Next Week...

Today was one of the weirdest days of my life. I can honestly say as long as I have been in ministry I have never had a day like this one. I will blog about it later but I need a favor from you.

I leave tomorrow to go home to Bluefield WV my hometown. I hope I get to spend time with good friends and watch the girls chill with their grandparents.

I am speaking at my home church Sunday which will be fun. A lot of my family goes their and they have only heard me preach once or twice so I look forward in sharing with them.

Then I speak at a week of camp or 9th and 10th graders. I am expecting God to do big things there and I just want to be apart of it.

When I get back we are remodeling our youth building a little. One of the elders that works with me thinks I am going to kill him because I do this every year.

August 7th I am speaking at a church close to us and I am always excited about God opening doors for me to preach to a new audience.

We have some really awesome up coming things here at First Christian and I am passionate about what is going to happen and I can't wait to see our church grow.

I will be gone all next week but if I get a chance to blog I will. Remember to pray for me and those I will be speaking to. I just want lives to change for Jesus and when that happens the world will change a bit for the better.

Test Time?

Go through these questions and ask yourself do you love God or the world?

Have I spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?

Did the Bible live in me today?

Am I enjoying prayer?

Have I given priority time to my family?

How do I spend my spare time?

Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?

Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

Have I been with a woman/man anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?

Have I been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed my mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not my spouse this week?

Have any of my financial dealings lacked integrity?

Have I secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that I might excel?

Have I damaged another person by my words, either behind their back or face-to-face?

Is there anything that has dampened my zeal for Christ?

Is Christ real to me?

Have I been completely honest with myself?

A Look Back...

It has been forever since I blogged because I was in Ohio speaking to a bunch of middle school students. I was out in the middle of know where with no cell phone coverage nor did I have the Internet. I say that because it is always good to get away from those things for a week. It is good just to focus on God and what he wants from your life. I did a lot of praying for the students I was speaking to, for the upcoming things in the fall, and the calling on my life. While I was there God did some pretty awesome things. I am learning to go into a situation expecting God to do great things through the lives of his people no matter that that situation is. It could be camp, CIY, an elders meeting, a conversation with some or just a normal staff meeting. I am learning that God does things, even small things if you just expect it. Let me share a little of what God did last week.

I spoke at Rocky Fork COC (the church I served at before coming to GA) and it was awesome. I don't mean my sermon I mean seeing the people, looking at all the students who have grown up, and watching so many love their Savior. It was good to come back to where seeds were planted and know God is doing great things through them.

Sunday night I really started to get to know some of the students and I noticed there were many there hungry for a change in their life. I also notice that most of them were really smart and knew the Word. I wish I would have had a passion for God at such a young age.

We baptized many at camp. I can't give you a number because I had so many text messages of people going to church Sunday and being baptized. I did see a father baptize his son, and then I think on Friday he baptized his daughter. I can't wait for that time to come in my life. I baptized a mom who was going to watch her daughter be baptized and decided this is something she needed to do.

Many students rededicated their life...

I had some great conversations with many students about life and faith. Students face so many things that I never faced at their age. If their generation will trust God and live for him the world will change.

Every night more adults came to vespers and by the end of the week the entire room was completely packed.

There were so many things that happened last week I can't begin to tell it all, but I am glad I was apart of what God was doing there and I am reminded of how great being in youth ministry can be.

Pondering...

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty crazy for me so I am left pondering what will happen and what will I see. I am usually thinking about the future and what it will bring and hold for me and the people I know. Let me give you some examples.

Last night we had a youth workers meeting and talked about some new changes that will be happening at Edge. So that leads me to think... I wonder if this will bring more kids to Jesus? I wonder what types of relationships we will build in the next couple of months? I wonder if the students we have now will go and tell others about the Savior they love. I wonder if our adults get burned out? I wonder if these changes are need or just wanted?

I am leaving this Saturday to fly to Columbus Ohio to speak at Rocky Fork. I served at this church for 2 years and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and speaking there Sunday. I am also speaking at a middle school week of camp there. So that leads me to think... How will it feel see all those students grown up? What will God do with the message I am preaching there? Will lives be changed? Will people decide to fall in love with Jesus again? How will people feel about seeing me? Did they miss me? Are they glad I left? Why does that matter to me?

Then the week of camp... What will God do through these adults working there? Will they be convicted of a life with Jesus? Will the sermons and D-group question impact them? Will students see Jesus for who he really is and what he has done? Will this be the week that everything changes for them? Will they leave and decide to change the world?

I am back for a week here in Georgia and there are all kinds of different meetings and things to do. Then I leave to speak at my home church and a week of camp for 9th and 10th graders. All the questions will return.

I don't think it is wrong to ponder these things but I really get excited to see what God will do with me and those who want to follow him. When I read scripture I often leave with this thought, "That is awesome but they didn't see this next thing coming." I wonder what that next thing is and I think of it often.

I will not be blogging next week so pray for me and the people I meet. LOVE YA

Time To ReTHINK?

