Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

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When God Shifts Your Focus

Twenty-three years ago, I started volunteering in a small youth ministry near Ozark Christian College. A couple of years later, I was hired as a weekend youth minister at Park Street Christian Church, my first “official” youth ministry. And from there, I continued to grow in my ministry effectiveness and skills as a youth minister.

Cabool Christian Church

If you had asked me at any point throughout most of my time in youth ministry, I would have told you that youth ministry was all I could ever see myself doing. And for a very long time it was.

However, as I have aged, God has changed my focus gradually. For some time, I’ve been thinking and feeling that my effectiveness as a minister to teens was coming to an end. My passions have been changing from planning events and lessons to writing sermons and articles. My relationships have shifted from hanging out with teens to parents and beyond. God has been shifting my focus into new areas of ministry.

Recently, one of the students from my first youth ministry contacted me, asking me if I knew of anyone interested in a position with the church where he was serving as worship minister in Cabool, Missouri. Since it was a preaching position, I didn’t think twice about it. After all, I’m a student minister, and have been for more than two decades. But after much prayer, and a few more conversations with that former student, my wife and I decided that this might be where God was calling us to go. So, we should check out the possibilities.

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How I Revitalize My Faith

This post was written as an editorial article for the Hernando Today, published on January 3, 2013.  You can see the article here.

 

Writing New Year's Resolutions

With the start of a new year comes a lot of New Year’s resolutions. It’s a fresh start, a time to begin anew in so many different areas of life. It’s the perfect opportunity to review where we’ve been and where we want to go.

One of the areas many people strive to revive is the spiritual life. While there are many ways to bring renewal to this foundational element of life, here are a few that I find especially helpful in my life, and in the life of my family.

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How I Revive My Spirit

It’s that time of year again!

Next week, I’m spending five days in Colorado at CIY Wilderness.

I do this every year, and I refuse to miss it, it’s that important to me.

Glen Eyrie - CIY Wilderness

It refreshes my soul.

In a nutshell, Wilderness is an opportunity for youth ministers to connect with God and one another. It’s a chance to get away from the daily stresses of life and ministry. It’s a chance to let God revitalize me.

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6 Ways To Eliminate Complaining

Do you want to know what I really hate?

Hearing complainers.

Hearing someone complain just might be the number one thing on my list of pet peeves.

That includes my children complaining about doing their school work or chores, the guy at the bank who complains about having to wait in line too long, and everything in between.

Complaining Child

Imagine my horror when I realized this morning that I have been in a season of life where I have been complaining a lot. Too much.

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you realize you’ve done something bad, and there isn’t a thing you can do about it?

That’s the feeling I had this morning as I read Philippians 2.

Sure, I’ve read it before… dozens of times, if not more. But, for some reason, it really stood out to me this time around.

Here’s the passage that impacted me so forcefully, Philippians 2:14-16a, in the NIV:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.

That was a pretty intense wake-up call. Because, as I read that over a couple more times, instances of complaining started flashing through my head from the past few days:

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How To Gain Insight By Hand-Copying The Bible

When is the last time you took a good, deep look at the book of Proverbs?

I don’t mean a cursory reading, or finding the few verses you need when you want them.

I’m referring to a cose study that results in new understanding.

Proverbs Journals

That’s what I’m attempting for the rest of the year.

With the start of 2012, I started a new Bible reading system, by Professor Grant Horner. So far, it’s been a great fit for me. I’ve been more consistent than I’ve been in a long time, and I’ve experienced a deeper understanding of the inter-connectedness of God’s Word like never before.

For the rest of 2012, as I continue to work my way through this reading system, I’m going to add a deeper look at the book of Proverbs.

Here’s my plan. Each day, I will write out several verses of Proverbs into one of my favorite pocket journals. Armed with this in my pocket, within easy reach, I will examine each day’s verses several times throughout the day. If needed, I’ll consult a couple of good commentaries I have on the shelf. But since most of the Proverbs are common sense, simply meditating on them all day long should be sufficient to implant their wisdom in my head.

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7 Ways Encouragement Changes Things – Guest Post at SundiJo.com

This week, I had the opportunity to write a guest post for Sundi Jo Graham. You can read my post here.

Sundi Jo writes about life, faith and leadership on her blog, as well as about other issues such as social media, health and more.

As an author and speaker, Sundi Jo shares Jesus through her story of abuse, addiction and redemption.

SundiJo.com

I suggest you check out her blog. You’ll find a lot of great things there that will help you along your own journey.

If you took the time to read my guest post at Sundi Jo’s blog, what did you think? You can leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Receiving Generosity

Sometimes God does amazing things in such a way that you can’t help but be in awe of the way in which he handles the situation.

He’s done just that in my life recently.

Receiving Generosity

I’ve been hearing some road noise in my car for the past few days. Sounded like I needed my tires rotated. So I headed to the tire shop down the road from the church to see what I could get.

After looking at my car, the guy determined that I had one tire with a belt that was separating. I would need to replace a couple of tires. Fortunately, he had a couple of used tires that would fit my vehicle. I wasn’t too thrilled about buying them used, but $75 for both was way better than $125 apiece.

As the mechanic removed the wheels from my car, he noticed that my brake pads were in dire need of replacement as well. That would cost me another $200, for pads and rotors. But the brake guy was off that afternoon; I’d need to come back the next day.

Before I could make it back to the tire shop, I happened to mention the situation in passing to a few guys at the church. In the space of a few moments, I received a gift of new brakes and four new tires.

I was floored!