Being an Emo kid for a week or at least learning how to be...

As you are well a where of by now, you know what it means to be Emo.  If not it means that you are emotional.  I must say that being sort of a stoic I am not really good with the whole emotional thing.  However, there are times in ones life when things just become real!  For instance;  in the fall of 2000 my best friends dad past away.  It was the closest death that I had experienced in my young life.  Also, in the fall of 2000 my homeroom (high school) teacher died of a massive heart attack.  In the spring of 2002 a very close friend's father died of a heart attack. There have been other sudden deaths that have brought me to the realization of how short our time here on earth really is.  

This past week the man who taught me just about everything I know about Youth Ministry died.  His name was Alan George.  The first time I saw/met Alan it was the year 2001.  It was at the YMCA in Thomasville, Georgia. He was wearing high top white wrestling shoes, compression shorts, cut-off sweat pants, with a black tank top.  I thought to myself... um this is the year 2001 not 1982.  It wasn't till a year later I had accepted a job as an youth intern at St. Thomas Episcopal that I had officially met Alan George.  Once I realized where I knew him from, I thought to myself I am going to be working with the guy who is stuck in the 80's. 

After a few sit downs and long interviews it was decided that my first day on staff would be the yearly trip to Lake Sinclair.  This trip is taken every Memorial Day.  I had never met any of the youth but Alen thought this would be the best way.  To just dive into youth ministry by me taking kids on jet skis and throwing them off.  He said,  "If you can't have fun with youth then you might as well be an old fuddy duddy."  It was at this moment that I knew that to be a youth minister you need to be able to relate with youth.   

Over the next two year I picked up on other things from his philosophy of ministry like environments, audio visual aids, and fun games like "duct tape someone to a pole and the last one to fall wins."  I must say that this was the strangest thing coming from an Episcopal Church.  Alan was the man who no matter how old he became he was always up to date with the relevant train with youth (even though he never could get a new work out wardrobe).  He taught me that you have to be authentic with youth to impact and earn the right to speak to them about Jesus.

So this past week I received  a call from Megan (one of my youth) telling me that Alan had been in a motorcycle accident.  A week later Alan had died.  I know that I am to be grieving and that this is a healthy process.  However,  I find myself not really knowing how to.  I think it's because I hadn't seen him in 2 years that I just think he's in another town or I just haven't seen him yet.  So I hope this will help with the grieving process.

Alan we will miss you, know and trust that you are in a much better place!

And the Transitions have started!

Well I as of last Friday I had finished my job with the Gathering Place and started my new job as a caddy at Sea Island. I have also successfully moved moved out of my apt. with Josh Bruce and have moved into Gigi's House (the Wade's Grandmother's living quarter Oct. 27- May 25). I have a little over 45 day up stairs then I move into the basement with the pool table and the crabs! Transition is not an easy thing because it normally involves change which is not an easy thing. The funny thing is that this only the beginning for me. Jan 3 is coming quick and then I will be on my way to join some friends in Boston for a few years.
I must say working as a caddy and hanging around in the caddy pen has been a real eye opener of how lost this world really is and how sheltered I have been the past 3 years while working in youth ministry. Just after 3 days my heart has broken for some of these guys. I think the best part about doing this job is that I get to see the sun rise while putting out drinking water on the course. This give me a chance to thank the Lord for the job he has provide me with and it give me the time to pray for my fellow caddies. I enjoy being outside most of the day, but must that am receiving the worst farmers tan that i have ever had in my life! Well that's all for now, but here is a picture of the 9th on Sea Side.

Thoughts on the Dinner Table in the Jewish World

I was preparing for a sermon last week in John 12 when I came across a verse that seemed to be a throw away verse. I knew that there had to be more meaning behind the verse. Verse 2 of John 12 says, "So they (Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and others) gave a dinner for him (Jesus) there (in Bethany where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead)." I got a little nerdy and wonder what a typical dinner would look like for a Jew in the days Jesus. I did a little research and found out that dinner or Supper in the early Christian and Jewish culture was a very important time of eating, enjoying family and friends, and was seen as worship. The Hebrew word for table is the same word that God uses for his table or alter. The word is shulchan. Supper even started with a reading from the Torah and then a little devo. How crazy does this seem to our way eating dinner. Most of the time for us it's Dine and Dash. We don't spend that much time with friends and family eating with a Christ centered or God centered meal. Family meals are quite or very surface level discussions.
I found this quote in the Talmud, (which is a record of rabbinic discussion pertaining to the Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history) which says, "Before a man eats and drinks, he has two hearts, after he has eaten and drunk, he has but one heart. An empty stomach has a disturbing effect on the mind and interferes with the concentration of thought." So it seems that when early Christians and the Jews came to eat a meal it was a worship service.
After this conclusion I decided to find out what some of the staples to be found on the table and if they had any meaning behind them. Oh boy did they every.... Three things that can be found on their tables were Wine, Salt, and Bread.

