Beaches and Idols

Hello everyone.

It has been a pretty interesting couple of weeks. I have registered this blog with http://www.bloglines.com/ now. What that means is that you can sign up (for free) and put in http://www.jamesblewett.blogspot.com/ and every time I update my blog (like right now) you will get an email notification. That seems pretty cool to me. Oh, and by the way after 9 months of blogging I just figured out how to allow everybody to comment. So whoever wants to comment can. (but only nice things)

Last week was Spring Break, and it started out pretty bad. My wife got really sick and so I had to stay home with her, but I couldn't stay around her too much so that I wouldn't get sick either. That means that both Heather and I spent the first three days of our vacation completely alone. (it was worse for her though, being sick and all) I had a lot of constructive things I could have done with three days of solitude and no agenda. However, I did nothing at all that might be construed as productive.

The closest I came to constructive was on Monday. I started to surf the web, and decided to put a little fun website together. (after all its 2008 and just about everyone has there own website) Well what started out as just something to do for a few minutes, turned into ten hours on my laptop and I had no idea 10 hours went by. The result of these entranced 10 hours is http://www.jamesblewett.com/. Check it out if you like, but make sure to sign in.

So after a couple of days of boredom, Heather was beginning to feel better and that means that we didn't have to cancel our cruise. We left on Thursday to go to Ft. Lauderdale. My wife selected a very nice hotel, and we strutted the streets and beaches of Ft. Lauderdale, and took a little tour of Miami that night. (never again)

Friday our little cruise was shoving off, and we stood in line for what seemed like forever in order to get on the boat. (I forgot to mention this was a "free cruise" thanks Bill F.) We got on the boat and we realized how they are able to give this cruise away for free. Our room looked like a closet that would be straight from the TV show My Name is Earl. There were also a lot of people on the boat and not a lot of places to go. But not to worry, the morning was coming soon.

On Saturday we woke up (on the very bottom level of the boat) ported in beautiful Nassau, Bahamas. The water was so blue, the atmosphere was so interesting, the scenery was so beautiful, and the culture was so amazing. We had no plan we were just living for the moment, and it was one of the greatest days of my life. I am putting a little slide show on here for you, so that you can fully understand the scope of what I am writing.

I hope you enjoyed the pics. I heard a comic the other day say "Why is when people get back from vacation, they think everyone wants to hear about their vacation?" I can't remember the funny part, but I hope that this is not one of those instances.

Now for the spiritual part of the post. Did you see Idol Gives Back the other night. If you didn't, and you are a Christian, you need to check out Youtube and look up something. In fact, join my group www.youtube.com/group/youtubepastor and I will put in on their for you.

It was emotional to see all of the kids who need our help, it was inspiring to see Americans (and Simon) getting together for such a noble cause to raise money for people who need it. But the greatest part for me was when all of the finalists, joined by an amazing choir, sang Shout to the Lord. It was one of the greatest moments in television history for us Christians, because there was a worship song sung on one of the grandest stages in this country.

I understand that some of our brothers and sisters will find reason to be cynical of such an event. God is going to get His praise however he wants to, and we need not forget that. God is bigger than American Idol, and God is bigger than America. Some will say, "Yeah, but there was no change in any body's life as a result of that song." And some will say, "Yeah, but look at those immoral people singing a song to God."

But I will say, "Look at the incredible opportunity to share Christ with the lost world as a result of God infiltrating pop culture in such an enormous way." Use the opportunity to stimulate spiritual conversations with people that you know. Say something like, "Did you see that last song they sung on Idol Gives Back?" Wait for a response and pray that God will show Himself in that conversation, the same way He showed Himself to millions of people worldwide when He arranged for some of the greatest vocalists in Idol history to sing praise and honor to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Youth Pastor Conference

Hello everybody. I am writing this post a lot sooner than I usually do, because I have something to write about. I know I said that I would probably do my next post as a vlog, but I changed my mind. Maybe next time.

This past Monday I got to go to Universal Studios Hard Rock Cafe for a Youth Pastors Conference. It is put on by Student Leadership University and a few other sponsors and it is absolutely free. Not only that but after the conference you get a free ticket to go to Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios for the rest of the day. It has always been one of the highlights of the year for me ever since I began youth ministry.

It is always fun to catch up with old friends from college or from the past who are at this conference. I got to see my first youth pastor who led me to Christ 12 years ago, JJ Johnson. I got to see my college pastor who married Heather and I, Jason Waters. And I got to hang out with a lot of other friends of mine as well.

