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The Value of Commitment

I recently shared some of the content in this post with my youth before Valentine’s Day: Ever been stood up for a date? I have. It is one of the worst feelings known to man. A double-minded man (or woman) is unstable in all his (or her) ways. If someone tells you, “Yes, I’ll be there” or “Yes, I’ll do that,” you expect that someone to be a person of their word. I know the hand-shake and “word is your bond” is all but gone in our society, but right is still right and wrong is still wrong.

Whenever you make a decision, you must first decide what decision you are going to make. In other words, you must weigh the options, analyze the pros and cons of all decisions on the table, and most importantly, pray about the decision you are making. Joining a D-Group or following Jesus is a huge decision. Your students are not just agreeing to meet with you for a year. They are agreeing to start their own D-Group after your year’s worth of meetings. Your students are agreeing to be discipled and to be a disciple-maker! Jesus had something to say on the matter (Luke 14:25-34). First, count the costs and then make the decision (in this case, surrender to His will).

When asked to do something, it’s ok to say no. Make sure your students know this. However, it’s not ok to say yes and then say no (Matt. 5:37). I recently worked seven days in a row without a day off. A couple of weeks before my loaded work week, a person had asked me to attend his event. I told the person I would be at his event. The problem was the person’s event was on my eighth day without rest. I didn’t want to go and didn’t feel like going, but I went because I said I would be there. In other words, I was committed. Discipleship works the same way. When you offer students an opportunity to join your D-Group, it is ok if they say no. But if or when a student quits a D-Group they committed to, the team is affected for the worse. This is why D-Groups often sign a group covenant before they begin. I have adapted Robby Gallaty’s adult D-Group Covenant into a Student D-Group Covenant below:

DISCIPLESHIP COVENANT

I will commit to the following expectations: 

I pledge myself fully to the Lord with the anticipation that I am entering a time of accelerated spiritual transformation. 

I will meet with my D-Group for approximately one hour every week, unless providentially hindered. 

I will complete all assignments on a weekly basis before my D-Group meeting, in order to contribute to the discussion. 

I will contribute to an atmosphere of confidentiality, honesty, and transparency for the edification of others in the group as well as my own spiritual growth. 

I will pray every week for other students who are on the discipleship journey with me. 

I will begin praying about replicating the discipleship process upon completion of this group. 

Signed Mentee ______________________________________ 

Signed Mentor ______________________________________ 

Date _____________________________ 

I would give a copy of this covenant to the youth’s parent/guardian(s) so that they know what their student is committing to and what they can be praying about/for. 

If you have committed to lead a Student D-Group (and are using my M.A.P.’s Journal), here are some more tips for leading (also read this previous post). First, studying the week’s selected passage using an ESV or CSB study bible is not a bad idea. Your job is not to lecture students (they don’t need or want another bible study), but to facilitate and guide D-Group discussion. However, giving an overview of the passage for the first five minutes is perfectly acceptable.

A friend of mine recently began using MAPS with his student group and says he and his students are loving it. My friend has found this discipleship resource to be practical and direct. Remember, MAPS was designed to be simple and flexible, giving the D-Group leader much freedom in adapting each lesson to meet his or her student’s needs. My friend has adapted the 4 W’s (Who, What, When, Where) into his weekly D-Group meeting. He has his students name who they need to reach out to, what they are going to do, and finally when and where they are going reach out, (i.e., take someone out to ice cream or strike up a conversation in the local gym). Students may not be ready to share the full-out gospel, but any student can take these first steps! Give your students a weekly assignment they are comfortable with and follow up each week.

My last tip for Student D-Group leaders is to teach your students to pray. Like growth in evangelism mentioned above, growing in prayer takes time too. Maybe your students are not ready to pray out loud for every student in their D-Group just yet (It’s awesome hearing yourself prayed for by 3-4 others in your D-Group). Start them out with something simpler such as the ACTS acronym (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). Perhaps you give your student the outside assignment of asking a believer/unbeliever if that person has anything they can pray for them about. Once your D-Group students have learned to pray for each other’s needs out loud, it is great if prayer takes up 20 minutes of your meeting!

If you need more information or tips on leading D-Groups in general, click here.

Just make sure you’re all-in before you begin!

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Articles

REVEAL!

Ultrasound of my pastor’s baby

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know I have written much about milestones. The reason is because milestones in next generation ministry are both valued and celebrated. Brian Haynes lists seven legacy milestones in his book Shift that the church should partner with the home in celebrating. As a next generation pastor, I believe it is important that all next generation pastors create a next generation team (composed of the leaders of the preschool, children, student, and college teams). This next gen team needs to sit down together and map out how the milestones will be celebrated in the life of the church and then send this proposed plan to the senior pastor/church for approval.

