My Part of the Conversation

Just a few highlights from Camp this year- they aren’t in order, they’re all just great memories:

1. Micky’s Bread Pudding… (mmmm…. bread pudding… argargagraaahaaa)
2. John Max snagging a deep hit by Joey to save the game for us.
3. Bill’s diving catch to take away an easy home-run.
4. Blocking Jose’s spike
5. Shocking Jacob’s when I grabbed his line-drive to right field by jumping straight up and fully extending my arm… and the look on his face when I caught it.
6. Losing my voice… on Monday
7. Spiking on ALL the campers in the All-Star game
8. Joey’s video for Sunday night (AWESOME)
9. God leading me to meditate on Ephesians chapter 2…
10. Learning about the discipline of praying scripture… if you aren’t doing this START NOW I can’t understand how I have ignored something so incredibly powerful!!! Pray Ephesians 1 and 2 and feel God’s Spirit go to work. Okay. End sermon.
11. Pookie’s imitation of his brother.
12. Jonathan’s imitation of Ray Charles
13. Kristen’s volleyball hits
14. Joey and Bill’s strange, troublemaking chemistry
15. Camp Smiley airplane
16. Silent Night
17. Singing on the ballfield
18. Sharing Friday night
19. Quality time with Troy
20. Quality time with Joey Ledet.
21. Hannakah Ball
22. Gildafish

There are more, I’m sure. Just wanted to share a quick list.

Take time to be silent. Until we are still, we will not be able to hear Him speak.

In HIM,
Blaine

Well, the first big event of the summer is over.

And what a great week it was. I never cease to be amazed at how church camp can make such a huge difference in the spiritual life of a teenager. And I’ve seen my share of camps. I’ve been to church camps in Colorado, Arizona (but, ironically, only for retreats), Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana. I’ve seen different set-ups, different approaches, different environments, and different schedules. Yet, for some reason, that week away makes a huge impact. I think Encounter at LCU is the best, but that’s only because I went there when I was in high school. That same sentiment is shared by everyone I have met in regards to their particular camp.

Camp Smiling Acres is no different. It has a lot of people that love it very much and look forward to that week all year long. They look forward to coming, they look forward to one day being the oldest, and they look forward to eventually becoming a counselor there. They love camp.

With all that, being the only Bible teacher for a week is quite an intimidating task. I don’t want to be the one that screws it up for a year and everyone leaves disappointed. Many times I am made fully aware that God uses our weaknesses to glorify, and that can be the only reason I’m in youth ministry at all. He so often uses what I consider to be the worst abilities I bring to the table to do great things. This week was no exception.

A few months ago, God laid the message a message on my heart. He said, “Teach them to be still. Until they are still, they will not know I am God.” That was obviously a reference to Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know I am God”. We focused on that for the week.

I was amazed at how hungry they were for those lessons. It was very apparent that they knew these lessons were something that they needed. I was amazed at how they soaked it up, and spent time putting it all in practice.

Ironically, that was a lesson I needed. I needed to be reminded to be still and spend time with God. If I don’t, life becomes fractured and overwhelming, and seemingly hopeless. God really worked on my heart this week.

It was also a great week with the teens. I had a great time getting to know them, eating with them at every meal and playing sports together several times throughout the day. I’m still bothered by the fact that they don’t open up to me a lot. It seemed like teens were constantly opening up to me when I was an intern. Perhaps they just need more time and more trust. Besides, it’s only my own pride and need for affirmation that is bothered they aren’t coming to me. Most seem to be doing very well spiritual. In fact, they are much better off than I was at that age.

After a year, I can see how much many of them have grown and changed. Youth ministry will be hard for the long haul, seeing new faces and growing students who are different every year. I just have to trust God will provide for each day what is needed for that day. Anyway, I’m really proud of them and the growth I see. I saw some of them reach out a little more to fringe students, some curb their anger on the sports field, some offer encouragement that usually only hand out put-downs, and others really digging in to their Bibles that a while back they didn’t even bring to church.

It was a good week.

Okay, long post. I’ll probably just offer smaller tid-bits later on.

Next post: Highlights

In HIM,
Blaine

I found this interesting quiz. I’m not sure that restoration theology is factored in, but apparently I’m heavily influenced by methodist theology. Interesting…

Blaine

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God’s grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Emergent/Postmodern 71% Neo orthodox 61% Charismatic/Pentecostal 57% Classical Liberal 54% Reformed Evangelical 50% Modern Liberal 50% Fundamentalist 36% Roman Catholic 11%

What’s your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

…starts Sunday.

