Good To Be Home

Whew!  It is so wonderful to be home with my Clifton Park Family!  I am very thankful for Frank agreeing to cover Wednesday night class while I was in Memphis, TN working on my Masters degree.  There’s no place like home and it’s good to be home!

This past week, I spent the majority of my days in a classroom and then my nights in a library.  It was a lot of work but will be a wonderful benefit to me and this congregation in the tools it has reminded me of and the techniques it has refined in me.  I spent a week with 17 other full time ministers locked in a room at Harding School of Theology with our professor, Dr. David Allen Black (who is a well known scholarly author).  We were exploring advanced methods of exegesis and the controls we must keep in place when studying the Word of God.  Education, however, was not the most uplifting part of this past week.

Each of my classmates came to Memphis with a variety of backgrounds, social settings, and years of experience.  It was encouraging to hear their stories and make connections with wonderful brothers and sisters who can relate in many different ways and can encourage us as a congregation.  This past week held many late night discussions on discipleship, evangelism, church growth, how to properly exegete a text, and needs of congregations across the United States.  It is so encouraging to hear the struggles and successes of our fellow brothers and sisters.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to not only learn intellectually but to interact with wonderful, well-known scholars and enthusiastic, thirsting for knowledge ministers.  Although all of us may not be interested in the fine tuned nuances of exegesis or the inner workings of the Greek language, I want to encourage you to dive deeply into the word of God by spending 30 minutes a day reading and thinking about His Scriptures!  Go ahead, try it for a month and see what it’s like to fall into love with God again!

Evangelism Across The Yard

Often times we over complicate the process of intentionally meeting people.  We read books about great ideas of handing out water, doing good deeds, handing out tracts, preaching on street corners, and so forth.  The problem is that these yield low results and require a lot of cold calling and awkwardness.  So if these don’t work, what is the secret?  I want to suggest that there is no “secret” to evangelism.  Rather, there is the obvious that has been overlooked.  For example, several people inquire how they might meet people intentionally but they have overlooked (or neglected) to even meet their neighbors.  I have been in my new home for about 2 days now.  I have met both neighbors, an additional person down the street from our end, and have had several conversations with one of the said neighbors who planning on “hanging out” in the next week or so when I get back into town.  How did I intentionally meet someone and get to a point of “hanging out?”  I walked across my yard, knocked on the door, introduced myself, and began talking to him.  I asked questions–beginning with “how much of the yard do I cut until it encroaches on your yard” and moving to discussions about our families and likes/dislikes.    The wonderful part is, in a 5-10 minute conversation, I have made a friend who has now consistently stopped to talk to me every time (remember it’s only been a few days) we both see each other out and about.  We have even talked about getting our wives together (AND IT WAS HIS IDEA!!!!).

I am not writing to have you say “WOW! Look how great Josh is.”  My intention is to encourage you all to start simply by talking to those who are in your life every day but go unnoticed.  It’s amazing what God will do when his people pray and seek out the “men/women of peace.”

So here’s the question: Who have you overlooked?  What are other areas (besides physical neighbors) that the church could be looking for the people of peace?  What has worked for you and what hasn’t?  

I pray God has encouraged you to “get out of your home” and just “walk across the yard.”  Whether that yard is physically or symbolic in nature.

-Josh

Raising Our Children In The Lord

View more sermons at www.joshuafreeman.net

Disaster Tolerance

I ran across an article on Seth Godin’s blog titled “disaster tolerance” which had two profound statements: 1) Not all disasters can be avoided and 2) Not all disasters are fatal.  As I pondered these nuggets of wisdom, I wondered how it related to ministerial and congregational life.  How does it relate to leadership within the church?

Not all disasters can be avoided.  From the beginning of the church we have seen disaster strike.  Jesus was crucified, followers were brutally murdered, Christians were blamed for acts they did not commit, and churches began to fall apart.  We face similar threats today.  Over and over we see congregations falling apart and never recovering because they cannot accept the two stated truths in Seth’s blog.  Elderships buckle under fear and second-guess the right decisions.  We try to avoid ever problem we will ever face when in reality we need to do our job and let God take care of the rest.

Not all disasters are fatal.  We have this unhealthy view in todays church that failure is fatal.  When something goes wrong, we fear the worst.  We don’t dicipline because it could turn out disasterous and could demolish the congregation.  We don’t shepherd because we are afraid of any possible negative responses to doing our God-given duty.  Ministers don’t lead because they fear the fatal desaster of losing their job for obeying the Word of God (ironic isn’t it?).  We have allowed disasters, hard times, and potential failure to cripple us for fear of the churches fatality.  However, not all disaster leads to death of a congregation!

