openswitch

I recently had the opportunity to receive a Bible study from LifeWay titled The Tough Sayings Of Jesus II. First I’d just like to say thanks to Bill Seaver and Michael Kelley for allowing me this privilege. Second, It’s worth mentioning that this study is high quality.

Included in the leader book is a CD as well as a DVD. The CD has a half-dozen CCM songs which fit the theme of the study and also includes a bunch of extras such as, but not limited to, promotional materials (to help you promote your study) and email headers. The DVD has several short videos, one for each session. My students especially loved the vids.

As a bonus for me (and by default, for you readers too) I was asked if I’d be interested in doing a brief email interview with the author of “Tough Sayings.” I jumped at the chance to ask Michael some questions directly. I suppose I could have limited myself to asking him about things that were only directly related to this study, but I realized that it’s not every day I get to interview a guy like Michael so I took the opportunity to pick his brain about a couple of other topics as well.

I’ve reproduced the questions and answers in their entirety, completely unedited. My questions are in italic font.

Ben: Michael, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions about your youth Bible study, “The Tough Sayings Of Jesus 2.” I personally loved this study and my students genuinely engaged it as well. I truly think you’ve put out a quality piece of work here and want you to know that I sincerely appreciate all the hard work that went in to making this study a reality. That said, I suppose every interview has to start out with this question, but was there any specific event (or events) that caused you to write this study?

Michael: Ben, thanks for your kind words – glad you enjoyed it. To your question, I think for me the biggest catalyst behind writing this study was that I wanted something more. Having been in church since I was an embryo, I’ve heard lots of sermons. LOTS of sermons. But it’s been interesting to me that many times in my experience we rush past the tough stuff to get to the “good stuff.” For example, someone would be preaching through the book of Romans, and we get to chapter 8, and then the next week we’re on chapter 12. What?!? But I want to know about how God loved Jacob and hated Esau!

The effect that has had on me is that implicitly, I have developed an almost subconscious desire that whenever I come to something in the Bible that I don’t get, I just chalk it up to “Well, I’m not sure what Jesus meant here, but I’m sure it’s good” attitude. I don’t think a deep faith is built on statements like that. I think it’s built on wrestling with a text and mining it out for everything it can be.

Ben: The second question is like the first, but is more personal to me. I enjoy writing my own studies and I often wonder how folks like you who publish study materials “come up with” your selected topics. Do you have a planning team behind you? Is there some kind of “oversight” committee that tells you what to write about? I’m sorry for my very non-technical terms here, but I’m just trying to figure out the general process by which you decide upon the specifics topics covered in studies like this.

Michael: Actually, those seem like just the right terms. For me, I preached a sermon series called “ Tough Sayings” that happened to find its way into the right hands with the publishing team behind Threads. And that subject matter really hit a need for their target demographic of young adults. In their research they found that the majority of young adults gravitate right now toward a few key things, like responsibilty for changing the world and authentic community. One of the other key aspects was depth. The fit was pretty natural.

Ben: hope I’m not getting too personal with you by asking this, but what role did your family play in the creative process of “The Tough Sayings Of Jesus 2?” I ask because I know my family plays a certain role in my ministry as well as my web design.

Michael: Not at all – Probably the most personal session in either of the books for me is the one in TS2 that deals with the death of Lazarus from John 11. That’s so personal to us because about a year and a half ago, our 3-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia. It’s moments like that when theology really meets life, and you are left asking the dificult question: “How does God feel about this?” I took great comfort in the John 11 passage, not only because of the power of Christ to heal, but maybe more so because of His emotional involvement with the sisters. My wife and I have come back to that passage lots of time as we’ve felt Jesus weeping alongside of us in this difficult part of our journey.

Ben: As I led my youth through this study they seemed to me most intrigued by the first lesson which was focused around being shrewd with money. I mentioned to the students that I was going to be doing an interview with you, the author this study, and I asked them if they had any questions they’d like answered. Overwhelmingly they wondered if you had any real-world examples, or personal experiences, of how you or someone you know have/has been shrewd with your money in relation to your friends?

Michael: This is a great question. 2 people come to mind. One is my dad. My dad has the rare combination of being both very good with money and being very generous – maybe the most generous person I know. So he’s always been very dilligent to save and spend at the right time, and never really wanted for anything. But at the same time, he was always the first in line to give. And to give quietly. So he’s made alot of friends through his generosity. I say friends, though many of those folks don’t know him and wouldn’t necessarily name him on a list of friends, but because of his generosity, the kingdom of God has been advanced. Someday, when he gets to heaven, I think he’ll be shocked at how many friends he has there.

The other one is a guy I knew when I was in seminary in Birmingham. He also had a talent for making money. His first year out of college he was pulling down 6 figures selling pharmacuticals. But even though I was surrounded by talk of God every day in school, I never met anyone more interested in helping people than this guy. He volunteered every week at a nursing home. He prayed with doctors and nurses on his route. He bought countless meals for people who couldn’t afford them and sent countless people overseas for the sake of the kingdom. He made alot of friends.

Ben: My last question is intentionally the most ambiguous because I’d like to see where you go with it. I have a large handful of youth pastors as well as other full time ministers that read my blog and I’d like to know two things: 1) What do you see as the greatest challenge facing full time ministers, and specifically youth pastors, today? And 2) knowing that we all need encouragement from time to time, do you have any words of advice, wisdom and encouragement for the youth pastors who are reading this?

Michael: This is another great question. I’ll draw on my experience in working full-time in youth ministry, and still teaching at student retreats to see what I can come up with. I think the biggest challenge in youth world today is helping students grow into a faith that is more than behavioral. More than any other demographic, I think youth ministry has the potential to reduce Christianity to principles. It’s certainly easier, and the sad fact is that many parents want students who behave. The result can be a behave / believe / become kind of model, and though it’s subtle, we raise up a group of students who base their relationship with God on their ability to behave rather than His grace.

I think the better, and more biblical, model is believe / become / behave. I notice in Paul’s writings that he doesn’t really get to the behavior part until after he’s spent ample time telling his readers who they are. To Paul it seems that behavior is simple: Understand who you are, then live out your identtiy. So in terms of encouragement, I would say this: You can help a student know who they are in Christ. Then you can help them understand how to live out their identity. Don’t bow to the easy way of just telling them not to have sex, get drunk, and use drugs. Tell them who they are.