1.  My goal for this year is to live 1John 2.6, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”  I want to walk just as Jesus walked.

2.  I am transferring degrees from Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology to a Master of Arts in Management and Leadership.  Just sense that the counseling path is the path God has for me right now.

3.  I have read two fiction/non-spiritual books in the past month (that is a record for me, since I prefer non-fiction spiritually related books).  I read, The End Is Now, by Rob Stennett.  Though it is a spiritually focused book it is fiction book.  The other book I just finished up is, Tiger Force, by Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss.  The book is the account of a renegade group of U.S. soldiers in the Vietnam War.  This book was way out of my normal reading habits but Anna got it for me and I really enjoyed reading it.  I read it all in about 3 nights.  It taught me a lot about human nature especially in moments of extreme crisis and conflict.

4.  I am currently reading, In Common:  Catalyst Groupzine.  It is a compilation of authors discussing the importance of community among Christians. 

5.  EPIC is going well.  I really like our FUSE Nights in which parents are encouraged to attend.  Our current programming breakdown is:

1. First week of the month—FUSE Night (Dinner with families and then parents have separate discussion while students do their regular programming).
2. 2nd and 3rd week of the month—regular EPIC format
3. 4th week of the month—rotate between an outreach activity and service projects.

6.  I am excited that the Colts are in the Super Bowl!!!!

7.  I am focused heavily on The CHILL which is our High School winter retreat.  You can read about it here.

8.  My personal spiritual development has been taking me through the book of Acts.  Though I haven’t been as consistent as I should, I have been impacted about the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the early church.  The result of His empowering of Christ-followers was incredible boldness and compassion which led to incredible growth and ministry opportunities.

9.  The fam is doing well.  Isaac and Noah continually do well at school.  Isaac has been quite the Jesus-witness at school (we are waiting te get calls from the school and/or parents).  Emma is Emma—really enough said!  She is getting sweeter by the day.  I live for our nightly snuggle moments.

10.  Anna and I have been working out.  Though it has been painful,  I have really enjoyed the experience.  I have lost about 10 pounds in the past 15 days.  My favorite snack is Steamed Sugar Snap Peas—and no I am not kidding!

So what is your Top Ten so far this year?

I recently saw this article and thought it interesting!

Family . . .

. . . ministry . . .

. . . school have kept me very busy. 

I will try to be more consistent.

But now I have a reason to write.

8 members of our EPIC Leadership Team just finished a day at our local YS One Day.

It was really good!!!  I really needed it!

The focus this year–back to the Bible.

Interestingly, tomorrow we kick off our Origins series.  It is a fresh look at Genesis (I will write more about this next week).

Many of the things we learned today I already had ready to implement tomorrow.  Either I am a head of the curve or I have been trained well by others (okay, it is the latter).

Our trainer for the day was Crystal Kirgiss.  Crystal has worked with teenagers for more than 20 years. She writes a monthly column for Youthwalk magazine and is the author of What’s Up With Boys?. She’s also the coauthor of Guys, Girls and Sex Has a Price Tag, and she teaches at Purdue University.  She was hilarious and poignant!

I would encourage any one who is a youth pastor, volunteer leader, small group leader, etc. to find a One Day training in your area in register.  For our team, it was well worth it.

Thanks to my leaders who gave up a Saturday for the sake of the student ministry at Grace Point!!!!

Josh is one of EPIC’s former students and was a member of the student leadership team while here.  He started his college career at Wright State University in Dayton, OH but felt God calling him into a vocational ministry.  He is now waiting for fall classes to start at Cedarville University in Cedarville, OH where he will be pursuing a youth ministry and business degree.

During Josh’s intern he will have the opportunity and responsibility of helping with programming, creativity and even planning and executing events, teachings and more.

I am very excited to have him aboard and look forward to seeing what God will do not only in Josh’s life but in our ministry as well.

Three things have helped make this decision:

1. A church, Grace Point Community, that values furthering education to point of attaching that to a part of our benefits package as a staff member.
2. A Senior Pastor, Terry Lewis, that is CONSTANTLY in a learning mindset. In fact he is currently in the middle of his Doctor of Ministry program.  He is always challenging us and pushing us to grow in our faith and in our understanding.
3. A wife that is VERY supportive.  Without Anna encouraging this it would be impossible to pursue.
4. A volunteer staff that loves me and EPIC ministry and rallies behind the students and each other to accomplish what needs to be done.

So, I am now a Master of Professional Counseling student at Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA).  For the next 12 weeks my posts on this site may be sporadic but hope to keep up.

Below is the course description for the class I am currently in:

COUN 501:  COUNSELOR PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY, FUNCTION, AND ETHICS

This course introduces students to concepts regarding the professional functioning of counselors, including history, roles, professional organizations, ethics, legalities, standards, and credentialing.
Current issues in therapeutic practice in a variety of professional settings are explored.
This course provides students with an understanding of various aspects of professional functioning as a counselor. Some of these aspects include the following: the relevance of personal identity to professional identity; the function of professional ethical codes and standards; ethical/legal considerations; the development of a biblical worldview regarding counseling; the history and development of counseling as a profession and as a distinct ministry of the church; roles, functions, and relationships with other providers; technology; professional organizations, primarily including
the AACC and ACA, with emphasis on divisions/branches, affiliates, benefits, activities, member services, current emphases, credentialing, certification/licensure, and accreditation; public policy and professional advocacy; advocacy on behalf of clients; and current challenges/opportunities facing today’s counselor.

My job–teach Class 401.  The topic of Class 401 is Our Mission, which is to obey and complete the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).  Per Terry’s (our Senior Pastor) suggestion we actually put the lesson into practice by meeting at the local Caribou Coffee and buying a $100.00 gift card to pay for next $100.00 worth of orders at the counter.  Result–opportunities to share the love of Christ.  We didn’t “give a cup of water” (Matthew 10:42) but we did give cups of coffee, and mocha.

As we were sitting there writing and sharing our testimonies with each other, I was struck with my former way of Christian living–Transactional Spirituality.  What is TS?  It is when we do “spiritual” acts to God but with OUR agenda in mind.  We are looking out for OUR best interest instead of God’s.  Our hope is that as we do “good” things, God will see them and in turn do something nice for us.  Our spirituality is reduced to a bank transaction with God as our bank teller.

I remember the moment though that all changed.  I was sitting in my office at my first youth pastorate reading the Gospels.  I realized that the Jesus of the Gospel was different than the Jesus I grew up with.  My Jesus was a judgmental Jesus.  If I did bad He didn’t like me, but if I did good He did.  I wanted Jesus to like me.

The Jesus of the Gospel is a truly loving Jesus.  A Jesus that loves me for who I am.  Yeah–God punishes up, but not because He is mad at us, but because of His love for us.

What Jesus do you serve?  Is your faith transactional based or grace based?