1. Wine: wine is a symbol of great joy. It was believed that drinking wine in moderation was to be good for the body and in making a marry heart. For Christians it is a reminder of the Last Supper Christ had with his Disciples and the New Covenant.
2. Salt: salt is a reminder of the fall of Adam and results of sin and rebellion against God. In Gen 3:19 God says, "In sweat of your face you will eat bread." If you have ever sweat hard after a long work-out you know that your sweat taste like salt. Maybe for Girls it's not know because they don't sweat they glisten. Salt was also added to sacrifices for sin in the Temple.
3. Bread: bread is a constant reminder that the children of God were fed manna during their years in the wilderness. It also brings memory of God's provision to his people. For Christians it reminds us that man doesn't live by bread alone and also that Christ is always with us (I am the bread of life John 6).

Every time the early Christians ate they would be reminded of these things just because of what's on their dinner table. Oh how meaning has been lost in our culture in eating. What if we had a mind shift in that we would began to thing more about Christ in the small thing of our daily lives. For example our breathing. A small yet important reminder of God giving us life. Check out the Nooma video called Breathe. Find Christ in the simple everyday things!

It's done... Another Summer @ the GP is finished

You know that point in your life when you have just finished Finals and you sit back and let out a huge sigh of relief? I know that you do! That's what this week and the next week will be like for me. The Summer at the Gathering Place has come to a close and yet again it has been a bitter sweet longing. My summer consisted of hanging out with college peeps, teaching, directing, preaching, planning, and also being the Director of Finance for the Gathering Place. This up coming week I plan to sit back and chill in Athens, Atlanta, and maybe in the Ham, Al. So if you are around give me a call. I hope to see the Braves play and maybe see Barry hit 556+, see some bull dawg friends, and an old friend from high school.

This is just a picture from Orange County that I took a few years ago. Oh I would love to sit on the beach in Orange County and relax! But I guess the Atlanta area will be fun.

What have I been doing with My Life?

Well lets see... where to start.... Well it's been five months since my last post from Bean Town. A ton has happened since then. For one I think i was complaining about Elevate a little bit and now I have been teaching there for the past 5 months. I guess that's great place to start.
God has opened the door for me to explore my gifts in teaching on a weekly basis. Starting out it was all about how to get the wow response from the crowd. However, a pastor friend shared how this is the worst thing I do as a teacher. To shoot for the home run, instead of walking with your listeners and hitting base hits is a no-go. So once I processed this analogy... I took it and ran. I found out that the more you share real life with people while tying it in and backing it up with scripture it just works! I have found that the nights that I have been the most transparent the more people relate and understand the Gospel.
The other night I was teaching on John 4 and the woman at the well. The encounter this woman has with Jesus is life changing. However, I think people miss the woman's sin in saying that she was an adulteress because of her having five husbands. I know that this was here sin, but I think the true root of her sin what that she had given her heart to the wrong person. That's her great sin. How often this is our great sin too. This sin of give your heart to the wrong person covers a multitude of sins of misplaced worship. As a University of Georgia alum I must say that I had fallen into idolatry of a school. The way that I figured this out was when I looked around my room and all I saw was Georgia Stuff... So as an illustration I brought all my Georgia stuff. Lets just say that there were two bags full of Red and Black garments, cups, ties, pictures, ticket stubs, even my orientation postcard framed, to top it all off with a little statue of UGA 6. Laying these idols down enabled people to see how their heart can be fully given to something other than our True Love. If you look at the first commandment God says,

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before* me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God... Ex. 20:2-4

When ever we exalt something/anything above God we are disobeying God's commandments. Once our sin has been reviled this allows us to see that we don't have a leg to stand on in the presents of God. However, while in this prostrate state we are able to receive our standing by grace through faith in Christ.

Well I know if I write anymore you won't read it... so on that note peace out!

Elevating and Bean-town

Have you ever been in with a group where the awkwardness is like there being a pink elephant in a room but no one wants to admit it? This is where I am right know with a ministry that I am involved with for college and post college peers. We have about 15 people that come to our event and have a five member band (with live drums... i.e. it's loud), the room is made for about 50 to 60 people, we have a video screen to be used for pro presenter (glorified mac version of power point), and I or someone gets up and teaches. It feels really awkward too me!!! However, we had a meeting this past Tuesday about the future of this ministry and a majority of the people say they don't think it's awkward!?! I don't get it! I suppose that maybe because I am constantly thinking about the vision and direction of this ministry that I can see the pink elephant. On the other hand, maybe I am missing the fact that people are being minister to in way the need. So i guess their needs are being met.?.
My thoughts are to move the ministry into a homier group to build community. I see that happening by changing the philosophy of the ministry to simple worship, with teaching with questions. I pray that this is a vision and not just a plan. Anyway that's been something stressful the past couple of weeks.

ON TO BEAN TOWN!!!

