I got a Facebook message on Saturday, at about 2:15pm:
Whats up Aaron? It’s been a while. Long while. I saw your name pop up on facebook. I gave my testimony at a church conference in Baltimore a couple months ago. I think youll enjoy this. Glory to God.
A few hours later, Kim and I went to a wedding at our church. Guess who walked in with his girlfriend? Ian. It was great catching up and hearing his story face to face. I guess this means I have to be a Braves fan now.
We talk all the time about wanting to help parents be good parents through the Church. After reading a lot yesterday in YouthWorker Journal [YWJ] about discipling the youth in our ministries, and after sitting in a discipleship-focused group gathering yesterday morning, Michael and I talked about how to get the youth ministry here to that place of disciple-formation, as it was intended.
YWJ’s articles talked about what we’re missing — from ministry, from parents, from general expectations of teenagers — and how to refocus on what’s important.
And today, I stumble across this open letter to parents, from a parent of young adults. I wish every parent in youth ministry here could read it:
Keys to Making Your Kid Apathetic About Faith
Read the rest of Scott’s open letter [thanks to Marko].
I know, I know, it’s still August. But with Christmas only three sermon series away, I’ve already started brainstorming. The other two are almost done, so now it’s on to Advent. Simple Gifts is our theme this Christmas. So in honor of Christmas, I take a look back to last year. I stumbled on last year’s Christmas videos from our Nativity Stories series: