QUESTION:
Mr. Marchiano, in all your travels to all sorts of US churches and
denominations, what has stood out to you as the greatest
need that Christian teens have today? What would you say
is lacking in their lives the most and what do you think
is the most effective way meet that need? Thanks for
your time and for your thoughts!
ANSWER:
First off, I have to say that I
love our
teens. I love hanging out with them, ministering to
them, sitting with them and dialoguing with them (I used
to love playing basketball with them but "woe is me,"
they run me into the ground now, so....
Secondly I have no doubt that God is
real busy
with them. That's not because I've "seen" it so much,
or because God "gave me a word" about it or anything.
It's just because that's who God is, where He is "at,"
where His heart is...
I'm one
who thinks that God doesn't "come and go," "doing a
work" here and then doing a work there... I am
convinced God is 100% all-out 100% of the time. He
doesn't back off for a half a second, His heart is so
overwhelmingly toward reaching us and His zeal for our
lives--teen's lives--is only surpassed by His
faithfulness and goodness, if surpassed at all. So all
that to say, "God is busy and He
loves our
teens!" Glory to Jesus!
Third,
I meet a lot of very cool young people in my
travels--kids who really have their heads on straight
and are walking with godly intent, straight into God's
plan/purpose for their lives. It's so exciting! So
when you ask me what the problem is, you're kind of
assuming I think there is a problem--and don't get me
wrong--there are plenty of them, of course. But I'm far
from any kind of expert on teens and there are many
people who could answer your question with much greater
understanding than me... At the same time, let me throw
a few observations out anyway...
What do
our Christian teens need today? Though this may sound
contrived to you, I really mean it:
Jesus. What
I'm saying is that I meet a lot of kids who are
into this youth program or that program, Christian
music, even Christian leadership; living lives of
purpose and praying the prayer of Jabez, vowing to be
celibate, meeting at the flagpole... all good
stuff without a doubt. But at the end of it all, and at
the end of all the Christian "entertainment" and
rallying them... there's Jesus--and that simply
must be the
singular reason that a kid is sitting in his youth
group--because he
hungers for Jesus.
So I
guess what I'm saying is I see a lot of "into this," and
"into that"--again, good stuff. But what I only see
rarely (relatively) is just plain, "I'm so in love
with Jesus!" I see it, yes, but not nearly as much as
the other.
And
that would be easy to test--just take the "stuff" away
and see what happens to your youth meeting
attendance. A lot of times I've seen youth
pastors/leaders working so hard to keep kids
coming--games, concerts, rock climbing, camping
trips... Yes, all these things have great ministry
value--or should I say, they
can
have great
ministry value. But at the end of the day, the
"draw" has to be Jesus. It has to be
Him and Him alone
that is the reason a kid comes.
Think
about it... Can you imagine a youth leader saying, "We
aren't having games anymore, or hot dogs, or rock
climbing, or rock music, or, or, or... And as your
youth pastor I'm not going to shout and cheerlead, and
pump you up with, 'How is everyone tonight!?!?! Come
on, let's give it up for Jesus!!' I'm just going to
teach the Word so you can understand the Word. And if
you're fooling around I'm going to send you home. And
then we're going to seek Jesus, and worship Jesus, and
really give our lives over to him..."
Yikes!
I can see all the youth leaders reading this page with
little sweat beads forming on their noses. On the other
hand, maybe even
more kids would come if you tried something
like that--and purely by the power of the Holy Spirit on
the wings of that leader's prayers! Truly, I am
convinced we are working much too hard in our own human
strength and wisdom when all we need is to cry out to
Jesus and He'll do it for us. And the bottom line is,
the Lord isn't interested in attendance numbers. He's
looking for true seekers of Jesus. Glory to Jesus!
But you
know, I actually knew a youth pastor who did that. His
youth met on Friday nights and there were no games or
anything--just worship and teaching. He was very firm
with the kids, very challenging, telling them, "If
you're not here to worship God then go home. This is
not a social club." He really made it very hard for
them, and the worship style was nothing different than
they would find in a Sunday morning service, though
youth were doing the singing.
Well
guess what? Every Friday night his youth services
were 4/500 strong. Left to Jesus, the kids flocked to
Jesus. Glory to Jesus! And that's what we're seeing in
South Africa. These kids are getting nothing but
Jesus--there's little money to give them anything
more--and every Sunday when I speak to Pastor Martin he
reports that the churches are by and large filled with
young people. It is truly "of God," because other than
prayer, we haven't lifted a finger to bring them in.
