Category Archives: Blog

We’re going to Big Bear for Revival: Winter Edition!

Sign up here: http://www.compasschurch.org/events/revival-winter-edition4/

I am not authentic enough.  This is what people have told me.  Ever since I became a youth pastor, people have been implying that I am not the kind of guy who can relate to today’s teens.

My jeans aren’t ripped.

I don’t have any tattoos.

And it doesn’t sound like I partied very hard in my past of being a nerd and pastor’s son.

Even my wife never had anything crazy like going to jail or having an abortion.

So how are we going to do youth ministry?

After years of considering this, I have come to a conclusion.  We need to redefine what we mean by authenticity.

Authenticity doesn’t come from a sinful past but a saved present.

What young people need today is not someone who can relate to their sin but someone who can show them a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

We need more youth pastors who are preaching the authentic gospel and living authentic Christian lives.  This is exactly what Paul tells Timothy as he serves the church as a young pastor:

– Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.  Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Paul is telling Timothy this is the man you need to be.  This is what you need to teach. This is what God will use with the people in your ministry.  This is the authenticity we need.

Authentic Gospel

In many people’s minds youth ministry is ministry lite.  They do not think that young people can handle the truth of God’s Word and so we lower the bar for Bible teaching.  Young people are often the first to realize that this approach is not authentic.  Yes, we need to apply the Scriptures to the specific life stage these teenagers are in, but we cannot compromise what God is saying.  We need more youth pastors who will preach with the straightforward style of Jesus Christ.  This is what he came preaching:

– And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Youth ministry needs to stop trying to make it easier for young people to get saved and start trusting God to actually save them.  We have made up our own phrases like “asking Jesus into your heart” and “rededicating your life to Christ” when the biblical words are clearly “repentance” and “faith.”  We need to preach that God commands all people, including youth, to repent (

).  They need to turn from their sin to trusting God instead.  We need to help them count the cost of following Christ (

).  We need to teach them the gospel so that they can put their only confidence for salvation in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (

).  I am not ashamed to say that if we preach the gospel to young people then our God will prove himself mighty to save.

Authentic Lives

– Command and teach these things.  Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Not only do we need to teach God’s Word, but we also need to show our students what it looks like to live it out. 

is often preached to young people, but it probably applies even more clearly to youth pastors.  Timothy was a young pastor, perhaps in his 30’s, like so many of us who are ministering to high schoolers and junior highers.  Paul tells him to be the example to his people.  If our students ate with us in our homes, rode with us in our cars and enjoyed our times of entertainment would they see us practicing what we preach?  I can’t just do the job, I need to be the person.  Young people may be the most perceptive at sensing whether we are hypocrites or not!

The kind of authenticity Christ is looking for does not come form ripped jeans or trendy clothes but battered Bibles and obedient lives.

Look for a youth pastor who is preaching the gospel and walking worthy of it. I am sure that following behind him you will see young people with authentic faith.

Last week I noticed that a guest to our house composed this magnetic poem on our refrigerator. Not sure who wrote this, but she’s a woman after my own heart!

In

, God decided to make man in his image, “male and female he created them.”  The distinct differences between guys and girls are part of God’s perfect creation. We don’t need to make fun of them or act like they don’t exist.  We should embrace them as elements of God’s design.  But I would be the first person to roll my eyes over the silly drama girls bring to these God-given distinctions.  It is very sad to me how Christian girls use their girly-ness as an excuse for being timid and whimpy spiritually.

For example, girls have told me they don’t need to know theology or doctrine because they just want to get married, so their husband can just know all that for them.

When I’ve challenged girls to step up to lead, teach or exhort others they’re confused because think that’s what men do and say “Besides, in the future I’ll just be home cooking and taking care of babies.”

I’m concerned that at True North, we have many weak young women who have pretty pink scented Bibles they don’t read and floral prayer journals they barely use. They’d rather skim a Chicken Soup for the Female Soul devotional than dig into a rich A.W. Tozer book.

Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Godliness is a word we use often, but I’m not sure we know what it really means.  A girl told me recently she was dating a guy because he was “so godly” and when I asked what she meant by that, she said, “I don’t know exactly, he’s just a really good guy!” The word “godly” means to conform oneself to God, to get oneself in line with God.

The word “training” may also just be cliché to us, because we don’t seem to get that it doesn’t just happen! Training involves instruction and discipline; it is hard work.  In

Paul describes the effort with which we need to train, “For to this end we toil and strive.”  I’m not thinking your great fashion sense or French manicure will be of any help here. The effort you and I need to put forth is to labor with wearisome effort, working so hard we become exhausted, straining and agonizing to reach the goal.

I’ve talked to girls who literally have a tanning schedule for the summer. They join “boot camp” style work out classes to achieve their dream body.  They wake up while it’s still dark so they’ll have just the right outfit and shine to their hair.  This kind of physical training is of little, temporary value.

Who is straining and agonizing for real value, godliness?!

Being a Christian is not easy.  I don’t want you to be another casualty: a naïve, distracted, unprepared girl who ends up falling away from the faith. That’s why at Girl’s Workshop this year we are going all-out to help you take your personal pursuit of godliness more seriously than ever before. I hope you will join your True North sisters at Girl’s Workshop THIS Friday, November 18^th as we get aggressive about godliness!  It’s time to MAN UP, Ladies!

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound/That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now am found/Was blind but now I see

My friend and I used to talk about this preacher, the Reverend JT Jackson. We would talk about how he was always going off on grace in his sermons.  He even wrote a book “Grace Up In Yo Face.”  It was such a hit he wrote a sequel “What Yo Mama Didn’t Teach You About Grace.”  We used to talk about him so long and laugh so hard we must have looked like fools.

One day my wife Christa decided to look Reverend JT Jackson up on the internet.  She wanted to see these books we were talking about.  She couldn’t find anything anywhere.  I don’t know who looked like a fool more when we told her we had made him up.

You see, we had this picture in our minds of a man who wouldn’t stop talking about grace.  He preached from church to church, from city to city.  Everywhere he went there was a crowd.  He would describe the darkness of sin, that Satan himself was blinding our eyes.  And just when everyone was feeling so convicted like there was no hope, he would shine the light of grace.  “BUT GOD!!!” He would bellow with a loud voice as he preached the gospel of Jesus.  People would get saved.  Lives would be changed.  Revival would break out on the streets of America.

It just seemed like someone should be out there preaching grace.  So we made someone up.

Well, guess what True North?  That someone is us.

Over the next three weeks we are going to preach grace like we never have before.  We are going to have three major events on Wednesday nights at our church that you should invite everyone you know to.  You should take the gospel of Jesus into the halls of your high school and preach the light of grace to those who can’t see it.

– For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Unfortunately, not everyone will understand what we are talking about.  They will think we are fools.  It will be like trying to tell people about something they have never seen.

But imagine if you were talking to someone who was blind.  They had never seen light before.  And as you are describing the brightness and beauty of it, for the first time in their life, they opened their eyes.  They could see!

This is what I am praying for as we preach grace to Orange County high schoolers.  Let’s pray God will open their eyes.  Pray for the first time in their life, they will see the grace God has given them in Jesus.  Pray this grace will change the way they see everything else!

Oh, and I saw Reverend JT Jackson has a twitter.  But don’t tell anyone.  It’s a secret. ;)

Praying for True North small groups tonight!  Here’s a video of what they look like:

We cannot go back to revival.  But we can take it to the next level of praising Jesus in our lives!

And so for the first time, here is a recording of worship from Revival!  Let us praise the God we fear, especially as we are safe in his Son!  And let Theophobia spread across the high schools of Orange County!  Revival at camp may be in the past.  But Revival on campuses is the future!

Safe In The Fear

Do you still remember what it was like?

I do.

I remember when The Revival Band busted out the song we’d been getting pumped up to all week: We Are The Free by Matt Redman.  Somehow it even sounded better than the cd and everyone was standing on their chairs, clapping and singing.  And then I remember Pastor Mike walking up and challenging everyone if they were really free from their sin.

