Cultivating Positive Community 2

Huron County is, quite honestly, a place where religion is part of the heritage. The Christian church landscape here is quite diverse hosting a vast array of denominations such as: Catholic, Presbyterian, Amish, Mennonite, Episcopal, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Methodist, Free Methodist, Baptist, non-denominational, Wesleyan, Missionary, Nazarene, Seventh Day Adventist, as well as others I'm sure.

The common ground in all these denominations is Jesus. Jesus Christ. The Messiah. God incarnate as man. The word of God that became flesh. God revealed to man as man.

As I was looking at the title of my last blog, "Cultivating Positive Community," I was reminded of the community Jesus taught about; which happens to be the subject he taught on the most. He referred to it as the Kingdom of God.

I often dream about the transformation that would take place in our community if many of the church attenders would individually take Jesus seriously. The man who unites us all in our different denominations (Christ), is degraded to a joke or even a "swear word". The man who revealed the way of God, the truth of God, and the life of God has become nothing more than a picture or name or religious symbol in our churches. What would happen if we all committed our lives to following the person we say we believe in?

Cultivating Positive Community? Living within the Kingdom of God? It starts with embracing this Jesus as a teacher as well as a savior. If people truly accepted Christ and received the Spirit of God he promised, what a beautiful community we would live in!

People would be overflowing with:

love like never before

joy like never before

peace like never before

patience like never before

kindness like never before

goodness like never before

faithfulness like never before

gentleness like never before

self-control like never before

Can you imagine if this community embraced God in the deepest parts of their lives?

It's about embracing the purpose and intent that God originally created us to live for.

Talk about cultivating positive community…

a community focused on living for the Lord

a land sold out to accepting Jesus.

…a kingdom of God!

What would happen if we took Jesus seriously?!?!

Cultivating Positive Community

Great programs don't just happen. Ninety-nine percent of the time, state championship teams have a community who rallies behind and believes in their players, their team, their coaches, athletic director, and administration. The selfish mentality consumed more with "me" than "we" is a cancer. It is an incredibly hard to work as a coach/teacher/administration under this condition; and quite honestly any other cooperatively slanted vocation. My hope would be that the high school players in Ubly, as well as the rest of Huron county will be able to feel a community backing that believes in them as a whole. How great a culture we could create if we could only look past the pessimism and focus on being positive. This culture has to start in each of our lives, our homes, and our families. If we aren't willing to support our community, we should never expect success.

Great programs don't just happen.

Positive Communities don't just happen.

This sort of tight knit atmosphere begins at a personal level and moves to a communal level.

It starts with me, you, and us on an individual level.

In response to the statement, "At least this coach plays all of his players."

I'm commenting on a statement made in regards to a high school basketball team. I have never understood this logic and I hope by posting this, someone will enlighten me. Every once in a while I'll come across someone who thinks this way. Its not very often, but they (or maybe its you…and if it is I mean no offense) are out there.

This is what I think…and I also think I'm right.

The statement was: "At least this coach plays all of his players."


This isn't elementary or junior high basketball anymore. This is high school basketball. Just like high school football or other competitive and similar structured team sports; the players who put time into the game and develop skill play. I commend the efforts of a coach to play every player, but the players have all the time in the world to prove themselves in the off season. If coaches take minutes away from players who actually have skill and put in time, they are degrading the competitive nature of the team. If kids don't invest time on their own watch, how can they complain about their minutes?


The idea that everybody deserves playing time has undertones of socialism. In fact, we're seeing more of this now than ever: the entitlement mentality. This mentality is crushing the spirit of what made our country great. I know we're simply talking about high school basketball, but the logic being used here is alarming.

