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Today I leave to go to Chicago where we will do our last conference of the Survive Tour. So far it has been a powerful run. God has done and continues to do some amazing things in and through the tens of thousands of teenagers who have been trained and equipped through the Dare 2 Share conferences.

Pray for this last event to be powerful and effective. My prayer is that God’s Spirit moves in hearts in such a way that these teenagers are never the same. Also pray for the youth leaders to put into practice the Deep and Wide Youth Ministry model in the context of their youth group. The last thing I want these equipping weekends to be is a one weekend hip, hip, hooray holy huddle. Youth leaders need to implement this long term model so that they can see ongoing growth (in depth of spirituality and new conversion growth) in the context of their youth ministries.

Also, I’m bringing Jeremy my seven year old son (of “Teeter Totter Theology” fame) with me on this trip. Pray that we have some great daddy/son time this weekend in the windy city. I love that little boy.

Tim over at Life in Student Ministry just wrote a review of both our GOSPEL Journey Reality Series and Go Wide Training Kit. Check it out and add your comments to his site if you are so moved.

While you are there surf around a bit…or actually a lot. Tim has got excellent and practical articles and ideas for youth leaders to use. There’s a reason I promote Life in Student Ministry on my site list (aka “Tim Schmoyer”) Tim is a youth leader who is getting it done and sharing his insights with thousands of youth leaders across the nation. Spend some time browsing his site and you’ll be impressed I’m sure.

I had a great time with my friends at Grace Church yesterday. What a warm and loving church (in a city that can be quite cold…literally!) Many of them took The 48 Hour Challenge. Pray with me for each of them as they seek to take the good news of Jesus to that one person the Holy Spirit has put on their heart.

By the way, when’s the last time you shared your faith?

Okay, before you freak out, know that I’m just reiterating what James 2:14-26 makes crystal clear…faith without works can’t save us. This passage makes some bold and seemingly heretical assertions like: “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

I’ve had these verses thrown into my face for years by Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses and works-based “Christians”. Inevitably they will say “well what about James 2?” And, when you think about it, this passage can be very difficult to reconcile with the vast majority of passages that make it clear that we are saved by faith alone and not good works.

At first and second and third glance it looks like the teachings of St. James and the teachings of St. Paul are diametrically opposed. As a matter of fact the great reformer Martin Luther (not the black preacher but the German monk) offered a free Doctor’s cap to anyone who could reconcile their teachings. They seem contradictory.

To be honest the vast majority of commentaries I have read on this passage are not much help. They all have the same mantra… “here’s what saving faith looks like….blah, blah, blah.” But James is not talking about what saving faith looks like…he’s talking about what saves. His conclusion? Faith PLUS works is what saves us.

Hence the conundrum.

But with the help of the Holy Spirit and my good friend Jonathan Smith I think that we have been able to crack the code of James 2. And what I see on the inside is something beautiful. What I see is something that should inspire Christians everywhere.

I really want you to take some time and watch this podcast where I take the James 2 challenge head on. I preached it just two days ago to our Dare 2 Share staff. For many of them it helped explain this passage in a way that, didn’t just reconcile Paul and James, but helped them realize how practical and life changing this passage is to our everyday lives.

Please watch it and let me know what you think of the way we interpreted and applied this powerful (not problem) passage.

Right now the leadership team at Dare 2 Share is up at a two day retreat in the mountains. We are at Timberline Lodge (where Zane teaches) to get some fresh mountain air and get re-energized in the mission that God has called us to. What is our goal for the next two days? To clarify our strategic plan (purpose, BHAG, brand statement, metrics, etc), brainstorm together, connect as a team, play and pray!

God is doing some big things here at Dare 2 Share and I am praying that our time together will lead to even bigger things. Pray with us that the Lord makes this a powerful and profitable time for his glory!

Here’s my list:

1. Rocky (Academy Award Winner for Best Picture of 1977…and, yes, I cried.)
2. Sergeant York (based on a true story of a Christian soldier in World War I)
3. Braveheart
4. The Passion of the Christ
5. Anne of Green Gables (I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and…)
6. Rocky Balboa (a fitting end to an era)
7. Cinderella Man (do you get the feeling I like movies with a punch?)
8. Cool Hand Luke
9. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (and not just because my buddy directed it)
10. Left Behind (just kidding)…how about Enchanted (I am secure in my manhood…I think.)

What are your top ten favorite movies of all time?

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. As my strong-willed-sweet-as-pie little girl is getting more and more chatty I knew that it would be just a matter of time before I’d be blogging more about her tiny tot escapades. Her big brother Jeremy is a walking/talking sermon illustration file for daddy. Teenagers and adults alike love it when I tell Jeremy stories. As a matter of fact I’ve used so many illustrations about him lately that I don’t give him an allowance anymore. I pay him royalties.

