- Our midweek program for parents and kids, The Harbor, returns January 28. Parents, if you have not checked out this program, we invite you to take a look. The program runs 6-7:30 on Wednesday nights for six weeks (we do not meet Ash Wednesday, February 18, so the program goes until March 11). 90-minute fun-filled program for kids, where they make friends, learn new skills, and discover more about God in our everyday lives. At the same time, parents can (but don't have to) drop in to one of the following classes: Boundaries with Kids, Essentials of Marriage: Higher Love, Single & Parenting (single moms), Mother-Daughter class (for girls 9+), and Will Our Kids Have Faith? - a groupthink on Millenials and the church. Most classes are free or come with a small materials fee. The kids program is always free. A meal for families is available starting at 5:15 (pre- registration required). Sign up for The Harbor here.
- During Easter Week, our family-style Seder meal, "The Messiah in the Passover", returns! This is a wonderful, hands-on learning activity for the whole family, as we explore together the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and how the Messiah was the fulfillment of prophecy.
- "What's The Story?", a six-week class for parents & kids 4th grade & up on understanding the Bible's Big Story, will be offered this spring once the chapel opens, and again in the fall. Stay tuned for more info! The follow-up class, "What's This Book?" on understanding the composition of the Bible and how to read it, will be offered this fall.
- KidsGames 2015: "You Are A Difference Maker". Again this year, two weeks to choose from - June 22-26 and July 6-10.
- 4th-6th Grade Summer Camp
Info, articles, and thoughts for parents of kids at North Coast Calvary Chapel.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Coming in 2015
Here are some of the things we have planned for kids in 2015:
Sunday, December 21, 2014
The Finnish Carpenter
That accent.
You'll always remember that accent. Because it reminded you weren't dealing with just an ordinary American. It was rich, it was deep, and it ensured that I would always be called "Mahhk".
The voice reminded you that he was a native Australian, and moreover, that he felt no urgency to blend, to lose his distinctiveness, to become an average American. He was comfortable standing out, comfortable going against the flow, comfortable speaking up when he thought something was goofy.
A man of the world, that Jason Poznaks guy. A man who came to the attention of our church through a chance encounter on a street in Egypt. Funny how those small connections lead to big things. That comfort with being outside his element, with trying new things, and with being who he was landed him eventually in children's ministry. Not by default, mind you, or because he drew the short straw. Jason could have been - and was - a senior pastor, a youth pastor, and probably the star of his own television show if that's where he'd channeled his talent; but he did children's ministry, by choice. Despite his ability to "wow" you up front, make no mistake: this was a man who understood people thoroughly and was capable of deep theological thinking.
He had a message: children are the church of today, and the key to the future. He served on global teams and very strongly believed that those of us who had resources - the American church, and those in other resource-rich countries - had an absolute obligation to share the ideas and materials we had with the developing world. He was keenly aware of the insufficiency of ministry to kids, and the lack of materials available to Sunday schools and midweek Bible clubs, in much of the world.
And yet, he concentrated his efforts and his considerable talent on the church wherever he happened to be. Which happened to be with us, at North Coast Calvary in Carlsbad, from 2007-on. As he did, Jason displayed a masterful command of balance: global priorities with local ones; work with play; large group leadership with personal touch; and of course, decorum with fun.
Here's the thing about Jason: he never begged for attention and never hogged the spotlight. And still, everyone knew who he was. And loved him. And had stories about personal encounters with him. He was easy to be around, and you wanted him around. He was the perfect target of practical jokes, because you could be sure he'd return them and one-up you - no hard feelings on either side.
He didn't like being called "Pastor". He wasn't into titles - most Aussies aren't. He preferred to be called "Jason". And yet - pastoring is what he did so well. It was the unseen part of his job. He excelled at it, as he did a lot of things. Meetings with his staff, meetings with parents, meetings with volunteers - Jason wasn't just available to talk about life and its challenges, he made it a point to bring it up. And always over coffee - that is, "cawfee" (spoken swiftly, attack on the first syllable). Behind the wit and the ability to win over large crowds, there was a thoughtful soul who noticed everything and knew everybody. He seemed to have an inexhaustible capacity for relationships.
