The 4 Years That Changed My Life

I've been in youth ministry a long time. When going back to when I first started interning at my home church in Philly to today it would end up being ten years working with tomorrows future leaders. Youth ministry is probably one of the most challenging professions a person can choose however it is one of the most rewarding too.

I do not want to focus on all things that they didn't tell you in bible college, that will be for another day.

I want to focus on the past four years. I want to focus on Third Lane Youth.

Third Lane Youth 2007

(In case you ever wondered what TLY was all about)

I have been in a couple of different churches before I came to York First Assembly. The youth ministry we had in those churches grew and we had some great times. It wasn't until we launched TLY that the vision that I always had for youth min became a reality.

We had a live worship band with students and adults that eventually became totally student driven. (I love playing worship with my wife our team from TLY amazing times)

We had a thriving Fine Arts program (thanx to my wife) that focused on Human Videos, yeah its an AG thing...think acting out a song where drama meets cheerleading...sorta. The students we worked with were good...really good!

Fine Arts is a crazy beast for those who don't know what it is, its basically a talent driven program for students to use their talents and be judge on how well they do.

Think America's God Talent Meets American Idol and yeah...its pretty big deal in our denomination.

We made it to the National Level every year and that was great, but we never made it be about the awards and trips.

It was about ministry and discipleship.

We would take the students out to numerous churches and outreach events and the students made such an impact everywhere we went.

I always loved the development aspect of this creative tool, seeing students who would never be a part of something like this step out and make a difference. It never got old to me.

It wasn't that TLY was a youth group...it was more like a Youth Church, a church that felt like family.

And just like family we had our ups and downs, and in youth ministry not many pastors stick around long enough to press thru the drama and to start seeing the fruit.

I have never been a big event youth pastor. My heart has always been to raise future leaders in the church and in the world...(I guess VFCC made more of an impression on me than I thought, thanx Dr. Meyers) We ran TLY like a ministry school and the majority of our students in TLY went on to college especially to Bible College.

Third Lane Youth was always analogy to live life in the Spirit (live in the lane you can't see), to walk by faith and not by sight. It is interesting to me that after preaching about it for four years God would call me to plant and church and really practice what I preach and really step out in faith.

This past sunday the students organized a farewell for us. They made it about us. The impact we had. The good times we shared. It felt good, but honestly I just kept thinking Im so proud of this group of students to see how far they have come in their walk with God. They have been thru alot, we both have, but in the end we stood together in love and in faith.

I didn't realize that the things that made the biggest impression on them were not my sermons, how clever or fashionable I was, (although they did make a pretty funny video about how I dress, stay tuned I'll put that up soon)

It was about the little things I did.

The hanging out and playing video games, going out and talking over lunch, singing American Idol.

That's right I said American Idol.

It was a weird tradition that my wife and I had that if students came over our house we made them sing and play the American Idol video game...You would be surprised the students that would sing...and how they would sing...oh my...lol.

The farewell service was not about me, it was about them, it has always been about them.

I went into youth ministry to change lives, but in the end it was my life that was changed.

Third Lane Youth 2010

Phillies Phaith

It was not an uncommon night for my wife and I. We put our little guy to bed and spent some time watching TV, flipping channels, and talking about the day. The Food Network is always a fav and I like to turn back and forth between the latest Ace of Cakes and the latest Phillies game.

Marriage is all about compromise peoples. (If I can only get that Picture in Picture feature working)

Sad to say the remote did not get a lot of action last night. It pretty much stayed on the Food Network. After all, my beloved Phillies were losing 9-2 to the stinking LA Dodgers. (I pretty much loathe all things LA that includes Kobe.)

I have to be honest.

When I saw the score I did not turn it back to watch again for the night.

This is not behavior becoming of the true blue Philly sports fan, of days of old when my dad would wake me up to watch Lenny Dykstra and John Kruk pull out a late night rally.

I went to bed and shut the lights on my Phillies.

I woke up and put on my favorite Phillies Tee after all, thats how Philly fans do, win or lose.

Turning on my Mac to catch the latest clever headline from the Philadelphia Daily News Online depicting another heartbreaking loss. I was shocked to read CHOOCHOOO! in big letters and see the Phillies catcher Ruiz (nicknamed Chooch) dancing with his fellow teammates.

Did they win?

They did!

They pulled off the comeback from being down seven runs!

This made me smile and made me think.

How often do I give up when the circumstances look hopeless?

How often do I assume that there is no time left to turn things around?

How often do I let my fear of disappointment dictate my faith in something or someone?

I wonder when the momentum shift was that started The Phillies to believe that they had a chance. If something was said from one player to another, to not give up, to hold on, to keep swinging.

Sometimes prayers can be like a Phillies game.

There are some types of fans and people of faith that stay to the final inning never giving up hope and being there in the moment when hope meets the fruition.

For the rest of us, its good to know that in the moments when we turn the channel of our faith, God does not turn the channel from us and is still working behind the scenes.

Life is not always like a ballgame but I like to think that I serve God who can surprise us by a headline, or a verse, or something more.

I am reminded of Jesus praying for his disciples in the garden before His death (John 17), they fell asleep, but Jesus didn't. In the midst of His unbearable burden of the cross he prayed for them, He prayed for us.

He undersands the battle of waiting.

"Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." (Rom8.26-28 Msg)

I don't have everything figured out.

There are circumstances in my life that I wished would be more comfortable.

No matter how big or how small, I have faith.

I will believe, I will hope.

"Though the sorrow may last for the night

His joy (and the Phillies) comes thru in the morning."

TLY Youth Day/ Comfort or Faith?

I love seeing students leading other students. This past sunday, the students of TLY lead other adults. It was our annual youth day where the students take over worship, minister in special music, and human videos. This year they preached too!

We had two seniors share Matthias Wagman who will be attending Messiah College and Mary Liz Patterson who will be attending Zion Bible college in the Fall.

Both brought unique perspectives about stepping out of the comfort zone and into the faith zone as one of the students put it.

Matthias recently traveled to France and spoke some as well. He shared about a family who they had a chance to fellowship with and plant some seeds of faith. Its cool hearing him read their post card in French...Oui Oui!

Mary Liz followed and has one of the sweetest voices you will ever hear, but she brought some of strongest challenges I ever heard in a message as well.

She shared a story about a photograph of a girl and raven that won the pulitzer prize.

The story behind the photo will break your heart.

How many times are we as Christians afraid to step out of comfort zone and chase life's vultures.

We closed the message with communion.

I showed this video that I put together about 4 years ago for my first youth service at TLY (then Powerhouse Youth Ministries) its kind of fitting that I would show it on my last youth day.

Its a scene from the Passion of the Christ set to the song The Stand by Hillsong United. When I put this together I never saw the other video montage with a similar scene and other scenes from the movie.

The unique thing about this video is that movie and song are not edited and it is erie and inspiring how it fits together ala Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz.

In the book Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis states his famous "Trilemma"

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

There is a line in the song that keeps replaying in my mind after I watch this video, "What can say what can I do, but offer this heart eternally to you."

We always have a choice in life.

Christ was never forced his views or vision on anyone.

He always leaves it for us to decide...

comfort or faith?

From 2 to 7 TLY Water Baptism Service

My favorite event each year hands down is definitely our Third Lane Youth Water Baptism service. We have been doing this since 2008. Each year there is something about the day that inspires me and leaves me with memories that I will never forget.

The first year it rained cats, dogs, and hamsters. You name it. That was one crazy storm.

We went to Pinchot Park anyways.

We cooked hot dogs under umbrellas.

We had a worship service.

And as we worshiped, the storm cleared and we had our first baptism service.

The first year we were the only ones there, the second year it was a beautiful day and there were lots of other people there too. That is to say, not just people from our church.

It could be a little intimidating to baptize in public like that, but it made an impression on me that these students were proud to get baptized amongst the on-lookers.

Most of all, it's the people getting baptized that truly make this day unforgettable.

It is not an easy thing to stand up in public, its another thing when you stand for Jesus in public.

This year was different than any another year.

It wasn't just students getting baptized this time.

Over the past number of years we always a had a good group signed up to take the plunge.

This year we had two signed up.

Not that numbers are everything. I am definitely not a numbers guy, but I just really believe in water baptism as one of the bench mark moments in your walk with God. I don't want to see anyone miss an opportunity.

As we closed our worship service this time I shared a verse from Acts 8 about Philip and the Ethiopian.

"35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" (Acts 8.35-36 NIV)

I think sometimes we complicate things to much in the church.

When you step out in faith and call a Holy Spirit audible there is always a fear of a fumble. What happened during this service was definitely a touchdown in my book. (That's the analogy you get when you fall asleep watching Sports Center.)

We had a grandmother come forward, a parent, and a brother and sister. Even before the service we had a parent call to see if their child could get baptized.

It is an amazing thing to see that type of momentum take place; from two to seven. (see the sports analogy works)

We recorded testimonies this year for the video from students who got baptized in the years previous and this year as well.

I love hearing the students share their heart.

These individuals ministered to me, if not more, as much as I try to minster to them.

So don't just take my word for it... (Reading Rainbow anyone?)

Landslide

I remember the first time I met Jeff Rosinski. It was orientation at Valley Forge Christian College, and I was excited and scared. New places can have that effect on me - on lots of people I suppose.

There was this one blonde haired guy cracking jokes and wearing a blue tie-dyed "Greatful Dead" T-Shirt. Upon a closer look it read, "Greatful to God, Dead to sin." It was a little cheesy, but it made me laugh. I liked this guy immediately.

Jeff was my first friend at Valley Forge, and probably one of my best friends during those years. We definitely had our moments like most friendship do, but we had some great times too.

Joking in the back of the class.

Playing tennis and talking about girls.

