Rick Nier...Woo!

Like so many people, I end each year thinking about the year that was, and perhaps even resolving how I want the new year to go. But I guarantee you, no matter how much time I put into thinking last December, I never could have guessed how 2017 was going to go . For starters, here's a couple of sentences I never thought I would speak. I’m dropping the kids off at youth group.  I’m ok being without a job for a few months.  Both sentences go together, because as many of you know, I told the church I had youth pastored at for 15 years that God was telling me it was time to go. Now I know that when someone invokes the voice of God into a decision, it can sound like they're passing the blame onto the Deity. After all, who's going to argue with the voice of the Lord? I imagine people largely fall into 2 categories on this matter. Group #1 imagines the youth pastor just wants a change, but doesn't want people to dislike him for making the choice to leave. Group ...

Are there any other readers out there like me? Do you like to dog-ear pages and underline the quotes that move you? Or, if you're reading with tech, highlight and bookmark the pages that cause you to think? There have been certain books I've read, where I have more page corners flipped over than not. Don't get me started on what I do with all those highlighted passages and underlined quotes. I'm working on a system, but it's kind of like taking sermon notes. I can always go back, plus I pay better attention when I'm intentionally listening for stuff to jot down. If you read like me, and are a fan of Henri Nouwen, there is a book where you can leave all the pages pristine, because every page is like a highlighted quote. Gabrielle Earnshaw has compiled and edited quotes from all of Nouwen's classics, giving us You Are The Beloved; Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living . In the introduction she notes, "Henri had a lifelong struggle with lonelines...

Awhile ago I posted news about a new job my wife had attained, one which I never saw coming. My wife works at a church we had known about for years. She is loving it and, I'm told, they are loving her. I still struggle to find a word better than perfect  to describe my wife in this Children's Ministry role. Not long after, I admitted I still had questions . Now that I knew we would not be moving (a prayer, by the way, my children all admitted praying) and I realized I could look for something local and long-term, the question was simple. What would I find to do? My search continued. My prayers continued to fill God's ears. That God was listening, I have no doubt. I filled my time as a substitute teacher . I found myself in many different schools, meeting many different people. As much fun as it was, and it was (most of the time), I knew substitute teaching could not be a long-term answer for the needs of my family. Although it was nice to see checks coming with my na...

We often criticize the Israelites for being unfaithful while wandering in the desert, always with sinful attitudes, even while daily receiving miraculous food from Heaven. How could they be so blind? How could they be so stupid? Didn’t they realize they were receiving daily blessings from God? Didn’t they understand that, every single day, God was proving to them that He thought of them, remembered them, and was providing for them? Every. Single. Day. Of course, we could never be so blind. That is, unless we put ourselves in their shoes. Then we might not be so quick to judge. We are told they needed to go out and get the amount of food they needed for that day.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there...

Since leaving the youth ministry position I had held for 15 years, jumping into a still unknown future, I have been purposeful about some of the books I have picked up. I realized that this season, where I would get to choose what to read and focus on, might not come again for some time. In the words of a pastor, it might be the sabbatical no church was going to give me. So I chose a book on purpose. I chose a book on listening for God’s voice. And my latest read is about measuring success by making choices differently than the average person might. The Last Arrow by Erwin McManus is that and more. The subtitle, Save Nothing For The Next Life , gives you a peek into the direction McManus would take his reader. Using the short story of Elisha and King Jehoash in 2 Kings 13. If you’re not familiar, Jehoash is king of Israel and he is in trouble. Going to Elisha for help, the unique prophet asks the king to strike the ground with a quiver if arrows. The kings does so, strikin...

I have a fool proof system which tells me when I am being annoying. It’s my teenage daughter. Level one annoyances might merit a smirk from her. Level two gets the eye roll. But when I am full on annoying I get the eye roll plus a loud “Oh my goo-ood-ness." The goodness is exaggerated and elongated to include more syllables than the word actually contains, so there is no confusion on my part.  As her dad, I understand there is a balance of being a parent that cares what she thinks and being a parent that knows she'l thank me later. But there is also another continuum, where as an inquisitive mind, I stir the pot and see how much I can push her before I start to get eye rolls from her mom. I've had plenty of time to learn the non-verbal communication system from the wife. "Oh my goodness" doesn’t just come out when I’m an annoyance. It comes out whenever the teenage daughter is annoyed by anything, which could be dumb drivers who chose to leave their house 5 mi...

Oftentimes it’s the right thing at the right moment that sets us forward on the right path. I’ve detailed for you the many emotions, struggles, and answered prayers as my wife and I stepped out in faith this past year. I have watched God work in personal ways that defy logic, leaving me sharing stories that, admittedly, sound ridiculous . When I ask God, on those long days, how I have come to find myself substitute teaching, it doesn’t take long to recall the moments where I have definitively seen God directing our footsteps. Sometimes the right thing is a right book. Recently I read Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God , by Mark Batterson. When I read books, I mark up the pages with quotes I want to be able to find again. Then I turn the corner of the page for easy access. I have turned the corner of so many pages in Whisper that I probably should have stopped. Batterson gives us 7 love languages that God uses to speak to us; God's Word, Desires, Doors, Dreams, ...

I've been substitute teaching for a few weeks. I have made myself available to sub for all ages, K-12. Here a few things I've learned; Velcro should be mandatory for first graders. Middle schoolers will change their perspective when you tell them gym is better than math. Good point, teacher! High schoolers want a sub that is chill. I believe the working definition of chill is, someone who will let me text my friends instead of working on the assignment left by the teacher. Seriously, Velcro. Younger kids are ready to run, even before they know the rules. 4th graders can't seem to have enough detail, no matter how simple the game.  Me: Let's play tag. Them: What if an alien comes down while I am tagging a person, and the alien abducts that person, are they still it? A raised hand, in elementary school, doesn't mean they have a question. It probably means they want to answer the next question. Or it means they want to inform me how their regula...

Listen, there's no getting around this. There's no hoping this is just a phase. There's no going back. This is the new normal. Teens are being raised in a technologically advanced world, one where we may one day be subservient to the machines we are creating. But, forgetting the scary dystopian future you may be imagining, the reality is that all of us are a part of a mobile world. One which loves their social media. The statistics tell us we are using our mobile devices a crazy 9 hours every single day. Every. Single. Day. This is where Jonathan McKee comes in. Here is a man who spends his time doing the research, shining a light on the realities that are present for parents raising teenagers. Oh, but he does waaay more than that. He breaks down the numbers and gives us hope that not all is lost. Because it isn't. Jonathan continues to provide resources which help us to pause, take a deep breath, and figure out how we want to utilize this technology in our ow...

These days I am a substitute teacher. Given that I am wanting to work as much as possible I have made myself available for every elementary, middle and high school in our area. Some people, forgetting that I have loved being a youth pastor for half my life, cringe at the idea of subbing for middle and high school.  But I know teens to be awesome people. I digress. Let me tell you what I enjoy about being a substitute teacher. Variety. In one week I taught middle school p.e., a first grade class and a fourth grade class. If a sub doesn’t like first graders, just hold on for a day. It’ll change tomorrow. Variety means meeting lots of people and getting to touch the lives of many children. Maybe they struggle with their regular teacher and you can be a breath of grace filled air. On the other hand, I have no idea what to expect each day as I get up. Will the class be full of basically good kids or a room filled with untamed mutants? Will I find myself dealing with little child...

Quiet. It's been so quiet. For someone who has been in youth ministry for almost 20 years, quiet is not something I am accustomed to. Not at work and not even at home. Because, oh yeah, my own children are exceptional at being loud. Even when I am alone with just one of them, I sometimes have to remind them that I'm not deaf yet....despite growing up on 80's rock. Low-talkers my family is not. So you'll forgive me if I tell you that peace and quiet is not something I have experienced a lot of. And now that it has been exceptionally quiet, I'll admit I'm not sure it's always peaceful. See, I ask a lot of questions in conversations. This is a habit people down't always admire in me. Just ask my teenage daughter, who is simply trying to tell me a little story. But I want the details! Which friend made the comment? What did their face look like when they said that? Where were you standing? It's also how I read the Bible. I read these stories ...

It's true, we can find ourselves doing the wrong thing. As I have been in the midst of searching for what's next, I have looked at various opportunities for work and tried to imagine myself doing those things for 40+ hours a week, for the next several years. Because while every job might not be comparable to a day at an amusement park, it beats searching for a job. I asked myself what a youth pastor does when he's no longer vocationally pastoring youth. How do the skills of a pastor translate to a world outside Sunday morning? One such opportunity, a very temporary one, seemed to garner attention from those who know me. They seemed concerned, though not necessarily for me. One such friend was talking with my wife, heard the word construction and immediately asked why anyone would let me build something. To be fair, it's a good question, only bested by, why would anyone pay  me to build something? That's right, people heard I was doing construction and they w...

