one28 Podcast2004-05 Theme: The Year of the “S”
Last Wednesday night we had our annual one28 Fall Kick-Off. It was great to be back at it after taking the last four Wednesdays off. The worship team was tight and the overall atmosphere of the room was … electric? I enjoyed being the Hostess Snowball target once again and we just couldn’t beat Little Caesar’s to top off the evening.
If you were there, you know that the subject of my short exhortation was “The Year of the ‘S’”. I mentioned five ‘S’s in total, and over the next few days I’ll try to recapture in weblog form a few thoughts for each one.
The Year of the Small Group
The first ‘S’ was The Year of the SMALL GROUP. Most of you probably know by now that we’ve made a major change to our Wednesday night program. We’re dedicating every second and fourth Wednesday of each month this year to small groups. This decision was made through much discussion and a lot of prayer, and there are at least a few reasons we are so excited about it.
Small groups are such a major part of what we do in one28. They are critical in our endeavor to warn and teach and present every man complete in Christ. They are where we focus on a few to reach the many. They are the place where lifelong relationships are forged and where eternal differences are made. They are a place for encouragement, for accountability, for application, for discipleship, and for growth in Christlikeness.
Since so many students are so busy we believe that this will enable them to participate in their small groups with greater consistency. Teachers typically assign less homework for Wednesday nights and most athletic events are scheduled for other nights of the week. In addition we know that many families have already made Wednesday night untouchable in their weekly scheduling. So making room for small groups on Wednesdays seemed to be an obvious benefit.
And by having all the small groups on the same night we eliminate not only the possibility of having families separated two nights a week, but in some cases maybe even three nights a week. Homes with multiple students in different small groups might have had one student out Monday night for their small group, both gone on Wednesday for one28, and then perhaps another student out for their small group on Thursday or Friday. The new plan makes recurring ‘multiple night out weeks’ a thing of the past.
I am also excited on both a personal level and from a shepherding perspective because I’ll be able to visit each small group on a rotating schedule. Each small group has already signed up for their own Wednesday and the list goes through the start of the new year. I’ll start this week as I will be with the JH guys on the 22nd. As I’ve mentioned a couple times during announcements, this will be a great opportunity for me just to hang out with each group, answer questions, have some fun, and get to know each other a little bit better.
I want to encourage you to make sure that you take advantage of every small group opportunity there is. Your junior high and high school experience is a short one (regardless of how slow it seems right now!), and your time in one28 will be like no other time in your life. If you’re new to the ministry or just not sure which group you’re in, please let me know as soon as possible and we’ll get you hooked up with a group right away. This is the Year of the Small Group in one28…I pray it will be in your life as well!
The Year of the Senior
Though it has been more than a “few” days, I am no less excited to continue some written description about “The Year of the ‘S’”. I covered the first of five elements in my last blog so today we move on to number two, The Year of the SENIOR.
We have a priceless resource in our seniors and I want to take advantage of every opportunity for their input and impact among us in one28. I don’t know when we’re going to have another year like this one, with five faithful senior guys who have been committed to our ministry for the duration of their high school careers. James Barnts, Josh Hehe, Tony Kevin, Jesse Martin, and David Zimmer have already given us much, and now we will ask even more of them through their final year as students in one28.
It is a recurring conversation among the male one28 staff to figure out how we can effectively encourage the young men in our ministry and do our part to help them become spiritually mature men. Though it is not realistic for us to think that process of growth will be completed by high school graduation it is still our intention to send out our senior guys with as much Christian ‘manhood’ as possible.
And a major part of being a man is leading. Some guys are natural leaders, others must hone their skills. Either way, men are called to lead. This is not a chauvinistic thing; it’s a biblical thing. The Bible calls men to be the leaders in their marriages and in their families. God’s Word makes it clear that men are to be the leaders in His Church. Leading is a distinguished privilege, but it is also an enormous responsibility.
So we are always looking for ways to get our guys to grow in their leadership abilities. And starting tomorrow night in HS one28 our senior guys begin a year of leading on Wednesdays. We will give each of the seniors mentioned above a Wednesday night to make their own. And they will have more than one opportunity as we are planning to rotate them through again and again throughout the entire school year. These guys will be in charge of everything: planning what will be on the evening’s schedule, deciding the order of the service, running (or delegating someone else to run) each part of the night, and then teaching us from something that they’ve been learning recently in their own lives.
I know that I couldn’t really be more excited about this! It will increase student ownership in one28. It will challenge these seniors to set an example for the underclassmen. It will increase their accountability to the other students, to their small group leaders, to me, and most of all – to God Himself. It will enable freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to gather up all the guidance they can from those who are going before them. It will further our goal of one28 being a student ministry. And I believe it will glorify God as we vigorously work to present every man complete in Christ.
Please pray for these seniors as they arrange their schedules and prepare to lead us on Wednesdays this upcoming year. And be there tomorrow night as David Zimmer leads off The Year of the Senior by leading us in Wednesday night worship.
The Year of Snow Retreat
Upon further review I’ve confirmed that The Year of the SNOW RETREAT was actually the second point in my Kick-Off message on “The Year of the S” and The Year of the Senior was the third element. But I covered the Seniors in my last blog, so let me take a step back as we move ahead.
