Jesus In Disguise

Nashville is a place I love. I’ve been there probably a half dozen times, and each time I come away from the trip loving the South more and more. Maybe it helps that my sister graduated from Belmont, or maybe it’s how friendly the people are, celebrities or not. My sister showed me the fantastic food at McDougal’s and Pancake Pantry, and I’ve loved spending time in Gruhn’s Guitars looking at the amazing guitars and banjos. I can still remember one banjo that was all decked out in gold, red, white and blue. I wanted to take it home, but I think the thing cost like $10,000 or something. These are some of the reasons why I’ve been so devastated by the destruction caused by massive flooding a week or so ago.

I have, like many of you, been watching the drama unfold in the Gulf Coast over the last few weeks. People’s incomes, ways of life, and dreams have so far become very close to being irrevocably changed. We watch with anticipation as people prepare sand bags, lay containment booms, and pray that the oil doesn’t make it to shore. Fragile ecosystems are in danger of being destroyed, much of the States seafood population is in danger, and one thing has stood out to me during this whole experience so far.

As you know, I work with high school students at my church. The ministry is called Vertical, and we have it at each of our three locations. We decided recently to do what we call a “Big Push.” Basically, we pull out all the stops when it comes to advertising on the radio, tv, and billboards around town over the course of a few weeks leading into a new series. We do this twice a year with our weekend services to try and reach those that don’t normally attend church. This was the first time we’ve done it for our high school ministry.

Jesus talks in Matthew 25:40 of doing things for the “least of these.” In other words, those who for whatever reason cannot do it themselves. Whether it’s to provide food, clothing, shelter, medicine, etc, we as Christians are supposed to take care of everyone. An organization that is doing an amazing job at this is Thrive Africa.

If you’re not familiar with the I Am Second movement, you should definitely check it out. I love the premise of what the movement is about, and they’ve presented it in an amazing light. Recently, they sat down with both Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy, both shining examples of humility, and talked about being second.

I hadn’t really planned on writing something related to Martin Luther King Jr. day today. I don’t feel overly qualified to talk about race relations or about truly suffering for a cause. But, after watching the video posted by Michael Hyatt today and subsequent discussion of leadership lessons learned from Dr. King, I just had to write down some of the thoughts going through my head.

Recently, Seth Godin released a free eBook with short articles written by a large group of authors, Christian bloggers, technology headliners, and a variety of other people you might recognize.

I’ve been volunteering in student ministries for not quite a year now, and it’s been one of the greatest things I’ve done. I absolutely love working with these students. They’re like my little brothers and sisters, and I want nothing but the best for them.

So I would like to throw out a few words of advice or those interested in working with students: