Ode To The Beach

I love the beach. The sand, the surf, the cooler weather. I love everything about it. I grew up at the beach. When I was in 3rd grade, my family moved about 6 blocks from the beach. I do have to say I was spoiled, I didn't realize how lucky I was. But it's like that saying, "You don't know what you have till it's gone." I am obivously not living at the beach anymore, but man, do I wish I still lived there. If I had known I wasn't going to live at the beach my whole life, I'd have gone WAY more.

When I do go to the beach there are many different things I love to do. I loved to bike and rollerblade along the strand. I love to play my favorite sport, beach volleyball. I love to build sandcastles and dig for sand crabs. I love to body surf, and boogie board. I've also even been known to surf every once in a blue moon.

Why do I tell you about why I love going to the beach? Because the Junior High group is going to "Crash" the beach all day tomorrow. It's going to be SO much fun! I'm going to get to do everything I love. We are even going to crash a world famous beach. How many of you have heard the song, 'Surfing USA' by the beach boys "...San Anofree and sunset/Redondo Beach L.A. ...Everybody's gone surfin'/Surfin' USA"

Yes we will be heading to beautiful Redondo Beach for the day. I really hope to see you all there. All you have to bring is $5, a sack lunch, swim suit, towel, and money for dinner on the way home. Call the church office for more details and to tell us that you're coming, so I can make sure you have a ride there.

The Question Of Adam's Sin...

To refresh your memory, on Thursdays I will post to my blog by answering questions I get in the "I Wonder..." box in the Crash room. Today's question is an interesting one, and it's one I've gotten many, many times. The question is this, "Would there still be sin in the world if Adam hadn't sinned?" What a great question.


As always, lets start at the beginning, in Genesis 2. God makes Adam, and Eve. he doen't make them perfect, but he makes them good, innocent and gives them free will, which is the ability to make their own choices. God, really at this point, has only one rule- don't eat from the one tree in the center of the garden.


We don't know how many days passed before Adam and Eve made the fateful choice. It could have been years or days, or even hours. It really doesn't matter how long they lasted not eating the fruit. What matters is that they eventually gave into temptation, and did eat the fruit. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Genesis 3:6)" Some of you may say, "Well Satan tempted them." Yes, but it was still their choice. Despite pressure from the serpent, they still had the choice. That's the great thing about free will, God gave us the choice to either choose to obey Him, or not.


A number of things happened after they ate the fruit. Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden. Also, the serpent (who tempted Eve) got cursed, Eve, herself, got cursed, and Adam got cursed (To find out what their curse was read Genesis 3:14-19). This curse not only affected them but it also affected their offspring, their flesh and blood. We are the offspring. We all come from Adam and Eve, and thusly we are all cursed just as they were. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in theis way death came to all men, because all sinned... (Romans 5:12)"


At this point you may be saying, "Oh great Adam! Good job! You ruined it for everyone! All you had to do was stay away from one tree... ONE tree!" But I want to ask you a question. Do you sin? Have you ever disobeyed God? "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)" See, yes, we do all have to deal with the curse that was put on Adam, but lets be honest, we wouldn't do any better. Every day we are in the same position as Adam, we have a choice to either obey God, or not. Yes, there are times we choose the right thing and we do obey Him. But we all reach that point where we give into temptation and choose to disobey God. Again, we don't know how long Adam and Eve lasted, but we do know, they eventually chose to disobey God.


So to answer the question, "Would there still be sin in the world if Adam hadn't sinned?" I would say yes. It's not something you can just blame Adam for. The words of Jesus Christ ring out in my mind, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone... (John 8:7)"

Summerblast Is a Blast!

So this week is Summerblast for our children's ministry. Last night was the first of five nights. And it was awesome! We had so many students come it was amazing! Summerblast is a week long program for kids K-6th grade to learn about God. But if you're thinking, "oh it's just a VBS (vacation Bible school) you are way off base! Summerblast goes way above and beyond what people know VBS to be.

Summerblast has fun, excitement. It is awesome fun for kids (which is the website for our children's ministry). Each night opens and closes with confetti cannons, laughter, a bit of the running story and music from our guest musician, Dean-O. There are four stations that kids go to each night. There is a game station, where the kids run and play games. There is a "Level-Up" station where the kids learn about the Bible. Then there is a Snaft station where kids take food and make crafts with it. and lastly there is a music station with Dean-O. From the time it begins till the time it ends, it is overflowing with fun and excitement. This year it's called Power-Up, a video game theme examining the armor of God.

