where they are

Today I’m thinking about incarnational ministry. For the longest time I had no idea what that phrase meant. Honestly, it wasn’t until my senior year of college that I could tell you the definition of “incarnation” without having to think about it for a minute. It’s one of those church words I don’t think many people us outside of talking about Jesus. It’s a great word to pull out if you want to make people think you’re a deep theologian though. Give it a try sometimes.

Incarnation just means “in the flesh.” It’s used to talk about Jesus as he was God in human form. Jesus was God “in the flesh”, or God “incarnate” if you’re looking impress the women at church. Really, I can’t help but think of a nice juicy steak when I hear the word.

When we talk about this we’re normally talking about how awesome it is that God loved us so much that he came down and lived as one of us to teach us the way back to his Kingdom. Today, I want you to think of “where the people are” when you think of the word “incarnational.” Incarnational ministry is ministry alongside the people in your youth group or congregation. It’s a participation in their rhythms outside the walls of the church.

Incarnational ministry is ministry that is out “where the people are.” Incarnational ministry takes us outside the walls of the church and into the world around us. It takes us beyond church programming and into people’s homes, into sporting events, and into people’s “normal” rhythms. In youth ministry, this looks like coaching sports, spending time with families during the week, attending recitals, plays, etc. Incarnational ministry gets us out of our church bubble and makes us better ministers and communicators.

I spend a lot of time with other ministers, reading ministry books, and doing ministry things. But while I’m doing that, people are living lives where they aren’t thinking about theology and aren’t reading Karl Barth or Francis Chan. If I minister from my ministry bubble I won’t connect with anyone except for the 1% of super Christians that are probably better people than me anyway. But, if I’m out of my bubble and in other people’s bubbles throughout the week then I know the things they’re thinking about and the questions they’re asking. I’m able to speak into their situations and lives.

To be successful ministers we have to be incarnational ministers. We have to be where the people in our congregations are. Our ministries, our teaching, and our congregational culture will be a lot more relevant if we break out of our bubbles and into the bubbles of our people. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned this year and how much better I can connect with our students because of incarnational ministry.

If you’re in professional ministry – get outside the walls of the church. If you aren’t a minister. Invite your pastor into your bubble.

What are your thoughts on incarnational ministry?

from the overflow

It’s interesting that students at Christian colleges and seminaries don’t go to chapel. More to the point, most of them despise chapel. It’s a funny thing really. You would think we would jump on chapel like a soccer mom on a Black Friday TV, but for some reason it’s just not our thing.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not too keen on taking the time out of my schedule to go to chapel unless I have to. As I write this post please understand that I’m not standing on the other side of the room pointing fingers, I’m right in the midst of all the other heathens. As I write post I’m reminded of the tension I feel when it comes to chapel services. Am I less of a Christian because I don’t value chapel?

Probably.

Even when we go to chapel we’re quick to critique things and think of ways we would have done differently. I truly feel bad for campus minsters and chaplains at Christian Colleges and Seminaries. They probably have the toughest audiences of anyone. I imagine that being a campus minister/chaplain of a Christian college or seminary is a lot like being a musician in Nashville. They say Nashville is a hard place for musicians to play because they’re playing for other critical musicians, I think being a campus minister/chaplain has to be a lot like that.

All this being said, the campus ministers/chaplains I’ve had have been amazing, this is not a slight against them. I think this says more about the student/minister than the worship leader.

In a larger sense, ministers (for the most part) aren’t very good at participating in worship services they aren’t leading and aren’t good at being lead in spiritual disciplines. Again, I’m in this boat, but I think our ministries suffer because of this. If we’re not being spiritually led and fed by others, how can we lead and feed our congregations, small groups, students, etc?

The older I get the more I think we can’t, or at least, I can’t.

