Lately . . .

So we tore down a shed. There was a lady down the road from our Youth Center who had a tree fall on her shed/garage during the last hurricane. We noticed that it was in real bad shape and approached her about it. She said that she needed help getting it removed from the property. Several people had been by to tell her they’d help, but had never returned. Well, obviously, she hadn’t talked to a youth group cause all I had to do was tell the kids we were gonna knock down a building, and they were pumped. We had a blast.

From there, God has opened up some really awesome doors. I have met several people in the community who actually do this kinda work. There is an organization called Faith Communities that takes Federal Grant money and repairs homes with hurricane damage.

So we have been busy as of late, planning service projects. Some of them seem a little out of our league for the time being. There are a lot of people who need roof repair, but we don’t really have anyone in our church that is qualified to do roof work. So we’re gonna hold off on the roof work for the time being. We’re gonna try to being by having a community clean up during our Spring Break. I’m working on lining up a few specific projects: building a handicap ramp at someone’s house, cleaning up a lot where we might be planting a neighborhood garden, etc. Other than that, we’re trying to rent a big dumpster so that we can go around and haul off trash that people in the community haven’t been able to get removed.

The point of all this is to get involved where God is already working. To reach out into the community in ways that meet needs and in ways that offer no benefit for us. Will we try to share the Gospel? Yes, we will; to anyone who will listen. Will we try to invite people to church? Yes we will; but rather than try to bring people to church, we’re gonna try to take Jesus to them.
I ask for your prayers in this. That we be lead by the Holy Spirit and not by our own desires.

Forget about God's Will For Your Life

I’ve been reading Francis Chan’s “The Forgotten God”. There is a chapter entitled “Forget about His Will For Your Life!”

Chan’s point is that many of us are so interested/worried/caught up in trying to discover God’s will for our lives, that we miss out on serving Him in the present. Read it in his own words:

“I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decision” (Francis Chan, The Forgotten God, p 120).

He goes on to talk about how he believes that “part of the desire to ‘know God’s will for my life’” is due to fear. We are scared in making the wrong decisions and/or acting outside of His plan/will for our lives. But all too often, this only leads us to paralysis. In our search for what following God actually looks like and feels like, we often fail to actually follow. What if we act on the wrong thing? But Chan points out that God never promised to give us a 5, 10, or 20 year plan of action.

In fact, if you look at the examples in Scripture of people that God called like Abram, David, Moses, or Paul. You will see that God only gave them a few details to start with and didn’t give them anymore information until they acted on what they already knew.

So while the Bible does not tell us that God will inform us of the plans He has for our lives in advance; it does tell us repeatedly, that we will never be alone. God has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

The point of all this? Well, I encourage you to get Francis Chan’s book and read it for yourselves. It is very convicting. But, I’ll let you in on the summary:

God does have a plan for your life, but He never promised to fill you in on the details in advance. If you want to follow Him, you must start by obeying Him today. Don’t worry about the plans that God has for you. If you follow Him now, I guarantee that He’ll lead you to the right place. So for now, begin with learning to listen to His Spirit and serving Him now. Surrender your life to Him now. I can guarantee that you will not end up where He desires if you do not yield to His Spirit daily.

The Beginning . . .

For a while now, God has placed a burden on my heart. I’ve felt the desire/need to get our youth ministry involved in serving in our community. I’ve spent quite a bit of time asking God to lead me and give me discernment.

The issue: In the Youth Ministry, we do a lot of things like summer camp, CIY, Midwinter Retreat, etc which require a lot of traveling. To do those things, also requires a lot of money; therefore, we do a lot of fundraisers. On average, we spend about $20,000-$25,000 per year on trips, camps, conferences, and activities.

Now don’t get me wrong, these are all quality events, well worth the time and effort; so I don’t feel that we are “wasting our money” by choosing these things. The teachings, the worship, the programs all teach great things.
But, we go to these events every year. Last year, we took over 60 students to these events. Sometimes, students are convicted to act on what they learn and hear, sometimes they are not. And normally, by December, they have forgotten or given up on what they felt such great conviction on during the summer.

The questions that God has laid on my heart concerning these things: “How many events do we need to attend to truly follow Christ?”, “ How many times do we need to go to an event before we start living what we believe?”. If we take an honest look at ourselves, how different are our lives from the people who have not accepted Christ? Is there evidence that we allow God to lead us? Are we truly living our lives in submission to the Holy Spirit?

The simple fact is that we are spending $20,000-$25,000 per year only on ourselves. That seems very selfish to me. We go, year after year, and not much really seems to change as a result of these expenses.

So to summarize,
1. We spend a lot of money taking students to events to learn how to deepen and strengthen their lives with God.
2. Very few people seem to be impacted by these events in any real and lasting way.

Also, I’ve been researching the local out-reach ministries in town to see what kind of opportunities are available, but honestly, none of them really “feels right”. Not that their not good programs; they are. They are filling needs. But, none of them have been resonating with the burden that I feel God has laid on me.
The other night, I was watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with my family, and the group went to build a house for a lady who ran a “youth center” in a low income area of town. In addition, the group went around and did some mini-makeovers for some of the kids who lived in that neighborhood.

While watching this program, I felt the Spirit move inside of me. It was like He was saying, “This is what I’m talking about”. You should be helping people in the community who live in substandard living conditions.

So the next day, I contacted Gene Palmos, the head of our Missions Ministry Team. It appears that God had been putting the same thing on his heart as well. So we hoped in his truck and drove around the community near our church. There were dozens of houses that we could see of that needed repair, painting, cleaning, etc.
We saw one house where a tree had fallen on a garage. The lady who owned the house just happened to be outside, so we stopped to talk to her. She said the tree had fallen on her garage during Hurricane Dolly, over a year and a half ago. She wants it torn down and removed but just can’t afford it.

So, we, now, have our first project: remove a garage to be set up for early January.


While there are many service opportunities in our area, it appears that the Holy Spirit is calling us to do something that is not being done. I feel He is calling us to reach out into the community to offer help to those who cannot help themselves.

The goal of this is to accomplish one thing: to bring glory to God. But there is a catch: I don’t want us to do it in the traditional way. See a need, go out and ask for money, help, etc. I feel that we need to rely solely on God for success. In other words, if God does not show up, then it will fail.

Can you imagine how students will be impacted when they are involved in something that has no chance of success unless God shows up? Can you imagine what will happen to their faith when they see Him move?

There will be more to come.

Hate it!

I hate it when I can't sleep. I've been laying in bed for 3 hours and still can't seem to fall asleep.

I've been reading Francis Chan. Specfically, "Forgotten God". It's about how the church in the Western world has misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused the Holy Spirit.

It's really made me question myself and what I really believe. Don't get me wrong, I know what I believe:

1. The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity; equal to but distinct from God. I can't really explain it, but I've felt Him so I know He's real.
2. Every believer receives the Holy Spirit upon conversion. This was promised by Jesus, confimred by the apostles and evidenced through out the New Testament by believers.

However, does my life show evidence of the Spirit? Does my life show evidence that I really believe the Spirit lives in me and acts through me, giving me strength to do God's will?

If I'm honest, most of the time it doesn't. Most of the time, I strive to do things my way; to do what I want and I try to do it with my own strength.

And I don't think I am alone in this either. When I look around at the modern church, I don't see many people living by the Spirit as the Bible teaches. This really makes me sad, but how can I do anything about it unless I begin to live by the Spirit as well.

So that has become my mission: to yield my life to the Holy Spirit, to seek His will, and to do as He bids me.

Please pray for me as I seek Him. I know He lives within me, and if I don't feel His presence, it is because I have shut Him out. Pray that I am able to yield my life to Him more and more each day.

jrb

There are times, and specific things, that just push my buttons. That shouldn't really be a big surprise, because everyone is that way.

The problem is just that sometimes we, or I, let the issues cloud our reactions. For instance, when we get angry about a situation and take it out on someone who may be involved, but really has little or no control over the situation either.

I owe an apology to a person for just that reason. Forgive me for not responding in the right way.

Who We Are

Ever look in the mirror and not like what you see? Sure, we have all had moments where we regret decisions that we have made, actions that we have taken, and words that we have spoken. However, I also find that this a completly absurd concept. Why?

Because we are who we choose and decide to be! We are the product of each of our thoughts, decisions, and actions.

The majority of people (Christians included) go through life in a fog, not really paying attention to what's going on around us, about the decisions we're making, and about the way we live our lives?

Now wait a minute, you might say! That's not true, I pay attention!

Really? Do you? Do you really take the time to consider the possible outcome and results for your actions, your words, your decisions? Do you take the time to form a plan that will lead you to attain all of those dreams you have, or for the ones that God has for you?

Most of us simply live in the moment; not giving any thought to what we're doing or how what we are doing will affect our lives or the lives of those around us.

In reality, every thought that we entertain, every word that we speak, and every decision that we make, leads us down a path. They lead us down a path that, for better or for worse, makes us into the people we have and will become.

So who are you? Are you satisfied with who you've become? Do you think God is satisfied with who you've become?

The truth is that you and I are the people whom we've chosen to be.

And if we're not satisfied with that, then we have to decide to change. We have to change what we allow ourselves to think about, how we make our decisions, and what words we choose to use.

And if we feel that God is not satisfied with who we have become, then we must be instrumental in making sure we seek His guidance for what we allow ourselves to think, to descide, and to speak.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ghost Hunting

I went Ghosthunting tonight w/ Tim, Blake & Craig. No, I don't believe in ghosts; it was just something to do. Anyway, we went to Orphanage Rd in search of a burnt down orphanage. We found some old rubble that might have been it, who knows. We also found a grave yard. It was supposed to be filled w/ children from the orphanage who died in the fire, but it wasn't. It seemed to be a hispanic graveyard. Not even spooky. We had a good time and got a lot of walking in. I'll probably have chiggars from wading through the tall grass. Anyway, it's time for bed. I have 2 service projects in the morning. Seems I need to be in 2 places at once.