This morning I left the house an hour earlier than usual (7:40 instead of 8:40) to head down to Center Lake to give blood.

Once again I was fooled in my head that today was “blood-giving day”. It wasn’t.

So, I headed to the office an hour early instead. When I got here, though, the internet was DOWN (thanks Comcast) and I spent the first 30-minutes of my day on the phone with Comcast trying to get it back up.

“Sorry sir, there seems to be a ‘node’ down in your area.”

Before 9:30, the internet was back in operation and we were on our merry little ways.

I was reminded, however, that a LOT of what I do as a youth pastor involves the internet. Seriously, I didn’t know WHAT to do with out it this morning – I actually “cleaned up” a bit around my office instead of sitting at the non-internet-working computer!

It’s amazing how something so amazing like the internet has influenced MY profession – “Youth Pastor”.

– for “message writing”, I am quick to look up multiple translations via biblegateway.com
– for “message writing”, I am also quick to type in the verse of scripture I will be speaking about into Google to see what OTHER pastors have written messages about using that same passage.
– for “next gen culture immersion”, I am quick to check out one-or-many of my teens (and former teens) blogs (currently I have 21 links to different “BOXer blogs”)
– for “next gen culture immersion”, I visit numerous sites daily to “check in on the world outside my current bubble” (relevantmagazine.com, etc.)
– for “personal enrichment”, I usually visit some humorous sites (homestarrunner.com) and some other friends’ blog sites where I read about others in ministry and others outside my personal sphere-of-influence (hrtwrk)
– for my “design eye”, I try and visit a few sites every few days that “spark” some bit of creativity in me for other projects I may currently be working on, or may work on in the near future (Authentic Boredom, Istockphoto.com, ideabook.com, etc.)

Then there’s e-mail. There’s the one informing me this morning that someone wouldn’t be attending a meeting today, another one asking me for someone else’s e-mail, an e-mail welcoming me to another newsletter, and of course the e-mail advertising the all natural laxative that works for everyone (SPAM!).

Of course there’s my youth group’s website (theboxonline.com), my own personal site where comments are posted quite regularly (stevansheets.com), another favorite daily visit (brothersbyblood.com) and tons of other links that come across my desk in mailers, e-mails, and via word-of-mouth that I “just HAVE to check out”.

All of these “internet-only” tasks that I do on a daily basis – AND I’M ONLY A YOUTH PASTOR!

What about those folks who MAKE THEIR living on the web?

What about those folks who’s job IS to create that SPAM we all delete as soon as we can?

What a world this internet is…

So – next time ‘that guy at church’ says, “What do you do all day at church? Play on your computer?” I guess I can answer, “Yeah, kinda”.

Quick note to any possible “FUTURE AND/OR CURRENT PERSON IN LEADERSHIP OVER ME“: I also do a lot of reading (from real books), listening (from real digital music players), a lot of visiting (at real hospitals and in real homes), a lot of one-on-one discipleship (in my office and at Taco Bell!), a lot of praying (no, NOT napping!), a lot of laughing (I’m a youth pastor!), a lot of playing (I have the coolest NERF toys in my office!), a lot of phone answering (sometimes both my office & my cell AT THE SAME TIME!), and a lot of reading of God’s word (remember the wonder of multiple translations of biblegateway.com?) – without which I’d be just another wandering man in this crazy, mixed-up world..

The new camera has arrived.

Why do they ship new electronics with a battery that needs to be charged before you can use the product?

2-hour charge and I’m finally up and running. The media card that came with the camera is only a 16mb xD Picture Card. I have already ordered a 512mb xD Picture Card. That should be here by next week.

With current settings, I can only take 16 pictures with this card – each picture is 1-meg! Wow. What a difference technology has made.

The camera is pretty big – but is actually smaller than my last one. The fact that the lense sticks out larger than the “body” of the camera, however, makes it impossible to put in my pocket for “stealth” missions. Maybe a smaller, more portable, camera will be purchased in the future for such “stealth” missions where “hiding” a camera will come in handy.

This evening at church we had another guest speaker – Rev. Ken Brown. He is the founder/director of an inner-city ministry in Washington, D.C. called “Urban Outreach”. It’s an amazing ministry with amazing results and fills a deep need for ministry to take place in an area where the “church” seems to be MIA.

Ken Brown spoke from his heart and shared some personal stories of folks whose lives have been changed as a result of God working through their ministry.

The message was clear – God is working through “Urban Outreach” and we as a church have an opportunity to “pray”, “give”, and even “serve” with their ministry.

What struck me tonight was a simple fact that I have a problem with “short-term missions work”.

That sentence needs some explaination…

I struggle with folks (myself included) who JUMP at an opportunity to minister “outside the box”. Those who would raise a hand and say “I’ll Go” on a 1-week-long ministry in a “foreign-to-them” situation, and yet NOT share the Gospel with those around them on a regular basis.

I called it “Convenient Evangelism” and “Easy Christianity”…

Why is it EASIER to go “somewhere else” to share the “Love of Christ” with this “lost world”?

Shouldn’t those who GO ELSEWHERE be those who are ALREADY “maxed out” in their evangelism capabilities where they currently reside? Shouldn’t they have already “ministered” to the needy in their own town, shouldn’t they be the ones who radiate with an “abnormal” love for Jesus that our Americanized Christianity seems to have forgotten about?

Why is it that the ones who seem to get the most excited are the ones who are the least “vocal” about their personal faiths. Even sometimes the ones who aren’t vocal at all about a “conversion to Christ” that has taken place in their lives.

I’m chewing on these thoughts and I’d love to know what YOU think!

This morning I arrived at church with my lovely wife, sat in my office writing out the morning announcements, gathering my thoughts and eventually walked toward the sanctuary for our 9:15 service at approximately 8:50AM.

As I walked, I was stopped by numerous folks for the traditional “hellos”, “good mornings”, and the like.

It was when I arrived at the sanctuary door that I was stopped by two men, both named Bill and they quietly informed me of a little problem I was having.

They “jokingly” told me I had a big rip in the back of my pants.

I laughed.

They did not.

I reached around only to find that they were not joking.

the pants – post rippage
I quickly ran to my office and then out the door to my Neon for a faster-than-normal trip back to the house to put on a different “non-holy” pair of pants.

Obviously I was in a hurry. I quickly changed when I arrived home and jumped back in the car for the second trip to church in less than an hour.

Of course the train HAD TO be crossing my route!

I was a nervous wreck but eventually made it back to church with 2-minutes to spare – both of which I used to calm myself before service started. I welcomed Dr. Bence who was our guest speaker this morning and he informed me that my “fly” was down.

He was joking…

My wife happened to mention to him what my “situation” was this morning.

The congregation got a big kick out of the ordeal as I explained to them what a stressful morning it was, but how wonderful it was to be in God’s house for collective worship!

One thought after this ordeal: those OTHER people who saw me this morning on my “walk” from my office to the sanctuary who PROBABLY saw my lovely green boxers through this enormous rip in my pants – WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?

What a day!