I’ve never been to a retreat or camp that I didn’t like (ok, that’s not exactly true, I hated one, but that was in another country, so it doesn’t count!). So much happens when we go away together that is just impossible during the normal course of our busy and scattered lives. As I’ve said before, I believe that we are most like the early church when we eat together, play together, sing together, walk together, pray together and fellowship with each other for a few days. It is sweet to be away from our televisions and radios and CDs and computers and email and any number of other distractions as a ministry for this short, scheduled time.
Our annual Snow Retreat is all this and more. I should know this because the 05SR will be my fifth snow retreat. I was the speaker in February 2001 and became pastor later in June of that year. That means that I have been part of planning and organizing the 02SR, 03SR, 04SR and now the 05. Let me say that I believe, without any shadow of doubt in my mind, that this will be the absolute best retreat you’ve ever attended.
My wife told me recently that I have never talked about anything the way I’ve been talking about this upcoming snow retreat. I’m not sure that even I can explain it, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Almost every day something else comes to mind that I believe will make this the most memorable retreat for everyone involved. I’ve already started praying for it at set times during each week. I’m thinking that maybe we should start calling it the 05BR, because it is going to be stinking BIG!
You think you know the snow retreat, but you don’t. You may be thinking that all of this is all just hype, and you’d be wrong. Maybe you think it just can’t get better than last year. Wait and see. Some are still wondering what in the world I’m talking about. I promise you that more details are coming soon. What I can say is that, by the grace of God and for His glory alone, the 05SR is going to radically reform everything you’ve ever imagined the snow retreat could be!
The Year of the Spirit
Out of every point so far this ‘S’ is the certainly the most ‘spiritual.’ The first three elements of The Year of the S relate more to the one28 program, that is, they each relate to things that our ministry does. Small group schedules, senior Wednesdays, and the upcoming snow retreat are really just different events that are planned, organized, and carried out. And by definition such program elements are more focused on that which is earthly and temporal. So what will make our ministry a spiritual ministry?
The obvious answer is the Spirit–so, The Year of the SPIRIT. Our ministry will be spiritual when it is filled with people who have been given new life by the Spirit (John 3:5) and thus are guaranteed eternal life by the sealing of the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). Even more, the temporal things that we do and the earthly events that take place will take on a spiritual nature when we are filled with the Spirit and walk by the Spirit. There are at least three things here that deserve further comment.
First, being filled with the Spirit is an issue of control. In Ephesians 5:18 we are commanded, “do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” The contrast between drunken living and Spirit living is instructive. A drunk person is dominated by alcohol. We talk about a person like this being “under the influence.” So everything an intoxicated person thinks, decides, talks about, or does is controlled by the alcohol. As Christians, however, we are to be drunk with the Spirit. We are to be dominated by, under the influence of, controlled by God’s Spirit. This means that everything we think about, every decision we make, everything we talk about and each thing we do should be directed by the Spirit.*
Second, walking by the Spirit is not natural for us, but it is super-natural. Galatians 5:16-24 describes another contrast involving the Spirit, but here the contrast is between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. It is natural for men to pursue the desires of their flesh and “the works of the flesh are evident.” A representative list of fifteen fleshly works are listed in verses 19-21; works which ought never to characterize individual attitudes or interpersonal relationships of those in our ministry. Rather, if we live by the Spirit we should also walk by the Spirit (v.25). And when we walk by the Spirit there will be visible fruit (note that fruit is singular: “the fruit of the Spirit is…” and not “the fruits of the Spirit are…”). Depending on your perspective the fruit may look like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness” or “self-control,” but this supernatural fruit will be present in a spiritual ministry.
The final comment I want to make is that being filled with and walking by the Spirit logically leads to a discussion on credit. Since we cannot produce any good fruit on our own, and since the Spirit must be the source of all our good fruit, God must get all the credit! In fact, all things are to be for His glory and for His glory alone. This will take us to a future blog and our final S, the year of soli deo gloria.
No matter what our one28 program is, I earnestly long for our ministry to be spiritual. I believe that will happen when we have a ministry full of Spirit-filled, Spirit-walking staff and students.
*A person who is controlled by the Spirit is a person who is richly indwelt by God’s Word, since the same results follow from each (addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart). So a spiritual life is not some mystical life, but a biblical life.
The Year of Soli Deo Gloria
The Latin phrase soli Deo gloria means “for the glory of God alone.” It was the last of five theological anchors dropped in the 16th century Reformation, a reformation which worked to reclaim the Scriptural teaching of God’s sovereign place over every aspect of the believer’s life. This is the truth that all of life is to be lived to the glory of God…and for His glory only.
Perhaps you have heard someone ask this question: “What is the chief end of man?” That is an important question and the simple answer is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” The reformers saw the importance for all of life to be lived by this standard.
Four hundred years after the Reformation it is easy to demonstrate that our interests have displaced God’s and even when we do His work we typically do it in our own way. The loss of God-dependence in the life of today’s church is shameful. It is the loss of His centrality that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. This man-centered approach is nothing less than idolatry.
God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions; He exists to display the magnificence and splendor and brilliance and beauty of Himself. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God’s kingdom, not our positive feelings or popularity or success.
Because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God’s glory alone, and therefore it is our reasonable service of worship to glorify Him in everything in every place in every way at every time. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for His credit alone. This is the year of SOLI DEO GLORIA.
See other themes: 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09
