My first two years...

True Love

2009-05-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

Was at church this past Sunday and they played this video of Phil Wickham playing "True Love":

My first two years...

2009-05-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

"Friday, May 15, 2009"

Test post: with this new template I'm still trying to find my way around...

With Everything

2009-05-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

With everything, with everything, we will shout forth your glory...

Rethink church Campaign

2009-05-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Got this from Adam Mclane's blog:

That's My King!

2009-04-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize it tonight until my friend Brendon leaned over in the middle of an absolutely amazing message, at a night of worship, and whispered, "this is actually a well known sermon that's he's borrowing from a guy named Dr. S.M. Lockridge..." Sssooo inspiring, that when I got home I immediately youtubed it, and found the message, a church I actually attend on occassions opened up their service with this short video or Lockridge's message, serveral weeks ago, so good.

Clayton

2009-04-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

SSSOOOO CAL...

2009-03-19T02:27:00.000-07:00

So I had a couple friends come down for a visit the other day, Alex and Jon. We worked together up in NorCal as interns in a church youth ministry for a summer, those guys made that summer crazy awesome, roof top theological conversations, Primo’s, uncomfortable staff meetings, Francis Chan, unending visits from students, and of course Shane Banard pavin the way...

haha. It was great to see them again, a lot of much needed fun and exploring the O.C. Here’re a couple pics from the couple of days they were here…

Photo's compliments of Jon. Word.

Le Grand Road Bike

2009-03-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

So, since I live in a beachtown and at a distance from certain things that are a little bit to far to walk, annoying to use my car for, but perfect to ride a bike too I decided to invest in this

It's a 10-Speed Road Bike, from the mid 80's... Brand new tires, rides very smoothly, kept in decent condition, only need to buy some grip tape for the handle bars which'll only set me back around 6 or 7 bucks, was super cheap and will hopefully in the next year or so pay for itself in the amount of gas money I'll be saving... I'm pumped to ride it around with friends or even to the gym which is only about 10 or so blocks from my house, just need to buy a cheap chain., to keep it locked up and safe.

The Place! (aka "The Shack")

2009-03-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

So, for my mom and the 3 others who read my blog, just thought I'd post a picture of my house that I just moved into! I call it "The Shack" (In no relation to the book, that I'll be starting to read, hopefully this week)

On another note, REI's "Garage Sale" is happening this month here in Huntington March 29th!! It's where they sell stuff that would normally cost hundreds of dollars for not even a quarter of that price. I bought a $250 tent for $12 bucks at the last one!

Good Jams

2009-02-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

So been listening to some good stuff recently check it:

Lifehouse- Broken
Matthew West- The Motions
Jeremy Camp- There Will Be a Day
Tenth Avenue North- By Your Side
Skillet- You Are My Hope
Sigur Ros- Hopipolla
Eminem & Nate Dogg- Til' I Collapse
Eminem- Lose Your Self
Shwayze- Corona & Lime

I. Love. Music.

Youth Ministry 3.0

2009-02-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

Youth Ministry 3.0

Would I recommend this book to others?
Mm... I don't know.

So after a month of mayhem trying to get a hold of Marko’s new book I was finally able to get my hands on a copy. The local book store had it but supposedly Zondervan made them take the book off the shelf because its official release date isn’t until a later date, and a bunch of other craziness that delayed me getting it. Either way now I have it and have read it.

With much anticipation and excitement I have been left absolutely frustrated. Though I can’t pin point exactly why, it could be because it reminded me too much of being back at Eastern University in my 8:30 YMIN101 course, or it could have been that he used too many big words, or I was in a bad mood the day I read it, either way I’ll do my best too explain my thoughts.

Synopsis:
So short synopsis: Marko gives us a break down of what youth ministry has looked like in the past 50 years and takes us up to the present showing us the changes and “evolution” that has taken place. He then goes into a deeper look into where we are at now and the direction in which we need to head, which he would label as “Youth Ministry 3.0”. Incarnational ministry, passion, belonging, and simply being present are all descriptions of what Marko’s saying we need to practice in order to meet where youth ministry has currently landed itself.

Alright, I’ll cut to it, with my frustration comes much disappointment. There was nothing new, radical, or revolutionary about 3.0. Which I guess is basically saying I on the most part agreed with where Marko thinks youth ministry is and should be heading. I think there were great reminders in saying we’ve moved past the 2.0 style of programs and presenting the gospel to the students through only large group gatherings. This is a book that simply puts an emphasis on, and clarifies, where most of us youth pastors have seen youth ministries veering in the past several years. And I guess I wished there was more.