But its Kailey’s turn now.

Just the other day Jeremy (age 7), Kailey (age 3) and Daddy (age none-of-your-bees-wax) were at the park playing when Kailey did something she shouldn’t have done. When I found out what she did I scolded her and told her, “Shame on you Kailey. Shame on you.” She immediately began to cry, “I don’t want shame on me Daddy! I don’t want shame on me!”

To be honest I laughed a little. It sounded funny coming out of three year old lips. Shame to her sounded like some kind of nasty goo that she didn’t want on her. I was thinking to myself, “She’ll be fine. She doesn’t even know what shame is. It’s just time for a nap.” So we loaded back in the car and went home.

Later on that night I had all but forgotten about her comment. By this time we had all eaten dinner, played, prayed and were getting the kids ready for bed. I was putting Jeremy to bed that night but, as always, I came into Kailey’s bedroom to give her a hug and a kiss. As I walked around the corner into her doorway I saw my wife getting Kailey changed into her pajamas. Then I heard my daughter start crying to my wife, “Mommy, I don’t want shame on me!”

My heart kind of dropped because I knew that I was about to get some shame on me. Debbie looked over at me wondering what in the world she was talking about. I explained. She gave me the “what are you a complete idiot?” look of mommy/wife exasperation.

I launched a speech that went something like “it goes to show you how the shame of sin impacts us even at a very young age… blah, blah, blah, preacher blah…”

My wife just said, “She’s three years old Greg.”

Suddenly I had a vision of Kailey in her mid thirties laying on a couch in some Psychiatrist’s office admitting, “The earliest words I remember my daddy saying to me were not ‘I love you’ or ‘I think you are a special little girl’ but ‘Shame on you. Shame on you.’”

Oopsy.

What are my takeaways? First of all I need to be careful what I say to my children. They are more perceptive than I probably give them credit for. Secondly, I thank God for my wife who adds a little ying to my yang when it comes to balancing love and discipline (I’m more of a discipline guy.) Thirdly, I am convinced that the whole concept of shame impacted my daughter so strongly because of the fact that all of us are born in sin, including sweet little Kailey.

It all started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve broke God’s command and got the goo of shame on them. They tried to cover their shame with fig leaves. They tried to hide their shame from God himself. But they couldn’t…and neither can we. Through Adam that sin and shame has been passed down through the generations of humanity to our grandparents, to our parents, to you and to me. But it’s when we begin to sense the shame that comes from sin that we can begin to receive the grace that comes from Jesus.

Maybe if we could get a little “shame on us” we would be more receptive to the grace that God provides. Maybe we don’t have enough shame in this culture and as a result people don’t sense a need for a Savior to save them from their sin and shame.Maybe the same is true of our children.

Or maybe I’m just an idiot.

If you agree then shame on you.

My lunch tray is stacked high with all the food I need to give me the energy I need to make it through the rest of my school day. I’ve got a spiritual protein, a theological carb, my mini carton of ministry milk and my Bible brownie on the side.

But now I’m in a conundrum. Where do I sit in the packed “School of Thought” cafeteria? I guess I’ll survey the big, clanky room for a few seconds before I pick which table I fit in the most.

I could sit with the evangelicals again, the jocks of our little school. They love Jesus yes they do, but for some reason many of them choose to eat their meals in four simple steps and, to be honest, it’s getting kind of old. All of the food on their trays seems prepackaged and processed. Don’t get me wrong, their food has got the base amount of nutrients needed to survive, but it feels like it’s missing something more meaty.

To the far right side of the cafeteria is the fundamentalist table or, as I like to call it, the “what are you looking at” table full of big bullies. When I first came to school that’s where I sat. I loved to pick fights with people over what they were eating for lunch. But schoolyard brawls and writing things not to do lists got old after awhile.

Right next to them is the Reformed table. This table is loud with discussion and beautiful to look at. Large vases of TULIPs line the center of their perfectly set table. But this is an invitation only gathering and I guess I wasn’t chosen to sit there. I think that if I was I would probably get my hand slapped for trying to pluck a bud or two off their pretty flowers.

The Emergent table is a possiblity but it is all the way over on the left side of the cafeteria and that is a far walk from where I stand. It used to be the table for all the pocket protecting nerds (i.e. “the smart kids”) but not anymore. Anyone with a soulpatch and a blog is welcome to sit there now. Some of them seem angry too, kind of like the bullies over at the fundamentalist table, but with a bigger vocabulary.

