Facebook

I like Facebook. I think most everyone does. It seems like everyone is talking about social networks; movies are being made, books and endless articles are being published and there seem to be hundreds of Christian Conferences explaining how to use this tool to reach the lost. I like Facebook, I'm just concerned. At the risk of being trendy I've written some of my own thoughts on Facebook.

As a Youth Pastor I'm concerned with how high school students use Facebook as well as their parents. It seems to me parents are not completely tuned in to what their teenager is doing on facebook. Girls are posting half-naked pictures of themselves with their friends. Guys are sexually harassing most female "friends" and/or bullying weaker people and leaving threats on the walls of others. Continually high school students post things on their wall that they would never say in "real life." They have a difficult time differing from their "online life" and their "real life." Unfortunately parents have no idea what their teenager is posting. I'm certain many of them would not be proud of their teens online activity. Many parents say they don't want to "invade on their child's private life." Really? Is that really good parenting? I'm not so sure that it is. In a worse case scenario a teenagers private life is where they hide their drugs, drink their alcohol and experiment sexually with others - not necessarily with the opposite sex. Not wanting to invade a teenagers private life is like believing that what happens in Vegas actually stays in Vegas. Its never a good idea.

As a younger 20-somethings adult, I'm simply concerned for my generation. I've noticed our attention span is getting shorter and shorter. I'm finding it more difficult to stay focused on something long enough in order to complete it. For example, I tried reading a well written 2 page article this morning and couldn't do it without my mind drifting off into lala land thinking the article would have been better if he would have simply added more pictures and made bullet points. Maybe its just me, but I don't think it is. I think as a society we are struggling to focus on things that matter, things of substance. We want our information to include a few picture and 160 characters. To prove my point, I'm willing to bet that people reading this blog post won't make it to the end. If they do, I'm betting that they skip a lines along the way. Let me know how you did!

Lastly, I'm concerned that our culture is becoming more self-centered as we attempt to portray ourselves better than we really are. I leave you with a quote from this mornings article, "A self-image controlled in much the same way corporate brands are controlled. Complete with pictures, videos, songs and most of all, metrics-the number of friends we have, the kinds of friends we have the kind of associations we have. We endlessly noodle, refine, create and consume a digital projection we want others to see. However, we are rarely what we project... The problem is that in real social settings, there are limits to what we can hide. At a certain point, people intuitively see through us." They discover what we really are; our flaws, our weird attributes, and our nervous twitches. Its time consuming to create a perfect image of who we want to be. The problem is that we and others are let down when they discover who we really are.

I'm not against Facebook, I like it, I'm just concerned...

You're Welcome TOMS

I love seeing progress. Its been a small passion of mine for awhile. I like the idea of it, I like the impact of it, and I like how its changing the way people do business and how people buy clothes. I'm talking about TOMS SHOES. I through the idea out to my high school students at PULSE and they jumped on board. At first we just wanted to raise money within our own ministry to help support TOMS. As word got out to others in our church we eventually did a huge shoe drive at Desert Springs and spent over $2,000 on shoes. We even donated the shoes that we purchased as a church to a local rescue mission in Indio. It has been fun to watch our students feel like they are making an impact on peoples lives while learning to give or their resources and possessions.
Thank you TOMS for leading by example, and to the students of PULSE, for having the heart of Christ and fueling our mission with the energy of youth!

groups groups and more groups

Is this normal? Am I the only one who struggles with this? These are some of the questions that I hear from our students on a weekly basis. Students want to ask questions, learn how the world works, discover who Christ is and learn who they really are. The best way to help them along this process is by our Life Groups ministry.

The idea is simple but the results are amazing. Students form groups with five or so of their friends and are assigned an adult leader to help guide the group. All groups will be made up of the same gender and will be lead by an adult of the same gender. So, guys will be lead by guys and girls will be lead by girls. These groups will meet every Thursday night for eight weeks.

The time in groups is designed for students to develop and grow in their relationship with God, and with each other. They will do this by studying scripture together, asking questions about the nights message and teaching series, and praying for one another.

In a time where schedules are double booked, students are buried under a mountain of homework and everyone is so busy its crucial to set aside time to slow down, laugh with friends and reconnect with God.

My prayer is that every high school student will be involved in a life group and these groups will equip them to thrive in their high school years.

Benefits to Sin?

I don't often have an "A HA" moment when I read scripture. Sure I continually learn new things and am challenged by Scripture, but rarely do I jump out of my chair screaming, "That was brilliant! I've never thought of that before!"

I'm reading through Romans right now and in Chapter six verse, twenty-one Paul asks a simple question that for me, became profound. "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?" Have you ever had one of those moments when you're arguing with yourself, telling yourself that you're about to do is wrong and I shouldn't do it but at the same time you convince yourself to do it anyways (if you're picturing the little devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other you're right on track!)? Only after you committed the sin do you then feel horrible and are ashamed of what you have done. This is what Paul is talking about and he follows it up with a great question. He asks, What was the benefit? did you get anything out of it? Are you a better person, do you feel better about yourself, are you at peace now, is everything right in the world again because of your sin? Obviously the answer is no.