When you are well-liked and in demand, it can go to your head. But at the end of the day, he never got intoxicated with his own importance. He had a family waiting at home - his wife Natty, and the boys, Ethan and Seth, whom he cared for intensely. Sometimes they couldn't wait to see him, and they'd make office visits to say hi to their dad, to play with him, to touch him and climb on him. I'm quite sure that "Dad" was his proudest title.
After Jason had been hired, as we were anticipating his arrival, our lead pastor made reference in a staff meeting to Jason being a "Finnish carpenter". I was confused, having only met him a few times. I knew he was Australian; had he also been born in Finland? Then I tried to understand it as a metaphor: was there something about Finnish guys who did woodworking that was applicable to ministry? I drew a blank. Finally it dawned on me that he was calling Jason a "finish carpenter" - as in, one who comes in to do the "finishing touches" on a job. Duh. And of course, that's what he turned out to be. A finish carpenter works precisely, sometimes imperceptibly, but nudges things forward, always with an eye for beauty and quality.
The problem is, Jason never got to finish. At least not in the way we would have wanted. Maybe that's why this seems so unfair. Right before KidsGames in 2012, he got the news that would change everything. There was work left to be done - but the "Finnish carpenter" wouldn't get a chance to do it.
It stinks, because no one will do it quite like he could.
That's why I found myself on Tuesday morning wanting to Google things like "Why does God let people die?" and "Where is Jason now?" even though I belong to a religion which answers those questions with certainty. I wanted there to be more of him, somewhere. I came up empty-handed.
Our church's website crashed - I mean, crashed - right before Thanksgiving, and suddenly we lost our ability to communicate about all sorts of events to our church body. But we also knew we needed it back up because with Jason nearing the end of his life, we needed a way to communicate "Jason's Story" and post updates on his condition. Then I started reading some of the tributes people had posted on his Facebook page, and it hit me that "Jason's story" is not the story of his illness, or the last months of his life. The full story will be told, and has been told, in bits and pieces by the people who were impacted by him, who no doubt all claim he was "their" Jason. Some of these people are on the other side of the world and didn't track closely with the story of his illness. That's ok - their remembrances are a healthy counterbalance to our more recent memories of his suffering and pain. Hard as it is, I'm going to remind myself of that when I'm tempted to dwell on the way he died. I think he'd much prefer we revel in the memories of how he lived.
If we're looking for lessons we can draw from Jason's life, I suppose all of the usual candidates apply: Cherish the time you have...Spend time with your family...Don't take yourself too seriously...Be kind to children. For me, it comes back to the work of the "Finnish carpenter". This fall, my wife and I decided to sand and refinish a kitchen table. Not fun work! Done well, a nice-looking piece of furniture looks as though no work has been done on it at all. You assume the tabletop has always been smooth and free of imperfections, that the legs have always been straight, that the finish has always been even. But only the wood, the worker, and his tools know the truth. They experience the dust, the mess, the ugliness that was, and the in-between stages where things are not quite ready. Everyone else only experiences the finished product.
Reading the tributes, I've come to understand that Jason played a role akin to finishing and refinishing in the lives of those who encountered him. In so doing, he exposed himself to some of the not-so-nice looking parts of people's lives; in so doing, he left his mark on hundreds of lives. That's what Jason did for me. By constant encouragement and reminders to have a life outside of ministry, he helped sand some of the rough edges smooth. Only Jason would be the first to demure, and to say that he was not, after all, the finisher, but only an instrument in the hands of God, who is working - sometimes imperceptibly - to finish us all.
Those hands used to direct him from afar; now they hold him.
Rest well, Finnish carpenter.
You'll always remember that accent. Because it reminded you weren't dealing with just an ordinary American. It was rich, it was deep, and it ensured that I would always be called "Mahhk".
 |
| Jason Poznaks - June 27, 1971-December 15, 2014 |
A man of the world, that Jason Poznaks guy. A man who came to the attention of our church through a chance encounter on a street in Egypt. Funny how those small connections lead to big things. That comfort with being outside his element, with trying new things, and with being who he was landed him eventually in children's ministry. Not by default, mind you, or because he drew the short straw. Jason could have been - and was - a senior pastor, a youth pastor, and probably the star of his own television show if that's where he'd channeled his talent; but he did children's ministry, by choice. Despite his ability to "wow" you up front, make no mistake: this was a man who understood people thoroughly and was capable of deep theological thinking.
