Nathan Neighbors
Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, & Youth Pastor
It’s been one of those, “nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, so you can rest” weeks. As this flu virus has taken me down for the count this week, I’ve had a lot of time in “quarantine” to think and to pray. Today marks then end of our fifth year of youth ministry here at Morningside. We’ve seen God do some amazing things in the life of this church and youth ministry. Lives have changed and many students have a deeper walk with Christ. But what about the future? What can we do to be more intentional and more effective at spreading the Good News of the Gospel among teenagers and college students in the years to come?
This flu season has spread like wild-fire across our city over the past few weeks. What if the same could be said about our faith? How awesome would that be? Typically, when you hear the word “virus,” you think of an illness or a computer disaster. But in the marketing world, to say something’s viral means it’s uber great. Wikipedia says that, “viral marketing is a buzzword for techniques that use pre-existing social-networks to produce increases in brand awareness…” It goes on to say one of the primary ways of increasing brand awareness is through word-of-mouth. Think of the impact that Christ could have if His Name and His Renown went “viral.” Going viral sounds a lot like the Great Commission. I know that Jesus isn’t some brand to be sold like an iPad. Jesus Christ is The Brand. He’s the only One everyone on earth needs. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life (John 14:6).
Though I’ve suffered through the flu virus this week, when it comes to the Gospel, I never want it said that I was virally weak. As we journey into our sixth year of ministry at Morningside, I desire to spend more time pouring into our adult volunteers who spread the great news of our Savior among our teenagers. I hope you’ll join me in this journey. Let’s be viral together.
Recently my wife and I took our boys to their friend’s birthday party. It wasn’t just a simple backyard party – no that’s too simple these days. This was a pottery party. Kids gathered at a local pottery shop for cake and ice cream, and they got to paint a piece of pottery and fire it. The party host told the kids to be sure to put a few coats of paint on their pottery to be sure that the colors looked good after the pottery was fired in the kiln. A few minutes into our painting adventure, my four-year-old son said, “Dad, we need more jackets.” My first thought was, “What are you talking about?” After he said it a second time, I realized he was confusing “coats of paint” with “jackets of paint”. Too funny, right?
Communication with one another and with God can sometimes feel like my son’s jacket confusion. Too often we either don’t listen well or we don’t understand what’s being said. In either case we misconnect with people in conversation all the time. Whether in our marriages, conversations with students, or in our relationship with God, it’s important to really listen. Life’s full of opinions and voices, but seldom do we have people who will really listen. Be a minister who listens to students. Active listening is the art of listening to understand and reflecting back what you hear the other person saying rather than just listening so you can talk next. St. Francis of Assisi once prayed that God would help him, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” That’s still great advice today. If you’re like most youth pastors you probably like to talk, and it probably comes easy to you. Listening takes more effort than talking. Take time this week to listen. Listen to your spouse. Listen to your children. Listen to your students. Most importantly, listen to the Lord. “The one who gives an answer before he listens – this is foolishness and disgrace for him.” (Proverbs 18:13 HCSB)
Here’s a video that Mckelvie produced to highlight our mission team’s work this past week at First Baptist Church of Brewster, NY.
Nathan Neighbors 