Trevor James (TJ) Zoephel
10lbs 10oz's 22inches long
Born at 11:20pm on Tuesday, October 28th

Lord, may you use this child for your glory. Help us to be good parents and to embody the gospel of the Kingdom in our lives and in our words. Help him by obedient to his parents as we offer him to you as Hannah did Samuel. In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Labels: Family

On a healthy and beautiful new baby girl! 8lbs 8oz and 20 inches long!

Labels: Family, Miscellaneous, Web Site

I have been thinking about youth ministry and parents a lot lately. I am not sure why...probably for a few reasons. One of which has to do with the fact that our youth ministry here in Destin, FL has a regular showing of students whose families are not exactly encouraging or modeling good lifestyles (let alone Christian ones).

We get these students for a few hours a week but their family gets them for somewhere in 60-70 hour range (if you minus sleeping and school). Their influence is so huge. I feel like our only real hope is to reach their parents. Yeah, yeah, I know...God is bigger than their parents. I agree. He can save and change them. But take into account a few things:

1) Parents are still the number one influence on teens
2) There is a big jump in students accepting and living under the Lordship of Jesus into adulthood who have 4-5 adult Christian influences in their lives who pour into them a bit
3) Students with self destructive families and self destructive personal habits tend to have friends who accept them and likely have similar habits. Which....means you are asking them to break from their circle of friends which is extremely difficult for them, or any teen, to do. This is not impossible though and we need to think deeply about how to resource these students in this way through our ministries...to help them live into a new transformed community.

With all of this said, I have begun serious discussions with our children's minister and with some other ministry professionals and veterans. I am trying to figure out how to do family ministry. I do NOT want to get rid of or downplay youth or children's ministry but I do want to see a vital DNA change. Which is this:

To have the church (children's and youth ministries) be a resource TO parents as opposed to

Having the parents being a resource to us.

Do you know what I mean? Does this make sense?

I think that Biblically the parents have a mandate to raise their children in the faith. However, I think there is a subtle opinion (not pointing blame at anyone) that the church is mainly responsible for the formation of our youth and children. So...to that end...I hope to figure out a way in the Lord to make some DNA changes here in Destin.

Labels: Family, Parenting, Programs

From our vacation to Chateau Elan in the North Georgia Hills. Sara and I got away before ministry picked up and the new baby came (due in late October). It was a great time, but too short. Here are some of the pics:








This is a pub (one of 8 restaurants on the winery/chateau) that was styled after a traditional Irish pub and was put together in Ireland and shipped here.




















This is Sara next to some of the grapes in the winery that will soon become...you guessed it...wine.




















This is a picture of one of the common areas within the inn we stayed at on the property. This was taken from the 3rd floor walkway.

























This is me at the tail end of the winery tour where they teach you the process of how they make the various types of wines. All in all it was a great trip...even for a guy who rarely drinks wine.

Labels: Family, Miscellaneous

Facebook | Photos of You

I printed this out on a 10 x 13 glossy. Framed and wrapped it with the sig "Keeping the Chris in Christmas" and gave it as a white elephant Christmas gift. Needless to say, it was the hit of the party as everyone was laughing hysterically.

Labels: Family

One of the things our yamia team is doing this summer is calling every youth minister in the Anglican Mission to get to know them and hear them with the hope and prayer that we might, by God's grace, be able to serve them. So...today I have been doing that and I just got off the phone with Allison who is a youth pastor (along with her husband Chris) at Epiphany Anglican Fellowship in Colorado.

Anyway, they are trying a family based approach. It sounds very cool and definitely outside the box. It has grown, slowly over the last 9 months (that is how long they have been on the job) and they are doing things with a multi generational approach. Why? Simply put, they think parents are supposed to train up their kids in the faith.

It will be fun to see how the Lord works through their ministry over the next few years. I am excited for them and I hope, somehow, we can help them in the Lord.

*note-yamia does not endorse any one model of youth ministry. Rather, we prefer an organic approach. Our heart is for youth ministry to be Biblical, pleasing to God and in accord with the vision and values of the Anglican Mission (which is to reach the 150 million unsaved people in the US.=).

Labels: Family, Programs

There are a ton of ways to go with that title eh?

With regards to youth ministry I want to focus on a shift I see happening...and I welcome it.

The seeker sensitive and program driven model(s) have some VERY positive aspects to them. However, the culture is a changin. So how do we operate in the emerging culture you ask? What do we do different? I am not advocating a complete change in what we do. I am advocating a conversation...a recalibration that may look eerily similar or radically different from our recent past. It depends on you, your church, the makeup of your youth group and probably most importantly where you live. Here are a few starter thoughts for those on this journey to engage the emerging culture that is upon us (whether you are happy about it or not...it is upon us):

1) One thing I very much agree with many emerging writers about is the need for the church to be missional. That is, the church is on mission. They are corporately and individually engaging the culture and engaging the people in the culture. They are listening to their stories and sharing with them the Biblical story.

Practical: Instead of doing a "evangelistic event", train and model meeting people where they are at with the good news. Global Camps are big on leaving a legacy in your schools. Do your students...do we as youth pastors...see ourselves as missionaries in this culture? In our schools? I guess part of being missional is doing whatever it takes to incarnate this in your own life and in the lives of your kids.

This is huge because the vision and value God has given to AMiA is to reach the lost. Not the disenfranchised. They are welcome in AMiA but that is not our main calling. That is not what is supposed to keep us awake at night.

2) Before you walk to preach, make sure your preaching is in the walking. Be the change. In a post hyper marketed christian culture and a flat world people need to make up their own minds. We don't want to jam Christianity down their throats. No, we want to live transformational (that is living and breathing Christianity) Christianity before their eyes.

Practical: Do monthly work projects at nursing homes, at elementary schools, in the community. Live out the servant nature of Christ before the community however you can.

3) Transformed community. A recent sojourners article quoted a Christian activist in Miami as stating that individualism was the biggest issue they faced in having young people live the gospel. Transformed community is a prophetic and healthy picture for a culture that honestly does not even know it needs transformed community.

Practical: Slow down. Let your group be messy. Share your very life with them. Model transformed community. Teach on it often. Keep holding it out as a Christian goal. Integrate the youth into the larger parish/church community asap.

Another big point on this is intentionally working with parents to model this. The core building block to a healthy community is the healthy family. To model this ourselves (God, family and then the church) is critical. Then to help other families do this is a blessing but a challenge.

Labels: Church Planting, Family, nuts and bolts, Programs, Youth Culture

You may have noticed a picture of Sara and my 3 year old son Paul on here. Sara is pregnant and due in late October. However...the picture has mysteriously disappeared.

So, I will try to get another one posted soon. But for it to stay up longer than 18 hours I need to make sure someone likes how they look in the picture (notice I did not tell you who)!

Labels: Family

Labels: Family