Lifestyle Shift

Forming Hearts, Shifting Ministry, Team Building, and Skip It

Hey gang.

Welcome back. Welp, after my innocuous post about Cub Scouts and merit badges, things for the Scouts really popped off. The newsletter wasn’t supposed to be full of political intrigue, just a little slice of life post that connected to discipleship. So, here’s to this week’s entry not being connected to any national headlines. :-)

The bookclub I’m in continues to roll along, and we recently wrapped up our second book and subsequent meeting to discuss. Side note: if you were wondering how to get dudes interested in reading, connect it to a book draft to trick their brains into thinking it’s fantasy football related. For February we read through John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. He’s a bit of a divisive figure in evangelicalism these days, but if you’re coming at his work with a strong theological framework and a generous attitude, there’s plenty to learn and put into practice in your own life.

One of the fun things about reading books with other guys is the wide range of application and highlighting that you see. Stuff I breezed by without remark or notation was critical to what other men found most compelling about the book. Some of what I highlighted and shared didn’t resonate at all with others at the table. The Lord, and the books we’re reading, finds us each at different places in life with unique seasons of work, family, faith, fitness, etc. So naturally, there will be variation about what rings loudest in the ears of each guy. You learn from them, they learn from you, and everyone learns a little more about what makes each guy tick—what he’s going through, wrestling with, his career, his family, etc.

One idea that Comer shared has been lodged in my brain since reading it, and it bubbles up everywhere I look. It’s spread out in a few sentences sprinkled over a couple pages.

“If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.

The reality is, I want the life, but I’m not willing to adopt the lifestyle behind it.

I think that’s how a lot of us feel about Jesus.”

He’s connecting this with the idea of Jesus’s easy yoke (from Matthew 11), and how that yoke serves as a constraint that leads to a life peace and presence with God, ourselves, and others. Most believers would agree that they’d love to experience that end result. The problem is, we’re seldom willing to do the work to get there.

Of course, the grace of Christ is a free gift, and it’s by grace that we’re saved (Ephesians 2:8, Seeds Family Worship will help to sink this truth into your heart). At the same time, if we’re to be growing into the likeness of Christ, there’s a shift in our living that must take place. We can’t follow the example of Jesus, if we’re not reading the Bible and examining how he lived. We can’t worship the one true God without sharing our life and hearing his voice as we pray. To summarize Comer, we want the fruit of life with God, but we’re unwilling to adopt our lifestyle to allow us to taste it.

Once you start thinking about lifestyle, and everything that gets wrapped up in it, you see it everywhere. I googled a home gym around Black Friday last year, and I’ve been inundated with reels, YouTube videos, and Facebook marketplace ads about health, wellness, and fitness ever since. Just about all of them show me the perfect picture of health and strenght, and then they pitch me on their version of the lifestyle to get me there. Just buy this squat rack, start this supplement, or sign up for personal training, and you’ll be on your way to the life you really want.

Like I said, when you’re looking for it, you can find people bending lifestyles everywhere you look. I went down a rabbit hole of videos late last night where a guy bought a twenty-five pound bag of oats, and decided he was going to see if he could eat them all in a week. That’s roughly 9000 calories a day (not to mention all the fiber!) just in oats. Sheesh! This guy is an “aspiring pro cyclist,” so he’s used to eating quite a bit as he puts in hundreds of kilometers on his bike each day. That said, that’s some kind of lifestyle shift to decide to put away that many pounds of oats each day. He knew what he wanted to do (if only for entertainment purposes), and he adjusted his lifestyle to meet that goal. It’s honestly insane.

*Editor’s Note* The first video in the series is linked above. While this one is clean, the oats must’ve taken their toll over the week as some subsequent videos have some adult language. Consider earmuffs if you want to follow his seven day journey. :-)

Putting aside my quest to build a home gym and this goofball’s attempt to harm himself with a giant bag of oats, let’s shift gears back toward discipleship for ourselves or our kids. Like most folks who are following Jesus, if you asked me directly, I’d say the thing I wanted most was life with God. I long to know him deeply, to seek and follow his will for me, to love and serve my neighbor, and to flee from sin whenever temptation rises before me. While that’s true, if you’re a fly on my wall at home, I’d wager you’d see plenty of things that would cause you to ask if that’s really true.

You’d see how I start my days, often bleary-eyed in the dark, more concerned with the weather and news for the day than I am with cracking open my Bible. You’d see me rush through prayer so I can get my espresso maching going. You’d see me pull the curtains closed so I’m not bothered by what’s outside my window because I’ve got a to-do list that demands my attention. You’d see me blow through the warning signs the Spirit offers me before my anger builds to a point where I’m yelling at a kid, begrudgingly cooking dinner, berating a slow driver holding me up, or complaining to myself about the latest PTA email asking for time, money, or brownies.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s grace for each of those situations. Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us that, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” The lifestyle shift I need is to realize that regardless of how long I’ve been on my journey of faith, I’m in desperate need of grace each day. I want life with God. I want peace in relationships. I want joy in what he calls me to. Those things aren’t going to come out of an extra workout this week, an evening spent gaming, or from a deposit in my checking account. They’re going to come from the basics building blocks of discipleship—dwelling on God’s word, seeking solitude with God, serving my church, and loving my family well.

