Causing a Ruckus

Do you know anyone who is just always causing a ruckus? They can never seem to just simmer down and are always causing a scene. I hope I can be like that

I just finished reading Seth Godin's book "Tribes". It was a quick but insightful read about being the leader of a tribe of people. In it Seth examines some of the qualities of people who lead tribes amongst many other things.

One of the characteristics of a leader of a tribe is they cause ruckuses. Some people even refer to them as "heretics". Now as a pastor I don't want to be defined as a heretic, but I certainly don't mind creating a bit of a ruckus.

As I thought more and more about it, I began to realize that I can sometimes become confined. Sometimes by limits placed upon me, but often by limitations I place myself. And I can identify the barriers but for a number of reasons I don't move them or overcome them.

But then a started thinking about great examples of leaders of the Christian faith, starting simply with Jesus. Jesus was always causing a ruckus. He would make scenes, and do things against the status quo. He would infuriate people, and do unspeakable things... but he did it because he wanted, nay, he needed them to follow him. He needed to live an example of what it meant to live in relationship with God. He lived a life that was countercultural to show us what is Godcultural (yeah I  made that word up).

And so if I am going to be a follower of Jesus; and more than that; if I am going to be a pastor bringing people to Jesus, I need to start a ruckus.

So this week I am working on a couple new projects. They are a little out there and in some cases will stretch myself and other people. But I think they are going to cause a scene. I think they are going to get peoples attention. And the hope is that through these things people start to see Jesus through me in a new way, and start to follow him.

Care to join me?

How Superman is like Jesus

If you have not had the chance to see the new movie "MAN OF STEEL" you may not want to continue reading this blog post. If you don't care about spoilers you have been forewarned.

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This past weekend I went with my wife's side of the family to see Man of Steel for my Brother-in laws birthday and for Fathers day. I thought the movie was overall pretty good outside of a little too much fast action with special effects. But I loved the relational context they put Superman in for this film.

They made Superman like Jesus. Without saying it they threw in a whole bunch of allegorical and visual references.

Let me give you a little of the rundown.

1) He is not from this world but was sent by his father to bring hope and salvation for humanity.

2) He grows in Strength and wisdom, even though it was always inherently within him

3) The symbol on Superman's chest is not an 'S' rather it means hope. How about the wounds Jesus carries as a symbol of hope.

4) Superman wins over the bad guy because of his love for humanity. God defeats Satan as a show of power and love.

5) Just watch the movie and look in the background as Superman is in a church posing just like Jesus, or how about when he stretches his arms out like Christ on a cross. This movie has some many visuals that bring that to the forefront of our minds.


I really loved how they did this. It wasn't overt and in your face, but it was subtle and can send a powerful image. I love when you can take pieces of Hollywood and use them for teaching people about Christ!

Caution: Inspiration Contained within

Jesus, Mother Teresa, Bethany Hamilton, Nick Vujicic, Bono, Felix Baumgartner, Ghandi, Frodo. These are some people that are truly inspirational. While each of them are famous for different or similar reasons, they are all an inspiration to others.

Why are they inspirational: Some are leaders of movements, some pro athletes, amazing speakers/musicians, and one guy went on a huge journey even if it was fictional. They are inspirational because of things they have experienced or accomplished. They make us think about our lives in a unique ways.

Today I watched a video of a talk given by Nick Vujicic. You can watch it here.
He is truly an amazing speaker and very inspiring. God has given him many talents and not given him other things that give him a platform (watch the video or Google him and you will understand). I was floored by his story, I was amazed by the message he gave. Not because of what he has done, but because of what God has done in and through him.

Lately I have been thinking: How can I inspire the lives of the people I work with? How can I inspire the students I teach to be inspirational for other students? And the message I watched today was the reminder for me. I might not always be inspiring, and sometimes my students feel like their life isn't inspiring, but God is always inspiring. God is within us when we accept him, He has given us the Holy Spirit to do great things in us and through us. That is what I need to teach and how I can lead by example. We need to find those moments God has changed us and shown his power.

Students often say to me that their testimony is boring. Yes, my students testimony might be boring because they have never done anything. But if I help them see what God has done in and through them, their testimony will be inspiring. Because so often we make our testimonies about us and how we found God, but maybe we have that wrong. Maybe we need to be twisting it around to what God did to and is doing to us.

If we really want our lives to be inspirational we have to make others think about their own lives in a unique way. And that way can simply be by making people look for what God is doing in them. If they don't see God's work they might just be inspired to find out how to get God involved. If they already know they have God, maybe they will be inspired to dig a little deeper and find more ways God has worked in them.

I want to challenge you to take a moment and look within. Find what God has done in your life, because I promise if He is a part of your life he has done something truly inspirational.

-Kyle

Eggs and Jesus

As Easter has just past I hope the thoughts of Christ are still lingering with us. It is easy to get set up for one of the "big days" in our faith and then pass by it without spending some moments to look back.

This past week a couple of youth came to Wednesday night hang out for egg dyeing! It was a lot of fun, though we might have left a few colored stains on some bowls. So if you are at a church function and get a color streaked bowl don't worry.

If you have ever done much egg dyeing you quickly realize that it is important to blow the yolk out of the egg. You want it to be empty, so that way if it ever cracks down the line you don't have to put up with the nasty smell of rotten eggs.

So when we went about our time dyeing eggs, we had to blow them out. This is possibly my favorite part of the process. It is hard to do properly and it makes a huge mess. This got me to thinking, isn't the egg blowing like what Jesus does for us.

Christ came to die on the cross so that we can be cleaned out on the inside from our sins. Its a messy process for us to deal with our sins and get rid of the after effects, but really we just sit there while Jesus cleans out our insides. He needs to clean out our insides so that when we are broken we don't smell rotten.

What a simple thing we can see to understand our lives Christ more.

Zombie Sunday

I have heard the term Zombie Sunday, because people say anything that rises from the dead is now a zombie. Zombies rise from the dead to take lives. They need to feed on humans so that they can continue to be the undead.

But today is actually Easter Sunday. It is a day to remember that Jesus not only rose from the dead. He beat it. Jesus didn't come to feed on humans, He came to feed us! He himself is the bread of life. He is life itself!

With Jesus we too can also beat death. We won't be buried then one day rise again as flesh eaters. We are able to rise again and live with God. We will be eternally full, and not of peoples bodies, but rather of the goodness of God.

So remember if life feels hopeless, if you feel that you are wandering through life like a zombie. Maybe you feel like all you will ever be is worm food, or food for the undead.

Know you are so much more, you are a person with value! You are a person Jesus chose to die on the cross for. You have the opportunity to follow and live with God through Jesus' death and resurrection(being raised from the dead.)

Jesus died today.... a long time ago

The day Jesus died before He rose again; Good Friday; Isn't it such an awesome day.  This morning we had a great service with music, readings, communion and everyone had the chance to hammer a nail into the cross. We had some hiccups along the way, but the importance of the service was not overlooked.

I am always stunned by the name Good Friday. It has such an important meaning, but in other ways in seems so flawed. It is so good because Jesus died for everything we have done wrong, it is good because we know He rose again to conquer death so we can live forever with Him in heaven.

I look forward to Good Friday services not because I really want to go to another service, but because I love the somber environment that occurs during the service. I love that for at least one day a year, everyone gets a clear and serious view of what Jesus did. It is such a great day to share the wonderful message of God.