NYWC #0: Anticipation

Hello friends!

Every year, Christmas comes in November for me. The one thing I look forward to more than most things every year is a chance to take a trip to the host city of choice, relax with some fellow youth workers, all the while digging and learning how to master our craft a little bit better.

As I mentioned last year, I had some concerns. I think most of those are gone, and have been replaced by concerns of sharing a bus with 4 smelly youth leaders for 10 hours on a trip to Nashville. But today, I want to share a little bit about what I'm looking forward to at the Youth Workers Convention this year:

• Worshiping Crowder. Jars of Clay. Brandon Heath. Starfield. How can you not get excited about letting these folks lead you in worship.
  
• Fellowship Each year we go to the convention, there's time to hang out with friends from here in the 'Burgh as well as meet some new friends. (Small moment of regret: Ed has to stay behind because of classes. Truly, my heart breaks for this.)
  
• Food We eat like pigs wherever we are.
  
• Rest Every year, without fail, I will choose a block of seminars to skip and take a nap in a hotel room. I long for this right now. I could use a rest.
  
• Tic Long I heard him give a message on leadership a couple of years ago, and I would love to hear him give a similar message again after all he's been through.
  
• Marko Same deal as Tic. These guys have a tremendous amount to teach us.
  
• Coffee As if I needed an excuse, coffee is always in over-abundance at the convention. The fact that we're driving down instead of flying will only increase my final input.
  
• Time with Sarah This year, Sarah is making the trip with us. This is sheer joy.
  
• Breakout Sessions I took a quick glance at the schedule, and found at least 2-3 sessions I want to be at in each block. If only I could find a way to split myself into three different people.
  
• Blogging I always enjoy blogging through my thoughts at the convention every year. Last year I worked through the theme of how 6 years into my youth ministry career things were essentially the same, but totally different. Who knows what I'll come up with this year!
  

Are you coming to the convention this weekend? What are you looking forward to?

Godspeed,

Jason

Prayer as a conversation

Good morning friends!

This morning, it was really affirmed for me that one of my favorite parts of my job is to meet with people one on one and have a conversation with them. I love to preach, I love to lead worship, and of course I love dodgeball. But in truth, I don't love any of those as much as I love getting to know a person through a conversation over a cup of coffee.

After a meeting this morning with a new friend, I started to think about how our prayer life is really meant to be like this. I don't know if God is a fan of Starbucks or not, but I think our prayer life should more mirror the kinds of conversations we have with our friends than it does a formal speech or presentation. And so, as I'm working on a new devotional for students and for folks at the Bridge, I thought I'd share some thoughts and tips on how to view prayer as a conversation.

1. Let God do some speaking.

I've said on this blog about a few thousand times that we Americans are terrible at sitting still, being quiet, and listening for the voice of God. Some times we even complain that we feel distant from God, that he's not around to answer our prayers. The truth is, we so frequently don't give God any room in our prayers to talk to us.

One of the ways God speaks most clearly to his people is through his word. The Bible is in fact the inspired (literally: God breathed) word of God, so naturally it has some of God's very words for us today! The Bible is an incredibly effective prayer tool among other things, so spend some time in the scriptures to see what God might have to say to you.

2. Honesty is the best policy.

Some times I know in my own journey I hold back from God. I feel like I'll be struck with lightning if I complain about the tiny things that are happening in my life. God surely has bigger and better things to deal with, right?

I don't know that there's anything more important to God than getting to know the heart of his people. If you're struggling with something, make sure you take it to God. If you are feeling angry with God, know that he's a big God and he can handle it. Surprisingly few people have ever actually been struck by lightning by God, so don't worry about that. If we affirm and believe that God is a loving and caring God, then we should know that he has our best interest in mind, and wants to get to the heart of what we're experiencing.

3. 21 days to a habit.

I have had friends who have told me that they want to keep in touch with me, that they really desire to be close. But then I don't hear from them for years on end, and so I am forced to doubt their desire. If they wanted to be in touch, they would be in touch.

The same thing goes with God. If we're serious about being with God, if we're serious about being closer to him, we should make a habit of going to him in prayer. Pick a time of day that works for you, and stick to it. There are tons of prayer books and guides out there if you need some help.

Are there any other tips that I left out? Anything that you have found helpful in your prayer life? Please feel free to share in the comments!

Godspeed,

Jason


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Location:University Dr A,Pittsburgh,United States

To our veterans

Hello friends!

I don't like war. I think more often than not, the wars we fight these days are not very well thought out. More often than not, I think at there are any number of ways we could solve our problems that didn't include tanks.

However...