Youth Ministry guru Duffy Robbins recently wrote a book called Building a Youth Ministry that Builds Disciples. In this book, Robbins talks about ministry “from the overflow” of our personal faith formation. Robbins says our most effective and life changing work in ministry comes from the overflow of personal spiritual lives.

Not from knowledge, not from skill, not from charisma, but from the overflow of our spiritual lives. If our spiritual lives are rich and fruitful then our ministry will most likely follow suit.

I’ve found this to be true in our middle school ministry at FCC. My lessons hit a lot closer to home and are a lot more effective when I’m speaking from personal experience than they are when I’m speaking in generalized truths. We can’t lead people without knowing where we’re headed. We have to be lead and fed before we can feed and lead others.

So we need to get better at going to chapel!

Today, take a second to evaluate your spiritual life. Once you’ve done that, think about the connection between your spiritual life and your ministry. Are they strongly connected?

humble punch to the face

Last week was an interesting week. It was one of those weeks where I couldn’t have gotten everything done without God’s help and a dash of a miracle. There was so much to do and, I don’t know how, but somehow Friday came and it all got done.

Little things like that are proof a living and working God.

But in the midst of the week I got punched in the face. I didn’t actually get punched in the face, but the realization I had felt like a punch in the face. Last week I realized I had thrown humility out the window. Somehow, I had gotten so caught up in my own crap that I forgot to take the needs of others into consideration. I was so focused on what I needed to accomplish and what I thought was best that I neglected to care for the people around me.

I got myself in a whole lot of trouble and, in hindsight, added a whole lot of unnecessary stress.

I learned last week that we’re wired to think of others before we think of ourselves. Even when we have a hundred things on our task list and even when deadlines are looming – we can never go wrong with putting others first. It still doesn’t make logical sense to me. My natural inclination is to believe that I have to look out for myself if I want to succeed, but I think there’s are reasons why Jesus says that loving our neighbors as ourselves is one of the greatest commandments:

It gives us perspective

When we put others before ourselves we’re reminded that the world doesn’t revolve around us. Putting others before ourselves teaches us that we’re not alone in this world and that we need other people. It’s too easy to put ourselves on an island and fall into the trap of believing that the world revolves around us. When we think of others before ourselves that misconception begins to melt away.

Our needs are met

I don’t know how it works, but it seems that our needs are met through caring for the needs of others. If we stop long enough to get beyond ourselves and serve others we might just find that God cares for our needs in different ways. We’re meant to live life with open hands and when we do our needs are met. When we don’t, we find that life is a lot harder on our own.

We begin to rely on God and not ourselves

Everyone is busy. Everyone has tasks that need to be accomplished and deadlines that need to be met. Sometimes the weight of the world can weigh on us so much that we don’t leave room for God. Slowly, we stop leaving room for God anywhere in our lives and are left trying to figure out things on our own. We start relying on ourselves.

When we start intentionally thinking of others first we open up room for God to work in our lives and we realize that we can’t journey through this life alone. We quickly find that God is the source of everything we need and our perspective is transformed.

These are things I learned through last week’s craziness, but that doesn’t mean they’re realized in my life yet. Those closest to me can tell you that I’ve got a long way to go. Thankfully we’re not expected to have arrived, we’re expected to continue growing and maturing :).

This week, may we start putting others before ourselves and may we begin to see God working in and through our lives in greater ways than we ever thought possible.

back to school

Cars are such a cool invention. I’m writing this post from the rooftop restaurant of my hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, but tonight I will be sitting in my first class at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Johnson City, Tennessee. It’s crazy to think about; after two years off I’m heading back to school.

I’ve talked about it a lot on The Daily Proffitt, but it always seemed like such a distant idea. Now that it’s here I’m not sure how I feel about it. Maybe it’s the mixed emotions of seeing my fiancé off to her first day of work, or the amount of reading I don’t have finished, but I’m filled with a lot of uncertainty.