The purpose of this post is not to discuss the milestones or the milestone process in the life of the family or church. I have spent enough time writing about milestones and or rite of passage events. The purpose of this post is to celebrate a milestone that is often overlooked. Before I get to that, let me first celebrate a personal milestone! This is my 100th blog post! In July of 2016, I stepped out in faith and began this website. I appreciate all of the website traffic and hope my next 100 posts will be better that the first. I am learning to celebrate moments and not just milestones!

Enough about me. What is the unseen milestone? It’s really quite simple when you think about it. Who in the next generation is unseen and overlooked? THE UNBORN. God says to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” King David penned something similar in Psalm 139:13-16, “For you formed my inward parts: you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, everyone of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.”

Can you catch David’s passion for the unborn? David knew the unborn were wonderfully made and the unborn were a wonderful work of the Lord. He says he knew this fact very well! David knew that the days for the born were formed before birth. Catch this! David is not celebrating the unborn as much as he is celebrating the one who created the unborn. God gets the glory! This is important for us to understand. As important as it is to celebrate milestones in our lives, it is more important to celebrate the life giver of those milestones. Without God, nothing would be possible because we wouldn’t even exist. God not only creates us and the world, but he sustains both (Gen. 1:1, Col. 1:16-17).

When the unborn are killed, it breaks my heart. When the governor of Virginia speaks of killing the just born, I am grieved even more. Abortion and infanticide are both wrong. Do these murderers really believe they are going to get away with what they have done? I am understanding of abortion in special circumstances where the doctor says either the mother or the baby is going to die. But, I am not talking about special circumstances. Let’s stop with all of the excuses and call abortion out for what it is. It’s never fun to celebrate death. That’s why celebrating the unborn life, those in the womb, should be a special occasion!

My church celebrated this milestone this past Sunday! My pastor and his wife created a quick post-sermon milestone event called “Reveal.” They got in front of everyone at the end of the morning worship service holding a huge black balloon with the words “he or she.” The whole church was about to find out the gender of the unborn baby. When my pastor and his wife popped the balloon, streaming blue paper went everywhere. It’s a boy!

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Articles

Family Worship vs. Worship as Family

Google the words “family worship” and you can discover some great resources that describe what family worship is and the importance (and even requirement) of having family worship. For example, a Ligonier article entitled “Family Worship 101” by William Boekenstein defines family worship as the regular use of Scripture, song, and prayer by a family unit, guided by the head of the household.

Lately, I have been equipping parents with resources to lead their children (including teens) in family devotions. Family devotions is not the same as family worship although family devotions are a form of worship. Family devotions should only last about ten minutes a night. You can find many resources that will help you lead daily devotions for your family. Family worship might also be every night but is a bit lengthier than ten minutes. For instance, some families have been known to have family worship for 30 minutes a night (excluding church days or a once a week family day). Is there a happy medium? I think so! I would suggest families planning a “family night.” Family nights last up to an hour long and incorporate a time to eat, play, study, and pray together. I don’t know of any better resource for family nights than GenOn Ministries “Family ’round the table” curriculum. Family night is definitely family worship!

But should family worship take the place of worship as family? When I say “worship as family,” I mean families attending their weekly congregational worship together. The answer to this question is no! Family worship at home should not take the place of family worship at church or vice versa. Both churches and families should partner together in making disciples of the next generation (Deut 6:6-7, Ps 78:5-7, Acts 2:46; 5:42, Ephesians 6:4, 2 Tim 3:15). This is the way it always has been in the Bible. Family discipleship should take place in the church and in the home. Simply put, families should have a time of worship together at home and in the church. Healthy churches help make healthy homes and healthy homes help make healthy churches!

Fathers or single-parent mothers (as head of the household), let’s be honest. Family worship is often the exception and not the rule. Most families worship at church but family worship at home is found wanting. Donald Whitney has an excerpt in his book, Family Worship which says, “I am persuaded from my own ministry experience in hundreds of churches that so little family worship regularly exists in Christian homes today, that even in our best churches, most of our best men do not even pray with their wives (and children if they have them) much less lead them in ten minutes or so of worship as family . . . God deserves to be worshiped daily in our homes by our families.”

