November 11, 2009

California Trip!

I’m headed back to California this weekend, to the very neighborhood I just lived in for a year. I’m taking 93 of my closest friends to Magic Mountain for the day, and then over to Huntington Beach the next day. The purpose of the trip is twofold: 1. It’s a sweet bonding trip for students that are already a part of my youth group, and 2. It’s a perfect onramp for a student to come hang with us who isn’t already plugged in.

There’s only one problem with this trip: I personally don’t like roller coasters! I have a good reason.

A few years ago I rode Goliath without my lap bar/seatbelt in place! True story, dozens of witnesses. If you watch the video of someone’s Goliath ride at the top, you should know that I was saying, “Well Jesus, I’ll see you in a minute” at the :49 mark, and then I floated up and out of my seat at the 1:02 mark.

As the little seatbelt checker guy was doing his final walk-thru, he came to my seat and noticed that I had shoved the lap bar between my legs (instead of locking it OVER them). He said, “Oh that’s not good” and looked around for someone to help him fix the problem. But then the girl who hits the GO button hit the GO button and we lunged forward. Everyone started panicking/giggling and I sat there confident that someone would hit the STOP button.

Nope.

“That’s gonna have to do!” the little guy says to me as we clickity-click out of the loading area.

Lesson #1: Magic Mountain needs to do a much better job at screening potential employees.

Lesson #2: It should be impossible to shove that stupid bar between your legs, rendering it useless. Sometimes an idiot will actually do it. I’m the idiot.

Lesson #3: My students saw that day that I’m willing to lay my life down for them… sort of.

So here we go, off to a nauseating, life threatening, roller coaster of a weekend.

Because I’m a youth pastor, and that’s what we do.

Because I love these guys :)

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November 8, 2009

Handing in my Man Card

Mark Connelly

It felt good to confess from the stage today that I have no idea how to cook food on a grill. I know I’m supposed to be able to, being a man and all, but I never learned how!

I thought I’d keep going with this confession thing. Here are a whole bunch of other things I can’t do that “men” are supposed to be able to do:

Cook. I have no idea how to cook a steak. If it doesn’t boil or go in the microwave then forget it.

Change my own oil. I think I did it when I was a Webelo once, but ever since then I’ve paid someone to do it.

Change a flat tire. I think I can, but you better not ask me to.

Jump start a car. Is it the red one with the blue one? Is there a blue one? You might want to call AAA.

Household repairs. I have no idea how to fix sinks, toilets, ovens, wobbly tables, broken garage doors, or anything like that.

Landscaping. I can’t plant grass, plant flowers, set up sprinklers, trim foliage, or anything like that.

Dance. Nothing in me wants to move my body to the music, fast or slow. (Exception: mosh pits in the late 90’s).

Whistle really loud without using my fingers. But I can whistle really loud with them.How do guys do it without them? So cool.

Find my way without a map. I use a map every day. Thank you Google.

Hmm… there’s got to be more than this, but this is a good start!

I’ve handed in my Man Card.

What about you? What are you supposed to be able to do that you can’t?

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October 28, 2009

experience trumps education

I just got a message from a guy who has graduated college and is considering a career in youth ministry. My advice to him was the same advice I received when I was considering the same thing. Experience trumps education. If you have to choose between getting a degree or getting experience, always choose experience. Even if it means you won’t graduate until you’re my age, married, and everyone thinks you’re the professor on the first day of class.

I asked my lead pastor nine years ago if I could be a part-time intern and go to school full time. He said I could do that, but he’d be offering me the same job in 4 years that I was being offered right then. I took the job, went to school part-part-time, and have never regretted it.

I think school is a huge waste of time for many people. Well, atleast seminary is. Barnes and Noble has the same books, at half the cost, and you don’t lose 4 years of life. I still may attend seminary, but only now as I’ve landed the job I’ve always wanted.

I meet a lot of guys who have seminary degrees who have no idea how to lead a ministry. I’m NOT saying that seminary is a bad thing, it’s just not the answer. If you’re in seminary, keep plugging away!

So go drop out, find a job as an intern, and don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out.

