Keep Calm

If someone were to ask me what my "life verse" was, it would be Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." For the past few years I have felt as though I've been living in a battle scene- not only fighting for myself but fighting for my friends. Now, I know that the Christian life is very much a battle...Jesus said it would be. He also said, "So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." (1 Peter 4:19) 

Sometimes, no matter what you say or do there are going to be people that don't like it and I think accepting that reality is a hard one, especially when you are doing what the Lord has called you to do or to be. I think once believers realize that we are all on the same team, after the same purpose, trying to reach the same goal (to save souls), the battle should cease from taking place within the Kingdom. 

I have to remember that if the Lord tells us to do something, His reward is greater than the reward we will receive if we always try to do what people want us to do. So, when we are criticized for being in God's will, I will count it a blessing because I know what we are doing is what God has called us to do. In my own life, I need to stop trying to fight people and let God fight for me. I constantly feel as though I'm swinging my sword at people because we are trying to do what the Lord has told us to do. In the famous words of Judah Smith, "Quit swinging your sword. Step back and let the Son step up."

Jesus has already won. 

Life Lately

Whenever I go long periods of time without blogging (which happens on occassion)...I like to just do a "picture update" so that's what today is! Enjoy :-)

John signed to play baseball at Spartanburg Methodist College and graduated from South Aiken High School!

Stephen finished up his career at Spartanburg Methodist by playing in the JUCO World Series, then signed to play his remaining two years at Charleston Southern University!

We graduated some of our seniors from church :-(

Husband had a birthday! The big 2-4! Some students "kidnapped him" and took him to his favorite place to eat- Chickfila...then sticky-noted his car and sent him a pizza :)

 We tagged along on the 5th grade trip to Carowinds...they'll soon be ours :-)

We took the youth to Awanita Valley for camp this year...I just love hills and bugs ;-)

And last night, we gave out free hotdogs and water on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in TR...a little outreach :)

NYLC 2012 Part 3

ROBERT MADU--Approval Addiction

-"God will work ON you while He works IN you!" (How many have prayed for someone who was struggling with the SAME thing you are?)

-"If you are gifted in the church-world, it tends to erase a multitude of sins! (unfortunately)"

-"Addiction doesn't just resonate with drugs and alcohol."

-"APPROVAL ADDICTION...we are wired for approval!"

-"We drink to the approval of man but what happens when the bottles empty? We will do ANYTHING for another drink!"

"God gave Jesus approval at the BEGINNING of His ministry (Matt 3)...before He had done ANYTHING!!

-"Approvaholics are intoxicated with insecurity. Insecurity is Satan's attempt to get you to focus on YOURSELF and not GOD. Intimacy with God eliminates insecurity."

-"Approvaholics constantly crave comparisons. You can ONLY be who GOD has called YOU to be!"

-"Approvaholics want to beat others! We should all have the SAME MISSION but DIFFERENT VISIONS! We often pray more for the church thousands of miles away more than the church 2 blocks away!"

-"Approvaholics function on how they FEEL instead of their FAITH. Remember the voice of your Father!"

ANDY STANLEY -- Communicating 

-"Jesus views sinners as a lost son that He's waiting on to return."

-"Once Jesus got everyone EMOTIONALLY involved, He could get them THEOLOGICALLY involved! APPROACH TRUMPS CONTENT" Don't use so much theologically jargon...a lost person DOESN"T GET IT!

-"18-25 year olds are NOT leaving the church because of the truths of the scripture but because the APPROACH is ALL WRONG!"

-"What is my GOAL in communication?" Should be to be HELPFUL...Someone may not "get the Jesus thing"...but they will come back next week because you HELPED them!

-"Jesus appealed to a common emotion...point to an emotion or a "mystery question".

-"Who is this about...really? Go after the most difficult person to reach when delivering a sermon."

-"What's your BURDEN? Don't let it get lost trying to FILL THE TIME! MEMORABLE is PORTABLE. Let them out with ONE line they can take with them and remember!! (e.g. "Purity paves the way to intimacy", "Do for ONE what you wish you could do for EVERYONE!", "Your irresponsibility will become someone's responsibility!") 

-"What's the TENSION? Tension creates interest! Church's don't want to talk about pressing matters anymore!

-"Do you OWN it?" Don't read your notes...the people won't think you OWN it...so why should they?

-"Are you allowing the text to speak?"

*Part 4 coming later!

NYLC 2012 Part 2

Another post from the National Youth Leaders Conference.

MARK BATTERSON

"If you know how to PRAY, you know how to lead, preach, etc."

-"You're one prayer away from a better life."

-"Prayer is the difference between what YOU can do and what GOD can do."

-"We are so TIRED because WE keep fighting for God - let God fight for YOU!"

-"You will never break the sin habit without the the habit of prayer."

-"If you don't risk your reputation, you will never establish God's reputation."

JUDAH SMITH

-"Principles, information, and data will not make you whole. We don't need someone in the pit WITH us, we need someone OUTSIDE of the pit - Jesus - He's the only one qualified for the human soul. Don't desert the only one you've got!"

-"It's not about recognizing how bad or good we are. It's about recognizing His sufficient grace."

-"Step BACK and let the Son step UP!! Religion always tell man to step up!!!"

PERRY NOBLE

-"In John 6 is the story of the feeding of the 5,000. We all look at the BOY as the HERO in this story...when actually it's the person who made his LUNCH that is the hero...(that is us, youth workers...we just need to make the lunch!!)"

