Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

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This is My Church

This Is My Church It is composed of people like me, We make it what it is. It will be friendly if I am. It?s pews will be filled, If I help to fill them. It will do great work, If I work. It will make generous gifts to many causes, If I am a generous giver. It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship, If I bring them. It will be a church of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, And a church with a noble spirit ? If I, who make it what it is, am filled with these. Therefore, with the help of God, I shall dedicate myself to the task Of being all the things That I want my church to be. Author unknown

Excuses For Not Going to Church

People come up with legions of excuses to quit going to church. But I heard of a pastor who used the same excuses to quit attending sports events. Here were his reasons: 1. Every time I went, they asked me for money. 2. The people with whom I had to sit didn?t seem very friendly. 3. The seats were hard and not at all comfortable. 4. I went to many games, but the coach never came to call on me. 5. The referee made a decision with which I could not agree. 6. I suspected that I was sitting with some hypocrites?they came to see their friends and what others were wearing rather than to see the game. 7. Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home. 8. The band played some numbers that I had never heard before. 9. It seems that the games are scheduled when I want to do other things. 10. I was taken to too many games by my parents when I was growing up. 11. I recently read a book on sports and now I feel that I know more than the coaches do anyhow. 12. I don?t want to take my children to any games, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

Like a Mighty Army

What if people treated the army with the same commitment they treat church? (Idea: Try this as a skit.) After the close of World War II a minister asked a returned GI to speak in his pulpit one Sunday. He consented on one condition ? that the congregation would sing ?Onward Christian Soldiers.? The congregation began singing the hymn, but the GI interrupted immediately after they sang the words, ?Like a mighty army.? He began to speak. ??Like a mighty army moves the church of God? ? that might have been all right once, but the trouble now is that about ten million men know exactly how an army moves. And it doesn?t move in a way a lot of you folks do in church ? or do not move. Suppose the army accepted the lame excuses that many of you think are good enough to serve as an alibi for not attending church. Imagine this if you can: Reveille at 7:00 AM. All squads on the parade ground. The sergeant barks out, ?Count fours. One, Two, Three. Number four is missing. Where?s Private Smith?? ?Oh,? says a buddy by the vacant place, ?Private Smith was too sleepy to get up this morning. He was out late last night and he needed the sleep. He said to tell you he would be with you in spirit.? ?That?s fine,? says the sergeant, ?remember me to him.? ?Where?s Brown?? asks the sergeant. ?Oh,? says another chap, ?He?s playing golf. He only gets one day a week for recreation, and you know how important that is.? ?Sure, Sure,? says the sergeant cheerfully, ?Hope he has a good game.? ?Where?s Robinson?? ?Robinson,? explains a buddy, ?is sorry not to greet you in person, but he is entertaining guests today and, of course, couldn?t come. Besides, he was at drill last week.? ?Thank you,? says the sergeant smiling. ?Tell him he is welcome any time he finds it convenient to drop in for drill.? Honestly, now, could any conversation like that happen in any army? Don?t make me laugh! If a GI tried to pull that stuff he would get twenty days in the guard house. Yet you talk like that every week in church ? and say it with a straight face, too. Like a mighty army! Why if this church really moved like a mighty army, a lot of you folks would be court-martialled within the hour. (Source unknown) ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Pat Riley on Unity

Pat Riley, super-successful professional basketball coach, once said of his strategy ?The ultimate goal is not to win. That?s the big misconception. The ultimate goal is to become a team. If that?s your final destination, the winning and recognition will follow you.? (Robb Report, p. 77)

Getting Rid Of A Whale

Humorous: on the need to have people with the right gifts and training operating within the sphere of their gifts. This news event came to me over the Internet: ?I am absolutely not making this incident up. In fact, I have it all on videotape. The tape is from a local TV news show in Oregon, which sent a reporter out to cover the removal of a 45-foot, eight-ton dead whale that washed up on the beach. The responsibility for getting rid of the carcass was placed upon the Oregon State Highway Division, apparently on the theory that highways and whales are very similar in the sense of being large objects. So anyway, the highway engineers hit upon the plan of blowing up the whale with dynamite. The thinking here was that the whale would be blown into small pieces, which would be eaten by sea gulls, and that would be that. A textbook whale removal plan. So they moved the spectators back up the beach, put a half-ton of dynamite next to the whale and set it off. I am probably not guilty of understatement when I say that what follows, on the videotape, is the most wonderful event in the history of the universe. First you see the whale carcass disappear in a huge blast of smoke and flame. Then you hear the happy spectators shouting ?Yayy!? and ?Whee!? Then, suddenly, the crowd?s tone changes. You hear a new sound like ?splud.? You hear a woman?s voice shouting ?Here come pieces of?OH NO!? Something smears the camera lens. Later, the reporter explains: ?The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere.? One piece caved in the roof of a car parked more than a quarter of a mile away. Remaining on the beach were several rotting whale sectors the size of condominium units. There was no sign of the sea gulls, who had no doubt permanently relocated in Brazil. ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Driving Headlong Into The Future

Tom Sine describes the church as driving "headlong into the future with our eyes fixed on our rearview mirrors."

Those Who Fight God

?Those who fight the present move of God the most are the ones who were involved in the last move of God.? (Heard from Peter Lord)

Ten Thousand Men Guarding The Past

?At the crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed against each of us ten thousand men to guard the past.? (Belgian philosopher Maurice Maeterlinck)

Choosing a Good Church

?Ways to know you?re in a bad church? 1. The church bus has gun racks. 2. There?s an ATM in the Lobby. 3. The choir wears leather robes. 4. No cover charge, but communion is a two drink minimum. 5. Ushers ask, ?Smoking or non-smoking?? (From Vineyard pastor Steve Sjogren)

Church Attendance

Fifty-five percent of Americans attended church (at least once a month) in 1998. (U. of Michigan Study) (If most Americans go to church, it would be interesting to see what percentage of TV characters or movie characters are ever portrayed as going to church. ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

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