A good percentage of my frustrations come with the fact that Marko never gives us clear cut examples of what it would look like to do 3.0. In fact he says he doesn’t quite know. Though this evoked frustration from me, I think this is quite genius because it causes us to think through what it would look like for our own ministries. I think a point within this is him saying “it’ll look completely different for each ministry” and by giving us an example, is not only putting it in a box, but possibly veering towards youth ministry 2.0. Meaning he’d basically be saying “this is the lay out and how it should be done programmatically” which would have been counterintuitive to 3.0. (hope that makes sense)

Let’s end with the positives. I like that the book was hardback, I tend to destroy paperbacks no matter how careful I am with them. There was great commentary by others on the sides of each page, though it could at times be very distracting, I found it on the most part helpful and encouraging. At many times, I found myself saying “oh thank God, I’m not alone.” The most important part of this book is that it causes one to THINK what this would look like in our own ministry and leaves us with many questions. Which is now the perfect seg way to mine.

Questions:
How does one buy into incarnational ministry and yet not become the students “buddy”?

What does this look like for my own ministry?

Do I agree that what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked? I mean, shouldn’t we expect it, with many students, to not work (not work meaning, not many students become madly in love and sold out for Christ)? Christ even says “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” I take from that, that Christ is saying, “Look, a lot of times things just won’t work and people will ignore or even walk away from truth."

Whatever.

2009-02-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

So I'm currently, reading through Donald Miller's book, "Searching For God Knows What", up until now I've thought the book has been eh, but that's how it went while I was reading "Blue Like Jazz" so I've given it several chapters and this is where it got awesome. Miller says:

"Humans, as a species, are constantly, and in every way, comparing themselves to one another, which, given the brief nature of their existence, seems an oddity and, for that matter, a waste. Nevertheless, this is the driving influence behind every human's social development, their emotional health and sense of joy, and, sadly, their greatest tragedies. It is as though something that helped them function and live well has gone missing, and they are pining for that missing thing in all sorts of odd methods, none of which are working. The greater tragedy is that very few people understand they have the disease. This seems strange as well because it is obvious. To Be sure, it is killing them, and yet sustaining their social and economic systems. They are an entirely beautiful people with a terrible problem."

It's so good, cause it's so true. Badabing.

Galatians 2-3

2009-02-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

Galatians 2-3 (New International Version)

Galatians 2
Paul Accepted by the Apostles 1Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. 3Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

6As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message. 7On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles,[a] just as Peter had been to the Jews.[b] 8For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9James, Peter[c] and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter 11When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

15"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

17"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"[d]

Galatians 3

Faith or Observance of the Law 1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

6Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."[e] 7Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."[f] 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."[g] 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."[h] 12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."[i] 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."[j] 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The Law and the Promise 15Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed,"[k] meaning one person, who is Christ. 17What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

19What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
21Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

23Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ[l] that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Sons of God 26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

"The Shack"

2009-02-12T11:28:00.001-08:00

So most of us have heard about the book "The Shack". I've heard only rave reviews from students, friends, and youth pastors until this. This is a snippet from one of Mark Driscol's messages regarding doctrine.

Though Driscol says not to even buy the book, I did. Haven't read it yet, but Probably going to start diggin into it when I'm done with the current book I'm reading.

Monthly Newsletter

2009-01-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

Here's the Student Ministries section in the upcoming "Churchman" (The name of our monthly newsletter):

January 21, 2009

I’m a firm believer that with Change comes much growth! In the recent past we’ve seen much change within our economy, within our presidency, within our personal lives, and even within our own ministry here in Lakewood.

Change seems to be the reoccurring theme up here in the student ministries, as both the students and the leadership are heading in a brand new direction with a brand new vision, trusting in The Spirit to guide us every step of the way. We’re implementing new structures to better support our commitment to building relationships.

With a commitment to stay true to preaching the word and refrain from watering things down, we have seen Christ bless us in growth, not only numerically but spiritually. Our desire for the next few years is to, “Hopefully and prayerfully set students on a trajectory of lifelong and passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ.”

Though doing this through prayer and trust in The Spirit, we’ve been blessed with many opportunities such as our upcoming winter retreat located on the camp grounds of Ponderosa Pines within the Big Bear Mountains, bringing on many new and avid volunteers, and technologically upgrading our room so that we can use multi media as a means of reaching our teenagers.

