Want Me To Teach Your Teens About Sex? [& other spring speaking stuff]

I'm honored to be do a few speaking events during Spring 2010, and would love your prayers for them as I prepare. Of course these are in addition to The City Church's regular gatherings and Foundations class [The City Church's info here], but please pray that God uses me as his mouthpiece in these venues; to speak his words well and to glorify him and display him in meaningful ways to the various individuals in the audience.

{AMPLIFY} WEEKEND - Fri-Sat, Apr 9-10
LakeWay Baptist Church, The Colony, TX

I'll be teaching 100 teenagers about God's design for sex, all things sexual, and the biblical standard of purity. Sex is a topic that is largely ignored by the church, even though every 6th-grader knows about it. It's taboo to discuss in religious circles, but freely gossiped about in locker rooms, hallways, at sleepovers. The church needs to have frank, honest, mature conversation with students about sexual things, to share with them a God-centered, gospel-informed view of it.

The organizers are opening registration to any teens who want to go. If you have teens or know teens, this is a great weekend experience with frank, honest conversation about one of the biggest topics in their world. Sign up here, or contact the organizers with questions here.


THE ROOTED CHURCH - Sun, Apr 11
Meeting at College Avenue Baptist Church, 9am

I'm honored to serve a fellow local Acts 29 church, who also has a heart for living on mission to our great city of Fort Worth. I'm preaching at The Rooted Church's weekly service Sunday, April 11, on our true identity in Christ. Even though they're only a year ahead of The City Church, the pastors and congregation of The Rooted has been very generous and welcoming to our church family - I'd love to see you there! Map/directions here.


reCREATE - Fri, Apr 16 & C.I.A. SPRING SHOW - Sat, Apr 17
Fri - The City Church's Samuels Ave Building, 6:30pm
Sat - McLean Middle School, 7:30pm

I'm technically "emcee-ing" Friday night and reading scripture for this college dance troupe's annual show on Saturday, but mostly I'm posting these two events because they're great celebrations of culture, art, music, and response to God's goodness, which several friends and City Folk are involved with. Great times to be sure; you should be at both! reCREATE info here; C.I.A. info here.

There are a few more things coming up which I'll post soon, but thanks a ton for your prayers!

:: The Death of Well-Wasted Time? ::

So, today I was sitting outside at a local burrito joint, on the best-weather day Fort Worth has seen so far in 2010, waiting on lunch with a friend. He had told me he would be late, so as I waited, I did the logical, normal thing that many of us do: pulled out my phone, checked my email, returned and deleted messages and calls; you know, the normal stuff.

But that didn't used to be normal for me. In fact, as my friend pulled in 15 minutes later, I found myself a little sad and frustrated at the way I had used my quarter-hour. I tried to console myself by reminding myself that I loathe wasted time (which I do), and to tell myself that I should be glad that I used that time well; I accomplished something. But as I tried to convince myself of those things, I found myself thinking, "before I had a phone I could check my email on, what might I have done?" Here's what I came up with:

• Enjoyed being outside: seriously, it was sunny, right at 70 degrees with a little breeze, and due to the morning rain, the colors of the sky, clouds, trees, and grass were experiencing that post-drench vibrancy. Sadly, I didn't realize this until as I was leaving after lunch.
• People-watching: not in a creepy way, but this was one of my favorite pre-phone activities.
• Helped someone: I remember sitting in the same spot last summer, and someone was having trouble navigating a huge burrito, chips, drink, + door to get to the outdoor seating. Being a generally nice guy, I got up and helped them with the door. Today, I would have had no idea if anyone even came through that same door, because my eyes and mind were on a tiny screen.
• "Be still and know that I am God": I am pretty bad at the whole "stillness" thing. But I used to look at these little moments as reminders and opportunities to stop. To rest. To pray. To breathe. To let God be God and to enjoy doing nothing but being in his presence.

Now, I'm not blaming anyone; no one forced me to converse with others via my thumbs. Maybe I'm just venting at my lack of self-discipline. But bottom line is this: there are plenty of ridiculous ways to waste time. There's a lot of life that goes down the drain in pointless, useless, completely non-redeeming ways and activities. But as much as I hate wasting time, I think there is a way to waste time well. To use those spare moments between meetings, meals, calls, and busyness as quick, revitalizing gifts throughout the day. To pause and enjoy life - or, as the botanists would remind us, to stop and smell the roses. To remind ourselves that we're not in charge, and that everything will be fine. To have tiny glimpses of Sabbath rest amidst all the stuff we always have to do.

Today I realized that I'd killed one of those moments. I'm not sure how many others I've killed - probably many - but that one died today. And given the number of heads I see bowed to technology, in cars, in restaurants, and in the place of live conversations with spouses in coffee shop booths, it certainly seems that we're collectively killing the time we formerly wasted well. What lives in its place? Emails, voicemails, tweets, texts, notes, facebook messages and wallposts and "likes," app's for that, silly games, and yes, blogs.

So stop reading this, shut down your laptop or lock your phone, and go away. Go outside. Stop, breathe, sit and enjoy life. Reflect on the goodness and greatness of God. And waste some time well today.