Mat's Blog

2011-12-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Tonight was all city club, and It was awesome! There were over 400 students packed into the youth room at Salem Alliance Church. We sung lots of Christmas songs lead by Caitlin, Mat, Scott Wurgler on Drums, and our two new guy leaders Kyle Ponder (on electric guitar), and Mac Lamon (on bass). It was fun to have a whole band up there. Program was super funny, and the energy was incredible!!! It was a bit of a whirlwind, but everyone loved it! It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season.

-Have a Merry Christmas! J Haley J

Flashlight Night!!

2011-11-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

HI EVERYONE!!!!!!! FLASHLIGHT CLUB was tonight and it was off the chain! The energy was unreal! A great way to wrap up the end of the year! All of the kids brought flashlights from home, well almost all of the kids, haha, some special individuals (John Marshall and Jon Upchurch) brought their version of a “flashlight” aka a 2million candlepower light and a woodshop work lamp including 100 feet of extension cord! Laughs for sure. We started the night out with the kids playing barnyard, sang songs at the top of our lungs, with classics such as the Backstreet Boys “I want it that way” and “500 Miles”. Caitlin and myself did our version of the dueling banjos with penlights shoved up our nostrils, and the kids spun around in circles until they fell over . . . literally. Mat wrapped it up with a talk about what the Lord and his family has to offer, a life filled with love and hope!

Happy Holidays to All! Thank you for your support and prayers!

-Amanda :)

I know what I'm thankful for!!

2011-11-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday! Caitlin here again,

Monday night was a great night. We had a lot of energy and even some new faces. Reid started with a mixer “touch telephone” drawing pictures on our backs and passing it down. Amanda brought a hilarious “Headphone Karaoke” where contestants listened to a song on headphones and sang out loud. It was SO funny! Joe Miniti walked away with the win, while John Marshall gets an honorable mention for acting out he song theatrically. It’s always a proud moment for a sister to see my brother make a great fool of himself. Lily brought the message tonight, talking about the Christ’s resurrection and the hope it brings to us. For her first talk, she was remarkably calm! She handled the questions with ease and spoke so well. We were all really proud of her! As we all sit reflecting we were commenting on how tonight was one of the best nights we’ve had in a while. It flowed so smoothly, and even Limeberry was great. It’s awesome to look around and see leaders hanging out one on one, or with table groups of students building relationships. That’s what it’s all about! It was an encouraging night all around, thank you so much for your prayers and support! And, thanks to the Patterson’s for a wonderful meal and funny conversation, and to the Butlers for constantly opening up their home so we can do this ministry!

Hot Dogs, Balloons, and the Cross

2011-11-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

Kristina here! Tonight at club, the energy was flowing! First, we started off with the mixer under the name of “The Balloon Rompin-Stomp Challenge!” It was awesome!!!! Each student tied a balloon to their ankle and proceeded in attempting to pop the balloon of the other students’ to be the last one standing. Jamie Dikih won with ease. Afterwards, we continued with the schedule of a game called “A Heart of Stone and a Hotdog.” Basically, two pairs of students slapped a hotdog across the other’s face in attempts to make them laugh first. It was pretty funny to say the least. Raffle, the Beatle’s classic “Hey Jude,” and a plethora of giggles: tonight’s club was light-hearted and silly. All that to say, the mood swiftly changed in the juxtaposition of Reid’s talk on, you guessed it, the Crucifixion. He began with a music video by Tenth Avenue North, titled “You are More.” It was powerful. He continued in explaining what sin was and how despite our inability to hit the mark of perfection, Christ came to earth to take the blame by dying on the cross. I think that it really set the mood for serious reflection. Reid then answered questions, and we wrapped up the time by heading over to LimeBerry to eat fro yo and have a stinking good time in a game of hacky sack! Oo Oooo!
Special Thanks to Colliers for a phenomenal dinner of grilled cheese and homemade chicken soup!! And to the Butlers as always for their incredible support of us week after week!!

HALLOWEEN!!!

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

TONIGHT, WE HAD A HALLOWEEN PARTY, AND THAT'S ALL WE DID! IT WAS WONDERFUL! THANKS TO THE BUTLERS FOR LETTING US TURN THEIR HOME INTO A HALLOWEEN PARADISE!!!!

Do You Wanna Get Well?

2011-10-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

Club tonight was rocking! We kicked it off with a sweet mixer that led to lots of laughter. For the first time, we had two of our students lead the songs (shout- out to Macklin Kelly and Hannah Herrera) and the kids loved it! The game was a spoof on the leaders (John, Reid, Haley and Tina) . . . they were told they had to act out things like “You just won the Tour De France” or “Someone is chasing you with a chain-saw” and the kids were told they had just taking the biggest poop of their life. The laughter was INSANE. I (this is Amanda) gave the talk tonight and the Lord definitely showed up. I spoke about the Invalid at the Whirlpool (John 5) and asked the kids the simple question “Do you want to get well?” and discussed how easy it was to say “Yes” to Jesus and “”Yes” to a better life with Jesus.

A special THANK YOU to Megan, Joel and lil Anders Webb for the delicious taco soup and hosting our team for dinner! And as always the Butlers for hosting Young Life!

Blessings! -the Sprague YL team

High Energy Night!!!!

2011-10-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Caitlin here again! Tonight was awesome. It started off with an AMAZING dinner made by the best team of Father Rock and the Hancocks. We all left in a food-coma from those hand-crafted meatballs. YUM.

Club was just as awesome. The kids had SUCH high energy that brought us out of the food coma. Lilly thought of a great Mixer that had groups trying to fit on a piece of paper, that we made smaller and smaller. It was pure chaos as kids were jumping on top of each other and climbing on shoulders to fit. Tina thought of the game, where the contestant followed a flashlight behind a sheet…and ended with a pie in the face! And then, John gave his first talk!! He did awesome. I think the kids really respect John, and care what he has to say, because they were all ears as he spoke on the prodigal son. The questions they asked at the end were really deep too, which is encouraging to us; we know they are listening!

We all left Lime berry feeling excited— yet exhausted. It was a good night!
Thanks to everyone who helped make it a success!!!

Huge thanks to the Butlers for hosting our crazy students and the Hancocks for delicious food! Thank you all so much!!

The Tenth of October Already!!!!

2011-10-11T00:40:00.000-07:00

Hey it’s Lily here,

Tonight’s club was a fun one. We started out the night at the Young’s for dinner, and after some mind-blowing ravioli lasagna and mint fudge brownies, we all headed out to the Butler’s for club! This week was my first week doing the slideshow, which was definitely an adventure for me, our team, and the kids. We kicked off the evening with a great mixer from Jon called “Ninja, Cowboy, Bear”. The kids loved it, and it got everyone excited for the rest of club. Then we sang a few songs, played an epic game of “Burping Babies”. In this game, two girls were picked to “feed” to guys Pepsi in a bottle, whichever guy could finish the Pepsi and burp the loudest won. The kids loved it. Afterwards we sang “Hey Jude” and Mat gave a great talk about the story of Jesus and the woman who touched his cloak. He shared about a story from his own life when he had tried to impress a girl, and pointed out that Jesus doesn’t need impressing. That Jesus felt the smallest touch and put the woman first, even when others were asking for His help, He still invested His full love and attention on her. Shout out to the Youngs, the Butlers, and Limeberry for supporting Sprague YL in an amazing and life-changing way!

Toe Fencing, Cold Feet, and Creation

2011-10-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

Caitlin Here! Tonight we had our 2^nd Young Life of the year and I think it went great. We had a little over 40 students show up, and I got to speak. First, we played toe-fencing to warm the room up, sang some songs and played “Cold Feet” where girls fished with their foot for gummy worms and fed it to boys. I think the energy was high, everyone enjoyed themselves, and there were even a few new faces! Tonight, I spoke about the beginning of the Story, where God created us. I talked about the fact that if God could spend so much time on putting the galaxies in place, how much more detail might he put into us? God created us like a work of art, not to “do” things for him, but to be in relationship with him. Before we could even screw up he called us his beloved, simply because he created us. There were some great questions afterwards that lead me to think that this year will be a great one! I think kids today are really wrestling with this idea of identity and it’s hard to believe that God could really love us for who we are. But hopefully they’ll keep coming to Young Life, hear the message of Truth, and begin to believe it. Special Thanks to the Collier's for hosting us for a delicious dinner, and to the Butler's for hosting Young Life once again! On a side note: We're looking for a new place to hold Young Life that will hold around 100 people! If you know of a place in South Salem, let us know!!

FIRST YOUNG LIFE OF THE YEAR!

2011-09-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Well gosh, all I can say is tonight was incredible! We raffled off an iPod Nano that all of us leaders chipped in to buy in hopes of drawing a crowd and it definitely helped! The room was packed. I think we're only going to fit at the Butler's for a couple more weeks, and that is just about the most exciting thing that could be happening! We had over 40 students tonight and the energy was off the charts! John Wulf lead us in an awesome game of how fast can you take off and put on prop clothes (over your own clothes, don't worry parents) and Reid Zucati lead us in some intense finger jousting! Tonight I had a simple message of "Come and See" and used the scripture John 1:43-46 in which Nathaniel asks Philip, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (asking about Philip's claims of Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah) and Philip responds, "Come and See." I asked our students tonight if they would be willing to come and see who we as leaders think Jesus is. It was a super fun night. Huge thanks to Mike and Joy Fargo for making us a delicious dinner! And as always, HUGE thanks to Mark and Rebecca Butler for allowing us to invade their home and make all sorts of noise! I am so blessed by this incredible community that has surrounded Sprague High School Young Life! Thank you all SO much!! -Mat

Noodle War!!!!

