Been listening to a lot of stuff lately....Banning Liebscher, Bill Johnson, Johnny Enlow, and others...and find that no matter how diverse their messages, I'm hearing the Holy Spirit speak little things to me from each of them. One thing stuck out to me today as I was listening to a recent message of Bannings at Bethel, and it's something I've heard my husband, Rocky, mention, too...just took awhile to sink in that it really applies to me as a leader of youth in the church. We are always trumpeting the message of our vision: transformation...but what we have failed to do is develop a strategy toward that end...as if it will happen magically.
If we want to develop people that transform nations, we need a strategy to do it. We do meetings every week to get people excited and pumped up about the vision, but what do we really offer them of substance that will move them toward the goal of being agents of transformation in the culture? Specifically for me, what can I do with the youth in 1 or 2, 30-45 miniute teachings each week to really equip them to be light to their world? The truth is, not much.
So...I'm on a quest to develop a strategy for youth that will equip them to be God's mountain climbers who are prepared to confront whatever situation they encounter, to know how to get God's solutions for issues and open doors of favor to influence the people around them.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
How badly do we want to see "transformation"?
Been thinking a lot about this allusive idea of tranformation...
I hear so many who "talk the talk" -- but few who "walk the walk". I read a lot of great sounding FB posts, but the reality is that most people are living one life publicly and quite another privately. And some don't even create those lines...one post will have a great, "spiritual" quote on moral values and biblical principles, and the next a vulgar comment or picture of a barely clothed young girl....which only shows me how thin that line has become between being "in" the world and "of" it. How do we transform a culture if our values and our corresponding behavior (and don't be deceived...one determines the other) are no different than the world? The answer is simple -- we don't! To change the culture or value system of a nation will take a change within ourselves and it will take sacrifice...it will require us laying down our lives for a cause.
So, we have to ask ourselves -- is this cause important enough for us to make the sacrifice of our personal agendas and self-indulged lifestyles to see a nation become a sheep nation whose culture reflects the values of the Bible? Is our city, our nation worth the sacrifice?
I hear so many who "talk the talk" -- but few who "walk the walk". I read a lot of great sounding FB posts, but the reality is that most people are living one life publicly and quite another privately. And some don't even create those lines...one post will have a great, "spiritual" quote on moral values and biblical principles, and the next a vulgar comment or picture of a barely clothed young girl....which only shows me how thin that line has become between being "in" the world and "of" it. How do we transform a culture if our values and our corresponding behavior (and don't be deceived...one determines the other) are no different than the world? The answer is simple -- we don't! To change the culture or value system of a nation will take a change within ourselves and it will take sacrifice...it will require us laying down our lives for a cause.
So, we have to ask ourselves -- is this cause important enough for us to make the sacrifice of our personal agendas and self-indulged lifestyles to see a nation become a sheep nation whose culture reflects the values of the Bible? Is our city, our nation worth the sacrifice?
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Let's try this again...
Well...let's try this again. Started blogging awhile back but was never consistent...probably an indictment on my crazy lifestyle. But...feel likes it's time to start again. So...a new intro.
I chose this title because I'm not your typical candidate to be doing what I do. So, I'm on the other side of "typical". I pastor youth and arts (worship, dance, art, etc.) at a fairly large church in Guatemala. So what makes this not typical? I'm a 58 yr. old mother of 6, grandmother of 20...not your typical youth leader. I think of my life as a prophetic statement...as much to my generation as it is to the next. My body is aging, but my heart is young. I feel the need to release a generation on one hand, and with the other to mother/father them. I feel caught in the middle of a transition that the church desperately needs to make but doesn't know how to. So I model something different in the church from the aspect of leadership: I spend my energies raising up a new generation of leaders and releasing them to learn, to grow, make mistakes, and grow some more.
More thoughts on this to come...
I chose this title because I'm not your typical candidate to be doing what I do. So, I'm on the other side of "typical". I pastor youth and arts (worship, dance, art, etc.) at a fairly large church in Guatemala. So what makes this not typical? I'm a 58 yr. old mother of 6, grandmother of 20...not your typical youth leader. I think of my life as a prophetic statement...as much to my generation as it is to the next. My body is aging, but my heart is young. I feel the need to release a generation on one hand, and with the other to mother/father them. I feel caught in the middle of a transition that the church desperately needs to make but doesn't know how to. So I model something different in the church from the aspect of leadership: I spend my energies raising up a new generation of leaders and releasing them to learn, to grow, make mistakes, and grow some more.
More thoughts on this to come...
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