How are we today?

“Today has been a pretty good day so far! Thanks for asking.” I know that the day is still pretty young, but it’s already been good. I’ve felt love from my family, have spent time in the Word, and had a pretty in depth conversation with a student about how I interpret a portion of Scripture out of the book of Hebrews…good start!


So let me bring you up to speed over the last week or so…

Three Sunday’s ago, Pastor David preached in our IMPACT service. He did a great job challenging students to step it up and be an example for the Lord. His message was uploaded to our server so that it could be posted for you all to hear… Unfortunately, it’s now nowhere to be found. :/ If we do stumble upon it, we will let you know and upload it for you to listen to.

Two Sunday’s ago was Super Bowl Sunday. During the morning Bible study, we watched a sermon from Francis Chan called, “The Biggest Lie in Your Life” If you have a chance, please watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ILptT_CRo.  He talks about the fact that there are Christians who think they are something they’re not. He refers to Revelation 3:1. “I know your works. You have this reputation for being alive, but you are dead.” Tough words from Jesus to the church of Sardis…but equally challenging to us as well. How many of us have this reputation for being alive, but on the inside we are spiritually dead? We may have the ability to make others think we are better than what we are. We can put on a good show when we are at church, in small group, even hanging out with church people, but on the inside there is nothing in us that looks like Christ. He asked the question, “Are you more concerned with your reputation than with your character?” “Are you more concerned with stuff or with Christ?” In Philippians 3, Paul says that he wants nothing more than to become like Christ. Nothing else matters. He counted everything else as a loss. It is a challenge every one of us needs. To be asked those difficult questions…and to respond honestly. So what are you pursuing? Stuff or Christ.

That night we had a focused time of prayer. We had a number of students who were attending Super Bowl gatherings, so I did not want to jump right back into the Fruit of the Spirit series and have many of our students miss. The time of prayer was awesome. We had students and adults pray and we had a great time worshipping our Great God!

This past Sunday was a great Sunday as well. In the morning Bible study we looked at how we got the Bible. I was able to ask some questions about the Bible and then go into a direction of how the books were chosen…a little history in the canonization of Scripture. It was fun. Did you know that the Bible was written over a period of 1500-2000 years by roughly 40 writers? It’s important for us to know the history of the Word. If we are going to defend our faith in Christ, we must know how the Book was put together. I also provided a handout of authors, themes, and dates of each book. We still have some of those handouts available, or if you would like, I can email it to you. Just let me know. This coming week are going to look at how we know the Bible is true.

Sunday night we jumped back into the Fruit series. We look at the Fruit of Joy. We had a great time of worship and then teaching. I was able to share that Joy is different than happiness. Many times we confuse the two.

Here is my intro the message…the audio should be up today.

The Greek word for 'joy' is chara. Chara comes from the word charis. And charis is the Greek word for 'grace.' This is important to note, for chara (joy) is produced by the charis (grace) of God. This means 'joy' is not a human-based happiness that comes and goes but, rather, true 'joy' is divine in its origin. You see happiness comes and goes based on feelings. But joy is a Spirit-given expression that flourishes best in hard times. Paul talks about this in 1 Thessalonians 1:6. You see, the Thessalonians were under great stress due to persecution; but in the midst of it all, they continued to experience great joy. The Greek strongly implies that their supernatural joy was due to the Holy Spirit working in them. Paul even called it the "joy of the Holy Ghost".

You see, joy stands even in the times of trials and difficulty. Why? Because Joy comes from God’s grace. He provides us with the ability to be joyful in those hard moments. Happiness goes away. It’s based on our feelings. I can be joyful without being happy.

Take time this week to listen to the rest of the message.

It’s been a good couple of weeks. I’m excited about where we are and where the Lord is taking us. Keep praying for the leadership in our ministry. We are seeking to do what the Lord is calling us too, and we ask that you continue to lift us up!

Here are a couple of things to be aware of…

• This Friday night we are having a Board Game Night in the church fellowship hall. The time will be 6:30-9:30PM. Students and leaders are to bring their favorite table/board game, as well as a snack to share and something to drink. There is no other cost. Let them come and hang out with us.

