Rick Nier...Woo!

Ever look at a brick building and tried to find a brick in the middle that really mattered? I doubt it. That would be foolish. And yet that is what we do with people every single day. We look for the person that we think will matter more than the rest of us. Good luck. We look at actors, musicians, politicians, athletes. We look for them because we believe if they matter, perhaps we can hitch our cart to their wagon. Then, perhaps by proxy, we'll matter. Because of our connection to them, maybe someone will look at us and believe that we are significant. Of course, we'll be wrong. 1 Peter 2 talks of us being living stones. If we matter, we matter together. We have a single task....together. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. ~1 Peter 2:5 Oh, and there actually is one brick that matters. It's found in the corner and it's called the cornerstone. Spiritually speaking that's Jesus. And anyone in construction will tell ...

Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.~John 11:45 John 11:45 says many of the Jews believed after they saw what happened to Lazarus. Many? Not all? Jesus just raised a guy from the dead by telling him to get up. I'm not sure what miracle these guys were waiting for. Does it have to be two people raised from the dead? Should there have been a cloud of smoke and some thematic music for Lazarus to come out to? I'm thinking  Eye of the Tiger .  I know Jesus said that some would not believe even if a man were to rise from the dead. I'm sure Jesus knows what He's talking about. But that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. I don't know about you, but I don't see many dead people get up and walk again. Trust me, if I did, that might be something I'd recall.  I'd also like to believe that if I saw a dead man rise from the dead that I would give glory to God and just accept it. But a new show on A...

Well, I'd like to tell Jonathan McKee that he wrote this book about 20-25 years too late. But since we're about the same age, I suppose I can't hold that against him. But Guy's Guide to God, Girls, and The Phone In Your Pocket  is a bold package of advice I could have used more of when I was a teenage guy. I have read a lot of Jonathan' writing, from previous books to faithfully following his blog . If you're in youth ministry, or a parent of a teen, you should too. The subtitle to this gem is 101 Real-World Tips for Teenage Guys . He could have just as easily called it Tellin' It Like It Is! McKee doesn't mince words when handing out this advice, nor should he. If men want to be treated like men, then they should stand up and hear the truth like men. Jonathan has written a book aimed at teenage guys and thought it through in doing so. Each chapter is short and has good questions to ask of yourself, or use in a small group setting. I don't thi...

I recently had a youth event where I still needed a few permission slips a couple days before we were to leave. I emailed a PDF copy of the form to those parents, reminding them I needed it filled out. Within 20 minutes, I had received signed copies back by email. Ah, technology. Twenty years ago that would have been an afternoon running around with pen and paper. Not fun. As I think about it, I love all the new tools. I love the information available to us via the internet. I love being able to provide lots of information via the internet. I enjoy using projectors and computers over an overhead projector. I like the fact that I can post pictures from an event on the same day the event took place rather than wait for a week for my film to come back.  Rather than be scared of this new technology, we should embrace it. I'm guessing when running water became available in households, there weren't very many women arguing to still take a bucket to a well in order to get...

So I've come to accept an opposing view on something pretty big. No, it won't make me a heretic. It centers around social media. It's new, it must be evil seems to be the mantra for many who have lived long enough to remember life before Al Gore made the internet. Okay, maybe that's not fair. Perhaps we should say that sensationalist media has led many to believe that social media has way too many temptations to appreciate the good that can come from it.  But now I'm wondering if we're not attacking an entity (the internet) but a generation and how they relate. As this article I'm about to link to points out, social media is the social equivalent of yesteryear's malls. This is where teens are. Good things happen. Bad things happen. Kind of like when we were all teens.   My new hero Tyler Smither said it well. I'll get it started here and you can click below to finish this article. It's worth the read.  by Tyler Smither Every few weeks, i...

I was reading through Genesis 5. That's the riveting story where we learn the ages of Adam and the next 7 generations, when they had their first baby boy and when they died. Yeah...riveting.  If you actually sit down and focus on the numbers, it's kind of funny. Adam had Seth when he was 130. Even if you account for Cain and Abel being around 20-30 when 'the incident' happened, that means Adam became a father first at around 100 years old. (And we shouldn't assume that Cain and Abel weren't teenagers when things got out of hand.  Seth was 105 when he had Enosh. Enosh was 90 when he had Kenan. Kenan was 70 when he had  Mahalalel.  Mahalalel was 65 when he had Jared. I imagine there was some unrest when this happened. Only 65? Are you sure you're ready to be a dad,  Mahalalel? After all, you're only 65.  But then Jared waited until 162 to have Enoch. That's more like it. Become stable and live a century and a half before settling down ...

