Wow...where do I begin? I haven't posted in quite some time. The church that I was on staff at has finally closed it's doors after 10 years of existence. What to do...the job search is on, for both a secular and a ministry related job. Time to put my faith where my mouth is and start trusting in God. That's not always an easy thing, but I'm trying. God has always provided up to this point, it's time to keep trusting him through the hard(er) times.

Ok, so I'm always looking artists that specialize in Church's needs. So I came across this by total randomness.

Please, please go check out this deviant member, his work is not only unique and different (and, hey, anyone who's seen my rants, knows that I'm a stickler for coming up with new church designs)but It's very polished and professional.

Here's his link:

[link]

Oh, and by the way...my fav is:
[link]


...alright...I'm out...(check him out!!!)

Ok, I know that I haven't updated my journal in like, forever. Anyway, I've come to another major decision in my life:

GRAPHIC DESIGN DEGREE

I know, I'm one of the pastors at a church, and I still feel that this is where God has lead me. I'll never actually stop being a pastor...but I love graphic design; and I've come to understand that God gives us abilities that we enjoy and that we can use both for furthering His kingdom, and for our pleasure. Designing new art is relaxing for me. I love coming up with new themes and designs for our church, but also just to mess around in photoshop.

So all that to say...I'm going back to school! I know, I just got my Master's of Divinity in December, and now I want to go back for something completely different...what can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment!

(Before you read any further...you should that I am a Youth Pastor 1st, and trying to guide kids lives [notice I said guide, not control, people have a right to choose their lives, I can only offer what the Bible says, and offer my own advice] is part of what I do. The 2nd thing you should know is that this was originally written for my students on myspace to address issues that I saw were pretty numerous.)


_______________________________________________________

Blogging/Myspace guidelines for Christians



Hey kids and kid-a-roos!

There's a few things I've been wanting to get off my chest about using blogs & myspace. Some things relate to being a Christian and using myspace and some...well, some are just my own rants and ravings. So here I am getting up on my soap box:

*Before I continue I just wanted to take a second to say that as Christians we are supposed to be discerning between what is clean or unclean: Leviticus 10:10 "so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean," The Bible also says in I Peter 1:14-16, "14Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had when you were still ignorant. 15Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy. The scripture says, "Be holy because I am holy."*



1. Christian Myspace: Ok, if you're a Christian and you say you're a Christian and your website says that you're a Christian, but you use profanity......What do you think that's telling the rest of the world about Christians? We're called to a higher standard to live above the world and its standards (take note I said we're called to a higher standard...not that we're any better...get it right). So when we use profanity we're basically telling the world, "Hey, we're no different than you! You know why? Because I don't practice what I preach."
- And by the way, that is exactly what they see!
So don't use profanity in your site, or when you post bulletins! If you are going to repost something that has profanity in it; then for Pete's sake: edit it!

(Personal rant: no offense here people, but if the only word you can think to use is *@..!, then how stupid are you? Grab a thesaurus, find a word that has more than 4 letters in it! Otherwise, the rest of us will just assume that you are a moron who couldn't come up with anything better than, "that was f---ing awesome man" (in which case, thank you for showing us your IQ).

- one last word about using profanity: For those of you that says the Bible has nothing to say about that........think again! Matthew 12:36 "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak." Also Colossians. 3:8, "But now you must RID yourselves from such things as these: Anger, rage, malice, slander, and FILTHY LANGUAGE FROM YOUR LIPS!"

2. Bulletin Subjects: 50 million posts with the subject: "I slept with your girl" or "I'm in love with your boyfriend/girlfriend," or worse F--- you."

- Listen we all know that it's another mass bulletin posting, and most of us have no desire to read them. (Also this goes back to the being a Christian thing and not using profanity). I can't tell you how tired I am of getting something that says if I don't repost something in 10 seconds 5 of my closest friends will die, their families will also die from constipation, your pet dog ploopy will get run over by a car, but not before he too gets a case of the trots. By the way if you don't, in turn send this bulletin out to 5,000 people within 2 seconds of receiving this bulletin, you will also get an enema at your next doctor's appointment.

3. Personal Information: Detailed information about yourself is not only dangerous, it's stupid! I'm not just your youth minister (I'm talking to my youth group not my peers, sorry to everyone else), but to my students, I'm also your friend looking out for you. I want the best for you, and the best is not to be stalked by some pedophile on the internet then killed later because you wouldn't listen to a simple warning.

- Posting detailed information can easily give a stalker information about you. Your name and age might be "Pookie is Cool" age 719. But if you main page has your real name, high school, interests, schedule, where you hang out, your pets eye color - - - - this just make it easy for anyone to get all the info they need to get to you. So be careful! Don't post anything that you wouldn't want a stalker knowing.

4. Online make-believe land: Students: Myspace is not a make believe land, where what you say wont come back to bite you. Be careful what you say. If you start talking trash about some one in your class thinking that it will never get back to them, then be prepared for the consequences of it coming back to bite you in the butt! And it will too! Don't create a site throwing half-naked pictures of yourself on it thinking, "well this is just my online site, and it's not like it's really hurting anyone." The next time you say that you should probably know that anything you put on online can be taken off. Any picture you post can be traced and saved so if you don't want some pervert getting those half-naked pictures of you, then posting them on their site or hanging them up at school, then DON'T PUT THEM ON YOUR SITE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
- for goodness sake people show a little decency and class! Lost people post pics like that. You're a Christian! You shouldn't be doing things like that! Ephesians 5:11 says, "Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to the darkness."

