Underground ReLOVEution

After great pain a formal feeling comes--
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions--was it He that bore?
And yesterday--or centuries before?
The feet, mechanical, go round
A wooden way
Of ground, or air, or ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment, like a stone.

This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the snow--
First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.

-Emily

We need to get this started up again...seriously.

SUMMER CAMP IS COMING! Maybe yall should post a favorite camp memory. ONE OF MINE IS....

Sitting under the trees and having quiet time and feeling the warm wind. Yeah. Sorry, I guess that was a little anticlimactic, wasn't it? But the sun has baked my brain to a toasty 100 degrees, and the bubbling swirling melting pot that is my cranium can't support much more than that. Maybe you can do better!

Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says

By Faith Karimi
CNN

(CNN) -- Christian Eshiett was a rambunctious pre-teen who spent a lot of time cavorting with his friends in southern Nigeria. He would skip school and run away from home for days, frustrating his grandfather, who oversaw the boy's care.


Children branded as witches protest on February 26, 2009, in the southern Nigerian city of Eket.

"I beat him severely with canes until they broke, yet he never shed a tear," said Eshiett Nelson Eshiett, 76. "One day, I took a broom to hit him and he started crying. Then I knew he was possessed by demons. ... Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms."

From that day two years ago, Christian, now 14, was branded a witch. The abuse intensified.

"They would take my clothes off, tie me up and beat me," he told CNN in a telephone interview.

The teen is one of the so-called witch children in Eket, a city in oil-rich Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria.

They are blamed for causing illness, death and destruction, prompting some communities to put them through harrowing punishments to "cleanse" them of their supposed magical powers.

"Children accused of witchcraft are often incarcerated in churches for weeks on end and beaten, starved and tortured in order to extract a confession," said Gary Foxcroft, program director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a nonprofit that helps alleged witch children in the region.

Many of those targeted have traits that make them stand out, including learning disabilities, stubbornness and ailments such as epilepsy, he added.

The issue of "child witches" is soaring in Nigeria and other parts of the world, Foxcroft said.

The states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River have about 15,000 children branded as witches, and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets, he said.

Christian ran away from home and wandered around for two years with other children similarly accused. He said they stole, begged for food and performed menial jobs to survive.

The plight of "child witches" is raising concern among aid organizations, including the United Nations.

"It is a growing issue worldwide, among not just African communities, but in countries such as Nepal as well," said Jeff Crisp, head of policy development and evaluation for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "We are trying to see whether it is a neglected protected issue."

Belief in witchcraft thrives worldwide. About 1,000 people accused of being witches in Gambia were locked in detention centers in March and forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, human rights organization Amnesty International said.

In 2005, relatives of an 8-year-old Angolan girl living in England were convicted of torturing her for being a "witch," according to the Times Online.

Pastors have been accused of worsening the problem by claiming to have powers to recognize and exorcise "child witches," sometimes for a fee, aid workers said.

But some are true believers, such as one minister in Lagos, Nigeria. He pinpoints children affected by witchcraft for free, he said.

"Sometimes, we get a dream that shows us a certain person is suffering from witchcraft," said the Rev. Albert Aina, a senior pastor at Four Square Gospel Church. "Sometimes, you have a child who has inexplicable body marks because of struggling in the night. They are easy to identify, but why charge when you have been given a gift by God?" Aina said.

Once a child is branded a witch, the stigma can last forever.

Christian was reunited with his grandfather, a former theater instructor at a university in Nigeria. Eshiett said he let his son's child return home because he loves him and he advocates for youth education.

But, he added, he does not think Christian has been or can be freed from witchcraft.

"When you are possessed, you are possessed; no one can deliver you from Satan," Eshiett said, adding that his grandson is a witch because he still exhibits unruly behavior and does not take education seriously.

Aid organizations acknowledge that the belief is acceptable and popular in some communities.

"It is not the belief in witchcraft that we are concerned about," Foxcroft said. "We acknowledge people's right to hold this belief on the condition that this does not lead to child abuse."

Foxcroft, whose documentary, "Saving Africa's Witch Children," was broadcast last year, spoke to a U.N. panel on the issue in April.

The aid worker said he is planning a global conference in 2010 and public awareness campaigns, including addressing the issue in Nigerian movies. The nation's film industry, dubbed Nollywood, is a popular form of entertainment in African countries.

Government officials also have joined the fight.

Akwa Ibom recently added a clause into the Child Rights Act, saying that anyone found guilty of branding a child a witch would get up to 12 years in prison.

"This is groundbreaking, and Stepping Stones Nigeria applauds the Akwa Ibom state government for this," Foxcroft said.

But, he added, there is more work to be done, and other groups, especially churches, have to team up to resolve the problem.

"The role of the international Christian community in this cannot be underestimated," Foxcroft said. "Unfortunately, the fact remains that this belief system is being spread by so-called Christians."

CNN's attempts to reach Akwa Ibom state officials through phone calls and e-mails were unsuccessful. A Nigerian federal communications official declined to comment.

