Last fall I read Dug Down Deep. I was captivated.  The tag line is unearthing what I believe and why it matters.  This book manages to communicate deeply profound truths about God and faith in a very engaging and relatable way.  Joshua is now the pastor of Covenant Life Church in Maryland. No doubt that teaching thousands of people each week has helped him develop a knack for communicating so clearly.

After reading the book I pursued Joshua to see if he would work with us on a new youth Bible study series to teach similar content from his book.  I was encouraged by his over-the-top enthusiasm to work with us and get this message to thousands of youth ministries across the country.

Last week we filmed Joshua’s teaching and it is phenomenal.  Somehow he manages to deal with words like theology, atonement and sanctification in a way that students can understand and use..  It’s critical to help students build a solid foundation when they are young.

I am pumped to release the Dug Down Deep youth Bible study this August.

The tag line for this Bible study is Others before self. Christ above all. It will address surrendering our stuff, our status, our sin and ultimately our self.  Our culture tells us that we should only look out for ourselves.  The idea of surrendering is usually only talked about when a bad guy surrenders to the good guys in the movies or on the news.  But as Christians isn’t that what we are called to do too? We are the “bad guys” (sinners) and we can continue to try to fight our way through … or we can surrender to the “good Guy” and let him take over.

We hope the Surrender Bible study is a great resource for pastors to inspire and encourage the students in their youth ministry.  It will be released this August.

The night before our filming with Francis is when news broke of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination.  Twitter and Facebook exploded with comments both rejoicing the death of this tyrant and warning Christians against getting smug.  I have always appreciated Francis’ attention to scripture and living Biblically … so I asked him for his thoughts on recent news events.

Here’s what he had to say …

Two of our favorites over the past few trips are This American Life and Radio Lab.

These radio shows do an amazing job of engaging the viewers.

They find interesting stories.
They ask great questions.
They create an emotional experience for the listeners.

At our ministry I think one of our chief roles is to tell great stories. We’ve filmed and produced thousands of stories all across the U.S. and even around the world.  We have the privilege of using visuals to help tell the story … so I am especially impressed by storytellers who only use audio.

I think we can all be better storytellers and these two radio shows inspire me in my own desire to tell great stories.

Here are two specific shows we listened to last week on the drive from Texas to Colorado:

1. This American Life: This Party Sucks
2. Radio Lab: Lost & Found

Here’s a short excerpt from Max’s powerful message.

This message is part of the RightNow Mission Development Kit for Church Leaders.

Knowing a little bit about JR’s story makes his teaching on the Holy Spirit that much more powerful.  JR isn’t a megachurch pastor.  He isn’t on the conference circuit across the country.  He is a fresh voice and someone who is faithfully leading his 6-year-old church by trying to rely on the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a 3-minute excerpt from a message he gave at The RightNow Conference in 2010.

Our VP of Events Marc McCartney has known JR for many years.  I am glad that Marc invited JR to be a part of our 2010 event and I love that JR is coming back to be a part of our 2011 RightNow Conference along with Matt Chandler and Matt Carter.

Check out this hilarious video that paints a picture of what you DON’T want your small groups to be like:

After talking with hundreds of pastors about small groups, our team has come up with an innovative new way for pastors to provide training to their volunteer leaders.  It’s online, on-demand and video-driven.

I think every pastor wrestles with the issue this quirky video highlights:

We just launched RightNowTraining.org. There are already over 100 churches using the system as a way to provide on-going training to the volunteers who heroically lead small groups each week.

Here’s a glimpse of what could happen if volunteers were more confident in their leadership abilities …

Our ministry identifies one of our strategies as helping to “transform small groups.” Through Bluefish TV we create Bible study resources for small groups.  I have personally been dramatically impacted by the resources that my small group has studied.  But we want to do more than provide the study resources.

Surveying the landscape of churches in America … it seems that many churches are struggling with how to do small groups.  It’s difficult to pinpoint if they are effective at discipling people.  We can measure things like percentage of people in a small group compared to the worship gathering … or number of small groups in our church … or number of new groups started …  But none of those statistics indicate if the group is actually successful.

We believe the effectiveness of that group rests on the shoulders of the volunteer leader.  Do they know how to truly lead their group members to live out their faith each week?  Or do the small group members see their group as  just an item on the calendar to check off each week?

If you took Spanish classes for 10 years and never spoke Spanish outside the classroom people would think you are crazy.  Could that be happening in our small groups?  Do we keep attending a meeting, learning things and not applying them outside the comforts of the church classroom or leader’s living room?

We believe that disciple-making small groups will have better trained leaders who are more confident and encouraged to move from facilitators to mobilizers. I am excited about the potential that RightNowTraining.org has to serve pastors as the seek to equip their volunteers.

We are also working on a new youth project with Francis on the topic of Surrender. The working tagline is “Others Before Self and Christ Above All.”

In addition to Francis’ teaching, the Surrender series will feature real-life stories of students from across the country. If you know any possible stories that could be a part of this resource, please leave a comment.

