A Tribute

Change. A very difficult thing. It is especially difficult when you are so content with the way things are. You know the joke: How many Southern Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Change? What's that?

I like things the way they are and so right now is a particularly weird time for me. First of all, school is out and it is sooooooooooooo quiet here at the church now. I really miss my tenth grade Bible class. My wife is out of school, which is good for her, but I really miss eating lunch with her every day. (By the way, it's her birthday today... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) And last but certainly not least, one of my favorite people in the world Michael Bartlett is moving away and taking his incredible family with him. As a way to pay homage to Bartman and to access a therapeutic release this posting is dedicated to him.

I remember the first time I met him, we were at Harold Butler's house for one of those awkward "Meet the New Guy" dinners. (I was the new guy) There were more staff members than I could possibly remember in one night and I always feel nervous at such things.

Bartlett and I met at the dessert table (a theme in our friendship) and he mentioned that he was recently in Pasco County, the site of the first church I ever served at. Me, in all my nervous brilliance said, "Did you know that Pasco County has more Nudist Colonies per capita than any other county in the U.S.?" Somehow he did not know that. Anyone else would have probably thought that was weird but Bartman rolled with it and I talked to him that night more than anyone else.

Well, somehow I still got the job and ended up working pretty closely with Bartman. He was my wife's boss and I am so grateful for the way he treated the one that I love. I could NEVER have asked for a better boss for my wife. Understanding, supportive, encouraging, respectful... it gave me such peace knowing that my wife was working at such an amazing school.

Bartman and I also developed a little tradition. His Bible class usually got over at 10:45 and I ate lunch at around 11. Him and I had an unspoken agreement to meet during that time at least twice a week. I truly miss those 15 minutes as well.

Bartlett and I share a heart's desire for reaching the lost and showing kids the love of God. Sometimes in ministry it can feel like you're surrounded by the world but standing all alone on an island, when those times came I always knew that Bartlett would join me on that island. We always seemed to see things the same way and the only disagreement we ever had was over how much worse his Bears are than my Bucs.

It is hard to believe that after only knowing a guy for one year that you could become this attached, but I have and I truly will miss my friend. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will be "successful" at whatever it is that he does. He has often told me that he feels like his life is just constantly building to something else. Skills and lessons learned one place prepares him for the next stage of his life. I am sure that that is what is happening here as well.

And trust me, if anyone understands why he is leaving it is me. There is just something within you that is always drawing you to your home. He is from North Carolina and I know this must be a very bittersweet feeling to move back home, but it is definitely God's will.

I will miss him, I will miss our time together, but I will forever be connected through this one amazing year of my life. And to end I am putting on some of his "favorite" photos, and I am also ending with his famous catchphrase... "Onward and upward."

Product Placement

Hello my friends, this is my 27th post I think. That is a lot.

Things have been great lately. My birthday came and went and I am now the big 2-6. I had a great birthday and actually got a lot of cool stuff. My father and brother-in-law got me Mario Kart, and I am pretty addicted. I connect on Nintendo WiFi and play people around the globe. I love beating people from Japan in their own game :) My wife got me Wii Fit, which is awesome. However the first thing it told me when I got on was that I was overweight and it made my character fatter. But it is cool to get a workout while playing video games.

Anyhow, I got other stuff from great people, but what I wanted to talk about was what my friend Mike Hall got me. He bought me Francis Chan's new book called Crazy Love. Check it out at http://www.crazylovebook.com/. If you have read any of my other posts you know that I have mentioned Chan before. He is a Pastor in California and seems to the most sought after speaker at every conference I go to anymore. But for good reason.

His book is challenging the norm of what we have become as the American church. He is asking some great questions. What does it look like to really love God? If we say we love God then shouldn't our actions reflect such an expression? If we truly loved God then wouldn't we thirst and hunger for every waking minute we can spend with Him? Does it ever seem like doing the things of God have become an obligation? And the big kicker... Are we truly in love with God or are we just in love with the benefits of God?

The book discusses the true meaning of what it means to be a lukewarm Christian and to be honest with you I don't think that many of us fall into any category but that one. Do we offer God our leftovers or do we give Him the first of everything we have? Do we worship God in our good times and our bad? If Heaven a was place with every thing we ever wanted... money, food, friends, stuff, happiness, fun, joy... but God was not there, would we still want to go?

If you can't tell, I highly recommend the book. But don't get it if you don't want your toes stepped on. Don't get it if you are satisfied with the status quo. Don't get it if you are happy with lukewarm.

Well, after my birthday dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse (love the place) we watched Prince Caspian, which was amazing. If you don't know anything about it, it is based on the book by CS Lewis and it is full of spiritual metaphors. The main theme of the movie is that you should never do anything without making sure that God is leading you to do it, and if you don't know where God is leading you... you must wait on Him.

So this post seems to have been one big commercial. So remember buy Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Crazy Love and eat at Spaghetti Warehouse and watch Prince Caspian. And don't forget mainly that you need to rely on God, and ask Him to give you a desire to fall in love with God all over again.

Dundies

Hello everyone,

It has been a pretty eventful little while for me. Last week we took the 6th to 10th grade students to see the new Expelled movie starring Ben Stein. It was just as incredible as I thought it would be.