Blame Matt Chandler: he feels the same way (sort of).

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October 27, 2009

brutal day at Mission

Today was a brutal day at Mission.

Our church has had to make some significant cutbacks over the past couple months after our offerings have been LOW. Our people have a lot to learn about stewardship (most people do). Today the cutbacks hit hard, and we had to lay off a handful of people, and decrease some salaries/hours too.

It hurts a ton because the layoffs had nothing to do with performance or personality. We had to cut my College Pastor’s position, and he had to tell his students tonight. He handled it like a champ, both personally and in front of everyone, but it was still so hard.

I’m still wrestling through it all, and asking God what he’s doing in the midst of this whole thing. I trust my leadership and I believe in my church, but today was BRUTAL.

I hope that my church puts their money where their mouth is.

Our students won’t be riding in the sidecart either. I want to see them step up and lead the church in this area.

Is your church hurting this year?

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October 26, 2009

the comparison game

“Comparison is the enemy of your contentment.”

I repeated that over and over during my messages this weekend at Mission.

I talked about my desperate attempt to climb the popularity ladder in high school. I worked at the mall and had stolen thousands and thousands of dollars in clothing while there. I worked at a few stores, and I won’t tell you which one in case you get sassy and want to convict me for a crime that’s like 15 years old. God forgave me, and so should the mall.

My closet was JAM PACKED with clothes. Shoes were everywhere too. I was stocked for life. I was ugly, but I had a lot of really nice clothes. Nicer than his, and his, and his… I was winning. But I was playing a lose-lose game.

When I became a Christian I still had a closet full of clothes. But I didn’t want to play the game any more, so I emptied my closet of everything that I had stolen and donated it all to a charity in Tempe. When I was done I had ONE shirt.

A white t-shirt with armpit stains.

But I was done playing the game. I was done caring about what everyone else was wearing, saying, doing, buying, and thinking. And I was done caring about what other people were thinking about what I was wearing, saying, doing, buying and thinking.

I was determined to be the best me I could be, and not the second-best anybody else.

I began to pursue the person who God was making ME to be.

Because God says I’m valued, loved, and worth dying for. Sometimes I don’t feel that was, but if God says it and I disagree then… one of us is wrong.

I can fully attest to the fact that “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones“.

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October 19, 2009

don’t eat that

I talked about stewardship yesterday with my high school students, focusing on the bling bling. Call me crazy, but it seems to me that most teenagers have an unhealthy view of money. Not sure if it comes from mom and dad or those darn gangster rappers, but most kids are ignorant about how spiritual their money is.

I was gonna use the Elf clip to set up this story but I cut it right before I went on stage. A 62-year-old man went to the hospital back in 2002 because he was having stomach pains. Doctors freaked out when they saw this x-ray,

coin eater This guy had been sneaking around his house eating COINS. This lump of money in his stomach had to be removed, and it turned out to be about 350 coins! The whole thing added up to be about 12 pounds (about the size of a bowling ball). You can see how heavy it was by how far down it had pushed his stomach.

We might as well be eating our money if we’re not investing it in lasting things. Have you ever seen a Uhaul trailer attached to the back of a hearse? Probably not.

Ya can’t take it with ya.

Maybe that’s why Jesus talked more about money and possessions than faith, prayer, heaven and hell… combined.

Check out Paul’s approach to encourage generosity in 2 Corinthians 8.

Is this the approach you usually hear pastors use?

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October 18, 2009

fraud, bottles and vandals

This week:

Lindsay and I found out that someone had stolen our debit card number and purchased porn subscriptions online using our money. It sucks to be the victim of a crime, ESPECIALLY when the perp is a perv. It breaks my heart to know that someone out there is desperate enough for porn that they would steal a pastor’s credit card. I believe in Jesus, even when the world seems beyond repair.

