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“Why Runks, Why” – April 25, 2010
Join me now for a little recap of my crazy life on the road I like to call, “Why Runks, Why.”
-Jesus > me Refuge 2010 • First Baptist Church, Portland, TX
-Working with my old friends Josh & Stacy McClary to help them resurrect the Student Ministry in their new church.
-another smaller event with lots of one on one time with more students.
-lots of unchurched teens and 2 of them giving their lives to Christ!
-After the worship and before I preached, Josh had the students come up, lay hands on me, pray for me, and for God to speak to them through me. I’ve never experienced that before and it was AWESOME!!
-A bonfire that required a bazillion feed sacks, enough diesel to run my truck for a week, a leaf blower, & 2 hours to get started!
-Josh transformed into an ice cream sundae. They were gonna do this to me but they couldn’t catch me!
-And last but not least….. The most painful student ministry game I’ve ever seen!
God Bless Y’all – Runks
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“Why Runks, Why” – April 18, 2010
Join me now for a little recap of my crazy life on the road I like to call, “Why Runks, Why.”
-I’m Third DiscpleNow • Northview Baptist Church, Lewisville, TX
-Smallest event I’ve done in a while, 45 students, it was really nice to get spend more time with more students than usual.
-Working with my new friend, Nick Gainey, and the Nick Gainey band.
-3 Students giving their lives to Christ and many more coming home to make a fresh start.
-Staying in a hotel with a 24 hour starbucks!
-A highly inappropriate “proposition” from a drunk guy in the hotel lobby. –
-3 boxes of fiber bars and high school boys are not a good combination!
-I actually sang in a karoke contest. Â In your worst nightmares you cannot imagine how bad that was!
God Bless Y’all – Runks
Why Why Runks, Why???
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“Why Runks, Why” – April 12, 2010
Join me now for a little recap of my crazy life on the road I like to call, “Why Runks, Why.”
– 3-Dnow • First Baptist Church • Allen, Texas
-Hanging out my my college buddy, Billy Baker, and getting to minister to his sons and their group.
-Ministering to several students dealing with incredibly difficult issues and plugging them into the help they need.
-Two meals at my favorite mexican food restaurant on planet earth within 14 hours, Uncle Julio’s!
-An absolutely awesome outpouring of God’s Spirit in the Saturday night service.
-Seeing an incredible amount of students come home to Jesus and turn away from tough sins in their lives.
-playing ridiculously stupid mystery games with a bunch of seniors… “are we in cahoots?”
-learning an incredibly dangerous game involving a pool table, a cue ball, and lots of running!
-Working with one of my favorite Bands: Branch -with the students at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, TX on Sunday morning.
-9 students trusting Jesus for the first time on Sunday morning!
God Bless Y’all – Runks
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“Why Runks, Why” – March 21, 2010
Join me now for a little recap of my crazy life on the road I like to call, “Why Runks, Why.”
-Freedom Weekend 2010 for Lifepointe church in Glen Carbon, IL.
-First DiscipleNow the church has ever had.
-It was really fun & funny watching the students and adults wrestle with the -new to them- Dnow lingo like food coordinator, host homes, and time-away cards.
-Spending more quality time with more students because of the smaller size of the group.
-Working with and getting to know the guys in the band The Great Romance.
-Working with students that don’t live in the “bible-belt.”
-Seeing several students and adults give their lives to Jesus!
-Getting ridiculously lost on a Starbucks run because of a lying Iphone gps and a girl that doesn’t know the difference between North and South!
-Reconnecting with my old friend Bobby Robbins.
-Working with Student Pastor, Kyle Parker, and his wife, Emily, who were both students at some of my events when they were teenagers.
-And last but not least… A perfect shot of a priceless youth ministry moment
God Bless Y’all – Runks
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“Why Runks, Why”
One of my former interns, Dylan Hope, used to greet me when I came off stage with a funny little recap of my message he liked to call, “Why Runks, Why.” Sometimes it was serious, sometimes it was hilarious but it was always fun and every once in a while it was productive. So I’ve decided to bring a revamped version of “Why Runks, Why” to the Runks.com experience by expanding it from a recap of a few minutes on stage to a recap of my events and experiences on the road.
