If this isn't team spirit I don't know what is. Ok the real reason I
have placed this pic on my blog is to test my ability to post pics
when I am in Haiti in a few weeks.

Should Church Leaders Consume Alcohol?

So I recently found myself engaged in a pretty strong debat about church leaders and the use of alcohol. We debated both Deacons and Pastors and their use of alcohol. There was a passionate response on both sides of this debat. I was on the side that feels it is wrong for a Pastor to drink any alcohol for a few reasons. The number one reason is that I believe the word of God teaches us that Pastors or overseers are to abstain from alcohol. I also believe that for a Pastor to drink, there exists the possibility of giving the wrong impression of him, his church and of Christianity in general. I believe that a Pastor should never do anything that would cause others to fall and drinking would be one of those things. But just for arguments sake let's say that the bible did not speak against alcohol use. Just because we can does not mean we should. The bible warns us to avoid walking past the temptress door. It's not a sin to do this but a warning to avoid getting trapped or drawn into a sin. Alcohol use, even in moderation is akin, in my opinion, to loitering outside the temptress door and arrogantley saying it's not an issue. The word of god has much to say on the issue of alcohol. To say the least it is a source of strife, if it was not there would be no need to talk about it so much in scripture. The fact is that it is damaging to our cause for the kingdom. It makes it difficult for us to stand out with a beer in our hand. Some would say that if it's in the privacy of our own home and in moderation it's ok. Let's ask a few questions. Where did you purchase the alcohol? Who saw you buy it? What would you tell that person if they saw you at church and asked about Christians who drink? If you are married are you doing all you can to protect your wife from things that could hurt her spiritually? If you have kids could the message you are sending be a confusing one? Are you allowing something into your home that could cause your children to be tempted? I struggle to understand why we would engage in things that put us and our testimonies and our families at risk. We place filters on our computers to block bad websites, we lock doors, we screen our childrens friends and families to ensure a positive environment, we carefully look into schools our children attend and we watch what they are tought in school. But when it comes to these "social" expressions of our liberties we are less willing to give them up. So maybe the real question is one that was posed in the form of a statement by one person involved in this discussion. If asked to give up alcohol to take a position of leadership there are two possible responses. One is to give it up without thought because it is of no real importance or value to the person. The other is to refuse to give it up which may indicate a much stronger attachment to the alcohol than is healthy. I would love to hear your thoughts on this as it is quite a controversial issue.

The Year in Review

R.I.O.T. Youth Ministry


As it is and what’s to come

This year has been eventful to say the least. While all of the normal things you might find in ministry have been going on there has been a significant amount of the extraordinary happening this year as well. The hardest part of writing a Ministry report is where to start. There is so much I want to share with you and just quite simply not enough time or space on this paper, so I will summarize as best I can and hope nothing too important has been left out.

This last year I sat down with my youth leaders and asked them if there was one thing we were going to focus on over the next year what did they think it should be. God is good because e we all came up with the same answer pretty quickly. We saw a real need for true discipleship in the lives of the teens. Less “fluff” and more serious and purposeful focus in the lives of our teens.

The next question was how we should do this. While wrestling with this question the leadership started talking about our purpose as a church, talk of adding a pastor to the staff to help facilitate this new focus and direction for our ministry, as well as looking toward how we as a church help truly disciple our people. Funny how these things all come about at the same time isn’t it? Well as we talked over several months the leadership came up with what you are now familiar with, “KNOW GOD, GROW TOGETHER, SERVE OTHERS”. We wanted this to be a part of EVERYTHING we do here at Cornerstone. So we needed to make sure this was the purpose and goal of the youth as well.

We had already started “LIFE GROUPS” for the teens as one way of focusing efforts on discipleship as well we created a schedule for the teens that was much less about fluff and much more about growing in Christ.

I decided that there needed to be a serious effort made to take the teens through the entire New Testament in 6 years. I realize that not every teen will benefit from a 6 year plan since some will graduate before then but as future students come into the youth ministry they will have the great benefit of taking a journey through the entire New Testament.