I share all this because Summerblast is not only a chance for kids to have fun, but it's a chance for our Jr. Highers to step up. Because of the scale that we take it to, it takes work and effort and A LOT of volunteers to make it happen. This is one way the Jr. High students are giving back to their church. See, a church is not a building but it's people, hanging out, helping out, and living life together. They are being the church and helping kids hear and learn about God. I am told that there are about as many Jr. High and High school students volunteering as there are adults volunteering. I am encouraged to see them getting involved, because they get it, they get what church is about.

I want to remind you all that we do not have Crash this Wednesday night. But if you are a Jr High student (or an adult for that matter), please come tonight (and the rest of this week) and volunteer. Experience what it's like to be the church. Experience what it's like to help kids learn about God. I promise you this will not be time wasted. I promise you will be glad you volunteered.

I Wonder...

For those of you who don't know, amongst the fliers I typically have on the table in the lobby, I have a stack of note cards and a box which says, "I Wonder...." at the top. This is for any questions students have, questions about life, and God and everything. Over the past year, students have been asking questions. While I may answer some of them within the various lessons I teach, I typically don't directly reference the questions themselves.


I started thinking I needed a place to directly answer these questions. So, starting this week, I will try to answer a question from the "I Wonder..." box each week on Thursday. This will hopefully get answers to those who seek them, as well as encourage other students to ask questions.


The first question I am going to answer is a question that was only recently put in the box, but I think is a fantastic question to start out with. This student writes, "How did people find out about Jesus?" What a great question.


All throughout the later Old Testament books, the prophets (who are people God talked to, so they could speak for Him) talked about a coming messiah who was to be the ultimate sacrifice of the world. Before Jesus was born, an angel came to both Mary and Joseph (Matthew 1:20-24 & Luke 1:26-38). After that, no one really knew who Jesus was... or at least we have no record. Eventually Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, who was a prophet, paved the way, and told people the messiah was here, pointing Jesus out to crowds of people, and even baptizing Him (Matthew 3). Jesus was about 30, when he started His ministry, and began to call out the 12 disciples (Matthew 4:18-22). All throughout the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) we see Jesus preaching about who he was. We see Jesus move from town to town preaching, healing and performing miracles. He instilled in His disciples, specifically the 12, who He was, and what he wanted them to do. After Jesus died, and rose again, He revealed Himself to many people, including the disciples. He told them they had to go out to all the world and teach people about Him and make them disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Some of the disciples wrote letters to churches in different towns, and when those towns were done with the letter, they passed it on to the next town, and the letters kept circulating.


Then Paul (who was first called Saul in Acts 7:58 & 9:1-13:9) came onto the scene when he experienced(Acts 9). God had given him a passion to tell gentiles (people who weren't Jewish). Paul ended up going on three missionary journeys, all throughout Eastern Europe and Western Asia. In addition to the missionary journeys, Paul also wrote many letters to people and towns. Like the other letters, these eventually circulated.


From there, word about Jesus spread. People who were devoted to God copied these letters and passed them on. Eventually the Bible was formed from books and letters which had been written by Paul and the disciples and circulated. Godly men copied these Bibles, and gave them out. Emperors and kings heard about Jesus and God and were changed. They told their kingdoms, who passed on the word, which kept getting passed on, through time, till today.


So to answer the question, "how did people find out about Jesus," I would say people experienced Him in their lives and told other people who experienced Him told other people and experienced Him. Which brings it to all of you. I want to encourage you all to tell others about Jesus. That's how we found out, and that's how others can find out, and that's what God wants us to do, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...(Matthew 28:19-20)"

Can You Win It... In A Minute?

One of my favorite new shows on TV is a show called Minute To Win It. It's fun, it's cleaver, and it's a youth pastor's dream. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking, "This is going to change everythying!" ...Well OK not everything... But help make youth pastor's jobs a little easier by giving us a whole new treasure trove of games to play.

