Fathering in Faith

Today wasn’t what I expected.

We had plans. A nice family walk in the morning, going to get pizza and cookie cake for lunch, and some family fun in the afternoon.

But plans change. And we got two toddler boys around the same age. So instead of that, we had a cumulative 8 timeouts in the morning. So much so, I had to take Ramsey and drive around for an hour to regulate him because he kept wanting to get in trouble.

But this is the reality of blending families. It’s tough. And Chelsea and I knew it would be tough. And I’m thankful for our good communication and team mentality to push together.

And we did get to at least go bowling before I went to volunteer at our church’s youth group. Btw… got the worst bowling score ever haha.

Youth was great though! As someone who has experienced a lot of difficulty in ministry, I’ve had a lot of thoughts revolving philosophy of ministry and church.

One of the biggest thoughts I’ve had is that I’m worried about how more and more churches have their main idol being their church name. As long as the visitor and the average attendee doesn’t know we are messed up, we will justify un Christ like behavior to keep the name “clean” in appearance. Sure, we say we are messy just like everyone, but we won’t let people see the REAL mess behind the “cute” mess.

The second is that I’ve experienced such a relief just volunteering that it reminded me of all the reasons why ministry is good. No gimmicks, no number counting, no strategizing the music, no telling people not to volunteer or help because they aren’t up to some standard. Instead, it’s just discipleship. Tell students about Jesus and help them on their walk with Him.

The big kicker was during worship. All slow songs; something a former church of mine always fought against because people “want” to be excited. But the Spirit was so palpable during worship because no one cared about orchestrating the Spirit. They just let worship be about God and nothing else. I don’t make this a point to harp on my past. I want to share how I’m reminded of the simplicity of church (even when the church I’m currently at is bigger than any I’ve served with… 200ish youth size). Teach the Bible. Love students. Make Jesus big. Teach personal growth skills. Multiply.

Listen to this portion of worship I recorded of the students singing. Such a wonderful moment of the Lord’s grace toward my still struggling heart at times.

Ps. Also shoutout to Chelsea for giving the full day to the fam during the week of her late husband’s book drop. She’s been putting so much work into it and Im excited to see it drop this weekend!