2011-09-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well today was the second annual Sprague Young Life Noodle War!!! We had about 40 students and about 350-400 pounds of Top Ramen Noodles, and it was sheer insanity. A Noodle War, for those who don't know, is just an epic food fight with noodles. It was a great way to kick off the year and we'll be back for the excitement of Young Life starting next Monday! We had a BBQ, we had Noodles, we had Face paint, we had glitter, and we had smores, we had anything a person could want! Special thanks tonight to Charlie Marshall, Mike Fargo for making the delicious food! Thanks to all our Noodle Cookers: Haley Boese, Caitlin Marshall, Amanda Field, Sue Webb, Holly Collier, and Teresa Hancock! And HUGE thanks to Dave and Pam and Ally McVey for hosting us and being incredible! You are all so great and I'm so thankful for all of you! Stay tuned next week for an even more exciting update!!

See You Next Fall!

2011-05-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight was AWESOME! We had over 55 students and boy was it a high energy night! We sang, we laughed, we danced, we laughed, we talked about things that matter (tonight's topic was on how to have a relationship that is healthy) and then we laughed some more. We even had our Annual End of the Year Foursquare tournament (Congratulations Paul Herman for taking home the trophy this year with a 19 consecutive rounds in the number one square!) It was a night for the history books! HUGE thanks to all the families and supporters that donated food and time and money to making our end of the year BBQ a huge success! Sprague Young Life would not be what it is without you! As always, thanks to the Butlers for hosting all of us crazy folks! And big thanks to Terry and Teresa Hancock for hosting the leaders for a delicious dinner tonight! I am SO, SO thankful to be in a community this supportive! Tonight was our last Young Life of the year, and as of tonight we still have $17,735 to raise for camp sooooo if you want to help us shrink that number feel free to shoot me and email! You will be hearing lots from us this summer! Keep us in your prayers in between blog posts! -Mat

The End is Near...

2011-05-16T22:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we're quickly coming to the close on this semester of Young Life! There is always a fear that as the semester draws to a close the momentum that a group has been building all year will slowly start to weaken and by the end it seems like a crawl to the finish... that however is NOT what we're seeing! Tonight was such a high energy Young Life! There were over 40 people in the room and the mood was exciting! We had so much fun laughing together as we sang silly songs and played ridiculous games (I wish I could succinctly explain 'Circle the Wagons' it's incredible!) and after all the crazy semi-controlled chaos, we talked about some heavy stuff. Lat week we asked our students what they would like to talk about for the rest of the year. The two overwhelming responses were "Relationships" and "What do bad things happen to good people?" And so tonight I tackled the later of the two. I shared with our students the truth of God's unceasing love and desire to care for our needs and I claimed that God suffers along side us, joining us in our pain. I encouraged students to consider those words and to have faith in God's goodness, even when it's hard to believe. I said that, truly, that question is seemingly unanswerable and that any answer seems unsatisfying. It was a great night, and our leaders were all overwhelmed by students needing to talk about some really serious stuff afterward. God was moving tonight, and I know I speak for all the leaders when I say how honored we were to be a part of it. Special thanks to Perry and Sue Webb for hosting a delicious dinner! To Mark and Rebecca Butler for hosting us as always! And to Limeberry, our home away from home! (Tonight I had the best Blackberry frozen yogurt ever! Go get some, it's awesome!!!)

And Now For Something Completely?....err A Little Bit Different

2011-05-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

Well, Tonight was the big Save our Sports Meeting, and we weren't sure how many students we'd have. And on top of that Spring is a LONG stretch of Young Life. With those two things bouncing around Caitlin Marshall had the wonderful idea of just mixing things up a bit tonight. We scrapped the talk in order to prep for a REALLY GOOD couple talks coming up, scratched the songs, and we just played a lot of games, including Catch Phrase and Apples-to-Apples. It was such a fun night. We ended up with between 25-30 students after all and everyone had a ton of fun! I am so thankful to be a part of a ministry that doesn't live or die on the quality of an event but instead finds it's success in the strength of the relationships between leaders and students. Tonight was a beautiful testament to that. Special thanks to Rick and Teri Schaeffer for a really wonderful dinner! To Mark and Rebecca Butler for hosting Young Life once again, and to Limeberry for being our own special after Young Life hang out! You are all such a blessing to us leaders and students at Sprague High School! Thank you for everything you all do!

Who do YOU say that I am?

2011-05-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight was good! We had a smaller group (I tell ya, Spring is a busy season, SO much to compete with!!) But it was a wonderful group of students! And it was just great to be a part of it. We played math games, blew bubbles with chewing gum, sang to our hearts content and talked about a simple, yet incredibly important issue. Who do we say that Jesus is? I encouraged our students to really wrestle with that question. I claimed that we can't sit in the lukewarm of Jesus being a teacher and a good guy. I pushed us all to realize that Jesus was either God, or a loony, and that we owe it to ourselves to wrestle with who we really feel that he is. We read Luke 9:18-21 where Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ and discussed from there. We had some great questions and it was just a wonderful night! Special thanks to Rick and Teri Schaefer for hosting a delicious dinner, Mark and Rebecca Butler for hosting us and all the students for Young Life, and Limeberry for being our after Young Life snack of choice! You are all SUCH a blessing!! -Mat

2011-04-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight was wonderful! It was our All City Young Life and we had over 325 students! Way to many to count! How cool is that!? We had students from every High School in the Greater Salem Area (North, West, McKay, Central, Cascade, South, Sprague, and McNary) and it was so fun to get all our students together for one super Young Life! We played some great games, sang some great songs, the Prize Wheel had it's debut, and students got a hear about Jesus! What more could you ask for? Ronal Cruz, from Vida Joven (our Young Life ministry to hispanic students) gave the talk today and spoke from both his personal journey, and the prodigal song from Luke 15, he talked about how we all walk away to try to fill ourselves with something unfulfilling, but it's only once we come home to God that we actually find real fulfillment. He did a great job and the room of 325 students listened quietly the whole time. It is an incredible blessing to work in a ministry with so many people that are such great communicators of truth. Thank you all for making it possible through your prayers and financial gifts and willingness to help where help is needed! Special thanks to Charlie and Nancy Marshall for providing dinner tonight! You are all wonderful! -Mat

What's on YOUR Name tag?

2011-04-18T22:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a good night! We had high energy, loud singing, crazy students, fun games, lots of laughter! Could you ask for anything more?! Ellie shared with us tonight (For those of you who don't yet know Ellie, you should get to know her. She's a wonderful leader who attends Corban University and she's great!) about our sin and the lengths that God went to restore our relationship with our Creator (the Cross). Ellie walked us through the Bible and helped us look at different characters. Eve (the screw up), the Thief on the Cross (Criminal) and the Jews (Messiah Killers) and helped us see that, though those are titles the world has given those people/people groups God sees us all with a different title, Loved. Ellie said that God has the name tag "Loved" for each and everyone of us who's willing to accept it. That we can throw off our old name tags, whatever they may be, and accept the ones God offers us and accept a new identity in that name. She did a great job! It was a great night! The game we played was a race to see who could get a whole straw in their mouth the fastest without using their hands. (It's WAY harder than you'd think, go ahead, give it a try!) I wish you could all join us for a Young Life some day! We, the Leaders of Sprague Young Life, are SO, SO thankful for the prayers, financial support, meals, encouraging statements, and everything else we receive from all of you! This ministry could not exist without your support. Special thanks to Rick and Teri Schaefer for hosting us for a delicious White Bean Turkey Chili dinner! And To the Butler's for hosting Young Life! And to Limeberry for being a dream come true for after Young Life hanging out! -Mat

A Night To Remember!

2011-04-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

I want to start this post out with a quote from a students Facebook status tonight after Young Life. It read, "thank you lord for putting young life in my life." It's things like that that remind us why we do this. Tonight is a night I'm reminded of the word of Saint Paul, "If it seems that we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God." 2 Corinthians 5:13 So much of what we do is ridiculous in Young Life. Tonight we had a game where one student took off all their clothes under a blanket playing the game "Take of Something You Don't Need" (He didn't really take off all his clothes, we just played a wonderful trick on the audience!) We do thing after thing that, to the untrained eye my look to be insane, but really we are crazy to bring glory to God. Tonight, judging by the Facebook status, that glory was in fact brought into the life of at least one high school student. Caitlin Marshall brought us a message this evening that spoke to the need in our lives. Amanda and Caitlin shared brief stories in their lives where they tried to use things to fill the voids in their life only to realize that only God can meet our needs. Their stories were paralleled along with the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 (easily one of my fav's!). She did a wonderful job, as was expected, and in my car on the way home when I asked three boys what their favorite part of Young Life tonight was, the answer was 'Caitlin's talk' across the board. Sprague Young Life is in an incredible place right now. Students are wrestling with Jesus at a level rarely experienced out side of a summer camp/missions trip sort of experience. In short, God is good and faithful, and the proof of that can be seen in the blessings being shown to this group of ragamuffin leaders! Special thanks tonight to Mike and Joy Fargo for hosting us for a delicious lasagna dinner! To Mark and Rebecca Butler for hosting all of us for Young Life (We were in the upper 50's tonight between students and leaders!). And as always, our deepest thanks to Limeberry for really becoming Sprague Young Life's hang out place! What an amazing community we are a part of! Thank you all for your support, through both prayer and financial gifts! None of this would be possible without you! -Mat

If April Showers Bring May Flowers...