Sunday School Lessons are Failing

Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis commissioned America’s Research Group to investigate why young people leave the church. The findings are published in Ken Ham’s new book Already Gone. Some insights include:

Among 20- to 29-year-old evangelicals

• 95% attended church regularly during elementary school
• 95% attended church regularly during middle school
  >> 40% first had doubts about the Bible in middle school
• 55% attended church regularly during high school
  >> 43.7% first had doubts about the Bible in high school
• 11% attended church regularly during college
  >> 10% first had doubts about the Bible in college

Oddly, the study discovered that those who attended Sunday school (61%) are actually more likely than non-attendees (39%):

• to not believe that all the accounts and stories in the Bible are true
• to doubt the Bible because it was written by men
• to defend keeping abortion legal
• to accept the legalization of gay marriage
• to believe in evolution
• to believe that good people don’t need to go to church

Clearly, most children’s ministries are failing at producing long-term disciples. So what will it take to change this?

On the one hand, I believe that every children’s ministry can absolutely improve what they do. There is always room for improvement, but I also think these failed children’s ministries are the byproduct of failed churches.

If you want to reach and disciple children, you must reach and disciple their parents. Church going kids spend only 1% of their time at church, 20% at school, 30% sleeping, and much of the rest watching TV and playing. Children’s ministers can determine the 1%, but it is the parents who have the power to decide what reaches their kids during the other 99%. If you disciple the parents, you disciple the kids.

For Discussion:
- How can children’s ministries better disciple kids in the Sunday school classroom?
- How can churches better train parents to disciple their kids during the rest of the week?

This info was found on churchrelevance.com

Surprised no longer...

Last week God really did some awesome things in my life so I was asking Godly men that I know and love to pray for me and the ministry God has called me to. I have talked with different people and asked for their prayers and all were very kind to do so. Not only to keep me in their prayers but to pray for me for 30 straight days. Maybe that is a lot to ask but I feel in my life I need Godly men and woman who will pray for me on a daily basis. Maybe for those of you that read this blog you can pray for me 365 days, God knows I need it. I was talking with a friend at the end of last week and told him I needed his prayers for 30 straight days. He kind of laughed and said, "I already pray for you everyday so is there anything specific I can pray for?" I really couldn't believe that someone out there prays for me every single day. So I decided to clarify. No I don't think you understand I need your prayers everyday for 30 straight days. Then he decides to clarify. "I already pray for you EVERY SINGLE DAY BY NAME!!" I was speechless. I had never heard anyone ever say that to me before.

Over the weekend I have been thinking a lot about what was said to me. I think it is amazing that people go to God on a regular basis for me. Not only just praying for me but saying my name to God and asking him to do certain things in my life. I have often said, "I can't believe that God would bless me this much!" Well if people like you are out there praying for people like me on a daily basis I am surprised no longer. Scripture continues this theme of Godly men and women lifting up people in prayer, and how God can do so much more than we can ask. So it would be foolish of me to say again that I am surprised that God does what he does in my life. With people lifting me up in prayer I am not surprised. God does what he does best when those whom he loves prays for people like me. So to those who have ever said anything to God about me, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Fight Club

I was talking with a friend yesterday who for the past couple of years has had one battle after another. Before I moved here he was bitten by a spider and had to seek medical attention for that and afterwards he developed a staff infection and then he had to get over that. About a year ago they found cancer cells in his esophagus and so he went to a specialist and they decided to burn it off . Well they burned so much that his esophagus was not working at all and causing real problems when he ate. Months later he went to another specialist and they suggested that they remove his esophagus and move his stomach near his shoulder. This is very common for cancer patients. He went through this surgery and did great. We all were at the hospital praying and waiting to here how he was doing. After the surgery I went back to his room and talked with him and if you know this person he is usually laughing and goofing off. I went back there and he was the same person that I had grown to love. His family was strong and knew that God would protect his life and trusted that all would be well.

After the surgery we thought he would be in the clear but when he would try to eat food he would continue to vomit it back up. He couldn't keep anything down. Of course the doctors thought this was just his stomach reacting to the last surgery and so we thought this would past, it didn't. To this day he can not keep any food down and two weeks ago he went to the Mayo Clinic and they told him his stomach was not working at all. The dietitian met with him and said that if this last surgery did not work then he would be on liquids the rest of his life. I talked with him yesterday and he had lost three pounds in one day. Needless to say he has had it rough the past couple of years.

Jesus said "I have come to bring you life to the fullest..." Now for someone like my friend I wonder what he thinks Jesus means. For someone stuck in the hospital, nursing home, the unloved or the abandoned, what does that life look like? I see people fighting to live. Just to live. Such a simply yet complicated thing sometimes. I have talked with people on their death bed, getting ready for surgery and those whose stomach's do not work and yet all of them see life with Jesus as life to the fullest. Life to the fullest does not mean you are rich or will sky dive with a friend, but a life that is full means that your life is filled with the presence of God. I see so many people willing to fight for that life with Jesus here and now. I guess that is what is so amazing about God. Life with God does not start when you go to heaven but when you accept his grace. I think we are all in a fight to live. We are all in this fight for life to the fullest. May we continue to fight and may we know that Jesus is really all we NEED!!