Off on a Mission

Please be in prayer for me as I travel to another country on a mission trip. We are leaving Wed. morning and will be back on April 7th. I know God has some great things planned. I will blog when I get back about all He did!! Thanks!

God size moments in our Lives

I am hanging out in West Virginia on a Youth Pastor's Ski retreat (Thanks CTI Ski). It is such a great time to get with other youth pastors and spend time hearing all that God is doing. Not to mention that it is a blast skiing and refreshing ourselves. I am working through the Book of Ephesians this week and praying that God will continue to reveal more and more of His truth in my life.

Last night in youth I think it was a God moment kind of night. We had our High School youth last night and I saw God show up in a mighty way. We took the focus from our weekend learning about God's word and we spent some time in prayer. It was a call for us to not accept fluff (the no more fluff campaign) in our lives. We should come before God in desperation. You see in order to have a God size moment in our lives we must come face to Face with the truth of Who God is and who we are in relation to our Creator. We must realize that it is in our desperation that we find God. The moments in my life that God shows up always are centered when I am realizing my great need for God in my life. It is when I realize that my life is not about me. It is not about what I can do. It is about God and what He has done and will do. Do we want to see our youth ministries grow in numbers or grow in God's power. I believe in our own strength we can make our ministries look sucessful to the worlds eyes. I also believe that we cannot fake true life transformation. We cannot fake God's power changing lives in a radical way. Is our ministry showing fruit that is lasting or temporary fruit that looks good for a short time but seems to be missing something?

I have talked with youth pastors who say, "Man, our youth ministry on our midweek program is growing like crazy, but there sure is no depth in their lives." After asking them about their ministry I see that they are not calling students to a life of desperation in seeking their God. They are playing games, passing out snacks, have music, and then give a short message that doesn't take students deep. Then they have not connected the students to significant Christians who are willing to take students by the hand and lead them deep in the Word of God.

It is time for us as youth pastors and leaders to find a way to connect our students to God moments in their lives. Connect them to the Word of God. Connect them to Significant Christians. Connect them to a passionate prayer life and ultimately connecting them to our God.

Nothing but the WORD

Another Day at the Clarity Conference and another day seeking deep into the Word of God. God has been burdening my heart for the last year or more to stay strong teaching the importance of the Word of God in our lives. How often do we make crucial decisions about our lives and expect God to bless us but we leave God's word and prayer in the rear view mirror? I wonder if our generation has started getting so concerned with loosing people to other religions and other things that we have neglected staying the course with the Word of God? Have we forgotten that it is God who is in control? Have we forgotten that if we stay true to the His Word and seek His Face then He will do great and mighty things for His Name's Sake?

Every week I teach my students I make sure they are reminded of how important God's Word is to their lives. God's word is more than God's story meeting our story. There is a movement that is trying to invade our churches where we put the focus of the WORD of God on us. We try to make it our story. Man, to be brutally honest - that is wrong! It takes away from what God has done to think that God's Word is "Our Story!" It is God's Story! It is His Glory that is revealed through the pages of His Word. "Our Story" only happens because it is God who desires to show Himself through our lives.

Please don't stop reading and say I said that God doesn't care about us, because He does. He cares more than anyone in this world ever will. He showed more love than anyone can imagine. He gave up more than anyone ever could. But let us not get so ahead of Him that we think it was just about us! You see, God wills and works in our lives to reveal How Great He is. It is not selfish, or arrogant for God to think this way! God is worthy of it! God is the One True God and the only one who is Worthy to be thought of in this way. What makes it selfish for us is when we think that we deserve glory! You see, it was never about us! It never has been about us! It has always been about God and will be about Him - and I am ok with that! :)

I was teaching the other day that oftentimes when a student is having low self-confidence we jump all over them and make them feel like they are wrong for feeling that way. I actually believe that when a student has low self confidence it could be a very good thing (not if they stay there)! You see, what happens when someone has low self-confidence is that we begin to see ourselves as people who are not as good as we think we should be. If we can get students to turn that from depression and self loathing to realzing who they are in relation to a Holy and perfect God. We are not even on the same page. But what we do is change from a problem with self-confidence to a God Confidence. I am confident that God can do anything he wants in and through my life. I am confident that God can do mighty things in my life. This is not because of who I am but because of who He is. It is the students with very high self confidence that loose sight of the desperation for our God that is so needed. When someone is very self-confident they see what they can do not what God is doing. It is in our desperation that God reaches down and reveals His Glory in our lives. It is when we move from independence to dependence!

