Do What!?!

I guess I need to give a little more info and direction for the devotional format I plan to follow. I figure it will change as I work through it, but my plan right now looks like this.

I will read through the book at the start. 1 Thessalonians is short enough that I should be able to get through it in a day. I will look for themes that the Lord is trying to communicate. I will then go back and start to work through the text at a slower pace. I will spend time meditating on the text, looking for the application the writer was going for and how can I apply it to my life. At some point. I imagine I will look at a Bible dictionary to get some background on Thessolonica, I may crack the Vines open if I need to understand a Greek word better. My guess is that I won't open those books until the middle of the month. At the end of the month, if there is something I am still confused about or want further clarification on, I will jump into a commentary. I imagine a lot of my time will be spent meditating on the text and how it applies to me, my family, or the youth group.

Hope that helps some.

Jamie

My Devo Time

I have been thinking about my personal devotion time lately. Typically, my devotion times can end up turning into hard study times for upcoming lessons. I have not done well trying to do set book studies either. Last year I read about another way to do devotional at Chris Freelands blog. His basic idea is that you spend a month working through a book of the Bible. After a month you move on to another book and alternate between old and new testament. I have been thinking about this for a while. After speaking to some of the other Hard Rock leaders, it seems that you all struggle with some of the same things. I plan to try this type of a plan starting February 1st, and you are welcome to work through the books with me. It would be nice to share this with you as my fellow leaders at OBC. Here are the ground rules for the devotional:

1. Start a book on the first day of the month and end it on the last day of the month.

2. We will rotate between old and new testament.

3. No commentaries until the last 2 days of the month. Lets work through scripture and see what the Lord has in mind for us before we learn from others. The last 2 days of the month we can crack the commentaries if we want further clarification on something.

4. I will try to share some thoughts that I have through the month. I welcome any thoughts you have.

So what will be the first book? Drum roll please, dadadadadadadadadaddadadada-----

1 Thessalonians

Jamie

Forgiveness?

Wanted to share some of what I have been working through while preparing for the retreat. One of the issues we will be looking at is “Are you a quicker forgiver?”

I have been working through two opposite trains of thought on the issue of should we extend forgiveness.

1. As Christians, we need to extend forgiveness to anybody that wrongs us whether they seek our forgiveness or not. 1 Peter 2:20-23; 1 Peter 3:9; Luke 23:34; Mark 11:25; Matthew 6:14

2. As Christians, we need to emulate God and be ready to forgive anyone, but only extend that forgiveness to those who seek it. Colossians 3:13; Psalms 86:5; Luke 17:3-4; Ephesians 4:32; 1 Kings 13:3-6

I have landed on a position, before I tell you what and why, work through these passages (and any others you might find) and see what you come up with.

Jamie

To the youth leaders at OBC

"A blog? Are you signing up for a blog? Those are for kids, why would you do that?" Those were the words Kelly said to me as she noticed me setting this up. If you are not aware of the Christian blogsphere out there, that may be your thought also.

Although teens use blogs as online diaries, bands use them to promote themselves, etc. Christians have been using them to share doctrinal ideas, and have stimulating conversations. (I will introduce you to some of my favorites in due time, don't want to overwhelm you all at once)

I have been debating for the past year about jumping into this. I have come up with a hundred reasons not to do this and a few less for why I should. The main reason I have not jumped in is the time commitment. I did not want to add just another thing to my life that I needed to do.

So why now? I think there are two reasons why I have decided to jump into this.

1. I have been convicted since our summer study that my job as elder over youth, is headed more and more in the direction of equipping you as leaders to minister to the youth versus just ministering to the youth. The Lord can have a bigger impact at OBC if I multiply my ministry through you. I see this blog as a way I can interact with you through devotions, my thoughts, and just general interaction.

2. Another blog I read regularly stopped. His reason was the time needed to keep up with it was overwhelming. So why would that convince me to start one? He stopped his current blog to start up a new one. His new one has 5 people publishing on it. This team approach allows him to not be involved with the blog every day. I figured this would be a good approach.

So where does that leave us?

For the short term I will publish posts. I won't guarantee every day, but often enough.

Scott is working on making everything look better, and will be the next person I add to the list to publish. We may open this to the youth in the future, but for the short term I want this directed at the leaders.

You all are free to post comments on any of the posts.(you will need to sign up, www.blogger.com ) In fact I hope you do. I don't want any confidential items posted here and no gossip.

Also, we all know I couldn't spell my way out of a wet paper sack. I will run spell check on all my posts, but no guarantee. If you want to comment on a spelling or grammar error, send me a private e-mail. Thanks.

I want to focus on equipping you and encouraging you.

Welcome aboard,

Jamie