Chili Cook-off

There a lot of people who have bragging rights in their own circle.  Michael Jordan has bragging rights in basketball, Brett Favre in football, Martha Stewart in creating cute little creations.  You get the idea.  But, who has bragging rights in the arena of chili?

This is the time of year when chili tastes best.  The air is cool and crisp, the lights of a football stadium shine bright, and tailgates are down to gather man, woman, and child to the football games around the country.  What better way to tailgate in October that with multiple pots of chili?

So, you think you have bragging rights on chili?  Bring out your secret family recipe to the first annual Chili Cookoff!

Saturday, October 24th-Austin Peay State University vs. Eastern Kentucky

4pm (bring chili by 3:30)

Tailgate Alley-APSU parking lot between the Dunn Center and the Football Stadium

To enter or if you have questions, email chilicookoff@gcomchurch.com

Voting takes place the day of the event!

Relational Ministry

College ministry is a highly relational ministry.  Being a part of a relational ministry comes with necessary components for it to be a success.  What are some of the components of a great relational ministry?

1. Visibility-if the people you are investing in relationally don’t see you, it can’t possibly be relational or successful.  Great college ministry happens on campus.  That’s not to say that you can’t have a successful and great ministry off campus.  But to reach college students, you have to go to where they are, meeting them where they are.  It can look different for different campuses and people, but hanging out on campus, doing your blogging on campus, eating lunch with college students.  The big thing is that you are intentional with your time on campus.

2. Consistency-the people you are investing in relationally won’t really believe you are going to be there if it is a sporadic showing.  Just coming on campus at a college or university to push your event, or to be a ‘headliner’ isn’t really being on campus.  To relationally invest in the life of college students on campus is going when there is nothing going on.  It is going when you have no agenda for your ministry other than loving on college students.

3.  Spontaneity – College life is spontaneous to begin with.  If you want to meet students where they are at, you have to adapt a spontaneous mindset.  I get texts and phone calls from 5:45am to 12 midnight.  I like to think of this as an aqua lifestyle.  Being fluid is more than being flexible.  Being fluid means that you adapt and change shape in different times and places.  Investing relationally in college students doesn’t have a set schedule, in fact, college ministry doesn’t always have a set schedule simply because of the nature of college life.

There are many facets of relational college ministry, and college ministry as a whole.  What are ways that your church is relationally investing in college students?

Strategic Ministry

I recently made a move from Louisville, KY to Clarksville, TN to join the team at Grace Community Church as the director of college ministry.  As Kara and I moved to Clarksville to work with college students, we began to pray about the direction God would have us take the college ministry.  One of the things we have learned is that college ministry is one of the most strategic ministries that a church can invest in.  Here is why…

1.  New folks in your town-Having a college or university in your town brings in folks from all around the country and places them at your doorstep.  What other ministry offers this?  Every six months, you have a fresh group of young adults to invest in, to encourage, to love.  College students are at a unique place in their life.  This is a time where they have major decisions, often times life shaping and directing decisions.  Far too often, this is also a time when college students unplug from a local church.  This shouldn’t be the case!  Of all times to need the leadership, love, care, encouragement from the church, it is during the college years.

2. International Students-many churches are involved in projects that takes teams from their church overseas to serve folks from all across the globe.  With college ministry, you have the opportunity to serve folks from all around the globe without traveling 5,000 miles.  There are students from countries where the Gospel has not gotten to yet, there are countries that the Gospel is illegal to speak about, there are countries where the Bible is forbidden.  There are students from all across the globe who have been fed the lie that someone other than Jesus can save them, bring them joy and a purpose.

3.  Sending to Serve-What other ministry in the church can say that they can send out a mass amount of people who are crazy in love with the church, crazy in love with Jesus, and crazy in love with their community…every 6 months!  In college ministry, you have the unique privilege of sending out large groups, even in the hundreds, back to where they are from, or off to another city.  When a church invests in college ministry, they are investing to send.  When a church helps to instill the same love for the church that God has (He sent His son to die for it…), they will then send them off to cities around America and the globe who love the church.  When your local church invests in college students, challenging them to serve, and giving them opportunities to serve, they will be sending out the next business man, the next counselor, the next nurse, the next banker, etc. that will love their community and serve them in the name of Jesus!

There are other strategic things involved with college ministry, but these men and women are the future leaders in their businesses, hospitals, government and beyond.  College students are starting the movements that are changing the world.  Is your church investing in them to help instill a passion for Jesus and their community?