Minute To Win It is a game show. But no one is guessing the price, or seeing if they are smarter than a 5th grader (or even answering trivia questions for that matter), nor are they making a deal. They are performing simple tasks, games really, that anyone can do at home (and I'm sure there were kids were playing some of these games long before the show). Each game uses household objects, like apples, and coat hangers, ping-pong balls and tissues, balloons and playing cards. If the contestant can complete 10 games (chosen by the game show out of a list of 50+ games) each within a minute, then they will win $1,000,000!!

This is a good show for anyone who works in youth ministry because on the game's website, they have directions on how to play each game and a breakdown. Basically its more than 50 ideas for games one could play with their students.

Which brings me to tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is the Crash Kick-Off: Minute To Win It style. All Jr. High students are welcome to join Crash as we split up into teams and play games directly from the show. There will be prizes for the winning team. So don't miss out, I hope to see you all there.

Congratulations Graduates!

The end of the school year is here! Students are taking their last finals, finishing up their classes, and making plans for summer. It's an exciting time. It's even more exciting for a select group of students.

I want to congratulate all the 8th grade students as they are, as of this week, no longer Jr. High students, but High School students. It has been a pleasure to watch you grow into the men and women God intended you to be. The transformations have been amazing! It has been an awesome 2 years seeing all of you grow up into young men and women. It's been great to see how your energy, passion, and maturity have grown in the last 2 years. Congratulations! You have worked hard, and you deserve to celebrate!

Because of all the finals, and graduation, I want to remind you all that we do NOT have Crash this Wednesday night. So don't show up, because you will be the only one there. However, we still have a lot going on this weekend during our Promotion Weekend.

First, I want to invite all students who are going into 6th, 7th, and 8th grade this next year, to join Crash as we BBQ, party and swim at our Crash-B-Que, this Saturday (June 12th) from 5:30-8 PM. Swimsuit Up and bring a towel, $5, and a friend or two. Don't miss out!

Second, this Sunday is Promotion Sunday. All previous 8th graders will join Pastor Steve and the High school group at 10 AM up in the Loft. All previous 5th graders (those going into 6th) will join, either their parents, our myself in the worship services (at 9 & 11 AM) for singing praises to God with the rest of the church. Then when we're done singing, we will head upstairs into the Crash room (in the Loft) for our own lesson. So come join us on Sunday.

Lastly, after ther service this Sunday (June 13th) we are calling all parents to join Pastor Steve Osborne and myself up in the Loft for the first ever Parent Summit! Students and their parents are encouraged to come up to the Loft at 12:30 for lunch. This will be a time for me to share with you all my heart & passion for ministry, my vision for the next year, as well as answering any questions you may have. So please come join us.

I look forward to meeting and getting to know all our new 6th grade students and I hope to see you at all of our Promotion Weekend activities!

So Long... Farewell... To You & You & You...

So I have to apologize, because I failed to update my blog earlier this week. Unfortunately I was having computer problems. So please forgive me.

This having been said, I can tell you all what we did last night. I was super excited. We had 18 students in attendance as we said goodbye to our 8th graders (and wished one of our students a happy birthday). This was the last Wednesday night for them (Next Wednesday we do not have Crash and by the following Wednesday they will be high school students). Fortunately, before my computer failed, I was able to get the flashback video finished. So we did see that, and reminisce about all the fun, exciting, Crash times that we've had this last year.

In addition to watching the video, we also finished up our series called Life's Little Lessons in which we were looking through the book of Proverbs to find practical ways to live out the great commandment (love God & love people). Two weeks ago, we started flipped through the book of Proverbs to find practical ways to love God. We came to the conclusion that, while there is an element of praying and reading your Bible, the biggest way to love God, is to love people.

Last week, we had some adult guests come in and share their wisdom. We got to tap into their knowledge and wisdom that they have gained over the years, and ask them questions we had pertaining to loving God, and loving people. This was a great time, and student really took advantage of it, and asked great questions. Thanks again to all the adults who came. The students really loved it.

Last night, was the last night, and so we looked at how we are supposed to love people, because it's 1. the second part of the great commandment, and 2. it's one way we can do the first-love God. We came to the conclusion that the best way to love people is to be good, honest and patient with people, giving help to anyone who needs it.We did talk about how the more we love God, the more we will receive His love to pass on to others and see people from His perspective. So really, to love God, we love people, and to love people, we need to love God.

All Jr. high students are encouraged to join us on Sunday for Crash at the 9 or 11 AM service as we hangout, and continue to say goodbye to our 8th grade students.