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 How
would you describe your ministry?
The Theoretical Business Plan: To build up adult and student leadership
communities that are equipped, encouraged and empowered to realize,
develop and use their spiritual gifts toward the serving, discipling,
evangelizing and caring for the students in and around Grace Community
Church. Within this sphere, we desire to build up the families,
provide support for the parents, and reach out to students regardless
of where they are on their spiritual journey. The Truth: You know
how you feel when you are leaning back in your chair and it starts
to fall backwards onto the ground—but then you catch yourself
at that last second? Youth ministry is like that all the time. For
every student and every family there is a totally different need
and style called for. There are fires to put out (sometimes literally),
calls to make, plans to plan, forms to fill, money to beg for, vans
to rent, talks to write, kids to meet, leaders to recruit, leaders
to train, leaders to empower…and then it is Monday afternoon
and the week has barely begun. Reality is that Student Ministry
is as much catch up and catch your breath as anything else. It is
seeing the students, families and possibilities, then praying and
planning them into existence. It is about showing how the Truth
of the Freedom of Christ actually applies to teenagers and their
wild, changing, sordid worlds…and their wild, changing, sordid
hearts. It can be church-based baby-sitting (which leads to anger
and burnout). It can be discipleship training. It can be front-line
evangelism. It can be fun and it can make you cry. Sometimes the
rewards are evident. Sometimes they are as invisible as WMDs. But,
above all, it is the calling to share Jesus, His love, gift, plan
and freedom, to a young generation and growing them up to be the
great Gospel Freedom Fighters of the future.
What inspired you to take on this responsibility?
When I was in 7th grade I remember standing in the parking lot of
my church (I was very involved in the youth ministry there), looking
up at my youth pastor and thinking to myself, “That’s
what I want to do and be.” At first it was mostly because
I wanted to go to Six Flags for free every summer and snow ski every
winter. But I also started to think about how cool it would be to
actually get paid to study the Bible. I began to plug in more and
more into youth ministry through high school, college and seminary.
I have always enjoyed the passion and heart of teenagers: the willingness
to learn, grow, change and be plugged into a community. Quite simply,
they are fun and, with some coaxing, are incredible leaders, learners
and servants (sometimes with a LOT of coaxing and some really serious
bribing).
What is there about it that gets your motor
running?
When I see the freedom and power of the Gospel take off and set
a student’s heart on fire. When their eyes truly open up to
the reality of how much God loves them, how he has set them free
and how that changes everything about their lives, their plans,
their future, their desires. And then to see these changed students
begin to naturally lead others into the same Gospel that they have
experienced.
What person in your life has been the best
example of love?
My previous pastor, boss, friend: Buck Oliphant. He taught me what
it means to minister, to live, to parent, to love, out of brokenness
through Grace. He showed me the beautiful sovereignty, power, majesty,
love and grace of Christ simply through the way he lived, pastored
and loved me as his youth pastor, brother and friend.
What’s the best advice you’ve
ever been given?
“Love God and do as you please” . . . Augustine. (Because
the more you love God, the more you want to do what HE pleases.)
What’s the most exciting (or risky)
thing you’ve ever done?
Backpacking trips through the Rockies of Colorado and Oregon. Backcountry
out-of-bounds downhill skiing through southwest Colorado. Having
kids.
August 14, 2005
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