• Sunday is the deadline to register and pay for Dare 2 Share. D2S is a conference that trains students to share the Gospel. The cost is $45 + 3 meals. The conference is March 2-3 at Hara Arena. We will be sleeping at the church on that Friday night. Once they are registered they will need to fill out a waiver and I will be providing a list of what to bring and not bring. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for trusting us with your student!

Pressing On,

Dale

Where did this week go?

So title for this week says it all.  I'm wondering where this week went.  Well, I kind of know...but that doesn't make it any easier.

This week started off really busy and ended with me battling being sick. There were a few meetings on Monday, one at Butler HS that had some great results.  I am loving the partnership with them over the last year and am excited for what's to come.

The rest of the week...well that's another story.  I started to get sick on Tuesday...which I found out on Friday that I have bronchitis.  It's not been fun.  However, it's one of the main reasons for the delay in this blog post.

Last Sunday night was a great night of worship.  The students were singing praise to God with everything.  There was such passion in their voices.  I am continuing to pray that this is genuine heartfelt worship to our great God.  Please pray with me!

The message Sunday night was brought from Pastor David.  He challenged our students to be an example to others in the way they speak, live, love, faith and in purity,  His challenge came from 1 Timothy 4:12.  It was great for our students to hear from our pastor.  We have a number of students who are coming on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, but not Sunday mornings.  I have strongly encouraged them to do so, so it was good to give them the chance to hear from David and to know that they have an important role in our church as a whole.  It was a great night and the message will be up soon.  I encourage you as parents to listen so you know how your student was challenged.  It'll also give you some talking points with your student.

This Sunday night will be a night of prayer.  I am not going to be jumping right back into the Fruits of the Spirit series.  I will restart that on 2/12.  I know that this week is the Super Bowl and that some of you are having small group gatherings and you are having your student stay with you.  I know that some students are gathering together too.  I really do not want them to miss out on our series and due to my illness as well, my prep time has been limited this week.  As I prayed through some things...talked with Christa and Zac, I made the decision to have a night of prayer.  We have a lot to pray about...and I'm excited to see where the Lord takes it.

Following our service, we will have the tv's in the cafe, college room and maybe another area with the big game on.  So if you and your student will be around, we can watch the game together.

Just as a reminder...the worship room will be open from 5:25-6PM on Sunday evening if you would like to come and pray.  It is open to all parents...or anyone who feels led to pray for our students and leaders.

Pressing On,
Dale

Monday Morning Scoop...and Hey! It's Monday!

So yesterday was another great day! We had a really good Bible study in the morning. We were able to talk about surrender sin. One of the phrases that Francis Chan talked about really stood out to many of our students. He it is:


“There are certain things God just says, “Look, I hate this, I don’t want you to do this, and as My created beings, as My creation, I know what is best for you and I want you away from this stuff. Get away from it because it’s going to destroy you.”

That’s a tough thing…but so true. God hates sin! And He knows what is best for us and what will destroy us. His desire for our lives is to be wrapped up in the things that please Him…and sin doesn’t do that. This session has really fit into where we have gone message-wise over the last few weeks. I was really glad with how the students picked apart Scripture and how they were able to tie it into where they are. If your student was in our time of Bible study yesterday morning, I encourage you to talk about sin, and how it gives birth to death.

Here are the passages we unpacked yesterday morning. They each had a key question to answer with it. And even if your student wasn’t in our class yesterday, I would encourage you to take some time and look at these passages and talk with them about it.

James 1:13-15 – How does sin give birth to death?

Psalms 1:1-2 – Why is it important to avoid hanging out with mockers, etc?

Romans 7:18-25 – How does Jesus rescue us from this cycle?

Ephesians 2:1-10; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – How are we defined in verse 3 and 10?

Another awesome thing happened in the life of one of our newer students. A young man came and talked with me at the end of the 11:15AM service and shared with me his need for Jesus. He has been coming for a few weeks and the Lord has been working on him. Yesterday he stepped into LIFE! Pray for him and our ministry as we work to disciple this young man.