For Example:
If Jimmy spends the summer shooting 500 shots a day, jumping rope 500 times a day, work on ball handling for a half hour, and continues to push himself on his game; he can expect his investments will eventually pay off in better shooting, jumping, and ball handling. As basketball season comes around, little Bobby down the street (who hasn't put any time into the game) comes out for the basketball team. He's naturally athletic enough to contribute to the team, but only as a practice player. Through the season, little Bobby gets upset because he isn't playing as many minutes as Jimmy. Of course, at this point the last thing on Jimmy's mind isn't how many minutes he plays, his mind is on winning games. When Bobby subs in for Jimmy and continues to play in his place, Jimmy gets frustrated. He isn't upset because he's not getting minutes; he's upset because Bobby is turning the ball over, taking bad shots, not seeing opportunities to score, and ruining possessions in the course of the game. Because of Bobby's inexperience and lack of skill, the team's win is compromised. Jimmy is left frustrated and discouraged. He doesn't understand why little Bobby who really doesn't care about the game (he really just plays basketball to stay busy and be with his friends) is given the opportunity to be a detriment to the team. This ends up lessening Jimmy's work ethic and motivation to become a better player, and furthermore, his motivation to better his team. Not only is Jimmy's work ethic hurt, but so is the rest of the teams. Why would the team want to work on their game and individually become better (thus to be a better united team), if all the players are going to be played?

From this simplistic example, we can see why a "socialistic" basketball team can ruin the competitive edge of a team. The competitive nature of team is what makes these types of sports work.


The comment, "At least this coach plays all of his players," is one I have a hard time understanding, especially in the societal environment which we live. The former statement is ignorant and extremely shallow.

Obviously, high school and college sports programs are on completely different planes, but I wonder how many college basketball coaches play all their players. This is high school basketball, not junior high. This is a competitive sport, not a "have everyone play so nobody's feelings get hurt" sort of social club.

I think Ken has been doing an excellent job this year, good work coach! A 16-4 record is amazing. I have had a great time watching through the season. Good luck to Ubly in Districts!

promotion: "ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church"

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch put together a great reminder in focusing in the importance and centrality of Christ in our relationship with the Father.

The church often becomes so focused on itself, it forgets the purpose of it's original function. Jesus called us to make disciples (of Himself.) He is the way, the truth, and the life. Whenever we ignore the centrality of Jesus in our faith (and importance of him being the only way to the Father), we move to a place that Jesus nor any of the other apostles intended for us to go. We must continue to look to Jesus as our savior, but also our teacher (or in more of a Jewish sense, our Rabbi). ReJesus encourages us to remember that our lives will never bring to surface questions that Jesus cannot and did not address. Jesus reveals the nature of the Father, he teaches the Kingdom of God, and his multiplicity methods of discipleship continue to scream success throughout the course of history. This book grounded me, and reminded me that I am called to be a disciple of Jesus.

Very good read!

Plus: Their discussion on Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy is amazing. May we not consume ourselves with arguments about orthodoxy that we forget to engage in orthopraxy!

promotion: Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy"

I've been reading this book for a while now. There is so much to take in and soak up. He is probably one of the most balanced (orthodoxy as well as orthopraxy) theologians of our time. His work touches upon everything from prayer, to worship and being in the presence of God, to going into a solid exposition of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Working in academia, Dallas has the ability to engage the mind as well as the heart of those who read his work.

Personally, I feel like I read a paragraph of his work and I have something to ponder and think about for days. He truly has a gifted mind, heart, and an ability to pull it all together and communicate it to his focused audience.

If you're a reader, pick up his stuff and slowly read through it. It won't let you down.

this is Joy!

If someone asks me what the love of God is like, I explain in terms of Jude. My love for Jude Francis Martin is a simple drop of God's love for us.

project: Huron County

Huron County:

13.1% live below the poverty level.

The average income in Huron County is 16% lower than the rest of Michigan.

Michigan is the ONLY state with a population loss from the year 2000 to 2010 (which was only .6%). That being said, Huron County has lost 10.7% of its population in the last 10 years.

In December 2010, the United States unemployment rate was 9.1%.

….Michigan was 11.3%

….Huron County was 15.5%

about 5% of the young people in Huron County don't graduate high school.

11% of people above the age of 25 have a Bachelor's degree.

data collected from:

city-data.com

edis.commerce.state.nc.us/docs/countyProfile/MI/26063.pdf

In Huron County High School's (Bad Axe, Caseville, Harbor Beach, Lakers, Port Hope, North Huron, Ubly, and USA), approximately 2350 9th-12th graders are currently being educated.

As followers of Christ, its interesting to know these sorts of statistics.

