more will be revealed

Yep, that’s not me. So this is only my second post of the month! What’s up with that??? Ah well. It’s been busy. Things at church have been going well. I spoke this past Sunday on Psalm 51, sharing with the high schoolers about David’s response to his sin being exposed by the prophet Nathan. Check out the story in 2 Samuel 11-12 if you are not familiar with it. It was the first time I’ve spoken for the high schoolers in quite some time, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. I had several students and leaders come up to me to tell me that it was a good message, so that was encouraging. Looking back, I wish I had asked them what made them think it was good, to find out really what spiritual lesson they were taking away from it. I missed some good opportunities to possibly helps students gain a deeper understanding of what was shared.

What’s interesting about all of this, and ironic as well, is that the every the majority of teenagers have never had anyone ask them what they believed about spiritual matters. You might be wondering why any of this is ironic, and I say that because the book our student ministry staff is going through together (which means I’m reading it) is a detailed analysis of the religiousity of American teenagers, one of the most comprehensive studies every done. While there are many positives that have been uncovered, the significant negatives are discouraging, yet a challenge. I think the biggest piece of evidence affecting a teens spiritual depth that stands out to me in such a powerful way is the influence of parents.

Parents ARE the biggest influencer of teenagers. Most think otherwise. And so it is encouraging to find research saying that many teenagers are open to the Gospel, but discouraging to think of the weak faith that those same teens see in their parents. So we’ve been asking ourselves…what might need to change in our student ministry in order to combat these trends that we’ve been reading about? It is something we’re going to journey together through, and I’m so thankful that I’m part of a team that values making God’s Word relevant to the ever changing culture of our students.

One sidenote that might become a post (if I make the time):

Should we pray for those who are sick and dying? If so, why? Why do we ask for prayer for those who are sick and dying in the first place? Is it because we believe (subconsiously) that living the Christian life should be free from pain? Is it because when people pray for a loved one of ours that is sick or dying, it makes us feel better? Is it a microscopic piece of evidence that American Christianity does not want to deal with pain, death, dying, suffering, emotional loss, etc? By no means am I trying to minimize sickness and death. I’m simply asking the questions sparked by a conversation earlier this morning.

In other news, the training is going ok. I’ve bumped up my running to around 5 miles. I haven’t swam or biked enough though. Oh, I just got a sweet heart rate monitor last week! I’m really excited about using it…I know it’s going to help me a heck of a lot!

One final note: Chris Tomlin is playing a free concert this Friday downtown. I’m heading over there with some friends…it should be really good, so try to make it if you can!

I’m off to work with The Drew to finish up some work for a meeting tomorrow with a potential client for 114design. It’s gonna be a late night!

(I think this post has a record number of external links for me)

Posted on Monday, June 20th, 2005 at 11:47 pm in God-thoughts, church life, latest in my life | rss feed for comments| Leave a response, or trackback