Last night was a great night too! The time of music worship was incredible. It just seems like over the last few weeks the Spirit has been moving. Students were singing out so loud last night. They were so engaged and excited to be there.

I was able to begin a new series on the Fruits of the Spirit. Last week I talked about real versus fake fruit and really felt like the Lord wanted me to break down the fruit. So last night I was able to talk about how the Holy Spirit produces the fruit in our lives, but it’s our job to obey and show the fruit to others. Then we jumped into LOVE. It was really cool to watch God at work. The majority of the students were really engaged in the message. I was able to challenge them to love like Jesus. To show AGAPE love. That unconditional, self-sacrificing love that God has shown to us. Jesus tells us in Matthew that we are to love God with our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is how the world will know that we are HIS DISCIPLES.

I’m excited about the next several weeks. I want to encourage you to talk to your students about what the Lord said to them. How did he speak? And how did they respond?

Look at the fruit in your students this week. Give them encouragement when you see the fruit being shown…and encourage them to look for the fruit in your life.

The message should be online by tomorrow. I’ll pass along the link once it is.

Oh, and if you were a parent that was unable to make the meeting yesterday, I’ll send out some info about what we talked about later today or tomorrow. Christa and I are praying for you and your families. We love you!

Pressing On,

Dale

Monday Morning Scoop (on Wednesday)

Hey there!

I want to give you the Monday morning (or Wednesday afternoon) scoop. This week has been crazy. So many meetings and physical therapy for me has me a little behind. I want to be able to provide you with an update every Monday with the things going on in the IMPACT Student Ministries. It’s a way for you to know what is being taught to your students. ( I will also be putting together something for how our Wednesday nights go.  As our leaders report back to me, I'll toss some things out there.  You can read what we are doing on Wednesday nights at the bottom of this post.)

Sunday was Awesome! There is no other way to put it. In fact, it may have been the best response time since I’ve been Student Pastor at FBCV. God moved in an amazing way.

In our Bible study Sunday morning we began dealing with the topic of “Surrender.” Specifically: surrendering stuff. The study is broken down like this: 20 minute DVD with student testimonies and a mini-message from Francis Chan (author or Crazy Love and Forgotten God). If you’ve not heard of him or read his books, check him out…he is legit! After the video, we talked about how sometimes “things” in life get in the way of our relationship with God. It may be material possessions or wants. It may be relationships. It might be our extracurricular activities. Students were able to break up into groups of 5 or 6 and dig into the Word for answers regarding putting our trust in material things rather than God. Here are the passages we dug into: Matthew 6:19-21, 24-34; 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19; Proverbs 30:7-9; Hebrews 13:5; Philippians 4:12-13.

It was there that I issued a challenge. I challenged them to the “Ten Word Challenge.” It’s a challenge to sum up the message of a passage, verse, or devotional (anything in there quiet time) in ten words (or less) over social media (Facebook or Twitter). I’ve seen so many of them posting theirs in the last 3 days. It is so awesome!!! I know for some it’s difficult to memorize scripture. This is a way that they can connect a verse or passage with ten words…so they remember the main point of it. Capturing the promise of God or the content is so important for us. We are more likely to remember what the Lord is teaching us through the passage when we break it down in this way. I am proud of so many of them!

On Sunday night the Lord continued to move. I had texted some youth pastor friends asking them to pray for our time together. God answered! (Unfortunately the digital recorder did not record any of the service. We will do our best to remedy that in the future)

Our time of musical worship was amazing! Chris and the band led us to the Throne and the students responded. They were singing out so loud and free. My heart melted at the sound of their voices…I can only imagine how the Lord felt.

As I took the stage to preach, I began with what I believe the Lord has been laying on my heart over the last month. I feel like the Lord has led me to the word “GROW” for 2012. In everything we do we should be seeking to grow closer to our Lord. However, in order to do that we need to identify the “shackles” in our lives that keeps us from growing. I told the story of how elephants are trained. When an elephant is young they shackle its leg and chain it to a sturdy tree. The young elephant is to small and is not strong enough to uproot the tree or break the chain. When they are older and full grown, the trainer is able to chain them to a stick in the ground and the elephant will not pull it loose. Mainly because the elephant believes that it is unable to uproot the stick or break free.