Barna Research echoes Whitney, “Eighty-five percent of parents with children under age 13 believe they have primary responsibility for teaching their children about religious beliefs and spiritual matters. However, a majority of parents don’t spend any time during a typical week discussing religious matters or studying religious materials with their children . . . Parents generally rely upon their church to do all of the religious training their children will receive.”

This atrocious trend of families relying on the church to meet all of its spiritual needs must come to an end. Equally important, ministry leaders must stop trying to do all of the family’s work. Ministry leaders, please equip your families with resources for leading worship at home. Families, as you begin worshipping at home, you will notice that worship at church becomes that much sweeter! And in-turn ministry leader, you will notice your burdens at church becoming lighter (Matt 11:28-30).

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Articles

Time for a retreat?

I recently attended a retreat with the purpose of discussing the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Gieger and the book Gen Z by James Emery White. Simple Church is a book written many years ago that revolutionized many American churches. Gen Z was a book that once I started reading, I could not put down.

Retreats are good for anyone, but especially ministers. If you are a ministry leader, make sure you make time to schedule a spiritual retreat on a regular basis. Retreats should be restful but also prayer-full. You should walk away from a retreat with new insights and renewed devotion. Below was my takeaway!

Having focused so much on discipleship as of late, it was a breath of fresh air to be reminded of the missional movement that took place before the big push on the importance of having Discipleship Groups. I want to thank Robby Gallaty and his Replicate Ministries Team for highlighting the need for D-Groups in local churches. No doubt, the church needs to be making disciples! But my retreat takeaway was the reminder that local churches also need to be making missionaries! It is not either/or, but both/and. Every member needs to be a disciple-maker and every member needs to be a missionary. No matter your location or vocation, you are a missionary. But you are a disciple-maker too! Let’s not talk about one without the other. This insight was confirmed to me when I got home and read the postscript (written 5 years after the book was released) of Simple Church:

“They (simple churches) seek to move people to a place of living a missional life. Discipleship to these churches is not information, but transformation. And a true disciple is someone who seeks to transform the community around him. A disciple understands he is a missionary. These churches streamline their programming to create space in the lives of their people to live as a disciple/missionary in their community.”

Well put Thom! Let’s be missional, but let’s also make disciples. Another takeaway from Simple Church that I walked away with was the need for one-word church vision statements. Members can remember one word statements better than they can remember two! Your vision statement can and should be aligned for all ministries in your church, including your next generation ministry!

Here are three words I formulated for a possible vision statement at my church: (1) Become, (2) Connect, (3) Develop. Step 1 in our discipleship process would be Become a church member (in our Worship Service). Step 2: Connect with others (in a small group such as Sunday school/Life group). Step 3: Develop into a disciple (D-Group). Don’t forget what I just wrote: Disciples must be missional! I differ with Thom and Eric in making ministry teams the third step. But suffice to say, if disciples are being made, they will be serving on ministry teams.

And catch this! Don’t get so tied up in the process that you miss the people. If a person comes to your church out of order, who cares? In the culture we live in, getting a person to come to church on any day/night of the week is a win! Having a discipleship process is important, but it is not more important than the people who the process was created for. We desire for people to follow the steps, but if they don’t, I’m just happy they came!

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Articles

The Discipleship Challenge

https://www.facebook.com/mtcarmeldemorest/videos/2254894118113290/
Go Fish!

I offered a discipleship challenge to my church this past weekend. The challenge was to start Discipleship groups (D-groups) that operate out of and from within Sunday school classes. To understand how D-groups work, just watch the above message, beginning at the 36 minute mark. The response to my message was good! I believe we will soon have D-groups up and running at the student and adult level.

I have developed curriculum for Student D-groups in the M.A.P.’s Journal. The journal contains one scripture per week that students will need to memorize for their D-group meetings. D-Group Leaders for Student D-Groups will need to purchase Next Generation and Discipleship to obtain the teaching passage used in the M.A.P.’s Journal (what I call the MAP). Adults may use the M.A.P.’s Journal for D-groups as well. My recommendation is that adults read the entire chapter (that their weekly memory verse is located in) before their D-group meeting. Students simply need to read the passage that the memory verse is located in.

For example, the memory verse for Week 1 of the M.A.P.’s Journal is Luke 14:27. Students would need to read Luke 14:25-33 while adults would need to read all of Luke 14. The D-group leader needs to go one step farther than his or her students by reading the online IVP New Testament commentary offered for free at www.biblegateway.com for the week’s selected passage (students) or chapter (adults). This way, the D-group leader will be able to facilitate discussion amongst students. The end goal for D-groups is increased Christ-likeness for all group members!

