Bible Teacher. Pastor.Educator.

I love Dunes Bible Camp!!!!

Dear Prayer Partners,

Over the past 15 years God has blessed me with opportunities to preach all over the country to over 10,000 teenagers in various camp settings. One camp that is a reoccurring blessing to me has been Dunes Bible Camp (DBC) in Washington.

As some of you know I was recently at Dunes Bible Camp just last week! I regard this camp as God’s gift to the Northwest. Below are some of my reflections on why this camp is so dear to me.

1. The People that Serve There,

Steve and Linda Holmes are the two leaders of Dunes Bible Camp and it is a privilege to call them friends. I have been in various ministry settings and I always look at the work ethic and intentionality of those in charge. These two are an amazing duo and have modeled a healthy ministry and home life balance. I love to see the dynamic between them and their children. They are very intentional about involving their children in ministry and keeping home life strong as they simultaneously impact hundreds of other kids. Of course nobody is perfect, but they are practical. I once heard that success is when your older children want to work for you and hang out with you. To see the Holmes family as a unit that loves serving God’s people is an amazing sight. To watch as Steve and Linda slowly pass the baton to their kids is inspiring. When I have a family of my own I pray to be able to achieve that kind of synergy between my home and ministry life.

2. There is an emphasis of teaching the Bible!

You would be surprised at how many youth ministries preference being entertaining over teaching the Word of God. I love that the word Bible is included in the name of the camp and I am always instructed to concentrate on the Bible as I construct a message to preach. An early mistake I remember making in my ministry is being at camps that don’t place a high value on teaching the Bible.

I can remember times that I would be invited to a youth event and after watching the worship team, a skit, and other entertainment I would only be given 10 or 15 minutes to preach. It was sometimes at a point that I would be ushered off the stage for going over my time. Putting a constraint on the time spent sharing the Gospel prevents our youth from getting to fully experience God. Dunes Bible Camp keeps Christ in His rightful place as the cornerstone and I respect that immensely.

3. It is Affordable

Most camps are high in cost. Ranging anywhere from $300, $ 400 or even as much as $700 just for our youth to get the opportunity to have their life impacted spiritually. I understand that conferences, camps, and events cannot always be free amenities, but I like that DBC has kept their cost low for each child. Most families can afford it and I see many demographics can come together and enjoy the camp while they stay in budget.

4. There is an Emphasis on Seeing Kids Come to Christ.

To say the least -- salvation is celebrated! I see the way that the staff genuinely rejoices as people get delivered. I have learned that a celebrated behavior is repeated. On my first night preaching I had over 20 middle schooler come down to the alter a dedicate their lives to Christ. Due to how young they were I asked those same kids to return to the altar the next night. To see that a day later the kids were still excited for their new lives in Christ was a huge reflection on the staff that shepherds them!

5. The Power of Relationship

As I shared before, Steve and Linda are amazing individuals! They have showed true dedication and support to me outside of being “Pastor James”. They send me text messages, calls, financial gifts, emails, and encouragement consistently! Even years when I did not speak at their camp, they stayed vocal about how much they were praying for me. I count them as dear friends. I realize that in ministry it's not always what you do, but who you do it with.

Their children Katie, Kyle, and Rachel are equally as gracious and kind to me when they see me. Steve and Linda are a part of my journey and our friendships have proven to be very strong. When I needed a place to stay for a couple of days as I dealt with anxiety, depression, and other mental barriers, they opened the doors of their camp to me. When their dad passed away I cleared my schedule to attend the memorial service. We are mutually supportive of each other and I treasure that aspect of the relationship.

Seeing teenagers and children who love the Lord is so touching. The thing about being a Bible teacher is that the seed you plant sprouts for years to come.

Last week at Dunes Bible Camp an 18 year old came over to me and told me that she remembered me from when she first gave her life to God at 9 years old! Now she is still a camper and counselor to others! That moment and those like it remind me about how my efforts are a blessing. By being available for God to use me has opened ministry partnerships that are invaluable. Dunes Bible Camp is quite a place! My prayer is that God will continue to bless Steve, Linda and the camp for years to come. Dunes Bible Camp always feels like home and I look forward to future Godly-events with them!