Videos on Youtube. For some reason I can't embed these videos, but I would encourage you to take the time out of your day to watch them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJSME0TORw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7C8Znyf510
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE8epBkSPfo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYG-h1avVrc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nH8ZJbJ9lY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXUKF8dHf4A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-9wKZMuRG0

Children of the Nations - Feeding Children of the Nations


Holly Sturm is our outreach team leader that planned for a group of us to help out at this event.
We poured rice, lentils, chicken powder and seasoning through a funnel and into these bags.

Some people played....
Some people pretended to have a bad attitude....
Some people were happy....
And some people had fun....
But we filled a lot of these...
That filled a lot of those boxes...
And stacked them...
To fill this cargo container....


We helped them package 285,000 meals that are going to be shipped to Sierra Leone. That is a LOT of meals. If you think about it....that's a lot of lives saved. For those of you that gave up part of your Saturday afternoon, I am proud of you. We can make a difference, and we are changing the world by how we live.

For those of you that did not make it, I hope you can next year... OR.... We do have the opportunity to host our own, like a 2K, or however big you can come up with. If you guys are interested... It was a lot of fun.

There were infants...
Even tiny kids helped...
Groups of friends had fun...

Grandma's were proud of their families that helped...

Father's were proud...
Families helped together...
And some volunteers stayed all day long.

These guys are friends with my older sibings

My clock is broken. I don't even know when the hands stopped moving. I didn't look at it often because I was too lazy to take it off the wall and adjust to daylight savings time. I did not notice my clock was not working because it continued to tick. The ticking that can be heard when the house is silent was all I noticed from the clock. It took several glances in a week to recognize my clock was not keeping time. It filled the void of silence and even decor theme on my wall, but did not serve the purpose it was designed for.

I can go to church, serve as a leader and try my best to follow rules, or even attend a Bible study [all that ticking], but if I am not connected to God and loving others, the purpose is missed entirely [telling time]. Last week Steve talked about the simple answer Jesus gave us: Love God and love people. If you are just following rules, you've missed the point entirely. Love is not a set of rules.

I could let that clock tick until the battery dies, but the fact is something is internally broken, keeping the clock from serving its purpose. Now it's just taking wasting space on my floor.
Is something broken inside your clock and you're just hoping no one will look close enough long enough to realize the hands aren't moving at all?

Sometimes I feel empty inside. My hands aren't moving. I'm going no where. My clock is not working. I serve no purpose. Then I remember, Jesus is my battery. Jesus is my clockwork. Jesus is my reason to keep time and if I am the clock, I won't be reading my own time. If I am the clock, God is the one looking. ...that could go into a whole other idea of how we don't see or need to know what positive affects we have in serving God, and we just need to do it no matter what, but I'll save it for another time...

If you're just ticking without working, we are here for you. Consider your leaders assistants to the clock master [God].

Come with your friends to Mill Creek Foursquare Church in Lynwood on May 2nd! We will be packaging meals during a two-hour time slot (to be determined by when most people can go.) Each meal consists of lentils, rice, fortified chicken powder, and dried vegetables. Last year, Children of the Nations shipped out 285,000 meals after this event! The food, packaging, and shipping for each meal costs 25 cents, and each person who comes is encouraged to raise around $60 to pay for the food we are packaging, but if you can't come up with that much, come and help anyway!

SO EXCITED!

Holly

On Sunday Junior High had intercession outside with chalk and this is some of what happened....





By Ryan Anderson.













(Caleb was really excited about the game we played...)

I just wrote out a really long letter, getting down some of the thoughts and confusion that has been crashing around inside of my head (picture a clothes drier with a few wrenches thrown in.) I noticed something. I put a lot of consideration into making sure that I don't limit what God can do with my life. I don't want to shut doors that God wants to leave open, and so a lot of time is spent second guessing and triple guessing decisions; making sure they aren't getting in the way of God's plans for using me.

Which is great!

But if I were to compare the time I spend actively seeking God and being with him, to the time I worry about the future; well, it wouldn't be a pretty picture.

I need to make movements toward a life rooted more deeply in God, instead of what God has planned for me to accomplish.

Jon told me about this last night...I've watched it about 15 times now and I still can't stop watching it and wanting to yell with him at the end. Watch it watch it watch it!

Love you guys :)

That Destiny's Child reference might be lost on some of you...but that is a risk I'm willing to take.

Independence is part of the American ideal. Never mind, it is THE American ideal these days. We need to be financially successful at a young age so we don't need to depend on anybody else. I have been told a few times that I should live with at least a few different men before I get married...that way, I will be prepared if my husband ever leaves me. I should focus on school and work, and make sure I don't get too wrapped up in my friends. A responsible person makes sure they are a great friend, but doesn't really need friends; they draw their strength from within themselves.

But here's the thing: It's all a big joke. None of it's true. Hallelujah.