Glory to Jesus!
So
yes, that's what I would say--let's just give them
Jesus, because at the end of the day that's where
they'll have to be at, and everything else flows
directly out of him. We can't "peddle the bicycle" for
them--they have to get on and pedal themselves. In
other words, they, in their own hearts, without any of
the "trappings" and entertainments, need to want Him
just for Him--and that comes with realizing who He is
and what He's all about and the future/goodness He
desires for them. So I say, let's just give them Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus in an atmosphere of strong
leadership, care, and submission to the Holy Spirit--and
watch what Jesus will do! Glory to Jesus!
Go to Top
QUESTION:
I was watching "Inside the Actor's Studio" and I thought of
you. They always ask the actors a set of questions: "What
do you love most?" What do you dislike most?" "What is your
favorite word?" What is your least favorite word?" Well,
Bruce?
ANSWER:
Yes, I've watched the show myself often. I used to watch it
with an actor's eye, trying to learn, but more and more I
watch it with human eyes, and man, so often my heart
breaks. Man, people need Jesus--oh, how people need Jesus.
Anyway...
What do I love most? Off the top of my head, seeing people come to Jesus.
Seriously--I can't think of a more thrilling thing for me.
It blew me away years ago when it first happened, and it
blows me away to this day. God help me the day it doesn't!
Surely that will be the day my ship is sunk. Glory to
Jesus!
Other than
that, I would have to say, my niece sitting on my lap and
just chatting away with her. It's our ritual following
dinner--she slides over onto my lap and we eat dessert and
chat and giggle. Nothing can beat it. Glory to Jesus!
What do I dislike most? Complaining--truly, I have little tolerance for
complaining. At our worst we are so incredibly blessed, and
I just don't get complaining. Christian self righteousness,
showiness, pomposity, manipulation... those kinds of
things get me, too. They have absolutely no place in the
body of Christ--most especially in the body's leadership.
Why? Because it's so shockingly opposite the Person of
Jesus--it so defaces Him and "degrades" Him before a world
that is looking to our behavior as the declaration of
Him--He who is living humility, living mercy, living
tenderness and care, living integrity; giving and
not taking... Man, I love Jesus! Glory to Jesus.
What is my favorite word? Easy, easy.... JESUS! Nothing can come close. My favorite
line would probably be, "My life is changed." Man, my knees
go weak every time I hear it. Glory to Jesus!
My least favorite word? Hmmm.... "Boogers!" (No, just joking... in fact I like the
word, boogers!). Let me do it this way--I can tell you what
my least favorite two words are: "You should...." People are
always so quick to judge and throw out their uninformed
opinions, and so tragically slow to just sit and listen and
care. And it's so funny, but it always seem the folks who
are the quickest to speak up are the ones whose own lives
are a complete mess! I mean, go sort out your own life
issues and then you can come tell me how to sort out
mine." Glory to Jesus!
So... will
that get me on the show? Somehow I don't think so. They
wouldn't want me, anyway--I'd only want to talk about
JESUS!!! Glory to Jesus!!
Go to Top
QUESTION:
Bruce, I have a friend, he is a Jehovah's witness. How can I reach him?
ANSWER:
This is going to sound contrived and over-simplistic--and
before I answer, please know that I'm far from any kind of
expert in anything, so... How do you reach him? The same
way you reach anyone--in the Name of Jesus, love
him. Now that doesn't mean just smiling at him
all the time or giving him Hallmark cards, or... It
means "be" Jesus to him. Truly
care, truly give, truly
extend grace--personal grace. Approach him not with your
own human tendencies, but with the humility, blessing,
integrity, calm, security, faithfulness, service... that was
Jesus 2000 years ago and is Jesus today.
Speak the
Word--not as in, "The Bible says..." but just in ordinary
conversation. A good example would be you see him down one
day about his career, and where everyone else is saying,
"Get over it," you be the one person who encourages
him... "God has a good plan for you, you know. He loves you
with everlasting love. He loves you no matter what. Don't
worry. He won't leave you or forsake you. Can I pray for
you?"
Wow! Who
can resist such graciousness? And on the outside chance you
didn't notice, 99% of what I just wrote is straight from
God's Word--Word's that are "living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword." Words that separate light from
darkness, death from life, truth from lies... Glory to
Jesus! So truly set yourself aside--even your zeal to see
him come right (to him it just looks like
self-righteousness, not care--trust me on that) and just
bless him with your words, attitudes, reactions... "Be"
Jesus!
