The Changing Church and It's Success

Ministry is an evolving thing. Look at churches today compared to just 10, 20 years ago. The structure, sound, and look has changed. We are Chris Tomlin instead of John Newton…we are Matt Redman instead of Avalon...we are guitars, small groups, and videos instead of organs, Sunday Schools, and power point. There is nothing wrong with this, but over the years a lot of things have changed. I think about youth ministry back when I was just in 9th grade (which was not too long ago if you are polite). It was filled with lock-ins, corny (but fun) games, and many trips to the bowling alley. It was enough to get us to come and experience fellowship in a Christian setting. The messages were decent enough and full of obvious biblical truths. I guess I’m trying to say I heard the truth (it got me here to this point in my life), but I cannot point to particular life-changing message. Today’s youth ministry is no longer called “youth ministry”. We call it Student Ministry. We have catchy names, themes, and slogans. Our services are video filled and we “student pastors” are always looking for the new “attention grabber” to get this ADD generation to consider us. Please know I’m not downing any of these changes because our services at Southern Heights are also filled with video illustrations, proper mood-setting lighting, and series messages. I have talked to 40 student ministers in the past two years that refuse, and make it known upon hiring, to become an event driven ministry. A ministry that is full of bowling alley trips, laser tag, and putt-putt. The “event” driven ministry looks a lot like our past youth ministries that serve the purpose of getting kids in church just for the sake of getting them to come. I’m not saying that those lives were never changed because it is obvious a lot were, but I am saying we called ourselves a successful youth ministry if we had 50 students go bowling. I think we still today have a horrible success “scale”. We base success on our Sunday School numbers, people who showed up at the last social, and the number of ministries we have. When are we going to start counting success on the number of students who continue to go to church when they enter college. Or how about how many students we have go on mission trips on their own and not because all of their friends are going. Or how about how many students who learn to feed themselves spiritual truths and develop personal biblical disciplines. Or how about how many senior adults continue to serve without excuse to the best of their ability. The church is changing, and I hope the ministry at Southern Heights changes more than just visually. I hope and pray God uses us to change lives. My goal for our Student Ministry is not to have 200 students, but for the students we have that they’ll become godly, spiritual believers that love Jesus and have truly given their LIVES to Him

DM Demolition

Going to Alabama today. I’m in the airport right now, and before I get the books out and start knocking down some philosophy I thought I give you a quick recap of last night. We didn’t have our student services, but we went to First Assembly to the concert my buddy Wes put together. Listen this dude is a pro…a seasoned student ministry vet. He brought in Leyden from Hot Springs, a quality band with quality hearts for worship. I’m not sure how many students all together there were (the seasoned youth pastor did forget to count) but we brought 24. Let me give you a run down of last night. The band was definitely quality. Their originals were really good, they communicated well with the students during the concert, and afterwards spent some time just getting to know everyone. That is always a sign of a true band. If you bring in a group to do whatever…lead worship, concert, or speak and the only time you see them is when they are doing what they were called to do, don’t bring them back. People with real hearts for the ministry always communicate with students before and after their “show”. I really appreciated that about Leyden. I would rather have an average band or speaker who spends time with my students than a captivating one that never communicates before or afterwards. Ministry is personal, and to be successful the students or whoever must know you are real off and on the stage. That’s why I love Wes and if God did call us somewhere, he is one I would definitely bring in to speak. The guy is genuine. I got some good posts for you guys while I’m gone. God has been really moving in me and how I personally do ministry and I’m going to guess that it is applicable to a lot of you guys. Keep checking in.

The Chiefest

I am a sinner. I have fallen.
I deserve hell. I deserve the worst.
He came. He suffered.
He was beaten. He was spit on.
He was flogged. He was mocked.
His flesh was ripped off. He was stripped naked.
They nailed His hands. They nailed His feet.
He never cursed. He never regretted.
His blood dripped. His side pierced.
He breathed His last. He gave His Spirit to His Father.
He obeyed. He was rewarded.
He rose. He lives.
Savior. Propitiation. Satisfaction.
I am a sinner. He is a Savior.
I have fallen. He was raised up.
I deserve hell. He satisfied God's wrath.
I deserve the worst. He experienced separation from God.
I see grace. I see mercy.
I see love. I see Him.
I see my rewards. I see His work.
I see my filthy rags. I see His blood.
I see my sin. God sees His Son.
I try to make things better. I mess things up more.
I try. I fail.
I work. I push Jesus away.
I see the point. I see why I am so wrong.
I long for self-control. He longs for me to be Christ-controlled.
I long for recognition. He longs for glory.
I see me. I need to see Him.
I am so weak. He is strong.
He doesn't need me. He wants me.
I want to be closer. He is drawing me to himself.
I'm crying for Him. He is crying for me.
I am screaming for Him. He is gently knocking at the door of my heart.
I am broken. He begins to smile.
I surrender. I hear Him sigh with relief.
I raise my hands. He takes hold.
He places His hands on my face. I can't look at Him.
I'm unworthy. He is my worth.
I'm unrighteous. He is my righteousness.
I'm dirty. He washed me.
I have a new name. He calls me son.
I owed a debt I could not pay. My Father paid it for me.
He paid with a life. The life of his Son.
I was so far away. I placed the world in between us.
He moved mountains to get to me. He never lost sight of me.
I don't understand. He is the Author.
I give Him my life. He uses me.

All By Myself

Yesterday I dropped my family off at the airport to fly to Alabama for a couple of weeks. I'll be leaving Thursday to meet them (I can't be gone as long as they can). So until that day comes I'm alone. So in the spirit of blogging, and since I am incapable of writing in paragraph form, I decided to make two top five lists. One to give you my top five things I plan to do while my family is gone, and the other top five things I'll miss about my family. Here it is:

5 Things I Will Do
5. Finish my Philosophy work
4. Leave dirty clothes in the middle of the floor...which I accomplished in 10 minutes
3. Spend some time alone in the Word in my recliner
2. Play a lot of basketball
and the number one thing...
1. Untuck the covers at the bottom of the bed on both sides and sleep diagonal with a smile on my face knowing that Megan would be cringing knowing that covers were not tucked in:)


5 Things I'll Miss The Most
5. Rocking JP before he goes to sleep
4. Watching Megan play rock band and getting frustrated because she can't beat me
3. Megan taking care of me even when I'm in a bad mood
2. Good night kisses from both JP and Megan
and the number one thing...
1. Well, umm...I'm not quite sure how to say this. You know...what married people do:)
Arguing (get your mind out of the gutter, you bunch of dirty minded people)

Saturday's 7

• Me and Nolan went to Eureka to play basketball this morning. It was HOT!! I was dead after two trips down the floor.
• We went to Branson and saw Prince Caspian last night. A lot better than the first one for a couple different reasons:1. Not near as mythical 2. The fight scenes were really good.
• We are going to First Assembly for the end of school concert my man Wes is doing next Wed. It should be amazing.
• JP is growing up really fast. It is so weird for him to carry on a conversation with me.
• I really want to go floating.
• I have been eating a lot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch lately. It's pretty much the best cereal ever.
• I'm calling the Lakers to win it all this year. I know what happened after I guaranteed North Carolina to win it all, but this is completely different. I don't even like the Lakers....there just that good

DM Demolition

Last night was really good. I had a little Mark Driscoll breakdown, but besides all of that everything was amazing. It was so amazing in fact, that we had two teenage students make professions of faith. You can't see the joy in my heart through a blog but nights like last night...someone coming to know Christ...is the greatest joy giver ever. We had 20 students looking deep into the Word, asking God for help. It was so good. I'll go and see a couple of them in the next few days and I'm really excited about sitting down and answering questions they may have, and then teaching them how to grow deeper in their faith. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for being our substition in taking our penalty that we deserve. Thank you for grace and offering salvation, something we don't deserve. Thank you for loving us.