-"We need to teach students to RECOGNIZE Jesus (someone had introduced this little boy to Jesus...He knew that Jesus had performed miracles and he knew that Jesus could use his lunch!"

-"Teach students to TRUST in Jesus! We can't tell kids "you can do whatever you want to if you believe in yourself!" We won't get anyway in life believing in OURSELVES!

-"If you ever think of giving up on a kid, think about where you would be if God had given up on YOU"

-"RELEASE them to Jesus! The younger generation may not worship the way the older generation does...but respect the way they choose to love Jesus!!!"

-"Don't FIGHT youth ministry, FUND it!" MTV and Disney have reached your student...because they've put MONEY into it! Why can't the church?!!!

**More to come :)

NYLC 2012

These past few days, Husband and I have  been in Atlanta, GA for the National Youth Leaders' Conference put on by Jeanne Mayo. Let me just honestly say...those that think ministry is "the easy way out" or "a job where you just go on fun trips and eat a lot"...you are wrong. There are many days that Husband and I both want to throw in the towel and the majority of days we feel as though our efforts go in one ear and out the other and we sit and say, "are we really making a difference?" But as Husband says, "When you want to be just OKAY in ministry, the devil will do everything to keep you IN ministry but when you want to be the BEST in ministry, the devil will do everything to keep you OUT!!" (he stole that from one of his professors but it's something we both live by!) So we welcome hardships in our lives but of course it doesn't come without pain and tears.

Youth leaders are always taking their ministry somewhere...camp, retreats, mission trips, even Carowinds but they're always doing all the work once they get there. Praise God that there was a conference specifically for youth workers where we could be the ones to go to and re-fill.

There is SO much to be re-told from this conference that I'm going to split it up into a few different posts because if you're anything like me...you don't read long blog posts ;)

JEANNE MAYO

-"If you define your success based on the number of people you have, then Jesus failed miserably because His crowds got SMALLER."

-"You lead people through your strengths but you reach people through your WEAKNESSES"

-"People focus on the stage but God focuses on the altar!"

-"What happens more in your ministry? PERFORMANCE? or SURRENDER?"

-"Some spend more time picking out a car than building their character!!"

-"The ultimate question is not WHAT you want to DO but WHO you want to BE!"

-"Character is not essential to leadership (sadly)"

-"It's super easy in the ministry world to be a "poser"...We talk a big game but don't practice/live what we preach!"

-"There's often very little correlation between ministry success and spiritual success."

-"There is no cramming for tests of character...they usually come in the form of a POP QUIZ!"

-"Character is personal but not private!"

-"You want people to correct you but you make people pay too much for it!!!"


*I'm going to post her last message, "Contender" as a separate entry later on...check back for it...it's good!!

Anxiety & Beth Moore

I was listening to a live-streaming from Beth Moore this morning and she was hitting on anxiety...which is definitely something that a lot of women (especially in the ministry) deal with...as do I on occasion. Here are some of her on-spot points that I hope resonate with you today!

-The area in which we have the most anxiety is where we are having attacks from Satan.

-Whatever you obsess over is exactly where the enemy is fixated on you.

-Be alert and sober from the enemy (who wants to eat you alive) 

-There is a direct link between our cares and our attacks!

-Anxiety is a waving red flag that says “Here am I, hit me”.

-When I am giving way to my anxiety, all the enemy has to look for is “am I (we) driven by anxiety?”

-Anxiety says we are not fully surrendered to God in that area. (We tend to not be too conscious of this.)

-Anything we hang onto (being our anxiety) is outside of God’s umbrella. The devil will not waste a dart on an area that is already covered by God’s umbrella.

-To be able to acknowledge that you’re having an anxiety attack, is an opportunity to be able to cast it, transfer it, or throw it onto Jesus.

-We cannot have our anxiety and act of faith at the same time.

-Keep confessing the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Start in the morning acknowledging that the Lord has full ownership over your lives.

-When the enemy realizes that everytime you face anxiety and you confess the authority of the Lord, he will back off.

-Go to your knees and throw your anziety to the Lord. Kneel and throw.

-God is NOT a nail-biter! Nothing catches Him by surprise! Everything goes according to His plan and you (and it) matters to Him! 

We Raise our White Flag!

I was a rookie at Passion 2012...and it blew me away. Now...aside from the actualy conference, it was pretty miserable I'm not gonna lie. Trying to maneuver 45,000 people to and from the Georgia Dome AND try to get them all fed in the 20 degree weather was a nightmare for people who get anxious around big crowds and can be extremely Type-A (ME!) BUT the bigger picture far outweighed my little bit of uncomfortableness. Here's what happened via pictures!

AND....45,000 18-24 year olds raised over $3,000,000 to end human slavery!!

Lastly, watch this video!!

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/01/05/cfp-clancy-do-something-now.cnn#/video/world/2012/01/05/cfp-clancy-do-something-now.cnn

Psalm 103

Praise the LORD, my soul;
   all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the LORD, my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
   and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
   and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
 ⁶ The LORD works righteousness
   and justice for all the oppressed.
 ⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
   his deeds to the people of Israel:
⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
   slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
   nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
   or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
   so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
   so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
 ¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
   so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
   he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
   they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
   and its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
   the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
   and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
   and remember to obey his precepts.
 ¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
   and his kingdom rules over all.
 ²⁰ Praise the LORD, you his angels,
   you mighty ones who do his bidding,
   who obey his word.
²¹ Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
   you his servants who do his will.
²² Praise the LORD, all his works
   everywhere in his dominion.
   Praise the LORD, my soul.