The Hike

The past few weeks, I’ve been frequenting one of HK’s most secluded beaches on my day off. It is in a part of town called Sai Kung. It takes over 2 hours to get to this beach from my house, including a 10 minute bus ride, a 40 minute train ride, a 20 minute minibus ride, a 20 minute cab ride, and a 45 minute hike. I was talking with a friend the other day about following Christ, and I used an illustration form the hike to this beach. I didn’t think it was too special, but my friend said I need to post it on here, so here it is:

Following Jesus is a process. We don't become Jesus once we get saved. We begin a journey of becoming more like Him.

It’s kind of like the hike to the beach in Sai Kung. When you’re walking there, a lot of the hike is annoying and painful. At one point in the hike, you reach a point where you catch a glimpse of what you're walking towards, a beautiful beach. As you see this view, it gives you the strength to keep going, knowing that your walking is not in vain. Sometimes on the hike, you have long stretches where you're walking downhill and it's very scenic. During these times, the walk is great. At other times, the walk is all uphill and there's no scenery and you have to keep walking to reach your goal. You know if you turn around and look at where you just came from, you can enjoy the scenery there, but turning around doesn’t help you get to your destination, so you have to keep walking.

When you get to the end of the hike, you sit at the restaurant on the beach, which has one of the most amazing views of any restaurant on earth, you eat your food, you jump off the waterfalls that are next to the beach into the deep, cool water below them, you toss a frisbee on the beach, you swim in the ocean, and you realize all the work and pain that it took to get to this place was worth it.

I think with God, there are times where He gives us glimpses of Himself, and those times give us the strength to keep following Him. In other times, it's hard to see Him, and following Him is hard, and so we try to look back to see if the "scenery" is any better where we just came from. But His call is to keep going, even if we can't see where we're going and even if the road gets hard. One day, we'll be with Him, and it will be awesome, and we'll realize why we went through all we went through on the way. But until then, there are some really tough times.

I hope that makes sense and encourages all who read it to keep going!

A Story of Two Gifts

I once heard a story about a farmer. One day, this farmer appeared before the king to present the king with a gift—a carrot. But this wasn’t just any carrot, the farmer explained, this was the biggest, brightest, and overall best carrot he had ever grown in his whole life. When he saw it, he knew that this was a carrot that was worthy of giving to the king. It was his best, and he wanted to honor the king by presenting the gift to him. As the king saw the majesty of this carrot and heard the farmer’s explanation of why he had come to present the carrot to the king, the king was moved. He told the farmer that he appreciated the gift, and then as a token of his gratitude he placed the farmer in charge of his very own royal garden. He knew that this man was certainly worthy of the job.

One of the men who worked in the king’s court carefully observed this series of events. He went home that night and came back the next day with the very best horse from his own stable. He brought it before the king, presented it to him as a gift, and explained how this was the best horse he had. The king thanked the man, had one of his other servants escort the horse to the royal stables, and dismissed the man from his presence.

The man was furious. He had just presented the king with a gift of much more value than a carrot, and yet the king’s response was nowhere near to what it had been for the carrot. Later that day, while he was at work, he asked the king, “Why was it that when the farmer gave you his best carrot, you put him in charge of the royal garden, but when I gave you a horse, which was much more valuable, you simply thanked me and sent me away?” The king responded, “When the farmer gave me the carrot, he was giving the carrot to me. When you gave me the horse, you were giving the horse to yourself.”

A lot of times, it is easy for me to pretend to be something I’m not in my relationship with God. I can stack up my list of spiritual accomplishments and feel pretty good about myself. I tell myself that I have made all these sacrifices—moving halfway around the world, taking a job that pays way less than other jobs I could have pursued, working long hours—solely as service to God. I pretend to be the humble farmer coming to present his carrot before the king.

But too often, I’m not the farmer from this story. I’m the man who brought the horse. I stack up my list of achievements and think God owes me because of all I’ve done for Him (obviously forgetting what He has done for me). When things aren’t going the way I want them to, I pridefully shake my fist at God and say, “It shouldn’t be this way. You owe me.” I don’t think I ever actually say those words, but they are in my heart, inspiring my actions.

This realization struck me especially hard recently when I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I guess it’s a decently common diagnosis, but when I got it, I was shocked. Why was God sending this to me of all people? Me, the guy who moved around the world to serve Him. Me, the guy who has to deal with teenagers all the time as part of my job AT A CHURCH! Me, the guy who works really hard and thinks about my job and how I can do it better even when I’m not at the office. Then I realized… my emphasis was totally on me and what I deserved. Sure, I had done all these things, but had I truly done them for the King, or had I selfishly done them in the King’s service to put the King into my debt?

So it turns out I’m still very much on a journey, learning what it means to serve the King for the King’s sake, not for my own, learning how to find my identity in what God has done for me, not what I have done or will do for Him, learning to accept what He gives (even if it’s not what I feel I deserve), because He is the Good King who loves me. Guess I should have known this process would take a while.

Ghost Month

It is now ghost month in Hong Kong. For those of you who don’t know what ghost month is, it is the time of year when the locals build huge shrines (one down the street from my apartment is the size of a small house in America) and burn various articles, including incense and paper figures modeled to look like everyday items such as cars, computers, and money. They do this to satiate the ghosts who live in their neighborhood and keep the ghosts from bothering the living until the next time ghost month rolls around.

Coming from 21^st century America, it is shocking to see how many people still believe in and practice something that would be brushed of as mere superstition back home. Viewing the practice as a Christian, it is saddening to see so many people living in fear and turning to setting fires to try to calm their fears. Seeing the practice has made me think about the wonders of the gospel and how it is so greatly superior to religion in two key ways:

Fear: Religions keep people trapped and following a lie through fear. For the locals during ghost month, this fear is that if they don’t do their duty, the ghosts will plague them over the next year. For some who claim to be Christians but in reality only pursue moralistic religion, this fear is a fear that God is out to get them and will unleash His anger upon them if they fail to attend church or read their Bible for a day.

The gospel frees us from fear by telling us that we absolutely deserve this punishment from God, but that because of His love He poured out our due punishment upon Himself on the cross. God gave His own life for us. He has proven that He is not anxious to trap us and get us as soon as we give Him a chance. We have each given Him thousands of chances to “get us” in situations where we truly deserve the punishment because of our sin. The gospel reminds us that rather than punishing us, God has loved and accepted us. Because of this truth, we are free to follow Him not out of fear of what will happen if we mess up, but rather out of thanks for the love that He has already shown us.

Works-Based Righteousness: Every religion, at its core, teaches that we, by being good enough, earn our way to our goal (whether that is heaven, Valhalla, Nirvana, etc.). In ghost month, the goal is to avoid the ghosts of the dead bothering the living, so the living perform works (burning various items) in order to satiate the ghosts and keep them away for a while. The problem with this is that nobody can ever do enough to “make it.” Even if the locals in Hong Kong burn enough incense this year to keep the ghosts away, there is no way to know that they will have the same luck next year. Someone counting on their good works for acceptance before God can go months or years without any “major sins,” but all of that “goodness” can be undone (at least in this person’s mind) by one “major failure” tomorrow.

The gospel frees us from this endless pursuit. On the cross, Jesus bore all our sins. There is literally nothing we can do to add to His work and contribute to our own salvation. All we can do is receive His gift. And the gospel doesn’t leave us stuck in a state of confusion, wondering whether Jesus’ death was sufficient. The resurrection is God’s seal of approval upon Jesus’ sacrifice. It is the proof that the debt we owed has been paid in full, that the work is finished once and for all.

Please pray for the city of Hong Kong, that its people would see the liberating power of the gospel, that they would believe it, and that they would be freed from the religions and superstitions that keep them trapped for now.

Gospel Preaching Doesn't Solve All Your Problems

Over the years, I have come into close contact with multiple churches whose preaching on Sundays was filled with the preacher’s opinion and pop psychology rather than the gospel. As I observed these churches, I saw a number of issues in them:

•  A lack of new believers hearing and believing the gospel coming into the church
• Membership rosters that were stagnant not only in numbers, but also in maturity
•  Debt that prohibited the church from being able to use its money in missional and gospel-centered ways
•  A fear of doing anything that could move the church forward in its mission and/or a desire cut effective ministries because of fears that the church couldn’t handle the financial burden

I had always compared these churches to the big and famous ones I would hear about—the ones whose preachers write books that get published and speak at big conferences. I assumed that where the gospel was preached faithfully, things just fell into place. The problem—one I didn’t realize until recently—is that the big and famous churches aren’t perfect. They have issues just like all the other churches, they just don’t get discussed as much in books and at conferences because there is enough good stuff happening at these churches that they can keep the conversations focused on the good stuff.

As I have thought about it more, I realized that my assumption about gospel-centered preaching fixing all the problems in a church is wrong for a number of reasons, including:

• God never promises that gospel-centered preaching will fix all the problems in a church
• The church is still made up of sinners
•  God opens people's eyes to believe and live in line with His truth, not great preachers
• Gospel preaching doesn't guarantee gospel application
•  Even the early church, under the leadership of the apostles, wasn't perfect, even though the gospel was clearly preaches to them repeatedly. Why should we be different?

As I thought about it more, I realized that gospel-centered preaching actually brings a number of problems (or ‘problems’) to a church that don’t exist when the gospel isn’t preached faithfully. These include:

• The gospel is at the root of all true heart change. People with problems are drawn to what will fix them. If we preach the gospel, people with problems will come for healing. Our churches will become populated with people with problems if we faithfully preach the gospel.
• Where the gospel is preached, people are saved. People getting saved means immature/new believers (who likely have a long way still to go in their sanctification) populating our churches—along with all their issues
• Where the gospel is preached, Satan wants the message stopped. He will fight against the proclamation of the gospel and do all he can to stop it going out. When the gospel is faithfully preached in our churches, we are inviting attacks from Satan.
• When people get saved, churches grow. Growth adds a whole new level of planning for things such as: how do we disciple new believers? How do we fit into our space on Sunday? How do we address the increased staffing needs in our church due to the growth? Where do we find more volunteers? How do we make sure our church maintains its vision and missional focus through this growth?
• Where the gospel is preached, people respond. This may mean some of the strongest leaders in the church respond to the gospel's call for them to leave our church and go somewhere else where they can have a greater impact for God's kingdom. Faithfully preaching the gospel can cause our best leaders to leave.

GCB

Recently, a friend introduced me to a TV show called “Good Christian Belles.” It was put out by ABC this past spring. The show is built around a prodigal coming home, yet refusing to conform to the culture around her. Amanda, the main character, was strongly disliked in high school for being the popular and incredibly cruel girl, ran off from Dallas (the “holy land”) to California (the “last stop before the Abyss”) years ago, but is now returning because her husband died in a car accident, an event which brought to light the facts that he was cheating on her and stealing billions of dollars from investors. Amanda, left with no job, no money, and no possessions in California, is forced to move back in with her mother in Dallas, which reignites much of the high school drama that she had long left behind—only this time she is the one on the outside. She, in her attempt to provide for her family and raise them in the way she thinks is proper, makes a number of decisions that do not sit well with the surrounding community. The part about the show that is supposed to be the “hook” that draws the audiences is that all the “bad guys” (and girls) are faithful, Bible-slinging churchgoers. They are also the worst set of hypocrites ever to walk the earth. They parade as perfect Christians (and judge others who can’t put on as good a show of being a Christian as they can) while their marriages are falling apart, and they are more marked by their gossip and scheming than by their love.

Although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the show, it has caused me to think about what the unbelieving world believes about Christians. Here’s what I’ve taken away so far:

• They don’t know who we are. The show portrays the church as a group of hypocrites who go to church solely because it is a cultural norm for them, it helps them look good in their circle of friends, and it helps them make and keep business contacts, portrayals which are all too often true of Christians. The problem is that this is the only type of person the show displays as going to church. Nobody is truly repentant for their sin. Nobody truly desires to know Jesus. In fact, thinking back on it, I’m not sure that His name was mentioned once in the episodes I’ve seen so far outside of a context where it was used in a joke. If we expect the world to take the church seriously, we have to show them that those of us in the church are not perfect, but are truly repentant for our sins and do truly want to know Christ. Church cannot be a game for us. 

• They don’t know what we believe. The show primarily displays church as a social springboard and self-help tool. The big message the show teaches is not grace, but karma. In one episode, the church sign has the sermon title, “You reap what you sow” posted on it. Amanda’s son asks her what it means, and Amanda replies, “It’s Texan for karma.” The world doesn’t get grace. It is too big, too powerful, too scary. And the church often doesn’t do a good enough job of clarifying the fact that what we believe is different than karma. If we want to see the unbelieving world believe the Truth, we must be intentional about making sure they understand the gospel as it is, not karma packaged as the Christian message. 

• They don’t understand gospel transformation. All attempts at moral reform in the show are for the sake of personal happiness or for the sake of keeping up appearances in the community. Nobody in the show is led to change by a genuine love of Christ. Nobody in the show truly hates their sin. They do try to make moral changes, but it is for the sake of controlling fate, not for the sake of knowing Christ. If we want an unbelieving world to understand the gospel message, we must let the gospel lead the change in our personal lives, not karma or pride.

It's Back

On my recent trip home, I had a realization—the things that I often take for granted about living in Hong Kong are the things that everyone wants to know about. Boring stuff like what I eat, what I do for fun with friends, how I travel around town, and even the size of my apartment was the source of constant questioning during my time in the States. I realized that stuff I have long stopped viewing as new and exciting (since it has been a part of my everyday life for the past 2 years) is still just as new and exciting to the people back home as it was the day I moved away.

Another thing I heard repeatedly when I was home was questioning about why I stopped writing the blog. I guess there wasn’t one single reason I stopped, more a combination of a bunch of reasons which eventually led to me stopping. Regardless, I have realized that my blog is an important tool for the people I love and care about back home to stay connected to me and know what’s going on in my life, so it’s back. I will try to write a post every week, although I will probably miss some weeks, but hopefully this will once again be an effective way for the people who care about me to stay updated on what I’m doing and thinking on the other side of the world.

Until next week…

Eric

I Know I'm a Slave, But...

Last night, I was talking with friends about our New Year's resolutions. The first three of us who shared mentioned desires to grow in our relationships with God and listed of ways we hoped to accomplish this. The last person to share, also a Christian, led her explanation by saying, "Well, my first resolution doesn't have to do with God." She then explained to us that her goal over the next two years is to build up enough wealth that she will be on the path to financial security for life. Basically, she plans to invest the next two years of her life getting money.

The other three of us in the conversation quickly began telling her that she was making money an idol--that it would never satisfy her, that it would demand more from her than she ever expected, that true security in lfe doesn't come from money, etc. I shared with her a quote from Timothy Keller, who said, "If you live for money, you are a slave." As we said each of these things to our friend, she agreed that they were true. She even went so far as to affirm the statement that she is a slave to money. The other three of us jumped in, saying she doesn't have to live as a slave--the gospel will set her free from her slavery. And then she dropped the big one on us. She told us, "I know I'm a slave, but just let me be a slave for another 2 years and then I'll be ok."

Needless to say, I was shocked. Why would anyone who knows they're a slave to a cruel master such as money and who has the opportunity to be free choose willingly to continue living as a slave? But as I have thought more about it, I have realized that this is an attitude I take toward sin in my own life much more often than I would like to admit. I know that the gospel frees me from the need to find my value in what other people think of me, and I know trying to please all the people around me makes me a slave to their opinions, but I say I'll start living in that truth only as soon as this person approves of me. I enter into a slippery slope, from which the only escape is the gospel--the one thing I am willfully ignoring at that point in time. In the words of Tim Keller, my idol "begins redefining all of reality in terms of itself."

Just as my friend needs the gospel to set her free from her slavery to money, I need the gospel to set me free from all of my idolatrous behaviors. As we go into the new year, may God give me the grace to rest in the gospel and find my identity in Him alone.

Do You Really Believe It?

One of my friends works on the trading floor of a major bank. He knows a lot about investments. He spends his days studying the markets so he can make the best moves that will be the most profitable for his company. He also uses this knowledge to increase his personal wealth. Recently, he was telling me about an investment he made in a company in Africa that has more than doubled in a little over a year. As he described the factors that went into his decision to invest in this company, he made it clear that investing in this company was an easy choice. They serve a large market of people, sell an item that is always in high demand, and the government kept their IPO intentionally low to encourage people to invest in them. My friend described the situation as them “basically giving away free money.”

Now, let’s pretend. Go back a year and a half, before my friend made this investment. He comes to me, tells me about the investment, and I say, “That’s nice. I hope you make lots of money on this one.” Although my response carries the appearance of believing his story, in reality it proves that I don’t truly believe his description of the situation. If I truly believed that what he said about the investment was true, I wouldn’t simply congratulate him on a good find; I’d ask him how I could get in on this investment as well. If I truly believed that my friend’s description was accurate and someone was handing out “free money,” I would do everything reasonably within my power to get my hands on that money.

Far too often, the response of Christianity at large to the existence of hell is like my hypothetical response in this story—we acknowledge belief in it with our mouths, but lead lives that prove we don’t believe it’s real.

I am currently reading George Marsden’s biography of Jonathan Edwards. In the biography, Marsden makes the observation that in Edwards’ opinion, most Christians only believe in hell as an inherited belief. Basically, they’ll say it’s real because it’s in the Bible and their parents or spiritual mentors taught them it’s real, but on a functional level they live on a day-to-day basis as if it wasn’t real. Marsden says that the reason Edwards preached so many sermons that were brutally descriptive of hell is that he wanted his people to constantly remember the reality of hell both so they personally could trust in Christ and be saved from it and so they would live in such a way around their non-Christian friends and relatives that they would point them to Christ as well. This style of teaching has given Edwards a lot of negative press in many circles, but his brutally descriptive teaching was not inspired by a joy in describing the horrors of eternal punishment; it was inspired by a love that desired to keep as many people as possible from having to live that fate. He not only believed that hell was real, but wanted to live his life in such a way that he demonstrated the urgency inspired by the fact that hell is real.

Do your actions back what you say you believe?

Youth Say Some Funny Stuff

In my new job, the group of students I'm responsible for is a slightly younger group than I am used to. Technically, I'm responsible for grade 6 through the end of high school, however there are no students in my church between the ages of 15 and 18, which means I'm in charge of a group of 11 to 14 year olds. Needless to say, with a group this age, some funny lines come out from time to time. Here are some of the highlights so far:

-Tonight during our discussion, I asked each of the youth what one thing is they can do over the course of the next week to follow Jesus in their everyday life. Each took turns sharing, then they decided to recommend ways that I should follow Jesus in the next week. Their suggestion? I need to tell at least 5 people that Jesus loves them... and each of these people has to be smoking as I tell this to them.

-I was talking with some youth about the concept of dying to ourselves and being alive in Christ. I asked these students if they thought their lives would be better or worse if they truly lived this way. One student told me it would be better... but only if he could still play video games.

-During their school break, I took my pastor's 2 middle kids--who are slightly younger than the age range I'm responsible for, but they're close to it--ice skating. After skating, we grabbed some lunch. During our time eating together, this conversation occurred:

Me: So do you know what you want to be when you grow up?

Pastor's daughter: Yes, I want to be a mom, so I can sleep in every day.

Pastor's son: I want to be a cop, because they get to fire guns and drive really fast.

Me (sarcastically to the son): And that's what life is all about, shooting guns and driving fast.

Pastor's son: Yeah, well, that... and drinking beer.

Let's just say there is rarely a dull moment in my life these days.

The Light

This morning, I was at a meeting with our University and Young Adults staff about a worship gathering they will be hosting this coming Sunday night. They were primarily discussing how to set up the space we have and organize the “flow” of the evening to help people experience God through the time together.

The lesson for the night will be on John 1:1-5, so a lot of emphasis on the planning was being placed on lighting: “In Him was life, and that life is the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This discussion and the reflection on the passage got me thinking:

When Christ came into the world, He was the light of the world, and no matter how hard the darkness tried, it could not overcome Him. His light was too powerful. In fact, the darkness’s best attempt to overcome Him (the cross) led to His greatest victory (the resurrection). Light and darkness are not equal opposites, but rather darkness is a weaker foe that is easily overcome when the light enters into its presence.

This is good, but I then realized something else awesome: when Jesus left the earth, He promised to be with His people forever (“ even to the end of the age”). This means that if we’re Christians, wherever we go, Christ goes with us. And wherever Christ goes, the light goes, and wherever the light goes, the darkness cannot overcome it. As Christians, we are “children of the light” (1 Thess. 5:5). Just as the darkness cannot overcome Jesus’ light, it cannot ultimately overcome our light either. In fact, its best attempts to do so have historically been some of the greatest victories for the faith, which is why the saying exists that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Wherever we go, we bring the light. Darkness cannot stand in our presence, because the light of the world accompanies us. So let us live boldly.

Upward, Inward, Outward

Upward. Inward. Outward.

It may appear cryptic if you don’t know what it means, but for those of us at Watermark Community Church, it is the air we breathe. These three words summarize the process we long to see our people take in their relationship with God.

Upward—we want them to understand the gospel and have a relationship with God. This is the most fundamental step of the process, and without it, neither of the other steps is possible.

Inward—According to Jesus, the two greatest commands are to love God and love others. Once people have a relationship with God in place, our desire is for them to come into the family and engage in genuine community.

Outward—The goal of community is not that it would center solely on us, but rather that it would lead to mission (going out). As we learn to truly love each other within a community of faith, our desire and prayer is that we will learn to love our unsaved friends and neighbors as well, and that we, through proper understanding of the gospel and community, will be moved to live life on mission. In fact, our goal is for our community not to be merely a community, but rather a missional community, where we are living life on mission together.

Ultimately, the process is not meant to be linear, but cyclical. As we go throughout or Christian lives, we need to continually return to the gospel, both for forgiveness as we continue to sin, and as our motivation for our other steps in our walk with God (God’s love for us in the cross should motivate our love for God and our love for God should motivate our love for others). Also, as we live life on mission, our goal is to bring new people into this process, so just as the gospel (Upward) leads to community (Inward), and community leads to mission (Outward), mission always leads back to the gospel.

Everything we do at Watermark centers around the ideas of Upward, Inward, Outward (ie. gospel, community, and mission). This has been incredibly helpful for me as I have started my work there, since I am not responsible for starting the youth ministry from scratch on a philosophical level; instead, my job is to use these three steps as a skeleton and build a ministry where the youth will be encouraged to move through these steps. Obviously, maturity in Christ—not simply moving people through a process—is our goal, but this process is a great summary of how we want to see people mature in Christ and it has given me a great foundation as I have tried to figure out how to start the youth ministry here.

My New Flat

For those of you who haven't heard, I recently moved to a new apartment. Here's what my new place looks like.

This is my living room (with our awesome drying rack drying my clothes). We have a 2 and a half person couch, a chair, a fridge, and we will have a TV in here. That's about all there's room for in this room.

Our kitchen is even smaller than our living room. I have space to walk in, turn around, and walk out. Our fridge, as I already mentioned, is in our living room because it doesn't fitin our kitchen.

My bedroom has space for a bed. As you can see, even

my clothes get hung above where I sleep.

My bathroom is basically a toilet, a shower, and a sink.

The view from my apartment is pretty great, with

a view that lets me watch the full moon rise over one of the world's greatest cities. Overall, I really like the new apartment (despite its smallness). It is in a great location, I have a great roommate, and it is a pretty nice place.

Free Because I'm (Already) a Failure

"I already knew you were a sinner."

Surprisingly, I think that was probably the most comforting line I could have heard at the time. The conversation was with my new pastor. I was sharing with him that I had some issues I had to deal with in my heart that I foresaw potentially hurting our relationship for a while. I went to him to make him aware of the situation and to ask him to hold me accountable as I dealt with the issues.

Going into his office in the first place was difficult for me. Confessing to my pastor (who also happens to be my new boss) that I had issues was not my idea of a good first impression. I tried everything to avoid having to go into his office, but eventually I realized I had too much stuff going on in my heart to not let him be aware of what was going on. So in I went. I told him about my current struggles in this certain area, asked him to hold me accountable, and apologized in advance for any strain that could put on our relationship. And when he opened his mouth to respond, out came: "I already knew you were a sinner."

It may seem weird, but knowing that fact has made a huge difference for me. I'm not sure why I thought I could convince my pastor that I was perfect. In fact, it's actually ironic that I would ever even think to try that, since my job is to help people live in the truth that all of us are sinners, but Jesus offers us free and unmerited salvation. I guess my pride was rearing its ugly head, thinking it was better to appear perfect than to appear broken but be truly perfected in Christ. And, just like the reality of the gospel that our salvation is not something we earn frees us to be real with God, confess our sins, and be healed, the reality of the fact that my pastor already knows I'm a sinner frees me to live a life of honesty with him. When I make a mistake, I don't need to hide it out of a fear that this will ruin his perception of me. He already knows I'm a sinner. And besides, if my failure were to ruin his perception of me, it was probably a perception that needed to be ruined anyway.

It's funny the freedom that comes from knowing that others know we're not perfect.

A Thankful Heart

I think often in our lives (or at least in my life), in the midst of a difficult or confusing situation, it is easy to overlook acts of kindness in our lives that should inspire thankfulness and to let our situations in life keep us from an attitude of gratefulness--toward others and toward God--that should mark us. Two situations in my life right now have caused me to realize this reality and have served to remind me how miserably I have failed to live with an attitude of thanksgiving regardless of my circumstances, especially over the course of the past year.

The first reminder of this comes due to the fact that I am finishing my current internship at International Baptist Church of Hong Kong this Sunday. Over the course of the year, I have received overwhelming support from the church in a number of different ways. People from the church have given me words of wisdom when I needed to hear them, they have bought me meals, they have invited me into their families (this one was especially nice on holidays), they have offered to help in various ways with the youth ministry, they have listened to my complaints (although my complaints often were often due more to my own immaturity than to anything which warranted complaining), and more. Throughout the course of the year, however, rather than rejoicing in the fact that I had such a loving and supportive church family, I have often found it much easier to complain that we didn't have more youth volunteers (a fact which is made even more ridiculous by my recent discovery that the method I most often employed of recruiting volunteers is probably the worst way to recruit volunteers possible), that our kids weren't more committed to our youth group, and that parents often place more priority on their children's academic life than on their spiritual life (this is a legitimate one, but it is part of Hong Kong culture that I need to learn to address properly rather than complain about if I want to be effective at reaching the youth here... But that's a whole different article). My lack of a proper attitude of thanksgiving became apparent to me this week when my pastor asked me to share a few words with my church this Sunday about my time at IBC, what I've learned over the past year, etc. As I sat down to prepare what I would say, I was reminded of the myriad things I had to be thankful for during my time at IBC and felt a deep conviction for the lack of thankfulness I have displayed compared with what I ought to have displayed.

The second reminder of my lack of thankfulness came due to the fact that I have a new friend who recently moved to Hong Kong. This friend's brother-in-law and sister were two of the people who helped make me feel welcome when I first arrived in Hong Kong, and since they are back in the States now, I figured I would do whatever possible to help make her transition to Hong Kong as smooth and comfortable as possible. I really haven't done too much, but for the small things I have done, she has been very thankful and appreciative. By seeing her thankfulness, I was reminded of the numerous times that her brother-in-law and sister went out of their way to make me feel welcome here. I know that I was very thankful for a lot of what they did for me, but I think that in the midst of the craziness of adjusting to a new job and a new city on the other side of the world, I often tended to think of their kindness as something I deserved rather than as a gift I didn't deserve (even if I did say "thank you" to them for the things they did). The way that this couple went out of their way to make me feel welcome in Hong Kong is way over and above what they had to do, and the level of thankfulness that I felt towards them was not anywhere near what it should have been.

Lord, give me a heart that sees that every good and perfect gift in my life has its ultimate root in You, and that each gift is the result of the great grace that You have shown me through Christ on the cross. Let me cultivate a spirit of thankfulness in my life, both toward You and toward those that You use as instruments to bring these gifts into my life. Amen.

Things I've Picked Up So Far

Well, I have begun my process of meetings and readings in researching for my new job. I still have a lot of preparation work left to do, but there are a few very important things I have picked up so far. Here are some of the highlights:

• Nobody has youth ministry entirely figured out. If they tell you they do, they are either lying or mistaken. There is no "one size fits all" plan for how to establish a ministry team, connect with youth, and disciple them in a lasting way. There are certain guidelines that often work as general rules, but in terms of a specific step-by-step process, each church has its own unique DNA that makes it impossible to impose a formula upon it.

• If you try to run the youth ministry by yourself and it has more than 12 kids, you will burn out. Volunteers are essential to a successful youth ministry.

• Volunteers are not babysitters. If you treat them like babysitters and don't let them be involved in helping with important parts of the ministry, you will 1) make them question whether what they are doing is important and whether their gifts would be better used somewhere else, and 2) end up running the ministry by yourself, which doesn't work.

• From talking with people in Hong Kong, it has been a general consensus that one on one time with kids is essential in order to connect with them, especially in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, many kids are raised in such a way that people are concerned about their grades, their athletic abilities, and their musical abilities, but very few people are concerned about them as individuals. One person told me his ministry philosophy for working with youth in Hong Kong is, "To be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." Basically, unless you are able to form a deep relationship with the kids where they feel that you truly know and understand them, they will view you as just another adult in their life who is trying to make them more marketable without actually caring about them as a person. Another Hong Kong youth worker told me it has been his experience that a 15 minute one-on-one conversation with a student in Hong Kong can have the same effect on that student as a conversation that would take a few hours anywhere else.

• Youth workers reaching kids is great, parents reaching their own kids is essential. For all the work I do with kids, I will end up having less than 5 hours a week of influence on almost all of them on average. Depending on schedules, a parent can get that much time with a kid in a night, and more on weekends. If the truths I am teaching the youth aren't being reinforced at home, they are much less likely to stick long-term.

• Just as a good pastor has to do in order to be effective in his city, a good youth worker must correctly identify the idols of the youth he or she wants to reach. It is much easier to point kids to Christ if we know what the biggest hindrance is that is keeping them from Him in the first place.

• While having a lot of kids in a youth ministry is great, we must be sure that we are ultimately drawing them to Christ, and not something else (and there are a lot of other things that we can--consciously or subconsciously--draw them to). One of my former youth leaders reminded me that "what you draw them with is what you will draw them to." Crazy and fun youth events are great, but they must not get in the way of our kids seeing and loving Christ. A school teacher in Hong Kong added the wise advice, "Foster a love for God's Word among the youth, not just a love for fun and fellowship." Fun and fellowship are great, but if they come at the expense of the youth knowing Christ, then they are a fatal distraction.

Hopefully, I will learn more as these meetings continue, but I think this is a good and very useful starting point.

Thoughts on Youth Ministry

Sorry I've been so inconsistent with the posts lately. My summer has been crazy. Hopefully things will begin to settle down for a while now and I should be able to post more consistently (at least for a while).

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I have gotten a new job that will start September 1 as a youth director in a recently started church plant called "Watermark Community Church"... which is also in Hong Kong. Actually, Watermark is new enough that it doesn't have a youth ministry yet, and my job for now is to get a youth ministry in place.

