When we do a sermon series in our High School Ministry its not just open the Bible, point to a verse and preach on it. I am constantly asking God what He wants us to teach students and how that translates into life change for them; what can they apply to their lives? For this series I landed on the Sermon on The Mount. As I was reading over the text (Matthew Chapters 5-7) I just kept thinking "Jesus is calling the people to life change". Jesus tells them what they heard from others and then shares with them the plans He has to change their life through the truth of God. Here's the deal though; its tough! Its tough because when you read The Sermon on The Mount it calls for life change and most of us aren't ready for that!
Here is how we broke the six week series down: Week 1: Matthew 5:1-12 Week 2: Matthew 5:21-26 Week 3: Matthew 5:33-48 Week 4: Matthew 6:5-15 Week 5: Matthew 6:25-34 Week 6: Matthew 7:7-14
This month has been super cool around South Hills Church with all the baptisms that we have done. I see God's hand moving in the life, and people, of our church. I see people unwilling to settle for average and desiring more of God! I'm not sure what has caused the total increase in baptisms around here but I do have some thoughts that have been stirring in my mind:
1) I am proud to be a part of a church that baptizes
When we baptize people it tells me that life change is happening in the person; it also tells me that people are giving their lives to Christ! When I read the Bible I see that baptism is something that always follows conversion; the person surrendering their life to Christ.
2) Jesus commands us to be baptized
When Jesus was preparing to return to heaven He leaves us, the church, with a pretty heavy job description. Its not a four page job description with hours that we have to work; but its a good reminder of what we need to do as Christians. Go read Matthew 28:18-20 for that command of Jesus. There is a reason its called "The Great Commission" and not "The Great Suggestion".
3) We baptize using immersion
I have taken 5 quarters of Greek now (which means I'm good enough to get by; kinda like my Spanish) and when I read in the Greek I keep seeing this word "baptizo" for baptism. Baptizo means a baptism by immersion; that is why we use the pool to baptize people. Now, lets say that someone is in the hospital and has given their life to Christ and would like to be baptized. We would baptize that person with water but not having the ability for full immersion would be suitable for the situation.
(After being baptized)
4) When someone gets baptized they are saying "I'm changing for Jesus"
This weekend we baptized a handful of high school students and one of them, Ally Davis, shared with me a few days before she was baptized that she needed to do because this was her next step in her walk with Christ. I love it when people are convicted by the Holy Spirit and then obey that conviction which leads to life change.
Here are just a few thoughts on baptism and why I am glad to be a part of a church that baptizes!
So this week Leah had her one month check up; it was really her one month and a week check-up but who's counting?
(Leah just chillin on the couch)
So the girl I like to call Little Leah is doing great! At her check up she passed all the stuff, got some shots and we were able to see how she is growing. Get ready for this: Leah is 11 pounds 4 ounces (90th-95th percentile) She is 23 inches long (once again 90th-95th percentile)
Leah is growing big and strong, she is learning to sleep more during the night and her and Sophie totally love each other!!!
(Really she is saying: "I love kisses from daddy")
So I've continued the half sleeve on my right arm. The Angel is actually supposed to be the the first part of the half sleeve but the praying hands just kinda happened first. Just over two weeks ago I went to my tattoo artist and got this:
(The tattoo is not finished; it still needs to be shaded in)
Now I know that many thoughts tend to go through people's minds when they see tattoo's and I totally understand that I am a pastor who has a number of tattoos. I was talking with my tattoo artist about that and he told me that people don't believe him when he says that he tattoos a pastor (my tattoo artist is the coolest guy).
That is mostly a side note to the meaning behind this tattoo. All my tattoo's have a story behind them or some meaning for me getting them. I typically think about a tattoo for over a year before I go and get it (I have one that I have been thinking about for 8 years; they are permanent!)
The story behind this one comes from the account in Daniel 10:12-15 where Michael, one of the angels, helps the man who is speaking to Daniel. I don't believe in praying to angels but I do see from this account that angles will work on our behalf.
I think the bottom line on this tattoo is that it is a reminder for me to pray. I don't know about you but I am very prone to wonder and go my own way. This tattoo is a reminder to me, daily, that prayer works and that I need to be in prayer. If you notice on the angels leg there is a demon who is trying to bring him down; there are things in life that will try to bring us down but I find when I am connected to God in prayer life seems to be a little bit more comfortable and easy to bear.
Last night we started a new series in our High School Ministry called: "A Changed Life". This week Kalina Rock shares her story on how God has grabbed her heart and changed her life.
This week is our Annual Student Ministry Garage Sale! This garage sale has helped us for the last eight years to off-set the cost of summer camp and allow students to reduce the price so they can attend. This year will be no different!
Please swing by the sale and find that item you cannot live without (seriously; if you are looking for it, we probably have it). The location is: South Hills Horizon Ridge Campus 2520 W. Horizon Ridge Pkwy Henderson, NV
If you have any questions please call: Amy Robledo @ 483-3741 Neal Benson @ 483-3740
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. Now when I was a kid Easter was all about getting dressed up in a little suit that was fairly uncomfortable, going to Sunrise Service with my mom and then eating candy. My sister and I would find the eggs, then re-hide the eggs, then hide them again until they were pretty much uneatable.
(Proof of the uncomfortable suit)
So now that I am a man and have my own family I need to figure out what about Easter is going to be important to us.
Will we wake up early to go to church? Probably not Will we hide eggs and eat candy? I am sure of it Will we invite our neighbors to Church tomorrow? You bet!
We're going to do these things because they are important; yes it is important to eat candy (someone has to keep the dentist in business). This Sunday, tomorrow April 4th, I'm teaching at Church about the resurrection of Christ. The more I'm studying this topic from 1 Corinthians 15 I am seeing the need to make sure I live daily for the resurrection.
This Easter Sunday will be extremely important for my family because I want to live for the resurrection and it helps me to do that with a group of people that I love and want to do life with. Now maybe you have that group of people in your life already; please keep going to that church and dive into that. If you don't already have it will you find a place where you learn about God in a way that makes sense to you and challenges you to grow?
Easter is important for so many reasons, more than I can share in this quick post. If you need a place to go on Easter I hope to see you at South Hills Sunday April 4th @ 9am or 11am!
I never thought that my life would end up like this is something that has been passing through my mind the last few days.
I say that in a good way... See if you know you my story, or knew me in high school, you would know that I made some very unwise choices. You would know that I had no regard for my life. You would know that I was crazy and I'm sure that many of you thought you would attend my funeral by my 21st birthday. I always thought that I wouldn't make it to my 18th birthday and when it happened I was shocked.
(I debated adding this picture of Bobby, Conrad and I from when were about 17)
I had no regard for anything...
When I was 19 I received the biggest wake-up call ever. I was driving home to Big Bear Lake and either passed out at the wheel or because I was so drunk just don't remember what happened. I ended up totaling my truck into the mountain and running from the Cops. Those actions landed me in jail being charged with 2 felonies and a slew on misdemeanors. I went to church the next week while I was awaiting my court date and my moms friend looked at me and said: "I had a dream you were a pastor and leading thousands of people to the Lord." I did not return to church because of that comment.
In the next few months of my life I lost everything; literally. After going to jail a few more times I ended up in jail on February 14th 2000 and said something like: "Jesus I need you; if you're real please get me outta here." God answered that prayer. I meet a guy five days later who invited me to church; Brett Wheeler if you never reached out to me I have no clue where I would be.
Fast-forward ten years, one month, and fifteen days. I gave my life to Jesus Christ because the path I had chose was not working and needed some help. I have an amazing wife. I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters and I get to share with high school students about how to follow Christ in their life. God has healed me of my drug and alcohol addiction. I have internal peace and don't feel the anger that used to control my life.
I look back and if you told me twelve years ago that this is where I would be in life I think I would have laughed at you, maybe spit in your face, and went on with my life. God thank you for changing me and putting me where you have placed me...
I never imagined my life would end up like this but I wouldn't change it for anything!
I'm sure this title doesn't shock anyone!
Sophie and I were being funny and... well... she likes to see herself on the camera so it made it to youtube.
So it just seemed appropriate to title this post "Sophie Playing with Her Knife" to catch your attention! Sophie got this super rad wood kitchen set and she shows off her mad cutting skills.!
