Rock, Paper, Scissors

How does a leader know they are right?

A seminary student, who was in my first youth group soo long ago, wrote the following to his trusted contacts a few days ago:

I had the opportunity to walk across Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary with Chuck Colson. Given his extensive roles in leadership, I asked him about leadership.

Given that all of you have lived in life for a while, and many of you had either had leadership positions or have dealt with people who are leaders, would you please answer the following question:

How does a leader know when they are right and, in the face of opposition within and without, stand their ground and remain true to their idea of "right", versus knowing when to humbly admit being wrong even when he/she was previously convinced of his/her being in the right?

Here is my quickly written response:

Right for me is determined by my understanding of biblical principles and my personal values on how those principles should and could be lived out.

Opposition can be taken on with full force when it's over a 100% clear biblical principle, (If someone is against evangelism or the Virgin Birth, there is no wiggle room) however most conflicts occur over style and fleshing out of the values. And even though there really isn't a biblical mandate on how something should be done, from the kind of building to build, style of worship to use, or even what to serve at a church potluck, people can and will get upset over it not being their way.

When leadership (Most often times, that doesn't include the youth pastor) is agreed on the course of action then it's a matter of sharing it in a way that's understandable and people are able to buy into it. When people disagree with the plan of action, leadership should humbly listen and consider their issues because even our greatest enemy should have some truth about ourselves and our plans, though it may be exagerrated, when they share it with us.

You have to ask yourself is it worth it dying on this hill? Oftentimes, it's not. We'd like to think it is but in reality we think it is because we have a bigger value on our vision and goals than they are probably worth. Is it better to love and be wronged and hope eventually the other group (or the leader) comes together for God's glory or is better to be right and opliterate a person in the process?

It's very hard dealing with real people. But thankfully God is also dealing with us and we need to show the same patience to them that he gives to us.

Len

What would you say?

Growing Your Soul

Your soul is the place where you know there is a God even before you meet Him. The soul is that in us which longs for the right thing. And once we come into a relationship with God, it's the place where we commune with Him. The soul can be filled with God or devoid of Him, but if it is empty, God is the only thing that will fill it. We can throw all sorts of pleasures and loves in there, but none will satisfy like God, because the soul was made to long for Him and no other. When God breathed into Adam, he became a living soul, forever longing for God's breath to fill him again.

John Fischer in Growing Your Soul

Hurting Youth Workers

Back in January, Simply Youth Ministry published my article, Pushing Through.

The responses have been humbling, encouraging and at times, broken my heart. Andy let me know about the latest comment and I'm planning on writing a response later today.

If you haven't read the article, please do and leave a comment on how you would reply to this:

22 years and counting. You guys may be in YM ICU, but I might be in the burn unit! I'm tired of constant bickering of church members who would rather complain than help. It's been the same story for all these years, but now my 43 year old heart can't take it anymore. I think I know the answer to why long term YP's are not found often in church ministry...sniff the wind and smell the burn. Not only the burn out, but the burn that comes from people who'd rather stay annonymous but still willing to bash you through their annonymity. Am I speaking anyone else's language? I don't know if I'm willing to remain in church ministry...perhaps, probably...I guess. It is what the Lord gave me a passion for -- that is what hurts the most -- knowing God called me to this and wanting to stay...and then another bash from another annoymous source. Yeah, I know they say just consider you might be doing something right 'cause Satan is attacking you. I guess that holds some truth, but I don't know how much more I have in me.

Andy Brazelton? Vote Yes or No

<----Andy Brazelton today

Is that Andy Brazelton behind the peace sign 12 years ago?

During this Election Year

I sent in a lesson for Interlinc this week using a DVD from Drive Thru History that was about the founding of our country and God's faithfulness to the settlers of Plymouth. From what I saw this resource seemed to be more balanced than those that hold the America was and is a Christian Nation view.

Anyway, here's part of what I wrote and I thought it would be a good reminder for all of us, especially me, and I wrote it:

God was in control and sovereign when our country began and God is in control and sovereign in our country today. In this election year it's easy to focus on your candidate and all that you do not like about the other candidate. (Thank God you live in a country where you are allowed to do that. From the days of Noah till today, it's not as common as you might think.)

Whoever you support and whoever wins, as believers we should be praying for our leaders whether or not you support their views on the economy, taxes, war, drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) or their particular flavor of faith. We are commanded to pray for them. So begin praying today for the election and for both candidates.

Pray for five government officials. It'd be good if we all pray for the President. The remaining four you can figure out who you want to pray for. Maybe it's the vice president, maybe it's a member of the President's Cabinet, maybe it's your mayor, or maybe it's your school board chairperson.

Begin praying and rest that God is in control and we can always trust him even during and maybe especially during an election year.

Romans 13:1-7
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

1 Timothy 2:1-2
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Foundational Verses for Your Youth Ministry

If you had to list at least 5 but no more than 10 short passages or verses that were the biblical foundation for what your youth ministry was about, which ones would you choose and why?

If you want to leave a reply with a link to your blog and your answers, that'd be wonderful.

I Hate MySpace

My Red Sox Man Cave

I finally have a space in our house that is 100% mine. The Red Sox Man Cave.

It is only about 11 x 13 but it's all mine. (With much love and appreciation to my wife, of course.) We moved into the house in June and we wanted to build a wall almost as soon as we moved in but I didn't know how to. A friend from church did so we waited until he was able to do it.

The wall was complete around a month or more ago but all the finishing pieces are now finally in place.

So bask in the wonder that is The Red Sox Man Cave as you take this virtual tour.

Pic #1 The quote on the wall was originally scribed by Mike Barnicle when he worked for the Boston Globe. It says:

Baseball is not

a life or death matter. . .

but the RED SOX are!

It was the finishing touch for the room.

The lettering came fr0m a new company, Upper Case Living. In case you or a spouse is looking for a good home-based busines, get in now while not many folks have heard about it.

Three of the five walls are lined with Red Sox baseball cards along the trim as a border. They are not common cards but rather a collection of my personal favorite Red Sox players. Some were not great players but they were great Red Sox players or i just liked something about their style.

Pic #2

The red wall is part of the wall we put in and we put the anique stained glass and smokey window in it. From the other side, it's perfectly centered and the kitchen view is what's important, after all, in a Man Cave, who cares if it's centered?

HomeDepot had carried MLB's offical colors as part of their Team Colors stuff but when we were finally ready to buy the paint, they had stopped carrying it.

We were ready to try and guess the colors but thanks to the wonders of computers the codes for the paints were still in the memory despite not "carrying them." So if you want your own Red Sox paint colors have HomeDepot paint man look up BRS Red & BRS Navy.

The Nomar jersey on the chair was a gift from a family from our church in CT. God Bless them.

Pic #3 Here's the wall that we built. (man grunts) Hoping to eventually have a RedSox Fathead of one type or another on this wall but for now it's a baseball card montage of my favorite Red Sox players.

The beanbag chair was a gift for my daughter a few years ago and she has decided to let it rest in that corner. The black and white pic has Babe Ruth in it when he was a great pitcher with the Red Sox.








Pic #4

Yes, that is my YankeesHater hat. Let's just say after a certain moment in 2003, I was more about the hate for the Yankees than love for the Red Sox, for a while. Despite that animosity towards the evil empire, and believing that God did hate the Fenway Faithful, I never gave in fully towards the negativity and bought the "Jesus Hates The Yankees" t-shirt. Instead I believed it was up to us to Battle Evil for the Good of the Game! (Full Disclosure: I wanted to buy the t-shirt but by wife kept rambling something about "being a bad example for your children" or something, so I surrendered and instead used that picture as my desktop.)

Yes, that's my daughters Red Sox Mr. Potato Head in the secretary. For all my youth ministry friends who are still with me, check out the "Church and Modern Youth" published in 1963 from Zondervan in the bottom right corner. One more tidbit, I found a 2nd copy and gave it to Marko as a thank you (for letting me write the book) gift.

The mini-pennant was from Build a Bear and the Ted Williams Bobblehead was a Christmas gift, that is a collectable and no longer available.

Pic #5
On top of the window is a 2004 World Champions License Plate frame.

The picture next to the window is a picture of the 2003 Red Sox. The 2003 Red Sox were one of the better offensive teams in the history of baseball. If you doubt that, think about this: the 2003 AL batting champion Bill Mueller batted 7th in the lineup with an avg of .326.

The center picture is a cross-stitch that my wife made for me before or right after we were engaged in 1990 while living in Montgomery, AL. When you come visit my house you'll see there is a red "B" on the batters helmet.

The wall clock was a Christmas gift, this past year.

Pic #6

The 2007 World Series Pillow and the Fenway Park Blanket were also Christmas presents this year.

That particular Wally the Green Monster had to be ordered from the Build-a-Bear Workshop in Boston for my daughter.


You can't see it but the patch on the backpack came from a trip to Fenway when Tonja was 8.5 months pregnant with our oldest in 1999. She promised me if she went into labor during the game, we could name her Fenway, alas, we went with a family name.

Pic #7

That poster of Ted "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived" Williams is from the Boston Globe's tribute edition when he died in 2002. It'll get framed one day but for now, push pins will do. (Multiple Man grunts!)

We were in Boston on July 22, 2002 and walked through Fenway for the Memorial Event.

It also happens to be the day of my youngest daughter's earliest memory, at 3 years and 3 months old. She remembers sitting in the visitors dugout of Fenway Park with me posing for a picture.


Pic #8

The trash can was a 25th birthday gift from the youth group in Princeton, NJ given to me at a surprise birthday party. The other side is a Red Sox Bottle that was full of popcorn topped by a Red Sox basketball you can win in claw game.

Bottom Shelf: The Red Sox ice cream container has Red Sox baseball cards in it and on top of the container is a postcard of Carl Yastrzemski's Hall of Fame Plaque.

Two Wheaties boxes, one with Josh Beckett and the other with Pedro Martinez on the front.

Middle Shelf: I bought that Red Sox hat with the 2004 World Series patch on it when I went to a party (with 3.2 million of my close Red Sox friends) known as the 2004 World Series Victory Parade.

Under the hat is my Jim Rice Signature Series Wilson Glove from when I was a kid.

Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Collector DVD Set retails for $129.99 is on sale for $79.99 but I got mine on sale for $34.99 when A&E (of all places) had a sale. I'm a Red Sox fanatic but i'm still cheap . . . er . . . frugal.

A 1989 Carl Yastrzemski Commerative plastic cup from Texaco. This was a gift from an elder at the church Princeton who was a HUGE Yankees fan. Despite that, we were friends and we actually went on a road trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY together before I left Princeton in 1997.

In the back is a commerative baseball from the 2004 World Series. Bought it in the Hartford Airport on clearance for $5. Books include Baseball is for Everyone by Joe Dimaggio (first printing from 1949 and it was my dad's), Big Papi, Faithful, Now I Can Die in Peace, Red Sox Century and a few others.

The picture is my youngest holding her Molly that was signed by Jerry Remy at a Texas Rangers game in 2006.

Top Shelf: Picture of the bloody sock, Pumpsie Green's 1960 card, (first black player to play for the Boston Red Sox, which was the last team in MLB to have black players, 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke the race barrier) 1968 Carl Yastrzemski, a Carl Yastrzemski game used bat card, Mo Vaugh Starting Line Up figure, David Ortiz figure, Red Sox Uno Cards, Wade Boggs rookie card, a couple of baseballs, dirt from Fenway and the picture of us sitting in the visitors dugout at Fenway.

Pic #9

Top of Bookcase:

A Nomar Garciaparra figure, a game worn jersey card of Nomah (It was in my daughter's Easter basket this year and she let's me display it there.), pic of the 2004 team, a Pedro Martinez figure, and my only McFarlane figure, Jason "The Captain" Varitek. Don't worry, the candle you see on the right corner is a part of the Mandle - The Candles for Real Men line and it's Glove Scented.

On the window seal is a Red Sox Hummer, three Topps Coins, a Red Sox pen in the shape of a bat, and a Kevin Millar autographed baseball.

Thanks for taking the tour.

Walking with Someone

I talked with someone today who shared something their child is going through.

It was very hard to hear what's going on. In the big picture, things could be worse but for a variety of reasons, this one hit me hard.

It's hard to think of other times where my empathy for what someone was going through hit me so hard. It was a deep, hurting empathy that numbed me for about 30 minutes.

The level of hurt that hit me really took me by surprise.

I think it's a good thing, I'm not sure what it means but I'm trying to discern God's activity in it. It feels like new territory for me to deal with on matters of my soul. I don't like dealing with new territory.

I'm praying for the family and not as a matter of "I should" or it's the "spiritual thing to do" but rather i have an inner burden to do this for them and with them. The sobering thought so far is it causes me to realize, once again, that ultimately I can't do much for my students or my own kids to make them do the right things.

I hope that this internal wrestling on other levels, too, causes me to become 1/2 the husband, father and pastor I dream of being.

Some Blog Love for YS

Before I even wrote the book, I was a big fan of Youth Specialties. (BTW, my book's Amazon.com Sales Rank is 553,200 in Books but #82 in Amazon's Youth Ministry books, sounds so much better. ) But since selling them the concept and initial content for the Student Weekly Newsletter, writing the book, speaking at one of the conventions in 02, and getting to know many of the crew I'm completely bought and paid for so here is some blog love for YS.

1. Mindi had a great post on thoughts from a volunteer small group leader: a few things i've learned as a volunteer working with parents:

2. Still loving the YS Parent's Newsletter.

Here's how I use mine

Our Purpose statement as the header:


Our Youth Ministry exists to KNOW Jesus, LOVE Jesus, SERVE Jesus and ENJOY each other.

Short thought to parents: Here's last weeks.

I wrote this on my blog a few hours ago and shared it with Roger in person and figured I’d share it here, too.


The Lost Art of the Phone Call


I strive to always be authentic but I’m not where I need to be. But God is still working on me and you too. Let your students know that God isn’t finished with them yet, mistakes happen for everyone, the key is to get up, and keep going.


Or as the contemporary theologian, Alfred the Butler, said in Batman Begins, "Why do we fall Master Bruce? To get back up!"


Keep Getting Up,
Len

Links to my online activities - I need to add the blog, just striving to be open with nothing to hide:

Len’s MySpace
Len’s Facebook

Upcoming Events/Announcements:

News Items you need to read:

Misc news stories, most found in YS Update, Walt Mueller's CPYU newsletter, homeword's newsletter and other sources.

On the Lighter Side
Something funny. Typically one of the daily Zits cartoons that I subscibe to.


Last Item is the full Parent's Newsletter with more great info.

3. I'm going to work on something to be in the YS Underground, hopefully I can send Jay the cleaned up version by April 1.

Ben Stein Smart Bombs Darwinian Bunker

By Jack Cashill
Executive Editor of Ingram's Magazine

A rousing SRO preview on Tuesday of the new Ben Stein documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, brought a Kansas City audience to its feet.

And with good cause. Stein's often funny, always engaging frontal assault on the oppressive neo-Darwinist establishment is arguably the smartest and most sophisticated documentary ever produced on the right side of the cultural divide, on any subject, ever.

As such, Expelled represents still another blow to the progressive orthodoxy of government-issued science in its winter of discontent.

The winter started early when in November two separate labs, one in Wisconsin, one in Japan, announced the breakthrough discovery that adult skin cells can be reprogrammed to mimic embryonic stem cells.

Just two years earlier, the elfin journalist Chris Mooney had likened adult stem cell research to creationism and assured the readers of his best seller, The Republican War on Science, that this "dogma"had been "resoundingly rejected by researchers actually working in the field."

As the winter rolled on, and as all four major global temperature tracking outlets showed a precipitous drop in annual global temperature, and as snow fell in Baghdad for the first time in recorded history, only Al Gore remained in meltdown.

Meanwhile, on a seemingly daily basis, the neo-Luddites from the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front have been putting a distinctly left wing face on the "war on science," in this case a real war on real scientists.

And into this breach, armed with his trademark tennies and bemused grin, marches Ben Stein, America's only economist/ presidential speechwriter turned comic actor. The producers at Premise Media could not have recruited a better on-screen presence.

Although the role Stein plays has been compared to the one Michael Moore plays in his film, the Stein persona is conspicuously brighter and more benign.

Nor do Stein and his producers resort to the kind of editing that make Moore movies something other than documentaries.

In Bowling For Columbine , for instance, Moore cobbles together five different parts of NRA honcho Charlton Heston's Denver speech a week after Columbine.

Moore then inserts into the mix a "cold, dead handshake" remark from a speech Heston gave a year later. In the process Moore turn Heston's conciliatory Denver address into a provocative call to arms.

This isn't film making. This is fraud.

Stein resorts to no such tricks. He gives certain interview subjects all the time and all the rope they need to hang themselves, unedited.

One highlight among many is Stein's one-on-one interview with Richard Dawkins, the dashing Brit who has made a small fortune as the world's most visible neo-Darwinist.

To his credit, and to the utter discomfort of the public education establishment, Dawkins does not shy from discussing the atheistic implications of Darwinism.

Indeed, Dawkin's anti-deity call to arms, The God Delusion, has sold more than a million copies worldwide. Where Dawkins wanders into a black hole of his own making is in his discussion of the origins of life on earth.

To Stein's astonishment, Dawkins concedes that life might indeed have a designer but that designer almost assuredly was a more highly evolved being from another planet, not "God."

Stein does not respond. He does not need to. For the past hour of the film, the audience has met one scientist after another whose academic careers have been derailed for daring to suggest the possibility of intelligent design.

If only they had thought to put the designer on another planet!

The choice of Stein as narrator is inspired for another reason. That reason becomes most apparent when he and two "creationist" allies, mathematician David Berlinski and nuclear physicist Gerald Schroeder, visit a remnant of the Berlin Wall, the central metaphor of the film.

At the wall, the three discuss the value of freedom, the central idea of the film, and the need for the same in science. The audience has already met Berlinski, an amusingly sophisticated American living in Paris.

The audience has seen less of Schroeder, but he is wearing a yarmulke. All three are Jewish.

Indeed, it would be hard to imagine any three individuals on the planet who less resemble the Inherit the Wind stereotype that Darwinists have been scaring soccer moms with for the last half century.

Expelled opens nationwide on April 18th. The neo-Darwinists and their allies in the major media will do their best to kill it.

Co-producer Mark Mathis tells me that two network news producers have already chosen not to cover the film because it was "biased," unlike, say, the much-covered Fahrenheit 911.

The producers have contracted with the same firm that marketed Mel Gibson's The Passion to get the word out. They will use much the same strategy.

Central to this strategy is the creation of a powerful buzz and a strong enough opening weekend to catch Hollywood's attention and hold it.

Put April 18 on your calendars. Bring the kids. You won't be disappointed.

What's the Deal With Brian Schulenburg?

I've yet to meet Brian but I'm looking forward to it when we get the chance. I discovered his blog a few months ago and have enjoyed it and our occasional interaction.

Brian's a real youth pastor who happens to have written a couple of books and speaks occasionally. He's not a writer or speaker who happens to be in youth ministry. Big difference in my mind. I'll let you decide who among the Youth Ministry Guru's that are out there, are which.

I bought What's the Deal with. . . a couple of weekends ago when I was at The CORE. Gotta love all the Invert Books being 50% off @ $5 and this one selling for just $7. I bought one invert book for each of my 5 students who were there.

Our Sunday night high school group is the ideal setting for using this sort of book, I believe. We typically have 10-15 high schoolers on Sunday nights, maybe less, maybe more but it's in that range.

I've been doing less lessons and more discussion on topics on Sunday nights for the past 2 months anyways, so this is the perfect fit for what they've become use to. I want to give the student 4 points and an application, I like that. I know 100% where we're going and I think they need to know the truths I have to share but it's better when we discuss topics with me guiding the discussion rather than dominating the distribution of information.

We discussed 3 questions in about 30-40 minutes. The format for the 500 questions is "What's the deal with TOPIC?" and then one follow up question. We talked about the Bible, Denominations and Homosexuality. You know, the easy ones.

It's best if you plan out which questions you want to cover an have an idea of where your convictions are and definitely where the church's convictions are. You do not want some wacked out idea that a student shares to come across as the official position of the church if it's totally opposed to what your church actually believes.

They joy of using the Socratic Teaching teaching method is that when students form a conviction, it's from within and not just a command to blindly follow. The intertweaving of epistemology and sound theology is vital to any youth ministry and Brian's new book is a great tool to help you do that, but it won't do it for you.

In case you don't have the ca$hola now to buy What's the Deal with. . . . you can use some of Grahame's great FREE Discussion Starters.

Josh Hunt Needs Your Help

Josh wrote one of my favorite books, You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less. It's practical, biblical and he dares to dream dreams that can please God.

Josh is taking a survey and he needs more respondents. He has about 600 so far, but he's love to get about 400 more respondents pretty quickly.

If you are a pastor or teacher would you mind filling out this survey?

Once you take it, would you share it with other pastors or teachers?

The Lost Art of the Phone Call

Last night I was truly convicted over something. Something simple and something small but conviction, regardless.

We are going to a Newsboys concert in a week. It's on a Thursday night so I didn't anticipate a ton of students but hoped for a few. I made a few calls to students as a last minute chance to know who was going and make sure we had enough tickets.

So I around the fourth call I realized that one reason the calls felt so awkward was because I have not been making regular phone calls to students just to keep in touch. So I felt like a telemarketer rather than a pastor calling to check in with students and then giving some information they might be interersted in.

This morning I called a friend from the church. We get together occasionall with a few other guys and hang out. Hasn't happened in a while but I realized I shouldn't need an excuse to check in on someone. So I called him just asking the proverbial, "What's up?".

We talked for almost 30 minutes an he told me how grateful he was for the phone call more than once.

I think I've fallen into the trap of using easy technology to keep in touch and provide information to students rather than being in touch with students to provide a caring touch.

God's working on me.

Zits on Teenagers

My Most Unique Purchase Ever on Ebay

I bought dirt from Fenway Park!

At one time, I had a small amount of dirt from Fenway but I lost it. I got it when we took the Fenway tour in 2003. The seller lived in Maine but could have lied about it coming from Fenway. But I figured for $3, I'll take that chance.

It came today. It's the same consistency and color (It's not normal dirt) as what I had before so I smiled.

Oh and Brenda rocks because she sent me Now I Can Die in Peace. She lost the season long bet we made last year regarding the Red Sox vs. The Twins. She bought one before but because of our move, got lost somewhere in the shipping process. So being the great lady that she is, she went above and beyond the call of duty by sending me a second copy.

Home Run!

No, baseball hasn't started yet. 14 more days till Spring Training, in case you didn't know. Go Sox!

Youth Specialties has hit a Home Run with their New Parents Newsletter! You can subscribe here.

YS continues to show they they truly care about youth workers and the students we minsiter to by providing good, practical and free resources to youth workers.

YS Biggest Loser Contest

The Marko is challenging youth workers everywhere to be a Bigger Loser Than him in YS's new contest. Announced via the YS Update. Official rules will come out next week but start date is Feb 4th and McNutt will be cheering everyone on.

I'm going to do it and go for a prize because for some reason, good health and long life isn't enough, I need a free book. :-)

And please refrain from nominating any other youth workers who should join this contest in the comment section.

You just don't get that in Big Church

Yesterday we had an "All Worship" service for our students during the normal Sunday morning meeting time. We try to do these every 5-7 weeks. This past week I talked to the student worship leader and we talked about adding different elements of worship into this one besides singing with an opening and closing prayer.

One student shared a passage that meant a lot to him and it was received well. Later a female student stood up and started with:

I was called and asked to say something today and my first thought was "OH CRAP!"

I and another adult said, "You just don't get that in Big Church".

She then went on and shared her struggles with staying close to God during good times and how it shouldn't be that way. She did wonderful and her honesty went a long way with why everyone seemed to identify with what she was saying.

Mistakes, Scars & Prayers

I have a small curved scar near the ring finger-knuckle of my right hand. Like most scars it came because I made a mistake. I was trying to start a weed-eater and it wouldn't start. I kept pulling and pulling it. Finally I pulled it very hard and my hand slipped off of the handle. The force caused me to hit the wall behind me where my hand found a nice piece of metal. I learned a valuable lesson from that mistake: Don't get angry at inanimate objects and if you do make sure there is nothing sharp nearby.

An old saying talks about wisdom being gained from experience and experience being gained from mistakes. Have you ever talked to someone who showed you a scar from their life and you made a mental note to change your life so you could avoid the same mistake? I had that experience once while talking to long-time empty nester.

He said that he prayed for his children and grandchildren now more than ever because it was the best thing he could do for them. His biggest regret as a parent was not praying for his children more while they were young.

I pray for my children more as a result of that conversation. I also believe that we need more prayer for our children and youth ministries. It's easy for us as good Americans to make our plans and work our plans but even in the church we can fail to pray about our plans as we should.

We can plan and program events, lessons, and discussions times in order train our students under our own power but if we don't pray for the students, the events, lessons and discussion times then lasting transformation by the power of God probably will not occur.

We all need to pray for our children and youth ministries more as an admission that we will not have long term life transformation without God's power and guidance. Here are some practical ways you can begin to pray more for our children and youth ministries.

1. Pray for your own children everyday. Pray for their spiritual growth, their vocation and their possible spouse. If you don't have children "adopt" one and let the parents know you are praying for their child regularly.

2. When you drive by any church use that as a reminder to pray for our church and our children and youth ministries.

3. When you see events on the church calendar, pray for God to prepare people's hearts and for those events to be used by Him.

4. When you see me, tell me you'd like to join the Youth Ministry Prayer Team and I'll e-mail you detailed items of prayer.

5. Pray when you can, for as long as you can and as often as you can you will not have to share your scars of not praying enough with someone years from now.

Daniel & the Lions Den

I was given that picture once when I left a church. It was a farewell gift. It's nice. On the day it was given to me people asked me if the leadership got the irony and if I had named the lions.

I truly hadn't considered the irony until it was mentioned to me and it was mentioned by 4-5 different people.

I had considered different endings for the picture. Throw it away, give it away, give it to a church and let them hang it in the men's bathroom. In the end, I decided to keep it.

I just found it and will put it up in my office once everything else is in order. Now though, I don't look at the lions but rather I look at Daniel and how he seems to be looking to God for deliverance and company.

During my "lion's den" or dark night of the soul, God was the one I was able to look to for deliverance and company and that picture gives me comfort. And for what it's worth, I've yet and refuse to name the lions.

Jim Rice for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008

*Led the A.L. with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBI during his 16-year career, all with Boston.

*The retired players with career home runs and average as high as Rice are Hank Aaron, Jimmy Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, all members of the Hall of Fame.

*Seventeen players with 350-plus home runs and a .290-plus average have been on the Hall of Fame ballot, and all but Rice are in the Hall of Fame: Aaron, Cepeda, Joe DiMaggio, Foxx, Gehrig, Al Kaline, Mantle, Mays, Johnny Mize, Musial, Ott, Frank Robinson, Ruth, Snider, Billy Williams and Ted Williams.

*Rice is an eight-time All-Star, had eight 100-RBI seasons, was a seven-time .300 hitter, the 1978 A.L. MVP, six times amongst the top five in MVP voting, more than anybody in history, four times with 39 homers or more, more than anybody else during his career, three-time A.L. home run leader, the only player in Major League history with three consecutive seasons of 35-plus home runs and 200-plus hits (1977-79), the only player since Ruth and Foxx to have three straight 39-homer seasons while batting .315.

*From 1975-86, he was the league leader in games, at-bats, runs, hits, homers, RBI, slugging, total bases, extra-base hits, go-ahead RBI, multi-hit games and outfield assists. He led the majors in five of those categories.

* Discounting his first and final seasons (24 games and 56 games, respectively), Rice's career stretched 14 meaty seasons. Rice is one of only 10 players ever to lead the American or National League in runs, hits, HR and RBI over a 14-year span. He and Rafael Palmeiro are the only players to accomplish the feat who are not in the Hall of Fame.

* Among the eight Hall of Famers on this list, five were elected on their first ballot.

* He's one of only 13 major leaguers have hit .300 with 375 HR and 1,400 RBI in a 14-season stretch and one of only eight players ever to lead the major leagues in hits and RBI over a 14-year span.

* Rice is the only A.L. player in the past 70 years with 400 total bases (DiMaggio, 1937).