I’m ready to work hard and I feel I’m ready to go back, but there’s still some hesitancy. I know this will be a place of humbling and a place that’s going to stretch me in a lot of uncomfortable ways. I know there will be a lot of late nights and early mornings. I also know I’m not taking this journey alone – so that’s good.

If you’re the praying type – please send a little prayer my way at 6pm Eastern Time.

The feelings I’m feeling are a great reminder that chasing our dreams isn’t always easy and doesn’t always feel good. I love ministry and I want to do it for a really long time. On my path to awesome seminary is a key ingredient. It’s not always going to feel awesome, but it’s something that has to be done.

On a side note, Charleston is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. I’m not a world traveler, but I would definitely recommend Charleston. The food is great, the beach is awesome, and the scenery is unparalleled. If you need somewhere to visit before starting a major life transition this is the place to do it. I feel a lot more at ease than I would otherwise.

So here’s going back to school! For your viewing pleasure, I offer you a clip from the critically acclaimed movie Billy Madison – enjoy.

nostalgia and roots

Last night I did something I haven’t done in a long time. After visiting with my parents I decided to take a drive down memory lane – quite literally. For over an hour I drove around  my “old stomping grounds” reflecting on where I came from, how I got to where I am, and where I’m going. It was a great time of reflection and I’m convinced that everyone should take some time every now and again to revisit their roots and give in to a small amount of nostalgia. It’s a practice I’m sure to repeat and it’s something I think you should try as well. Why? Because:

It humbles us.

My drive last night humbled me. I never would have thought I would be where I am 7-8 years ago when I was in high school.  While I drove down those country roads I reflected on this great adventure God has sent me on and I was consumed with extreme gratitude. I could never have written the life story God has been writing over the past several years on my own. That’s humbling and I find I’m a lot more appreciative of where I’m at after visiting where I’m from.

It refocuses us.

Our daily lives are loud. In the middle of the daily grind everything seems pressing and there are a thousand things vying for the top spot in our lives. But everything changes when we take a step back and look at our life from a different angle. Last night I realized  I’ve been chasing after a whole lot of stuff that seems important in the midst of the daily grind, but isn’t really at all important. My priorities looked a lot different in the context of a country summer night than they do in the midst of the hustle bustle of daily life.

Life gets loud and it’s easy to lose sight of where we’ve come from and where we’re going. As you grow, don’t forget where you’re from and how far God has brought you.

what a summer

I never thought this summer would be as crazy as it has been. I knew there were a few trips and events planned, but I thought there would be plenty of time for planning, hanging out with students, and reading Relevant Magazine’s suggested summer reading list. Boy was I wrong, this summer has been filled to the brim with all of kinds things that have kept me going since May 27th.

If you’ve visited The Daily Proffitt before you know that I used to spend a lot of time here. For over a year I blogged 5-6 times a week about everything from my ministry learnings to the music discoveries that made an impact on me. It was very rare for me to miss a day blogging, but over the past few months I’ve posted hardly anything.

The longer one waits, the harder it is to get back into the rhythm of doing something. I find this true even today as I’ve thought about this post 20 times but haven’t sat down to hammer it out until now. The longer I go without blogging the harder it seems to be to sit down and put a post together. The same thing happened to me when I tried Power90 last year… weird.

So to get me back into the swing of things I’ve decided to do an update post of sorts. This isn’t the normal direction of the daily proffitt, but my hope is that this will springboard me into a series of new posts. Without further ado, this is what I’ve been up to since I’ve been away from the blogosphere.

3 Weddings

This summer I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the bridal party of two weddings and celebrate with another couple. It’s a been a blessing and I’ve learned so much about marriage from the ministers who presided. The first was in Texas, the second in Kentucky, and the third was just across this hill in North Carolina. I’m excited for these couples and I can’t wait to see their relationships blossom and grow in the coming months and years. Through these weddings I’ve met some really awesome people, made new and unforgettable stories, and learned I’m ready to marry my lady love.

