Even if it was not Winston Churchill who said this, it sounds like something he would have said. I get beleaguered when I constantly hear parents, educators, and adults in general lament the state of our nation’s teenagers.  Sure there is fodder for your fire if you are looking for an excuse to complain about how they dress, how they act in public, the music they enjoy or the fact that their thumbs are always moving rapidly when connected to their phones (it is called texting, and it is this generation’s version of “talking”).  But for all the negativity, all the very real challenges and needs that teenagers in America face today, we have decided to expend our energies here at Crossroads in more productive ways. We are going to shine a light, because cursing at darkness has little effect on darkness.  Light, however, makes darkness disappear. In 1996, with the help of a black telephone with a tape in the answering machine, a donated copier, and some good friends who worked for little more than cheeseburgers, Crossroads Summer Camps began with about 600 teenagers.  Now, 13 years later, we have assembled a staff of 60 college students and young adults who will spend the next month serving over 2,600 students from all over the southeast.   Many of these students will be good church kids, but some of them will drag their lives with them to camp, kicking and screaming, filled with regret and disappointment, hurt and heartache, skepticism and cynicism.  Maybe they were abused at home by a parent.   Maybe they have been neglected or ignored by their family.  They could be addicted to drugs or internet filth.  And maybe for some of them, Crossroads will be their very first exposure to any kind of religion or religious experience. By God’s grace, we will show them Jesus Christ, Who is filled with mercy and compassion for each one of them.  By His grace, I will preach the gospel and call them to repent of their sins and put their faith completely in Christ.  Our staff will eat with them, care for them, lead them and love them, so that the gospel might be a reality for each of them. I need you to pray for Crossroads this next month.  It is going to be hot, the days will be long and the rest will be short.  Pray that we will labor in God’s strength and that The Holy Spirit will have His freedom to move.  Pray that we will give Him the time and the space to do His mysterious work.  And know that for the next month, every minute of everyday that you are going about your work, your play, eating with your family and playing with your kids, that a battle is taking place for the souls of the sons and daughters of our nation.  The enemy hates them, but The Father loves them, and we want Him to love them through us. Your prayers will be heard and answered for the glory of God.  We have His word on it. 

I will never forget today.  EVER.

Since the day we found out my wife was pregnant with our first child, I have prayed three things for him, and also for his younger brother, our second son.

1.  God, save them while they are young

2.  God, may they walk with You every day of their lives and never pursue anything but You

3.  God, call my boys to preach the gospel

Charie and I take our calling to raise these boys very seriously.  We sing the gospel, talk about the gospel, share the gospel, and attempt to live the gospel daily in front of our boys.  And our boys have a sincere and childlike love for God. 

We have been praying for the right moment when Jacob, our 5 year old (nearly 6), would have an understanding of the gospel; a deep enough grasp to exercise his mind and heart in responding to God’s love.  We have emphasized the reality of his own sin when we talk about Jesus.  We have shared with him the story of the crucifixion of Christ, how bloody and brutal it was, and that it was our sin that caused God to take such drastic measures.  We make a big deal about God’s forgiveness of sin but we preface that by talking about repentance and confession of sin.  Jacob has heard the gospel from us literally hundreds of times, and we have never once “dumbed it down” for him because he was young or little. 

Our philosophy has been simple:  we will not force our children to pray a prayer they don’t understand to a God they are afraid of so they can go to a cool place called Heaven and eat ice cream and fly around with angel wings forever.  Trust me, I have seen altars full of teenagers and college students who “came back” to a faith that was never really their’s in the first place because they raised their hand after a group prayer so they would not be the only kid in the group who failed to pray to Jesus.  We want to fill our boys with so much of God’s truth and love that once they have their “conversion moment” they will rest assured in God’s ability to save them and keep them.  Forever.  We are willing to wait as long as it takes, trusting that they are also on a journey of faith, no matter that they are just 6 and 3 years old, respectively.

