Greetings from Columbus!!!

Hey Ya’ll wonderful readers!
I hope each of you are doing incredibly well on this awesone day and that God is blessing you as you continue to seek his face.

I just wanted to give you an update on the trip I’m currently on. As some of you know, I took my youth team to Columbus, Ohio for the 2009 National Youth Workers Convention which is hosted by Doug Fields from Simply Youth Ministry and Group Publishing Inc. Seriously Friends, they are a team of incredible folks. We rented a 15-passanger van, left at about 9:00 AM this morning and arrived in Columbus around 4:00 PM. This years team consists of Jio Hardy, Yvette Leaman, Jamie Gebhardt, Lindsey Kurtz, Lindsay Biser, Daryl Witmer, and Dan Foxwell. Beside a little crazy driving by yours truly, a little rain now and again, and a failed prank from Jio, Dan, and myself, I’d say all went smoothly on the way down.

We kicked off the evening with some awesome worship that was led by a band from Saddleback Church in California. It was so great to just be filled up with songs and praise. Often times I think I find myself in the routine of it all within my own worship responsibilities, and it’s such an incredible feeling being immersed with the spirit. And that happened tonight Friends!

Braddigon (formally the band Dispatch) led a closing set of music. In it he talked about being a child of God and entering the kingdom of heaven. Jesus himself says that we must become children of light to spend eternity with him. They sang a song about being being made new called “De El” in Spanish. Check it out on Itunes-really a beautiful song.

I’ll have more updates as the weekend progressses here in Columbus. The team sends their hellos to you all!

One more thing. A family of our church was in a serious car accident this past week and two of our students were seriously injured. Please pray for the Abern Family and know that I will update you with more information as I learn more about the situation.

He hears our prayers Friends and He’s at work in some many powerful ways! Be encouraged and stregthened in Him tonight and always!

In His Dust,
Josh

It ain’t anything unless you give it away

Excuse me for my slang title above. However, I must confess I really feel this way about this one huge thing. And so I’ll share it with you all. I just got finished watching a couple movies (well, between yesterday and today). I watched “Fireproof” at home and “Taken” at the local AMC 9 in town here earlier today. Both have distinctly different central themes (the first being about saving a marriage and the 2nd about saving a daughter), however they both hammer home how much work it takes to truly love someone. As cliche’ as this sounds, they both reinforced commitment and endurance. Both main characters rise to the occasion, they rise up to the challenge before them, and they come up huge in the end. At critical times in both films, they both realize what they need to fight for. And the most awesome thing was that they didn’t. They could have buckled under the enormous pressure, they could have gave into what this world says is alright, but they didn’t. They endured, they persisted, they kicked some awesome tail if you know what I mean to save the relationship that meant the most to them. 

God’s mandate for his believers is to press on. To endure through the wickedness of this world, and to set our sights on Eternity as we bring people heavenward. I pray daily for you Friends! That we might encourage one another in this battle. That we might lift each other up. That we might lay our lives down for one another. And in doing so, pleasing our Father in Heaven. 

In His Dust,

Josh

Rocking This Planet Like Whoa!!!!

Good Evening Friends!

Let me take a moment to catch my breath…it’s been an incredible weekend to say the least. Youth Winter Retreat #1 is officially in the books now. I suppose I can give you a recap of what all went down at the good old Hidden Valley Scout Reservation but first, I have to turn up some David Cook tunes. He’s good some pretty solid stuff that I haven’t been able to stop listening to lately. SO…..here we go!!!

Friday Afternoon: A team of leaders and I took a small group of students up for the early departure. We set up camp, prepared dinner, and waited for the arrival of the rest of the students. 33 students. 10 Leaders=4 Days of mass chaos-all that good jazz. 

Friday Evening: The rest of the student’s arrived and we kicked off “Band Together”-A Military boot camp weekend geared towards strengthening the students physically and spiritually. Dan Foxwell, the awesome MS leader that he is, kicked off the 1st session shouting at the students, which stirred them all to a frenzy so much that it that closely reminded me of the movie “Major Payne” with Damon Wayans (see photo)

Late Friday evening/Early Saturday Morning: Bathroom pranks. One eye open/one eye closed sleep. Wonderful sleep bag w/ Ipod=bliss. 

