Strength To Stand Conference in Pigeon Forge, TN

I am still tired from one of the best weekends yet in the life of our student minstry. We took 38 students, 2 children, and 10 adults to the Strength to Stand Conference in Pigeon Forge, TN on 1/16-1/18 which is organized by the Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association. This was a great weekend filled with great worship led by Rush of Fools and preaching by Jay Strack, Jared Herd, Scott Dawson, and David Nasser. The theme this year was "STIR" based on 2 Timothy 1:6. We are called to stir the gift and stir the world as followers of Christ. The most exciting part of the weekend came when 3 of our students accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This came on Sunday night when Scott Dawson presented the Gospel to 7200+ students and adults. I had the privilege of leading our students in their decision during this time. There were tears and hugs and smile galore as these students made the greatest life-changing decision ever. We also had several students recommit their lives to Jesus Christ as they had fallen away from His authority in their lives recently. I will be praying for these students and their new-found faith in our Lord!

The NEW FUEL Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, September 23rd, begins a new format for our Wednesday evening youth event called FUEL. We have been mostly Bible study oriented but now taking it to more of a worship service type event. I had acquired a guy to lead worship for us beginning tomorrow but he just agreed to go to Germany for a couple weeks with his son's band. So, I have been pumping up this NEW FUEL and now my worship leader has gone AWOL. So I tried to recruit a teenage guy from the homeschool group that meets here at the church. He offered up a whole band for us to have play tomorrow night! But then he went on to say let me check and make sure we can do it. he is supposed to let me know today if they will be here or not. I am hoping and praying that God will provide this need for our ministry. If all goes well we may try and continue this partnership with these guys so that we may have an even more effective service. I am not too worried because I know God is in control of the situation... as always!

Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

I am 1 hour away from FUEL where I will be speaking out of Psalm 24:1-6. The topic is Give Us Clean Hands and a Pure Heart. We must strive to present ourselves sanctified, pure, and clean before God each day. We let too many things in our life run how we live our life. Possessions are what push us, not the passion for a relationship with our Father in heaven. I pray that my students will learn something tonight that will speak to them in a way that will push them to flee from the things of this world and pursue God. I hope they will set aside the idols, emotions, and physical "needs" they think mean everything to life. We will be writing things that come between us and God onto a large canvas that already has a clean hand identical to the on in this picture. The words of... anger, sadness, friends, pain, status, beauty, etc. will fill up the space that surrounds the hand to leave only a "clean hand" which is purified by setting aside all the things in our life that lead us astray. When you meet God and He stretches out His hand to you... will you be able to grab His hand or will you end up handing Him your cell phone, your computer, list of people you hate, a list of people who are "more beautiful than you", etc. You need to have clean hands to be able to grab thhe hand of your creator when it comes to that day and each day when you spend your time with Him - you should pursue purity as if He is right next to you... because HE IS!

College Retreat Reflection

I just returned yesterday from a 3 day trip to Pigeon Forge, TN with our college students from Broadway. There were 10 of us on the trip and we did a whole lot of nothing while we were there. We watched TV, went shopping, played pool and various other games, and of course we did a Bible study over the weekend. We watched a video series called UNSTUCK by Dave Edwards. This video Bible series was about how we get stuck in things that we should have relied on God to take care of in the first place! We don't rely on God like He asks us to or like He would love for us to. We think we can handle any situation thrown at us when in reality we can't. We wait until we are in over our heads before we cry out to God for help. We have to have hope in who God is and in what He can do. This hope will lead us to faith in those same things and then action carried out as we depend on God to guide and lead us through our situation. Find your hope so you can have the faith in what God is capable of doing in your life. Don't limit God on what He can do, because He can do all things because, well... He is GOD!

Southeast Conclave

I attended the Southeat Conclave last week on January 29, 30, and 31 in Atlanta, Georgia. There were some great speakers in Francis Chan, Chap Clark, and Ergun Caner along with great worship led by Todd Agnew and emcee Brock Gill (illusionist). I enjoyed my 3 days there and really got alot out of the time in seminars and worship. God spoke to me in some clear ways regarding our student ministry, campus outreach, mentoring, and the love of Christ for all! I am so excited to put into place some of the things God laid on my heart while I was there. I became convicted over the thought that everything I do for our student ministry needs to be Jesus-centered and the complete focus of all the programs and events we have. Everytime we get together we have to have the focus of Jesus to make our time together worthy and successful. In ministry, we get caught up in the events and details while forgetting the real reason for the events and programs. Jesus is the focus and must be evident in all that we do.