Untouchable - CCCF Youth Ministry

THE WORLD MOLDS GOD TO THE WAY "THEY THINK" HE IS. THAT'S KINDA MAKING YOU'RE OWN GOD. THERE'S A FIRST COMMANDMENT FOR THAT.

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If you were in my class on a Thursday evening a month or so ago. I started to share some of my Facebook drama with you. In truth, I didn't read to you everything that was in the posting. So in case you're curious to know what exact words were exchanged between myself for the sake of anonymity we'll call this person, the "Homemade Philosophy Expert;" here's the two separate posts...

1st post:

Homemade Philosophy Expert: What you do for your Self, you do for another. What you do for another, you do for the Self. This is because you and the other are one. And this is because...there is naught but You.-N.W. ...let's care for another human being as we would for ourselves....

Like · · Unfollow Post · July 1 at 11:03am via mobile

Alex Ibarra Hmm. This is kinda soundin' new agey to me. You best check the "about" section of this group... It's not ne essarily for any type of motivational quote.

July 10 at 12:13pm · Like

Homemade Philosophy Expert: It is...it was written in the early 90's...i dont necessarily look at who wrote it or when...i mostly just look at message and if it makes sense to me and I can apply it in a good way to my life and the lives of those who surround me I will use it

July 10 at 2:21pm via mobile · Like · 1

Homemade Philosophy Expert: I feel that throughout time God has sent us many messengers to give a good message that might help us overcome something or be better people. But if I have offended you in any way or disturbed the space where you come to feel comfortable I am sorry. I will not post anymore....

July 10 at 2:42pm via mobile · Like

Alex Ibarra No offense taken, merely defending the faith. We should spot when God is being shunned from the glory for our existence. This is revealed in the part stating "there is naught but You." This statement parallels with the teachings found in "The Secret." We are not gods, we are not His equal, we live by His grace. The interesting thing about that quote is that it's kind of a quirky paraphrased golden rule, but Galatians 5 demands even further by reminding us to "love your neighbor as yourself." Never an easy thing.

July 10 at 7:03pm · Like

Homemade Philosophy Expert: I feel God is inside all of us....and I have read both the bible and the secret...they are good books that have helped many. The secret also quoted the Bible many times...like I said God is constantly communicating with us, in different ways through different people and sources, depending which one is suitable in the moment for each person. But I also understand this is a Christian group and I will respect your thoughts. Have a great night.

July 10 at 7:53pm via mobile · Like

2nd post:

Homemade Philosophy Expert: Truth and God are found in the same place: in the silence. When you have found God, and when you have found the truth, it is not necessary to talk about it. It is self-evident~N.W. Follow the ppl that show u the way in example with their own lives not just with words.

Like · · Unfollow Post · July 7 at 12:16pm via mobile

  Alex Ibarra John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. / Acts 4:18-20 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

July 10 at 12:21pm · Like · 1

Homemade Philosophy Expert: These are great...im not sure if my quote was misundesrstood I guess you had to read what I was reading. But I totally agree that we talk of God to those who need to hear, but be humble in our teachings. Many who think to know the truth will judge others that dnt know God yet, so mostly to that I was referring to those who speak to convince themselves of God not because they actually feel him in their lives.

  July 10 at 2:30pm via mobile · Like

  And my response to all this; for someone who reads God's true word:

Alex Ibarra

Colossians 2:8-10 (NIV)

Have you ever been up early in the morning maybe walking to school, the bus stop, or your car, and suddenly, breaking the peaceful morning atmosphere, you hear: “Caw-Caw!” It’s a crow, a raven, or whatever it is – it’s a big black bird, blaring out an obnoxious sound. Five seconds later you hear his buddy go “Caw-Caw.” And pretty much this racket goes on back and forth (all morning).

Now take a look around, there’s several other birds flying about doing their thing, accomplishing the various things they do, they chirp as they go along, but they don’t just sit there. The ravens do. In fact they sit there all morning bantering back and forth, but never get anywhere, or so it would seem to the person, still trying to sleep.

We have a tendency to do this when sharing the good news. I mean; we mean well, we want our friends or family to know about Jesus and we want them to understand, but too often the discussion turns to theology, and all witnessing opportunities fly out the window with the birds. Don’t get me wrong it’s good to know your bible history, and to comprehend other religions, but all too often, the conversation strays from the ultimate goal of sharing the good news, to comparing religions. This one is better because of this and that one is wrong, because of that. You now have this verbal sparring going on, wherein the conversation usually goes nowhere and ends with two people at each other’s throats or they just simply throw their hands up, and give up. The problem is sometimes these heated discussions result in someone storming out of the house, a split family, or two people who will not talk to each other anymore. This is hardly what God asks of us.

