Gigantic Joy!

The word for this week of Advent is "joy". This word has stuck with me as I have journeyed through this week. The word "joy" is found all through out scripture but what is it? GK Chesterton said in his book Orthodoxy that "joy" is the gigantic secret of the Christian. "Joy" when it is used in scripture is always a reminder that it comes as the result of faith and obedience. It isn't an instantaneous sing a couple of hallelujahs and lets have some joy. No joy is deep seated in the Christian narrative. It is burrowed in the story of patience and hope in the midst of trials. The Christmas consumerist experience is a microcosm of our cultural issues. We are all bent on instantaneous gratification. I am going to get what I want and when I want it. And nothing beats the fruition of our labor when we get what we want. It is kind of disgusting when we get to the bottom of it.

Our seeking of instantaneous gratification is slowly killing our souls. We get angry when life doesn't come out the way we think it ought. 

Yet the joy of a Christian isn't one that expects instant gratification. The Christian narrative is one that doesn't gloss over the reality that life is messy. The Christian narrative reminds us that we live in the "here and now" of perpetual "not yets." There are moments of immense happiness (you got a job, you got some good grades, your girlfriend thinks your cute) and really low and sad moments (your parent dies suddenly, you get in a fight with your parents, you got an F on your progress report, your girlfriend doesn't like you anymore or no longer thinks your cute...). The Christian narrative expects these realities. But that isn't the only expectation. We recognize that in the midst of trials that Christ is coming. And we can have "joy." A trial is no obstacle for joy. It is only a means by which we come to experience the joy of belonging to Christ in his fullness. We need to be reminded often of this truth because it is so easy to be sucked back in to our cultural narrative. I feel horrible today... I will order a new iphone. Or get my mom to buy it.

My hope for you is that you would pause during this time of go, go, go and center yourself. Take time to pray and be patient. Take time to pray for your family and friends. Take time to be grateful. Take time to read scripture. 

And maybe along our journey we will continue to experience this secret of joy. Lets take our next right step towards Jesus. 

"Come thou long expected Jesus..." 

{ADVENT}URE and Christmas Party Photos

We finished our {ADVENT}URE  study last night at the Christmas Party. Scripture says, "God's spirit beckons there are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid grave-tending life. It's ADVENTUROUSLY EXPECTANT  greeting God with a childlike "What's Next Papa?"

The Christian life should be one of adventure. Adventure is defined as an "exciting and unusual experience, typically hazardous experience." Adventure is what makes good stories great.

The stories we read of Mary and Joseph is an adventurous and scandalous one. The idea of "Jesus' birth" wasn't a very welcomed one at first for Mary and Joseph. Mary when she first heard of this unusual idea that God was up to was "troubled". And Joseph when he heard wanted to get rid of Mary by divorcing her. How would it look for Mary to be pregnant, unmarried, and a virgin? Her image is at stake. And even more Mary seeing to be with child out of wedlock could be a death sentence. This story has hazard written all over it.

But the story we read in scripture doesn't end with scandal but instead in a glorious resurrection. Christ came in the midst of their messy world. Folks often times believe that they have to get their "act together" before they come to Jesus. Jesus meets us best in the midst of our messy life.

The challenge for many of us is how we choose to handle our messiness. Joseph's original plan with the whole birth situation was giving up and absolving himself of the situation. A friend hurts you so you disown that friend. You make a bad play in a sport so you never play again. Giving up is probably our number one go to with how to deal with problems.

Yet giving up doesn't tell a very warming story. we choose to pray instead of giving up when life gets messy. We choose to dive deeper into scripture and the community of faith. And I know this might seem like the Christian thing to say. But if we read scripture and begin to do what it says a great story arises. And character develops.

I see this story of Adventure playing out with our youth. They wanted to serve more locally so they took on the leadership of helping those in need. It is recognizing that our world is a mess but I am going to be apart of Christ' work coming in to the world. That is a better story. That is the story Christians are to tell. And that is the story we usher in expectation each Advent season. Christ is coming.

So... Merry Christmas! And here are the pictures...  from the party. Enjoy.

Youth serving this past Saturday! 

{ADVENT}URE

The word "Advent" means come. As Christians we believe that Christ has come and that Christ will come again. We live in a perpetual state of expectancy. We all go through moments in our lives where it is hard to grasp on to the reality that Christ is coming. A barren land if you will.

