Reach

This week we started a new series in our High School Ministry called "Reach". This year we changed up the way we do our message series; kinda. We didn't change much. We still preach from the Bible, our goal is to communicate to students in a way they understand, and we want to provide practical application they can take away to enable life change. The main thing we changed was that we are trying to do more "series" that are shorter.

For example: normally we kick off the school year with a 6-8 series. This year we started with a four week series. Instead of doing longer series that provide more depth we are trying to do shorter series that provide more a broad base. In short this allows us to teach students more of the Bible and help them to dig into areas of their interest.

Currently we are doing a two-week series called "Reach". The heart of reach is something that I am super passionate about. Ever since I gave my life to Christ I have had a desire to tell everyone about the one who radically changed my life (if you knew me before you know what I'm talking about). I believe that the God we serve is still actively involved in the business of life change and desires to see all men the truth of living for Christ. Prior to this series our intern, Evan Faircloth, took a two-week series on HELP. Evan spoke about our call, as Christians, to help a world that is in desperate need of a savior.

Part of the reach series we "borrowed" an idea from Kurt Johnson at Saddleback and did this video. I think it helped to communicate the heart of God in a new way. I hope that you don't think I am being disrespectful to God in any sense; that is not the intent of this video. The goal is to bring the truth of God in a relevant way that students are familiar with. Here is our version of Luke 15:1-7

Watch video here
(youtube won't allow me to embed it in here; so you're gonna have to go to youtube and check it)

"Be Kind"

As a youth pastor it is becoming increasingly difficult to find something going on in the world that I want to get involved in. I mean there are some great organizations out there but it seems like finding something with honest morals, character and integrity is tough to find now a days!

There is a foundation out there that I have come to know well and is something that I just want to partner with, tell everyone about and buy the t-shirt for me and my kid! Its called the Josh Stevens Foundations and its based on a moto that one young boy chose to live out. I never had the opportunity to meet Josh (I bet I would love him) but have I been able to meet his family and multiple others who knew him personally and he is the kind of person that makes you want to be a better person.

Unfortunately Josh's life was cut short; but the cool thing is that this kid is leaving a legacy here on earth and his message is inspiring me (a 30 year-old man) to be a better a person. Its not a super gnarly message with intricate words that is tough to follow. I haven't seen something crazy that you have to sign to be a part of this movement; in fact the message is so simple that you can read it on the front of my daughter's t-shirt "Be Kind..."

This is the moto that Josh lived by. I've heard stories from the students I work with about what a great kid Josh was and its true! They don't have to say much really because I can see that Josh was a great kid by the conversations I have with his sister (family knows best). But more than any of that I see that he had a lasting impact on the world with the message he chose to live his life by and that message is still alive and well in my community.

I hope one day that my children can leave a legacy. I hope that one day my children will be people that others want to model their lives after. I hope that one day my children will do something in the world that makes it want to be a better place. Until that day happens I am going to encourage my kids to follow the moto that Josh left here for us "Be Kind..." I think that is the right thing to do right now.

It seems appropriate to add this video that the local news station did about Josh. If a picture is worth a 1000 words this one is priceless:

Changing the face of discipleship

Discipleship is my not my natural bend as a Christian.  I would prefer to be out and about sharing the good news with people than sitting around a table and leading a small group.  Now I say that but something inside in me is changing.  Starting back in May I began to think that we (explode high school ministry) needed to revamp the way we are leading small groups.

Through months of thinking, planning, and praying we have successfully done that.  Last week was week four of our new small group format and I am totally loving it more than I could imagine!  I don't think I am naturally wired to lead a small group, which doesn't mean I am exempt from the call to disciple, but we have about 10 leaders that love to disciple students and we have turned them loose to make that happen!

We chose to use the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan for this session and the book is rocking the way I think about Christ and helping students understand more about this God they have chosen to follow.  The format is different than we have ever used; this is the first time we have all our small groups using the same format since 2005 and its working!  We moved all the small groups onto the church campus for the 10 weeks of this study to get some unity and critical mass going.  We are also seeing how girls and guys relate being in the same room during a study.

The leaders are the ones who make it!  The leaders are the ones who create the environment at the their table; they are the ones being youth pastors to the students at their table.  The leaders are the ones who are praying for their students, inviting them and even picking them up so they can come and its working!  This is the first time we are not basing success on numbers but health and its so freeing to see Jesus work in that room on Sunday nights.  If you haven't had a chance to come to small group; hope to see you this week at 4pm in the Student Ministry room!

