Another Monday means another week.  The big difference is that we have officially started the countdown to the junior high retreat. With just a few days left until we leave, this Sunday was an opportunity to set up the retreat, as well as the next few weeks of our Sunday morning class.

As the junior high turns its focus to the book of Ephesians, we started Sunday at the beginning.  As the book opens, Paul speaks of blessings and good deeds for the people of the church in Ephesus.  However, we put that description next to the words of caution for this same church the we find in Revelation chapter three.  Here it is described how the members of this church have “forsaken their first love” and walked away from what they know they should do.  We talked about how the book of Ephesians tells the people what they can do to live the life God calls them to live.  As we ourselves study this book, we will discuss how we can also do what we can to live a Christ-centered life. 

I just want to stress the the struggle the Ephesians faced is no different than our own.  They struggled with sticking to what they knew to be right.  They strayed from the lifestyle to which they were called.  We do the same thing.  We know right from wrong.  We know what we should do.  But it is so easy to stretch and bend the rules.  Before you know it, we have one foot in our life in Christ and one outside.  Starting on our retreat, we will be looking at how we can keep both feet inside.  We want to know how we can make a life in Christ something that comes naturally and is permanent.

I’m looking forward to this weekend and all the fun and discussion that comes out of it.  Be praying for us: that we may travel safely and seek out God as a community in Him.

My new glasses arrived today.  While that doesn’t necessarily get everyone else excited, it sure made my day.  Last Friday, I found out I’m legally blind without corrective lenses.  That means these glasses and my contacts are now officially part of my life forever.  But, considering I’ve worn glasses or contacts since the third grade, I’m sure I can handle it. Back to my glasses…

New glasses are always a challenge.  You always get excited because you will finally be able to see without the fuzz of the outdated prescription.  Then you get your glasses.  You put them on.  The nice lady adjusts them to make sure they fit properly.  Then you stand up to leave, turn for the door, and realize you are walking through a fun house.  At least the was the feeling that hit me today.  As long as I was stationary and looking straight ahead, I could see perfectly.  But once I started walking or looking to the side, everything was distorted like in those fun house mirrors where tall people look short and a three-inch-wide pole looks 5 feet in diameter.  It was trippy.  But as the day has worn on, I’ve become used to this new prescription.  I can see EVERYTHING clearly.  It is kind of amazing.

I was thinking about the Love Dare WHCC is doing over the next forty days.  We are being challenged each day with a biblical idea from Jesus’ teachings.  We are being asked to integrate these things into our daily lives.  But not just do one thing one day and another different thing the next.  These are supposed to all build upon each other.  

As we approached the idea of starting the Love Dare, I thought about the way I view daily life.  Then I thought about the goals of the Love Dare.  We often approach our daily lives in a bit of a haze.  Things can be distorted by opinions, desires, situations, and a host of other distractions.  If no one takes steps to make their vision better, it will continue to deteriorate.  That’s where God’s call for our lives comes in.  if we make a conscious effort to live the way He intends for us to live, our vision will improve.  As I read through the Love Dares each day and think about how each Dare builds upon the previous ones, I think about how my life will begin to clear up.  My anger and prejudice and selfishness all become challenged by what God has asked me to do.  Instead of gossiping about someone, I am called to say encouraging words.  Instead of ignoring people who are struggling, I am called to reach out and help them.  The best part about these Love Dares is that they all come from Scripture.  Every Dare is something God has already asked us to incorporate into our daily lives.

As the church continues this Love Dare, I encourage all of us to participate.  If you take it seriously and truly make the effort to build each days Dare into your life, I bet you see how life in Christ begins to become more and more clear.  If you don’t go to West Houston or have not heard about the Love Dare and would like to hear more and/or participate, let me know.  I’d be happy to get you the information and set you up to receive our daily Love Dare emails.  In the four days so far, I have been blessed.  I look forward to seeing the results of this experiment in living the way Christ has called us to live.

It was great to be back in with my junior high class this Sunday.  Those kids are amazing.  This week we talked about Mr. Potato-Head.  Mr. Potato-Head is one of those toys that just seems to last forever.  Regardless of the advances in technology, Mr. Potato-Head is still one of the most popular and widely recognized toys in America.  He’s a fun guy because you can do whatever you want with him.  Eyes in his armpits?  Sure.  A nose on the top of his head?  No problem.  A huge mustache and thick-rimmed glasses?  What’s not to like about that?  And now, Mr. Potato-Head comes with 4 sets of everything.  In his little case you can find several different body part choices for his eyes, mouth, nose, ears, arms, mustache, hat, shoes, glasses…the sky is the limit.

Now, the parents of my junior highers are probably thrilled that their children were being educated in the anatomy of Mr. Potato-Head this Sunday.  I can assure you we dug deeper into the spiritual well than that.

As a church, we are examining a five-year vision.  We are looking at what we as a body can do to focus our ministry efforts and reach out to our community in the name of Jesus Christ.  Why should the junior high be any different.  This Sunday we looked as 1 Corinthians 12.  Beginning in verse twelve, the author begins to speak about how a body has many parts.  He elaborates that, in order to function to the best of its ability, the body requires all parts to contribute.  The eyes may be able to see, but, if you have no hand, how can you pick up what you observe?  He also says in verses 19-20:

“If they were all one part, where would the body be?  as it is, there are many parts, but one body.”

This was our focus on Sunday.  As we move forward with our vision for transforming our church and community, we must look at the roles we play.  If we all try to have the same function, will we get anywhere?  Mr. Potato-Head looks really funny when all he has is eyes.  He’s even more ridiculous when he is the proud owner of four sets of arms.  But a body cannot function practically without all the other parts.  We have each been blessed with talents and skills with which to serve God.  As we look at our own roles in this vision of outreach, it is important that we utilize each one of those skills to the fullest.

Even my junior highers understand this.  When we discussed the steps we should take to build a solid foundation for the youth group, the overwhelmingly popular answer was building community.  They wanted to get to know each other better. They wanted to become closer with themselves and the high schoolers.  These 6th, 7th, and 8th graders saw the importance of getting to know each other.  With that community comes the understanding of strengths and weaknesses.  And with that understanding comes the ability to work together to cover those weaknesses and function as a strong body.

I urge the parents reading this to talk to your kids this week about their strengths and values.  Encourage them to think about how they can use those strengths for God.  Finally, challenge them to actually do it.  Brainstorming is the easy part.  Implementation is the challenge.  Everyone can imagine a cure to a disease and how life would be easier.  It is finding and using the cure that actually improves the lives we live.

Let’s not settle for Mr. Potato-Head in our churches.  Let’s strive to use the unique abilities God has given us to praise Him and serve His kingdom.

Well, I’m back from the National Youth Workers’ Convention in Sacramento.  What a great weekend!  I return encouraged and rested and looking forward to what the future holds for the junior high and overall student ministry at West Houston Church of Christ.  That being said, I want to share my encouragement with as many people as possible.

We are in a unique situation as youth workers, parents, volunteers.  We are in a position to reach out and touch people every day.  I think we take it for granted that our children are/will be Christians because we make them attend church every Sunday.  The fact of the matter is that believing attendance translates into faith is us fooling ourselves.  Thinking that the number of kids present means we have fostered a healthy ministry is not a guaranteed truth.  I can know every word of the Bible backward and forward, but that doesn’t mean I believe a word it says.  It just means we’ve filled seats and filled our heads.  It means we have exercised our power and authority over our youth and made them go where we want them to go.

Now, you’re wondering where the encouragement I was talking about comes in.  Well, here it is.  We have an opportunity to make a huge difference in the lives of our youth.  Think about it.  Parents, you are with your kids at home, running errands, driving to and from church.  I know things can get crazy.  Our schedules get full and we run from place to place focused on the tasks at hand.  But what if we took the time to talk about faith with our kids during those times.  Sure, it’s easier said than done.  Maybe we don’t always know what to say.  But at least we’d be saying something.  Kids and teens can tell what we value as adults by two things: 1)what we spend our time DOING and 2)what we spend our time TALKING about.  Sure, maybe we don’t know what to say about faith, but, if we take the time to bring it up and talk about it, we send the message that WE CARE ABOUT FAITH AND GOD AND WHAT OUR YOUTH BELIEVE IN.  And then, after we’ve done that, let’s act like what we just talked about is actually what our lives should be like.  Youth workers/volunteers, the teens know we are there at church with the purpose of spending time talking to them about God.  So let’s make the most of it.  In fact, let’s not only talk about it when they expect it.  Let’s ACT like it.  Let’s take 2 minutes to email them throughout the week and ask how they are and how God is working in their lives.  Let’s pray that God uses us to show his presence.