When I think back through all my favorite sins (everyone has their favorite sins, its the ones that seem to always repeat over and over again) I realized I've never really benefited from them at all. The only thing I have ever gotten out of sinning was losing my self-control and distancing myself from God. Both of which really aren't beneficial.

Paul concludes chapter six of Romans by saying "But now that you have become set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. " - Amen.

How Christians Respond to Sin.

I just finished reading a theologically heavy and dense section regarding sin. Now, I must tell you that I do not wake up in the morning full of energy and excited to read books on doctrine, theology, and sin! However, I made a commitment to God awhile back to learn more about Him and myself in an attempt to understand our relationship to one another. So, that is why I do the difficult and often tedious readings.

BUT WAIT!!!! There was an amazing section in the chapter that talked about what Christians tend to do in response to their sin. I found it fascinating, and rather accurate. I'll list only a few from Mark Driscoll's book, DOCTRINE.

"What Are Some Sinful Responses To Sin?
1. Minimizing my sin. Its really not that big a deal, everyone does it.
2. There is the delusional belief that my sin is different from anyone else because I have good reasons that legitimize my sin.
3. Blame shifting. Where technically my sin is the result of another persons actions.
4. Diversion, where we try to avoid our sin by, saying we were just joking, someone misunderstood us, or the person who confronted us about our sin did so in a manner that was not loving.
5. Partial confession. This is where we tell only part of our sin and hide the other half because of our pride.
6. There is what Paul calls 'worldly grief' where we merely regret the consequences of our sin and not the sin itself.
7. There is mere confession. This is tricky because people who practice it acknowledge their sin, show remorse, and ask for forgiveness. But they do not change and in fact knowingly repeat their sin."

I wonder, what sinful responses do you practice? for me, I primarily practice worldly grief, minimizing sin, and mere confession. Thankfully I serve a loving God who died for my sins and my sinful responses to them. Thank you Jesus Christ.

The Fundamentals

The other day I dropped my wife off at a friend Bridal Shower so she could exchange gifts, talk about married life, eat cake, and do the things that girls do when they get together at those things. Bridal Showers are like secrete clubs where all the members have shirts that read "NO BOYS ALLOWED." So, being a boy, and not being allowed I had plenty of time to kill until I picked Darcy up from the party. I chose to spend it the way most 20 somethings would spend it, at my local friendly neighborhood Starbucks.

I got my usual drink, grande iced vanilla latte, and was lucky enough to have the last comfy sofa seat as my own. I sat down with book in hand and began reading. I started reading and before I know it I'm three and a half pages into the chapter and I have no clue what I've just been reading. Has this ever happened to you? It did to me, and it continued to for the next fifteen minutes. So I simply stopped...

About this time I looked up at the counter to do some people watching and I saw a man with his bible ordering the his usual, grande iced vanilla latte, and he sat down at one of the hard wooden chairs, interlocked his fingers, dropped his head and closed his eyes. About two minutes later he raised his head, took a sip of his and my favorite coffee drink, and began reading his bible. I decided to do the same. I spent the next 45 minutes in prayer as I read through the gospel of John.

I have recently been feeling down about life in general; I tend to get frustrated by how slowly I see results. I'm one of those people that wants to see them right away, NOW! But as I sat alone in a crowded Starbucks I simply felt the goodness of Jesus. It was refreshing to read about His love for us and how He came so that we would have an abundant life. In that crowded Starbucks I simply relaxed and put my burdens on Jesus. And it was a wonderful feeling.

I've decided that I need more times throughout the week where I escape reality, just for a bit, and do some praying and bible reading. I've committed to Christ to write our my prayers for the rest of this month. My goal in all of this is to stay more connected to Christ. I'll let you know how its been going at the end of the month.

Question, when was the last time you got back to the basics of bible reading and prayer? How can you change it up in order to make the basics, so exciting again?

Camp Updates

This years summer camp was amazingly powerful. Aside from having the most fun I've had in months God was moving in the students of PULSE. Because so much goes on in a week at camp it is impossible to share with you all that took place. So below are simply a few highlights of what I saw taking place during our week at Lake View.

We had a couple students who have been addicted cigarettes go the whole week of camp without smoking and even feeling like they needed to. As they week went on they got stronger and stronger and by the end of camp they committed to no longer smoking and quit cold turkey.

We also had two people put their faith in Jesus Christ this week. They had been struggling with God and Christianity, they weren't sure if it was real or if it was simple a crutch for others to lean on. Throughout the week they encountered God is a way that they have never done before and are convinced that Jesus is real because they personally "experienced God's love."

Those are just two big highlights that stuck out from our week up at camp. I also saw our students open up with each other, sharing their stories, struggles and victories with each other and encouraging each other to move closer to God. This past week at camp was an answer to the many many prayers of the high school staff. It was a blessing for everyone.

*There are more pictures on our facebook page. Click the link to check them out!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Palm-Desert-CA/PULSE-STUDENT-MINISTRIES/128640680508138?ref=ts