We need each other! The other day I tried pretending that I didn't really need my friends, and let's just say they saw right through me. When you are a part of the body of Christ, it's like you're part of this amazing revolution. My friends aren't people I just hang out with. These are my coworkers; this is my family! I am convinced that there is no human relationship more rewarding than working with another to further the kingdom of God. Sometimes when I am spending time with you kids, I can't help rejoicing for what is around the bend...and you have no idea! You are friends now, and you tell each other your secrets and you have fun, but just wait. You will go through thick and thin together, and you will go from being friends to being coworkers (which may sound like a downgrade, but I promise you it isn't.) When you are working together for Jesus, you'll confess to one another, you'll help each other through horrible times, you'll help others together, you will sweat, you will cry, you will feel like you want to give up, but they won't let you.

So, back to my point about dependence. We are so wholly and completely dependant on God. of course he wants us to be interconnected; to truly love each other. God has never intended that we would live our lives in isolation. In fact, we are the body of Christ, and I don't recall ever looking at a severed hand and saying, "wow, now that is a useful hand. Look at everything it can do." No, I think my reaction would be to try to look around for whoever had lost their hand and help them get to the hospital...

So maybe, if you look around and realize that you aren't in community with the body of Christ, you should go to the hospital. Pray and ask God to lead you in the direction of Godly people who you should pursue a relationship with.

You can follow the Thailand Missions Team as we leave Tuesday the 24th through April 5th on the Underground Missions blog. Here is the link: http://umissions.blogspot.com

You know what one of the best parts of my day is? Receiving a text from you.

You guys text us youth leaders like crazy and we LOVE it. Okay, sometimes we are confused by your newfangled hipster slang words and sometimes we're less than excited by the 3 a.m. "Hey, how's it going?" text...but in general we are stoked to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly as it happens in your life.

I am writing this post to challenge you to take the next step. Inviting us into your lives is fantastic. The fact that you trust us enough to share your secrets and agony and annoyances - amazing. Now I want to encourage you to invite God in as well.

I have told one student in particular at least once a day that she needs to bring her Bible to school with her. I'm sure she's sick of hearing it. But here's the thing: God's word is life and power and encouragement and joy and a reminder of what we're all about. So help it help you.

You don't necessarily need to lug the entire freaking book around - it does get heavy - but have some form of His word on you at all times. Let God get the final say in your day-to-day stresses and agony. Copy a Psalm into your notebook. Write a verse on your wrist. Text one to yourself in the morning before you go to school so you can read it later in the day. Text your friend the same verse to share the love. Email a passage to yourself. Get online during lunch if the drama gets out of hand and read the Bible online at www.niv.org.

I'm encouraging you to get serious about this commitment you made to God - and the one He's made to you. Don't waste his word.

Love you guys.

Clarissa is leading a team to Parras Mexico in June and early July of this year. Information coming soon on where to pick up information and when the application window is. We are all very excited to be able to have a team visit Vida Nueva again this year.

For my conscience is held captive by the Word of God and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me. --Martin Luther

Yesterday I had to repent. I asked God to forgive me for four disobedient years spent at the University of Washington.

For six weeks after I graduated from high school I bummed around at the YWAM base in Culiacan, Mexico. I wasn't very productive there. In fact, I was often more of a hindrance than a help. But God had big plans for me this trip that had nothing to do with building houses or becoming fluent in Spanish. Instead, he ignited within me an excitement and passion for ministry and missions and living a life based on faith alone.

In Mexico I began dreaming grand dreams of raising financial support in order to work full-time with YOU, the youth group, and forsaking my spot at the University of Washington, where I had reluctantly registered for fall quarter. College seemed like death to me, and ministry like life.

My parents weren't stoked about my awesome ministry plan. When I returned from Mexico they repeated the same concerns that had caused me to apply and register at UW in the first place - they worried that if I didn't go to school right away, I never would, they were afraid I wouldn't be able to provide for myself in the "real world," and my mom in particular expressed her fears about me unexpectedly being left alone to fend for myself if my (future) husband were to somehow fall out of the picture.

Their arguments seemed just rational enough to convince me. At the time, however, I didn't realize that they were so deeply rooted in fear and a lack of faith in God.

I trusted their opinions a bit, but could not completely ignore God's calling elsewhere. As a result I ended up spending four years at the university. I made a few friends, learned some, grew some, worshiped some, traveled some...and was kicking and screaming the entire time because I knew deep in my heart that God had called me to something dramatically different.

I thought during this time that I had chosen the "safe" path. And God knows, as my parents completed a divorce during my college years that turned my world upside-down, my heart craved safety and security.

This is why Martin Luther's words (above) cut deep into my heart as I read them today..."to act against conscience is neither right nor safe." For me to have denied the Holy Spirit's urgent prompting for four years had perhaps placed me in a more secure financial life situation, but left me on rocky ground with my powerful, almighty God. It is not safe to deny him...

Not only that, but I'm sad to think about what I might have happened if I had chosen to trust God a little bit more than the opinions of people around me. And I'm not just talking about parents. Seniors in high school know that everyone likes to offer their opinion about your future. It's inevitable. But the fact that I exalted fear above faith meant that I missed out on seeing where God may have wished to lead me during that time of my life. I'm glad for the advice and wisdom of people who are older than me...as long as they don't contradict God's personal words to me.

I'm not going to wallow forever in the past and regret my decisions...however, the evaluation of my past leads me to consider my present and future life: "Am I trusting God now the way I wish I would have back then?"

