Worship Leading
I find that the more I lead worship for my congregation, the easier it gets, the less stressed I am, and the more worshipful I feel. I am so grateful that I have a Pastor who trusts me enough to take over in his stead when he is on vacation. The kind of experience I am gaining is heads and tails above other seminary students.
I tend to be pretty serious when I preach, my next sermon needs to be more light hearted.
The congregation is great, they are always very encouraging. God has really blessed me, and put me in a church that is as awesome as this.
-jps
Kimbo Fight
I just saw Kimbo Slice fight, and was excited that he lost……. Now we can all see that the hype was…well….hype.
I do appreciate that he took it well and was a good sport. That says a lot about his character.
He seems like he has a pretty good sense of humor evident by these videos. (caution, these videos have some foul language)
jps
iThought (October)
What is the most important function of Youth Ministry?
A) Introducing young people to Jesus.
B) Providing healthy activities.
C) Involving young people in service.
D) Good theological training.
E) Making them leaders.
ANSWER: None of the above.
The most important function of youth ministry is life-long discipleship—to join with parents in shaping children into unabashed, boisterous, reckless followers of the way of Jesus.
I think often we have mistaken notions and expectations for what ministry to young people should look like. I often hear that the young people should have more activities; extra events in general—more stuff “to do.” But discipleship does not come through more fun activities. In fact, I am of the school of thought that believes we should slow down, live fully in the present, and see God in the stillness. It is the job of every youth ministry to stop the ever quickening, plugged in, pace of youth and help them waken to the presence of God around us. It the job of the youth leaders to help the youth become fully awake to what God is doing around them.
A youth ministry cannot only be about one thing, but it can have one goal with a wide base for support. That is why here we focus on the F.L.O.W. way of forming lifelong disciples. F.L.O.W. stands for: Fellowship, Learning, Outreach, Worship. Our ministry to Jr. & Sr. High youth takes the following shape.
We meet weekly for Youth Group and Sunday School, so youth can fellowship with one another and learn about the Bible. Once a month, we have an activity for youth to bring their friends. This month the youth group will be trick or treating together. This is an activity that is created in such a way that youth can feel comfortable bringing their friends knowing that it will not be a “churchy” activity. It is a good way for them to make connections in the group. We have also been doing Outreach/Service this year by providing lunches for the Union Station Foundation. Additionally, we encourage the youth to come weekly worship.
We have a very solid Jr. & Sr. High ministry, to get to this stage in the ministry building process has taken time (2 years) and patience. As we come into the New Year expect to see some changes to the Children’s Ministry with a similar focus of helping children become life-long disciples.
Change comes slowly for good reason. We must be careful of what we are focusing on, if it is anything other than Jesus, we have lost our way. If it becomes about numbers or fear that we are a dying congregation, then we will have completely missed the words of our Savior, when he says “Go and make disciples.” We don’t make disciples by providing more “stuff.” We make disciples by getting into peoples lives, having lasting relationships, praying with them, studying scripture with them, and bringing them into a community where they can be loved and appreciated for who they are.
Peace,
Jeremy Serrano
F.Y.I. iThoughts are articles I write for My Church’s monthly newsletter.
P & P
This week I am preaching at Lutheran Church in the Foothills. I am preaching on Stewardship and the spiritual disciplines. We are entering the time in our church were we talk about about pledging and tithing–I hate that.
There was a church in San Diego that I visited, that never did that. In fact people pledged a certain amount of money, but it was never seen by anyone. The congregation would bring their pledges to the altar and as part of the service, the Pastor would seal them in an huge envelope. The projected budget was never based on pledges because they were never looked at. They trusted that God would provide for them.
My Weekend
This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to my 10 year High school Reunion. It was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, which turned out to be a very nice venue with a good view (though the sound system was terrible). I am not sure what I was expecting, but I sure did perfect laying out the last ten years of my life in an elevator speech (2 min or less). It was nice to see, however, that even the people whom I did not really talk to in High School were friendly and willing to talk. For the most part, everyone who I care about from High School, I talk to regularly in some form or another, either writing on their blogs, or calling them or sending them text messages–in fact we all hung out the entire night. It seemed to me that the night was a glorified dance with alcohol. What I wanted was a banquet in which we could talk to each other, share our stories from the last 10 years, catch up, and see on a grand scale our accomplishments after graduation. That was difficult to do with the “humpty dance” screaming in our ears. It was interesting to see everyones place in life- we had everyone from tattoo artist to doctors attend. If I could do it all again, I think I would have preferred a potluck with all our families in a park with lawn games. Maybe I will plan that for our 15 year reunion, anyone interested?
After a late night, like any good Lutheran I went to church the next day in Pacific Beach– Christ Lutheran
The worship space is absolutely beautiful. From the cross in the rear flows the river of life that goes through the chancel, into the nave, out the narthex and into the street. The imagery is GREAT! The worship service was very personal, the liturgy was thought out, and easy to navigate. The sermon was clear and to the point, easy to listen to, and memorable. Based on this experience I would recommend that anyone in San Diego check this church out.
Concert, My Youth, & Peace
Last night my group of Santa Clarita friends went to a concert in Irvine. We saw Third Day, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay. The most dissapointing act was Jars of Clay, they just didn’t seem up to par. An interesting thing happened at the concert that shows the shift in culture within the last 15 years. Instead of people getting out there lighters, they brought out there cellphones. Now this may seem unsignificant to the young reader, but it is not. 15 years ago people would have showed their approval of the bands with lighters, that was not the case at this concert…I find that very interesting and am still thinking about the implications of technology. This is especially ironic as I blog from my iPhone.
As of last night it is official… My youth is gone. At the concert it was necessary for me and my wife to wear earplugs. I don’t know what is worse that I needed the brautiful noise reducers or that I planned in advance to bring then on the chance that it would be to loud. With them the concert was at just the right volume. You can see a picture below.
Finally, as I sit here at Starbucks in Alpine, with the constant whirl if blenders and steamers.. with a line of people out the door who are here but seem not to be present, I am reminded that peace is an inner state. I will write more on the spiritual disciplines later and how I feel changed by them. For now I am off to prepare for my reunion tonight.
Peace,
Jps
San Diego
Well, today I head down to San Diego. Tomorrow is my 10 year class reunion, boy that went by quickley. I took the time to get out my old yearbook and thumb through the pages. It is amazing how some things change and others don’t. I am still keep in touch with a handful of friends from highschool and I am still trying to forget what a punk I was back then. I look back now after reading the entries from aquantances and see that God has been changing my life. I am so glad that I am not the person of 10 years ago.
-jps
The First Traveller
I am a British Christian. My family were Christians when Ireland was still in pagan darkness. I belong to the ancient church of this land. I didn’t like the thought of this Irish missionary upstart. I thought he was a puppet of the English king, whom I hate.
When I saw him coming down the lane I would have passed by in silence. But something about him, something in the way he looked at me, made me stop. ‘Are you a Christian?’ he asked, gently.
‘Of course.’ I said, huffily.
‘That is good to hear,’ he said. ’Now will you try to be a better one?’
I don’t know why I didn’t explode with anger, but I didn’t. Suddenly I actually wanted to be a better Christian. And suddenly I wanted to know Aidan better and hear what he had to say.
I found this story in yesterdays devotion from Celtic Daily Prayer. It is the prayer book of the Northumbria Community.
It had been much to long since I have held the fixed hour prayers, but that is changing. What an appropriate devotion to start of the day with a penetrating question. ”Will you try to be a better one?” That we would all ask ourselves this daily.
-jps
iThought (September)
Recently I read a news story about a man who was auctioning his life over the Internet. For a certain amount, he was hoping $500,000, the man would walk away from his life with only the clothes on his back. The winning bidder would be introduced to his friends, receive his house with all of it’s content, his Job for a week, possibly longer if the bidder was a solid worker, and take over his hobbies. This seller wanted to walk away with what he thought was a clean slate. What prompted this, you may ask? Well it all came about after the seemingly sudden divorce between he and his wife.
If only it were this easy.
There is no doubt in my mind that this man is severely traumatized by his divorce. So much so that he thinks if he moves away, and has no ties to his past it will make his life easier.
I have known people who have ran to far away colleges, moved across the country, and even out of the country, because they thought if they just moved far enough away from the place were they were unhappy, it would all be better. The fact of the matter is our pain follows us were we go. The scars we carry are not location based. The likelihood of us feeling better long term when running from our problems is zero to none. The hard task of working through our situations with all of the emotional and spiritual baggage needs to be met head on. Emotions and pain don’t get buried and die, they get buried alive and will eventually poke their ugly heads out.
In Matt. 11:28, Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
We all may not have the traumatic voice of divorce in our ear, but we all carry burdens. Jesus calls us to come to him, He will help, He will heal.
-peace
jps
F.Y.I. iThoughts are articles I write for My Church’s monthly newsletter.
