How do we respond....the Ted Haggard story?

It is hard for many of us to understand why something like this happens. The truth is that Ted Haggard will not be forgiven...for anything he does. He is not forgiven because he plays the part of a Christian, because of the way he looks, or because of anything he does. Ted and you and I are forgiven because of what Jesus Christ has already done. Our forgiveness doesn't rest in how good we are. In fact God has something to say about this in Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His love for us, while we were sinners, Christ died for us." God accepted us when we were filthy and there is no amount of good works or accomplishments we can do that would be enough to equal what Jesus has done on the cross. Only through Jesus and our dependence on Him can we be forgiven. So if you struggle with the idea of someone who has done the things that Ted has done you can know that he is not forgiven because of anything other that what Jesus has done for us. John 14:6, "I (Jesus) am the way, the truth, the life; no one comes to the Father except by me (Jesus)."

So why would someone who doesn't feel they are half as bad as Ted Haggard feel like they need Christianity? Well they don't. They don't need Christianity; they need Jesus to stand in their place of a Holy God who must punish sin - all sin. You see Christianity is when messed up people come to a Holy and perfect God and realize only because of His grace and Mercy can they be with Him. We don't deserve it. We shouldn't let it make us made when someone of the stature of Ted Haggard messes up. We should be in awe of a Holy God who in spite of our sin and disobedience demonstrates an amazing love for us by punishing our sin on the Cross of Christ for those who believe and trust in Him instead of giving us what we deserve - separation from this Holy God.

I am in no way saying that we should live any other way than in pursuit of being like this Holy God we serve. But remember that in the middle of our sin we can be reminded of why Jesus had to come and die in our place in the first place.

Encouraging Our Adult Leaders

One of the most important things we can do in youth ministry is to equip others to work along side of us in ministry. Oftentimes our first thought is that we have been trained to minister to students and teach and a lot of other adults haven't so we must do it all ourselves. Unfortunately this actually hurts our ministry more than we realize. In order for us to become more effective in reaching students it is imperative that we spend the time it takes in training our adults and student leaders.

If you are anything like me you have had times in the past when you set up great training seminars, conferences, or meetings that you know will blow the socks off your adults - if they will just come. The problem is oftentimes we are struggling to get our adults to show up. Here is some help on how to get adults more interested in being involved in youth ministry.

1. Have Fun with Them. I know this doesn't sound super spiritual but it makes a bigger impact than you can imagine. One of the coolest things I am most excited about is a monthly time that my adults get together with me for no other purpose than just having fun together. The first gathering I had with my adults I had it at my house. There is nothing more you can do to make someone feel accepted than have people at your house. It shows them that you value them so much that you want to welcome them into your home. You may want to know how I structured the gathering. It was simple. People came to my house, we ate lots of awesome food and we played games. That was basically it. Easy to do and fun for my wife and me to actually socialize with adults. The purpose of this goes very deep. If your adult ministry team can have fun together then you will see lives changed as you work together better.

2. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! This is so important. I highly recommend that you send out emails to all your adults at least 2x a month if not 1x a week. Be sure not to make these emails always just about the next training event, however you do want to include this information in your emails. I encourage you to brag on your adults and to tell stories of students lives being changed in the emails. Every chance you can get a quote or story from a student will encourage them and remind them more of what they do is so very important and it does make a difference. Along with the emails you want to be sure to send postcards to everyone reminding them about events and make sure they know that you want to them to be involved. Also, don't leave out your adults who do not have email. Be sure to mail them a copy of the emails in snail mail form so they can know that you care.

3. Be consistant in your training Time. First you must actually have training. One thing that I have done is to encourage my Small group teachers to come on Wed. nights every week to work with their team of teachers and go over the next weeks lesson. This does several things: 1) It allows them to look at the lesson before Sat. night or Sunday morning, 2) It allows them to talk about the lesson and be much more prepared than trying to prepare by themselves, 3) It gets them in a habit of meeting together. On the 4th Wed. of the month I will go into the meeting and add some training tips and helpful insights, and cover any needs that we have. You don't have to meet on Wed. nights but I found that many of my teachers were not plugged into the adult ministry on Wed. nights and it was a way to get them connected to our church on a deeper level. For you it may be easier to do a Sunday or a Tuesday night. Whatever the time it is very important to show your leaders that you have a desire to enable them to be more effective in reaching their students.