He had a message: children are the church of today, and the key to the future. He served on global teams and very strongly believed that those of us who had resources - the American church, and those in other resource-rich countries - had an absolute obligation to share the ideas and materials we had with the developing world. He was keenly aware of the insufficiency of ministry to kids, and the lack of materials available to Sunday schools and midweek Bible clubs, in much of the world.
And yet, he concentrated his efforts and his considerable talent on the church wherever he happened to be. Which happened to be with us, at North Coast Calvary in Carlsbad, from 2007-on. As he did, Jason displayed a masterful command of balance: global priorities with local ones; work with play; large group leadership with personal touch; and of course, decorum with fun.
Here's the thing about Jason: he never begged for attention and never hogged the spotlight. And still, everyone knew who he was. And loved him. And had stories about personal encounters with him. He was easy to be around, and you wanted him around. He was the perfect target of practical jokes, because you could be sure he'd return them and one-up you - no hard feelings on either side.
He didn't like being called "Pastor". He wasn't into titles - most Aussies aren't. He preferred to be called "Jason". And yet - pastoring is what he did so well. It was the unseen part of his job. He excelled at it, as he did a lot of things. Meetings with his staff, meetings with parents, meetings with volunteers - Jason wasn't just available to talk about life and its challenges, he made it a point to bring it up. And always over coffee - that is, "cawfee" (spoken swiftly, attack on the first syllable). Behind the wit and the ability to win over large crowds, there was a thoughtful soul who noticed everything and knew everybody. He seemed to have an inexhaustible capacity for relationships.
When you are well-liked and in demand, it can go to your head. But at the end of the day, he never got intoxicated with his own importance. He had a family waiting at home - his wife Natty, and the boys, Ethan and Seth, whom he cared for intensely. Sometimes they couldn't wait to see him, and they'd make office visits to say hi to their dad, to play with him, to touch him and climb on him. I'm quite sure that "Dad" was his proudest title.
After Jason had been hired, as we were anticipating his arrival, our lead pastor made reference in a staff meeting to Jason being a "Finnish carpenter". I was confused, having only met him a few times. I knew he was Australian; had he also been born in Finland? Then I tried to understand it as a metaphor: was there something about Finnish guys who did woodworking that was applicable to ministry? I drew a blank. Finally it dawned on me that he was calling Jason a "finish carpenter" - as in, one who comes in to do the "finishing touches" on a job. Duh. And of course, that's what he turned out to be. A finish carpenter works precisely, sometimes imperceptibly, but nudges things forward, always with an eye for beauty and quality.
The problem is, Jason never got to finish. At least not in the way we would have wanted. Maybe that's why this seems so unfair. Right before KidsGames in 2012, he got the news that would change everything. There was work left to be done - but the "Finnish carpenter" wouldn't get a chance to do it.
It stinks, because no one will do it quite like he could.
That's why I found myself on Tuesday morning wanting to Google things like "Why does God let people die?" and "Where is Jason now?" even though I belong to a religion which answers those questions with certainty. I wanted there to be more of him, somewhere. I came up empty-handed.
Our church's website crashed - I mean, crashed - right before Thanksgiving, and suddenly we lost our ability to communicate about all sorts of events to our church body. But we also knew we needed it back up because with Jason nearing the end of his life, we needed a way to communicate "Jason's Story" and post updates on his condition. Then I started reading some of the tributes people had posted on his Facebook page, and it hit me that "Jason's story" is not the story of his illness, or the last months of his life. The full story will be told, and has been told, in bits and pieces by the people who were impacted by him, who no doubt all claim he was "their" Jason. Some of these people are on the other side of the world and didn't track closely with the story of his illness. That's ok - their remembrances are a healthy counterbalance to our more recent memories of his suffering and pain. Hard as it is, I'm going to remind myself of that when I'm tempted to dwell on the way he died. I think he'd much prefer we revel in the memories of how he lived.
