ENGAGEMENT

Last weekend we had our annual spring XScape Weekend with XSession Youth Group, a 24 hour event filled with pizza, praise, Bible Study, games, scavenger hunts, escape rooms (this year we had a Zombie themed one and an 80's themed one), life challenges and an extreme lack of sleep. It's always fun, but that's not what this post is about. This is about engagement.

That word has come up an exorbitant number of times over the past couple of weeks through conversations with various different people, through different mediums, in different scenarios and situations. 

ENGAGEMENT

People want and need to be engaged, to be connected with and interacted with and taught and mentored in a way that they can relate to in a place they already are. Growth and development are essential. Stretching your boundaries and stepping out of your comfort zone should absolutely be a part of maturing, but if we want people to grow, we can't start by forcing that. We must first engage them where they are, give them a reason to want to grow and mature.

In several different arenas in the past week, I've heard a consistent theme. That theme is one of changing the tried and true traditional method of doing things in order to better engage kids and get them excited for and wanting to be involved with whatever it is we are doing. That may be school. It may be church. The thing is, just because something has always been, doesn't mean it should always be. 

This is difficult for me because I'm a creature of habit, and I love tradition, but God is making it clear that what I need to do is whatever I need to do to engage kids and teenagers. The relationship, that I can develop with them and that they can develop with God, is far more important than the structure that leads to those relationships.

The tagline for X Factor Church is Engage|Encourage|Equip and that's what God is showing me. Engage people where they are, which leads to developing relationships in which I can Encourage them, which, in turn, allows me the opportunity to teach and mentor and Equip them.

I'm gonna do my best.

How about you? How can you engage those around you?

The Multi-tool Community

***This post requires participation and input.***

This is my multi-tool. I've had it for years, and carry it with me almost every single day, whatever I'm going, and I end up using it almost every day for something or another. Pliers, wire cutters, screwdriver, can opener, knife, saw, I've found myself in situations needing each and every one of these tools, and they were there, at my disposal. I love having a multi-tool and highly recommend that everyone carry one.

A Time For Everything

Experienced this a lot this past week: a time to die, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing, a time to speak, a time to love, a time for war.

Life is not a simple thing. It is messy and complicated and intertwined, but that's the point. It's intertwined. There are times of incredible pain and grief and hardship and confusion, but those can, and almost always are, intermixed with times of love and laughter and friendship and joy.  It's not an either or situation. It's both.

If things are hard, look for the good, and if you can't see it, know it's there or will be there.

If things are good, enjoy them and savor them for what they are, and also use them to recharge and buoy yourself for either the rough times that will come or to help lift up others who are currently going through them.

Harder To Say I'm Undefeated

This afternoon I found myself asking the question, "Why?" Why does death even exist? Why does it hurt so bad? Why must it? Why do we love and risk such incredible pain? Why does God allow us to go through so much? Why?

If you know me, you know I hate death. I hate everything about it, and I hate the pain and brokenness it inflicts on those I love. I know that for those in Christ, death is just a doorway to paradise, and there is immense hope in that, but hope doesn't take away pain, and it is painful.

Right about the time I was thinking about all this and asking God "why" this song came on: Refuge by Skillet. 

I'll just let you read the lyrics, or watch the video.

Almost Science

When I was a kid, my youth pastor had us do this activity where we went out into the woods and found something that symbolized our life and relationship with God. That activity has stayed with me. I found a branch covered in moss. 

***The following symbolism is not scientifically accurate. I know that, but it's what my teenage brain saw, and the idea behind it works, so just go with it.***