Underground ReLOVEution

Here's a new question for your answering pleasure.

What are the most important things (only three) that our youth group/church is supposed to focus on/be about? If you had to choose three focuses or "ethos", what would they be? Not a right answer here, just looking at what you guys think.

Go.

Exodus 34:6-7 - "And He [the Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' "


I was trying to find another funny video for you guys. I remembered that my dad was the sound guy for a Christian band in the 70's so I started to look up some of their stuff on YouTube....because I figured it was more legit to make fun of my dear old dad than anyone else. What I ended up coming across were a series of videos called Jesus Freaks, from a tv show in the 70's. Clicking on the first one I began researching this one guy called Lonnie Frisbee. Ok I don't think I need to say anything else...his name says it all.



You may be wondering, what my problem is or why anyone would find something like this interesting? I love learning about church history. I am sure many of you are familiar with the Vineyard Church. Mr.Frisbee was very active alongside John Wimber in pioneering the Vineyard Movement.Lonnie Frisbee however, was a homosexual and eventually left his wife and kids to pursue a homosexual lifestyle. And it wasn't exactly a secret to anybody.I grew up going to a Vineyard church. It ended up crashing into pieces when it was discovered that the pastor had a second identity and was having phone sex with young girls, and a huge pornography problem. I am not excusing his sin, but it makes me wonder about the origin of his sin. The Bible speaks about generational sin, and I wonder if sexual sin became prevalent in the Vineyard churches by being launched alongside a man deep in sexual sin? Maybe that is why so many establishments that are made in Jesus' name eventually suffer a heavy blow, because it was not founded completely under people who have died to their flesh.

Getting into all of this reminded me to keep allowing God to search my heart for any dark corners I don't want him to see, even if dealing with it involves too much pain or humiliation.

I wanna use this as a discussion tool and not just as an essay writing tool, so here's the question of the day.

What struggles do you have in evangelizing/talking to your friends about Jesus? How should Christians go about evangelizing?

Go.

...and the word fell out of its leather binding.

The inner pages of my Bible have wrestled free from their constrictive outer shell. I usually try to keep them together in order to prevent further mutilation of the curled, gold-edged sheets. The inscription on the inside, printed in neat architect-style handwriting, are words of blessing from Pastor Steve as I graduated high school. It begins thus:

"MY HOPE IS THAT YOU WEAR THESE PAGES RAGGED FINDING THE ANSWERS TO YOUR SOUL- SEARCHING QUESTIONS. I PRAY THAT YOU NEVER LOSE THAT ABOUT YOURSELF..."

Confession: I have intentionally abused this Bible. Sometimes I throw it around in order to speed the fulfillment of Steve's hope for me. I wear his words as some sort of spiritual identity. I want you to look at my Bible and be impressed by how much I love God. I like that it looks well-used. Makes me feel proud.

Is the better way that someone would look at my life and know that I love God? I think we can fake spirituality by adopting the right Christian words or being seen at the right youth group events or destroying our Bibles. I sometimes even deceive myself in this way. But to know God and be known by Him... this is what I desire for me and encourage for you this week. Can we agree to stop playing games?

God, give us courage to be seen by you...and others...for what we truly are.

Today I watched the Outreach Team work on a skit and here are a few photos I took while they were practicing....

Sierra Green as The Girl and Sam Hathaway as Jesus
Pat Dinneen, as The Boy, steals The Girl away from Jesus...


But then he trades off for another girl, Kayla Zacharias 

Connor Trimble came along and gave her a drink....
...and left her on the ground....

Brooke Menzies, the Devil, began to torment her mind.... 


....and gave her a knife....

After hesitating, she threw the knife away and ran towards Jesus....

but all of those past things clung to her, throwing her back...she fought hard but couldn't make it....


Jesus, who all along was cheering, pulling and calling her, finally jumped in... 



Jesus threw aside everything that was attacking her that had kept her from him...

She was ashamed...but he covered her...
...and held her close...
This is another version of the skit where the boyfriend just beats up Jesus....
Umm...just kidding... but they look goofy.
And Connor....

Now you should be excited for what the Outreach Team is doing and look forward to the first showing of this skit! Because pictures don't quite cut it for a skit, but they wanted to see the pictures I took of them...

