Chad Nygren

Running the race!

I just have to say that it is mind boggling to run this race with such amazing people. Ministry is hard and what I witnessed tonight took my breath away. Brandyn VanSant has been serving South Hills Church as an intern and director for the past two years and he has grown so much. Tonight I saw him leading a team, loving middle school students and bringing them one step closer to the kingdom. Brandyn led with ferocity, demons shook, angles stood back and ministry happened. Brandyn would admit that he is less than normal. Struggles with things but understands two important principles that I saw him living out tonight. First, He cannot do it on his own. He had a team. Two, Jesus is the strength and inspiration he leans into. God puts extra on Brandyn's ordinary. Brandyn I love you and am so so so proud of you.

Phil. 2:16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. 

I will praise you with my whole heart!

A tremendous young man is rising up to take his place in leadership. Jason Buck humbly serving Jesus. Helping where he can. His heart is Golden. I am so proud of him.

Proverbs 10:5 - "A wise youth makes hay while the sun shines, but what a shame to see a lad who sleeps away his hour of opportunity." 

September Shockwave

Last night we partied for Jesus with middle school students. 20 leaders, 110+ students, crazy fun times.

One thing that stood out. Michelle Yeager led well...after the event she had a slumber party and then insured that those students were at Sunday School. Way to go Michelle...you are an amazing leader pointing students to Jesus.

Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God." 

GCC Service

Church with a dreamcicle. Yum.

A Hero of Mine

I have said before that I hold Mark Beeson, Sr. Pastor of Granger Community Church in high regard. Today he confirmed hero status in my book for a number of reasons.

• He modeled Christlike servant hood by spending time with those in attendance at Innovate08.
• He clearly knows the Who and What of his ministry.
• He has masterfully included people in a kingdom building endeavor. 
• He is passionate about bringing up there down here--God's Kingdom to earth.
• He is highly interested in trading pop-beads for pearls.
• He has passed the eleven second test.
• He honors great leaders that have gone before us.
• He calls up young leaders and makes room for them on the team.

Thank-you Pastor Beeson for your inspirational leadership.

Innovate 08

I am in Granger, IN attending Innovate 08 at Granger Community Church. Today I get to feast on the communication skills of Mark Beeson, Shawn Wood and Tim Stevens. The theme of Innovate 08 is Stop Talking and Start Doing. 

A few note-worthy highlights: GCC is an amazing place. If you have been to Willowcreek which is Nasa then Granger is more like NASCAR, and I have so much respect for that. Truth be told, Granger takes more risk and sees more reward than many other churches in America. They take their fair share of criticism but the laser focus they display to see people surrender their lives to Jesus Christ is undeniable. My cup is being filled this week.

Today Mark Beeson opened Innovate; humble, thoughtful and with the energy of a man in his youth.

• If we are in the church bubble too long we disengage culture--the world.
• Churches can get bogged down in their own stuff and loose site of God's stuff. 
• Church Committee/Church on fire drama 
• Mark and wife Sheila encountered a tree across the road and what could Mark do with his "little sissy preacher hands?" He helped organize people, gave direction, made friends, encouraged people to get out of harms way and then got out of the way and let people do their jobs. 
• We need to realize that we are not the General Manager of the universe.
• Balance is static and no one makes progress in a static position. 
• GCC Staff salaries frozen for a year but the staff leans in...meals... 
• The book of Mark is useful/practical...do it now... sense of immediacy.  
• Jewish culture love theology, genealogical relationships 
• Romish(Mark's term) culture values immediacy. 
• Mark stated that American culture is a blend of the two leaning toward the Romish side. 
• America is a bottom line country, cut to the chase, and make something happen. 
• When God reaches down shouldn't it change things? 
• Bring the up there down here. 
• We value You-tube moments.   

How does this change our culture in the church? 

Coaching to values

Spending a couple hours at Real Life Ministries yeasterday a number of things stood out.
1. RLM is about people and relationships.
2. RLM coaches people in their ministry endevors.
3. RLM has clearly defined values and qualities they are building into those their coaching.

Favorite Resources

I thought I should post some of my favorite resources and why I like them. Hope you enjoy.

Newspring This church posts videos on their website. They are innovative and in your face. I believe you need to feed yourself and when I am feeling stale, Newspring brings some refreshment.

Youthtracker We use this site for tracking our middle school students. It is all web based and the students simply check in via the computer. Pricing is affordable.

Amazon has DRM free music downloads that are a little less expensive than I-tunes. I love itunes but  this us youth ministry we are talking about.

WestCoast Bible College and Seminary A new and innovative Bible training school. I just registered to take some masters level classes. Why...They are trying some innovative things and I think the current system needs a remodel. Check them out...It is more affordable than you might think.

Twitter Think of this service as micro-blogging. I can send a twit via IM, SMS, or Web. People can follow, comment and stay up on your activities. Check me out @cnygren.

Google I like google for a number of reasons. Their email service for organizations is amazing. They offer  website analytics to find out who is looking at your website. They continue to innovate.

ProPresenter is the presentation I am using on my Apple computer. It is a very smooth interface and these  guys at renewed vision know their stuff. I am looking forward to using their ProVideoPlayer.

Tony Morgan is a pastor on staff at New Spring--Chief Strategy Officer. He is innovative and funny. If I ever meet him I will give him a hug--word has it he is not a hugger.

More to come later....

Learning to ride

My oldest son has fought learning to ride a bike for the past couple of years. Yeasterday I put air in his tires and said let's do this. He asked me if we need the helmet and pads that we had used before, and I figured he was not going to want to do this I said no to all the saftey gear. Much to my surprise he was motivated, he pedaled harder and focused more.

So I wonder if all the saftey gear got in the way? I know that sounds irresponsible but seat belts have been saving lives for only like fifty years. Putting on the pads and guards and helmet might be taking his focus off being successful. All these things remind him that he might get hurt.

I also wonder if we also focus too much on the getting hurt in life. And we start building in airbags to keep us safe so we won't feel pain. There is a scene in lethal weapon with Mel Gibson and Rene Rouseau where they start comparing scars and how they got those scars. God never wastes a hurt, and our scars serve a purpose.

So here's to riding without a helmet!

So you want a multi cultural ministry

This past year our church has started a spanish speaking service. I think it has been great to see spanish speaking people in our church being a part of our body. The complexity of the situation that I have run into is that most of the children in our middle school ministry that are part of the spanish ministry are fully immersed into an english speaking culture and have adapted very well. Some questions I am asking myself...Is necessity of a spanish speaking service a short lived ministry or will there be a continued need for it into the next generation? Will English be a primary language or will other languages drive ministry endeavors? The children of our spanish speaking families seem so adapted to american culture even though they are bi-lingual and are influenced by multiple cultures.