Image is Everything (but really false)

Ever since I can remember image has been huge for me!  I have done my best, since about the 9th grade, to look my best in dress and self image (no one looks good in middle school and that is given).  It started with making sure I had the "cool" snowboard and snowboard boots.  Then I needed to make sure I got a "cool" truck when I was in High School.  It didn't stop there; I always wanted the "cool" girlfriend but the sad thing is that I didn't fit in any of their class bracket.  My family was never poor but we were never rich; we had food on the table and a roof over our head, we played sports, we had money to go on vacation but we never had that much.

When I first game my life to Christ I remember looking into my closet one day and thinking that I need to get rid of some of these clothes; especially my Bad Religion t-shirt.  I never really cared what others thought about me (it sounds contradicting and I know that) but I always wanted to make sure that in my mind I looked how I would prefer to look.

This image has stuck with me into my adulthood and recently has been bugging me deeply.  I constantly think about how I look and want to make sure that I look like I have it all put together.  What's been bugging me is that I have a great family, a wonderful wife, two beautiful kids and a growing relationship with Christ so why does this bother me?  I think I figured it out the other night on the plane when this verse came to mind:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Matthew 23:25-26

This verse is it!  Jesus nails it on the head and brings the truth to my situation; I just needed to be open to seeing it in scripture!  See the problem for me is that I need to focus more on my inside being taken care of and less about what my outside looks like.  One thing that I have learned, and haven't totally figured out yet is how to really connect well with Jesus in this new stage of my life.  This is what I am going to work on now; connecting well with God being a husband, dad and pastor.  My focus will not be on how to be the best pastor but how to be the best follower of Christ that leads and loves his family well; I think the rest will fall into place when I focus on that.

The End

I've been in ministry now for almost 8 years and I have to be honest that I have been scared to ever broach the subject of end times... until now.
Almost four weeks ago we started our series "The End" with a goal of teaching students what the Bible says about the end times. Students are being bombarded, on all sides, with what society thinks will happen at the end. We have movies like; "I am Legand", "2012", and "The Road" that attempt to speak about what will happen at the end and what that may look like.

In our High School Ministry we chose to dedicate four weeks to teaching through this topic to help students grasp, Biblically, what the need to know about the end. Here's how the four weeks has broken down:

Week 1: "Be Prepared"
Main Text: Matthew 24:1-35

Week 2: "Are you Ready?"
Main Text: Matthew 25:1-13

Week 3: "The End of Everything"
Main Text: Revelation 20

Week 4: "After The End"
Main Text: Matthew 25:31-46

The sense I get is that this series has been helpful to students in their understanding of what the end will look like and what they can do in preparation for the end. You can check out our podcast for this series to hear some of the messages that we have done (Pastor Chase spoke week 2).

This is the video we have used to intro the series

The Family

I'm currently reading a book for a Fall semester class at Tozer Seminary called "The Family".  The course is on Marriage and Family Counseling.  I just got to chapter 17 and began reading about divorce and single parent families.  I come from a divorced family and some of the things that I am reading are really sticking out to me; figured I would blog about them to help them stick in my mind.

"They discovered that adults who said they were unhappily married in the late 1980's and got divorced were on average still unhappy or even less happy when interviewed five years late as compared to those who stayed in their marriage.  Most of those who stayed in their marriages had on average moved past the bad times and reached a happier stage."

I found this interesting because I think so many times we come to marriage thinking that it is made to make me happy.  Before getting married my father-in-law gave me a book to read called "Sacred Marriage".  One quote has stood out to me from that book:

"Marriage is like a mirror that shows us all our flaws"

Not the most encouraging quote but realistic.  Marriage shows me how completely selfish I am and how much I need the truth of God in my life and help to squash that selfishness.  Here are some up to date statistics on divorce:

• About 40% of marriages will end in divorce
• The average length of marriages that end in divorce are 7 years
• America has the second highest divorce rate (beaten by Russia)
• Since 1980 there have been approximately 1.2 million divorces a year
• There has been a decline in the divorce rate since 1980 due to cohabitation 
• Those who marry in their mid-twenties tend to have a more stable marriage
• The divorce rate is highest in Blacks, moderate among whites, and lowest among other ethnic groups
• Divorce is lowest among Jews, moderate in Catholics and highest among Protestants 

The book goes on to share about the pain that children bear from divorced homes.  Something that sticks out to me, from personal experience, is that boys who live with their mother tend to be more aggressive and non-complaint.  This has been a personal struggle that I have dealt with for years and wish I could say have conquered but still have battles with.