Scattered throughout this large cafeteria there are all kinds of denominational tables. There are Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans and all sorts of Baptists from regular (as if there are irregular ones) to Southern Baptists to American Baptists and more. As a matter of fact there are too many denominational tables for me to list.

There is one table that I’m looking at though that looks like it has plenty of room. It is in the distant corner of the cafeteria, the corner where all the outcasts sit. But for some reason there’s only one loser there today. I can’t quite make out his face but for some reason he looks strangely familiar. And as I take a few steps closer I can see that he is wiping tears from his piercing, poignant eyes.

I wonder why he is crying. I wonder if he, whoever he is, is upset by the division that we all feel in this great big room. I once heard that years ago we used to all get along, that our school Spirit was unrivaled. I heard that we all worked together from the same creed for the same cause. But that was a long, long time ago.

I just realized who He is. I just dropped my tray and screamed “Jesus!” Everyone looked up.

There may be hope for this school just yet.

This morning we take off for Breckenridge as a family. We are just going to stay the night but Jeremy is really looking forward to it. Debbie is going to take Jeremy skiing for the very first time tomorrow. What about me and Kailey? We are going to stay in the lodge drinking hot chocolate, watching Dora and having some daddy/daughter time.

Here are a few reasons why I won’t go skiing:

1. I have no ACL. In other words the main ligament that connects the top of my right leg to the bottom of my right leg is shredded. I initially tore it playing basketball about fifteen years ago and finished it off dancing to a Michael Jackson video about fourteen years ago (I’m sorry but it’s true). After I had it replaced the first time the screw started protruding from my knee, almost poking through the skin, so they had to remove it…making my new ACL tantamount to not being there. There’s nothing more dangerous for an already bad knee than a day on the ski slopes. The last thing I need is a fun ski trip to shred any other lightweight ligaments that are working overtime to keep my leg together.

2. I am physically uncoordinated. For some reason I have not been blessed with athletic skill. I was the guy the basketball coach put in when we were either thirty points up or thirty points down, there were two minutes to play and it didn’t really matter. I was the Rudy of the basketball court. That same try hard/look bad gene has translated into every one of my less than a handful of skiing attempts. To be honest the one time I did go skiing with my wife (when we were first married) I think my “all over the mountain”, screaming-like-a-fool, spaz-o-matic style of not skiing embarrassed her. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the incessant “GET OUT OF MY WAY! I’M GOING TO HURT SOMEONE! WATCH OUT” that I yelled down the mountain again and again and again as I sought to stay on my skis while weaving and wheezing my way through the Colorado ski community.

3. I’m better at other things. Have a sermon you want preached? I’m your dude. Write a how to evangelism manual? Give me a call. Ski instructor? Look elsewhere. Although during the filming of our latest reality series GOSPEL Journey Maui I discovered that even though I had a hard time skiing in my home state of Colorado, I could, for some strange reason, get up on a surf board. I surfed for an entire afternoon in Hawaii just a few months ago and enjoyed every body bruising minute of it. I’m not saying I looked good doing it. But I am saying that I got up and stayed up on the board enough to call myself a very novice but very eager surfer. Although I can’t swim (don’t ask) I think I found a sport that I’d like to get better at.

Either way I’m looking forward to spending time with my family in the mountains today and having a great time tomorrow hearing how Jeremy faired on the slopes (pray he’s got mama’s genes!) It should be a lot of fun and some much needed down time after four back to back events.

Kawabunga Dude!

Just the other day I was talking with my wife about Easter and the laundry list of stuff that we needed to get done before the big day (including the laundry!) From picking up the Honeybaked Ham to attending Good Friday services at our church to buying, dyeing and hiding eggs my wife and I were chatting up a storm about all the chocolatey bunny details that needed completed in the next few days.

That’s when my seven year old boy Jeremy interrupted us with these words,“Daddy, don’t get distracted by the eggs.”

I didn’t exactly know what he was talking about at first. I was right in the middle of waxing eloquent with my wife about the Easter Things To Do List when he threw out his perplexing statement. My wife and I just kind of stopped and looked at him.

He explained, “The reason for Easter is not eggs, Daddy. It’s Jesus rising from the dead.”

At first I tried to think up something witty and Biblical to say like “Well you know son, just like eggs represent new life, the resurrection represents, blah, blah, blah….” After all I am a preacher. But instead I just nodded and said, “Thanks for the reminder Jeremy. You are right.”

This Easter let’s not be distracted by the eggs, the candy, the Easter clothes or the artery clogging foods around the table. Let’s get distracted by the resurrected Christ.

Thanks for the reminder son.