Teaching is both by gifting and my passion. But I understand that it’s not everyone’s gifting (1 Corinthians 12:28).

However, we need to be careful not to use that as an excuse in our spiritual lives. We are supposed to be teaching others about spiritual things…

You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others.
Hebrews 5:12, NLT

As I read this passage,a couple of thoughts come to mind:

1. There is an expectation of growth in our spiritual lives. We are supposed to learn and graduate from “spiritual milk” to “spiritual meat”. It’s natural…and it’s unnatural not to grow.
2. There is an expectation that we will take others on the journey with us…we are supposed to be teaching others the spiritual truths we learn as we grow. You don’t have to be some Biblical scholar, but you need to be sharing your experiences…how God has been teaching you and how you have grown.

I’ve been praying this week about who God wants me to pour my life into. Who should I be taking on the journey with me? Who can I teach…and learn from at the same time?

I got my answer…how about you?

This post is for me this morning. God has been challenging me hard for the past couple of weeks. He is slowly changing my attitudes and thoughts in a couple of areas of my spiritual life. It hasn’t been easy. He has been examining my motives and intentions…digging below the surface and showing me things I’d rather just leave alone.

But it has been a good journey too. I am becoming more like Him…but I have a loooooong way to go! I trust His heart. I trust His intentions. I know He has the best in mind for me. So I listen and learn…too slowly, but it is happening.

Just this weekend Go gave me this passage to wrestle with:

If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—
your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life.
Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.
And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple…
So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.
Luke 14:26-27, 33

Take a second and read that again…take it all in.

It’s a steep price to pay…being His disciple, following Him. Have I counted the cost? Am I willing to pay this price? Is this where my heart really is? Are His priorities my priorities? They easy answer is “yes”, but is that the honest answer?

That’s my challenge this week. He and I are working through the questions and the answers. It’s a process. It’s a journey.

This weekend is our First Annual Guy’s Camping Trip. Paul Foster and I (an maybe one other guy) are taking our boys camping. There is a specific purpose behind this annual trip though. The goal is to start the process of making men out of our boys…to begin the journey of manhood with them. I am a firm believer that this is our primary role as fathers for our sons–to guide and direct them into manhood, to teach them what it means to be a man and help them become a man.

This is no easy task, and we have done a lot of homework in preparing for this journey already. We have prayed. We have talked. We have studied. One of the best books on this subject is Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis. In the book Lewis talks about defining manhood and instilling this definition in your son(s). He also talks about using ceremonies in your son’s life to initiate him along the pathway to manhood (a rite of passage that is missing in our society). Lewis details four principles of manhood in his book (chapter 4):

1. A Real Man Rejects Passivity
2. A Real Man Accepts Responsibility
3. A Real Man Leads Courageously
4. A Real Man Expects the Greater Reward

I can’t argue with any of that (especially when you get into the details), but I think there is something missing. I sat down last night and prayed about this, asking God to help me define manhood for my sons. What is it I want my sons to know about manhood? How do I define manhood? What does it mean to be a man?

Here is my modified list (in its current form anyway, and yes some are from Lewis’ list):

1. A Real Man Knows and Walks with God
2. A Real Man Stands for Truth and Accepts Responsibility
3. A Real Man is a Servant Leader
4. A Real Man Lives for Something Bigger Than Himself
5. A Real Man Loves and Fights for the Woman in His Life

So here’s the question of the day…and I really to covet your thoughts, evaluations, and responses…are we missing anything? How do you answer this question: What Does it Mean to Be a Man? This is too important for me to think I have it all figured out (I’m working towards the goal…which is part of the lesson for the boys…this is a lifetime journey). Any thoughts, reactions, modifications, or additions are willingly accepted.

And please be praying for us this weekend as we start this journey. And if you know anyone who can loan us a sword for the weekend…do tell, we need on to initiate our boys as Pages!

I am starting a new four week learning series this Sunday at church called Holy Habits. Our first session is on Practicing God’s Presence. As often happens, as I have been putting the final touches on the “lesson” God has been challenging me…and sometimes it’s a painful process!

The main principle in the lesson is that we are supposed to life our everyday lives with God. It’s so easy to compartmentalize our lives and have our “God Time” and our “Every Day Life” be separate. But that’s not what God wants…He wants to have a “rich relationship” with us and He wants to be part of everything we have going on. But that is SO much easier said than done!!

It’s so much easier to do my 30 minute devotional in the morning and “get God out of the way”. Taking Him with me throughout the day is another matter entirely. How about that meeting I have…does God care about that? Yep! How about my stray thoughts during the day…does He care about those too? Yep.

You get the picture.