God is the one we are ultimately accountable to. We gave our lives over to Him when we accepted Jesus.

Before I close, let me be clear about two things. First, I don't believe that the university itself was evil. Considering my parents' thoughts and wanting to honor them wasn't sinful. Desiring to be wise financially and vocationally isn't wicked. It was simply the un-faith-filled motivation that made this a poor choice for me. I made fear a god instead of fearing God. I trusted others for my future instead of relying on the One who actually ordained each of my days.

Second, I do not believe that God has written me off simply because I disobeyed him at a certain fork in the road. That would not be the God of the Bible. The book of Jonah gives me a lot of relief. God pursues, and pursues, and pursues....and pursues. He redeems all things and does not cast us off forever.

I know now that fear of man is never a good motivation for anything as we attempt to pursue a life of faith. What we fear we tend to obey. Be cautious and wise and humble as you talk to others about your future. And talk to God about it more than you discuss it with them.

The path you walk as you follow your conscience (the urgings of the Holy Spirit) make the least sense to those around you, may involve physical danger, may require you to sacrifice the very things that give you your sense of comfort and security and well-being, and yet will undoubtedly be the only safe road to tread. This is the path of fear and trembling before an almighty, loving God.

On April 15th Hillsong United is going to be playing down in Seattle. The tickets are $10 and can be found here. If anyone interested in heading down together, let me know. Should be an awesome night.

Here are some links about fasting as we start this Lent season. Read if you want.

Spiritual Disciplines: Fasting (TheResurgence)
The Art of Fasting (Neue Ministry)

Love you guys.

I've been listening to these songs recently and I really like them. We should do them for Tuesday night. I'll talk to the worship leader about that.

Your Name High


Run


Desert Song

OK, so I'm gonna try this. I hope it doesn't crash and burn. If at the end of this post you think I'm a super nerd, well, you're probably right.

I love baseball. Like I'm a weird fanatic. Besides reading my Bible and learning about Jesus, most of my time consists of reading about the Mariners and baseball in general. Some people geek out over video games, other people about movies, I'm a geek when it comes to baseball. This doesn't mean a thing except I wanted to bring the two together, Jesus and Baseball. This may not make sense to some of you, but let me give it a shot.

Over the last few years there has been a lot of controversy about steroids in baseball. Different studies and investigations have come to light that show that a good portion of players over the last 10+ years have been using steroids heavily and there has been a bunch of reactions. Some people shrug their shoulders and continue to watch, others berate the players for their bad behavior, and still others look at the commissioner, the owners, and the media and get angry at them. I won't get into my full opinion because most of you just don't care, but I want to talk about something else.

If the IRS sent out a letter to all American citizens and told them that they weren't going to be auditing anyone on their taxes and that they just expected people to pay their taxes honestly, how many people would do it? How many people do you think would actually pay their taxes if they knew that no one was watching and that there was no punishment if they fudged the numbers or didn't pay at all. This is the exact situation that the commissioner created and the owners created by not testing players for banned substance. Everyone had their hands in the steroid scandal and everyone inside the game knew about what was going on but let it happen because they were making money off of the players hitting lots of homeruns. Now the facts come to light and the owners and commissioner act self-righteous and point fingers at the players and say how bad they are.

Back to our original question. How many would be honest if there was no repercussions? This was the situation that baseball found itself in for the last ten years. No one was checking in on it and so the players did everything they could to perform at a higher level and make a bigger paycheck.

So, what does this have to do with Jesus? Well, my point is that this is what to expect for people who don't know Jesus.

Romans 1 talks about how sin is where people exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature (created things) rather than the Creator. So sin is a worship issue. What happens is people have a "functional hell" this is something that people feel would be their hell if it happened. For some it would be to lonely, for others it is to be unvaluable, for others it is to be poor or without status and for others it is to be ignored. Essentially it is something that we make a hell for us. Then what we do is find a functional savior to save us from our hell. For people who don't want to be lonely, they will worship a relationship or a friendship. They figure that this boyfriend will save them from loneliness or will make them feel valued. Others will make money their functional savior. They will try and get the biggest salary or the biggest house to make them feel valuable and so they worship at the feet of money so they can be saved from their functional hell.

For these baseball players, I'm assuming their functional savior was money or fame. They wanted to feel valuable and so they worshiped at the feet of their athletic ability so that they could be saved from their hell of being poor and being unimportant. Instead of worshiping Jesus, they took steroids. Now their sin wasn't the action, but rather was their wrong worship.

In Romans 1, Paul goes on to explain that because people sinned in not worshiping Jesus, then all of these other things came out. Because of their wrong worship, "they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." (Romans 1:29-32 ESV). You see, our tendency is to view sin as bad things you do. So if you smoke, drink, sleep around, lie, cheat or murder, you are a bad person, but if you don't do those things, you are a good person.
For you students, people will look at you and say "they are good kids, they don't drink, smoke, or sleep around and they go to youth group every week. Yeah, maybe they are overly competative or very extroverted, but that's not a bad thing." What they aren't seeing is that within your heart, you are sinning by not worshiping Jesus. Your competativeness isn't a sin, but the fact that it comes out of a heart that is competative because it wants to be valuable and worships at winning instead of worshiping Jesus. Being extroverted isn't a sin, but it comes from a heart that wants to be loved by and finding value in people rather than trusting in Jesus. The person who rapes because he wants to be loved and the person who is just overly flirty becasue she wants to be loved and noticed both have the same sin. They both worship something other than Jesus to fulfill their functinal savior role.

