Jesus- Boundary Breaker

Jesus hung with a lot of people that most of his culture wouldn’t hang out with. One such occasion happens in John 4:7-26. In Jesus’ culture, women were looked down upon, as were Samaritans. This was a “double no no” for Jesus. Jesus style ministry breaks down these “boundaries” and goes straight to people’s hearts. It didn’t matter her cultural background, it didn’t matter she was a woman and it didn’t matter that she was a sinner.


This woman was part of a culture that was mixed up. Samaritans had mixed blood, mixed religions and mixed up views about God. For a Jew to be seen with a Samaritan, any Samaritan would’ve been bad, but to be seen with a Samaritan woman (who had an especially bad rap, even among the Samaritans) would’ve been unheard of. His decision to talk to her as well as listen to her was unique and out of the normal realm of possibility. Jewish people were pretty racist against the Samaritans and here we see Jesus deciding not to bow to those cultural pressures, in fact he breaks out of them!

The greatest thing to me about this story is that Jesus initiates the whole thing. The woman was coming out at a time when she didn’t expect anyone to be at the well (the Scripture says she came out at about noon and noon was when it would be the hottest) and there was this Jewish man sitting there. Her plan was to ignore him as a good Samaritan should ignore a prominent Jew, but Jesus asks her for a drink of water.

Jesus then shares who she is and what she has been about, to which she is amazed at his knowing so intimately the details of her life. Jesus then shares with her who He is and the knowledge of who Jesus is changes this woman completely, which is evidenced by her new evangelistic lifestyle (John 4:29 & 39).

Due to the cultural no no’s that Jesus was just committing, when the disciples return to Jesus, they are understandably shocked at the scene they see: Jesus chatting casually with a Samaritan Woman. Jesus uses this moment of perplexity to teach his disciples about God’s heart for humanity. He demands of them to open their eyes and see that people of all cultures and all backgrounds are ready to hear of the Lord’s goodness. He tells them to see the harvest that is available for the Kingdom of God to which they are blind because of their cultural box. In this conversation one can sense the rebuke that Jesus give them. It’s almost like he’s saying: “Hey Blind guys, open your eyes, take off your blinders and see what I see! Stop putting me in a box, stop putting my ministry in a box. There are people out there who need to hear about me and what I came to do and you are hindering that! Open your eyes and get to work on the stuff I’ve prepared for you to do!”

Not only did Jesus say this, but he demonstrated it by his actions. He was a more prominent Jew than his disciples were. He had more to “lose” by hanging around and talking to that woman but he proved he didn’t care and he pointed out their prejudice by showing them how they’ve been blind. After Jesus rebukes them at the end of the scene in John, we see that several people come to believe in him because of that one woman’s witness of him. I am sure he looks at them afterwards and says: “Did you guys see the harvest that we reaped today? There is more than that to come if you can open your eyes. It’s just like I said: the harvest is ready!”

Jesus used this scene well to teach his disciples the importance of cross-cultural ministry and to break them out of their box of prejudice that they were living in. This story is for us, the Church as well because sadly we too box up the Gospel with our own prejudices and deny people access whom we shouldn’t be barring from the grace of Christ. We, like Christ and like the disciples should be reaching across culture to proclaim the good news of Jesus. We shouldn’t be stopped short by our foolish notions of the world.

This story brings many implications to us as a people. One implication is that we should seek the Lord on where we are blind because we are all blind in one way or another. If it’s not racism, it could be sexism or ageism. Somewhere in our view of the world, we are blinding ourselves to the harvest that could be reaped and we need the help of the Holy Spirit to open up our eyes and see where we’ve boxed people out.

Another implication is that we need to fear no cultural taboo that may be out there. Jesus went across the tracks on three accounts: ethnicity, sex and reputation. He let none of those taboos stop him from preaching the gospel to the Samaritan woman. This leads us to a third implication: Make the Word our highest court of judgment. If your culture tells you its wrong to hang with or speak with a certain person, go to the Bible and see what God says. If it isn’t in the Bible, don’t bow to it. Too often we become religious fanatics about extra-biblical revelation as the Pharisees were. We have to be careful to heed God’s word, not man’s addition to God’s word.

Lastly, we can see the implication of Heaven being made up of many different people, not just people like ourselves. Heaven will be a beautiful mosaic that reflects all of humanity, so we need to begin to embrace that truth now, because if we don’t eternity may be hard!

I Love Jesus!

At Allegheny Center Alliance Church for the Middle School Youth, we are going through a 12 week series on Jesus. To check it out, go here: http://emergingyp.blogspot.com/2009/10/old-skool-jesus-weeks-1-2.html

I really want to share the content of this series to help others! So, feel free to steal (or use) all the content you desire!

Sticky Youth Ministry

I just got done reading Larry Osborne's Sticky Church and I was truly impressed. The main premise of the book is that Sermon-based small groups are an amazing way to make people stay at your church. It allows for authentic relationships to be formed, made and then maintained. All groups are on the very same page (even if they don't do the exact same thing). They all heard the sermon and are all dedicated to going deeper.

What does this have to do with Emerging Youth Ministry? I think it has a lot to do with it!

I hate to say this, but most of us Youth Pastors don't read outside of our own paradigm of Youth Ministry. We count (alot of times) the "Church" books as irrelevant to our situation and unusable because the concepts therein are set up for "older people" and not teens. This may or may not be the case...BUT there is always some great stuff to be learned within books that are zeroed in on the church, rather than simply youth ministry (eww, stepping on Doug Field's toes there...). To many times, we disregard GREAT ideas because they are for the older peeps in the pews.

Larry Osborne was a Youth Pastor...at one time, so he knows a bit about how we function, so if you hate "church" books, this one might "ease" you into them. The practicality of this book will indeed assist with the paradigm shift that many Youth Ministry authors/speakers are calling for, namely Mark Oestreicher.

When I was reading this book, I was thinking to myself: "We could do that with Youth Group to produce a deeper sense of belonging".

Larry also answers some questions that were brought up in Youth Ministry 3.0, such as "how do we get a "think small" attitude for Youth Ministry?" The formatting of the sermon based small group does that and works from large to small group sizes.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a canned small group idea that will "explode your youth ministry"...because it definitely NEEDS to be adapted to your particular group. However, the ideas, strategies and QUESTIONS Larry asks will perk up your mind and make you think about how small groups can be a vital part of your Ministry.


Teens need belonging. Teens need a place where they can be authentic, real and open. A smaller setting does this for teens. This book has some great wisdom and I believe we as youth pastors can harness these great ideas and implement them into our paradigm.

Reading Youth Ministry books is GREAT...but we need to read outside of that as well. We can't be blind to the church movement. In fact, we are called to lead the next church movement, then the next one because we are continually raising up the next church generation...may we never lose sight of that. God is using us to not only bring new people into His flock, but to guide them on how to do church.

I am a huge advocate for small groups and doing "Lesson based" small groups. In fact it's how I've done it for a long time...this book helped me to question why I do it. It also gave me tools to make my small groups better and more efficient.

It gave me a fresh perspective on "Who am I trying to reach?" and "How am I going to do this".

Small Groups in Youth Ministry and Church Ministry will get larger, hopefully better too. The reason is because small groups create an environment where authentic faith can happen.


I know some of you are thinking: "This is old hat...small groups? C'mon" I would agree...small groups is an old concept. Sometimes it bombs and sometimes it succeeds, this book gives answers as to why.

To conclude: Emerging Youth Ministry will continue to utilize small groups. With that said, we have to learn to do them right, have the right mindset, have the right leaders and have the right mode for our specific place of ministry. This book gives some great insight into all those things.

Not that Type of Christian

I work part-time at Chili's. Everyone there knows I am a pastor. I've prayed with people, I've given hard truth to some of my Christian co-workers and I've had great chances to share my faith.