The next day: Lindsay was driving through a construction zone in Chandler when some chump in a lifted SUV threw a glass bottle at her while driving. He (or one of his chump passengers) threw the bottle, and then they followed my wife into a parking lot to verbally assault her and her passengers. She had her mom, sister, and a baby in the car. This chump cut Lindsay off in the parking lot and shouted some words at her that no woman should ever hear, especially MY WIFE. She called me crying just a minute after it all went down, and I’m glad I didn’t get there in time to see this teenager and his truck full of buddies. In case you’re wondering, it was a lifted Tahoe with flames on the side, and his license plate was AEP 9075.  I believe in Jesus, even when the world seems beyond repair.

Tonight my friend Josh Barton picked up his car that he had left overnight at our church… someone had carved some pretty vulgar stuff into his hood, dumped water in his car, and broke a mirror off. It looks like it was random, since he left it overnight, but it’s still a bit too much. I believe in Jesus, even when the world seems beyond repair.

I believe that God will redeem all of this junk.

Revenge only keeps evil in circulation.

But I’m a work in progress, and I’ll admit that I wanted to physically hurt that kid who threw a bottle at my wife.

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October 14, 2009

Fall Break Shmall Break

I’ve never really understood why youth ministries take a break during school breaks. If there was ever a time to be available, wouldn’t it be when your students are 100% available?

Summer, Fall and Spring Breaks are prime time in youth ministry. I planned SO MANY hangouts and events last summer, and the students seemed to LOVE IT! Seriously, we could open the door and turn on a light and our students would come.

This week is the Fall Break for most of our students. Sunday night we did Laser Tag, tonight we’re doing Broom Hockey, and on Saturday we’re painting four houses in the neighborhood we serve. Then we meet on Sunday!

I’ll be exhausted on Monday, but it will have been SO WORTH IT.

Not sure when I’m gonna write my sermon though, haha!

I’d rather live out a sermon than write one anyways.

Being a youth pastor is much less about being cool or creative… it’s about being available.

I love my job.

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October 8, 2009

backfired

I sat next to an LDS girl in an “American Religious Traditions” class every day during a semester at Mesa Community College. I set out to convince her that Joseph Smith was a false prophet. Frankly speaking, it’s kind of an easy thing to prove…  After talking about it EVERY DAY for an entire semester I was sure that I had showed her the way, the truth, the life, all that. How did she respond on the last day of class?

“I want to thank you Ryan, because our conversations have actually strengthened my faith.”

Backfired.

About five years ago I talked to a student in my ministry about singing in such a way that she wasn’t a distraction to the other students. She had a huge heart, but her zeal for worship had created a tension in the room. She seemed to agree with what I was saying, but she never came around much after that. Today I received an email from her thanking me for that conversation. It led her to embrace paganism.

Backfired.

Not as I had planned.

Have YOU ever backfired, or am I the only idiot left on the planet?

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September 30, 2009

Blasphemy Day

CNN posted an article today about the first organized observance of “Blasphemy Day”. What a joke.

Ronald Lindsay, an atheist who is behind the wheel of this new adventure, is apparently an ex-Catholic who at one point was planning on entering the priesthood.

I’m not offended by this. I actually understand this guy’s motive. I agree that people should be able to say whatever they want to say about any religious group. I’m a pastor at a Christian church, and I see firsthand a multitude of things that SHOULD be made fun of (enter Benny Hinn video clip here). Religious people do and say all sorts of moronic things. But comedy is a tough gig, and I don’t think Ron has what it takes.

Being offensive doesn’t make something funny. Something offensive CAN be funny, Dane Cook proves that sometimes, but painting stupid pictures and giggling with your atheist buddies doesn’t make you funny. It makes you a jerk. It makes you a burnt out ex-Catholic who gets mad at fire-breathing religious people. I don’t like those religious nuts very much either (and Jesus wasn’t a big fan of over-the-toppers either).

I’m pretty sure that an infinite God has infinite patience for this sort of thing. I’m pretty sure that a God who has witnessed orgies and self-castration festivals can handle a few pot shots from some atheists. I’m pretty sure that a God of any worth must be a little bit frustrated that we don’t spend more time caring about things that matter… like the fact that 30, 40, maybe 50,000 people died on “Blasphemy Day” from preventable diseases.

So go ahead and make your jokes. I get it. You’re fighting for the right to speak irreverently about religion.

Such a noble cause…

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