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Oct 13, 2014    |      Comments Off on Having Done in Room 1501 (Wk 10) No Looking Back!

Having Done in Room 1501 (Wk 10) No Looking Back!

JCS Crest 2014

 

 

Room 1501 pic

 

I can’t believe I just completed week 10 at Joy Christian High School as a first year professional teacher.  I love Room 1501 and even more the students that darken its door everyday.  I am still “taking notes”, and “the jury is still out” in regards to me speaking about the differences between being a Bible Teacher in a teaching profession, and being a Senior Pastor of a large and growing Church.  Having now done both…I’m having fun comparing the two.  One little thing I’m noticing, which I will blog about in the future…is that whether I am teaching in a classroom setting, leading my mission org called Return Hope International, or being a Senior Pastor of a Church on some street corner….they are all the Church.

I believe our Christian culture has done a huge disservice to the work of the Lord

by compartmentalizing Jesus’s bride.  

What do I mean?  We have mission orgs, Christian schools, other Jesus centered industries, but for some reason we only call the building on the street corner The Church.  I don’t want to get off track as to what this blog post’s purpose is, but the day is coming soon where I will blog about this huge disservice.  The Church is way bigger than what we have dismantled it to be by compartmentalizing it the way we have.  Sadly, we as the Church are the ones who have done the compartmentalizing.  We must change this.  (Another blog, another time.)

So on this week 10...I only want to blog about one day of it…and it was actually something that did NOT happen in Room 1501, but in the Library of Joy Christian School at 7am on Wednesday.

Wednesdays at JCS are not only chapel days for our whole school, but they are also Staff Devotion day for the JCS Staff.  I have been asked to lead these devotions and I consider it a huge honor.  I am very grateful for the trust and acceptance that the Joy Administration and the Joy Teaching Staff have entrusted to me.  I will never take it for granted and I always look forward to Wednesdays.

Week 10’s devotion was only a half devotion due to the fact that Scott Brown, JCS’s Executive Direction, asked if he could have 15 minutes to speak to the whole staff.  I think Christ-like character is displayed when the boss asks instead of tells.  When Scott asked to have the 15 minutes, he could have just told me, but he asked.  I love to follow this kind of leader.  If you are reading this blog, I ask you to lift the Administrative Staff up in prayer as they make tough decisions to lead Joy into the future.  It is not an easy task and they need our prayer and support.

Today’s blog is not focused on what I said on Wednesday at the devo, but what Scott Brown said in his 15 minutes immediately after the devotion.

Before I blog about his 15 minutes, I think it is apropos to first take a look at some phrases I wrote down at All Staff Training Day back on June 30, 2014, before JCS school officially started.  So…back on that June 30th training day…

Scott said,“It’s time to change the conversation.”  

He also said, “Be terrible at looking backwards.”

So, this past Wednesday was a refresher, on those two phrases and others, that we as Joy Christian School staff all agreed on when we signed up to accept the teaching and administrative positions we were offered.

Scott, taking the time to remind us of our commitment to keep Joy moving forward with positive change and growing academics at JCS, is the mark of a strong leader prodding our team to stay in alignment.  He challenged us to focus on the positive, to think about the things that are admirable and to work extra hard to keep focused on what the main mission is at Joy Christian School… “Building Christian Leaders.”  He talked about how we will fail in attempting to accomplish that mission if each one of us do not keep our eyes on Jesus, and check our actions to make sure they are matching Jesus’s.  I know all of the JCS leadership and teaching team agree that we want Joy to move forward with great success in its mission.  I think it is headed in that great direction and it will take many other challenges from our leader and each other to keep the focus on that forward movement.

What was amazing to me about this past Wednesday’s devotion, which was split up into two 15 minute segments, is that the theme was the same and Scott Brown and I didn’t plan it that way.  It’s amazing to me how God knits things together.  Before Scott stepped up to re-challenge us all, I read the passage in Scripture that Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4-8.

“4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

I hope that passage impacts you as much as it does me.  I like to say, “You and I will find what we are looking for.”  What does that mean? It means that if you want to find negative about JCS, you can go looking for it and I know you will find it.  The same can be said for your part in your marriage, your work, your attitude, your life.  If I want to find negative about any one or all of those in your life…if I look and start asking around….I will find it.  It is a fact that you and I will find what we are looking for.

So…let’s look for the positive…I know we will find it too!

If you totally focused on the Scripture passage above throughout the rest of this week…I’ll bet you find yourself having a great week.  In fact, I don’t think you’ll find a great week.  I don’t think great weeks are found…they are made.