Its interesting to know that our population has declined 10.7% in the last ten years.

Its interesting to know that our unemployment is at 15.5% compared to the national 9.1%.

Its interesting to know that the average income for a family in Huron County is 16% lower than the rest of the country.

Many of us talk about missions. Africa, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, and many other places around the world receive our checks to help benefit their health and wellbeing. Giving to missions often means writing a check and sending it to another place. Its easy to limit one's contribution by giving to people with no faces; people we've never known or never had relationships with. Sending a check to a place far away can become a way we personally avoid the same sorts of people Jesus actually spent time with.

But what about the people around us? What about the struggling families who can't make their heat bill this month? What about the junior high student who goes home to a freezing house; and hides it from his friends and teachers while pretending everything is alright at school? What will we do thats Christ-like to help them? What can we do? Wouldn't we rather send a check to a far off place rather than engage in the "messiness" of the world around us? Let us not lose touch with the creativity of love that God's Spirit gives us. Let us not become so focused about the inside of our "church" walls that we forget to take the good news of grace outside the "church" walls.

The Jesus I read in the Gospels believed in people. He gave people chances. He had hope for His creation and He wasn't afraid to enter "the messy." He showed people what love really looked like. Jesus saw something in people. He recognized the spark of the Divine that flashes and explodes creativity to life. He loved humanity so much he would do anything to give them back the Life they were created for. Jesus saw potential in a messy world. He saw a world worth rescuing, redeeming, and saving. No matter where people were in their life of chaos, Jesus saw something beautiful.

What about the people all around us?

How can we all pitch in to help our kids?

How can we partner with God and his renewing of creation?

What about the young people of Huron County?

How can we see the spark of the Divine in them?

Luke 6:43-49

As Jesus taught:

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Effects of Belief

Recently I passed out these random items to a group of young people.

• Chocolate
• Porterhouse steak flavored dog food
• Candy
• Coffee Mate

As one would guess, the kids ate the chocolate and the candy without thinking twice about it. When it came to the Coffee Mate and the dog food, there was hesitation.

But Why?

Why didn't the kids eat the coffee mate and dog food in the same way they ate the chocolate and candy?

Belief

Coffee Mate goes into coffee, and dog food is disgusting.

We live what we believe don't we?

We believe chocolate has an attractive taste, therefore we eat it.

We put gasoline in our cars because we believe and know our cars need it to run.

We wear warm clothes in the winter because we believe they will keep us warm.

Paul (in Romans 1:5) puts it this way, "obedience that comes from faith."

It comes to me as interesting when obedience doesn't follow faith. In virtually every area of our livese, we make decisions and assumptions based on what we know and believe to be true. This is why I find it interesting when someone makes the statement that they believe in Jesus. To truly believe in Jesus means to soak up and absorb every word that came out of His mouth, and live accordingly. To have faith in Him means to drop our own focus of life and follow His. It means to look at the world through His eyes. It means to embrace the Spirit of God like he did. To have faith in Jesus means to refucus and reprioritize our lives around His teachings of the kingdom of God. Some would call this sort of thing a "change in direction." Repentence. New Creation. Born Again. Become like new. And from our faith in Jesus, obedience will naturally follow.

Obedience that comes from faith isn't strict rules or vigorous religious disciplines made by man. Obedience that comes from faith isn't the yoke of mankind cast on our necks. Its not a burden. Its not depressing.

Obedience that comes from faith in Jesus is life-giving. Its a way to live right here and right now in this life. Obedience is looking to Jesus as a Savior and a teacher. It means to follow and apply His teachings to our lives. It means to practically apply His way to our day.

Many of us have progressed and evolved in a culture that seems to exemplify faith and works as being two separate identities when it comes to the catagory of the religious. The masses declare to have faith, but would someone please show me the same amount of obedience that stems from it. Maybe we're caught more in the iconology of Jesus and less in the applicability of Jesus? Maybe we simply don't have faith.

"I sure do like what He did for me, but I don't want to do anything for him." Is this faith?

If there's no obedience, maybe there's no faith.

James 2:17-18, "...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead....I will show you my faith by what I do."

