some fat guy with elves making toys just so YOU can be happy. Last time i checked God wasn't always in the "make you happy" business. Sometimes, it's the "make you work for it" business.

What's the point here? Honestly i could write a book on this stuff. You students have to know that your youth pastor is not perfect. He never claims to be. He tries really hard at his job, and yet somehow like a coach, he can't play the game for you. If all is going well, then the players get lots of credit for listening to the coach and learning how to do things. however, when things aren't going so well, the blame is laid completely on the coach for not changing the way that the players live and play (insert Billy Gillispie).

I know that I have disappointed some of you in the past. I am probably disappointing some of you right now. Please accept my apology and let's get on with life. But please understand that if your walk with God is based on me or Defy Youth, then you have already missed the point. If you can't live for God in the situation you're in right now, YOU WILL NEVER be able to live for God when you don't have people around you that are trying to help you out. You're beginning to see now why so many students give up on God and church after high school, right???

my challenge to you this week is simply this: TRY HARDER! GROW UP! FOLLOW GOD! SEE THE BIG PICTURE!

One day, i guess i will look back on this as my chance to get some things off of my chest, because it certainly doesn't feel good where it's sitting right now. How do you feel about this? Let me know....

Random thoughts of thinking?

2009-03-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

"Does anyone read this?" is the question that is flowing through my head as I write this week, thinking "I only have 4 followers." I know I send this out in email form as well, but it comes to reason that if only 4 people have signed up to "read" this, then maybe I need to rethink the whole blog thing. Or, maybe my thoughts actually mean something to those who read it. If so, I guess let me know so I can continue to write this for you, "the faithful four." If you haven't yet read this but are reading for the first or maybe second time, welcome inside my head. Come on in and have a seat, there is limited room to move as usual. Those who know me well know that there is constant thinking going on, even to the point of maybe overthinking. I really don't have any more room to cram anything else in, but I know that there are countless things waiting in line somewhere around my eardrum, longing to find their place into my thinking. Why do I know this is true? That's because everyday, I evaluate where I am at, and where I want to be. I certainly have not attained the highest level, like Paul said in Philippians, but I am continually growing and learning; ready to allow the Spirit to stretch me to an unimaginable state. So here is what I have come up with; it's time to make room for something different, something new. Here is my "thought" of the day. I know that the Bible itself is still very relevant today, but does preaching actually still work. Should our growing in the faith be in some other form; more relational, more musical, more influential? If it's true that Sunday School, Bus Ministry, and Revivals no longer pull their weight, does that mean that we need to rethink preaching in general; not the preacher, but the preaching. I understand that it is very scriptural that we gather as a church to meet and build eachother up, but are people still making the same "emotional" life choices at altars today as they were 40 years ago? I would say no. People don't have the same "spiritual" tune (ear would fit here too) that they used to have; therefore those emotional altar choices aren't happeneing nearly as frequently. Don't get me wrong, preaching is still very effective in discipling the church-body and for influencing Christians to make re-commitments and life choices; i just don't think it really works for "evangelism" anymore. So comes the next question, and the next challenge for me personally and for you as students. I am setting a goal today to make my ministry much less "service-oriented" and much more "relationship-oriented." If i ever expect to win the lost students of Scott County, it is going to be through friendship and influence, and not through "preaching conviction." Your challenge this week is not only to help me by influencing your friends, but also to keep this life-changing though in front of me. Challenge me to keep up my end of the deal and understand that making students feel special is so much more important than writing the "perfect" message to un-saved students who aren't responding anyways. I want your help! I need your help! As long as this was, I feel like it was worth every word. Now Respond!!!!!!!

Albums of Choice?

2009-03-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Since i haven't really been feeling the whole blog thing this week, mostly because you heard my heart on Sunday night (those of you who were there), i wanted to present to you a list of Albums that have shaped who i am today. They are (in no particular order, maybe):

DC Talk- Jesus Freak
DC Talk- Supernatural
Newsboys- Take me to You Leader
Newsboys- Going Public
The Waiting- Self-Titled
Hillsong United- United We Stand
Hillsong United- All of the Above
Third Day- Self-Titled
All Star United- Self-Titled
Skillet- Ardent Worship
Skillet- Comatose
Hawk Nelson- Smile
Grits- The Art of Translation
Audio Adrenaline- Bloom
Fred Hammond- Speak Those Things
Rich Mullins- Songs
Switchfoot- The Legend of Chin
Jeremy Camp- Stay
Jason Upton- Faith
Leeland- Opposite Way
OC Supertones- Supertones Strike Back
Brooklyn Tabernacle- High and Lifted Up
Casting Crowns- Self-Titled
Jars of Clay- Self-Titled

This list is nowhere near exhaustive. There are even some that were hard to admit. Challenge: make your list and send it back to me.