This book brought good insight on divorce and the stigma that goes something like we are able to fail in business, school and other decisions but not in marriage.  We have all made unwise choices and marriage is a union between two imperfect people.  My goal for marriage is to honor Christ, put Charity's need before mine and point my daughters to Christ.  Please pray I will be able to do that well.

Navigating the Journey

I've heard many quotes on how life is a journey and its what we learn along the way. Life is a journey its just a matter of how you take it. Life is a journey make you stop at In and Out for lunch. Ok the last one is my personal take.

Life is a journey and I have been riding that journey for over 30 years now which the last 10 of those years I have done as a Christian man, the last 5 1/2 as a married man, and the last 2 as a father. Over the last 10 years there has been great changes in my life; the transition to following Christ was by far the biggest change ever!

Recently I have been going down a path trying to learn more about myself, who God has called me to be, how to implement that, how to grow as a Christian, how to be a better leader and what all that looks like. I cannot say the journey has been easy; I learned early that nothing good is easy but it is worth it. The journey for me has been very much so "worth it". It has been difficult, trying, stretching and convicting. God has done some huge shaping in my life in Vegas in the last, almost, 6 years now and especially the last 18 months.

With all that said to intro this, I have been reading a book called "Emotionally Healthy Spiritually" that a trusted friend recommended to me recently and it has been rocking my soul. A quote that has stuck out more than anything I have read recently (beside the Bible) is:

"I was a Christian for twenty-two years. But instead of being a twenty-two-year-old Christian, I was a one-year-old Christian twenty-two times! I just kept doing the same thing over and over and over again."

I mention this quote, three months after reading it, because it is profound and I think a good indicator of where the Church is at. From a leadership standpoint I see many people that have merely accepted Christ and fail to do much more than that. To battle that I am making a commitment, as a young leader, to be different than that. To not allow students to sit on the side line with their faith; to do more than just wear the team jersey but to figure out how they can play.

The world is crying for us, as Christians, to do something with our faith and I think now is the time!

Sophie is 2

Ok so Sophie has been two almost three weeks now.  We were on vacation in San Diego when her b-day hit so here are some pics of the day

Sophie woke up to balloons 

Then we fed a Giraffe

Whats a b-day without a cupcake!

Something Amazing

On Sunday September 5th I was able to teach on big stage at church.  Here is the message:


09/05/10 South Hills - Weekend Message from Axis/Brio - Henderson, NV on Vimeo.

Quotes from Sophie

Recently Sophie has been saying some of the greatest, funniest and cutest things ever. Here is a chance for you to laugh with me:

The other day we are driving in the car. I told Sophie what we were going to do and she responds:
"Good idea daddy"

Today Sophie came to my office. She pointed to our student ministry room and said:
"Want to sing to Jesus"

I was leaving for work this morning. Sophie came to me and said:
"Sophie go to work daddy?"

At the Zoo we were feeding the Giraffe and Sophie said:
"He tried to eat my finger"

I gave Sophie a cracker and asked her if Leah wanted one. She replied back:
"Leah's a baby daddy"

These are just a few, random, things that Sophie has said lately.

Sophies First Sea World Visit

Last week we took a family vacation down to San Diego for the week and had the best time of our life!  I'm going to have to take a few times to post the entire trip but wanted to start with our first day and our visit to Sea World.  I am stoked on how much Sea World has for kids!  We were able to pet bat rays and Sophie totally loved them!

After we pet the bat rays we went and checked out the penguins.  Sophie loved looking at the penguins and watching them swim under the water.  After that we made our way to see Shamu!  I don't remember Sea World being this cool when I was growing up but I love it for my daugher

After "petting" Shamu we went to the Shamu show and I have to say that I was almost in tears watching the joy that Sophie had watching Shamu "do flippies".  When the Shamu show as done we went over to the new Sesame Street area that Sea World put in since I was kid where we met back up with my sister and her son Blaze.  Charity took Sophie on the Gabby ride there and she was totally loving it!

We all know that the toddlers in our life need a nap so we went home for lunch and nap but we had to come back after dinner (I mean it cost $12 to park so we needed to get our monies worth).  After dinner we came home and watched the Sea Lion show that was just as funny as I remember it.  After that we went to see the Polar Bear.  Sophie was loving it and then we saw the Walrus.  While looking at the Walrus Sophie told me "I need more Polar Bear".  I loved that so we went back and she just sat there with him

Well once we saw the Polar Bear it was time to head home for the night and get ready for our next day going to the San Diego Zoo!