This year I went to the conference not really thinking that I would benefit too much from it. I feel as though I am in a good spot, I don't feel burnt out at all, I don't lack in motivation, and I love our students and even their parents. So I was excited to go, to hang out, to advertise my website http://www.youthtalksnow.com/ and to enjoy a great time inside of the park. What I got though, was so much more than I ever could have expected.

The key not speaker for this event is a man by the name of Francis ChanIf you have not heard of Francis Chan yet... you will. He is the most amazing speaker I have ever heard in my life, and it is for one reason only; he is genuine. This man has such a heart for God that it makes you want to be a better Christ follower just to be around him.

In listening to Chan speak I got to thinking that maybe a problem I am having is that I am "under-spiritualizing" things. You can tell from Francis that he has a close relationship with God and that relationship is what is guiding every decision he makes. He often asks this question, "If you were left alone on an island with no preconceived notions and a Bible, do you think that your church would look like our church does now?" The answer is an emphatic NO. We have so changed what the Bible says a church is supposed to look like into what Americans would like a church to look like.

He said at his church they decided that if they are to love their neighbors as themselves then they should give as much to their neighbors as they give to themselves. So 50% of their overall budget goes to do local and overseas mission work that will help their neighbors. This is a man that truly follows after God.

Later on in the day we heard from John ElderidgeThis man said some totally un-Baptist things. This man said things that would cause quite a stir in most of my circles. This man said some things that would be chalked up as heresy by some people in Christianity. This man said that he hears from God.

He said that the Bible is full of examples of people who were able to hear from God, and we call them exceptions "Yeah but that was the Old Testament." "Yeah but that was a long time ago." and this man says don't you think that if God put all of those people in the Bible that He would want them to serve as examples and not as exceptions.

He gave story after story of times when he heard God speak to him and the confirmation that came through the circumstances. He said one time he was going to take his family on a vacation to a dude ranch and he asked God if it was okay. God said no. Elderidge was disappointed but listened, and that summer during the week they were going to go on this trip there was a massive wildfire that spread through and destroyed the dude ranch.

I believe the sincerity of this man, and I hope that he is right, because wouldn't it be awesome to have that kind of relationship with God.

Finally we heard from probably my favorite preacher around right now. I tivo his messages and have seen him speak on TV on quite a few occasions. His name is Ed Young and he is known as the creative Pastor.

He talked about the big elephant in the room that Pastors would never talk about. He said the elephant was (and then he made an elephant noise) betrayal! That at some point in every Pastor's life they will be betrayed by someone. And usually it is someone who is close to you. He said it is like Judas, they get close enough to kiss you, so they're close enough to dis you.

But he said there are positive aspects to being betrayed by someone. And then he told us a true story.

When they were in the building process for Fellowship Church they wanted to make a 4300 seat auditorium but they could only afford to make it a 2000 seat auditorium. Then a man came through and said that he was going to give them millions to build the church they wanted. He showed them papers that would prove that the money had been wired over to the church's account.

Long story very short, after months into this building project they found out the man had lied and had made up all the documents and that there wasn't millions of dollars, there was nothing. Obviously Ed Young was hurt and was betrayed, but he said that if it weren't for this man betraying him that they wouldn't have had the faith to build the 4300 seat auditorium that they wanted to in the first place. Absolutely amazing!

Anyhow, I left this conference not even the least bit excited to go to Islands of Adventure, but I was very excited to get back to my people and do ministry. I left with a vow that our youth ministry was going to be a spiritual one, and that I was going to hold our kids to a much higher standard than I am now, and I am convinced that they will thank me for it one day.

God bless you all, and spend some time today thanking God for all of the many blessings that He has given us.

Facing the Giants

Hello faithful blog readers. I wish there was a way that I could inform you when my blog has been update, but I don't know how to do that. Anyhow I have a web cam now thanks to my father-in-law and I think that sometime soon I am just going to put on a vlog (video log) and not type a word. That would shake things up a little bit.

Things have been alright lately. Except for a couple of things. Our good friends Patrick Peterson and Bobby Colletti have left the beautiful, sunny splendor of Florida to live with some family in New York. We truly miss them and it has been a difficult time for some of us. We made this video before they left to honor their memory. Enjoy.

