"Truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grown old, you will stretch out your arms and someone else will gird you, and bring where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying the kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!" - John 21: 18-19
Well, from the post entitled "Riding the sine curve", it seems that the more contraversial the post, the more activity I will get on my tagboard! So, here is another one, this time contraversial in the sense that I am quoting the above verse a little out of it's context. So, to my VCF friends, please don't stone me!
Anyway, the past weekend was a very interesting one for the YM Com. I have served on the committee since it began in 2002, coincidentally, that's the year the YM officially started operations as well. We had a meeting over the weekend; I have to say that for the first time, I actually left the meeting quite refreshed! Usually I will leave the meeting room with many arrows sticking out from my back.
In the past 4 years, the YM committee has always has had a place to lead the Youth Ministry to. We have had a collected vision on what this YM would be like one day. But, we've had massive disareements on how to get there. But not so this time.
Unfortunately, the place we are going, and the method of getting there, is probably going to be quite unpopular with the majority of the youths. Especially the younger ones. As it involves coming out of thier comfort zones quite a bit.
In the above passage from the Gospel of John; Jesus was speaking to Peter.The Gospel of John was believed to be written quite some time after the Synoptic Gospels, as the theology in John is a lot more developed, and contains different information from the Synopic Gospels. It is also believed, from apocryphal sources that Peter was matyred before John was written, and hence it was possible John knew how Peter was matyred and the above passage would make more sense. (This was paragraphed was paraphrased from a study Bible.)
There are 2 points I am going to make, the first is "the place where he did not want to go" and after that, Jesus exhortation to "Follow Him!"
A good leader is one who can bring his charges to the place where they ought to be. But a great leader is one who can bring his charges to the place where they DO NOT want to be but ought to be. With Jesus as our great leader, we are going to the place where we really don't want to be.
Pastor Dianna's sermon series on the book of Acts has been very interesting! Something which the church really needs, the power and movement of the Holy Spirit. And that's the direction that the YM Committee has to take. Joshua gave a long speech on Saturday that was met with agreement, though what he said probablymade a few of us uncomfortable.
But then again, prior to the meeting, we were given some homework to do, one of them was a question on "What was God saying to us about the YM?" Or something to that effect. Well, many of us wrote exactly what Joshua was pointing at. And yes, the Holy Spirit, what was it given for? That's where we have to go, to follow the leading of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has one direction, no matter where you come from.
Well, it's a place that we all know we have to head. But it's not a popular place to head. But what did Jesus say? He told Peter, "Follow Me!" And that's what we are going to do. Follow Jesus, for He is our great leader, and with Him guiding, we are sure to arrive at the destination He wants us to go!
I apologize if this post sounds quite crytic, but it will become apparent soon on what is to come! Anyway, like I said above, what is coming to us is nothing new! In fact it's been what Pastor Dianna has been preaching about.
