Forgiveness Isn't Fair

Before I start, this is one of those blog posts I write in order to preach to myself & not necessarily others but I think it's something that everyone needs preached to them daily. One of my dearest friends, who serves alongside of us in student ministry texts me weekly always asking how she can pray for me and as much as I want to come up with something new and exciting for her to pray for me about, I end up always sending her the same thing, just worded in a different way.

If you know me at all you know I hate one thing: Conflict. I hate it so much that I start to sweat - which is another thing I absolutely hate. It's just a bad combination for me so I avoid it at all costs. I will literally FLEE in the opposite direction to avoid conflict and because of this, I harbor bitterness. Thankfully the years in ministry have taught me how to have some pretty tough skin and so it takes a lot more to hurt my feelings than it used to but that just means less bitterness ... it doesn't mean zero bitterness.

And, just when you think it seems to simmer down, something happens and it all comes back up again. Recently I've had to really ask the Lord for some help showing grace and He's shown me this: "When you harbor bitterness towards someone, you're letting them control you." and we all know we are supposed to be controlled by the Spirit. He's also pointed out that bitterness is contagious, forgiveness isn't fair, and we heal it with grace. Because that's the example Jesus gave to us. If anyone had any reason to be bitter it was Jesus. No one was more sinned against than He was but He had faith in God's judgment. When He went to the cross, He didn't say "This isn't fair." He merely responded with forgiveness and just like that, it was finished. When we respond with forgiveness and let it be finished in our lives, we model Jesus.

I try to live by Exodus 14:14 which says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." I try and leave it to the Lord & heal it with grace. When we don't, we either clam up and play victim or we lash out and make it all about us. Bitterness reaps pride and causes others to not see Jesus. It's not about us. It's about Him and His model for us was grace & mercy towards people. As Christ followers, we receive forgiveness from the Lord and as a matter of fact, we expect it! As a call to obedience, we are called to forgiveness.

"Unimportant" Days

July 26...November 8...June 8...August 7...February 3...

These are important dates in my life. Ever since grade school, this is why I hated history. Not because of the history but because of the dates. Give me 100 vocabulary words and DONE A+ but you give me a few dates to memorize and I'm burnt toast.

We've naturally been raised to put great emphasis on important dates. Birthdates, Anniversaries, Salvation birthdates...trust me, my calendar is near and dear to my heart (and my sanity). Dates are circled, highlighted and underlined three times so that I won't forget! But what about the "unimportant"? The blank squares in your calendar, dates that aren't written in red, circled, highlighted, and underlined three times? Pslam 68:19 says, "Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up; God is our salvation." Reading this, and being my calendaring-type-A-self, the visual in my mind is God's calendar with every.single.day highlighted and circled. God daily bears us up, he opens doors of opportunities for us every.single.day. There aren't those days-He-doesn't-have-anything-to-do...you know, those days that we yearn for.

Going into this week, I had one thing on my mind. Be intentional with Brooklynn. And no, I'm not the perfect parent that goes into each day with that as my goal. On Sunday, we leave to serve the people of Harmons, Jamaica and will be gone 7 days. The longest I've been without Brooklynn is 2. To top it off, we can't FaceTime, talk, or have pictures sent to my phone to keep my blood pumpin'. It's going to be tragic. SO, this week, I'm putting down the phone, the computer (she's sleeping right now, by the way ;), setting aside the dirty clean piles of laundry to play outside or just welcome her presence as she crawls all over my face.

What would happen if we all circled every day in our calendar as a day to be intentional about something or someone. I think it would change the direction of the Church and our own personal lives. Circle those un-important dates in your calendar and make them important to you! Our life is a vapor.

Combing Out The Tangles

Hi friends! No Alive Wednesday night so no re-cap. We went over to the SNAEXP Tour with Passion Band & David Platt and well, if you missed it, I hate it for you. My bro-in-law explained it perfectly by saying that he can't imagine what Heaven will be like if it gets better than that. Agreed!

So, since there's no re-cap, I thought I'd share a little bit of what's being revealed to me during my personal QT. Sometimes my QT causes me to literally laugh..out loud. Why? Because He knows me so well.

