Theology Evolved?

I am Educating as a Youth Pastor:

“…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

“…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2 (NASB)

This is an extreme important calling to me. Too many times I have reflected upon my bible classes in college or conversations with non-Christians who had real questions about the bible and realized how ill prepared I was in knowing the bible as something more than a collection of stories with morals. Historical context, language, cause and effect relationships, all of these were lost on me.

My hope is that through a Sunday morning or intense midweek bible study I can get the youth to understand why knowing the bible is important and showing them the intricacies that help the bible make sense.

As far as knowing why the bible is important, is because it is the single volume of literature on which we profess our faith, so to have a surface level understanding just does not cut it. If you are a professing fan of any given sports team, a devout fan who wants to show it, you know what is going on with the team: the history of it, the staff, potential trades, players, etc. Often times Christians have knowledge of their hobbies than the core part of their identity. It is important that we do not just send them out with a paper-thin knowledge, but rather a knowledge that covers much more and encourages a desire to know more.

I do not approach this naively, I know that there will be those who do not really care about the deeper aspects, and Christianity is just a cover, a façade, or something their parents made them do. I was one of those at one time. But what I do know is that I can try to do my best to educate, to be open to questions and to be a friend who cares to teach the students.

I was a Youth Pastor?

My focuses would be on:

1. To disciple and educate the young believers into mature and knowledgeable Christians capable of being ambassadors of the Most High God.

2. To demonstrate and encourage a relationship based evangelism where it is more important to have an authentic relationship showing the love of Christ and encouraging towards salvation rather than the broad shotgun approach to gain lots of surface level salvations with no follow-up.

3. To provide a venue where young believers can increase in their faith and be where they can worship and fellowship while also providing another venue designed to be “non-believer” friendly that encourages having an open mind towards Christianity and is a fun atmosphere.

4. To establish a mentorship program where I take the time to cultivate students, also to have adult leaders mentor, as well as graduating high school students take younger students under their wings to help build a inter-generational youth group.

5. To show students a broader perspective of the world by taking them on short-term mission trips to various parts of the world covering multiple income levels and demographics.

6. Top provide for times of relaxation and introspective meditation where students can meet God in an intimate way through retreats and also to provide a community involving broad invitation camp for a fun getaway for those who are not Christians.

7. To encourage students to build an inter-church youth group to dissolve divisions between churches.


There will be a deeper look at each of these to follow as I finish researching, writing, editing, rinsing and repeating. Should not take too long. Check back.

This will be the precursor to some of the blogs I am going to try and put up. And rather than these focusing on 20/20 hindsight I am hoping these are pointing me in the opposite direction. To dream big and to give myself foresight into what I would try to do before I live a life with regrets.

Moonstone Bistro has launched a fantastic new menu again.

New All Day items include:

Duck Confit, Crab Cakes, and a Roasted Root Vegetable Medley

New Lunch Items include:

Grilled Quail, Southwestern Style Pulled-Pork Sandwich, Paella, Mahi-Mahi Tostada

New Dinner Items include:

Grilled Rib-Eye w/ Dungeoness Crab Salad, Stuffed Chicken Breast, Mahi-Mahi, and Seared Prawns on Saffron Pasta

New Dessert Items include:

Pumpkin Souffle... Yummy!


And because I asked, we now have Blue Moon's Full Moon Winter Ale in stock.

Come get some food!

Randy Elrod over at Ethos had this on his blog and I felt it was worth sharing. What an amazing video with dynamic wide angle shots and minimalist coloring.

HT: Randy Elrod: Ethos

So I have been looking at the purpose of my blog. Which for all intensive purposes has been a time to time account of what is going on in my life, a few theological ponderings, and after that just whatever seems to come to my mind.

So I guess I just want to say that I am going to think about, research a bit, get really introspective and start getting personal. So I am going to start posting some "What If's" regarding What I would do if I was in such and such a position regarding responsibilities, jobs, etc. I don't know how soon the first one will come and if they will come on set days or not.

All I know is, I am going to try.

So to you, the few, the patient, my friends and family, I thank you for holding out and I hope I make you proud.

Zach

Okay so I love my blog, but even I couldn't stand waiting for everything to load when I went to check how my updates worked out so I deleted anything linking to Amazon.com

So if you want to know what CD's I am listening too, ask, or maybe I will post, same with books.

Also I thought that having to go to a separate screen just to look at comments was dumb, so I found some code that now has a cheesy view of that usual popup built into the blog itself, and until I find something better, it works.

So I hope you are able to read more often with less hassle and comment with ease.

Much Love


P.S. This new keyboard is so quiet when I type, I love it.

So... I am not a purist. I can admit this. I love the Mac OS, and the design of their computers and their housings. Which is why I love my

20" Intel Duo Core iMac


And I have never liked the mice that come with Mac's I need to feel my buttons, all of them. So I eventually got myself a new mouse. So I got the

Logitech MX-Laser


And well up until recently I was quite pleased with my bluetooth apple keyboard. But because of a recent spill, it went in operable. So the joining with another company happened. So I introduce you to my new, and way more fancy (but not bluetooth) keyboard.

Microsoft's Digital Media Pro Keyboard


So there you go, definitely no purist here. But I have to say being able to open almost all my main applications at the push of the button on the keyboard is pretty stinking awesome. And Microsoft made it a breeze to reprogram everything. So big props.

Any other hybrid users out there?

God, yah he is up to something again.

He is reminding me of my passions that he revealed to me. Those of academia, and teaching, and helping find those who are being taught a story based understanding of the bible and giving them context. I have begun to ponder that if in a while I should look at going into full-time ministry. A while being at least a year if not more out. I don't know because I love my job. I get to meet amazing people, show off some amazing food and drink. So for now, it is just a thought in my head. Maybe God is just kicking my butt about not doing anything at all with what he showed me. I haven't done anything academic in a year or so. I am thinking I need to lead a small group or something, but I can't add that to my plate with all the Wedding Planning going on.

*Sigh*

I wish life wasn't so confusing. Or maybe I am just so blind I can't see what is going on. Or so busy.