I'm Such a Whiner

I'm not feeling well at all today. I didn't sleep that great last night, and my throat has never been so itchy in all of my existence. So I proceeded to write a post telling you guys things I just can't stand. For instance:

• Allergies
• The inability not to sneeze
• diarrhea
• surface Christianity
• ulcers in my mouth
• gas...prices

And the list pretty much went on for 30 pages. I almost hit the publish button down below when God asked me a simple question: "What are you speaking on tonight?" I automatically thought about the garden after Adam and Eve sinned. God was walking around calling there name asking them where they were. God knew exactly where they were, He just wanted them to come out and embrace repentance and grace. God knew exactly what I was going to talk to our kids about tonight. He just wanted me to say it repent and experience grace. Tonight's message is on Moses and the Exodus. We are going to go through the story and see exactly the hearts of the Israelites that were...complaining (I know, Can you believe this??) We were then going to flip over to Phil. 2:14 were Paul tells us to do everything...without complaining (I'm feeling like a big poop head right now) for the sake of the church. God is so faithful in showing me things in my life I need to get right. I read a post by Andy Blankenship (this guy is hardcore...he is one of my heroes) about repentance. Repentance is not just a one time thing that happens at a church service, but a season we go through of God just cleaning house. I pray that God will bring me to a point where daily I'm falling on my face before our Holy God...repenting. And then, experience grace.

Moses and the Exodus

I'm NOT a TBN fan. I just want to make that clear up front. Although, sometimes I do flip by just to see if I can catch the pink haired lady on. Last night as my search for the over dramatic colored haired lady began I flipped over and for some reason got caught up in a TBN movie. I'm not sure if it was the Ten Commandments or not (I know...how can a youth pastor be sure if he has never seen the stinking Ten Commandments. That has got to be a requirement to be in the ministry), but it was a movie of Moses leading the people out of Egypt. I've read the story tons of times, but I don't think I ever truly understood how hard that must have been for Moses. We like to think about ourselves in that spot...hearing from God, talking to Pharaoh, parting the Red Sea, all the glamorous stuff. I've never really thought about how hard all of the questions and insults from the very people you are leading out of slavery would have been until I wanted to punch one of those guys in the face. Seriously, Moses leads them out of freaking slavery and they start complaining about water after they see the waters become blood, a plague of frogs, lice, flies, boils, livestock disease, hail, locusts, darkness, and then the death of the firstborn. All of these things effecting the very people oppressing them and not the Israelites. They are all excited and pumped about freedom but as soon as something difficult happens they start whining. DUDE, I WAS SO MAD LAST NIGHT!! I can't believe a TBN movie got me this worked up. There were several things after that that stood out to me. When the Egyptians began pursuing the fleeing Israelites and they come to the Red Sea. They began to fuss, "Moses, you moron!! You have led us into a trap!!" What happens?? The Sea begins to PART!! Do you understand how ridiculous that would have been to see that. They all run with joy on the sea floor, the waters then collapse on the Egyptians, all are safe, and then the Israelites complain again about having to live in the desert when they should know God is going to take care of them. I can't help but think we are a lot like the people I wanted to karate kick in the face last night. We have seen God do so many amazing things, and they are so many times where we see just how amazing He is, and then one thing goes wrong and we began to say, "God doesn't care about us." Lets work on not being such big babies. I need to learn that God is in control and through good times and tough, God is God. I trust Him.

Saturday's 7 on Sunday...A Zoo Recap

I know what you are thinking..."Man, Ricky sure is starting to lag behind on the blog." Listen, life is busy with a family that includes a two year old. Anyway, I'm done defending myself.

• We went to the zoo yesterday in Springfield. It was actually a lot of fun even though JP had a few meltdowns.


• Out of all the things we did I believe JP enjoyed the train ride the most. We are such a happy family.

• I realized the simple things satisfy him...Like walking on rocks.

• We also learned that JP has really bad allergies. When he sneezes he is screaming for a tissue. Mom is always there for the rescue because I'm not a big fan of boogers. This picture is him realizing he snotted all over himself.

• 
  He got a monkey...an ugly monkey...but he absolutely lives it.
  


• I will load all the pictures and a really sweet video of JP singing his favorite song on my facebook. Check it out.