*source

In Romans 8:1-2, there's that passage that "I know" ("know" meaning I recognize the verse...not "know" as in I have instilled it in my heart and live by it daily). You know the one, the one that says that if we claim we are in Christ then there's no condemnation ...for we are now free from sin and death. It's a good one.

I condemn myself a lot. Actually, I like to make up things that I THINK people are condemning me for. So, in reality, I need more of the "no condemnation...you are free" part ingrained in my head on the daily. Just so we are clear here...condemning words are not from God. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our tangles (I'll explain in a minute), it reminds us of God's promises to us using words such as: bought (1 Cor. 7:20), Holy (Gal. 4:19), or Justified (Romans 5:1) If you are unsure of your identity in Christ, scripture is full of His promises to you to remind you that you are not who people say you are but you are who HE says you are.

Occasionally, I'll read an excerpt from Jesus Calling during my QT. She used an illustration that hits home for me. Tangles. She states that the Holy Spirit works at "combing out tangles of deception". "YES! HAIR! Speakin' my love language and getting on my level!" Now, she wasn't necessarily talking about hair but this is where you buckle up your seatbelt and ride along with me and my brain. Tangles can be a multitude of things: sin, condemnation, an identity crisis, etc. I don't know about you (girls) but I probably have the.most.dangerous.set.of.knots.ever in my hair. My poor hair girl whom I love dearly. I feel so bad for her. It takes an intense conditioner and brush to get my tangles out. Sometimes I feel like that with the condemning words I speak over myself. It's a lot of work to comb through those tangles of deception and condemnation but if I don't do it, my identity becomes rooted in the world and not in Him.

As much as we wish we could just "brush things off", it's a little more work than that to combat condemning words. It's like trying to comb through my tangles with Brooklynn's comb. Not gonna happen. It takes daily speaking God's promises over ourselves. Knowing who He says we are. Letting HIM have His way with our minds, souls, & bodies. Not people. I'm always working on not letting people have that kinda power of me. He's a promise maker...promise keeper...(enter song)

Full of Yourself?

I wouldn't consider myself a control freak by any means- probably just a little Type A at times. What can I say? I need a plan. Is this personality trait of mine wrong? I think our controlling natures are only sinful when they become independent of the Lord. After all, He did give us control over certain things when He created the world but soon afterwards, that control (Eve) was made independent of the Lord. Sometimes I wonder where God is in a certain situation and then realize I haven't given Him control to do anything with it. 

He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30)

In order for much to be made of Him, we have to continually be laying things down. Often times we have no problem surrendering the things that we don't like to the Lord. If you're having a yard sale, it's going to be easier to give up the things that you don't care for anymore than it is to give up something shiny and fancy that you've loved for so long. Here's the kicker, we not only need to give up the parts of us that we don't like but the parts of us that we do like. So many times the message is to surrender your sin, surrender the parts of yourself that the Lord's not happy with and while that is definitely what we are called to do, we are also called to surrender our big house, our nice car, our head knowledge, our gentle and loving spirit, our family, our independence. Does this mean that we need to divorce our spouse, sell our house, and be rude to people? No, it's giving control of those things that we grip so tightly back to the Lord and let Him run wild with them. He can do far better with them than we ever could.

Lately, I've had to surrender my sleep and my energy to make much of baby girl; to make sure she's clean, fed, rested, and happy. There are plenty of days I'm drained. I've given it all up for her. This is what God has called us to do. To be drained of ourselves to make much of Him so that He can fill us back up again with Himself. 

We can't truly make much of Him if we aren't daily making less of ourselves and that includes the "good" things in our life. We need to unclinch our fists.

Get in the Boat

At Pursuit last night, we kicked off a new series, "Gone Fishin'". This series, I believe, will top them all. The similarities of fishing for fish and fishing for people has a way of coming alive like nothing else! We are ALL called by God to fish. A lot of people like to say, "God hasn't called me to missions." Well, he has. He's called us all to be fishers of men whether that's to the person sitting beside you in class or in another country and all the while, Satan tries to get us not to cast our nets. "If we don't fish, the people will perish. Our friends will perish. Our family will perish."