A lot can happen in a year. In the book of Numbers (yes, people do actually read Numbers), we find the Israelites celebrating the second Passover. That means they had been travelling in the wilderness for a year since leaving Exodus. And a lot had indeed happened; They watched Pharaoh's army drown in the Red Sea. They worshiped God at His holy mountain. They received the 10 commandments, along with all the other details of God's Law.  They built the Tabernacle, along with the Altar and all the other pieces of furniture God commanded. They learned about proper sacrifices for any and every occasion. They assigned the Tribe of Levi as priests and numbered every other tribe, to organize the men of fighting age. Besides this, in Numbers 9, we learn they came and went at God's leading. The very presence of God came in a cloud that covered the Tabernacle. When it lifted and moved, so did the Israelites. When it stayed where it was, so did the people.  We're not...

I have had some extra time to read books lately. While I allowed myself a short break into the world of fiction, I have also been reading Recovering Redemption  by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer. Here's a quote: For unlike the rest of humanity, Christians are not confined to grief responses that can never do anything but make us die a little more each day: trying so hard to act like we're not sinners, or to act like our sin is not really a big deal - at least not as bad as it seems when we're the most bummed out about it. But, yes, it is. It's bad. Majorly bad.  (Emphasis mine) If we stop to consider this, it makes sense. For those of us who live on this side of the greatest sacrifice in all of history, Jesus is like the greatest spoiler to a story where we can know the end. Yes, we're sinners. But we know Jesus came to die for our sins. Because we know the solution from the start, we minimize the problem. But imagine life before Jesus walked the Eart...

As I shared last week , the Nier household has been in full-on celebration mode. The Nier children have completed the first week at schools they didn't think they'd be attending. We are not moving from a house we thought for sure we'd be selling. And my wife is happily getting settled in at her new job. Many congratulations were given (thanks, friends!) but several asked me the inevitable question. So what does this mean for you? Believe me, that is a question I have been asking myself since I first announced I was resigning . And since June, the question has loomed like a large cloud over every one of my days. From certain people, I could hear the questions they were perhaps too afraid to ask out loud. Are you trained to do anything besides play with teens and work one day a week? I write that, tongue planted in cheek, but don't be fooled. I've asked it of myself. What does a guy, who has only ever wanted to be a youth pastor, do when he is no longer a yout...

Seven months ago, I never saw this coming. We had just told our kids that we were going on an adventure , one that began with informing the church we'd been a part of for 15 years that God was moving us elsewhere. We told our kids that we didn't know yet where we were going, but that we would trust God to lead us where He wanted us. We acknowledged there would be difficult parts of this adventure. We knew saying goodbye to friends would be hard. My wife and I prayed about the transition and what impact it would have on our children. There were parts of this adventure I'd have preferred not to have experienced. There were hard conversations, doubts, lots of prayer and more conversations. I've shared some of the experiences here , here and here . Actually, there's a few more, but you can find them for yourself. I wouldn't want to be accused of over-linking. The entire time, whenever I prayed, I told God an answer would be a good thing, because He would rece...

Trust Me. That was the message God gave us. Trust Me. Anything else, God?  *Crickets I mean, God I am trusting you. I took this first step in faith. It wasn't easy. Perhaps you would like to expound further upon what you want me to do, to learn, to experience? Nope. Just. Trust. Me. I'm learning that asking to have more faith or trust in God is akin to asking for more patience. There's only one way to get it, and it's going to take time. So while I am waiting, I have been reading about Moses and the Israelites in the book of Exodus. I knew this would give me both good and bad examples of how to learn to trust in God. The Bad Example: The Israelites In Exodus 19, we learn that their trek from Egypt to Mount Sinai had taken ' exactly two months .' Have you ever considered some of the timeline of the Israelites and their transition from Egypt to the Promised Land? Yeah, we're familiar with the fact that it ended up taking 40 years, due to thei...

