Mike King

damnation tweet says it well

@Andy_Browne tweet says it well, "WOW that blog post really blew up. It amazes me how important eternal damnation is to some peoples theology."

I was hungry... you gave me something to eat

IS Jesus Christ Lord? Love Wins...

Without wading into the Love Wins conversation too deeply (a conversation that has been going on for two thousand years, by the way) I will add a thought about the context of what I see.

I have watched with a sense of sadness at the labeling and demonization of each other around this issue.  I was sitting in church yesterday thinking about what is going on.  If one confesses "Jesus Christ is Lord" we (those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord) should, despite our differences in theology and doctrine, at least acknowledge each other as sisters and brothers.  Yes, let us have disagreements, but please do it without labeling, dismissing and demonizing the other.

To me this feels like two fans of the Kansas City Chiefs hating each other because one fan believes the offense is the key to a future Super Bowl Championship and the other fan believes that the defense is the key.  To declare the other "not a true fan of the Chiefs" would be absurd.

Of course, I am not saying these issues being discussed around "Love Wins" are trivial and don't really matter.  They matter immensly, but let us learn how to seek first to understand before being understood. 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Feeding the Homeless and Serving the Poor in Dallas

For the next four days I'm in Dallas speaking and leading fixed hour prayer for a church youth group from Jonesboro, Arkansas.  We are staying and serving around Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.  Today we are hanging out in a homeless camp and serving food.

Last night I spoke to the youth about recovering a Gospel that is truly Great Good News for those who hear and see it.  We looked at what Jesus declared in Nazareth, recorded in Luke 4:18, 19.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”

Jesus proclaims that the in-breaking Kingdom of God and the GOOD NEWS promised by the prophet Isaiah is now being fulfilled through him.        

This GOOD NEWS according to Jesus would be about:

 

•Preaching the good news to the poor

•Proclaiming freedom for prisoners

•Recovering sight for the blind

•Releasing the oppressed and

•Proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor

Do we need a revolution, in education?

This video was brought to my attention by Jon Wasson, a friend and youth worker from Dallas.  This video dealing with educational reform.  There is much too be considered in this piece relating to the Spritual Formation of our young people.  The video deals with ADHD and ADD and presents an interested set of data on this issue. 

At Youthfront, we have been wrestling deeply with pedagogy, developmental issues and spiritual formation.  We have been experimenting with learning styles and environments, especially at Youthfront camps.  This video is affirming to the direction we have taken.  I think every Youth Worker should watch this

 

Adolescent Guys (12-55 year olds) Guide to Social Media

thanks to Andy Zirschky for pointing me to this.

A NEW NAME – from Feed the Hunger to Something to Eat™

“God is moving in our time to end hunger, and we are invited to be part of this great liberation.” —David Beckmann, Bread for the World.

In preparation for camp two years ago we were discussing how we could impact 5,000 young people who would be spending part of their summer with us. We don’t want teenagers to go to camp and just be consumers after a good time.  Yes, we want them to have a blast but we are passionate about our mission to bring youth into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Out of these discussions Feed the Hunger was birthed.  Feed the Hunger seemed like a great way to engage in God’s mission and shape disciples of Jesus Christ.  During that summer around 100,000 meals were packaged and sent to central Africa to alleviate the suffering of those experiencing starvation.

Feed the Hunger was started as a local initiative.  The events of January 12, 2010 changed everything.  Within hours of the destruction caused by the 7.0 Earthquake on the poverty-stricken country of Haiti, youth pastors, ministry leaders, teenagers, parents and other friends of Youthfront began calling us to suggest that Feed the Hunger mobilize to respond to the crises.  Hundreds of churches and thousands of people responded.  To date we’ve packaged more than a half million meals to feed 2,000 orphans in Haiti.  Our partner in Haiti is the Global Orphan Project.  I recently met with officials from Global Orphan Project, which received amazingly good coverage by the TV show 60 Minutes.   Joe Knittig, CEO of GOP, shared with me that the orphans were eating a hot Feed the Hunger meal daily and they could see visible improvement in the health of the children through skin tone, finger nails, energy levels and their ability to learn.  We hope to send another container of food to the orphans in Haiti soon.  James declared, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans…” James 1:27.

Feed the Hunger has quickly grown into a national program, which is good, and yet this growth also created a problem.  We discovered that another non-profit Christian organization began using the name Feed the Hunger around the same time we launched our initiative.  We also discovered a number of other organizations using confusingly similar names.  All of these organizations are doing great works and we don’t want to be in competition or a stumbling block to their missions.  Youthfront has decided to seek a new name for our Feed the Hunger initiatives and we have filed for trademark protection for the name – Something to Eat™.

Something to Eat™

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat . . .  Matthew 25:35

In Matthew 25, Jesus was speaking about some of the differences between sheep and goats (followers of Jesus and non-followers?).  Jesus implies that one of the things followers of Jesus do is give food to those who are hungry.  In giving something to eat to those who are hungry we directly engage in the ministry of Jesus. “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat” Matthew 25:35.

Another time, Jesus finds himself surrounded by a huge crowd.  Jesus has compassion on the crowd because they are like sheep without a shepherd.  Jesus’ disciples were concerned because this crowd of people was hungry and there was no food to feed them.  The disciples wanted Jesus to dismiss the crowd.  Jesus has other plans and instructs his disciples, “You give them something to eat” Luke 9:13.

Nearly half of the world’s population woke up this morning with the need for something to eat as the most pressing issue they would face today.

Since Something to Eat™ (Feed the Hunger) began twenty months ago, more than 20,000 people (mostly teenagers) from 600+ churches representing more than 20 states have participated.  Those involved in providing Something to Eat for those who are hungry have been challenged to live their lives for God instead of a self-absorbed life focused on self.  Jesus asks us to give them something to eat and young people are discovering that participation with God’s agenda for restoration and redemption is the most compelling life they can live.

“God is moving in our time to end hunger, and we are invited to be part of this great liberation.” —David Beckmann, Bread for the World.

 

Wild Goose Festival Video

Wild Goose Festival - June 23 - 26, 2011 Shakori Hills Farm, NC from Wild Goose on Vimeo.

Karla Yaconelli on dealing with Mike's death and her spiritual journey...

I have been encouraging my good friend Karla Yaconelli for several years to write about her spiritual journey since her husband Mike Yaconelli's death. Karla's article is in the current edition of Immerse: A Journal of Faith, Life and Youth Ministry.  Read here.

Back from Hawaii

Vicki and I just got back from Hawaii.  We had a great time and concluded our celebrations for our 35th anniversary of marriage and 35th anniversary of youth ministry.  We did a lot of reading, relaxing and eating great seafood.

One of the things I love doing in Hawaii is running.  I did a half-marathon every day for eight days and made my goal of running more than 100 miles.  Vicki ran some of those miles with me.  It was nice to have eight days where our biggest decisions of the day was where to watch the sunset and where to eat dinner.

The first night we were there a false alarm for a tsunami evacuation went off at 2:00am.  Very weird, especially now in light of the tragedy in Japan.

Being on Hawaii time meant that I was still awake our first night home when the live shots started coming in around 1:30am CT on the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake.  It was surreal and tragic to actually watch live video of the tsunami wave sweeping through the Japanese coastline while people in cars and on foot tried to escape death.