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:16-18 

• Jesus's FIRST command to them was, "Follow me." Who are you following? You're either following God...or Satan.
• Andrew and Simon left their nets. What do we keep picking up that Jesus has called us to put down in order to follow Him?
• When Jesus said, "Follow me", He didn't mean just on Wednesdays & Sundays. Following Jesus is a lifetime commitment. 
• Jesus called them PUBLICLY. It's a PUBLIC call that requires a PUBLIC lifestyle of following Jesus.
• He wants us to come as we are but not stay as we are! Andrew and Simon were average fishermen but Jesus wanted to turn them into fishers of MEN! Is Jesus making something out of your life??
• Jesus wanted faithful people who wanted to change the world with Him!
• After His commandment to "come", He commissioned them to "GO". Jesus CAME to us, we must GO to people! We can't wait for them to come to us!
• Are we going where the fish are? If we aren't fishing for people, we're just cruisin' by people!
• Can we call ourselves fishermen if we've never fished before?

Jesus says, "YOU catch them, I'LL clean them". Jesus' specialty is CHANGING people -- not ours!

Let's go fishin' so we can say, "Gone Fishin'"!

Pursuit Celebration

Pursuit 2014 is off and rolling! We wanted to really celebrate 2013 because what God did in 2013 I think really blew everyone's minds, mine included. So, what better way to celebrate than throw a party? We had punch and cupcakes, balloons, banners, free t-shirts and lanyards, balloon animals, and upbeat music! This is what we were celebrating...along with close to 200 NEW faces throughout 2013!

• When something that is lost is then FOUND, we go crazy!
• The world should never out-celebrate the church!
• Jesus is not afraid of your past!

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:1-7

• The great shepherd is pursuing after you!!
• When the sheep was found, it was CELEBRATED -- not scolded!
• Jesus isn't going to punish you -- He already took the punishment for you!
• Where there's SALVATION, there's CELEBRATION!
• When life-change stops, it's time to refocus!

Celebrate with us, last night we saw 13 new faces, 2 salvations, and 4 rededications! 

 

                                 

Grinchless...Farewell 2013!

We concluded Pursuit last night for the year of 2013! What a crazy year 2013 was! I'll be sharing some huge numbers with you that we saw throughout the year come January when we kick off 2014 with a celebration service but until then, here's what happened last night!

• God didn't wait for you to start loving Him before He started loving you!
• God's love is active not passive!
• We shouldn't wait for others to ask us about a relationship with Jesus but instead we should pursue others with the same passion that God pursued us with!

"She will give birth to a son , and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins...The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:21, 23 (NIV)

• He not only came to save us but he came to walk with us. He not only saves you - he stays with you.
• There's no distance He won't go to show His love for you.
• What (Jesus) was up had to come down so that what was down (us) could go up.
• God's not afraid of your mess. Jesus came in the flesh to bring you out of your mess!
• When we were at our worst, God gave us his best. Do we celebrate this gift at Christmas? Or do we celebrate ourselves and all our gifts at Christmas?

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.  Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:6-9 (NLT)

• Jesus is the only gift that never gets old & will always leave us satisfied!
• Santa's gifts are for the "nice". .Jesus' gift is for the bad- the sinners. Us.

Last night, we wrapped up 2013 with 146 students, 10 new guests, 4 salvations, and 1 rededication!!

Money in a Ministry Family

PSA: I know this is lengthy ;)

My husband always says "more is caught than taught". Growing up, I "caught" a lot in regards to how to view and manage money. Money is a sticky subject in every aspect of life. Jesus preached A LOT on money and yet we tend to stray away from any conversation or message involving the "m" word. But, if the church (& christian families) don't set the example, who's going to? The world? The world isn't exactly the place where I want my money influences to come from.

As a pastor of a "large" Baptist church that was faithful in giving and saw the fruits of their giving, my parents did okay financially when I was growing up. We lived in a gated "golf-course" community with 5 bedrooms, a pool, a home office, dining room, family room, living room, kitchen, and plenty of house to move around in. We ate out once or twice a week and somehow my parents managed to feed my two ever-growing-athletic-brothers. We never went without things (that were necessities). My sister and I had jobs to buy what we wanted; clothes, jewelry, shoes, movie tickets, and weekend activities. My brothers played sports so my parents didn't make them work. So yes, we had nice things and we had what we needed to live on. What pains me is when people think that pastors and church leaders should live well under their means "to be some kind of example". If you are giving back to the church and not using your money in an immoral way, should it matter to others where your money goes? My parents decided to put their money into a house where their kids could grow up in and our friends wanted to hang out at. My mom always said she'd rather our friends hang out under our roof than for us to be hanging out who knows where. So, they strived to make our home a place that us and our friends wanted to be. And, honestly, I loved being home.

People have always, and will always, choose to spend their money where they see fit. Some spend it on cars, others on weekend vacations, others on expensive schools, some on adopting kids, some on college funds, some on food, some on their kids, etc. I'm saying this because people have their priorities when it comes to how they choose to spend their money and that's OKAY.

We have decided that from day one we are going to instill in Brooklynn that nothing belongs to her/us. Everything we have belongs to our creator. One way we are going to instill this in her is by having "give", "save", and "spend" jars in her room. As long as she tithes and saves, I really could care less where she spends the rest (as long as it's ethical of course).

As a PK and wife, my family has always lived in a "glass house". People like to make assumptions about how we spent/are spending. For example, Hux and I eat out almost every dinner-time meal so they assume we spend money we don't have. 75% of the time, we eat on a gift card or a coupon and we always share a meal and get water. Essentially, for us, it's cheaper for us to eat out (most of the time) It's always so easy (and Hux and I do this, too) to judge how someone chooses to spend their money. raise their family, or run a church. Only God knows the heart of a person and He's the only one fit enough to judge a person's intentions in the decisions that they make. We, as people, never really know the reasoning behind why people do what they do but we like to think we do. Being a part of a ministry family has taught me the importance of not judging another's decisions because we, too, have been judged and watched and it's not fun.

These kind of posts are not meant to say that I'm a "victim" of being in a ministry family. They're more intended to open eyes. You can say I'm passionate about ministry families because I've been in one my whole life, my sister married one, and my brothers want to plant churches/play a role in church programming after college. Ministry families are held to a standard that most are not held to, unfortunately, and always treated differently.

So, lift your leaders and their families in prayer because a lot of their lives revolve around serving yours :-)

A Pastor's Kid to a Pastor's Wife & Back Around

In the past three years, I've gone from being a Pastor's kid to a Pastor's wife and now soon-to-be-mom to a Pastor's kid. When people ask me "what was it like growing up as a Pastor's kid?" I answer with two words, "tough and joyous". Tough when I was a middle schooler who couldn't go to rated-R movies but joyous because life was good for us and God was good to us. I'm going to tread carefully here because some will not agree with me, but that's okay...(does anyone ever agree on anything these days?) There are a couple lot of things that I took to from growing up that I still hold firm to today. At the top rank faith & money (yes, money). I was going to make this all one post but if you're anything like me, you wouldn't read it. Long=skimming. So I'll break it up for you and I and try to be brief-ish.

When it came to faith, my parents never pushed their faith on me but I saw the work God was doing through them as a couple, their ministry at church, and through me and my siblings. That was something that I wanted to be a part of. God was never about religion or head knowledge in our house. Our families relationship with God never had anything to do with rules, regulations, do this & don't do that "because Jesus says so" but had everything to do with a lifestyle of loving Jesus - everything would flow from that! Did they encourage quiet times and sunday service attendance? Of course. Did they make us attend every function the church had when the doors were open? Nope. But we wanted to. Why? Because we loved the church. All four of us loved the church. Of course there were Sundays that we wanted to sleep and play hooky (and sometimes we did, let's be honest) But that didn't take away our love for the church.