• On a side note we are getting a puppy. His name is Lucky. Don't ask how he got that name. I'm not excited, but I guess I'll live.

Playground Day

Today is one of those beautiful days in NW Arkansas. It's one of those days where it is impossible to stay in the office. I'm going to get the family and take a trip to the park. View from my desk in my office.

DM Demolition

We had an ok night last night. We were competing with several other things so we only had 11 students, but God knew who was going to be there and had ordained last night specifically for them. We read over 2 Corinthians 11 where Paul tells us everything He has went through for the sake of the gospel. It really is amazing when you think about what all he endured.

• 5 times 39 lashings
• beaten three times with rods
• stoned
• shipwrecked three times
• A night and a day adrift in the sea
• danger of waters
• danger of robbers
• danger of his own people
• danger of Gentiles
• danger of wilderness
• danger of false Christians
• no sleep
• no food
• no clothes

Still with all of these constant horrible experiences, Paul didn't move. He stood firm in His faith. If you look at us, we are moved by the smallest breeze. Popularity, stress, work, family, friends are all things that we will compromise our faith for. We need to stand on the rock of Christ and not be moved. Here are some things to practice so you will be able to be stronger in your faith.

1. Surround yourself with people who love Jesus and try to live a lifestyle for His glory.
2. Follow the Spirit's guidance.
3. Be humble. Consider others better than yourself.
4. Share your faith.
5. Don't be ashamed of the very blood that was shed to save you from something you deserve.

Tolerance

This is one of the two best videos I've seen in a long time. Mark Driscoll talks about God's people and tolerance. Please watch this.

A Quick Mom Thanks

So yesterday was Mother's Day. The service here at Southern Heights was really good. Ms. Kim got up and recognized all the mom's and a few of the guys in the service passed out some really good cookies (I snuck one). Then it happened. I'm not sure why or how I get those feelings, but I seemed to always know when something funny is about to happen. One of those moments where I lose it on stage and everyone in the church is looking at me wondering what the weird guy has thought of now. After the cookie passing out shindig, a parade of kids began to march around our sanctuary holding signs like "I love you mom" and "You're the greatest". JP is just 2 years old. Surely they wouldn't give him a sign and let him walk around on what has become his on personal track field. Seriously, JP cannot go into the church without thinking he has to run his 40 yard dash. Anyway, I knew JP wouldn't be walking, then I saw Benjamin, JP's best friend. Benjamin is the good kid that JP influences in a bad way. I begin to smile not because I think this is cute, but because in my mind I saw JP whacking some deacon in the back of the head with the "I love you mom" sign they foolishly gave the seemingly innocent child. While he is walking toward the front I kind of turn around because if he sees daddy, JP is getting on the stage. This was a sweet moment in our church and I didn't want the "youth minister's kid" to mess anything up. Well, it's clear till he sees Megan and of course mom picks him up. I'm thinking it's all ok she'll take him to the nursery and we will be safe from embarrassment. Then the trusting mom makes the mistake and trusts the child. Thinking JP will walk the rest of the way with Benjamin she puts him on the floor. JP being clever acts like he is going to walk right beside his best friend, then makes a straight left cut heading away from mom and toward the crowd. I see this in slow motion. I have many thoughts on what was going to happen next.

1. JP was going to let out his freakish devil laugh exposing his true nature to the church.
2. He was going to face plant in the carpet and everyone was going to think we were bad parents.
3. Megan, my lovely wife, was going to bust it chasing after him in heels.
4. JP was going to take off down the aisle turning this sweet moment into, "I can't believe we hired a guy with a kid like this" conversation.

Thanks to my sweet, swift, suspecting wife he was captured before he reached full stride with one hand around his waist and the other around his mouth (muffling the devil laugh). So mom saves mother's day. I love you Megan. thank you, not for everything you do, but for doing everything.

And to my mom...I love you a lot. Thank you for always being at my games, not killing me when I did some stupid stuff, and understanding why I wanted to marry this incredible girl. You made life too easy. Thank you for taking care of me when I was sick and cooking pretty much whatever I wanted to eat. Thanks for semi-understanding why we came to Arkansas:) I can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks.

Saturday's 7

• We had a Sunday School Party today. I'm not sure how many came (I'm sure somebody did), but it was a lot of folks and their kids.
• Two things I learned today: 1. My wife and Lisa Worley stress out more about these things than anyone on the planet. 2. Me and Heath Worley do nothing but make it worse.
• I do want to say my wife does an incredible job being a mother. She takes care of everybody and everything. I love her a lot.
• My son rode his first horse today. He is growing up so quick.
• My son also stepped in his first pile of horse dook. Don't worry, Mom came to the rescue.
• The Worley's have the ideal living arrangement.
• I'm glad we are at a church where we can love so easily and be loved without question. We have met some of the most amazing people this past year.

Confession: Cherry Pie

Sometimes I feel like a horrible parent. I have moments where I just quit thinking and do some of the dumbest stuff ever. Do you know what I'm saying?? There could be this incredibly huge list I could write out for you, but to be honest it is kind of depressing the more I think about it. But here's one more to add to the confessions of a youth pastor.
So here it is: It started out all cute. We all thought it was so funny, then we started to notice the changes. His ocassional request turned into constant demands. Sometimes we would give in, and allow the cycle to continue. We allowed another taste of addiction. You see our son is addicted to Guitar Hero. Specifically, he is addicted to Cherry Pie. I'm not sure when the obsession with this particular song happened, but for the past two days it has been a continuos, "I wanna pway cherr pie daddy". We should have seen it coming. So you see...Even as a youth pastor I do many stupid things. We have started denying the requests to play guitar hero and therefore have began his treatment. I know what a lot of you are saying, "Ricky, dude, you over reacting." Maybe I am. But we have made a comittment to remain strong on this issue.

Disclaimer-- Please know that this is not a serious post. Do not call, write, email, or comment on how bad of a parent I may be. Also do not request for the termination of my position in the ministry. My son does love to play guitar hero, but I place the blame for his obsession solely on Phillip Weems, The TJ Mauldin Band, The students of Southern Heights Baptist Church, and Megan Sowell:)

DM Demolition

Last night we got to talk a lot about worship. I was excited to see our students realize that worship is more than singing. That it is more than a tireless mechanical repetition. I had great confidence leaving last night that our students understood all life is worship. Big shout out to John Piper for all the quotes I used last night.

• 17 Students last night with 2 first timers...Abel and Blair. That's 4 new students in two weeks!!
• Isaiah 29:13, Philippians 1:20-21, Acts 17:25, Mark 10:45, Romans 12:1-2 were the scriptures we used...look'em up and learn something.
• I got beat in ping pong again by Jessie last night...I've never been so depressed.

I'm pretty excited about some services we have coming up in the future. God is moving and I'm pumped. We can actually see the changes in our students lives week to week. I can't tell you how many times a teacher has stopped me in the hallway and said he or she sure has been differently lately. I'm getting excited.

Here Lately...

Things have been really good here in my life lately. Tiring, busy, constant, but always good. Here is a list of things that has been going on...just to catch you up:

• I finished my exegesis on Phil. 2:1-11. It was incredibly tough and time consuming. If by any chance you would like to read it hit me up and I'll email you a copy.
• We finished our "He Will Be Called..." series and tonight we are going to talk about true worship.
• Ellis Cook has been hanging out with me a lot lately. I've been whooping him in some XBox 360, he has done some stuff for me around the office, and JP absolutely loves him. I see God doing some amazing things through this guy.
• That marriage seminar Megan and I went to seems to really be improving our marriage.
• I have two new classes starting Monday. Theology and Philosophy. The best part...NO PAPERS!!
• Michael Jr may be the funniest man ever...Watch this and this and my favorite one.
• We are going to First Assembly May 28th to go hear Leyden in concert. Big shout out to Wes for getting this one together.

Saturday's 7...on Monday

I feel pretty bad that I have waited until now to do my regular Saturday post. I like to think you guys are checking this every hour or so just to see if I have updated. I know in all reality you may stumble across these posts when you are completely bored and have NOTHING else to do, but for my own pride...I'm going to keep on believing you guys are hooked on my blog. Today's list is a special one. I got to go to a Gary Chapman marriage conference this weekend with some couples in our church. It was definitely a plus to go. Here are some random thoughts on the day.

• Love is you doing what your spouse wants you to do even when you don't want to do it.
• After the conference it seemed like all of the couples had their arm around each other or they were holding hands. I think all it took was one husband grabbing his wife's hand and all of the other guys were like, "Oh crap! I better do something like that too."
• Heath Worley cannot eat without getting something all over himself, and then proceed to "accidentally" transfer from his shirt to his wife's.
• I told Gary Chapman my wife made me come:)
• I learned not to say everything I think...This is something Marci Rogers has been telling me from day one.
• We all went and ate ice cream after the conference. Me and Megan shared our ice cream cone. Not really, but it would have been extremely sweet if I had thought about that Saturday instead of right now.
• Marriage is a lot of work, but there isn't anyone else I would rather work with than my beautiful, caring, understanding wife.

Bread of Life

In my class, "The Book of John" I had to write a research paper on the bread of life discourse given by Jesus in chapter 6. It is so weird to think about how many times I have read passages of scripture but I'm just now learning comprehend them. It all really starts in verse 22, but you need to know that Jesus just fed 5000 men with 2 small fish and 5 loaves of bread. He just refused the people who tried to make Him their king for a political revolt against the Romans, and then walked on water. So now He is sitting with the people and they ask for Jesus to do what Moses did for the Israelites in wilderness, make bread fall from heaven. Here it is...the best part of the whole story: "My Father gives you the true bread of Heaven. For the bread of heaven is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." I love it!! Jesus makes His claim to be equal with the Father. He tells the people that this bread is not about satisfying you physically but spiritually. The people then say, "Give us this bread." Verse 35, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life."

Many of us are like the people Jesus was talking to. They wanted to be independent from Rome. That wanted to make sure their physical needs were taken care of. They wanted some type of position in the new government they believed Jesus would set up. They wanted, they wanted, they wanted!! That's just like us. We want all these things that Jesus can do for us but we refuse to give Him our lives. We are wanted all of our physical needs met, but Jesus came not so that we may have these comfortable lives in our nice houses. He came to live a perfect life and then die. HE came to be the ultimate perfect sacrifice we needed so we can be forgiven and restored. Don't get so wrapped up in this world that you forget to take the true bread of life.

Just like bread is a necessity for us to live physically...Jesus is a necessity for us to live spiritually.

DM Demolition

Another Desiring More service has come and gone, but for some reason I think we'll be feeling the effects from this one for a long time.

• We had 18 students last night with 2 first time visitors that I have never met. I love seeing our students bring their friends with them. It proves two things: 1. They love Jesus enough to want their friends to love Him. 2. Our services are relevant enough to make an impact on our students lives.
• Last night we finished our series, "He Will Be Called...". Prince of Peace was the name last night and to be honest I went in the service not expecting anything big until after worship. I know that is horribly wrong of me, but God just moved in spite of me.
• We sang Mighty to Save and when the lyric, "Savior, He can move the mountains..." I started praying that God would begin to move mountains in these students lives. That He would take whatever is standing in between them and Jesus and move it.
• We talked about the incredible peace God offers through Jesus. Not a life of superficial peace, but a life, that if you know Jesus personally, of restored and redeemed peace. Knowing that you had been bought with the Blood of Christ.

It was a great night, but the coolest thing happened at the end. I've been listening to a lot of Fee. Beautiful the Blood has a lyric that says, "I never knew surrender could feel so free..." I have really wanted to get back to the idea of surrender. Last night we saw someone surrender. It was amazing, beautiful, supernatural:) Brokenness is so sweet. This guy told me, "how can God keep taking me back?? I know He does. I can't believe how great He is." Though he was full of tears and pain, this young guy came back to Jesus...He returned to His first love. We have wondered why Berryville, AR so many times...Never again will there be a need to wonder.