It has been on my heart now for over 1 year to see an Area wide Worship Gathering for Young Adults and College Students from all over the Philadelphia area. How powerful would that be to see 1) unity throughout the body of Christ across denominational lines 2) hundreds of passionate young adults/college students crying out in worship to God to see their generation and this city of Philadelphia changed by the power of God.
Young Adult ministry is still new and many groups can be on the smaller side. My heart would be that those existing young adult/college groups would take part in this and it would ignite passion and fervor into their local group by coming together with young adults from all around the Philly area. A friend of mine who has been doing youth ministry in Philadelphia for 13 years keeps telling me how there are not many young adult groups or ministries out there in the city.
My prayer is that this monthly gathering would provide a home to young adults seeking a faith community, as well as help start new young adult or college groups or ministries in the area. God has stirred my heart to stop thinking about this, but to make it a reality.
So on Sunday September 11th at 6pm at Calvary Assembly of God in Wyncote (www.thce.org) , it begins. We will be having a special kick-off service with Special Guest Worship form Four24 music. www.four24.com. As well as special music by Justified and BandTastic. And a relevant life-changing message by myself, Young Adult Pastor at Calvary Wyncote.
I can’t wait to see what God starts on Sept 11th and see what happens each 1st Sunday of each month. I’m excited.Flyers, Website and Promo Video coming Soon!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter Thoughts and Reflections - All about Surprise
So every major Christian holiday I always have an urge to not just go with the flow and get caught up in saying and thinking the same things that we all do every holiday. I try not to get caught up in the hype and everything, but seek to reflect and ponder and authentically seek contemplate about what happened.
Why? Maybe bc I'm young, I like to go against the grain and i'm just idealistic. Maybe becuae I really do seek and strive after authenticity and dont want something so special to become a mere routine or religious exercise. Maybe a little bit of both.....
Anyway here are my thoughts.....
First... in thinking about the routine and the expected of Easter Sunday at church... I was reminded of the importance of Christians all around the world celebrating the day that Jesus rose from the dead.... Bc as the Apostle Paul says... everything is in vain if Christ did not conquer death..... Everything we do in church would be pointless if not for this one day in history.
So while its easy to think of all the cheesy stuff that goes on on Easter, how routine and commercialzed it can become... even in the church.... We still must not forget the significance of celebrating this day..
Second .... a big theme that stood out to me this Easter was that of "Surprise" in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Surprise throughout the story of the Bible.
The Mystery that is our salvation - Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Why would God chose to work this way to bring salvation. To our logic it makes no sense, to us it would seem folish... But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise (1 Cor 1:27)..
This mystery is the surprise of Hope.. God doing things that totally catch us off guard and surprise us... it makes it that much more beautiful.
Surprises throughout the Passion Narrative
Religious Leaders killed Jesus
-Becuase they were unwilling to accept the surprise of the Messiah coming in such an unexpected way with such an unexpected plan... We always think we have God figured out and have him in our little box, that we totally miss his plans and ways... bc we are not open to surprise.
God takes on human flesh
-why the religious leaders accussed Jesus of blasphemy, becuase they expected a messiah, a representative sent of God, not God Himself to show up.... They couldnt even see the beauty and hope in this surprise bec they were too wrapped up in thier own expectations.
Wheat among tares
-the people expected the Messiah to bring his kingdom to power with a military arm and by force... They missed the beauty of the kingdom showing up by death that would lead to life...
...They missed the beauty that the kingdom of God would grow up among and amidst the other kingdoms of this world...
So this brings me to my reflections upon the traditions and things that happen on Easter Sunday in churches
People who have been out of church for a while come back
Its easy for us to think, what is going on in this person's life, they havent been to church in so long, glad they made it out for easter, maybe they'll get saved today for real...
...But do we forget that Story of Easter... It was the relgious people who killed Jesus... the theives and sinners were the people who actually recognized who Jesus was before His crucifixion....
Surprise
We act like the religious people who killed Jesus
-We want Jesus to be the way we want and expected him to be and when He's not... when He surprises you.. how will you act?
