Friday, March 13, 2009

Preaching Jesus



God designed me as a coach. I have coached volleyball, basketball, and football at the high school level. My tendencies in youth ministry are to coach. It comes so naturally to me that I have to be very aware that I am not coaching in situations that require something of a different approach. One of the things I learned from my coaches in high school was to always focus on the basics. There have been times in my ministry when I have forgotten the basics.

Jesus is the most fundamental truth found in all of Scripture. Martin Luther said, "Scripture is the cradle of Christ" and Charles Spurgeon said, "“Nobody ever outgrows scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years” For most of this year we have been doing a series on Jesus. We have been asking questions like, "why worship Jesus?" and "What did Jesus accomplish on the cross?" The amazing thing is this, my students have not grown tires of Jesus, and I have not grown tires of preaching about Jesus. Instead this has opened up my students minds. They have begun to understand that all of Scripture ultimately points to Jesus. We have grown significantly in numbers and in spiritual maturity. Students are bringing friends to hear about Jesus, not to hear me talk about drinking, peer pressure, or some other hot topic. They come to hear about Jesus!!

When we use gimmicks to attract students we may be successful, but gimicks cannot change a students life, only Jesus can do that. Let's stay focused on the basics preach Jesus from all of scripture!!

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