A mission trip

This summer I lead a group of 19 students and leaders on a mission trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to next year’s trip. I learned so much from the people we worked with and was blessed by the amount of work and focus our students had throughout the course of the week.

A week of church camp

In March I was asked to lead a week of church camp at Appalachian Christian Camp (Camp ACC). I was nervous as our team prepared, but the week went really well. It was a lot of fun to lead a group of 7th-9th grade students in worship, games, and craziness. I’m looking forward to doing this again next year.

Learning to editing

This summer I’ve also been making the transition from the land of learning to the land of editing. Jon Acuff’s newest book, Start, helped me understand how to move from the land of learning (discovering various passions) to the land of editing (narrowing those down to one or two things to build on).  I know Allison is excited for this one. I go all in when I’m passionate about something and for the past few years I’ve been passionate about a lot of different things, but this summer I’ve edited my list down to two things: ministry and soccer. You’ll be hearing a lot about the former here and can check out my thoughts about the latter by clicking here. I still enjoy other things, but our world is too vast to chase everything under the sun. I’ve tried and it left me exhausted and uncertain.

So that’s where I’ve been. Tomorrow, as another warmup post, I’ll tell you about where I’m going this fall.

Stay tuned!

learning from the wreckage

It’s interesting how a post that’s been on the back burner for so long can take on a whole different meaning by the time it gets published. I started this post over 2 months ago, but since then it’s content has completely changed. The big idea is the same, but the ideals changed after a 5 day trip to Texas for my co-worker and friend’s wedding. The realizations I made on that trip really wrecked my perspective and made me more aware of some big things I needed to come to terms with.

My life was wrecked for the better of course, but it got me thinking about how I do things. I think we all need moments that wreck us because it’s through this wreckage that we learn a lot about ourselves, where we’re headed, and sometimes (if we’re lucky) how to get from point A to point B. It wrecked me in a few really big ways:

1: It made me realize how much work I have to do.
It’s easy to slip into complacency and start to buy into the lie that we have it all together. I’ve been buying into this lie for a while, but as i watched one of my best friends prepare for his wedding I realized that I’ve got a lot to work on. Since then I’ve been convicted about things I’ve been okay with for far too long and I’ve spent the past several days praying for God to renovate my heart and make me new again.

2: It made me realize I’m an adult.
Watching my friend get married made me realize I’ve made the transition into adulthood. I think part of me has sensed that I was getting close to adulthood, but his wedding week was the first time I had actually felt it. With this realization I feel like I need to take things to the next level – from finances to personal relationships (more on these in the coming days).

3. This life is a lot bigger than me. 

Over the course of the weekend we had several opportunities to share stories and learn the stories of others. As I listened to some really cool stories and shared some of my own I realized that life is a lot bigger than me. I’m not sure if I really know how to fully articulate this one just yet, but I will say I was reminded over the course of the trip that this life isn’t about me.

I’ve been thinking and working through these “wreckage” gleanings for a few weeks now. As I work through them I’ve made a lot of positive changes to how I live and love. It’s been an awesome transition.

Have you been wrecked recently? Did you learn anything from it?

engage: day 3

Today was a great day.

You can always tell how well a trip is going to go by the effort students put in at their worksite on the first day. For me, I’m always a little nervous on the first day because I can’t stop wondering, “Is this going to be a group that works, or is it going to be a group we’re going to have to push to challenge constantly?” Thankfully we have a group that’s willing to roll up their sleeves and do some work. I’m really looking forward to seeing what our students accomplish in the next two days.

Today we served with a ministry called “Master’s Provisions” whose primary mission is to provide resources such as clothing, shoes, and food to missionaries around the globe. They primarily focus on clothes so our job today was to sort through donations and pack up all the clothes that can be used in other parts of the world. From my understanding, they clothes we packed were destined for Honduras. Some of the students are already wiped so I hope they get some rest tonight.

