by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
It has been a week since I have had a post so I thought I would get in gear. I have been watching some basketball games of the local High School here. The girls team is ranked numbers in the state for 3a ball and they are undefeated they have a good club I hope they do well. Well anyways I am not going write about basketball but continue my series from the book Why Guys Need God by Mike Erre. Today I want to share a couple of quotes from chapter 10 and talk about them a little bit.
When we come out of hiding in front of each other, relationship will take hard work and lots of grace. The church gets lots of criticism because of its imperfections.
So many times we hide who we really are. Sometimes it is like we have to put on some sort of facade so people do not see the real us. I am not sure what drives this perhaps it is fear of people seeing the real us or fear that we are not good enough. Rarely do we tell people our real struggles or the things that are keeping us from being all we want to be in Christ or all we can be in Christ. The truth is if we really do be ourselves then in fact it will take alot of hard work and lots of grace. Grace to forgive others even when we really do not want to and grace to ask for forgiveness even when we do not want to. But if we continue to pretend to be someone we are not then the church is just a place where we go to be fake. The church definitley is not perfect and we are indeed a bunch of reformed sinners going thorug the process of sanctification yet many times we act like we have already been fully sanctified and that we have no problems whatsoever.
I often wonder what would church be like if people were real. What if a man walked into Sunday school and said I am struggling with pornography and I need help, or what if a woman walked in and said I struggle with gossiping I need help, or how about I have bitterness in my heart I need help. The church is supposed to be a community loving each other and holding each other accountable but I am afraid we have become a community where everything is based on only what we want people to perceive us to be and not who we really are. We don’t want people to know our secret sins what will is take for us to stop being superficial and just be honest. It is so hard. Here us the second quote.
Most churches teach men how to pretend behind religious fig leaves. We learn to act in the right religious ways, look the right religious ways, sing the right religious ways, and so on. We usually are not encouraged to actually share how things really are. So even though we need to connect with other guys at a really deep level, the church actually often hinders this process.
Prayer isn’t a place to be good; it is a place to be honest.
I already spoke about this above. I do not think this is a problem for just men either. I think often we go to church to pretend. Pretend to be someone we are not and we rarely go just to be honest and admit our struggles.
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Jul 22
Posted by Josh
It has been a long time since I have posted. The primary reason for this has been related to my lack of funds. You see my hosting renewal came up and I did not have the money to renew my hosting. I pulled the trigger a few hours ago and purchased my hosting.
Not much new here in northwest Missouri. The job hunt still continues. I have updated my resume I can’t tell you how many times but I know the best way for your resume to be noticed is for someone else to deliver it. However I still keep plugging away. Some people have asked if I want to be a youth pastor or a senior pastor and right now I am kind of in the either one camp. I have 15 years of experience as a youth pastor and that is something I enjoy doing. So in the right circumstance I would take a youth pastor postion. However most of the churches I have submitted to have been senior pastor postions. All of this to say the search continues. It has been 2 years since I have ministered in a full time capacity and trust me I am ready. But it is God’s timing so i will continue to wait upon the Lord.
Life, My Thoughts
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
I am currently and interim Children’s Pastor. Which in the words of my former pastor mean I am 2 seconds away from being fired. I always loved joking around with him about stuff as far as I know he was never serious about that statement. Anyway I have been a youth pastor for 15 years and there is a part of me that gets somewhat disappointed when others seem to destine our teens to a life of mediocrity.
It seems we have somehow got it in our heads that that teens can’t make a difference, or they are just a bunch of good off’s. We tell ourselves if only the teens in our churches could survive their teenage years just perhaps something good could happen. Since when did the teen years become about survival. Why do we sell them so short. Perhaps my favorite quote is this one “the teens are the church of the future” well the teens are more then the church of the future they are the church of today.
I recently heard one pastor who seemed rather upset because his church was looking for a youth pastor to hire part time. His response was that teens will never change the church. I really dont think I will address that here but why is that our mentality in the first place. Why do 70 percent of teens abandon their faith when they leave home for college or a career. Has the church failed them? In many respects we have. We have created this sub class of people we call teens and we have lowered the bar for them and have expected far less from them then we ever should have. In essence we have made them destined for mediocrity.
When Paul wrote to Timothy he did not say “well Timothy I sure hope you can make it” No way he challenged Timothy. He told him to be loyal to the faith, to be strong in Grace, he told him about being an approved workman, He talked to him about following doctrine and preaching the word. Paul did not tell him to be lazy he told him to fight the good fight, to beware of Apostates, to be a servant of Jesus Christ. Will every teen grow up to be a sold out Christ follower? Absolutely not but why do we continue to sell our selves short.
Parents, pastors, teachers it is time we stop lowering the bar and settling for mediocrity and start raising the bar and challenging our teens to be more then we are willing to settle for.
Just some thought from a former Youth Pastor who might be one again someday who knows?
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Aug 28
How To Write An Effective Resume or What is my Resume Objective
Posted by Josh
Ok I will admit it this is a shameless plug for my e-book I have completed. Yes it is for sale. I noticed that in one months time I have had well over 100 people come and download my resume and this tells me something. It says that there are plenty of pastors and youth pastors out there that are looking for a way to write a resume and to write on that will stand out from the crowd.
Because of this I decided to put together a book that will help you. Why is it for sale? Well I have it for sale to earn some money hopefully to be able to pay for hosting an some other things. You could go to one of these other site and pay up to 100 bucks to have your resume done or you could pay 10 and do it yourself. This is ebook will give you everything you need to know. This is not just for pastors and youth pastors either. This information is good for any job and will help you out no matter what you are writig your resume for. So if you are interested then check it out.
