This is not a new subject.  He is merely regurgitating something that I have heard others use throughout my Christian life, usually as a means to justify their own unfaithfulness and sinfulness.  In what I’m sure was a speech he had rehearsed hundreds of times to other classes and in conversations, this teacher was casually dismissing the very body for which Christ died.  Arrogantly, he rejected the notion that believers need the church or have any responsibility to the church.

First of all, a word of warning to those who can so boldly speak on behalf of God without biblical truth to support them.  Paul tells us in Jude 10-11, “Woe to them…” In 1 Timothy 1:18-20, Paul says that he has given such false teachers over to Satan and in Galatians 1:9 says that anyone preaching another Gospel should be damned to Hell.  In Matthew 18:6, we find out that Jesus takes the false teaching of the impressionable just as seriously when he says, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  So, to such “teachers”, walk gently and tread lightly.  God will hold false teachers accountable.

Secondly, as I have thought about this a great deal over the past few weeks, I began to think about how much of the New Testament one would have to neglect to believe that connection to the church is somehow optional.  Despite neglecting the reality that the majority of the New Testament was written for and to LOCAL (one of the primary arguments used is that you can be a part of the universal church but not the local church) churches and the leaders of those local churches and despite neglecting the entire book of Acts where we see the church birthed, there are numerous and explicit expectations that the Bible has for believers in the New Testament.

So, what are those?  Here are 9 expectations (not an exhaustive list) of believers found in the New Testament which can ONLY be fulfilled in the LOCAL church:

1. Worship and meet together publicly.  Hebrews 10:25, Acts 2:42-47 The writer of Hebrews warns us that the tendency of many will be unfaithfulness. However, he admonishes believers to continue, as the early church had done in Acts 2, gathering together to devote themselves to the teachings of the apostles, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.  The church was expected to function as a family living life with one another.
2. The Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians 11:17-34  Paul is clear in verse 18 that we are to take the Lord’s Supper as Jesus COMMANDED us to do when we come together.  This implies that we cannot rightly participate in the Lord’s supper unless we are together and implies even further that we as believers are to gather together often.
3. Bear one another’s burdens. Galatians 6:2 The Narrow Path is a difficult path (Matthew 7:13-14).  Christians need their brothers and sisters to depend on during the difficult moments in life.  It is a great tragedy for a Christian to try to survive without the support of a local church.  Who will encourage you when you’re down?  Who will pray for you/talk with you when you’re confused?  Who will sharpen you as iron sharpens iron?  Not only that, how poor of a brother/sister are you if you aren’t there to bear the burdens of those who are also in Christ?
4. Be unified with the body. Ephesians 4:1-6 In John 13:31-35, Jesus teaches his disciples that the world will be able to identify them by the way they love one another.  At the moment of salvation, there is a spectacular uniting that is twofold.  First of all, you are gloriously united with your Heavenly Father, which you were once separated from due to your sinfulness.  But, not only are you united with God, but you are also united with the people of God.   Ephesians 1 teaches us that you are adopted as sons and daughters, and Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:1-2 to view the people of God as fathers/brothers and mothers/sisters.  Obviously, one cannot live united with the people of God if one does not see the value of God’s people or the purpose of God’s people.  The entire New Testament is laced with the expectation of the children of God being united as one body.
5. Equip, be equipped, and grow the body. Ephesians 4:11-16 Through those called to do so, the responsibility is to equip the members of the body and to aid in the maturation so that they can then serve the body and grow the Kingdom.  It is impossible for you to build up the church if you are not a part of the church.
6. Be held accountable and hold others accountable. 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, 1 Timothy 1:2  I think this is a big one.  Most people who de-value the church are people who claim the hypocritical and judgmental nature of the church as a turnoff.  Usually, that is merely code language for, “I want to do what I want to do, and I don’t want anybody to tell me that I’m wrong.”  This is the prideful attitude which God opposes (1 Peter 5:5), and it completely eliminates from you the accountability necessary to pursue true godliness.
7. Hear the public reading/teaching of Scripture. 1 Timothy 4:13 From the Old Testament through the New Testament, the public reading and teaching of Scripture has always been the foundational way that the people of God have worshipped him.  Obviously, if you are not gathered publicly with a body of believers, you cannot participate in this necessary and beneficial act of worship.
8. Obey and submit to your church leaders. Hebrews 13:17, 1 Peter 5:1-5 At the heart of one who finds themselves rebelling from the church, is the same issue all of us have had since birth.  We rebel against authority and leadership.  However, God designed us to come under the authority of the leadership with which He, in his sovereignty, placed over us.  Ultimately, our willingness to be shepherded by our pastors is an indicator of our willingness to follow the leadership of the Great Shepherd.
9. Mentoring younger believers. Titus 2:1-8 Every believer has the responsibility to mentor a younger believer.  Jesus modeled this, and Paul taught this.  The mechanism for mentorship is always the church.  Older believers in the church are to invest in younger believers in the church.  To neglect this duty and responsibility, not only places you outside of the will of God, but it stunts the growth of the upcoming generation of believers.

