Right when I took the picture our friends were pulling up. I’m so thankful for the friendships that we have here in Mexico. It is especially great for our kids to have some good friends.

At the end of 2011 I chose 3 words for 2012. They were: Focus, Discipline, and Document. Instead of making traditional resolutions, I thought I would let these 3 words guide me throughout this year. January is gone, and I think I did okay as far as my three words go.

I was able to discipline myself a little, getting back into an exercise routine (although a little slow). I ran 7 times beginning January 16. I also was disciplined in consistently following a plan to read my Bible, instead of reading a little from here and a little from there.

As for focus, I think I didn’t do as well. It isn’t easy to not be distracted. I need to work more on this part of my strategy during February.

I’ve already talked about the last word, document. I think I did pretty well. I posted 18 entries here and I uploaded about 17 daily summary pictures (I thought I did better than that).

Well, it’s February, and here I am evaluating and seeing that I didn’t do too well on what I wanted to do in 2012. It’s time to get focused, get disciplined, and document it better to keep myself accountable.

How are you doing on your resolutions?

It’s already almost the end of January! Remember that one of my three words for 2012 was “document”? I’m trying to get in the habit of documenting a lot of things. I’ve been using Nike+ to document my attempts to get regular exercise. I’ve been using a Youversion Bible reading plan to document my Bible reading.

I’ve also been taking tons of pictures to document what’s happening with our adventures here in Mexico. I try to post a picture everyday to a Flickr set that I’m calling my “Daily Summary.” It’s usually a collage of a few pictures that will remind me someday when I can’t remember much anymore about what happened in 2012.

I’m going to try to get those pictures out of the digital only world and put them in a photo book. Janell has written on Savingyoudinero.com about an incredible deal on photo books that is about to be up. You can get a free one and just pay shipping. Here’s the link if you’re interested in checking it out. We’ve printed them before and they turn out great.

How are you doing with your resolutions? Or your three words? I’d love to hear. Post an update in the comments.

We must work hard each day to figure out how to be relevant to their culture, so the gospel isn’t something we put on an LP and expect them to listen to on their iPods.

What’s innovative today will be old in no time.

(Via: Kottke)

Maybe it’s because I’m teaching “Contemporary Youth Missions” this term. Maybe it’s because my class is reading part of “Let the Nations be Glad: the Supremacy of God in Missions” by John Piper (affiliate link). Or maybe it’s just because God has been impressing this on my heart. I’m not sure, but I do know that the Great Commission has been on my mind a lot lately.

I can’t stop thinking about Global Youth Ministry. The other day in class we were talking about the first chapter of Piper’s book, and I said, “God deserves to be worshiped by young people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.” And I believe it.

I am praying that God will send out workers into His harvest. My desire is that my students and those who are influenced by our ministry in Latin America will be global youth workers.

I pray that they will catch a vision for the nations and follow that vision to the ends of the earth.

Will you join me in praying to that end?

(By the way I used the Kinotopic app to make the animation in this post. Check it out on iTunes – Kinotopic – Placehugger, Inc)

I was a little embarrassed by the fact that I could only do about 1.2 miles in 20 minutes. When Nike+ automatically shared my synced run, I cringed at the fact that I could only post a 20 minute run on the treadmill.

But then I realized that we all have to start somewhere.

No matter what you’re trying to do, whether it’s save money, lose weight, get healthy, learn another language, read the Bible, or any other goal you might have, you have to start somewhere.

Who cares if you can barely read 5 minutes a day or if you only save 10 dollars a month? Getting started is a huge part of achieving the goal.

Don’t get me wrong. Following through on the goal is important, too, but getting off the couch and getting on the treadmill was a start for me. It was the first step that I had been putting off for a while. I hope I can keep it up and hit some goals I have about being disciplined.

What have you been waiting to start? What can you do today to get started on completing that goal?

We had over 60 photos sent in for the contest. It was really fun to see the representations from different countries. People sent in pictures from Columbia, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, and other places.

After the contest was over, I decided to take all of the pictures and put them into a summary video. So here it is.

This is Youth Ministry

In Luke 7 we read about a woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume, washed them with her tears, and wiped them off with her hair. When he sees this, the host of the party begins to think to himself about the sinfulness of the woman.

Jesus, explaining to His host what is happening, tells the story of two men who owe debts to another man. One of them owes a debt of 500 pence, and the other owes a debt of simply 50 pence. Since neither of them had anything to pay with, the man to whom the debt was owed simply forgave their debts.

Jesus asks Simon which one will love him the most, and Simon correctly responds that the one who owed the most and was forgiven the most would love the most.

I have read this story many times, and I usually think that I am like the one who owed 50 pence. After all, I am no murderer, nor have I knowingly stolen anything from anyone. In the eyes of most, I’m not all that bad. I probably have a pretty small debt with God.

But it just hit me that I am the man who owed 500 pence (at least). I am the one who could never ever pay off the enormous debt that I owe to God. My sins amount to a heap of debts to the Almighty One, and I have nothing with which to pay.

So when Jesus looks me in the eyes and says, “Your debt is forgiven,” I will forever be the one who is at His feet, washing them with my tears and drying them off with my hair.

I had never really put myself in the place of the sinful woman who clings to Jesus’ feet throughout dinner. I know I could never pay my debt, and I am grateful for Jesus and His willingness to pay it for me.

Check out all of my instagram photos at http://bit.ly/DPinstagram

Missions is not our Ultimate Goal

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is the ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.

Missions is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

I told my students that we could substitute “Youth Ministry” for “Missions” in this phrase. Our ultimate goal is not youth ministry. Our ultimate goal is worshiping God. God deserves to be worshiped by young people from every tribe and nation and tongue. He deserves to be worshiped in different styles and forms, by young people from every culture.

We Must be Captured First by the Greatness of God

Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!”, who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High.” Missions begins and ends in worship.

Where people are not stunned by the greatness of God, how can they be sent with the ringing message, “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods! (Psalm 96:4)

We must first be mesmerized and amazed by God. Then we can proclaim Him. This truth led me to remember that I must be constantly looking to be amazed by Him personally. There are many things that lead me to be amazed by Him. These are the things must dominate my thinking. They are the things in which I must meditate as a youth leader. I must first be impacted by Him in order to share His greatness with others.

Zeal for God leads to Missions

Zeal for the glory of God motivates world missions.

Regardless of what you think about John Piper, if you’ve never read this book, I recommend that you pick up a copy and read it. It will inspire you to be a global youth worker and to think more about global youth ministry.