So when I am looking to see how this One True God can impact my life I see that there is nothign greater than knowing my Lord. Paul prays this often for the people he writes his letters to. Here are some examples:

Ephesians 3:19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 4:13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.Ephesians 4:12-14 (in Context)
Philippians 1:9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,Philippians 1:8-10 (in Context)
Colossians 1:9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.Colossians 1:8-10 (in Context)
Colossians 1:10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,Colossians 1:9-11 (in Context)

The best way for us to know God more is to dive deep into His Word and experience Him. To see God's Story playing out and revealing His truth. Let's not try to make His story our story. Let's just give Praise for His Story.

Clarity Conference - So much need in this world

I had the privilege of going to the Clarity conference tonight with our students at Hebron Baptist Church. Jeremy Kingsley, a good friend of mine, is the speaker on the first night and once again his message was very powerful. By the way if you have never heard Jeremy be sure to check out his website at: http://www.jeremykingsley.com ! He has such an amazing way of communicating to students and yet not forgetting what is so crucial in staying true to the Word of God.

But as I was there I continue to look around and see there is so much need in this world. One of the highlights of the night was when a lady came to share her testimony. She is now 24 and when she was 9 years old she went through compassion international and was given a chance to make an impact in this world by having food to eat, education, and spiritual training. Her father died when she was young and they had no place to live. But because of the gifts of people through Compassion she came to know Jesus and graduated with degrees. She is a product and testimony of how if we work together we can reach people in so many ways.

But there is not just needs in other countries. I am sure no matter what country your in or where you are located there is need all around you. There are children going hungry next door to places that throw away food because they had too much for them to eat. There are sick children who cannot get medicine when just around the corner there are stores full of it but it costs too much money. There are people who don't know the love of Jesus when there is a Christian who waves hello to them when they pull into the garage in the house across the street. There is so much need and we must ask ourselves if we are truly making an impact in this world. Are we reaching out to those in need or do we shrug thinking we are too busy or have to much of our own problems to help someone else? My heart's encouragement tonight is for each one of us to begin the mindset change of looking for ways to love our neighbors, co-workers, friends, relatives, and people that come into our world if just for a moment. Let us make a difference and share God's truth in boldness and in love.

A Big God who cares about Small Stuff

Today I was walking through our church and a lady who has been praying for her son stopped me to ask for prayer. She mentioned how her son, who lives around 5 hours away, had not answered his phone in the last few days and she was getting concerned. She had tried to call him and someone picked up his cell phone and then hung it up. She was concerened that someone had stolen his cell phone or something bad had happened to him. She told me she had a great peace about it but was still concerened and wanted to know if he was ok. I told her I would pray for her and started to walk away. I turned back around as I was reminded about the power of prayer and the need to pray right then. I asked her if I could pray for her and her son right now. She said yes, and I began praying for her. I prayed for her and I prayed that God would be her son's protector and would burden his heart right then to have him call her. After we were done praying she said thank you and I walked away still with a spirit of prayer for him. About 15 minutes later she saw me in the hall and she said, "you won't believe what happened. About a minute after you prayed my phone rang and it was my son. He had been sick and had not answered his phone."

Isn't it cool to see God answer prayers in such a simple way. God knew the she needed to know how her son was, her son needed to know that God was there for him in his life and answered prayers, and I need a little encouragement as I have been teaching on prayer.

Of course this raises a very interesting question, "Would her son have called at that moment if we had not prayed?" Regardless of what you believe about that, God answered the prayer that seems small and simple but shows how Big He actually is.