Here’s some upcoming events
February 1st Superbowl Party at 3:00pm in the upstairs Fellowship Hall
February 8th @ 6:00pm-7:30pm Middle School Kick off
February 27th- Mar 1st Ponderosa Pines Winter Retreat (High School)

And of course our usual meeting times:
High Schoolers:
Wednesday’s 6:00pm-8:30pm
Sunday’s 10:00am- 11:00am

Middle Schoolers:
Sunday evening’s 6:00pm- 7:30pm
Sunday Morning’s 10:00am- 11:00am

Though Change can be scary we want to continue to bring it on so that we may continue to persevere and grow! We ask for your prayers that God and His Spirit may continue to move within, not only our student ministry, but our whole church.

If you would like to learn more about our student ministries feel free to stop by and visit us upstairs in the Fellowship Hall or shoot me an email at Andy@thelvcc.org

Andy Gill
Director of Student Ministries
Lakewood Village Community Church
(609) 680-4329

How He LOVES Us.

2009-01-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

I'm running out the door now, but my amazing friend Dan emailed me this video which has just been so powerful and blessed me so much in the last couple of weeks, I hope it does the same for you. Oh How HE LOVES US!!!!!!!

My New Diet.

2009-01-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

Didn't notice how long it's been since my last post. I've been out and about just flew back from Boston and am digging into the grind again. Though since I was gone over break I did gain a few pounds and well to be honest it hasn't been since Christmas I've gained weight since I started here a few months ago. I blame the church. Haha. j/k. but seriously.

Anyways I have decided to diet, nothing crazy something I just made up I call it "The No Soda, No Fast Food, No Starbucks, While Going to the Gym 4 Days a Week Diet".

I think that's self explanatory. So, For the next two months I'm going to avoid those places. I've never really been successful in doing that, lol, so we'll see how it goes...

The Skit Guys

2009-01-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness. These guys are awesome. They are regulars at the National Youth Workers Convention every year, and are absolutely hillarious. They perform skits that are both funny and serious most of which are meant to be used within a youth group setting, though this particular skit is meant for us youth pastors. The first minute and a half I could 100% relate too, I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud as to how true much of what their saying is.... anywho. enjoy.

Passion Conference

2009-01-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Tomlin, Redman, and Nockels leading students in worship at the Passsion Conference.

Let me know what you think.

Olsen this one's for you dog. Lol.

Weekly Update!

2008-12-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

So I borrowed this idea and format from Mark Ostreicher's blog (http://www.ysmarko.com/) tweeking it and personalizing it as I'd like. Check it!

Location:
Apartment

Procrastinating:
I have parent mail-outs for the kick off of our high school and middle school ministry.

Reading:
Youth Ministry 3.0 (review to come soon)

Quote of the week:
"Adults want young people to be conformed to the comfortable instead of transformed by the uncomfortable."- Mike Yaconelli

Praises:
We just upped one of the former interns hours and renamed his position, and its been amazing working with him and having him around, it's taken so much weight off of my shoulders....

Our facilities are absolutely amazing. Don't get me wrong it's not all about them, but they sure don't hurt having them. I'll post pictures later on when I buy a digital camera for the group, two story building, couches, a fireplace, nice big office... (we can spill kool-aid where ever we want, but not really.)

Steve. This guy has such a huge heart and desire to come in and make things happen for the student ministries, he's our go to guy when we run into a walls.

obviously sooo much more but I'll keep it at that and well if you wanna hear more let's get coffee. (agill23@gmail.com)

Scripture of the Week:
My friend and I started up a multi church night of worship with a handful of other youth pastors and I recently came across this verse and am highly convicted as to how we have run and will continue to run this night of worship. After reading through this it looks like there’ll be BIG time changes.

“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” – God (Amos 5:21-24)

Moment of the week:
So many to choose from! Praise God! But if I had to narrow it down to just one, it’d be when I was sitting next to the fire place in the youth room just living in the moment watching all the high schoolers laugh, eat, and just hang out with each other at our Christmas party… though a very different group of kids they were all building relationships with each other, genuine friendships were growing... In other ministries I’d been in it took a year to get to this point, if I were being completely honest I’m not 100% sure we ever did reach this point.

Prayer Requests:
Guidance and wisdom, as I am brand new to being the go to guy I pray that God will continue to guide this ministry to where he desires it to go.

Female leaders, for the high school group we desperately need female leaders, seeing as we have none and a majority of our group is female.

The BibleSite.org

2008-12-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

So an old student of mine sent me over this cool site http://www.thebiblesite.org/. It's a site that sends out bibles to those who do not yet have bibles I guess due to impoverishment or government restrictions. The best part about this site is that it's 100% cost free for you, all you need to do is click to send a bible out.

Though it only allows you to send one bible out/day. Though you can click it everyday for the next 365 days and you'd have sent out 365 bibles.

