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By Greg Saldi, January 29, 2010 3:21 pm

Recently, there was a movie released called “To Save a Life” (perhaps you heard about it). It has been pushed really big in our area (apparently the movie theater here had the 6th highest gross for the movie of any theater in the country). The movie is basically about a kid who knows a kid who kills himself. This stirs him to want to take a more active role in someone else’s life and chronicles the struggle with peer pressure and what not. The movie is apparently well done and I’ve heard good reviews about it.

Last night a student at one of the local schools committed suicide. It’s a horrible thing, obviously, and the students that go to that school that I know are all sort of shaken up by it. Our youth network, which handles church cooperation and bigger events like bringing the movie here posted this on Facebook today:
Please pray for the family of a Latrobe High School student who committed suicide last night. So incredibly sad. And please take all the students you know to go see To Save A Life this weekend – it’s not just a movie – it’s a challenge to keep this kind of thing from happening again. We can and must make a difference – lives depend on it!

I understand the point in all of this. “See,” they are saying, “this is a huge deal and seeing something like the movie can help.” I just look at this and it just hurts my head. Lives do depend on it, of course, but to boil this down to go see this movie and do what it says just seems like another “strategy”. I dont know about you, but short of relief efforts, I am so tired of ministry strategies. I’m tired of programming the life out of things. I’m tired of running to a curriculum or a famous youth leader, or kirk cameron and looking for “how to do things”.

Another thing that bothers me is what message am I sending to a kid by saying, “hey I know a friend of yours just killed himself, but come watch this movie so you can see the depressed kids and help them not kill themselves. You failed the first time, this time you won’t.” I just can’t see how that message helps at all. You would love to see a student body that pulls together and naturally nurtures each other. Why does the church have to step in and make sure that it gets top billing. The response of the church is love, not do this, this and this and it will never happen again. The church, which places itself at a distance to the distress and downtrodden just jumping in and helping to fix things (so everyone will know it is the church, not God) might be more of an insult than offering support to everyone that needs it.

I don’t know, I guess I’m just sort of upset with the whole thing and upset that we take a tragedy like suicide and spin it in to the Christian Marketplace.

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By Richard Hamilton, May 8, 2009 8:56 am

This past weekend, our teen ministry video team met for the first time. We wanted the students to get some hands on experience with digital video cameras and editing software. After lunch, a quick discussion of what we were hoping to do, and a crash course in videography, we let the student loose. Here is one of the videos that resulted.

Fun With Film: World’s Most X-Treme Baller from richard hamilton on Vimeo.

Obviously, this video was not intended to convey some deeply spiritual or religious message. We are hoping though, that our students will be given a new avenue to express themselves. Video is much more accessible today than it has been in the past. As a result, we find that many students are interested in it.

For us, this is only one piece of a much larger scheme. We want students to feel free to be creative and expressive. Some students will find their voice in the arts and media. Our student ministry hopes to cultivate creativity.

I’m interested in how other faith communities are equipping people to be creative and expressive. Please chime in and let me know; I want to hear from you.

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By Richard Hamilton, October 14, 2008 11:59 pm

People from Castle Hills Christian Church (where I am on staff) get out and try to help their community over the weekend.

serve san antonio from richard hamilton on Vimeo.

San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the US and has a homeless population of 2,247 people. On October 11, 2008, about 15 volunteers hit the streets with about 200 bag lunches.

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By Richard Hamilton, July 9, 2008 3:14 pm

I was the dean of a Jr High week of camp in southern Ohio last week. Tuesday Night, we set aside some time for the 36 Jr High students to go through 9 prayer stations based on the teachings of Jesus from Matthew 5:1-16. Much to our surprise, this took about 5 hours. Not because it was set up poorly or not run well or overly complicated (I’m sure those things could be said about this prayer experience, but that is not what lengthened the event). It took so long because the students really got into it. Jr Highers. Praying. 5 hours. It was awesome.
I thought this experience was important enough to include in the week, but I was not expecting the response we got.

