Like Jesus

I am preparing my message for Wednesday night, for the middle schoolers. We have been in a series called the "7 channels of student culture". We have talked about the responsibility we have as Christians to create and redeem student culture through these 7 channels. After talking about this for a few weeks, we will close the series talking about what a changing culture looks like. In reality, it looks like God. Through us, we take what is broken and restore it. So the question that I want to leave with the students this Wednesday is this, "Do I look like Jesus", and in context of their channel, "Do we look like Jesus"?

Last week they wrote their stories on a sheet of paper, their experiences, the events that have been a factor for setting the course of their life at this point. After reading through their stories and thinking about this question of "Do I look like Jesus", I stop. Why? Because I think about the "stuff" that they are currently going through, and I think, "is looking like Jesus remotely close to being on their radar"? I can only imagine the anxiety they feel as the school day comes closer to ending and some of these kids have to go back home to the blow-to-blow interactions with their families. When they go to bed at night, I have to wonder if looking like Jesus is the last thing on their mind. I would say that with many, it is an easy no! Getting their homework done for some of these kids is a victory.

But I have to believe with my heart, that somewhere in the chaos of their life, that looking like Jesus can bring about a sense of peace and hope, that it can construct a foundation, it can give them substance to keep them moving. I have to believe that for an American Teenager, to want to look like Jesus, even while they are being sexually abused by their father, that looking like Jesus, they can overcome. I have to believe that it is in looking like Jesus, that they come to know their identify, they find love, peace, and a strength to endure the unique day, a love, peace, and strength for a unique day that I will never know anything about, when it comes to understanding. Jesus is that powerful, that transcendent.

And so when I think that looking like Jesus may be the last thing on their mind, I want to believe that is the very thing that must be on their minds. How much closer can you get to Jesus, than living a life that looks like his.

a need to share

I am not sure that anyone will read this as I have not posted in so long, I just have to express.

I must say that there is been building a new kind of orphanage in our culture, although the parents are physically in the home, they are neither present, nor intimately involved in the life of their child.

Also, baseball being every night of the week. There is a brokenness when baseball practice becomes a substitute for church community. I am having hard time understanding the need for a kid to "HAVE TO BE" at practice every night of the week. I have heard the excuse, "I have to be there or I can't play", to which I say, "ok". Would the player who would challenge the process please stand up. When will the fellowship of believers and the body of Christ no longer be second to baseball practice.

So backwards.

I talked to a student today who said he wanted to come to church, but he had baseball tonight and every Wednesday. He said he had it on Sunday to, every Sunday. I asked him when it ends, he said November, I ask him when it started again, he said January. Man, when does God become worth sacrificing for?

44 million people

I have been thinking a lot about this. Over the last month or so, I have heard so much about the Healthcare Reform. I grew up Republican, a party in which I don't care to be identified with much anymore. I don't believe Jesus would have either, in fact, I believe he would have had cool names for them, like brood of vipers, and not just for them, but both sides. But here is my thinking. I keep hearing how this 44 million will receive healthcare that don't have it already and I can't seem to come up with a good reason why Obama's idea is such a bad idea. I hear the deal with government control and I understand that, but it's the 44 million that I cannot shake. These 44 million are people who are poor, unstable, and jobless. It is not for me to judge why, neither is it for you. All I know is that scripture spoke intimately about the poor over 2000 times. As a follower of Jesus, I don't see how I can be against this. If this reform brings 44 million people healthcare, then I have to be for it. If it doesn't pass, then does that mean 44 million people still have no healthcare? I just can't see how that makes sense to be against. I wonder if we are to consumed with thinking about ourselves, leaving God little room to care for us. Maybe that is the healthcare you need.

Prov. 14:31 Anyone who oppresses the poor is insulting God who made them. To help the poor is to honor God

Prosperity Gospel...it is not the gospel

Axiom...A Year Old

Last year at about this time we started Axiom, the student ministry of New Community. We started with 4 high school students and 2 middle schoolers. Our high school met in the living room of Bob and Margaret McNaughten. It was a simple bible study with food and games.

It was a risk, and what some would call stupid because critical mass is important, but we kept high school and middle school separate. We felt like that was important, they needed their space and an environment created specifically for them.

The entire year we spent time connecting with each student that walked through our doors, not only on campus, but even more in their social networks, myspace, facebook. There where countless hours spent on campus, at events, athletic and fine arts. We served, we loved in the last year. We took time learning the stories of these students. We studied their culture through their stories and by what we saw with our own eyes.

Over the last year we worked very hard, not as a ministry looking from the sidelines coaching, but as a movement who would get messy in the game, who would win with the team and lose together.

In the last year we started Serve, leading students to becoming Jesus here, in their home, their campus, and in this community. Students logged THOUSANDS of hours serving, leading small groups, planning, and being a part of what we call Axiom. Students began living out a love that is not selective.

This past year over 30 students began discipleship in Axiom D. Twice a month students are being invested in by a mentor, father or mother figure, maybe even what a student sees as a big brother or sister. Life change is happening and students ARE moving toward God.

Axiom has seen over 20 students come to know Jesus and clothe themselves in Christ through baptism. That is Massive within itself. Over the last year, students took part in over 20 to 30 trips locally and across state lines. Many, MANY decisions have been made.

So with only scratching the surface of the last year, a movement has begun. A year ago we started with 6, and this week Axiom will lead 100 to 120 students in sweet harmony. What began as something that was manageable with a few, has now turned into something bigger than anybody that makes up Axiom. We have only just begun. This year, WE WILL see new faces every week. We will alone serve thousands of hours. Students will lead in creating and redeeming culture. Our trips will not only cross state lines, but we will go global. A movement that started in a living room in Hoschton, Georgia will soon influence hundreds, thousands of lives here and in Jackson County and abroad. Welcome to Axiom, welcome to this revolution!

To the team: God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Beth and Ron Hubers, Kelly and Gregg Therieau, Jeremiah and Tracy Eye, Jenna Monforte, Heather and Mike Swint, Becky and Kevin Flannery, Dave and Tiffani Scheel, Lynn Mulvey, Bert Blackburn, Greg Troxell, and those to come, THANK YOU. WE are who WE are because of you!

Atlanta Union Mission

I am in Athens again this morning. I purchased some vintage couches at the Potters House here in Athens for my office. I had a full morning of meetings that got cancelled, so I came up early just to get a fill of the culture in Athens before I pick up my newfound treasure. I am listening to a little Macy Gray.

The Potters House Thrift Store is a pretty cool concept. It fits under the umbrella of the Atlanta Union Mission. Atlanta Union Mission is a ministry that brings Christ’s healing Power to any person in crisis through programs of rescue and recovery. In 1938, they established it to help with victims displaced by the Great Depression. It now reaches out to over 1,144 displaced men, women, and children in Atlanta. They serve over 2,400 meals daily adding up to 888,664 a year.

The Thrift Ministry provides job training to men in recovery at Atlanta Union Mission’s North Georgia campus, and it also gives merchandise to needy families in the community. It's a pretty sweet deal.

Church was amazing yesterday. I had a girl come up afterward and said that she wanted to be baptized as well. I know this Sunday we have 2 more who are making their mark. I hope and pray that we are not just burying people in water, but that these are becoming children of God, moving closer toward Him, becoming more like Him.