Category Archives: Nate’s Blog

Discipleship in the Children’s Ministry

Published in Nate's Blog on May 28, 2010
Discipleship in the Children’s Ministry

The Children’s Ministry of Jenison Christian Church seeks, in conjunction with the family, to produce children who are disciples of Jesus Christ.  Our mission is not to make your child the smartest kid in the class, but rather to assist in stamping the promises of God on his or her heart.  Our goal is not to produce a child who knows all the “Sunday School” answers, but a child who is able to make right choices in difficult situations.  A child who values joy over cynicism, selflessness over selfishness, generosity over greed, and grace over unforgiveness.  A child who chooses respect, honor, love, mercy, and peace.

It takes more than seventy volunteers to make this happen.  At the risk of slighting anyone, allow me to especially mention two women who devote so much time to the Children’s Ministry that they should be paid a full-time salary!  Amy Barber puts countless hours into organizing our Wednesday night DiscipleLand.  She comes early, stays late, supervises, subs, and spends countless hours in recruitment and preparation for a program that seeks to go in-depth into the Scriptures.   Lee North puts in many, many hours of behind-the-scenes time in producing the highest quality in children’s programming with PromiseLand on Sunday morning.  Lee leads a team of more than thirty adults and teenagers that impact children with the message, values, and promises of Jesus Christ fifty-two weeks a year.  Thank you ladies for your selfless service!

Discipleship in the church doesn’t just “happen.”  It must be intentional and purposeful.  Our Children’s Ministry team is committed to assisting your family in producing disciples of Jesus.  We meet monthly, constantly questioning and tweaking our approach in order to get the very best possible results.  Thank you so much to the following folks for sharing a late night meeting with me every month – Amy Barber, Mary Beach, Tim Hoezee, Rhonda Hoyle, Pat Howard, Jerry Maue, and Lee North.

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Even the pros do it……..

Published in Nate's Blog on May 28, 2010
Even the pros do it……..

I have been here WAAAAAAY too many times to count, but it’s refreshing to know that it doesn’t always go right – even for the pros….

http://www.musicademy.com/2010/05/worship-trainwreck-from-martin-smith/

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Discipleship

Published in Nate's Blog on April 4, 2010
Discipleship

A portion of my job description as Associate Pastor revolves around Christian Education programming, and by extension, our student ministry at Jenison Christian Church.  Discipleship is a key objective of our student ministry at Jenison Christian Church.  Discipleship is the process, within your community of believers, of becoming more like Jesus than you were the day before.

  • It’s a pursuit, a journey, an adventure.  It’s not the mountaintop experience; it’s the hike on the way to the summit.
  • It never takes place in a vacuum, socially or spiritually, but rather in the interaction between fellow travelers who have the same intended destination.
  • It is the purpose for which Jesus gathered twelve men around him at the beginning of his three-year ministry – so that by spending time with Him, they would take on His attributes, His character qualities, His patterns of thinking, and His relationship with God.

Senior high students watch and discuss The Truth Project on Sunday nights so that they will be encouraged and empowered to think and act like Jesus Christ.  They volunteer for the Haiti Food Pack and the West Michigan Food Bank so that they can become like Jesus in service.  On Wednesday nights, junior high students read and talk through Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, so that they can become more obedient to the commands of Jesus, and thereby grow in faith and love and in looking like Him.  And we intentionally structure specific ministry times so that our students can be exposed to Godly adults and role models who will demonstrate the actions and thoughts and words of Christ in everyday situations.

Often, we think of progressing in the Christian faith as a series of bullet points to be memorized and recited at will.  But discipleship is about growing and changing so much more than the mind.  It’s about changing the body and the spirit and the soul and, yes, the mind too.  It’s about changing the inner core – the secret heart, the very being of an individual – into something that is more like Jesus than it was the day before.  What an incredible adventure we are on as we seek to help people become passionate followers of Jesus Christ!  Thank you for serving with us!

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Your view of “labor”

Published in Nate's Blog on March 15, 2010
Your view of “labor”

What’s your view of “labor”?

In the video series we watched last night (the Truth Project), Dr. Del Tackett made several statements about labor and working that made me raise my eyebrows.  He might be right (he’s obviously a lot more intelligent than I), but on the other hand maybe he’s wrong.  At the very least, I didn’t like what he did hermeneutically with a couple of scripture passages…

He purports that God has ordained the following economic system:  a three part system including God, Stewards, and Stuff, in which God owns all the “stuff”, God designates stewards to be accountable for the “stuff, and the stewards steward the “stuff.   He then purports a lesser/lower version of the same system (a three part system including owners, workers, and stuff – Owners own the stuff, owners designate employees to be accountable for the stuff, and the employees steward the stuff, while owners are responsible for the well-being of their employees)

Something strikes me as wrong, even though when I look at the diagrams he drew, it seems hard to argue with it.

Perhaps more than anything, it felt like Dr. Tackett was suggesting that God has ordained a system of capitalism, even though the word “capitalism” never appeared as far as I remember in the 60 minute presentation.