So join me now for the first installment of a little recap of my crazy life on the road I like to call, “Why Runks, Why.” – March 14, 2010
-Cross Training Weekend • First Baptist Church • West Memphis, AR
-Wanting to cancel and stay home with Nick after his car wreck last week.
-Going anyway because I knew God wanted me to.
-Ministering to two students dealing with some deeply painful junk and leading them from hopelessness to hope.
-Making a “quick” Starbucks run with the seniors that turned into a trip to another state and an encounter with a gangbanger fond of inappropriate gestures.
-Student Pastor Matt Neyman a.k.a. “Cracka Wit Attitude”
-Crosstraining man????
-Taking care of business with a quick trip to Graceland on the way to the airport.
-A bunch of teens getting saved!
-God moving powerfully. Students ministering to students in the most genuine way I think I’ve ever seen!
-Sharing with parents about Nick’s wreck and challenging them to love on their teens and never take them for granted.
I can’t wait to see what God does next week!!
God Bless Y’all – Runks
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Somebody nail me to this cross!!!!
Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to die on a cross than it is to die to myself. Not to belittle in anyway the brutality Jesus endured for us on the cross but sometimes it seems like it would be a lot easier for me to take up my cross and follow Jesus if somebody would just nail me to it. The sad fact is that I don’t really have a problem taking up my cross, I have a huge problem with laying it down. Denying myself, taking up my cross and following Jesus (Luke 9:23) is way too often traded in for indulging myself, crawling off my cross, and following my own selfish desires. Bottom line, I love Jesus with all my heart and I follow after him as hard as I can but I’m just not very good at it. The key is to not beat myself up for a week when I lay my cross down but confess my sin, climb back up on my cross as quickly as I can, and try again.
I doubt very seriously anybody is going to nail any of us to our crosses any time soon so we’re going to have to get better at getting back in the saddle every time we fall off. For that to happen takes a strength much greater than we have so we must daily not only take up our cross but also learn to live weak by daily recognizing our weakness, choosing to trust in God’s grace, and absolutely depending on God’s strength and not our own. We still have to climb back on but we are not alone, and never without help.
Hang in there!! – Runks
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“Gobble, Gobble, Giggle”
Here is a stupid video about eating turkey, giving thanks, and Tony Romo.
Have fun, I know I did!
Stuff I’m thankful for:
Jesus for loving me enough to die for me and live in me!
More freedom every day from the baggage of the abuse in my past!
A really awesome wife who loves me even though I’m an idiot!
Both my kids love Jesus!
Elli because she is so much fun and always makes me laugh!
Elli, thanks for riding go karts! hahaha
Nick because he loves the things I love!
Dude, thanks for going hunting with me and Wreck’em Tech!!
A godly Mom who has always been such an amazing example of who Jesus is!
Joanna still sorta thinks I’m funny!
God walking with us through the loss of my Dad to cancer 11 years ago!
An awesome Dad that invested his life in me!
Thanks Dad for always taking me with you! Tell Jesus I said what up!
Joanna for believing in me and supporting my ministry completely!
That God still lets me do what I do!
The privilege of pouring my life into teenagers!
I got to go to India this past summer!
Joanna for being everything I could ever need or want!
Mike Pinkston!
I get to live in Levelland, Texas!
I’m finally learning to love myself!
Friends that love me and hang out with me!
And Jesus for providing this stuff and these people I have to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!! – Runks
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Father and son getting it done
My son Nick, aka @BigRunkDaddy in the twittosphere, and I are on our annual Thanksgiving week deer hunt. We’re sleeping in a ratty old camper, eating insanely unhealthy food, and having the time of our lives! It is one of the coolest blessings of my life that my 15 year old son wants to spend a week in the woods with his Dad.
Having a shared passion with your teenager is one of the greatest parenting tools any parent can have. It gives you the opportunity to have the “quantity” of time required to open the door for “quality” time to happen. I think the old adage, “quality time is more important than quantity time” is a load of bull because you can’t just decide to have quality time and magically make it happen. If you want to have quality time with your kids you have to make the effort to spend a ton of “quantity” time to get there. That’s why a shared passion is so important.
