Can You Hear Me? Week 3

Last week of our series on prayer, Can You Hear Me? Here's what's up this week:

We can’t talk about prayer without addressing the obvious question—what happens when God doesn’t answer? Jesus has a surprising response to that—you keep asking. Because if something is that important to you, if something has captured your heart that strongly, then it’s something that you can’t let go. It’s something you can’t simply walk away from. So keep asking. And Jesus says that maybe, just maybe, God will honor your persistence.

Join us this weekend - Club56 (5th and 6th grade only) on Saturday @ 6pm and Sundat @ 9:30am - Spiked (7th thru 12th grade only) on Sunday @ 11am

New Pics

I just uploaded a bunch of new pics in my photobucket.com slideshow immediately to the right of this post. Take a minute to watch them - there are some great new ones of Olivea.

Luke Lang: I AM standing up!

Ok, so I just re-read Luke Lang's book, I AM standing up!, and I must say it is great. Luke is one of our key volunteers and I love working with him. Just wanted to plug his book again, not because he paid me to or anything (but I wouldn't mind if he did) but because it is truly worth reading. EVERY teenager should read this book. Click here to check it out. You can also click here to read an old post I did about Luke and his book.

Now that's service

We have a new volunteer in our ministry that I just have to tell you about. This guy is dating one of our key leaders and was asked by his girlfriend to come with him to Spiked. Now, let me give you some background. This dude had a very bad experience with church when he was younger - very, very bad. So bad that he had no intention of going back ever again. And, just like a woman can do, he starting dating a solid follower and server and gave church a second chance. Luckily, that church was NHC. He started coming and thought, "hey, this isn't so bad." But, he still didn't really feel comfortable. It wasn't until he started hanging out with our students that he felt comfortable. He started helping with groups and wanted to be a group leader. Now, and this is why I am writing about this today, I just found out that he takes off work on Wednesdays just to lead his community group. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I bet there are tons of you guys that didn't really get it until you started giving it away. This is the power of serving and this is the power of tapping someone on the shoulder and getting them to serve with you.

WIFFITI.COM - texting out loud

This weekend - as we continued talking about prayer - we had the students (during the service) text in their prayers. We used this cool website called Wiffiti. It was insane. Here is our live screen with some of the prayers that students sent in posted right now. The page changes all the time, so watch closely.

I stand in awe

After church on Saturday night, Valorie and I loaded Olivea in the car and rolled back home. A great friend of ours was in town for his grandma's funeral and wanted to hang out. So, we dropped Olivea off at Nana's house, put her to bed, and rolled down to a local Bar and Restaurant. We small talked for a while, but then the conversation drastically changed. My buddy grew up in church and is an awesome guy. I've always enjoyed hanging out with him. We were even in each others weddings. Val and I are pushing up on our 9th wedding anniversary. But, he and his wife were divorced only after a brief marriage. His wife basically just left one day. Ever since then he has struggled. It's been really hard to shake those circumstances. So, as we sit there he just goes right into his struggles with God and church and religion. He knows I am a Pastor and have been for a long time - but this conversation is new and has never come up before. I could literally feel God pushing me aside. I could hear him saying, "Adam. Adam! Put the chips down and watch this." And so (except for the chip part) I did as I was told. I watched God use my wife to talk to our friend. She was amazingly prepared to engage in this difficult conversation. I stood in awe as I heard her slowly letting my friend know that he wasn't alone - in his doubts, in his worries, in his fears, in his questions. And even though there was no huge, out loud breakthrough - there was a silent, steady step in the right direction - not just in his life, but in ours.

Weekend Rewind

Okay, before I get started - this is my 200th blog post! Pretty good for a blog slacker! Anywho, Dude! This weekend at New Horizon Church rocked. I can't tell you the last time we had a weekend like this. The services were spot on - and I can't say enough about Fusion this evening. Fusion is an all team (everyone that serves anywhere in the church) event to re-energize and re-engage in the mission and vision God has placed on our church. I know lots of you guys that read my blog don't serve anywhere in the church. Let me tell you - you are missing out. God is using the people that serve in our church in an amazing way - and he's just getting started. Don't be surprised if someone from a ministry in the church taps you on the shoulder to come along on this journey. They're pumped and we need all hands on deck. If you show up everyweek and get what's in it for YOU - don't you think it's time to take the focus off YOU and give someone else what God has given you? Ponder on that nugget!

Fusion

EVERYONE that serves in any way whatsoever at New Horizon Church needs to be here for Fusion! PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Game Hint for all you cheaters!

So here is your hint for this weekend! Study up!

Unleash 2009 Student Ministry Breakout Session

Here are my notes from the student ministry breakout session. Now, remember, they are MY notes, so they may not make sense to you. Really good stuff.

What’s Business?

· our business is to reach people (students) for Jesus

· Not 10 things at a B-, 3 things at an A+

· not teaching moral truths, we’re teaching Jesus

· say no to the good so you can say yes to the great

How’s Business?

· What are your numbers? Meaning how many kids are meeting Jesus?

· The average 15yo never heard of traditional church – we’ve forgotten the consumer

· Consumer - Outside Ring – all students are a consumer ( are you giving them something worth showing up for?)

· Relator Ring – next level of students that someone now knows their name and they know someone else

· Disciple Ring – next level of students

· Producer Ring – next level of students, we are supposed to create a disciple cycle

· How are you creating ON ramps to take a kid to the next level – or are you creating entitled students.

Unleash 2009

We're heading off to Unleash. This is my 3rd year going to Unleash - and I think its the 3rd year of the conference - so that means I have perfect attendance for the first time in my life. Check it out live online!

What's in a girl's purse?

Ok, for all you cheaters, here is your hint for this week's Spiked game. Good luck! I have a feeling that this question can never be truly answered.

If Only: Redeem

Do you believe that even your greatest regret can be redeemed, that your biggest mistake offers promise to your life and the lives of others? Living a life of regret does not have to be the end of the story. Join us for the final week. 6:00pm Saturday and 9:30am Sunday @ club56 (5th and 6th graders only) and 11:00am Sunday @ Spiked (7th thru 12th graders only).

Follow the leader

I went to the Duke vs. Florida State basketball game Wednesday night with Dave, Jamie, and the one of our wonderful club56 group leaders, Earl. It was an awesome game. Earl got us GREAT seats - on the floor, second row, directly behind the goal. You just don't get better seats than that. Plus, it was at Cameron Indoor Stadium - one of the greatest places to see college basketball. It was an awesome game - back and forth scoring, really physical, came down to the wire. It was even Senior night and Coach K's 1100th game coached. I had a great time. But the one thing that preoccupied my attention was the un-sportsman-like conduct of the Florida State team. The entire team had this horrible attitude. They were really ugly to the officials, rude to each other, and absolutely disrespectful to everyone around them. I was quite perplexed by it. We were sitting so close to their bench that we could hear just about everything they said - and boy was it ugly. Then, I noticed their head coach. Through the entire game he cursed, screamed, and argued with every call. He had no respect whatsoever for any of the officials. He received a technical foul and came very close to getting ejected half way through the first half. By the end of the game he was mimicking Coach K and making a fool of himself. Now, I know that coaching gets intense and that every coach screams and yells and gets a little worked up. But this was at another level. You could tell that everyone on that team was following the leader that was in front of them. Their leader, Coach Leonard Hamilton, set a contemptuous tone - and don't you know that everyone followed him down that path. It makes me think about those that follow me and what tone I am setting.

Let the voting begin

A while ago I asked you guys for help renaming my blog. Read the post here to get caught back up. So, here are all of the suggested new titles - but, I would still like some new thoughts as I am not quite feeling any of these. Like I said before, I think I want something more serious - but obviously have no clue what that is. So, vote away OR write in your new idea!