I don't want anyone to be confused. When it comes to the men and women who have LITERALLY said to their nation "I lay my life down for you", I have nothing but the deepest respect. Their sacrifice is incredible. And today we say thank you.

Really, it's kind of ridiculous to think about the kind of freedoms we have been given by their commitment to us. Just a few days ago, I dressed up as a banana and danced on the side of the road all in the name of bringing kids to Jesus Christ. While it might take you years to figure out how I concocted those ideas, no one would question my freedom to do it.

So if you have served this nation in uniform, please know that my thanks and my prayers are with you. I know its probably not all that easy to come home. If you haven't served in uniform, I encourage you to say thank you. I know I wrote this post a little bit late in the day, but I bet you can still say thank you the day after veterans day. It'll still count!

Godspeed,

Jason


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Highview Dr,Upper St Clair,United States

Technological Sabbath

Hey friends,

Last Sunday I went down to the Open Door in Highland Park. It's so very rare to have a time of worship where I'm not in charge of something, and so I've been meaning to make a habit out of going to the Open Door to just worship!

BJ gave a sermon about taking a Sabbath that was really quite good. Truth be told, taking a Sabbath is something I'm fairly good at. Mondays are sacred days. There is to be no meeting. There is to be no office visits. I think three times in the four years I've been at Westminster I've come into the office on Monday to pick something up, but I try to do so under cover of darkness where no one can see me or ask me a question or anything. Literally, Monday's are sacred for me. So I was going into this sermon as though it were all review.

Not so! BJ encouraged those of us who are already taking a Sabbath to take it a step further. One of his specific suggestions struck me right between the eyes: What if you took a technology Sabbath?

I'm not sure if you can comprehend the difficulty that was posed to me in that suggestion. Ever since I got my iPhone and I could e-mail and Tweet and Facebook and even blog from anywhere I darn well felt like it, I was hooked. Addiction was hard and heavy. So, I make a vow to turn my e-mail accounts off, to not check Twitter or Facebook, and to only use my laptop to work on making music (more on this aspect of a Sabbath later...).

I survived!

Actually, it was quite pleasant. There were no angry e-mails waiting for me when I got to work this morning complaining about my sluggish response time. The J-Blog didn't fall apart without a Monday post (which, honestly, when was the last time I posted on a Monday anyway...). I didn't have hoards of angry tweets waiting for me. Truth be told, almost no one noticed I was gone.

Moreover, the lack of attention paid to technological vices freed up some time to do what I truly love to do on a Sabbath day. Ed and I went hunting in the morning. I spent the late morning/early afternoon song writing and recording a couple of things for a project I'm working on. I read this goofy thing composed of many pages bound together, I think it was called a book. I spent time with Sarah. What I thought would be a test of my endurance actually turned out to enrich my Sabbath experience.

Are you taking a Sabbath? If you are, could you take it a step further and take a rest from something distracting in your day?

Godspeed,

J

Worship from the beginning.

Hello friends,

As you may or may not be aware, I have this band that I play with every now and again. We are all in some way or another church workers who have decided to spend some of our free time by worshiping together, and leading the Pittsburgh area in some spirit filled and rock influenced worship.

We also have a ministry to each other, as some evenings just turn into lengthy conversations about what's going through our heads in terms of worship or church leadership or Pittsburgh sports. Last night we had one of those excellent conversations about the theology of worship, and I thought I'd share a little bit here.

Worship is exalting God, and proclaiming his goodness. Worship is saying "thank you" for the life giving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Worship is enjoying the gift of life that God has granted us even now (as opposed to waiting until the day we die to enjoy God's goodness). When we realize all of that, we realize that worship absolutely can't begin unless we recognize our need for Grace.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, particularly in terms of giving grace to myself. I go through these cycles of thinking I can make it on my own, that my charm or my sense of humor or my talent for speaking can save me, that I am in control. And for a while it's going to feel like I'm actually in control, that things are on the right track. But eventually, I will unravel. I will come undone. I will be spent. And I will realize that I was lying to myself all along, and that I am nothing without Christ's ever-persuing love.

To talk about your need for grace always sounds a little morbid. Oh wretch that I am, that sort of thing. Quite the opposite, I realize every time that I get to this place that I am a broken vessel, but Christ's love pieces me back together. That's why I sing. That's why I get up in the morning and go to work. That's why I speak to teenagers. It's because Christ's love is alive in me, and it needs to get out and see the world without me getting in the way.

I don't know how to convince myself to stay in this frame of mind, rather than reverting back to this sort of "I can do it on my own" attitude that so frequently prevails in my life. I'm going to keep working on that. But for now, know that we are all sinners, even the best and most put together of us. But thanks be to God that Christ comes to us and offers his love unconditionally, no matter how many times we've been down this path before. His arms are open, and I could use a good embrace.

Godspeed,

Jason

Spiritual Disciplines

Hello friends,

Yesterday was a kind of a rough day on me, at least in the opening sections. I'm not even really sure why. Perhaps it was the stress of the day mixed in with some nerves over a teaching I was giving on social networking (incidentally, if you were at said teaching, the slides are available right now at www.befreeveritas.com), or perhaps it was something else, but I just had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach like something was wrong and I couldn't place it.

What do you do when you have these days? Where do you turn?

This is why having spiritual disciplines is so important, and why I get so nervous when I realize how bad I am at it. A good baseball player has rehearsed every situation that could possibly come his way so that in a game situation, he's not thinking he's just reacting. The reason we commit scripture to memory, the reason we work through a liturgy of prayers, the reason we spend time in meditation is because when a game day situation arises, we will be prepared.

So what are some of the spiritual disciplines you can involve yourself with? I'm going to list a few that I want to work on, and perhaps we can work through them together.

1. Scripture Memorization
I have often brushed this aside in the past, partly because when I was growing up there were bible trivia teams in my church. There were actual competitions to see who had memorized the most scripture. But as I looked at these kids who had spent hours and hours memorizing scriptures and bible verses, I realized that very few of them knew what it meant. So I kind of wrote this discipline off.

It's only in recent days that I've really started to think about it seriously. If you memorize a piece of scripture, you can carry it with you everywhere you go. You don't need to open up a bible at every second to check on a particular wording. I think it's important to memorize not just quick verses that can quickly be taken out of context, but to memorize entire passages or stories. Right now, I'm going to try to work on memorizing the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), because that seems to be where I turn most often when I need some comfort or some assurance.

2. Journaling
I used to be in this habit, but something as of late has gotten in the way. Keeping a journal is a great way for those of us who work in the writing world to get some prayers and some thoughts out on paper. You can write out your prayers, keep ideas for later, or even straight out diary it up! This has always been helpful when I take one of my silent retreats, something that I need to do a bit more often as well.

3. Prayer Liturgy
For a little while, I was working through a series of books called the Divine Hours. These are a set of prayers that you work through in sequence through the day. It's helpful, because often times I can relate to the Psalmist in Psalm 77, where I tried to open my mouth but no words would come. Often times, unless something is wrong in my world, I don't exactly know what to pray for. And yet opening up the communication lines with God is an important part of every day. So having someone offer the text is fairly helpful from day to day.

What did I miss? Are there spiritual disciplines that you've found helpful that aren't listed here? I'd love to hear them!

Also, if you're looking for new ideas, my good friend Ed Cyzewski did a great series on 5 minute retreats a little while ago at his blog, and I would absolutely recommend checking them out.

Godspeed,

J

Some thoughts on politics.

Hello friends,

As often as possible, I try to shy away from political debate and discussion on the J-Blog. But you know, last night was a big night in our nation, and so where would we be without a little bit of post-game comments?

The first thing worth saying is that I'm hugely appreciative that the campaign season is over. I understand that folks were a bit angry with Washington this time around, and that campaign managers know how to take advantage of that fact. But it took until Monday, the day before the election, before I saw a single positive campaign ad. Everything was about how the other person would be the worst thing to happen to America since Rosanne Bar sang the national anthem...

I am a disenfranchised voter, one of those people those ads were aimed at. But not for the reasons they thought. I'm quite frankly tired of politics. I'm tired of promises that don't get fulfilled. I'm tired of people claiming they're more willing to compromise than their opponents, when no compromises are ever reached (a fact I'm certain will only become worse now that the congress is a divided body). And so, I would like to address everyone who is involved in politics for a second: I'm going to be turning off the news until one of you can show me an accomplishment. When you can do that, we'll talk. Until then, you're on probation.

But all of this got me thinking on Twitter yesterday about the way we present the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How many of us have seen someone carrying a sign or screaming into a bullhorn about how Hell is an awful terrible place, and that Jesus is your ticket out? If I hear one more time "What happens if you get hit by a bus on the way out of here tonight?" (How morbid are we?) This line of thinking is a sort of negative campaign ad for Jesus. It's not about how good Christ is, it's about how horrible the Devil (or the world, or pop music, or Justin Beiber) is.

And so now I turn my gaze to you my fellow Christians. I've given up on the politicians, but I think there's hope yet for us. It's time to stop the negative campaign ads, and time to start showing the grace and the goodness of Jesus Christ. If God's grace is enough for us, then we should be able to share Christ's love without the negativity or the scare tactics.

Who will join me? Let's put an end to negativity, and embrace love.

Godspeed,

J