Brent Parsley's Blog

One Community Food Offering is almost here!

God is doing cool things with our _tag family. This week we're in the second phase of our One Friend, One Community, One World goals.

This Wednesday only (April 29) we're challenging all of us to bring in at least 10 meals for families of 4. In our current economy we keep hearing about the needs of families, friends, and neighbors in our community. One of those big needs is food. We can do something about that.

So make some sacrifices and bring in your meals to _tag this Wednesday. Be a part of what God is doing with us. Oh, and watch this latest Weblog from Newman. He's trying hard, but sometimes he just doesn't get it quite right.

Give them what they need. Consider what they want.

As a youth pastor I often find myself struggling with the same tensions year after year. Just when I think I have finally got one nailed down it comes back at me again. One such tension I’ve been struggling with this past week involves Culture and Content.

Obviously, any youth pastor worth his salt is going to say that solid content in a meeting or message is most important. However, it can be very easy and quite tempting to prepare a gathering or to write a talk as if the opposite were true. How many times have we asked, “What’s big right now? We could do a sermon series based on American Idol and we’ll talk about how we shouldn’t have any Idols in our lives. Oooohh, that’s good!” Or how about, “Let’s do a series called 24 and we’ll talk about how it’s not good to torture people to extract information that will save the United States of America from certain impending doom!” OK. It’s possible that I’m reaching.

Well, it’s embarrassing to admit it but I’ve been walking this tight rope again this past week. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now. I think my heart is in the right place, but I constantly have to make sure my motives are in the right place as well. It’s so easy to start with culture and inject the Gospel. We’re good at it. We think that will appeal to a broader group of students and that’s good. Right?
But that’s backwards.

Start with the Gospel and think about injecting youth culture.

I like to say it this way, “Give them what they need. Consider what they want.”

So I’m putting an end to the struggle one more time this week and simply following what I sense God is whispering to me. Don’t start with the big cultural draw and try to fit in what God wants to say. Start with what God is saying and then consider if adding some youth culture will be beneficial. Often, it’s not.

As it turns out Jesus is always enough all by Himself. He is exactly what they need.