2011-04-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

We're going to have a lot of flowers in May! Well, tonight during our leader meeting Amanda pointed out that the Final Four (for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament) started tonight at 6:30, and we all thought, "shoot, maybe we should have cancelled it." Well, thank goodness we didn't! We had just over 40 students in the room tonight, and what a great bunch of students they were! Every so often a feeling of holiness seems to fill the room and that's just what happened tonight. We really asked students to go to a deeper level tonight and they really took us up on it. I shared from John 8 and the story of the woman caught in adultery, but I broke it up with a few videos. I read the first part of the story, right before Jesus bends down to write in the sand, and then showed three videos (you can find them all on youtube if you're interested), to find the first one, search for Young Life Post Secret, and it will be the first video to come up. The second video was "Hurt" by Johnny Cash, and the third was "F-ckin' Perfect" by Pink (Trust me, that song is good, and doesn't swear in the video, see for yourself!) and after that I read the second part of the story. I told our students that we hold on to our mistakes from the past and let them direct our lives and instead we need to realize that Jesus has forgiven those mistakes and wants us to, instead of hold on to our mistakes, hold on to Him. It was a great night, a number of students and leaders we moved to tears and reflected on some of the pain in their lives. The questions asked afterward were solid, super deep questions (I am always humbled by the thoughtfulness and depth put into these questions by students) and God was incredibly present. I know I say this every week but, thank you for the opportunity to care for young people in Salem! It is SUCH a blessing!! Special thanks tonight to the Marshalls for hosting us for dinner, to the Butlers for letting us do Young Life there every week, and to Limeberry for being the perfect place to get frozen yogurt! (Here's a little plug: If you live in Salem, GO TO LIMEBERRY!!! It is so great and the owners are wonderful people and supporters of us! Help us to bless them as they are such a blessing to us!) Thank you, thank you, thank you! Goodnight! -Mat

Bigger or Better

2011-03-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

What a night! Tonight we played the game, "Bigger or Better" instead of doing our standard routine.. and it was AWESOME! Gosh it was fun. I think we had right around 40 students and all our leaders had cars and we bused ourselves all around South Salem asking people to trade what we had (every group started with a plastic spoon) for something bigger or better. The final objects brought back we a large footstool, a pickle jar with 10 dollars in it, a semi-broken big screen tv, the deed to a house (for one hour), a under-the-counter space-saving can opener, a Winnie the pooh bear, a plastic bucket, and a few other silly things. It was such a fun night with so much energy! I've never seen Limeberry seem so alive with excitement. Sometimes it's important to take a break from the usual and just do something out of the ordinary, and Bigger or Better absolutely fits the requirements of that! Special thanks tonight to the Marshall's for hosting our team for dinner, to the Butler's for hosting us before we went out into the neighborhoods, to Limeberry for allowing us to invade them once again, to Sue and Perry Webb and Billy for volunteering to be adult drivers,

Question Night!!

2011-03-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

(This is where the video is supposed to be, but I've been trying for the last hour to get it to load and it wont. Sorry!)
Tonight was our question and answer night, which meant we had our normal Young Life (songs, games, laughter, talking about camp) but then, instead of a talk we gave everyone a bunch of note cards and pens, and told them any question is open to them, ask away. After letting everyone write down their questions all the leaders sat up front and we tried to answer as many as we could as honestly and fairly as possible. We had thirty five questions so we couldn't get to all of them at Young Life, but I continued answering questions with a group of ten or so people and we got through all of them but four. Special thanks tonight to Mike and Joy Fargo for a delicious dinner, to Mark and Rebecca Butler! I figured rather than write more about Young Life tonight I would just list all the questions students asked so you all could see the depth of the thoughts of young people today!
Questions:
Still Not a Christian, what now?
Does God rule the earth or does Satan?
How do I glorify Jesus in Sports?
How do we love when there is so much hate going on around us?
How do we know the Bible is true?
Why are there so mand different kinds/versions of the Bible?
Are people that say they believe in God but don't live a Christian life and still live a sinful life saved?
Can you lose your salvation?
Is there March Madness in Heaven?
Is/Why is cussing bad?
Why does God not always answer prayers in the way you want Him to answer them?
Why does God allow pain in the world?
Is the world going to end in 2012?
What do you think the end of the world will look like?
Do you believe in the rapture?
How do you know when you can trust someone when they have lied so many times before?
Does it matter that Jesus died on the cross?
Why is mormonism wrong?
What do you believe about predestination vs. free will?
Does God remember our sins forever?
There are times I feel alone, where is God at when I need Him!?
If God loves everyone why would He create a huge war that kills His own people?
Once a person has received salvation is there any way they can lose it?
When you're faced with temptation what helps you get through it?
If our purpose in life is to love God, then why didn't he keep us in Heaven to praise Him rather than making Earth?
What will Heaven be like?
Sometimes I don't "feel" God's love, although I thoroughly believe in, what verse can I remember to feel better?
Why does God throw things at us when He knows we can't handle it?
Why are humans so prone to give in to the ways of the world?
How do we know Jesus loves us?
Is it worth going to camp?
Once you lose something can God help you get it or earn it back? and how?
What do you believe about "once saved always saved?"
What is your most embarrassing secret?
Why do I feel so alone at times?

SO there ya have it? I bet you wish you got to answer those on the spot! It is an honor to a part of this ministry. Thank you for blessing me with the opportunity speak into the lives of young people! -Mat

TIme Flies

2011-03-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Phew! Tonight was a whirlwind! One minute we, the leaders, had finished setting up and were having worship before all the students arrived and the next minute I was standing upfront giving the talk. PHEW, things just went quick tonight! We had a ton of energy tonight and people sang and clapped their hearts out. It was just an all around really fun night to be a part of. Tonight I shared about "the gospel" I attempted to start in Genesis and walked from the creation of people all the way through to Jesus heading back to Heaven. It was A LOT, but next week we are having a Question and Answer panel and I just wanted to get everything out on the table before we ask students to try to engage in some deep questioning about the bigger issues in life. So, though it was a ton of information, I think it was a talk the "landed." Students responded, and the room was focused. I love this job, it is such an honor to be a part of it a ministry as wonderful as this, and I am SO thankful for each and every one of you. Your prayers and financial support are essential to the success of this ministry and I deeply hope that each and every one of you feels as much a part of Sprague High School Young Life as each and every leader we have. Thank you all for who you are and the blessings are in my life and the lives of dozens of leaders and students who you bless. Special thanks tonight to the Webbs for hosting us leaders for a DELICIOUS dinner, of course to the Butlers for opening their home to us one again, and to Limeberry for letting us invade their business with so many high school students every week! You are all WONDERFUL!! -Mat

And February Comes to an End!

2011-02-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a good night! We had small numbers tonight, only about twenty people, but we had a TON of energy! The boys were pretty much maniacs! We peeled boys off of boys in our mixer, we peeled bananas with our feet, we ate them with our feet! It was a wild night! Tonight I talked about the Kingdom of God. I talked about what the Kingdom of God is, and talked about the year of Jubilee, and from there claimed that if we spend some time getting to know Jesus we will see traces of the Kingdom of God begin popping up in our lives. I encouraged students to think seriously about where they are with Jesus and to talk to some of our leaders about it. I said it may be the time for some of us to start to talk our relationship with Jesus to the next level and that we shouldn't do that alone. Anyway, tonight is a very busy night for me and I need to get going! So this is a bit shorter than it ought to be. Special thanks to Terry and Teresa Hancock for a wonderful dinner! And always to the Butlers for hosting our ragtag bunch! You are all a blessing! It's an honor to be a part of this ministry! -Mat

Young Life Does Valentines

2011-02-14T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well, to be honest, I was nervous about tonight's attendance. All day I had been receiving texts from students saying that they were sick and wouldn't be at Young Life, or that they were going to be out with a significant other for Valentines Day. And at 7:28, when there were literally four (yeah, 4) high school students in the room I thought my fears had been realized. BUT at 7:30, people swarmed in the door, 10, 15, 20, 25, 28. 28 students in about 5 minutes! Boy, was I relieved! It was a great night. Our energy was a bit low through the songs, but the games went well. The talk seemed fine, I had been excited about sharing it. I spoke on 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter. It seemed appropriate considering the date, and so I gave the talk about God's love and God being love. And it struck a chord. A deep chord. The questions tonight were profound. Question after question about pain, about undeserved love, about lack of trust, fear, regret, hurt, abuse. Tonights questions were deeper and more thoughtful than any we have had in quite some time. I sit here now, reflecting on the time, amazed at the holiness of the moment. Truly incredible to see the spirit stir in the hearts of high schoolers. Thank you all for helping the other leaders and myself to do this ministry. Please don't ever feel that we take this calling lightly. It is a great honor and we take it as seriously as it deserves!

Special thanks to Ken and Joy Rawlings for hosting us for a delicious dinner tonight! Thanks once again to the Butlers for opening their home to us! Thank you to all the adult support that surrounds this ministry! And students, If any of you are reading this, thank you for your profoundly meaning and thoughtful questions. -Mat

We're Back!!

2011-02-07T22:56:00.000-08:00

Whelp, after a loooong hiatus (December 13th until February 7th!!) we are FINALLY back! Goodness gracious we missed all those wonderful high school students crammed in the Butler's basement! We had a lot of fun tonight, we sang some songs, played some games, laughed a bunch, and spent some time talking about Jesus. Tonight we talked about about a story from The Book of Mark, chapter 8 where Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about him, and who they think he is. We talked about the fact that all of us have opinions about who Jesus is and from there I asked if we would, as a group, try to answer that question this semester. I showed the video below to get the ball rolling. It's by Michael Gungor Band, and it's called "White Man" and it's incredible! Hope you like it! Also, special thanks to the Schaefer's for having us over for a wonderful dinner, to the Butler's for hosting us once again for Young Life, and to Limeberry for hosting all us crazies afterwards! If you are reading this and want to get involved please feel free to get in touch with me! You can host dinners, help fund this ministry, be a leader, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Ps. I have a terrible cold at the moment and may not be making sense in this post. If that is the case I offer my deepest apologies. Thank you all for the blessings that you are! -Mat

LAST Young Life until FEBRUARY!