Ultimately, my hope is that you understand that the church is a great blessing to us while we are on this earth.  Sure, she’s not perfect; she’s far from it.  But, the real truth behind the church is that God did not leave us all alone trying to figure out the Narrow Path by ourselves.  Being a good God, He gave us a family.  It is a family to laugh with, cry with, grow with, and serve with.   Not only do we have the Spirit walking with us daily, but we also have brothers and sisters to which we can seek wisdom, encouragement, and company.  To neglect this sweet reality is both tragic and sinful.

Join the church.  Love the church.  Be the church.

The more I have wrestled with the reality of what to teach, the more I have felt compelled to ensure that students are not getting some watered-down talk that was thrown together with little forethought or strategic thinking.  As a student pastor, I have constantly lived in the tension of teaching stuff that I think students want to hear verses teaching them the things that I believe they need to hear.  I have wrestled with whether to focus more on relevance (those things that seem most urgent to students right now) or on significance (the rich doctrines that sustain us and ground us).  Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve never gotten it right.  There have been times when I felt like we were too focused on the relevant and never got deep enough, but there have been other times when I have felt like we stayed too heavy for too long.  I have longed for a way to discover balance in our teaching.

This year, we will be implementing what I am going to call the RED Strategy.  My prayer is that the RED Strategy will enable us to give students an accurate, balanced picture of what is happening in Scripture.  I hope it will allow us to meet the felt needs that we find in the youth culture and at the same time help our students establish a firm, doctrinal foundation which will allow them to thrive in the face of a skeptical and cynical world.

The RED Strategy breaks each message series down into one of three categories: Relevant, Expository, and Doctrine.  Our goal will be to provide students with a balanced number series from each of these categories throughout the year.

Here is a brief explanation of each category:

Relevant – In these series, we are teaching to a relevant need in the lives of student.  These messages tend to be more topical in nature.  These help us to handle very specific issues through a thorough examination of Scripture.

Expository – In these series, we focus on a particular text over an extended period of time.  Sometimes this takes the form of walking through one of the lives pictured in Scripture, and other times this is simply walking through a book or passage.  This is a great opportunity for students to grasp a greater appreciation for the richness of God’s word and to uncover truths that are easily passed over with the naked eye.  Expository messages are able to place students in the context of the passage so that they can sense, feel, and absorb the magnitude of what is happening.

Doctrine – A recent study by the Nehemiah Institute shows that 85 percent of self-described Christian students do not hold a Biblical worldview.  The Barna Group has discovered that the majority of students graduating from local youth ministries are not able to articulate the basic tenets of the faith.  In a doctrine series, we dive into the depths of these basic doctrines.  It is the foundation of these doctrines that will allow these students’ faith to persevere through the skepticism of college and difficulty of life.  Some of the basic doctrines we have already handled are: the doctrine of sin, God the Son, and God the Father.

Let me know what you think!  Leave me a comment.

Current Series: Tornado

Message Title: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Speaker: Cody Hale

Sermon in a Sentence: What hurts in the beginning can help in the end.

Scale of Depth: 6 out of 10

Understandable Message: One of the universal questions of life is: why do bad things happen to good people?  As we look around at the devastation left by the recent tornadoes in our area, why are uncomfortably confronted with this universal question.  Acknowledging that we can only skim the surface of this age-old question, we looked at the life of Job as he pondered this same question.  We discovered that even though you can’t hear God doesn’t mean He isn’t working, and just because you can’t see him doesn’t mean that he isn’t there.  After losing his family, livelihood, and health, Job has a transformational experience with God after which he says, “How wonderful are your ways.”  We learned that often what hurts in the beginning, helps in the end.

