It's The Gospel Truth, Really, I Mean It!

Your youth calendar is irrelevant. Your facilities, yep, they are irrelevant too. Dare I say it, even your magnificent charm and personality don't matter. The only real thing of value that you have to give your students is the Good News of Jesus sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection on the third day. That my friends is the Gospel Truth!

I came to this realization a while back and it has totally transformed how I approach ministry. Somewhere in our education we pick-up this nasty disconnect that leads us to believe that with the right youth event we can change the world. So we go to conferences, buy books, and network with big time youth ministry players to find the secret recipe to youth ministry success. The sad thing about it is the answer has been right in front of our faces all along. Only the gospel has the power to change a life. Whats even more profound is that this transformation is not limited to salvation. Not by a long-shot. The Gospel is just as crucial to sanctification as it is to justification.

Now before you start accusing me of progressive salvation, hear me out. Justification is a one-time irrevocable decision that is based on the sovereign election of God. (Okay, now I've already ticked off you arminians and free-willers) Sanctification, however, is a process. It is a process of grinding out the gospel everyday. It is a process whereby we begin to die daily to sin, deny ourselves, and take up our cross so that we can experience life more abundantly. That is the gospel message. It saves once and for all and it sanctifies us day by day.

Think back to that ordination service. I know for many of you that seems like forever ago. Do you remember what you were charged to do and what you were called? A minister of the gospel. So either your ordination board thought that you would only ever preach to lost people or maybe the gospel should be the centerpiece for our ministry to believers as well. The plain fact is that everything we do in ministry should be tainted by the gospel message. We should never tire of the gospel and it should drive how we approach ministry. So before you spend another 50 bucks on a handbook for youth games don't forget that the most important element required cost you nothing but cost Jesus everything.

First and Goal: To Spread The Gospel

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing colors; the air is beginning to cool, and best of all: its time for football. I begin counting down the days, months before. I endure every hot, sweaty day eagerly awaiting those cool Friday and Saturday evenings when I don my game face and sweatshirt and head for the gridiron. Praise the Lord it’s finally here.

Now I’m sure that there are many of you guys and gals out there who can readily identify. I bet as you began to read this introduction your heart began to pound just like mine did as I was writing it. There is just something about that white-lined green field that excites and energizes people. It’s hard to explain it any other way than to say that Football is the last great American sport. It is a very powerful and integral part of our culture.

I am also reminded of a passage of scripture from the Apostle Paul that states:

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

- Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV)

Now while watching football is arguably a wise use of our time, doing kingdom work while watching football is not. Think about all the many avenues that this sport opens for the spreading of the Gospel. Consider the following statistic provided by research done by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes:

“A study shows that 41 million youth ages 6-18 participated in organized youth sports and just over 7 million participated in high school sports.”

Multiply that number of students by two (Dad and Mom) and the figure of Americans that participate in weekly sports like football are staggering.

There are many creative ways to use the popularity of this sport to share your faith. Many churches sponsor 5^th Quarter events where players and families are invited to an after game event with music and testimonies from local athletes. Other ideas can include offering your services as team chaplain, volunteering to take care of team hospitality needs, or even something simple as inviting a non-Christian neighbor over to watch a game. When this season passes and spring is on the horizon, lets look back on this time and rejoice at the opportunities that we took advantage of to do Kingdom work.

For more ideas click on the following links:

Fellowship of Christian Athletes -FCA

North American Mission Board - NAMB

Athletes In Action - AIA

A Much Needed Ecumenism

There have been few, if any, successful ecumenical movements in church history. The issue has always been either a strong ecumenism that has doctrinally weak churches or doctrinally strong churches that have a weak ecumenism. In either case the results fall far short of the ideal and nothing good happens. It would take a very rare set of circumstances and a special act on God's part for ecumenism to be desired and fruitful. I for one believe that those circumstances and God's action may be in the process of intersecting.

In the last few years, we have seen the enemies of the gospel rally and strike in unprecedented ways. Evangelical Christianity now finds itself right in the middle of two very formidable foes. On the one front is radical islam with its suicide missions, and koran quoting imams. On the other front, is secular naturalism and atheism spewing forth its evolutionary, politically correct, vitriol with its allies in Hollywood and the media. Satan has positioned his armies well and they are bent on wiping out any vestige of truth and righteousness. What is a believer to do?

Well there are some believers who, in the face of such opposition, have decided that there is strength in unity. They have decided to put aside any disagreement on non-essentials for the purpose of spreading the gospel. Before you begin to think this an effort to water-down truth for unity, think again. The group I am referring to call themselves Together For The Gospel and for once it looks like this might be ecumenism done right. How could you go wrong with men like Mark Dever, Dr. Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, and John Piper (just to name a few).

The men cooperating in this effort all come from doctrinally sound churches. They have a stated purpose that's more than just getting together for interfaith karaoke night. And they all hold to a solid, Biblical view of the simple message of the gospel. I am happy to see the success of their efforts and I think that more solid, evangelical churches should support it. I shudder to think how many people walk by and just have a laugh at us Christians who cant even work together to share the gospel because of non-essentials like modes of baptism or style of worship. Its high time for sound, evangelical churches to direct the fight at satan instead of each other.