Last year I started a new tradition of posting a recap of the previous year. I also like to write down what I expect to happen in the next year. I think its a good way to reflect and set goals. I want to say thank you to all those who have been there for me this year. I have great friends, family, and "extended" family all over the place!
School / Ordination
-Passed the Bible Content Ordination exam in February
-Finished 9 graduate classes: Early Church History, Speech, Exegetical Ephesians, Foundations of Youth Ministry, Theology and Culture, Islam, Modern Church History, Presbyterian History, Pastoral Counseling
-Went to 3 seminars: "Understanding Teenagers", "Leadership Essentials" and "Youth Evangelism"
-Became an official candidate for ordination with the PCUSA with the presbytery of Tampa Bay on September 27th
-Applied for 18 scholarships and received a little over $8,000
Field Education in New Church Development
-To finish my Masters of Divinity degree I have to do 35 hours a week of Field Education for 3 quarters. Over the next year I will be an intern in an exciting New Church Development that is happening in the Conejo Valley, CA. My boss/friend Rob Douglas has been called to plant a missional church in partnership with the San Fernando Presbytery and the church I work at (Westminster Presbyterian).
-Here is a video Rob and I created to help explain the new church.
Job Accomplishments / Developments
-This isn’t a huge accomplishment but it is one I am proud of. After several years of work I was able to help get our churches website updated. Check it out here. (www.wpcwestlake.org)
-Right now I am the Associate Director of Student Ministries at WPC. I will transition from Associate Director to the Director of Student Ministries in June 2013 (the current director is planting the new church I mentioned above). I plan to be ordained and finished with grad school by May 2014. At that point I hope to move from Director to Associate Pastor.
-Over the last 3 years I have been in conversation about the possibility of establishing Young Life in the Conejo Valley. (an outreach ministry for youth and college students that I worked with in Florida.) After a lot of prayer, emails, meetings, etc. we finally had a “friend-raiser” on Nov. 28th at a house in Lake Sherwood during the Tiger Woods golf event. There were several church leaders from the Conejo Valley, potential committee members, and supporters. We ate breakfast and heard the vision for YL in the Conejo Valley from the Los Angeles Regional Director. A generous donor bought tickets to the Tiger Woods tournament for any who were interested. We are planning another meeting in January. Our goal is to develop a committee, raise funds, and eventually hire an Area Director. Contact me if you are interested in learning more about Young Life in the Conejo Valley.
Sermons
-Westminster Presbyterian Church on May 29th - “Take The Road To Emmaus” -video
-Westminster Presbyterian Church on July 8th -"Can These Dry Bones Live?"
-First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin on September 39 - “Wandering From The Truth”- audio only
Trips:
-Park City Utah Ski Trip with Florida friends in March
-Backpacking to Sespe Hot Springs in July
-Mission Trip to West Virginia working with New Vision Renewable Energy.
See the promotional video I made for their mission trips here.
-Jake and Ashley Higgins’ Wedding in August followed by 2 weeks with family in NC
-Florida in September for meeting with Presbytery (to become candidate for ordination).
-NC with family for last 2 weeks of 2012
2013
It was interesting to read my end of year blog from 2011 (below). I wrote “I have a feeling this year won’t be as eventful as 2011 in terms of job/school changes.” I was right about school going as planned but my job and ministry has changed significantly. I am always amazed at how God works. I’m especially humbled by the fact that God is using me to do things even though I make a lot of mistakes! I have discovered that it isn’t a question of whether God’s plan is going to happen but whether I am going to be a part of that plan.
This year I hope to help reach my community with the message of Jesus and gather meaningful experiences - with the New Church Development I mentioned above, by moving forward with establishing a Young Life area, and in the way I live. I hope to take at least 9 more graduate classes and finish my field education. I would like to go on another backpacking trip, learn to snowboard, and ride my mountain bike a lot more. More than anything, I want to be a better son, brother, friend, and neighbor to all those I meet.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Switching from VEOH to Youtube
There was a time when YouTube would not allow you to post long videos over 10 minutes. For that reason I always posted my videos on VEOH. It would allow me to post 20 minute sermons.
Now YouTube is owned by Google so I am launching my brand new YouTube channel that includes all 5 sermons I've done.
Please watch them and feel free to comment, like, subscribe and share.
www.youtube.com/justjump321
Now YouTube is owned by Google so I am launching my brand new YouTube channel that includes all 5 sermons I've done.
Please watch them and feel free to comment, like, subscribe and share.
www.youtube.com/justjump321
Friday, February 10, 2012
Parenting
Recently there was a post going around facebook of a father whose daughter posted her frustrations about her parents online: Click here to watch it
I posted the link saying, "this is a terrible parent" and I was surprised to get the response, "No what this is is a parent that is fed up with how they are being treated and wanted to make sure that ppl knew he was not above punishing his daughter. I wish more parents today would step up and remember that punishing a child is not a bad thing."