Don't judge
him or try to engage him in Scriptural banter--believe me,
they're taught answers to everything you would think to
throw at them--it's a complete waste of time. I say just
love the guy, bless him--again, "be" Jesus to him that he
may "see" who Jesus truly is. I promise you, he'll be drawn
to the real Jesus through you like nothing else. Glory to
Jesus!
That having
been said, here's the big, big, big thing--pray for him. Pray, pray, pray for him. As you pray for
him, inch by inch, the Spirit of God will touch his
life. Truly, it is that simple. God
will do it (and the reality is, He's the only
one who can do it), and He has chosen to do all His "do its"
through His children's prayers. So
pray, pray, pray.
In that you're doing everything that needs to be done.
Glory to Jesus!
I will
never forget a friend of mine who was "of another religion"
and gave me the hardest time about being born again. Man,
he "let me have it" in every way. I used to share Jesus
with him, show him Scriptures... the whole nine
yards--entirely fruitless. Then God showed me just to pray
and love him no matter what.
That went
on for a couple years and then I'll never forget it--out of
completely nowhere one day he asked me if he could go to
church with me. I was shocked because he always made fun of
my church. But I took him and he responded to the Gospel
and that was that--he's now a brother in Jesus,
a sovereign act of God,
entirely without any human prompting. Glorious!
So we need
to deeply understand that God is a whole lot bigger than any
other religious thinking, cultural background, gravity of
sin... that you and I might look in the face of. All those
things that seem so big to us are just a laugh to Jesus, if
you know what I mean, and he would surely say, "My child, I
so appreciate your heart to reach out, but it's all Me, My
child. I'll
do the work--if you pray."
Yes, our
calling through it all is to pray, pray, pray. Then when
He opens the
door in a person's heart we respond by "being" Him, speaking
His Words,
carrying His
attitudes of humility, love, mercy, grace so they don't just
hear about Jesus but truly "see" Him lived in us. So go,
go, go for it! Glory to Jesus!
Go to Top
QUESTION:
I understand, Bruce, that you've had to lay down many of the
dreams/plans you once had. I'm facing that situation now,
trying desperately to die to my own desires and follow the path
God is leading me on. It's so hard, yet I know He more
than deserves all of me. Why? How? Help!
ANSWER:
It wasn't long ago that I was speaking at a church and the
pastor introduced me by saying, "I don't know where Bruce's
acting career is at, but I do know that he's here ministering to
us and not on location somewhere filming, so I'm guessing there
has been a cost..."
I took the
platform and said, "Yes, there's been a cost--there's been lots
of costs both personally and professionally. But then I look at
Jesus hanging on the cross and I think, 'Why should that
surprise anyone?' He's the 'standard.' His 'way' was the
pattern. He didn't say, 'Pick up the keys to your Ferrari and
dream home and follow Me.' He said, 'Take up your
cross and follow
Me.' In other words, 'There's a cost--cost is part of the
program.' In fact, I feel very confident in saying that if
there isn't any cost then something isn't right, because that's
just not the 'way it works.' There just simply is no 'kingdom'
without cost." Amen and amen!
Interestingly
enough, that's not just a "kingdom of God thing." It's a basic
of life (I believe, not so coincidentally). Everything of value
costs--period.
And the more valuable, the more costly. So again, why should
"cost" be the surprise that it so often is to those of us who
are trying to pursue God's best plan for our lives? And I'm no
"Mighty Man of God" here. I'm as human as anyone gets. I can't
tell you the nights I've tossed/turned over dreams and hopes
seeming to slip from between my fingers, forcing myself to move
through those "God-opened doors" one step at a time. Man, am I
thankful for His grace! Glory to Jesus!
On the other
side of the fence is all the "wow" that those "costs" have
"purchased" for me. Truly, I've experienced things on every
level of life that very few, relatively, get to enjoy. I was
talking with a friend recently, and I told her about a kid who
testified in my last African crusade that he was intent on
committing suicide, but every time he tried my words kept coming
to him, "He loves you, He loves you..." Today that boy is
secure and walking strong with Jesus. Glory to Jesus!
She was blown
away by that story--really dumbfounded. It was so far outside
of the day to day realities of her day to day life, it just
didn't compute. But you know (and I say this with all awe and
deep understanding that it's
all a gift from
Jesus), that is
my day to day life. I don't talk about it often, but
truly, that is my daily ration pretty much.