What does college ministry look like for your church?

Never Retired

Since when has a 39 year-old been too old to work and picked on for not being retired?  If you keep up with sports at all, you have probably heard that the legend, Brett Farve is coming out of retirement, AGAIN!  At first, I was thinking, “Dude, seriously!  Retire already!”  But, as I thought about it, I began to wish this passion for my life.  Although Farve will receive around $10-$12 million to play for the Minnesota Vikings, I don’t think he is returning to finally build that sun room that his wife has always wanted.  I don’t think he is returning to make sure he has a safe retirement account.  I truly believe that Farve is returning because he cannot stand the thought of not being on the field, doing the thing that he is passionate about.

As a minister of the Gospel, I hope that I never fully retire from doing kingdom work.  I pray that I never get to a point in my life where the Gospel becomes so stale and stagnant in my life that I want to retire all together.  John Piper tells the story of a couple in their fifties who retired, moved to Florida and rode around on a 50 foot trawler collecting shells.  I hope that in whatever I am doing, that God will sustain and keep my fire burning for introducing people to Jesus and pointing them to Him.

May we have an urgency in sharing the life changing story of the Gospel, and may we have an unquenchable passion for Christ that doesn’t retire.

Have you retired or lost your passion for ministry?  What things do you do to keep your passion alive?

Finally! Just what I wanted!

If you have seen the ridiculous commercials introducing the new product, Snuggie, you have probably been wondering the same thing as I have been.  When are they going to make a Snuggie for my dog?  Me and Kara are happily warm while knitting on our couch with our Snuggies, while Libby is left out!  Well, thankfully, not any more…as Snuggie has ‘unleashed’ Snuggies for Dogs!

BUT WAIT!  Now, Snuggie for dogs comes with a talking dog collar because everyone knows a dog can’t talk.  Thank you Snuggie for making my wish a reality with your new product!

check out this video below for a good laugh.

Are you ready?

This is the time of year where everyone asks the question, “Are you ready?”  Whether it is being ready for school to start, football season to start, or even the weather to cool off a bit, lots of people are asking “Are you ready?”  If you would have asked the security guards if they were ready for an attack on the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting, “Mona Lisa” they would have said yes.  Earlier this month, in Paris at the Louvre, a woman threw a mug at the masterpiece of a painting.  Mona and her security team at the Louvre were prepared with a thick bullet-proof glass casing protecting the painting.  This wasn’t the first time someone attacked the “Mona Lisa.”  You can read all the details here, but in 1911, the painting was stolen and returned.  In 1956, someone threw acid at the painting, and later threw a rock at it.  The folks who are entrusted with watching and protecting the “Mona Lisa” are very prepared for anything that comes up against Mona.

Can the same be said about you?  Not that you will have acid and coffee mugs thrown at you, but are you ready to stand up for what you believe?  Are you ready to tell your co-worker, class mate, or neighbor how much Christ loves them?  1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”  Are you ready to tell those you meet about Christ?  Are you ready when someone asks you the tough questions about why you have put your trust in a guy who was on earth 2000 years ago?  Are you ready to defend and proclaim the Gospel no matter what the cost?

It is going to be tough, and stuff may get thrown at you, but may we always be ready to give an answer to the reason for the hope that we have!

Are you ready?

Recruit Great Leaders

Recruiting volunteers who are great can sometimes be a challenging task in ministry.  Recently, I have been charged with the task of starting a college ministry from scratch, which means finding and recruiting leaders who will volunteer their time for what we are doing.  In working through how to do this, I have seen a trend of great leaders as opposed to good ones.

Through the years in youth ministry, I have had dedicated and hard working leaders who always show up when they are needed, who never complain and who will do anything for the ministry.  Then, I have worked with great volunteers.  I am so appreciative of the great leaders who have taught me what it means to love people.  You see, the thing that separates the good leaders from the great leaders is that they have a passion for the people more than they do the ministry.  I want to recruit leaders who are passionate about college students, not necessarily passionate about college ministry.  There is a difference.

People who are passionate about college students care more about meeting students than putting on an event for them.  People who are passionate about college students give the keys to their home to a college students so he or she can do laundry at their house, even when they aren’t home.  People who are passionate about college students show up to an art show, a university choir concert, a university sporting event not necessarily because they like what they will see or hear, but because they love who is part of the event.

