The Warrior Report

God's Presence, what does it feel like?

2010-11-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

Last week we talked about how we can feel God's presence as an overwhelmingly cosmic, powerful force; one that is daunting, fear inspiring and ,well, kinda cranky. God in that view wants us to follow the rules or else!

Today's view shows a drastically different view of God, but it is no less valid than last week's illustration. In today's lesson we see God and human in partnership in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Christ, as many churches teach, was both fully human and fully divine and thus presented a radically different view of God. Take for example the actions of Jesus in Mark 5. In that chapter, Jesus Christ is called to the house of Jairus to heal his sick daughter. But upon getting to the house, Christ is informed that the daughter has died and His services are no longer needed. However Christ questions the mourners, saying “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” He then goes into the girl's room and brings her back to life.

This is extremely different from the vision of God in Exodus isn't it? In Christ we see a loving God who seeks to heal, restore and turn mourning into joy. Christ does not force himself on anyone, rather he builds and works through the relationships with his followers. In that Christ is more akin to a companion; someone who walks with us, heals us and restore our relationship with God.

We can feel this Christ in many different ways. Maybe for you it will be through reading His teachings and understanding how the Lord of all is seeking to reach you. Or it could be through the acts of people around you who love you and support you. Heck, it could even be in a church our youth group, because that is where the people of God gather to worship, study and praise.

What are you feeling so far? Do you feel the immense presence of the God or is it the companionship of Jesus Christ? Again, either is valid way to feel God. But God is always working to lead you somewhere, so if you are feeling these things, it means that God is up to something. We would love to hear all about it so feel free to share it in the comments section!

Hope all is well and you had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

In Christ,
Bryson

God's Presence, what does it feel like?

2010-11-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hi All! We are back in action in the blog world! I hope you have missed us!

For our first post back, I thought I would provide some visual assistance for the issue we talked about last night. In that meeting, we are talking about what God's presence might feel like because several of us were unsure about it after Youth Sunday. Unfortunately, that is a very difficult question to answer because as there are 6 billion humans, there are 6 billion ways to feel God. That's right! Each person feels God's presence differently but that does not mean we can't analyze some of the commonalities that our experiences share. I feel that we can break them down into three broad categories. All of these are valid ways to feel God's presence but I thinki that God utilizes some methods more than others. We will analyze these over the next few days.I want to spread this out a little bit. Take a look and let me know what you think:

1) God as fearful and all powerful Deity

Scripture basis: Exodus 19: 16-24

Breakdown: In these verses, God appeared to Moses and the Hebrews in a giant ball of Flame. There were sounds of trumpets, smoke everywhere and the earth shook. As a result the people were terrified. God was very angry, threatening death and judgment for those who did not follow God's announcement.

How is God presence felt: In these verses, God physically interacts with the people. But God shows Godself to be no mere being! God comes down showing every aspect of God's power, showing how mighty God is compared to the people. Thus, the people are justifiably terrified and in awe of God who is obviously the most powerful entity in the cosmos.

What it means to us: People still feel God in this way; as the overwhelming force, the literal God of everything. Some people also feel God talking to them, urging them to follow the straight and narrow lest they risk punishment.

In my opinion, God does not utilize this method as much to communicate with modern humans. If God did, we would hear more about it than the scattered accounts that we hear today. This is not to say that it is not a valid method, it is just not as prominent as it once was. Why this is so will probably never be known. Who knows, maybe we can all ask God one day :).

As far as determining weather the presence you are feeling is valid, we will get there over the next few days.

Take care!

Bryson

Sabbatical

2010-10-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

The blog will be taking a sabbatical due to our recent abundance of ministry events. We will try to get back up and running when things calm down here in a few weeks. Until then hit us up on facebook!

In Christ,
Bryson

Running with a Purpose

2010-10-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

The runners tense up, its almost time. They stand in their starting lanes, staring to the distant finish line while finishing their stretching. Finally, they lower themselves into the blocks, grinding their feat against the metal, ready to explode into a frenzy of energy. Then the voice of the official:

"On your marks. . . get set . . . GO!" [BANG!]

And the race begins.This phrase is typical of track events across the country. Whether it is a 100 meter sprint or a long cross country race, these 3 phrases are what start the runners into action.

The ultimate goal of these runners is always the same, they want to cross the finish line before any of the competition. But there are many other sub-strategies that will affect how a race is run. For example, sprinters will focus on getting a good, explosive start that propels them quickly towards their top speed. Long distance runners though do not put an emphasis on the start of a race, rather they try to set a pace that will allow them to use their energy as efficiently as possible. Beyond this, there is plenty of preparation that occurs before and after the race. Runners will make sure to get plenty of sleep, eat the right foods and get the right mindset before they even set foot out on the running course. But these on only a small selection of what runners do to prepare. Truly, there are so many elements that individual runners do that it would be impossible to list them all here.

When you think about it, a race is a splendid metaphor for life in general. But the race of our lives is far different than your normal 100m dash. The race of our lives is long, twisting, confusing course that requires us to get over obstacles and continually adapt our pace to the events that are happening. This includes our faith lives as we are constantly trying to negotiate barriers to our faith while trying to spread the good news to the world. It is a long, tiring race that requires a lot of devotion and calls us to create strategies that help us run better. But what could these be? What should we do to run a better Christian race?

The apostle Paul gives us a very good answer in his first letter to the Corinthians. In the 9th chapter of the epistle, Paul tells the Corinthians:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Do you see the running strategy outlined here? Paul tells us to run to get the prize, a coaching tip I am sure many people are saying "well, duh!" after reading. But thankfully, Paul provides some excellent supporting points to tell us how to do this. He tells us not to run aimlessly, or box the air. Basically he is telling us not to waste our energy on things that will not benefit us, to step away from the sinful practices that weigh us down. Instead he tells us to make our bodies into slaves; to turn ourselves into devoted entities that faithfully carry out every order and work diligently to carry our tasks out. Basically, we are doing everything that athletes do to get ready and run a race. We eat right by feasting on our daily bread and the word of God. We rest on the Sabbath and focus on where God is leading. And through our growth we gain confidence that we take into the race ahead of us. All these elements combined will help us run effective races and achieve the goal we seek.

To do this, we need to take this thought out of the page and put it into action in our lives. So I ask you, what can you do to become a better faith runner? What training methods will help you gain the prize?

Something to ponder,

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Wrestling with God

2010-09-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Wrestling, it is one of the oldest sports that is still played today. It was around in Ancient Greece and on any given weekend during the winter, you can walk into most middle/high schools and see tournaments where wrestlers use moves and techniques that have been around for centuries! It is a sport that deals with base human instincts like a want for power, aggression and the need to bend our opponents to our will. It is definitely a brutal sport, but it's also more than its physical components. Wrestling is also a sport of will that features two combatants who are trying to use pure determination to outlast and outmaneuver their opponent. In the end the goal is to achieve total domination; to get your opponent to surrender or beat them until they cannot fight back. Most matches do not end this way however. In many cases, the opponents are so evenly matched that the struggle remains close and the opponents are forced to use every ounce of strength and will to stay in the match. In the end though, one person always comes away with the victory meaning that their agenda won the match.

In terms of our lives, we are all wrestlers. Unlike school wrestlers however, we wrestle with more than just other humans. We wrestle with issues from school, relationships, ideas, actions and change. We argue with our parents and spouses, we disagree with how our favorite sports team tried to score in the big game (honestly Denver Broncos, 5 times in the red zone and only 1 touchdown??? Who the heck was calling those plays? Stupid Chiefs). Yes we are constantly at odds with the world around us and are many cases trying to force our will over our opponents. This is especially true in our faith lives as we are constantly wrestling against sin and even with God, the creator of all things! Think about it for a second. When have you been at odds with God in your life? Did you hear the call of the Spirit to avoid a sinful act only to decide that you knew better and do it anyway? Or maybe you have been praying for a loved one who is sick and getting worse and you do not know where God is or even if God is acting at all. There are many different variations of these things going on in our faith lives. Basically, there are many times when we get locked in a struggle with the Creator and are trying to understand why God is acting the way God is when he should be doing what we think is best.

Well, we are definitely not the first people to engage in this battle of wills with God. The first took place way back in the Genesis times (Genesis 32 to be exact) when Jacob was afraid for his life and trying to escape across the Jabbok river. Why was he doing this you ask? Well, Jacob was running because just over the horizon was his twin brother Esau and 400 of his best men. Jacob was terrified because he thought that Esau was coming for revenge for the birthright and blessing that Jacob has stolen years before. Jacob was convinced that his brother would kill him and his family so he sought to escape across the river to safety. God however had other plants. The Bible tells us that the night before Jacob's escape he encountered a man who wrestled with him until morning. And what a wrestling match it was! It went for an entire night with no one gaining a clear advantage. But his opponent was no ordinary man, the scriptures say it was God who opposed Jacob that night and eventually caused Jacob's hip to come out of its socket. Jacob was tenacious though and despite his injury, he still fought. Eventually, the match concluded with God renaming Jacob with the new title of Israel; literally changing him from Jacob (which means fibber/deceiver) into Israel (the "chosen people"). With this new name, Jacob walked away (albeit with a limp) a changed man and went straight to his brother to ask for forgiveness. Shockingly his brother Esau threw his arms around him, telling him that he had never desired to hurt but only to welcome his brother back to Canaan.

So what can we learn from this? Well, God wanted Jacob to turn back and to confront the issues with his brother. As a result the relationship was repaired allowing love and grace to flow into both brother's lives. To do this, God had to wrestle long and hard with Jacob. Whether the encounter was a physical one or a metaphor for a spiritual battle in unclear. But it is clear that it was quite the match, one that we can learn from. In Jacob, we should be able to see ourselves hammering on God, trying to get our various points and agendas across. God on the other hand is clearly not fighting to God's full ability because he allows Jacob to remain in the conflict. God's act was that of a parent who wrestles with their children, but does not use full strength because He does not want to dominate us. Yet he pop Jacob's hint to forever remind him of the lessons learned from the match. God does the same thing when God wrestles us.

I feel that this description of this match is a-typical of all human/God wrestling encounters. We go into the fight grappling for all we are worth, trying to push our human agenda on God. But God, while God does grapple back, merely tries to outlast us while still loving us through our dark times. In the end, we always succumb to God and gain a reminder of the match in the process. Then we see the path that God wanted us to walk all along and we learn to trust for the next time.

What issues do you wrestle with God with? How can you learn to trust and see the correct path that God wants us to walk? Something to ponder.

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Soccer, the Game of Aim

2010-09-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's confession time. I do not like the game of Soccer.

And its not like I haven't tried to to like it. I sat through World Cup games this past summer and saw Landon Donovon's now legendary goal. I used to watch the English Premier League which is widely regarded to be one of the finest soccer leagues in the world. I have also seen some Champion's League games which takes the best teams from every league on Earth and pits them against each other to figure out who really is the number one . But despite all this, I still cannot stand soccer. What can I say? I like games where points are scored in large numbers and it is not possible to end in a 0-0 tie. I also appreciate players who get actual injuries instead of soccer players who go down like they have been shot after being barely touched. And don't even get me started on soccer hooligan fans. . .(I say this mainly because I do not want to get bombarded by trash, batteries and flares by crazed Manchester United fans on my way out to my car tonight).

However, there are some things about soccer that I must acknowledge. It is undoubtedly the most elegant sport on Earth. Its players are masters of movement and can dribble the ball in many incredible ways. They can also shoot the soccer ball with precision accuracy and put some some crazy spin on their kicks. If you ever get the chance please take a look at some of these shots on Youtube. It is amazing how a shot can start off 6 feet outside the goal post and then eventually curve in over the outstretched hand of the goalie to score a point. It is truly a very impressive feat, one that if it happened more often might case me to actually be interested in soccer. Anyway, being that soccer is a game of ball movement having good aim is extremely important for success. If a player's aim is good, he/she will be able to make good passes to set up teammates and shoot the ball away from the goal keeper. If the aim is bad, passes will be intercepted, scoring chances missed and shots sailed wide of the net. Basically, aim is everything in soccer.

This is also true of our lives as Christians as well. As followers of Christ we are called to follow His teachings and commit ourselves to spreading the gospel. Unfortunately, it is a very difficult path to follow as we constantly slip up, get lost and go off in our own directions. In essence, our aim is not true as we are constantly not doing what we should. In church terms, this human propensity to miss God's mark, is called sin [insert dramatic music here]. Sin is something that a major hotbutton issue in the church and world today. It is so prominent that many unchurched people know what it is and understand how it is a serious moral offense. But it is more than that, it is something that isolates us from God and causes a gap in our relationships. It threatens to cut us off from our support systems and enslaves us to its purposes. I wish I could tell you here exactly what actions constitute sin but there are far to many to do so. But since I want to give you an idea of what sin is, I will list off the seven major categories (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) each of which has a link which should explain them. There are so many different variations of these though, so if you have any questions please feel free to get a hold of me about them.

Sin also fits in quite well with our illustration of a soccer game. The word sin in its base Greek form means to "miss the mark" or have errant aim which would translate to the many missed shots and opportunities in soccer. And as we are called to score goals so that the gospel may be spread, our inability to do so makes our position on the team very tenuous. After all, what franchise wants a player that constantly makes mistakes that might lose the game? Fortunately, our coach Jesus is not a typical coach. He knows that we are going to miss shots both accidentally and on purpose. And because He loves us so has taken it upon Himself to make sure that we stop that habit. Through His tutelage we need to learn to avoid missing and become the players He knows we can be. Yes, Christ is such a gracious coach, but there is still no reasons to keep missing our goals After all, if we keep missing and missing won't we get eventually from the team? Basically we need to as ourselves this question this week, How can you get better this week and allow Christ to address the sin that plagues you the most? How can you score more goals and not miss the mark as much? Something to think about. . .

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Down . . . Set. . . hut-hut-hut. . . . HIKE!

2010-09-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Football is by far the most popular in America today. Each week, millions of Americans tune in to watch their local high school, college and pro teams duke it out over one tiny pigskin ball. Many also find time to attend games in person and get so into the action that they feel the need to dress in ridiculous getups to show their devotion or fight people who support the opposition. Some fans even push the laws of good taste by getting tattoos, buying numerous expensive mementos or attending games with little to no covering because they prefer the feel of body pant. Personally, I never understood this tendency, but then again I am not a person who has the ability to write "GO TEAM! TAKE US TO THE SUPERBOWL IN DALLAS TEXAS IN FEBRUARY OF THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2011 OR DIE TRYING. HI MOM!!!!" while still having room to put a detailed portrait of his/her favorite player on their stomach. I guess if I had that much real estate to work with, I would definitely want to use it to support my team. But I digress from my point!

When you think about it though, football is truly a barbaric game. One one side, you have the offensive players who are desperately trying to run or pass the ball across the goal line to score. To do this, they have specialty roles for each player such as blockers who try to savagely hold off defensive players or quarterbacks who throw the ball to running-backs/receivers who catch and sprint with the hope of scoring an elusive touchdown. It is no less brutal or regimented for the defense either. It is their job to tackle the ball carriers by stopping them dead in their tracks and to do so they have specific players for each opposing position. And as both teams have the opportunity to play both offense and defense; a football game generally becomes a seesaw battle of strategy in which execution of a play becomes critical. Additionally, the better the players you have, generally the better your team will be. But even having good players is meaningless unless their is a good organization behind them. To maintain greatness you need systems of support like coaches, waterboys and talent scouts to help the players! Yes football is definitely a complicated sport, but it is one that can teach us a lot about what it is to be Christian.

No I am not talking about being a Christian that ruthlessly tackles people who have opposing views, (although having a stout defense against the opposition is important). What I am talking about is the principle of teamwork without which football could not be played and the gospel could not spread. Think about it for a sec, football is the ultimate game of teamwork! With out each player doing his job and holding true to the common mission of the team, individual players would get destroyed by the opposition! Furthermore there would be chaos, no one would know what play to run or how to get the ball into the endzone for the score. The same holds true for Christianity. But unlike normal teams, we are given the special play of accomplishing the Gospel call and fulfilling its elements of feeding the hungry, loving one another, healing the sick, loving God etc. To score a touchdown on this play, we need every team member fulfilling his/her duties lest the opposition gets through and tackles our players. But how can we, a church that is so divided by politics, race, theology and economy ever band together to get out and work as a team?

Well, in my opinion we can do so in three steps:

1) We need to get into the huddle and listen to the words of one of the best who ever played the game. He was one of the greatest, most legendary offensive forces of all time, someone who still hold many records. If he had a nickname it could have beet the Saul zaw for how he cut down people or the Bear Paul for how tenaciously he spread the faith. That's right, I am talking about the apostle Paul. To fully get his point, picture him addressing our team in the locker room like he addressed the divided church at Corinth saying "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." Basically he is telling us to unite around the message of our Coach, Jesus Christ, so that we might better play the game.

2) So how do we do this? We can do this by reaching out to other Christians and by loving everyone who crosses our path. By embracing this path of conciliation, we can begin to build bridges between people and establish the relationships that are necessary for team identity and team work.

3) We can also aid this by remembering our role as Christian "football players". Each of us has different gifts that we bring to the field. Some of us are excellent blockers, people who can go out and protect others by supporting them through the play. Others are called to go out and be the playmakers, the people who throw the pass/run the ball in order to spread the message. Finally there are the those who are supposed to work against the opposition by limiting their opportunity to score while still helping them realize the nature of our Message. Every position is different yet equally important and since there is no I in team it will take everyone on the roster to win!

So how can you go out into the world and better run the play that has been given to us? How can you reach out to your team so we become better and we limit the points scored against us? How can you be the best ball player you can be? Something to ponder!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

The Journey Begins (again)!

2010-08-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Welcome to the new school year! I know it seems like only yesterday when Summer finally got here and we were looking forward to three months of vacation. Well, as time so often does has passed along with the Summer and we are now looking at a nine month haul of a school year. Basically, we have quite the journey ahead of us and we have only started taking steps into it.

Speaking of trips and journeys? Have you ever gone on a trip that has changed your life? I am sure that we all have. I am guessing that most of us have taken vacations that we remember fondly or have gone to visit relatives in other places (ROADTRIP! With crying babies and annoying siblings no less!), or maybe we have even gone to another land and experienced another culture. But how do they change us? In my view when you think about it, each trip we have taken has changed us because we get out of our comfort zones and are stretched by the experiences we have. Some trips will stretch us further than others though depending upon how far it is from what we normally experience in our daily lives. For example, I remember my first mission trip because it was the first time that I was really out of my suburban Colorado setting. I went from a very wealthy, very Anglo area to an area that was dominated extreme poverty and substance abuse on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. I was shocked by what I saw because it was so strange and foriegn to me. Yet, I was able to learn and was inexorably changed by what I saw. Thus I was strengthened by my new experiences and what I did to help and subsequently came back a totally changed person. Have you ever had something like that? What was it like and how did it change you? Feel free to comment below.

Unfortunately, not all our trips change us for the better. There are too many times when we are hurt by what happens on our journeys. Sometimes things do not happen as we would like or the inevitable flat tire occurs which throws us off course. Regrettably, that is the nature of the trip but that doesn't me that we don't grow and change from the negative things learn. This was a lesson that the ancient Israelites learned very well during their Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. This trip was a very long and difficult one for the people. They had issues with getting enough water, food and were constantly in conflict with the tribes they met. However, these were balanced by the the monumentally good things that happened on the trip as well. These included getting the law from Moses which bonded what was a loose confederation of people into a group that had a central identity as Hebrews. They also became more organized as army groups were formed, leaders appointed and roles assigned to different tribes. Furthermore, God traveled with the people and they were able to learn what it was like to walk the journey with their Creator right beside them! All in all, these things outweighed the negatives and the Hebrews were able to enter the Promised Land and build a nation that would change the very course of history and eventually bring forth the Son of God!

Like the Hebrews before us, we too are on a journey. While ours is not quite like the Exodus, it does have many factors in common. We too are going to face our ups and downs and whether we like it or not there will be times when we are so down that we will not know what to do! That's right, in the upcoming year there will be plenty of awesome things like times spent with friends, high school dances, YOUTH GROUP!!!! sporting, good movies, tasty food and holidays. In those times we we will be experiencing the best of the journey and while we will grow from it we will not grow as much as when we are in the dumps. That's right friends, during this next year when we are experiencing drama at school, studying for last minute pop quizzes and trying to balance our lives we have the potential to grow the most. This is because like the trips that change us the most, these occurrences will be the ones that stretch us outside our comfort zones the most so we will be forced to grow. However, this is also the time when our faith in God can benefit us the most. If you look at the Exodus, the times when the people were at their lowest is where God showed up at God's best. Take a look at the Bible if you don't believe me! But here is the lesson in a nutshell: God can be the support to get you through the difficult barriers that are coming and God will be there to celebrate the good times as well. Plus your friends, family and YOUTH GROUP! will be there too. It is a lesson that you can learn from the trip ahead if you open your heart and if truly let God walk the journey with you, it will be possible to reap the most benefits! It is a lesson that the Hebrews learned and used to great affect as they became the chosen people, a people that God loves and brought so much good out of. So the question becomes, what can you learn if you let God walk the journey with you? How much will you be changed and how deep a person can you become?

Well, let us start out on the journey and find out together! I look forward to walking this journey with you all and I pray that God changes us all along the way! I am so proud of you all and I know this year of Youth Group is GOING TO ROCK! Much love to you all.

In Christ,
Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

FALL KICKOFF ON SUNDAY!

2010-08-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all ready to have an awesome time at Lazer Tag on Sunday because I know I am! Let me know if you want to go!

Bryson

Workcamp!

2010-07-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings my friends! What follows are the emails that I sent back to document what we were doing on the mission trip! That's right we were in Hulbert, OK all last week and we had an awesome time. I hope the email gives you all sort of an idea about what we did and the gospel that we were able to spread! Enjoy!:

Hello Everyone!

I promised everyone email updates during this camp and fortunately I get to be a man of my word! Thankfully, I get a good signal here so I can definitely give you all a daily look of what is going on here. I hope you enjoy it and get to share in what God is doing in the youth group. I apologize in advanced for grammar and spelling mistakes. I am typing this on my phone so it may not be the easiest message to read but I will do my best. Anyway, so what is going on today you ask? Well, a lot!

Thankfully we had a relatively uneventful trip down except for the marathon game of Catch Phrase going on in the back seats. Other than that I must say that the rental van is exceedingly awesome. It has great acceleration, good AC (which is critical!) and a sweet camera that helps the driver back up. I have fallen head over heels for this thing and I have decided that I am going to try to keep this van. When I get back I plan on giving the rental company a certain light blue van in its stead so they will never know the difference ;) . A little white paint on it and they would never know the difference! But anyway, I digress from the story! We got here at about 2pm this afternoon and upon opening the door we all agreed that it is freaking got! In fact it is about 115 heat index right now and just flat miserable. Luckily the facility we are staying at us air conditioned so we are very thankful.

Speaking of the facility, it is definitely a very snug fit in here. A number of the classroom ACs are broken so we are piled in like sardines in the rooms that our cool . I can't complain much though, the girls have it a little worse than us as there are about 30 in their room to our 10. But due to the lack of space they keep trying to cram in more! I hope they figure out something or this might get very interesting. Maybe I will just live out of the church van or something. . .

The youth are holding up well so far and have been wonderful. They seem to be reaching out to the youth in Mt. Washington's group which is good considering the close quarters. In fact, there are 4 churches here from Independence, so many of us have found friends that we know from back home. Man, there are so many of us Independents here that who knows? Maybe we can have a City of Independence vs the world football game later in the week.

Well that is about it. We don't know quite what we will be doing yet for our project but I look forward to finding out tomorrow. God bless you all and we will update you all tomorrow!

In Christ,
Bryson

Workcamp, day 1

2010-07-26T11:57:00.001-07:00

Greetings from Oklahoma, day 1!

Quick weather report for you all, ITS BLOODY HOT! Ok, got that out of the way so we don't have to mention it again. But keep in mind that this little factiod influenced basically everything we did today. So whatever I talk about in this email please remember that we were overheated no matter what we did.

Anyway, we finally got our job assignment today. Well, that is a bit of a misnomer as we were unable to start today. It turns out the lady we were going to be working for had a death in the family so they had to delay the start of our project. So in order to keep us busy the Conference had us start a couple filler jobs that they were holding back for groups who finished their worksites early. These jobs were short for the most part and left most of us with a little downtime as we finished each set. The big exception to this was painting the school district building which lasted all day. At first our entire crew worked on the building but as less and less people were needed they started farming is out to other jobs. The most notable of these was helping remodel the school's boys locker room which I should mention had horrid, horrid mildew stains (the girls credited this to boys being "typical dirty, smelly, stinky, and stupid boys" which we thought was very unfair! But upon returning to our room and smelling something akin to a rotting yak coming from someone's bag, I realized they were right, we reek!)

I must say that the youth were magnificent during our efforts today. Gwen, Katrina and Kaitlin were in the group that worked on the admin building with Kiz. They worked diligently painting tan on the building but as they were painting they somehow disturbed the worlds largest hornets next. The cloud of hornets that came out was apparently very inpressive and fortunately no one got stung. I got to see the aftemath of the hornet spray though and I counted at least 15 casualties so it must have been huge grouping! My group on the other hand was inside the fieldhouse where Andrea, Andrew and Gabe worked with me in the locker room (with the mildew). Painting went well for us, except for the lack of airflow. Our one hiccup came when Gabe somehow got the great idea to turn on one of the showers against a wall of wet paint. This of course sprayed paint and water everywhere but thankfully it was fairly easy to clean or we might have had our first injury on the trip ;). Act like this were the exceptiong though and for the most part the youth were awesome. So Kiz and I were happy to to reward them at the end of the day by taking them swimming in Sequoia State Park. It was very nice let me tell you as the water was relatively cool. I had loads of fun even though the Youth were calling me Moby Dick. What can I say, I haven't had a chance to swim in a while so I was probably the pinnacle of whiteness and not very in shape either. Hopefully I picked up some sun and some excercise out there or they might be after me with a harpoon later this week.

The rest of the night was celebrated with a good dinner of spaghetti and skits before worship. We also got to celebrate Gwen's birthday (see the attached pic) so it has been a truly awesome day! I look forward to even more good stuff tomorrow as we go off to our normal sites. I hope you are having as good a time as we are here and just know that God is very active here. Several of the youth have said that they felt God moving as they worked today and are excited to see what is to come. I too am excited as I God has been AWESOME so far so I can't imagine how this could get better! Well, I could think of one thing that would make this better. God could turn down the thermostat a little. . . that would be mighty nice! See you tomorrow!

In Christ,
Bryson

Workcamp, day 2

2010-07-26T11:56:00.002-07:00

Hello all!

Today started on a rather interesting note. Last nigt our male youths decided that it would be a good idea to put pretzel sticks in the sleeping bag of Greg Clark (one of the leaders from Mt. Washington). But while the crunching sound and anguished cries from Greg were very amusing, they did not take his eventual retribution into account. Greg is ex-army and is this programmed to get up very early so when the time came for wake up this morning, Gabe Glaser greeted the day by being dragged down the hallway in his sleeping bag. It was very amusing to watch Gabe wake up and realize what was happening and observe how he had to hop back in his sleeping bag into our room. He had to hop because he was only wearing his boxers and with so many girls running about, he did not want to risk being seen in all his glory! It was truly a light way to start the day and it again shows the good, hearty bond that has formed between our two groups.

Workwise, we finally got the chance to meet our resident and to see the worksite that we will be at the rest of the week! Our resident is an amazing lady named Pat Martinez. She is a elderly lady who is a retired school teacher and who lost her husband about a year ago. With her husband gone she has been unable to keep up her vast property so we have been given the job of helping catch up on maintenance. This involved us doing many different small jobs aroung her farm. We did various things like mowing her lawn, cleaning out overgrown flowerbeds, scrubbing the siding of her house, clearing mounds of junk out of old farm structures and many other smaller endeavors. We are also painting her living room and will be attempting to put new tile into her bathroom so there is still much to do after today. I must say that it has been quite rewarding thus far because in just one day we have totally changed the appearance of Mrs. Martinez's house! I can't wait to see how much more we are going to do for Mrs. Martinez and her family and I know that through her gracious attitude our youth are seeing the how to put the gospel into action.

Unfortunately I can't say which youth did what project today. With the amount of small projects that popped up it was hard to keep track of what exactly everyone was doing. Add in the fact that most of the youth got bored and switched jobs every 5 minutes, it got fairly hectic. This is not to say that the youth were not working hard today though. I feel that the youth did fairly well for the most part but about 2 this afternoon when it was again over 110 degrees, we had sort of a falling off. People (adults included) were just getting overheated and cranky so we decided to abandon work and accepted an invitation to go the Martinez family swimming hole. Unlike yesterday when we swam in a lake, today we were in a large creek complete with waterfalls and a 20 ft rope swing. Everyone had an outstanding time on the swing including Kiz who made succeeded in making her first ever jump. Again it was an awesome time and I am thinking that we will probably go 1-2 times before we go because it is the only way to beat the heat!

Dinner (see the attached photo) was also excellent! A group from Cherokee nation came in tonight and cooked us Indian tacos which are fabulous mounds of fry bread, beans, beef and cheese! In other words, it was bad for us but it tasted oh so good! We also got a lesson about Cherokee history and their relationship with the Methodist church which really tied the day's lessons together.

Overall, it has been another great day. I think our youth are really seeing what it is like to spread the gospel and are very fortunate to have someone who graciously receives it. However this is but a small part of the growth I have seen this week. Our youth are reaching out to each other and have bridged the gap in our groups. They have also made made many friends in other groups that they plan to "facebook friend" when they get home. So not only are they learning to evangelize but they are also learning to reach out and connect to the Body of Christ. I could not be more proud of them and I can hardly wait to see how they react to the challenges of tomorrow. Until then your prayers are always welcome and I know you are as proud of them as I am. I hope that you are having a fabulous weeks and I look forward to connecting with you again tomorrow.

In Christ,
Bryson

Workcamp, day 3

2010-07-26T11:56:00.001-07:00

Hello again my friends!

We had another extermely busy day today but unlike other days this week much of it was not on our jobsite. This is because today was our fun activity day and we spent the better half of it in the Cherokee capital of Talequah. But more on that later. We did do a fair bit of work today though as we spent the morning working in Lost City.

That's right, Lost City. I forgot to mention yesterday that our worksite is not in Hulbert but rather it is in the bustling metropolis that is Lost City (approximately 20 min north of Hulbert with 8-10 houses and 75 people). Today marked our second day here at Mrs. Martinez's house. It was another scorcher but luckily we only had to work a half day before retiring back to school. During that time we continued our painting, lawn care and remodeling efforts as well as attempting to stay cool. Andrea, Kaitlin and Katrina spent most of this time helping me paint trim while Gwen, Gabe and Andrew worked on clearing up some brush piles. Around noon we ate lunch and then headed into Hulbert to catch a shower before we headed to Talequah.

We got to Talequah around 2 or so and once there we headed off to spend the afternoon at the Cherokee Nation Cultural Center. It was truly an awesome experience as we got to visit the museum there and tour a reconstruction of a 18th century Cherokee village. We started out in the museum where we learned the history of the Cherokee people and how they were forced to endure "the Trail of Tears." It was both moving and heartbreaking to hear the stories of courage and pain from this timeperiod. In fact, I came out appalled at how much pain that American expansion had caused this noble people. However it amazed me how well the Cherokee have bounced back from this and how vibrantly their culture is being lived in the modern day. There is an immense amount of pride in the Cherokee nation about their and this was very apparent in the recreated village that we went to next.

The village sat to the right of the museum and it was clear after entering through the surrounding stockade that a lot of time and effort into creating it. There where many recreated buildings, each painstakingly made with reeds, mud and grass. Our guide was very knowlegable about all things Cherokee and showed us how to make and use things like pots, bows, arrows and even blowguns! It was quite amazing to see him hit a small styrofoam target with the blowgun and it made me realize how skilled a Cherokee brave would have been with such a weapon to hit their dinner. We also learned a lot about their religion and government as well. I think it surprised the youth to hear about how advanced Cherokee govenment was and how its clan basef system influenced the American government. I think the youth were also touched by the fact that the Cherokee faith uses intricate musical prayers that are very similar to our hymns and psalms. It truly shows how God can work in all faiths and how interrelated the human quest for God can be! Finally our time with the Cherokee taught our youth an important lesson about faith. It turns out that many people who forced the Cherokee out in the Trail of Tears were professing Christians who felt God was calling them to kick the Cherokee of their lands. This action has left a mark on these people and I think the youth finally have realized how one action can reflect on our faith as a whole. This knowledge inspired several of our youth to vow to live better lives when we get back so it is clear that the message is sinking in.

Unfortunately, the expedition left us all totally exhausted. The entire tour was outdoors so we endured a lot of heat. Plus when we got back the AC in the school was fading in and out during dinner which made it impossible to cool off. This was especially apparent during worship and our guest speaker for the night. It was so hot that youth just zoned out or fell asleep like Andrew and Gabe (see attached pic). I think that the week is really wearing on us and that we are really starting to yearn for home. Thankfully, we only have one more day. . . one more hot and miserable day. I hope that God's actions in it will overcome the heat and that we can end this week on a strong note. thank you all for your support and please keep us all in your prayers. Until tomorrow!

In Christ,
Bryson

Workcamp, day 4

2010-07-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

This will be my last entry for this belated journal. I must say it has certainly been one heck of a week for the youth, the leaders and myself. Today was the culmination of our efforts as we finished Mrs. Martinez's house. When all was said and done the house looked totally different than it had, it was almost like a new building had appeared over the week. Gone were the overgrowth of weeds, the stained siding and the cluttered farmyard. It its place a freshly painted house stood with a beautifully redone living room and bathroom. The yard which was once so nasty was clear and kempt and looked nothing like the jungle that was there before. The transformation was miraculous and our resident openly wept when she looked at what we had done. It was an awesome feeling as we all knew we had done something that had dramatically altered both Pat and our lives. But it was more than that really. In the few days that we spent here we have experienced what it is like to be brought into intense connection with God and seen how that connection pulls us closer to other people and our Creator. It was also a great metaphor of how God can come in and clean up our sinful lives and create new life where once there was just decay. This feeling seemed to be universal in our group and was really apparent in our final worship. Numerous youth were brought to tears from the experience this week and as their leader I was very moved as well.

