sunday night emotional basketcase

so last night was awkward. everything from the gathering to the pool party afterward was weird. first, i made to mistake of changing my sunday night gathering plans right before the service started. we had planned to show the second part of louie giglio's message hope for when life hurts the most. for the most part, our kids have enjoyed this video series however many of our older students were out of town this week so when i saw that most of those there were in middle school, i changed the plan. this was a big mistake on my part and began the awkwardness. i decided to just have a time for sharing and field any questions the kids might have about christianity or following christ. for the most part, there was silence.

the night rebounded a little when two visitors came in 15min late. knowing that it was then too late to play hope(45min long) i decided to pop in francis chan's mini video "just stop and think." this is a 15min non-threatening presentation of the gospel that went over very well in the group. even our guest who I’m pretty sure were not believers were receptive and participated in the discussion to follow. while there was still a bit of silence in the overall post-viewing discussion, the night ended well.

after the gathering we went to a pool party at the chairman of the personnel committee's house. this started out great until the guy got a little weird. once he got me alone, he rather abruptly told me that our services would not be needed after august 10th and that the church has decided to "go in a different direction." now let me say this, august 10th was a date that i gave when allison and i accepted this position and i had not planned on staying past this date. it is kinda sad though to know that you do not even have that option. i mean, we fell in love with these kids and really feel like we built a little something while we have been here. it is hard to walk away from a project in the middle of its creation. it will be tough to watch someone else come in a change things back to the 1980's southern baptist way of doing youth ministry. i fear that this church will let its student fall through the cracks as they seek someone from the inside to lead the group until they hire a fulltime pastor.

allison and i both know that we are not a long time fit for this church, really, we've about hit our end as it is. but to watch how this church treats its next generation makes me sick. they don't want a leader to challenge them, they want a babysitter. i know every youth pastor says this about every youth group but i have never met such a great group of kids. the leadership in the group is amazing. they need mentors not entertainers. this group could change their town with the right encouragement and leadership.

please pray that allison and i are able to leave with grace. i know that a good leader knows when he is not in charge and keeps his mouth shut but its really hard for us. we love these kids and this town and believe this church could radically change both if they wanted to. pray for a revolution. pray that they don't go backwards. pray that we can trust the work we have done to God.

alex

trees and cookies: the purpose of life

last night we showed the rob bell nooma titled trees (003). it has been really cool to watch the students as they break out of their traditional church models and begin to experience real christianity. at the beginning of the summer, these videos really freaked the kids out and now they are begging for more.

our post-viewing conversation went in the direction of what one should do with their life in order to be used by God. there were many traditional answers like read our bibles, go to church and "witness" to others but for the most part, it seems that these answers were no longer good enough. these students are ready for a change. they are tired of the same answers and they are sick of doing things the same way. they want something real. senseing this, i followed the spirit and took a chance. we then changed directions and offered this as the meaning of life. to live.

pretend that God created each of us like one bakes cookies. we all come from the same dough and we're made up of the same stuff yet God gives each of us something different. i think traditional christianity would claim that God has a cookie cutter that is the christian mold. he takes the dough, and makes all christians look and act a certian way and if someone doesn't look or act this way, they must not be a true christian. i think this is one of the greatest tragedies in christianity today, the idea that we all have to fit into some kid of pre-cut mold or box. the reality is this, God has zillions of cookie cutters, and we each get our own. while we all come from the same stuff, God makes us all different and gives us different passions and gifts. the point of the christian life and life in general then is to seek and listen to God, for He will show us our passions. once we know our passion, what makes us happiest, we can give it all we got knowing that God is glorified in us when we are doing what we were created to do. God gets glory when we live life as our own unique person created by one mold which was broken after God created us. know one else can be you in this world, let your life shine with glory.

BIG UPDATE!!!

so its been almost two weeks since my last post so we're going to have to play catch up. to stary with, we just got back from our middle school camp to atlanta georgia and it was absolutely amazing. my good friend Ryan Fitzgerald was our worship leader and he did a great job! i spoke for the wednesday and friday night session and we had a couple of special guest on thursday. it was encouraging to me to hear that most of our kids rededicated there lives for christ on the nights i spoke. its really cool to see how God can work through you, thats totally His doing and not mine!!! our theme for the week was "renovate" and the message was that God is the author of a grand story, and somewhere along the way, we tried to write our own. in stead of writting us our of His story, God fixed the problem through Jesus and "renovated" our lives. it was awesome to see our kids experience the true grace of God for the first time. the kids were also able to expereince the majesty of the great city of atlanta as we went to whitewater, the world of coke, the cnn center, centennial olympic park and the georgia aquarium. it was truly an exciting trip and the kids did not want to leave.

keep praying for allison and i as we continue to share the grace of God to the students of muscle shoals alabama. we only have 4 weeks left in our original agreement as we are finding ourselves torn between two worlds. one is atlanta, our home and what we believe to be the best city in the world. the other is here in muscle shoals, the sleepy, quiet little town with great people and amazing kids. it will be hard to build something and then have to hand it over to someone else. also, as church politics continue to drive the church's search for a new pastor and youth pastor, it will be difficult to leave these kids without a leader. please pray that God will show us what is right.

alex

indescribable

sunday night we showed the louie giglio talk "indescribable" for our evening gathering. if you haven't seen the message, i highly recommend it as it is one that has changed the way i see God. the whole point of the message is that God is much greater and we are much smaller than we could ever have imagined. this is not to say however that God does not care about us or that our troubles are not important. the most powerful aspect about louie's talk is that he shares the truth that while not even the universe can contain the majesty and greatness of God, he still chooses to pursue us. while God is above all, he longs to be in community with us. once the message was over, i took the stage for closing thoughts and i which was met with silence. almost every student was looking at the floor or off into a vast void of nothingness. scared to death that they were just bored to death for the past 44min i quickly rambled to find words. perhaps they were not ready for this i thought, maybe it was too long, maybe teenagers just don't yet understand. in the midst of my worries, a girl looked up at me and in the most pure and understanding way said "that was awesome!" what a breath of fresh air, they got it! after that, others entered into the coversation, some cried, others simply sat in awe. it was a really cook experience to see that regardless of one's age, the truth of God's glory and his desire for us is always relevant.

things are going very well for this georgia boy in muscle shoals, alabama. i love the people, i love the little town, and i love the church. i am very glad that God provided this opportunity for allison and i. this are truly exciting times.