Rick Nier...Woo!

I have to be gut-level honest here. I know that many pastors and people and churches can be all over the place when it comes to our focus. I have always been a grace kind of guy. I will always be a grace kind of guy. I have, at times, felt guilty about this, as if grace is somehow inferior to law, inferior to deeper thinking, somehow a 1 st -grade mentality to our Christian discipleship. But I don’t agree. I believe even the Law that God gave Moses had grace in it. How else do you explain that a man can commit a sin, which is so heinous to God that death is required, but God steps back and says, ‘You know what…kill this goat and a couple of birds and we’ll call it even.’ How is that even close to even? Fair? No, it’s grace. However you interpret salvation and end-times and works and faith, the whole system is based on grace, an undeserved gift from God. Where am I getting this from? James chapter 4, that's where. Check it out.  4  What causes fights and quarrels among you?

I'd read enough about this book and the author to expect that I would feel convicted, the holier-than-thou way of saying I thought I might feel guilty. You know, comparing one guy's sacrificial lifestyle to mine own, feeling that mine fell short. I do this often, in many situations, assuming that God has called all of us to do the exact same thing, even though gifting and situations are vastly different. I suppose it's a good thing I choose to read the insides of these books as well. Strangers At My Door by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a good choice for a read. You might recognize his name as being connected with Shane Claiborne as these two founded the New Monastic movement, focusing on intentional rhythms each day of prayer and community. They do this while living in hospitality houses, communities they have intentionally made to welcome anyone who might knock on the door. And that's exactly who and what you'll find in this book. The stories of many inter

Ridiculous and offensive? Sure, maybe I have been that. Conservative minded and openly opinionated using my blog space? Not normally. And the reasons I normally don't are many. Mainly, you can find that kind of stuff everywhere. I prefer to focus on issues of significance, desiring God above all else and, of course, youth ministry. I figure if people would get over themselves and love God, then most problems in the world would be solved.  However, today I have a problem. Specifically, I have a problem with the cowards at Disney and the writers of  Good Luck, Charlie .  Listen, I have 3 young children. Finding television shows to watch that 1) are entertaining for children and, 2) don't make me want to gouge out my eyes and ears, can be hard to find. This refers both to cartoons and live action. There's only so many wide-eyed, blinking cartoon characters I can take, having them ask me questions about where their map is or which Mouseketool they should pick. But

Recently our church had our Annual Society Meeting, a great time of mirth and merriment that makes birthday parties feel like dental appointments. Since I had so much fun writing and giving my report, I thought I would share the joy here.  Honestly, what follows is close to my heart, and only a portion of what I shared at the meeting.   I sit before a blank screen each year and think through what I want to say to this esteemed audience. Realizing this is the twelfth time I have done this doesn’t exactly make it easier, wondering how I can keep this fresh, since I am quite certain many of you have taken copious notes from previous years. Obviously there are a few things I want to accomplish;  I’d like to paint myself as the Stephen Hawking of Christian discipleship. I’d like to point out several of the many deserving volunteers who have given much. I want to offer hope for what’s coming while not making all that’s happened so far seem pointless. I’d like to be funny.

My wife's grandma passed last week. She was 95, had faith in Jesus and was ready to go home. Here are some of the highlights.  Family is very important. I mean this from a Christian point of view as well as a physical factor. Having someone to hug, someone to reminisce with and someone to understand what you're going through is vital to the healing process. This particular week meant not having my wife around for a few days, while funeral preparations were made. While I may someday declare my heroics of taking care of the kids as a single dad, I'll admit that 1-course meals and outfits which may or may not match is nothing compared to the emotional strength my wife provided and offered to her family.  Taking a timeout from regular life, both to celebrate the life of a loved family member and also to consider our own mortality is only made richer when the words, embraces and casseroles of our Christian brothers and sisters surround us.  Considering what it&#

You could say it was the title that drew me in. Deliver us from Me-ville. Just saying it out loud makes me chuckle. It's the kind of title that makes me want to jab you with my elbow, all the while smiling and asking you if you get it. See, it's a play on words. Nevermind. David Zimmerman has written a good book here on helping us move. Move? Yeah, from our current address in Me-ville. He points out, without apology, that living self-centered is not where we want to be. It would be easy for us to assume the destination is We-ville. After all, don't we teach community? Yes, but not for the sake of us. So, We-ville should not be our forwarding address. David continually points us outward, to a life focused and lived for God. He uses several stories from the life of Peter to draw out the truths of how we should be focused, not on ourselves or our plans, but on God and the plans He has for us. I readily acknowledge that I am drawn to books that discuss our need to