God is so good. This week He took a group of raw, energetic young people and reached them through hard work and a graceful elderly resident. Because of this I am convinced that this experience can and should carry over into our church back home. If they so choose, the youth's actions could show the gospel to the older members of FUMC and transform our church in awesome new ways. As their parents you are critical in helping them do this so I would like you all to ask yourself "what can I do to support them?" It can be something as simple as pushing them to attend Youth Group or Worship. Or it could be something as complex as pushing them to be leaders; to embrace their roles as the church of tomorrow. How you do it is up to you but I urge you to do so. I will be there to help of course and I am excited to see the what will come from our efforts. I have seen this week what can come from a fully enegized group and I know if we can unleash them on Independence our city and church will never be the same.

In closing I would like to relay once final compliment to you all. Throughout this week we have heard numerous stories of groups who's youth sat around and did not work as they should. In fact our resident's neighbor came over and lamented the fact that the group working on her house was "rude and lazy." This was not even close to how our group behaved this week. Everyday our youth got up and worked non-stop to finish our projects. To be blunt, they were amazing. I have never had a group that has worked this hard and achieved so much on a workcamp (and I have been on quite a few of these). They were roundly praised by all who saw them in action including our Cherokee site manager who said we were the hardest working crew in the camp. He was not just doing this to pump up our egos either. He really meant it and the fact was hammered in by several other people and site managers who had never seen us but had heard of our exploits. I cannot tell you the pride that swelled in me with each compliment and I hope that pride is making its way to you now. You all have raised a group of fabulous youth and I commend them and you for the awesome time we have had this week.

Oh my, a shirtless Gabe has just been tossed into the hallway and is locked out. This could get interesting. . . seems my work is not done yet.

See you around 3-4 tommorow @ Mt Washington UMC

Gotta run! It appears a rubber band war has broken out.

In Christ,
Bryson

Babbling at Babel

2010-07-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Picture an obscure area of land in the middle of Mesopotamia. In that area a group of humans has built a large city that is doing reasonably well and is subsequently attracting many residents. It is doing so well in fact that the residents want to build a new feature for their city; one that will distinguish it from all others. So they decide on a tower, but not a normal everyday run-of-the-mill tower. They want one that will reach to the heavens, a structure that will literally become the largest building on Earth. The reason for this great undertaking? Because the people of the town wanted to famous. They wanted make a name for themselves across all the peoples of the earth! Sounds exactly like the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai doesn't it? Now that it has been finished it is the world's tallest building and dwarfs other skyscrapers like the Empire State Building in New York and the Wyatt Tower in Chicago. It stretches over a mile in height at 2717ft and has 160 floors. It contains a huge indoor pool, a hotel, shopping, apartments, business suites and even has the worlds highest Mosque! It is quite an impressive feat to be sure, but the question becomes why would a city like Dubai, which was already renowned for its lavish, opulent lifestyle, need a building like this? Because it wanted to become more famous than it already was. It wanted to stand out above all the nations of the Earth.

Shockingly, my initial reference to a city and tower was not about Dubai. It was about Babel, the topic we talked about is this week's youth group. Babel was a city that was built in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. Though its exact appearance, origins and location remain unknown, we have a record of that city and its inhabitants in Genesis 11. In that story, the people have united together to build a tower so that they could "make a name for themselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4). In other words, the wanted to be famous and unified over the other nations of the world. After they begin their project, God comes down to inspect it and gets disturbed enough to garble the workers common tongue so that work could not continue. To say the least, this is an odd thing for God to do isn't it? We all believe that God is seeking to unite people and in this story we see them being scattered by an act of God! So why did God do this? What disturbed God enough that he decided to break up the united people?

The answer to this question is pride. In looking at what the people were doing in Bable, God saw that they were building the Tower not out of necessity but out of a "high or inordinate opinion of their own dignity, importance or superiority." This my friends is a textbook definition of Pride, it is having a high opinion of ourselves and letting that affect how we act. Typically pride manifests itself exactly like it did in Babel with us trying to place ourselves above other people which inspires jealously, anger and contempt in those who are not as elite as we are. It is a force that disrupts attempts at unity and sets people against each other. So it is a great irony that in Babel's attempt to unify themselves with the tower, God saw the discord it could cause on the earth. God probably also saw it as an affront as well. By watching God's creations which were created to be in relationship with God instead worship themselves, God was understandably ticked off! As God's people we are called to be in relationship with God and make God the most important element in our lives. Our beliefs in God is to take priority over all things and should call us to spread the word by helping the poor, feeding the hungry, spreading the gospel etc. It is obvious by the actions of the Babelites that God was not the driving force behind their actions. Instead is was self centeredness, ego, conceit, vanity and pride that drove them. In seeing this, God was actually saving the people from themselves and teaching them a lesson by scattering them to the four corners of the earth. God was giving them another chance to realize what we really should be: humble, small creations of the Lord High God.

Humility, ladies and gentlemen, is the key to avoid the pitfall that comes from being overly prideful. It helps us realize that we are not above other people and that we are really flawed, imperfect beings. In this manner, it helps recognize our need for God to complete us; to be the source of strength and the foundation for our lives. Picture it this way. Inside your heart is a throne and if pride sits upon that throne it will cause you to build a great gulf between you, God and the World. But if humility sits there, if love sits there, if Jesus Christ who is the ultimate example of both those virtues sits there, your life will be dramatically different. If you do this not only will you reap the Fruits of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience etc. (see Galatians 5) but you will become closer to God and others through your practices! It is why Paul called his early churches to be humble because it would help unite the scattered Christians and help them deepen their faith (see Romans 18; 1 Cor. 3:5-7; 2 Cor. 3:5; Phil. 1,2). So my question for you today is, who sits upon the throne of your heart? Is it pride? Is it something totally different or is it God? And how if there is a usurper on the throne can you return it to God?

And finally, ironically enough the developers of the Burj Khalifa are feeling the effects of their pride. Within weeks of the tower's opening, Dubai faced an economic meltdown due to its overspending. The once rich city was decimated and almost crumbled if not for a loan from its neighbor. It seems that the pride that caused Dubai to spend 20billion dollars on the Tower project finally caught up to them and like their Babel ancestors, they too were being made humble. The country still teeters on the brink of disaster which begs the question, will we ever learn what the Bible has told us about pride? Or are we doomed to continually reap the rotten fruit that pride provides us. Something to think about.

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Summer Daze

2010-07-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I know we have not had a post in a while, but that does not mean I have abandoned ship on this blog. Instead it has been crazy hectic so I am planning on spacing my summer blogs out. I will try to do one a month for the summer so look for one next week and maybe some Mission Trip photos after our expedition from July 18-23. I will also try to keep you updated on all the goings on with the youth room! Busy times!!!

Hope all is well! I miss you all! Shoot me a text or a call, I would love to hear from you.

In Christ,
Bryson

The Great Commission According to Wall-E

2010-05-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hey team!

I am out of school and can write a full post! Woo-hoo I am back!!! Here is what we covered this week.

Have you ever seen the movie Wall-E? For those of you who haven't you might want to skip the link below because it goes to the movie's wikipedia page. In other words, this is a SPOILER ALERT and if you do not want to know the details just skip the link. For those of you who have seen the movie, please continue on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall-E

When you think about it,Wall-E can be splendid metaphor for the Gospel story of Jesus Christ. I know, you probably think I am crazy but hear me out. Throughout the movie Wall-E is the bearer and protector of the green plant; an element which represents a message of hope, renewal and new life for humans aboard the Axiom. But while this message is sorely needed by humans to bring them home, they are unaware of it or confused by it when they see it. Indeed, it seems humans have become so isolated from each other by technology, consumerism and laziness that they do not know how to react to the plant, or even the touch of another human being! However when the captain realizes the significance of the plant, he sees how vital it is. By analyzing it, he sees the possibilities for humans to be reunited with each other and creation; to end the isolation and fully live life for the first time in centuries! But unbeknowst to the captain, the ships Auto pilot is working against him having being told that Earth would never again be habitable. What ensues is a clash between Wall-E, the humans and the Co-Pilot to get the plant into into the computer so the ship can return to Earth. In the last scene Wall-E, having been nearly destroyed, sacrifices his life to put the plant into the conduit which activates the ship and takes the humans home. Upon reaching Earth, Wall-E is resurrected by Eve and the two help the humans build a new civilization.

Does any of this sound familiar to the gospel? If not, let's break it down further.

Wall-E is bearer of a message that can bring hope, unity and new life to humans. The humans are so isolated from each other and God that many do not recognize the message but when some do they see the value and strive to carry it out. In fact, Wall-E gains quite many followers in his attempt to carry out his mission However, there is an evil force that is trying to keep the humans in their broken states and tries to destroy the message altogether. That evil struggles with Wall-E and in the end Wall-E defeats the evil by sacrificing his life to make sure the message is understood and lived. But in the end he is resurrected and lives with the humans creating an awesome new world!

This sound a little more gospel like? I figured it would.

So let's connect this message to our daily lives through the Great Commission. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20) Jesus tells us to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Hence, we have received a new an vital message from God and we are called to go to the isolated world and help them see it. In other words, WE ARE WALL-E! So how are you going to carry that message of grace, new-life and love to the world? What barriers do you think you will face and how can this church be the EVE that helps you get through? Something to ponder!

Also, you can start practicing saying your name like Wall-E says his. It might add a lot to your conversations with other people ;)!

Bryson

Finals!

2010-05-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

I apologize for my absence over the last two weeks. We have hit finals at Saint Paul School of Theology and I am absolutley nuked with assignments. I promise I will be back next with a fresh look at life next week.

Youth Room, the saga continues

2010-04-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

The quest to find the right colors for the Youth Room continues. However you can keep up with some of the ideas that we have. If you would like you can go to www.sherwin-williams.com where they have an awesome feature called the color visualizer where you upload a photo and see the colors on the wall before you paint. So if you are interested, just download one of the photos off the slide show and you can go to town!

Here are the colors we are considering

Option 1: Blue, Green, Yellow option

Color names and numbers- blueblood sw 6966, Outrageous green sw 6922, cheerful 6903

Option 2: light orange

Color names and numbers- Husky Orange sw 6636 or copper harbor 6634.

You can also mess with the color pallet and see what options might be better. Take a look and if you have any thoughts feel free to post them here or on the facebook group. I am also available for questions and I will plan on having color swatches at the youth meeting on Sunday. I hope to see you there and remember, it is @ McCoy Park!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Still Dreaming

2010-04-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Got some more pics of the new youth area! I also took the liberty of throwing in a couple of the old middle school room which, while we are not remodeling is ours to redecorate. I have linked them to a slideshow that you can access by clicking on the photos on the right of the blog.Whaddya think? What do you feel you would like to do with this area? DISCUSS!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Dreaming of a Future Home. . .

2010-04-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

A couple months ago we were approved to turn the old builders classroom into a brand new youth room. This is totally cool because it is the first time our group has had an actual room in the church in the last 20 years or so! However, this project is what you might call "a fixerupper" because there are a lot of issues to work out before we move in. Chief among them are issues with leaky windows that our men's group is in the progress of patching.

As you may be able to tell, the work is getting close to being done which means that our renovation project is about to begin. But what shall we do? What should our new home look like? How can we best decorate it to be a place where we can go and experience the Spirit? Here are some of the ideas that we came up with

1) We take up the carpet and expose the wood floor for the new room, however we would have several large area rugs
2) We do stadium couch seating, and not just cruddy old couches, we are talking new or gently used furniture! Movin on up!
3)We get a screen, projector and a killer sound system so we can have multimedia lessons. We might also look into getting a wii for some awesome gaming.
4) We set up the back part of the room behind the couches into a study lounge with a "bar" (no alchehol) mini fridge and drinks
5) new lights
6) a disco ball
7) a rocking new paint job

This is but a small taste of what we are thinking. What are your thoughts? I would love to here them and I invite you all to help as we turn this space into our new youth environment. Just let me know!

Bryson

EASTER

2010-04-05T12:55:00.001-07:00

HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN!

Out of town. . .

2010-03-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I am in Rochester this weekend. I will try to have a post ready for you mid week or so.

Bryson

"Crazy" Christianity and how it affects you

2010-03-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

In any religion, there are people who practice their beliefs far outside the normal range of other believers of that faith. For example, in Islam there are people who feel called to give up their lives as suicide bombers. In Judaism there are people obsessed with breeding the Red Heifer of the Apocalypse (which would be a totally awesome name for a punk/metal band!!!) in order to bring about the end of the world. And in Christianity, well, we have many people who we consider to be outside the realm of our "normal" beliefs. Some of these may include

1) Primitive Christians (groups like Amish, Mennonites who believe in living without modern amenities)
2) Home School families (people who hold their kids out of school to teach them themselves, often they are taught from a exclusivist Christian perspective)
3) People who practice faith healing instead of bringing people to doctors (Got cancer? Pray it out!)
4) Apocalyptic oriented Christians (THE END IS NEAR! IF THE WORLD ENDED TODAY WHERE WOULD YOUR SOUL GO???)

Now let me be clear here. None of these groups is inherently bad in themselves, they are merely people who gather around certain Christian beliefs that are in themselves good! There are indeed many excellent Christians who practice homeschooling, apocalyptic thought, faith healing etc. However they are overshadowed by people who take those beliefs to the extreme; to the point where they are digging in bunkers waiting for Jesus, or refusing to take sick children to the doctor. In my view, it is when these noble beliefs cross over into this extreme realm that what could be good becomes bad. I say this because their beliefs become a barrier to unity with other people and casts a stigma on others who practice that faith. Don't believe me? Let's look back to Islam for a second. How many people now think that Muslims are a group of extremist terrorists because of the actions of a few of their faith? I am sure many now have that opinion. And I hate to say it, but the actions of extremist, sheltered Christians are affecting how some people see you right here and right now.

In David Kinnaman's book UnChristian, he writes that young unchurched people overwhelming view Christians as sheltered because of the actions of some of these groups. Due to these influences, Kinnaman writes that Christians are seen as "boring, unintelligent, old fashioned and out of touch with reality." Now I know what you are thinking "this could not refer to me! All my friends and family know I am a Christian so I cannot possibly be seen as sheltered!" Or maybe you are thinking "Oh crud, I see this in my group of friends and if I told them I was Christian they would despise me and see me as sheltered because of those people!" To that I say these two things

1) If you are living out your Christian beliefs in your daily life, good for you! You are hopefully offsetting the sheltered stereotype that this entry is talking about. However, you are sure to run into people who have a problem with you, even though they don't know you. This could happen at anywhere or at any time but I believe like Chef in South Park when he says "there is a time and place for these things, and it is called college." Be prepared! You are going to have to change how people think!

2) So you are an "undercover Christian" huh? Well that's ok. Sometimes there is so much stigma that we feel afraid to admit who we really are. But how are you ever going to live out your call as a Christian if you are hiding your faith? Try this, start doing small things to show your faith. If you have a problem with cussing, clean up your mouth! If you gossip, stop it! Forgive people if they wrong you and when your friend eventually notice be authentic with them! Tell them who you are! You don't have to do a full out Bible blitz at this point but maybe try to find common ground with them and teach/live your faith. If your friends are true friends they will still see the good qualities in you and seek to remain your friend. Plus as Matthew 5:16 reminds us, they will see you good works and 'begin to glorify the Lord." So you can so seeds just by living your faith!

In the end of his chapter on being sheltered Kinnaman writes that in order to throw off the stereotype we Christians need to show that we are "engaged, informed and offer sophisticated responses to the issues people face." My final question is, how can you do that in your life? What can you do to throw of your sheltered stereotype? Something to ponder!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Judgemental Hypocrites!

2010-03-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Quick show of hands, how many people here have ever judged someone else? Or been a hypocrite (not practiced what you preached)? Now I know that you cannot see all your peers reading this but rest assured everyone's hands should be up because we are all judgmental hypocrites.

In my view, there are not exceptions to this view. We all form opinions about people and are more than happy to apply to apply them even though they may not be true. Think about that for a minute my youth. How many times have you sat in judgment over someone in your schools who is overweight? Smelly? Poorly dressed? Not Attractive? Or not social? I guarantee that we all have, it is ingrained in how school works! In fact it is a major part of how society wants you to view people. For example, look at any advertisement for woman's clothing. The advertiser intentionally crafts the ad so people feel inferior to the model so they will seek to look/dress like her. We then repeat this in our daily life, trying to make other people feel inferior around us by being judgmental and haughty. The worst part though is when people see us Christians acting this way, it makes our whole faith look bad because we are not following what Jesus Christ told us when he said.

³⁷"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

In this verse, Jesus shows us how to avoid the cycle and the resulting alienation of being a hypocrite. By not judging and being authentically open to our friends, it becomes possible to spread the gospel without human barriers popping up. My question for you today is, how can you emulate this in your own lives? How can you open yourself to others, showing yourself to be a mere human instead of the stereo super Christian? It is a difficult change to be sure, but it will help you see a side of your faith that you may not have before, humility! Try it out, I think you will be surprised with how well the Spirit works through you!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

What you are up against

2010-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hypothetical situation for you, meaning this is something that could happen to you! You are trying to talk to people about your faith and you go up to one of your newer unchurched friends who may not know you that well yet. Summoning all your strength you say "have you ever thought about going church? What do you think of Jesus Christ?" What do you think would happen? Wouldn't you like to know what your friend is thinking? Well here are some posibilities

1) Postive reaction-
Friend: "hmm, I have actually been interested in Jesus especially because [insert your name here] lives such a clean and moral lifestyle! Maybe I will here what they have to say!!!"

You: "Ok lets go to church! Wheeeeeeeee!"

Result: You go skipping hand in hand into the sunset, smiling ear to ear and all is well! You have done your job and brought another person into the church, good job!!!

It may sound like I am poking fun at this option, and I am to some degree, but it is because this situation hardly ever happens! It is so rare to have a person drop everything and follow you to church just on a whim! This is not to say that it can't happen. In fact if you are able to get a person who you don't really know to come to church on the first try, you might be one of the best evangelists ever! But more than likely you will run into a far different reaction that might look something like this

2) Negative reaction-
Friend: [thinking inwardly] "OMG! [insert your name here] is a Christian! I can't believe he/she is such a hypocrite! S/he doesn't live like a Christian, I've seen it! Gosh s/he is probably judgmental, sheltered and an extremist as well. I HAVE TO AVOID THIS PERSON AT ALL COST!!!"

Friend: Is that a rabbit over there???

Result: [you look where your friend points, seeing nothing. When you look back you see your friend hoofing it away as fast as they can go! In fact they are running in such a panic that they absolutely destroy a group of freshmen in the hallway intersection, scattering books and papers everywhere].

So there you go, that is the more likely reaction to someone randomly asking someone else about faith. But fortunatley in order to hopefully prevent this from happening we are going to be looking at many of the things that unchurched people think about Christians. We will then be analyzing, applying them to our lives and figuring how we can approach people and engage in authentic relationship. We will also discuss how we can address these concerns and show what a dynamic, life-changing and life-giving faith we have! So in order for you to get an idea of what you are up against, I would like you to ask one of your friends (preferrably one who doesn't really go to church) what they think about Christians in general. You don't have to mention that you are a Christian just yet, just get their overall view of what they think. This is important because it might show how people think of you! You might find out how much of a barrier we are up against and how important it is to understand that barrier so we can continue to reach out in the name of Jesus Christ. If you need help let me know, also if you would like I would love to post the results here. Just let me know! Have an excellent week!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Winter Jam 2010

2010-03-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

In today's world, it is rare to get the opportunity to see a good Christian band in action let alone five. Yet on Sunday that is exactly what we were able to do as we attended Winter Jam 2010 at the Sprint Center here in KC. I don't think epic even covers the scope of the concert either. It was flat out AWESOME! Between 10 Ave North, Fireflight, Newsong, Newsboys and Third Day we were totally blown away by amazing tunes!

For those who were their though, I have to ask a question that I have asked many times. Did you see the Holy Spirit at work? Did you see how the Spirit united people from different denominations, races and genders? Could you hear the song of thousands of people singing "glory, glory, hallelujah he reigns" when the Newsboys were playing? I guarantee you all did in one form or another because the Spirit was there and breaking barriers down between us and God. I hope you recognizedI hope you felt it and drew in the life giving prescence of Jesus Christ.

For those of you who weren't able to make it or just know us by this blog, don't fret! The Spirit is surrounding you right now, influencing you and the events occuring right now. Just open yourself to it and you to can see the harmony of God's world around you.

Bryson

snowed out, again!

2010-02-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

So is anyone else here sick of winter? I am, I am tired of having to cancel Youth Group. Please join me in a joint grumble towards the weather. [grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble] Ahhhhhhhhh, I feel better.

Come on Spring! We are waiting for ya!

All you need is love. . .agape love

2010-02-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that Valentines Day is the one day a year that we humans truly stop everything to focus on the love (or lack there of) in our lives. Love is truly a great force, it unites people, brings them into harmony and unites them with their Creator. Speaking of the Creator, Jesus Christ spoke many times about love in the Bible, in fact it was one of His favorite subjects. For example in Mark 12 He told us to "love the Lord our God, with all our heart, mind, soul and strength." Later in John 13 he also told us to "love one another as He loved us." Yes Jesus threw around the L word without hesitation, urging us to even love our enemies! Who the heck does that? Is he crazy???

From these examples it is clear that Jesus wants us to love. But what exactly does love mean? We have so many different variations of love in the world today that it might be easy to lose Jesus meaning in our modern connotations. Think about it, how many different kinds of love have you experienced in your life? I am sure that you have all loved someone, whether it was as a friend or family member. Maybe you have had a person who you are especially close to, maybe more so than some of your family. You might also possibly have had a romantic lover, someone who's appearance sends you into a swoon. Yes we humans have many different types of love for each other and we aren't even getting into how we love other things like music, fashion, Steven Colbert, the Colorado Rockies or the Grand Canyon. Do you see? There are so many different kinds of love in this world. It seems to change from context to context, so how can we know what type Jesus was talking about in the gospels????

Luckily the Greek language gives us the answer for this quandary. This is because in Greek, there are multiple words for love and the reference that us used in almost all of Jesus' recorded comments is the word "agape." What's agape you ask? Well, here is the definition of agape from our friends at Wikipedia

"Agape is Parental love, it represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. " -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape

So Jesus in telling us to "agape" one another is telling us to mirror the graceful love of God; a love that is unearned and asks for nothing in return. Now that you have read that think about how you love. When you love, do you love like that? What would happen if you did? Ponder that, no better yet, PUT IT INTO ACTION and see what Jesus was talking about!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

The Bible can be . . . . fun?????

2010-02-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

That's right. That musty old book in front of you, the one that tells you all these stories about God and humans, can be fun. Don't believe me? Try using it as the basis of a Scavenger Hunt like we did last night.

It was rather funny actually watching the crew romp around the church finding the different Bible themed clues. I was very amused, because little did the youth know that they were actually living out an important Bible lesson. By participating in the hunt, the youth were experiencing a metaphor for life. Like the youth who were searching for candy in the church, we are all on a journey together trying to reach the ultimate prize. There are various stops along the way, various clues to what we need to be doing, what direction we need to head in and to decipher them we can use the tools around us. What tools you ask? Well, tools like your brain, your feet, your friends and your God. Many of the clues we have in life can be solved by using any combination of these, especially the Bible. In the scriptures we have an awesome guide, one that uses all gifts and can provide direction in the worst of times. What is more, we will always have people around us to help in this journey and if those people are our friends it can be sure that there will be more good times than bad along the way. Hence, the Bible can be fun because it draws us together, gives us a direction and accompanies us for the journey for our final reward.

Where is your Bible right now? Is it informing your life journey? Is it calling you to walk with your friends to learn the mysteries of faith? What awesome times are you missing out on because it is not open? What if you opened it, what would you find? Something to ponder. . .

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

The new H1N1, and it doesn't involve pigs. . .

2010-02-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, first of all I lied. I said I was going to post pictures from WOW. I haven't as of yet, mainly because I cannot figure out how to do it here on this blog. But rest assured, they will soon be on our facebook page which you can access through the tab on the right. Anyhoo, what is cracking in our world you ask? Well, a lot! Last night we talked about a virus that is sweeping our nation. A very deadly virus that threatens our entire society, H1N1. Now I know what you are thinking, that H1N1 was a dud and that you are safe from it. Well I am here to tell you this H1N1 is new,alive, well and sweeping the nation as we speak in fact, you probably have it right now [dramatic organ riff followed by womanish scream]. Ok calm down, I have the cure right here, and it is called the Bible? Confused yet? I certainly am. And I am the one writing this entry! So let's go on a journey of clarification to see what exactly this new virus is.

Have you ever been shopping? I know all of us have and it is a very common practice in our culture. In fact, when you think about it, it is more than a common practice, it is the basis of our very economic way of life! Yes indeedy, we are a consumer nation and we are constantly buying things we don't need or we already have. Have you ever done that? Maybe you have bought a sweater when you have 20 at home. Or perhaps it is a new video game despite the fact that you have a whole library of games at home. I know I have! Anyway, regardless of what we buy, I guarantee that we have all bought something when we didn't really need it. It is just what humans do! And when done in moderation it is a good thing! It keeps the economy healthy, provides jobs for people and allows people to have steady lives!

But some people go overboard with this idea of buying, or consuming goods. After all there is always something newer, more stylish and with better features out there. Take for example my love of cell phones. My first one (which I fondly called the brick due to its uncanny resemblance to a large plastic building block) was a big bulky thing that only made calls. (Imagine that! A phone that only made calls!) At first this was fine and I was quite content to have normal cell phones until I saw. . . THE BLACKBERRY. It was like a portable computer! If I had one I would never again have to have separate things for my calendars, emails and phone. I drooled all over the ad for it and I sought out one for years! Last year I finally got one after my years of waiting and I loved it! Until I saw the newest model that is. Now I want to go trade in mine for the latest model (with wi-fi!!!!!!) so I can continue being technologically hip and cool like I once felt. If I had limitless resources, I would have done this already but being that I am a poor boy, I am stuck with my current phone which in retrospect is still good, works well and covers all the areas I need. However, there are many people who are not content with a problem like mine. They would purchased that new phone without a second thought and charged it to a credit card or stretched their checking accounts to cover it. Then they would have struggled to pay it off, but it would have been worth it because they had the newest, hippest and coolest phone. They would have just sacrificed everything to get it! And this my friends is the basis for the new H1N1 (a term developed by Rev. Adam Hamilton). It is a disease of people who overbuy and over consume, people who already Had 1, but they Needed a new 1, hence H1N1. This disease is horrible! It leads to debt, pain and losing the items we stretched out to buy! (see the current financial crisis). It is definitely a big problem in the world today and the Bible speaks very much to it!

Take for example ol' King Solomon. In his day, he had it all! He had money and every lavish item of the era. If you don't believe me, take a look at 1 Kings, it describes perfectly how big a presence Solomon was, and how he was never satisfied. At first this was not a problem as Solomon was a solid, Godly man who used his resources for good. But as the end of his life, Solomon started spending only on himself and abandoned God to worship the deities of his many wives. This caused big problems in the kingdom. The flow of money stopped, which forced Solomon to tax his people heavily which aggravated the populace to the point of rebellion. As the money dried up and people abandoned him, Solomon finally began to realize that his possessions were meaningless, that could not fill the spot that God had occupied in his heart. According to tradition, this caused him to write the book of Ecclesiastes which is a lament against his consumeristic ways. He realized, as many people have now, that when you get lost in consuming, you yourself are the one who ends up being consumed. He then wrote the book so others could avoid his mistake. But did we read the Bible? Well judging by the current state of things, do you think we Americans did? Probably not!

Again, I am not saying consumerism is wrong, it just needs to be done in moderation. However, we are too easily lost in it, so I think another path needs to be take. What path you ask? Why following Jesus Christ of course! By following Christ we can contradict the powerful influence that over consuming has on us by looking to other people and forming community. To start this path, you don't have to become a monk/nun or anything. Just do something for someone else like donating food to a kitchen, giving old clothes to secondhand store or just reaching out to your neighbor. I have told you all this many times and there are so many ways this can be done. What can you do in your lives? Who's life can you change with the love of Christ? Something to ponder!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

BUSY WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

2010-01-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

I have a week long intensive class this week. This means I will be in class from 9-4:30pm straight for the next week (YIKES!!!). So, being that we did not have youth this week because of WOW and this class schedule, I will not be posting anything lesson related. I might post my sobs about 4pm when I want to get out of here but we shall see. BUT I will definitely post WOW photos and a recap here in the next few days so stay tuned!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

The Bible says: Give a Hoot and don't Pollute!

2010-01-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

We have started a unit looking at how the Bible speaks to modern issues that we face. Last night we kicked it off by looking at how the Bible addresses the Earth and our natural environment.

Let's face it, when it comes to the treatment of our natural environment we humans do not have the best track record. In fact the argument can be made that we suck when it comes to taking care of our planet and its natural resources. We use everything the Earth has to offer ranging from its forests, mountains, oceans and plains. The problem is, we are majorly overusing what God gave us. We have almost used up resources like oil, rain forests and the fish in our oceans. We also produce a lot of pollutants that may be changing our very climate! If this pattern continues, life may get much worse for us as our weather patterns could change, altering how we grow food and producing more extreme weather. It could also mean that there are less resources for us to use because of all the overuse and the pollution that we are causing.

This is indeed a dire situation! So how does the Bible tell us to act???

Well, if we look in the Book of Genesis 1:26-28 we see an opinion that has shaped human actions toward the earth for centuries.

26 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground"

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature on the ground."

Notice the words that are used here, "rule, fill, increase" and most importantly "subdue." This verse seems to give humans permission to rule over everything, using whatever we need whenever we need it! It seems to give us permission to keep living the way we are now SO GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS AND YOUR BIBLES! LET'S EXPAND WITHOUT REGARD! CRUSH THE EARTH, USE IT UP HAHAHA!!!! But wait. . . if we look at Genesis 2, we see a totally different view of what God wanted humans to do with the Garden. In that verse

15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it

Wait a tic! We are supposed to take care of the Earth? We can't cut, stomp and build to our hearts content? We have to think about what we are doing? Wow, what a different view of things. Furthermore in other books of the Old Testament we get more instruction on how to care for our planet. In Leviticus 25:1-7, God gives Moses commandments telling the Hebrews not to overuse land and plants by giving farmland a chance to lie fallow. Later God also describes how to treat animals and in Numbers 35 God tells the Hebrews to avoid physical, moral and ecological pollution in their lands. HOLY COW! This is a totally different view from that of Genesis 1. Unfortunately, many people did not realize this because, wait for it, they did not read the Bible! Instead most focused on the Genesis 1 mandate, neglecting the other commandments. And now we are facing the problems that this attitude created.So what can we do!? I think we can do two things:

1) We need to realize that we are set above most of creation but are not apart from it. Because we are above and not apart, our relationship with creation is more akin to a organic community than we would like to admit. This means that all our actions affect the natural elements around us and if we treat them poorly, as we are doing now, we suffer the consequences. So what is needed is a total change, where we "Care and Tend" instead of "rule and subdue." This is a huge endeavor, but as we have seen a globe changing movement can begin with the actions of one person, don't be afraid to let that person be you!

2) READ THE BIBLE!!!!! If this view had been established in the minds of our predecessors, would we still be in this predicament? Maybe, or maybe not. But still, full knowledge of the Bible would have helped this situation and made our quest to change our society that much easier.

So I urge you, open a Bible this week! See what wisdom it has for the issues in your life! Something to ponder. . .

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

BIBLE CHALLENGE!!!!

2010-01-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

So I asked the Youth Group a question last night. I asked "so when was the last time you read the Bible outside of church?" And the crickets chirped. I was shocked! I started asking naming time periods, "has anyone read the Bible within the last week (nope)? Month (nope)? Three Months (nada)? Six Months (nien)? Year (nope nope nope!)? So it turns our group reads the Bible only in church and church related settings! Nor are they they only ones who do so! From my light research it appears "Bible Apathy" is a growing issue amongst teens. The top reasons why this is so are as follows with some comments that might support them (and I got several 'amens' on this when I read this list in the group):

1) The Bible is Boring - In the Beginning the God created Heav . . . [snores]

2) I don't have time to read it- Today I have school, band practice, a basketball game, homework, an NHS meeting, Grey's Anatomy (MCDREAMY!!!!!!) and a date with my boy/girlfriend, more homework, texting and the Daily Show with John Stewart before I go to bed at 3am to get ready to do it again . Who has time for the Bible?

3) Extremely difficult to read! So many translations!- Did King Saul actually use thee, thou, wilst and thy when he talked???

4) Too Old! Does not speak to the issues of today!- How many Philistines have sacked your city today? Also, have you watered your camel and made your sacrifices yet?

5) Can't relate to the characters- I mean come on! Who in America is a nomad who lives in a desert wasteland nowadays? Do they even have high priests anymore?

6) Disagree with some of its messages- What kind of a Loving God would send armies in to kill people? Why would we discriminate against some people?

Unfortunately, these reasons keep many people from cracking open a Bible and people are missing out! By not reading the word, we are denying ourselves of a vital means of grace (source of God's love for those unfamiliar with "Christian Code words.") So this year we in the Mighty Warriors are seeking to change that! We are challenging all people to pick up a Bible and read 5 chapters in one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) this week. But don't just read it as a book, put yourself into the text! Ask questions! What does this mean? How does it affect you? What does it teach?Get into it! And feel free to seek out people if you are confused. Why should you do it? Because by reading the Bible you can grow closer to God and other Christians and begin the process of growth that should define a Christian life. The goal here is to begin a slow injection of Bible into our lives so we can be changed and start seeing how the Word is still relevant to our world today! Are you up to the challenge??? Something to Ponder!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Back in Action!

2010-01-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

Hi All! Welcome to 2010!

We are back! Well, sort of. We had to cancel last nights meeting due to bad weather. It is never good when you are better off putting on a pair of ice skates than driving to get home so I think it was a wise decision. But we will be back next week!

On that note, I am finalizing my lessons for this year and I am curious. Is there anything you want to talk about? Any topic that has been bothering you over the last few months and want to discuss? If so, let me know and we can take a look! I hope you all have a fabulous year!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE MIGHTY WARRIORS!!!

Did you see?

2009-12-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

Did you see the Holy Spirit at work last night? Oh yeah, the Spirit was there.

I say this because of what I saw when we went out Christmas caroling last night. Just seeing the smiles of the people we sang to at Heritage House warmed my soul, but seeing what happened at the Groves Retirement Community opened my eyes to what the Spirit was doing through us. In the Groves, we caroled for the residents in the secured Alzheimer's and Dementia ward on the second floor. These people were almost all in wheelchairs, listless, have little idea of where they were, who they were or what we were doing there. In most cases these people were mere shells of their former selves. They were true victims of disease, having to endure the worse aspect of aging, literally forgetting who and what they are.

