Day 4
Today was quite an interesting day, the speaker for the day was Craig Gross of XXX Church. He talked about how we need to stop living our old life and focus on our NEW life in Christ. he used the verse talking about how fools go back to their sin like dogs go back to their vomit. he mentioned how we need to get rid of our "vomit" and focus on the NEW. so today i took a personal oath to get rid of my "vomit" and look towards heaven and focus on My NEW Life In Christ. My prayer is that some of you would join me in getting rid of your old life and look towards your NEW life and spend every moment of your life focused on and perusing God.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Our first full day just ended and we have been so blessed by the Lord
today! We heard from Francis Chan this morning and Bryan McWhite this
evening. Both speakers were such a blessing and challenged us to expand
our view of God and to respond to God's gift of salvation in our
lives.
Bryan's message was especially good. One of his illustrations really spoke to many of us here. He talked about how Christians often live as if they were spiritually dead. He compared it to being like Batman. Batman has no inherent superpowers but is Bruce Wayne and has to work train and discipline himself to be Batman. The flipside is living like we are alive. Christians are more comparable to Superman. Superman has superpowers and doesn't have to work at being Superman. In fact, he has to pretend to be Clark Kent. Christians need to live not based on our old life, but based on our new life in Jesus Christ. He also challenged us with a simple statement. All of us face temptations to sin, but we have to remember that we are alive in Christ and we can choose to live faithfully in the Lord's strength and power. The statement is:
(whatever temptation you face) is the way of the dead, but I'm alive and I choose (faithful opposite of the temptation). For example, Pride is the way of the dead, but I'm alive and I choose humility. It's a great reminder for us all and I hope to apply that in my life from now on.
We also had a chance to do a project called Love Moves. The EFCA is starting a Child sponsorship program in Haiti and we put together care packages for the orphans the ministry will focus on. We learned that the average Haitian makes $2 a day and over 80% are illiterate. We got a small taste of what daily life is like for the Haitians and saw examples of what their houses looked like as we prayed for them.
Overall, it was a great day and we are excited about what God will be doing tomorrow.
Mark
Bryan's message was especially good. One of his illustrations really spoke to many of us here. He talked about how Christians often live as if they were spiritually dead. He compared it to being like Batman. Batman has no inherent superpowers but is Bruce Wayne and has to work train and discipline himself to be Batman. The flipside is living like we are alive. Christians are more comparable to Superman. Superman has superpowers and doesn't have to work at being Superman. In fact, he has to pretend to be Clark Kent. Christians need to live not based on our old life, but based on our new life in Jesus Christ. He also challenged us with a simple statement. All of us face temptations to sin, but we have to remember that we are alive in Christ and we can choose to live faithfully in the Lord's strength and power. The statement is:
(whatever temptation you face) is the way of the dead, but I'm alive and I choose (faithful opposite of the temptation). For example, Pride is the way of the dead, but I'm alive and I choose humility. It's a great reminder for us all and I hope to apply that in my life from now on.
We also had a chance to do a project called Love Moves. The EFCA is starting a Child sponsorship program in Haiti and we put together care packages for the orphans the ministry will focus on. We learned that the average Haitian makes $2 a day and over 80% are illiterate. We got a small taste of what daily life is like for the Haitians and saw examples of what their houses looked like as we prayed for them.
Overall, it was a great day and we are excited about what God will be doing tomorrow.
Mark
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Challenge
4 years ago, my wife Cathy and I were blessed to step into ministry at Elgin EFC. Within two weeks of starting, we traveled to Salt Lake City for Challenge 2008. I had never been to the conference, and had some reservations. But after spending a week there, I was blown away by what God did! It's a blessing to be used by God, and I left sensing that God had used all of us in powerful ways. A residual effect was having so much time with the youth group quickly facilitated relationships and allowed us to bond quickly.
Our original plan was to attend Challenge every 4 years, but we were so blessed and encouraged by the conference. As we prayed, we sensed the Lord leading us to change our plans and attend more regularly. So in 2010, we took our group to Columbus Ohio for the next Challenge conference. What a blessing that was! We had the opportunity to learn from some great speakers as they taught from Matthew 5. We also had some great opportunities to do a prayer station ministry in downtown Columbus. God blessed us with some amazing encounters and opportunities to lift up Jesus.
In 2012, our youth will attend Challenge in New Orleans. The purpose of this blog is to document our journey and the adventure God is leading us on. Our students and adults will be offering their experiences and insights as we share about the great things God will be teaching us. Our hope is that you will be blessed and encouraged as you hear what God is doing in our lives.
Our original plan was to attend Challenge every 4 years, but we were so blessed and encouraged by the conference. As we prayed, we sensed the Lord leading us to change our plans and attend more regularly. So in 2010, we took our group to Columbus Ohio for the next Challenge conference. What a blessing that was! We had the opportunity to learn from some great speakers as they taught from Matthew 5. We also had some great opportunities to do a prayer station ministry in downtown Columbus. God blessed us with some amazing encounters and opportunities to lift up Jesus.
In 2012, our youth will attend Challenge in New Orleans. The purpose of this blog is to document our journey and the adventure God is leading us on. Our students and adults will be offering their experiences and insights as we share about the great things God will be teaching us. Our hope is that you will be blessed and encouraged as you hear what God is doing in our lives.
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