2010-12-13T22:26:00.000-08:00

Well Young Life fans, we've worked hard this semester, club has grown, more students and leaders are coming and our ministry is on the verge of taking over the whole high school. It's been an incredible semester and it had an incredible end with our All Area Young Life at Salem Alliance Church in their high school room! There were a couple hundred students from all over the city and there was SO much energy! We really have some incredible young people in this city, did you know that? They're pretty much the best! Anyway, tonight was definitely a collaborative event: West Salem MC'd, South Salem did the big group game, Vida Joven (our spanish speaking Young Life) did the up front game, and I spoke. Tonight I shared the story of the Great Banquet in Luke 14. I Shared that though some of us have felt like we are outsiders that aren't welcome around Jesus the opposite is true. Jesus is all about bringing in the smelliest, loneliest, most awkward, dirty people He can find. In fact, Jesus is about bringing everyone to Him because that's where we all belong. I showed the music video for, "I must Belong Somewhere" by Bright Eyes and asked the group to consider joining Jesus and realizing He's where they've always belonged. All in all tonight was amazing. In fact, I got choked up thinking about where we've come in such a short time. This time last year, a couple Sprague Young Life leaders invited a couple students to check out this thing called Young Life at the All City event. There were only a handful and this year we probably had 25 of our own students there (we were competing with a choir concert! what a bummer!) and had 8 of our leaders there. Goodness, we are blessed and God is good! We'll be back in February and our leaders will be very present in the school all throughout January rebuilding momentum to get the spring semester off on the right foot! Thank you all for your prayers and your support this past year and a half! You are a community that is an answer to prayer!! -Mat

December is here! WOW!

2010-12-06T23:04:00.000-08:00

Well tonight was, once again, a huge blessing! I just can't believe how incredible our students are, and the leaders that surround Sprague Young Life. If you prayed for the dream team of Young Life leaders and God answered, well, you'd get this team! I am SO thankful for all they do and all they sacrifice to tell people about Jesus, it's just amazing! Young Life was great tonight! We had nearly 50 students in the room, and the energy was just incredible! I think we've finally really created a culture of students that love to sing and yell and laugh and interact with everything going on. It has taken what we do on Monday nights from a show we put on to a party, and it's the best feeling in the world! Tonight, while singing "Only Exception" by Paramore, students we're singing so loudly and so well, that I didn't even need to lead! What a great blessing to be a part of this incredible ministry! Caitlin Marshall gave the talk tonight and told our students about the hope that the resurrection brings. She told us how even though sometimes it seems like God isn't there, when we feel like the early disciples after Good Friday, before Easter, well, we can still know that Easter is coming. That Jesus did rise and because He isn't in the ground some where we can put all of our hope in Him. She did a masterful job and reminded me that I definitely don't have to speak every week! With leaders as talented as this, it would be insane to not get them upfront more! Special thanks to the Gillette's for hosting us for dinner! And of course, to Mark and Rebecca Butler for hosting us and our rambunctious crew for Young Life once again! We couldn't do it without those named, and so many of you unnamed prayer warriors and financial donors. Thank you all SOOOO much for ALL that you do! I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Also, if you are reading this and thinking, "Gee, I'd love to get involved in meals or in financial support" please feel free to let me know!! Thanks again! -Mat

Is it really the end of November already!?

2010-11-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this year is nearly over! It seems like just yesterday we were having a noodle war to kick off the school year!! Oh, how time flies! Tonight was great! Again, just around 40 high schoolers! What a great group we had! I love them all so much! Tonight we talked about the reality of our need, the consequences of our sin, and what Jesus did on the cross to make redeem everything. It was one heck of a night with a whole lot of information! But Jesus was present, and I think the Good News was heard! John and Macklin (the Bob brothers) were funny as ever! It was just a great night across the board! Special thanks to Charlie and Nancy Marshall for a delicious dinner! To Mark and Rebecca Butler for hosting Young Life week in and week out! And to Limeberry for serving us delicious frozen yogurt every week after Young Life! You are all such a blessing! And thank you to the countless numbers of you all that read this blog and pray for us and give financially! You all make this ministry work!

Thanksgiving Young Life!

2010-11-15T23:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight was our Thanksgiving themed Young Life, and let me just say, I am SO thankful. Tonight, for the first time since the start of Sprague Young Life nearly a year ago, I didn't give a talk. I have been blessed with incredible leaders at Sprague, one of which is Amanda Field. Amanda was my first leader at Sprague, and so it seems only right that she would be the first to give a talk. Amanda spoke on the story of the woman at the well in John 4, and did an artful job at making it come alive. In fact, during the question time after the talk, one student wrote, "It sure is nice to not always have Mat talk." The comment may have been in jest, but let me just agree wholeheartedly! It was so great to sit back and just pray for Amanda and watch students connect! It was a great night with fun games and lots of laughter! We even blindfolded a few students and told them they were going to drink a goldfish (don't worry, it was actually just a slice of peach). It was a great night with some big places that God stepped in! Special thanks to Perry and Sue Webb for hosting the team for a delicious dinner, to the Butlers for hosting our wild and crazy bunch of high schoolers, and especially to Amanda for putting so my time, prayer, and effort into a talk about Jesus! It is an honor to know people as incredible as those I've just named! Thank you all!! -Mat

Let's Talk About Storms!

2010-11-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight was great! I sit here on my couch at 11 o'clock thinking that I am unworthy to be a part of something so great. God is doing so much through this little thing called Sprague Young Life and it's so cool to be a part of it! Tonight we had right about the same numbers as the past weeks, I would guess high 30's maybe low 40's. Regardless of number, we had such a great group of young people that are so fun to hang out with! John Marshall and Macklin Kelly did an absolutely hilarious run on with their trademark characters, the Bob Brothers, professional de-motivational speakers. This week teaching us how to focus less. We had a lot of laughs and got to have a blast and tell people about Jesus! I talked about Luke 8:22-25, Jesus calming the storm. I asked us to think about the storms going on in our lives and asked one simple question: Are you ready to trust Jesus to get you through that storm? Thank you all so much for the prayers, the funds, and the energy you put in to making this ministry what it is! We wouldn't be where we are without all of you! Special thanks once again to the Butler's for hosting us! To Brooklyn (Mark and Rebecca's little, adorable daughter) for making us laugh. And to Terry and Teresa Hancock for serving our team and absolutely delicious dinner! I am SO thankful for the community of people that lovingly surround Sprague!! Thank You ALL!!! -Mat

Halloween, Young Life Style!

2010-11-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had our Day after Halloween Young Life. I would say out of the 39 students and 7 leaders we had about 25 people dress up in their Halloween costumes! Tonight had a ton of energy, and everything seemed to flow really well! We had new leaders tonight (Ried, Ellie, and Chandra) all step up and get involved in leading club, as well as corralling high schoolers around. John Marshall and Macklin Kelly came on as The Bob Brothers again tonight and did a hilarious little skit for everyone to see and it came to a climax of for students spitting water into one another's faces for the amusement of all! I spoke on John 8 with the woman caught in adultery, and shared a video of common misperceptions about Jesus. I claimed that Jesus is a God way more concerned with working on a relationship with us than he is about meticulously following the rules. I went as far as to say that a life with Jesus is actually more fun that a life without, and it might be worth considering getting to know him more so that can be experienced. I think everyone tracked pretty well and we had some good questions afterward! It was definitely an honor to lead Young Life tonight. Sprague is such an incredible high school to be a part of with an amazing community of supporters around it! Special thanks tonight to Mike and Joy Fargo for hosting us for dinner, to Mark and Rebecca Butler for allowing us to bring 40 high schoolers into their house, and to LimeBerry Frozen Yogurt for hosting our after Young Life party and even staying open late for us! Gosh, we are blessed people here at Sprague Young Life! Thank You to all the INCREDIBLE leaders! Amanda Field, Caitlin Marshall, Chandra Baskoro, Reid Zucati, Ellie Bartlow, and Scott Wurgler! You are all wonderful! Okay, enough for tonight! Thank you all for your on going prayers and financial support that make this ministry so great! -Mat

First Club of the Year!

2010-10-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had our first real Young Life of the year! After a noodle war two weeks ago and the banquet last week we finally got the opportunity to really have some Young Life fun! I honestly didn't count how many students came tonight, If i were to guess I would say between 40-50. The whole night was a whirlwind! We started off the evening a few leaders down and so much of the night was spent scrambling from thing to thing. But God was incredibly faithful and the whole club went smoothly! Caitlin Marshall was our saving grace tonight from leading a great mixer to being the driver for some of our new leaders stuck without cars at Corban University. John Marshall and Macklin Kelly (Two sophomore boys at Sprague did a hilarious "run-on" skit and introduced their characters, Rick and Dick, AKA the Richard Brothers. The Richard Brothers are professional, world famous De-motivational speakers. And they did GREAT! Tonight I shared from Genesis 1:1-31 about the creation of the world. I said that regardless of where you stand on creation/evolution/7 day/etc what we know for sure from Genesis 1 is first that in the beginning God created, and secondly, that when people were created everything went from good to VERY good. I made the claim that God sees us as beautifully as we see a sunset, or a mountain summit, that we are more beautiful than creation in His eyes. I asked the students that came to consider what that meant to them and to consider coming back this semester to explore the rest of the story. All in all it was a great night! Thank you all for your support and prayers! Thank you to the Butler's for hosting Young Life every week! One closing prayer request: We need leaders, Young/Old/Male/Female! Please be in prayer that they will be provided and maybe ask yourself the question, "Is this something God is calling me to?" And once again, thanks! -Mat

The Noodle War!

2010-10-12T00:20:00.000-07:00

Well, Tonight was the first Young Life of the school year, and we decided to start off with a bang... NOODLE WAR! 336 packets of Top Ramen, which comes out to being around 150 pounds of cooked noodles, and what did we do with it? All out food fight! 50 high schoolers showed up and the fun and excitement lasted about an hour. We played a few games to get warmed up, and then, WAR. I could keep trying to explain, but instead I'll just urge you to watch the video! Thank you everyone for your prayers and support that make this ministry happen! Thank you to the Chin's for letting us trash their back yard with Noodles tonight! And thank you to the Marshall's for hosting the team for dinner! As usual, if you want to join in this ministry through dinner, or prayers, or leading, or financial support please don't hesitate to email me! SO thankful to be a part of this ministry with so many incredible people from the adults to the leaders to the high schoolers! What a great night!

