We're Planning

Yesterday and today, we have begun the process of planning. Planning out the semester, at least, for our ministries and the things that would lead to effective ministry.

It's funny because, theologically, God already has a plan for exactly how he wants to see this year go. So, we don't really need to plan, right? Just let it happen; allow the Holy Spirit to guide! (insert slight chuckle)

Come now! I think it is foolish to think that we shouldn't plan. If not to at least give direction and allow God to guide us in these moments, then to make clear some of the paths that He wants to use to interrupt our lives. Planning is necessary, not because if we don't God won't move, but because we have, so incredibly, jam-packed our lives that unless things are planned out a bit, we could go about our lives and totally miss out on opportunities to meet with Him.

So, we will plan. But in our planning, we are desperate to see His vision and His Will and His plan for this ministry and everything that He wants to do in and through it. And most of all, we want to be diligent and finding ways to make sure that He can work in and through us. That might be the more important task.

A New Prayer Resource

We just officially launched a new website that I am so stoked about!

NMC Student Ministries is launching a new resource for our students today and I think that you should check it out! It will help you pray and maybe even help you gain awareness as to the things that are facing Teens in Crisis and those being Trafficked around the world.

It's called www.StopRedLights.com.

At least each week a new post will go up to help you pray and learn more about how you can help make a difference. The reality is that we can be an incredible force for God when we go before Him and ask Him to heal our land and change the reality for our brothers and sisters around the world.

And what a day to release a website like this! It's Human Trafficking Awareness Day!

Would you join us in consistent prayer?!

GC

Commitment to Purity Night: A Night to Put a Stake in the Ground

This coming Wednesday we are hosting a Commitment to Purity Night. We are inviting Students and their Parents to join us for a night to enter into a commitment to remain pure in their relationship and their hearts. It's a night for many students to put some stakes in the ground. It's a night to make a commitment with those around us that care and want the best for us.

There has been a recent flurry of thoughts surrounding the need to get away from "stakes" because of our inability to hold true to them. While I don't believe that stakes cure us, change us, or make us different, I do believe that putting stakes in the ground gives us something to grasp when we can find anything else to hold on to. The bigger problem with putting stakes in the ground is when we shame ourselves into thinking that we cannot fail. That's a bigger, longer, more involved blog post which I don't have time for right now.

Anyway, I'd love for you to join us and there is still time! Email Kristy if you would like to join us!

GC

300,000 Meals for Starving Kids

I'm so excited for this weekend.

My church has decided that doing nothing is not an option and that we are going to do what we can to touch the lives of people we can't see or reach. This is not something new, but this weekend, we are making a major push in ways that we haven't done in a while.

This weekend we are going to pack 300,000 meals for 300,000 kids all over the world so that some kids won't have to go hungry.

Friday night, 240 students, young adults and leaders are going to be working for two hours. I am so pumped to be a part of this.

If you're coming, I'll see you there. If you can't make it or you can't get a time, pray for the kids that will be receiving these meals. Pray that they would know the love of Christ because His Body fed them. I'm convinced, now more than ever, that this is the way that people will come to know that Jesus loves them: When we begin to recognize that Jesus wants to feed the hungry, love the broken and serve those that no one wants to serve.

More on that later. See you on Friday and Saturday!

GC

I'm pretty pumped for tonight!

Pretty excited about tonight! I'm going to be hanging with Junior Highers!!!

It's literally been like 2 years that I have done anything with Junior High after spending an entire year there. I'm really excited to kick off a new series called Footsteps where we try to offer practical ways that students can begin to show their relationship with Jesus to the world through different modes. It's going to be pretty fun. I will say, I'm having to really work to bring the message to a Junior High level. But, I'm recognizing that sometimes Junior High Level is higher than we think. So, we'll see how that goes.

Tonight, in Senior High, Derry comes back to the stage after a 4 month hiatus (the last time he spoke to Senior Highers was Summer Camp), and will be helping us ask a bunch of questions. I'm really excited to hear from Derry as he challenges us to think about our passions and give us some perspective on ways that we can get involved with helping Teens and the Trafficked all around the world. I really see these two foci becoming center to our global initiatives but we'll see what comes out of tonight.