4. Show them you care. Remember, many of your adult leaders do not have strong relationships in your church with other adults. Use your monthly gatherings as a chance to show them you care about them. Make sure you pray with your adults and when they are going through a tough time that you let them know your praying for them. Remember to ask about what is going on in their lives. Call them on the phone just to see how things are going with them and do whatever you can to show them that you appreciate them. You can never do enough to show your leaders that you value them so don't stop trying to find creative ways to do this.

Please let me know if this was helpful to you. If you want to get some more ideas please email me and I would love to talk. I will be adding the next article on Training student leaders.

Santa Claus vs. Jesus Claus

I have been thinking about how Santa is perceived versus Jesus. It is something that always comes to mind when we are reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. For some reason even though we know that Christmas is born out of the birth of Jesus we still get caught up in the busyness of shopping and decorating and all of the parties that we oftentimes put the heart of Christmas on the backburner. I know this is especially true when we are driving in traffic near any mall on the planet. Anyways, God really gave me an interesting thought that I wanted to share with you all and encourage you to pass it along.

Santa Claus vs. Jesus Claus

The thought of Santa Claus vs. Jesus Claus came after I was taking my 4 year old son to preschool and a lady asked a boy that was standing nearby, "Is Santa going to bring you some nice gifts this year?"
The boy responding without blinking an eye, "Yes, I have been more good than bad!" I realized at that moment something interesting. There are two conditions that must be met in order to receive gifts from Santa. The first condition is that you must believe in Santa Claus and the Spirit of Christmas. You must believe that Santa is real. The second condition is that you must be more good than bad. I began to shiver as I thought to myself, "What would Jesus require for gifts?"
Jesus Claus would require something as well. In order to receive gifts from Jesus Claus you must believe in Jesus. You must believe He is real and He is who He says He is. The second condition is that it doesn't matter if you have been more good than bad as long as you meet condition number 1. In fact, the kid who is the most obedient kid doesn't get any more gifts than the kid who is always in time out or never seems to listen to their parents or do anything right at all.
This got me thinking even more. What does this say about what we believe about Christmas? There is so much focus on our behavior that we fail to see that the Love of Christ comes to each and everyone of us no matter how good we are. You see the standard for who receives the reward of heaven is absolute perfection. There must be no disobedience, no moment in our lives that we don't love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and no moment that we don't love others more than ourselves. Big Problem. I fail everyday. I would never get the reward or gift. Of course the great news is that the standard of perfection shows us that a Perfect God cannot live with imperfect people. God must punish sin and it must be done with total separation from Him, in other words, the payment is death.
Here is the "Santa Claus" problem. Many Christians and many people who try to understand what it means to be a Christian believe that being a Christian is more like Santa Claus than Jesus Claus. Many people believe that if you believe in Jesus and do more good than bad then you will get your reward. We don't live like we understand the truth that being a Christian is believing in Jesus and understanding you will never be more good than bad - we can never keep up to the perfect standard God lays before us.


Now the cool thing is that God has given us the coolest Christmas Gift we could get. If we believe in Jesus (Claus) and in what he has done (been the final payment of sin for us) then we can receive presents (gift of eternal life). All we have to do is believe in Him and what He has done and it is not based upon whether I have been more good than bad.
I don't think people question that God loves them or not, it is usually that we question whether He will accept us or not. Our struggle in understanding the truth of God stops when we fail to realize that God doesn't accept us because of our behavior. God accepts us because of our faith in Him. The only way to please a holy, righteous, perfect God is our faith in Him and what He has done. That our only chance for acceptance. We must realize that our acceptance is based in what has already been done on the cross.

I learned from a pastor one day a way to show my children how much I love them. Starting when they were just 2 years old I asked them if their daddy loved them more when they are good or bad. For the first few times I asked them they answered, "When I am good." I would reply back, "No, your daddy loves you when your good or bad." Now when I ask them they will respond, "My daddy loves me all the time, even when I good or bad." Then of course I look them in the eye and say, "That is how Jesus loves you too. He loves you when your good or bad!"

Thanks!

Kevin Deming
Youth Pastor
Annistown Road Baptist Church
Snellville, GA