When we stop to think of WWJD, you really have to admire His witnessing/(kung-fu) style. You see in John 4, when the Samaritan woman at the well comes to generalize: Jesus is #1: Jewish, and #2: some kind of Jewish holy man; this causes her to throw on her big-boy theology pants and says in verse 19 “I can see you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

This is much the same as when witnessing that folks will pull out the “we believe in this, and you believe in that” card. That’s what the Samaritan woman tried to do, but Jesus didn’t let that derail Him. He wasn’t going to let that keep Him from the opportunity to share the truth with her. Which was that it’s not going to matter where you worship God, but that “the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth… the kind of worshipers the Father seeks (verse 23). And by the way, Jesus mentions that: “God is Spirit.” So God = Spirit.

Anyway, when the woman finally gives up the denominational politics, and gets to the nitty-gritty of the faith; where she admits “that [the] Messiah is coming (verse 25).” Jesus basically says: you’re lookin’ at Him.

So what’s our job description? Is it to show off our verbal sparring techniques? No. Granted we’ll answer any questions that may come up, there may have to be some apologetics thrown into the mix, and just because someone questions our faith doesn’t mean we should interpret that as a round-house kick to the face, unless the person is a self proclaimed atheist, or a hardcore advocate for tolerance, and Jesus already tells us how to address those situations in Matt 10:14. No, people who’s heart strings are being tugged on by God, will have questions and will want to make an informed decision about what they believe in.

But the example Christ shows us with the woman at the well, is simple; and that’s to do our homework: The Great Commission. Which doesn’t mean the big pay day for you sales people. He says in Matt 28:19-20 “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Which besides love God above all things and the part about love your neighbor (everyone), He also commands us to teach others as He taught us “go and make disciples of all nations” but don’t try to prove who’s “Kung-Fu” is better.

Testimony Writing Helpful Guidelines

Congratulations to you my bro or sister in Christ, that you’re getting baptized. Yayy!

This is a really big deal. I’m super proud of you, Pastor Andy is proud of you, and I’m sure if your parents are believers like you, they’re proud of you also. My prayers go out to you if you’re from a family of non-believers or you’re being criticized for what you’re doing from someone you love. I admire you for your courage.

A couple of rules when working on your testimony which are very important:

1: Ask God to guide you to prepare what you’re going to be writing.

2: You want to be honest and do not exaggerate the positives or the negatives.

3: Do not criticize others or religions. Remember God has lifted you up, not brought you down.

4: When you’re writing or telling your testimony, make sure you’re aiming for one person. Your job isn’t to preach, leave that to me. Imagine you’re talking to one person in a quiet room and you’re telling them about the best things that Jesus has done in yours and your family’s lives.

Alright! Here’s the outline..

1: write about your life before you were a Christian

2: how you came to realize you needed Jesus in your life

3: how you became a Christian, or how you were inspired or influenced

4: what being a Christian means to you now.

5: how has becoming a Christian changed your life?

- Share some highlights or maybe a price you’ve had to pay for being Christian

6: explain why you would encourage others to become a Christian or be baptized.

Try to keep your testimony down to one page (especially if it’s typed). I will be doing a tiny bit of editing for smoothness and grammar, but don’t worry; I won’t rewrite your story.

Now if you get stumped, confused, lost, or don’t know what in the world to write even with these suggestions: Call me, text me, or email me. Don’t worry I’ll be nice and make sure I explain things well. God bless 408-210-5395 / [email protected]

Pastor Andy's List of Wants for Untouchable

Here’s a doc Pastor Andy sent to me some time in the middle of last year. It was kinda like a check-list. Take a look at it and see if we’ve pretty much completed some of the things he’s wanted accomplished.

List of Ideas for the Youth Ministry

The purpose of our church comes from:

Matthew 22:37-38

Loving God with All of our Hearts: Worship

Loving our Neighbor as ourselves: Ministry

Matthew 28-19

Go, preach the Gospel: Evangelism

Baptizing them: Fellowship

Teaching Them: Discipleship

Here’s a list of things that I would like to see in our youth ministry:

Youth Group Core Leadership Team

o Responsibilities:

§ Must maintain a personal relationship with Jesus Christ

§ Call Youth that have not come to youth service in a while

§ Have youth announcements with bulletins, flyers

§ List of all active youth members with address, telephone/cell phone numbers. I want to know what is the best way to get a hold of them, social media, facebook„ text messages, etc….

§ Youth Ushers (AKA: Welcoming team). Focus on speaking with the new youth comers and bring youth that are not in their class.

§ Come to church early to set up facility and prep for Sunday and Thursday Services. That includes picking up items and cleaning up. Etc….