11 Years Later

    So 11 years later and I still see everything in my head like I saw it that day. September 11th, 2001 was a day that changed my life and the lives of everyone I knew. I was a high school senior, and I'll never forget sitting in my 2nd period English class waiting for class to start when one of the girls came running in to tell us to turn on the TV because the stock market crashed. I remember several of us making stupid comments about how that would never happen but she was adamant that something bad had happened. We turned on the TV and saw CNN's coverage of one of the World Trade Center's building on fire. CNN was reporting that a plane had crashed into the building but they weren't sure what kind of plane, if it was an accident or what really happened. We all watched but not really sure about what was going on. We poked a little more fun at the girl who had innocently repeated what she had heard someone else say about the stock market crashing. We listened for a few more moments as details began to emerge and then we saw an image that I'll never forget. We saw the 2nd plane fly into the 2nd tower. Right there on live t.v. I witnessed the murder of hundreds of people.
    It was then we all realized that this was no accident but that this was a terrorist attack, at that moment we were at war. I remember our principle Joe Payne coming on the intercom and telling everyone who may not have seen it what happened. We tried to go on with class but we kept the t.v. turned on and nobody really paid attention to anything but the t.v. 
    Once 2nd period was over we went to our next class. Mr. Payne had again come on the intercom and encouraged everyone to resume classes as normal. My next class however was journalism and we all realized that what was happening in our country was major news so our class was able to convince our teacher that it would o.k. for us to watch the news and so we watched. We all stood around the t.v. watching and trying to figure out why this was happening and what would happen next. I remember hearing an odd sound on the t.v. There were lots of noises in the background of the news but there this one noise that just sounded different than all the rest. There was a shot of someone in one of the towers who felt like they had no other choice but to jump and that's when I realized that noise I kept hearing was the sound of people falling to their death. I'll never forget that sound.
    11 years later and whenever I think about that day I hear that sound. A few months later I was able to visit NYC and was able to get within several blocks of what would become ground zero. There was a smell that was unmistakeably the smell of flesh that had burned. 11 years later when I think of that day that smell floods my nostrils.
    I could keep writing what I remember but for the sake of the length of this post I'll just say that like everyone else who witnessed and experienced that day I remember. Rick Englehardt, a friend of mine, said on Facebook today "I see so many posts of "Never Forget", but honestly, how could we ever forget? The terror and tragedy of 9/11/01 forever changed us. Those of us who witnessed the events live and then watched stunned during the events to follow can NEVER forget." I think that summarizes very well my feelings, I'll never forget because I can't forget. George W. Bush said, "that one day 9/11 will be a day on the calendar like Pearl Harbor is but for those who lived through it we'll never forget."
    But I also remember a country that came together for the common good of it's citizens. Who mourned with neighbors the loss of life, who stood proud side by side with those they didn't know with the only commonality being they were Americans. I remember all the Wal-Mart's being sold out of American flags. I remember men and women who selflessly gave of themselves to serve their fellow man. I am proud of those memories and 11 years later I cannot think of that day without also thinking of those things as well.
    One of the last things I remember is seeing the President give an impromptu speech at ground zero, I'll never forget what he said. He told the workers who were digging through rubble and the American people who were watching, "I hear you, and the whole world hears you and soon the people responsible for this will hear us." 
    It's events like 9/11 that remind me with great evidence that we live in a fallen world and that there truly is evil in this world, it's event's like 9/11 that remind me Satan is very real and has a very real presence in this world. But it also reminds me that Christ hears us, he hears us when we hurt, when we mourn, and when we are in need. He always hears us and there is a world full of people who need to hear about Him, and that those who oppose Christ will one day hear Him as well. So with all the remembering that I do on this day it reminds me that I need to be very intentional in my witness for Jesus. It reminds me that people die everyday not ready to meet there maker because they've not heard the good news of Jesus. So if I can offer any advice today it would be this: be intentional. 

Longevity

The word of the day is "Longevity." What does it mean? Well it has two definitions, the first means long life, but the second is the one that I'm most interested in right now and it means a long duration of service. Last night I attended the Men for Christ gathering, which is a men's fellowship meeting, where they recognized all of the Sr. Ministers who were present. You know what impressed me the most about that group of men? It wasn't there seminary degrees or the size of their congregations but it was their longevity in the ministry. Each minister was asked to tell how long they had been involved in full time ministry and with great consistency many of them said 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 even 50 or more. You know that's a long time to do anything!