One Quick Reminder Before We Go!

2010-07-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

Well, It's been a long time since my last post! It's been a busy couple of months fundraising and working hard to get young people signed up for camp, and alas, we leave in 8 hours!! We are taking 16 students and leaders to Washington Family Ranch from tomorrow (July 3rd) to Friday (July 9th)! I can't believe it's here, and I'm so excited to get back and share our experiences with you all! While we are gone, please keep us in your prayers!! We're expecting God to do some pretty cool things and with your prayers our expectations can increase all the more! Thank you so much to all of you who have helped us fund raise for this ministry and this camp trip! We could not have done it without you! I attached a video from our last Young Life of this year edited by John Marshall that shows the epic Foursquare game that took place on that fateful night! I hope it brings you all as much joy as it brought me! Expect a video soon following our return from camp! And again, Thank you!

LAST YOUNG LIFE!

2010-05-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well Tonight was the last Young Life of the 2009-2010 School year! I can't believe we made it through a whole year! Unbelievable!! Thank you all so so so so much, from the bottom of my heart for making all of this possible.
We decided that instead of doing a typical Young Life tonight we'd end on a bang! A big outdoor BBQ at the Marshall's, however because of weather we changed it to Trinity Covenant Church and an indoor BBQ! We had foursquare tournaments, played volleyball (with a fish, yes, I said it, a fish... and with a regular ball afterward) and raffled off money for camp! It was a great evening! So much fun, so many Young Life moments. Just all around. I am excited for the break but definitely going to miss the excitement of Monday's until we start back up again!
Special thanks to the Webb's for hosting the team for dinner tonight, and special thanks to The Marshalls, Webbs, Hancocks, Shaefers, Gilettes, Rawlings, Fargos, Bensinks, Butlers, Upchurchs, and Fields for serving tonight, bringing food, cleaning up, showing up, laughing with us, and just taking care of things in a way that truly served both leaders and kids!
Our camp trip is almost full and student's are working hard to fund raise the money the need to go, if you're interested in supporting a student, or covering their costs, let me know! It's going to be an amazing trip and I would hate to let money stand in the way!
Oh, and we had over 50 people! Gosh, it was a fun evening! The video absolutely doesn't do it justice! Oh, and did I say thank you yet? YOU are what makes this happen, along with the amazing God we serve, of course! -Mat

The Beginning of the End...

2010-05-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

To start off, sorry this is getting out late, my computer was putting up quite a fight last night and I thought it best just to try again this morning. Anyway, last night was great! We were our usual size (about 30 kids) and had a blast! Everyone was high energy and we played some fun games! We played a game called musical baby food, everyone sits in a circle and while the music plays the baby food is passed around, when the music stops whoever is holding it eats it (Flavors included turkey and gravy, beef and gravy, and chicken and gravy....yum) and it was plenty of laughs! We sang some great songs (Sweet Home Alabama, Don't Stop Believin', and Still Haven't Found What I'm lookin' for. And played a game where students faces are coated and shaving cream and Cheetos Puffs are thrown at their face, whoever gets the most to stick wins! It was definitely funny to watch John throw too hard and Jazz throw soft enough and watch her and Kelsey totally defeat the boys!
Tonight I shared about the resurrection. I said that become Jesus rose it validates everything else he said and did, if he hadn't risen, he'd be just like all the other prophets that walked this earth, whose tombs we can visit. I claimed that Jesus was God, and he was distinctly different than any of the other religious leaders in history, and I asked the questions, "Do you believe it?" and "If so, what does that mean?" I think people tracked with the whole talk. It was a great night. Next week we'll be at All City Young Life, and I'll be on vacation, and the week after is our end of the year BBQ and Party! I can't believe it, but we've made it to the end of the semester! Unbelievable! Thank you all for the support! Special thanks to the Butlers for hosting us and the Schaefers for making us dinner! You are all HUGE blessings to this ministry! -Mat

Is April Already Over?!

2010-04-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a good night! We are definitely experiencing the lower numbers of late Spring, as Spring sports kick into high gear, but we are still seeing over 25+ high schoolers descend on the Butler's basement every Monday evening and tonight was no exception! We played a game where students rubber band alka seltzer to their heads and have squirt guns and the goal is to dissolve the opponents alka seltzer before they dissolve yours! It's a pretty enjoyable thing to watch and a slightly less enjoyable thing to partake in! We sang some great songs and had a bunch of fun laughing together! We only have 5 spots left for camp! 1 girls spot and 4 boys spots! So, if you're a parent reading this and your student isn't signed up, get on them! Tonight we shared about the Cross, what it meant, and what Jesus did on it. I shared that because of the cross we can all be welcomed back into the arms of God, and can enter into right relationship with him. Everyone seemed to track well with the talk and I really believe God did some great things! Special thanks to Mark and Rebecca Butler, for not only hosting Young Life tonight, but also for hosting the leaders for dinner! Thank you everyone for all the support, for the prayer, and for the funds when we need it! You make this possible! -Mat

Oh the Egg Game...

2010-04-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Well tonight was a big night! We played some new songs, Caitlin helped sing (which DEFINITELY upped our sound quality) we used an auto-tuner for our voices (if you don't know what that is and really want to know, here's a link to an article about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotune ) And we played one of the great games in all of Young Life, The Egg-in-a-Tube Game. The game is explained well in the video, so I won't waste your time here! We had just about 30 students tonight and the energy was great! It all went so smooth tonight that even though we finished right around the same time we always do everyone felt it went fast. I think we're finally hitting our stride!
Tonight I talked about the consequences of sin and read the story of the Prodigal Son from the son's perspective. I claimed that we all have put ourselves in this place of "working in the pig fields wishing we could eat pig food" and that Jesus plays a big role in why that's not necessarily the case. I told everyone that this next week we will finish that story by telling it from the father's perspective. It was a fun night. Unfortunately we had some technical problems with the camera so we only filmed that last few minutes of Young Life tonight. So that's why our video is so short this week!
Special thanks once again to the Butler's for letting us use there house, and a special things to Ryan and Holly Collier for hosting us with a delicious taco soup dinner! And to all of you faithful readers and those praying for us, thank you so much for your support! If you are interested in getting involved in anyway don't hesitate to email or call me! Thanks thanks thanks!! -Mat

Welcome to the Butler's!

2010-04-12T22:59:00.001-07:00

Well, Tonight was our first night at Mark and Rebecca Butler's house! We grew to big for the Marshall's and boy did we find a great place to continue growing! We were a little smaller tonight (26 high school students) but I think we can chalk that up to being somewhere new and it just a busier than average night for some students. But all in all, we had high energy and fun games. I think everyone we talked to enjoyed Young Life tonight and it was at a size where our leaders were able to have valuable conversations with every student. Tonight I shared about our need, the fact that we are broken and we know it. I began the conversation that will be continued over the coming weeks. We are to the place in the semester where the talks ramp up in weightiness and we lay the ground work for thoughtful conversations to follow. On a SUPER positive note, Caitlin Marshall joined the Sprague Young Life Leadership team! We're so happy to have her with us! It is always nice to welcome more leaders into the family. It equips us to reach more students and change more lives! If you're interested in leading feel free to let us know! Any age is welcome (beyond high school of course!) Special thanks to Mike and Joy Fargo for hosting our team for dinner! Sorry this post is so short! I have a VERY early morning tomorrow (at least for me! 5am!) and need to be getting to bed soon on account of it's just about midnight! Thank you all for all of the support and prayers! None of this could be possible without you!

Last Week at the Marshall's

2010-04-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sure you guessed by the title, we are no longer going to be at the Marshall's for Young Life.... because we have grown too big!!!!! We had 45 high schoolers last night, and let me tell you, that room was FULL! After having just over 30 students last week 45 blew me away! It was much more full than I thought we could comfortably fit and I was right!! Such a joy to see that many young people crammed in a room to sing songs and hear about Jesus! We played two games involving clothespins, one in which every starts with three clothespins pinned to their sleeve and has two minutes to see if they can get all of theirs off and on to someone else's shirt. They second game we had two girls and two boys, the girls objective was to see how many clothespins on the boys faces as possible. The winner had 18 clothespins! Last night I talked about blind Bartimaeus on the road to Jericho crying out to God. I posed the question, "who do you cry out too?" I feel like students really responded well to this message and asked some equally good questions. It was such a good night and such a privilege to be a part of. I want to, once again, thank the Marshall's for 8 weeks of hospitality in opening their doors for 20-45 high school guys and gals to invade their home! Thanks to the Chins for hosting us for a delicious spaghetti dinner last night! And thanks for Mark and Rebecca Butler for agreeing to host Sprague Young Life in this next phase of our ministry growth! It's going to be a good end of the year with so much to talk about and so much fun to be had!! Thank you all for your prayers, it's only because of you that 45 high schoolers would show up to sing songs and play games on a Monday night! Thank You!

Well, That's a Wrap on Number 7!!

2010-03-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

We finished our 7th Young Life of the year tonight! (I can't believe we've been through that many already!!) Any let me tell you, tonight was a blast! We had 31 highschoolers, 36 of us there all together! It was a full, full room! So, as a quick aside, if you know of anyone in the Sprague area that would like to open there doors to 40 high schoolers every week (I anticipate growth!) give them my number! We are looking for a new place. Anyway, back to tonight! It was such a high energy evening. We sang some great songs (You Belong with Me- Taylor Swift, Ring of Fire- Johnny Cash, and I still Haven't Found- U2) and played a very fun game, two people slap each other in the face with a hot dog and the first one to laugh (or break the hot dog) loses. I talked about the story of Nicodemus and him coming to ask Jesus questions in the night, and how we often feel like we can ask people questions, but not God. I made the point that God is big enough for us to ask him questions and even be mad at him if we need to. We played the song "Jesus, Jesus" by Noah Gunderson (I censored it in a few places) that really is just a dialogue with Jesus put to music. I think this was out best Young Life yet, energy wise, honesty wise, and relationally. We are really starting to see fruit! Thank you all so much for helping this to happen, through prayer and funds and everything else! Thanks again to the Marshall's for giving us there house for the night and for the Schaefer's for hosting us for dinner! If any of you read this and want to get involved, just give me a call and we've got plenty of roles for you! (Leaders, dinner hosts, donors, prayer partners, offering up your house, the list goes on and on!) Thanks again! -Mat

Have we really done six already?!?

2010-03-15T21:58:00.001-07:00

This was a big week. It was our first week with more than 30 HIGH SCHOOLERS!!!! Boy, I know I've said we had a lot of energy every week, but this one topped them all. We had a bunch of new faces, and all the usual's. We sang some of our group favorites (including Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, and Hero by Enrique Iglesias) and played some great games (we sculpted spam) and drank some "fitness shakes" (which included bananas, banana flavored 'muscle milk' v8 juice, chocolate soy milk, and some soda). Tonight was our question and answer night. We encouraged students to be thinking about any God/Jesus/Christianity/Religion based questions they've always wanted to ask and we told them we would answer them to the best of our ability. It was a tough night, let me know you, these guys and gals of some serious and difficult questions. I feel honored to be in a place where we are able to speak to those question! We had a panel of question answers (made up of leaders, Jeremy Joseph, Ben Martin, and myself) and answered questions for about 18 minutes. We had six questions we didn't get to that we will be answering a few of each week to come. The question dealt with suffering, violence in the bible, homosexuality, forgiveness, atonement (or how God deals with our sin through Jesus), and questions about why Jesus came) It was a good time, and after wards Dairy Queen was a welcomed breath of energy and a place to unwind after some serious thinking! All in all, such a good week! Also, this was our first week with our NEW SOUND SYSTEM!!!! Thank you so much to all of you who helped with donations to make that possible! It was such a blessing to our leadership team not to have to piece together a giant system, and to be able to leave a lot of it at the Marshall's house to store there. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, your donations literally freed up hours out of my Monday getting sound system stuff ready!! God is good, we are seeing growth and fruit, I'm so excited for camp this summer and for God to take us to the next level! -Mat

Young Life, Chapter 5

2010-03-08T23:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a good night! We started off with a wonderful dinner by some of our even more wonderful Sprague Young Life supporters (every week before Young Life we have a team dinner hosted by different families in the community, so far we have been blessed to eat at the Marshall's, the Schaefer's, the Rawlings', the Hancock's, and the Chin's. If you read this and think, "Gee Wiz, I'd love to host dinner for them" let us know!) After a great meal we headed for set up, and boy, what a night! I'm always amazed by the amount of energy and noise high schoolers make, and how much they make me laugh. We had our characters come out again tonight and teach us how to work out while we eat (attach 25 pound weights to our forks) and had Brad and John demonstrate the technique in a race. We sang some current songs (and one not-so-current, brown eyed girl anyone?) And then onto the talk. Tonight I shared from Luke 5:17-26, which is the story of the paralyzed man lowered through the roof. I shared how he could not get out of that situation without Jesus' help, and posed the question, "Are there places in our life where we are stuck, and would there be any of these places we could ask for Jesus' help in?" All in all, it was a good night. We have finally raised enough money for our base sound system (now for getting necessary additions like microphone stands, cables, etc...) and our donuts have built up quite the reserve (of course, we could always use funds if you are interested in helping support this mission). We had just over 20 high schoolers again tonight. I am encouraged to say that each week we have new people join us, and each week some can't make it because of outside commitments. That said, I believe we have over 40 people that come to Young Life, so please pray that they all show up next week, and that they each bring a friend. Next week is our last Young Life before Spring Break, I'd love to have to spend Spring Break looking for a new (larger) space to have our Young Life club! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support you have all showed us, whether it's prayer, or meals, or funds, or all of the above, we couldn't do this without each and every one of you (and of course, the Holy Spirit). Thank you, thank you, thank you. -Mat

*on one final note, dear Austin, sorry I didn't get this uploaded by 10:30, there were some very important things that came up that I had to get done first, I hope you forgive me ; )

The Fourth Go Around

2010-03-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

Well It's once again Monday which means we had another Young Life tonight! It was a great night tonight. There is so much energy in that room, the video just doesn't do it justice! We borrowed a sound system tonight (Trinity Covenant Church, the second part of my job, has part of a spare sound system so with that and taking another part of our current sound system we have enough for a working system for now, that said, it is a lot of work and not really right for us, it'll do for now, but we're only $200 away from the sound system of our dreams, well not our dreams, but a very affordable sound system that would meet our needs, so if you're interested in helping us reach that goal feel free to let me know!) and having the system made all the difference, we were able to lead songs well, keep students attention, and really add energy with louder songs and a better sounding camp video. It was incredible to be able to push ourselves technologically, and student's commented on the positive change! Tonight we had our first encounter with our "Run-on Characters" (Two characters that come on and talk about their "fitness camp" at Washington Family Ranch July 3-9th (the dates of our Young Life camp at Washington Family Ranch) Our leaders Julie and Ben were Pectorals Major, and Gluteus Maxine, two work out instructors featured in the video, they'll be back in weeks to come! We played a full body version of rock paper scissors tonight and sang some great songs (which we received multiple compliments about) and ended the evening with a talk. I started by playing the song "Nobody Knows Me at All" by The Weepies (if you haven't heard it give it a listen! The song includes so many good lines including "I've got lots of friends, yes, but then again, nobody knows me at all" I stated that I feel like all of us felt that way sometimes. I shared a personal story about an occasion when I felt completely unknown and alone, and from their transitioned into the story from John 4 of the Samaritan Woman at the Well. I talked about how she certainly felt the way that song described and then pointed out how Jesus knew "everything she has ever done" and LOVED her in spite of it. I heard multiple positives comments from the talk, so despite all my shortcomings God did some good things through it! Thank you all for your prayers! On a quick side note, we've been giving out 6 dozen donuts for free at Sprague High School on Thursday mornings and on Sunday I shared with Trinity Covenant what we were doing, at the end of both services I had been given $421 (not counting the $150 we had already raised) bringing us to a grand total of $571 to purchase donuts for Sprague students! Needless to say we will be buying more donuts this week and will certainly be able to be there through the rest of this year! Anyway, this has been a long one. Thanks again for everything, you are all such a blessing to us all! -Mat

And the Word became Flesh....

2010-02-22T22:46:00.001-08:00

Tonight was a blast, I think we had more energy than we've had yet (which is great) with the same amount of kids (so still room to grow!!!). We had just over 20 kids this week come to Young Life and it was a bunch of fun. We did a mixer where we each have a celebrity name on our backs and try to figure out who we are by asking others questions, we sang songs, we yelled songs, and we learned about Jesus a bit. Tonight I shared about how much Jesus was willing to give up just to learn to speak our language, just to present himself in a way we could understand. I showed a video from youtube about mustaches (don't worry, it made sense in context) and stated that the incarnation (which literally means, "in meat" or "in flesh") was God's growing a mustache to be a part of mustache culture. I posed the question, "If God was willing to do this for you, isn't it only fair for you to just check God out?" All and all I think the night was great! There was so much energy however, that it was very difficult to lead music without a sound system. If you know anyone who would be willing to join us in this ministry with a $400 gift we could get a full sound system. Thanks so much for your support. Brad (in the video) said tonight was the highlight of his day. Your prayers and financial support made that happen! -Mat

Young Life #2

2010-02-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight's Young Life was wonderful! It was a bit smaller than last week, but it was a long weekend so it was to be expected. We had high energy the whole time for sure! I shared about Jesus in John 2:1-10 which is the Wedding at Cana and turning water into wine. I challenged our common perceptions of how we think of God and Jesus and said that I really think that Jesus is the life of every party. We talked about turning water into wine and how when Jesus shows up the party only gets better (even if someone else had put out their best wine first) and asked all the kids there to think about whether or not what I was saying was possible, and did it matter to them if it was. We were just around 20 kids this week. I'm confident next week will be better! On a side note, We could definitely use a sound system, especially if we get any bigger, it's hard to lead louder/faster songs without one. The one I'm looking at is on sale (probably indefinitely, thank you recession) for $399, if you, or anyone you know is interested in helping us purchase that people shoot me an email!! -Mat

Young Life, The Journey Begins!

2010-02-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write a quick blurb about Young Life tonight! I think the video speaks for itself but here's a bit more:
We started off the night at the wonderful home of Teri and Rick Schaefer, who were so kind to make our leaders dinner!!! (If you're in the Salem area and are interested in doing something like this feel free to let me know!) From there we went to Charley and Nancy Marshall's home where we held our first club. Boy let me tell ya, I was NERVOUS, not having done club at Sprague before I didn't know if we would get big numbers or not. I was hoping for 30-35 young people tonight. And we ended up having just under 30!! It was such a good night! We sang some great songs, had a wonderful mixer, a talk (I shared a talk about our story, I tried to make the case that we all have an idea of who we are and we tell people accordingly, but I pushed to say, "what if there is a bigger story we could be a part of?" and "what is Jesus has something to do with that story?" I included the story of the bleeding women in Mark 5:24-34. I said that she was a women who wouldn't accept the story those of her world told her (that she was unclean and incurable) and instead reached for the story God wants to invite us into. I asked us all to think about if we are open to the idea that we might have a better story than the one we already know. I think kids really enjoyed themselves! We went to Dairy Queen after and everyone joined us! It was such a good night. Thank you all for praying! I'm sorry if this video isn't perfectly edited and I'm sorry if my spelling or grammar isn't perfect. I just really wanted to get this up as soon as possible to let you all in on all the great things God is doing in South Salem! -Mat

New Staff Training

2010-01-11T20:11:00.001-08:00

If any of you are reading these entries, here's an update on where I am right now. At this moment, I'm sitting in Young Life's Crooked Creek Ranch, in Fraser CO. It has been quite the experience! We are in 8 hours of class a day with a mix of Seminary Classes (Life of Christ, taught by Dallas Seminaries' Darrell Bock, and Foundations of Youth Ministry, taught by Fuller Seminaries' Chap Clark) and staff orientation time. The time has been exhausting, but wonderful. Free time is filled with snowshoeing through the mountains, playing pool with friends, sitting by the fire, and reading some good books. This time is so chalked full of information and fellowship. It has definitely been a fantastic blessing to be here with 200 staff from all over the world! I will certainly post pictures of this camp soon! It is about as beautiful as I could ever imagine. Nestled in the Rockie Mountains only 20 minutes from Winter Park (where I will definitely be snowboarding on our free day!) Anyway, More updates will come! I'll keep you posted! Love you all!

