John Avant, First West, and ESPN

A couple of months ago, I spent a day consulting with the leadership of First West, a church with over 3000 people attending each week in West Monroe, a town of 13,000. You do not often see a church as large as this in a town as small as West Monroe, Louisiana.

Small town Louisiana is known for football. West Monroe may be one of the best High School football teams in the country. So, when ESPN was looking for a place to film a new reality series, they came to West Monroe... and, to a lesser degree, to First West Baptist Church.

John Avant is the new pastor at First West. John wrote me this week about Varsity, Inc.:

ESPN was looking for what might be the best high school football team in America to do this show... The facilities rival SEC schools. The training is brutal. Most of the boys have been in the program since they were small.

At the same time the head coach asked me to be chaplain for the team... This is a public school with hard-driving coaches (as you will probably tell from some of the language). But they put no restrictions on me! I pray with the team after games and many practices. We mentor and counsel many of the boys. And every Friday afternoon I teach the team biblical principles of manhood. I openly use Scripture and pray with no limits...

There may also be cameras there so pray that all I say will be used of God in His way. Pray for the on-camera issues that we deal with constantly. I have signed a release that they can use my words and they have mikes everywhere we go. I know that there is risk to this but I am trusting God to guide the whole process.

The last time I watched ESPN was... well... never. But, they are filming the church services each week and I am interested in how it will all be mixed and edited... so I will be watching my first ESPN series this November.

You can watch a Youtube video about the series using the link below (but see John's language warning above).

Jeff Schadt and Youth Transitions Network

Back in August, LifeWay Research released a major study on the problem of young adult church dropouts. You can read more about it here and here.

One of the leaders who helped us reflect on those research findings was Jeff Schadt from Youth Transition Network. YTN is one of the ministries trying to address the difficulty of transitioning from high school to college, which is the time when many young people leave church behind.

YTN has posted a video on YouTube that you should check out along with their website.

Rodney Hammer and Global Missions

Rodney Hammer is coming to town November 10 for comMISSIONed at Grace Community Church in Nashville. Rodney has been the regional leader for the International Mission Board's work in Central and Eastern Europe for ten years. He and many of his colleagues will be leading this one-day conference. For more information, check out their brochure here and request tickets here.

Matt Branaugh and Building Church Leaders

Ten days ago, I told you about Matt Branaugh and the new BuildingChurchLeaders.com website. This week, Matt has launched a new blog associated with the site called "Off the Agenda." About the blog, Matt says,

Off The Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders is a blog where people in church leadership positions -- pastors, staff members, and volunteers, among others -- gather for discussion, where they encourage, equip, and prepare each other for the joys and challenges they face each day.

Matt and the BuildingChurchLeaders.com team are doing a great job giving us the resources we need for leadership and ministry.