Dana and I spend a lot of time together, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to go out on an actual date together. So, I changed our plans of working out at 24-Hour Fitness to seeing a movie, eating out, and visiting the park where we first started dating.

Tagged by Blake.

Seven things to do before I die:
1) Get married
2) Provide a godly home for my children
3) Go skydiving
4) Serve as youth pastor at one church for longer than 7 years
5) Learn what it means to live in an attitude of prayer
6) Travel around the world
7) Drive faster than 180 mph

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1) Wake up before 8:30 AM
2) Knit
3) Fix my car
4) Touch my right ear with my right elbow
5) Watch more than two hours of TV in one sitting
6) Consistantly keep up with my blog
7) Eat guacamole

Seven Things That Attract Me to My Mate:
I’m not married, so I guess this will just be in reference to my girlfriend, Dana.
1) She is sensitive to people and issues I often overlook
2) She has a huge heart for serving the Lord
3) She loves me unconditionally
4) She likes to wrestle (never successfully)
5) She plays video games
6) She’s serious about growth and maturity
7) She gets excited over “little things”

Seven Things I Say:
1) Doh!
2) Dude
3) Hey!
4) Seriously?!
5) Umm
6) Bungalow (a fun word to say a lot)
7) I like ducks (yeah CREW!)

Seven People Tagged:
1) Dana
2) Lexi
3) Kimmy
4) Justin
5) Ashley
6) Kim
7) Chris

Sometimes I think Christians try way too hard to argue or convince unbelievers that God is real. Although I try to avoid judging people’s hearts, it seems that most believers are not so much concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of the individual they’re talking to as much as they are about convincing themselves that their faith is valid. Almost every question about God we’ve heard from unbelievers is a good question, one that, if we’re honest, we’ve all asked ourselves sometime. So why do we feel that we need to avoid these critical questions or be content with pat little Christian answers that really do nothing to solve the issue? It would be far wiser to just say, “I don’t know,” and admit that we don’t have all the answers. That doesn’t necessarily invalidate our faith — it just means that God knows infinitely more than our 3.5 pounds of brain matter can figure out.

If this happens no where else, I at least what my youth group to be a place where students feel free to ask the tough questions without feeling judged, pressured, or frowned upon. These critical evaluations of Christianity are positive! We all ask them, we all want answers, and it doesn’t make us less of a Christian. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn, grow, and take ownership of our faith.

(This is a great blog post by an atheist researching the misconceptions Christians have about them. I find it interesting that he seems to infer as much about the mistreatment or disrespect he feels from believers as he does about scientific evidence. When will Christians ever learn to love unconditionally?)

Whew, the holiday season is finally over. It’s good to be back in my apartment tonight and looking forward to my regular weekly schedule starting tomorrow morning. Between my travels to Pennsylvania for Christmas and Texarkana for New Years, I have a lot of stories to update here on my blog. Among the most pressing stories, however, is the fact that Dana and I are officially back together. She wrote about it briefly on her blog if you wanna know how I asked her out, but here I’ll summarize our story of the past two years.

Dana and I have been friends for the past 10 years or so, but it wasn’t until 2003 that we re-connected here in Dallas and started dating. After a year and a half, I ended the relationship due to a pattern of struggles that became pretty draining for me. From that time in April of 2005 to this past week we’ve tried very hard to remain friends, which honestly at some times was very difficult. There was clearly a lot of necessary growing and maturing on both our parts that needed to take place before either of us could be in a position to date anyone.

Over the course of the summer and this past semester, I saw a lot of impressive growth taking place in her life. I also saw the Lord doing a lot in me to change my heart in certain ways. By the time August came around, it appeared that there could still be a future for the two of us together. Our pastor invited us to meet with him twice a month for a time of processing and evaluation, an invitation we gladly accepted. Three months later, the love Dana and I have for each other has completely resurfaced and brought us into 2006 together as a couple.

I’ll admit that I was pretty nervous last Thursday when I asked her about solidifying our relationship again, but I know our relationship this second time will be much different than it was the first time. We both understand each other infinitely better, we know how to respond more appropriately to each other, and how to handle conflict. According to Pastor Rol, some married couples don’t learn these lessons until they’re several years into a marriage, so he’s very optimistic about the learning and growing Dana and I have gone through this past year.

What the future holds for us is unknown — we’re taking it one step at a time and learning the lessons that come one by one. At the present, we are very much enjoying each other again and are happy to see a new level of health in our new relationship. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us this year, who supported us, and imparted their Godly wisdom and advice!

– Ministry is sometimes more grind than glamor.

– Life-change in those following me starts with life-change in my own life.

– There is some sort of releasing freedom in sharing struggles with trustworthy people.

– Too often I focus on the individual puzzle pieces of ministry rather than the big picture that God’s putting together.

– Discontentment is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it pushes me to excel.

– God’s approval is more important than man’s approval.

– Paying attention to the little things in a person’s life means the world to them.

– God uses deep heartache for growth and evaluation.

– It’s okay to be unapologetic for setting boundaries and limits in life.

– My ultimate dream for youth ministry is larger than I initially conceived.

– I really like Guild Wars and raspberry iced tea.

Whew! It’s 8:45 PM and I’m getting up at 4:00 AM to fly back to Texas in the morning. I’m gonna head to bed in a minute but wanted to leave a quick update here first.