After the sorting and packing we came back to Xavier for some free time and dinner before evening worship. During free time I took a crew of boys for more Skyline chili. One hadn’t been before and two were repeats from our trip yesterday. It was awesome and my Skyline tally is growing faster than I would like to admit. Tomorrow I have another group of our students interested in going!

After dinner we went to evening worship. Tonight’s focus was specifically on acceptance. The speaker talked about our innate need for acceptance and reminded the students that through Christ we’re all unconditionally accepted into God’s family. It was a great message I needed to hear and our students really resonated with it as well. We all need to be reminded that life isn’t about making other people accept us, it’s about spreading God’s kingdom.

Afterwards we had small group and went back to our dorms. Some of the guys and I watched the US men’s soccer team beat Honduras before heading to our rooms. It’s been really easy to get the guys to go to bed.

Tomorrow we’re off to Mason Christian Village to serve. I think our students will do well serving in an assisted living facility.

Stay tuned tomorrow night for my update about day 4!

engage: day 2

At the end of day two all of the students and leaders are tired. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if we would have gotten up early this morning and made the trip up. Today was an awesome day of fellowship and fun. There were a lot of logistics that went into the day, but it was great to spend time getting to know our students a lot better.

Today was 1/2 sightseeing and 1/2 time with CiY. We left the hotel and spent the early afternoon in downtown Cincinnati. Some of our students just walked the streets and soaked in their first big city experience while others joined me for a lunch at Skyline Chili, they’re still feeling the affects of that experience :). By the end of the afternoon I believe all of our groups had made their way to the top of the Cincinnati observatory for a bird’s view of the rest of the city. Some kids really enjoyed the sight seeing, but others weren’t too enthused by it.

Afterward we checked in with CiY and got settled into our rooms at Xavier University. This campus is wonderful. The rooms are set up well, the food is a lot better than the food at other campuses I’ve been to and the facilities seem to suit our group size really well. I can’t say enough positive things about this aspect of the trip.

I can tell that the music and the teaching are going to be up to par with CiY’s reputation. They brought in Carrolton (formerly known as Mosteller), and a speaker that I think the students are really going to resonate with. The focus of this week is identity. Alongside the work we’re going to be doing we’re also going to be thinking about who God is and how our relationship with him should shape our lives. It’s a very relevant topic for this crew.

There wasn’t any work today, but tomorrow morning we go to our first work site bright and early. We’ll be serving alongside Master’s Provisions sorting, packing, and transporting clothes. It will be a great way to ease into the hard work that’s to follow.

Other than a few short fuses I think the trip is going well and I’m excited to see how God is going to work in my life and in the lives of our students this week.

engage: day 1

We’re on our middle school mission trip this week! I’m excited and I think it’s going to be a great week of worship, service, and fellowship. If we let him, I think God could really work through this week and transform our hearts and minds.

I’m hoping to post a recap of each day as a way to reflect on the work we’re doing, and also offer parents a window into what we’re up to here in Cincinnati with CiY.

Today was dedicated completely to travel. It was Father’s Day and we decided to leave later in the day so students could have the opportunity to have lunch with their dads. I think it worked out well to leave later and the decision to add a travel day is definitely paying off. Students and leaders will go into the day tomorrow with less stress as we’re not having to race the clock and worry about traffic. If it fiscally works out I’ll definitely add a travel day to all of my future trips.

We don’t check-in with CiY until tomorrow so we spent the day getting to know different members in our group a little better. We laughed, shared stories and enjoyed a wonderful meal at one the greatest restaurants: Steak and Shake. We learned a lot about each other by simply taking the time to listen to each other’s stories.

Tonight we got to our hotel, went for a swim, and made a Wal-Mart run. Tomorrow we’re going to spend some time in Cincinnati and check-in with CiY. Stay tuned to see how our first day in Cincinnati goes and how our students respond to the culture of downtown Cincinnati.