The Top 5 Responses I Get When I Tell People I'm A Minister & A Geek

So, as I've several times in my posts, I'm a Christian. I'm a Missionary Baptist. To be even more specific, I'm the Youth/Assosciate Pastor at Calvary MBC in Magnolia, AR. I'm also a geek, obviously. I rep my Geekery proudly. That's the premise of this post: how people react to me being both a geek and a preacher. You can't even begin to imagine some of the responses I get when people find out that I teach Sunday school AND lead a crusade against the blight in Dragon Age; that I do puppet shows for the church youth AND got my Blastoise up to level 75 on Pokemon X; that I take the teens to camp over the summer AND that my DVR is full of The Walking Dead, Once Upon A Time, The Flash, Arrow, Marvel Agents of Shield, Gotham, Girl Meets World, and The Five Year Engagement (ok, those last two may have revealed TOO much about myself...... I'm so ashamed). People seem almost appalled sometimes when they find this out and I would wonder why? However, at the same time, people's expectations of Pastor's are set so high, it's a wonder anyone ever lasts in ministry. All of that being said, let's get into it, shall we?

The Top 5 Responses I Get When People Hear That I'm A Geek & A Minister:

5) "You Must Be A Youth Pastor." Why yes, actually, I am. This is the one I get the least. As a youth pastor, I do kind of have an excuse to still be quote "childish". As a youth pastor, it is important to stay up to date with what the youth is immersing themselves in. Video Games, Juvenile Fiction Books, TV Shows and Movies are what they're into, and it's what you can use to relate to them. The Gospel is meant to be spread, but it's also meant to be shared in a way that people can understand, and being a geek and witnessing to other geeks, it's my job to reach them in a way that they can better come to know Christ. Being a youth pastor means that I am trying to lead kids to Christ, and I can't do that unless I can be on their level. I have to be immersed into what they're always around. 

4) "Does The Church Know About This?" Ask anyone at my church, and they'll either tell you that I'm weird, eccentric, a geek, a nerd, or that I'm "crazy" as the kids in children church say. Yes, the church knows that I'm a geek. They know that I'm odd, and a goof ball. All of these blog posts are "advertised" on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I'm not ashamed of showing people who I really am. I'm 100% saved. I love Christ, with my whole heart. I'm also a geek. I am who Christ made me. I believe that I am upfront enough that I'm a Christian and that everything I post you can see that. Is every church member thrilled by all of my decisions? No. Everyone will NEVER be pleased with Everything you do. That's a fact. So I'm me. I never try to be anything other than me. As long as I am right with God, what other people say or do or feel, doesn't matter. Bottom line. 

3) "Don't You Have Better Things To Do?" Ok, ....... sometimes, Yes, there are other things I could be doing. There's ALWAYS something the everyone could be doing more productive. So honestly, I can't really argue my way out of this one. Nor could anyone. I could try to bring up the fact that at-least I'm not doing this or this person does that or blah blah blah. That's called justification. I'm not gonna justify the fact that sometimes I geek out on things when I should be doing something else. I'll simply say this: I would never let my Geekery become a problem. If it ever gets to the point that my geekiness overshadows my Christianity, then I'm doing something wrong, and I'll do my best to change it. 

2) "Isn't That Sacrilegious?" Is what Sacrilegious Having a hobby? Being passionate about something? No! Of course not. Being a geek/games/movie enthusiast/nerd/whatever isn't sac-religious. Some of the options that are available to get passionate about are, yes. But loving video games and watching movies aren't sacrilegious, no. We have to guard our hearts and not give in to temptation. We have to be selective when it comes to choosing what we Geek out on. That should go without saying, but unfortunately it has to be repeated constantly. We have to look past stereotypes and get into the nitty gritty, but for most people, it's easier to judge things as a whole. Being a geek doesn't make you sacrilegious. Being sacrilegious make you sacrilegious. Going against what God has said is right and wrong for us, that's the problem. 

& finally, the response I get the most

1) "Grow Up." I'll admit, this one does tend to get under my skin. How do you respond to this? What do you say? When people say this, their minds are pretty much made up about what's "acceptable" to them. Being a geek isn't about age appropriate-ness, it's a lifestyle. It's something that transcends age. It's also something that has to be carefully entered into. Again, as I've stated in the other points: we have to be careful about what we Geek out on. Some things, the world has deemed wrong, or unacceptable, or childish, and we live in that world. Honestly, what we need to do is pray. Pray about whatever it is we want to be passionate about. See what God's Word has to say about it. Most people go to the passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 where Paul said, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:but when I became a man, I put away childish things." But that's taking the verse out of context. That entire chapter is about how we love as compared to God's love. God's love is patient and understanding, and when people try to tear us down or make fun of us for our interests and hobbies, then they aren't being very understanding or patient with us. Grow up. I am a grown up, and I have interests. I have hobbies. I have things that I am passionate about. I have grown up, and as a grown up, I don't demean others for what they care about.

That's my list. These things are almost always said to me when people find out what my interests are and consider what my profession, or really calling, is. What do you guys think? Is it wrong to be a Geek and a Preacher? What are your opinions on the matter? Let me know in the comments below. And remember, never let your Geekery outshine God and what He's doing through You!

