Kingdom Mindset part 2

This is a continuation of the thoughts from my last blog post...
I just can't get over the images conjured up by my own children.
Life really is meant to be done together.
In order for us to do this Kingdom of God stuff effectively, it must be more about others and less about us. Jesus said, "the son of man did not come in to this world to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many."
Giving sacrificially of ourselves for the sake of others ultimately benefits all. The problem is, even in church, we have become so self absorbed that others really don't even come in to focus. It's like we have blinders on and all of our actions, our conversations, eventually come back to us as the central figure.
How can life be done together if we won't let any one else come in to view?
This brings up the primary thought for this post:
We must become committed to building the success of others more than we are to building our own...
The longer I do this thing called ministry, the more I see how easy it can be to become enamored with the things one can do and be.
However, I think this is true in any vocation, not just ministry.
We can become impressed with ourselves. So much so that we will guard that image of success or our achievements with an almost paranoid intensity.
I think this occurs because our sense of worth becomes attached to those things we have accomplished or can accomplish.
We must begin to get over ourselves and look to the development (raising up) of others. Especially as adults, it is incumbent upon us to invest in the young people around us.
If you attend a church and you're just a casual observer, you love Jesus, but you don't feel "led" to get involved in a particular ministry...get off your lazy butt right now and put your comfort in the trash and begin, maybe once each month to start, volunteering in some capacity that allows you to speak into the lives of children, youth or young adults.
The longer you live, the more you have to give.
Your life experiences and wisdom have not occurred or been obtained for you to wear as some cheap badge of honor, that no one will remember when you're gone.
You've been given those experiences or had those privileges in order to allow someone to learn from your life.
"My own children are my mission field"...great, now what about those kids whose parents are not in the picture or who do not presently have the capacity to provide a positive role model for their children to follow?
What about them, huh?
Sorry, got a little fired up over that one...
We must become committed to building the success of others more than we are to building our own...
Ask yourself these questions:
Am I o.k. with some one else being better at something than I am?
Can I teach some one who will ultimately become better than I am at a particular skill or activity?
If the answer to either of those is no...reality check time.
The students who are presently in our ministry at Bethel Church, are so much smarter than I am...their brilliance astounds me.
The only things that separate us intellectually are wisdom and life experience...once they figure that out, I'm toast, but here's the point.
Some where along the line...(my mama used this one on me years ago), there will always be somebody who is better than you.
If you have the opportunity, why not be the one that shows them how?
The Kingdom of God is built by such sacrifice.
It is destroyed by insecurity, selfishness and the like...
Would you rather be known as a builder or a destroyer?
Whether you look at this through the lens of the church or through the lens of your vocational environment, see above questions...
Christ is shown through your life in many ways, one such way is your willingness to serve rather than be served.
Think about it.

I LOVE MY JOB!

Over the past couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to enjoy some great times with our students at Bethel Church. And I've come to the conclusion...again...that we have some amazing teenagers who are a part of our student ministry.
For those of you who know me, I'm not an overly excitable person.
I'm pretty low-key and relaxed. However, there are a few things that bring the emotion out in me and one of those things is seeing students grow and transform as their relationship with God progresses and matures.
I've had the privilege of serving in youth ministry for the past 18 years, (and counting...), and over that period of time, Kathy and I have had the honor of serving with some incredible people.
The common thread, that weaves those of us who love youth ministry together, is that passion for students...to see them really get it! To see them grab on to God and really learn what it means to follow Him is what motivates and excites us.
I think that's why I've grabbed on to Rick Warren's words from the Catalyst conference in April...
"...we have to be about helping people move from a come and see approach to church, to a come and die devotion to Jesus Christ."
That's what our lives are to be about...transformation, and that's what has become my mission and passion, now more than ever, seeing students move from a state of ambivalence toward God to a place of complete and utter surrender to Jesus Christ.
So, through all the challenges and triumphs over the years, all of the flat tires and broken down church vans, the near death experiences in church vans, the horrible camp food, did I mention the awful camp food? teaching middle schoolers about "metric-time" in Canada, miles and miles of amusement park pavement and roller coaster track, Lost luggage on missions trips, encounters with scary street people, 7 foot tall transvestites and crazy Rastafarians, broken limbs and busted out teeth of skaters, irate parents, teaching people the wonder and elation of surfing, fainting episodes at Creation festival due to dehydration, countless relationship dramas, the histrionics of middle school girls, over-flowing toilets, puke fests and bathroom breaks along the road, doing "the Mexican two step" because we couldn't resist the road side taco stand, near drowning experiences on the Deschutes, the miraculous healings, Holy Spirit baptisms, radical transformations of drug dealing teenagers, party people learning to "party" with Jesus, athletes seeing there's more to life than what they can achieve on the field of play, bookworms coming out of their shells and discovering their gifts and purpose, kids really getting it and getting fired up enough to reach their entire campus for Christ, students grasping a mentality of service instead of consumption and discovering what it really means to love one another...man, I LOVE MY JOB!
And I'm looking forward to the start of the school year, where we can really ramp up the call, to move students from a come and see approach to church, to a come and die devotion to Jesus Christ!