Cardboard Cut-Out

2009-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

Whenever i go into the mall, i see these stores that sell cardbaord cut-outs of famous people, like Darth Vader, Lebron James, Frodo, Hannah Montana, etc. They are so life-like. Livi has one such Hannah Montana one in here room, and almost everytime i walk in there, it freaks the living daylight out of me because it is standing there in the corner staring at me. Do i know that it's fake? Of course i do. But every time it still seems to catch me by surprise. I feel like I need to put a sign on Livi's door that says

"Now watch out Mike, because if you don't, that Hannah Montana cut-out is going to scare you again. It's up to you though, ignore this sign and you can get freaked out again, but whatever."

One time, Crissy even brought it downstairs for Livi to see during the day. Guess what, bad idea. That was a completely new scare factor. I mean, come on. The thing is like over 5 ft. tall and looks pretty real. I guess the truth is; it's not real. It's fake. It's just a shell of the real person. It's like the outside appears to be Hannah, but we all know it's not really her. It's just a copy, a duplicate, a phony, make believe, whatever you wanna call it.

I knew a student who "lived" for Christ. Sing, worship, and give to youth and Speed the Light. I was determined in my heart that it was real. Every time I saw them, i felt a love for their walk with Christ because it seemed so genuine. I thought to myself, "youth ministry is important. Somebody is getting it. All of the students who fall off the earth could never change the way that this students is in tune with Christ." At least, they had me fooled. They would play the church game so well.

Then i came to this crazy reality. When students are young, they are mightily influenced by their parents. If their parents come to church, they do; if their parents don't come, then they don't. Through kids church and most of youth group, those kids are unable to make their own choices because they have no power to get anywhere else except through the help of others. Then comes the day of "driving." You would think that driving privileges would bring students closer to God. I mean they get their own rides. They can go to all of the events now. They can be at church whenever the doors are open. But what truly happens is that they don't. They go wherever they want to. The sad thing is; parents know and don't do anything about it.

You may ask yourself whatever happened to the student who worshiped gave, and attended all the events? I will tell you; it was called playing a game. They think to themselves, "Hey if i have to be at church, i might as well get involved in something while i am here, you know in order to pass the time." Once they have the choice to attend, they decide that the "fake" walk with Christ they had wasn't good enough for them anymore. They needed to try something else. I can see the numbers right now guys. If you look in the youth group, at least 4 students you think will never walk away from Christ, will.

My challenge to you this week is this: if you think you've got it right, double check. If you know you don't got it right, it's about time to start finding out who God really is, because one day you will get to make the choice.

I am praying to day that you make the right one.

A Legacy?

2009-02-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

When will all of the "blah" stop? It seems to me so often that the world goes so fast that we never get a chance to do something meaningful. I mean, with the media outlets so widespread, something that was news yesterday is forgotten today. This means that we can no longer do "one" thing in our life and consider that to be a remarkable achievement. Many os uf have done amazing things, but those things are in the past. We need to be constantly living a remarkable life; someone who is daily leaving their legacy....

So often in the church we try to rest on those "in the past" or "back in the day" moments that always impact others, but what are we doing today. Bring in "LEGACY." The definition for legacy is something that is handed down from one generation to the next. My own definition would be: something that is "worth" handing down. When i die, i want to have done so many great things through God that somebody writes a book about me; not so i can be famous, but so that people could see the faith of a servant and the grace of our God. My legacy needs to be one that people could learn from; something that they could aspire to be.

What is your legacy? Are you a bleep on the radar, or are you making a splash in this world? Do people outside of Georgetown or your family know that you even exist? I am not talking about titles or positions. I am talking about those times when you impacted a life and it changed; when you inspired someone to be a better person simply because you were and you made it desirable.

This week: start thinking about your life. What would your legacy be if you died today? Would someone write a book about you? Think on this...Wednesday night we will probably talk on this topic.

Let it Snow?

2009-02-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

I have always been a summer guy. I love to wear shorts and flip-flops. I love to play outside. I love summer camp. I have never liked the idea of bundling up and plowing around through ice and snow. It's cold, wet and uncomfortable. The only time I enjoy snow is if I never have to go out in it, and I can just watch it from a window. I guess that's how a lot of us feel about evangelism too. It is by far the most uncomfortable part of our Christian walk. We would rather be the summer people who worship and fellowship together all the time. We would rather see the evangelism take place through other people (sitting inside and watching it through a window) and hopefully they could do good by itself. All that changed the other day. I woke up and came over to the church to start salting the lot and shoveling. At the beginning i was not looking forward to doing it. It was too much work and there were better things i could have done. After i got rolling though, i realized it wasn't that hard, and that i kind of enjoyed the work. Each stretch of ice was a new challenge, and although some of it didn't come up as easy as the rest, i got a little help from the "Son" shine and i was able to get most of it off the lot, with some help of course.

I guess now i see the snow from a different angle. Although it appears to be hard work and uncomfortable, in the end there is reward from the hard work. I challenge you guys out there today, don't be a window-shopper and allow others to get their hands dirty. Try it once, reach out to your friends, and you might find that you actually like it and enjoy the challenge. plus, you'll get that added help from the "Son" shine.

Have a great week!