When I was a teenager I always thought my Dad was the biggest dork on the planet except when we were hunting together because we both loved it so much. Somwhere in the middle of all that “quantity” time in the woods the walls would come down and “quality” time happened. Some of the most important talks I ever had with my Dad during my crazy teen years took place over the hood of a pick-up in the middle of nowhere. Now I’m having that same experience all over again from the other side of the pick- up. As cool as I like to think I am I’m almost certain that Nick thinks I’m an idiot most of the time but when we’re out in the boonies sharing our passion for hunting I’m still his hero and that has opened the doors to some pretty awesome life changing conversations.
If I have any parenting advice to offer its this: include your kids in the passions of your life. Never leave them at home when you go do whatever it is you love to do. Figure out what they’re passionate about, get passionate about it, and get ready for some awesome, life changing experiences with your kids. Trust me, it is so worth the effort for them and you!!
Now, I’ve got to get out of this deer blind and go help Nick clean the hog he just shot. Maybe we’ll get to have a talk about life while we’re at it.
God Bless Y’all – Runks
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“Me Too”
I’m sitting on an airplane with my 6’6†totem pole body crammed into a regular, no leg room, non-exit row, teeny, tiny airplane seat. I’m sitting next to a guy who is also circus freak tall and we’re both cramped, crunched, and fighting for leg and elbow room like sardines in a tiny can but at least we’re not alone! I don’t think there is anything more encouraging than knowing that whatever you’re facing somebody has either been there or is there right now and feels your pain. I think the most comforting words in the English language are, “Me Too†because those words scream out “YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!†My 94 year old grandmother, Maw-Maw, would put it this way,
“A burden shared is a burden halved and a burden born alone is a burden doubled.â€
The problem is not so much finding someone who has been where you are but finding someone with the guts to be real enough to admit it. Sadly this is especially true in the church where often times rather than helping our wounded we shoot them and that has got to stop! I say its time we take off our masks and stop pretending we’ve got it all together. We need to start being real and transparent about who we are and what we’re struggling with so we can make it safe for others to do the same and hopefully all get better together. I’ll go first. To those who have faced the horrors of childhood sexual abuse I say, “ Me Too.†To those who have had their butts kicked by an addiction I say, “ Me Too.†To those who are fighting through the 12 steps trying to get well I say, “Me Too.†To those who have been beat down by the reality of depression I say, “Me Too.†To those who struggle to let Jesus take control I say, “Me Too.†To those who are sick of going to church and pretending everything is fine when its not I say, “Me Too.†To those who have feared that if people really knew you they wouldn’t love you I say, “Me Too†To those who battle insecurity I say, “Me Too.†To those who just want to be loved and accepted, warts and all I say, “Me Too.” To all the broken, hurting, and struggling people I say, “you are not alone. You have never been alone!†Somebody, including Jesus, Heb 4:15, has been where you are and you do not have to suffer alone!!! So let’s take off our masks, get real with each other and with God and start saying “Me too†as loudly and as often as we can!
Me Too – Runks
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Youth Revivals: Dinosaur or Dynamite?
Youth Revivals, hmmm, does anybody really do those anymore? Do they still work? Will students really invite their friends to one? Yes, Yes, and Yes! I know in a lot of youth ministry circles the youth revival is thought of as just another dinosaur of youth ministry programming but I beg to differ. I do a ton of them and they still work. I’ve done them in the Spring, the Fall, and even the Summer. I’ve done them in big towns and small communities. I’ve done them combined with school assemblies. I’ve done them every which way you could possibly imagine. They look different than they used to, they have different names but the format is still basically the same. And believe it or not, students show up, bring their friends, people find Jesus, and lives are changed.
The normal format is Sunday morning or Sunday night through Wednesday night with camp style services each night. From there I’ve seen every variation you could possibly imagine – from blow up games and mud pits to prize give-aways and Super Summer style rec to gallon challenges and, of course, Pizza. Normally, the youth minister and I hit up the school lunches and hang out with students each day. If the youth minister can get me in I do school assemblies which really provides a big boost to the attendance. All of this with the hope of creating a buzz amongst the students that something big is going on down at the church. If you can create that buzz, I promise you students will come out of the woodwork to be there! So if you’re looking for a “new†way to reach teenagers give the youth revival a shot. They still work, they’re tons of fun, and to top it all off teenagers find Christ!
Here’s a video I put together of a youth revival I did last summer with Jeff Scott at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for your next youth revival!
God Bless ya – Runks