So where does that leave us? Well, I won’t speak for you, but it leaves me in a spot where my intentions need to shift to match what I’m aiming at. I’m praying that would God would grant joy as I pursue his presence in those areas. That faithfulness would beget faithfulness, his grace and mercy would be evident when I fail, that I’d trust his faithfulness more than my own, and that he’d be glorified in my effort to follow him.

How about you? What part of your lifestyle/life choices are keeping you from the life you want with God? What might it look like for you to say no to the things that are keeping you what you imagine life with God could be?

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Forming Hearts (Kids Ministry)

“In a joy-filled preschool Sunday school class, we cultivate implicit memories that can help children grow to love and embrace the good news. Toddlers and preschoolers soak up their teacher’s facial expressions and example. Habits form as they learn the weekly routine of coming to church, listening to God’s word, and responding through hands-on crafts and games. By God’s grace, the love and joy they’re shown in Sunday school will teach their hearts to love the church throughout their lives.”

Preschool classrooms are often the easiest place to plug in new volunteers to start their kids ministry careers. It’s not as physcially taxing as bouncing a barrage of babies through a service, and they’re young enough that the lesson doesn’t feel like you need a theology degree in order to teach it. You don’t need to be a pro to play games, help kids color, dole out snack, or break up the occasional scuffle over a toy. The problem is, it’s easy to think that all you’re doing in those rooms is managing behavior and making sure the kids have fun.

This piece from Jared Kennedy doesn’t discount any of that work, but also reminds us why preschool ministry is so valuable. When kids are in this age range, they’re beginning to learn not only to tell stories, but to learn from the stories they hear. It’s hearing the stories from the Bible of who God is, what his people go through, how Jesus walked among us, and God’s plan to redeem us that start to give children a lens through which to see the world. God uses these words, categories, and ideas to show kids their need for him, and draw them near, we get to play a part in all that happening. What a gift! What are you doing to encourage your preschool leaders that their presence and influence matters for kids?

Shifting Ministry (Book Review)

“How are pastors, especially those who work with children and teenagers, supposed to minister in such a pivotal moment in American history? We must first accept a hard truth: We cannot continue to do children’s and youth ministry as we’ve done them and expect different results from today.”

Here’s a review from Austin Gravley (great Substack follow as well!) of what seems like a compelling book for anyone in the trenches of kids/student ministry. In Keeping Kids Christian, Cameron S. Shaffer centers both the family and the church as a central means of helping kids develop a robust and lasting faith. These relationships provide support for the growth of kids outside of their immediate family, but it also provides an opportunity for adults to put their own spiritual lives on display for others to learn from.

Amidst the growing trends of young people “deconstructing” their faith, Shaffer’s desire to see deeper roots of faith growing in young people is encouraging. We can’t wait around for culture to shift again in the hopes that old ministry models might work again. The real question is, what changes can congregations implement to foster those deeper roots Shaffer is looking for, and more practically, how can ministry leaders and churches practically shift to see kids and students hanging onto their faith into adulthood. Have you seen a model of inter-generational ministry work in your church? What changes did you make in order for that new model to work?

Team Building (Kids Ministry/Student Ministry)

“Every staff role reflects what a church believes to be important … or at least what they believed to be important at some time in the past. Every reporting line reveals ministry priorities. And every unspoken expectation communicates assumptions about success.”

This piece from Bryan Rose is geared almost entirely toward lead pastors building and shaping staff cultures. However, each of the five “clarity questions” he works through would be valuable for any kids/student ministry leader to walk through with their team. Whether you’re at a large church with a huge staff supporting your ministry, or you’re the solo staff person leading a small team of volunteers, these conversations can go a long way toward connecting vision and execution.

One of the most important exercises I work through with anyone I’ve coached in kids ministry is nailing down vision and values for a particular ministry, and then connecting everything you’re doing day-to-day to those ideas. These questions (and the conversation surrounding them) from Rose are helpful guides in making those connections. What are we trying to do? How are we getting it done? What does success look like? Where are we going next? These are great questions for leadership development within your team, or provide some guardrails for training you may want to do with your team. Leadership work like this is a great way to get the creative juices flowing in your own mind, and in the minds of your team.

Skip It

I’m not saying you should shame your kids for their inability to navigate the physical challenges we used to be able to sleep walk through, but I’m also not *not* saying it either. :-)