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. ~Exodus 3:1 I have already acknowledged that it is I who must seek out God , no matter His purpose or His timing. Moses is a great example of this. He may not have intended to seek out God, but he found himself at the mountain of God. And that's when God started to move. God appears in the form of a bush that burned but didn't burn up. This intrigued Moses, and why not? But check out what happens next; When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” ~Exodus 3:4 Do you see what's happening here? First, one had to go 'far into the wilderness' to get to the mountain of God. Too often we miss this and assume God can be accessed right around the corner. And while God is everywhere, I believe He wants us to make more effort to be whe...

I would like some on-the-job training. This, of course, requires a job, which I don't currently have . It wouldn't even have to be that difficult. Hire me as your youth pastor. Show me the youth room. Introduce me to a few teens. I'll take it from there.  And if God has some more lessons to teach me, He could certainly feel free to do so. Train me up while I am on the job. This makes sense to me, because then I would be providing for my family once again, our future would be more certain (certainly more than it is right now) and I could be passing along those lessons to any who would listen (or read, like you fine people!). Why couldn't God do that? Maybe because He isn't as concerned with how my family will be taken care of as I am. Sounds scandalous, right? Did this guy just try to say he cares more than God? Actually....no, that's not what I am saying.  What I am saying is that I am more concerned. To be concerned means to worry. It means to have anxie...

In the book of Genesis, we find Jacob leaving the land God promised his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. Seems kind of an odd thing to do until you realize that Jacob is kind of the sleazeball of this family. Cheating his brother out of blessing and birthright has left Jacob with a sudden need to change zip codes.  On his way out of town, he builds an altar to God, worships Him there and prays about his return to the Promised Land. Little did he know it would be 20 years before he ever saw this place again.  Sleazeball though he was, Jacob understood God had a calling on his life. But what if, during the transition, Jacob had sat around and done nothing? What if he decided to simply wait until God handed him the next step?  By reading several chapters, we can see that he would have missed out on having several kids, several kids which would become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, which is what God changed Jacob's name to when he returned t...

15 years. In most areas of life, that might not seem like a long time. But in the world of youth ministry, that can seem like a couple of lifetimes. I saw 7th graders become high school graduates and then repeated that cycle. 15 years. That's 780 Sundays, not accounting for vacations and other days missed for any number of reasons. Granted, in a church where many people have lived their whole lives in this community, I was still on the young side, but still, I became a mainstay. It began in July of 2002 and ended just this year, in June of 2017. Now that I'm on the other side of it all, it seems that it was both all too brief while also, at times, felt much longer than it actually was. There is so much that can be said, that I feel should be said, that it seemed appropriate to share in this space. Even if no one were to read this, I find that my thoughts find a way of easily being leaked through my fingers as I write. 15 years. What lessons would I pass along that I hav...

27 On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” ~Mark 14:27-28 Even as Jesus told the disciples they would all betray Him, He was planning redemption by telling them where to meet up. This is how I would paraphrase this conversation. Jesus: You’re all gonna betray me. Disciples: No way bro! Jesus: Yep, and I’m gonna die. Disciples: What??? Jesus: Here’s where we should meet next week. Is it any wonder the disciples had trouble keeping up with Jesus? But here’s the thing. We hate on these guys because they didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them. We criticize because they didn’t know what was going to happen. But how often have we had to study and ask to figure out what Jesus was talking about? How often have we known what Jesus was doing in our lives before He did it? ...

This isn't what I expected when I made the announcement . To be fair, I'm not sure exactly what I expected. I knew I was taking a step out in faith. Whereas Lebron James was able to famously say he was taking his talents to South Beach, all I could say was that I was taking my talents... To where? Who knows! So yes, I have sent out resumes and cover letters. Yes, I have followed up on those contacts. I have done my due diligence. Nothing yet. I have been to an interview that looked promising . I have heard back from churches where I didn't make the next step of interviews. Meanwhile, I'm left with my unwritten expectations of what searching for a job would look like. As it turns out, not getting a job right away to move towards might be the best thing that's ever happened to my family. And it might be the best thing for your family too. Let me explain. When I first started having this conversation with people, I got lots of strange looks. So you...

