IS ANYBODY OUT THERE??

Safe sheep eat alot

Shepherd sheep and lambs


All flocks must have a good shepherd, sheep and lambs. All three are essential for a healthy flock. But inherent to each are failings and strengths. We as leaders must cover the failings, provide safety for growth and allow for strengths to further develop.

A Shepherd is someone who is held accountable for the health of the flock under his care. As such a good shepherd desire to provide safety, so the sheep are free to put their heads down to graze and drink. If they are nervous that something will come along from the outside and hurt them they will not get the nourishment they need. Likewise if the sheep eat and drink and are afraid that the shepherd will smack them with a stick, telling them they are doing it wrong or not fast enough, then these sheep are not only malnourished but neurotic as well. (a bad thing). A shepherd is a patient protector allowing for slow eating and slow processing of the flow of the water. S L O W is the shepherds pace.. patient and ever vigilant.

Sheep on the other hand are followers, they are trusting animals. As they feel safe they get to know the shepherds voice and follow it implicitly (even to the slaughter house). Sheep are herd animals and have a tendency to do what the sheep before them did. So change is reliant on trust of the shepherd. As a byproduct healthy sheep will produce wool that needs to be fleeced to this helps the sheep as well as the shepherd, as they grow in age and health they will also produce lambs.

Lambs of course are just baby sheep. Sheep that play and bounce in the pasture not sure of danger or safety just content to play and eat. Sheep know the voice of the shepherd because time spent with him. A lamb is new and does not know that the shepherd provides safety and food. So a lamb may wander off at times. They are not BAD, just kids as it were needing to be told the bounds of their pasture and limits to their travels. If a lamb is corrected too harshly they will become afraid of the shepherd and his staff. (a bad thing)
**** They don’t care what you know until they know how much you care ****
A lamb is not a follower out of experience to his shepherd he is a herd animal and will follow because it is what every one else is doing. This of course should change over time.

Shepherds related to sheep and lambs differently. As leaders of people we must treat every one of God’s people with the love and respect he does. HE loved them so much he died for them. We should not get our identity out of their obedience. Youth are much like lambs they appear to be full of vim an vigor but in reality they are scared children wanting to be loved and lead gently. As leaders if we say “hey guys you are doing it wrong and are a worthless piece of snail slime” this may be construed as a sharp hit with the staff of authority not the gently nudge of a loving shepherd. “hey guys lets do it this way and get the results we all want” ( inclusive verbiage is very important. ) A shepherd is with his sheep, smelling like sheep, playing with sheep. You get the idea.

Encourage your lambs and they will become sheep who will be easily lead. Patient and every vigilant.

story that fits with our sucess or failure topic.

So, I'm at home now working on a speech for a public speaking class and I come across this story online. I think it fits so well with what we've been blogging. I hope you like it, I'm pretty sure you will...

(So i'm not sure if it fits totally for our situation, but there is some neat truths in there. Read it see what you think)


Pushing Against the Rock By: Author Unknown

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture placing thoughts into the man's mind such as; "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it? etc."

Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.
These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough." And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of Prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock a half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

To this the Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard.
Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock.
BUT YOUR CALLING WAS TO BE OBEDIENT, TO PUSH AND TO EXERCISE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN MY WISDOM. This you have done. I, my friend, I will now move the rock."

Progressing?

Success or Failure (how can we tell)

Leadership: How we get there is of little consequence. WE can be asked, smoozed, forced or our leadership just happened. WE will all be faced with the inevitable feeling we are not succeeding. We will look around and wonder where is the progress? Why aren’t they “getting it”? Whenever we are faced with the disappointment that we are not making the impact we had imagined we would make, we have look carefully and objectively at ourselves. Are we the cause of this perceived lack of success? Is my perception a reality? What needs to be adjusted?


