So, I wanted to encourage our church and let them know that God is doing some awesome things in our Student Ministry. We shot a great video of one of our students and the changes that have taken place in her life through our ministry. She is just one of the many stories we have of God totally doing something huge in a life.
We had a packed house and to open things up I gave a top 10 Ericisms. Students know all about them and almost come to expect them but parents had only heard. I had one parent approach me before service and said she brought her dictionary so she can know what I am talking about. I laughed and thought, oh goodness, what do they tell their parents? They didn't know whether they should laugh, or be upset when I was cracking off the list and laughing how I can connect each one back to a lesson that I have taught while being here at Shore.
I felt bad because the pics that I was going to use throughout my teaching time I forgot to give to the computer techs and they were still on my flash drive. So the gross picture of Shawn's knee cap being on the side of his leg didn't make its debut, yet!
I talked about the plans that we make and how sometimes they don't workout because we plan on a much smaller scale than God does. I told our church of how we experienced a tragedy at our camp that turned into a triumph. God used that tragedy to get not just my students but others attention as well. Our students laid things down, broke down walls in their hearts and with one another, surrendered their hearts and some their lives to God.
I told the story of how before we left for camp I had Matthew 5:8 on my heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". God was crying out to myself and our students to get rid of the junk in our hearts and lives and see Him for who He is. To really get to know Him and what He looks like, to share our lives with Him. Because if we did, then we will never be the same. That week our camp speaker spoke on Jacob and in Genesis 32 Jacob wrestles with God, and when he realizes it He called the place Peniel. "For I have seen God face to face and yet my life was spared". Jacob had seen God and he would never be the same!
Many of our students took God up on his offer. I explain it best when I talk about the tri-factor. Now, unless you knew me or you were just up in my grille, you would never know that I have a tri-factor. It literally looks like God took a magic erase marker and erased 3 spots of facial hair on me. By the corners of my mouth and in the middle of my mustache are little bald spots. That eliminates me from growing a mustache because I would look like a pedophile or Pancho Villa. Besides, its was only during midterms in college that they were grown because we had to have some fun that week. The goatee will never connect, its just not going to happen no matter how long I grow out the stache'. The point is that you would never know that about me unless you saw me face to face and got to know me. The same can be said with God. We can never really know Him till we take Him up on His offer and get in His mug and find out who He really is, not just what others say about Him.
I had one of the greatest memories and experiences of my life. I remember while I was filling out an information card for one of our students who made a decision for Christ, I remember thinking, "wow, that is my name on the Youth Pastor name section." Who would of guest that I would be writing my name there, I had so many bumps in the road and setbacks but I am actually living out my commitment to God. I was very emotional because God reminded me of His faithfulness and goodness during that moment. My prayer was then for the students who were making these commitments to have that same moment in their life when they see the commitment fulfilled.
The summer had been a HUGE success. God blessed us in ways that I would of never imagined. He brought people into our ministry and into my life that helped hold us up when things were crazy with scheduling and traveling and just being busy ministering to people. I am so thankful to the people who partnered with us. We showed Katilyn's story and shared how we have seen:
7 students receive Christ
10 students commitment to purity
5 students who would give God 1 year at a Christian college
5 students who said they would give 4 years at a Christian college
8 students committed their lives to serving God in a full time capacity
Raised over $3500 for camp
God really showed who He was and what He is about and I know that personally I will never be the same. I look forward to sharing again in the future what God is doing in our ministry on the different platforms of our church.
No comments:
Post a Comment