Besides them leaving, I suppose everything has been pretty ordinary. We have had some great success with our evangelism explosion ministry that I referred to in my last post. A good percentage of our church have been participating in this endeavor and it has been really exciting to intentionally carry out the Great Commission.

I went to the Tigers/Braves game yesterday and got a really bad sunburn. The game ended in a tie too, which is really bad. I also got the privilege last weekend to lead a Bible study for a youth group that I was formerly youth pastor of. There are very few things in life more rewarding than to see young men that you poured your life into still walking with Christ years after you have been away from them. It was a very special night for me.

My wife and I have become addicted to guitar hero and now the American Idol karaoke game. (which I am really bad at) People just let us borrow there stuff and they leave it at our house and then I play until I fall asleep with a guitar or a mike in my hand.

I need to end with something of Biblical relevance. I spoke with the students on Wednesday night briefly of the story of David and Goliath, but we looked at it a little differently than usual. We used http://www.thebricktestament.com/ this is the closing slide from the story.

In this familiar story we know that the small David overcame, beat, and decapitated (see above) the giant Goliath. But the part that we easily forget is that God is the one that made that happen. God is the one who beat Goliath, not David. And the other part that we fail to forget is that God has not changed. The same God that used small David to beat huge Goliath is the same God who is watching over your life. This is the same God who knows the number of hairs that are on your head. This is same God that knit you together in your mother's womb. This is the same God who will never leave you or forsake you.

When you come up against giants in this world remember this story and remember that God is always with wherever you go and know matter what you're up against.

Evangelism Explosion

I recently attended an Evangelism Explosion training clinic as all of you who attend my church know. I had the privilege of spending a week in Tampa being trained in how to train others in sharing their faith.

I cannot believe how much I learned, not to mention how fired up I got to share my faith. I realize now, that I have been a very selfish person. I am selfish in the fact that I have not been sharing the gift of eternal life with people I come in contact with, even though I had someone share with me.

It is easy as a Pastor to think that I am doing enough. It is easy to have the mindset that the congregation is supposed to "Go" and that I am supposed to "Stay" because I am going to reach those who come to my church who happen to be lost. This should not be the case. This should be the exact opposite, because as leaders we are to set the example to those who look up to us.

I wonder sometimes if we don't spend entirely too much time being "churchy" and not enough time being "Christ followers." If we were truly Christ followers we would have the heart and compassion for the lost that would not allow us to even sleep without a heavy heart and burden for people all around us who have no relationship with Christ and thus no hope of eternal life.

Watch this video that will help to illustrate this point.

As you can see, we have a long way to go in order to have a true heart for the lost. I hope that we can all do everything we can to "make disciples of every nation." We must stay in a prayerful, personal relationship with God and ask Him to send us the relationships He wants us to have influence over.

I must say that evangelism as we know it is not the way we make it out to be. It is not about "selling" anything to anyone, and if that's what it is to you then you must reevaluate your motives. Evangelism is nothing more than being prepared and obedient to the "divine appointments" that are in our lives. If we are involved with divine appointments, it will make no difference whether they receive Christ or not, because you will know that your seed has been properly planted and God will send the witness later that will reap the benefits of that.

Please be intentional in your evangelism and develop relationships that God would have for you, but not because you are trying to sell someone, but because you are looking at things through the same compassionate eyes that Jesus does.

Struggling through writer's block.

Hello everyone... I must admit... I have writer's block. It is one week into February and I have not posted in a couple of weeks and I know that all of my fans ar eagerly awaiting my next post. I just don't know what to write.

My house in South Carolina sold.
That is pretty exciting. We have been trying to sell that house since October 2005. The market is really bad there, worse even than in Florida, so it is a huge blessing to have that off our backs.

Our church rebuilding is going really well, here is a little video I put together.

They obviously have a long way to go, but the progress is pretty amazing. Other than that life has been pretty ordinary. I am teaching the tenth grade Bible class which is a lot of fun. In March I am marrying my cousin. Seriously, I am marrying my cousin. Not like they do in South Carolina, I am performing the wedding of my cousin to another man that she is in no way related to. That will be fun.

I know I need some pearls of wisdom to impart on all of my readers, but I just don't know what it is.

I will let you know what we have been learning in youth group. For the last four weeks we have been doing a series on Deal or No Deal. We had someone come out as Howie and we played the game (we used the web version on www.pacdudegames.com) and then we taught on things that some people wonder, "What's the big deal?"

First we looked at "What's the big deal about God." We systematically looked at reasons for and against the existence of Creator God. The students seemed to enjoy when I took a hammer and smashed a remote control to pieces in an attempt to disprove the Big Bang Theory.

The next week we looked at "What's the Big Deal about Jesus." Once again we sytematically looked at reasons for and against the existence of Jesus. The most compelling point to me was that no one would be willing to die for a lie. If Jesus wasn't who He said He was then the disciples would have known it. If the disciples knew that Jesus was a fake then all of them would not have died horrific martyrs deaths for something they knew wasn't true. (John died of natural causes but he too was tortured for his beliefs)

After that we looked at "What's the Big Deal about Christianity." and we looked at the main doctrine that we believe as the Christian church which consists of the doctrine of God, Jesus, Man, Trinity, Salvation and the Church. Everything else is negotiable, for instance if you believe that you should baptize by sprinkling that is your opinion but we can still call you Christian and we can still fellowship together. But if you believe that there are more than one way to Heaven, then Jesus died for nothing and you are not following Christian beliefs, because Christian doctrine says the only way to Heaven is throught faith in Jesus Christ.

Two days ago we finished up the series by looking at "What's the Big Deal with World Religion." It was an informative message that looked at the basics of Islam, Hindusim, Buddhism, Mormonism, and Jehovah Witnesses. We then took what they believe and matched it up with what we believe. We decided that Christianity must be the real deal for a few reasons... first is grace. To live your life for works is a life of hopeless despair, because how will you ever know if your good works is good enough to get you to Heaven. (or Nirvana) Lastly, we believe that Christianity is the real deal because Jesus is alive! The "gods" of the other main religions are dead and their bodies are there in a tomb or a grave, but Jesus' tomb is empty! Because He is who He said He is. Because He did what said He would do... He rose from the grave!

To end every week I made this point: If someone gave you a Ferrari for $5 what would you do? Well, after you peed your pants, and then borrowed five dollars from your parents, you would call up everyone you knew and tell them about it. Why? Because you got such a good deal. The Christian life is the same way, we got what we did not deserve and it is a GREAT DEAL, so go and tell someone about the great deal that you got and let them know that the deal is available for them too.

How's that for writer's block?

The Joy of the Lord

Hello everyone, I am so sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I would like to have a way to let everyone know who is interested when I make a new posting. So if you would like to know when this blog has been updated simply send me an email to jamesblewett@hotmail.com and when I put on a new post I will send you one email that says New Post with a link to this site. Nothing else. That should help you out.

I want to start out this post in a way that will turn off a lot of people. I want to talk about politics. Our Florida primaries are coming up on January 29th and it is time to put a lot of consideration into who you will be supporting. To wait until next year to vote on the presidential election will be too late since your candidates will already be chosen for you.

I will not tell you who to vote for, but I will tell you who I would vote for. I was reading a book called Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby and in it was a section on what truly separates a spiritual leader from a secular one. The one thing that people like Billy Graham and D.L.Moody and the late D. James Kennedy had in common was that they totally sold out to God. It seems so simple and yet it is so hard. It has nothing to do with education or wealth or knowledge, only total commitment to the maker of the universe.

The author mentioned a specific time when he had a conversation with a very "successful" Pastor from Arkansas who said that he was feeling called to leave the ministry to make a difference in this world through politics. Mike Huckabee left everything he knew to be lieutenant governor and then ultimately governor of Arkansas, and is now in the running to be the next President of the United States.

I have been debated and insulted on this topic by a lot of "very brave" online users who believe that the issues and not religion should be the deciding factor in who to vote for. My answer is the same to you on that topic as it was to my online debaters: a man's values and character will let me know if he will support the issues the way that I would like for them to be supported. In other words, the most important issues to me are the millions of babies legally murdered each year through abortions, the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, and if we elect a president with the moral integrity of the Bible to guide his steps and make his decisions then this country will be a lot better place in four years than it is right now.

I will stop now and get off my soap box, but at least give some thought to what you have just read and remember that Chuck supports Huck.On to a more lighter topic... do you watch American Gladiators? The show that I used to love when I was a kid has made a comeback. I am pretty certain that it would not have been made if it were not for the writers strike, but however it got here, it is AWESOME and I hope it stays. Watch it tonight on NBC and watch full episodes at http://www.nbc.com/.