The other day, I received one of the BEST comments from a non-Christian I've ever received. He said: "You're not the normal type of Christian, that's why I like you and listen to you". Those words came from my General Manager (GM).

We were talking about faith, swearing, sex and the like. He asked my opinions on all of those subjects. He openly refuted what I was saying and I simply said: "This is what's true. I know it to be true because I've experienced it, lived it and learned it. I'm not going to make you believe what I believe by cramming it down your throat. I'm not out to win an argument, but I want to win your heart". This is what caused him to say: "You're not the normal type of Christian, that's why I like you and listen to you"

Normally I don't put up posts that seemingly pat myself on the back and I don't mean to do that with this post. I simply want to make a point.

He then described to me all the Nyack College and ATS (Alliance Theological Seminary) students whom he had discussed theology with in the past. He said they all wanted to argue until they won. He said he would refute them until he was blue in the face and eventually, they all walked away angry that he wasn't listening to them or being won over by there amazing apologetic skills.

I told my GM that God convicted me of such Faith proclamations and asked me to seek out the persons heart rather than seeking a notch on my belt for winning yet another argument. I told him I desire to live my faith, not just argue for it. God has asked me to be a person who openly lives his faith and loves those around him (even if they refute what I say).

My GM then said: "You do that. That's why I like talking with you. I know I can't get a rise out of you. I hope we can continue to talk about this stuff."

Earlier, I said I want to make a point. Here it is: this is the type of evangelism/apologetic that must be adopted to meet the hunger for God that is prevalent within this generation. Not being "that type of Christian", but being different.

The World needs a group of people that seek to live their faith, not just argue for it.

Again, I am not saying I am the "poster boy" for this. In fact, this was ONE good story among plenty of HORRIBLE ones where I totally killed the gospel for people because I argued and bickered with them about how I was right and they were wrong. In those moments I didn't care to even HEAR them.

How can we teach our teens about the importance of living our their faith? How can we share with them that it is only through the Holy Spirit that this type of living is possible? How can we disciple our teens into surrendering their lives to Christ? These are all tough questions that we as Youth Pastors wrestle with EVERY day! I hope we can all encourage one-another to seek out these answers so we can see God use this generation to ignite a passion for His name!

(I posted this on my Youth Min Blog, but thought I'd share here too)

I Have a 2nd Blog!

You may be asking, why a new blog?

This new and 2nd blog of mine will deal specifically with Youth Ministry as I see, wrestle and deal with it within my Theology as an Emerging Youth Pastor.

Many things need to change within Youth Ministry and I for one hope to be a voice to help the change, rather than a voice of stagnant complacency.

We are few, but strong as Emerging Youth Pastors. We are also a growing breed as new manifestos are written. New conferences spoken about and new classes taught at Universities and Colleges alike. People are realizing that the way Youth Ministry has "always been done" is no longer a working model.

We must adapt, shift and move with this change and here (Emerging Youth Pastor) is where I desire to display how I am shifting and moving within it.

I will hit many bumps, receive many bruises, but I hope to authentically display how I am dealing with this new dichotomy of movement. I will keep and maintain this blog, which is my personal blog. Some ideas and posts will definitely overlap, but the other blog is only about Youth Ministry from here on out. I have imported my blog posts from this blog to that one, because some of the posts are very relevant to that blog, others not so much...However, I didn't want to start out with another "blank" slated blog.

Please stay tuned with me as I transparently share my journey as an Emerging Youth Pastor!

Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 3)

*To fully comprehend what's going on within this post, I suggest you read: Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 1) and Youth Ministry 3.0 (Post 2) *

As I've said in my last two posts: I loved this book, it's clear insight and it's candid view of where we are to go next.

I think one of the constant threads that is going around in not only Youth Ministry, but Ministry as a whole is that you can't use other people's programs, ideas and methods and expect what happened there to happen where you are. So know, that this isn't a book that says: "Hi, I'm Marko and I've done YM right...here's how you can copy me". Marko simply lays out where Youth Ministry has been, what has worked and what hasn't. Then Marko takes us to the present times within Youth Ministry and shares the same (what's working and what's not). The methods and ways of doing ministry will look different depending on where you are. However, the heart-beat of the needs that are within Youth and their culture will be the same. This book highlights those needs and sends the reader back into YM armed with that knowledge to pave his/her own path with the students God has blessed them with.

With that said, let me wrestle with this book one last time with you on a piece that caught my eye. It comes in Chapter 6 of the book on page 113-116. Marko entitled this portion: "Finally, Don't Be Driven".

Here's what he says: "Teenagers desperately want to experience passion, but they sure aren't interested in being driven! And youth workers who embrace a Youth Ministry 3.0 mindset and approach will stop being driven by job descriptions, measurements, buildings, time demands and Messiah complexes. Instead, we'll slow down enough, deconstruct enough to be fully present". (page 114)

It strikes me that when I worry about how many teens are there on a given night, I get depressed when attendance is low and excited when attendance is high. This is WRONG! I won't be fully present when I'm depressed about numbers. And honestly, I won't be fully present when attendance is average. Being passionate is saying: "even if I have one freakin kid show up, I'm going to be fully present and do what God asks me to do!"

This is especially hard for me right now. My job description changed from full time to part time. I had to switch my Youth Group times and the teens aren't showing up. I've allowed it to get me down from time to time. It's affected my lessons, my games and my attitude. I need to be PASSIONATE, not DRIVEN. Trust me when I say wrestling with this little book isn't easy. Trying to SHIFT your YM mindset is hard. However, if we are to succeed, it must be done. Does it have to be 100% what Marko says? No. BUT, he's on to something and if we as Youth Workers don't see the same train...it won't be easy to get on it later.

I appreciate the time, effort and wisdom that Marko poured into this book. I truly believe this is only the beginning of this discussion. Shifting will take time and effort. It will take humility and trust. It won't be answered and done with one book, or with one person. We must (as Marko humbly admits he needs too) collaborate, discuss and work through this together. We must be humble to accept correction and wise to give it. I hope we can all learn from one-another, connect with one-another. Giving no Youth Pastor, or Youth Worker "rock-star" status but being all on the same plain and same page, pushing forward in the name of Jesus so that His name can be Great and students can come to know Jesus as we do!

Learning to be a Better Pastor

Pastor means Shepherd. I am a Youth Pastor, which means I am called to Shepherd those crazy people who find themselves in the teen years. This encompasses many "fun" new life challenges, which include but are not limited to: puberty, Spiritual understanding, the thought of invincibility, the lack of self-assurance, the entrance of most sexual confusion, the entrance of self actualization, the start of real independence and a deeper desire to figure out the "why's" of discipline.

This is my calling...the Shepherd these teens. Not only am I called to assist them during these tough life challenges, but most importantly, I am called to direct them to The Father. I am called to bring forth Christ. I am called to lead them in Spiritual Formation, self understanding and a deeper understanding of God and His Word.

Here's what I've learned and will never let go of: I can only lead them as far as I have gone myself.

A Shepherd is foolish to take a flock down a hill, road or path that he himself has not yet traveled. He doesn't know the way. He doesn't know the terrain. He doesn't even know if there are dangers ahead.

I need to constantly follow God down new paths. Pave new avenues so I can grow in MY understanding of God, so in turn I can be used by the Holy Spirit to guide people closer to the Father. If I read the same devotional book again and again for years and NEVER venture to something new, fresh and anointed...I will not be doing myself, or my flock justice. Can I continue to read the same thing? Yes...but not to the detriment of reading, or experiencing new things.

I'm learning to go DEEPER with the Lord. I'm learning to dig into Scripture in places I've never dug. I'm understanding that this is most importantly for myself and God to connect closer, but also so I can lead these teens who have so much baggage down a deeper road with the Lord.

A shepherd can only lead their flock down roads they've already tread and no further. If I desire or expect my teens to grow...I should be growing too!