Eventually we have to ask ourself questions.

How serious are we about this Jesus dude?

Do we have faith?

Blessed in Being

When I was a freshman in high school, I went was involved in a road bicycle group named "DeCycles." This particular year, we were scheduled to cycle approximately 1,300 miles.

It was my first youth trip as forty of us kids packed our bags, jumped in a bus and made our way from Ionia, Michigan to Sault Sainte Marie, Mi. This trip takes about five and a half hours on a bus, plus extra time for stops.

All of us kids were pumped as we finally got on the road. We put in training and spent plenty of time together preparing for this trip. This trip was going to be worth all the time and effort we invested. You could almost see the buzz of excitement in the air. Our caravan consisted of a bus, three vans, a motor home, and a pick-up truck; and we were now on the road.

It was an hour into the trip when I realized I was in trouble. Suddenly, I realized I was in the middle of experiencing one of those horrible traveling ventures. I forgot to go to the bathroom before I left!

I thought about holding it the whole way (another 4.5+ hours), but I knew this was impossible. Plus, I would refuse to put myself in that sort of misery. Through myths I've heard, holding it can cause all sorts of bodily problems.

I didn't want to be "that" kid. The one that says an hour into the trip, "Can we stop, I have to go to the bathroom?" With all of the other vehicles, and on a bus full of youth, what was I supposed to do? I thought maybe I could pee in a bottle, and I would have if there weren't as many kids, but there was no way I could have accomplished this with the bus being so packed full of other kids.

Emergency!

I could now feel my pulse throbbing in my bladder. The pressure in my gut was intolerable. It was pure misery. I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand. The situation was to the point where I was either going to pee my pants, or my bladder was going to bust in my gut and cause all sorts of issues. I had a one track mind. Nothing else in the universe existed except the situation at hand. My ears tuned out the noise from the kids around me. I couldn't even focus on people enough to have a conversation. I had entered into a mission, ready to do anything to accomplish my goal. Alarms were going off in my body that nobody else could see. If people could have seen, they would have seen sirens and red flashing lights and the buzzes of fire trucks as they race through red lights. This was serious.

My only option was to pretend to be sick. I figured this would be a better excuse than having to go number one. A bathroom break an hour into the trip would only result in other people giving me crap the rest of the trip. There's no way I was going to begin a two week youth trip with such a humiliating experience.

I approached our youth pastor and told him I felt like I was going to throw up. He got on the radio with all the other drivers and we soon pulled off into a gas station.

While all the other kids watched me get off the bus, I briskly made my way into the bathroom.

AHHHHHH. At that moment, nothing felt better! Relief! OMG (oh my goodness) :)

Smile! "This is the life!"

PPS (post pee shivers)

After the duty was done, I had one of the biggest smiles throughout all my teen years. I forgot what a wonderful time going to the bathroom was. I knew from this moment on, I would appreciate every time I had the opportunity to go to the bathroom.

Not that this was the right thing to do, but I got back on the bus and told everyone I threw up. This resulted some sort of sympathy towards me, and for the rest of the trip I was given my own seat instead of having to share with someone else. The whole situation worked out perfect, and I was one happy dude.

The thing I remember the most is how wonderful it was to go to the bathroom! The relief. The comfort in knowing that everything was going to be O.K. My bladder didn't bust. I didn't have to walk funny. I didn't have to put up with that throbbing bladder any longer. It was over! Thank God.

I tell this story partly because I find an immense amount of humor in the whole situation. I also tell this story because it reminds me how accustomed to norms I can become. Whether its going to the bathroom, eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing, or whatever else; it can be extremely easy to forget how much of a blessing these things are. Its easy to take these blessings for granted, and obsess ourselves with "more important" aspects of life. When events or decisions don't turn out to our advantage, its easy to focus on the negatives.

I recently jacked up my left thumb during a basketball game. I honestly think its broken. When I hit it wrong, I don't think of what a wonderful day it is, I'm thinking, " That Hurt!"

Pain, situations, drama, and the petty areas of life so easily consume our minds. If fact, some people spend their whole lives dealing with the "more important" areas. Not that I'm against the so called "important" areas of life. I'm more concerned with finding the right balance.