Anyhow, I am going to tell you what every other youth pastor who has a blog is writing about who watched Gladiators last Monday night, youth pastors rock! Let me explain.

The two contestants last week were a guy who had a rough upbringing but turned his life around and is now teaching Algebra in the very school he was kicked out of, and a man nicknamed the Hebrew Hammer who is a Hurricane survivor who now is a shark fisherman. Unfortunately the Hebrew Hammer got injured on the very first game when he got tackled hard and broke his leg. His injury replacement was none other than Andy Konigsmark... a youth pastor.

This dude was ripped and guess what else... he was good... he finished with the fastest time in the eliminator of any other guy and he had fun the whole way through. I have spoken with this guy through email since last Monday and he seems to be a really cool guy. He has been a model in the past and was a youth pastor and is still in school to finish his ministry degree, but he moved to California to be stand-up comedian on the side.

When he was first introduced as a youth pastor I had mixed emotions, my first emotion was excitement that there was a youth pastor as cool as I am. The second emotion was fear, because I was afraid he was going to embarrass himself. You see, Gladiators pick contestant that fit into some sort of stereotypical niche. They have had the NYC firefighter, the soldier, the surfer, the rodeo girl, the fitness model, etc. and I was afraid that when they said "Gladiators ready?" that he would answer with a big "Hallelujah!" and set us Christians back a few years in the relevancy department. But what I liked about Andy was that he showed the world that Christians are allowed to have fun, Christians don't have to be a bunch of stiffs, and Christians can whoop your butt on the eliminator.

I am reminded of the scripture in Nehemiah that says "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." And this is what Andy showed America. So let this be a lesson to you that we can worship God with all that we are and still have fun doing it. We don't have to retreat from the world and lock ourselves in closets but we can be in the world and not of it, and others will benefit from it.

Let the joy of the Lord be your strength.

PS If you want to leave Andy a message or check out his stand up you can go to http://www.myspace.com/Andykonigsmark.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

I had quite an eventful time since the last time I posted. Heather's sister Destiny came and stayed with us for a while and since we live so close to Orlando there was only one thing to do... go to Disney World. I had never been to Disney with kids before, but let me tell you, it is a lot more fun when there is a little girl getting excited at It's a Small World. So that was a lot of fun.

That was Christmas Eve Eve. Then we had a good time with family and friends in Tampa the next two days. I was a good boy this year too, so Santa came to visit. Santa bought me a Nintendo Wii!!! It is a lot of fun to play and it is something that my wife and I can enjoy together. In fact, we are going to a Wii Party tonight. With grown adults :) I am very happy that I am not the only grown person addicted to playing the Wii. Anyhow, here is my picture of excitement after I found out what Santa brought.

It looks like my neck is broken. Anyway, Santa also came for my wife and brought her a new digital camera, so there should be a lot more photos in posts to come.

After Christmas we had the chance to just take it easy. I hope we are not the only ones that got to enjoy a relaxing Christmas break. We have been so used to traveling over the holidays from South Carolina to Tampa and back, that we had forgotten just how enjoyable the holidays could be. Now I only have a 45 minute drive to see my family instead of a 7 hour drive, which also means I get to sleep in my own bed. (and now it means also that I get to play my own Wii!)

We didn't do a lot to celebrate the New Year. We were invited over to our incredible Pastor's house and ate tacos (and played with their Nintendo Wii) but our party ended early and my wife and I went back home. I will give you two guesses what we did when we got back home... we played Nintendo Wii. We turned it off five minutes before the ball dropped (it is really sad to see Dick Clark these days) and said "Happy New Year!" and then went back to our game.

Since I have been accused of being a long-winded blogger, I will get to my main point. 2007 was a year of incredible highs and incredible lows for me and Heather. Our year started out terrible and just continued to get worse. Then came June. June was when I got voted in to be Student Pastor at the greatest church in the solar system. We had adjustment periods, we had rained out concerts, we even had a church fire... but in the last six months of 2007 I have been more happy and full of joy than I ever have been in my life... because I am at a place where God is moving!

I say all that to say this... turn the page... forget the past year... learn from the mistakes, give praise to God for the accomplishments and then... move on. Read these verses Phil. 3:13b-14 "...But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

To me this is the ultimate New Year's verse. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. There is no better time than January to do that. I am so excited about what God is going to do in 2008 that I can hardly stand it! It will be a year like no other, and it will be a year where I will press on toward the goal to win the prize. Won't you join me in that?