Scripture Reference: Job

Music Playlist: Healer, Praise You in This Storm, Our God, and Beautiful Jesus

Favorite Moment: The slideshow while the Merge band played “Praise You in This Storm.”

Needs Improvement: More visitors

And, there are no Flashpasses in student ministry.  There are no shortcuts that allow you to skip ahead to the front of the line.  As a matter of fact, most veteran student pastors will tell you that you spend a lot more time in the line waiting than you ever do enjoying the breath-taking thrill of watching a student “get it.”  However, another thing most veteran youth pastors will tell you is that the waiting is absolutely worth it.

However, if we are not careful, the waiting can crush us.  It can push us to the brink of insanity, and it can cause us to question everything from our call into ministry to our ministry philosophy and strategy.  That is why it is critical for every student pastor to know what he unquestionably believes about student ministry.  Knowing what we believe and why will help us to make it through the long lines of student ministry and will allow us to easily remind ourselves of why we do what we do.

Below, I have charted out 10 of my student ministry convictions.  These are the truths that I find myself coming back to again and again while I wait.  Take a look and see what you think.  In no particular order:

1. Missions teach students the heart of Christ.  I have found nothing the draws students closer to Christ than serving others.  Mission trips and projects do not produce the synthetic highs that are often associated with youth camps (although I believe these have their place), but they instead allow students to experience the unexplainable satisfaction that comes from being exhausted in Christ.  This creates growth and maturity, not false highs.
2. Families have more influence than I do.  A study shows that the most committed students allow us 40 hours a year to invest in them; excluding sleep time, school time, and practice time, parents have an average of over 3000 hours in a year to invest into their children.  Every youth pastor likes to feel as though they are the most important spiritual influence in the lives of their students, but the reality is that God didn’t design it that way.  Parents are intended to be the primary disciplers of their children.  We need to figure out how to invest our 40 hours into their 3000 hours.
3. Student ministry works, and it’s worth it.  Student ministry is hard, it’s frustrating, and it’s often brutal.  But, I believe it works, and I believe it’s worth it.  When I find myself discouraged, I often remind myself of the stories of students that I have witnessed God transform in front of my eyes.
4. Teaching can be deep and heavy.  Teenagers don’t need Christianity-light.  They can handle God’s word…..ALL of it.  There is no need to water down weighty teachings.  There is nothing wrong with humor or object lessons, but there is something wrong with avoiding diving into deep truths.  It is these deep truths that will allow students to have a foundation which they can build a life-long faith.  I would rather students grow into the teaching than never grow past it.
5. Discipleship happens one-on-one.  John Ortberg says that disciples are hand-crafted not mass produced.  Jesus invested one-on-one into his disciples so that they would in turn do the same.  While you can’t be one-on-one with every student, you must be one-on-one with some students, and you must enable every student the opportunity to be one-on-one with an adult who is mature in the faith.  If there is no one-on-one disciple-making, there is no disciple-making.
6. Having fun is not sinful or insignificant.  While I believe that students can handle the deep and heavy, I also believe there is real value in having fun.  Having fun allows students to grow closer together and allows them to better connect with their leaders.  Having fun breaks down barriers and enables conversation.  Having fun shouldn’t take center-stage in our student ministries, but it definitely has a place.
7. Relationships enable accountability.  Accountability is necessary for the maturation and sanctification of any believer, including teenagers.  However, attempting accountability without the presence of a relationship is devastating.  Students will not respond and will most likely withdraw altogether.  Relationships are time consuming and take a lot of work, but they empower us to bring healthy accountability into the lives of students.
8. Success is measured in time, not numbers.  Every student pastor has struggled with playing the numbers game, and every veteran youth pastor has played the numbers game and lost.  If you gauge the success of your ministry upon the numbers that attend, you will be miserable.  There will be times of mountain-top highs and rock-bottom lows.  We don’t gauge the success of our families based upon how many people are in them, and we shouldn’t gauge the success of our student ministries based solely upon how many are attending.  The real success of our student ministries will be discovered by the types of husbands/wives, fathers/mothers, and church leaders that they produce.
9. Behind every great ministry is a great team.  By great, I’m not really referring to talent, even though that doesn’t hurt.  I’m referring to true greatness; the type of greatness that Jesus taught his disciples.  A humble leadership team consisting of small group leaders, parents, and staff members is a necessity for the effectiveness of any ministry.  There can be no lone rangers in student ministry.  It takes a team.  A great (humble) team.  One of my greatest pleasures is serving with a great ministry team.
10. Teaching moments are everything.  One of the constant truths that our ministry team talks about most often is the importance of taking advantage of the teaching moments.  We often teach, hoping that something sticks.  However, divine teaching moments simply require our obedience, and they are almost guaranteed to stick.  Teaching moments are everywhere; we must be intentional in seeking them out and making the most of them.

