The coming together of Presbys and Pentecostals...

This past Sunday evening at the Christian Reformed Church was our annual inter-church Palm Sunday Service. This is the second year now that I've been able to help in the leading of the service with leading the time of worship. This is always a highlight for me for a few reasons:

-They have really nice sound toys. For a musician, it's a real treat. Not only do they have a grand piano, but they have a brand new "Allen and Heath" sound board (these are the "Rolls Royce" of sound equipment), they have really nice sound acoustics, and their sound guy is a real treat to work with.

-My friend Mike gets to drum with us. Mike plays loud (probably too loud for some), but he's one heck of a good drummer and it's always a personal joy for me to jam with him. He's good at what he does.

-There's something about taking part in a worship service with some 500 people singing praise to God that just blesses my socks off.

Perhaps the greatest joy for me is to see the coming together of the churches of the Cowichan Valley for this. Take our music team for example... On it, we had Presbyterians, a Pentecostal, a Baptist, and a CRCer. We had leadership taking part from our church, Young Life, the Alliance Church, and the Pentecostal Church.

I think it especially blesses the heart of God when all of His kids come together like that. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that the world will know that He is sent from God when His people are in perfect unity. As well, what a witness to this community for them to see the Church (capital "c") come together in this fashion; when we strip away our denominational ties for just one evening simply to lift high the name of Jesus as One People.

I am already looking forward to the next time when the Churches of the Valley come together again...

Like Christmas all over again!

I forget how busy it is around a church at Easter Time... I'd guess to say that it's busier than Christmas Time! Before working in a church, I guess I just took it for granted about how much stuff goes into Easter... but there's a lot: Palm Sunday, inter-church service, Maunday Thursday service, Good Friday service, Easter Sunrise Service, Easter Sunday services... wow! It's not even 3pm yet and I've already had three cups of coffee today.

The challenge to myself personally this year is not to rush past Easter, not to rush past the Cross. Especially working in a church, it can be so easy to do 'churchy' things for the sake of doing things. The meetings, the planning, the rehearsals and practices, the times of worship can and will be meaningless if I simply rush past the significance of what it's all really about.

One of the things I tell myself over and over again is this: If I were the only person on earth, Jesus would still choose to come to earth to die so that I might be saved. The same is true for all of us. I pray that Easter won't be a time where I rush past the potential that Jesus' Resurrection can have in my life, and I pray the same for you guys too.

May this season of Easter really be a time where you discover afresh the Resurrection Power and Authority that comes through having an active relationship with Jesus.

youth pastordom

In a couple years, I'll be celebrating my 20th year in youth ministry. Here's a few things I found amusing...

10 ways to find out if you're a youth pastor

10) Do you have the pizza companies fast dialed into your phone?

9) You've graduated and have 1000 friends on Facebook and 950 of them are in high school.

8) You could entertain a room full of people with 4 paper clips, an eraser, some Q-tips and 2 minutes to prepare.

7) You text message faster than the average 13 year old girl.

6) Your teens call you too old and every adult calls you too young.

5) If your best memories are in an old church van.

4) Your trunk is filled with different kinds of sports equipment "just in case"

3) Your office is where everyone stores their stuff.

2) You watch Austin Powers for sermon ideas.

1) You're single and just bought a minivan.

Blogging 101

"So what's a blog?!" you might be asking... good question! Basically, a blog is like an online diary. No, you won't find out all the juicy stuff that goes into our secret diaries; you won't see us blogging about our love lives (or lack thereof).

Rather, we hope this blog will be a place where we can be transparent, a place where we can be honest, and a place where we can share some of the extraordinary things that take place everyday within the community of St Andrew's.

Sometimes we'll blog about a great church event or activity that's taking place. Other times, we might blog about something that's happening in our society and how it's affecting us. Or perhaps at other times, we might just simply blog about things that brought us joy or troubled us in our daily lives. Yes, despite contrary belief, church workers are real people too and we experience the ups and downs of life just like everyone else does. We hope that this blog will provide some insight into where life takes us outside of the context of 'church' on Sunday mornings.

We encourage you to bookmark this link and check back often. Although there isn't a blog schedule on when we'll be posting, we'll blog just as things come to mind or take place. More importantly, you have the option to respond back on each post on the blog. We'd be thrilled if you'd join in on the discussion with us... let's journey this road together!