A few weeks ago at Elevate we talked about  that life is adventurous. This word adventurous means an exciting and unusual experience that can be typically hazardous. Life is filled with all sorts of experiences that can go in to the unusual and exciting category. The story of Mary and Joseph wasn't the romanticized version that we portray in our manger scenes. But instead it was quite messy. Mary was 14 years old when she has this encounter with God. And her first response isn't excitement but instead she is "troubled." Mary at the time was engaged to be married to Joseph and being found with child could only mean one thing... she cheated. And this act in itself was punishable by death.

Mary was taking a huge risk. Instead of walking away and being afraid she embraced this calling. She understood what God was doing was worth the risk. What a beautiful story that Christ comes in the midst of our mess! Mary told such a beautiful story with her life. Now what kind of story do we tell with our lives?

This week we will dive deeper in to the story of Joseph. Joseph had a hard time with Mary's calling. How does Joseph explain to all his friends that his future wife is pregnant? Would they buy such a story? Do you buy such a story? So he planned to privately divorce her. Joseph was not prepared.  Football players "prepare" for a game. Cooks "prepare" for a meal. Preachers "prepare" their sermons. Preparation is important in our lives. And as Christians we prepare. Our world is messy. And we are not exempt from it's messiness. But the question is what we do with this messiness. What do we do when we get bad grades? Give up? Or do we keep striving. Reading scripture, praying, serving others develop character in a Christian. So the Adventure continues...

Learn More, Dig Deeper, and Grow

We have covered a lot of great scriptures these past few months. And my hope is that the youth would take another look at these scriptures. Here are some things that I do sometimes that help me dig deeper in to a scripture... 

1. Write down a couple of things you think this scripture might be saying... 

2. Are there words that you like... or words that you don't know... take some time researching on the interwebs. 

3. If it is a short scripture try rewriting it. Then write it in your own words. 

4. Want to go crazy... memorize it. Then write it on a postcard and take it with you. 

You will find that when we dig deeper, God meets us, and we grow. Here is the document with all the scriptures.

The Pilgrimage Review

I hope all the PG youth had a great time at Pilgrimage! Our speaker this year was Olu Brown who is the pastor of Impact United Methodist Church in Atlanta, GA. He really spoke to the youth in great ways! Here are some of the things that I heard the youth say that the got from this weekend...

1. Don't give up... no matter the circumstance God is with us

2. They want to be the kind of people that are leaders in their school

3. They are unique. 

4. Sometimes in life we have to wait... 

As I see all these words in front of me I think that these are words for me as well! What a great weekend! Now I hope that youth will take ownership of these words and be who Christ has called them to be. 

I also came away this weekend being so grateful to God for the youth. I am so honored and grateful that I get to be their youth pastor. They make me laugh, they encourage me, they pray for me, and they do challenge me! 

Also I want to say how grateful I am for the adult leaders that went. I have been praying that adults at PG would be a leader to these youth! And what a blessing it was to have Andrea, Kiah, Veronica, Mike, and John on the trip this weekend. 

I encourage you to check out one of the talks we watched at Pilgrimage! Downright inspiring!

http://www.nccpilgrimage.org/2012-11-27-00-14-07/videohub/video/popular/sat-am-olu-s-talk

And here are some pictures of Pilgrimage and the Halloween Carnival. 

Day 2

Day 2. Sporting the pgumc hoodies!

Stop hunger now service project!

Pilgrimage 2013

Getting ready to hit the road. Excited!

Part of the group!

We are here!

You are LOVED if...

Youth experience a world of "you are loved if..." You are loved if you make that team, you are loved if you get these grades, you are loved if you make these friends, you are loved if you wear these clothes. The list is endless! And possessions, sports, friends end up being how we gauge how much we are loved.

These past few weeks we have talked about that we are "made in the image of God." We are valued, loved, cared for, appreciated, with unique attributes all given to us by God. We did nothing to earn them but through God's grace he put this wonderful image on our hearts. 

So as we finish these last couple of weeks up of our MADE series I am reminded that I can be sure that "God loves us." There is nothing we can do about it. There it is. There is no "if" at the end of the sentence. Regardless if we make the team. Regardless of the clothes we wear. God loves us, values us, celebrates us! This is what it means to be made in the image of God. It means to be aware of the value that God has placed upon each of our lives. 

So I hope these past few weeks the youth have come away with how much God loves them. That they don't need to do anything to earn it. All they need to do is embrace it. And to call out that which is good in their friends. 

