Nathan Persell 9/22/16 Nathan Persell 9/22/16

The Struggle is Real

Life is Nuts

One thing that is almost guaranteed to come up in any discussion on youth ministry is the crazy schedules that teenagers have now. And to be honest, up until this year I’ve dismissed a lot of those claims and have thought that if you think you’re too busy you should stop doing so much.

Most of that comes from what many would call my poor school habits (I prefer to call it my super human ability to avoid homework). For the most part I didn’t have homework in high school or I at least managed to get it done in class. My absolute busiest year of high school I woke up at 7, and between football and work I didn’t get home until around 11:00pm most nights. I loved it. It kept me busy of course, but it didn’t affect my grades which were still mostly A’s and B’s, and it didn’t let it get in the way of church. I still would hang out with friends on the weekends after work and made sure I got off work for any major activities that happened.

It was easy for me. And I don’t mean that to come across as bragging or conceited, because the fact is I haven’t experienced the kind of stress that most of my teens are facing now. Teenagers lives are ridiculously busy. If you look at the statistics, they are getting less than the nine and a half hours of sleep that they should, they are getting way more homework than they should. 10 minutes per day per grade level is the standard set by the National Education Association, which means your senior is supposed to have two hours of homework a night. Then there’s the added pressure of trying to create a high school resume that will look good on college applications. Maybe they have a legitimate chance of getting a college scholarship to play soccer and the way to stay on the team is to go to practice on Wednesday nights. I used to get so mad at people who would rather go to a sports practice than church. Nothing was so important to me that if it came time to drop it I would be devastated. Until I became a parent of a kindergartener.

The Struggle is Real

You see, for the first time I’ve come face to face with the struggles of too much going on and not enough time in the day. My kid has to be on the bus by 6:20am, which means he’s being dragged out of bed by 6:00am. Early mornings are killing him so we we’ve bumped his bedtime up to 7pm just so that he’s not a complete zombie in the morning. This past Wednesday we didn’t quite make his normal bedtime. In fact, because of the responsibilities we have on Wednesday nights he didn’t make it home until after 8. The next morning was awful trying to get him ready and he ended up making himself sick at school (his own nasty little super power) which then turned into him actually becoming sick later that night.

While your five year old kid is bent over a trash can emptying his stomach in front of hundreds of people at a high school football game, you start to rethink the decisions that led you to that point. And for the first time I had to ask myself, “Would I willingly bring my kid to church on Wednesday nights knowing it was going to cause him to get sick every Thursday if it wasn’t expected as part of my job?” Ten years ago I probably would have told a parent to make sure their priorities are straight and that they need to get to church no matter what. But faced with this new situation I’m not sure what I would say now. I know the new plan for our family is we’ll drive him to school on Thursdays to let him get an extra 15-30 minutes of sleep, and hopefully that will be enough.

But what if it’s not?

What if even after doing everything we can possibly do to try to make Wednesday nights work for our family we still have a kid who isn’t getting enough sleep? This is something I never would have thought I’d have to think about. For so long it was always clear cut for me, church over everything else. Now it’s not so clear.

What to Do?

Now before you go around spreading rumors that the Youth Director is telling you not to go to church, follow me for just a bit longer. There might be real, unavoidable reasons that you miss church. But there are hundreds of excuses that have simple solutions that might be revealing a bigger issue. My favorite one to pick on is the homework excuse. Saying you can’t come on a Sunday night because you have homework only makes sense if you’ve also been doing homework Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Procrastination is a lame excuse (even though I procrastinate with the best of them). If, after going through every other possibility, you still struggle to make church happen on a regular basis, talk to one of us on staff. Seriously, I know it seems a bit like going to the principle’s/boss’ office but we know that not everyone can make our set times work. We’d much rather help you figure out other ways of discipling your family outside of church than you to not have anything at all.

Most things that eat up our time aren’t bad, but if we put them before God they become our idols. Protect the time with your family, protect time for church, but most importantly, think about what your schedule teaches your children about how important God is to you.