So, as a very dear friend to me often says…

“MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK!”  

Great days/weeks are made, not found.  And I think it’s all about attitude and focus on the good that is happening all around us.  I pray that your week is a great one and that you will make great decisions that lead to more Christ-like unity and impact.  I’m trying to do my part and I’m always looking for others who are contributing to the great as well.

 

 

Sep 14, 2014    |      Comments Off on Having Done in Room 1501 wk-6 (Spirit Week)

Having Done in Room 1501 wk-6 (Spirit Week)

At Joy Christian High School…In room …

Room 1501 pic

 “We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, how bout you?!”  🙂

This past week was a good week as Joy Christian School had its first 2014 Spirit Week.  Freshmen students were “adopted” by Senior Students and both age groups worked together to create school spirit, fun, and school pride.  Our first home football game was on Friday and everybody at school dressed up in “Black-Out” mode.  I really love the sense of unity and pride that is moving JCS forward.

This 6th week brought about a first for me.  I grew up on a farm in Kansas.  Kansas winters can be brutal and every student frequently “prayed” for a day off…we called it a Snow Day.  This pic is of the Renner Farm house I grew up in.photo  My parents are just moving off the Renner Farm and into town and my younger sister and her husband are taking over the farm.  I tell this quick story, because this week…Phoenix AZ didn’t have a SNOW DAY…we had a RAIN DAY!  Monday was off due to flooding.  I’d never heard of such a thing…but I realized that teachers enjoy these “special” days off just as much as a student does!  It was a fun email to receive first thing in the Morning this past Monday!  NO SCHOOL DUE TO RAIN!  (That was a first!)  And it wasn’t just a little rain either.

RAIN DAY PHX

 

 

 

So, having the day off is fun…especially a Monday…and it makes for a very short week.  Having Spirit Week too, meant that each of my classes for this week, were only 30 minutes.   Try it sometime.  Have 25 teenagers come into your living room, get them settled and teach the subject material you have planned in the remaining 20-25 minutes.  It’s fun and It’s challenging.  The time just fly’s by.

As the students in Room 1501 and I get more comfortable with each other, some inevitable things will happen.  When people get comfortable with each other they naturally begin to let down their guards.  This is good and bad.  Good in the sense that we open up with each other more, allowing for more “heart of the matter” discussions.  Bad in the sense that the students in Room 1501 aren’t as nervous around me and thus they are more apt to talk out of place, talk over each other, and/or simply just mess around more.  This is the first week I’ve really  had to challenge a group of guys to “Knock it off!”  I think that I have built enough respect and relationship with the students that they can accept me getting a little ticked off at them on a occasion.  They listened and settled down for the remaining time.  The thing that makes me smile about all this, is simply the fact that I was a one of those high school students that “stirred it up” and I think it’s all God’s sense of humor and “pay back.  (I typed the previous sentence with a smile.)

At that moment I challenged a group of guys to “knock it off”, it gave me another chance to reteach and reinforce something we talked about the first week of school.  I call it “Having a Personal Hermeneutic. (prounounced her-men-oo-tic.)   If you are a parent of a student in Room 1501, ask them what the 6 Hermeneutics of personal ethics are and which one they are trying to be.  (More explanation below)

Hermeneutic refers to a method of interpretation.  It is a Bible Study word at a Master’s Degree Level  in Bible Colleges and the students in Room 1501 know this word.  I am asking the students to take it beyond Bible study and apply it to their personal lives.  You, as an adult, can do this too.  To teach this… I modified some definitions of Moral Codes and Ethics that Lawrence Kohlberg first wrote about.  If you would like to read his thesis paper about this, you can go directly to the link from here…http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm.  This thesis paper is also referenced in a book I recently read called “Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire.” By Rafe Esquith.

I took Kohlberg’s complicated definitions and created an acronym…each letter represents one word and one level of hermeneutic.   All 6 levels are good…but the last one is the Greatest and our ultimate goal.   As you look at the following six levels of personal code of ethics, I challenge you to honestly pick which one you use most often to make the decisions you do.  You can regularly use all six, but one will trump them all.  Your goal will be to get to level six.  The six words can be remembered through the Acronym A.S.P.R.M.O.  (That acronym can be pronounced, “A Super M.O.”)   M.O. being your “Mode of Operation”  You want your M.O. to be the last of the 6 hermeneutics.  It takes great maturity and thought to get there.

Here are 6 levels of Hermeneutic that the students of Rm 1501 are working on.