Having talked about my first two books above, I leave you with a promo for my third: While driving around, I came across two church signs recently. One church sign read “youth group, fun and games, Wed. 7 pm.” The other church sign read “student ministry, Wed. 7 pm.” In my latest book The Student Ministry Time Machine, I talk about where student ministry has been (the first sign), where student ministry is (the second sign), and where student ministry is going (read my book!). For the purpose of this post, I will simply say next generation ministry and discipleship go hand in hand!

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Faith and Culture Presentation

https://www.facebook.com/mtcarmeldemorest/videos/2096662023763124/UzpfSTEwMDAwMDYzNzg5MDc4NToyMTk3NjQwMTUwMjY3MjI3/

Culture matters! So does Faith! We need to keep up with culture if we want to reach the next generation for Christ. It is ok to have a Bible in one hand and a smart phone in the other. Like the men of Issachar, we need to understand the times in which we live so we can know what to do (1 Chronicles 12:32). If you have read Acts 17, you know the Apostle Paul was great at analyzing culture. He understood his culture and audience so that he could present the gospel in the clearest manner. He used his audience’s culture as a point of contact to begin gospel conversation. I hope this video will encourage and inspire you to share the gospel and to fulfill the cultural mandate!

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Articles

The Journey Continues

In my last post, I identified some beginning markers for my journey into next generation ministry. Today, I would like to build upon some of these markers to further delineate differences found in next generation ministry and traditional children and youth ministry.

As a new next generation pastor, I have found myself spending the bulk of my time in the preschool. Why? Because the foundational building block must be set up for excellence. If the beginning block is unstable, the ensuing blocks you build upon are likely to tumble. Just ask any preschooler who likes to build towers! As I’ve spent a lot of time getting this beginning block in order (kids check-in, etc.), I have found myself spending more time with teenagers. I say all of this to say that as a next generation pastor, you may find yourself spending more time with a specific age-group (preschool, children, youth, college) in certain seasons than others. Things tend to balance out in the end!

As a next gen pastor, I have also been able to spend a lot of time in the community building relationships. I help coach a youth basketball team and this has allowed me to cultivate relationships with students and parents I would have never met if I stayed locked up in my office.

I have also allowed my teams and leaders to lead. I have a team for children, students, and college-aged students with a leader for each team. I consider everyone on each team a leader, but I consider the team’s leader as the leader. This bottom-up leadership has been so valuable that it has allowed me to do things for my church that otherwise would not be possible. For instance, I am soon to give my church a presentation on the topics of faith and culture (I will try to add video of my presentation in my next post). I will also be preaching soon on the topic of discipleship and value of having D-groups for all ages. Other items to come in the future could include hosting Sunday school teacher training, beginning a new members/new believers class, and the start-up of special needs ministry. None of these items were on my job description, so you may ask how in the world would it be possible for me to do even one of these other listed items. The truth is everything boils down to leadership. I have great leaders under me that allow me to lead at a higher level which makes the church healthier and stronger. Get this: I have been on the job for over two months and have not taught one lesson to any age-group. Now, that is true next generation ministry! I have leaders that excel at leading and teaching their specific age-groups that I am able to wear more hats and do more than has been asked of me.

In team meetings, I attend and serve almost as a mom/dad voice in the room giving approval or disapproval. Like every ministry to the next generation, we have opportunities and challenges to discuss. A challenge we are currently discussing include adding an extra hour to our Sunday night youth programming. A challenge I am sure you have dealt with in your own ministry is when to begin student ministry (6th or 7th grade). I provide these as examples just to say that next gen ministry is not without its challenges.

So, what is it I hope to accomplish in next gen ministry that could not be accomplished by a children’s or youth pastor who was working unto him or herself. Besides, the teams I mentioned above, I also have a next generation team that consists of the leaders of each team mentioned above. I will meet with these leaders and we will talk about implementing milestones for our next gen ministry. As a team, we will decide on which milestones to include and which to not. Then I will be able to create a next gen booklet specific for my church that any member can access at anytime.

Hopefully, this journal of my next generation ministry journey is helping you along in your own!

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Leadership

Appreciation and Celebration!

On November 1, 2018 I began full-time ministry in next generation ministry! I must say I am loving it! For those of you have followed my blog, you know I have been writing about next generation ministry for over two years. You know I graduated with a doctoral degree in next generation ministry and you know I have a written a few small digital and print books on the subject. 