-Nathan

Nathan Persell serves as our Youth Director. When he's not leading devotions and playing basketball with teenagers, he enjoys disc golf and bike riding. Learn more about Nathan here.

Office 9/16/16 Office 9/16/16

Friend of God

"It was Moses’ practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the camp. Everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.

Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting."

-Exodus 33:7-11 (NLT)

We were created for intimacy

As humans, we crave companionship with others. God created us for community. We crave it so much that we will endure unhealthy or abusive people just so we can connect with another human being. The best illustration of this comes from the movie Castaway where Tom Hanks, alone on a deserted island, befriends a volleyball he named Wilson.

We were created for intimacy primarily so we could have a relationship with God. Often when we think about this kind of relationship we think of monks in a monastery or people who are so other-worldly as to seem pretty weird. Who wants to be like that, right?

But that is not what intimacy with God looks like. Intimacy with God looks like any other close, healthy relationship we might have. It involves knowing each other, spending time together, being open and vulnerable, and a desire to know and be known.

Challenges to Intimacy

Admittedly having a relationship with God does have challenges. With a human friend, we can see their facial expressions, hear their laughter or see their tears. But God is different. God is a person and desires a relationship with us, but we have to go about it a little bit different way.

For example, for most of us, most of the time, we do not carry on a conversation with God is the same way we do with a friend. God speaks to us in unique ways: through Scripture, through worship or observations in the world or a teacher’s words. We may not have immediate dialogue, but we can go to God in prayer and talk about things we have experienced or read and expect God to help us understand.

Advantages to Intimacy

Intimacy with God, however, has some advantages too. As close as we may be with a friend, there are some things they will never know about us if we do not choose to share them. God, however, knows everything that can be known about us. Our friends can’t read our minds, but God knows our thoughts, fears, pains, hopes, and dreams as deeply as we do.

There may be some things we do not share with a friend out of fear that they would stop being our friend. God, however, knows everything and still longs to our friend.

This week in worship we will talk about the things that get in the way of this kind or intimacy with God and what we can do to develop this relationship to a greater degree. So, join us this Sunday as we explore the most important core value of our Christian life: Intimacy with God.

Blessings!

-Alan

Click here for this week's Faith Notes.

Alan Cassady serves as Senior Pastor at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2011. When he's not preaching and teaching, he enjoys sci-fi movies and FSU Football. Read more about Alan here.

Office 9/16/16 Office 9/16/16

The Sacraments: Baptism

“It is through the sacrament of baptism that we are given our identity as people for whom Jesus Christ lived, died, and was resurrected. In baptism we are initiated into the Christian church; we are incorporated into the community of God's people, the body of Christ. By baptism we are commissioned into ministry; we are called to continue the work of Christ for the redemption of the world.” - Gayle Felton

One Baptism

In the Methodist Church, we believe in one baptism, as stated in the Nicene Creed. There has been a lot of controversy over the years about when a person should be baptized. For Wesley, it did not matter when a person was baptized as much as it mattered what happened afterwards. Baptism symbolizes regeneration, which comes after initial sanctification, or, the new birth. Our Christian journey does not stop at New Birth, just as a child’s development does not stop at his or her birth. Baptism symbolizes the beginning of a life of dedication to God and Christian perfection.

Baptism is actually a symbol of how little we do and how much God does. We do nothing for our salvation. We cannot have enough faith, cannot be good enough, cannot be righteous enough, and cannot be selfless enough to be saved. In baptism, we are accepting that God gives us our salvation simply because he loves us and not because we have done anything to deserve it or earn it.

What about Kids?

Methodists baptize babies; we do not christen them or dedicate them. This is the only baptism that a child will ever have. It is the ultimate symbol of how little control we have over our lives. When a child is baptized, the parents promise to raise that child according to God’s will until that child is old enough to decide for themselves if they will embrace the Christian life. At that point, the child will make a public profession of their own and take ownership of the vows their parents made on their behalf.

Baptism is a symbol of what God does for us, not what we do. God never makes mistakes and never needs a do over. God's actions in a person's baptism is everlasting, even if a person falls away.

Blessings!

-Faith

Faith Parry serves as our Associate Pastor, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not preaching and teaching, she enjoys documentaries and TV. Read more about Faith here.

Office 9/9/16 Office 9/9/16

Going Deeper

The Core

Many of us were amazed as we watched the 2016 Summer Olympic Games from Rio de Janeiro a few weeks ago. The athletes we saw filled us with awe as we witnessed feats of enormous strength, grace, and speed.

In some individual sports, each athlete had to demonstrate he or she could perform certain compulsory moves to move on in the completion. They had to demonstrate competency in basic skills before they were allowed to combine those skills and enhance them for new and creative performances. We would never expect to see a gymnast who could only do a mediocre cart-wheel out on the mats at the Olympics.

In the Christian life, some fundamental beliefs and actions should be expected for any of us seeking to follow Christ in this world. For example, we would expect every Christian to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We would also expect Christians to pray and spend time in Scripture. But what about other, deeper things?

That is exactly what the series "Christian to the Core" is all about. We will take a look at the Core Values of people who want to follow Christ.

These values were developed by Wes and Joy Griffin through their organization, the International Leadership Institute. They, along with their team, have taken these values and taught them to Christians, churches, and leaders in many different areas of the world. These people have used these values to transform their lives and the organizations they lead or work in.

The Core Values

Intimacy with God
Passion for the Harvest
A Visionary Life
Relevant Evangelism (Power of Your Story)
Multiplication of Disciples
Family Priority
Faithful Stewardship
Integrity (Holiness)

This fall, we will look at each of these values and apply them to our lives through sermons and Growth Group experiences. If you have not already joined a Growth Group, click here to find one for you! See what God can do in and through you, as you become Christian to the Core.

Blessings!

-Alan

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S FAITH NOTES.

Office 9/9/16 Office 9/9/16

Daily Reminders

Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Daily Reminders

How many different details do you have to remember each morning to get everyone off to school and work, not to mention the fourteen other things you have penciled in on the calendar? Even so, we know that we need to make God a central part of our daily lives.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-7, God gives us some instructions and methods to use to tell and teach others, specifically our children, how to love God the most.

Impress
Talk
Write Them Down

He wants us to have things and do things in our lives that are visible daily reminders to love God.

So how can we fit one more thing in on our calendars? If I had to guess, there is not much room there. Here’s an idea that might help.

Start simple.

Find a verse that your family already knows, write it out in big print, and post it! Leave it on the refrigerator, in the bathroom, and in the car somewhere. Pretty easy, huh?
At dinner, preferable at the dinner table, read the verse out loud and then ask God to help you understand what it means. Try to memorize that verse! This is a little harder.
Throughout the week, read the verse out loud when you pass by places it is posted. Easy
Study. Look at the scripture surrounding the verse and find out what it says (its context). What is it saying inside that Bible story? Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in your study and understanding. A little harder.
Set aside about 15 minutes to share with your family what you have learned. Ask them to think of ways to integrate and apply the truth about this verse (in context) within the family, and within their personal lives. Integration is the hardest work, but pays the most dividends to our own spiritual life and our witness to others.

For Example: “Bear with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you.” - Colossians 4:13 (New Century Version)

Can you see all the family applications that can be made just from this verse?

Final Thoughts

This does not have to be hard, or complicated. Talk to God and about God often. Think about ways to make God’s word a part of your everyday life.

For additional help with devotions for your family, I've written a review of ten new family/children’s devotionals. It provides some information and guidelines to help you select a devotional book that is right for your family. Download it here.

Blessings!

- Lori

Lori Ferguson serves as Children's Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not planning or teaching, she enjoys spending time with her grandkids. Read more about Lori here.