So, how did my parents do it? Get us to love the church? Different ways. But now that I'm a Pastor's wife, I believe there was one prominent reason why we loved the church. And it was not because we "loved Jesus" (*gasp*) Here's the secret...my parents never (I honestly mean, never!) talked bad about another church in front of their children. Are there things that other churches did/do that they may not have agreed with? Sure! But did we hear about it? Never. Here's the deal, if you are always bashing another congregation, it will more times than not, put a bitter taste in your child's mouth for church. And not just the church you are criticizing, but every single church, yours included. If my parents had always talked negatively about a church, I guarantee you that I would not have married a minister and risked putting my future children in the "line of fire". Another thing that my dad was very good at was putting his family ahead of his congregation. And yes, there were many people and staff members that didn't agree with his ways. He missed many meetings, Wednesday and Sunday nights, and events at the church to sit at a dance recitals, cheerleading competitions, or baseball games. He was living proof that loving ministry and loving God are not the same thing. The church never dictated his devotion to his family. In turn, leaving me with no resentment towards him or the church!

What it all boils to is this: the Church is the bride of Christ, how do you talk about your bride to others or to your children? If you're a man and you bash your wife or you're a wife and you bash your husband in front of your children or to other people, it's going to put a sour taste in your child's mouth towards the other person. I've been around people who have criticized their husband/wife in front of me and to be honest, it's made me look at that person differently whether their issues were legit or not...but I wouldn't know the difference because I didn't live in their house and see first-hand what the issues really were. Wouldn't it be the same when we talk about the church in the same manner?

Am I perfect at this? Nooo! We all think we know the best ways to run a church or lead a family (even if we've never done it!) However, ever since I've been married and been knee deep in the ministry, I've learned this: If you're a follower of Christ and you preach the bible and yearn to see people move from death to life, we are ALL on the SAME TEAM striving for ONE PURPOSE for ONE NAME! This is what I grew up believing and it has saved my personal-sanity and my church-sanity ;) Think of what could be accomplished if we joined forces as The Church instead of going to battle with The [other] Church(es)!

So, as a soon-to-be-mom, I want Brooklynn to grow up loving the Church and her Church leaders and not grow up being so wrapped up in church skepticism that she loses focus on loving Jesus and what His bride is doing for our world.

Wage War 4

We wrapped up our Wage War series last night and it was nothing short of amazing! Here's a recap if you missed out!

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins NO MORE." Hebrews 8:12

• Man meant for the cross to be a form of humiliation. God used the cross as a form of life transformation.
• There wasn't any length God wasn't willing to go to to prove His love.
• The cross is the ultimate definition of love.
• When we're found guilty, there's a punishment. Someone had to pay our debt in order to bail us out. Jesus paid it all.
• Some of us carry around our sins and baggage everywhere we go. God has already/will take it all off our backs and nail it to the cross.
• Nothing you could ever do could make God love you any less.
• God didn't come into the world to punish you. He came to save you.

"For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Psalm 32:3-5

"...having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away nailing it to the cross."

Colossians 2:14

Last night was proof that the simple word of the gospel still saves. God is still in the business of saving His children through the work He accomplished on the cross. 

*Last night we saw 187 students, 10 new guests, 3 salvations, and 3 rededications!*

Wage War wk 3

I have loved this series at Pursuit! It ranks pretty high up there on my favorites list! It's been all about practical reasons to live in Victory over sin and satan. Last night, Hux taught on the significance of the mind and how our thoughts dictate everything! Satan cannot have our hearts so he tries to control our minds! Here's a catch-up if you missed it.

We've also been taking questions from students during this series and been answering them before the message. Last night, we answered. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Here was the answer:

http://www.truthproject.cc/videos/if-god-exists-why-do-bad-things-happen

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

• We can have victory if we think right!
• Your mind is not a trash can. Don't let people throw garbage in it. What goes in WILL come out!
• What you think determines how you feel which determines how you act! 
• We are so focused on the size of our problems that we lose sight of the size of our God!
• God wants our minds to be fixated on things that matter, and PEOPLE matter!

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

• Change occurs when we take control of our thoughts!

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8

• Pure thinking leads to pure living!
• When you a sew a thought, you reap an action. When you sew a habit, you'll reap a destiny.  

