Last week at the ROCK, we spent some time talking about some important things to do so that we see God's Word bear fruit in our lives.  Simple truths but impactful if practiced regularly.  If you want to see God's Word change your life, you must:

• READ IT - The first thing you need to do is crack open the cover.  Sometimes that’s the toughest thing to do… but it’s essential to allowing the Bible to change your life.  When I think of reading God’s Word I think of three things that help make this successful: 1. Time: When will you spend time reading?  Choose a consistent time during the day to read God’s Word… morning or evening?  2. Territory: Where will you spend time reading?  Get away from distractions and consistently meet God in the same place everyday.  3. Translation: What will you read?  There are lots of translations of the bible, some easier to read and some harder to read.  Get a Bible Translation that you can understand.  The NIV Student Bible is a great one to use.

With that topic floating around in my head, I saw an article on Facebook that intrigued me.  The article was from Relevant Magazine and it discussed some tips that you should take advantage of when you read the Bible.  I thanked God for the timely advice and thought there were some great tips that are worth sharing!  Here were a few of my favorite tips that they shared:

• Read ‘King’ When You See ‘Christ.’ - Christ, or Messiah, means “anointed one,” and priests and kings were anointed. Substituting "King Jesus" for "Christ Jesus" when reading draws attention to the fact that Christ was not Jesus' last name, but in fact His title: one of great honor and esteem. Making that one switch alone breathes new life into reading the New Testament.

• Read ‘You’ Differently - Almost all the "you" words in the New Testament are plural you's rather than singular you's. The Southern "y'all" expresses it beautifully: the epistles are written to believers corporately, not believers alone. This does not diminish personal responsibility at all, though. If anything, it heightens it: we pray together, believe together, suffer together, raise the armor of God together. All y'all.

• If You See a ‘Therefore,’ Find Out What It’s There For - Therefore, take note in bibles where paragraphs are divided up with headings inserted by editors. If the paragraph begins with "therefore,” you might have to pick up a bit earlier to understand the context.

• Remember What You Learned in English Class - The Bible is not an instruction manual. It's not a "how-to" book for life. It is a collection of 66 books of literature, and to interpret it correctly, you need to remember what you learned in English class about interpreting different genres of literature.  Biblical truth is found in poetry, but we must read it as poetry. It is found in narrative, but we must read those as stories. It is found in proverbs, and we must treat those as such. Just a quick moment to think “what book am I reading from? And what type of literature is this?” can make a world of difference. Truth be told, the Bible is not an easy read, but it is absolutely worth the effort.

• Read to Study. But Also, Read to Refresh Your Heart - Amid the hours of serious Bible study, I treasured this advice. Sometimes, we read to study and understand and wrestle with the truth. But sometimes, we read to make our hearts happy. “Delight yourself in the Lord,” for “your words are sweeter to me than honey.”

Check out the whole article and see what are some of your favorite tips on reading God's Word.  What are some of your tips for reading the Bible?  Comment and let me know!

- Rick

About four years ago, God called Danielle and I to Keystone Fellowship outside of Philadelphia, PA to be the Student Ministries Pastor where I oversaw students in 6-12th grade.  The past few years at Keystone have been some of my favorite years of ministry that I've ever had.  I've had the privilege of seeing students surrender their lives to Christ, baptizing more students than I ever have before, making incredible relationships with students and leaders, having a ton of fun, and seeing God grow in Danielle and my own life.  God has taught Danielle and I continually through our time at Keystone.  Despite these past few years being some of our hardest years of ministry, we are so thankful for all that God has done in us and through us and we would not trade it for anything.

However, it is with sad hearts that we share that God has released us from our calling to Keystone.  We have loved our time at Keystone and the family that we have created while we have been here.  They have grown with us and helped us go through some of the toughest times of our lives.  Though we are sad to leave, it is with excited hearts that we also announce that I have accepted the position as Middle School Pastor at Oak Pointe Church in Novi, MI!

Danielle and I are so excited to go to Oak Pointe and see all that God wants to do in this next phase of our lives.  About three months ago, Oak Pointe called me to discuss the position and the possibility of coming back to Michigan.  Over the past few months, we have spent significant time in prayer, fasting and listening for God's voice on what His desire and will is for us.  We know completely that God has called us to Oak Pointe and God has confirmed that for us again and again.

We will be moving in the beginning of August to Michigan with a planned start at Oak Pointe in mid August.  Please pray for Keystone during this transition as they seek to find a new youth pastor and for Danielle and I as we seek to sell our home.  While this was not something that we expected to happen, Danielle and I have always committed to doing whatever God calls us to do, whenever God calls us to do it, wherever God calls to us go.  Therefore, when God clearly called us to Oak Pointe we said yes.

Thank you for your continued support of our ministry at Keystone over these past few years and we look forward to sharing with you all that God is going to do in our ministry at Oak Pointe!

- Rick

Anyone in Youth Ministry knows that summertime means one thing... SUMMER CAMP!  We've been planning camp for a while now and I'm looking forward to what God is going to do when we go to camp in August.  I saw this video today from Youth Specialties and thought it had great ideas to take Summer Camp to the next level!  

Here's a quick overview of the 4 concepts that they go through in the video:

1. Think with a "there" to "here" mindset. What can we do while we're there (at camp/mission trip/etc) to bring the experience back here (home)? 
2. Create Corporate Traditions. Be intentional about creating traditions with students that they'll want to carry into the event each summer. 
3. Create Open Spaces in the Schedule. This isn't about more "free" time but about "breathe" time.
4. Bring Parents on the Journey. You don't necessarily have to bring all the parents with you but you do need to find ways to make sure parents know what is going on.