5. Bulletin Blasts: Ok, this is also just a personal preference: Please don't blast us with 50 go-jillion posts at one time. This again is just a personal preference. But I personally don't like to log in and see 10 posts (the most of which are "repost this or die"). Can you at the very least, can you put all your posts into one post before you send them at one time? That way, we won't all want to kill you!

6. Comments/Messages: comments are great and awesome, but if you can't keep it clean and profanity free, it will be deleted. If you have a serious complaint with someone, send them a message, don't post it as a comment.

7. Website content: the great thing about an online site is that you can personalize your site! You can make it really cool. But hear me out: if you're a Christian should you really be putting up picture of celebrities that are wearing practically nothing on your site? Just a thought. Telling everyone that you're a Christian and yet you have pictures of Britney Spears and Beyonce showing off their chests doesn't do a whole lot to reinforce the fact that you're a Christian in the world's eyes.

8. Comments: Again this is just a personal thing, but seriously, students, I love you guys, I visit you sites daily (no, seriously!) but come on: if I have to post a comment on every single picture, and every new layout, and every different word, and every new video....I'm not going to have time in the day to even hug my wife. Seriously, I love you guys but you have to realize something: It's ok if not everyone constantly comments on your site, and how purty your site is, or the new "oohs" or "aahs" of it. I still love you guys even if I don't comment.

- You heard me say that right? So don't think that if I don't comment that I'm mad at you and hate your guts! There's simply not enough time in the day to give you guys that much attention. (and lets be honest: now that it's summer time....some of you guys live on you Myspace sites 24/7....go out, see a movie, go to a base ball game, get some fresh air. Pale skin and wide eyes are not always attractive!)

9. Parental Involvement: Listen this is a hard one for most of you, and this is why I'm saving it for the last thing. You shouldn't put anything on your Myspace site that you would be embarrassed to show your parents. Now I do know for some of you, that some of your parents don't care what you put on your site. In that case don't put up anything that you would be ashamed to show me. Believe me, I'll have no problem telling you if I think it's inappropriate or ungodly.

As far as your parents being involved with your site, you really should have your parents check out your site at least once every other week. It's called being held accountable for your actions. I know some of you just think your parents are old-timers so if you don't want to use them to be accountable to, then feel free to ask me. I'm on your sites anyways. Be accountable to each other as Christians! The Bible says in Romans 14:12 that, "So then each of us will give an account of himself to God." So what we need to do is help each other out. Let's keep each other responsible for what we write/post/message on our Myspace sites. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10&12 says, "9 Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble. 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."







Alright, thank you, my rant is now over, I'm stepping off my soapbox. You can ignore this post if you want, but this is just someone who is looking out for you.



-Caleb

I'm sorry I haven't responded to anyone lately. There have been links, adds, favs and I sincerely apologize for a lack of response.

Things at our church have been turned upside down. We've literally been reeling with tragedy and confusion.

Where do I start? Where can I start without feeling like my heart is being torn all over again?

A dear family in our church lost their 7 month old daughter this week. Of her 7 months of precious life, 4 of them were spent in and out of the hospital. Finally, God took her home to His lap... Why do I feel so helpless?

Another close friend of ours was an a horrible car accident. The front of his car hit so badly the engine ended up in the front seat. He' still alive, but in the hospital... Why do I feel like there's nothing I can offer?

Yet another family has had the tragedy of dealing with a young mother of 3's suicide...How can I even begin to relate?

And in all of this, a family had to take their young daughter to the ICU as staff infection spread into her lungs... Is there any way I can comfort?


...where do I begin... I feel so lost myself and overwhelmed with emotions that I'm not even sure that I can be of any use to our church family. What advice/comfort do you give to a young couple that passed their lifeless baby back and forth to each other trying to say good bye to a child that can no longer hear them?


I guess what I am saying is that as a pastor, as a man who has spent years in seminary, earned 2 undergraduate degrees, and spent countless hours counseling. All that to say, when a young couple looks me in the eyes at the hospital and tells me that their daughter has just died...immediately mind mind spins reels with anguish/concern/heartache. What can I say, it sometimes takes us minutes, hours even before the pastoral part kicks in. Especially if we've grown close to the people in our congregation.

Eventually it does kick in: the counseling training, the pastoral caring, the preacher's knowledge of the Bible and verses to comfort and affirm...but still, we grieve with them. Our hearts break every time we hear those words.

I guess I'm saying all of this to let actually let people know that as pastors, we're not automatic. We don't just respond to a crises situation without emotions; in fact, we have to proceed in spite of them.


Again, I'm sure why I'm saying all of this...I feel like I'm confessing something, like I should be saying, "Oh, yes, of course, when a person comes into a crises situation, I'm Johnny on the spot with the answers and the comfort." But I guess what I'm really saying is that I don't have the answers immediately, I hurt with you too...and no I don't understand what you're going through, but it is breaking my heart.

...