fusion leaders blog

Training Time!

messenger413 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:19:44 +0000

Just a reminder that this week is the 3rd of April meaning it is again time for a training session with Dr. Herschell Baker. Anyways, it will be in the cafe at 6:30pm! Be there or be square (I just came up with that saying…..I bet it catches on)

Stuff

messenger413 — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:20:35 +0000

Well, Dirk gets the award for dominating the book stuff! And the prize – pride! Sorry, budget cutbacks…..

I wanted to remind those of you who have been contacted to share about the student leaders that we still need your availability and who you would like to talk about. Again, Dirk wins this award as well! Besides that, we are going to start a new series this week.

Finally, I will tell you this – I’m going to need you all to be very flexible with me. We are hitting sport season and warm weather and vacations. That means that we are going to need to be open to work thins we were not originally scheduled to work. Also, as of right now, our student leaders banquet will be held on May 28th and I would love you all to be there and support these students.

Finally (for the 2nd time), I need to know who is coming to the baseball game. I appreciate it!

April

messenger413 — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:50:04 +0000

Well, apparently I forgot to put the calendar up for April. Sorry about that. So, since we are a quarter of the way through, seems like it will still work. So, here you go….

April

11th – The Journey – Joel, Lorrie, Dirk
14th – Wednesday – Cindy, Kathy, Kristina, Joe, Suzette, Lorrie
15th – Smokies Game – Please let me know this week if you are coming!
18th – The Journey – Kris and Dena, Cindy, Brian
21st – Wednesday – Kris, Dena, Brian, Heather
24th – Share – 9am-12pm at Heritage Assisted Living (yard work)
28th – Wednesday – Cindy, Kathy, Kristina, Joe, Suzette

Well, there it is. Sorry it is late!

Book stuff

messenger413 — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:07:41 +0000

Well we are still reading the book – in theory that is. Either last week or 2 weeks ago I asked for your response to the book and so far I’ve heard from Lorrie, Dirk and Cindy who all had some great insights. I would love to hear from everyone else! I would just have another meeting to discuss it but I’m guessing no one wants to come in early for another meeting on a Sunday night.

Anyways, I hope you are enjoying it but if you are not, that is ok. This isn’t an “all-knowing” book. It is full of truths but not truths for everyone. Like Dirk and Cindy mentioned, every community is made up with different things so not all “postmoderns” are the same or at the same level of postmodernity. In many ways, our church and this community of Knoxville are way behind some of the major cities in our country (in reaching postmodernity that is). And that is ok. In fact, one of the best things we can do is read things we don’t agree with. That causes us to have to figure out why we don’t agree with it and that helps us formulate our belief system. I’ve read some books I vehemently disagreed with. But, it caused me to research and figure out why. This is a very good exercise.

So, give me your feedback on the book. It’s ok if you dislike it or disagree with it.

Passion Week

messenger413 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:55:38 +0000

This is a huge week in our faith tradition. The Savior of the world has just entered Jerusalem on a lowly donkey while a huge crowd surrounded Him saying, “Hosanna”. To many, this probably was a marker to them of the start of Jesus’ reign. Jesus had been such a controversial figure with numerous death threats. However, all of that seemed ancient history as He rode into the city accompanied by praise and adoration.

The sad truth of reality is coming, though. In this world, it is nothing for someone to sing your praises on a Sunday only to rip you apart on a Friday. The same people that used their voice to tell how wonderful Jesus was used that same voice days later to yell, “Crucify Him!” “How could people be so two-faced” is a normal response to this. The sad news is that we do this same thing almost weekly. We come into church (which isn’t meant to be a mere building) on Sundays and praise God with our lips and then during the week curse him by speaking negative words or gossip or anger or greed.

Anyways, these are just some thoughts I have today. This is a big week and one we should all meditate on.

Also

This Wednesday is our last teaching from “The Stages of Christ’s Suffering”. I want you to re-read that with the emphasis on “OUR” because you all are going to be integral. Later today I am going to email you the notes for Wednesday which will let you know what you will be teaching in your small group setting. We are going to do our normal worship and I will still share some but we will be in small groups for question time and prayer time. I know that this can be awkward with middle schoolers but I think it can be beneficial as well. So, get ready to talk! It will be easy and hopefully impactful.

Next Wednesday “heads up”

messenger413 — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:59:26 +0000

So, we’ve been the series “Stages of Christ’s Suffering” and next week will be the final teaching portion. Now, I had an idea to make it small groups meaning I would need you all who are scheduled to teach your small group the material. We would do the normal singing together and I would give some direction but then we would break out into small groups so there could be some discuss (in theory of course). Anyways, I’m still deciding but this is a heads up. I will email the lessons out tomorrow if I decide to go that direction. Thanks!

*anyone nervous yet?

Postmodern Youth Ministry

messenger413 — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:31:48 +0000

I was hoping we could discuss some of the book on here. It seems like we have meetings every week making it impossible to throw in another meeting so how about we simply “meet” online through this blog? I’m going to throw out some quick thoughts then get you all to respond.