My Best Friends & Their Group Stereotypes

I have a great group of best friends. I know that usually the term "best friend" is reserved for one person, or at most a small select few, but honestly, the people that I am going to be posting about are ALL my best friends. "But wait, why is he posting about this in a blog about geeky things?!?" Trust me, all of these people are geeks (even if they don't admit it). Some of them have been my best friends ever since I was born, and some came later in life, but all of them have been there for me, and all have them have enriched me with Geekery!

Each friend has either introduced something to me, or we experienced something together, or we discovered and thwarted an attempt at world domination. Or something like that. These are people I would definitely want with me during a zombie outbreak, alien invasion, horror movie situation, or just to chill out and play xbox or cosplay with. So, here are:

My Best Friends & Their Group Stereotype:
(I will only be using first names for their own discretion)

Joel (My Brother) = The Quiet One. Joel is by far my absolute closest friend in the world. Some people say that brothers can't be friends, but them I say, ''Silence Mortals!'' Joel is the resident quiet one in my circle of friends. While when it's just the two of us he never really shuts up, whenever we go out on adventures, Joel is silent. Stone Cold Killer Quiet. he may snicker or say a brief statement, but then it's back to quietly plotting our demise.... I mean..... Cookies! Joel and I share many things in common, and experienced almost everything together. We love watching Saturday Night Live and Impractical Jokers, playing Super Smash Bros and Diablo 3, and making videos. Joel is actually planning to go to school where he can actually hone the craft. We actually are both working on two separate scary short films! It's gonna be awesome whenever we get everything worked out. I'll be sure to post them on here! Just don't expect Joel to do many speaking parts.

Dean = The Wildcard. Dean has been my best bud since we were 3 years old. We were best friends all through school (except that one dark year, 3rd grade, where he went to a different school..... I can't talk about it; I get too emotional) and still are. Dean's a true geek if I've ever seen one. But it's interesting; he's also a real country bumpkin. So you never really know what to expect from him. Hence the wildcard. He'll go from talking about Borderlands and going on and on about how Deadpool could beat Colossus (which he so can not Dean, I'm sorry [that's his and mine favorite super heroes]) to ranting about Obama and how Hank Williams Jr. is true country and all of these yahoo's nowadays are ruining country music. And before you go dissing his geek cred, trust me; he's legit. We're talking anime binge-watching, Fallout playin', Warp Zone loving fool. Half of his biweekly checks go straight to Gamestop. He will literally work for tacos (that doesn't really testify to his geekery, but I just thought I'd throw it in). Not afraid to make a fool of himself in public, and is always ready for a road trip or an adventure. He also literally stays with me every other weekend and brings his own TV and Xbox and stays in my recliner 70 out of the 72 hours he's here. Dean is definitely a, .... Dang it..... what's that thing in Uno where you pick the color? Oh yeah, WILDCARD!

Jared = The Busy One. (He's gonna kill me for using this) We met at a church camp probably 6 or 7 years ago now, and we've been best pals ever since. Jared is a Pastor, a Teacher, and a Gas Station Worker person, thingy..... So it's understandable that he's ALWAYS BUSY! But it's OK, were still friends. Somewhere in all of that he's a geek. Jared kindled my Magic the Gathering flame! He's hardcore MTG though, like almost to an unhealthy level. (No, not really. I only exaggerate because I know he's going to read this.) We also obsessively watch Face Off and Wizard Wars on Syfy. I always invite him over to watch, but.......

Dustin = The One "So Far Away". Dustin and I met my freshman year at Seminary. I believe he was wearing a Batman logo-ed t-shirt with a Superman Messenger Bag. It was geeky bromance at first sight. Dustin and I were slackers in seminary (we actually started a club). During lunch breaks we would always run over to Hastings and browse all of it's epicness. One day a group of us all chipped in and bought Ninja Turtles plastic cups and Rocked them in the next class. Were funny looks given? Absolutely. But when your shell brothers are with you, you make like a Taylor Swift song and "Shake It Off". The few times we were able to get together outside of class involved road trips out of states and going to see the latest Carrie movie. We also watched the Mid-Season 4 Walking Dead Premiere together.  But alas, we both wound up dropping out of seminary (at different times for different reasons). Now we're at opposite ends of the state and never get to hang. We keep up with each other via Facebook (he challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which I accepted and OWNED!). But much like the Hemmorage lyrics by Fuel, Dustin is "So faaaaaar away".