Yet there was something about the carols that reached through their haze. There was something about the beloved verses of "Joy to the World," "Hark the Herald Angel Sing," and "Silent Night" that connected to something that couldn't be destroyed by disease. The words reached through and connected to them and some were able to sing! People who didn't know what was happening a few minutes prior were able to sing and praise God for the impending birth of Jesus Christ. When I saw that, I saw the Spirit reaching out to connect our group to them, spreading the joy of God that is the reason for the season. That joy burned deep, truly we were what God wants us to be, a community of men and women of all ages gathered in passionate worship of our Lord and Savior.

Did you see the Spirit last night? No? Well open your eyes! The Holy Spirit is all around us! So I challenge you to let that Spirit use you, so that you may see God's glory this Christmas. By doing this, you will forever be changed and you will see what God is all about.

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

The people behind the people

2009-12-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Signa Thomas, Norma Lavery, Earl and Laurie Harris, Margie and Milla Blair, Charles 'Chuck' and Jackie Bader, Ron Linville, John Estes, Cheryl Wilson, Steve Easterday-McPadden, Doug Halvorsen, Charles "Jack' and Becky Jackson, Tom Carson, Robert and Joan Lillie, Sgt. Jonathon Wedemeyer, Kay Stevenson, Roger Burcher, Jeremiah Harris, Kyle Pottorff, Gary and DeEtta Goettel, Jim and Peggy Stovall, Miriam Hibbs, John Bilheimer, Kris Enright, James Clarence Fifield, Kevin and Sue O'Connor, Ray and Bev Ostrom, Ryan O'Shea, Zach Jacobson, my co-workers, my fellow students, my parents, my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my youth group, my youth sponsors . . . . and the list goes on and on.

This list is an illustration. It represents many of the people who have made an impact in my life. Actually, that does not do them justice. These are people who have literally changed my life and shaped who I am! This also does not represent all the people who have shaped me, there are many more names that could be here but in the interest of space, I kept the names to a minimum.

Look at this list. Do you recognize the names? Probably not, many of them are known only to me and my closest family and friends. Yet these people work through me, live in me and affect everything I do. Now think of your own lives, who has influenced you? You probably would have a list much like mine with people who you and know and love but many people would not know existed. It is these unknown people who are the backbone of our society, they live their lives doing jobs that support us. Many of these people are our teachers, parents, relatives, preachers, people who use love to alter the people around them. They are not flashy, notable and well known like some people, but the work they do support them and make it possible for our societies to work.

In terms of the disciples, this description could match the last four of the 12. Of these four, Thaddeus, Phillip, Nathaniel and James the less, little is known of who they were. While this could be said of many of the other disciples, these four lack the clues that might give us more info, leaving us mostly in the dark. Like the people on our lists though, this is not to say that they were not important disciples. They were called to do exactly what disciples like Peter, James, John and Andrew were called to do, but they did not "get the press" that the others did. Still, they were valuable disciples because not only did they do their jobs, they supported the other disciples as well. They were the disciples who helped Peter get back into the boat, helped pass out the food that Andrew found for the 5000 and helped James and John pull in the second miraculous catch. They were the backbone of the disciple corp, the ones who worked behind the scenes.

This shows us that we do not have to be superstars to follow Jesus Christ! Christ comes to us where we are and uses our gifts to help others. For most of us we will be the ones who work in the background, but as we have seen, it is a very noble place to be!

Who are the people who have influenced you to follow Christ? and how can you pass that on to others? Something to ponder!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

GOOD LUCK WITH THE REST OF YOUR FINALS! GOD'S GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL!

FINALS!

2009-12-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Like many of you out there, I too am going through Finals this week. Thus, I am going to postpone this weeks new blog until Thursday. I know it will be tough to wait and there must be crying and screaming in the streets right about now, but it is for the best. I look forward to Thursday and I will see you all there!

I'm sooooooo BETRAYED!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

We have all had it happen to us at one point or another. It could be a teacher that does it, or your car, or even your parents! It could even be you best friend that causes this thing to happen. So what can this be? What diverse element could be caused by these various elements? The answer is . . . betrayal! Betrayal is one of worst feelings a human can have! It is a combination of anger, pain and sadness all rolled into one emotion. It can literally feel like we have a drill that is boring into the middle of our soul and causing pure misery! So what causes us to have these feelings? Simple, it is because someone or something breaks our trust and we suffer from the consequences of that action.

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of what can happen to someone who is betrayed. By being betrayed by Judas, Jesus was handed to the Jews/Romans to be tried and killed and when he was denied by Peter he was denied by one of his best friends. Imagine for a second what that must have felt like for Jesus on the cross, not only was he in severe medical pain but he was being torn apart on the inside by the knowledge of his disciples betrayal.

Quick hypothetical question: suppose you were betrayed by one of your friends like Jesus. While you would probably not have the same problem as Jesus, (I doubt your friends are handing you over to be crucified!) I guarantee you would feel the same. But what would you do if you had been betrayed like that? You would probably want to get as far away from that person and hate them for the rest of you life, but would Jesus do that? Take a look at how Jesus handles Peter, who denied him three times before Christ was crucified.

"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." ¹⁶Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." ¹⁷ The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. ^{18 (John 21: 15-17)

Christ forgave Peter and what is more, due to his teaching He probably would have forgave Judas as well! So what is holding you back? How can you learn to forgive like Christ? Also, if you are looking for a friend who will never betray you, look no further than Christ. He will be there for you as a friend, teacher and forgiving a machine! Give him a shot! Something to think about

Bryson}
Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Follow up

2009-11-30T08:47:00.001-08:00

Hey troops! I hope that everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and lots of food! But now it is time to put down the leftovers because we are back and its time to get back to work! I hope you all have thought about the challenge I gave you a week ago, but for those of you who don't remember what that challenge was let us turn to the Ghost of Blogposts past to take us on a brief flashback [cue flashback harp tinkling song and a fade to black].

[fade in on Bryson's office in FUMC one week ago, Bryson is sitting at his desk typing away at his laptop and jamming to DMB.]

Ghost of Blogposts past: [narrating]Here we see the intrepid youth minister at his computer in his office typing out a blog post to his awesome youth group members.

Bryson: [startled, pauses music, looks up] Who said that?

Ghost of Blogposts past: [narrating]He is trying to find a way to inspire his youth to be like Mary instead of Martha and learn the lesson about taking time to interact with God. That way it will help them connect with God, be energized and deepen their faith. But how to do this, what method would best communicate this to the wonderful youth! Hmmmmmmm, the intrepid youth minister ponders the issue deeply.

[On the contrary, Bryson continues to be confused during this monologue. Begins looking around office and, checking outside door]

Bryson: Hello? Is anyone there? How do you know what I am doing and thinking? Is this God? THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!!

Ghost of Blogposts past: Oops, he can hear me. I seem to have left my microphone on. Anyway, I'll help you out. I am the Ghost of Blogposts past and I am dictating to your future audience about how you came up with an awesome challenge to illustrate the point about Mary and Martha.

Bryson: Ahhh, that makes . . . little to no sense, in fact I think I am going crazy but it is a great idea, I will do it! [sits at computer begins typing]

What is stopping you from bringing God into your everyday lives? What methods (prayer,meditation, devotions, scripture reading) can you use to help? And more importantly, HOW CAN WE GET PAST OUR MARTHA SCHEDULES TO IMPLEMENT THEM? I challenge you all to try to figure our how to make this possible this week, and I would love to hear from you and possibly help you as you figure it out!

Ghost of Blogposts past: Well done, well my work here is done. Peace!

Bryson: Oooook, goodbye voice in my head, hope I don't hear from you because it means I'm crazy!

[harp tinkling song, fade to black, fade in on present time]

So what progress have you made? What methods are you using? Have you found an awesome devotion that is keeping you going? Have you developed a great regimen of prayer that is energizing you? Have you found an awesome message in the scriptures? If you have, please share it with us! I would love to put up all the stories of how God is working in your lives, just let me know!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World

2009-11-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, I didn't come up with the title of this post on my own. In fact it is the title of an excellent devotional by Joanna Weaver (highly recommend for today's on-the-go, overburdened woman, check it out!) so, if you represent Mrs. Weaver please don't sue me for infringement! I am not wealthy and I would have to pay you off in backrubs or be forced to sell you some of my "valuable" possessions like my long-haired chihuahua the Grommit (who is not the brightest crayon in the box and can't get her tongue back in her mouth anymore) or my original Xbox (complete with Halo 2 and NCAA Football 2006!). If you would like to sue me they are yours, but as for now know I am going to "borrow" your title because it so accurately describes the lesson we have today!

Last night we talked about the women who followed Jesus Christ, and we focused on the story of Mary and Martha preparing their house for Jesus' arrival (Luke 10:38-41). Now if your house is anything like my house was growing up, the arrival of a guest means that your mother races from room to room furiously scrubbing various objects (including in my case, scrubbing the chihuahua, much to the chihuahua's chagrin) while yelling cleaning orders like a WWII Sargent. Then when the cleaning is finished she scurries off to the kitchen which we dare not go into lest we be bulldozed by mom who is rushing around to whip up various dishes. Yes, preparing for a guest is a stressful time, and it was for Mary and Martha as well! While they prepared for Jesus arrival, Mary and Martha undoubtedly scurried around making sure that everything was perfect. Like our mothers, Martha dove headlong into this process, and was probably trying to coordinate appetizers and drinks when she noticed that Mary was no where to be found! Storming out she found that Mary had abandoned her duty and was instead sitting at the feet of their guest. Irate, Martha barked at Jesus to tell Mary to get back on schedule, but instead Jesus told her "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Holy cow! That is an interesting statement. But what does Christ mean by it? What is this one thing that Mary had discovered?

Quick question, how busy are you today? Are you taking a quick break to read this at work or school? Do you have to run after this because you have other things to do? I ask because it seems nowadays that everyone is running around like crazy like Martha, trying to check items off their to do list. This also includes us youth because we all have school, work and social activities that are packed into each day. But where is God in them? As I listened to my youth describe their daily lives , I did not hear time with God specifically mentioned! Granted we do try to connect to Christ on Sunday, but is that enough? Is spending a hour or two a week enough to spiritually fuel us for the week? Christ presence in the house of Mary and Martha tells us that NO! because he was not there on the sabbath day when Jews would have been focusing on spiritual matters. Instead Christ came on a normal, regular day and through his comments he tells us that our schedules with their implications are unimportant. Instead making time, like Mary, to sit at his feet is what is ultimately important. In fact, it is one thing that Christ tells is worth being concerned about! But if this is so important, if it is what we are to be concerned about, why aren't we doing it? Or a better question could be how do we follow Christ's teaching and take a break from our Martha mindsets in order to develop a Mary's heart?

The trick is finding times in our daily lives to sit at Jesus feet. It doesn't have to be hours, just a fifteen minutes maybe, or possibly just long enough to finish reading this blog post. It is up to you! But why should you to this? By doing so, we can discover the lesson that God had for Mary that day in her house and can have for us today! That lesson is that Christ is ultimate source of peace, joy and love that can fuel us to endure our daily lives, and by focusing on that we can grow and begin to escape some of the pressures of this world! So if you are trying to figure out why your life is so out of touch with God, give it a try! You will find, as Martha did that the feet of Jesus is the only place you will ever want to be.

