Brian posed this question on my answering machine:

What particularly do you do when new kids show up - how do you make them feel welcome and connected?

I misunderstood which Brian it asked the question. There’s a youth pastor Brian and a student Brian that reads this blog. So I ended up answering that question to both the youth pastor and students.

To a Youth Pastor:

To the Students:

Anyone else want to put in their two cents on this question?

This may cut into the ire of may, but I’ll say it anyway.

Watching the Nick Saban {coach of the Miami Dolphins leaving to coach Alabama football]drama has made me think of the church today. How different is he than most pastors?

If you look over Sabin’s career, he’s been a man, never really committing, but always looking for the better job and bigger paycheck.

I look at most pastors today and see men driven by a paycheck and not a calling. They move from church to church following the almighty dollar. If they can increase their numbers, hopefully, they can move to a bigger church and make big church money. The church is no different than corporate America (and our sports have long since sold out as well).

What happened to those who were called? What happened to the mission? What happened to men (and women) driven by passion? What happendd to recklessly following after our wild God? What happened?