Session One – Surrender: Our Stuff
Stories could include: Teens who are struggling with envy, seeing their friends: get a car for 16th birthday, buy trendy new clothes, able to eat out while they have to pack their lunch, get more allowance. Need to include feelings of unfairness, jealousy, envy, resentment. Some of the outcome may show up in stealing, shoplifting, selling drugs to get money, relationship problems with parents or friends, isolation. Another angle would be someone who had something stolen from them and how they reacted (or realized they over-reacted.) Positive story or end of story could be a teen who gave away something precious to help someone else such as money to sponsor a child or sell a possession to help family or friend.

Session Two – Surrender: Our Status
Stories could include: Teens who struggle to fit in so they: drink, do drugs, have sex, cheat, lie, put on a façade to be accepted or get on the team/group – maybe after a move. Another angle would be what a teen felt or did after “losing”” their group identity such as the football player who is injured and can’t play anymore, the teen who was top of the class in small school but moved, the choir/band member who lost their position. A positive resolution would be that the teen hit rock bottom and how God really got a hold of their life – they surrendered to God.

Session Three – Surrender: Our Sin
Stories could include: Teens who struggle with sin even though they know it’s wrong—could be porn, sex, lying, vandalism—and specifically the guilt, hopelessness, and utter despair that they feel (God can’t love me, look what I’ve done.). Does that drive them further away from God? This may show up in suicidal thoughts or cutting. How does sin impact their daily life? Do they hide it, or are they living in blatant rebellion? How about a teen who rebels against their parents and ends up pregnant, hurt, or misses out on a significant event like homecoming. A positive resolution could be someone who finds forgiveness and victory over a life-crippling sin and has experienced joy, relief, and a new sense of purpose for their life.

Session Four – Surrender: Our Self
Stories could include: Teens who have found their true identity in Christ and are using their gifts, time, and money to serve others. This doesn’t mean their journey was easy, or that their journey is over. What about a teen who raises money and funds his/her own missions trip? Some teens may voluntarily trade in their selfish pursuits for a life of service, but what about a teen who has their dreams and goals taken from them—like in a tragic car wreck that leaves them partially paralyzed or in the loss of a limb (like the teen surfer)—yet they still find their significance and true self in Christ and are able to turn that tragedy into something positive for His Kingdom? It’d also be great to find someone who initially felt like they were giving up everything for God, only to find that by following Him their life was far more exciting and rewarding than it ever could have been if they had pursued their own way.

Last summer I read a new book called Dug Down Deep written by Joshua Harris.  It is a great reminder of the foundations of our faith.

Here’s where our team needs help. We are producing a 4-session Bible study series for youth ministries based on the content of this book.  Our resources typically feature great teaching from someone like Joshua and a collection of real life stories from teens willing to share their tragedies and triumphs.

At the bottom of this post is a description of the types of stories we are looking for in this Dug Down Deep project.

Here’s how the inside flap describes the book:

As a young man, Joshua Harris rose quickly to success in the Christian evangelical world before he realized his spirituality lacked a foundation – it rested more on tradition and morality than on an informed knowledge of God. Harris’ reflection and teaching on Christian beliefs show that orthodoxy isn’t just for scholars; it is for anyone who longs to know the living Jesus Christ. Whether you are just exploring Christianity or you are a veteran believer, Dug Down Deep will help you discover the timeless truths of Scripture.

If you know of  possible stories, please leave a comment and our team will follow up.

Session One: What Will You Build Your Life On?
Stories: Christian teens who were happy/content, and then hit with a devastating circumstance (death of loved one, divorce of parents, handicap, injury, chronic illness) This situation shook their faith, caused doubt, anger at God, or they turned from God.

Session Two: The Importance of Knowing God
Stories: Teens who have been “Christian atheists” – believe in God but lived like he doesn’t exist. They drink/party/sex/porn with friends and are active in church/youth group/choir/mission trips. These stories must show an obvious double life.

Session Three: The Way to Be Good Again
Stories: Teens who were non-believers with a specific, obvious sin in their lives. At the end of their rope, how they realized Jesus was the only one who could forgive and make them whole. Or teens brought up in a works-based religion and they realized they could never measure up and came to Christ. Salvation testimony.

Session Four: How We Change
Stories: Teens who can tell about struggle with a particular sin (anger/lashing out, lying to parents, stealing or the more dramatic: sex, drinking, drugs – but not an addiction), and can tell about repentance, obedience, and growth and change, even if it is slow and they have fallen a few times. And they can show growth by what good they pursue (change friends, mend relationships, acts of service, finding ways to know God more) and not just avoiding the sin.

We’ve just competed our RightNow Mission Development Kit based on the content from the November Conference.  The theme is Lead Beyond Our Walls and the kit is designed to spark discussion for church leaders around the topics of  mission and strategies.

If most people spend most of their time outside the walls of the church … then how can church leaders equip and release people to represent the Gospel of Jesus beyond the church walls?

I am really proud of our team for creating a top-notch resource.  They filmed some amazing real life stories and produced some phenomenal mini-movies around this Lead Beyond Our Walls theme.

It was an honor to have these Godly teachers leading us on the journey:
Max Lucado
Tony Evans
Pete Briscoe
JR Vassar
Todd Phillips
Matt Carter
Larry Osborne
Erwin McManus

You can download it free for the next few days here.