I leave tomorrow.

Between getting my family ready to head to Arizona for the time I’m gone and the normal summer schedule of a youth ministry and a few distractions, I feel no where near ready. Please pray for me this week.

God has been really working in my heart and in my life to prepare me for this camp. I’ve been so amazed at how the ideas have come in such unusual ways. The lessons are a quite a bit different than that things I normally do. A lot of this week is trusting God to communicate to the hearts of teenagers, and just give them opportunity to listen.

I’m excited about this week. I’m also scared and nervous because I know what a tremendous responsibility and opportunity it is. People look forward to camp all year. It’s not just because they play a lot of softball and see their friends. It’s because they truly feel excited about being a Christian for a week. For some, it might be the only week all year that they think about God. I have the responsibility- and the calling- to make sure they are well guided during this time.

I know in my mind that God has to do the real communication with the hearts of people. I also know that if I trust Him, He will provide me with the message He wants me to communicate at the time. I need to be prepared for the event that He tells me to scratch it and do something else on the spot. He’s done that before. It’s so hard to prepare my heart for this. I know in my mind that the outcome will be better, but often my heart is proud and hard and says, “But I spent lots of valuable time working on this!”

I never cease to be amazed, though. How the Holy Spirit moves us, motivates us, convicts us, speaks through us- and in the midst of all that- He comforts us. What a mysterious, kind, and powerful God we serve!

Like I said before, please pray for me this week. Pray for the other counselor’s and teachers this week. Pray also for the teens, that they will be open to growth.

May you be filled with God’s Holy Spirit today. May you feel His power, His wisdom, His conviction- and His comfort.

In HIM,
Blaine

Okay…. so this isn’t going to be about the Restoration Movement, per se… I just wanted you to know that we are still on that train of thought.

I made a comment in my earlier post regarding the openness to asking questions. I never cease to be amazed at how a group that has so long stressed the importance of studying and applying God’s Word in its lives can be so afraid of people asking questions. There are very few (none that I can think of) examples of healthy groups that do not allow questions in any form. It seems that any time a question arises in a Bible class regarding instrumental music, baptism, Lord’s Supper, women’s role, Holy Spirit, etc., everyone takes a deep breath. Some jump in and bash the one who asked the question. Others shake their heads and wait till they get home to get all fired up. Others have those same questions and want to ask them, but there is not a forum nor an environment in which that is welcomed.

Now many of you who know me know that I have never worked with or for a truly harsh church. I don’t want to give the impression that my experiences indicate someone sitting over my shoulder waiting for me to even question CofC doctrine. However, there is a subtle question that is often attached to those sensitive questions, one that is asking if it is okay to ask questions that might lead to a totally different interpretation of the Bible. I’ve heard too many comments “where that might lead” comments to feel comfortable asking for help understanding and interpretting Scripture.

Another example of this is replies to my first post on this issue. I made some statements and asked some questions that are not normally asked in Churches of Christ. Some of those who commented joked about me getting in trouble for that. Now, I feel enough writing here and my friends were only joking, but even in the joking is a subtle acknowledgement that things are not as they should be.

Jimmy made a great comment on asking questions, saying that it is not like we’re going to fall off the deep end for asking these questions, so there should be nothing to fear. True, I grew up in an environment where asking questions and seeking out answers was accepted, even- no especially- in matters of faith.

I’m not sure if I really need to convince anyone that we should be able to ask faith related questions. But, if so, read through the gospels and listen to Jesus. He answers questions of doubters, followers, Pharisees, and apostles. Some want greater understanding, others want to traip him in his answers. Either way, Jesus takes the time to answer them (though not always in the way they might haveexpected!)

I read an article by a youth minister some months ago about how he was approached by one of his teens who was doubting her belief in God. Instead of acting in panic or fear, he told her he was excited for her for thinking with her own mind and making her faith her own. She was shocked at his response, and later made a deeper, more intimate commitment to Jesus later down the road. The point was that she was allowed to ask questions that might lead in scary directions.

I hope that as a youth minister I show myself to have an open mind and an open heart, and that teens -who are already struggling to understand so many concepts about God and life and just growing up- can feel safe asking difficult questions with me.

Because, quite frankly, I don’t have all the answers either.

Blaine