Hey friends.
Sorry for the late send on this. Substack was having some issues in the afternoon, and as you’re about to read, I had somewhere to be. We’ll get back to the regular rhythm next week.
I’m heading off to help with a student weekend at our church this afternoon, so no devo piece today. I’ll be working with a group of 7th and 8th grade boys, which is both exciting and terrifying. If you think of it, pray for the students at Sojourn J-Town as they gather, worship, serve, and have all sorts of fun this weekend. This will also be the first big student ministry overnight for our oldest. She’s stoked to go, and even signed off on me being involved, though I’m sure she’ll have a strict set of rules for me to follow so I don’t embarrass her
NBA Incarnation (Discipleship, Student Ministry)
“Am I reading a preacher expound a passage from Mark, or a sports writer comment on Bronny? I can’t tell.” Two of my favorite sites come together here, as Matt Pearson writes for Mockingbird to discuss a piece over at The Ringer, The Wait and Weight for Bronny James. Bronny is the son of Lebron James, and finds himself in a difficult situation playing for USC this season. As you’d imagine, there’s a lot of pressure for a young man following in his father’s very large, heavily decorated footsteps. People have lofty expectations for him, and when things played out differently than they’d hoped, there’s been all sorts of pushback. As Matt read this story about Bronny, he couldn’t help but see a whole host of connections to the coming of Jesus and the disappointments and frustrations when their expectations for what a savior would be went unmet. While no illustration of God the Father or Jesus ever works completely, this is a great way to start a conversation with any of the students in your life that are into the NBA. If you love hoops and Jesus, you’re in for a treat.
Cultivating Community (Discipleship, Kids/Student Min)
“And of all the many things we do, cultivating spiritual community in a lonely world ranks among the most difficult, time-consuming, and personally demanding efforts. But once again, I want to encourage you that it is worth it—for you and your church.” My old pal and pastor, Jeremy Linneman, has another piece up on the Crossway blog this week digging into how to cultivate spiritual community. It’s geared toward lead pastors, but there’s a lot here that kids and student leaders can apply to building their volunteer and leadership teams. Taking the initiative to build real and lasting relationships, and modeling what that can look like as you lead, train, and encourage your team can go a long way toward knitting a group of people together as they serve your church. Give it a read, and see what you can glean for the team you’re building.
Atomic Discipleship (duh, Discipleship)
“Like physical transformation, spiritual transformation is the gradual reward of consistent habits. Even when you don’t immediately feel the effects of your Bible intake, you can be confident your spiritual fitness improves little by little each time you engage with God’s Word.” Blake Glosson pulls out four parallels between diet/exercise habits and our Bible intake from the incredibly popular self-help book, Atomic Habits. The most revelatory bit for me was the encouragement that starting small with a new habit (like REALLY small) is a great way to make meaningful changes in our lives. The hardest part isn’t finishing the quiet time or wrapping up the journal entry, it’s actually sitting down to start. Once you build the habit, and get over the speed bump of stepping into it consistently, you can adapt the habit/practice/etc. to dive deeper, read more, run farther, or reflect longer. This wisdom Blake points us to is helpful in our own spiritual lives, but can also be applied to changes we want to make within our teams, ministry routines, etc. Start small, build up, and see what the Lord might do.
Playground Design
The weather is finally warming up, daffodils are blooming, and the season for baseball fields and playgrounds is upon us. Our kids are finally old enough that we don’t have to worry quite so much about the death trap design of some playground equipment, but you may still be in the stage of anxiously patrolling all the possible fall, break, or impale points at your favorite park. This video’s for you. Enjoy the weekend.