"You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

 Last night, Pursuit saw 175 students, 9 new guests, and 1 rededication!! Celebrate!

Wage War

Last week we began a new series at Pursuit, Wage War. This series is all about how to declare war against satan and sin and live our lives in victory! Last week was also busy so I wasn't able to post so I'll combine weeks 1 & 2 today :)

We kicked off week 1 discussing WHO we need to wage war against -- being satan. He's real but he isn't all-powerful, all-knowing, or everyone at once. 

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 

Ephesians 6:12

• Christianity isn't a playground -- it's a battleground! 
• You're either on God's team or on satan's team. You can't play both teams. It's one or the other!
• We can be overtaken by temptation because we flirt too often with the enemy!
• God doesn't send anyone to hell. We send ourselves there!
• If God loves you, the enemy hates you.
• Satan HAS to have permission from God for everything he does!
• The enemy lost when Jesus rose from the grave!!
• If you're lost, satan will try everything to keep you that way!
• God has given us the ultimate authority over satan! ("I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." Luke 10:19)
• Heaven isn't for people that are scared of hell -- it's for people who LOVE JESUS!

Last week we saw 182 students, 17 new guests, & 3 REDEDICATIONS!

Week 2 we were challenged to not only dress our outsides but our insides! It's more important to dress our hearts (spiritually) before leaving the house every day than worrying so much about our outward appearances!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God,so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

Ephesians 6:10-13

• We set ourselves up for defeat when God & I don't meet!
• God's word is for direction AND protection.
• If we want to walk in victory, we have to spend time with the one who won the victory!
• God's more interested in WHO you're becoming than what you look like.
• Some of us dress our outsides but never dress our insides. Dress your heart!
• We have to combat the devil's LIES with God's TRUTHS (Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7)
• God's word (the sword) wasn't meant to cut people down, but set people free!
• It's hard to stand before men without first kneeling before God.
• When you're inconsistent, He will seem distant.
• The enemy likes to make strong men weak. God likes to make weak men strong!
• It's not the amount of our strength, but the source of our strength that makes a difference! We can't battle satan in our own strength but only in God's strength!
• If the enemy doesn't take a day off...why would we?
• We can't go to war without our battle equipment or our armor!

Last night We saw 197 students, 18 new guests, & 1 SALVATION! Celebrate!

Offbeat Finale

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:13

We wrapped up "Offbeat" last night. It was a heavy night. In order to live offbeat for Him, we have to confess the things that we think we are hiding from others and the Lord. We think that because others don't see our hurt and our pain, God doesn't see it either - that He is busy tending to other peoples' needs or cares. But He sees it all. We also think that if we advertise a person who has it all together, than people will see us as a person who has it all together. But, "It's not what you advertise that counts, but what you're made out of." Last night, we saw 165 students, 11 new guests, 2 salvations, 3 rededications, and TONS of freedom for many students!!

We all think we're expert hiders!

God wants to change us from the inside out but, first, we have to let the inside out. 

There's nothing you can confess that will make God love you any less.

You may be an expert at hiding things from other people but you're a rookie when it comes to hiding things from God.

We don't expect God to love us as we are! It's okay to not be okay!

It's comforting to know He sees our every move because we know that nothing catches Him by surprise!

It's not what you advertise that counts but what you're made out of!

No matter the scars, don't hide them! Use them for His glory! Our story for His glory!

God knew the real you -- and still died for you!

Lastly, we got to hear from one of our own seniors as he courageously shared his story of pain that later turned into a story of freedom! Thank you, Parks, for being used for His glory!

Here's to the next series!!

Take back your land

Every once in awhile I will come across something that I read/study that resonates with me or students, because, well, that tends to be my heartbeat. However, this applies to every Christian as we wrestle with letting satan have an inch of power in our lives.

...and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers.I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ Genesis 48:4

"The enemy is standing on your God-given ground daring you to take possession of it. Are you going to let him have it? Or are you going to claim your inheritance? Possession is the law of the Promised Land." -Beth Moore, Believing God

For students, your God-given ground is your school. Will you stand by and watch as the enemy takes and has free reign in your hallways? Or will you stand up and let GOD "take it over" through you?

