The power of prayer!

What an amazing week this has been! I just came from the High School where I witnessed 100+ students from all walks of faith gathered around a flag pole praying for their families, school, and nation. I was reminded of another group of believers who gathered around a structure thousands of years ago. Led by a simple man marching silently around the walls of as city. With a simple shout they brought Jericho to the ground in a cloud of dust and rubble. The power of our Lord is an awe inspiring thing when harnessed by His children, and these students did much more than just shout. They began congregating a few at a time around 6:30 am and by 7:15 had joined hands in a large ring of hope and grace. One by one their voices wafted heavenwards, a pleasing and fragrant aroma. Prayers for God to redeem and rescue lost and hurting souls. Prayers for God to come and move mountains and tear down walls. Prayers for God to begin a mighty act here in our schools which would spread like a wildfire throughout the county.

Jesus said “let the little children come”, and “Unless you can approach me with the same deep heartfelt faith of a child you will not inherit My Godly kingdom.” Let us all learn from the example of these young men and women. It is time for all of us to fall down upon our knees and connect with our heavenly Father! Jesus promises us that whenever 2 or 3 of us gather together in His name that He is there with us. Just imagine what would happen if all of us joined together in prayer and earnestly and honestly prayed that His kingdom and rule come and His will be done here on this very earth, just like it is done in heaven. Why must we imagine?

-Roman

FEED ME!!!

We can learn so much from nature. Have you ever paused and watched baby birds in their nest? It’s amazing, especially when they are hungry. They throw their heads back in total abandon, open their jaws as wide as physically possible and wait for their provider to fill the void within their gullet. What an astounding example has God set for us in the simplicity of nature.

We must learn to approach our Provider in the same way. How long must I suffer from this deep spiritual hunger which I feel before I learn? I spend hours each day reading my bible to prepare lessons and sermons and yet do not drink deeply from it’s wellspring. I spend even more hours each day sitting in the Church, less than 30 feet from the altar, writing curriculum, creating publicity, tracking attendance,...and rarely do I pause to kneel at the feet of God and enter into his presence. It is an all to common malady, this spiritual malnutrition. We allow ourselves to get so busy with the mundanity of our daily lives, going to work, preparing meals, doing the dishes, laundry, shuttling our children around… We forge ahead day after day barely pausing even to sleep or feed our physical hunger, and we wonder why we don’t feel as connected to God as we desire?

Forgive us Lord!

Teach us Gracious One to rely fully upon you. Teach us Loving Provider to throw our heads back in total abandon, open our spirits up to You as wide as possible, and to wait for You to fill the deep chasm of our souls.

- Roman

"But don't let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother's milk! There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us."

2 Timothy 3:14-17

I love this passage, it's what I base my life and ministries around. Let us never forget from whence we've come. When I think back on all those in my life who have taught, mentored, and inspired me...well We would be here all week if I were to try to list them all and how they have shaped and molded me into the man of God I am today.

So to all of you, thanks.

Welcome to the back pew

Welcome to the back pew!

Having spent the last 12 years of my life in Student Ministry I've learned a few things.

1. In most small churches "Youth Minister" is synonymous with Janitor.

2. If it can go wrong, it will, and it will be blamed on the youth.

3. Never ask a rhetorical question in a youth worship service, unless you want a Junior High girl , who never speaks otherwise, to answer it.

4. If you serve red Kool-Aid it will be spilled

5. Every mission trip has at least one issue which will rear its head when least expected.

6. Every church has within it one person whose job it is to hate the youth minister, youth ministry, and everything involving students, regardless how nice and helpful you are to them.

7. No matter how many students you have in your ministry it will never be enough to satisfy the church elders, unless you reach that mystical number they have always had floating around above their shoulders. Then you will have too many students and the elders will become leery of those "fringe" students your ministries are attracting.

8. No matter how active your students are in the life of the church, they will not be "visible" enough to satisfy everybody.

9. Church policies and guidelines are unwavering, written in stone, until you have finally discovered them all and figured them out.

10. I wouldn't trade my calling and ministries for anything or everything in the world.

I was 17 years old when God called me to minister with students. I acknowledged the calling on my life right away, and immediately spent the next 6 years of my life running like mad. I kept trying to reason with God, trying to convince Him that my talents and energies could be put to better use in fields which would actually afford me the opportunity to both own a house someday and feed myself. His answer? To not only call me to Student ministry, but student ministry in small churches in flux. Small paychecks, and growing pains. Through it all I have been immeasurably blessed. Sure there have been days when I questioned what I had done to God to make Him hate me so, when I have been convinced that my sanity was fleeting, but always in the end He has amazed and enlightened me.

I'm naming this blog "Notes from the back pew" because that is closer to where true ministry begins than is the front pew. The back pew has the privilege of being the closest pew to the back door, and through that door, the outside world. That is where ministry is or at least where it should be, not shut up inside stuffy old church buildings where we are literally preaching to the choir. So stay tuned. I can't promise that this blog will always be funny or enlightening but I can promise that it will always be straight from the heart. If you read within these musings something that warms your heart, makes you think, or inspires you, give the credit to Him who inspires me, after all I am just a lowly Yute Preacher, here to serve His world, one student, one soul, one heart at a time...

Until next time.

-Roman