If you've been at a conference where I've spoken this month, here are the resources that I committed to provide.
Links:
www.threadsmedia.com - the on-line hub for Threads, LifeWay's young adult initiative.
www.threadsmedia.com/research - a brief look at stats and our markers.
www.threadsmedia.com/starterkit - free Bible study, video, promo materials, and more.
Notes:
What Matters To Young Adults.pdf
Two things are in short supply for nearly every church leader—time and money. Unfortunately both are necessary if we hope to buy and read the numerous books intended to help us in our work. That is why Leadership, a division of Christianity Today, created the Golden Canon Awards - the ten books of 2009 most valuable for church leaders. If you're looking to learn and enjoy reading, you'll appreciate this compilation. I was honored to see that Lost and Found made the list as well.
Here's the introduction to a recent article I wrote with Ed Stetzer for our friends at Answers In Genesis:
On a recent flight I found myself deep in conversation with three delightful young adults, all in their twenties, from diverse backgrounds. One, who worked in California’s wine industry, was en route to meet a potential new distributor. Another gentleman, who owned a gas station and mini-mart in a rural Southern U.S. town, was headed on family vacation. The third, a nurse from Midwestern suburbia, was traveling home for her high school reunion.
Despite our varied origins and occupations, our time together was rich. Each of these young adults was educated, articulate, and comfortable sharing opinions about a variety of topics. Our discussion was friendly and enjoyable. That is, until the issue of faith arose. More specifically, our dialogue took an unfortunate decline when they began to share their experiences with the local church.
The saddest part may be that their feelings often seemed justified. While I interjected at times, I ended up spending the majority of time simply listening.
As I sat there, I wondered how we can reach their generation. Traditional approaches—like inviting them to church—don’t seem to get very far. A quick chat on an airplane isn’t very effective either. While I wanted to believe that an articulate argument or a heartfelt plea would suffice, I couldn’t help but conclude that something more was necessary.
In fact, I came to a very simple yet profound conclusion. The thing that would draw this generation to Christ and His church would be if His people were actually committed to Christ, and if the Church actually functioned how God intended it to.
You can read the rest of the article HERE.
It's interesting in the Old Testament to see Jonah's rejection of Gentiles. He was greatly angered by God's mercy on the people of Ninevah. This response provides us insight into his original journey to Tarshish. From the beginning, Jonah understood the character of God. Although he had received pardon, he simply didn't want Ninevah to know this mercy, too. That's why he didn't want to go there in the first place.
He says, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." (Jonah 4:2-3)
This leads me to ask, "Why are we not always faithful in sharing the Gospel (in word and deed) to our community and the world around us?" In the midst of all the other lame excuses, one possible answer comes to mind. Is it possible that we simply don't love people enough? It's one thing to say that we do, but do our hearts really reflect that?
Do we hurt for the hurting? Are we broken for those that are far from God? Are we sensitive to the needs around us? And are we driven to action by these things?
In Jonah's case, his actions stemmed from a deep-rooted hatred of the Gentiles. Hopefully, our actions (or lack thereof) aren't a result of hate, but that seems to be the implication. I can't think of anything much more hateful than sitting silently and apathetically while the world around me needs the love of Jesus.
The goal is not to muster up actions that may or may not demonstrates love. Instead, it is to have love that naturally results in action. I want more of that.
See my ARTICLE at Threads about why Scripture memorization should be one resolution we try our hardest to keep in 2010.
A few weeks ago, Carrie and I took the boys out for some Christmas shopping. I know ... what was I thinking? Actually, the crowds were bearable and we ended up having a pleasant day. That was, UNTIL, we got in the car to go home. Our 4-month old, Henley, hates the car. It's odd. He's an easy baby - eats well, sleeps well, and has a laid-back demeanor. BUT, for some unknown reason, he flips out within minutes of getting into his car seat.
Anyway, we were headed back from a mall on the other side of town. As usual, Henley was screaming wildly. But, what stood out to me that day was not his crying. Instead, as I looked back into the rear view mirror, I was intrigued by how little it impacted our 3 year old, Hayden. As he sat there next to him, Hayden had completely zoned his little brother out. Despite the yelling, crying, and hysteria - he'd managed to focus on the DVD player in front of him. He was a foot away from the madness and yet acted as if he were alone in the quietness of his room.