Current Series: Sin: Relaxing, Tempting, Deadly

Message Title: Sin Over Promises But Under Delivers

Speaker: Cody Hale

Sermon in a Sentence: Sin over promises but under delivers.

Scale of Depth: 4 out of 10

Understandable Message:  So often, we find ourselves wanting to do what we know we shouldn’t do and not wanting to do the things that we should do.  Just like in the Garden of Eden, sin looks good, and sin sounds good.  However, even though sin looks good and sounds good, it always destroys those who are involved.  Sin makes big promises, but it always under delivers.  Sin shows us what we want to see, but it leaves out the reality of consequences.  We tend to think that God and our parents are trying to keep us from a good time, but the reality is that God and our parents are trying to keep us from the potential destruction that lies ahead.

Scripture Reference: Genesis 3:1-6

Music Playlist: Marvelous Light, Lead Me to the Cross, Sweetly Broken, and Running

Favorite Moment: A student surrendering to Christ.

Needs Improvement: Assimilation

So, for an update on what’s been going on with me: I feel like God has shown me that for my entire life I have been okay with mediocrity.  I have always considered myself to be a driven person, but I fear that I have been fooling myself.  In my ministry, marriage, and life in general, I have been too easily satisfied.  My life has been defined by an unexplainable passion for doing the bare minimum.  Not only have I found myself embracing the status quo, I have found myself pursuing it.

The problem?  I don’t serve a status quo God.  I must live a life worthy of the One whose name I carry.  My greatest fear is to step out of this life and to stand before God and have him ask me the question, “What did you do with what I gave you?”  I tremble at thought of coming face-to-face with true holiness and answering him, “I always did the bare minimum.  I woke up and went to bed, nothing more and nothing less.  I only did what I had to do, and I never pushed myself.”

More than anything that I can get in this life, I want to cross over the eternal threshold and hear the simple phrase, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  As a result, the Spirit has stirred in me a new distaste for the status quo.  I am sick of mediocrity.  I am sick of floating through my life hoping to avoid confrontation or hard work.  I am sick of half way living my life as if I’m going to get another shot or a mulligan.  I can no longer be okay with how things are or use the phrase “good enough.”

I’m all in.  I’m all in because I’ve got one shot at this life mattering.  I’m all in because I don’t want Jesus to puke when He sees me.  I’m all in because the narrow and hard path is the only path.  I am not all in because anything is special about me.  I am a worm.  I am all in because He is so spectacular.  I’m all in.  I’m all in.  I’m all in.

I hope that this blog will be an overflow of a life radically lived.  As God teaches me things, I want to document them here.  As I experience the goodness of the Gospel, I want to share it here.  When God crushes my stupid pride and Satan beats the daylights out of me, I want to talk about it here.  I want this to be an uncensored journal and a place of conversation for my brothers and sisters who are joining me on the narrow path.

Current Series: Uprising

Message Title: Avoiding Love

Speaker: Cody Hale

Sermon in a Sentence: Love is not seeing; it’s doing.

Scale of Depth: 6 out of 10

Understandable Message:  People are rejecting Christ because they feel rejected by Christians.  Most Christians are quicker to protest than to love.  We tend to ask the question, “Who do I HAVE to love, or what do I HAVE to do to be a good “Christian?”  This implies we are looking to do the bare minimum.  This question leads us to avoid peole that we don’t HAVE to love or that we don’t HAVE to help.  Our schools and workplaces are filled with people who feel avoided by Christians.