Saturday Morning: Prompt wake up from Major Foxwell at 6:30am. Total sleep for the average students=4-5 hours. Breakfast and 1st session. Slow to get going but students started responding and working together in the sessions. The Weather was beautiful the entire weekend. We we’re truly blessed for that. Lindsey Kurtz, Major Dan, and John Nicholas totally owned the morning activities. They are truly good people to have on your side. 

Saturday Afternoon: We kicked off the afternoon with an awesome session with the students. At this point in time, HS and MS is split up with the HS group having seniority so they stayed in the same facility while the MS students/leaders we’re constantly walking to and from the complex. 

3:00 PM Saturday: 8 on 8 no holds barred football game in the snow. Lambeau Field couldn’t hold a snuff compared to what we played in. The tops of our heads looked like my grandfather’s white haired head. Bless his Heart. It was Major Dan’s Team v. El Capitan J-Maat’s (as many of the HS student’s call me) team. Touchdown after touchdown. Big play after big play. Student’s on both teams made stellar plays and they all rocked my socks off. In the end…El Capitan J-Maat’s Team 5 vs. Major Dan’s Team 3. It was completely blissful! 

Saturday Evening: Throughout the weekend, our focus was on getting back to the source of everything meaningful in this life-our relationship in Jesus Christ and adhering to the code for our lives, the Holy Word. We couldn’t encourage enough the importance of daily diving into the word of life and seeing God moving, teaching, and opening our eyes to what He has in store for us. I was amazed at the knowledge of the MS students all day. We have a six grader who knew the 3 kinds of love according to the Old Testament Hebrew tradition (how many of us know that?) In the evening session, more and more students were racing to get to the text so they could read it first. God was rocking the house most definitely. Other’s volunteered to lift the entire group up in prayer. They really banded together. 

9:30 PM-DARKNESS ENGULFS THE CAMP….I SUPPOSE I SHOULD STOP WRITING IN CAPS NOW…now we start the ever so famous nighttime capture the flag game…HS vs. MS (plus me and some leaders to even it out a bit). After much frostbite, broken limbs, and a few lost students-we ended up in a standstill with no declared winner. We all headed back upset because nobody won. A MS student and I were in enemy territory the entire game, frozen because we couldn’t get to the flag that was under a table guarded by two HS students…

The whole part above with the frostbite, broken limbs, and missing students was purely just intended to see if you we’re still reading this post…If I got a response like, “Whoa…wait a second. Rewind. He didn’t just say that did he?” then I’ve succeeded and I’ll continue on and stop rambling. 

Late Saturday night/early Sunday Morning: No pranks. Exhaustion sets in for the students and I’m thrilled because I was out like a baby at 11:30…missed opportunity for students #1 to prank the vulnerable youth pastor. 

Sunday Morning: To honor everyone who was back in H-Burg worshipping, we decided to have a worship set much like Vessel only we’d be doing it acoustic. Lindsey Kurtz and G Owens stepped up huge and helped lead worship with me. I have to tell you all the truth. It’s incredible when you have taught the student many of the songs and then you finally have a time where it’s you, the worship leader, who messes up the song and the student is right on in the first place. I’ll take that everyday because i know he’s learning and growing as a wonderful disciple of God. There’s beautiful irony there eh? 

Sunday Afternoon: Students all over the camp. It’s all a big blur because I was in the zone preparing for the closing section that’ll take place in a few hours after dinner. It’s crunch time and this is where God and Satan are at the forefront of our retreat. God is breaking these students for His Kingdom, and Satan is trying to hold it all in, trying desperately to keep them from shining, to keep them from reaching their peers, their families, our community. 

Sunday Evening: I asked God for an out-pouring. He gave us a flood. What an unbelievable night. The Holy Spirit rained down on us and I could feel the students given way to our marvelous maker. The challenge was to give the gospel away. To deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. To propel this world heavenward through Jesus Christ living and moving in our lives. And the most beautiful think about this weekend wasn’t our living facility. It wasn’t the snow-covered field we played football on. It wasn’t the awesome food we prepared. It was seeing these student’s be filled with the overwhelming truth of our Savior. It was feeling the Holy Spirit dwell in our presence. It was seeing students shrug off jokes and games and choosing to sit quietly trying to figure out what was happening inside them. It was having student’s ask those hard questions of why one Man would carry the weight of the world, the sin of all mankind upon himself for us. It was having student’s challenge their peers to take this gospel past the walls of our training facility, past the comforts of being out in God’s Country in the middle of the woods and into hostile schools, disagreeing home fronts, and a world that says, “It’s all about me.” Many of our student’s got it. My prayers are for them. Some might not have and my prayers are for them as well. And I’ll continue to give this life away for Christ’s sake. He demands that we give this gospel away. We give our lives and our love away. It’s what Jesus Christ himself did for us, and I want to be found obedient in His eyes. 