How To Write An Effective Resume
Life, Uncategorized
Aug 22
Tweet For Cash Scam
Posted by Josh
This may seem like a strange post initially because it is not my usual type of post. However I do not like to see scams and I found one called Tweet For Cash. This blog is about life amongst many other things and I like to give out information. Some of you may have no idea what Twitter is so if that is you just disregard this post or you can go to twitter.com and find out more. If you want to know more about twitter let me know I can help.
Anyway if you are thinking about doing Tweet for Cash and think you will make money please stop now because it is a scam. I was scammed in a very similar way earlier this year and long a few hundred buck looking for a way to work from home. It was by google profits. Any I want to make you aware of this Tweet For Cash thing so I went to the website and guess what as usual this company has there page load in such a way that the terms and condition are hidden here is a screenshot of how it loads.
Real convenient. now when you scroll down on the page you can see the actual Terms an Conditions. So I click on them now this what you have to check out this is the scam part and why Tweet for Cash is a Scam. Here they are well not all of them but the most important one
I hope you caught that. It is a 7 day trial and then they will charge you 89.90 a month. What? What a bait and switch. They suck you in by saying you get all of this for 2.97 and then you must scroll down and click a link and read the Terms and Condition to see that really it will be 89.90 a month. Guess what it will take them 7 days just to get the product to you so they nail you. What is worse when you call the number you will not get your money back. So just stay away from this Tweet For Cash. Tell anyone you know that this is a scam.
If you are really looking for a great way to use twitter you can check this out http://bit.ly/D96Jf it has been working nice for me. I can also give you a site that will help you add more twitter followers that is not in the above guide just let me know.
Life
Aug 10
Wow My Guest Post Was Accepted
Posted by Josh
A few days ago my wife sent me an email that said you should try this. When I looked at the email it was about Joshua Griffin’s website and how he was looking for guest posts. Joshua Griffin is the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. Anyways I really did not think I would be able to write and article that was good enough to be accepted nor did I think I had much to share that people would want to read. I can imagine he has alot more readers than I do. Albeit I have had alot of people coming to my site to download my resume lately primarily because they want a sample. Anyway I thought about it and decided to at least give it a shot.
I sat at my computer and to be honest I just kept drawing blanks. I had no idea what I was going to right about and my mind just kept going back to my experiences over the last year. Finally it came to me. I thought about alot of people coming to my site to see a sample resume which in turn made me realize their are alot of people looking for positions right now. If these people are anything like me they may have been looking for awhile or they may end up looking for awhile. So that is what I decided to right about. My post goes live august 17th if you want to read it you can check it out here when it goes live.
Uncategorized
Aug 03
Missions Trip To Chalchuapa El Salvador
Posted by Josh
I just recently returned from a World changer Missions trip that took place down in Daytona Beach Florida. We had a great time serving dow there. Some of our people painted houses while others worked on roofing projects throughout the city. We had a great time and I personally feel that our group bonded well and it was a nice chance for me to hang out with some teens. I love going on Missions trips and seeing how God works through the lives of those who attend.
Well next month I will have the opportunity to serve on another Missions Trip however this one is a little further away. You see we will be going to Chalchuapa El Salvador and we will be serving the Lord there. This is not my first foreign missions trip however it is my first on with First Baptist Church Macon. I am looking forward to what God is going to do on this trip and I am also looking forward to meeting the people in Chalchuapa. In addition to this I am excited to build deeper and stronger relationships with those in our church. However we all know that in order to serve on a missions trip it takes support. If you would like to support me I have included a donation button below. However if you would like to read my letter on how you can make a tax deductible contribution you can do so here.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application, Uncategorized
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
I read a book that changed my life. It changed how I look at things and how I do things and how I think. It was call “The heart of the Problem” below is kind of some thoughts.
I am not sure why it is so hard for us to say we are sorry or to simply ask for forgiveness. I am assuming it really boils down to pride and for whatever reason our fear. We never want to admit that perhaps we said something wrong or did something wrong. We don’t want to admit that perhaps we handled something wrong or that perhaps we should have our could have handled things differently. We don’t want to admit that perhaps we had a bad attitude, or a wrong attitude, or a critical spirit when we should not have. Why? Why do we carry around strange feeling for other people. Why do we want that baggage with us. Why do we sit and wonder what others are thinking about us or whether they think about us at all. Why are we so willing to harbor bitterness or to deny that we are at fault in anything.
To many times Christians have broken relationships and for whatever reason we think it is ok or that it will just go away. I find nowhere in scripture that it is just ok. I can not find anywhere where if we have offended our brother or sister that the best way we handle it is to do nothing. I also do not find anywhere in scripture that if we have offended another or sinned against them and they ask for forgiveness that we can just assume that we have no responsibility.
The world looks at us as Christians and the very thing that we are to show them we lack. We lack the desire to truly forgive, we lack the desire to love our neighbor as ourself, we lack the desire to ask for forgiveness. Really we lack humility and somehow we gloss over it and we think that it is all ok. Well it is not all ok. It is sin and there is no human remedy for it. It will not just fix itself.
I am sure there are people that dont like me much and I am sure there are those that are holding a grudge against me or even are bitter towards me. I wish I knew who they were I wish they would be brave enough just to tell me so I could say I am sorry so I could ask for forgiveness, so restoration could take place. So they could deal with any sin of bitterness or anger they have towards me, and so we could display to a world that is looking for christians to be real could see what Christianity is truly about.
So if you are reading this and I have offended you or you are angry at me or bitter towards me for some reason. Wherever you are, whatever your thoughts I would ask for your forgiveness and say I am sorry for anything that I have done that may have caused harm.