Most “next generation pastors” are in name only. It’s not that they or their ministry to the next generation is unimportant. To the contrary, I believe their work and ministry should take some of the highest priority in church. What I mean “in name only” is that most pastors with the title “Next Generation Pastor” are simply glorified youth pastors. They are most often pastors doing the same old model of children and youth ministry, only this time wearing a different or cooler name tag.

Now, if you are doing any ministering in any capacity to and for the next generation, I can see how you would call that next generation ministry. However, that is not how I define next generation ministry. In fact, I find there are few and far between who are doing true next gen ministry. I write this not to degrade anyone involved in ministry to the next generation. If you still find yourself confused at this point, I would point you toward my first book, Next Generation Ministry and Discipleship, where I spell out what I consider true next generation ministry to be. A good follow-up is my second book, The Student Ministry Time Machine, where I move from mere next gen ministry theory to practice thereof. 

Believe it or not, the intent of this post is not for me to sell more  of my books. Being on the frontier of true next generation ministry, my intent is to journal my findings for you so far of full-time next generation ministry in a small church environment.

First, don’t expect to pull off next generation ministry in any sized-church unless you have a slew of leaders ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. I am most blessed to have preschool, children, youth, and college leaders leading a team of leaders to plan, coordinate, and evaluate all ministry-related activities.

As a Next Generation Pastor, I am not expected to be at every next gen ministry event nor would it be possible for me to do so. To lead leaders who lead leaders, you must first serve! This is what Jesus did. My first order of business has not been to come in and change anything. My church’s preschool, children, youth, and college teams were already leading effective ministries. Your situation may be different and I understand. Context will differ for each us. I found it my job to add to or enhance my church’s current ministries to the next generation. My church’s ministries to the next generation have now been unified in the form of next generation ministry (“cradle to college”). Before suggesting and discussing a program or event here or there to my leaders that I think might enhance our current level of ministry activity, I thought it best to first honor all of our next gen workers and volunteers by giving them a Christmas present for all they have done this past year. Appreciation is important but so is Celebration! Thus, the next item on my agenda is to celebrate all of my next gen teams and leaders by taking them out to eat. Appreciation and Celebration are small tokens when you consider how much time the rest of the year leaders, volunteers, and workers give of themselves to the ministry.

I will keep you updated on my journey! In the meantime, how are you treating those in your church who value and invest in the next generation? 

 

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Next Generation Ministry

Kindle Books now available

The world is “a changing.” Perhaps you remember the companies Kodak and Blockbuster. When I was a teenager, these companies dominated the camera/video industry. I would drive to Blockbuster, rent some videos or games for a weekend and then return them in time to avoid a fine. That is, until Netflix made Blockbuster obsolete. Who needed to go rent movies when the movies would come to you? And who needs Kodak when we can take out our phones and print our own pictures? Somehow, Kodak missed the digital era. What happened? These companies did not change with the times. They did not reinvent themselves.

In contrast, Disney World and Amazon have skyrocketed in sales since I was a teenager. What’s the difference? Why does Disney World have more people attending their theme park than ever before and why does Amazon continue to increase its sales? The reason: they continually tweak what they do best. And, they add the latest and greatest rides, attractions, or items to their agenda. It’s like coaching. Nick Saban, John Calipari, and Mike Krzyzewski are the best college coaches because they continually re-invent themselves and play to their strengths. Other coaches find themselves out of a job and looking from the outside-in.

Did you know that the next generation is changing the cheese industry? Kraft Foods is beginning to sweat. Our country’s cheese market is down 1.6 percent. Millennials are demanding “nourishment from ingredients that are both recognizable and pronounceable” (from a Bloomberg report). What’s the result? Todd Rhodes says, “McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and other fast-food restaurants are moving away from processed American cheese to offer things like Asiago and Real Cheddar.” If Kraft doesn’t readjust, they will be the next Kodak.

The church is no different. We live in difficult times. However, we the church still hold the message that can transform lives, heal families, and revive churches. It’s not our message that needs to change. It’s our methods. Reaching people today for Christ is not the same today as it was twenty-five years ago. We’ve gone from a country where everyone believed in God to a country where many doubt his existence. I won’t use this post to list all the areas the church needs to change. This post is written so the church will recognize it needs to change. I heard a great quote yesterday: “If you want to solve a problem, you must first admit you have a problem.” Church, we have a problem. We also have the solution!

Where do you need to change? That’s right—you? Change is hard. I know. As God disciplines us, it is often painful. But, I’m not talking about the change Christ brings about in us character over time. I’m saying where do you need to change so you can live like its 2018. I think part of the church’s problem is many churches are still doing church like it’s the 1950’s. “Doing church” is an even bigger problem, but I won’t go there.