When my kids were younger, I did a myriad of silly things for the simple point of entertaining them. I did not think it would ever lead to harm. For instance, who knew you could lose your grip on their ankles just by spinning around?  Just kidding. You don't have to contact the police. That never happened. But my oldest is accusing me of emotional trauma. But perhaps you should hear my side of the story. Here's what happened.... I pulled out an old knee-length sock of mine, stuck my hand in and gave this homemade puppet a voice. When I saw how much delight he brought, I added eyes, a nose and a mouth using a marker. I named him Senah. If that sounds like a silly name, it will become clearer momentarily.  My kids loved Senah and he would make frequent visits for the next several months. Eventually I moved on to other fantastic forms of entertainment. But every once in a while, Senah would be mentioned. Like last week. The kids were looking for him and thought t...

When I first started adding Ministry Monday to my blogging schedule, I wondered if it would become like some of my other themes on my blog. Would it run for a while and then disappear? Would it be like my God First, Man Second series? Remember those? Or would it fizzle like Rick's Rants? Perhaps. I think my biggest fear when I started writing about youth ministry was that I would be seen as a fraud...a hack....a shadow of a real youth pastor who had nothing unique to offer. Yeah, I can be pretty harsh with myself. (If you've ever thought I had placed high expectations on you, you have no idea what goes on inside my head.) I knew if I was going to post every Monday about some youth ministry insight, that would mean I would have to have 52 different insights this year. Yes, the thought quickly overwhelmed me. 52 different insights?!? Who do I think I am? I'm not (enter big youth ministry name here). It doesn't matter what name you put in there. If you've hear...

Love does not always mean acceptance as the world thinks about love and acceptance. 'Just accept me and leave me be...' seems to be the mantra of this world. However, when we love someone, we often change our habits when we are around them. Consider a guy trying to attract a girl. Body spray will only get you so far. At some point he will have to move beyond one-liners and Chuck Norris jokes. Change must come. She may accept him, but he will have to make some choices along the way if he will show his love.  Consider how we adapt to family members. For those that smoke, they may take it to another room, even in the winter, to appease the family that doesn't. They do this to show love. The needs of others trump the desires of self.  Consider roommates. They may keep their music down or their dirty clothes contained. They do so because they have accepted this relationship. They continue to do so out of love, even if just a desire to love God through the loving act...

The Greatest Words Ever Spoken, introduced and compiled by Steven K. Scott. It sounds funny to me to say that, because I kind of thought God had already compiled these words. I'm tempted to say I liked this book a lot better the first time it was written...you know, when it was called the Bible. But I won't use that joke. I did wonder about this book, which was part of why I picked it up. The description said it contained the words of Jesus, so how would this be different from the Bible. I had to know. Plus, how is such a thin book over 500 pages? Upon opening it up and flipping through, I discovered the familiar Jesus paper, used in every Bible I have ever seen. You know the kind, so thin you're not sure if you're treating it well because it's the Bible or because the pages might tear if you breathe too hard. Nevertheless, Steven describes this very personal work as gathering everything Jesus said about every topic and putting it all in one place. By removing...

Trust is earned, over and over again.  Because in youth ministry, the teens eventually graduate and move on. At least, the goal is for them to graduate. If they don't graduate, then you probably have other problems that will arise. You may have had a certain group of teenagers really connect with your personality. Then the next group? Not so much.  Because in youth ministry, the parent base is always changing. You may have been around a long time, but the parents might be new to your ministry. This may be their first teenager. Pardon them if they don't want the safety of their cherub taken lightly. After all, they did just successfully keep this kid alive for the first 12 years of their life. This may have involved keeping said child from falling off a bed, from choking on a LEGO and even from endangering themselves while having adventures in the backyard. It's not easy to keep a child safe.  Let's face it, trust, even once you have it, is something you are...

It's not the question that gets my attention. It's when it is asked. In John 14, we read Jesus telling His disciples to calm down. Actually, see for yourself what Jesus is saying; “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” ~John 14:1-4 One could almost get the idea that Jesus is tucking the disciples into bed, whispering these calming words as a reminder of His promises. That's when Thomas blurts out his question, "Ummm Jesus? Actually we have no idea where you're going. Could you clear that up for us?" As I read along, it seems strange because we're more than halfway through the book of John. This isn't the story of Jesus recruiting ...

This is a re-post from a couple of years ago. My feelings on Fat Tuesday haven't changed much. Enjoy the paczki (doughnuts times two), but also prepare for the coming season.  I’ve been thinking about something. It all started with a paczki. What’s a paczki? You might know what one is, but didn’t realize it was spelled this way. It’s pronounced poonch-key. Still confused? It’s the delightful ‘doughnut on steroids’ that only comes out on Fat Tuesday. I look forward to it every year. I may be guilty of forgetting Valentine’s Day, but I don’t forget Fat Tuesday. I celebrate it. But celebrating Fat Tuesday was never meant to be a 1-day affair. Of course, Fat Tuesday comes right before Lent, the season that seems to have lost all meaning except for giving up stuff. What we see is many people celebrating Fat Tuesday without celebrating Lent. This is a problem. First of all, is it celebrating when you give something up? This may just be semantics, but every time I celebrate some...