But seriously, I'd like you to ponder a quote from Andy Root's , which for my money is the absolute best youth ministry book out there right now.
[Youth] ministry is not about helping these kids be better Christians; it is about helping them be what God created them to be -- human.1
What's your reaction/response to that? Leave a comment and let me know! I'll post the paragraph the quote is taken from to provide a bit more context if there's interest.
provocatively dissects the fine line between spiritual disciplines and becoming a "more decent human being." "The point is that one can fill a life full of spiritual activities without ever, actually, trying to become a more decent human being. In fact, much of this activity can distract one from becoming a more decent human being. Worse, some of these activities make you worse, interpersonally speaking. Many churches are jerk factories."
by Leonard Sweet (). "Jesus was a master at sound bytes that bite with terseness and immediacy. In fact, he was always twittering the gospel in pithy, memorable phrases, and even expressed his gospel in The Great Tweet: 'Love one another as I have loved you.' I suspect his followers would be well advised to RT (ReTweet) everything he said."
I had the honor of being invited by Tyler Braun to participate in his along with some blogosphere heavyweights like , , , and . Here's a little taste of what I wrote:
Why the caveat? Because today I’m not going to attempt any grand theological statements about the sovereignty of God. I’ll try my best to avoid theological jargon, especially words beginning with “omni-”. You see, for me the issue of God’s sovereignty is less about theo-logy and more about anthropo-logy, that is, the posture I take as a disciple-in-response to God’s sovereignty is in some ways more important than any named attributes of our God.
JakeBouma.com is a weblog maintained since 2005 by Jake Bouma, an ecclesial junkie and (imprudently) aspiring polymath who was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.