For some, your God-given ground may be your work. A place where you constantly have to stand up for what's right and lay down what's going to be successful (in earthly definition) for your company! Your God-given ground could be your family or your marriage, where the enemy may have a foothold. Will you let him conquer your household and run wild with his games? Your God-given ground could also very well be your place of worship where you see the enemy creeping in and starting to cause trouble, enlist a power-struggle, or attempting to build pride in yourself or others in leadership or the body.

Will you let him have an inch of victory for just a short period of time? Satan knows he has ultimately lost the battle, so he will creep in in other areas of our lives. Will you STAND up in his place and shove him out of the way? God is calling you to take back your God-given territory...but will you do it?

Take back your land!

Offbeat week 1

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

Eph. 4:1

As we kick off a new series at Pursuit, emotions are at an all time high for students and leaders! Emotions that are those of anxious excitement! We had another record-high attendance Wednesday as we saw 178 STUDENTS, 25 NEW guests, 3 SALVATIONS, and 15 REDEDICATIONS. They continue to be fired up and rally together to get all their friends there! They are buying in to the GOSPEL and buying into seeing them MEET JESUS! Here's what all went down on Wednesday:

"If you all yourself a Christian, God has called you to live for Jesus."

"Jesus may live on the inside but He's to be portrayed on the OUTSIDE!"

"Our lifestyle should reflect our identity, so who are YOU?"

"If we're saved, we can't live like we're lost!"

"What we've received cost Jesus His LIFE while we were still considered His enemy!"

"Live like who are you ARE not who you've BEEN!" 

"The only time we should look down on people is to help pick them up!"

"Our LIPS & our LIFE HAVE to add up!"

"People aren't going to always read the bible. They're going to read YOU!"

"Be a world CHANGER not a world CHASER!"

The challenge for this series is to not "go with the flow", not live for the world, but live on a different level than the world. Live OFFBEAT! Our hearts should beat at a different level than the world's does!

To see more of what's happened in the student ministry, check this out!

...and this :)

 Be OFFBEAT!

  

God Takeover

¹³ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17

I'm writing this post for two reasons: 1. being that my husband told asked me to and 2. being that its too good not to write about. But let's be honest, I'm a lazy blogger 95% of the time and it takes a little nagging encouraging from my husband to do it. So, lets go.

As we begin to wrap up our Pursuit series, God Takeover, he's truly taking over. He's taking over the lives of His students at Team Church as well as taking over the seats in the building. Like I've said before, Hux and I are numbers people for several reasons that I've talked about before. If we don't continue to see growth in attendance and growth in the hearts of our students then we aren't doing our jobs! But our students are on fire and bringing carloads of friends with them as we have gone from 105 students to 154 students in the past 3 weeks! Praise The Lord! 

Our faith in God grows with every salvation we see come through Pursuit. Last night 10 students chose Jesus for the first time and 6 students decided to follow Him closer and rededicate their lives. I love seeing the students party, jump, and scream as students stand to receive Jesus! It's like no other. 

If you missed last night...

"When someone is spiritually sick, so we run to help or do we flee the scene?"
"We have to go into the mess to bring people out of mess!"
"Jesus went after the people we run from!"
"Jesus didn't wait for someone to come to Him, He went to them!"
"Sin makes us sick! It's so serious that Jesus died for it!"
"Jesus isn't MAD at you He's MADLY in love with YOU!"

Keep praying for the next generation!

They're going to CHANGE the WORLD!

God Takeover

 Sometimes I think, "last night was something definitely worth letting the world blog-world know about." Then I think, "what could I possibly say that could iterate well enough what really happened." And then I get discouraged and go on with my day because although writing is something I'd always rather do, as opposed to speaking or taking tests in school, sometimes words can't serve the purpose you need them to. But, I'm-a-gonna-try.