Passionate Vs. Crazy

2008-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Am I crazy? Or am I passionate? I honestly don’t know. I think I’m crazy passionate, or maybe passionately crazy? Or maybe I’m just really socially inept, lol.

I started to recently think about this when I walked up to a pastor and bluntly asked him if his church had an “unstoppable community”. I mean looking back at this conversation I don’t regret it at all. I thought it was a legitimate question considering the sermon was on the book of Acts and the apostle’s inheritance of an “unstoppable force’. I just wanted to know if the church had a community of people possessing this unstoppable force.

I’m just a really passionate guy. I mean honestly, to say one is a passionless Christian is almost like saying you’re a crippled jogger, it doesn’t make sense, that just can’t be, or at least if it can be I don’t understand it at all. But that’s the thing, have I gone over board recently? Have I entered into the realm of insanity, have I got it all wrong? I mean when I walked up to that pastor I couldn’t help but sense him being slightly freaked out, yeah I know there are a lot of other things that I could have done that freaked him out like my body language, bad breath, extreme good looks… (j/k).

For a non Christian I am led to say, yes I would totally understand why one would be freaked out by such an intense question, but from a Christian’s perspective I believe that a Christian should feel a huge sense of relief or joy that he had found a brother who also wanted to passionately follow Christ. I know that’s how I would feel. Why? Because it seems today that Passionate Christians are becoming few and far apart.

In the churches I’ve attended recently “the normal Christian” is pretty lame. I don’t know, reading the bible and then going to church is like watching an episode of ER, and then actually experiencing an ER off the television screen, they’re nothing alike. (thanks Tyler) This should not be the case when it comes to scripture and church, sometimes I question whether or not we even want the same spirit that the apostles inherited. It’d be to “radical” for us.

I mean the more and more I think about this, the more I begin to think maybe “crazy” is the goal. Just read the book of acts, I mean if we’re going to be honest just read throughout the whole bible, from Noah claiming floods were coming for decades while he built a boat and gathered animals aboard, to the disciples such as Stephen who stood up and infuriated the crowds so deeply that they gnashed their teeth, covered their ears, and ran at him yelling at the top of their voices, and proceeded to stone him to death. But, we (we as in the local churches I’ve worked for and/or attended consistently) have left this all to the “characters of scripture”, we have created buildings and environments that are okay with talking about biblical radicals but not actually becoming a “biblical radical”, because well that’d just be too radical...

What I'm saying is appearing insane, stupid, crazy, or even coming across socially inept goes with being a Christian. I mean much of the bible is going against what we would consider to be "culturally acceptable"... We can't let cultural acceptance take precedance over our walk with Christ... So let's be crazy, insanely, stupid in love with Christ til the point of which it at many times will make us look, socially inept.

Sing, Sing, Sing...

2008-12-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

Came across this video on a NYWC bloggers blog, it's his 3 year old singing to Tomlin's "Sing, Sing, Sing..." Cutest thing ever... and for those who don't think this is the cutest thing ever, well... we call you people... "heartless". haha j/k. but seriously.

Kella Sings Tomlin from Shawn Michael Shoup on Vimeo.

What I've Learned.

2008-12-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

So, being in my first few months of being a youth director at a local church, just thought it'd be fun to share with ya'll a few things I've learned here starting off. So here ya go:

1. No matter how hard I try I can’t grow a goatee
2. Long Beach and Newport Beach = polar opposites
3. Receipts are like gold.
4. I’m not “Mr. SuperYouthLeaderDude”. Slow and steady. Pace yourself. It’s going to take years.
5. I can get free meals if I plan meetings during lunch. J
6. Fast food will be my cause of death.
7. Guard your day off.
8. I’m going to live in poverty for the rest of my life.
9. I need good, honest, well intentioned people around me…
10. Don’t sell out. Watering things down (as in the gospel) is not an option.
11. No matter how many times I bomb, in the end Jesus still wins, and the church will still exist.

The Use of Harsh Words

2008-12-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

"I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a **** (a bad word). What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said **** (a bad word) than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night. " - Tony Campolo

I've had quite a few conversations with friends, family, and bosses about the use of harsh words, and have had my share of trouble because of my use of harsh words... (What can I say, I'm from Jersey) On the most part I would agree with what Driscol is saying in the video below. We cannot deny the use of harsh words in scriptures, from the examples Mark uses to Steven's words in which led to his stoning. Though it is all about the right time and the right place in which it is appropriate to use these tones and words. I'd keep going but Driscol says, all that I'd say, so check it out...

Soon to exist.

2008-11-28T20:16:00.001-08:00

Posts will be coming soon...