I was sitting here tonight enjoying a really cold Utah night watching some college football when my phone started going crazy with e-mails and calls…There is this fella back in GA who beleves anyone who is not for the “Old time way” or “KJV only” movement are of the devil and going to hell…Well, for some reason he woke up not liking me today! Here is some of what He said…” There is a SO CALED preacher by the name of JC Groves, Yes i called his name which was JC GROVES if you missed it that is against me and the old fashion way i believe that is has sunk so low…Well Mr Groves you are a false preacher, a VIPER, a SNAKE in the grass, a WOLF in sheep’s clothes that will deceive and destroy, A CONTEMPORARY PUNK, Joel Osteen want to be, niv carring, forked tongue speaking REPROBATE that Dont have as much of God in him as a sack of potatos!”

Wow…that must have taken him all day to think of and write! Oh well, it’s Got me thinking.

• I’m thankful for the Call of God on my life to be  preacher.
• I pray God will continue to use My family and I here in Utah
• Loving the fact that we are not in the “bible belt” just the “Mormon belt”
• I pray that I will continue to grow daily. To take things that people say and find the way I can learn and grow from it.
• If I focus on my abilities, I will always feel overwhelmed and inadequate…if I focus on WHO God is and WHAT He has done, I will feel confident and secure.
• If I focus on my past, I will live in defeat…if I focus on my potential in Christ, I will live in victory.
• If I focus on this life, I will have zero urgency to share the Gospel…if I focus on the fact that eternity is reality for every person on the planet, I will do all that I can to share the Gospel with those I claim that I love and care for.

Pastors and church leaders will ALWAYS have to deal with distractions…Keep your head up. You are making a diffrence!

I read this earlyer today…I think it goes well here!

It’s from Pastor Perry Noble’s blog www.perrynoble.com

October is pastors appreciation month and I wanted to take this opportunity today to say “THANK YOU” to every pastor.  Seriously, I don’t care what denomination you belong to, what the size of your church is or what your preferences are in regards to a worship style…

THANK YOU…for…

The times you have woke up at night and could not go back to sleep because you were so burdened for the people in your church…and so for the next several hours you prayed for those whom God has entrusted to your care and they were not even aware of it.

The times of intense spiritual warfare that you have endured.  You have experienced things that you don’t talk about a lot…but I know about the attacks on you and your family, the nightmares, the intense feelings of inadequacy…and yet you have persevered through them because you know that the ONE who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

The conversations that you have had with people that no one will know about, the ones that took place behind the scenes, out of the eye of the public.  You took the time to talk to that one person and did it because you care and not because you felt like you would be rewarded for it.  It made a difference.

For the sacrifices that you have made that no one will ever know about.  You have sacrificed time, personal preferences, money, sleep and your own reputation…you have paid a price that most people will never see this side of eternity, and the Lord IS USING your faithfulness to make a difference.

For the times you wanted to quit but didn’t.  We’ve all wanted to quit (usually on Monday’s!)  But Jesus pressed into you and you pressed on because, at the end of the day, you are consumed with Jesus and HIS GOSPEL…and you could not even fathom doing anything else.

For the times you have wept over the condition of people in your church and over people far from God.  For allowing what breaks God’s heart to break yours.

For the days when you have dared to dream big and have refused to give up on the vision you know the Lord has placed inside of you.

For the times you have been criticized and slandered against by people who have never even met you and are clueless in regards to your heart for the Lord.  They have misquoted you, taken you out of context and tried to destroy you with their word twisting and hate filled inaccuracies.  And yet you have persevered, you have resisted the urge to fight with them, keeping your eyes on Jesus and refusing to come down off of the wall.

For ALL that you do!  Seriously…you matter!  YOU MATTER so much to God that He not only saved you but called you into ministry, He entrusted you with a gift, a calling and a message…and He is with you, He will NEVER leave you or forsake you.  You can trust Him and He didn’t call you to flame out or burn out but rather to IMPACT this world through the preaching of His Son Jesus Christ.

You may feel overworked, overwhelmed and under appreciated…but I am here to say as a fellow pastor…THANK YOU!  I don’t care if you have 15 people in your church or 150,000…what you do MATTERS!  THANK YOU…I consider it an honor to be on the same team with you and it is my prayer that all of us will keep our eyes on Jesus and press forward as we have been given a job to do!

I love you guys!  THANK YOU!  YOU MATTER!  Now let’s get out there and CHANGE THE WORLD!!!

Actions speak louder than words. Whether parents like it or not, kids see the priorities and values they set for the family and it makes a difference on how kids live their lives. All the hype over the past couple years about the student drop-out rate from church seems to be focused at the church, specifically the youth workers.

Almost every other week I see a new Chicken Little article about how the sky is falling and that youth ministry is failing miserably. However, the biblical structure of raising kids is through the parents, not church youth workers. Statistically, the kids who graduate from high school and stay in the church are not those who had a super-dynamic youth group. Rather, it’s those whose parents have intentionally passed on the faith. Of course, this assumes that parents have a living and vital faith that’s worth passing on.

As much as we hate to admit it, we have a lot of parents who are sold out to the world and give lip-service in church, so their kids see that and do the same. Teenagers reflect what they see in the church.

According to the Family Driven Faith audio series by Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr., 92% of families don’t have devotions together even once a year. He also says that the average Christian family has less than 30 minutes of spiritual discussion each week. Maybe the church should focus more on discipling parents who will in turn pass that on to their kids.

Here are a few questions that every Student Pastor and or Leader NEEDS to be asking parents*

1. What’s going on in your family and your kid’s life right now that would help me and the youth leaders know how to best work with your student?
We’re here to partner with parents, but no partnership works very well if the partners are off doing different things without communicating with each other. Ask parents about what they see going in in their kid’s lives that would be helpful information for you and any other appropriate youth leaders to know. What stories are both you and the parents hearing about school? What indicators of spiritual growth do you and the parents see coming from their life? Listen to parents share stories, but be sure you also share with them stories and insights you’ve picked up through their involvement in the ministry.

2. How can the youth ministry support you and your family better?
After you’ve heard a bit about what’s happening in that kid’s life at home, ask parents how they feel the youth ministry can best come alongside and continue to support them. That’s doesn’t mean you should bow to their every request — sometimes their expectations will be unrealistic. Use those times to gently share why you can’t or shouldn’t meet those expectations while giving an alternate suggestion that’s more appropriate.

3. How are YOU doing spiritually right now?
We all know that the spirituality of the parents is often reflected in their students, except their kids don’t try to hide it as much. That’s why the spiritual health of the students is often dependant on the spiritual health of their parents. Kids reflect what they see modeled for them. Ensure that parents are growing spiritually and that it’s overflowing into their family, their children, their teenagers, and their marriages.

This article is written by Tim Schmoyer

Tim is the founder of Life In Student Ministry and is dedicated to facilitating discussions among Christian youth workers about youth ministry. He is the author of the Youth Specialties/Zondervan book, “Life In Student Ministry: Practical Conversations on Thriving in Youth Ministry,” a national youth leader trainer, speaker, and a super-volunteer at his church.