Looking at ourselves:
When we look at ourselves: #1 Are we Growing in Christ. IF we are not growing in Christ we can’t lead others in growth can we? #2. Are we doing this to fulfill a need for purpose in our lives This one is painful at times. Sometimes it is as subtle as wanting to be needed, the need for public acclimation, (even among our peers). Maybe it is a subtle feeling that we are not valuable if we are doing this thing. Can we distinguish between Gods ministry and calling and ours? #3. We are not doing what we know to do. Either in our personal life or in the ministry function we are performing. (we are going 80- 90%) either not dealing with sin, not fulfilling our last mandate from the Lord. (including study, prayer time etc..) or are we not getting involved because we are afraid of being hurt. (well you will be hurt in leadership so just assume that is part of the package.)#4. Are we playing to our strengths? This simply means a tone deaf person will have a hard time leading worship. Our natural talents, callings and abilities may be a great place to start looking for successes. God seldom uses us in areas we are not equipped to be used in. (me in hospital ministry)

Preception:
Many times the perception is what needs to be adjusted. When dealing with a group we want ALL of them to get the passion we possess. We want them to run faster, go further, make greater commitments, and produce more than we can personally ever consider a reality for ourselves. Reality is; some will, some won’t, and most will meander at the pace of the average sheep. (or teen, congregation member etc…)

Their response cannot be our sole measure of success. The questions that has to be answered is are we being obedient to what we know to do NOW. If we look only at those around us we will quit because we are looking at the wrong things. (THEM not the task God has given us to accomplish). When looking for a valid perspective it is best to do this with someone who is HONEST, has good OVERALL VISION, and has your SAME DESIRES in view. Honest because they have to say ‘your messing up’ or equally painful to hear ‘pull your head out and look at reality’. Overall vision is needed because if they look only at the negative or positive they will not have accurate perspective on the problem. The result will be lopsided. And the same desires because they will need to look at things from your same goals (but from their point of view).

Being faithful is a process of doing over time. Being a flash in the pan anyone can do that. God has called us to be Faithful Followers. ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS. And probably as important (DO WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE GOING TO MAKE PROGRESS TO THAT UNDEFINED NIRVANA IN OUR MINDS),

(two things in progress): 1. are you seeing progress in the group. 2. are you progressing in your leadership skills.

What needs to change:
Without going very deep into all the other obvious possibilities of self depreciation lets look at what we can do to fix issues. [self depreciation; saying untrue things about ourselves.. either good or evil] Let’s assume if we are not getting the results we want, and we have evaluated the above possibilities. Repented of our issues and done what we need to do. We have looked and the issue is not our perspective or perception, WE know the problem is not from the outside. (parents, pastors, music, time etc..) (all responsibility for the success of any venture lies in the leadership) When we look at all the basic things of character, and expectations and adjust our parts first, then we must look to the practical things to change.

This scary prospect means yesterdays successes are today’s building blocks for what we are going to do. Not forgetting what made success in the past but we hold to a line that says if it ain’t working chuck it. The central themes of Christianity must remain constant. The doctrines must remain pure. The dignity of Jesus and his message must be made evident but the how to communicate that is up for grabs. (yesterday is gone so what are we doing tomorrow)

Don’t be afraid to change things, processes are just a way of getting the results we intend. Styles have changed over the last 40 yrs and will continue to . (a blog was unheard of when I was a youth leader. ) Utube, myspace, blogs, email, texting, etc. use whatever is available to communicate the gospel to compel them from the highways and byways to bring them in to the marriage feast.

I have said over and over a mistake is not fatal it is a great learning tool. I started home groups about 4 years ago and they failed miserable. Now they are going, it was a good idea, but bad timing.. So we tried no one died and we go on. Learn from that and try things. What are the essentials of your ministry build toward your ultimate goal.

Remember our job is always to make a way for someone to come along behind and take whatever ministry we have, and move it further, faster and make greater strides than we are doing. Our job it to lay the groundwork for someone else’s success, and work ourselves out of a job.

On FIRE or Burning OUT

ON fire or Burning Out?

I think wild fire....

Passion at its heart has energy. Energy is defined as being static or kinetic. Static energy is stored and ready to be used and Kinetic energy is energy in motion. God has been placing in us a vast storehouse of Static energy and passion. We have not known how to release it and we have not known how to engage it. It is like steam that is building pressure. The pressure can be utilized and drive a locomotive or it can be simply blown off. But if this pressure is not release one way or another it will break it’s container open with the force of that uncontrolled power. We are at a breaking, point. We have passion, purpose and desire. We see something that is worth while to put our energies into and we see a goal set before us. So what to do now?

This passion must be released in controlled bursts as it were. An all out blast will lay flat all who are around. There is a law of inertia. That law states anything at rest wants to stay at rest and anything moving wants to keep moving in a straight line. To move fragile things, gentle, consistent, firm pressure will have the greatest effect. We have the opportunity to move ourselves first and those who are attached will follow. Like a locomotive we who are the engines will produce movement. A caboose never drives the train. Our passion will produce a growth of purpose and desire among the youth. If they see us stepping where we have never stepped before using the gifts God has given us to touch them and encourage them to do the same our passion will produce a slow emergence of Synergistic force. (synergy is the combining of powers to produce more together than the combined single units can produce alone). TEAM is an anagram for Together Everyone Achieves More. I see the passion, the pressure and the commitment to the youth, yourselves and each other. Where there is unity there is Gods Blessing Keep up the good work.

When we take this passion that is burning in us and we don’t see the results we want right away we get frustrated. If we equate the burn out that is talked about often with the blowing up of the steam engine we see a correlation. Both have great potential, Both have power or passion but the knowing how to engage, and how to release that power is what is missing. When I put people in place in ministry I look for _3_ things.

1. Do they have Passion and Committment. An intense desire to see a particular area of ministry successful. Without this there will be a drying up of effectiveness after the thrill is gone.
2. I look for Integrity. A character that is Godly and growing. I don’t look for perfection. I look for someone who will not bring shame to the gospel and will continue to follow Christ’s admonitions for their own personal life. With out integrity the ministry will explode. (from within)
3. I look for Ability. Ability is the God given gifts to do the work of the ministry. No ministry will be effective without ability. This will grow as we study to show ourselves approved unto God. Both spiritually and practically. (see II tim 4).. Without ability the ministry will eventually Implode. Without ability we will implode because we have passion but no way to do what we desire and we will begin to focus our critics on those around us.

WE burn out or blow up when we:
1. Are not doing what God called us to do thus we are frustrated because we do not have the innate means to complete the task assigned us. We will continually adjust the task so we can attain success all the while missing the potential we desire. Frustrating ourselves because we have a passion for the goal but no means to complete it.
2. WE burn out because we are called to the tasks assigned but we are unprepared. This will add mountains of stress on us and we will feel unfulfilled and frustrated. Preparation is the foundation that we build from allowing for flexibility of the Holy Spirits movements.
3.WE burn out because we will not change and the old ways are no longer sufficient to meat the needs of the changing assignment.



I believe I have the right people in the right place at the right time. I will step back and be a back ground support. (no interjections unless asked. I believe in you all..

Whoever wants the next generation the most WILL get them!!

The way we have done youth ministry up to this point has to change. First I want to ask everyones forgiveness in my mediocrity. We have to walk in unity and love. We have to reach a generation of young people who are looking in everything else except the one place where they will find the thing they are longing for. For us fear is not an option. Mediocrity is not an option. It is truely not about us. Jason has said the earth is in pain waiting for this generation and I really believe that. It's not about "when oh Lord"? It's about how, who, what, where. So....How? Let us take him out of the four walls of the church. Let US walk in a radical display of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Almighty God!! God gave me a analogy of working with these students. It's like teaching them to ride a bike. First they see you ride so they want to try, Now we can't push them or pull them to hard because they will eventually fall off. But we are to walk along side them on the bike, holding them up encouraging them and when they are ready letting them go. And watching them ride away knowing how to ride better than you do and knowing all of our tricks and some new ones of their own. In Chosen Element mediocrity is DEAD. We will be excellent in everything we do. We will learn to walk in unity. I make this charge today. Are we the ones who want this generation the most or are we willing to let the world capture them into a false reality. We love everyone on this team and we look forward to changing this world along side of you!! God Bless!! -The Molinas

quick thoughts from New York

I miss you guys.. i really do.

ok i am at this pastors conference and i just sat through a sessions that was very impactful.

www.theworldrace.org the founder or director of this website spoke and asked us if we were providing a God size vision or are we settleing for a small vision..

Is our goal really to reach the youth in Bemidij and the surroundign areas?

Talk to me people.. God is breaking my heart.. this is going to be interesting.. are we setteling for a good youth group or are we desiring more. are we getting transformed by Gods word and not being conformed to the normative desires, expectations of this world..

talk to me people.. how are we doing.. is your vision expanding or deminshing..?

are you like me lying awake at night wondering what we need to do to make an impact...

I dont want to be ok ... i want to be impactful. ... i dont want to be acceptable i want to be radical.. i dont want to be like the others.. i want to hear well done good and faithful.. I want to hear you have run the race and finished..

how are we doing?