This is why God can say that all sin is equal. In reality, if a white lie and murder are both sins, there is no way that God can see them the same, but if Jesus sees our hearts and our wrong worship, he can say that.

Another way to look at it is that bad action is a symptom of the disease of sin. If you have a cold, you know because of the symptoms. You have a cough, a runny nose, a sore throat, always tired, etc. These symptoms tell you something is wrong inside of you. In the same way, if you had a cancer and you were always tired and had headaches and got nautious, the real disease is the cancer, not the symptoms. If you spent all your time dealing with the symptoms and never dealt with the disease, you wouldn't get very far. In the same way, if you keep trying to change your behaviours and don't deal with the underlying worship issues, you're wasting your time. That's why we call ourselves the Underground, because we want to deal with heart issues, and not surfacy behaviour issues.

Back to steroids. This is what we should expect. I'm not trying to make a claim that these baseball players aren't saved, I don't know. All I know is that if people don't have Jesus, their only hope is to worship created things to fill in the void and to solve their problems. Even Christians struggle with wrong worship and so what we need to remember is that our hope doesn't come from a girlfriend, a paycheck, our athletic ability, or our jobs, but rather our hope is in Jesus, that he is the only Savior that will last.

Jesus wins.

*note, if you are not an Office fan, please disregard the first bajillion sentences.

I have a challenge for you guys...

Here is your mission, if you choose to accept it.

I'm excited to reveal to you something I've been thinking about.

Gooooood morning Vietnaaaaaaaam!!!!!

Welcome to the Bothell Outreach Massacre! *chain saw noises*

Outweach. Outweach is what bwings us togethah, today.

I like to try out different openings when I know that time is not a factor.

Okay, now I'm serious.

Here is my challenge: Next time you have a project, paper, or research assignment for school, make something useful out of it. Do you have to write a paper about a health issue? Find out about the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe, AIDS in Africa, or the effects of working in the mines of central Africa! Even if the topic is a bit of a reach, teachers will most likely be willing to let you bend the rules if your topic is something you genuinely care about.

For example:

• I had to present about a song, I presented about Invisible Children, and talked about the use of music in their campaign.
• I needed to talk about a health issue, so I talked about AIDS and child prostitution in Thailand.
• I needed to present a poem, so I read from Victor Hugo's Les Chatiments, about social justice.

There are numerous benefits to this:

• You can inform your classmates about something that is important to you.
• You can represent Jesus by showing that you care about others.
• You can get a better grade; if you are motivated, you WILL do better in school!
• You won't need to fake your way through your paper and presentation.
• You can spend time learning about something you care about.

And last but not least, my favorite...

You can inform the youth group by leading an intercession!

Just throwing it out there, guys, but I'd love to see what happened if you took this idea and ran with it.

So again I wanted to start a discussion to see what you guys think. Something I've been thinking about is how attractional should church be? Let me explain.

I used to think that worship and church shouldn't change the way they do things to get more people in. I saw "seeker sensitive" churches that lacked depth and just tried to be attractive and not really do anything and I got turned off. So every time I led worship I wanted it to be crazy spiritual and weird and if people didn't like it, than screw them. In essence.

What I've noticed is that being attractional and being shallow don't have to be connected. What I mean is (and I could totally be wrong on this), what if a church had really good music and the music was more "showy" than other churches, but the preaching was really focused on Jesus and very biblical and people were getting saved, repenting of their sin, and living like mature Christians? Is this any worse than really emotional, spirit-led worship that doesn't attract a lot of people but gives people the Jesus high for a few hours? Of course I want the Holy Spirit to give me the "Jesus shivers" but when I think about what is longer lasting, biblical preaching that causes me to repent is higher on the list.

I don't know, I'm ranting, but I figured it would be a good conversation starter.

So, how attractional should our church/youth group be?