For me, I resisted offering my next gen books in digital format. But, I realize the world is changing and I don’t want to get left behind. I want to like Coach K and Coach Saban be able to relate to the next generation even as I age. I don’t want to become like Kodak, a thing of the past. You can find my digital books in Kindle format on Amazon. My print books are cleaner in format and I would recommend you buy them. But, if reading books on your tablet, phone, or e-reader suits your fancy, be my guest! In fact, I updated Next Generation Ministry and Discipleship just a tad in the Kindle edition. The Kindle covers will appear different than the print covers. If you are interested in purchasing my books from the Kindle store, here are the links:

Next Generation Ministry and Discipleship

The M.A.P.’s Journal 

The Student Ministry Time Machine

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Art

To B or not to B

Ask any student you know this question: “Who is your favorite preacher?” You are likely to get a few blank stares, “favorite what?,” or looks as if to say why are you asking me this question. Next, ask the same student this question: “Who is your favorite rapper?” You are likely to get ten different names, any one being from the top ten list of rappers that every student knows.

Last night, I took some students out to hear a Christian rapper that goes by the name of B-Shoc. This wasn’t the first time I’ve taken students out to hear a Christian rapper. Ever heard of Lecrae? Believe it or not, there are many Christian rappers currently out riding the circuit.

To be honest, B-Shoc’s music wasn’t my favorite. I much prefer Lecrae’s. But, nonetheless, I found myself down at the front of the stage jumping up and down with my sideways two-peace signs. WHY? It wasn’t about my musical preferences. It was about my students’ preference. If rapping a Christian song helps students come closer to God, I’m all for it.

What I preferred to hear over B-Shoc’s music was B-Shoc’s Jesus story. He said he went to Wal Mart when he was a teenager (after falling in love with “the beat”) to find some Christian rap music and there was none. At the time, he settled for what the world had to offer and soon afterwards found himself climbing the secular charts and playing in popular nightclubs. That is, until the Jesus he knew as a child got his attention. B-Shoc hit a rock bottom in his own life and said God told him to combine his passion, rap music, with the lifestyle of following Jesus. B-Shoc said he knew he was to take his style of music into the world to reach lost souls and even into the church to encourage the saints.

But it hasn’t been easy. B-Shoc has encountered a lot of opposition. Yet, B-Shoc has seen nearly 10,000 souls won to the Lord in his nine years of ministry. I think its easy to criticize. We could probably all find something to gripe about. But the question I would like to ask B-Shoc haters is this: “How many souls have you won in the last nine years?”

Reaching the next generation for Christ isn’t easy. But as you can see, B-Shoc has continued to grind. He says he is driven by that empty CD shelf at Wal Mart with no Christian witness to the style of music that captured his soul. I’m sure B-Shoc doesn’t want the next generation to follow the footsteps he took as a young man and is also driven to do everything he can to offer the next generation an alternate choice.

B-Shoc says it’s not get your life right so you can get right with Jesus; it’s get right with Jesus so you can get your life right. Sounds like good preaching to me! Christianity never was about climbing a ladder or stairway of good deeds all the way up to heaven. It’s the exact opposite. Jesus walked down the stairway so he could carry you back up with him. B-Shoc then told the students getting to know Jesus takes a lifetime, but salvation can happen in a moment.

This was all great stuff! But none of it was my favorite. Because B-Shoc was about to bring it home. He got personal with all in attendance, including the adults. He shared with everyone that they were uniquely made by God and that they could search the earth and not find another person just like them. God had created them for a purpose. Maybe they weren’t supposed to be a Christian rapper like him, but it was their job to find out what God had created them for and then do it.

In words only a Christian rapper could get away with, B-Shoc told everyone in attendance to hear what God was telling them, get off their butt, and MOVE to start doing it. Say what you will, but I think it’s a message the church needs to hear. If all you do is sit and worry about what God has told you to do, you’re not only hurting yourself, you’re hurting God and you’re hurting others whom God made you to help. *By the way, the reason I’ve written this post and others is because, like B-Shoc, God told me to!

I like preachers and I have known many good ones! But maybe, just maybe, the next gen knows the names of rappers and not the names of preachers because the rappers are telling it like it is. If we’re going to win the next generation, we’ve got to win their hearts and we’ve got to be real. Center yourself on the gospel, focus on the mission, and GO create a culture of missional artists in your next generation ministry that are ready to use their gifts and passions for the glory of God!