It should be a fun night in Student Ministries!!!

GC

Josh Wilson TONIGHT!

Totally excited about tonight! Josh Wilson will be performing LIVE tonight in the Gym! Admission is FREE but we will be collecting an offering that will go towards Kids in Need! You should come! 6:00pm in the Connection! See ya there!

An Exciting Year is ahead...

I have been working on many things for the future today. Lots of emails about the upcoming year, reflecting on the year that has been, and dreaming about the future of our ministry, students, and my life. This year poses some really exciting challenges. I know that this seems like a very oxymoron-ic statement, but that's really what I see. It gets me excited and at the same time there is something inside of me that says... get ready.

Get ready... cause I AM has a plan.
Get ready... cause I AM wants to rock some people's worlds.
Get ready... cause I AM wants to move in my life.
Get ready... cause I AM wants to show that HE IS faithful.

There are so many things that get me excited about this year. One of those things is how Different I've noticed students and the stories I hear coming from PARENTS of students. As we get ready, I'm thinking about ways that we, as a ministry, are getting ready to be Different. There's much more to that, that of course I can't tell you, but this post brings to light some of the things that we are going to have to learn to be Different in. It's just one of the things that we are going to be able to do that will allow us to be Different.

It's going to be more than just a Different Summer Camp.

It's going to be a Different Year.

Let's Do This!

GC

Do Something Now

Tomorrow night, NMC Student Ministries will celebrate all that God has done in and through us as a ministry to help Kids in Need. We will sing together, pray together, report back as to what was done to further God's Kingdom, and ultimately, launch out to live differently for ourselves. There is one major way that you will be able to take part in helping more Kids in Need.

We will be taking an offering for a Pygmy church in Africa. All the church needs is the roof and we're going to provide it. Will you Do Something Now?

Below is what Pastor Jason wrote on his blog about the church and it explains it so well. Read on:

At the NMC Student Ministries' "Kids In Need" Celebration this Wednesday night, we'll be taking an offering to help build a church in the Pygmy tribe of Rwanda. Last school year, as a result of Rwanda Night and the Silent Auction, our students helped make possible a Rwandan Exodus Conference that resulted in the planting of over 20 churches in remote and unchurched areas of Rwanda.

One of the churches that was planted as a result of this Exodus, was in the Pygmy tribe. This "church" doesn't yet have a church building. For only $1,400, we have the opportunity to once again come alongside side this group of people that is considered "the least of these" and help provide a church building for them.

The stakes are high because unless the Pygmies have a formal meeting place (meaning a building), they will not be allowed to continue meeting as a church body. If I understand it correctly, there is a law in Rwanda that was put into place shortly after the Rwandan Genocide that said people were not allowed to have formal outdoor gatherings in one location for an undetermined amount of time.

Time is ticking! The Pygmies now have less than 6 months to get a church building built or run the risk of no longer being able to meet.

Wouldn't it be awesome if we were able to leave the K.I.N. Celebration Wednesday night with enough money to build the Pygmies a church building? The man talking in the above video believes it will take a "miracle" of God for this to happen.

Wouldn't it be cool for you to be apart of someone else's miracle?

Think about what your involvement can be and let's Do Something Now.

Prepping for a night that I don't know the look of

So, tomorrow the goal is to refocus on Kids in Need.

I'm not sure how I can help someone focus on something that is in the forefront of my mind, but has so many other things trying to cloud my vision of Kids in Need.

So, tomorrow night, the question will not be how do we refocus on Kids in Need. But what are we focused on?

I'm focused on all the things going on in my life. Lord, use me to focus on the things you want us to focus on.


(praying for tomorrow night here would be good.)

What is your view of Heaven and how does it need to change? My notes from Fanning the Flame Wednesday Night with Karl Black

Sorry for these being late, but I'm sure that you have been processing through this one as well. I'm confident that this will be a very interesting post to revisit for me. I'm hugely moved by the idea that I have a picture of Heaven and it affects how I live now; on this earth. Anyway, here are my notes from Wednesday Night!