Summer: the most wonderful 4 days of the year.

When the weather warms and the misquitoes grow we are faced with a dilemma. As a youth have more time on their hands they want to do more things. Our personal time can be infringed upon and we feel stretched into many different ways. How to balance our needs as leaders with the hopes and expectations of those who we lead.

I hope this isn't hitting a nerve. I know you have a desire to meet with and provide access to the youth at a much greater at level than the normal one night a week and then on Sundays church. The balancing act between your hopes, youth expectation and balancing lifes normal demands is something to be reckoned with. For those who are beginning to feel the stress here are some thoughts to ponder.

Number one: As you treat your spouse or significant other is how we treat others.

Every minister must come to grips with the fact that if there is no pease at home in private our public ministry will also be less than it could and should be. If I'm at odds with my wife than I'll have that same shortness with those I minister to. We must first garner peace in our home life before we can minister elsewhere.

Number two: Your primary goal is to build a healthy home not a healthy Ministry.

If we give our primary focus to our Ministry and give only secondary focus or secondary attention to our family we will not succeed. Many ministers at the end will not be judged for their great ministries but the lack of home lives.

If your Ministry responsibilities are causing strife in your home or causing one person to feel like they are in second place some adjustments need to be made. The commitments that have been made to Ministry and to the youth have to be weighed based upon what is healthy for those ministering to them.

Number three: Proper boundaries need to be set.

If you are good at relating to people some will want to spend every waking minute with you. Now this is good for egos and it makes us feel like we are important and succeeding, in all likelihood if we encourage this it will be shortsighted success story. Our primary relationships will suffer, and in the long run the health of those we are ministering to will also suffer. The balance between friendship, and ministry is a vague, variants and impossible to specifically identify line that is crossed and readjusted regularily.

What to do?? what to do?? what to do???

Number one communicate at home if you're feeling second place or you feel that you don't have enough time to talk or to develop your relationship communicate this. This is not wrong this is healthy. Simple changes can be made that will not affect the youth and will promote a healthy home life talk about.

Number two don't let the youth set your schedule your the adult you set your schedule. Communicate to them what is available and when. Be sure to give plenty of lead times and nobody's getting surprised. If as the leadership you have determined what you want to do and when follow-through don't change and midstride this will promote healthy expectations.

Number three SAY NO!. It is okay to tell the kids "no, it is just the two of us not all of us". It is okay to tell the kids we want to bike around the lake by ourselves even if they're the pastors kids.

Basically summer is short, at the end of the summer you should not be feeling remorseful because you are involved with the youth. We should feel excited because, when you are with them you gave them your very best. At the end of the summer your family relationships are further developed and they were at the beginning of the summer and you feel that you are further ahead in Jesus and you were at the beginning of the summer.

Make the most of all four days of summer this year Ministry should not be a source of regret for your family. If you apply proper boundaries your family will be healthy and those you minister to will be healthy.

Discipleship and Goals

Hello. I have not forgotten about you. I have just not taken the time to sit down and talk to you. My apologies it is not that you're unimportant it's just that my head is been elsewhere now can we get back to something very important.

The issue is discipleship. Jesus left us with a mandate to go and make disciples, so we've been given a certain number of people to work with. Our job is to make disciples not just teach some fun topic we believe in. So the question is what are we doing to create disciples as opposed to just talking to people. Youth leadership is about transforming world views. It is not just about following the rules and becoming good kids. It is about making little Christs. (those who reflect the love of God.)

When we write a vision or mission statement we are identifying what we want to be as an organization. We are also defining what we want those were participate in our organization to look like as an end result. What are the elements that we need to address in order to facilitate our development towards attaining these goals.

Something for the youth to look at is are we allowing them to minister even what we can do it better than them, or are we showing them how without ever putting any responsibility on the youth to minister.

The true MENTORING AND DISCIPLESHIP making is a four steps process:

Step one; to explain what you want
Step two; to show how it is done
Step three; allowed shared responsibility
Step four; to release responsibility

When determining what is most important in discipleship we look at what will lay the foundation for the next thing to be built up0n. For example when we started talking about leadership I didn't talk about specifics, but I talked about the character that is needed to become a good leader. When we talk about discipleship, we must determine what elements need to be in place to be built upon later. For example; if we talk about the rules and regulations that need to be in place to become a good Christian. We will have people are motivated by rules not people who are motivated by the loving grace of God. If we talk about dress code we'll see people who are always looking at the be clothes and never looking at the heart of the individual. If we talk about love without any specifics will create ambiguity and frustration. Discipleship making is giving attainable goals, and the principles behind the goals, it's not rules but the principles that make those rules effective.