So, I had this thought last night, and it might be totally random and not a very good point, but I want to spill it out.

Why don't we get excited about Jesus?

Recently I went camping with a whole bunch of my guy friends, and one of the guys who came was not a Christian. We had an awesome time hanging out, fishing, camping, making fires and talking about how we would fight bears.

The whole time we didn't mention Jesus once.

Why?

Because we were scared, or at least I was scared.

I figured that if I talked about Jesus, this guy would get annoyed/scared/frustrated/angry at the mention of Jesus. I'd been so turned off by Christian culture that made evangelism this fire and brimstone yelling in the streets with a bullhorn, that I was afraid to mention the name of Jesus around this guy. Not only that, but I've realized that I'm afraid to talk about Jesus amongst my Christian friends.

I have no problem talking about youth group, and how exciting the "movement" is and what awesome social change is going on because of Jesus, but when it comes to just talking about how much I enjoy Jesus, the words don't come out.

These last few months, my relationship with Jesus has been in a really good place. God has been showing me more of himself and showing me my own sin, and it's been REALLY good. So why don't I share it. When I'm sitting around, why don't I say stuff like "man, Jesus is so good." or something like that. I'm not talking about ramming a worldview or theology down someone's throat, but does the world know that we enjoy being Christians or that we enjoy Jesus. Why won't I let my joy overflow into words of praise around people. Maybe if people were to hear me get excited about Jesus, they would be more willing to love him too, or wonder about him.

I think sometimes we get afraid of sharing our faith. When I was in high school there was this Christian who wanted to share his faith with his friends, but he didn't want to say anything. He wanted his words to do the talking. James talks about our speech and our actions lining up, but I think that this guy missed the point. Talking about Jesus isn't bad. It isn't. Maybe it doesn't have to be arrogant or manipulative, but why can't I just share what Jesus has done in my life or share my joy about Jesus.

Anyway, that is what I'm thinking right now.

This question keeps nagging at me: Do I really want to love selflessly?

I mean, let's be honest. If I love people without caring about getting anything back, I'm taking the risk that...I might not get anything back. I know that might sound shallow, but I'm just trying to be real. If I pour myself out in love, more concerned about caring for others that I care for myself, I'm afraid that I won't be cared for. If I don't meet my needs, who will?

God asks us to trust that we will be provided for. He wants us to love unconditionally and selflessly, like Jesus. I'm realizing once again what an amazingly difficult call it is to love others like myself. Such a high standard. I love me so much! =) So, with that said...

Anyone who is interested in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, who has a crush, who is in a relationship, whatever...you should check out this podcast I just listened to.

You can find it on iTunes, under DISCUSSIONS by Patrick Dodson. The episode is called "Unconditional Love."

It gives really good ideas for people who want to date and lays out what it means to be godly within a relationship. It will rock your world, I promise.

Thanks, Bekah and Charlie, for letting me know about it.

Peace.

So here are a few links for the Advent Conspiracy. The idea is that we are going to give up a gift this Christmas and use the money to donate to help someone in another country.

Here is the original website: Advent Conspiracy
World Concern: A website that has many easy ways to give, $70 buys a goat that can substantially support a third world family. There are also wells and other things that you can do. Check out the Global Gift Guide.

Hey :)

So I've been slacking on posts since this amazing blog started but I wanted to give all of you a random reminder...

USE YOUR LEADERS.

We love you. A lot. Don't hesitate to call us. Make sure our numbers are in your phones. If one person's busy, go on to the next. You are our favorite students in the whole world.

Also, if any girls who attended the retreat at the Schwindts' cabin have stories of how things have been going since then, please make sure to let a leader know. We get super encouraged by that kind of thing.

Walk in Christ. Love you guys.

WHY IS GOD NOT ENOUGH? This thought haunts my head. It feels like a trick question. I know He is everything. Why is He not everything we need?


Why do we need? Why did God design us so we need things other than Him? There's that song that says "You are more than enough," but how that be when we depend on people, we couldn't live without water or food and babies can't survive without touch. (This is true. We need touch, it stimulates our skin... but I'll stop because this is not a science lesson..or is it??)

Why do we need? Is it just to humble us as a reminder that we can't do it alone?