So this may be a rambling but its something that has been stirring in my mind and I need to get it out (that means it may be crazy talk).
I've been reading the book of Judges and noticing two things that are consistent in the book: 1. Godly Leaders rise up at a needed time 2. People do what they want when they feel God is not present
Right away Judges starts out and I get excited! I see this dude Caleb (Judges 3) rises up and lead Israel and I think; its all going to be ok. Then when he dies the people turn their back on God but this dude Othniel rises up to lead Israel. Once Othniel is dead Israel goes back to their ways and just does what they want but then this dude Ehud rises up to lead Israel and take charge. Well you are going to guess it that after he dies Israel goes back to doing the dirty and seeking out other gods but hope comes again in this guy Shamgar. I don't think I need to say it but once Shamgar dies Israel falls away again. Did I mention all this happens in just one chapter!
The reason this has been stirring in my heart and mind is I keep wondering if God has called me to step up and lead. Then I come to reality and realize that God has already asked me to step up and that is why I lead in our High School Ministry. See the truth is that God has called all of us to step up. The end result I see is: that without Godly leaders to step up the people will just do as they please and dishonor God. That thought breaks my heart and that is why I will constantly step up to help people find God in a generation that desires Him not.
The short story goes like this: On Wednesday March 10th 2010 we took Charity to the doc to get checked out at like 1:30pm. Everything was good and then around 4pm she started having crazy contractions! At 6:45pm we decided that I should go to explode and help teach because we were having a Q & A night for the sex series (my wife is rad!).
I left Explode at 8:30pm came home, changed my shirt and then we were off to the hospital. We got there at 9:02pm and just waited... literally. We did some laps to make the contractions increase and finally at 2:00am we were admitted into our room. We had the best nurse that night; thanks Janet!
At around 3:30am I took a nap (hahahaha) and woke up at 5:30am when Charity's mom and sister arrived. Things progressed and then Charity started pushing and on March 11th 2010 at 7:06am Leah Joy Benson was born. She was 9 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches long She stole my heart from the first minute I saw her and just like when her sister was born I cried.
I'm currently writing a final paper for my class "Personal Health and Growth in Ministry". Here is an excerpt from it on a topic that has helped me to see myself in a new light.
During this class we were presented with the (w)holistic model of the pastor[1].Another way that this model can be described is a “Biblical Model of Wholeness”.The desire of the (w)holistic model is to enlighten the person on their entire being; stating that we are more than just one or two dimensional beings.The five dimensions that Harbaugh writes about are the pastor as a: physical person, mental person, social person, emotional person and then wraps up the model with overlaying our choices on top because our choices describe who we are.For our study it is essential to add being a spiritual leader to this equation and with that you come up with the entire person we are describing: a pastor.Dr. Peisner used the following diagram to bring a visual aid to the entire person that we are illustrating here:
The (w)holistic model helps to bring light to the many areas of our life; when one area is neglected other areas begin to suffer.When one area is not addressed other areas can overwork in an attempt to bring balance to the pastors life.Healthy relationships help us become a whole person; the difficulty with this is that we live in a broken world and every one of us has struggles we are dealing with.When you see this model, with this illustration, it helps to clarify and understand how complex we are.
The Hebrew word Shalom brings together the personal, interpersonal, and theological significance of the whole person in an attempt to point to different areas of “peace” in ones life[2].Jesus commanded us to love the Lord our God first and then love our neighbor as we love ourself (Matthew 22:37-39).Therefore we need to focus on loving God, figuring out areas in our life that need special attention and working on right relationships with others.When we apply the (w)holistic model to Shalom, and Matthew 22:37-39, it brings to light the Biblical view of personhood described here.
When there is no peace in the life of the pastor it would be prudent to assess ones life and figure out what has gotten out of sync in the model.A major contributing factor for the lack of health in ministry is the pastor not correcting seeing himself how God sees him; many times the pastor does not view himself as a complete person how Harbaugh describes.The body is more than just a physical shell that contains organs, blood, muscles and bones: our life is dictated by our choices and those choices have shaped who we are.
There can be multiple factors that contribute to the life of the pastor spinning out of control.The major problem occurs when the pastor forgets to view himself as a person who is susceptible to failure and begins to think of himself as someone who cannot be stopped and is invincible.Harbaugh states:
“As we become more free from those limitations, we become more free for personal and pastoral response to others.”[3]
A simple analogy is that when a pastor overlooks their physical being and allows himself/herself to become obese the obesity can, and typically will, affect the other areas in the person’s life.The choice to eat could be a result of a deeper emotional issue that has not been address and instead of facing the issue the pastor chooses to eat in a response mechanism to deal with the pain of the unaddressed life situation.The obesity could also be a cover up because the pastor has failed to take care of his/her physical body resulting in the weight gain: the areas of our life are tightly connected.
[1] Harbaugh, Gary L. Pastor as Person (Augsburg Publishing House, 1984) P. 20
We are currently doing a series in our High School Ministry called "Chicas y Muchachos". The point of this series to talk about sex. Yep, you read it right; sex. We want to teach our high school about sex and how to wait. See I have worked with students now for almost eight years and the reoccurring theme I hear is the pain and hurt from unwise sexual decisions. The series has been a home run so far (I never played baseball but have always wanted to say that).
The great thing about doing a series on purity is we get the chance to radically be involved in the lives of the students we work with. The adverse side of this is that stuff comes out. I think there are times that I avoid teaching on a topic because I know stuff is going to come out. Like when the hurricane happen in Louisiana the water filled the sewers and stuff came out that no one wanted to deal with; well we have some rad leaders who are prepared to deal with the stuff that comes out!
Here's how the series breaks out: Week 1: Sex and Love, Love > Sex (Intro week) Week 2: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (you gotta respect yourself) Week 3: The Difference between Pink and Blue Week 4: Dealing with Lives Hurts Week 5: I got a Question Week 6: The Choice of Purity
See the first three weeks of this series we have just talked about sex and how that impacts us and the world we live in (we live in Sin City) and the last three weeks we are going to talk about healing and how to make right choices to avoid the pain of unwise sexual decisions.
On January 7th 2005 Charity and I got married in Encinitas, CA. The day was not exactly what we had planned but the end goal was for us to be married to each other. We were supposed to have our ceremony on Ponto Beach just north of Encinitas. It hadn't raided in San Diego for about six months and of course the day we were supposed to get married it started raining (not just rain, but torrential downpour).
Well we got the crew together and changed the reception place into the ceremony/reception place. We had some great help from some wonderful friends! The night was so much fun getting to have all our families together for the special night.
Now fast forward five years
Charity and I have been married for five years. We have spent all of those married years in Las Vegas, NV serving in Student Ministries as South Hills Church Community. Well more than just working; Charity finished her Bachelor's degree, we went to Africa, met some great friends, had a beautiful daughter and much more!
We had always joked about doing an Elvis Wedding down on the strip. Well on our five year we did it! We headed to the strip along to Graceland Wedding Chapel with some great friends that we met here (you know who you are). This picture is a bit different (Sophie made it here) and Elvis is in the background. The night was so much fun. Maybe it would be better to say that the night was super funny and full of laughs.
We had a great time. I love doing life with Charity and all the enjoyable moments that we have together. One thing that just makes the story is that Charity is 8 months pregnant with our next daughter!
This years winter camp was amazing! I think that every year our team gets better and better at this trip! When I say "better" I mean more effective. We have been able to extend the trip and keep the cost down. We had two amazing leaders who go up the day before and stock the homes with food so that the students don't starve. We have established a great relationship with Town Hall in Brian Head and are able to rent it out for our meetings. I have noticed that our team (adult leaders) love the trip; it gives them a chance to connect with students over the weekend without missing too much work.
This year we had Brian Berry come and speak and he nailed it. The cabin discussion was wonderful in my cabin, and the leaders shared the same. Christian Calvo came and lead us in worship through music. There is something cool about worshiping in a small room with little amplification and just students voices. This year camp was great: I loved it! Don't believe me? Watch for yourself then!
For this series I landed on the Sermon on The Mount. As I was reading over the text (Matthew Chapters 5-7) I just kept thinking "Jesus is calling the people to life change". Jesus tells them what they heard from others and then shares with them the plans He has to change their life through the truth of God. Here's the deal though; its tough! Its tough because when you read The Sermon on The Mount it calls for life change and most of us aren't ready for that!
