“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed […] He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open… View More

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed […]

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth […]

For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Today we rest at the feet of Jesus. We remember the blood, the pain, the torn flesh, the tears, the sweat, the disfigured face, and the last breath. People ask… ‘how can one rejoice in such agony??’ It is simple. Because in His agony.. the fullness of God is revealed. In His agony… the full revelation of His grace is seen. Like a Lamb, our great King was lead to the slaughter.

Today I pray that I might more fully understand this great mystery, ”To know nothing [...] except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

A song for Good Friday:

Oh my soul, oh my Jesus
Judas sold you for 30, Iʼd have done it for less
Oh my soul, oh my Saviour
Peter denied you 3 times, I have denied you more

As the nails when in, I was standing right there
As you breathed your last, I shook my head and I cried

Oh my God what have we done
We have destroyed your son
Oh my God what have we done
We have destroyed your son

And the blood ran down, I was standing right there
And the water poured, I shook my head and I cried

It’s no surprise to any of us that we live in a society that revolves around digital consumption. We are the most “connected” generation that has ever lived. We live on our smart phones, tablets, and computers. We freak out if… View More

It’s no surprise to any of us that we live in a society that revolves around digital consumption. We are the most “connected” generation that has ever lived. We live on our smart phones, tablets, and computers. We freak out if an establishment doesn’t have Wi-Fi or if our 3G is down.  (It should be noted that as I write this, I have Netflix streaming on my iPad, Tweet Deck populating in the background of my laptop, my email open on my desktop, and my iPhone out on my desk.)

We are CONNECTED.

As I experience this connectedness firsthand, I wonder: How is this impacting our students?

If, right now, the 18-34 year old demographic is dominating media consumption, I assume that it will only get “worse” for our students as the media gates open wider and wider.  Our high school students are not far behind us when it comes to digital competency.  They (usually) simply lack the resources and ability to have as many “toys” to use at their convenience as we do.

When I consider this in light of the convenient distraction that is social media and digital gadgets, I have to remember that it is just that:  a distraction.  Although obviously useful and revolutionary for ministry, it is also a means of dangerous idleness.

A “Theology of Digital Consumption”.  Is that what we need?  Is it up to the church– our youth ministries– to start properly educating our youth about the harms of over-consumption?

I am not sure how to tackle this “issue”, but I am convinced that it must be addressed.  How do we set examples for our students that show a balanced life of both Sabbath and digital consumption? 

the above chart was taken from http://mashable.com/2012/02/23/generation-c/

Last March I had the privilege of meeting Jeremiah Parks, the founder and director of Heartwork. What has materialized from that lunch in March is an incredible partnership of 2 like-minded, gospel-centric organizations. We are so thrilled to be apart… View More

Last March I had the privilege of meeting Jeremiah Parks, the founder and director of Heartwork. What has materialized from that lunch in March is an incredible partnership of 2 like-minded, gospel-centric organizations. We are so thrilled to be apart of what Heartwork is doing around the world and I can’t wait to see how this relationship will continue to develop.

For the Alliance Youth office, Heartwork exists to aid our student ministries in funding and in bringing awareness to the C&MA work that is happening around the globe. Right now, Heartwork is featuring 30 C&MA specific projects in El Salvador, Burkina Faso, Gabon, and Mexico. Heartwork serves as the “middle-man” in helping to support, encourage, and provide resources for groups looking to take on a project. This is a beautiful way to engage your students in the greater C&MA vision, while also encouraging them to live out an Isaiah 58 lifestyle.

The below video gives an explanation of how Heartwork works. Their website also offers many more resources, plus contact information if you have questions. Feel free to also hit up our Contact page if you have questions!

How Heartwork “works” from Heartwork on Vimeo.

Welp…. Its here. FINALLY. A website, that is functional and pretty much awesome. We are so excited to unveil all the hard work Orangefloor Studio has put into this site. The heart behind this site is to create a network for… View More

Welp….

Its here. FINALLY. A website, that is functional and pretty much awesome. We are so excited to unveil all the hard work Orangefloor Studio has put into this site. The heart behind this site is to create a network for youth pastors and students within the C&MA. We want to share each other’s stories, hear from our fell0w Youth Workers, and help promote District & National events.

As the one who will be running this site I want to give you an overview of the site, some of it’s features and the in’s and out’s.

Home Page

• the featured slider | this tool will help showcase all our major events and video’s.
• Twitter & blog feed | a show case of our most recent tweets and blogs.
• Flickr Feed | This will feature all our pictures taken from events and our travels.
• Event Tabs | these 6 tabs act as the navigation “buttons” for the AY ENvents. By clicking on each event you will be taking to a new page that will show each event that is taking place during the year and a brief explantation of the event.

About Page

• Gives a general explanation and overview of the Alliacne Youth office and it’s history.

Team Page

• This tab features two different pages; one for our Lead Team and one for our Event Team. These pages will have contact info and short bio’s about each team member. If you have specific questions about each of our ENvents… this is where you will go to contact the Event Directors (coming soon).

Blog

• Fairly self-explanatory. This page will feature all of our blogs from Jason, myself Christian), and guest writers (youth workers and ministry leaders from around the country and globe).

Contact

• Hopefully this tool will be used to field any and all questions, comments, concerns, etc… This will reduce email traffic and make it easier for us to categorize outside input.

Well… that’s the gist of the site. If you have questions, get in touch with us on our Contact page. We can’t wait to get this site off the ground and again, it is are hope that it serves as an amazing resource for you and your students.