I just watched Jesus Camps for the first time tonight.............How do I explain my feelings. First off nothing they did in the film shocked me at all, which scared me. I was watching my childhood unfold in this film. Words cannot explain the outrage I feel at this moment from the indoctrination I grew up in. Don't get me wrong the topics discussed in the film are somewhat legit, but the motivation of guilt and fear not so much. And what really pissed me off the most is the burdens placed on these children. These children sobbing and downtrodden because of issues such as abortion or whether or not Bush's pick for supreme court justice will go through or not. I remember growing up in that. Of feeling the weight of this "horrible horrible" liberal and ungodly world we live in. I remember being scared while I held up anti abortion signs in the ghetto with my family as the ungodly people with purple hair and piercings walked by and told us we were stupid, which is something as an adult I would do in a heartbeat......but as a child? I had such a tender heart as a kid and would cry over anything. What about God's love? I wish I had learned more about that as a kid. What about all the issues that were going on in my home that nobody in my church knew about or even "discerned' about. Never was there a sermon preached on the anxiety I felt as a child. Never did a youth leader really ask me how I was doing, if I was really happy. No, everything was about did I really know I was saved? Had I told all my friends about Jesus because if not then obviously I really didn't have him in my heart. I pledged to the Christian flag and did the pledges to the Bible. I sang songs about being in the Lord's army. Most of the kids that I grew up in the south with who were homeschooled with me or went to church with me, they don't know Jesus. Why? Because the real Jesus was never actually introduced or shown to them. After numerous summer camps of just sessions and no recreation allowed except for a game of dodgeball after dinner to stay active. These years were the hardest of my life. Because I was so depressed on the inside and didn't even know it, because Christians don't get depressed. My best friend growing up has become a stripper and is now an alcoholic and she doesn't even care. Another lives on the street and is a crack whore. I didn't meet a christian who was against war until i did YWAM when I was 17. I was shocked and thought them a blasphemer.

Yes, this world is a horrible place. Yes, our country does need Jesus. But guess what thats been the story of the world since day one. Our world has not gotten progressively worse....its always been "worse". I love this world. Why? Because I see God all around me in this world and I find it absolutely gorgeous. Yes, I pray for my government and yes I hate abortion. But guess what, putting that burden on your innocent tenderhearted children is wrong. How different would my life have been if it had been founded on the love of God and appreciating a beautiful world around me. I'm not ready to leave. I don't wake up every morning praying that Jesus would come back. Because by doing that I've missed everything.

I praise God that I eventually found him in my later teenage years. That I was able to disregard indoctrination. It wasn't until that point in my life that I was able to fall completely in love with my savior because I could be just His daughter now and not a soldier in his army.

The February 4 devotional from Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest) reminded me of Jon's message from Tuesday night about evangelism. It's a tough and holy challenge but one I would spend my entire life to seek.

VERSE: "For the love of Christ controls us..." (2 Corinthians 5:14).

And the OzC says this: "Paul says he is overruled, overmastered, held as in a vice, by the love of Christ. Very few of us know what it means to be held in a grip by the love of God...Paul says he is gripped by the love of God, that is why he acts as he does. Men may call him mad or sober, but he does not care; there is only one thing he is living for, and that is to persuade men of the judgment seat of God, and of the love of Christ. This abandon to the love of Christ is the one thing that bears fruit in the life, and it will always leave the impression of the holiness and of the power of God, never of our personal holiness."

Okay, my version might be more confusing than yours because mine is an old edition I found at a garage sale. But I hope the point was clear.

The love of Christ - his love for us or ours for him? - is worth everything. My goal is to be motivated by this in every area of my life.

Also, MY SELF-OBSESSION IS OUT OF CONTROL! I am usually far more concerned about my own personal holiness (and wanting everyone else to recognize it) than I am sincerely concerned about other people's souls and lives. Yep, you can say it now - I'm a big joke.

Well, let's be honest - so are you :)

So, can we get real? Let's take an brutally honest look at our motivations, our relationship with God, the lies we tell ourselves and the games we try to play. The ways we aren't being upfront with God or other people. The moments when we care more about looking Christian than about actually letting Jesus get the glory.

We are ridiculous and lame and beloved of God. Amen.

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Here are some songs I was patrolling through YouTube and found. Some new, some old.

So that last few posts have sparked some inspiration on what to write. As I was reading through these ideas, I wanted to flesh them out a little bit more and see where they go. First I need to give you guys some background. Since I've been going to youth group, I've loved this place. I feel like this youth group is an amazing place to be deep, honest about who you are, and feel loved. A lot of other people I've talked to agree with me and love coming to the youth group because there is love and Jesus and depth there. I pretty much started coming to youth group since Steve started being youth pastor and so I've grown up under Steve's leadership for a long time. When I was going through high school, there was a great group of students in the youth group. Molly, Holly, Ruthann, Bekah, Callie, Charlie, Lacey, Auston, Jacob, Jason... the list goes on. What amazes me about the youth group is that a LOT of people who come out of the youth group go onto to live devoted lives to Jesus. Most youth groups have their students leave and then when there is no youth group, they fall apart and leave Jesus. That doesn't happen as much as normal in this youth group and you can see it in how many youth group graduates go on to do DTS, Bible School, College, and other stuff (like youth staff). People continue to live for Jesus even when they get out of youth group, which is awesome and rare.

This last year a lot of the students who graduated through youth group came back on staff and so the youth staff has been going through changes. Steve had an awesome idea and he divided the youth group into different ministries (outreach, inreach, sound, worship, arts team, food team, girls team, boys team, etc.) Each of us leaders took over a team with the goal of getting students involved and creating a really good ministry. Holly took outreach team and has assembled a team to go out and work with different local ministries and serve the broken. More importantly, or just as importantly, we had the goal of developing leaders who could take over for us if any of us left (go to another state, die, normal stuff like that). Steve realized that if more people were able to grab onto a ministry and run with it, it would grow much bigger than Steve could do by himself.