How do we honor God by eating? Is it simply a way for people to come together? Why do we need people? Is it just to encourage each other in pursuing God? Why do we need to refuel our bodies? Is this an example of how we need to daily put God in our minds and hearts to function? WHY? Why do we need sleep? Is this God's way of telling us we can't do it on our own? Is this the point? Then why is God not the only thing we need? Or is He?
During sleep when our body goes through all the rem cycles, our brain is still actually processing things. Is that the only time when we are truly silent and God can instill His truth in us?

Maybe He is everything we need, but He is so much bigger we don't understand He's in everything.



Maybe it is like this picture where once again I'm looking through a telescope(I actually took this through a telescope), so I can only see part of the trunk of a giant beautiful tree. No matter where I look, I'll only see part of the tree and not ever get the whole comprehend the whole thing because my view is so limited. Maybe God will slowly make my view bigger and I will be able to grasp these concepts..Right now I'm trying to find the significance of the portion of the tree I can see.

A great article on engaging culture from a Christian perspective. READ IT!!! It's good.

http://theresurgence.com/Six_Ways_to_Engage_Culture

We talked today in jr high about getting our own relationship with God, not one that is from our parents or from what we hear, but truly stepping out with God and taking initiative. This poem, The Vision, represents what we can be if we actually do this. We can't change the world for God if we don't know him. Our revolution starts with the basics...getting to know God. My sister Bek sent Auston and I a postcard a few months back. The front reads, "To start a REVOLUTION, one must begin with themself." How true... It begins with today, chosing to be with God above all things, growing my love and relationship with him.

Can we strive for this guys, I want to change the world...


The Vision
So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.They wouldn't even notice.They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.What is the vision ?The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.
Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.A million times a day its soldiers
choose to loosethat they might one day winthe great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"
And this is the sound of the undergroundThe whisper of history in the makingFoundations shakingRevolutionaries dreaming once againMystery is scheming in whispersConspiracy is breathing…This is the sound of the underground
And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back?Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ?
And the generation prays
like a dying manwith groans beyond talking,with warrior cries, sulphuric tears andwith great barrow loads of laughter!Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.
Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive
inside.
On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.
Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.
And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.

I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are some photos from the Sr High Girls Retreat last weekend on Lake Entiat. 

The token posed Bible picture... Anna Anderson and Molly Sligh

Molly and Anna were nice enough to let me get in their face and take pictures of them even though they felt really awkward.









The girls chased all the ducks away.


Models: Abby Hutchinson, Erica Bond, Maddy Schwindt and Nikki Arnold

Romans 12:1 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

I freaking love this verse. I have probably thought on this verse more than any other verse in the Bible. First of all, I am a worship leader and have been for quite a few years, so this verse that says the word "worship" has caught my eye as I tried to figure out what it is like to lead worship. Secondly it is a really often quoted scripture. I mean, you can find it on bumper stickers, coffee mugs, and t-shirts. Christians love this verse. So it's been a verse that I've seen a lot, heard a lot, read a lot and as a worship leader, I felt like it had something important for me to hear.

First let's just read the verse. I appeal to you therefore... One thing I learned about in SBS is whenever you see a therefore or other connecting word, you should always ask what the therefore is there for. (Corny I know, but it is true). Therefore usually connects a phrase to another phrase. For example, I woke up early in the morning, therefore I am tired at work. The last phrase is connected to the first phrase by the therefore. This may sound boring and like your first period english class, but bear with me. In the Bible, the connecting words are important because they connect two spiritual ideas. In this verse, Paul is connecting the first twelve chapters of Romans to this verse. Throughout the first 12 chapters, Paul has walked through the "Romans road" explaining that everyone is sinful, everyone rejects God, and God died on the cross so that people could be saved. He is basically laying out the whole story of salvation and how and why Jesus died for Christians. Now he moves on to chapter 12 and he says "I appeal to you therefore". So because Christ died for you, because he has forgiven your sins, because you have been saved by faith, do this.

