The Basics....it's good to go back sometimes.

Matthew 22:37-40 "...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments." NIVe

Sometimes it's good to go back to the basics. If you'll allow me, one of the things I heard over and over again in all my involvement with sports was "We're going to go back to the basics".  It was always from a coach who was trying to get his team out of a slump.  Why go back to the basics? Well, you have to start somewhere! 

I think that here, Jesus had the same idea.  That's just my opinion, but follow along. Here he was calling mankind to follow him.  Who was he? God in human form.  Here he was specifically answering a question asked by the Pharisees.  Put yourself in the shoes of his listeners who are mostly if not all at this time Jewish. 

Jesus is telling them nothing new.  They understood the Law of Moses.  They knew what the Ten Commandments were.  Jesus just summed them up with two sentences.  Love God with all that you are and have.  Love others. Who are others? People we come in contact with everyday.  Our family.  Our church family.  Love them as a natural result of your love for God. 

Jesus just called them to go back to the basics.  He called them back to himself. 

Don't forget the basics. Go back for a regular visit and refresh your memory. 

Just some random, unorganized thoughts this morning...

I've noticed that the talk about what is appropriate to wear in worship has picked up again.  It never really died but settled for a bit, and in the past week I've noticed a number of posts on facebook, twitter and other places.  It's a topic I will take up later.

I read a fantastic piece by Patrick Mead the other day about children/sports/church attendance.  It can be found at http://www.travelingmead.net/uncategorized/creating-a-culture-of-absence-in-our-kids/  I suggest you go check it out! 

That's a discussion that a number of youth ministers, preaching ministers, elders and I have had in recent months.  It's probably one of my biggest frustrations.  It doesn't only apply to sports either.  There are plenty of other things that have become "more important" than church.  In our high school class on Sunday mornings we're getting ready to begin a study of Kyle Idleman's book gods at war.  There are many idols that we place in front of God and our relationship with him.  Somehow we have to get back to putting God first in everything!

More later...

Summer fun...

Summer is in full swing!  We've been to camp (some of us twice), and now we're in the middle of VBS!  Summer is always the busiest time for youth ministers although it seems like more and more every year I'm staying busy year round with events or planning for them.

Had one of those, "Oh No!" moments this past Monday.  Our scheduled mission trip fell through due to not enough people signing up.  A number of them had schedule conflicts which is not unusual, so I've spent the past 48 hours or so trying to find something else to do.  Nothing concrete yet but a number of possibilities. 

It's great to be part of a church community where you know people in a lot of different places and when something like this happens then you can put out the word to a number of them and possibilities begin to spring up! 

NYWC 2012

This week (since Thursday) I've been in Dallas at NYWC or the National Youth Workers Convention put on by Youth Specialties. It's my first experience with this particular convention. For the past three years I've attended NCYM in January. Although I have enjoyed the seminars I've attended taught by the likes of Duffy Robbins, Walt Mueller, Mark Oestreicher, Chap Clark and others I have not enjoyed the sheer mass of humanity here. NYWC is probably three to four times larger than NCYM. I didn't realize how big of a deal that would be to me but it has been. At NCYM I have found it much easier to go by myself and still meet new folks and make connections. Here at NYWC I haven't found that to be the case. I'm not knocking anyone here please understand but it has just been a long four days.
As a guy whose been in full time youth ministry for more than a decade now I have also noticed something else...some (not all) of the younger youth ministers I've run into are pretty full of themselves. You can say the same about some veterans but not to the same degree in my opinion. I don't know why that is and maybe it's just me. I don't know. It disturbs me a little bit though. It's a trend that seems to cross denominational lines and non-denominational lines. Something to keep an eye on I guess.
I will say that given the opportunity to attend NYWC again, I'll do something else. I can hear many of the same speakers at NCYM anyway.
If you are reading this, please don't take this as me slamming NYWC or suggesting that other YM's not attend it. I have no doubt that others benefit greatly from being here and I'm speaking only for myself. Youth Specialties puts out quality products that I use a lot and will continue to use. 
At this point I'm ready to get home and see my family. I've missed them very much. In the meantime I will look forward to NCYM 2014!