It's especially lengthy when considering the following statistics according to the Schafer Institute: 70% of all ministers consider leaving the ministry. 35-40% actually do leave the ministry and most after only 5 years. Only 26% of ministers feel that they are adequately fed spiritually and only 23% of ministers said that they were happy or content in who they are in Christ, in their church and in their home.

It has been estimated here in the U.S. that 1500 ministers leave the ministry each month. The stats don't get any better for youth ministers (what I do) either. On average youth ministers leave the ministry after a little over 4 years in the ministry and on average they stay at one church for about 3.5 years (not 18 months).

Longevity in the ministry (all ministry) seems to be something that is hard to attain anymore even for the best ministers. In May of this year I began my 12th year of full time ministry (all in youth ministry). But there have been times when I strongly considered quitting the ministry. There have been times when I felt betrayed by the very people I was called to serve and there have been times when I felt like the only friends I had were either other ministers or people in the church who were only my friends because I was a minister at their church.  But here's what I have found to be true, that whenever I was in a time where I was ready to quit ministry it was because there was something going on with me. It has never really been that I thought the church was unfair to me, or that I was being a victim of some conspiracy to oust me from the church. When I look back it is clear to me now that every time I've been ready to leave the ministry I was in a spiritual valley, my relationship with God had become weaker and my time in His Word had become less. What I find most often is that the more consistent I am in the Word and in my relationship with God the stronger that my ministry is.

Many of those men whom I saw last night are men that I greatly admire and men of Godly character whose relationship with God I often try to imitate. So to many of you I say thank you for your longevity in ministry but also to two very special men who were not there last night but I also have the utmost respect for, one being my Grandfather Bob Jones who has faithfully preached for more than 50 years and the other being my home church minister Greg Bowen who has served the church in Willisburg for almost 30 years now. Thank You!

Is Kid's Church Really that Important??

The debate has raged on for the better part of 2 decades now, should kids be in worship with adults or should they be in kid's church?? Before I try to give any part of my opinion on this, I want to cover some of the arguments that I have heard for and against.  There are basically three ways that churches handle this dilemma if that's what you want to call it.

 First there is the argument that we are all one body so we should all be in worship as one body.  Those churches do not have any kid's programming outside of maybe Sunday School classes for there children.  Then there is the church who believes that most of what happens on Sunday mornings is probably over the head of their children, but it is important that the kids be in adult worship.  After all how will they ever learn to sit still in church if they don't learn that when they are kids.  So this church usually tries some sort of compromise.  All of their children sit in worship during the singing portion of worship and then they are dismissed to Jr. Church as it's typically called.

 The last approach is the one that I find myself currently involved with and I think it's the best. This is the church who believes that kids should be active in worship and not just sitting with the adults distracting (entertaining would be the more politically correct word) everyone around them.  This group believes that kids are absolutely capable of worship but that also means that their corporate worship may look different than the traditional adult Sunday morning worship. Their remedy is to have Kid's church for the entire time that the adults are in worship.  I believe that this is the best scenario but before I explain why, the reason why so many SR. Ministers or other church leadership people have balked at this is because for too long Youth Ministers have been a group of people that I would call all fun and games, and all they do during that time is play games and eat snacks.  If that's the case then the kids would be well enough in adult worship with everyone else.  But to those groups who prepare and every week create an environment for kids where they can come in and worship with other kids and have adults who have PREPARED actual lessons for them then this is the best route.  In this situation kids can learn Biblical truths that will help them in their lives right now!!  They are in an environment where they can learn and apply what they are taught and it's done on their level.  I say that with this in mind we shouldn't dumb down are kids, but what is pertinent to a middle aged adult is not the same as what a 8 year old boy or girl should be learning.  One of  our elders here at Glenview said it this way, "you wouldn't take your child to a college class and expect them to learn anything in that class right? So why do we take our kids to adult worship and expect them to learn anything in there?"  Fair question, so each week our great team of adult leaders create an environment for our kids to learn and apply and worship.  One of the other neat things that we do with our curriculum is that it's a comprehensive curriculum, so our Sunday School class begins the lesson, our Kid's Worship time builds on that and then our kid's programming on Wednesday night closes out that lesson.  If you are reading this and you attend Glenview then I would strongly urge if you don't already have your kids plugged into Kid's Worship that you get them plugged in, I don't think you will regret it.