A — AVOIDER.  “I don’t want to get into trouble.” An avoider is someone who makes decisions because they simply want to avoid getting into trouble and they don’t want to be punished.

S — SEEKER.  “I want a reward.”  This person makes decisions based on what the reward is for being right.  “If I make a good decision, my boss will give me extra days off”…if we get a good grade on our tests, we’ll have a pizza party.  (Again this is not bad…however…if you are always making decisions about getting a reward from somebody, your life is centered around getting rewarded like a dog that learns tricks for treats. Shouldn’t we be properly behaving because its the right thing to do…not just do it for some reward.  Good grades are the reward.  Good work ethic is the reward!  Be careful being a seeker…you can easily become someone’s puppet.

P — PLEASER.  “I want you to be happy with me.”  A seeker is someone who is constantly seeking approval of others and can be motivated by “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”  They are seeking other’s approval and this dictates many decisions they make.  So, my challenge question to you is this.  Do you tie your shoes for someone else?  Do you brush your teeth for me?  No.  We want to make decisions based off of what is right…not to just please the people around us.

R — RULER. “We all must follow the rules.”  This person is obeying laws, respecting authority, and performing one’s duties so that the social order is maintained and usually demands everybody else do it also. Don’t forget that some of the greatest world changers, made the change by breaking the current rules.  Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela…to name a few dynamic ones.  Rulers…from a negative perspective can be likened to a Pharisee of Jesus’s time.  I understand that their are times the rules should be followed.  I struggle with Rulers the most.  I am one to always ask…who created this rule?  What is the real purpose of this rule?  Did the rule maker make the rule out of personal preference or for a serious purpose? Following the rules to just follow the rules can be very dangerous.  There is a better way.

M — MANNERS. “I am considerate of other people.”   This is a great level of hermeneutic.  Imagine the world if it were full of Level 5 thinkers.”  I just think we can still do better.  Manners is good because it honors and focuses on others.  Manners is bad because it still is about making decisions based off of others, not your own hermeneutic…so…I challenge you to get to level 6.

O — OWNER. “I have a personal code of conduct and I follow it.”  This kind of decision making resides in the soul of the decision maker.  It can only be lived when the individual has a healthy dose of humility and character.  This humility and character are usually honed through pain and a serious desire to live as God created us…a steward of all things.  An owner treats his/her business very differently than a customer.  When you walk onto the Joy High School campus you can see who the owners are.  They are the ones who stop to pick up a piece of trash that is laying on the ground while all others walk on it and over it. Hermeneutics 5 and 6 are very good and very similar, but maybe the farmboy in me can help us all understand the slight difference with this example.  Think in detail about breakfast.  “Manners” are like the chicken’s contribution to breakfast.  “Owners” are like the pig’s contribution.  (Get it?) If you don’t get it, then you have lived in the city too long! LOL…the chicken only contributes the egg with a little pain.  The pig gives his life for the bacon!  (Come on…did I really have to explain that!?) 🙂    An owner makes up his/her mind before the circumstances even happen and the decision that needs to be made has been made ahead of time.  Both come with pain.  The first five levels usually face pain after the decision has been acted out.  Owners go through the pain of making the disciplined decision and living the disciplined life.

There are two kinds of pain in life.  Dealing with Consequences and developing discipline.  Both are a pain, but you and I choose which pain we want to live with.  The first 5 levels are motivated by other people.  Level six is a predetermined level of behavior that is never broken on purpose.

These are things we talk about as we study BIBLE in Room 1501.  I wish somebody would have taught me this stuff when I was in school.

It was a short and good week…Wow…Monday is upon us.

Trent

 

May 2, 2014    |      Comments Off on Mile Marker Moments…

Mile Marker Moments…

If you pause and think  about critical moments in your life, there will always be three elements that can be Mile_Marker_747remembered.

By critical moments… I mean the kind of moments that tend to alter the direction of your life.  They leave a brand, a scar, or a wound that struggles to heal.  Or, these critical moments could be ones that were permanently positive. Positive like a tattoo you chose that will never go away. Positive critical moments like the memory of your children being born, or your wedding day, or the day that Jesus became your Lord and Savior.

Make no mistake about it, when I am referring to Mile Marker Moments, you will not have to wonder if the memory you have is a Mile Marker one or not.  You just know.  Mile Markers are huge and this is why they come to mind on a regular basis.  They altered the direction of your life.

Mile Markers are never forgotten.

The point is…these are critical moments.  These critical moments are significant enough that even years after the Mile Marker Moment has happened, we can be going about our day and have something small happen that causes the Memory of the Mile Marker Moment to flood back to our minds, and bring on waves of emotions that causes us to remember it, as if it happened yesterday.

My point is that I believe the best kind of learning is what I call reflective learning.  Reflecting back over your Mile Marker Moment Memories and learning from them.

The best way to learn from these huge mile marker moments in our lives is to reflect on the three elements that are always a part of the critical Mile Marker moment.

In each of your Mile Marker Moments there is/was…

1.  A Key Person.

2.  A Key Place.

3. A Key Moment.

Think about the Mile Marker that is branded or tattooed on your life. Who was the key person? Where was the key place?  What was the key moment?

Now Reflect.

Be still. Think about the elements.  What happened?  If faced with the Moment again, how might I do things differently.  Could I have prevented it, made it better, or ?

There are two kinds of Mile Marker Moments.

1. Joyful Mile Markers.

2. Hurtful Mile Markers.

When you reflect on the Joyful Mile Marker Moments, they  will give you great joy!  They can pull you out of a depression.  Use this positive reflection time to communicate with the Key Person, whom you created that Mile Marker Moment with, and thank them and tell them you are grateful for them.  Tell them that you love them…for if they created such a joyful Mile Marker in your life…you really will love them.

The Chosen Positive Mile Marker Moments are easy to deal with.  They bring you joy.  Reflect on them.  Learn from them.  Repeat them as often as you can.

The Mile Marker Moments that you did NOT choose and have left you hurt and angry.  These are the tough ones to reflect on.  When you do reflect upon these…you are going to discover whether or not you have healed from them.  If the pain of the event comes rushing back in and you find yourself angry, then the reality is, you have not healed from that Mile Marker Moment yet.

You may have forgiven the Key person, The Key Place, and the Key Moment, in this Mile marker at one point in your past,  but the healing is still in process and you may have to re-forgive as you reflect and deal with the emotion of the Mile Marker once again.  The pain resurfacing, is an alert to your heart and soul, warning you to work through the process of forgiveness again.  And again, if necessary.

The point is to be able to reflect on the Mile Marker Moment and the Key Person, Key Place and Key Moment, without any pain.  The goal is to be able to reflect without bitterness and hurt.  The goal is to have that Mile Marker Moment lead you into greater wisdom, experience, and preparedness for the future Key People, Key Places and Key Moments you will undoubtedly encounter again.

As you reflect on these Mile Marker Moments,  and if you find yourself feeling angry and swirling into your dark place, that dark place you went to soon after the negative Mile Marker Moment happened…You know that dark place I”m talking about.  If you find yourself headed there and not wanting to forgive again…then…

I want to remind you, like I have to remind myself.  God is our rock.  God tells us who we are.  God owns vengeance, not me…not you.

Don’t let Mile Markers define you, use them to refine you.

As you reflect on your Mile Marker Moments and if you possibly find yourself swimming in un-forgiveness again.  I want to challenge you to get humble and remember the times in your life where you sinned and hurt other people…thus becoming someone’s Key Person in their hurtful Mile Marker Moment.

Ask yourself, “Did Jesus die for my sin, so that I could be forgiven for it?  The Answer is always, “Yes.”  Once you acknowledge that Jesus died so you could be forgiven of the sins you committed, then ask yourself, “Did Jesus die, so the sins of the  hurtful Key Person in my Mile Marker Moment, could be forgiven too?  The Answer is always, “Yes.”

Jesus died for my sins that hurt others and the sins of those who hurt me.

I must forgive too.

Mile Marker Moment Memories are going to flash before you on a regular basis.  Use the memory of it all to reflect in a way that continually pushes you to grow, improve, and shine. The alternative just isn’t worth it.

As you reflect on your Mile Markers, may you ever increase your ability to be better, not bitter. 

Mile Marker Moments…even the horrifically painful ones…can make you better.

It’s a choice.

We have a lot of miles ahead of us.  As we continue our journey, I pray that we will slowly and steadily improve in our ability to be better prepared for the new Mile Markers that we will soon encounter and never forget.

Love ya.  If I can assist you through life in a way that helps you get closer to Jesus, just ask and I’ll do my best.

Trent

Jan 17, 2013    |      Comments Off on HYDRATE — Winning from the inside. (xtra post) Psalm 119:109 “Spiritual Tightrope”

HYDRATE — Winning from the inside. (xtra post) Psalm 119:109 “Spiritual Tightrope”

When was the last time you thought about TIGHTROPE performances.