I decided I would write a blog to discuss this matter in more depth. It is important to note that while I have a lot of experience and education in adolescent development I do not speak from the perspective of a father. Also, these statements to not reflect on my parents in any way.
This was my response:
"There is nothing wrong with correcting your kids if it is done in the right way. Modern research shows that mid-adolescents like this 15 year old girl lack what they need to be successful adults because of parents who discipline this way. In the past 30 years the skills needed for successful adulthood have risen exponentially and the ongoing adult support and guidance offered has decreased at the exact same rate. Kids are just getting better at adapting to the agenda of adults because they don’t have the nurture and care they need at home. The number one thing a teenager needs is a stable and safe family. Even men need to be tender, kind and gentle as well as encouraging, comforting and finding opportunities for positive reinforcement. Parents should model appropriate behavior. From a developmental standpoint, unloading your handgun into your daughter’s laptop, cursing at her and posting a video of it on facebook does nothing but harm. It destroys trust, continues modeling and reinforcing the exact behavior he is trying to change, and teaches her that he isn’t willing to enter a healthy conversation taking any kind of responsibility for his failure as a father. I believe that teenagers are gifted to the body of Christ and should be loved and celebrated and made to feel like they can count on their family system."
I want to take a moment to highlight some of my statements and take them a bit further.
"It destroys trust, continues modeling and reinforcing the exact behavior he is trying to change, and teaches her that he isn’t willing to enter a healthy conversation taking any kind of responsibility for his failure as a father."
This father reinforces negative behavior. He models exactly what he is trying to teach his daughter NOT to do.
1. Posting inappropriate things on facebook
2. Using foul language
3. Undermining the value of material things
4. Taking responsibility for your actions
These are self-explanatory. He doesn't want his daughter posting something about him but he posts something about her. He doesn't want her to use foul language but he uses foul language. He wants her to learn the value of the things he buys her but unloads his pistol into her laptop. He wants her to take responsibility for her actions but doesn't take responsibility for his own actions.
"finding opportunities for positive reinforcement"
I worked as a counselor at the Los Angeles Youth Network for 2 years. It is a network of homeless shelters for homeless youth in the heart of Hollywood. Many of them didn't have parents and most of them had severe discipline problems. I noticed that correcting their negative behavior didn't work nearly as well as finding opportunities to reinforce positive behavior. We had a rule that guys couldn't sag their pants. A guy named Donald would sag constantly. I told him to pull them up over and over but it didn't work. Finally, I waited for the rare moment when he randomly yanked them up (otherwise they would be on the floor) and I said something like "Donald, good job keeping your pants up today. I noticed that you aren't sagging and you pulled your pants up without being asked. To thank you I will do your chore tonight." From then on he never sagged his pants again.
"I believe that teenagers are gifted to the body of Christ and should be loved and celebrated and made to feel like they can count on their family system."
It is important to realize that adolescence is a unique life period between childhood and adult. From a Biblical standpoint - in the gospels there was only childhood and adult with no in-between. In the Greek/Hebrew there are a lot of words for children and adults but none for teens. According to scripture teens are not adults but children. Adolescence corresponded with childhood but that is different now. Teens are to be thought of as individuals in a unique stage of life whose task is what researchers call “individuation". This is the process of becoming a unique person. In modern society you are not yet an adult until you "individuate". There might be grown ups who haven’t individuated.
I will highlight 3 questions teens might ask of their surroundings from my understanding as it pertains to being a part of the family system:
1. Identity (who am I?). This first came about in the 1950s. The community always held your identity in the context of your community. There was no separation between the world and other people. Until the 1950s the community walked with you in the process of becoming an adult. I believe that as we get more fragmented we don’t have community to hold our identity. There is less community to reinforce who we really are. You can’t choose your identity because it will be external and will really be “performance.” I believe simply that every teen is longing to discover that they are loved. They need parents who walk with them in the process of becoming an adult.
2. Autonomy (“do I matter?”) - This is where responsible action happens. It is not about making good choices but about power and the source of the choices we make. So why would a 15 year old girl write a post about her parents on facebook? I suggest that part of the reason is she feels like she doesn't matter. She feels like the list of chores on the wall are impersonal. She is crying out for her father to connect with her and walk with her in the development process.
3. Belonging (“does anyone care?”) - Culture does everything to tell teens to produce individual conformity and only then are we a part of the family while inside they don't feel like they are the "whole package". They can’t bring anything to the table. Teens want to know that their parents care about them.
Some of the previous terms come from my perspective on research done by Chap Clark at Fuller Graduate Schools - He is an expert in theology and adolescent research.