Luke 4:42 tells us the people begged Jesus not to leave. "Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them." He had just healed many and cast out demons the day before. This response is a nice change from the reception Jesus got in Nazareth, but still Jesus refused. Jesus was in isolation, praying from the night before. I can imagine that refusing to stay with people would have been difficult. What strikes me on this story is the people begging him to stay. That's not just a courteous invite for more lunch. I understand they were receiving something from Jesus and possibly they wanted more, but still. That response is in sharp contrast to the way many of us deal with Jesus. When is the last time you begged to be with Jesus? Seriously think back and consider when you couldn't wait to go to church. Can you name a time you woke up early, unable

Chalk it up to experience, but I usually know what to expect from teens. This isn't to say that I'm never surprised by what they say or do, how they act or feel, but in a general way, I've learned (and re-learned) their culture.  But my job isn't limited to simply working with teens. No, a few years ago my local church decided I would be a good fit to oversee working with jello.  Yes, jello. Jello is wiggly. It's hard to grab. It stains the carpet. It comes in all sort of flavors. Some of you might assume jello is a metaphor for working with the older ladies and helping them plan their mother/daughter teas or ensuring there are different types of salad at the next Missions Brunch.  Nope, jello would refer to a much younger group. Kids. (Insert over-reacting woman's scream right here.) The horror. Perhaps this can be chalked up to my inexperience, but I feel lost with children in a ministry setting. They are a great mystery to me. When one of the

I'm teaching my kids the Lord's Prayer. It leads to some fun conversations. We're purposely taking our time discussing the different aspects of this prayer. How it begins is interesting. Our Father in Heaven Hallowed be Your Name I want them to really own this prayer. Too many of us only know this as the prayer we say during a service. Depending on your tradition, you say it during communion, after the pastor prays or some other set period of time. But Jesus wasn't giving us something we could all say in unison. So we read the prayer. Then I asked them to imagine to use their imaginations, much like I want you to do now. Imagine I invited you to my home. Upon entering, you saw that I had a giant picture of myself placed prominently in the living room. As you might guess, it's a glamour shot. Once you came in, I also told you there was one house rule. It was simple. I rule. Oh, and you should tell me I rule. (In case you're wondering, I am using the 80's ve

Flashbang. Allow Mark Steele to provide the definition; There is a weapon used by our nation's police force and military that is, in fact, not a weapon.... One that sounds off a resounding concussion [and] emanates a stunning bright light that is not actual fire... An explosion but not an explosion. A distraction with no destruction. A big noise and a lot of flash that leaves no lasting mark. It is called the flashbang. ( Flashbang, pg.xvi ) I first read this book in 2010. Why I've never officially reviewed it here is a mystery, because it is one of my favorite books. Mark Steele is a comic and runs Steelehouse Productions, doing all sorts of creative and artistic things. Mark has written other books, which I have reviewed , but I return to this book from time to time for a few reasons. First, it's a hilarious read. Mark writes in a style where one feels like you might be having a conversation with him right in the room. He openly admits to adding details to stor

Ahh, the New Year! It's such a great time, isn't it? Especially if you have young children and are still privy to things like an extended Christmas break. For us, on those years when no vacation destination is planned, it involves an extra bit of time for rest and relaxation. It means longer days of playing with new Christmas presents. It means uninterrupted time to catch up on movies and TV shows clogging my DVR. Of course, that also mean the wife watching more Hallmark movies than should be legal. But, extended break or not, for many this transitioning of years also gives us pause to think about what we want to do different. Change, of course, can come at any point, but this year brings the desire out, at least for a couple of days. At this point, a couple of weeks into January, New Year's resolutions may be a distant memory for you. After all, last year worked out okay, right? But allow me to drop a thought or two into your think tank, if you will. I have often b

I have, at times, not liked how I have done youth ministry. It is easy, too easy, to look around and see something being done by someone else, somewhere else, and assume you should be doing the same. But I am not someone else. I am not somewhere else. I am me. I am here. Now that the obvious has been stated, allow me to go deeper. Ministry, much like any other career in life, is work. It takes strategy, sweat, creativity, effort and personality. Yes, personality. Every CEO has a personality that, at least to a small degree, determines the direction of their company. The same is true for every church and every ministry within that church. The personality of the leader is not the only factor, of course, because there are plenty of other...ummm...personalities that will affect the shape and direction of the ministry. But accepting who I am, and who I am not, will be crucial to how I see my ministry. This is where my continued search for insignificance connects to my ministry. (It's al