If we're looking for lessons we can draw from Jason's life, I suppose all of the usual candidates apply: Cherish the time you have...Spend time with your family...Don't take yourself too seriously...Be kind to children. For me, it comes back to the work of the "Finnish carpenter". This fall, my wife and I decided to sand and refinish a kitchen table. Not fun work! Done well, a nice-looking piece of furniture looks as though no work has been done on it at all. You assume the tabletop has always been smooth and free of imperfections, that the legs have always been straight, that the finish has always been even. But only the wood, the worker, and his tools know the truth. They experience the dust, the mess, the ugliness that was, and the in-between stages where things are not quite ready. Everyone else only experiences the finished product.
Reading the tributes, I've come to understand that Jason played a role akin to finishing and refinishing in the lives of those who encountered him. In so doing, he exposed himself to some of the not-so-nice looking parts of people's lives; in so doing, he left his mark on hundreds of lives. That's what Jason did for me. By constant encouragement and reminders to have a life outside of ministry, he helped sand some of the rough edges smooth. Only Jason would be the first to demure, and to say that he was not, after all, the finisher, but only an instrument in the hands of God, who is working - sometimes imperceptibly - to finish us all.
Those hands used to direct him from afar; now they hold him.
Rest well, Finnish carpenter.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
The Spirit of Christmas
We hear a lot at this time of year about the "Christmas spirit". Charles Dickens pledged to "[H]onor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." Some songs express the wish that the Christmas spirit would last all year.
What is this "Christmas spirit", and how can we harness it?
Sometimes when we talk about "spirit", we are talking about a feeling, an ambiance, an idea. Examples would be "school spirit" or "That's the spirit!" or "the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law."
But you can also speak of "spirits" as living entities. The original Christmas story is full of this kind of spirit. Start in Luke chapter 1 and count the miracles. Between there and the birth of Jesus, I count eight:
Miracles are supernatural. At times the Bible is explicit, that the Holy Spirit does such-and-such. But other times it just indicates the miracle happened by God's hand. In any case, miracles are supernatural events authored by God; and since God Himself is a spirit, miracles are inherently spiritual.
There's a difference, then, between celebrating the "spirit" of the season and the "Spirit" that caused the season. The Christmas story, which begins in Luke 1 (not Luke 2) is a supernatural story. The (Holy) Spirit was at work then, and the Spirit is at work today.
If God the Holy Spirit wasn't needed for the first Christmas, then He isn't needed today. All we would need to do is combine the right elements - snowfall, trees & lights, winter-themed songs, Hallmark Channel movies - and take a few days off of work and school, and we'd have Christmas. On the other hand, if God's hand was essential for the first Christmas to happen (which is of course the case), then the true "Spirit of Christmas" is nothing less than Him - the Holy Spirit.
What is this "Christmas spirit", and how can we harness it?
Sometimes when we talk about "spirit", we are talking about a feeling, an ambiance, an idea. Examples would be "school spirit" or "That's the spirit!" or "the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law."
But you can also speak of "spirits" as living entities. The original Christmas story is full of this kind of spirit. Start in Luke chapter 1 and count the miracles. Between there and the birth of Jesus, I count eight:
- An angel appears to Zechariah and prophesies to him that his wife, who was too old to conceive a child, will give birth to a son.
- Elizabeth, Zechariah's wife, conceives.
- Zechariah is struck deaf and mute when he disbelieves.
- An angel appears to Mary.
- Mary, though a virgin, conceives a son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- God communicates to Elizabeth and the baby inside her "leaps" when Mary shows up at her door with the news that she is pregnant.
- The Holy Spirit fills Zechariah and he prophesies after his son is born (and, God keeps his word that Zechariah regains his speech).
- God himself steps into space-time history.
Miracles are supernatural. At times the Bible is explicit, that the Holy Spirit does such-and-such. But other times it just indicates the miracle happened by God's hand. In any case, miracles are supernatural events authored by God; and since God Himself is a spirit, miracles are inherently spiritual.
There's a difference, then, between celebrating the "spirit" of the season and the "Spirit" that caused the season. The Christmas story, which begins in Luke 1 (not Luke 2) is a supernatural story. The (Holy) Spirit was at work then, and the Spirit is at work today.
If God the Holy Spirit wasn't needed for the first Christmas, then He isn't needed today. All we would need to do is combine the right elements - snowfall, trees & lights, winter-themed songs, Hallmark Channel movies - and take a few days off of work and school, and we'd have Christmas. On the other hand, if God's hand was essential for the first Christmas to happen (which is of course the case), then the true "Spirit of Christmas" is nothing less than Him - the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Is busyness the enemy of our souls?