In the next few weeks we will be looking at {ADVENT}URE. The Advent story is filled with much expectancy and tension. There are many elements of the Advent story that are scandalous and full of tension. Our lives carry some of the intonation of ADVENT. As sure as we might be about the life that we are leading there are elements that are unknown to us. There are elements where we live in tension. And there are elements where we wait in eager expectation of what God might do next. If Christianity is boring and not an Adventure we are doing something wrong. The heart of the Christian is always asking "What's Next". Or "what great things do you have in store for me today Jesus?" 

Mission Trip 2014 INFO

Here is some helpful information about the mission trips we have been taking the past few years. This is really helpful especially if your youth is new to mission trips. Feel free to give me some feedback or questions you still might have out about our Summer Mission Trip experiences. As always friends are also invited on these trips! Blessings! 

Why a Mission trip?

Mission trip are super fun mixed in with some hard work. They are much more rewarding than the plain fun trips because serving others and meeting new folks is such a cool experience. But it also builds character in the youth. My first experience with church was through a mission trip. And it was life changing. And I am sure that it will be the same for your youth.

And if that isn’t enough. You can earn some service hours!! And lots of them.

What is Youth Works?

Youth works is an on the ground organization that organizes\ mission trips for middle school and high school students nationally and globally. You can check them out at www.youthworks.com

Have we worked with them before?

Yes! We took four youth last summer to try them out in Nashville, TN and Savannah, GA. And it turned out to be a super great week of serving Jesus in both cities. 

What would my youth be doing during the mission trip?

We typically are housed in a church for a week. Each day we go out to different sites to serve the community. In the past we participated in helping out with nursing home activities, calling bingo, painting houses, gardening, reading programs, nonprofits, cleaning used mattresses, sorting through food at a food pantry, basically wherever there is a need we try to help out as best we can.

Who can go?

This mission trip is for current 6-12 grades. 

Where will the mission trip be?

We asked the youth where they would want to go. They have chosen Charleston, WV. And our back up site is Birmingham, AL in case this site fills up to quickly. These trips especially in July fill up very fast this is why our deadlines are so early. 

When?

July 20-25 (trying to avoid conflicts with sports practices that start in August)

What is the cost of the mission trip and what all does it include?

The cost of the mission trip is $330. This includes transportation, lodging, and meals during the week. We will do some fundraisers to help offset the cost and we will also ask the congregation to help support us and sponsor youth in this mission trip. (last year each person only had to pay $70 each)

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions. It is truly a life changing experience and we would love for your youth to be apart of this experience! 

A $50 deposit is required to sign up by January 15.
You can sign up your youth as always via THIS LINK

MADE

Scripture says in Genesis 5:1, "When God created man, he made him in the image of God. He created them male and female and blessed them."

This year we are talking about going and making disciples. God has sent us out to be witnesses or I think a better word would be storytellers. Simply put these last few weeks I hope the youth have thought about friends that they could invite. Simply invite. Sometimes we forget that we are suppose to invite people on to this journey with us.  

Paul in Acts when preaching to the people of Athens said, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hand...We are his offspring." 

You are his offspring. I am his offspring. We are all his offspring. And our mission is to call out that which is good with the way we live and in the way we speak echoing this powerful reality that we are made in God's image. 

We have messed it up. Yup sure have. So God sent Jesus so that we might be redeemed by his blood. So in the words of John people will see God in us. "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 

The next three weeks we will talking about all of this! And hopefully it will all come together. 

1. MADE: You were created by God for God! 

2. MADE: We messed it up... but there is GREAT news we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus! 

3. MADE: We are made for a purpose! 

Elevate

Excited to start our new season of youth!

JONAH:God wants me to go "where"!

As many of you might have heard through the emails that our Sunday nights will now be called "Elevate". We picked the name of Elevate because that is the message of Jesus to his disciples. As Christians we are to rise up and to be good examples of what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Our "theme" that will guide us through this year is "go and make." These two words come from the great commission found in Matthew 28. These were the last words Jesus spoke to the disciples in the gospel of Matthew. And they are words that still center our mission here in this world.

We will start out our year by talking about how we tend to react with this word "go" with the story of Jonah being our backdrop. Our temptation is to think when Jesus said "go" what he really meant was "go" to church.

But what it really means is God sending us to places that we might have never thought he sent us. Youth might think they are at school to learn, in band to play an instrument, on a sports team to rise above the rest, you might see where I am going with this. But in reality God has sent us there to be a light to a dark world.

So encourage your youth and yourself to take sometime to read the story of Jonah. It is a good one. Looking forward to sharing in its truth this month!

Day 4!

On our way home from a great week. We will call when we are close! 