What are mistakes we fear will lead to the “fatal blow” in our congregations?  How can we overcome our misunderstandings of “disaster” for the benefit of the Kingdom of God?  Any other applications we can glean from this concept?

An Undetectable Drug Teens Use

Has anyone heard of “Synthetic cannabis?’  This drug (also know as K-2, spice, herbal smoking blends, and occasionally herbal incense) has multiple chemical make ups (several illegal and a few still under debate) and is being used to gain the same effect that marijuana has one ones mind.  Outlawed in many parts of Europe and on it’s way in the U.S., this is not a “safe drug.”  Although it is a synthetic drug, it still produces the effects of marijuana and emergency rooms are reporting a rise in call to 911 and poison control in relation to this relatively new drug.  The scary part: it doesn’t show up on drug tests.  So what do we as parents, youth ministers, elders, and congregations do?

1) Talk to them.  You would be amazed at how many families don’t have good communication.  Keep the lines of communication open with your teens.  This drug is being marketed to those primarily 17 years and younger.  Kids are taking drugs at a much younger age these days so it is never to early to talk to your teen about drugs and their negative effects. We must educate our teens in good decision making and affirmation of those good choices.

2) Pray, pray, pray.  Prayer is our avenue of petitioning to God.  Whether it is synthetic cannabis (K-2) or the first day of a new school, the entire family, ministry staff, and congregation should be lifting it’s teens up in prayer.  Beg God to give us the wisdom to help our teens.

3)  Remind them they’re not alone.  Sometimes teens give into peer pressure because they feel singled out and alone.  They feel like the nerd, loser, or nobody.  We need to help them understand that they are never alone and they can handle anything they come across with the help of God and their family (physical and spiritual).

4)  Inform parents.  Parents don’t usually know their children as well as they think they do.  Ever heard this: “my child would never do that.”  One of the hardest tasks I faced as a youth minister was getting parents to come to grips with the world their child lived in.

5)  Ask for help.  Never be to proud to ask advice from someone else when you are “in over your head.”  Our teens well being should never be succeeded by our pride.  We all have problems.  That’s what your physical and spiritual family is here for–to help.

6)  Allow them individualism.  I am not speaking in the sense of what they wear.  We need to realize that our teens are created as beings with free will.  Just as God cannot make you or I do what he asks, neither can we always be there to force our children to make good decisions.  We have to trust our teens (to a reasonable degree) and trust God.

7)  Forgive.  If our teens mess up, we must forgive them (whether or not they apologize).  We must continue to love them and continue to forgive them.  This does not mean they will not face consequences that have been earned.  It means that “just as God has forgiven us, we forgive others.”

Those of you who have been in ministry for a while, have raised children, or have had experiences in relation; what other advice would you give?  How do we go about educating our teens and parents?  How can the congregation as a whole raise a child to be Godly?

Growing God-Loving Youth

One of the ways God works through us is in how we, as a congregation, work with God’s children.  It’s about–loving God and loving others so they can love God.  Here are some ways that can help children grow to become more like Jesus:

Commit to the long haul. Helping them discover their unique identity in Christ won’t happen overnight.  It takes time to build a healthy relationship. Because of this, we should never give up on any child.

Become a student of their life. Pay attention and try to discern where God is moving. WATCH! ASK! LISTEN! Pay attention to who they are (not who you think they should be). Think about them often and ask God what he might be up to in their lives and what you might be able to do to help. Don’t allow your assumptions to get in the way.

Paint pictures of their potential. God’s designs for our lives are always so much more than we can understand or expect. Help your students see new horizons. When a child or teenager sets a personal goal, encourage it, challenge it, and nurture it. Help them to dream!

Celebrate great decisions. Cheer them on when they make a good decision.

Downplay the failures. Learn to look past the problems and make grace your first response.

Encourage them to serve. There are some things that God can only teach us when we are serving others. We are never more like Jesus than when we serve. Once you see teenagers serving, ask them questions to help them explore their serving-experience and help them discover where God might be leading.  Encourage primarily serving in the context of life (not just church).

What are our children and teens learning from our behaviors and responses?

What are other ways we can, as congregations, raise our children and teens to love God, love others, and serve God and others?  What do you believed brought you to the point of serving God and others?  What doesn’t work?

The original can be found here.

Bible Beer Pong?

Did the title get your attention?  Well, it’s not completely untrue.  Wes Woodell has brought attention to a very interesting and lively discussion titled “Beer Church.”  I want to encourage you to CLICK HERE and join in!  It is something that gets you thinking.  Don’t react immediately, think through the issues, read the comments…it’s very interesting.