Working in the school cafeteria and thinking we were cool.

Some people are the type of friends that no matter what season of life you are in, you can get together and pick up right where you left off, never missing a beat. Jeff was one of those friends.

We also listened to music a lot.

He turned me on to Garth Brooks and Dave Matthews Band.

I turned him on to the Smashing Pumpkins and Bob Dylan.

One song in particular that Jeff loved (and would steal my CD and have me play all the time) was the Pumpkins cover of "Landslide."

He loved that song.

Listening to the song now and reading the lyrics it's ironic, it is beautiful.

The imagery of mountains.

The honesty of fears.

The changing seasons of hope.

It's a song about growing up.

On the surface Jeff could come across as the typical college guy, but when you got to know him he was deep.

Jeff was a thinker and writer.

During those years we both wrote poetry a lot.

It is cool to go on Jeff's Blog and still see him writing poetry.

I haven't written that much poetry since college.

I think that will change.

When I think of this life, I think that we are all running a race, and as we cross the finish line we cross into eternity.

"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!." (1 corinthians 9.24 NLT)

Jeff always ran to win.

Jeff always ran faster than me.

I look forward to seeing you again friend and I know you are waiting at the finish line where life meets eternity.

My Hero Is A Christian

Christian means different things to different people. The particular Christian that I am talking about is my cousin Christian. He was married a number of months ago in Tulsa OK where he met his wife Amanda.

This past weekend they had a marriage service for the family in Philly and I was able to be a part of the festivities too. My job was to do the Unity-Candle section of the ceremony.

It was a pretty moving service.

My cousin Christian means the world to me, he is more than a cousin, he is like a brother to me.

In the Italian culture family is a big deal, the fact that Christian is getting married is a big deal.

September will mark 12 years from when his mother Sue passed away from a five year battle with Breast Cancer.

Sue was a striking women in beauty and in her walk with God.

She had a laugh that was contagious.

Aunt Sue had a big heart and just being around her you felt lifted in your spirit. There were many times as a teenager I would take the bus to NJ to hang with my cuz and his fam. Those years were probably the hardest of my life and my Aunt Sue was always there to be an encouraging source of strength and give me the courage to be myself and trust God.

As much as my Aunt Sue was a huge inspiration in my life even more so to her son Christian.

They talked a lot.

They fought a lot.

But they hugged even more.

She was the most important person in his life...most important women in his life.

Christian and I were roommates in college.

We took many walks and talked about many things.

When you're in your twenties guys always talk about girls.

(Hope of finding the one... well at least at bible college they do.)

He shared thoughts that broke my heart of what it was like to lose a mom at age 17.

He shared fears that I would never be able to handle if I was in his shoes.

He shared his heart.

Christian has now found someone to share his hopes and fears...his heart.

A special young woman to be an inspiration to his embattled soul.

I am inspired by people who have preserved thru great obstacles and tragedy and still believe in God.

That is true faith.

Christian has preserved.

Christian has faith.

I am rememinded of verse that is quickly becoming my favorite verse for this season of my life...

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." - John 16.33 (NLT)

In an age when people invent new ways and excuses to behave however they want, Christian had every right to use his mother as an excuse, he never did.

Christian is a hero to me that still holds on to his faith in God and has found a hand in his to walk in a new journey of hope together.

Lebron A King Misunderstood

I was not surprised with Lebron James "Decision" to go to Miami. He will now have a legit shot to win a title with some of the greatest players and greatest guys in the NBA Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

In a country that loves superstars loves super star teamups like The Big Three in Boston, Kobe and Gasol, Brady and Moss, the calibration of talent with these teams was always met with high praise, however it is different for Lebron.

I am having a hard time figuring out why there is so much hate for a guy who has done nothing but kept his nose clean and makes some pretty funny commercials.

He does not dog fight.

He does not have rendezvous in Colorado.

He does not have a wife that swings a golf club like a WWE star.

He is a good guy in a sport-world with a lot of selfish guys...right?

In my life following sports I have always seen "Big Stars" take "Big Money" to have the sole spotlight to further their "Big Ego."

The Alex Rodriguez

The Albert Haynesworth

The Manny Ramirez

Just to name a few.

So here comes Lebron choosing to go into a situation with LESS MONEY and to SHARE the SPOTLIGHT with two other superstars to WIN a CHAMPIONSHIP.

Instead of having a press conferance to announce his decision he has a TV Special that will raise money for the United Way, pretty cool right?

Wrong.

Since the media were not invited to the party its time to trash the host.

Lebron chose not to go to the major sport markets like New York and Chicago so of course they are going to make him a villain. If Lebron chose New York and not Miami he would be hero, but he didn't, so he is not.

I guess thats what you get if you miff off the biggest news media outlet in world.

"It takes one player to be a superstar it takes a team to be champion," James said last night in his statement on ESPN.

In a culture that values money and individualized fame it is refreshing to see a star be able to communicate the importance of team and how the best way to reach goals are to reach them together.