YouTube

*** The following is an email I sent to some friends recently informing them of what I am up to ***

Friend,

I am in the first month still of trying a new thing in terms of ministry.I want you to understand what I am doing and why. In the end of this email I will offer ways you can easily and practically help me.

I am building a YouTube Channel. Though it is new and quality/exposure is very small so far, the feedback has been amazing. I have re-purposed some of my time to do this because I feel it is important. 

Why - People have migrated to the internet, it is how we are communicating right now. More and more, information is consumed in video form. Conversations with loved ones are taking place in video dialogue. As communication becomes easier and easier to do digitally, connecting to the whole world through a device in your pocket, creation of community is shifting.

When someone is in need of help on any number of subjects they can typically find what they are looking for on YouTube. If a teenager in my neighborhood is depressed and looking for hope, they are more likely to go binge watch YouTube videos than they are to come through the doors of the church to find that hope. Unfortunately, a majority of religious conversation on YouTube is lead by Atheists. It is my desire to create a pastoral presence digitally. 

What is it?

The channel will be listed by my name and themed as:

Pastor Jacob - Offering faith, hope, and love in online community

The videos I am/will be making will be mostly off the cuff direct to camera discussion of my point of view as a pastor, though there will be some subjects that will be scripted.

Click Here to See What I have up So far

The Videos will primarily fall into 3 categories:

1. Short (under 5 min), Scripture based, Devotionals

2. Conversation on difficult matters 

3. Answering questions of life and faith.

I will occasionally also be posting videos of my family. They are an important part of who I am so they will be featured occasionally.

How can you help?

1. Watch my Videos

2. Subscribe - So you will know when new videos are posted

3. Click Like and Comment

4. Share the link across your social media platforms (be sure to make a brief statement of what you found useful from the video)

5. Click "Support Channel" on my channel page and make a monetary donation*
***Update*** You can support the channel via Patreon.com now!

6. Offer your skills and resources to help me produce/edit new videos.

At this early stage of developing this channel, any of these things help. Monetary donations would go directly into the channel for things like advertising and purchasing of needed equipment to improve video quality**. 

Most of all I want you to be in prayer for me. As I mentioned earlier, the feedback so far has been amazing. One night someone unexpected texted a little after midnight, having stumbled across a video about dead faith. This person was moved to tears and felt so blessed by the video they just wanted to let me know so bad they didn't care that it was late at night. This is the exact kind of hope that I have for this channel. That any given single view could change someones heart, or mind. That any given view could change someones day, week, or life.

Shoot me a message and let me know you will stand behind me in this endeavor.

Created Good

Jan Brueghel: The Younger Creation of Adam

A fundamental aspect of how we see the world around us and how we understand Christianity stems from how we understand who we are. What is our nature as humans? If we were created by a good God why is there suffering? 

Christians for centuries have been trying to answer these questions. Many of the voices in Protestantism about human nature come from theologians around the time of the reformation. You may notice that people like John Wesley and Rob Bell have a very different perspective than your average evangelical Christian. Their theology is strongly influenced by a 3rd century theologian named Irenaeus whose work laid the foundation for the beliefs the church would grow on. There were many different sects who claimed to follow Jesus' teachings that were far from what you or I believe about God, and Irenaeus wrote directly confronting those groups and in doing so laid out a convincing perspective that continues to have appeal even today. Irenaeus had this concept that we were created good and that makes all the difference. Below is a paper I wrote attempting to explain this concept in some depth. I hope you are able to see truth in it that you have known with your life, and that you can see aspects of things you hear in a Methodist church, or even in Rob Bell's books/videos.

IOU Conference - Kingdom Calling

The Following are the Sound Cloud hosted audio recording from my Keynote addresses at the IOU Conference for University aged students at Frontier Lodge in Quebec CA.

*The recordings were done with an iPhone*

The theme for the weekend was Kingdom Calling. The Sermons each built on each other to answer the questions of:

What is God's Kingdom Like? 

and

What is My Role Within God's Kingdom?

-Part 1-

This message sets the foundation by looking at Deuteronomy 6 and 17

-Part 2-

This message focuses on the Covenant relationship between God and humanity.

