Jubalee!

This Sunday afternoon our MS & HS Students are going to Jubalee Ranch to have a blast! It's an awesome student retreat just outside of town.

The reason I'm letting you know is in case you have a student who doesn't know about it??
OR, maybe you're an adult who has a heart for students and wants to check it out.

They're gonna leave from the building at 4:00pm and get back at 8:00pm. They're gonna be playing Paintball ~ Capture the Flag ~ BBQ'ing at the Fire Pit ~ and hanging out . . .

Maybe God has been/is drawing you towards students . . . This would be an awesome opportunity to go and just check out what's happening . . . and have a great time doin' it.

There's no cost . . . you can RSVP by calling the office (993-4463) or sign up Sunday morning in the lobby.

Eyes on the Prize

As I've continued to read through Matthew with my discipleship group guys, some of Jesus' words in Matt 10 have hounding me the last few days:

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matt 10:32-33)

I think about the amount of time, as I go through my day, that I ignore God. I just miss His presence. Sometime tells me about an occurrence in their life that is really a miracle - and I say: 'O that's cool.' No, that's GOD!
I have a prompting from the Holy Spirit to just go and start a conversation with someone. And I ignore it.
I'm with friends and see a side of the Creation that brings awe and fail to simply say: 'Praise God!'

I don't think these verses are just about wearing a sandwich sign that says: "Repent, the Kingdom of God is near!"

It's about this continual desire to hear God and follow Him. It's about the ever-deepening relationship that He desires to have with us.

I tell you what, that's what I so desire to keep growing in my life. And faster please! :)
That moment by moment I would acknowledge Him and follow Him. I've got a long ways to go. I just keep reminding myself: 'Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize . . . '

Surfside Relief - This Saturday

It's really easy for Hurricane Ike to be miles from our minds now . . . it seems like all that commotion was last year . . .

But there are many folks to our North who are still digging out of the chaos . . . We are taking another relief trip this Saturday!

Are you ready and willing to go? Please call the office (993-4463) asap to get your questions answered or sign up to go.

Do We Believe?

Below is a post that I copied from Bob Roberts blog . . .
What do you think? Does it make you sad? Make you mad? Does it make you more hungry for the Spirit of God and believing Him for the impossible?

In light of what I talked about on Sunday about the hypocrisy that fills the church and the need to be real, in what ways do you need to be real about your faith?


Luke 18: 8b “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? ”

As I traveled this past week to Kenya, Africa with Bob Roberts, we walked through the largest slum in Africa called The Kibera--1.2 million people living in a 2 square mile plot of land. We met with church planters that are planting churches in the middle of hell. We joined our brothers and sisters in passionate prayer, exuberant worship and world class dancing in church . . .

They had very little on the outside. Their buildings were make-shift wood and zinc, tents, plastic chairs, horrible sound systems that punished your eardrums. Yet, I observed a vibrant and robust faith, a faith that was pleasing to God.

Here in America, we have nice buildings, incredible sound systems, soft chairs lest we offend the backside of our overindulged lifestyle, but our faith is weak, feeble and anemic. Many times it is non-existent.

Why do we need faith when we can do it ourselves? Will God find faith in America when He returns? Are you living by faith in any area of your life? Are you drawing upon the supernatural resources of God for any area of your life, or is everything in your life very manageable by your human strength?

By faith, Abraham went out not knowing where he was going? Not knowing is our curse. We hate not knowing because we are a culture of know-it-all. We have it figured out. We have broken the secrets codes and wrote the books to inform the world. They are not buying it. The other side of the world has figured out that all we do here in the west is talk. . .

By Faith, Sarah received power to conceive, even when she was past the age. Faith not only calls us to the unknown but also to do the impossible! If it is possible for you to do it, then you do not need God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and when God says it is impossible, trust me, it is impossible.