Adam = The Uber Intelligent One. I met Adam just over a year ago, and we quickly became best amigos. I was the Pastor his Mom's church, and she introduced us. We instantly connected and now a church and a job later, we still get together quite frequently. He's actually coming over later this week. Adam is a major film buff, specifically 80's horror/slasher. The thing about Adam is that he's a GENIUS! Adam has been through more school then I EVER care to endure. He is an avid gamer, though he prefers vintage games (maybe because he just about every video game console, ever..... even an old Galaga arcade system!!!!). Adam is dedicated to sharing classic cinema with me (I haven't seen many of the "Classics"). We've watched Jaws, Dual, Star Trek 2: Wrath of Kahn, the original Carrie, The Shining (movie, not mini-series), Alien, Aliens (His FAVORITE!!!!!!), the original Robocop, Road Warrior, the original black and white Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Japanese film Battle Royale, and then we've also seen more recent movies in theaters, such as The Amazing Spider Man 2 (there is SUCH a funny story to go with that), Guardians of the Galaxy, and Annabelle. He's introduced me to the amazingly awesome website Steam (I know, I'm a failure for taking so long to learn about it), and also the Now Playing Podcast, which if youve never heard of it go subscribe right now and listen to them review movies. (Go ahead, I'll wait..... Right now..... GO!). We'll watch movies together, and then he'll go to tell me his opinions, and his vocabulary is so large and he's so passionate that I'm left with jaw open going, "Uhm, ....... yeah.... me too........ I like it when the guy says, 'Game over man!'......" But that's Adam, the "brains" of the group.

Chris = The Family Man. So most of you probably know by now that I'm a Christian. I'm actually a Youth Pastor. When I came to the church that I'm serving at I met Chris, one of the youth leaders. Chris and I have become almost inseparable. The only thing standing in the way of our bromance is his wife and kids. HA! Just kidding, Chris' wife and kids are amazing! Chris is a huge geek (Actually he and Adam are both Nerds, but we'll let it slide). He used to be a big games back in college. He's told me that he and his buddies would get together and play Mario Kart weekends at a time, and swears that NO ONE can beat him at Golden Eye on the 64. I was actually telling someone recently that if Chris wasn't married and a father that we'd probably live together, and when I told him he was like, "You would so cause me to become addicted to video games again!" I guess fortunately for him he is married and a father, and it's awesome because his kids are being trained in the ways of geekery! As much as we love to hang with each other, his responsibilities keep us from going on many epic quests, therefore earning the label "Family Man", but I wouldn't want it any other way (I respect him for being a father and husband first above all else [and a Christian above that]).

Nicole = The Girl. Every group needs a Girl! Batman and Superman have Wonder Woman. The Avengers have Black Widow. Mario and Luigi have Peach. Heck! Even the Ghost Busters have their secretary! Nicole is our girl. Nicole is a couple of years older than me, and while we've known each other for a good long while, we never really started to hang until after I graduated. Nicole is majorly active in her church, and is always upbeat and happy. She's the sunshine to our groups ecosystem (Wait, ..... Did that make sense? Oh well!). She's a major Marvel maniac, a Doctor Who enthusiast, and one of the only other fans of Once Upon A Time that I've been able to find and get excited over! And while she's swimming in a sea of testosterone, she's always up for just about anything and still remains feminine.

James = The Instigator. "Oh boy Marge!" James, James, James...... What can you say? Once my Youth Pastor and now the Bowser to my Mario...... Just Kidding (He's a Major Mario fan, so I had to work that in there somehow)! James is a dear friend. When he was my Youth Pastor he took me under his wing and tried to impart his wisdom to me, and now that we're both adults and friends, he challenges me. He wants me to formulate my own opinion and not just take other people's word. We don't always agree, but no two friends will always see eye to eye. We do however both enjoy playing Munchkin, Mario, and going to the movies. James is a mega-nerd, and I love it! He's also, "The Instigator"! (That'd be a sweet Villain Name!)

(Now the last two are married, so I'm going to do them together)

& finally

JW and Allison (My Aunt and Uncle) = The Guru and The One That Gives Great Advice. Some people may think it's lame, but yes, my aunt and uncle are two of my very best friends. They're a team. JW is the gaming guru, and while Allison used to be a major gamer herself, they have a a family now, so she's become very maternal, so she's become more of a confidant. They're a yin and yang when it comes to our friendship. JW is the person I go to for gaming advice, and Allison is the one I go to for personal advice. These two introduced Joel and myself to gauntlet: Dark Legacy (which is the greatest game EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and the Diablo Series, as well as the Gears of War Series and XCOM. They've also helped me through other areas of my life where I've needed guidance (JW has also surrendered to the ministry) such as with women, ministry, regrets, family tragedies, etc.. JW will play through an entire Gears of War game through a night where as Allison and I will laugh and talk and solve the mysteries of the universe in a night. And it's not that I can't talk to JW about serious matters or play video games with Allison, this is just the roles that they've taken on in our friendship, and I'm happy to have a game loving uncle and an advice giving aunt.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Drew = The "Board" One. Drew has been one of my best comrades for years now! We both surrendered to ministry when we were young, and grew up as Brothers in Christ. He's currently in China right now teaching English. One thing that Drew loves is being "board". Board games that is! Drew and I love playing table top games! He introduced me and Joel to (and actually sold us the game to go to China) Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game. He also sold me his copy of Munchkin, which he taught Joel and I to play as well. He's a great friend, and I can't wait to get to play some games with him when he get's back from China. We'll be "board" together!

So those are my Best Friends! What do you think? What are your friends like? Have any like mine? Le me know in the comments below! And when you have children, make sure to train them in the ways of Geekery. Otherwise, this planet will Fall!