4 Things

The beginning of every school year gets me pumped to meet new people and, more importantly, see what fresh things God wants to do in a new season for our city and our church. Here's the top 4 things our leadership is absolutely stoked about in the coming year (in no particular order):

1. Worship

There is absolutely nothing like coming together as God's church and proclaiming His name. This is where inspiration, healing and life change happen because, as Psalm 22:3 states, "God resides in the praises of His people."

Where God is, crazy, incredible things happen, and we don't want to settle for anything less than His presence.

2. Including more young adults

Last year, the 120 was formed when the high school and young adult groups came together to form one ministry. This year, something similar is happening in that we are preparing to provide child care some time this fall so that more young families and single parents can come and worship. This will meet a great need in our church!

3. Obsession

We have never been believers in changing for the sake of change. We're not looking to provide an emotional and social experience that can't sustain us. Instead, at the 120 we are passionate about being a people that are obsessed with Jesus and His finished work. Emotions, great music and a fun atmosphere cannot move people — only Jesus can do that, and hearts that are obsessed with Him will see a culture be saved.

4. Salvation

Since the 120 was formed we have become a ministry that wants to see young people come to know Jesus (what a thought!), and this year will be no different. We will not hold a single service without giving people the opportunity to come to know God personally, while experiencing "real" life for the first time.

This is our goal and our passion — to fall in love with Jesus and see other people do the same. Nothing else could fuel our fire more!


Thank you for being a part of the 120. Whether you're a part of the food team, leading worship, a part of a small group or just attending, you are a vital part of this ministry, and we couldn't be more excited to do ministry with you.

Ben and Chad

A New Beginning

It seems like this is the most difficult time for student ministries every year.

I've been leading the young adults (now high schoolers, as well) for over five years now, and every time August and early September roll around I find it harder to be motivated.

It's easy to blame the lack of zeal on the fact that the majority of the Oregon Tech students are out of town; any and all of the plans that are being made with regards to ministry are for "later" — after we kick off our fall schedule and things return to normalcy; and we run much smaller crowds in the summer.

I have come to realize that these special circumstances shouldn't have any authority over my passion for Jesus. Don't get me wrong, I would be lying if I said that I'm not excited to see the new school year starting, which includes new faces and more salvations.

But, Jesus said, "Lift up your eyes and look at the fields! For they are already ripe for harvest." - John 4:35. The fields are always there and always ripe (I pray that I always remember that). The key part of the verse spoken by Jesus is "LOOK". Pay attention, open your eyes, stop staring at your own feet and LOOK!

So, this last Thursday, I finally made the decision to actually look at the harvest and allow God to come through in worship. The result was a sweet, long-lasting taste of Jesus as we poured out our hearts and filled the room with praise. Suddenly, I wasn't performing my job or trying harder to "make" people worship. As we poured ourselves out, God returned the favor and drowned us in the ocean of his grace and love.

God was there. God was real.

Now, my vision is to worry less about having the correct "spiritual equipment" and think more about LOOKING, because there have been too many times that I have wanted to put my head down and push, instead of looking up to be engaged by the waiting mission field.

Real Encouragement

It's easy for me to think of ministry as something that consists of preaching and music. Much of the time that I spend in the church every week is taken up by preparing sermons and worship setlists.

Both of these things are important to the life of the church and I have a passion for preaching and worship. Great worship sessions and messages can change lives forever because of the Holy Spirit and the awesome power of God, but I am contending in this blog that neither one of these common Christian mediums can overshadow the ridiculous, incredible, potent, piercing, life-changing power of real encouragement.

The interesting thing about bringing real encouragement to other people's lives is that it's both the easiest thing you could ever do, and it's one of the most difficult.

— It's Easy —

Why is encouragement easy? Well, for one thing, it's easy because of technology.

With multiple social networks and hundreds of contacts on your cell phone it has never been easier to send encouragement to those who need it. You can literally change someone's life by texting (!), liking someone's status, telling someone that they're loved and accepted despite any circumstance. People need YOU!

— It's Difficult —

Why is encouragement difficult? Pride, selfishness, unforgiveness, frustration in our own lives or just plain silliness.

I'll be honest with you and tell you that I often find it very difficult to encourage people. Sometimes it's because I feel like they've never encouraged me, they upset me before, I think they're getting encouraged by enough people already (wouldn't want them to get a big head, right?), I think they're too far gone, they're not Christians, they're annoying, they smell, whatever (insert your reason here).

But the real reason I find it hard to encourage is because I don't see myself in them, and it's convenient and self-satisfying for me to stay on top of the people who are "below" me and to try to drag down the people who are doing "better" than me.

Paul said:

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15 KJV).

Paul was so successful in his ministry because he was able to see himself as "chief of sinners." When I think of myself as "another sinner", that allows me to compare myself with others and find a spot that I'm satisfied with on the sin totem pole.

A realization like the one that Paul had leads me to see that the sin I have in me isn't different from the sin that I find in the most successful business person, the drug addict on the street, the confused high schooler, the man having an affair and the incredible pastor.

If I'm not so different from anyone else, and I know that God can save anyone just like he saved me, then why would I withhold the encouragement that I desperately need?

Who is He?

If you've been attending the 120 (our Klamath Falls generation ministry) you have probably become familiar with our new sermon series/campaign "Who is He?"

This new vision that I have for the new ministry year is one that will hopefully illuminate the face of Jesus Christ in our hearts and communities like never before. My take is that He is the sole reason for faith and hope in this world. He is the Messiah:

— Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me all who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

— In John 4:25-26 we hear, "The woman said to Him, 'I know that the Messiah is coming; when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He."

That's my take. Now, I'm interested in finding out who you think He really is. How has He impacted your life? Is He simply a good teacher? A false prophet? The love of your life? A disciplinarian? A healer? Confidant?

Who do you think He is? Please feel free to post on this blog page or on the facebook post. If you don't comment, at least begin to ask yourself who He really is.

Incredible Pride: Part 1

It's amazing to me how hard it is to shake pride out of our lifestyles.

When I think of excessive pride it's easy for my mind to wander toward pictures of puffed up athletes, leaders or celebrities that have allowed mountains of fame and fortune to elevate their egos into another stratosphere. But, the reality is that pride has the tendency to slip into every one of our lives, and it comes in packages that look like something else. I'll talk about the types of "pride packages" we might have next week, but for now I want to point out a story from Mark 3.

At this point in the gospel of Mark, Jesus had preached in Galilee, healed crowds, called disciples and now He heals on the Sabbath, and all along the way the Pharisees — full of self-righteousness — doubt, mock and try to trap Jesus in His words.

Then, in verse 11, we uncover a sad truth, "Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, 'You are the Son of God!'"

Demons, the servants of Satan, bowed down to Jesus and declared Him to be the Son of God before these educated teachers of the law.

We cannot let our own self-righteousness get in the way of the face of Jesus. In everything that we do we must worship at the feet of Jesus. Pride says that we can do it alone. Pride causes us to doubt when we see miracles. Pride turns us away from the face of Jesus, even when his perfectly clear that His presence is on our lives.

Satan's demons surrendered to Jesus. Why shouldn't we?

Loving Your City

Growing up in the city of Glendale, a small Oregon logging community of about 800 people, I heard the phrase, "I can't wait to get out of this town," more than just a few times. It is a city that has a single supermarket, two mills and zero stoplights (unless you count the blinking red one at the intersection just off the off-ramp...if you do, you may count it as half a stoplight).

Glendale has never been a popular destination, just like the city I currently live in: Klamath Falls. Klamath is located in a high desert area of southern Oregon — only about 25 miles from the California border. This city boasts around 40,000 people, two collegiate schools (Oregon Tech and Klamath Community College), a movie theatre (!), potatoes, cows and snow and ice from November to the end of May...or June.

The attitude of many youth, college students and adults who live in Klamath Falls is, "All I want to do is leave." And who could blame them, especially after reading how I described them?

Maybe you live in a city like this, or, maybe you live in a big city like a Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Las Vegas and you find yourself stuck in traffic, always wishing that you could get out forever.

No matter what city you find yourself living in today, I want to encourage you to love your city.

Why?

1. It's not as bad as you think.

There are always ways to have fun in whatever city you're in. Truth be told, I have loved living in Glendale and Klamath Falls — even though neither city has many of the amenities that larger cities have to offer, it's easy to find a way yourselves. It's just that some places require more creativity than others.

2. It's not about "what your city has to offer," it's about the people.

This is summed up by Jesus in Luke 10:27b, when he states, "Love your neighbor as yourself." When I say "love your city" I'm not talking about the buildings, lakes, or restaurants. I'm talking about the people. After all, God didn't command us to love a specific climate or a triple-decker mall, but he did command us to love people.

3. Jesus did it.

If there was ever a man who had every right to say, "I want to get out of here," It would have been Jesus. He left Heaven, a place of perfection, to come live in a place of deceit, murder, pain, suffering and sin so that we could live our lives in freedom. Could you imagine Jesus coming and living a life that consisted of trying to kill time until He could move on? Instead, He chose to stay to give us grace and love. Jesus did eventually ascend to Heaven, just like most of us will not always remain in the same city, but the world He lived in has never been the same. Love your city, and I promise, it'll never be the same.

Don't live a life always wishing you were somewhere else. Live a life confident that you're with God.

He Seeks His Servants

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant." — Psalm 119:176

Imagine this scenario:

You work for a huge company that has worldwide influence. The product that you offer is the most important thing that has ever hit the market — it saves lives, heals bodies, mends families and frees people from any kind of addiction — and you're just one of millions of employees.

The crazy thing about this company is that, even though you're "just" one in millions, the owner — not just your supervisor — knows when you're skipping out on work, sick, lazy, tired, thinking about quitting, bored, going through the motions, or sleeping at your desk. The owner, with his millions of employees, could come down hard and strip you of your salary and your benefits, but he is different. He just wants to talk to you, get to know you, and give you more of a share in the company.

P.S. If you have this job, I suggest you keep it.

This is a picture of God's relationship with His people. He is the leader of a workforce that is naturally lazy and self serving, but even though He has the right to, He doesn't go around casting everyone out of His kingdom. Instead, He gives His people more grace over and over again.

God, the Creator of the universe, "seeks His servant" over, and over, and over again. You and I deserve the worst, but because of the infinite grace of God, we are perpetually given the best. There is no boss, friend, parent, husband or wife that can provide that.

Wherever you go, God will seek you; not to punish you, but to give you more than you can possibly imagine.