Respectfully,

Pastor James Owolabi

Fors Clavigera: An Open Letter to Praise Bands

So let me offer just a few brief axioms with the hope of encouraging new reflection on the practice of "leading worship":

1. If we, the congregation, can't hear ourselves, it's not worship. Christian worship is not a concert. In a concert (a particular "form of performance"), we often expect to be overwhelmed by sound, particularly in certain styles of music. In a concert, we come to expect that weird sort of sensory deprivation that happens from sensory overload, when the pounding of the bass on our chest and the wash of music over the crowd leaves us with the rush of a certain aural vertigo. And there's nothing wrong with concerts! It's just that Christian worship is not a concert. Christian worship is a collective, communal, congregational practice--and the gathered sound and harmony of a congregation singing as one is integral to the practice of worship. It is a way of "performing" the reality that, in Christ, we are one body. But that requires that we actually be able to hear ourselves, and hear our sisters and brothers singing alongside us. When the amped sound of the praise band overwhelms congregational voices, we can't hear ourselves sing--so we lose that communal aspect of the congregation and are encouraged to effectively become "private," passive worshipers.

2. If we, the congregation, can't sing along, it's not worship. In other forms of musical performance, musicians and bands will want to improvise and "be creative," offering new renditions and exhibiting their virtuosity with all sorts of different trills and pauses and improvisations on the received tune. Again, that can be a delightful aspect of a concert, but in Christian worship it just means that we, the congregation, can't sing along. And so your virtuosity gives rise to our passivity; your creativity simply encourages our silence. And while you may be worshiping with your creativity, the same creativity actually shuts down congregational song.

3. If you, the praise band, are the center of attention, it's not worship. I know it's generally not your fault that we've put you at the front of the church. And I know you want to model worship for us to imitate. But because we've encouraged you to basically import forms of performance from the concert venue into the sanctuary, we might not realize that we've also unwittingly encouraged a sense that you are the center of attention. And when your performance becomes a display of your virtuosity--even with the best of intentions--it's difficult to counter the temptation to make the praise band the focus of our attention. When the praise band goes into long riffs that you might intend as "offerings to God," we the congregation become utterly passive, and because we've adopted habits of relating to music from the Grammys and the concert venue, we unwittingly make you the center of attention. I wonder if there might be some intentional reflection on placement (to the side? leading from behind?) and performance that might help us counter these habits we bring with us to worship.

Please consider these points carefully and recognize what I am not saying. This isn't just some plea for "traditional" worship and a critique of "contemporary" worship. Don't mistake this as a defense of pipe organs and a critique of guitars and drums (or banjos and mandolins). My concern isn't with style, but with form: What are we trying to do when we "lead worship?" If we are intentional about worship as a communal, congregational practice that brings us into a dialogical encounter with the living God--that worship is not merely expressive but also formative--then we can do that with cellos or steel guitars, pipe organs or African dr

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Catalyst Lab with David Platt | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

Now for the four points of his message. Based on Exodus 32, Platt identified four "golden calves" of our leadership (and, again, he stated them with such biblical integrity, simplicity of speech, and with so much tenderness of heart that I couldn't argue with anything he said):

1. We have become leaders without convictions. We have created an entire leadership culture where the name of the game is giving people what they want. But Platt urged us that "God is more interested in the sanctity of his people than the success of your ministry."

2. We have devised salvation without dedication. But Christ is worthy of our total abandonment.

3. We have manufactured worship without humility. Where is the brokenness in our worship? Where is humility in our worship? Where is Isaiah's cry of "Woe is me" in our worship? If brokenness and humility have no place in our worship, then God will have no place in our worship.

4. We have created a God without retribution. But by doing so we have minimized and undercut the mercy of God and the beauty of the cross. Because at the cross Jesus drank the cup of God's retribution. That's why Jesus agonized about going to the cross.

So the question for us isn't just, "What are the golden calves in our culture or in our church?" This is the first question we need to ask: "What are the golden calves in my heart and in my approach to leadership?"

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When you stop learning you should stop leading......Here are 40 great leadership book apart from the Bible thanks to Brad Lomenick for this list

40 Great Leadership Books to Read

August 31st, 2011 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I love leadership. And I read a lot. So I wanted to provide you with a list of some of the books I recommend.

These are not the only leadership books you should read. There are hundreds of others that are great. But these are just simply 40 of my favorites.

So here you go. And please share this list with your friends, team, and other leaders who might benefit.

40 leadership books to read:

1. Good to Great- Jim Collins

2. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership- John Maxwell

3. Courageous Leadership- Bill Hybels

4. The Next Generation Leader- Andy Stanley

5. Now, Discover Your Strengths- Marcus Buckingham

6. Love is the Killer App- Tim Sanders

7. The Tipping Point- Malcolm Gladwell

8. Tribes- Seth Godin

9. It: How Churches and Leaders can Get it and Keep it- Craig Groeschel

10. Integrity- Henry Cloud

11.

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