I don’t have any problems with capitalism.  I’m not a socialist, I’m not a communist, I’m not a liberal politically-speaking;  I’m fiscally and socially conservative, and I have been and remain a capitalist.

But I’m not sure that God is as concerned about a country’s economic system as some on the Christian right want Him to be, Dr. Tackett’s arguments notwithstanding.

Granted, there are plenty of hints in the Scripture that point toward working hard, investing well, and doing long-term financial planning.  But there are plenty of hints in the Scripture that point toward sharing, giving generously without expectation of repayment or reward, and living communally.

I am loathe to endorse the idea that God prefers capitalism over socialism or communism.

In fact, I could probably make the argument that more people become followers of Christ living in a communistic system than in a capitalistic system, as miserable as a communistic system is.  Actually, they probably become followers of Christ in large part BECAUSE they live in the misery of a communistic system.  And isn’t becoming a follower of Christ more important in the long-term than what economic system people live in?

Scripturally, I didn’t like what he did with:

1.  Ephesians 6:5-8 – he took Paul’s commands to masters and slaves and applied them to the owner/worker relationship.  I’d have to study the passage, but it certainly feels like a stretch.  On the face of it, I’d rather default to a position that Eph. 6:5-8 is a passage that is no longer culturally relevant.

2.  Leviticus 23:22 (leaving the gleanings in the field for the poor) – he asserted that a) the poor need work, not a handout, and b) it is the duty of owners/employers to provide work opportunities for them.  Essentially, he argued that those who own businesses are obligated to provide opportunities for those who are unemployed and/or poor.

Ok, again, this might be right.  I don’t know.  But this is where the capitalistic side of me rears up and says that Americans live in a system in which virtually anyone who desires to succeed and to provide for themselves and their family can do so (excluding the physically disabled and the mentally disturbed).  I have extremely mixed feelings on the (b) idea above.

Anyway….

Here’s a recent article about Glenn Beck’s recent comments on economic and social systems.  I’m not a Glenn Beck fan, but I’m not his biggest detractor either.  Mostly I just thought it was interesting that his brou-ha-ha came up at the same time that we watched this edition of the Truth Project…  Check out the article here.

What’s your view on labor?

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Echo Valley

Published in Nate's Blog on February 23, 2010
Echo Valley

We took about half of our senior high youth group to Echo Valley near Kalamazoo MI on Sunday.  It’s a tobogganing/tubing hill.  To be frank – Echo Valley was about 90% lame except for the first 5 seconds on the toboggan run.  Otherwise, it was too warm, there wasn’t enough snow, the staff were so-so, and we spent more time throwing snowballs than we did going down the hills.

We had way more fun at McDonald’s on the way home.  Between 5 of us, we ate 170 chicken McNuggets.  I had just under 30.  That’s not something that I want to brag about though………..

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For no other reason than this….

Published in Nate's Blog on February 21, 2010
For no other reason than this….

…It’s my blog.  This post is dedicated to my brother, who decides to write a new blog post at nofencesinheaven.blogspot.com approximately every 6-8 weeks six years.

My top 10 facts about Chuck Norris.

  1. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
  2. Chuck Norris can blow bubbles with beef jerky.
  3. Chuck Norris CAN believe it’s not butter.
  4. When Bruce Banner gets mad, he turns into the Hulk. When the Hulk gets mad, he turns into Chuck Norris.
  5. Chuck Norris counted to infinity – twice.
  6. Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
  7. Chuck Norris uses a night light. Not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris.
  8. Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
  9. Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer
  10. Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.
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On Tiger and life

Published in Nate's Blog on December 16, 2009
On Tiger and life

“….a now-shattered personal life…”

In a recent piece on ESPN.com, Jason Sobel wrote the preceding words in regards to Tiger Woods.  Unless you were on Jupiter, you might have heard about the scandal that has unfolded in the days following Thanksgiving 2009.  A tabloid reported alleged infidelity on Tiger’s part just before Thanksgiving.  Tiger crashed his SUV early on Friday morning after Thanksgiving in a bizarre one-car accident coming out of his driveway.  The tabloids caught the scent of blood and latched on for dear life, alleging multiple affairs by Tiger with as many as 14 different women over the course of at least 5 years.  Within a few days Tiger acknowledged infidelity on his part, though not in any detail, and just two weeks after he wrecked his SUV he went into total hiding as he announced he was taking an indefinite leave from playing golf (and most likely, from any public appearances for the foreseeable future).

A “now-shattered life” indeed.

I’m never been a Tiger fan.  Of course one might think it’s easy to say that after the events of the past month.  But it’s true nonetheless.  I’ve never liked Tiger’s foul language on the golf course, his tossing of golf clubs, his caddy’s treatment of fans on the course, Tiger’s own attitude toward the fans who are responsible for all of his money, his reticence to sign autographs for those same fans, and so on.