My wife is a great example of being passionate about people.  When we got married, she had never played a round of golf in her life.  When we started dating, she began to figure out the game, and eventually went out on to the course with me.  She loves being out on the golf course with me, not necessarily because she likes golf, but because she loves me and knows that I love golf.

Being dedicated to a ministry, and helping through serving in whatever way is needed is a huge help to a ministry.  But having leaders who are crazy about the people you are ministering, and will do whatever it takes to minister to them is a necessity.

What things do you look for when you recruit leaders?

More to Love

We recently moved into a new house in Clarksville, Tennessee.  One of the joys of moving into a new house is that you get to start over with decorating, how you arrange the rooms, and you get to throw away the junk that you really had no use for but also had no good excuse to get rid of it.  One of the sorrows of moving into a new house is that you have a down time of about a week where you have no access to TV or internet.  Well, that part of our new home journey ended last night.  We now have satellite hooked up streaming in High Definition.

When we turned it on, my wife was eager to watch the new show, “More to Love.”  It is a spin off of the hit (some may say the flop) TV reality (some may say its fake) show “The Bachelor.”  More to Love takes the same concept of bringing 25 women around 1 guy so that he can choose the one for him.  It “follows one regular guy’s search for love among a group of real women determined to prove that love comes in all shapes and sizes.” (www.fox.com/moretolove).  In this search, the TV network has given this man 25 “full-figured” women, some who have never been on a date because of their size.

With these shows, I have never thought there was anything real about them.  Seriously, who has the money and resources to take a whimsical trip to Spain to hang out with 25 women, all vying for your love and affection.  It isn’t real or healthy.

In watching this reality show last night, it caught my attention that these women were yearning and itching for someone who would accept them as they are.  Over and over again, as these women were interviewed about their time with the Bachelor of More to Love, they said, “I want someone to see me beyond my size” or “I want someone to love me for who I am, not what I look like.”  As I listened and watched this, I hurt for them, not because of their size, but rather that they had never been shown the Gospel.  The Gospel is the truth that God accepts sinners, in all walks of life (rich to poor, young to old, skinny to big-boned, white to black to hispanic to asian, smart to dumb) not because of who they are, but ONLY because of what Christ has done.  You see, these women are yearning for acceptance, unconditional love, and a purpose in life.  I think they are part of the majority of American’s not because of their appearance, but because of their heart.

I was saddened to be publicly reminded that the church hasn’t given these women the Gospel.  I hate to admit that we are sometimes too concerned with the demographic that looks more like us than those who are hurting.  Instead of helping those who hurt, we hurt them more by turning them off from the church.  This is not the way Jesus worked. When Jesus went to the woman at the well, it was culturally off on so many levels!  She was deep in sin, probably shunned by her peers, and obviously looking for love and acceptance.  She had five husbands and the guy she was with then wasn’t even her husband.  Jesus went to her and accepted her unconditionally, giving her the Gospel.

People need to hear the Gospel, that Jesus accepts them where they are.  May we see through the lens of the Gospel and love people as Christ does, not how they look.  May we be bold in giving people the life changing news that there is level ground at the cross, and the Gospel is Christ’s unconditional love and acceptance to those who accept Him.

What do you think?

(1 Samuel 16:7; John 4:4-30)

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So, I’m an uncle!

So, Kara and I are the proud owners of a new nephew as of last night.  Maybe the better way of saying that is that I’m and uncle and Kara is an aunt.  After being woken up (in a good way) at 4:00 yesterday morning, we waited, texted and called (sounds like a new Jack Johnson song) until we got the news that David Rex Reed was born to my brother and sister-in-law, Ben and Laura.  To the delight of my mom and my sweet wife, I am a very uneducated person  when it comes to babies and having them.  So, this caused many funny moments when I asked what they (and probably everyone else) thought as a silly question.  You are probably itching to hear what my questions were, but I will NOT be sharing them.  They aren’t rude or insensitive to birth…it would just make me seem like an idiot (as if that is not already confirmed).

So, Kara and I sat around the living room with the phone on speaker phone listening to mom tell about what Rex looks like and how he is sticking out his little tongue and how he has skinny little legs like his uncle.  

I’m sure that Ben will give all of the story of their day at the hospital on his blog, Life and Theology.

But, until then, here is a picture that mom sent me and Kara of little Rex. Congratulations Ben and Laura!  Kara and I know that Ben and Laura are going to be such great parents to Rex.