For the past month, Jacob has clearly been dealing with a conviction of the Holy Spirit.  His understanding of his own sin is only surpassed by His understanding of Jesus’ love for him on the cross.  I have answered his questions and listened to him talk, but never once have I asked him if he was ready to be saved or pray a prayer.  I wanted him to seek it out, to be hungry for it, to be ready for it.  I wanted it to be his faith, not his daddy’s.

This morning I gave an invitation at the church in Maggie Valley, NC.  The lights were on.  All eyes were open.  There was no music.  Four hundred people in the room all looking around, and thirty people, including many adults, stood to their feet to confess their faith in Christ for salvation. 

And then I looked on the front row.  Right under my nose.  And my son, Jacob, was standing with them.

He was smiling from ear to ear.  I lost it.  I put my arm around him as he went to talk with an older gentleman at the church about what he had just done.  Later the man told me that Jacob fully understood the gospel and wanted to give Jesus full control of his life.  On the way home we talked about salvation, what it meant and how he felt.  My heart raced and my tear ducts went dry.  I called my own father and he wept on the phone for his grandson who had trusted in Christ for his salvation.  I asked Jacob if it felt good to be saved and he said, “Actually, daddy, it feels GREAT.”

But in the back of my mind, a mind conditioned by 21 years of seeing “good kids” get saved after years in the church, I was still hoping it was genuine, that he was old enough, that he understood, that it was not rushed.  Any doubt was quickly removed.

My wife walked into our den about an hour after Jacob and I returned home.  He was drawing a picture.  He had drawn Jesus, hanging on a cross, with blood all over the picture.  And when she saw the picture, she realized that Jacob was crying.  When she asked him what was wrong, this was his reply.

“Mama, I was just thinking about what Jesus did for me on the cross, and how He died for me, and it makes me sad and breaks my heart, because I love Him so much.”

Yep.  I think he got it.  So you pray for my boy, that he would stay close to Jesus in these dark days.  And pray for my other son, JoJo.  He is going to have his defining moment one day, too.  And it really doesn’t matter, I guess, who leads him to Christ.  But I pray that his daddy can have that honor.  That is, if I can handle another day like today.

I just spent one of the greatest evenings of my life in front of the television watching the Boston Celtics slaughter the LA Lakers to win their 17th NBA championship.  It was an absolute killing.  The Celtics played tenacious defense, their star players performed at the top of their game, the fans were deafening, and I felt like I was 13 years old again watching Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish do their stuff against Magic Johnson, Kareem-Abdul Jabar, and James Worthy.  But this is not a reflection on sports, it is a reflection on the church.  Basketball just happens to be the example, specifically this season for the Celtics.  Allow me?  Thanks!

The church in America finds itself in a precarious situation.  We no longer get a free pass as the respected and revered institution of the 1950s.  All major denominations are in decline, both in membership and conversions.  Younger generations are not just walking away from the church; they never came in the first place.  Church is NOT irrelevant to most young Americans.  It is NON-EXISTENT.  Get defensive if you want to, but these are the indisputable facts.  The churches that are making a difference with the gospel all have different styles and structures, but the ones that are engaging people and culture with the salt and light of the gospel have some things in common with the Boston Celtics.  Read on, this might take a while.

1.  EMBRACING CHANGE, NOT LIVING ON LEGACY

The Celtics are THE greatest team in NBA history over the decades.  Bill Russell won 11 titles as a player, and Red Auerbach won 9 titles as coach.  But it had been 22 years since Larry Bird led them to their last championship.  They have been a pitiful team over the past decade, having losing seasons 6 of the last 9 years.  So what did coach Doc Rivers do?  He spent last summer planning a trade.  He switched things up!  He got rid of dead and expensive weight and brought on 2 older and seasoned; Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.  And tonight, they won the championship.

APPLICATION - The church (speaking collectively) remembers the glory days when we held the preferred place of priority in America.  But those days are OVER and they are NEVER coming back.  We need to move on and do the work of the kingdom and quit watching old tapes of better days when men who are now old were in their prime.  It is our day now.  Let’s not throw it away cursing the darkness, hating the innovators, or killing our brothers over theological minutia. Let’s change what is wrong internally with the church and move toward our mission of knowing Christ and winning the world to Him.  Let’s honor our heroes and mentors and work with them, not against them, for the purpose of the gospel.  And if a seasoned veteran or a young lion refuses to work with you, move on and bless them in Jesus name.  AMEN.

