Youth Ministry - as parent and pastor

Discipleship by the Math - Great article on discipleship.

As a youth pastor - This is my theology, philosophy, and strong belief of how it should be. I want to help parents do this rather than have them expect it to be my job to do it for them.

As a parent - It's not easy, and I need to work hard just to get that 1 hour a day in, even as a home schooling parent. Of course, I'm equating discipleship with more than book learning, but learning a Biblical life by discipling like Jesus did - life on life mentoring, talking about issues as they come up, before they come up, and after they come up.

Oh, how much more understanding I have now that I have four boys, with one in jr. high.

Hands

I can't swear to when it started. It might have been before I started working for dad, but I don't think so. I know for sure that I started being annoyingly and somewhat painfully aware of it the weekend after I helped with my first seed harvest. I'm talking about what I'm calling a very mild case of "trigger finger." That's not what my dr. called it, so that's not an official diagnosis, but it gives the reader an idea of what it is. Here's a more detailed explanation that I think fits what my dr. told me:

Each finger has tendons and muscles that go all the way from the fingers, through the palm, to connect about halfway up the fore arm, and then some connect at close to halfway up the arm. We use these for opening and closing our fingers (in general). In order to keep those tendons (specifically, in this case) in their place, there are, at regular spaces in the fingers and palm, tendons that cut across those other tendons. They are called pulleys, and they operate sort of the same as the types of pulleys we use to pull up heavy loads. Here's where the analogy works. If all the tendons are in good working order, everything slides back and forth smoothly. However, if the working tendons become inflamed, they jam up against the pulley tendons. This is similar to what happens if you get a small not in a pulley. If you pull the rope hard enough, or the knot is small enough, it will go through the pulley, though it may jam a bit, more or less, depending on the size of the knot. Apparently what's happening is that, during the night, because they're not being used, my pulleys tighten up. Then, when my fingers curl in my sleep (a natural activity), they can't uncurl. I then wake up, and have to consciously "pull" the tendons through the pulleys. This isn't terribly painful so much as it's a pain, and can get painful over time. In addition, it is a symptom of a problem - those active tendons are inflamed because of all the work they're doing - hammering, lifting plywood, etc. It's not muscle pain, but inflammation due to... ummm... I'm not sure what. Currently, I have my middle and pinky fingers on my right hand, and my ring finger on my left (which is probably exacerbated by my wedding ring, for all I know). Currently it's not effecting my day, as the pulleys loosen up as I become active. However, I've got to do something about it. Both sides of my parents' families had various problems with this, and at least one relative had to get an operation. Currently I'm on some anti-inflammatory meds, but they don't seem to be helping a ton. I've also started wearing biking gloves to create some padding to protect those tendons from the cause of the inflammation, but I'm not sure it's helping, and the gloves are a bit of a pain to work with, even fingerless.

So much for Paul's medical fun. I liked it better when I could abuse my body like my boys do, and not have any repercussions. To paraphrase Garth Brooks (I think), "I'm much to young to feel this old."

Yes, cheese with that whine would be appreciated. Then, please pray that God would heal me, and allow me to work with out pain or discomfort.

Things God caught my heart with

I finished Sanders' book, "Spiritual Leadership" a couple of days ago. I checked another J. Oswald Sanders book out from the library - "Prayer Power Unlimited" - and I've started reading through it now during my time with God. Here are some quotes God spoke to me through.

"Worship is the adoring contemplation of God as He has revealed Himself in Christ and in the Scriptures. It is the act of paying honor and reverence to God... Worship flows from love, and where there is little love, there will be little worship... We can and should worship God in gratitude for what He has done for us, but our worship reaches a higher level when we adore Him simply for what He is, for the perfection and excellence of His own being."

Later, as I was reading I Chronicles, God spoke to me through 28:9-21. From there, He said to me,

"Be strong and courageous in your obedience to what I have called you to do. Don't worry, but obey, and I will never leave you until all your work is finished that I have called you to."

More thoughts from Covey

I continue to read Stephen M.R. Covey's book, "The Speed of Trust." It's slow, as I like to read when I can comprehend and soak it up, and that's normally during the day or early evening. So, I went and reviewed some of the first section, and here are the key things he talks about.