We talk about role models and heroes.  Our youth spend their days watching the every move of sports stars and musicians and actors they never meet.  We are the ones they see and talk to daily.  The encouragement we have is that we are the ones in a position to make a difference.  We say that God is always with us.  If we can believe that God can give words to Moses when he lacks the ability to articulate his message, why can’t we believe he can help us talk to the people we have personal, close relationships with?  We have an chance to share with our teens the most important message they will ever hear.  And, as their parents and adults they trust and look up to, we should be encouraged that God has placed us right where He needs us to be.

What a weekend!  The junior high group was crazy busy this weekend.  It all kicked off Friday night with the Jars of Clay/Switchfoot/Third Day concert which was AWESOME!  Then we had a blast playing laser tag Saturday night.  I am so blessed to be working with such an amazing group of kids.

Sunday morning…where to start.  Well, we had a bit of an off week this week.  So, I really encourage any parents reading this to chat with your kids about it.  

We kicked it off by recapping the book of Exodus for the most part.  We talked about the Israelites in Egypt, their predicament of slavery and their complete hopelessness.  We briefly hit on the biography of Moses before getting to the good stuff.  As you may or may not know, we are talking about being God’s people by looking at examples from the past and application to our lives today.  This week we were focusing on how God saves his people.  We talked about how God worked to save his people from their plight and lead them to freedom.

And now the points I wish I had made more clear.  First of all, I think it is important to understand GOD STILL SAVES US.  No, it might not be in such a dramatic fashion as the exodus, but he saves us.  Another word that comes to mind is that he protects us.  When I think of God in this way, I tend to think of him as an umbrella.  Or maybe a shield.  I suppose a shield is a bit more dramatic, not to mention sturdy.  The image that sticks in my mind most from the actual exiting part of the Exodus story is the river closing in around the Egyptians after the Israelites reach dry land on the other side.  God protected his people from their pursuers.  He placed himself as a shield between his people and the harm that chased them.

It’s the same for us today.  We may not have a dramatic story, but He is there to protect us if we ask him.  I love Psalm 28 because it says exactly that (verses 6-9):

“Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.  The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.  Save your people and bless your inheritance; be there shepherd and carry them forever.”

Let’s be honest with ourselves.  Our kids face a lot of pressure.  Pressure from school to be the smartest.  Pressure from sports to be the fastest and strongest.  Pressure from parents to be the best.  Pressure from church to be the most pure.  Pressure from friends to be the most popular.  While it may seem easy, sometimes, we just need to be saved from whatever pressure is eating away at us today.  And that is when we should turn to God.  He is our shelter from the storm, our shield from flaming arrows.  All we have to do is call out to him.  And while this may seem sad and for situations of turmoil, it should be a message of hope.  We do not have to sit and darkness and face our troubles alone.  God is beside us to take the sting out of whatever pains us.  God is there to pick us up and hold us safe.  And we should find joy in that.

Next week, the lesson is about how God fights for us.  I know that sounds similar to the idea of God as a shield.  But in my mind, God, our shield, holds us steady while God, our champion to fight for us, goes out ahead of us and clears a path for us to follow.  I think it could be a great lesson and one that I’m already excited about.  I pray that everyone has a great week.  God bless.

I don’t even know where to begin today.  It’s Monday…morning.  That is always a tough realization for me.  But nevertheless, life goes on.  We keep plugging away.  We’ve got a busy week coming up:  Third Day/Switchfoot/Jars of Clay concert on Friday ($20-meet at WHCC, 5:00 pm) and laser tag for the junior high on Saturday (7:30 pm-meet at Laser Quest).  I’m really excited about everything going on.

Alright, what you’ve all been waiting for: SUNDAY.  Sunday’s class was an interesting one.  The kids and I had a heart-to-heart, cleared the air, and are all best friends!  This past Sunday was the first of a six-week series during which we will look at what it means to be God’s people.  We’re going to look at God’s people in the past, how He worked in their lives, and what that means for us as God’s people today.  I think that it is important to understand who we are as God’s people so we can then understand further our purpose and goals for this life as He has set for us.

This Sunday we found ourselves a little tight on time.  So, I strongly encourage you to bring some of this up if you get a chance.  Now, I’ll give a little bit of background on class.  The idea behind this first week is that we are God’s people because he created us to be that way.  The first couple chapters of Genesis chronicle the creation story and all that it entails.  Our story as God’s people begins on the fifth day.  God creates man in his own image, gives him a purpose and sets him in the world he created.  From the beginning, God nourishes and cares for his people.  When man is lonely, God created a companion for him, an equal to share life with.  And so we see the beginnings of the people of God.

This all seems pretty simple.  Everyone knows the creation story, right?  But this is the BEGINNING!  This is where everything we believe and the faith we hold on to begin.  It is in the moment God created Adam that our stories begin.  While we might not experience God in the same ways we read about in the Bible, God is still alive and active in our lives as he has been in the lives of His people for all of history.  It is our responsibility as His people of today to learn for the past and do everything we can to be people that honor God and reflect his love to the world.

The verse I keyed on in class this week is James 1:18.  I particularly like the wording in the New Living Translation.

“In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word.  And we, out of all creation, became his choice possession.”

God has chose us to be his people.  He gave us His word and instruction to help explain what that means.  We are HIS.  And that’s what we are striving to understand and learn about over the next six weeks.  I am praying that over this time we (myself, the teens, and you as parents) can all take ownership of our identity as the people of God.  I pray that we will find an excitement in this call and a new outlook and commitment to living the way God desires his people to live.  Thank you for being examples of this to your children.  As I said in previous posts, the strongest example of faith for a teen is the parents and guardians they see each and every day.  This week be the men and women of God our teens need.  I’m praying for us all and can’t wait for next week!

Sports can be a good or bad topic when talking to someone.  Mostly because people either love sports or hate them.  For example, I LOVE sports.  I’m the kinda guy that will watch Sportscenter two hours in a row even though they run the same stories.  However, I realize not everyone shares my enthusiasm.  So please, stick with me.  I promise I’ll get to a point.

I have had a hard time finding people that do not like college football.  Something about the sport just excites people.  Whether it is your alma mater or the place you wish you had attended, it seems that everyone has a favorite.  Fans get so passionate about this game.  Last night (Thursday) I watched the fourth quarter of the USC/Oregon State game.  I didn’t bother watching most of the game because USC was supposed to win by 27 points.  They were ranked as the best team in college football almost unanimously.  In fact, I wouldn’t have seen any of the game if I hadn’t switched channels to watch Sportscenter.  Everyone just assumed USC had this game in the bag.  But as I watched the last five minutes of this game, I saw unranked, underachieving Oregon State finish what will probably play out to be the greatest upset of the season, beating #1 USC 27-21.  As I watched the post-game reports and Sportscenter, I was floored by what the commentators had to say.  Leading up to this game, all they could talk about was how USC was going to go undefeated and play for the national championship in January.  Everybody else was just playing for #2.  After this monumental upset, those very same commentators spoke of how USC was almost guaranteed to be out of the championship picture.  In a matter of three hours, these “experts” went from being sure USC was the best there was to saying no hope existed for them to win it all.

Now, those of you who are not sports fans are probably rolling your eyes and looking for an opportunity to leave, but WAIT!  That’s when I realized why people love college football.  Despite everyone whining about the ranking systems and how they decide who goes to what bowl and how bad the NCAA needs a playoff system, people love it because it is the way it is.  College football teams live and die with each game.  A team is forced to give everything it has every game.  If they don’t, if they lose, their hopes of a championship are gone.  One loss can end it all.  A team can be the best their is for 10 or 11 games, defeating every team they face.  But if they lose that last game before the championship, it doesn’t matter who they beat or how badly they won, they still lost.  They are still going to fall in the rankings and miss the championship they worked so hard for.  But people love that.  They love the suspense.  The love that you have to use every last bit of strength and every last shred of hope and honor to just have a shot to keep your dream alive.