So how do you practice God’s presence in your life? How do you keep Him front and center in everything you’re doing? I’m open to any and all suggestions, ideas, and practices (and I’m looking forward to the class this week to unpack this even more).

And if you’re not doing so well at it, join the club! The good news is God is willing to help you and me along. If you’re struggling with this one let me know and we can work on it together and pray for one another.

My devotions this morning where very uncomfortable…because God saw fit to hit me upside the head (which I often need). I had a whole other blogging topic lined up for today until this morning’s reading, reflection, and prayer.

The passage I read this morning was from Matthew 20:20-28. In this story James and John’s mother ask Jesus if He would make sure her sons had the place of honor in His kingdom. Now, don’t get me started on the whole issue that these “men” had to have their mommy ask Jesus such a question (I mean, come on, man up dudes). Jesus tells them that they don’t know what they are asking for and moves on.

That is until the other disciples heard about their request. How did they respond? Just like I would have…with indignation. In others words, they were peeved because they didn’t get to Jesus first. That’s when Jesus gets to the heart of the matter and really starts to meddle:

“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”
Matthew 20:26-27

Jesus turns everything upside down:
     Want to be a leader? Become a servant.
     Want to be first? Become a slave.

My devotional book drove the point home for me even deeper, so instead of paraphrasing it, I’ll just print what it said and let you digest it for yourself:

Do we spend our days looking for those whom we might serve? Probably not. Our own agendas—godly though they may be—become so large and consuming that we rarely depart from them, at least not without feeling inconvenienced. Yet servanthood is integral to the gospel. Nowhere else does Jesus give us a path to greatness. Our desire to accomplish great things for God’s kingdom can only be fulfilled on this principle.

Color me convicted. I need to chew on this and ask God to transform my motivations from my own agendas to His agenda. I pray for a servant’s heart often…time to put it into practice.

I am working on a seminar for church called “Foundations”. The concept is teaching the basics (our foundations) of the Christian faith. The first seminar is starting in January and I thought I knew what I was going to start with (the seminar will have 4 different topics–covered in separate seminars over a year or more time) but after some prayer and thought about it I may be changing directions a little bit. So I want your opinions (I’m also meeting with my pastor this week and his opinion will obviously factor greatly in the decision). Here are all 4 topics:

1. Building Blocks of Christianity
2. Holy Habits (a.k.a. Spiritual Disciplines)
3. Famous Old Testament Stories
4. Famous New Testament Stories

I thought I was going to start with “The Building Blocks of Christianity” which will focus on the most important theological Christian concepts (such as The Virgin Birth, The Trinity, Second Coming, etc). However, I’m thinking maybe of starting with the “Holy Habits” seminar which focuses on spiritual disciplines (such as Prayer, Studying Scripture, Fasting, etc). Both are important, but I’m thinking perhaps starting off with the more personal side, versus the more academic, may be better??

Which would you be more interested in? Or which would you start with??

Don’t be shy…let your voice be heard!! And thanks in advance!

I start my first on-line college class on Monday…but it’s not a “real” class, it’s on-line orientation. But it’s a start.

My first real class starts November 5th–Youth Ministry. I ordered all of the books for the course and they came earlier this week. I figured I’d get a jump start on the reading and one of the books has already captured my attention: The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry. This book is about more than youth ministry…the principles apply to all ministry.

I’m only 2 chapters in, but it’s been a good reminder that ministry is not about programs…it’s about people. And ministry isn’t just about getting to know people (although that’s important)…”youth ministry sets out to introduce teenagers to a particular relationship–namely, a relationship with Jesus Christ” (p. 27). I would argue that’s not just a goal for youth ministry.

And I would argue it’s not just for pastors! 

The Great Commandment and the Great Commission weren’t spoken for pastors only. Far from it! God wants us all in the business of introducing Him to others. No doubt pastors and teachers have an important role to play (that’s for another blog)…but we can’t abdicate our responsibility to them. We need to all be in the business of pastoring, discipling, and evangelizing each other. It’s why we are called “the Body of Christ”.

As I go about my daily life I’m trying to stay focused on what really matters–relationships not programs. I need to get involved in the lives of others–my wife, my kids, the men in my men’s group, Life Group, co-workers, and on and on…

Scripture is full of promises. You can even by books that are full of promises from Scripture (I highly recommend them actually).  I’ve started reading the book of Romans this month (good stuff) and hit chapter 8 this week. I think this may be one of my favorite passages of Scripture. And it ends with the be-all-end-all of God’s promises. And it was something I truly needed to hear from God (I think we all do). Here it is:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39, NLT

Now there’s a promise! In case you read it over quickly, read it again…slowly. Let God’s Spirit speak these words into your soul…God Loves You! Did you get it?

I need this reminder, that no matter what’s going on in my life (good or bad)…God loves me. And nothing will ever be able to separate me from God’s love. And He proved it…by sacrificing Himself.

Not even the powers of hell and all of the enemy’s demons can keep God from loving us. That’s what I call security.

PS: The family is headed off to The Great Sands Dunes for a few days…pictures and more posts when I return!!

As part of my role as Men’s Ministry Director, I’ve been working on a Seminar Series entitled: Discipling Dads. The goal is to give Dads some direction for fulfilling the Great Commission at home-with their own kids/families. As Fathers we are called to direct our “children onto the right path” (Proverbs 22:6) and give them the spiritual training they need for life. This is a serious calling, but one that too many men feel ill-equipped for (so in typical male fashion we often just leave it to someone else). At the end of the seminar, Dads should have a “blueprint” for going through the discipleship journey with their kids. Wouldn’t it be great to have kids going into our youth groups with a foundation to build on instead of waiting for the foundation building to occur (when it’s sometimes too late)?

This will be an ongoing blog series as I work out some of the content of the seminar and get it sharpened. I’ve already been doing some of the early work (it’s still actually in progress) and have been praying about it for some time now-it was God that placed the topic on my heart in the first place and He has been refining it ever since. I’ll be sharing the basic seminar outline, content, and materials as I more fully develop them, but… 

Here’s where I need your help now. One of the basic contexts of the seminar is teaching our kids the basics, the foundations, of the Christian faith (actually it’s more about modeling the Christian walk ourselves first and then teaching our kids). What I need to sharpen is this list of fundamental, Biblical elements that are essential for us as men to pass onto our kids. Here is the list I have so far. Note that these are general topics, I haven’t fleshed them out here on purpose (I’ll be doing that further down the road). Right now I am mainly looking for the big-picture topics:

• Developing a Personal Relationship with the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
• The Core Spiritual Disciplines/Habits
  • Scripture 
  • Prayer
  • Worship
  • Fasting
  • Confession
• The Great Commandment 
• The Great Commission
• Servant Leadership
• Theology 101 (a.k.a.: What will you die for in your faith? This includes the Inerrancy of Scripture, Virgin Birth, etc)
• Biblical Community
• Submission
• The Sacraments (i.e.: Baptism, Communion)

That’s what I’ve got so far (off the top of my head). Now it’s your turn…what are the foundational truths I’ve missed? How would you refine and/or expand on the draft version of these topics? There’s a lot more refining and definition to be done here so let loose. Let me put the question to you another way (actually two ways):
          1. If you were a Youth Pastor what would you want the new kids to already know?
          2. What do you wish someone would have taught you in your early spiritual development?

PS: Our family will be out camping for the next few days so there won’t be another blog submission until this weekend. Have a great week!!

I got some very positive feedback on the new blog today. Most of it was centered around the entire concept of sharing my journey–the path that I’m on with God as my lead. And it got me thinking…

It got me thinking about the people who have been my earthly guides over the past 30+ years. We all have them. Those friends and family members who have shaped you into the person you are today. I suspect that many of them have no real idea just how much impact they’ve had. They are the Sages that have provided wisdom, guidance, and direction when we’ve needed it the most (even if we didn’t think we needed it). Hopefully we still have a Sage or two hanging around our lives somewhere.

So, who were (and are) the Sages in my life? Who are the men and women that have guided me along this journey? When making a list like this there is always the danger of leaving someone out. I admit up front this list is not exhaustive–it’s the super stars, the cream of the crop. Here they are:

1. Ross & Charlotte Baumgartner: My Grandparents. They provided spiritual constancy and leadership when nobody else did. They always asked if I would attend church with them and always went the extra mile or 50 to make sure I stayed connected to God. And they have shown me over and over again the meaning of faithfulness.
2. Dan & Denise Menefee: Anita and my youth pastors and best friends in the early stages of our marriage. Dan and Denise taught us how to make the faith of our “ancestors” our faith. They also showed us that it’s OK to have fun at the same time you are living for God.
3. Matt & Pam Wigdahl: My Jr. and Sr. High School Teachers and close friends. They showed me to look at the world with critical eyes. They taught me that work should be fun (serious, but fun). Matt especially introduced me to a world I would never have otherwise known existed…a world of art and literature that has continued to “haunt” me ever since.

Those are my top three. I’ve been shaped by many more people…friends and family alike. Interesting to think back on those “shaping events” too. Gives me a new appreciation for the working of God’s hand in it all. He knew the people and events that would mold me best. He had a plan from the very beginning and He made sure I got what I needed–exactly when I needed it, even if it hurt.

So how about you? Who are the Sages in your life…who has shaped you into the man or woman you are today?