I have really enjoyed reading through the book so far. I loved the first chapter as Tony took us through the journey into postmodernity. I realize that I am actually not classified in this age range but many of the thoughts and ideas that this generation have, I share. I do want to applaud you all because I think we have been doing a fairly good job of communicating to this generation in a way that they understand.

I also have enjoyed chapter 2. I love hearing about the church – even if it is the failings. I think we are in an interesting time of “response” to the world. Rob Bell put it best in “Velvet Elvis” when he said too many of us have a faith like a brick wall. When one brick is removed, the whole wall falls. This is the idea from the book about Copernicus finding the truth that the universe does not revolve around earth. The church’s faith was like a brick wall. If this was true then maybe other things the church believed were also wrong. The church panicked and refuted a proven truth. What the church misunderstood is that all truth comes from God because God is Truth. So, science merely discovered God in a way that we had not yet known. But, again, this caused the church great confusion. Rob Bell goes on to say that our faith should be like a trampoline. If one spring breaks, we are fine because our whole religion was not based on one single issue. I love Tony (and the insert by Brian McLaren) challenging us with the questions of: what if it was discovered True that Darwin’s idea of evolution was right or that there is a gene that causes homosexuality or that there are extraterrestrials. Would any of these things completely crumble our faith? What is our faith in?

I think one of my favorite quotes (although they are all good so don’t pass over the BOLD sections) is by Brian McLaren on page 41. He’s pretty much saying that we, in the youth section of the church, are using the creativity and passion of this postmodern generation only to send them off to the traditions and rigidness of the modern “big church” – and we wonder why so many of our students leave the church after high school.

So, what are your thoughts? I’m going to ask a few questions for us all to answer but don’t feel restricted by these questions:

1. What are your overall thoughts on the book so far?
2. What part have you disagreed with the most?
3. What part have you been the most surprised by?
4. Has there been one thing that has really stuck out to you – if so what?

Postmodern Youth Ministry

messenger413 — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:16:11 +0000

So, I don’t know if this lessens your view of me as the leader but I just started the book yesterday (hey, we don’t have to have it read until Sunday - I have time). I’ve heard from many of you that it is tough to follow and understand. I’m guessing this will not surprise anyone but I love the book. How can you not like all the philosophy? How can you not like the history of how we became a society that questions everything and doesn’t accept anything simply because someone said it? I think it is very interesting but I do apologize if it is a little confusing. I will tell you that the parts where there is the weird writing (I think you all know what I mean) is just extra – you don’t have to read that. The author just pulled from other people for those parts and it is not in the flow of the conversation at all. Anyways, just thought I’d let you know that I like it. We’ll discuss it on here in the weeks to come.

Reading

messenger413 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:29:33 +0000

Somehow I forgot to add this little nugget but we are supposed to be reading our books! I bet you all are but by this Sunday we should have read pages 8-79. Anyways, just a reminder…..

The Morning After

messenger413 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:06:37 +0000

Well, in case you hadn’t heard, Heather and I are leaving. I know, shocking right. We put the final stamps on that letter yesterday with our parent meeting and the insert in the bulletin. Many of you have been with us in Fusion for a long time and I can never thank you enough – Heather and I truly love you. I do want to specifically say thank you’s to Dirk, Kristina and George and Kathy. You all have been there from the beginning and any success that the students have in life is credited to you. I still remember talking with Dirk and Kristina and trying to convince you both to stay on and to my surprise you did! I also remember meeting with George and Kathy for dinner and seeing if you all would come back on board and of course you did and have been such a huge blessing. God has done some amazing things in our short time together. We’ve seen a few dozen students get saved (which is insanely huge for a ministry that doesn’t have a lot of ability to reach out to the lost community). We’ve seen students flourish into amazing leaders. There have been huge amounts of growth and development in the students – you can see it every time we have a Share opportunity. You all have developed the vision and mission of not only Fusion but the whole church (hear that again – the WHOLE CHURCH) with Shape, Sharpen, Share. You only need to drive down the interstate to see your impact. We’ve also developed and together taught “The Journey”. This should be celebrated! This ministry is heading in an amazing direction and it is all thanks to you all who have given so much to serve! I could not be more proud of where this ministry is and the direction it is going. And, although you don’t hear this enough, you all are amazing people that are very important and special! Too often we only hear the negative and if we are not careful we will lose sight of the HUGE amounts of positive things! So, again, you all are awesome leaders and ministers and I love you all.

In many ways this feels like a “sign off” when in reality we are going to be here for a few more months. But, since we just had that big day yesterday, it just felt right. The awkward part might be the fact that we are leaving but we are not gone. I apologize if this is tough for you all as leaders and I will do my best to make this as smooth as possible.

To a little bit of business. This Sunday night is our “Leader’s Training” with Herschell. It will be held in the Main Church Cafe at 6:30pm. If you missed the last session, Herschell will be going over it again at 5:30pm so please be there for that. Let’s dominate the world today!