Karl Black: Fanning the Flame
We, the Church

"The Church is God's vehicle to changing the world"
THEREFORE
"YOU are God's plan to change the people"

Sometimes we prioritize the things that aren't a priority to God.

Luke 4:18- Jesus' business (change the world)

We, the Church are people who LOVE. (Matthew 22:34-40; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13)
-Christians are supposed to be defined by Love.
-God doesn't value us more because we read the Bible a lot. That's important, but it doesn't change our place in God's eyes.

We, the Church can't afford to get this on WRONG
-We don't need to get this right so we feel better. We can't get this one wrong because people's eternal life is at stake.

How do we get this wrong?
-We don't do the things we aren't supposed to do.
-We start to think we deserve God's Grace.
-Who are the kids in school that we don't care if they come to know God.

We, the Church are people who need to REALIZE we are MESSED UP too. (Luke 7:39, Romans 2:1-5)
-God's gameplan is Kindness. Ours is bashing with the Bible

We, the Church are people who need to see with God's Heart. (Acts 9)
Tony Campolo's story about Roger
"I knew I wasn't a Christian, because if I was I would have been Roger's friend." - Tony Campolo
"You don't have to Legitamize someone's lifestyle to stand up for them, befriend them, speak up for them." -Tony Campolo

"God's love takes us into uncomfortable places."

What does our picture of Heaven look like?

We Categorize- God doesn't
We Label- God doesn't
He died for EVERY person and he doesn't give up on anyone!

There are consequences for mistakes, but we choose not to affect people by them.

Fanning the Flame wraps up tonight in the Fieldhouse at 6:45pm! It's gonna be a great end to a great week!

Tonight! We wrap up Fanning the Flame 2010! God has been moving the past 3 nights and I am confident that He is going to show up again! See ya tonight at 6:45p.m. in the Fieldhouse! It is going to be great! Boo-ya!

It's Here and I'm pumped about it! FTF is a great opportunity to reset and invite friends in the process!!

 

Derry calls it the pause button. I call it awesome. Tonight we kickoff Fanning the Flame 2010 in the Fieldhouse! All Senior Highers should be in there at like 5:15 so we can party for a little bit! Leaders come too! See you there tonight with Karl Black and Trace Rorie! So pumped!

Stress. Sleep. Simplicity.

Today is probably going to give me a heart attack or a stroke. Probably both if my mind was the only thing that was running this ship. I have this funny thing that I do when I get stressed that doesn't even come close to helping the situation at all. I tend to take on the things that I should probably delegate and dump things on people that shouldn't be dumped. It is something that I'm working through and have definitely learned through this event. All in all, I know that I have done that leading up to this weekend and it isn't healthy, good, or anything I want to repeat.

I will say this planning for Hoops of Hope (or lack thereof, depending on who you are reading this) has been very challenging, very overwhelming, caused some deprivation of sleep, and has very much been a growth period for me. In the end, I'm going to have to beg for some grace from many people, learn from my dominating character and recognize that I'm working with people not pawns.

All that to say, somewhere in this ball of stress, I am quite excited for this weekend. Hoops of Hope has the potential to help thousands of orphans in Africa and it involves a ton of people for the cause. Upward participants get to be a part of something much bigger than themselves and we get to see students multiplying themselves in those participants.

I am also speaking at my first genuine retreat this weekend (Great planning on my part, I know.). I am excited to connect with the Effect and allow God to use me to bring truth in the next three days. It should prove to be a very good retreat and I am excited to see the ways that God moves.

In the end, everything is quite simple. Today and tomorrow will need much prayer from myself as well as all the people who ever read these comments. Pray for Leadership, Discernment, Obedience, but most of all, the willingness to do it God's way in this weekend.

