Immerse | A Journal of Faith, Life, and Youth Ministry

Going Deeper with Jason Soucinek’s “God. Sex. Faith: A Journey of Reconciliation”

by Jeff Baxter on March 6th, 2012 -- filed under Story

I appreciate the authenticity of Jason’s thoughts and tone. I believe he really wants the next generation to have a proper grasp of spirituality and sexuality. He uses examples from his own life to drive his thoughts home.

Blurring the Lines

I am disappointed that Jason did not explain in more detail that sexuality and spirituality are not equal. He blurs the lines of sexuality and spirituality as if they are equal brothers, layered on top of one another or worse, one in the same. It feels like he is saying that sexuality and spirituality are two sides of the same human coin. This is just not true.

Sexuality is a small part of our whole, even in a marriage. Jason mentions that sex is important to his marriage and rightfully so but adds, “It’s not the only thing that holds our marriage together.” This is a good start, but I suggest that sexuality does not hold any part of a marriage together. As a pastor, I have counseled many adults who believe this myth, and it is destroying their marriages.

The next generation needs to be taught with authenticity and honesty that many married couples struggle in their sexual lives (contrary to the movies!) but still love one another deeply, and even those who have a wonderful physical connection are not one because of their sexuality. It is much greater.

What of those Christians who never get married? Paul has great words for this in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Sexuality…

Going Deeper With Initiation

by Tim Baker on January 6th, 2012 -- filed under Story

The first time I ever saw my son Jacob, he peed all over the floor. And, if you’re a parent, you get how wonderful newborn pee is.

Seconds-old Jacob had apparently been holding back his first trip to the bathroom for weeks, maybe the whole nine months. So the moment his tiny newborn body entered the cold hands of our family OBGYN, the dam broke in his bladder, and Jacob covered the table and the doctor’s hands, before the doctor eventually held him upside down so he could finish his business.

Jacob doesn’t obviously remember anything about that moment, but he retells that story often. We have many of these stories in our house about Jacob—the time he broke his arm; his first rash; strep throat; and, my favorite: the first time he put his Fender mini strat behind his head all “Jimi Hendrix style” and played the pentatonic scale perfectly. I’ve been there for everything. I love my son more than I love the air I breathe. And when we pray together at night, we often put our foreheads together and say secret things to each other. He tells me about the hopes he has for his life, what he wants to do, asking me what I think God is calling him to become. We talk about what it means to have a crush on a girl and who has bigger arm muscles.

I desire so much for Jacob. I want him to be a good man, a good husband…

Still Going Deeper With Rustin Smith’s: St. Johnny

by Aaron Babyar on October 10th, 2011 -- filed under Arts and Culture

Artistry in music inspires me, but country music doesn’t typically thrill me.  In 2003, CMT proclaimed Johnny Cash the “greatest man in country music,” and I honestly didn’t notice. Then something surprising happened.

On a gorgeous afternoon, while I was driving with all my windows rolled down, I stumbled upon a cover version of Nine Inch Nail’s song “Hurt” playing on a local alternative station. The song was raw. It was beautiful. It was Johnny Cash. And I loved it.

Long before he received the nickname “the man in black,” Johnny Cash was born and raised in the same state where my wife and I are raising our four children. Arkansas is both beautiful and rugged, much like his final recordings. This is exemplified in the fantastic music video he shot for the cover of “Hurt,” not long before his death.

In “Saint Johnny and the Artist’s Pilgrimage,” Rustin Smith essentially says that a main reason Johnny Cash had a musical career comeback at the end of his life was that Rick Rubin first helped him get back in touch with who he was as an artist. Johnny had to strip down to the basics and spend time recreating there.

I believe there is great need for Rick Rubins to coach pastors who have lost their way. I’ve known many ministers who started out in ministry with a bang of enthusiasm and lofty yet loosely defined goals for making disciples for Jesus. They may have even experienced some early…

Going Deeper with: Alan Roxburgh’s “Can the West be converted?”

by Steve Case on March 4th, 2011 -- filed under Church

See if you can relate…

It is six o’clock in the morning. You’ve been up for an hour. Sleep came in short bursts all night long. You are standing in the kitchen of a church where you have never worshiped and barely know your way around. You’re sleeping here because the friend of a friend of a pastor said, “Yeah, you and your group can sleep here.”

You’re trying to figure out which of the youth sleeping in the next room ate the last of the chocolate Pop-Tarts. You’re willing the coffee to come out of the pot faster. The other chaperones stand around you, all of you in silence; it is not time to speak just yet. In a moment, when the Pop-Tarts are gone and the coffee is in hand, you can speak about the day ahead.

Yesterday you helped put a new roof on a home that most of your students would never lower themselves to live in. The woman who owns the home grew up there. She’s 90. Today you will take the youth to the local food pantry because this is the day the welfare checks come in, and many of those in town make a day of it and come for food and clothing. Tonight you’ll sit around on hard metal chairs and talk about the day. Tomorrow you’ll do work very similar to today’s, and the next day you’ll go home to a warm bed, a loving spouse, and a hot shower.

This…