What I've notice over the last two years is that the time period from December all the was through February is incredibly busy for the students. It's time to get creative with other events. This weekend, we are doing a progressive dinner and caroling. Hopefully over Christmas break we are doing a lock in... January a ski retreat... If you are working with Kids in this overly busy culture, what are some of the creative ways to meet with kids?

Here is a teaching I did on Courage a number of months ago. My favorite definition of courage is given by Augustine. You'll find it beneath. My hope is that your prayers will be filled with might.

Deuteronomy 31:7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.

Daniel 10:19 "Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed," he said. "Peace! Be strong now; be strong." When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, "Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength."

1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

Courage (Pieper) – “Relinquishes, in self-forgetfulness his own possessions and his life.”

Courage (Augustine) – “Love Bearing all things for the sake of the loved object.”

Courage (Aquinas) – “Fortitude strengthens a man's mind against the greatest danger, which is that of death.”

I. Presupposes Vulnerability –
a. Courage is not fearlessness
b. Courage is making wise decisions while encountering fear.
II. Readiness to die is one of the foundations of the Christian life:
a. Martyrdom – Virtue expressed in value beyond physical sustainability. Loving what is good in the face of injury or death.
III. Patience as necessary component of Fortitude
a. Matt 10:16 – “Behold, I continue to send you out as sheep among wolves.
IV. Hope for final Victory – “For to be brave means not only to suffer injury and death in the struggle for the realization of the good, but also to hope for victory.

Use it. Study it. Find the significance between the use one use of 'courage' in 1 Cor. 16 as it relates to all of Chapter 15. Have fun. Blessings.

So, I've been reading "Good to Great" by Jim Collins and I have been fascinated by organizational development. For those of you who have read the book, he discusses the hedgehog concept. This is a basic idea that a company chooses invest there time, money and resources into one simply idea. For instance, the one idea that Walgreen invested in was a "convenient accessible pharmacy." That one simple idea over time caused there company to grow exponentially to the point at which the stock prices blew past, Intel and Microsoft.

If you are interested and want to apply these concepts to the church like many pastors have, I encourage you to read with caution. We must be thoughtful and critical as to our motivations for applying these concepts. Power and the desire for organizational/ecclesial glory are temptations that need to be addressed in the role of the pastor. Ok, there's the qualification.

But the one simple concept that keeps coming back to me as I think about the life and teaching of Jesus, which inspired Jim Rayburn of Young Life is: Relational Incarnational ministry. Contact work.

I have a theory. I don't think our culture (on a micro and macro level) is as infertile as some are scaring us to believe. In fact, I think our culture is very fertile for the gospel to take root. The problem is our methodology. As I apply these concepts to youth ministry, the most meaningful things that kids remember isn't that great teaching that I spent 15 hours in one week preparing but it's constantly - "Ryan, I remember when you came to my hockey game." or soccer, or football or play or choir concert.

It is easier to sit behind my computer and call it work. I am guilty of my incarnationless ministry. Lord, help me to prioritize!

Well, one of my good friends in Chicago, who is a youth pastor just North of me, has decided to teach on the 4 x 4 this fall with his senior high kids. He asked me to come speak to his youth group this Friday on 'Meditation'. I just want to jot a few notes here about meditation that need to be unpacked as I prepare for tomorrow.

- Begin with the parable of the four soils in Mark 4 - Have them vividly unpack the parable.

- Understanding that scriptures must be the brush that paints a vivid prayerful imagination.

- Reclaiming the lost metanarrative (the Story of God) as protest against the mariad of other stories within our culture.

- Sanctifying the imagination.

- Teach on how meditation upon the scpriptures and upon the law of God (ps 1) frees the mind into beauty rather binding the mind and heart.

Quick Update on youth group: There is still a growing level of ownership of the group by the students. As we continue to grow together, I am excited to see how this is continuing to unfold. One of my students last week called me while on a debate team trip because she was trying to explain something to one of her friends on the bus. She called, we talked and ended up handing the phone over to her friend to ask the question directly. I love it. It seems like there are seeds being tossed everywhere right now!

Ok, I think I discovered something that's actually quit exciting! Last Sunday Night was our first Sunday Night for the fall. We graduated many seniors and for the most part we have just a few students that have come back this year. There were 8 of us. So, I thought, this might be a good time to experiment:) And we did!

Paulo Freire changed his educational method of student teacher to more of a Student to Student concept and found that illiterate low income students learned at an exponentially higher rate. So, I decided to see it this idea worked last Sunday Night. Learn more here.

Here was our approach: We did three team building excersizes. I did a 5-10 minute teaching on the action-being paradigm. 3. (this is where is got fun) I said to the 7 of them that I believed in them and they were capable of much more than they even thought of and I gave them ownership of the night. I told them that I was leaving the room for 20 minutes and there were three things that I wanted them to accomplish:

1. Determine everyone's stength in the room - learn each others gift.
2. Determine how we were going to use the 8 categories of the action-being on Sunday Nights.
3. Determine how everyone who would walk through our doors on Sunday Night could participate.

It took them 26 minutes. They came up with over 20 ideas, 8 -10 values of what the group would be, a motto for the group, learned everyone's strength and an outline of what the next Sunday night was going to be like. And friends (or the two of you that read this) the energy in the room was so strong. They were empowered. Within 24 hours, all of the new students that night friended me on facebook and asked to be a part of our formation group over facebook. I'll continue to blog about this and I'm very curious to see what happens. Blessings.

This is definitely worth 10 minutes of your time!

ACTION (Doing): -----------BEING (Becoming):
Disciplines ------------------ Cardinal Virtues
1. Prayer -------------------1. Wisdom (Prudence)
2. Meditation -------------2. Justice
3. Celebration ------------3. Courage (Fortitude)
4. Service -----------------4. Moderation (Temperance)

Wisdom is the first of the four cardinal virtues. Joseph Pieper says this about wisdom, "Wisdom is the Mold and "mother" of all the other cardinal virtues... In other words, none but the prudent man can be just, brave, and temperate, and the good man is good insofar as he is prudent."

He would also go on to say that having a "single eye on the Lord" (Matt. 6:22) is the means by which wisdom is realized and that wisdom is centered in the imagination of God. Wisdom always begins in the heart beat of God and sheds light upon our interaction with this world and those around us.

I encourage you, if you are working with students to begin asking this question as it pertains to wisdom, "If wisdom begins within the imagination of God, what are you doing a pastor to insight the imagination of God in your students? How are you being captured by the imagination of God?"