Instead, we have to get to a place where we see people and feel our hearts break for them.  When are hearts are broken, we will become burdened.  When we are burdened, we have to do SOMETHING because a burden cannot sit still.  It must move forward.  When we are burdened we begin to ask, “What do I GET to do, or how do I GET to help?”  This implies we are prepared to go above and beyond.  If our love isn’t doing anything, then it isn’t love.  When is the last time your love did anything?  It is isn’t everybody else’s responsibility to prove themselves a neighbor to us; it is our responisibility to prover ourselves a neighbor to them.

Scripture Reference: Luke 10:25-37

Music Playlist: Blessed Be Your Name, My Soul Longs for You, and The More I Seek You

Favorite Moment: A student surrendering to Christ.

Needs Improvement: More love.

Current Series: Uprising

Message Title: Skin Deep

Speaker: Kenny Nix

Sermon in a Sentence: The world focuses on the surface; God focuses on what’s beneath.

Scale of Depth: 4 out of 10

Understandable Message:  Because of the logic of human love, we tend to judge people based on what we see on the surface.  As a result, people who are seeking Christ are pushed to the back because of what “Christians” believe their surface implies.  People who are hurting, no matter the reason, come hoping to find refuge in Christ, but instead are rejected by Christians who believe that their sin/mistakes/past are too big to overcome.  However, those are the people that Jesus is seeking to sit down and have dinner with.  He desires this not because it makes sense or is logical, but because He loves and desires them unconditionally.

Scripture Reference: Luke 19:1-10

Music Playlist: Let God Arise, Sweetly Broken, and Worth It All

Favorite Moment: Hearing Kenny bring it.

Needs Improvement: More love for visitors.  I actually felt like we digressed in this area this week.  Uprising is not a sermon series, it is a change to the way we live our lives.

Current Series: Uprising

Message Title: Love Just Because

Speaker: Cody Hale

Sermon in a Sentence: Love just because.

Scale of Depth: 2 out of 10

Understandable Message: After a perspective-changing God moment in our DifferenceMaker class Sunday night, we felt compelled to change series directions completely.  We began talking about the concept of the radical love of Christ.  Last night, we learned that there is a big difference between human love and God’s love.  Humans generally love two groups of people–people that we have to love and people that are easy for us to love.  Human love is logiacal, and typicallly, it is based upon who deserves it.

Jesus, on the other hand, loves people “just because.”  His love comes with no conditions or expectations.  It can’t be earned, and it cant be lost.  He loves regardless.  What we discovered is that Jesus is calling us to imitate his “Just Because” kind of love.  Afterall, the way you love people effects the way you impact people.  If your live isn’t impacting somebody, it’s probably because your life isn’t loving anybody.  The challenge is for you to find the one person in your life that least deserves your love, and find a way to love them irrationally this week.

Scripture Reference: Luke 6:27-36

Music Playlist: I Can’t Be Silent, Take Me to the Cross, and The Stand

Favorite Moment: Three students surrendering to Christ and no students praying alone.

Needs Improvement: More love for visitors.

Message Title: The Sex Talk

Speaker: Cody Hale

Sermon in a Sentence: Everything that is permissible may not be beneficial.

Scale of Depth: 5 out of 10

Understandable Message: We get a lot of mixed signals regarding sex.  Our bodies are telling us to go for it, our minds are telling us to go for it, our boyfriend/girlfriend is telling us to go for it, but the Bible says no.  Why would God create us to want something that is sinful.  Sex is God’s wedding gift to us.  It is not for in love people; it is for married people.  While we have the freedom to do with His gift as we want, we do not have freedom from the consequences.  Just because we are allowed to do something doesn’t mean that we should do something.  Not everything that is permissible is beneficial.  Just like eating rat poison.  You have the freedom to eat rat poison, but, once you’ve eaten it, the consequences are beyond your control.  Eating rat poison is permissible, but it isn’t beneficial.

Just like the Corinthian society, science and Hollywood want you to believe that sex is simply biological and inconsequential.  However, Paul would argue that there is something different about sex.  Sex is connected to the soul.  Because of this, the consequences of sexual sin are especially devastating.  What is a simple filter we can use to determine whether or not something is beneficial?  We can ask the simple question that Paul introduces to us in Romans 6: If you have to ask the question, then don’t!  We should never ask the question of how close can we get to breaking God’s heart without actually breaking it.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 6:12-13; 18b

Music Playlist: Marvelous Light, Running, and Rescue

Favorite Moment: Seeing students praying over students at the alter.

Needs Improvement: Beginning of the service.