In preparation for my new job, I have become a student again. I have been reading books on youth ministry and mentoring, having conversations about youth ministry with different people, and praying about what the new ministry will look like. I am basically trying to get as wide a variety of views on youth ministry as possible so I can be aware of as wide a range of options as possible and make the wisest decision about which directions to move with Watermark's youth ministry.

I know that many of my readers here are/have been involved in youth ministry at various times in the past. Are there any books or articles you would say I have to read before starting the new job? Is there anyone I have to talk to in order to be fully informed? (Yes, Mrs. Costine, I have sent a message to Tim...) Is there anything I have to know about the job before beginning it? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

A Pink Mohawk

Being a white American who is 6'7" tall and who has has dirty blond hair and blue eyes has always gotten me a lot of strange looks in Hong Kong (and across Asia). None of those looks, however, can compare with the responses people give to seeing a pink mohawk on my head.

It's a funny story. As part of our youth fundraiser, I auctioned off the rights to pick the style and color of my hair for a 3-week timespan. I figured the youth would pool their money and put up a good bid, but I thought the announcement that I would be leading music in church during one of those 3 weeks and preaching another one would inspire certain adults in attendance at the fundraiser (such as the pastor and some of our deacons) to attempt to outbid the youth. What ended up happening is that the deacons and pastor seemed completely at ease with the idea of me preaching and leading music in a mystery hairstyle picked by the evil genius of the youth, and the youth came out of the gate in the bidding making the clear statement that they were in this one to win it all. A few adults made semi-serious bids, just to get the youth to raise their price, but in the end, the youth paid 660 HKD for the right to pick the style and color of my hair for a timespan of 3 weeks. The rest is history.

Like I said, having this hair has gotten some amazing responses. Comments I have received include a man from my church explaining to me that an office worker in Hong Kong could never have this haircut because they would get fired and a witty flight attendant telling me to "watch your hair" as I boarded an airplane (She was so proud of that one, she made sure to point out what she had said to the next few passengers to board so they could all know how witty she was). I also had a man ask me if I could come to his house and paint the ceiling with my hair. One man simply stated the obvious: "You are tall, and your hair is tall." A slightly more colorful man told me, "Your hair is explosive." I've also been told it makes me look like David Crowder, a comparison which I get a lot (although he doesn't have the mohawk), and Shane Claiborne (This is a new one, and I don't see the connection, since he has dreads, not a mohawk...). All of this is in addition to numerous bystanders who stare, either blankly or in awe, in total defiance of all cultural politeness, as I walk the streets.

The added attention I have gotten from my hair has gotten me thinking. From a physical standpoint, it is hard to find anyone who looks more out of place in Hong Kong than I do, even without the pink mohawk. Adding the mohawk, however, has certainly caused a greater gap between what one expects to find in Hong Kong and what I look like. The thing is, I'm different, more so with the mohawk than ever before. And because I'm different, people notice me. They go out of their way to talk to me about my hair. They ask questions about it. They make jokes and comments about it.

As Christians, we are called to be different than the world around us. I certainly don't believe this means we should all walk around town in pink mohawks. What I do believe is that we should live such lives of radical love, sacrifice, giving, community, grace, and service, all driven at their heart by the gospel, that the world around us notices something different about us. What better way to show the world that we're serious about our faith than to actually live lives that are driven at their hearts by our faith? I think this type of lifestyle being truly lived out in our communities would cause people to pay attention to what we are doing and (ultimately) to why we are doing it. People may not get it. They may make negative comments. They may ask questions. I can't guarantee their response (and I'm not suggesting that we stop verbally sharing our faith, just recommending that we be more intentional about living lives that back up what we say), but I bet if we had a community where people truly lived like this, this community would be so distinct from those around them that the people around them would have no choice but to acknowledge the difference and either intentionally ignore it or find out more about it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that as Christians, the lives we live should not blend into the world like an Asian walking the streets of Hong Kong. We should stick out like a pink mohawk on a crazy tall American.

John 13:35

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

A Link and Thoughts on Planning Youth Camp

First off, for those of you who haven't heard it yet, I preached at my church in Hong Kong a couple weeks ago. If you want to hear the sermon, here is a link for it:

http://218.189.239.40:44057/shares/share/12June2011_Nothing%20but%20the%20Gospel.mp3

Secondly, starting this Sunday, I will be leading 2 weeks of youth camp/missions trip with my youth group. From Sunday to Friday, we will have a camp, where we will have times of fun and learning about God's Word. Then, on Saturday, we will go to Manila for a week to work at Kids International Ministries. Planning this trip has taught me a lot of things about myself and about life in general. Here are some of the highlights:

• I am not an organizer. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, and organizing something like this is one of my weaknesses.
• I am horrible at asking other people for help. I'm not sure if I just don't want to inconvenience them or if I want to do the job myself, but I'm just generally not good at asking for help. Which makes more organizing for me. Which is not a good thing.
• It takes a lot of time to plan a camp. When you're planning one for the first time, you don't necessarily realize all that goes into it (unless you're a great organizer) until you're doing it. Which, if you have failed to plan properly, will likely happen at the last minute, since you didn't know there would be SO MUCH TO DO!
• Going to camp is much more fun than planning for camp.
• Good friends who can help you out when you're super busy at work are amazing blessings. Especially when they offer to help without even being asked (see the part about me not being good at asking for help).