Family Day @ Bonnie Springs

I realized that I haven't blogged much about my family recently; summer tends to be an intense season of ministry and school (no excuse). On Friday Charity and I decided to take the family out to Bonnie Springs, a little old west town that is about 45 minutes from town, and we had a great time out there!

We arrived around 10am and jumped right into the action. There is a pond with some ducks and some turtles. We spent our quarters and fed the ducks

After feeding the ducks we walked around the petting zoo where we encountered all kinds of gentle animals that Sophie loved touching! Here is the goat that was super nice and let us pet him. We also pet a little pony, a sheep, a deer, a llama, and tried to pet some chickens.

They have all kinds of animals there that we loved looking at!



After we pet the animals Sophie went to ride a pony! She totally had a great time riding "peanut" and looked super cute in her helmet; you gotta love this video!

The day wouldn't be complete without a picture of daddy, that's me, wearing Leah in the Baby Ergo!
















We did great until Sophie and Mommy got arrested and thrown into jail for breaking the law!

Leading Freshman

This last year, well almost year, has been a rad journey in my personal life serving in ministry.  I know that I am the High School Pastor at our church but I still want to serve in an area of ministry in our church and the way I have done that over the last six years is by leading a small group.  The way it has basically happened over the last few years is that I took the "upper class men" to make sure they had some solid discipleship in their lives before leaving for college.

This last year of ministry (school year 2009-2010) I chose to do something different.  I chose to lead the incoming freshman.  There were a few factors that played into the decision but the main one was to be able to have influence in some young guys lives for the next four years and make sure they had a consistent leader.  Now I have to admit that leading freshman is much different than leading seniors. 

Let me share some of those differences:
* They can't drive
* Cabin time at winter camp is a little more squirely
* They still think they can beat me up
* They are more "raw" (by that I mean they don't think they have to be as cool as older students)
* They are loving; I have the best group of boys in my small group
* They are honest about the pain in their life; they haven't learned how to hide it all that well yet

The list could continue but these are just a few points that stick out to me the most.  For years I knew this moment would come when I would "start over" with a group of young guys and lead them through high school (years we can all admit are some of the toughest years in our life).  I have to admit that I kinda dreaded, or was scared, to go down and lead freshman but after a year of leading freshman I look back and I am so thankful for the guys in my small group and all the memories we made this year. 

Love you guys and praying that your sophomore year of high school will be a time or more growth in your walk with Christ.

$1,000,000

I like to play the "what if" game a lot.  The "what if" game is just something that I think in my mind about what I would do if this happened or how I would respond if that happened.  For a little while I have thought about what I would do if I have a million dollars and here it is:

1st- $100,000 to South Hills Church Community in Henderson, NV
2nd- $165,000 to pay off my condo in Las Vegas, NV
3rd- $150,000 to buy a three or four bedroom house
4th- $50,000 to my mom; she has been so helpful in our lives
5th- $100,000 to the girls college fund ($50,000 each)
6th- $35,000 to buy a sick wakeboard boat
7th- $25,000 to furnish our new home
8th- $25,000 into our bank account for future vacationing (Tahiti, Japan or Australia)
9th- Invest the remaining $350,000 and pray really hard about how to use it to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today; if I got a check for $1,000,000 this is how I would spend it.
How would you spend it?

Hume Lake 2010

(Hume Lake in the morning)

From July 18th-24th I had the privilege of leading a group of leaders and students to Hume Lake Christian Camp in California.  This was my sixth summer heading to Hume for camp and I think every year it has gotten better and better.  Some would say that bus ride is a long 9 hours there but I look at it as a rad time to connect with students who I normally don't get to see.  After leaving Vegas and arriving to some temperature much less than 110 degrees I love to make, or encourage, all our guys to take a quick swim in the lake right when we get there. 

(The soon to be senior boys)

Then during the week we compete in some pretty crazy recreation games that help break down the "I'm too cool wall" that some students put up (I never did that in high school).  Hume breaks the entire camp into 2 huge teams each having 14 sub-teams; let the competition begin!  During the week your team can earn points for: cleaning your cabin, competition, spirit, memorizing Bible verses, and other things.  The whole thing is to use healthy competition to break down walls and it works! 

(What were we thinking)

Some free time activities we like to do are: play ultimate frisbee, you can rent a boat and go out on the lake (no gas motors allowed), there is a High Adventure course, a sick paintball course and much more.  Every year we let the students know that we will be playing paintball in tank top shirts and shorts.  I know it sounds totally stupid but I am in shock at how many love it!  We get out there; have some fun and get crazy on the field.  The welt stores are great (I still have a scar on my neck from three years ago) and this year my first hit was on the top of my head. 