We have been doing Pursuit all summer long. Most things in the summer shut down, but it's so hard to get the momentum back when Fall rolls around and we thought why not keep the students fired up coming off of their camp experiences. I was shocked at how many students we had over the summer. They weren't laying off so we couldn't either. Summer rocked. But last night was our Fall Kick-off and let's just say this, more than just our socks got rocked off. We had the highest number Pursuit has ever seen! And people can say all day that "numbers don't matter" but they do (even Jesus emphasized numbers:)). Numbers also show us that the students CARE about the lives of their friends and want them to MEET Jesus! If our "numbers" never grew, we might be making disciples but what is making disciples if they never reach others for Jesus? Isn't that what a disciple is, anyways? What about the rest of the world that will spend eternity in hell? Someone HAS to do something about reaching those people! So, we have pushed and instilled in them all summer that they have to be responsible for their friends! And so to us, the numbers matter!!

Two students (who by the way, were invited to Pursuit by two of our Seniors...enough said) stood on their feet at the end in front of 154 of their peers to proclaim Jesus for the first time! So, even though we had run-through banners, a balloon drop, t-shirt ropes that the students "helicopter-ed" around their heads as we played Sandstorm, and a "mild" (I said mild) firework display from the stage, the worship team brought their A-game and my husband gave a simple yet in-your-face realization of the power (dynamite) each one of them has living inside of them. And the Lord didn't stop there as he continued to work in the lives of students during their small group time following the service. We had a middle school girl rededicate her life and another middle school girl text later in the night confessing that she was not saved and needed to be. So, Jesus showed out last night, but we didn't expect anything less! You can look at Twitter (#Godtakeover) to read more stories!

Way to go, Pursuit...we love you and your hearts for bringing your friends to meet Jesus. It would all be pointless without your passion for your friends. Keep seeing the need and stay FIRED UP!

"When you realize the POWER inside you - you won't care about what's going on outside of you!"

"The face of our schools and our families would be drastically different if we talked about Jesus as much as Miley Cyrus has been talked about lately."

When we're passionate about something - we suffer for it. Can we suffer a little for Jesus?!?"

 

We're takin' over,

 

Here's to you, Seniors!

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6

The time has come to celebrate our 17 seniors that we have graduating out of the student ministry. 17. That's a lot. That's a lot of disciples that God is going to use on their college campuses next year! To be honest, this is the time of year where Husband and I get all sappy-like and feel like proud parents as we see our God's "kids" begin to own their own faith and begin to mentor the younger ones as they begin to make decisions that they have journeyed through making thus far. Last night we heard from four of our student band members. We heard about their spiritual journeys and their personal journeys and how God has used both to shape them into who they've become up to this point. I'd like to share some of their profound statements that they made last night. I'm telling you, these kids (I call them kids because they are Husband and I's "kids") are wise. Wise beyond their young years. I may be biased but the world needs a lot more of their kind! Anyways, on to their words!

"I want you to know Christ. Not just know Christ. But know Christ."... "Not everything remains solid & firm, but Christ does."..."Christ died to set you free, not for you to struggle in sin."..."I worship not because of fame but because Christ has given us the greatest gift."..."I want what God wants for you."..."His plan is much greater than anything we an dream up for ourselves." -Caleb Crosby

"Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt, isn't really true."...I was angry and moody but God pulled me out."..."Music is my outlet"..."Here I am feeling worthless, then I realize I have a purpose."..."There's nowhere you can go from God." -Nathan Russell

"I was the kid that thought I was holier than thou because I wasn't "bad"..."I thought I could do it on my own and only needed God on Wednesdays and Sundays."..."I was hypocritical."..."Please, don't wait until your sophomore year to really follow Christ, He will come when you least expect it, Be ready!"..."I hate it took me so long to realize that God's opinion is the only one that matters."... "God will replace your "friends" with friends." -Elizabeth Elliot

"My life has been a roller coaster."... "What are you doing with all of your time?"... "You measure what you love the most based on where your time and money goes."... "It's not about what we've done but about what God has done."..."Christ died for YOU!" -Logan Oakley

Thank you Seniors for what you have meant to Hux and I and for your encouragement to us and your friends last night! God has big things in store for you and I can't wait to see what He does with your lives! Your leadership and presence will be GREATLY missed at Pursuit! Love you all :)

Class of '13,