Recent Events

2009-12-10T09:58:00.001-08:00

A ton has happened since my last post! Boy! It's been a busy fall and this Advent season is no different!Trinity has been plugging right along! We had our annual Turkey Bowl (The Sunday before thanks giving Football and Ultimate Frisbee against McMinnville Covenant Church) and We even won the Football! (and lost Ultimate, a personal blow to my pride) and both churches seemed to enjoy themselves!

I was blessed and lucky enough to get to go with my family up to Seattle for Thanksgiving, and it was a good time for me to relax and take a break from work. It was great to see my immediate and extended families and not answer any emails!!

Three weeks ago Sprague Young Life went to the Salem All City Club, I played guitar for the event (which was a ton of fun) and we brought 14 kids from Sprague! Young Life has been gaining the momentum that we've been praying for (We have eight leaders, not including myself!!) and have gotten to the point where we need to do a weekly event in order to satisfy demand. This has been a fun time of exploring what Young Life can and should look like at Sprague High School. It has been a period of re-imagining what a Young Life "club" should be and how we can best accomplish it. My leaders have been wonderful at joining into this conversation and helping me discern what God wants us to do.

This past Monday we had a Bingo Night (Complete with live streaming video of the balls coming out of the cage projected onto a large screen, full "Bingo Lingo" used in the calling, 30 second dance parties between games, a full "true-to Young Life" program (Edgar McDaubs and GTI) and prizes! It was a fun night! and we had about 15 kids, which I was totally happy with! This Monday we are inviting all the Young Life guys and gals over for a Christmas Party at my Apartment! I'm pretty excited for that time as it will be really relaxed and relational! Hopefully we can manage another 15 kids or more!

All and all things have been happening and God has been moving a bunch! It's been quite the roller coaster and I'm excited to see what's around the next turn!!

First Young Life!!!

2009-11-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

SO, Monday night was set to be our first event. We (My leaders and I) were going to take a group of Sprague High and Trinity kids to North Salem High's club. I checked with their leaders that week to make sure that would be okay and I was given the go ahead. In my time at Sprague so far I've gotten to know about 15 kids (meager, I know, but I know that if I'm faithful to them God will give me more to be faithful with) and I've gotten them all into a mailing list via Facebook and so I have been sending out invite/reminders for the past week or so and of course been telling them in person as well. On top of that I told all my Trinity kids I wanted to come, but only if they brought a friend that didn't go to Trinity with them, otherwise, I told them I'd send them home. I told them this because, as Christian kids already pursuing a life with Christ Young Life is not for them, it is merely a tool for them to use to create dialogue with their friends.
So, with all of this preparation I was hoping for 10-12 kids. I thought that would be a stretch with all that young people have going on nowadays, but I was hopeful. However, to be quite honest, part of me was worried that no one would show up. Anyway, Monday rolled around and 22 kids showed up!!! And I had never met probably 5 of them! I was amazed! It was so great, so we piled into the all of our cars (I drove the Church's 12 passenger van) loaded up with 9 kids and myself. And we caravanned to the Ike Box (Concert Hall and host of North Salem Young Life's Club)! When we got there we all piled into the club room, doubling the number of kids and probably increasing the energy level by 8, and got ready for club. Well, turns out, there was a miscommunication with the North Salem leaders and they weren't doing a normal club that night. They were doing a scavenger hunt around downtown Salem. We made a few changes so that our scavenger hunt ended at Trinity and we went for it. It was a blast, so so so much energy, I wish you could have been there to see it. The excitement fogged the windows of the cars and when we arrived at Trinity we quickly diverted that energy into a happening game of dodgeball, and then had a quick debrief of what we were just a part of.
All I have to say is kids are pumped. I think it's safe to say we will never have an event that small again. God has laid some serious ground work at Sprague already and the harvest is ripe. It's go time. I'm encouraged. And I'm humbled. God keeps reminding me to dream big, raise the bar, and expect miracles. So far, that is exactly what I'm seeing. More to come!!

Contact Work Today

2009-10-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day I was able to go to Sprague for Lunch and to contact work. For those of you that havent had the experience of going to a high school lunch when you aren't in high school, it's pretty terrifying at first. I don't know many kids and so it's pretty uncomfortable to be there at this point (which will only get easier as I get to be known there) SO anyway, I got there about 5 minutes before lunch started, headed into the dinning hall, sat down at a table, and really started to feel nervous. So I pulled out my phone, which has a Bible application, went to reading of the day, and this is what it said.
John 17

1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one-- 23 I in them and you in me--so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

As I sat in the cafeteria and read that, such an amazing peace came over me. It's as if those words were written for me in that very moment. I said a quick prayer and then they came in droves, from all entrances of the lunch room, it was a swarm you would only find in a high school. And immediately I saw two guys I knew, they brought me to meet their friends, I met six guys today. I then turned around and Jeremy Wanak (one of my youth group leaders and a science teacher at Sprague) walked over and said hi, he took me to meet some administrators, which was great, and then I saw a few more Trinity kids. It was unbelievable to see how quickly God can both calm my fears and create an environment so great for meeting people. I'm still processing today, but at this point I'm just pretty wowed. -Mat

Just keepin ya updated

2009-10-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to write here other than a brief update on what's been going on lately. Firstly, I've started a Wednesday night service that is both Young Life and Trinity Kids. It's called Kaleo, and it's been a bunch of fun! We've had growing numbers each week and the kids seem to really be enjoying it! It's been very encouraging! We do worship, spend some time in groups, have a discussion about something of worth, and then play some games! It's a great night! On the Young Life side of things I now have 3 other leaders which is a huge blessing! We (Greater Salem Young Life) just had our huge fundraising event and it was a blast and a huge success! My background check has finally cleared at Sprague and I have been able to start going to lunches at the high school. I've been to a few football games. And I think I'm starting to get to know kids. The Sunday School class I teach has been great! We are mostly working through our collection of Nooma videos (if you havent heard of Nooma videos they are awesome and you can check them out at http://www.nooma.com/) and we are doing some Christ in Culture discussions every few weeks. Our new Associate Pastor Dawn, and myself have been able to be on the second service worship planning team (second service is our contemporary service) and are getting a voice in reshaping it in some ways. If you haven't picked up on it, I have a lot of plates spinning right now. But I don't think any are looking to fall. On top of all that Aaron Strumpel is coming to Trinity to do a concert on Nov 7th and so I have a lot of planning to do with that, but it's going to be such a good night. We had associate training (My position in Young Life is no longer known as intern but is now known as associate) at Breakaway on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and that was such a good time with some beautiful weather at the coast (in October, who'd have thought!!). Things are busy, but they're good!

A New Chapter

2009-09-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

So, this blog is going to take a new twist. Let me tell you what's going on in my life right now. I am not the High School Youth Pastor at Trinity Covenant Church and a Young Life Staff person/Team Leader at Sprague High School. Young Life at Sprague is non-existent at this point so I get to build it from scratch (which is REALLY exciting and also a little bit terrifying). Trinity's Youth Group is great, but We are in the midst of overhauling it. The people I work with are about as good a person as you can find on this Earth. It is amazing to see how God has taken so many points in my life and used them to give me the skills needed to fill this position. This is going to be a good year. That's all I can really say to people at this point. I am so excited to see what God does. The Kingdom of God is exploding all over South Salem right now, and Sprague and Trinity are both parts of that!! Woooo, more to follow!

The Violence of Love

2009-07-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

"We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work."November 27, 1977 -Oscar Romero

This quote hits me hard. As a self proclaimed pacifist I have come to rejoice over reading Romero's words. He speaks with a humility and passion that convicts but never condemns, that moves the reader into being angry over injustice but still loving those that commit such atrocities. I am amazed as time and time again he says that he loves the assassins, the murderers, the politicians that hire them. His words encourage me and push me to think more deeply about the way my theology actually impacts my life. I know that this world is broken, that things are seriously messed up, but Romero stands as a loud reminder that there is hope for a future, and that only Christ is that hope. His constant calls to love push me out of my comfort zone and force me to step out of where I have been in order to get a better view of Christ's kingdom at work.

"What I want to say here in the cathedral pulpit is what the church is, and in the name of the church I want to support what is good, to applaud it, encourage it, console the victims of atrocities, of injustices, and also with courage disclose the atrocities, the tortures, the disappearences of prisoners, the social injustice. This is not engaging in politics; this is building up the church and carrying out the church's duty as imposed by the church's identity. My conscience is undisturbed, and I call on you; Let us build up the true church!" September 10, 1978.

Romero's words help me to see that the church should stand as a reminder of heaven that awaits, that it's walls should scream of redemption, or liberation, or freedom. That if the church is not taking steps to bring this about it has lost it's way. We must make this part of our DNA. We have to be about redemption and love if we are to make any sort of impact in this world. Romero constantly pushes me to see the movement of God in this world. He speaks of this movement in ways that make it undeniable and then says to me, "Here, continue this movement that Christ has started that we have joined in on, let the freedom ring out in your town as it has in mine."