-Part 3-

This message transitions to Jesus' parables describing the Kingdom of God

-Part 4-

This message is about responding to God's Call on your life

Why Shakeology Isn't A Normal Meal Replacement Shake - What I've Observed In The 1st 2 Weeks My Wife Has Used It.

Disclaimer:

In the name of complete transparency I will start off by saying that my wife is newly associated with Team Beach Body, as a Coach. The links used in this post are tracking links in which it is possible for her to receive a commission for. However, that is not my motivation for writing this, we hold a similar affiliation with Advocare and I have never been tempted to write about it. 

Background:

You may have noticed that I have been a bit absent from blog posting this summer. The drop off in posts happened when my wife Kim gave birth to our second son on June 25th. George and Jordan are just under a year and a half apart and our hands have been full. Having one kid is difficult and two under two is a bit of a workout. 

My Excuse for Blogging Less.

When my wife and I began dating in May of 2007 she was a full-time coach. In fact she had 2 coaching gigs, one at McMurry University, and for competitive cheer at Beamers. On top of all that working out she did with her athletes she was a regular at Golds Gym and particularly loved Les Mills Body Pump - the owners of Golds were regularly asking her to consider teaching the class. She was full of energy, full of life and you could see it in the way she walked and talked. She was healthy, really healthy. Its one of the things I loved about her, how she took care of herself. At the time I was still in very good shape myself having been a cross country and track athlete and health was a quality I valued. 

Fast forward 7 years and here we are. My wife just spent 2 1/2 years either pregnant or nursing and still has a few months to go in nursing Jordan. Needless to say, her body has not really been her own for some time and it had believe it or not effected her. Many who know her have always and still saw her as a high energy individual who does more than most people with a smile on her face. Its like she never stops... and it is true she doesn't.  However, she has not had the same bounce in her step or emotional energy that comes from being as healthy as she was when we started dating. 

I mean, it is a normal thing to have different energy levels and declining health when you compare 25 to 32 years old. I know that for me 20 to 27 has been really difficult on my health and fitness. On top of that, having a miscarriage followed by two kids in such a short amount of time is bound to have an impact. In general we are a fairly healthy couple, we try to eat fresh and healthy foods and take the boys/dog on walks down by the lake, we have even done workout programs together. Life still had its impact on our health and waistlines. 

My Observations:

Just over 2 weeks ago my wife tried a sample of Shakeology to see if she was going to have an allergic reaction to the non-commercially grown mushrooms. Good news is that she had no reaction. She decided to purchase the PiYo Challenge pack that comes with the workout program that mixes Pilates and Yoga together, and a one month supply of Shakeology. She decided to become a coach in order to get a discount (Get a 25%discount on all future orders by becoming a coach) so that instead of $160 plus shipping and tax, the challenge pack as a coach was only $153 after shipping and tax. Considering that a month supply of Shakeology is normally $132 after tax, and PiYo is normally $72 something after tax means she got a considerable discount ordering them together. 

In the past two weeks I have noticed in her a significant change in her energy levels. That bounce in her step is much closer to the way it was 7 years ago, virtually turning back the hands of time in the ageing process. On top of the renewed energy, she has dropped 4 lbs and 6 inches (2 off waist, 1 of hips, 1.5 off each leg) in 2 weeks. I am really quite proud of how well it is working for her. 

Introspection

Thinking about it now I am wondering when I can muster up the guts to start a challenge myself. I have several pairs of pants and a few suits that I haven't been able to wear in over 2 years that would certainly be wearable if I could have even close to the same results Kim has had. 

My experience:

I have sampled Shakeology and must admit that I have also tried to use other meal replacement drinks in the past attempting to fit in those suits. The biggest difference I can remember is that with Shakeology, I was full. In all seriousness I usually finish a meal replacement and find myself looking for second breakfast 15-20 minutes later, yet with Shakeology I was only able to finish half and I didn't get hungry until 2 PM. The people that make it must have guys in mind when they created the product. 

Favorite part:

The most exciting part of this whole thing to me is it feels like my wife is becoming herself again. She is healthier and happier every day. Its one thing to have energy from a 5 hour or similar (temporary) energy drink, its another for energy to build back as health increases.

If life has gotten to your energy or your waistline perhaps you should give it a try, there is a money back guarantee so what have you got to loose? Answer: excuses.

Want to challenge me to P90X?