There Goes My Hero

I love the imagination of kids.

To them, anything is possible, especially with super heroes.

In their minds they can imagine a world where someone really does possess the ability to leap over a building in a single bound, out run a speeding train, or dodge a bullet.

However, as kids get older they begin to realize that what once seemed completely possible was actually just a movie driven fantasy.

With age, super heroes begin to fade, but true heroes are brought to light. Instead of aspiring to be like a comic book character, we begin to observe real heroes in their everyday lives, and our focus shifts to being like our parents, being teachers, a firemen, a policemen, a soldiers, and many other things that are tangible and realistic.

In all stages of life there are people that are ahead of us who are in the shoes that we hope to fill. These people become a type of hero to us. They are people we can observe and talk to. They are people we can realistically see ourselves one day being.

A crazy thing to think about is that you are currently in the shoes that someone wants to fill. Whether you realize it or not, you are someone’s hero.

When you realize that people are looking up to you, and even aspiring to be like you, it causes you to be more intentional in the way you live your life.

Sure, you can be like Charles Barkley and say, “I am not a role model.” But you’re just running from the truth. The question isn’t whether you’re a role model or not; it’s whether you’re a good one or a bad one.

King David touches on this towards the end of his life in 2 Samuel 23.

He ends the chapter by listing off thirty-seven mighty men (or heroes). One man killed 800 enemy warriors with his spear in a single battle.

Another man stood up to the Philistine army after all his fellow warriors fled the battle field. He fought until his hand was literally too tired to even lift his own sword, and when his fellow warriors showed back up all they found was a bunch of ruble and dead Philistines.

One time during battle, three of his most elite warriors heard David longing for some water from the well he grew up drinking from. The only problem was that his hometown well was currently behind enemy lines. These three guys loved David so much that they snuck through the hostile lines, risked getting killed, and drew water from the well for David to drink.

Then my favorite of the mighty men was Benaiah. “He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.” (2 Samuel 23:20-23 NLT)

It is easy to tell that even though these men followed David, they were just as inspirational and influential to him. It’s not just those who are younger than you that look up to you, sometimes your life has an impact on the very people you are striving to be like.

Right before David lists out his mighty men, he gives his last words.

In his last words he’s talking about the influence a man can have on those around him. He can either “Dawn on them like morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth,” or he can be worthless “like thorns that are thrown away…” (2 Samuel 23:1-7)

He uses two metaphors to describe the influence a man can have on those who look up to him. One is life giving, and the other is useless and even harmful.

David understood that the way he lived his life and the way he led the nation of Israel had a direct effect on the spiritual lives of those who followed him.

We all have to ask ourselves, “If someone is looking up to me and aspiring to be like me, how will their spiritual life look?”

Are your actions spiritually life giving, or are they useless and harmful?

As you live your life remember that you are someone's hero!

Project 2-4-2

I wanted to give a quick recap of “insideOUT” last night, and what we’ll be doing on Sunday nights leading up to summer camp at Snowbird… which will be the best summer camp ever!

We started off last night’s “talk” with me acting like a pumped up motivational speaker who was telling you how to grow a youth group. I started off with “Space!” If you want to grow a youth group you need to give the youth their own specific space. Then you need to fill it with fun and exciting things like televisions and game systems. Then I went on to “Communicate!” We’re about Jesus, and we need to effectively communicate that message. The problem is that too many youth ministers talk above their audience’s head… so if you want to grow a youth group, you need to “d.i.d”, or Dumb It Down!

The whole time I talked about this growth model I was trying to stay in character as the motivational speaker guy, but in reality I was being sarcastic. We have those things, and I can give those “d.i.d” type messages… but that will only grow the youth group without us having to depend on God.

From there we looked at Acts 2:42. This is what the first church looked like. They were devoted to 4 things: Knowing the Bible, Fellowship, Remembering the Cross, and Prayer.

After looking at those four things we continued reading that section of Acts and saw that through the early church’s dedication God added to their number day by day those who were being saved (v.37).

Then we finished with a challenge… what if we stripped away all the stuff that didn’t line up with Acts 2:42? What if we spent the time between now and camp being devoted to Knowing the Bible, Fellowship, Reflecting on the Cross, and Prayer? Do you think God might do something crazy? Do you think our numbers would increase, or decrease?

I know this is completely against most “growth models” for youth groups, but I think we should do it!

So here’s your homework – Think through those four things this week, and start brainstorming on what they look like for our youth group. Then next time we meet we’ll talk through this stuff.
Grab a blank piece of paper, write “Project 2-4-2 Brainstorm” at the top, divide the paper into 4 squares, and let each square represent one of the four things we’ll be devoted to. The key word here is “devoted.” We’re not trying to do this stuff as an afterthought… we want to be DEVOTED TO IT.