This has gotten me so excited. I've seen a whole bunch of youth leaders really grow in maturity and become good leaders because of their role on these teams. I've also seen a lot of students grow in leadership as they've become part of these teams and start taking responsibilities. It's caused the youth group to grow up a whole lot more and mature a whole lot more.

Still, why do I write all that?

I write it because the dreaming is not done. The reason I wrote down the dreams I did a couple of posts ago is because I want you guys to not stop dreaming. It is my hope that everyone of you becomes a part of a team and runs with your own idea. Some of these ideas are not going to happen, but maybe God is pressing on your heart to start one of these things. Maybe he wants to grow you in ways you couldn't imagine. So many churches have a few paid pastors and then a whole bunch of followers. Most church-goers are spiritual gluttons, relying on the pastor to teach them, to lead them, to serve them, to feed them. They come to church expecting one stop shopping for their spiritual appetite. God has called all of us to be a part of this, not just Steve or the leaders. We want you guys to get involved and star becoming a part of the youth group bigger than you could have imagined.

As I go forward I'm going to flesh out some of the dreams I wrote about, but I want you guys to continue dreaming, and maybe some of the ideas will spark you to run with them or come up with your own. Steve always says that you can change the world. He doesn't mean you can change the world when you graduate, but rather that you can change the world now. Become a part of what God is doing and dream.

Adding on to what Jon said, here are the things I pray will happen!

Training for staff and students

-Dealing with substance abuse
-Dealing with eating disorders
-Dealing with psychiatric disorders
- Evangelism
-Cross cultural ministries
-Spanish class!
-Ending injustice!!!!

Church wide intercession

Inductive Bible

Work at a soup kitchen regularly-until we have our own!

All of Steve’s leadership positions filled and more!

Outreach team leading their own ministries!

More information on the website

Let’s build a well in Africa.

Let’s get people over to hook up Candice’s solar panels!

Let’s get to South America, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe.

Let’s get to know our beautiful state and how to help people in every nook and cranny.

I dream about a church where everybody knows about people like Joseph Kony. I dream about a church where newcomers don’t need to even know that the LRA exists, because the war WILL END! We will see that day…Amen.

So the other day I was standing amongst a flock of pigeons with my camera and they slowly became accustom to my presence. Even though I am not a bird they didn’t mind I was there after a while and I was able to get closer to them. While hoping not to get pooped on, I began to wonder, if I allow things to remain in my heart or life that don't belong, after a while will I not recognize how anomalous their presence is? Given a picture of a human and flock of birds, a kindergartner could clearly point out which doesn’t fit, but it's harder to see from the inside. I fear that if I don’t get rid of the things in my life that don’t belong, I may eventually accept flaws for truth and they will become embedded lies in the foundation of my character like paw prints in a sidewalk.

Maybe this is why we need to bring our burdens to God daily and clean our closets regularly...

P.S. I thought this pigeon was going to walk into me and looked really goofy...

I found a video online yesterday and I wanted to share it with you.

First, I try not to be too political when talking about Jesus. Too many Christians on both side of the aisle have hijacked Jesus to support their party and I hate that more than almost anything in the world. Jesus was neither Republican nor Democrat.

That being said, I think that abortion is one of the worst social justice issues facing Christians today and so when I saw this video, I got excited.

It's not polarizing, it's not attacking and it's not hateful, but it is a creative way to get people to rethink their views on the sanctity of a life.

and to die is gain. So this is my first post, and I'm kind of exited. I've been reading a lot about this passage these last couple months. Excuse my rambling.

I'm tired of not writing anything. I always get a great idea of some pearl of wisdom to share with you guys, but then I get a little of the way into it and then I can never finish the idea. Anyway, I wanted to do a little project. Let me start with some background.

I'm a dreamer. I like big ideas and I usually get some crazy ones. Me and Charlie have talked about opening up different business that range from a T-Shirt making company, web design firm, and brewery. I always talk about some grandiose idea that I want the youth group to do or I want to do with my friends, and very few come to fruition. This post isn't about the negatives of dreaming though, this is about the positives. I think that God gives some people dreams. Some are just fancy ideas that don't ever happen, but you gotta have those dreamers who push everyone else to do big things. Even if only a few stick, at least those few stuck. So I'm going to post all the big, crazy, weird ideas I have for our church/youth group and I want you guys to add to them. Don't think that your ideas are stupid... maybe they are, but this is a safe place, and maybe something you think is stupid is exactly what God wants to do. So here goes... Feel free to add in the comments section.

A Bible school
A DTS that is connected to the church
Doing missions trips twice a year to different countries every time.
A newspaper/magazine
A recording studio
A coffee shop for people to hang out at and students to come to
A place for homeless people to live
A place where prayer is going on 24/7
A group that does art for Jesus
A dance team
Concerts
Conferences
A huge outreach ministry that goes to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, places that serve single mothers, widows, disabled, elderly people and everyone else... and orphans.
An awesome worship ministry where we record music and write our own songs.
A cool video ministry where we create videos for all sorts of things
Poetry readings
Cafe nights where people perform their art
Lots of small groups where people get to know each other on a more personal level

Those are just some of my ideas. Some are already happening, some are never going to happen. What are some dreams that you guys have?