As you write you mission statements. As you write your goal statements. As you write your purpose statements. Please keep in mind that your job is to duplicate Christ. Our job is to duplicate the love of Jesus Christ that he lay down his life for others. Our job as ministers is not to shine but to make a way for those who follow us to shine brighter than we can.

Pictures....how fun!

Here are some pics from Family Fun Night.....enjoy!!!!

Family Fun Night really was Fun

Well, i thought that the FFN was a real success! I enjoy working with everyone so much. I think that we are moving in the right direction!!! I feel that God is taking us to the next level....of anointing, of unity, of friendship, and ect... I am so excited to see what He is going to do with us. I have some pictures so i will put them on asap. I really love yall so much!!! Hope everyone is having a good day!

I thought this was really cool and wanted to share.

So when I graduated from High school, Pastor John and Jan both got me the same book, My Utmost for His Highest (the classic edition) by Oswald Chambers. (Do you think God was trying to tell me something when I got two copies of the same book?) So I started reading it and thought, ok, I really don't want to read this book it is too confusing. (Since it is the classic edition, it is the original version from like 1930 and was just hard to read even though I don't have problems reading.) So onto the bookshelf they both went to get covered in dust and mostly forgotten.

So now zoom ahead about two years to the present, or back a few weeks, however you want to look at it, when I was talking to my friend Gary. He was mentioning the stuff he was getting out of the book and how great it was. So I thought why not give it a second chance.
I started on March 12th. (the book is set up so you read a little devotion each day of the year) What I read has been really going through my head. Here is part of that days devotional:

“Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don't want Thee, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Ghost; I want to be put in Thy showroom and be able to say-- ’This is what God has done for me.’” If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment; it is miserable commercial self-interest. That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God--these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.”

That's growing inside me...“It’s a good thing.” (that's what Martha Stewart always says; but yeah, it really is a good thing)

EXCELLENT-A

Spanish for really good job.. I was impressed with LEXI'S presentation this eveing. Grace, Truth and a very good content.. Lexi Great job talking about respect, having the youth groups back and grace for new believers you did a very good job. Guys didnt she do good.

Leadership Thought:

Principals govern our interaction with people. Love, grace, gentleness, truth, principles, repentence. To mix these 6 things together into a perfect mix it to be mature in our dealings with people. Our goal is to provide an enviroment of love and grace where the principles of truth can produce repentance.

( You guys are doign great!! Keep it up!! )

Thank you! You are true leaders.

HIDEE HOOO Neighbors:

Long time no blog.. not for lack of thoughts but for lack of sitting down and typing..

I first would like to express my appreciation for all you are doing. I know you are all going far beyoung the call of duty. I see your care, and love for the kids. That is the thing that we most have to offer. I have been told by parents that they appreciate your reaching out to their kids, and the care they know you have for them. They as parents are seeing results and I wanted you to know that. Thank you. Thank you for your reaching out to them, which in turn causes them to grow and reach out ... and so on and so on and so on..

Leadership for the most part is a process if putting the right food in front of the sheep PATIENTLY waitting for them to eat. Most of the time they eat small bites from those who feed them every day and great amounts from visiting farmers. It is amazing how many times we have been teaching something from many angles and then have someone come in who says it just a bit differently and WOW what NEW revelation. This is a good thing. Farming, raising children and leadership are all slow, consistant processes of doing the right thing, having the right attitude and service, expending yourselves for the sake of others over long periods of time.

Something I have been wrestling with this past month is this: I believe we are pressing against the door of the supernatural power. I am grappleing of the knob not knowing where to reach or what it feels like but it is close. I feel the power and prescence of God like never before but it is not to be felt, but to be delt to be asked for and to be seen. We are not a good 'bible teaching' church we are to be a good 'bible living, experiencing' church.

OH GOD I want your presence I want your cry to be my cry. Change me GOD TO reflect you, your love, your power, your purposes, your passion.

I almost forgot.. Clayton and Dustin will be joining us on this blog so as a way for us to communicate with them (by the way their baby was born recently) everything went well. a very proub poppa..