Our midweek youth meeting, traditional held on Wednesday night’s, has changed in some significant ways as well. While Wednesday night was the traditional midweek gathering for the teens many had recurring scheduling conflicts as well as the leaders were struggling to get to church on time after a long day at work. We moved this to Sunday nights to help alleviate the conflicts and for the most part it has worked. We renovated the youth room at a cost of appx. $2000 last summer and launched the opening of “sTiR-iT-uP” Coffee Shop. The goal for this was really a three prong thing. First and foremost it was a way to give the room a much needed makeover and give it that modern fun feeling. It was also to help with a budget issue of snack and food expenses for Sunday nights. The third reason was our support as a youth group of two children through compassion international was way behind and we needed to find an easier way to support these two children. By opening the coffee shop we solved all three goals. All the profit goes to support the kids through Compassion International and it is working.

So you might ask, what are planning for next year Pastor Dave. What big thing or next great idea are you working on? The answer is not a single thing. In our effort to become simple churches we are trying not create more “Stuff” to keep students busy. Instead our focus is on empowering our students to live a life outside the church walls that will be a light and a testimony to those in their sphere of influence. Yeah we will do fun stuff (we have an overnight canoe trip planned for this summer and yeah guys and girls will be on the opposite side of the river while sleeping), we will go to a concert, attend Dare-2-Share, go to snow camp, and a few other things. But this is not where the real ministry happens. These things are the frosting on the cake. The real meat of this ministry is happening one on one with students, after their games, during phone calls and visits, in their small groups with other leaders that love them, and in their homes. It is my job to help this happen and to facilitate an atmosphere where this is possible.

I have just one more thing to mention, and that is the immense awe and humility I have experienced this year at the amount of adults who have continued to invest in the lives of students or who have, for the first time, taken a step of faith and put themselves out there to love teenagers as Christ loves them. We currently have 14 adults who are committed to some area of the youth ministry. Not only is this an answer to my prayers but I believe it is the best thing about our youth ministry.

Pray that God continues to draw students to us, that they would find love and acceptance here and that they could walk away saying “Things are different now, I am loved”.

Thank you for your prayers and unwavering support of my ministry and my family. You will never truly understand what you all mean to us.

So now I can blog right from my iPhone. How cool is that. So now I will b adding much more often. Of course they will probably shorter since I will give myself carpel tunnel in my thumbs if I write too long. Isn't technology great.

Ok. So now I can blog from my iPhone. They will be shorter but more often. Technology is amazing.

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Insecurity might be my "Achilles Heel"

Have you ever tried to do your best. I mean really tried with all your might just to wonder what effect it is having? There seems to be very little difference, little visible change. After years of working this hard you start to wonder if you still have a gift from God or if you are just tredding water because you used to be a world class swimmer. Lately I have struggled with many decissions in my ministry. I have to constantly remibd myslef that I work for the father, for His pleasure and His will. BUT, this fact gets lost in the midst of what appears on the surface to be dismal failures. Failures that are small but loom big in my mind. Of course, one question does arrise, how do I know they are failures? What am I using as a measurement of success? I think it comes down to numbers. I know that the number of teens that choose to participate in the offerings of our ministry is not important. We are supposed to be mostly concerned with the depth of their spiritual connection to God. BUt how can we hel them along this path if they are not here. And how can I express the lasting eternal implications of a strong and growing relstionship with Chrost to the parents. It seems that parents want their children to have this life long spiritual connection yet they are willing to model personally and sometimes force their children to place these in last place. I feel as though I am failing at reaching this generation of teens and parents. I struggle to get teens to come on a regular basis which makes accounatbility and biblical instruction virutally impossible.

And then there is another issue that weighs heavy on my mind. It's my family's needs. I have found that as my children get older they need me to be home more. I just can't be gone 70+ hours a week anymore. I belive that scripture tells me that my family is to come first before my ministry to the church. How it would kill me if I was to ever fail at that. So how do I balance the needs of a ministry that has me feeling like I am failing, and the increasing needs of my family?

Is god calling me to change the way I minister to teens? Is he calling me to a different type of ministry all together? Is he calling me to increase my efforts with the church? Is he calling me to increase the efforts with my family? I just don't know and Ifind myself in this thought often lately. I trust my God to show me what to do next, but there is a fear in me about the next step.

If you find that you battle with many of these interanl struggles you can take comfort in what God says. "Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

So how do I know what the next step is? I do as Job 33:33 says, "But if not, then listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom."

My next step is to be silent and wait to hear my next set of orders what ever they may be. (Most of me wants the orders to be "STAND YOUR GROUND")