So what is stopping you? What methods (prayer,meditation, devotions, scripture reading) can you use to help? And more importantly, HOW CAN WE GET PAST OUR MARTHA SCHEDULES TO IMPLEMENT THEM? I challenge you all to try to figure our how to make this possible this week, and I would love to hear from you and possibly help you as you figure it out! Something to ponder!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Waiting by the Side of the Pool vs. Diving In

2009-11-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

When I was young my mother used to take me to swimming lessons at the pool at the Elks Club. This was always a great time for me because I grew up in desert southwest of Albuquerque, NM and the summer temperatures were routinely in the triple digits. Thus swimming was a great chance to cool down and what is more at the end of every lesson we had free time to go jump off the DIVING BOARDS!!! Now there were two diving boards at the Elks Club. The first board was my favorite as it was a standard board that stood a mere couple feet over the water, but the other was . . . a freaking monster! It stood probably 15-20 feet over the water and to a scrawny kid like myself, it truly seemed like a stairway to heaven. For years I was intimidated by that board and I was convinced that I would never be able to jump the "big one." But out of a morbid sense of curiosity, I always made sure to watch as people jumped off the high dive. I am not exactly sure why I did this, maybe I wanted to see if they would "burn up" as they re-entered the atmosphere or maybe I thought they would burst into a million pieces by hitting the water at that speed. In retrospect I see that I was after proof that it could be done because what I saw always made me think that Icould do the jump. It always frustrated me though when people were able to rush straight out, climb the giant ladder and make the big jump without the slightest sign of hesitation. What was worse was that one of those people was my kid brother who was able to make the jump after being in lessons for only a few days. So one day I decided that I couldn't let that little runt show me up and I strode up to the ladder, climbed the hundreds of feet to the top, passing through the different layers of atmosphere and walked hesitantly to the end of the board.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you freeze up in terror? Well I sure had one standing on that board. It was higher than I had ever imagined, I could almost see my house from there! Heck, I could almost see Brazil from there! While I was terrified, I also knew that I couldn't go back down the ladder, (there was a whole line behind me) and the only way to get back to Earth was to jump. So I did. With my mom rooting me on I drew a big breath, plugged my nose, closed my eyes and stepped out over the edge. What seemed like 20 minutes later I crashed into the water, feeling an elation unlike any I had felt before. I had made the leap and I would never be the same again.

A leap of faith is a pivotal action for anyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus Christ and it was no different for the first disciples. Some however, were better able to take that leap of discipleship than others. Matthew for example was able to unhesitatingly get up from his tax booth at Jesus request, leaving his posh life to follow Christ (Matthew 9:9-13). Thomas on the other hand required numerous amounts of proof to spur his belief and would constantly question Jesus before he acted. This tendency is best seen in the story of Thomas after the Crucifixion (John 20:19-29) for he was not present when Christ first appeared to the disciples. After coming back, the disciples told him that "they had seen the Lord!" to which Thomas replied "unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." It seems that Thomas like me, was waiting by the side of the pool, unsure if he could make the big jump. Fortunately Thomas was present during Jesus next appearance and after seeing the nail marks and the hole inJesus' side, Thomas finally takes the leap by exclaiming "My Lord and my God!" To which Jesus replies "because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

So where are you in this story? Are you bold and brave like Matthew, climbing the ladder and making the big jump without hesitation? Or are you Thomas and making sure that things are exactly as they should be before making the move? This is not to say that questioning things is bad, but are questions blocking you from believing? Or can your enthusiastic, bold faith take some questioning to become deeper? Something to ponder this week!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

A Zealot and a not so Zealot

2009-11-09T13:40:00.001-08:00

In our continuing look at how Christ transformed the 12 disciples from ordinary to extraordinary, this week we are looking at (drum roll please. . . .) Simon the Zealot and Andrew! Andrew, Simon Come on down! You are the next contestant on Analyze the Disciple!

Our first contestant today is Simon the Zealot, a single 45 year old Jew who likes walks in the moonlight. . . wait, I can't back up that claim. In fact, we know nothing of Simon, that's right, zip, zilch, nothing and nada! However, while we know nothing about him, his title of "Zealot" tells us a great deal of who he might have been. As it turns out the Zealots were a highly organized sect of men in Jesus' time who held their Jewish beliefs close, allowing only like minded people to join them in their quest to throw the Romans out on their keisters. From this description, it can be assumed that that Simon was probably was a political activist, a disciple who hoped for a military messiah to lead Zealots against the Roman. So how would Jesus' words change him?

But before we answer that, let's first take a look at our other contestant: Andrew! Andrew is a Virgo, 6'8" and likes to benchpress camels! Just kidding, we know very little about him as well. However, what we do know leads us to see that he is the polar opposite of Simon the Zealot. Contrary to Simon, Andrew was a seemingly open, free spirited sort of person who was quick to bring people to meet Jesus Christ (John 1,6, 12). He had very little want to be around organized groups of people with similar mindsets, all he knew is that individual people had to meet Jesus Christ, and because of that interaction, they would be changed!

Now by comparing these two disciples can you imagine Simon the Zealot doing such a thing as inviting a random (or dare I say it? ROMAN) person to talk to Christ? Or see Andrew as being overly organized and wanting only people with the same beliefs around him to carry out an action? Nope, probably not. So the question becomes how did Jesus Christ transform these men who had such differing personalities and styles?

In looking at what Simon and Andrew became after Jesus Christ's resurrection, it is clear that from His teachings he addressed their weaknesses, transforming them into truly great disciples! For Simon, Christ was a Messiah who was love instead of political power, a Messiah who wanted him to reach out and embrace other people. For Andrew, Christ showed him how organization could benefit a ministry and how bringing new people in was only the first step to growing in one belief in the Gospel. In essence, Christ used the polar nature of Simon and Andrew's strengths to address the corresponding weakness in each of them. Thus, He brought them both to a very healthy median, a median that is still reflected in our churches today as we are quick to invite, yet we seek to orderly bring people to the same faith.

So which disciple do you identify with? The open, inviting but not overly orderly Andrew or the organized, sure-of-himself Simon the Zealot? Think about that!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Channeling the "Sons of Thunder" in today's Church

2009-11-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

Have you ever done something that you have not thought through and then have to suffer the consequences? Like say, putting a plugged-in iron on your face to see if it is hot? Or sticking yourself with a hot soldering iron on a whim?Or back-talking your parents and losing your cell phone as punishment? (All of which have happened to youth in our group). If you have done these things or things like them you are in good company because being impulsive, energetic and fiery is what it is to be a youth! During this time in life it seems that we make a lot of bad decisions and mistakes because don't think all the way through which leads to us wasting our energy on pointless endeavors, alienating ourselves or being rebuked by people when we screw up. Sound familiar to you? I think it is something that everyone deals with at one point or another.

Believe it or not, this impulsive, reckless behavior was a problem for Jesus' disciples as well. Specifically, it was an issue for James and John who were so impetuous that Jesus nicknamed them the "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17) due to their behavior. For example, they were so hotheaded that they asked for Jesus to destroy an entire Samaritan village for disrespecting them (Luke 9:51-56) and they were so impulsive that they had the gall to ask for the honor to sit at Jesus' side in Heaven (Mark 10:35-45). While this behavior is indeed impetuous, I am sure you are wondering about what has this got to do with you, the youth of today. Well, it turns out that James and John were probably youth themselves when they did these things, with John thought to be only a teenager. So you see that even two of the greatest disciples had problems just like us today. Often in their youthful ambition they didn't think their actions through and had some difficult times. However, Christ loved them and even though he rebuked them when they screwed up, he taught them and sought to change them. In the end of the Gospels, we see how successful this transformation was as James goes out to be a evangelist and John became a pillar in the young church and is widely credited with writing many of the books of the New Testament.

In John and James, Jesus Christ saw two unruly youth and despite some growing pains He transformed them, using their inherent youthful gifts of energy, zeal and enthusiasm to grow the Church. Today we too have youth with these gifts of energy and zeal and a church that needs them to grow. So the question is, how can you transformed by Christ and use your youthful gifts in today's church? Will you be the next "son or daughter" of Thunder whom God uses to do truly great things??? If Jesus could do it with two rascals like James and John, anything is possible so think about it!!!

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Food for thought . . .

2009-10-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

Upon reflecting upon our food drive this year, I am beginning to think that this drive affected our youth in a way that many did not suspect, and I know that God was behind it. Originally, we were going to have one of our pantries at St. Mark's UMC come to pick up their groceries, but due to a mix up we ended up having to take the groceries to them. In retrospect, this was definitely God in action because when we got to St. Mark's our youth got to experience what it is like to be on the front lines of the fight against hunger. The most powerful thing however was listening to Carol, the coordinator of the pantry, talk about the people that the food would be helping. Perhaps the most astounding thing she said was that Truman High School (one of our local HS which many of our students go to) had the highest population of homeless teenagers in all of Kansas City and her pantry provided food to feed them. When I heard this, I immediately checked the reactions of the youth and they were all shocked, even the ones that did not go to Truman ! It was clear that it had never occurred to some of them that their fellow students could be homeless and not have enough to eat. Carol then followed up her shocking statement with a challenge that I would like all of us to consider this week and it went something like this:

"I want you all to look closely at the people you encounter this week: Your friends, your family, your colleagues, your fellow students. How many of them are in this position and you have no idea about it? What can we do as Christians to help them?"

Well, one thing we can do is continue to support our local food pantries so our brothers and sisters in Christ can have food to eat. But what else can we do? What things can we as young Christians do to help change these people's lives for the better? What can God do through you? Think about that. . .

Bryson

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT)

Trick or Treat so Others can Eat results!!!

2009-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

So our group just finished our annual Trick or Treat so Others can Eat food drive here in Independence and praise God (!!!!) it went spectacularly! Between the three churches that participated, we brought almost 3500 items of food (in approximately 315-325 grocery bags) which more than doubled the amount of food we brought in last year. This meant that we were able to provide twice as much food at a time when it is sorely needed in our city. This point was especially hammered home when we delivered the food to our community food pantries and saw how empty they were. Just seeing empty shelves and boxes made me realize how God was worked through us during this food drive, and because of that grace, God was going to do a lot of good through the food we brought! Just seeing the looks of joy on the pantry worker''s faces and knowing that thousands of people will be fed this month helped me feel the joy that is what serving God is all about! How awesome is that?!? God is so good!

KICKOFF!!!!!!!!

2009-10-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . 0

YAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO! Welcome everyone! Welcome to the official kickoff of the ultra cool and awesome Mighty Warriors Youth Ministry blog! We are so excited that you are here reading this and we hope that you will tag along wit us as we start this brand new era of our youth ministry!!!

Let me take a brief second to introduce myself. My name is Bryson Lillie, I am Youth Minister here at First UMC, Independence and I will be your "tour guide" for many of the posts that appear here on this blog. I am uber excited to be joining you here and I hope that this place becomes a place of many voices, a place where young people can come and grow in their Christian faith. To that end, I pray that the Spirit encourages us to have excellent conversations that connect us to each other, spreads the gospel and helps us grow as Christians! Before we start though, I want to encourage you all to ask any questions, for it is through those questions that we will grow! I also want to assure you that no matter who you are, regardless of race, gender, orientation or class you are most welcome and loved here!

Are you ready to begin the journey? Well, put your seat backs and tray tables in the upright and locked position and LET'S HIT IT!!!

Under Construction!

2009-10-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

This blog is part of an effort to bring the Youth Group of FUMC Independence into the digital realm! It is being paired with a revamping of the FUMC website and will officially launch here in a couple weeks. Once we launch, we hope that this will be an area that holds many vigorous theological discussions and will help youth of all genders, races, sexual orientations and socioeconomic classes find or deepen their faiths in Jesus Christ!

Until then, if you are curious about us feel free to contact us!

fumc-youthdirector@sbcglobal.net or 816-254-6900

God bless and we hope to see you soon!