Day 3

Sorry for the late post. Today is going great. We have been relaxing. The weather is much better today. Ice cream run is on the docket. And the devo tonight should be amazing as we look deeper in to why we do what we do. 

Sunset at Camden!

Day 2

Today the boys woke up at six to fish! We caught some blue crap. Caeden and Ryan have caught a couple of fish. 

Our theme for the week is "why we do what we do". And we are talking in depth about the liturgy of communion. 

Last night we talked about the significance of the invitation and today we will be talking about the actions of passing the peace and offering. Looking forward to journeying with the youth as they have aha moments!

Our view from the house. 

After Devos we shall kayak, canoe, fish, and chill!

Ice cream!

Day one youth retreat

First stop the aquarium! We kept it a secret and they were excited. 

Dinner time!

More than a trip...reflections from this past week

First parents thanks for letting us take your kids to Savannah with us. I know many of you must have been nervous with your youth going so far away. We are grateful you did! God did amazing things through them this week.

I am so proud of the youth in their work this past week. They not only represented Pleasant Green well they represented Jesus well. One of the most meaningful times of our week is during the foot washing. Christians wash the feet of others because it is what Jesus has called us to do for each other.

Feet washing is traditionally done by the servant. And Jesus who we believe to be God got on his knees and washed the feet of his disciples. As Christians we are first and foremost to be servants.

As we finished our feet washing we gathered in a circle with our arms around each other and we prayed. It was such a joyful thing to hear youth pour their hearts out to God. It was truly a beautiful sound. I am so grateful to be a witness to the work God is doing in our youth.

As we move forward and transition in to getting ready for the school year my challenge for the youth is to make an intentional decision to serve. I told the youth last Sunday that I have never had a problem with folks signing up for paintball, defy gravity, or all the fun trips... but when it comes to a service opportunity everyone seems to have plans.

So my challenge to the youth (and to parents) is that they would make the decision to serve others first and foremost and let all the other things follow.

Grace,

Jason

Last day!

I can't say how proud I am of the youth. They poured their hearts in to serving others not just some of the week but all! Who knew we had professional bingo callers among us?! 

Jesus is working in the lives of the youth at pleasant green! I am so grateful for each and every one of them. 

Looking forward to serving alongside them during the year. And for those that prayed for the youth. Thank you. The Holy Spirit worked in and through these youth. And what a beautiful sound to hear these youth pour their hearts out to Jesus! 

See you tomorrow. Right now it looks like we should be back around 3p. We will let you know when we are close. 

Getting ready to pack up leave but not before some epic cleaning!

Day 5!

We are going to end our time here well. What our eyes have seen, our ears have heard, and our hands have touched have been life changing. 

The youth have poured themselves in the midst of being super tired in each service site. This shows me that we have youth with servant oriented hearts. 

My hope is that we will pour ourselves in to ministry in our own backyard. That we will set aside our time to serve and be served for the sake of others. 

Today we will be back at second harvest then on to a nursing home in the afternoon. 

Looking forward to this day! 

Sorting again!

Hannah working hard

Caeden learning how to use a pallet lift. 

Lunch time found a park with lots of birds!

Back to work after a stop at sonic. Caeden calling bingo like a champ. 

Now Rick!

Well just broke a bench at our cook out!

Day 4!

We slept good last night! On the docket today is going to second harvest (a food bank) in the morning and in the afternoon we are going to hang out with kids at the boys and girls club. 

Then later we will go out to tybee island to the beach. 

But first devotionals to start out our morning!

More pictures to follow!

Working at second harvest food bank this morning sorting through food. 

Davis moving pallets outside

Hannah stocking the shelves. 

A guy named Tyler took my name tag that I have been wearing all week long but he gave it back. 

Will playing some basketball. 

Trying to get a game of football going. 

Beach time then pizza!

Really proud of the way the youth served today! Even when they were so tired. They have poured their heart into serving! My prayer is that they will give of themselves to the service of others in their own backyard. 

Tomorrow we will be at second harvest in the morning and then at a nursing home in the afternoon. 

Day 3!

We are ready for our third day! Words cannot express how proud I am of the youth! They have poured their heart in to the work of Jesus. Plus they are such a joy to be around. 

We will be working with the children at the YMCA again this morning. And then painting in the afternoon. Hopefully it is cloudy because yesterday it was hot!

I will post some pictures later! 

Getting started at the Y!

Rick and Davis playing soccer!

Painting again!

Got to tour the First African Baptist Church here in Savannah. Only if we could worship there this Sunday!