LukeDooley.com

In youth ministry it is easy to get sidetracked with events. Whether big or small, events can consume our time, energy and creativity. Sometimes we do events and we aren’t even sure why we are doing them… maybe it’s a tradition, maybe it’s something you were pressured to do, maybe it just sounds fun.

At BIG Student Ministries, we want to be intentional about the events we do. We try not to do an event unless it accomplishes a specific purpose. I like to see special events as equipping tools for our students. We have two events coming up soon that could be powerful tools for the students involved in our ministry to bring their friends.

1.) Super Bowl Party - This Sunday night we will be opening up our house from 5-10 PM for Junior and Senior High students. I told our students last week at our Sunday night service that I did not want to open up my house for them. I wanted to open up my house for their friends…. What better opportunity to introduce a teenager to our Student Ministry. We are having food all night, playing video games like crazy, playing ping-pong, giving away door prizes, and of course watching the BIG GAME in HD! We equipped our students with these tickets to pass out to their friends…. we set a goal of 50 students for the Super Bowl party! I hope we get there… I’m all about opening up my house for 50 teenagers!

2.) Ski-Trip – On February 9th-10th, we are going to Mad River Mountain for an overnight ski event. We will be leaving from Lakota East Friday at 5:00, and returning Saturday at Noon. This trip is going to be a blast… on Friday night when we arrive we will be hooking up with several other student ministries for a worship gathering. After that we are headed to the mountain for a midnight ski/tube session. When we are finished at 3:00 a.m. we will be going to a families house in Middletown to spend the night and have breakfast the next day. E-mail me if you have any questions, or want to confirm your attendance! luke [at] cincyjourney [dot] org

Two things.

1.) I was leaving a local business today when I saw an elderly woman coming in the next set of doors (just down from the ones I was coming in). I did what I thought was the normal thing and walked over to open the door for her. She looked at me with a face of pure shock and joy and said with a tone of disbelief: “Well, I guess chivalry is not dead”.

2.) Tonight the Journey Church men’s soccer team played its inaugural game at Wall2Wall indoor soccer complex. At the beginning of the 2nd half we were killing the other team like 10-1. I was sitting out to start the half watching the guys move the ball around like it was a pre-game drill when the referee walked by our bench and said: “You guys must really like each other, you sure know how to share the ball.” To which I replied: That’s what happens when you get a couple of years outside of high school… you begin to realize that it can be a lot more fun to pass the ball around as opposed to trying to take the whole team on by yourself”. Now, this might sound funny coming from the guy who scored four goals…. but like I said, it was a particularly easy night for the Journey Fellas!

Now some thoughts…

Is it really so rare for a guy to hold a door open for an elderly woman? Forget that… is it really so rare for a person to hold a door for another person? Are we so consumed with ourselves and the agendas for our day that we can’t take 3-4 seconds out of our rush to stop and think about someone else? As I look around at the culture we live in, I’m not sure that I want to know the answer to that question….

Driving home from the game I began to think about the interchange between the referee and myself. Was it really so rare for a sports team to actually pass the ball around in order to maximize your chances of scoring a goal, or winning the game? As I sit on my couch watching SportsCenter and see the box-scores roll through, I believe the answer to my question is a grim one.

Is it really so rare for me to not be the focus of my own life? I wish there was a pill that we could take to eliminate the selfish gene in our systems. There was no mistake when Apple Inc. decided to change the world of consumer electronics with a simple marketing campaign. iPod, iWeb, iLife, iWork. They took something that was active within each of us and encouraged us to indulge in it. “Your life is already about you, why not make your electronics about you as well?” It all makes perfect sense….

My goal everyday is to live my life in such a way that whether I am walking out of a store, or playing a game on a field, people take notice of my actions. Not because they are noble, outrageous, or bizarre. Rather, I hope they take notice because it is something that runs against the current of their life… I hope it creates a “glitch in their Matrix” that causes them to re-asses the way they run their life.

If Jesus word’s in Matthew 20 are true (which I have no doubt that they are), then count me as one who wants to “be great”.

While I was admittedly rooting for a Saints-Colts Super Bowl, simply because I thought that would be more fun to watch, I am as equally pleased with the Tony Dungy / Lovie Smith Super Bowl Matchup.

I think it’s a great thing that an issue we hear so much about in life, and especially sports has taken another step in the right direction. If you haven’t heard, this is the first time that an African-American coach will be coaching in the Super Bowl… in fact, there are two. I appreciated Tony Dungie’s answer when asked if it was a big deal or not. He said, “Yea, of course it’s a big deal. I’m proud to be able to say that I joined Lovie in this achievement, but in my mind it will be a big deal when we stop talking about it, and it’s just something normal.”

Besides their race there is another attribute that links these two guys together. It’s hard to read or listen to anything about either coach without the topic of their Christianity or faith coming up. (Click here for an example.)
It’s good to see two guys who aren’t backwards about the fact that they are followers of Christ. They are both open to not only discussing, but proclaiming their values and faith. Wouldn’t it be cool if one day this was the norm and we no longer discussed the fact that this guy, or that guy was a “Christian”?

You have to wonder about the degree of influence these guys have on their players, and on other coaches in the league. They have a great platform to share from. It would be easy to say that our position in life doesn’t allow for such influence…. It would be easy to say: “But I’ve only got…”

It’s way to easy to say things like: “But I’ve only got…”, or “I’m Just…”.

The truth is, if you call yourself a “Christian”, then you have something to share. You have something powerful to share… You have a story… You have a message… You have the hope of a Savior. Each of us has a lifeboat…. are you rowing away from the shipwreck alone, or do you have a boat full of friends, neighbor’s, teammates, and co-workers that you are doing your best to drag to safety?

This is a challenge that I have received the past couple of weeks at Journey Church as we discussed the power of one: One Church, One Year, One Life… I plan to implement some changes in my life in order to put myself in situations where I can leverage my influence for the Kingdom.

Click Here to download some great content from our One Series

All of that said… GO COLTS!

Q: What if three leaders of a new church in West Chester all begin to blog again?
A: Go here (where you are now), here

, and here

to find out.

Q: What if a former athlete gets some sweet new gear that inspires him to run 40+ miles in less than a month?
A: Well, if you mean Luke got the Nike+ kit and some sweet new shoes (See my toys on the right), then you’ve got some serious runners addiction on your hands!

Q: What if a great team of adults spend a year with a group of great students building relationships and having fun, and then launch a rockin’ weekly worship gathering?
A: Show up at Adrenaline S&F any Sunday night at 6:00 pm, to see what it’s all about. Worship, Relevant Teaching, Fun & Games, Give-Aways…. It’s pretty sweet!

Q: What if every post on my blog was like this?
A: Well, I imagine that it would get old real fast, so we won’t make a habit of this…

Looking forward to blogging here more often. Read and Enjoy!