"by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." So because of all the story of Romans, how God died, forgave, saved us, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Now a few things. First of all, the people that Paul is writing to, they understand sacrifices. They have grown up around sacrifice. If they were Jewish, they did sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem and grew up around sacrifices every year. The first five books of the Bible spend large portions about how to make sacrifices properly. If they were pagans/Gentiles, then their cultures made sacrifices to random gods. Their form of sacrifice ALWAYS involved death, blood, pain. In order for a sacrifice to be made, something had to die. It usually involved furry woodland creatures. Imagine Bambi. So they would kill these animals and the blood would be thrown around the altar or the worship area and that is how sacrifices were made.

The reason I say this is because Paul throws this idea on its head in Christianity. We are not a group of people who make dead sacrifices to appease our God, rather we are people who are the sacrifices, and not only are we the sacrifices, but we are LIVING sacrifices. We worship God as living sacrifices meaning that our life is not ours anymore, but it is alive in Christ.

So what exactly is worsip? Paul has told us how we should worship as Christians, but not what worship is. By this I mean what are the reasonings and longings behind worship. Well, worship is about giving Glory to God. The word can literally mean "worth-ship" or giving worth to something. We do this by giving our time, money, energy, attention to something. People can worship anything and do worship anything. We see this in Romans 1:24-25 when Paul says "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever blessed! Amen." Worship is when we give glory or worth to something, whether it's God the Creator or the things he creates, like sex, money, girlfriends, boyfriends, political parties, sexual preferences, or religion. When we worship these things above Jesus, it is idolatry. So worship is giving something worth or value or glory.

So essentially, Paul here is saying that because Jesus saved us, our highest goal is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to him, that this is worship. Because Jesus saved us, we need to live intentionally to give him glory. Ephesians 2:10 says "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." So Jesus has picked us out, saved us, elected us, and he did it so that we could live intentionally to give him glory. What that means is that Jesus has put you exactly where you are for a reason. Whatever school you go to, God put you there for a reason, to reach the people who are there. The gifts he gave you, he did it so that you could use them to give him glory. The parents you have, God gave you them for a reason.

What if we lived like this was true? What if we actually believed this? What would change for us? When we realize that God put us where we are for a reason, it gets sort of scary. Suddenly we are on this roller coaster ride and in an adventure. God wants us to view every moment as a planned thing where we can either choose to worship God or worship creation. So let's do it. Let's live like this. When we see the people at school, let's realize that we are put into their path to be the "aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2:15). When school gets boring and mundane, think of it as an opportunity to live on purpose.

I love to tavel. I love to go to other countries and see other cultures. I spent two years in YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and heard countless stories of people doing amazing ministry in other countries; Europe, Asia, Africa, South America. I wanted to be like them. Obviously God was to be found in third world countries and other languages but not in my suburban lifestyle. I yearned to be somewhere else, anywhere. But then God really got a hold of me and showed me how he has put me here for a reason. What once used to be a ball and chain became a place where God gave me a huge heart for. Instead of only caring about AIDS orphans (and I do, I do care about them as well), I also see the suicidal and the broken families, and the girls deciding whether to abort their babies or not. Jesus put me here to preach the gospel and show the Glory of God in the suburbs and so I hope that you take up Jesus call. I pray that God changes your heart for this place. Maybe God has called you to be a foreign missionary to Uganda, praise God, that is so awesome. But don't pine away for years and years it will take to get there, begin to see that God has a purpose for you here and live that way.

So my question; how does God want to use you where you are at? What gifts has he given you? What people are in your lives and how does God want to use you to be an aroma of life for them? Wrestle with these questions and find your answers, because it will change your life.

Hey guys!


We need your help! Kenmore is the most impoverished school in the Northshore School District, and sponsoring this school is becoming a Christmas tradition for us here at the Underground. This is a chance to brighten a child’s Christmas and to show God’s love to their parents and the staff at Kenmore! If you sign up, you'll get a "Dear Santa" letter from a kid at Kenmore Elementary. You can look over the list and decide what you will buy, and then drop it off at church by the 16th of December. I hope you are as excited as I am about continuing this tradition, and buying cute toys. Or manly toys, depending on whether you are sponsoring a boy or a girl...


Feel free to email me with any questions. Thank you so much for helping us make Christmas a little brighter for these children! Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Suksan wan Krismat! Selamat Hari Natal! Joyeux Noel! Froehliche Weihnachten! I wanted to make sure to cover all of our languages here..

Love,
Holly


P.S. That adorable baby is my nephew, Ben.