I am in Boston, Mass. hanging out with Drew Thompson! Long time friend and mentor! I have to motives for coming up here! One to hanging out with my bro and two to look at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary! Killing two birds with one stone it also give me the chance to bounce these ministry ideas off of someone who was in my shoes just a year ago!

As I am being picked up from the Air Port Drew says to me, "Hey, hope you didn't have a big lunch because you have a date tonight!" Thinking he was kidding, i thought nothing of it. Little to my dismay, he was not kidding! However, it was not a real date. (The real date is on Friday). This date was more of getting to hangout with other students (this other student just happened to be a young lass from Northern Ireland. The night was tons of fun. Most fun I have had in a long time (it competed with being beaten in Guitar Hero two billion times). I guess you could say Drew is really trying to get me to come to school here. He's pulling out the big guns!
Tomorrow is going to consist of checking out classes and getting ready for the big question on when do I come to seminary and getting ready for my date on Friday (the girl is in one of the class i am going to check out!)!

Insight of the day:
Foreign girls are really cool! Now I understand why girls love guys with accents! Theology discussions are amazing! I might have to say something about the great conversion I had with Drew, Mandy, and the Northern Irish lass.

How Much has the Media Effected my Life?

I was thinking yesterday about how it's been a long time since my last girl friend. It was more than likely due to the fact that everyone in the church I go to is either married or engaged (thanks Patrick; now everyone is looking at me). Why has it been so long? Am I holding out for Miss Right? Are my standers to high? Or is it because I live in a place that has no single girls that I think are worth pursuing? Or are my standers to high and it make me think that there are no single girls worth pursuing? Then I started watching a movie and I thought, "man why can't I find a girl like that." I am not going to tell you the actress' name! My next though was, "well you need to move to a bigger city for that to happen!" However, after some more thoughts; I came to the conclusion that the Media has created the Dream Girl for me! I am always comparing girls to some actress or athlete, why?
On a similar note, let's not forget how Pornography has crippled men and women's view of the perfect sex mate and sex life. We single people live in a day and age where we are bombarded with Dream Girls and Guys and Sex. I have a feeling it doesn't get any easier once you are married either! Another thing that I can even began to understand, is the effect the media has on girls in that of body image.

Don't get me wrong I think people have tendencies for a type of person that they are attracted to, but there is something to be said when guys compare women to Media goddess. So how do we sift through this media impression? I don't know, so when you find out let me know! However, I have some thoughts:
1. Remember God's in charge!
2. "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind..." (Rom. 12.2a).
3. Watch what you take in!!! If it feed you lust you must kill it! (Col. 3:5)
4. Take an inventory of your motives for perusing someone.

These are just a few thoughts. I know that they are nothing new and they are easier said than done by all means. Think about it though, what would our marriages or relationships toward marriage look like if these thoughts were remembered?

Insight of the Day:

I am so wrapped up in the Dream Girl mentality that I could be missing an opportunity; on the other hand, I have some standers that are high and for the most part (I think) Godly. I mean I want a hot wife! Honestly I need to continue to remind my self that a girl that is passionate about the Lord exceeds that of being hot! On that note I would love your feed back and also I will be taking wife applications starting next week!

On another note, I look up the difference between affect and effect and found out from every college students best friend "SparkNotes."

"One trick that might help you remember the difference between the two: a, the first letter in the word affect, comes before e, the first letter of effect. This makes sense, because something is affected first, and the result is an effect. For example: 'My brilliant application essay affected my chances of admission; the essay’s effect was an acceptance letter' (http://www.sparknotes.com/writing/style/topic_9.html)."

The World Of Blogging!

So I got really bored while preparing a sermon for Elevate this week and though I would give this blogging thing a try. I mean if Josh Bruce has a blog why can't I? Apparently this is the new fad among those in the Atlanta area (i.e. Katie B. and Emily), so why not try and stay up to date with the latest fads yeah? So i guess if you're reading this you are really bored or want to know or get a peek inside the mind of Corey.

Insight of the Day:

I have been working with the Glynn Academy High School soccer team (as the Keeper Coach) for about two weeks now and last night we had our first game against Savannah Christian Academy. We ended up losing 3-2; however, being our first game we were unsure of some starting positioning. Being down 2-0 at the end of the first half, we changed some people around and began to gel. In the last five minutes we scored two goals and which i think have solidified our starting line-up.

On the way home (i.e. two blocks from the school) we got in a wreck. This lady in a PT cruiser ran a red light and the big yellow cheese T-boned the PT cruiser. No one was hurt thank God. But something happened that bring out an ethical thought. I saw the car about 5 seconds before the bus driver did. I was told not to say anything about the bus drivers hesitation. The reasoning behind the omitting information was that we would have hit the car regardless. So the question at hand is, if minor details are left out of telling the truth does this make them less true? Is the bus driver at fault in any way? Am I at fault of lying?