This is going to be our logo for our e4 Middle School team. The e4 logo comes from Ephesians 4:12 which says, and I quote “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ,” verse 13 continues, and I quote, “until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.” (NLT)

e4 goes right along with 4:Twelve, the name of our Middle School ministry here at the Gathering. We are not a ministry based on a single verse, we have more witnesses, God gave me 7 verses, all which are chapter 4 verse 12 that apply to our ministry. Ephesians 4:12 is the base scripture for our 4:Twelve Adult Leaders.

Now, help me figure out which color looks the best…leave a comment and let me know what you think.

I’m outie.

Vision. 

Vision is a word that before 2.5 years ago, I only associated with eye exams, those crazy cool drunk goggles you get to play with during driver’s education classes and wild dreams or psychic hodge-podge from Ms. Cleo.  “Call me now for ya free readin’!” (Say it with your best Jamaican accent, you know you want to!) 

 For me Vision was never associated with goals, future plans or a task God has designed specifically for you and your life.  I guess the subject of Vision just was not taught that much in my home church while I was growing up, or maybe I was just so pre-occupied with changing words around, crossing out letters and drawing pictures in the bulletin trying to make stupid sentences and fill-in-the-blank stories which in turn caused me to miss those sermons.  Who knows?  Heck, I don’t even remember learning about Vision while I was in Bible College, once again that could most likely be blamed on my short attention span. 

But anyways the point is, over the past two and a half years I have learned the great importance of possessing a Vision for a ministry by being exposed to the overall Vision of the Gathering and our Senior Pastor.  It is so true that Vision flows from the top down.  If the Man of God leading the flock has no vision and is not seeking after the Lord daily it is very difficult for those serving under him to be motivated enough to seek God and seek a Vision for our ministries.  If you have no Vision, there is no reason to be doing whatever ministry it is you are doing.  We should continuously be casting Vision, seeking to improve the current state of our responsibilities.  If there is nothing greater on the horizon tomorrow or next week or six months down the road, then you are just treading water with a frozen turkey tied to your foot or even worse, already drowning.

As important as Vision is in the ministry, it is vital that we do not try and borrow someone else’s vision or create our own man made Vision.  For me, I tried and tried to create my own Vision for KIDZPLAYCE (1^st – 5^th Grader’s @ the Gathering) when I was leading that ministry, but nothing ever came from my own efforts.  When I moved up to work with the Jr. High students I realized that I could not hatch an insta-Vision through my own thoughts and creations.  I quickly realized that I needed to begin to pray that God reveal to me His Vision for this ministry, that the Vision would not be manmade, but God breathed, falling under the Vision God has given to Pastor Gene and the Gathering.

After praying this prayer for a couple months and truly seeking God’s Vision, something awesome took place in the wee hours of November 2^nd the great year of 2008.  On this night God revealed to me His Vision for our Jr. High Ministry @ the Gathering through 7 core scriptures.

From here the Vision of FourTwelve ministries was birthed.

p.s. my epidermus is extremely red due to the ultra violent rays from the sun and it feels really nice.

The Choices

Over the past two weeks this “What If?” question has been the focal point of our teaching and discussion with our Jr. High students. Because let’s face it, outside of John McCain and his presidential campaign team I believe Jr. High students today deal with this question more frequently than any other group of people on the planet, besides Sr. High students and College students. So, I guess what I am really saying is that in general, students of all ages deal with “What If?” on a pretty regular basis. Anywho.

Many times though, we focus on the “What Ifs?” in the wrong context. We focus on the “What Ifs?” of our past, placing all the emphasis on questions and circumstances that have come and gone with no chance of reversing the decisions we have made. The “What Ifs?” of our past are exactly that, IN THE PAST! Yes, we can gripe and moan or dwell on our past if we want, or we can accept that Christ’s blood covers those “What Ifs?” and we can turn our attention to the “What Ifs?” of our future. And I’m not talking about all the future “I’m an idiot” what ifs, but instead, we need to look to the “What If Possibilities” out ahead of us.

Over the next few weeks our Jr. High students will be focusing on 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” This verse is perfect for everyone, especially Jr. High students because it is so jammed pack with “What If Possibilities”. What if I set the example? What if iSpeak? What if iLive? What if iLove? What if iBelieve? What if iPurify? What if I do all these things? What if wii as a Jr. High Student Ministry do these things? Then, wii will become, 412! Then, wii will speak! Then, wii will live! Then, wii will love! Then, wii will believe! Then, we will purify! Then, wii will become The Net, the Kingdom of Heaven, a fishing net thrown into the water gathering fish of EVERY kind.

This is where my Glorious God is taking this ministry, this is His ministry, His students, His leaders, I am His vessel. May all the glory be unto Him, the Great I Am, my God.

Pray us up, these students are hurting, help us cover them.

Lord continue to lead and continue to allow me to follow.

Van Hook III Strikes-n- I’m Out

Any-who, over Christmas break God did some incredible things in my life and has given me some superb insights and direction for our Jr. High ministry here at the Gathering, one of those insights and direction happens to be our “Word Up!” bible study.

It all began with some over dramatic, Jerry Springer-esk reality show moments which consisted of a group of enraged, minorly intoxicated folks shouting, throwing lawn furniture and using brash language followed by long beeps from the family sensors all while being restrained by their “Boys” and dancing to Soulja Boy. The shouting match continued for a few more moments and then ended with the phrase “You need to man up bro!!” being shouted back and forth from one side of the television screen to the other.

That’s when it hit me and God opened my eyes to something. In our culture today we are so quickly encouraged to “man up” or “belly up” to show our authority and prove something when really our culture needs to simply take a moment and, “Word Up!” It blows my mind how little of the Word of God we know these days. Over the past six months I have seen students who are in church every week, two and three times a week who cannot recite a verse of God’s Word. Over this last year our Pastor has been praying we, as a church body, would fall in love with the Word of God, the staff has been praying that we, as a staff, would fall in love with God’s Word, and I have been praying that my family would fall in love with the Word of God. And as a direct result of those prayers, I see a change in myself and how I love the Word, I see a great change in my wife and how she loves the Word, I see the culture in the church body changing to a loving desire of God’s Word. Now, I am ready to sit back and watch my God do a great work in these Jr. High students, I cannot wait to witness these students falling in love with the Word of God right before my own eyes. I pray God continue to allow me to walk with Him and His Word and be an example to these students of a man willing to “Word Up!” and love the Good Book.

For those interested “Word Up!” meets each Saturday night during the 5:00 p.m. service in the little 15×12 foot room across the hall from Mrs. Melissa’s preschool class. We packed it out tonight, let’s keep it rollin’ next week!

Also, “Word Up!” is a Bible Study, we read and Study the Bible, therefore, it would be very intellectual of those participating to bring a Bible, so we can study the Bible and what the Bible says.

God is good, I am blessed, thank you Lord for this privilege.

outie 5