On God's Revelation

I have a confession...I am way too involved in social media.  I have used it as a way to network, and in so doing I see the opinions of complete strangers.  In so doing I have seen a reoccurring theme: skepticism of church history.  It seems to be coming from "the extreme Sola Scriptura club."  Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with carefully and literally following the scripture, but I do have a problem with a nonchalant dismissal of nearly 2,000 years of church tradition.

Here is the irony I see in all of this, how can you believe wholeheartedly that God used fallible people to accurately record his Word and the fail to even consider that he did the same using the church fathers.  Why couldn't He use the Council of Nicea to expound upon His revelation?  Why do you reject the concept of the Trinity because it is not directly in scripture (this is a real example)...you don't think God was at work when the church formed this understanding?  Let me remind you that those people that you are rejecting are the ones who determined what books would be in the bible that you are reading.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think church doctrine should contradict scripture (that is why I don't buy immaculate conception - "All have sinned and fallen short...").  What it comes down to is this, Jesus gave his followers (what would become the church) his job of being the living revelation of God before he departed.  If you believe that God's revelation did not die with Jesus' ascension than you have to believe that God has guided the church the way he guided those who formed the bible. You also must believe that God continues to guide his church.

Statement Of Purpose: My Story

I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior when I was only five years old at an Awana meeting.  I didn't know much about theology or church doctrine but I knew that I was a sinner and that I needed Jesus to rescue me from that sin.  As I entered my teenage years the LORD used the youth ministry that I was a part of to help me develop a more robust understanding of the Gospel of Christ.  Specifically, in high school at a youth revival the speaker helped me understand what it meant to surrender to God.  He talked about how an individual’s relationship with Jesus should affect every aspect of his or her life at all times.  I vowed to let God have control of all aspects of my life during that revival.

Looking back at the huge impact children’s and youth ministries have had on my own faith journey, it is quite fitting that God called me to minister to young people.  I first felt that God might be calling me to the ministry field when I was a sophomore in high school. In order to determine whether or not this call was genuine I tried to serve as much as possible during the rest of my high school years. At the end of my senior year while doing an exit speech on public speaking, I showed a clip of myself speaking to another church’s youth group.  The reaction to those watching it convinced me that God was calling me to Youth Ministry.  These teachers and community leaders had little to say about my actual presentation and instead kept focusing on the message I had delivered in the video.

 I enrolled at Olivet Nazarene University intending to double major in youth ministry and sports medicine.  I quickly learned that this double-major idea was not a realistic one.  I was at a crossroads, would I follow my love of sports or embrace my call.  In the end, I chose to stay true to what I had been learning in my youth group and surrendered my will to His. 

Since then I have spent over a decade ministering to young people as a volunteer and as a part-time or full-time staff person in social work, para-church and church settings.  My experiences have brought many lessons, one of them being, that the “usual” children’s and youth ministry paradigms are not working.  Those of us in ministry have to, above all else, be in the business of making disciples.  Those who work with young people must seek to create life-long followers of Christ.  Statistics show that we are failing to do just that nearly half the time.  That means one out of every two seniors that comes across my path will either temporarily or permanently walk away from Christ. 

Those are odds that I cannot deal with.  It is my prayer that God will use the Youth and Family Ministry program to equip me with new ways to successfully make disciples for Jesus.  My dream is that five and ten years from now I will be blessed with story after story of emerging adults who participated in our youth programs and who are still passionately chasing after Christ. 

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There Was Rapping at the Baccalaureate Service: Cultural Relevancy Part 2

A few weeks ago I foolishly allowed myself to get sucked into a social media debate about Christian Heavy Metal (and perhaps rock and roll at large).  One stance presented was that this genre of music was inherently evil.  Now, to be fair this spurned on by the member of a Christian Band who recently murdered his wife.   Frankly, I find the idea of a musical genre being the cause of this mans fall into evil ludicrous.  If, however, I were to entertain the idea, the next logical question is "Is metal (rock and roll) the only genre of music that is inherently evil?"  I the smart Alec that I am, I also wonder what happens with a metal song is covered in a completely different genre (Have you heard that lounge singer version of Down with the Sickness?)  But back to the real question, are other genres whose secular artist tend live on the sinful side (specifically rap/hip-hop) inherently evil?  Christian Rap has largely been considered a good thing by the evangelical community.  While I can't think of any rapper who was ever accused of worshiping Satin, I can literally think of 100 who have worshiped his toys (sex, drugs, greed) and have furthermore done so directly in there music.

Last Sunday was the Baccalaureate Service for the local community that I live and serve in.  During that service a student (think Em n' EM meets your youth group "all star") led those present in two worship songs that were his original rap songs.  One even had a simple chorus that the whole crowd was able to sing along to (like a praise and worship song...imagine that!)  I could question the motives of this man and I could critique his talents, but the important thing is this, his message through his music was Orthodox, Evangelical and Christ-Centered.  For this reason, I see it as true worship.

I think young people are absolutely wonderful at worshiping God with their talents, and we adults...we stink at it.  I believe that Worship is something you live, not just something we halfheartedly do for one hour a week.  Those high school Seniors believe that they can worship God by rapping, by sculpting, by painting, by drawing, by staring at nature...I say, they are absolutely right!