I remember walking into the worship night and seeing everyone up close to the stage, singing so loud and reaching out with their hands.  But then I had to step outside because there were so many people who were professing repentance and faith.  The last night it was like people were getting saved all over the camp.  Everywhere I turned someone else was turning from their sin and trusting in Jesus.

Do you remember it?

I hope you do because it is time to go back.

No, you can’t return to camp, all you can do is go back to school and bring the revival of Jesus Christ to your campus.

At revival, no one was ashamed of the gospel.  We were singing songs of praise to Jesus.  We were excited to hear Pastor Mike preach.  When someone put their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ we all cheered and acted like this was the best thing that could happen.  Because it was.

So, let’s go to school like this.  Let’s be bold to talk about Jesus.  Let’s show people a respect that could only come from Theophobia.  Let’s evangelize like getting saved is the best thing that could ever happen to someone.  Because it is.

Do you remember the verses we memorized?

– I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Bless the Lord O my soul, even on the first day back to school.

I am praying that we will go back to school this year with more commitment to representing Christ on our campuses than we ever have before.  May God use us to save many people and spread the revival in this land.

And on Wednesday night let’s wear our jerseys once again.  Let’s worship from our hearts to the Lord like we did at revival.  Let’s gather together to hear the Word of the Lord preached.  And let us see that this revival is not over, it has only just begun.

Please take a moment right now to pray that this year we won’t be going back to school, but back to revival!  Pray God will draw people to himself at Back To Revival Night on Wednesday at the church and many more people will get saved this year!

On our quest to have the best summer ever, we’ve been meeting at the beach on Wednesday nights.  Each time we’ve studied the best news you will ever hear: The G.O.S.P.E.L.  We’ve been following the outline of Pastor Mike’s book Getting It Right which I would highly recommend everyone read.  If you don’t have a copy, just ask me for one at church!!!

G is for God

– “Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.  Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.”

This was a great verse for us to start our summer with and definitely fit with our setting at the beach.  There are some things that are true about God that people don’t really like to talk about these days.  God created this beautiful world that we live in.  He created it good because he is perfect and holy.  He is just and in the end he is going to judge all things.  We must understand who God is as he is revealed in the Bible and not just who we want him to be.

O is for Overwhelming Love

– “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You can hear a lot about the love of God these days.  Unfortunately, it can start to sound familiar, like it is no big deal.  But the love of God should always be overwhelming.  Since God is holy.  And since we have sin.  There is no reason for God to be good to us.  In fact, we deserve separation from him.  But God does not give us what we deserve.  He gives us the greatness of his goodness instead!  Specifically, God loved us by sending his Son to die in our place on the cross and give us new life through the resurrection.  Let us not think of the love of our God without being overwhelmed!

S is for Sin

– Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

In the good news of the gospel, there is also bad news we must address: the reality of sin in our lives.  In fact, we are all born in sin, which will lead us to death and eternal separation from God.  Though this topic is never pleasant to address, when Hunter spoke on it a few weeks ago there were many students who realized their need for salvation!

P is for Propitiation

– My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

This is the good news.  Jesus Christ has satisfied God’s wrath for our sin through his shed blood on the cross.  He has defeated sin and death once and for all in the power of his resurrection.  The offer of Christ’s atoning sacrifice is available to all!  We talked about how Jesus is the anchor for our soul.  As a forerunner on our behalf he has gone into God’s holy presence and secured us a place there forever! (

)  What can wash away our sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

E is for Everyone Must Repent and Believe

– The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

After Revival 11, Beach Night was so exciting!  It was our biggest and loudest crowd as we sang Christ’s praises!    We focused on our response to the gospel and how we are commanded to obey it (

).  Scripture is clear that those who put their trust in the death and resurrection of Christ will turn from their sins in genuine repentance.  It was awesome to hear reports of students who repented that night!

L is for…

What is L for?  Hope to see you at Beach Night tonight to find out as we continue celebrating the good news that is the G.O.S.P.E.L.

Pray for the revival to continue as we continue our Best Summer Ever!