I'm definitely thinking through how we can implement some of these ideas into our camp experience.  I'd love to hear from you!  What are you planning on doing to take your Summer Camp to the next level?

- Rick

I love my iPhone... I really do.  I remember when I got the iPhone 4s and Siri.  Siri changed the way I interacted with my phone, schedule, texting... even checking the weather.  The thing about Siri is that her voice is very distinct.  I will sometimes accidentally activate Siri and the moment I hear her voice, I know it's her.

For some reason, it is different with God.  So many people struggle with hearing God's voice or when He speaks, they don't know if it is truly Him.  Hearing the voice of God often requires us to listen in a new way.  We are used to having our own thoughts flow from our own mind.  The thoughts from the Spirit are different because they don't originate with you... they originate from the Spirit.  This is not to say that we shouldn't use our minds, but part of learning to hear God involves quieting our thoughts so that you can hear the Spirit speak.

How can you determine God's voice from your own thoughts?  Here are a few questions and thoughts to think through as you determine what you are hearing is God's voice or your own...

• Does what I heard line up with scripture?  The dilemma is that sometimes we can see, sense or hear something, and we can find a way to justify it, but it’s not necessarily the nature of God.
• Does it produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit?  If what you've heard produces something other than the fruit of the Spirit, then it might not be God speaking to you.
• Thoughts from your mind are meditated.  But thoughts spoken by Christ's Spirit to your spirit are spontaneous ideas, words, feelings or images.
• The Spirit's thoughts will sometimes have an unusual content to them.  They will bring ideas, insights, or instructions that you wouldn't have thought of yourself.
• They will bring with the a sense of peace and spiritual power.  This does not always come immediately, but the result will often be peace.
• When you act on the Spirit's promptings, they will bring joy and freedom.

Remember, even though God speaks, it is up to you to turn your attention to Him and listen for His voice.  He is speaking, the question is are we listening?

- Rick

The Birth Of Jesus

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The saying that less is more is pretty accurate for our relationships with Christ.  I know that I too often get in the habit of trying to do more stuff as I seek to grow in my relationship with Christ.  However, I have found that when I am willing to do less, then I achieve more in my relationship with Him!

What do I mean when I say doing less will achieve more?  The secret to growth is not about our actions, but more about our rest in Christ.  To grow we need to do a few things:

• STOP - We need to disconnect from the world that we are constantly connected to.  We need to stop texting, going on Facebook, tweeting, playing xBox, hanging out with friends, watching TV,  adding more things to our schedule... and just relax in the arms  of Christ.  We need to get alone, in a quiet place, free from distractions and just rest.  This is something that Jesus did... and if Jesus needed to disconnect and stop from the busyness of life and ministry, then so do we!
  

Stop. Listen. Respond.  I think if you are willing to follow these simple steps, then you will see your relationship with Christ transformed!  My challenge to you today is to find some time to simply STOP.  Disconnect.  Turn off your phone.  Log off of Facebook.  Find somewhere quiet and spend some time in God's Word.  Simply listen!

- Rick

I'm all about great organizations and great causes.  A friend of mine runs an awesome organization called I Won't Watch.  Their heart is to provide opportunities for people to combat the causes, and conditions of poverty around  the world sponsoring, water, shelter, education, and health initiatives through the sale of watches.

This black friday I Won't Watch is flipping the mind set of black friday by starting to think about the millions who live in poverty. This year they want to start by giving to those in need first and then to those who have plenty!

I Won't Watch is going to Flip Black Friday by asking you to make a donation first. When you make a donation they'll in turn provide you with one of their sweet watches! If you make a donation under $30 they'll ship you one of their Signature watches. I can tell you from experience... they're pretty awesome. If you go all out and donate over $30 they'll hook you up with their brand new Proper Watch and an extra interchangeable band. 
 
I'm not against Black Friday, but I'm all for giving on Black Friday instead of buying a bunch of stuff for myself!  This is a double bonus... I give and receive!  If you're interested in flipping Black Friday, go visit flipblackfriday.com!  With your help they're going to Flip Black Friday! It's less about the watch and more about the change. Make a decision this year on Black Friday to Stop Watching and Start Doing.

- Rick

I'm not the first person to create a blog... This actually isn't even my first blog that I've created (you can check out my previous blog at here)!  However, there comes a time when you must move on and start something new!  That time has now come for me.

I am starting my new blog here on my new site.  My goal is to spend time here each week discussing different things that I am learning in life and ministry... and just share some good videos I've see too!  As I leader, I know that God has called me to never stop learning.  I want to spend time sharing that with you and asking you to join the conversation.

My prayer and hope is that as I write on this blog that I will spend time it will serve as a two fold purpose:

1. Be relaxing and fun - Many of you know that ministry can be exhausting.  It is crucial to have an outlet that brings you rest and joy.  In the past, blogging has been both fun and enjoyable for me.  My hope is that I would rediscover that joy of blogging again.  So expect some things that are fun and make me laugh... so yes... there will be youtube videos.
2. Be impactful - One thing that I am convinced of is that God never stops speaking.  As God speaks, shows and teaches me different things, I am going to share them here.  This will not be a diary, but a place to impart the different things that God has taught me for the benefit of the body.

My prayer and hope is that you would join me on this new journey with me.  I hope you will find it fun and a place where  you are challenged to grow in your relationship with Christ.

Rick