Today I stumbled upon this singer, Rick Pino. Amazed by his voice and his lyrics, I youtubed him. That may have been a mistake. I was a little dissapointed when I found this video. I'm not quite sure what I think of this and it makes me wonder what God thinks. Maybe I'm just synical though...hmmm....
PS. I have no idea how to put a video clip on here. So just follow the link. Lame...I know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYrKgrkIrg8

Molly

Envy and Avarice, one summer day,
Sauntering abroad
In quest of the abode
Of some poor wretch or fool who lived that way--
You--or myself, perhaps--I cannot say--
Along the road, scarce heeding where it tended,
Their way in sullen, sulky silence wended;

For, though twin sisters, these two charming creatures,
Rivals in hideousness of form and features,
Wasted no love between them as they went.
Pale Avarice,
With gloating eyes,
And back and shoulders almost double bent,
Was hugging close that fatal box
For which she's ever on the watch
Some glance to catch
Suspiciously directed to its locks;
And Envy, too, no doubt with silent winking
At her green, greedy orbs, no single minute
Withdrawn from it, was hard a-thinking
Of all the shining dollars in it.

The only words that Avarice could utter,
Her constant doom, in a low, frightened mutter,
"There's not enough, enough, yet in my store!"
While Envy, as she scanned the glittering sight,
Groaned as she gnashed her yellow teeth with spite,
"She's more than me, more, still forever more!"

Thus, each in her own fashion, as they wandered,
Upon the coffer's precious contents pondered,
When suddenly, to their surprise,
The God Desire stood before their eyes.
Desire, that courteous deity who grants
All wishes, prayers, and wants;
Said he to the two sisters:
"Beauteous ladies,
As I'm a gentleman, my task and trade is
To be the slave of your behest--
Choose therefore at your own sweet will and pleasure,
Honors or treasure!
Or in one word, whatever you'd like best.
But, let us understand each other--she
Who speaks the first, her prayer shall certainly
Receive--the other, the same boon, redoubled!"

Imagine how our amiable pair,
At this proposal, all so frank and fair,
Were mutually troubled!
Misers and enviers, of our human race,
Say, what would you have done in such a case?
Each of the sisters murmured, sad and low
"What boots it, oh, Desire, to me to have
Crowns, treasures, all the goods that heart can crave,
Or power divine bestow,
Since still another must have always more?"

So each, lest she should speak before
The other, hesitating slow and long
Till the god lost all patience, held her tongue.
He was enraged, in such a way,
To be kept waiting there all day,
With two such beauties in the public road;
Scarce able to be civil even,
He wished them both--well, not in heaven.

Envy at last the silence broke,
And smiling, with malignant sneer,
Upon her sister dear,
Who stood in expectation by,
Ever implacable and cruel, spoke"I would be blinded of one eye!"

-Victor Hugo, from Le Conservateur Litaraire, 1820

Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves - blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do...

Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus.

I started to pray in my car today on the way home from Bible study at Molly's house, "God I thank you-"

"Don't talk."

I shut up. And I knew why I wasn't supposed to; this routine was becoming cliche. I didn't say "okay, I won't, but what do you want me to do?" I just stopped. My brain quit cranking, stopped thinking of things to tell him. I looked at a tree. Just looked at the tree and kept it in my mind and let the tree sit in my head for awhile, appreciating the way it looked. Appreciating this Earth God created (the way it makes me feel.) I didn't say "Thank you for making this tree," I just let the tree sit, and knew I didn't need to talk about it. Then I moved onto another image and let that image stick in my head. Me and Ruthann having coffee at the Lyon's den. Next: my mom. Next: sitting on swings at night with my friend Elle. Next: Imagining images of the friendships I could cultivate with the girls I had just spent time with. I just let them each stick around for awhile and moved on right before I felt I needed to talk about them.

I don't know why this surprised me, but God knows I am wound too tight, and he wasn't okay with being part of my routine tonight. He just wanted me to stop thinking and planning, and delight in the joys he has given me. It was only about four minutes... four minutes of not worrying about what was coming next. The way he got my attention though- it was like "I don't want to hear it right now, talking to me isn't something to check off your mental to-do list." God doesn't mess around, and he is not a push-over...

Hey Guys...
Its Molly. I'm sitting in Spotted Cow right now. Somehow I always feel so inspired when I get out of the house. I found this link to Hillsong London and watched their videos. Wow. Anyone for a field trip to London? Kidding. But...their songs and the first video on this link are so good. It was a heart check and a reminder for me, what is it that we are doing here...what is God's purpose for us. We are the Church. Check them out, see what you think, see if you are inspired. If so...what do we need to be doing?

So, I would love to hear some feedback from you guys. Is there anything you guys would like to discuss, from the mundane (favorite music, food, what you have to do before you go to school each day) to the deep (what worship means to you, how important community is, etc.) Give me some ideas to start talking about or writing about.