I also wanted to come up with a non-threatening and non-confrontational way for my students to share their faith. So I decided that the focus would be on "my God story" or the story of whoever was doing the sharing. Instead of telling people they are sinners and need to change their life, this plan focused on telling someone how I realized I was a sinner and how God changed my life. It is basically an extended outline for telling your own personal testimony.

This is not a plan for door to door evangelism. This is not a plan to share the gospel with people who don't know you. This is a plan to share the gospel with people who see God in your life and who want to know more about it.

Anyway, that is enough explination. After Kelli's comment I feel all of this pressure, but I don't think it is some radical new idea. It is just my way of helping students to share their faith. Check out the outline after the jump. You can also check download a .pdf of the reminder "tract" that I made for my students.

But that isn't how students today see the world. They process information differently. Experience means as much as truth. On top of that they are the most marketed to generation ever. So when they encounter a rehearsed seemingly canned message they are just as likely to tune out as to listen and respond.

So I have been trying to think of a way to teach students to share their faith in a way that is both a) effective and b) easy to memorize. The problem is that plans that are easy to memorize already have 2 strikes against them.

What I came up with is a plan that uses your own "God Story" as a jumping off point to sharing the gospel. The twist is that the gospel presentation that I wrote doesn't talk about what "you" need to do to be saved. Instead it talks about what "I" did with God. By laying out the gospel in first person it makes it a) less threatening and b) more experiential. For this generation it is important to relate to people through stories. So this plan is all about telling a story.

In the end I like what I have come up with. But honestly it only works if you are telling MY story (as in Shane's story) because it is very personal. The idea is that each person will take the basic elements of the gospel and relate their own personal journey through each stage towards a relationship with God. The plan doesn't use an acrostic or any easy to remember device. So it it may be a little daunting at first, but since you shape it into your own personal story once you know it, it should be very easy to tell in a conversational way.

OK, that is the basis for my new "plan" that I am presenting tonight to the youth. Tonight when I get back I will give you a report on how the youth responded as well as the plan in full.  

So I was walking around on Monday afternoon after the swelling had subsided and I noticed that it didn't seem to hurt as bad as it had. Then I had this thought, "I wonder if it actually hurts less or just my perception of the pain has changed." (Yes I did think that cool little alliteration there). Then I immediately started thinking about other places where that same statement might apply.

I think many people have reached a point in their life where they have learned to deal with the pain in their heart. They have stopped worrying about trying to fix what is wrong with them and have instead come up with a pain management system that dulls the pain enough for them to make it through their day. Their pain hasn't gone away, but their pain perception has changed because they have lived with the hurt for so long.

I am working right now with a new way of sharing the gospel and I keep coming back to this pain idea. (even though it didn't make it into my final draft). As long as we think we can manage the pain on our own, as long as our perception of our pain is wrong we will feel like we don't need God. But each of us has a deep desire for God, and it is only when we stop trying to act like we aren't hurting and actually go to the one who can help us will real healing begin.

Wow, I just had a whole other thought about guys trying to act like they aren't hurt so they don't have to go to the doctor, but I will let you make that spiritual leap yourself.  

Nathan June 30 Video 

Tonight I convinced Meredith to bring Nathan in at the start of the service. I like for him to get a chance to see his daddy lead from time to time, and I thought that the music would be something that he would like; and if it wasn't, it would at least be something that was so loud you couldn't hear him talking.

So we went through "Every Movie I Make" and I am checking him out and he is smiling and sort of dancing along and I think that is pretty cool. Then we move into the song "We Shine" but Steve Fee. This song is by far the most rocking out song we have ever done in Big Church, but it was a major part of our camp experience so I wanted to play it. At camp we learned to raise our fists and pump them in the chorus. 

So we are singing along and I look at Nathan and he is looking at me with this big smile on his face and he is pumping his little fist in the air. I have to admit that the room got a little misty and it was hard to find the right notes. I keep thinking of who he will become when he is my age. He is being exposed to so much and I know that his generation will take it and find the next level of interaction with God. I am sure it will be different and I am sure that when I am old I will think it is weird. But for right now my little guy was surrounded by other believers raising his fist with the rest of them. I am not sure if it was worship for him or not, but it sure was for me.  

Trust me on this one, go see this movie--with or without the children.  

So I hope to have a big turn out at this event. Mainly because I miss these guys. There are people who were part of my early ministry days and I have such found memories of those small groups. 

Wow, I really am an old man.