So the question
becomes, "What price do you put on that?" How do you say to
that kid, "I appreciate that, but I need to go make my dreams
come true, so 'God bless you!'" Are you joking? I can only
pray with all that I am that there aren't but maybe one or two
people reading this page who would say, "My dreams are more
important and more valuable than that kid's life." I mean, if
that's where we're at in the body of Christ, may God have mercy
on us all.
So here's the
bottom line--I've preached it a billion times if I've preached
it once--God's plans/dreams
for you are so far beyond any plan/dream you could even begin to
plan/dream for yourself. So truthfully, what is the
cost of stepping into the fullness of what God has for you as
opposed to clinging to the relative tiny-ness of what you have
for yourself? Pennies at the most. I know it doesn't "feel
like it," and it grates against every human fiber in us to
release control over "the desires of our hearts," but that's the
serious truth. At its most glorious, the "desire of my heart,"
whatever that might be, is a crummy pittance compared to the
desire of His
heart for me. Glory to Jesus!
And the key
that unlocks that "desire of His heart for you?" As hard as it
is to swallow and as hard as it is to hear (sorry about
that)... "Letting go" of
what you have for yourself; releasing it to Him and
His care and His leadership and His provision. Saying, "Lord,
this is what I desire, but what I desire
even more is Your
desire for me, so You
take control. You
set the paths for my feet. I trust that Your heart is good
toward me and Your Word is true when You say, 'I will withhold
no good thing from those whose walk is blameless.' I will trust
You, Lord. It's far from easy and I need Your grace to fully do
it, but I will
trust You."
Why take that
approach? Because any other approach will diminish the fullness
of all your life can be to one degree or another, personal
dreams notwithstanding. Amen, and amen.
I think of
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, saying, "Seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will
be given to you." In another place (don't remember the exact
wording or the reference) He says, "He who would keep his life
will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find
it." Truly, it is "the key to everything": Laying everything
down and saying, "Take me, I'm yours."
Last night I
watched Billy Graham on
Larry King Live and he told a story that I knew and
often "fall back on" when the going gets tough. It took place
when he was in college. He was praying one night and was "at
that crossroads," and purely by God's grace, forced out the
prayer: "Lord, I'll be who You want me to be, I'll do what You
want me to do, I'll go where You want me to go..." Look what
God did with that "releasing his dreams." Is there any one of
us who would not want to walk in that kind of excitement and
purpose?
Another story,
I will never forget several years ago, having lunch with a
gathering of high profile Christian authors and musicians, all
of whose names you would readily know. We were all chatting,
telling our stories, and one by one as they each shared I
realized that (this is huge) not
one of them was doing what they started out to do or
planned to do with their lives. I remember distinctly thinking,
"Wow, I thought I was the only one."
So you see,
dying to self is the
key to everything truly good and wondrous that God has for you,
whether that be a ministry lifestyle or enjoying a truly
successful marriage; whether that be working in a bank or
farming corn... dying to
self is the key that unlocks the fullness of all your life can
become.
And you know,
the punch line? With all I've successfully "died to"--and as I
say that, there's probably a whole lot more I still cling to
(it's a process, so be patient with yourself), I know my God is
not one who "steals from" His children, or is out to crush and
rob. No, that's what "the thief" does--not God. I know, know,
know that He's
got all those dreams and hopes of mine safely tucked away for
"that day" which fits into His timing and His order. They may
look very different from what I had in mind a long time ago, as
He has so
changed what I want and my perspective on what's important and
all... but He will not
disappoint. He will not
leave me wanting. In fact, He will blow my mind with goodness
beyond goodness and faithfulness beyond faithfulness, as He is
already doing pretty much every day.
As much as I
haven't been on a film set in a couple years, I know He's far
from done with me there. Just you wait and see--there are
surprises around the corner that will spin your head (hee hee!)!
And all those "personal things"? Well, I've regularly blown it
trying to arrange them for myself, so I'm more than happy to
say, "You do it,
Lord," and just carry on knowing that one day I'll wake up and
it will be "His day" and "His way," as opposed to
mine, stumbling around in puny human wisdom. Glory to Jesus!
So... March
on, brothers/sisters! His heart is big, big, big; He knows,
knows, knows; His faithfulness is perfect beyond perfect; His
plans for your life are well beyond your own... Lay it all down
and march on--He's going to blow your mind as He so often has
and so continues to blow mine! Man, He's wonderful! Glory,
glory, glory to Jesus!