"When Christ appeared in those lands, curing the sick, raising the dead, preaching to the poor, bringing hope to the peoples, something began on earth like when a stone is cast into a quiet lake and starts ripples that finally reach the farthest shores. Christ appeared in Zebulun and Naphtali, with signs of liberation; shaking off oppresive yokes, bringing joy to hearts, sowing hope. And this is what God is doing now in history" January 22, 1978

I think the task falls on our generation to take this movement of Christ that started 2000 years ago and take down the dams that block the ripples in outr communities. I think we need to idenitify the dams and destroy them with God's love and redemption. Transform them into a deep pool that allows the ripples to continue. Any thoughts on what the dams are or how to remove em?

Abundant Life?

2008-07-29T01:05:00.000-07:00

I think this will come out cynical. I don't mean it to be. I only hope that it will raise some questions and provoke some thoughts. I have recently (and by recently I mean over the last year or so) been placed in a several situations where I have been able to hear the stories of those around me. All of these occasions have been with Christians and all have been real, by that I mean that in all cases people have made themselves vulnerable and shared hard truths.
When reading through the Bible and in studying the writings of some early Christians, I have gotten the idea in my head that, in following Christ, our lives should be transformed, and in that transformation we should be left different than the world. I think it is clear in the teachings of both the New Testament and Tanakh (The Jewish scriptures or the Christian Old Testament) that people who have encountered God look different than those who have not. I don't think it is a stretch to say that early Christians left their non-Christian counterparts flabbergasted by their "bizarre" behaviors and strange customs. I believe that our world has not changed so much for that better that Christians don't stand out because everyone is so good. And I believe Christ's words in John 10:10 that says He has come to give us abundant life.
Now here's where I am wrestling. In the life stories I have been able to hear from fellow Christians it is striking how many (including myself) have suffered from some sort of serious depression. I am taken aback by that truth. In studying divorce rates I have learned that both secular and Christian marriages has near identical divorce rates. And I know of equal numbers of Christian and non-Christian friends struggling with some form of addiction whether it is drugs, alcohol, or pornography. I understand that we live in a fallen world. I understand that a Christian would follow Christ because of an awareness of self-brokenness; and I understand that upon conversion our problems don't go away. But why, why do we look so similar to the world around us? Why don't we stand out like those who came before us. Why is our life no different from our neighbors, and why do we seem to be missing out on this abundant life we were offered? I understand that an abundant life contains highs and lows, ups and downs, but really? I don't think that those being welcomed into the Church are experiencing it in any form of an regular basis. I don't have anything resembling an answer to this. I only have the tension of two truths; one, we follow a transformational God and two, I see a major lack in transformation.
Is this the ultimate trick of the devil in modern times? To make us think we look different than our neighbors, to make us think that we are experiencing the best God has to offer? Are we going to wake up and realize what we're missing? I don't think we have to wait for God's return to earth. But I think it's clear that there is something wrong. We claim that we follow the one true God (it's a claim I wholeheartedly believe in) but why on earth would some of those sceptics believe us when we are so darn broken? I just feel like something is missing? Thoughts?

Pure and Faultless Religion

2008-07-25T23:57:00.001-07:00

A couple of days ago some family friends of mine got home from Honduras. I had been watching their house while they were gone so when they got home I went to give them back the keys. While I was there (I should say that the wife is a Christian and the husband is an atheist.) they said that while they were in Honduras the interacted with some of the poorest people they have ever met or seen in their lives. And they saw countless missions groups down there going to, “Save the people of Honduras” she said she saw group after group getting up and leading worship and building churches and ‘proclaiming the word/good news/gospel’ to the masses. And she said while all this was going on she watched kids starving to death and watched their parents dying of aids. Struck by the churches ability to ignore the glaring and immediate needs of the Honduran people she asked one of the missionary teams why they focused on spreading the good news and not on caring for the needs of the people. The response was disturbing; “We know that these kids are going to starve to death and we know their parents are going to die from aids or other opportunistic diseases, so the one thing we can do is make sure they go to heaven.” That to me doesn’t sound like the good news Christ proclaims. And it doesn’t sound like the abundant life He offers in John 10:10. That to me sounds like a half-assed gospel focused more on numbers of converts than on caring for the members of our savior’s body. I think this is a huge issue in modern missions and a clear area of needed improvement. In all honesty I think, and this may sound heretical but oh well, we should throw out missions trip all together from the churches bag of tricks. However I think that we as a body must try to meet the needs of the world and must tell people about this Christ who has worked his way into all of our lives. I think (in my humble opinion) we need to look to serve trips. A serve trip goes for one reason, to love people the way Christ calls us to, and to meet the needs that we are able to meet. And in doing this I think that people are lead to ask us what are motivation is, and in that question we are able to explain the good news that has changed our lives. We have a God that looks at the Church and commissions us to care for those who can’t care for themselves. What good is giving someone the good news, and letting them die from unmet needs. Yes, they will meet us in Heaven, but is that enough? I don’t think so. I think the verses that follow are clear to point that out. Like I wrote in earlier posts, I think that caring for the poor is a requirement for Christians and not just something that we should consider doing or something some of us are called to do. This is a necessity and is an integral part of our walk with Christ. Look at verse 45 of Matthew 25, and I think it’s clear that we aren’t supposed to only care for those that end up in front of us. That doesn’t seem like an excuse. We must seek these people out and show them the holistic life saving and soul saving gospel of Christ.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Matthew 25: 34-46 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45 "He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

The Holiness of Our Neighbors

2008-07-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

I have recently been reading the Weight of Glory, a series of essays by C.S. Lewis and I have a revelation in our reading. I don’t know if it was a new thought or if it has just come alive in a new way. But Lewis’ understanding of the holiness and the eternality of our neighbors have struck a chord in me. “Nature is mortal; we shall outlive her. When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendor which she fitfully reflects.” I love how Lewis can point out our superiority over nature without questioning its importance. Nature is a powerful place to find evidence of God’s power, knowledge, gentleness, and beauty. And through nature God reveals glimpses of who God is. Nature, to God, works similarly like the wardrobe in Narnia. It allows us to enter something beautiful, something bigger than ourselves. But, nature lacks one thing, eternality. And that is something we have been given. Don’t be mistaken. Humans are not eternal beings, however we are made eternal through our union with Christ. “The Church will outlive the universe; in it the individual person will outlive the universe. Everything that is joined to the immortal head will share His immortality.” We are not eternal on our own. We cannot forget that. We must know that we are who we are, only because of whom we know. We were nothing but Christ made us something with him. And so with the great honor of being an eternal being, we must also have the humility that we cannot reach that honor on our own. However, when made part of this beautiful union with Christ Lewis paints the most beautiful picture. “But as organs in the Body of Christ, as stones and pillars in the temple, we are assured of our eternal self-identity and shall live to remember the galaxies as an old tale.” We don’t have to fear this honor being taken away; in fact we can look forward to the day that we talk about the galaxies, the stars, the earth as if it were a fairy tale. A myth, so far out of sight it is as if it never happened.
So, Lewis has covered that we are holy in our eternality. In fact we are so holy that, “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” I think with that statement comes an enormous responsibility. We are holy beings interacting with holy beings every day. In fact Lewis believes these interaction to be so powerful he is lead to say this, “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a night mare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our deals with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people.” If that doesn’t push us into a new way of living I don’t know what does. Lewis would say that we make people more beautiful or more hideous with every interaction. We are called to love one another, to make one another better. It is a burden given to us by our Lord. It is the greatest commandment after all to love God and love our neighbors. And I would say that it could be inferred that we are called to leave people (just like we are to the environment) better than we found them. We are a society of people who have met the risen Lord and been made better by Him, and it is now our duty to be a witness to that meeting and that transformation every day. So how will this impact you? How will this change your interactions with your neighbor? What name is laid on your heart as someone you’ve wronged? Someone you’ve pushed a little closer to nightmare potential? I know these essays have been a heart check for me. So with that I will close this saying that there were no original ideas in this essay, this was basically a regurgitation of C.S. Lewis, but maybe this will cause some original ideas to come out of your life.
(*All quotes taken from “The Weight of Glory” and “Membership”)

Thoughts that came about in Thailand

2008-06-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

"If they come for the innocent and do not pass over our bodies, then cursed be our religion." -An old Saint, name unknown.
We must be standing between the oppressed and the oppressors, otherwise, what do we have to show for the Gospel Christ taught us? How else can we live as he told us to? What kind of faith would allow us to look the other way? He said turn the cheek, He didn't say look the other direction. Is it a valid excuse to say, "I didn't know"? No, It can't be. It's our job to know. It's our job to look into the eyes of the oppressors and say, "Here's my Jesus. He Loves you." And it's our job to look into the eyes of the oppressed and say, "The Kingdom of Heaven is here, it's time your weeping becomes laughter.(Lk 6:21)" We follow a God who is infuriated by oppression. We follow a God who came here to free us from the oppression of the law, a God who [has] indeed seen the misery of [His] people...[He has] heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and [He] is concerned about their suffering. So [He has](and did) come down to rescue them..(Ex. 3:7-8a)" This God we follow loves us and treasures us so much He has invited us to continue His work that he started way back in the beginning. We are people of an unseen kingdom. We are people of Jubilee. It is our job, through the teaching of Christ and the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, to reveal a Kingdom of Heaven to the world. To proclaim Jubilee. To break the chains, ring the bells, and protect those who can't protect themselves. We have not chosen to follow a God of complacency, we have chosen to follow a God of action, and because of that, we ourselves are called to act. We ourselves are called to stand. To stand against oppression, against sickness, against poverty, and against the evil one. We are called to stand for love. So what are we waiting for? It's time to stand. The kingdom of God is now. Let's open the eyes of the world and show them. -Amen