Destiny Rescuing Destiny

This is a familiar story on this blog, but God keeps moving it forward. So, I thought I’d post this latest video to share the continued journey. It’s really exciting to watch how it keeps spreading. We played this video at the first Desperation Conference in June this Summer. As a result, we ended up taking a spontaneous offering where the conference attendees gave over $16,000 to build another Orphan Home with World Orphans.

The Heartwork Vision keeps moving. American teenagers reaching out to African Orphans. African Orphans reaching back to American teenagers. Destiny rescuing destiny.

Keep watching www.heartwork.tv for more…

_tag’s burn:internship

This is a video we put together last week to highlight our burn internship for high school students. They spend 10 hours per week in service, ministry training, and community. It’s based on Fall, Spring, and Summer Trimesters so it’s easy for students to participate while still being involved in their other important school activities. Burn has been a great program to fulfill Ephesians 4 by equipping young leaders at _tag.

We wanted to highlight the fun and community aspects as we head toward our Summer Trimester. Take a look. It has a 70′s Bible School infomercial meets Dharma Initiative vibe. Nice…kind of.

One Community Food Offering was Amazing!

Just a quick post today celebrate the win with all the _tag family. We're currently in the middle of our Thematic Goal: One Friend, One Community, One World. This past Wednesday we challenged our family to bring in 10 meals for families of 4 in our community. In the current economic downturn families are strapped and we wanted to help. _tag showed up in force. Check it.

 
It was an awesome night because of the Offering but also because the Spirit of God showed up in the meeting in a huge way. Students gave their lives to Christ, others were healed, others delivered from junk…it was fantastic! It all made for a huge night for the _tag family.

I'm really proud of all you and so excited about what Jesus is doing with us.

Love you all. See you this Wednesday.
P.S. One World Offering for Widows Homes is coming in a month. : )

One Community Food Offering is almost here!

God is doing cool things with our _tag family. This week we’re in the second phase of our One Friend, One Community, One World goals.

This Wednesday only (April 29) we’re challenging all of us to bring in at least 10 meals for families of 4. In our current economy we keep hearing about the needs of families, friends, and neighbors in our community. One of those big needs is food. We can do something about that.

So make some sacrifices and bring in your meals to _tag this Wednesday. Be a part of what God is doing with us. Oh, and watch this latest Weblog from Newman. He’s trying hard, but sometimes he just doesn’t get it quite right.

Give them what they need. Consider what they want.

As a youth pastor I often find myself struggling with the same tensions year after year. Just when I think I have finally got one nailed down it comes back at me again. One such tension I’ve been struggling with this past week involves Culture and Content.

Obviously, any youth pastor worth his salt is going to say that solid content in a meeting or message is most important. However, it can be very easy and quite tempting to prepare a gathering or to write a talk as if the opposite were true. How many times have we asked, “What’s big right now? We could do a sermon series based on American Idol and we’ll talk about how we shouldn’t have any Idols in our lives. Oooohh, that’s good!” Or how about, “Let’s do a series called 24 and we’ll talk about how it’s not good to torture people to extract information that will save the United States of America from certain impending doom!” OK. It’s possible that I’m reaching.

Well, it’s embarrassing to admit it but I’ve been walking this tight rope again this past week. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now. I think my heart is in the right place, but I constantly have to make sure my motives are in the right place as well. It’s so easy to start with culture and inject the Gospel. We’re good at it. We think that will appeal to a broader group of students and that’s good. Right?
But that’s backwards.

Start with the Gospel and think about injecting youth culture.

I like to say it this way, “Give them what they need. Consider what they want.”

So I’m putting an end to the struggle one more time this week and simply following what I sense God is whispering to me. Don’t start with the big cultural draw and try to fit in what God wants to say. Start with what God is saying and then consider if adding some youth culture will be beneficial. Often, it’s not.

As it turns out Jesus is always enough all by Himself. He is exactly what they need.