Because science. That's why. It's the answers parents can give their kids when they don't know the real answer. It's the answer that movies who delve into science fiction can use when they don't know how to get their hero out of the trouble he's found his way into. Because science. But it's not the only way to shut down a debate. I remember coming across a quote from someone who was clearly angry with Christians. He listed all the many things Christians have done wrong throughout history. The crusades, holy killings, and the attempted extinction of people groups in the name of religion. He went on to decry the hypocrites that do whatever they want for six days of the week and then find themselves in church one day of the week. He ended his rant with, ‘but it’s all ok, because Jesus.’ He was very angry. But quite frankly, he summarized the Gospel perfectly. We shouldn’t seek to abuse God’s grace, but all of the wrong things we do can be forgiven and was...

God is so much higher than we are, we can't even comprehend the difference. This very thought should lead us to worship a God who is incomprehensibly greater than us. Rather, it too often leads us to scoff. We attempt to make God in our own image, instead of the other way around. This is why Jesus was without honor in Mark 6. Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. 2 The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” 3 Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. ~Mark 6:1-3 Verse 2 says they were amazed, and then in verse 2b the people attempt to bring Jesus back down to Earth. Do you see this? This isn't a little bit later in the stor...

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...

Warnings were given. Then warnings were ignored. I was even among those who shared the warning. Then I promptly ignored my own warning.  Yes, I know how that sounds. I was in my office, while children from our church's childcare, played happily downstairs. Then a teacher suggested that the weird smell coming from parts of the building might be a gas leak.  A phone call to the gas company and an escorting of the children out of the building, I went back to my office. After all, it was Friday and Sunday was on the way. As I attempted to jump back into my task list, I had the operator's words running through my head.  Wait outside the building for one of our technicians.  I imagined the technician showing up and scolding me for waiting inside the building.  Him: Why are you inside the building? Me: Well, I have this to-do list. Him: You smelled gas? Me: Yes, but it's Easter Sunday this weekend and I'm not ready yet. At that point I ...

Imagine we know this guy. But he's got some problems. Everyone is aware of this guy and his problems. And like most guys who have problems, this guy's problems become other people's problems.  Maybe we didn't care to do anything about this guy when his problems were just his problems, but now that his problems are everyone's problems, we agree something has to be done.  So we do something.  We problem solve. We attempt solutions. But let's assume none of our solutions work. As crazy as it sounds, we might stop attempting solutions.  Really?!? In the Gospel of Mark, we read about Jesus and His guys coming across just such a scenario. So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles...

I prayed for my kids today. I prayed that they would avoid or rise above the tools, the jerks, the mean kids that populate our schools. As I prayed I wondered where those kids come from. What is their home life? What makes them tick? Then I prayed that my own kids would not be the type of kids I was praying for their protection from.  You see, if we accept the fact that we're all sinners, then we have to accept that our own little angels might not always be angels. There is no one righteous. We all needed the sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation. That mean that each of us need strength to not be the reason another person has to endure. For awhile, way back when I first had a child of my own, I assumed these monsters grew under rocks and were the spawn of some wild dingoes that were allowed to integrate into regular society.  But then Jennifer and I had a second child. And we encouraged them to play together. That is, until we didn't. There were moments when we sud...

All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for coaxing, relaxing, sharing and making people feel good about themselves.  You don't remember Paul writing that to Timothy? Me neither. But by the way people act in church, one might assume this is what we believe about scripture. We all like using a scripture verse to prove something we already believe. But when one is used against us and our personally held, but not well thought out, convictions, then we begin to squirm. Actually, we do more than squirm. We cry out. We blame. We point fingers. We shoot the messenger. There must be something wrong with the other, because otherwise I might have to look inward. How dare that pastor try to teach me something new? Doesn't he realize that might cause me to change? And when those same scriptures are used to rebuke me? Get off your high horse pastor! We can be friends, but not if you're going to meddle in my personal affairs. If I wanted to be corrected, I'd go see ...

Here you and I are, just starting our day with a bowl of Cap'n Crunch, and people are out there making changes in the way we are governed. And there are other people out there studying the impact it makes on people.  So what changes and what impact are we talking about today? The impact made on high school students when states change the policies about same-sex marriages. You can read the article here for yourself , but here is a summary of their findings; This difference-in-differences analysis of representative data from 47 states found that same-sex marriage policies were associated with a 7% reduction in the proportion of all high school students reporting a suicide attempt within the past year. The effect was concentrated among adolescents who were sexual minorities. Translation: They asked adolescents who would identify as something other than heterosexual if they had attempted suicide before and after the legalization of same-sex marriages.  Please note, that w...