Only read the rest of this if you need help brainstorming.

Maybe “Knowing the Bible” means that we all study a book of the Bible together, but instead of just coming and listening to Jeff we all read it on our own throughout the week and then come together to discuss it. What did it mean to the original readers 2000 years ago? What does it mean to us? What areas of our lives need to change if really take it seriously? How can we be encouraged by what it says? Etc.

What are some other ideas on what “Knowing the Bible” could look like for our youth group?

Maybe “Fellowship” means that you grab a breakfast taco with a few people before school one day a week and have a “coffee-like” conversation where you share how you’re REALLY doing… the good things in your life AND the tough things in your life. Saying “I’m fine” is not an acceptable answer.

What else could we do for “Fellowship” as a youth group?

Maybe “Reflecting (remembering) the Cross” means that we put red rubber band on our wrist, and whenever we look at it, or mess with it, we take a second to thank God for sending his son to pay the penalty we deserved for our sins. Then when we “fellowship” we can talk about how thinking about the cross makes us feel… happy, sad, encouraged, or something else?

How else can we “Remember the Cross” as a youth group?

Maybe “Prayer” means we paint a section of a wall in the youth room with chalkboard paint and draw a big line down the middle of it. On one side we write “Prayers Asked” and on the other side we write “Prayers Answered.” Then we all pray for the things people need prayer about, and when one of those prayers is answered (and sometimes the answer might be “no”) we write it down and put a date next to it on the other side.

What else could we do to be devoted to “Prayer”?

There’s no wrong answer in a brainstorm, so use as much paper as you need.

Can’t wait to talk about this stuff.

You guys are awesome!

Church Rental or Church Ownership?

I can remember my getting my first car like it was yesterday.

I started searching newspaper ads and autotrader (when it was only in magazine format) months before turning 16. I knew what kind of budget I had to work with, so I wanted to figure out what kind of truck or jeep I could get. I picked up off road magazines every month to get ideas of how I would fix up my 4x4 with bigger tires and accessories. I knew exactly how much each fix-up would cost. Of course I didn’t factor in labor costs because I was going to do all of that myself. I was even researching potential jobs, hourly wages, and how much I would have to work to have enough money to do each improvement.

As my 16^th birthday neared my dad began to take me around town to look at different cars. One Saturday we stumbled upon a 1996, single cab, 4x4, Ford F150. I knew it was the right car from the first look. It was almost like it spoke to me.

With every other car lot I hated seeing the car salesman approaching with his card in hand, but this time I was eager. We asked to see inside of the truck and then decided to take it for a test drive. I was falling more and more in love with every mile.

When we got back to the dealership we went inside and my dad started negotiating prices with the salesman. They went back and forth a few times, and I started getting that weird gut feeling that we were about to leave empty handed, and just about that time my dad said, “Alright, we’ll take it.” I kept a straight face, but inside I was jumping with glee!

I was about a week away from turning 16, but my dad pulled the trigger anyways. We got to drive it home and park it in the driveway until I officially got my license.

I think I washed the thing every day that week. Neighbors made jokes about how I was going to wash the paint off if I wasn’t careful.

Now that I actually had the truck, instead of just dreaming what could be, I went to Autozone and bought a book on 1996 F150s. It had all the ins and outs on basic maintenance, and got as complicated as completely rebuilding the engine.

I did my best to keep that truck in perfect condition. I changed the oil right at 3,000 miles. The gas gage rarely dipped below a quarter of a tank. I washed it once a week and kept it vacuumed. I waxed it every 6 months. I did everything by the book.

Why? Because it was my truck. My grandpa once told me that you could tell a lot about a man by the way he kept his truck, and I wanted to make sure that whatever you could tell about me was something good.

Maybe I’m weird, but I still take just as good care of my vehicles as I did when I was 16. The only difference is that I run the gas gauge a little closer to empty before filling it up.

The difference that ownership makes in taking care of something is huge.

If you’re in a rental car you don’t care about getting the oil changed. You don’t care about having proper tire pressure to make sure you’re not getting uneven tread ware. You don’t care about waxing it to make sure you don’t get clear coat damage. You really don’t have any interest in investing any of your own time or own money into the thing because it’s not yours.

A rental car is just something you use when you need it. It’s not something you take ownership in.

I think the rental car mentality is a danger we face with our churches.

The growing trend is to hire more staff to do the work so members and attenders and go and be fed, served, and even entertained. Church becomes something that you use when you need it, but not something you take ownership in.

People have begun to accept that ministry is for the people who get paid, but this is not Biblical at all! Everyone is called to ministry, and everyone should have a ministry they’re plugged into. Stop viewing your pastor as the minister. Start viewing him as the equipper and yourself as the minister. If this happens then you’ll find yourself taking ownership in the church, and the church’s influence will grow far greater than you probably ever imagined.