an australian flavor of rightly-directed intense passion

Meet John Dickson. I heard him speak in Cleveland, Ohio a couple weeks back at the Basics 2006 conference focusing on "evangelism in and through the local church" . Hearing him talk, I kept expecting him to say "bye crocky" and sling a top jaw rope on the nearest 12' long reptile.

Why might you be interested in him? Let me give you a few reasons:

1) That he has a profound love for God, Christ's church, and lost people can be hidden as well as a two-story tall easter egg.
2) He is academically trained yet painfully down to earth
3) Growing up unchurched, it is his mission to communicate the Gospel to the unchurched with integrity and clarity.
4) Towards that end, he has authored several books, a couple of which I have purchased to share with friends and help me know how and what to share with those who are far from Christ and his Church.
5) He tackles questions like the problem of pain and pluralism with respectability, sensitivity and conviction.

If you are looking for resources (or a book(s)) to inspire or educate one with regard to sharing the story of Christ, you may want to check out his website johndickson.org or Matthias Media.

Note: No I was not paid to do this post as a promotion, I just found his speaking and writing to be extremely helpful and hope you might find it the same.

Great Movie: Over The Hedge

After watching this movie you will want to:
1) buy a pet squirrel
2) sell your S.U.V.
3) laugh twice
4) eat an organic salad
5) stop people from hammering rabbits on the head
6) let a raccoon eat at your dinner table

An obedient people

One command humans have steadily kept is the one to be fruitful and multiply. I just watched a show on animal planet that told of how something like 24 rabbits introduced to Australia turned into 60,000 in six years or some wild number like that. We humans are not far behind.

It seems like everyone is having babies. My manager at work just had a baby last week. As did my dad and stepmom. Today at church I found out a great couple just had their baby last night. My cousin is due in July and I just found out my brother and his wife are expecting. (That excites me!)

Kudos to all the moms and husbands (in most cases). The announcements of pregnancy and birth make me excited for the parents and new child, but also bring about a longing for the child to grow up and learn the fear of the Lord, to serve and love Christ.

I ascribe to a linear view of history (moving towards a telos or end as opposed to endless repetition) but there is nothing like new babies to make me think of the cyclical nature of life. There was a time when I was not but a symbol of potential. Naked I came and naked I will leave. If I get 70 or 80 years, I will be amazedl, I just hope they are spent for the glory of our God.

Talk about a rabbit trail.

Chivalry

I admire noble people. And not just Christians. People who live by a code, especially if it is a noble code. People in the military, martial artists, there is something about being disciplined.

One of my favorite noble people is Don Quixote. He's an idealist and nuts but still noble. He wants to right all wrongs in the world. And he wants to do it for the honor of his fair lady. She is actually a prostitute but he loves her as if she were royalty.

I think I am afraid of discipline lest it should turn to legalism. But that is untrue and unhelpful. Do you know other noble people?

Trouble signing off

Does anyone else have a hard time signing off when instant messaging. Whether its on MSN or a chat with my classmates, I feel like I'm being rude when I close the window, even after we have both said some form of "good bye" twice. What a weird form of communication.

Church Programs and Community

I use to sneer at a youth ministry program that had over one hundred teens yet many seemed to stay on the fringe and the program seemed to have little effect on their spiritual growth.

As a teen, I attended a church that had no youth program and as a result, I was able to connect with the pastor and other spiritual leaders who had a huge impact on my life.

Now as a youth pastor at the same small church (which had no youth group) I am reluctant to create a complex program. My rationale:
1. Teens get lost in big programs, when they are one in a crowd of 100.
2. I do not have the time to make it happen. (train leaders, write messages, plan activities)

Our youth group has been rather informal and stayed around 10-20 teens. I have not been concerned about numerical growth because it has happened rather naturally (teens bring their friends from time to time) and I am focused on the spiritual growth of the teens. I am not getting bogged down with trying to come up with gross games but rather spend my time planning a message or playing basketball with them.

But I'm sensing a problem
We have had an extremely low visitor retention percentage. I have not bothered with keeping actual statistics but I can think of at least 5 teens that have come for a few weeks and then just stopped coming.

Why is this?

There may be a number of factors but I think one is that they feel uncomfortable being the one new person in a group that know each other real well. Could community actually prevent new people from entering. I' m trying to think what is worse: having a large group of people at your church who are unconnected (what happens at the 100 teen church) or have people just stop coming when they feel unconnected, which seems to be happening at our youth group?

Perhaps the 100 teen church could take more initiative in connecting the fringe teens
Perhaps our youth group needs to create space for people who are not yet connected. Would it be that bad to have 10 new people who are new. They might not share a connection with the teens that have been attending but they would at least share a connection with the others who are first-timers. This would require more effort on my part and the help of several other teammates. I think if I were to stay where I am at (I'm not because I'm getting married and moving) I would try to get more leaders involved and look at adding a little more structure (while still maintaining the informal gatherings) or program in order to reach out.

Thoughts?