Its interesting to see the way Jesus escapes for prayer in the Gospels. As was his custom, he would leave his disciples and the crowd that seemed to follow Him to spend time with the Father. The Gospel writers all mention this discipline of Jesus.

I continue to find this habit of Jesus extremely interesting. Not that I have all the answers, but I'm curious why the Messiah exemplified this solitary prayer. Did Jesus soak Himself in the presence of God for a reason? Did it give Him strength? Did it help Him stay in tune with God the Father?

Then I ask:

Should each day I live reflect my pursuit to follow Jesus? If so, am I willing to let go of the "more important" parts of life and soak myself in prayer? Will this help me cherish the blessings of life?

Now you may be asking, "Prayer helps us appreciate going to the bathroom?"

I hope you follow me to a larger and more general point. The Spirit of God breathes life into creation. If we accept and follow Christ with everything He stood for, we'll enter into a Kingdom where life itself is abundant. Its a beautiful life! If we interact with this Spirit, life won't have to be about the so called "more important." In fact, in this Kingdom we'll be blessed when we're down and out, sad, persecuted, and when we don't have things figured out.

As we continue to progress in living out reality through the eyes of Jesus, we'll find that we're blessed in simply being.

One Lord

I would like to make something clear.

As a pastor, disciple, and lover of Jesus; I take great seriousness in His commission to make disciples.

Being called to ministry here in the area I live, my overall intent is to lead people on a path of discipleship in Christ. Whether I work with SMASH (a youth group in the area), YFC (a parachurch ministry), or any other fellow Christians; I want to see a generation of young people devoting their lives to centering themselves on the Lord.

I'm not concerned with competing with other ministry organizations.

I'll refuse to be mediocre in ministry from fear of hurting other churches.

Maybe I'm naive, but I'd rather be a fool for Christ rather than a man wise by the world's standards.

I hope our hearts and minds can be united in Christ and the Kingdom He taught, rather than be divided because of simple political and social differences. If the structure and heart of our faith is truly Christ and everything He stood for, we will find excitement when people come to know and follow Him, regardless of what building they do it in.

So what I would like to make clear:

I'm going to continue to be faithful to the call God has placed on my life. I'm going to continue to love on the young people in the area I live, and hope that the Lord brings them to Himself. I'm going to continue to learn and live out Jesus in every aspect of my life. Regardless of what people say, I will continue to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Make His Reality Ours

Does Jesus really have relevance in the daily, momentary life flow?

A man that lived two thousand years ago cannot honestly have advice for me living in the twenty first century.

He was a great teacher in his time, and we use some of his ideas, but to honestly say that he has all the answers is ridiculous. We like the ideas of love, peace, and justice; but those ideas were around long before Jesus.

There are still some of us who think Jesus really meant what he said!

We believe He is the:

-Logos (or Word of/about God)

-Immanuel

-Messiah

-Christ

-Son of God

We continue to believe that no matter what the surrounding atmosphere of culture says, this Jesus has the answers to not only our simpleton questions, but also the answers of reality itself. Jesus was saturated in the Spirit and very Breath of God. He was a rabbi (teacher), and ultimately paid the penalty for the sins of mankind. He was the fullness of God existing in the fullness of man. We embrace the fact that we are saved by grace through faith, and this is a complete gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). This faith is not only directed towards his death and resurrection, but also to everything he said and taught to those who would listen. We cherish his teachings and strive to live our lives by the lens of his reality, which is ultimately God’s reality.

The Messiah teaches us to follow His ways(John 14:15). So as Christ is the center of our faith, he represents the axis to which our lives revolve and rotate.

The heart and hub for things such as:

Our perspective of the world around us

The way we spend money

How we communicate

The things we think about

Our values

Our overall focus and goals

The way we care and treat people

The way we perceive ourselves in relation to God

As Jesus is our axis, we want His reality to become our reality. Ultimately we know His reality is Truth. We become His students. When we fall short, we know His blood covers our failures and screw-ups. We seek to see the world through his lens instead of our own. The nucleus of our existence is based upon the life and death of the Messiah.

So let us rise and be a people who’s AXIS is centered on Christ!