I’d rather follow Vijay Singh, a golfer who gives interviews in which he tells you what he actually thinks instead of what he thinks you want to hear.  Or Tom Watson, a man who has more class in his little finger than most of the guys on the PGA Tour have in their whole being.  Or Y.E. Yang, who showed guts in putting the beatdown on Tiger at the 2009 PGA Championship.  Heck, I’d rather follow Phil Mickelson, whom my wife affectionately refers to as “Gumby” both for his goofy appearance as well as his ability to choke in clutch situations.

I’d rather follow anybody but Tiger.

There’s nothing that would make me happier in terms of my golf fanhood than to see Tiger Woods take a tumble.  And what falls into my fanhood lap but a situation that seems guaranteed to bring down Tiger Woods from his pinnacle of golf dominance.  But somehow I can’t bring myself to celebrate.

I’ve gone through a wide range of thoughts on the Tiger scandal.  In semi-chronological order starting from his SUV accident through my thoughts from just a couple of days ago……..

That’s weird.

Wow.

Why in the world was he leaving his driveway that early in the morning?

That’s crazy.

No, it can’t be true.

It’s just the tabloids doing their thing.

Are you serious?

Oh boy, this can’t be good for Tiger.

He very well may be in deep trouble.

He very well may be in DEEP trouble.

Tiger is hosed.

What a crumb.

Man, do I feel sorry for his wife.

What a jerk and a dope.

How could he have everything he ever needed and get caught up in that?

How could he be dumb enough to get CAUGHT?

What was he THINKING?

Well, he’s gonna get what he deserved.  What a dope.

————————————————————-

That’s a sampling of what has percolated through my mind over the last 3+ weeks.

But in the last several days, more has bubbled to the surface.  A feeling that there may be something deeper here.  There’s more to this story than simply cause and effect.  There’s more to it than crime and punishment, or sin and consequences.  It’s deeper than A + B = C.  There may be more to it than a reckless and unfaithful husband, a shellshocked wife, and a marriage hanging by a thread – though that’s more than enough for the public (and most sportswriters) to be prepared to act as judge, jury, and executioner in the Tiger Woods Trial.

And it was that one short clause in a lengthy article by Jason Sobel on ESPN.com that served as the trigger that brought my latest thoughts to a head…

“…a now-shattered life….”

“…a now-shattered life”?  I don’t think so.  No, here is the ugly, unfettered truth:  Tiger’s life was shattered long before it became public knowledge.

It’s just that we didn’t know about it.

His life was already shattered.  It was already in pieces.  But it was hidden.  It was secret.  It was in the dark.  His broken life was covered up with secrets and hiding places and women and enabling managers (maybe) and accomplices (allegedly) and agents (possibly) and only God (literally) knows what else.

But it was broken nonetheless.  Long before we knew about it, his life was shattered.

And that particular realization brought a whole new set of questions for me.  Questions such as….

~~Wait a minute – how would I like it if MY personal sins were exposed for the public to see?

~~Hmmm, that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun.

~~I wonder what’s going on in the Woods’ household right now.  Is his wife in shock?

~~Can Tiger look his wife in the face?

~~Was he addicted to his sins?  Was he, deep down, embarrassed and ashamed of his behavior and secretly hoping that he could find some way out of it?  Did he ever feel the twinge of conscience that accompanies failed choices?

~~Did he want to be loved?

~~Does Tiger want to be helped?

~~Does Tiger need condemnation?  Or does Tiger need Jesus?

And how about this one…

~~What would Jesus say to Tiger? And though I don’t know Tiger, how ought I to react to the news of Tiger’s failings?  And how should I react to the failings of people that I actually DO know?

————————————————————-

I can tell you this.  I’ve never slept with anyone except my own wife, and I don’t have any personal sins that are as flashy or headline-worthy as Tiger’s – but I STILL wouldn’t want to have my personal sins paraded around for public consumption.  I know what’s on my inside.  I don’t want you to see it.  Because apart from Jesus, my inside looks just like Tiger’s — broken, shattered, wounded, and battered.

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Roller Rinking

Published in Nate's Blog on December 2, 2009
Roller Rinking

Here’s a few classic pics from our senior high roller skating exhibition on Sunday afternoon.  What a great time.  But man have my feet paid the price for the next 3 days….  (Hat Tip to Kim Helm for the photos)

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Pastor Appreciation

Published in Nate's Blog on November 16, 2009
Pastor Appreciation

Hey, just a quick note to say “Thank You” for the many cards, gifts, thoughts, and prayers during the month of October!  Jenny, Samantha, and I feel very fortunate and blessed to serve with you at Jenison Christian Church.  Thank you so much!  We look forward to working with you for many, many years to come.

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More R.C. Sproul

Published in Nate's Blog on October 26, 2009
More R.C. Sproul

OK, Sunday night during session four of the Truth Project, RC Sproul said (this is paraphrased), “We are living in the most divided time in the history of our country, culturally and ideologically.”

Really?  REALLY???????

Sproul is WAAAAAAAY smarter than I will ever be, and I have learned a lot from the quotes that I have heard from him, but… REALLY?

Maybe he is a better theologian than historian.  To me, 620,000+ deaths in the Civil War constitutes a pretty divided time in our history.  The Civil War was nothing if not cultural and ideological.

Am I way off here?

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