article I read today

How Close is God

By Jim Burns

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; Do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8

How close is God? God is closer than your breath and closer than your skin. Philippians 4:5 tells us to never forget the nearness of your God. How much does he care for you? Scripture reminds us:

He knows our names (John 10:3).

He numbers the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30).

He counts the steps of our feet (Job 14:16).

He bottles the tears from our eyes (Psalm 56:8, RSV).

He holds our right hand in His hand (Psalm 73:23).

He supplies all our needs (Philippians 4:19).

I think this is really good to be reminded, Williams OUT!

Man, ALIVE!!!

I know it has been an eternity since I last blogged about anything, so I am here today to write about the things going with me lately.

The fall semester has gotten off to a fair start with the student ministry. It seems so many students are lackadaisical these days. They really are not passionate about anything but especially are not about church things. That is why I say that it has gotten off to a fair start. We have had some good moments with the middle schoolers and a few others inviting friends and bringing them to church. The weird thing though is that the 7th graders do not seem to really like or want to worship god through music. One person said they really don't like music or movies. I have been pondering how to get students worshipping God with passion and living their faith actively. It is a difficult thought to deal with because you cannot force people to do things and trying with food and games does not seem to be an effective youth ministry strategy in this day and time. what I truly believe makes the difference is when you have Godly loving adults who consistently pour their lives into the students in the student ministry. I think we lack that.

I am headed this Friday to Los Angeles, California to National Youth Workers Convention. I am hoping to have a time of training and revitalization. I need training in how to motivate adults to want to give up their time and routines and desires to spend time growing and maturing students to be fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. If anyone ever said that a Youth Ministers job is easy because all they have to do is play games with kids, those same people have no clue of what it means to develop a team approach to growing a student ministry that challenges and equips parents to teach their children Godliness and while also engaging students to want to be connected and involved in the ministry is created for them. Because you can do everything you want and desire but if they choose to not be involved, all that you have planned, organized, and carried out makes no difference to them.

I am definitely desiring more of God's presence in our church and student ministry because our adults, students, and myself need Him more than we need more of ourselves.

I would appreciate the outpouring of your prayers!