I found this little tidbit while lollygagging around the interwebs the other day. Yes, I sometimes lollygag. I found it on the Youth Worker website. It makes me want to slow down. Perhaps I should lollygag some more. Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes society is in a paradoxical age. Thanks to technology, most of us are talking all the time. We text. We tweet. We Skype and update Facebook and communicate on our blogs and communicate in a hundred other ways. However, Turkle says we're losing the ability to converse. That's a huge loss, according to Turkle, because it's during conversation—as messy, awkward and sometimes meaningless as they sometimes can be—that relationships truly develop. "You can't always tell, in a conversation, when the interesting bit is going to come," Turkle says. "It's like dancing: slow, slow, quick-quick, slow. You know? It seems boring, but all of

At breakfast one morning, my 10 year old son noted that his 12 year old sister is up before him every morning and yet always seems to be around and ready to leave last. It's a true story. Oh, she tries, she tries. But every morning we have somewhere to go inevitably ends up with me pushing the 12 year old to get out the door. Without offering any fatherly wisdom to my son's observation at this point, I smiled knowingly. He continued. "I have, like, four main things I do every morning. She has, like, ten and I don't even know what half of those things are." Honestly, I couldn't say it any better myself.

This is the time of year when people who died will be remembered. That's not a bad thing. Lists will abound of famous people, actors and actresses, athletes and others, reminding us of the legacy they left behind. World figures will be named and applauded for what they accomplished in life and left behind in death. But its only a partial list of those who left planet Earth in 2013. It does not include everyone who made an impact. Media outlets cannot possibly list everyone who died last year, along with the impact they made on those left behind. It would be ludicrous of us to expect them to do so. But perhaps this small corner of the world wide web is perfect for a reminder that no impact is so small that it shouldn't at least be acknowledged. It's why God included the genealogies in the Bible. You know, those parts of the Bible you've never seen in a Bible study and the chapters no one wants to read aloud. Yeah,those chapters. I like to think God included them and made

Don't act like that!   These are the words I say to my children every day. Every. Single. Day.  Of course, what never gets old is having my children stare at me blankly and ask why their behavior is inappropriate.  Do you really have to ask?  They do, apparently. This is where my answers vary, depending on the situation or the place.  Don't act like that because it's wrong . This is the primary reason, as my children get a steady diet of what we believe God teaches to be right behavior (attached to a right heart, of course) and the streaming pile of intolerable actions that come from their sinful black hearts. (Pardon my dark ages piety coming out right there.) Don't act like that because someone is going to get hurt. This is also a staple around my house, as someone is always seeming to get hurt. Them, me, innocent bystanders.  Don't act like that because it's embarrassing.  It might not be embarrassing to them....yet, though it s

I want to admit right from the start that this is probably the dumbest way to start off a new calendar year of blogging fresh content. Why? Because I'm not sure about the content. Intrigued? Let me explain. I use the app Evernote . I absolutely love it. I can't tell you how many trees I've personally saved just using this app. There's only one problem. The app is only as good and organized as the user. For instance? I keep a folder labeled blogging . If I have an idea, it starts out in that folder. Then, when I have more time to write, I find that folder and continue my thoughts. It sure beats having Post-It notes all over the place. Since I have Evernote  on my phone and my Kindle, I can literally store a note whenever I want. Evernote  = Great. Rick Nier = Not so much. I found a poem tucked in that folder titled New Year's Poem . This would seem the appropriate time to share it, which I will, below. But you'll notice I have attributed it to unknown.

Okay, so you have almost survived my 'best of' for another year. Congratulations! Starting Monday I'll be back with fresh content, some new ideas, perhaps more rants. And who knows, maybe 2014 will be the year I find true insignificance.  Quite frankly, December's numbers were skewed and it was a toss-up between two posts, both about topics I enjoy to write about. So here's 2 for the price of one. If you want to read about my wife, go here . If you want to read about youth ministry, go here .

Back in October and November of last year I was in the middle of a 6-week preaching series while my senior pastor trotted around the globe. I posted a lot from my weekly sermons. Here's one to whet your whistle, in case people are still doing that kind of thing. I don't know, maybe Jesus did facepalm.

Happy New Year! You're probably still sleepy and enjoying some days off. Me too. There's probably not much that will change in my 10-year old's political ambitions at this point.