This Christmas I got my little brother a set of lazer tag guns and we’ve been playing almost constantly since he opened them. They’re so much fun! My Sr. High guys talk a lot about paintball, which is unfortunately kinda expensive, especially since I don’t have any of the equipment. These lazer tag guns, though, seem like the perfect alternative. It’s a one-time expense (cheapest at Toys R Us), there’s no mess involved, and we can play as long as we want within the confines of the church building. At first I was kinda skeptical of the product’s quality, but their performance is half-decent. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to swing the youth budget for any of these, but maybe I can convince my guys to fork over the cash for a couple sets for a night of hide and seek, hunt the prey, own the zone, and other fun lazer tag games.

Ministry is somehow like one big oxymoron or some kind of ironic contradiction. It would be great if it wasn’t for the people, but somehow people is what ministry is all about. Sometimes it just makes me wanna quit and give up on a situation by moving elsewhere, thinking that running will somehow make things better. I’m not naive enough, though, to think that the grass is greener on the other side. People are people no matter where I go. The names and the faces may change, but that’s about it. At least my conflict in ministry doesn’t require me to suffer crucifixion, as it has for Someone else. He didn’t run from false accusations and sinful people, so I guess I shouldn’t either, especially since I’m one of them myself.

I’m getting pretty tired of reading blogs and articles that condemn the youth pastor position as not being a credible Biblical church role. I understand all their arguments why youth pastors shouldn’t be called “pastors” and why it’s not a God-inspired position and blah blah blah, but can I be as arrogant to say that I disagree? It really comes down to an issue of hermeneutics, I guess, so it’s kinda pointless to continue arguing when both parties come from different principles for interpreting scripture. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter what they think since I know the Lord’s calling on my life and that I am obediently following Him to the best of my ability. No one can deter me from that. As members of the body of Christ, though, I have the freedom to say they’re wrong but still enjoy fellowship with them if the opportunity arises — let’s just agree to disagree and talk about something that doesn’t directly attack my passion in life and my position in it.

As far as I understand scripture, when it describes the roles of pastors and the church, there are some very specific instructions for what’s expected. These are absolutes that are unquestionable. However, the model of the early church I do not think is a prescription that mandates we imitate the exact same thing today — rather, it’s a description of what they did in their day that encourages us to be creative in meeting the needs of our day. Paul was a church planter and moved to a new church every three years or so. Does that mean that pastors today must not stay in one place longer than three years? No. I am a youth pastor and am clearly created to serve teenagers. Does that mean everyone must serve teenagers the way I do? No. The question really comes down to whether one believes the New Testament examples are prescriptions for ministry today or only descriptions of what they did that give principles for us today. My position is the latter. Two-thousand years have passed since the early church and the game is still the same, but the playing field is completely different.

That’s my deal and I’m not gonna bother arguing it any more. It really doesn’t make a difference to me if you call me “pastor” or “director” or “coordinator” or whatever fits your theological position. In my mind, function is much more important than title. Just let me follow the Lord’s calling on my life and please don’t discourage others who are doing the same.

By popular request, I’m adding more pictures of my new niece. Yes, she is absolutely adorable and a whole lot of fun. I’ll throw in some other random pictures from yesterday and today, as well.

Today all the grandparents and relatives from my mom’s side came over for Thanksgiving meal. It was cool to see them and catch up with my cousins a little, but the highlight of this week so far was last night at church. During Thanksgiving Eve service a family walked in the back door that we haven’t seen for 10+ years. My brothers and I used to be good friends with their kids and enjoy lots of memories together. They somehow seemed to disappear and we lost contact for quite some time. Throughout the years I often wondered about them, what happened, and where life had taken them, so it was great to finally reconnect. Hopefully we can continue to stay in touch now.

This weekend will also be a big highlight for me as Kym comes up from Virginia Beach and Alicia comes in from Florida to visit. It’s always great to see Kym because she’s like my second mom. Seeing Alicia will be great also because she’s another childhood friend of mine that I haven’t seen for over five years. Tomorrow morning we’re all helping my brother and his wife, Dan and Maggie, load up their U-Haul since they’re moving to Minneapolis this Sunday after lunch, so it will be an eventful weekend all around.

Here are some more pictures: Continue Reading

After a pretty uneventful flight to Philly, I’m finally here with my family enjoying some much needed rest after a crazy weekend in Nashville. The flight was pretty empty, which was cool. Although I usually look forward to meeting new people on flights, my whole row of seats was empty, allowing me to stretch out and rest. Ahhh… so nice.

Last night my brother and his wife brought over their daughter, Ruby Ann, and gave me the opportunity to meet her for the first time. I was so excited! Unfortunately I have a fever blister (cold sore), which I always get whenever I’m really tired and worn out, so I couldn’t kiss her or anything, but it was fun to finally hold her and play a little after seeing the pictures and video clips of her on our family’s site the past couple months.

The rest of the family will arrive later today from Houston and Lynchburg. It will be the last time all the family will be together until next year sometime, since my brothers and their wives will be away for Christmas.

I meant to bring my notes from the NYWC to PA so I could blog other thoughts about the Youth Specialties convention, like summaries from my team’s debriefing/discussion meetings and a list of areas speakers recommended that we need to do differently in youth ministry, but I accidentally left them on the coffee table in my apartment, so I guess I’ll blog those things when I get home next week.