Taking A Potty Break

Ok, so I didn't mean to be this graphic......ok i did. For those who may not know I have been working at Lipscomb Elementary School for the past 3 months as a part time janitor. My jobs was, but not limited to, cleaning toilets, sinks, and sweeping and just recently carving pumpkins. Lipscomb is a great school with great, committed teachers, who I will miss. I will be going back for visits.

This is my last day and to be honest I will not miss the task but I will miss the learning experience. Just like their is a war to fight and you cannot stay in boot camp even though it was your hight point of learning. I am off to fight a few wars and probably will wind up back in a spiritual boot camp to prepare me for even a greater war. There were days that I simply stared at these toilets wiling them to explode with no results, they had to be cleaned. Perseverance is a wonderful quality until it is beginning to be worked into your own life.

I am off to St. Louis to stump for my new digital publishers Unkommonmedia.com. We'll be working a booth there so please say a prayer that all that God intends will be prepared for and received by us knuckle heads. When I will return I will start sub teaching and possibly pursue a degree, we'll see.

Thanks all,


PT

Here it is!! After a few years of trial and error I have published my first e-book.

Are you prepared to dig deep for the answers? Crime Scenes from the Old Testament gives you interactive lessons and puts your students at the scene of the crime. These are great to spice up your sunday school, small group, retreat or midweek meeting.
Each part has four lessons on such Bible characters as Gideon, Sampson, Joseph and more. Each part comes with four lessons and downloadable crime scene photos (over 100 in all)

Your students will discover the clues, the cause and their character in Crime Scenes from the Bible.

Visit my friends at
unkommonmedia.com to get yours today.

Paul

Joining Forces

I have joined forces with the oldest youth ministry model on the planet, Christian Endeavor. Christian Endeavor has been around since the 1800's and is all about student led ministry. No really, student led. No more taking away what God has given them. I have taken the role of Program Director (part time at the moment). Our goal is to re-establish the movement and give students and youth leaders what they've longed for: More!. More of God, more of leadership, more direction, more resources and more coaching. To check out the origins, purpose etc. Please visit www.christianendeavor.com

Please continue to pray for me and Disciple Project Ministries. The D-Project will hopefully be a part of the CE Movement for a long time. I will continue to speak and train as needed and will hopefully develop my own CE group led by students of course.

Anyway, got more to say about some of our culture in the news but I'll save that for another time.

Peace

PT

Back To The Journey

This is the youth group at Graysville Church of God. They don't have a youth pastor right now but you would never know that by their smiles and passion for God. I have had the privilege of filling in and speaking every week for the past 6 weeks. These students are outstanding. They have a tremendous worship team and their friendliness is second to none.They love God and want to serve him and I wanted to give them props for keeping there hopes high and praying while waiting for what God will do next. I hope to keep speaking there as long as they will have me and who knows I'd like to see them do The D-Project and watch their gifts and talents shine even brighter bringing glory to God. Way to go Graysville, hang in there.

PT

Does Fighting Over God Push Others Away?

Here is an exerpt from an AP report on the school shootings in Cleveland, Oh.

"Coon's troubles seemed to come to a breaking point this week. Students said Monday's fight was over God — Coon told his classmates he didn't believe in God and instead worshipped rocker Marilyn Manson.
Coon had mental health problems, spent time in two juvenile facilities and threatened to commit suicide while in a mental health facility, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer newspaper."

Ok, now which of the following really contributed to this shooting?

a) mental health issues
b) Marilyn Manson
c) fight with student over God
d) messed up family life
d) all of the above

Many Christians would unfortunately choose B) soley. Marilyn is a symptom not the disease. He's the equivelance of a runny nose. We can blow our noses until Jesus comes but there will always be a Marilyn Manson; a scapegoat for Christians who'd rather point fingers, circle the wagons and find more reasons to homeschool their kids. This is coming from a believer in Jesus. I am not defending Asa or his actions, I am asking a larger question. Does arguing about God contribute to the isolation of others and rejection of the gospel. This is not that young man's fault who argued with Asa, we cannot expect 14 year olds to be C.S Lewis. I am asking as a believer whether we are more about arguing God or living out Christ's teachings.

I would agree that D) is the best answer but C) is just eating at my gut. What led to this fight? What was the argument really about? Was the other boy a Christian or just a a moral zealot who did not like Marilyn Manson? Was he truely sincere in his witness and Asa just went off on him? I'm betting my money on several factors such as teasing and name calling, a screwed up family and a hurt and broken heart with no hope that has contributed to this unfortunate incident. Christians (or anyone else) are not responsible for the final decisions people make. I am asking as to whether we are doing all we can to rescue students like Asa and protect the innocent from those who refuse our help and intervention. Have we given the Asa's in our community every chance to turn it around? This incident only leads to more questions that we must continually ask ourselves as believers engaging an unbelieving, broken and hurt generation. What can we do about it? Your comments are welcome.

Let the sparks fly,


Paul

Do We Need Youth Ministry? Not If.......Part Two

Do We Need Youth Ministry?

Not if the youth leader and the group is in constant comparison to the one down the street.

Not if it's sole purpose is to be a marketing tool and not a viable ministy.

Not if it is sipmy to placate to the parents of the teenagers in our church.

Keeping Up With The (insert your rival church here)

We suffer from the disease of comparison. We hear about a new idea, a new program that is gaining results for such and such and quickly adopt said program with the hopes that it will pay the same dividends. We usurp the creativity of our youth leaders, our students and trade our prayer time for social and spiritual cloning. God has specific plans for our youth ministries in our communities and one size does not fit all. There is no guarantee that the program you adopt will work. We fail to take into consideration things like the personality of the leaders who run them, their demographics, their church make up, and in some cases their doctrine that drives it. The time we spend in prayer and The Word will lead to God given ideas to us that will work where we are. God will gladly implant in us the strategies and programs that will work where we are. Our youth group may be small but compared to the church, which has no youth group we’re huge. It’s not about how we compare to the church down the street but are we are fulfilling out God given purpose and destiny in our town.

Paul Turner
www.thediscipleproject.net