"The Four Cores of Credibility" - These are four things that will help others to increase their trust in me. As I read them, along with the stories, explanations, and Covey's thoughts on how to increase these cores in me, I can't help but think of ways that I dropped the ball in certain areas when I was in Lolo, especially in how I communicated and responded to others regarding these areas in my life. I can only pray that I can do better in all of these areas. Even when I consider myself a man of integrity, God (through Covey) sticks His finger in areas that I don't see, and brings them to light, reminding me that I've still got much to work on.

1) Integrity
2) Intent - What people believe is the why of my actions
3) Capabilities
4) Results

As I read through that list a few days ago, it reminded me of another list that Bill Hybels spends a whole chapter on in his book, "Courageous Leadership." He's talking, though, about choosing a leadership team. Here are the three elements he looks for - and encourages other leaders to look for - when recruiting or hiring a team:

1) Character
2) Competency
3) Chemistry - How well can you work together; do you "click?"

These are some of the areas of my life that I'm thinking about, as well as my leadership style in these areas. Where can I improve? Where am I doing well. I'm hoping to get to Covey's web site sometime soon and take his online "test" to help me get a better picture of myself, and those areas that need work. Now I'm on to the next section: Relationship Trust, and the thirteen behaviors Covey believes will help build trust.

God's blessings

God has blessed us so tremendously. I continue to work with my dad. We've had our moments of conflict, but have worked well together in general. We're almost done with the sun-room we've been adding on to this house. I've learned much about construction and the different codes out there. We've had an amazing inspector. Not only has he been easy and friendly to work with, but he's been helpful, giving dad information on things like how to save money on costs without cutting quality, and how to put in windows the right way. So, I've learned about putting in windows, putting on roofing, and other helpful items for when I have to do something similar. However, my real love has been the stuff that's actually been bad for dad. Because of some of the heavy machinery we've had to use in this family's yard, we've had to do some landscape repair. I've loved it: spreading dirt, planting grass, creating a flower bed around the sun room. I've even learned some basics on how to put in an underground sprinkler system. It's cost dad's business time and money, but I've enjoyed it, none-the-less.

Meanwhile, Shari and mom have been canning... and drying... and canning... you get the idea. It's amazing how many peaches or nectarines come from one tree. We have well over 100 quarts of peaches and nectarines, plus we've given around 10 boxes away. Then our freezer has several quarts of dried fruit, too. We've also enjoyed Grandpa Burgess' bounty of raspberries, beans, and tomatoes. We haven't done much except eat the raspberries, but they canned the beans and tomatoes. Shari and I miss our grapes, but God has replaced our bounty with more bounty. He is good!

Shari started homeschooling this week. It's been a little difficult, but so far the boys have done okay. Mom and dad are taking it in stride while we all pray that God would show Shari and I where to go, and when. Benjamin's enjoying what little kindergarten he didn't do last spring. Michael started science last week because he was so excited about the experiments. Mark and Matthew are moving along, enjoying some, struggling with others.

Tonight was their first night at AWANA, and they had a great time. Michael's too old for this church's AWANA program, but he'll be starting a youth group probably next week, so he'll be getting his age-focused spiritual input that way. In addition, he and I are working together to memorize different Bible verses ourselves. We're going to check in each week to see how we're doing. He's memorizing II Timothy 2:22, while I'm re-memorizing Isaiah 61:1-3 and I Cor. 9:24-27. I may have a head start, but I'm working on more verses, so it evens out. While they were at AWANA tonight, Michael and I stayed home, and I beat him at Monopoly: Fantasy Football Edition. Thankfully, I landed on Free Parking when there was around $2000 on it, so I ended up winning, though he had Hasselbeck and Shawn Alexander (Boardwalk and Park Place) with two houses. It all comes down to who lands on what, not just what you own. Either way, it was great just to play a game with only him around.

We continue to pray that God would provide a place for us to minister. It's weird to think about, but, even as we talk with churches, I'm reminded that there are other youth pastors around the U.S. praying for the same thing. God is amazing that He works all that stuff out for His glory and our best.