(The entire crew)

The week was a huge success and we had multiple students make a first time choice for Christ.  I was so excited at how many leaders came up to me and said something like: "I forgot to tell you, but when I was doing my one-on-one with ___________ he/she gave their life to Christ for the first time."  I was so pumped to see all the hard work we have put into sowing the seeds for Christ reap a reward! 



The leaders this year were amazing (not that they haven't been) but this year we took 6 leaders who were previous students of ours.  I have to just end this with a huge thank you to everyone who prayed for students, prayed for me, helped with transportation, gave us a contact to make camp less expensive, shopped the garage sale, played in the golf tournament, worked anything we did to raise money and just encouraged our team while we did camp this year.  Thank you for loving God and liking students!

A Great Pastor

I work with a great pastor on the team here at South Hills.  I know there is a difference between good pastors and great pastors; so I want to make that distinction upfront that I am aware of the language of I am using in this post. 

I didn't always think he was a great pastor and I'm sure he had similar feelings for me but in the last six months I have come to realize that I work with a great pastor.  He is talented.  He is passionate about what he does.  He is willing to take risks.  He steps out in faith because he wants to see God work.  He is a learner; and leaders are learners.  He cares about the teams that he works with.  He encourages our church to be a better place.  And most of all I think he has the hardest job here on staff; he works with middle school students.

This last week Chase Feindel was down in San Deigo at Hume SD and I heard some great things about the ministry that he was doing down there with the team of leaders he brought and the students that he ministers to.

While Chase was gone I had a youth pastor buddy there tell me something to effect of:
"You have a great team here"

Another friend at the camp texted me and said:
"Chase is a really good youth pastor"

To which I joking replied:
"Did he steal your phone and say that?"

As much as I love to joke around with Chase I have to let the rest of the world know that he is not just a good youth pastor but, in my mind, he is a great youth pastor!  Chase I am honored to work with you and see the growth that God has done in your life in the last almost 4 years we have been working together.

Thank you for loving Jesus, loving your wife, caring about the local church and all you do here!  Thanks too for being uncle Chase to my daughter.

Sophies First Tattoo

Last night we went out to dinner for Charity's birthday.  We went to Kings Fish House, I won't share the story on the way, but once we got there it was amazing.  Well in the kids book they have tattoo's so Sophie got her first tattoo:

(Sophie's first tattoo)

Its a pirate on her left forearm; she likes to tell me how I put it on.  Its starting to wipe off today, but she loves it and I love seeing her smile!

Swim Lessons

Another quick video from swim lessons

Sophie's ABC's

Sophie has been practicing her ABC's and tonight, while eating cherries, we decided to give them a shot on camera!

The Journey

For about the last month God has been teaching me a tough lesson; The Journey.

See I was hiking at Mount Charleston the other day (when I say the other day I mean 6 weeks ago) and on the drive up I planned to do the 2 mile hike to Cathedral Rock.  When I got to the parking lot for the hike I noticed on the board a hike that would take me to the top of the mountain.  I had the food and water to make the hike so I diverted the plan, texted Charity and took off on a new adventure.  As I began this new adventure I quickly realized that I was not the 16 year, agile, studly young man I once was.  Another thing I noticed was a good deal of snow on the ground; but I kept on trucking. 

The entire hike I was talking to God.  Sometime into this new adventure I specifically heard (not audibly) that I need to turn around; so I did.  I went back to "plan A" and let Charity know.  As I was going back the same way I went there were feelings of remorse; you know when you had a great idea and it just never happened?  That is how I was feeling.  Feelings of failure crossed my mind and thoughts of wondering and question crossed my mind. 

(You can faintly see the deer)

As I was nearing the original trial I spotted a cool bench carved out of a huge tree that had fallen and decided to sit down on it.  When I sat down I quickly noticed a pack of bears in the distance; ok just kidding but I did see two deer.   As I was sitting on the bench I felt God speaking something to my heart that was difficult to hear.  He was saying something to me that sounded like this "Its not about the destination while you are here, but its about the journey."  See the goal of that day was to head to the mountain and spend time with God but how quickly it turned into Neal talking to God.

Since this day there has been many conversations that God and I have had about this topic.  On the drive to Redding for summer school I really felt God speaking to me about the journey while I was driving; about 30 minutes later I got a speeding ticket.  God wanted me to slow down but I wasn't willing to listen; I constantly want to force my plan and I am constantly being reminded that I need to slow down and enjoy the journey. 

If I can't enjoy the journey will I ever enjoy the destination?