It was real interesting to see all of the evolutionists backpedal when confronted with just some very basic questions. It was also interesting to hear these scientists who are supposed to be really smart talk about their theories on the creation of the Earth. One guy thinks that it is more feasible to believe that the Earth was created as a result of tiny crystals, and yet another believes that the Earth was created because it was "seeded" by aliens. (politically correct term for any readers who might be children) Anyhow, it is hard to leave that movie without having a lot more faith than before you walked in.



My wife and I are going to go to the ESPN Zone with some friends this weekend and I am very excited about. And I am going to the Rays game on Saturday and I believe this is a team that is heading in the right direction. They remind me of the Bucs. First new uniforms, next a new stadium, and then the team starts to be a winner. Should be fun.



I am also pretty excited because not only is my birthday coming up (May 20) but there is also a movie coming out that I am ultra excited about. Prince Caspian is going to be released on May 16th. Here is a little semi-trailer/behind the scene vignette of the movie:

I am really excited about this and I have been teaching on it in youth group for the last two weeks and I still have one sermon left in me. For those of you that don't know, C.S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia as one giant Biblical metaphor. He made the parallels deliberate but vague enough to where you have to search for them. It is on this journey of understanding that you truly begin to understand the prestige of Narnia.

If you know nothing about the movie, the only thing you need to know is that Aslan represents God and the White Witch represents Satan and then you can watch the movie with your spiritual glasses on and you will be blessed from it.

For my spiritual portion of my blog I want to point out that just like the kids traveling through Narnia were not in their home, we are also not in our home. We are just passing through this place and this place wasn't created for us. Therefore we should not be tempted by the trappings of this world because this world is not our home. We should also be as ready as possible for the day when Jesus comes and takes us home. The main way to do this is to make sure that you don't go home alone. Use this movie as a way to reach out to people who would never go to church with you, but they would go to a movie with you. Just don't go home alone.

I have been reading a lot of youth pastor blogs off of the list on http://www.youthpastor.com/. I like mine the best, but I am biased. I have noticed though that a lot of youth pastors like to give out awards. That is what I am going to do right now.

I am going to hand out the NorthRidge Dundies. (If you don't know what a Dundee is, watch The Office on NBC.)

The Jim Halpert Dundee that represents the person who jokes with everybody in a nonchalantly sarcastic way go to: Pastor Bill Hatley

The Kevin Malone Dundee that represents the person who seems to always find where the food is at goes to: Pastor Michael Bartlett (I am coming for you to get that title)

The Dwight Schrute Dundee that represents the person who can obviously find and devour a werewolf and catch a bat from the ceiling tiles goes to Pastor Harold Butler

The Stanley Hudson Dundee that represents the person who won't take anything from anyone but will handle all situation with his classic, respected sass goes to Pastor Terril Gilley

And finally... the Michael Scott Dundee that represents the person who should go to Spencer gifts and by himself a mug that says World's Best Boss goes to Pastor David Myers

Thank you for attending the Dundees, see you nest year a Chili's near you.

National Day of Prayer

May 1st is the National Day of Prayer, and we need it more than ever. If at all possible get to some festivities that your area is putting on, or at least get on your knees and spend some time with the God of the Universe on Thursday.

I was going to go to the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast here in Haines City but we are actually going to take the 6th to 10th graders at NCA to see the movie Expelled. We got a private showing at 9 a.m. so I am not going to be able to make it, but we will be letting our kids know about the National Day of Prayer and we will be praying.


Anyhow, I know from looking at Web stats that most of my readership comes from people outside of my church, but I am still asking for prayer. I believe that God is doing some big things in our area (in spite of me) and I believe now our area and our ministry is under extreme attack.

Last week we had an amazing youth service (in spite of me) and God showed up in an immense way, and on Thursday and proceeding days I had to get through some of the worst days of my life, and it is no coincidence.

This morning I went to go pray at one of our local middle schools as I do every Wednesday and things were different. The students are usually herded like cattle to sit on the basketball court until the bell rings for security measures. We are allowed to pray right in front of the entire student body and we typically have 100-200 kids praying with us.

This week I showed up and there were no kids on the basketball court. Apparently last Thursday there was a sever fight that actually led to some arrests. Due to this all of the students are now herded to their classrooms and only allowed out for breakfast. The amazing, dedicated secretary at the front office asked the principal about prayer and she said, "We are just going to have to have a moment of silence over the intercom." The secretary was almost in tears and our prayer meeting consisted of me, three faculty members and two students who didn't care if they got in trouble. I am happy to say that we had the most amazing time of prayer and that the enemy can't keep us down.

Pray, pray, and pray some more. Romans 8 says that we are waiting with anticipation for the day when God reveals His glory through us. Make the most of every day, make the most of every opportunity and happy national day of prayer!



Update
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Our prayer at the Middle School resumed this Wednesday. While i was not like it was two weeks ago, all of the kids are allowed to pray again. The only thing they need to do is get a pass from their teacher. One teacher just went ahead and brought his whole class out. God is good and faithful.

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.