God is moving outside the church as much as inside during Easter
-I expereienced this on Good Friday.. Challenged with the idea if we should cancel our community coffee house becuase of good friday.. We didnt... we stayed open.. and had great intereactions with the people who came out... If I had been stuck in my way of expecting God to only move in the church.. I would have missed interactions and missed seeing God at work outside the church
Wheat among the tares
-The day after Easter Sunday speaks volumes in determining the wheat among the tares... Will your life still celebrate the resurection of JEsus the day after Easter
We sing all about Jesus being Lord of our lives on Easter Sunday... what about Easter Monday...the things that you sung that Jesus can save, heal and restore.... will you now live in such a way?
Why? Maybe bc I'm young, I like to go against the grain and i'm just idealistic. Maybe becuae I really do seek and strive after authenticity and dont want something so special to become a mere routine or religious exercise. Maybe a little bit of both.....
Anyway here are my thoughts.....
First... in thinking about the routine and the expected of Easter Sunday at church... I was reminded of the importance of Christians all around the world celebrating the day that Jesus rose from the dead.... Bc as the Apostle Paul says... everything is in vain if Christ did not conquer death..... Everything we do in church would be pointless if not for this one day in history.
So while its easy to think of all the cheesy stuff that goes on on Easter, how routine and commercialzed it can become... even in the church.... We still must not forget the significance of celebrating this day..
Second .... a big theme that stood out to me this Easter was that of "Surprise" in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Surprise throughout the story of the Bible.
The Mystery that is our salvation - Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Why would God chose to work this way to bring salvation. To our logic it makes no sense, to us it would seem folish... But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise (1 Cor 1:27)..
This mystery is the surprise of Hope.. God doing things that totally catch us off guard and surprise us... it makes it that much more beautiful.
Surprises throughout the Passion Narrative
Religious Leaders killed Jesus
-Becuase they were unwilling to accept the surprise of the Messiah coming in such an unexpected way with such an unexpected plan... We always think we have God figured out and have him in our little box, that we totally miss his plans and ways... bc we are not open to surprise.
God takes on human flesh
-why the religious leaders accussed Jesus of blasphemy, becuase they expected a messiah, a representative sent of God, not God Himself to show up.... They couldnt even see the beauty and hope in this surprise bec they were too wrapped up in thier own expectations.
Wheat among tares
-the people expected the Messiah to bring his kingdom to power with a military arm and by force... They missed the beauty of the kingdom showing up by death that would lead to life...
...They missed the beauty that the kingdom of God would grow up among and amidst the other kingdoms of this world...
So this brings me to my reflections upon the traditions and things that happen on Easter Sunday in churches
People who have been out of church for a while come back
Its easy for us to think, what is going on in this person's life, they havent been to church in so long, glad they made it out for easter, maybe they'll get saved today for real...
...But do we forget that Story of Easter... It was the relgious people who killed Jesus... the theives and sinners were the people who actually recognized who Jesus was before His crucifixion....
Surprise
We act like the religious people who killed Jesus
-We want Jesus to be the way we want and expected him to be and when He's not... when He surprises you.. how will you act?
God is moving outside the church as much as inside during Easter
-I expereienced this on Good Friday.. Challenged with the idea if we should cancel our community coffee house becuase of good friday.. We didnt... we stayed open.. and had great intereactions with the people who came out... If I had been stuck in my way of expecting God to only move in the church.. I would have missed interactions and missed seeing God at work outside the church
Wheat among the tares
-The day after Easter Sunday speaks volumes in determining the wheat among the tares... Will your life still celebrate the resurection of JEsus the day after Easter
We sing all about Jesus being Lord of our lives on Easter Sunday... what about Easter Monday...the things that you sung that Jesus can save, heal and restore.... will you now live in such a way?