My life constantly hangs in the balance,
but I will not stop obeying your instructions. Psalm 119:109

I’m breaking the rules of my Hydrate Series where I said each blog post is about a Teaching or Command of Jesus from the New Testament. This segment is from the Old Testament. I will not number this teaching, but feel lead to include it in the series. I hope it challenges you like it does me.

I have seen a few tightrope performances. Some at circus events I’ve attended, and a couple via television as I watched someone cross the Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

Personally, I’ve never seen a person fall from the times I’ve watched any tightrope performances. So, after I decided to use the word tightrope today, curiosity lead me to research the subject. I came across a family of tightrope performers nicknamed “The Flying Wallendas.” (Very popular in the 1940’s) They are known for not using a safety net in their performances. They have fallen multiple times and some have died or been paralyzed, but they still refuse to use a safety net. They have a family slogan; “If we fall, we die.” The leader and founder of the tightrope performance, Karl Wallenda fell to his death at the age of 73 from a 10 story tightrope performance in Puerto Rico in 1978. The winds were blowing 30mph that day. The family still chooses to perform without a safety net. Its incredible.

Isn’t it interesting that of all the tightrope performances that exist, I chose to use this family as our example. I chose to talk about them. Why? Because they do it differently. Their performances take your breath away. If they fall, they die. Crazy? Yes. But when was the last time you ever talked about a tightrope performance? If not for their risk, they would be just an average, invisible, non-interesting and forgettable performing group. But because they have the element of life or death…here we are still talking about them!

THE TIGHTROPE.

You walk it everyday. Its a “fine-line” between holy living like Jesus and giving in to the desires of your flesh and thus living like the rest of the world.

THE TIGHTROPE.

You walk it everyday. Its a fine line between inviting someone to Church and giving them a chance to meet some incredible people and Jesus Christ, or just walking on by and ignoring the opportunity to possibly change their eternal destination.

Maybe it would be a good slogan for our personal lives as spiritual beings/Christians. “If we fall, people die.” You don’t die, if you fall into temptation. You must repent and ask for forgiveness, and Jesus says He will forgive you. But, that is because you have the Holy Spirit living in you, because you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. SO WHO DIES IF WE FALL?

Other people.

If we fall from the tightrope walk of Loving people who are far from God, therefore not inviting them to be a part of Church…the bride of Jesus…well…these people can’t be forgiven…they don’t have the Holy Spirit living in them. How terrifying to be unforgiven…eternally. How terrifying for us to fall from our tightrope and the consequences of not inviting, or losing our credibility with other other people, influences their eternal death. The Apostle Paul loved people who were far from Jesus so much that he said he would be willing to spend eternity away from Jesus if all others would believe in Jesus as Lord. (See Romans 9:3) Talk about walking a tightrope! Jesus gave up His very life so that others may live in Him. Talk about walking the Tightrope!

You are walking a serious tightrope and Heaven and Hell are in the balance…FOR OTHER PEOPLE! The consequences are life or death…ETERNALLY.

There is no safety net. The stakes are way higher than being paralyzed or death of the physical body. This is spiritual eternity we are dealing with….for others!

Invite.
Worst they can do, is say no.
But then you just invite again, later.
And again.

Spend time with unchurched people. They need you. Please do not let ALL your time be spent with circles of other Christians. I created a new “ROUTINE 2013 booklet, where there are 13 challenges. One of the challenges is to try 13 things you’ve never tried before. If you sign up to learn something new…I challenge you to learn it from a group of non-christians. You’ll develop some friends and it will give you a chance to walk the tightrope of impacting their lives eternally. Please don’t just sit in Christian circles the rest of your life. Please don’t create a bunch of programs at your church where just your Church members get together all the time. Its not wrong to do that, but what does it do? It will cost others their eternal lives.

Walk the Tightrope. There is no safety net. Get in the circles of non-Christians.
Its walking a tightrope!
If we fall, people die.

Love you all.
My family and I are walking the tightrope with you.

Trent

Nov 2, 2012    |      Comments Off on HYDRATE – Winning from the Inside 32 (Matthew 6:25-36) Worry

HYDRATE – Winning from the Inside 32 (Matthew 6:25-36) Worry


Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-36, 25 (NLT) “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God* above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Jesus also said in Luke 12:25(NLT)
“Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

Jesus spoke a lot about worry in just these two passages. I don’t have much more to say about worry than what Jesus already said. If I had more to say than what Jesus already said, then I would ‘worry’ that I might think I’m smarter than Jesus.

So, let me ask you 3 questions…

Do you worry? Are you worried about something?

How is all the worry working for you?

Stop It!

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