Prayer is undervalued by a lot of Christians. This seems to be even more the case among teen Christians. I don’t know if this is because they don’t see prayer being lived by the Christians they encounter or if the way prayer is portrayed to them is limiting and unappealing. Maybe both. Maybe neither. Who knows. What I do know, is many of these teens prayed. They read Jesus’ words, they looked beyond themselves, they tasted, they touched, they reflected, they prayed. And it wasn’t just the girls; the [Jr High] guys got into it too. They were asking questions and spending time with each experience. It was interesting to be there for it all.

This left me with one big question. Do we expect too little of young Christians?
I believe it is altogether possible that teens can set the pace for other Christians.

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By Richard Hamilton, May 30, 2008 3:03 pm

As many of you know, I am looking for a new ministry. I am parting ways with the church I have worked with the past 4 1/2 years. They are having a lot of problems meeting budget and have decided to cut my position. In my search, I came across a non-instrumental church on the West Coast looking for a youth minister. I know it was a long shot, but Sarah and I really liked the area and the church was very ethnically diverse, which appealed to us, so I sent in my resume. Here’s the thing, they actually called me for a phone interview, and it went well. They arranged for a second phone interview and I thought it might really work out.

I guess maybe at this point I should give some background for those of you who are like, “What does he mean ‘non-instrumental.’” Actually, Wikipedia does an adequate job on that front. Check out the wiki on churches of Christ. For our purposes, it’s sufficient to know that they are independent churches from the Restoration Movement which broke fellowship with other churches of Christ/Christian churches during the American Civil War partially in rejection of using instruments in their worship gatherings. My background is in the churches that use instruments (among other things) in our gatherings.

Anyway, I had a second interview and it did not go as well. They interviewer spent 1 1/2 hours trying to convince me that instrumental music in worship was sinful. I assumed this meant I didn’t get the job, and I was right. Here is the e-mail I got a week later (the names have been changed to protect those involved, except mine of course):
__________

Dear Richard,

I want to thank you for interest in the “City which shares its name with a well-known Mexican adult beverage” Church of Christ. It appears to me that you are a sincere and committed individual who will be an asset to any organization that you choose to serve. As for us with the church of Christ in “City which shares its name with a well-known Mexican adult beverage,” we have decided to continue our search for a Youth Minister in other candidates because we can not reconcile the doctrinal differences in regard to instrumental music that exist between us. We believe that the “sacrifice of praise” like all sacrifices must be offered as specified by God, if they are to be acceptable to Him. In this case, God has specified “the fruit of our lips” (Heb 13:15), thereby excluding the use of instrumental music.

Again thank you for your interest in us. I encourage you to continue to your study in all matters pertaining to God’s goodness, power, and will for our lives.

May God bless you in your efforts to serve him,
“John Doe”,
“City which shares its name with a well-known Mexican adult beverage” church of Christ
__________

I see two big problems with the non-instrumental way of thinking (besides the fact that they won’t hire me, oh yeah, and they butcher/mis-use texts of the Bible).

One. There is an idea they have that if we aren’t explicitly told it is okay, its not. The guy just flat out says that in the e-mail. “God has specified ‘the fruit of our lips’ (Heb 13:15), thereby excluding the use of instrumental music.” I think you need to explain that one. Let’s assume this verse is telling us to sing. Let’s also assume this verse is about corporate worship gatherings (which is a stretch). How does this verse forbid Christians from using instruments? If the use of instruments was so wrong, don’t you think Paul would have jotted down a “I do not permit the use of the harp, lyre, cymbal or trumpet” somewhere? Christianity is the Law of Liberty. The words of Jesus about some particularly religious people come to mind. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.” Most of these churches are so inconsistent. They own property, have Sunday School, hire youth ministers and utilize PA systems. None of these are explicitly commanded in the Bible. If you were to carry this principle to its extreme, most of what they do as a group would not be allowed.

Two. All this energy is spent on one of the most insignificant parts of the Christian life, music. I know. Some of you are stunned because Rich Mullins and DC Talk were essential to your conversion. Here’s the deal. The early church was dedicated to some things, namely the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer, and music didn’t make the list. I love music. I always have it on. I never leave home without my IPod. But, music is not worship. A transformed life and a renewed mind, that’s worship. A life of sacrifice, that’s worship. Spirit and truth, that’s worship. Music can be part of worshiping God, but it cannot become more important than worshiping God.