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Stop and let God do something in you, before you can do something for Him
"Be still and know I am God"
We need to let life happen to us more often, and stop trying ot make life happen for us
We wanna do so much for God
-But how about simply wanting and letting Him do something in us and to us
The ministry can get so productivity focused at times
We feel we must make things happen for God
We feel we must keep producing fruit
And this is ALL GOOD
Just like it is good to produce fruit as a Christian, the problem is when we get too wrapped up in producing fruit in and of ourselves. And forget that fruit is simply a by-product of what God is doing in us.
Stop and take time to let God do something in your life and ministry, slow down, if He is not working in you and speaking to you, your no good to those you lead or your ministry.
Plan more white space (empty space) in your calendar. Leave time for God to speak and do something in you.
We need to let life happen to us more often, and stop trying ot make life happen for us
We wanna do so much for God
-But how about simply wanting and letting Him do something in us and to us
The ministry can get so productivity focused at times
We feel we must make things happen for God
We feel we must keep producing fruit
And this is ALL GOOD
Just like it is good to produce fruit as a Christian, the problem is when we get too wrapped up in producing fruit in and of ourselves. And forget that fruit is simply a by-product of what God is doing in us.
Stop and take time to let God do something in your life and ministry, slow down, if He is not working in you and speaking to you, your no good to those you lead or your ministry.
Plan more white space (empty space) in your calendar. Leave time for God to speak and do something in you.
Learning from the Unexpected
You ever learn from someone you think you have nothing to learn from?
It's humbling, but powerful.
It's humbling for my generation (18-30 year olds) especially.
Recently heard an elderly lady in the faith, a devoted follower of Jesus Pray
"Sometimes I just get happy all by myself when I think about your goodness Lord"
Sounds cheesy,but it was at a time when God spoke to me very specifically that day that I needed to learn and hear from those older in the faith then me.
Humbling for a young guy in ministry with all his idealogies and everything still.
But I think in general my generation needs to learn from those who have gone before us in the faith. While our approaches to church and how ministry is done are worlds apart. And while we have seen the mistakes of those who have gone before us in the church and we don't want to repeat them.
There is something that we can learn from the consistency of those in the Faith, who have been for years and still are following Jesus. Their consistency, dedication, persistence. I hope that can be me. So while that line in that prayer sounded very cheesy, there was a lot of power behind it.
someone who for years has followed Jesus and still can get happy just sitting there thinking about God's goodness to her. There is some power in that and i respect it.
It's humbling, but powerful.
It's humbling for my generation (18-30 year olds) especially.
Recently heard an elderly lady in the faith, a devoted follower of Jesus Pray
"Sometimes I just get happy all by myself when I think about your goodness Lord"
Sounds cheesy,but it was at a time when God spoke to me very specifically that day that I needed to learn and hear from those older in the faith then me.
Humbling for a young guy in ministry with all his idealogies and everything still.
But I think in general my generation needs to learn from those who have gone before us in the faith. While our approaches to church and how ministry is done are worlds apart. And while we have seen the mistakes of those who have gone before us in the church and we don't want to repeat them.
There is something that we can learn from the consistency of those in the Faith, who have been for years and still are following Jesus. Their consistency, dedication, persistence. I hope that can be me. So while that line in that prayer sounded very cheesy, there was a lot of power behind it.
someone who for years has followed Jesus and still can get happy just sitting there thinking about God's goodness to her. There is some power in that and i respect it.
In the News
Common Grounds Coffee House made the ChesnutHill Local Newspaper
http://chestnuthilllocal.com/blog/2011/01/21/also-serving-sweet-music-thanks-to-lemon-free-food-and-coffee-at-the-new-coffee-house-in-g’town/
Also made the Penn-Del District of the Assemblies of God paper.
www.penndel.org/connexions (page 8) Winter 2010-2011 edition
http://chestnuthilllocal.com/blog/2011/01/21/also-serving-sweet-music-thanks-to-lemon-free-food-and-coffee-at-the-new-coffee-house-in-g’town/
Also made the Penn-Del District of the Assemblies of God paper.
www.penndel.org/connexions (page 8) Winter 2010-2011 edition
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