It was truly an incredible weekend. We skied on Monday at Roundtop. We got the student’s home by 6:00 PM. Praise God for safety, for strength, for patience, for wisdom, and for love. I’m continually amazed at how God works in myself and the leaders despite our weaknesses. That despite our inadequacies, he says, “Let me work in You.” I also know that He asks that we come to him with heavy and weary hearts. I believe that His yoke fits perfectly, and that he gives us Light and Love to keep on pressing on to move this world heavenward. Let’s rock this planet like whoa shall we? Who’s with me?

In His Dust,

Josh

Jam Jam Jam and a Diet Pepsi Addiction

Hey Friends,

So this weekend we’re kicking off our Leader’s Retreat in a couple hours. We’ll be celebrating what God has done this year and all that’s in store in the near future. Over the last month or so, many people in the CrossPoint faith community have been reading through a book called “Sticky Church” by Larry Osborne-the pastor of North Coast Church in San Diego, CA. With a premise surrounding the idea of being able to keep a church from losing people once they come through the front doors, we feel we’re getting “sticky” while still being an invitational, evangelical, and loving church. We’re called to filfull Jesus’s great commision and great commandment of bringing people to Salvation and we want to stop and live nothing short of that. I hope ya’ll read this book-it’s definitely not anything new that we haven’t heard before-it’s just going back to the roots of what Christianity looked like at the earliest stages-small groups taking care of each other while being invitational.

On another note, Diet Pepsi is so awesome and yet something I need to give up sooner rather than later. Do you ever have one of those things that you just desire and crave-even if you know that it’s not the best thing for you. Jesus Christ is the living water and he’s more important than my shiny silver can of Diet Pepsi, yet often times I find myself craving something like Diet Pepsi more than the word of God.

I officially bought my first Mattress/Bed. I went to Good’s Furniture and I spent the big buck on something that is going to last for my self. I bought the Serta Perfect sleeper Trentino…I’m definitely stoked to see how it sleeps. Perfect night rest here we come!!!

Blessings to you all this weekend!

Hello Again!

Hey Friends!

I know it’s been so long since I’ve posted on here. In fact, I’m a little worried that many of you have lost confidence in me keeping this updated regularly. And for that, I apologize. I haven’t always been the best communicator when it comes to sharing my thoughts in an email or website. I tend to express my thoughts verbally and more personally, however I will do better at this. It’s is a New Year’s Resolution I will keep to.

Count on it.

In the news of Ignite Student Ministries, we’re definitely in full swing as we prepare for our winter retreat in two weeks over Valentine’s Day weekend. The entire youth group will be heading to Hidden Valley Scout Reservation for some awesome military style training sessions that will strengthen our hearts and souls as christians in this world. We’ll even be doing some skiing at Roundtop as well! Booyah for this awesome event coming up!

Yesterday, Teresa and Nate held an awesome information meeting about out 2009 mission opportunities to Anniston, Alabama and Knockpatrick, Jamaica. Again this summer, we’ll be working with TEAMeffort both trips where we’ll be building up deaf school facilities and bringing the light of Christ to the people in these communities. I’m stoked at the energy, commitment, and interest we saw yesterday at the meeting. Hopefully, these will be life-changing weeks for the students and leaders as well as the people of the communities.

In other news, lots and lots of student’s birthday’s here at CrossPoint. It’s so awesome for each of them. I don’t quite have the same feelings for my birthday as I used to when I was younger, but I definitely love to celebrate their special days when I see them! In reality, it’s only a single day older in this lifetime, but it’s a significant in that it represents more wisdom, more experience, more life that has been lived-it’s a rite of passage and I’m so thankful for being around them when they do celebrate these days!

Keep checking in soon and be blessed!

In His Dust,

Josh