2.  STAYING HUNGRY, NOT FAT AND SATISFIED

The Celtics had one goal this year; win the championship.  Nothing else would satisfy veterans like Sam Casell or Kevin Garnett.  I watched Garnett play at my rival high school in SC, and everyone knows he is passionate and selfless on the court.  He was just voted MVP of the game tonight by the fans after spending years on a mediocre team that could never close the deal.  Garnett brought a hunger to the team to WIN even though he was a previous league MVP and an 11-time All Star.  He could have easily played a few more years, made another $20 million and made the Hall of Fame.  But he was TOO HUNGRY to be satisfied with those selfish accomplishments. 

APPLICATION - As soon as the church becomes apathetic, it becomes nostalgic and it begins to die.  Soon it rots until it is nothing but a monument to the past.  But when the church stays hungry for souls, for serving others, for making disciples that will change the world, the church CANNOT BE STOPPED!  And as a footnote, when apathetic lazy leaders who have no hunger for the gospel and the lost hold all the authority in the church, the church will become as spiritually fat and lazy as they are.  Reality Check: Followers always reflect their leaders.

3.  STAYING FAITHFUL, NOT FLASHY

Paul Pierce is the heart and soul of the Celtics.  He earned that role.  He is the only player to have been there since before 2003 and has played his entire career in Boston.  Lots of other players came and went, but Pierce stayed, for less money than he could have made somewhere else.  And while fans were calling for him to move on and for Doc Rivers to be fired as coach after a couple of losing seasons, all those fans were riding the Boston bandwagon tonight celebrating the victory that faithfulness won.  Thank God nobody listened to those fans 2 years ago.

APPLICATION - The church does not have to be flashy, fancy, or frenetic.  We don’t need to listen to the holy haters or hire expert consultants to tell us how to successfully do what they never successfully did.  We just need to know the gospel, believe the gospel, and live the gospel according the culture and community we exist in.  Many think that because a church has been around for 100 years that means it has been faithful.  Not necessarily.  In the same way, just because a new church has a cool name and sweet video intros does not mean it will be around in 10 years or even 10 months.  Faithfulness is blessed when it revolves around Christ and His mission to redeem the world, not our attempts to be successful, cool, or relevant. 

4.  KEEP IT SIMPLE

The Celtics won the same way any team wins any championship.  They played defense.  It has always been that simple; defense wins championships.

APPLICATION - When the church gets subverted into anything other than the gospel, discipleship and community, we move away from our simple mission of being the presence of Christ to the world around us.  Politics, the environment, and boycotting theme parks are all noble things in themselves, but in the words of Leonard Sweet, the church chases after causes and mission statements because we don’t like the one that was given to us by Jesus.  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  Make disciples and teach them to obey me.”  Simple enough to keep us all pretty busy.

Thank you, Boston Celtics, for making this 35 year old basketball lover feel like a kid again.  But mostly, thank you for reminding me how fierce, relentless, and effective the church CAN be if we know who we are and what our mission is.

Over the past several years, I have become convicted more and more that as a man of God and a minister, it is better for me to give another brother or sister in Christ the benefit of the doubt rather than to assume the worst I may have heard about them.  I have also become convinced that there is NOTHING better than a friend that has got your back when you need it.  After 21 years in ministry, there is a short list of men that I know would get my back in any circumstance (to defend my honor against a false accusation AS WELL as rebuke me if I had allowed sin or pride in my life).  From time to time I like to honor them here.  One such example is Matt Orth, who has no idea I am doing this, and if he did, would probably ask me not to.  Oh, well. There is no need for me to go into great detail here, but a little less than a decade ago, our ministry, Crossroads, went through a most difficult and trying time.  Sin was uncovered and as usual when sin is involved, it was a long and drawn out process that followed.  We were all young and idealistic and learned great lessons as a result of how things played out, but in the middle of the storm, we begged God for deliverance and learned most of all to trust His providence. During this time, there were days I prayed that I would die in my sleep.  I was 27 years old, newly married, and quite naive.  I felt isolated and alone and it seemed that the truth was eluding everyone but a handful of people.  We were begging God for justice, reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration, anything but the endless pergatory of not knowing what the outcome would be.   Toward the end of the ordeal, a meeting had been called, and I would have preferred to receive 34 Ric Flair chest-chops in a row than to sit through what awaited me.  Right before we walked into that meeting, one of our staff at Crossroads came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, “Clayton, I got your back.”  Those words stuck. He sat beside me in the meeting, spoke up boldly for the truth, and offered the kind of support that I needed desperately in that moment.  He was there through the duration of the ordeal, and even after it ended, he helped pastor me as a shepherd and friend.  He is still with me this day and still has my back.  He is my pastor and is the ministry director for Crossroads Worldwide. He has proven his integrity and strength time and time again, and I trust him.  He is loyal to me as a man and a friend, but his first love and greatest loyalty are to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I hope that you can have a Matt Orth in your life, because when you don’t know what lies behind you lurking in the dark, someone like him will be there to get your back.  But don’t wait til you need someone to get your back.  You get theirs first.  They will be glad you did.   I preached for Matt today on Father’s Day while he took a Sunday morning off.  What an honor to have him sitting right up front, to break bread with him and his family after church, and to know that there is a man of God in my life who loves the gospel, the Word, his family, and Christ above all things.  So take the opportunity to set the tone among your brothers and sisters.  Be the kind of person who gives honor by getting someone’s back when they can’t.  After all, the greatest love anyone can ever show is to lay down their life for a friend.  Follow the example of Christ and be there for the ones you love. 

For the 2 of you that read this blog, you might be wondering what in the world happened to me.  I have not posted since Carter was President, or since the LAST time the Lakers were getting creamed by the Celtics.  But there are reasons.  Read on, happy camper.   1.  I have a family, and they are firstNo apologies need be extended here, my family is my life and I love them in deed, not just in word.  Since the temperature here in Western NC has been hovering around hell, we have taken advantage of the Broad River, upon whose banks we live, and we are trying to splash all the water out of it, just about every afternoon.  Also, my 5 year old Jacob graduated preschool (with a mohawk) and there was a week of festivities to be had.  All of them involved junk food or kids singing.  If you ever want free laughs, go to a preschool musical, within 4 seconds a kid will be eating a booger, guaranteed.   2.  I am writing a book and that takes timeI have written several books already, but none for a real life publishing company.  The manuscript is due to them soon so I am dedicating lots of time each day to the book.  I pray that you will buy a copy when it comes out, or else my book will end up for sale at Big Lots for $.25 and used as coasters throughout the southeast.   3.  I am a preacher first and a blogger, well, 13th!I love to blog, but unfortunately, preaching the gospel sometimes takes precedent.  I have preached at some FANTASTIC churches over the past few weeks, and will be preaching tonight at a huge youth camp in Toccoa, GA to over 1,000 students.  The camp is called Go Tell and it celebrates its 20th year this summer.  If you want to watch my message from last Sunday, click here.  4.  Crossroads is coming up and thousands of students will be showing up on our doorstep in a few weeks, expecting us to have a camp ready for them.  It takes a wee bit of time to pull it together, and most of the work is done by Jeremy, Matt, The Beckers, Justin, and the CDHers.  I simply supervise (not really, but it sounds official).  5.  I have been running.  Alot.I set a personal goal in May to be running at least 10 miles by the end of the summer.  I had worked my way up to 7 miles, got some new running shoes, and was feeling good.  Then Sunday night, at about mile 5, I felt like I could go all the way.  So for the first time in my life, I ran 10 miles without stopping, resting, or cramping.  I am not big on personal goals, but I feel like this was a big step to me.  Next step?  A half-marathon.  Then?  EVEREST.  So now that I have broken blog silence, expect to hear more out of me, but I keep my promises.  It will be substance.  I will not waste your time.  Or mine.  Because I have learned, I will always be busy.  It is what I choose to busy myself with that matters.