I posted the link saying, "this is a terrible parent" and I was surprised to get the response, "No what this is is a parent that is fed up with how they are being treated and wanted to make sure that ppl knew he was not above punishing his daughter. I wish more parents today would step up and remember that punishing a child is not a bad thing."
I decided I would write a blog to discuss this matter in more depth. It is important to note that while I have a lot of experience and education in adolescent development I do not speak from the perspective of a father. Also, these statements to not reflect on my parents in any way.
This was my response:
"There is nothing wrong with correcting your kids if it is done in the right way. Modern research shows that mid-adolescents like this 15 year old girl lack what they need to be successful adults because of parents who discipline this way. In the past 30 years the skills needed for successful adulthood have risen exponentially and the ongoing adult support and guidance offered has decreased at the exact same rate. Kids are just getting better at adapting to the agenda of adults because they don’t have the nurture and care they need at home. The number one thing a teenager needs is a stable and safe family. Even men need to be tender, kind and gentle as well as encouraging, comforting and finding opportunities for positive reinforcement. Parents should model appropriate behavior. From a developmental standpoint, unloading your handgun into your daughter’s laptop, cursing at her and posting a video of it on facebook does nothing but harm. It destroys trust, continues modeling and reinforcing the exact behavior he is trying to change, and teaches her that he isn’t willing to enter a healthy conversation taking any kind of responsibility for his failure as a father. I believe that teenagers are gifted to the body of Christ and should be loved and celebrated and made to feel like they can count on their family system."
I want to take a moment to highlight some of my statements and take them a bit further.
"It destroys trust, continues modeling and reinforcing the exact behavior he is trying to change, and teaches her that he isn’t willing to enter a healthy conversation taking any kind of responsibility for his failure as a father."
This father reinforces negative behavior. He models exactly what he is trying to teach his daughter NOT to do.
1. Posting inappropriate things on facebook
2. Using foul language
3. Undermining the value of material things
4. Taking responsibility for your actions
These are self-explanatory. He doesn't want his daughter posting something about him but he posts something about her. He doesn't want her to use foul language but he uses foul language. He wants her to learn the value of the things he buys her but unloads his pistol into her laptop. He wants her to take responsibility for her actions but doesn't take responsibility for his own actions.
"finding opportunities for positive reinforcement"
I worked as a counselor at the Los Angeles Youth Network for 2 years. It is a network of homeless shelters for homeless youth in the heart of Hollywood. Many of them didn't have parents and most of them had severe discipline problems. I noticed that correcting their negative behavior didn't work nearly as well as finding opportunities to reinforce positive behavior. We had a rule that guys couldn't sag their pants. A guy named Donald would sag constantly. I told him to pull them up over and over but it didn't work. Finally, I waited for the rare moment when he randomly yanked them up (otherwise they would be on the floor) and I said something like "Donald, good job keeping your pants up today. I noticed that you aren't sagging and you pulled your pants up without being asked. To thank you I will do your chore tonight." From then on he never sagged his pants again.
"I believe that teenagers are gifted to the body of Christ and should be loved and celebrated and made to feel like they can count on their family system."
It is important to realize that adolescence is a unique life period between childhood and adult. From a Biblical standpoint - in the gospels there was only childhood and adult with no in-between. In the Greek/Hebrew there are a lot of words for children and adults but none for teens. According to scripture teens are not adults but children. Adolescence corresponded with childhood but that is different now. Teens are to be thought of as individuals in a unique stage of life whose task is what researchers call “individuation". This is the process of becoming a unique person. In modern society you are not yet an adult until you "individuate". There might be grown ups who haven’t individuated.
I will highlight 3 questions teens might ask of their surroundings from my understanding as it pertains to being a part of the family system:
1. Identity (who am I?). This first came about in the 1950s. The community always held your identity in the context of your community. There was no separation between the world and other people. Until the 1950s the community walked with you in the process of becoming an adult. I believe that as we get more fragmented we don’t have community to hold our identity. There is less community to reinforce who we really are. You can’t choose your identity because it will be external and will really be “performance.” I believe simply that every teen is longing to discover that they are loved. They need parents who walk with them in the process of becoming an adult.
2. Autonomy (“do I matter?”) - This is where responsible action happens. It is not about making good choices but about power and the source of the choices we make. So why would a 15 year old girl write a post about her parents on facebook? I suggest that part of the reason is she feels like she doesn't matter. She feels like the list of chores on the wall are impersonal. She is crying out for her father to connect with her and walk with her in the development process.
3. Belonging (“does anyone care?”) - Culture does everything to tell teens to produce individual conformity and only then are we a part of the family while inside they don't feel like they are the "whole package". They can’t bring anything to the table. Teens want to know that their parents care about them.
Some of the previous terms come from my perspective on research done by Chap Clark at Fuller Graduate Schools - He is an expert in theology and adolescent research.
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