Just Do It

Nike got it right. Don't just talk about. Don't just dream about it. Just do it!

Jesus also has it right. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24.

James certainly nailed it. "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22

Why do we get it so goofed up? Why do we tend to dismiss the words of Christ, by merely discussing them, debating them, and even memorizing them? Instead let's just do them!

I appreciate Francis Chan's admonition.



Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6

HT to Adam McLane for the video.

A Summer To Remember

As summer comes to end, I find myself with a mixed bag of emotions. I am sad because it is my favorite season of the year and I hate to see it go. I rejoice because as I look back over the last three months of ministry, I sit back and celebrate; celebrate all the great things God has done in the life of Rock Harbor Student Ministries.

Through all our different events and gatherings, relationships were deepened. We grew in relationship with one another, we grew in our relationship with our God. It's been good!

Here is a look into the summer of 2010...



As in all of life, with the close of one season, a new one emerges. As we move forward I am confident that the good work God has begun, and continues to do, will continue long into the next season and all those that follow.

Grub Camp 2010

Over the last 20 years I have been taking students up to Indian Henry Campground on the Clackamas River, to take part in what has affectionately become known as Grub Camp. Today I returned from yet another great time on the river.

There is nothing quite like getting a bunch of guys away from their usual settings and routines to spend some quality time together. We laugh, we play, we have great conversations, and so much more.

I loved the words of one parent after her son returned home, "He came home desperately stinky and filthy and just happy as all get out. Thanks Pastor Brian!" Love it!

We have two slogans for Grub Camp. They go up as boys and return home men, and What happens at Grub Camp stays at Grub Camp!

Due to the the second slogan, I can't tell you everything we do, but this year's video should give you a pretty good idea.



Read more Grub Camp experiences here, here and here.

Dividends of Ministry

In my 25 years of ministry I have known many people.  Serving as youth pastor in six different churches has afforded me the opportunity to enter into and enjoy the relationships of many.  Not all have lasted.  Some have.  It is the relationships that last the test of time that are the real blessing.

Twenty one years ago I served as youth pastor at Gladstone First Baptist.  It was my first full time ministry. I often marvel, and at the same time feel so blessed, that a church took a chance on a young 22 year old with very little experience.  It was a great time; certainly a learning one! What I love most, is the fact that I am still in relationship with many of them.

This last weekend we once again got together.  How fun to see and hear of all the changes that life's journey has brought.  How great to see all the young families, many of which are loving and are serving the Lord.

All of us in youth ministry know that one rarely reaps in the same season in which we sow.  It is often years later that we see the dividends of time invested in students lives.  I am so thankful for what I saw this last weekend, and pray that God continues to do great things in and through all of our lives.

What a privilege and honor it is to play such a strategic role in the lives of young people.  I am blessed.

Missional Church

A good picture of what the church has been and where it should be going.

For The Love of The Father

With Father's Day approaching and the privilege I have to preach on that day, I have been spending a good deal of time thinking about what it means to be a good father.  In my estimation, there is not greater task in life for the man with children, than to father them well.

I firmly believe that our view of God the Father is shaped in great measure by how we view our earthly father.  I for one want my children to have a healthy and right view of God. It is when we have a proper understanding of God and His love for us, that we desire to live a life that pleases and honor Him.

I will be opening my message with this video.





Not too long ago, I asked my 5 year old son what he wanted to be when he grew up.  I expected to hear answers along the lines of a firefighter, or even superhero.  What he answered with, humbled me.  He simply said ... you.   It brought back memories of this scene a year early as I was mowing the lawn and how he quickly got his little play mower to mow along side me.  My son wants to be like me.  It is my responsibility to model for him a life that honors God, so that He may do the same.

May it be our desire to emulate our Heavenly Father, because of the love He has for us.
May it be our desire to obey Him and live for Him, not out of duty, but rather out of the love we have for Him.
May we as parents reflect a loving Heavenly Father to our children in all that we do.


UPDATE:  Hear Father's Day message here.

Sometimes It Blows Up In Your Face

Student ministry has been my life calling.  It is what God has called me into, and I couldn't be more thankful.  What an awesome privilege it is to be used of God to be a part of a person's spiritual journey, especially at such an important stage of life as adolescence.

Not everyone understands why I do what I do, and for as long as I have done it.  I have been working with students for over 20 years and I still get a charge out of a good water balloon fight with them.

One thing I love about student ministry is the privilege it is to belong to a tribe of other youth workers who feel the same calling and, well ... just get it.  A group of people that understand the value of giving of one's life to the task of coming along side teenagers and leading them into a relationship with the God that created them and loves them more than they know.

Each year Youth Specialities opens their doors to my tribe.  The National Youth Workers Convention is a time for thousands of youth workers to get together to be refreshed, recharged, challenged, and encouraged.  Read my thoughts and experiences at past conventions here.

I love the promo video produced for this year's convention.  It's a great picture of what I do, but even more the power of what happens when others get it.  Sometimes it just blows up in your face!

The Struggle of Faith

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"  He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:19-21

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"  He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. Luke 17:5-6

After the disciples failed attempt to drive a demon out of a young boy suffering from seizures, they came to Jesus to ask why.  His answer, "you have little faith."