And then it hit me.  There are days I love the suspense and the sacrifice and the battle of college football more than I love the faith I live by.  And I am a person that has chosen to spend my life helping others discover such a faith for themselves.  How can I honestly hold this game above a faith that calls me to make all the same sacrifices?

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, the author writes of running the race:

“For you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crwon that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after i have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

If you want suspense and sacrifice and battle, here it is.  Our life is our race.  We run it everyday whether we want to or not.  Somedays we are leading the pack and others we seem to be fading and losing ground.  But we still run.  We are called to run, but not just run.  We are called to run to win the prize, eternal life and salvation with Jesus Christ.  Later in Hebrews 12, it is written that we are to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”  so we may “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  We are called to do more than wake up and run each day.  We are to give our all and sacrifice everything to run the best race possible.  The best part of all this is that you just have to want it bad enough to strive for it.  God has put the prize within reach and even give us instructions and guidance on how to run for it.  Just like a football team competing and hungering so badly for a win and the ultimate prize or a championship, we must hunger for the life God has called us to live.  We must lay it all on the line to finish the race strong, the way He intends for us to finish.  I’ll leave you with a passage from 2 Timothy.  Here the author just reiterates the struggle and sacrifice of a life spent following Jesus.  He tells of how it costs a great deal, but is completely worth it.  I challenge you, as well as myself, not to just read these words and then finish your race today at a jogging pace.  I challenge us all to elevate your play to the excitement and challenge of the race God has laid out for you.  I challenge us all to sprint to the finish.  Today and everyday.

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:6-8

To be perfectly honest, this blogging thing kinda blows my mind.  I remember when people first started “online journaling” back toward the end of my time in high school.  Way back in 2004, it was so cool for everyone to run home after school and write in the internet diary about how his or her day went.  The best part was that your friends could then get online and read everything you had typed.  My big problem with the idea was this:  if I’m going to take the time to write my personal thoughts and feelings down like in a diary, why in the world would I want some stranger reading it?  And that is how Jordan Charles Ferguson missed the blogging boat.

Since the days of my youth, blogging has developed into an unbelievably popular medium of communication for people of all ages.  In the immortal words of that kid who tried to convince you to stick your tongue to the frozen flag pole:  ”everybody’s doin’ it!”  And I mean everybody.  Teens, ministers, teachers, businessmen, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, scientists, gardeners, bakers, zoo keepers, and millions of others have signed up to have a blog.  WordPress.com alone boasts over 4 million different blogs on it’s home page!

So, I’m giving in to peer pressure.  Not because I’m not strong-willed.  Not because I want to be considered cool by my peers.  Not even because I was bored and just wanted something to keep my mind busy.  I’m giving in because it is an opportunity to connect.  I want to connect with the teens I work with.  I want to connect with their parents.  I want to connect with my friends and family.  Do I think I really have some revolutionary message to share with all these people?  Not really.  But who knows, maybe God has something to say.

So here’s the plan:  most of my posts will be random.  I have no idea how often or how much I’ll type. BUT EVERY MONDAY, I will be posting thoughts from my Sunday morning class.  I want what my junior high group discusses to be something that does not stay contained in the classroom.  I want it to be something that reaches to life outside of the church building.  I’m hoping that both students and parents will read those thoughts and have discussions at home that spark Spirit-filled conversations.  I believe some of the most important conversations we have in our entire lives occur at home.  What better place to grow and deepen our faith than at home with our families?

I guess we’ll see what happens.  Like I said, this will mostly just be me rambling.  But maybe something good will come of it.  If nothing else, it gives me a chance to practice my spelling.  And when someone walks by my office I look like I’m doing something official since I’m staring at the screen and typing.  I pray everyone is doing well and God is blessing you deeply.  Later!