In this case, I'm glad Hayden could do that. In fact, I wish I could do that. It would make our travels a lot less stressful. But, it also reminded me of how easy it is to do the same with much larger issues in life. Disaster, crisis, and hurt are all around us and yet I manage to drown out the screaming as I focus on much lesser matters. It's a shame. I'm asking God to help me.
"Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to eternity." (Hosanna, Hillsong United)
Do you struggle with this, too?
I've been re-reading J Oswald Sanders' classic, Spiritual Leadership.
In it, he says that "Perhaps the most strategic and fruitful work of modern missionaries is to help leaders of tomorrow develop their spiritual leadership."
Is he right or wrong?
When we moved last fall, we had a significant renovation project on our hands. As we worked, I was constantly finding interesting little quarks about the house and even small "treasures" around our property. First, I found the original cabinet doors in the attic. A few days after that, I found a random conch shell buried in the flower bed. Then, I found some old coins that were sitting on a shelf in our garage.
It was great fun. It's exhilarating to discover something of value that has been so close to you without your knowing.
What valuable "treasure" is sitting undiscovered right around you.
Is it a strong leader? An amazing idea? A great friend? A new business plan? A ministry opportunity?
I recently discovered a fantastic book by William Safire called, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches In History.
What I enjoy most about the book is the final section that reveals speeches that were never delivered: what Kennedy was scheduled to say in Dallas, what Clinton originally planned to say after his grand jury testimony; and Nixon's prepared text in case the Apollo XI landing ended in tragedy.
A few snippets of the Nixon speech are as follows:
"Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery."
"In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man."
"They will be mourned by their families and friends, they will be morned by their nation, they will be morned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown."
Now, consider this question: For better of worse, what is your message? Now consider how history might be changed if you never communicated it.
Life is not always about having a neat, pat answer.
People are looking for something real – something that issues real challenges, reflects real struggles, and prompts real examination. This is characterized by a continual pursuit of knowledge, experience, wisdom, intellect, understanding, and exploratory learning.
This means that the moralizing of our teaching past is out like the 80s. Our teaching should encompass more than do’s and don’ts. It should reach to the why and the how behind our proclamation. Great teaching requires mining truth down to its deepest core and assigning it to resonate within the hearts of our listeners. As a result, our teaching must go beyond appeals to behavior modification, beyond pithy platitudes on being happy and living well. Our teaching must wrestle with the meat and marrow of human existence, because this is what people are already doing. Otherwise it becomes like tossing a fortune cookie to a man starving in the desert.
This is an adapted excerpt from an article I wrote with Ed Stezer for SermonCentral entitled, "Preaching To The Younger Unchurched."
Depth isn’t limited exclusively to pure Bible knowledge. It’s about truly grappling with and striving to process information, decisions, and choices in a way that honors God. Depth means learning about God as you simultaneously learn more about yourself and this world.
John Calvin once said, "Nearly all the wisdom we process, that is to say, true and sound wisdom consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined together by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern."
I have a love/hate relationship with blogging and social media.
I love how they connect. I hate how they tempt.
The tools are not bad. I just need to be careful of the bad thinking that can come along with them. This kind of thinking tells me that I deserve to be listened to. It encourages more talking than listening. It causes me to spend more time working on the Jason Hayes "brand" than telling the story of God and others. It says that gaining readers is more important than providing quality content. It flies in the face of humility and promotes ego.
These lies should not be attributed to everyone that utilizes such tools. Some don't struggle with this at all. I do.
I'm seeking wisdom in how to use these mediums. This doesn't necessarily mean less posts, less Tweets, or less of anything else. Maybe it just means more - more thought, more others, and more Jesus. I can't predict the future of social media and its' relationship to our faith and ministries. But, I can say with great certainty that God wants all of us to be more about His glory and less about our own.
I'm addressing this now (in my first real post) as a form of accountability to you and a strong reminder to me. He must increase but I must decrease. (John 3:30)
