Thirteen years ago, I … Didn’t believe AIDS was a worldwide scourge. Didn’t understand how God was moving in Africa. Didn’t know I could share the gospel with someone who didn’t speak English. Didn’t understand how much wealth I had related to the rest of the world. Didn’t have a Christian worldview. It’s amazing how quickly one short-term mission trip to the African continent changed my perspective on EVERYTHING. For those of you planning and anticipating a mission trip this summer, … [Read more...]
Neighborhood by Neighborhood
For the better part of the past nine years, Jeff Killebrew found himself in inner-city New Orleans-on Desire Street to be exact. "Desire Street used to be the second largest public housing development in the country," Jeff says. "By the early "90s, HUD rated the Desire Project the "worst community in the nation." Take all the stereotypical inner-city statistics, multiply them a few times over, and that was the nature of the area. Children under 18 were the majority of the population-the vast majority growing up without fathers and … [Read more...]
Making Matches…Or At Least Talking About Them
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a match, Find me a find, Catch me a catch Matchmaker, Matchmaker Look through your book, And make me a perfect match. Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a match, Find me a find, Catch me a catch, Night after night in the dark I’m alone, So find me a match Of my own. These two stanzas from Fiddler on the Roof could easily be the mantra of today’s young adult. Everyone is looking for the perfect match. Of course, they have friends, family, church members, and the … [Read more...]
We Like Things Tough
We like things tough. At least we seem to, and maybe that’s a mark of our generation. We want to live deeply, think deeply, experience deeply. And while that might mean a little something different to everybody, as a whole, it seems to mean that we want to engage the Bible and God at a level that moves well past the surface. That’s the underlying reason behind these Bible studies, The Tough Sayings of Jesus I and II. I firmly believe it is by asking questions that we get a bigger and more intimate glimpse of Christ. … [Read more...]
Choosing Compassion Over Competition
There is not a single person I know who is more competitive than I am. Basketball, softball, fantasy football, picking winners in Saturday night UFC fights, whatever. You name it, I compete. One of my worst vices is that in the heat of competition is everything locks down—compassion, respect, fear of injury, everything. It’s a classic case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Blake Wolf Central Washington softball players Liz Wallace (left) and Mallory Holtman carry Western Oregon’s Sara Tucholsky around the bases after … [Read more...]
Just One Kind Word
If you know me, you know I am full of very strange stories, all of which are completely true. Yesterday, I added another tale to my ever-growing list. In addition to helping plant a new campus of my church, I teach a Bible study group for 10th grade guys. They keep me plugged into todays culture. I try to help them apply the Bible to their life. It’s a good partnership. They teach me 100 times as much as I teach them. About once a month, we walk across the street to a fast food place to get a drink and talk about life and their … [Read more...]
How to Fight Leadership Illiteracy
It was Saturday night at 10:30 when I closed the back cover of the book I was reading. It was designed to help pastors become better preachers, but that’s not what it did for me. It went deeper. I didn’t just get a few handy dandy tips, I was challenged to evaluate myself as a communicator. We all need this. We need to have our mind sparked, our cage rattled, our methods confronted. We need high ideals that keep us from settling for mediocrity. We need success stories to inspire us to persevere. We need challenges in all … [Read more...]
15 Things You Should Know Before Launching a Young Adult Ministry: Part 2
Last week we brought you the first installment of Margaret Feinberg’s list of must-knows for starting a young adult ministry. Here’s part two: Don’t pretend you have all the answers, because you don’t. If you pretend to have everything mastered or an answer for every situation, you’ll quickly lose favor and reputability with this generation.Be creative. The obstacles and challenges that you face whether it’s a lack of funds or location are opportunities for innovation. If you can’t do one … [Read more...]
15 Things You Should Know Before Launching a Young Adult Ministry: Part 1
If you’re thinking about launching a ministry to twenty- and thirtysomethings, you’re not alone. There are literally hundreds of others around the country who share the same passion and calling to encourage and equip this generation. We’ve interviewed several pastors, leaders and church planters around the United States to find out what they wish they would have known before launching into ministry to young adults. Here’s what we discovered: You can become so relevant that you become irrelevant. In other … [Read more...]
Does God Want Certainty?
Maybe you've had a similar experience to this-you stand at a crossroads in life, and you want to make the wisest choice. So you go out to the woods, or wherever you go to think, and you say to God, "I have two choices here. And I'm not coming out of these trees until you tell me which way to go." So you sit. As the sun goes down, you hear nothing. What are you supposed to do with that? I am beginning to believe that there are very few things in life that we can be absolutely certain of; that at best, most of our decisions have to … [Read more...]