Help Haiti Now

 

In response to the devastation in Haiti and our ties with that area, NMC Student Ministries has made the decision to take a love offering during Wednesday Night Youth on Wednesday, January 20 (That's this Wednesday). This is a very urgent need and many sources have said that the biggest need is money and funds to purchase water and food for the hundreds of thousands of people that have been affected by this catastrophe. If you are a student, save up some money, ask mom and dad to help. If you are a leader, consider what it means to partner with the people of Haiti. I've been reading some tweets sent by Compassion International President, Wess Stafford and the number of orphans is growing exponentially, daily in the area. This a definite Kids in Need opportunity for students to help the thousands that are in need.

Would you consider joining us?

Meetings That Refresh

Yesterday, I was in a meeting that lasted from 9:00am-4:00pm.
We didn't stop for lunch. (We had Subway IN the meeting.)
We took two breaks.

To many that would seem like a hell-like day and one that would drive people bonkers, and I'm pretty sure that it would drive me nuts if we did this everyday. I'm also pretty sure that everybody else was going bonkers at the end. Ok, I was too, but not nearly as bad as I thought that I would have been.

Anyways, to the point.

I was so blessed and amazed at how great of an opportunity that I have to be a part of the team that I am on. Derry, Jason, Chris, Cindi, Kristy, Megan and sometimes Dave :) are all so awesome and have greatly blessed me in so many ways. But yesterday morning, before the meeting, during the first hour of the meeting, I grew closer to my team. I was blown away at the immense outpouring of love and openness that I was able to be a part of in that first hour.

We shared.
We prayed.

Seems so simply, but yet there is something that happens when a group of people open up and share with each other and that "thing" that happens is so much deeper when prayer is included in that moment. We are bonded with the bond of Christ. We are given the opportunity to join together and go to the Lord of the Heavens and of Earth and bow at the power of Christ together. And there is something special in that.

I'm so thankful for our team.

May Christ continue to work in our lives and prepare us, each day for what He has for us. May we show this work to the students, parents and leaders that we work directly with each day and week. May we show this love that He has for us in our everyday walk and with those that we simply pass by at the coffee shop.

Kids in Need in Perspective

As, we have begun to plow through the year and as we focus in on helping Kids in Need, there are many things about this "initiative" that I am noticing.

1.) Unlike "GI Focus" events that we have done in the past at NMC, this one is not very easily measured. In the past, we were able to see immediate fruit and numbers to compare to what we did. Examples: we raised a certain amount of money for the Rwanda Exodus Project and then sent Caleb Bislow and Dustin Eby to Rwanda to help train up these people and through those efforts, somewhere around 60,000 people heard about Jesus and some 30,000 stuck around to start churches in 27 different places around Rwanda. Those were measurable results.

With Kids in Need, our focus has a threefold goal of GAINing Awareness, GIV[E]ing Sacrificially and LIV[E]ing Differently. Of those three goals, we have noticed that the most important two are GAIN and LIVE. There are many reasons for this, but the main variable is the need to understand just what exactly is going on that needs to be addressed seems more important than just blindly throwing a bunch of money or sending a bunch of under prepared people to a certain area of need. Moreover, there is a sense of allowing the things that we learn and come to understand as real situations that must transcend simply acting in responsible ways and move to living differently, sacrificially, as the Holy Spirit prompts us to move. Because of this, this goal is very hard to measure with any amount of accuracy or, perhaps, even human satisfaction since we can't see "real" results from our efforts.

2.) This year is so much less about changing statistics and attempting to change the realities of what is going on in the world and so much more about letting our lives become an example, a depiction of the way that we want to reach the world. When it comes down to it, even giving financially to an organization is somewhat of a cop out. Especially, when the Holy Spirit has already convicted that person to alter their life that allows them to go and serve with that organization. If a person is unwilling to make the adequate changes to remain obedient and pursue God's will for their lives, no amount of money is going to change the fact that God wants that person to go and experience what it means to serve.

So, this year has to become about living our lives in ways that allows the Holy Spirit to move our lives in the ways that He sees fit and changing the way we live because of the things that He reveals to us. The hardest thing about this whole year push thing is the desire to just do something or just give this amount of money to this place. Those are great and admirable things, but that doesn't change how I live my life to better serve others and Christ.

*Just some thoughts. Not well put together that are not the direct opinion of NMC Student Ministries.*