Getting Back to Basics

2009-01-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

As a youth pastor, you guys know that i am always trying to come up with the best, coolest, most off the wall ideas in order to make Christianity appeal to you and your friends. Sometimes i feel like i have done a great job with that; other times i feel like i haven't done so well. I think the main reason for that is because God plants an idea in my heart and I run with it, but I don't always finish the race with it.

I am proposing a new idea: let's get back to the basics. With many important and amazing things coming up, we need to be ready with the things that are going to grow this youth ministry; not numerically, but spiritually. That being said, we need to get back to the simple things; prayer, discipleship, bible study, power of the holy spirit, worship, etc. If we don't prepare ourselves for the harvest, God is going to plant that harvest somewhere it is going to grow. We wanthat place to be Defy.

We are going to bring back an emphasis on pre-service prayer, weekly discipleship, worship (maybe even just acoustic or with a CD some weeks), asking for the power of the HS, and working to get ready for what God wants to do, not what we think is best.

Seven could be a great turning point in the future of our ministry, but we have to be ready to take the pass when God sends it our way.

Decisions????

2009-01-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

Just writing another Blog; could it be possible that once i start writing, the thoughts will just randomly come to my head and then i will fill the empty pages? Let's try it on for size today!

The older that I get, the more I look back to what "could have been" in my life. I see all the moments where I could have played sports, or dated a certain girl, or went to a certain college, or numerous other things. In my defense, I see some of those moments as the direct "hand of God" protecting me from trouble or from some other path I may have chosen to take. In reality, I guess it was just making the right decisions when I needed to make them.

There are even times in my life that I look back and say "What was I thinking when that happened?" or even "How come that situation happened the way it did?" I want to challenge you guys this week with the following idea: nothing that you do in your life can be taken back; it is stuck that way for eternity. Decisions you make, either good or bad, will always be those decisions, and you will always have to live with those decisions. At the same time, all of those decisions will directly affect who you are in the future. Had i chosen another college, i would have never met Crissy and probably would not be in Georgetown right now. Or had I chose not to listen to God's voice in my life (it happens more than you would know), I would not be a youth pastor today. I would probably be an accountant or something in sports. It's super-important to pray and think about every decision you make, even if it seems small on your scale.

Just remember today that just because no one else can see your decisions, God can see them, and you have to live with them.

Your Thoughts Are Higher......

2008-12-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

There are many times when I "ponder" what is going on in the world. It always seems to me like the world is getting more and more evil, with all of the talk of homosexuality, war, economic recession, adultery, violence, and more. The earth is definitely on the downward spiral. That being said, Christians aren't getting more and more "holy." We seem to not be getting more evil, we are just "more of the same." When we struggle in life, we just seem to plow through and try to handle it ourselves; we also manage to squeeze through things and think "if my like is going alright, then i guess i am alright with God." How much further from the truth can this be? I stand on the promise that the only way we know that we are doing "alright" with God is if our life isn't doing alright, meaning that the Devil is throwing fiery darts at us; he is trying to divert us from living for Christ whole-heartedly.

I know this is true because whenever I am having one of those 'average" kinda weeks, it means that i haven't been spending enought time with Jesus. Come on, when did Jesus ever have one of those "average" kinda weeks, or when did Paul ever have one of those 'average" kinda weeks? It never happened, because they were always trying to be one step ahead of the Devil. We are actually on the oppostire end right now because it seems that instead of trying to stop what the Devil is doing, we are always reacting to what he has already done. When will we see that we can be in tune with Jesus and begin to prevent attacks instead of deal with them.

God already knows what is going to happen, and he already knows what is going to become of us. yet daily we get to choose our life's path, either into destruction or into "freedom." Today, let's take a stand for diving into "life" with Jesus and not just "hours" with Jesus and find out how we can truly defeat the Devil before we have another "average" kinda week doing nothing for God.

I don't ever claim to have all of the answers, but I do know how to find them. If you don't know how, just come ask me.

P-Mike

Have you been working out?

2008-11-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

This should challenge you to look at your life in a completely different way.
Think about it like this: Say I went to go to the gym 4 hours a day and worked out with weights and got really ripped and strong. You would see me as a force, right? I might even flex my muscles around the gym and show everyone how strong I am. But then let's say my friend needed someone to move a dresser for her because they weren't strong enough to do it; and they called me because i appear to be strong and capable of the task. But instead, i call upon someone else to do the work. What's the point? It seems that all of that weight-lifting was pointless and that I should have been spending my time doing something else. Connection: so many Christians have been working out in the spiritual gym, building nice spiritual muscles, even flexing them around the church (sorry, i meant to say gym), but then when it comes time to use those muscles, they tense up and get a pull or a cramp and suddenly can't use those muscles to do the job. What am i trying to say? Why even go to the gym (church) and work out if you arent going to use those muscles for something that really matters (reaching the lost). Why even serve God and get all spiritually pumped-up if you aren't going to take that power and use it for good. Stop scooping ice-cream with those massive biceps and start moving dressers (start changing lives with those spiritual muscles.)
Talk to me about this; i could have gone on for hours talking this away. I want your input, or if you don't understand, i can explain it to you. Let me know; would this be a good sermon coming up soon???