How is your faith?  Are you finding success and victory in accomplishing the tasks God is calling you into?  Are you enduring the tests God brings your way? 

My wife Robin, and I,  pray together each night.  A couple of months back I prayed a prayer that brought concern to her.  In my prayer I asked God to increase my faith.  The look she gave me at the conclusion of our prayer, made me realize one thing.  I had just prayed a dangerous prayer!  "Do you realize what you just prayed?" she quipped.

My prayer was heart felt and sincere.  God is now answering.

Since that time, we have been tested as individuals and as a couple like never before.  It has been a struggle and a challenge. Through it we have realized the need to rely more on our Savior than ever before.  It has been a season of discovery. A time of realizing the amount of faith I have, and in what, and in whom, I have placed it.  It is growing, but is not yet where it should be.

Have you ever seen a mustard seed?  They are very small!  To be able to see the mountains and the the mulberry trees in life moved with a faith no larger than the size of a mustard seed, is to me both incredible, and convicting.  We all have our own mountains we face.  There are many staring down at me this very moment.  I am confident they will be moved.

To walk by faith is not easy, yet as we do, there is a peace that comes from God that cannot be achieved or experienced any other way.  I often find myself in moments of anxiousness.  As I release that anxiousness to God, and realize that He is in in control, the peace comes flooding in.  It is in those times, that the mountains move.

There are days in which I wish I had not prayed that prayer that night, yet I am glad I did.  It is in the stretching times that our story is written.  A story worth telling, so that others might be brought into God's story of living in and by faith.

How is your faith?

Does God Want Us Happy?

Does God want us to always be happy?  If so, why does He allow all the pain, negative circumstances, and trials in life?  I have been asked this many times.  I myself have wrestled with the notion.

John Piper does a masterful job of addressing this age old question.



What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Romans 8:31-31

I am thankful for a God like this.

An Innocent Man

It was now about the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!"  Luke 23:44-47



No one likes to see an innocent man condemned to death. It is not fair. It is not just.

Of all those sentenced to death row in the US since 1973, 139 have been determined to be innocent, and subsequently released. The average number of years between being sentenced to death and exoneration is 9.8. Nearly 10 years of legal battles fought in order to prove the innocence of those wrongly accused. No one likes to see an innocent person suffer.

For the centurion that took part in the execution of Jesus, it took but a few hours for him to realize the innocence of this one that He had just helped put to death. Upon realizing His innocence, he “praised God.”

Jesus was innocent. He could have easily exonerated Himself. He chose not to. John the Baptist referred to Him as the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He was indeed an innocent lamb led quietly to slaughter for you and I.

Most on that day never realized His innocence. Some did. Today is much the same.  Most deny that He is the innocent lamb of God who endured unimaginable suffering, so that we might experience life. For those of us that do realize His innocence, we are left with the same response as the centurion … praise of God.

Yes, He was innocent and yet …

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

To the Innocent Man I say, Thank you.

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Mad at a Myth

To night our church hosted a very cool event.  It was called Old Town Poetry Night.  Sherwood Coffee Company was packed, the coffee was flowing and so were the rhymes!  It was a night of great music provided by my friend, Sean Thomas, an open mic for local poets, and featured nationally renown poet Phil Long.

I was moved by one poem in particular.  A poem written and performed by Phil Long.  The poem, "Mad at a Myth" really left me wondering why it is that people get so mad at the One they consider but a myth.  A poem that points to the reality and power of the One so many call Savior.  A poem that clearly and creatively demonstrates that He is indeed far more than a mere myth.

One Million Arrows - Review

I have just read Julie Ferwerda's new book "One Million Arrows." I stand and applaud! It is a book that resonates with my heart on so many levels.  It resonates with both the father in me and the youth pastor in me.

In recent years I have experienced a giant shift in my thinking in terms of the way I pastor students. I have come to understand that it is not the churches responsibility to raise kids to be fully devoted followers of Jesus.  It's the God given responsibility of parents.  Read more of my thoughts here in an article I wrote for Life In Student Ministry.  Julie does a fantastic job of bringing to light the importance of this matter.

She writes, "When we take to heart that the home - not the church, not the youth programs, not the Christian school - is the Great Commission Training Center, the lives of our kids are truly impacted soul deep."  How true that is.  It breaks my heart each time I think of students, both current and past, that have walked away from a love relationship with Christ, simply because they have not seen it in their parents.  Christianity equates to one thing for them.  Hypocrisy.

The book is filled with stories of families that have taken seriously their call to raise not just good kids, but kids that will make a radical difference for the Kingdom of God.  Along with the stories come a host of practical ideas that can be implemented in the raising of our children.

If we as parents are to take seriously the call on our lives to raise world changing kids then it will require a radical commitment on our part.  No longer can we rely on the 40 to 50 hours of Biblical education/training a child will receive in a typical year from the Church, rather we must embrace the 2,500 hours a year God has given to us to raise our children.

"No longer can our lives and schedules revolve around sports, entertainment, amusements, busyness, or a host of other 'good' or even 'good enough' activities.  They must revolve around best, through getting to know God very personally, glorifying and enjoying Him, and then bringing His Good News to others."

If you are a parent, or one that works with parents, get your hands on this book!  Click here or on the image above, for more on this book, along with ordering info.