I recently got back from two weeks off (honeymoon!). It's amazing what time away does to the way you think, and the things you notice. You experience life in a whole different way. You come to understand that a lot of the things you've convinced yourself matter, don't matter as much. And you have time for simple pleasures you've been missing.
By coincidence, about six weeks ago, I started reading a book called Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung. The book's subtitle is "A (Mercifully) short book about a (Really) big problem." Here are some highlights:
The bottom line of this book, and the reason I would blog about it on a site about ministry to kids, is that being busy threatens the health of our souls. While God is real and isn't going anywhere, he doesn't scream for our attention the way that TV and e-mail and social media and phone calls and marketing do.
And so that leads me to two questions:
One thing Carlsbad did really well was to plan for open spaces. There's lots going on in our city - neighborhoods, businesses, parks, schools, and more and more traffic - but there are also vast tracts of undeveloped land scattered throughout. And if the plan holds, it'll be that way forever. Why? Because it helps bring calm to what could otherwise turn overwhelming. Business is good, but that doesn't mean there isn't a limit. New homes are good, but that doesn't mean they belong everywhere.
In the same way, all of the things that constitute busyness in our lives are good things - within limits. Overdone, we miss out on what should be filling the "nothingness". Which seems like an oxymoron; in fact, because God is always with us, He's the one thing that's still there when everything else fades away. If we never carve out spaces for that nothing, how will kids encounter the God who lives there?
By coincidence, about six weeks ago, I started reading a book called Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung. The book's subtitle is "A (Mercifully) short book about a (Really) big problem." Here are some highlights:
- Physically demanding work can take a toll on our bodies, but it can also make us healthier. By contrast, mental strain takes a toll that can be mental and physical.
- Being extremely busy might be a sign of a bigger problem. It could mean that you secretly believe your life is meaningless; staying busy convinces you otherwise.
- Being busy doesn't equate to faithfulness or fruitfulness as a Christian.
- Pride could be driving our urge to stay busy, as we enjoy pleasing other people and the praise that comes with it.
- Saying yes to one more thing might appear noble, but deep down, the ambition might be to appear good or helpful in the eyes of others. In that case, you're not really serving others, you're serving yourself.
- Most Christians live with a low-level guilt that they are not "doing enough" to meet the needs of the world. "We know we can always pray more and give more and evangelize more, so we get used to living in a state of mild disappointment with ourselves."
- When we try to be good and helpful in meeting the needs right in front of us, we are often breaking a commitment we'd previously made. So no, it's not always noble to set everything aside to attend to the urgent; why should people you've previously committed to have to wait?
- We probably worry too much about our kids; the kind of person they turn out to be is probably more tied to their wiring than we want to admit. Yet we act as if parenting makes the child.
The bottom line of this book, and the reason I would blog about it on a site about ministry to kids, is that being busy threatens the health of our souls. While God is real and isn't going anywhere, he doesn't scream for our attention the way that TV and e-mail and social media and phone calls and marketing do.
And so that leads me to two questions:
- Are we modeling a pace of life for kids that practically excludes God? Are we teaching by example that to be an adult is to overpack your schedule, enjoying downtime only every few months or when another appointment miraculously gets cancelled? Are we setting them up to be blind to God's presence once they get older?
- Are we pushing them so hard now, as kids, that we're robbing them of opportunities to experience God and be in his presence?
One thing Carlsbad did really well was to plan for open spaces. There's lots going on in our city - neighborhoods, businesses, parks, schools, and more and more traffic - but there are also vast tracts of undeveloped land scattered throughout. And if the plan holds, it'll be that way forever. Why? Because it helps bring calm to what could otherwise turn overwhelming. Business is good, but that doesn't mean there isn't a limit. New homes are good, but that doesn't mean they belong everywhere.
In the same way, all of the things that constitute busyness in our lives are good things - within limits. Overdone, we miss out on what should be filling the "nothingness". Which seems like an oxymoron; in fact, because God is always with us, He's the one thing that's still there when everything else fades away. If we never carve out spaces for that nothing, how will kids encounter the God who lives there?
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