Shift Preteen Spring Campout

We had a blast on the Shift Preteen Girls' (I mean Spring) Retreat. Due to weather we had to postpone the campout a couple days keeping all of our guys from being able to come due to spring Break vacations. But we had a great time and the girls were toughing out camping in the cold. I was so proud of them. Complaining was kept at a minimum and smiles were on every face. We learned about how we can become more like Christ each day by making the right choices. We all enjoyed ourselves and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Pure Love Weekend

So we just finished up a pretty incredible weekend. Our focus was a little different than what you would consider a comparable True-Love Waits Weekend. We choose to believe that God doesn't simply call us to draw a line that we will not cross until marriage. The "drawing the line" mentality tends to keep us looking down to make sure our toes don't cross that line meanwhile stepping all over the roses in the process. The best way to live though is to look up at our Holy God who is calling us to chase after Him in holiness.

Father Daughter Banquet

Our Preteen Ministry had our first annual Father Daughter Banquet. The food was great, tables were elegantly decorated, and the fathers and daughters were sharply dressed. As Kenny G played softly over the sound system, the fathers and daughters enjoyed spending quality time together. After everyone had eaten, I was able to share a short challenge to both the daughters and the fathers. To the daughters, I challenged them to honor and obey even when they did not feel like it. God doesn't place conditions on obedience and neither should we. The Fathers had a much more difficult challenge, live lives worthy of honor. Be men of integrity, faithfulness, and respect. One: to show our daughters what a godly man looks like and to prove they are worth waiting for. Two: to glorify our Father in heaven and work as hard as we can to show our daughters who God truly is.

God is on mission. Where are you?

What a weekend! There are often times when I get settled in to my way of life and on my agenda and I completely get lost in the routine of it all. But then there are those times when God wakes me up out of my self-centered foolishness. It is in those times that I remember that our God is a missional God. He is on the chase after lost people all over this planet. He is in the lead and is calling every believer to follow after Him. The question I had to face as I heard from missionaries in Australia, Bolivia, Siberia, Russia, Zimbabwe and Zambia was "God is on mission. where are you?" I personally need to be on mission in my home, neighborhood, state, nation, and world. Will you join me as I seek to join God in His great commission?

CBC Winter Retreat

So I got to speak at the Cumming Baptist Student Ministry Winter Retreat and had an amazing time. In between talking about what happens to dead cows(do they stay standing up? and is the milk still good?) I got to speak to the students and adult volunteers about being servants from a different perspective. First we need to remember who we are serving. If we are serving ourselves, people, or possessions we don't have much to live for. But if we are serving Jesus then there is a great reward awaiting us and life will be worth living. Second we need to remember why we serve. We cannot earn God's love, His grace, favor, or forgiveness. When we try we feel like we will never get it and often try to serve to get attention from people(parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, teachers, or anyone that will notice us). The reason we can't earn God's love is because we already have it. He loves the world with all He has and you have His attention and once you know Him you have all His forgiveness. So don't serve as a slave trying to earn something, serve as a child who has everything you need to serve with. Third we need to remember the only way we can serve is if we are connected to Jesus. Apart from Him we can do nothing. Either you are broken and unable to do anything of any value or you have been healed by Jesus and are now alive and able to serve.

Three Final Challenges to help you serve well:
1. Serve with Joy - Life can be difficult so live it with joy.
2. Be known for being different - Don't be concerned with the worries of the world set yourself apart by living in the Word.
3. Live Sent - recognize Jesus is sending you to your school, your neighborhood, your workplace, your family just as he was sent to serve and not be served and seek those who are lost.

New Year's Eve Bash at the Warehouse!

Last night we had a great time at the Warehouse celebrating the incoming new year. We had Guitar Hero and DDR going on the big screen and old school Super Smash Brothers Melee on the gamecube. In the Gym we had basketball and volleyball ballin'! Not to mention we had a rockin' game of NertZ going on. Why can't people just play a card game with being all overly competitive. I can't wait to see what is going to happen in 2009! God is good and we pray with expectation for Him to continue to show up in a big way at our church.

Vision Team Scouting Trip

Each year we have one of the best Fall Retreats anywhere. We always are looking for ways to make it better. We call the event TRFKAA (The retreat formaerly known as Awanita) because we moved it away from Awanita as we seek to make it better. Yesterday, we went on the hunt for an even better location. Camp Bethel in Wise, Virginia was our destination and we took 8 of our student leadership team and checked it out. We liked it, but will continue to check out other places to ensure that TRFKAA Fall 09 will be the best Fall Retreat yet.