That being said, please pray for our upcoming camp. Here are a few things you can be praying for:

• That any youth who come who are not already Christians would hear and believe the gospel during this trip.
• That our kids who come who are already Christians will grow in their walk with Christ during our time at camp.
• That our whole group would have hearts to serve during our time in Manila.
• That we would all remain safe and healthy throughout the trip.
• That any minor details that I may have missed in the planning stages would work themselves out and not turn into big deals.

Already?

This past Tuesday, June 21, marked 1 year since my arrival to Hong Kong. I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it hard to believe that I've been here that long. As I look back over the past year, I see that I have learned a lot (and most of it was stuff that I never expected to learn this year). Here are some highlights:

• God is REALLY BIG-I have had a number of difficult times this year, whether it was the trouble of transitioning to a city where I didn't know anybody or the culture, issues with having no idea how to do my job, or any other of a number of things. Throughout all of them, one of the most comforting things for me to remember is that me being here is not an accident. My presence in this specific place at this specific time is a part of God's plan that He had before He formed the earth, and He has me here for a purpose. Reflecting on that truth makes it hard to stay discouraged by various trials for too long.

• Unity is awesome (and essential)-One of the highlights of my year has been meeting on a weekly basis with youth leaders from churches across the city to pray together for our youth. The people in this group are some of my closest friends in Hong Kong. Despite a number of differences in doctrine, church structure, etc. we are able to recognize the fact that we have Christ in common, and that the common bond of Christ is stronger than any secondary differences that may separate us. Having this unity allows us to work together to see God glorified in Hong Kong, rather than working in competition to see us and our individual ministries glorified. This unity has born amazing fruit in the youth of this city.

• Your heart will follow your treasure-Growing up, I would always read Jesus statement in Matthew 6:21 ("Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also") as saying that where we invest our treasure is indicative of where our hearts are. While this is true on one level, I have learned this year that it works the opposite way as well. When we place our treasure somewhere, our hearts will follow our treasure. This is not an original insight-I read it in a book, but can't remember which one-but I have really gotten to see it in action this year. When I came to Hong Kong, the plan was to stay for one year, then go back to the States. After spending a year of my life in this city, investing in this city, getting involved in the lives of the people of this city-investing my "treasures" here-I have grown to love this city. That is why I will be staying in Hong Kong for another year (although I will be working at a different job here).

There are many more lessons I have learned over the past year, maybe they will be shared in future posts. (or maybe not... time will tell)

Things that Stir My Affections

For this week's blog, I want to share a challenge from a pastor named Matt Chandler. He says that we should identify the things in our lives that stir our affections for God, and the things that rob our affections for Him. Everything in life affects the way we perceive God and the way we relate to Him. For example, sin separates us from God and robs us of communion with Him. Obedience to God draws us closer to Him. However, certain things which are morally neutral (such as listening to different styles of music, eating certain foods, or different conversation topics) also have the ability to create within us a desire to draw near to God or to make us feel a greater gap between us and God. Here is a list of some things I have identified in my life that stir my affections:

Things that rob me of my joy in Christ and make me feel distant from God:

• Excessive caffeine and sugar--In moderation, these things are essential ingredients to me successfully completing most days. When I take caffeine and sugar in excess, however, they have a tendency to make me feel anxious and jumpy and draw my desires away from God to worry.
• Sara Bareilles--Musically, I love her. Lyrically, she is incredibly depressing, and I often cannot help but be in a bad mood when I listen to her music.
• Excessive rest or lack of rest--The balance in life between work and rest is one that must be delicately maintained. Too much work without rest, and I begin to find my identity in what I do rather than in who I am in Christ, not to mention exhaustion. Too much rest and not enough work, and I begin to suffer from sloth.
• Overeating--So many people take me out to eat here and order excessive amounts of food. They eat a little bit and then tell me to finish the rest. Not wanting to appear rude, I usually do my best to accomplish this feat. After the meal, my body is out of its normal, healthy equilibrium, and I am unable to focus on God because of the discomfort I am experiencing in my stomach.

Things that stir my affections for God:

• Anything deeply theological--Whether this is solid preaching, a good book, or music with totally gospel-centered lyrics (although preferably not southern gospel-styled), things that more clearly reveal to me who God is, how He works, and how I can know Him more deeply typically cause me to draw closer to Him and have a deeper desire to know Him.
• Fresh fruit--This may seem weird, but eat a fresh, ripe mango and tell me God's not awesome for creating it.
• Starry skies--One of my favorite things to do while I'm at home is go outside on a night when it is below 0 degrees (so the sky is too cold for clouds) and stare at the stars, pondering the greatness of the God who created them and knows them all by name. Starry skies are one of the things I miss most in Hong Kong.
• A good night's sleep--It's amazing the difference it makes for my day to be able to wake up with a smile on my face rather than having my first thought of the day be how much I hate my alarm clock.
• Self-sacrificial service for the sake of someone totally undeserving of it--Whether it is hearing a story of someone who gave his or her life so that others could live, or seeing a group of 20-somethings give up their weekday evenings to tutor inner-city kids so they can pass school, I see shadows of Christ's ultimate sacrifice in these things, and the joy I find in these stories of self-sacrificing service always cause me to have a desire to dive more deeply into understanding Christ's sacrifice for me.