It’s those shackles in life that keep us from growing. We have believed the lie that we are not able to be set free from the bondage of the junk in our lives. As long as we believe that lie we will continue to be held down and ultimately not be able to grow.

I shared with them a number of passages about our sin. One in particular was Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer.” We must not believe the lie. We must allow the Lord to break us out of bondage and live in Him. This is true freedom. This is how we grow.

During our time of response I encouraged students to ask the Lord to reveal to them their shackles. I had some paper and pens on the edge of the stage and called on them to identify their shackles and to write them down. I told them that these would be a matter of prayer for Christa and me. Out of the nearly 90 students in the room, 52 wrote down their shackles. God is good. It’s the acknowledgement of our struggles that help us grow. I encouraged them to share them with you. For many it’s tough. They feel like if I have to tell family it admits failure.

I want to encourage you as their parents to ask them about this. I want to encourage you to be able to express to them some areas that you struggle with…perhaps your own shackles. How much healing and growth can be had when we share openly the issues that we struggle with. Join us in acknowledging our struggles so that 2012 will be a year of growth!

I love serving as your Student Pastor and am praying for you as you lead your families!



Pressing On,

Dale

Oh, and tonight we are back to all of our Wednesday night discipleship.  There are a variety of classes that your student has the option of choosing.  There is of course True North and Awana serving.  However, there are also some other classes too.  Our high school girls are going through the book of Colossians.  They are using a book by Shelly Shellenbarger.  Our middle school girls are going through a book entitled, "Becoming a Young Woman of God."  Our high school guys are going through a study called "Fuel,"  it is a class that deals with some issues that students are dealing with and how to go to Scripture to answer the tough questions.  And our middle school guys are going through the "Becoming a Young Man of God."  The optional class is led by Chris Early, Christa and myself.  We are doing a study on the book of Hebrews.  It is a study that I have put together using some various resources.  It requires a little bit of homework (mainly journaling) and being sure to read a chapter a week. 

Well there you have it.

Finally rested...now bring on Africa

So it's been a few days since our arrival back into the States and I can finally say that I feel fairly rested up.  Sunday was a day.  We woke up and got all of our belongings ready to go.  We spent time with God and had our final meal...pancakes and bacon.  We were able to present Oscar and his team with a finacial gift for treating us so well while we at the center.

As we headed into our final time together, I stumbled upon a guitar and music folder and asked Timothy Kolker if he would play and help me lead worship with the group.  We made our way to our meeting room and spent about 30 minutes singing praise to our Lord.  It was so uplifting and a wonderful way to end our time in Nicaragua. 

Our bus arrived and we loaded and headed to the airport.  We were able to get throught ticketing and security without any major hiccups (only 2 without a seat assignment for our first flight, but it was quickly remedied).  The flight was delayed a little which led to some concern about getting through customs and security in Atlanta and the probability of missing our connection from ATL to DAY.  However, God was in complete control and we arrived with plenty of time to grab some food and load again for the final flight home.

We got to Dayton and had an awesome group awaiting our arrival!  It was a great reunion.

We all thank you for your prayers and encouragement!  God did a great thing in Nicaragua.  We were able to be the hands and feet of Jesus and proclaim the Good News to those that the Lord entrusted to us.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to take your students to serve in the Name of Jesus.

--On a personal note...Monday Christa and I had a great time together traveling to Knoxville and back to get the kids (having my daughter jump into my arms never gets old).  Tuesday I made a trip to the doctor to have my rash (allergic reaction) looked at, got a shot, and then our malaria meds for Africa, went to staff meeting, and then took Tyler to football camp.  Whew!

Today, I woke up late and sat on the couch and watched the Reds game.  A much needed time to recoup from our trip.  I feel pretty good now.

Tonight we meet one final time with our Africa team before we leave on Aug 1st.  I am so excited about this trip.  #1: I've never been to Africa.  #2:  I'm not in charge! haha.

Please keep our team of 13 in prayer.  Ask God for safety and for people to come to Him as His Name is proclaimed!

Pressing On,
Dale

Saturday

Today we are working a little and playing a little. We are cleaning all of the tools we used this week, picking up trash around the center, and just taking care of some things that typically go by the wayside. The rain is falling a little, but honestly, it’s keeping the temperature fairly cool.


I’ve spent the last couple of hours updating you of our week. Some of our groups are now getting their things packed and heading to the pool for a quick swim.

We’ll have lunch shortly and then spent the afternoon preparing for a cookout with another team that will be coming in this afternoon. They are from Arcanium, Ohio. We get to hang out and then make sure everyone is ready to go tomorrow.

So this afternoon some of the students and adults played and just hung out, while the rest of them swam and then played soccer in the rain. It was a great relaxing afternoon.

The cookout is coming soon. So we are getting ready for that now.

I’m hoping this gets posted tonight for you all to get brought up to speed.

It has definitely been one of my favorite trips. God showed up and moved in us. We saw people come to know the Lord and enter into a relationship with Him. The people are asking when we are coming again. We hope soon.

I’m going to close things out for now. Thank you again for all you have done to encourage us here. We love you!

Pressing On,

Dale

Friday

Well here we are. We are beginning a day that tells us that we are at the end of our trip. I’m not sure that I’ve done a trip like this without drama, discipline, and complaints. It has to be because God is honoring the prayers of the righteous! Gloria a Dios! (Glory to God).


The crews got right to work after quiet times and breakfast. Paint! Cliff! Baseball! Break!

I took Timothy and Taylor Kolker to go visit 3 of the kids the Kolker family collectively sponsors here in Managua. They live within 10 minutes of the center, so it was a great opportunity for them to connect. We spent about a total of about 30 minutes them. It was neat to be able to share the experience with the guys. The 3 kids are precious. I am thankful that it worked out.

We returned and allowed Dave and Jenna Jackson to go and visit a family as well. Earlier in the week they had set up with Bruce the opportunity to purchase 2 chickens, beans and rice for a family in need. They got to go and deliver all of the items (including the live chickens) to the family. From what they shared, it was a great experience.

As our teams began to wrap up their projects, they began to prepare for our last VBS time. We ate lunch and then we were off again.

We arrived at the church with smiling faces and laughter greeting us. It is such a great feeling to have little ones hanging all over you. I can just envision the little children climbing all over Jesus. I know why He chastised the disciples for telling the kids to stop. Not only do you have an opportunity to show love to the kids, but they show it back. I’m sure Jesus loved it as much as we did!

The teaching and music team brainstormed how to make things work better. Rather than have 4 rotations, we did 3. The music and teaching teams formed an alliance and did their rotations together. First music, then the story. It seemed to go much better.

As we were nearing the end of our time, I noticed students beginning to latch on to certain kids. Kids that they had found a strong bond with. We all came together at the end and we presented gifts to all of the leaders of the church who came out to help and learn from us. Then there was an older lady from the church that had made each of us a bookmark. She had spent the night before making this gift for us. It was so sweet. The pastor recognized each of us by name and they all gave us physical and spiritual hugs.

They then brought out a snack for us. Ham sandwiches and tea. We were about to go to dinner at a nice restaurant, but did not want to be rude, so we ate them… well most did. It was a kind gesture of their gratitude for coming to share with them.

We left church to go to place called La Finca. It was the place we were supposed to go on Sunday. It actually really nice to go last night. The evening was cool and beautiful. We ate out on the covered balcony and enjoyed our time together. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of eating, and all in all a great way to end an awesome day.

We arrived at the center and went straight to debrief. There were some very sad faces in the room. We have some students who feel called by God to go on mission and many of them were asking whether Nicaragua was the place. Others were talking about wanting to come back next year to serve. I love to see God move in the hearts of students. It is one of the things that brings me great joy.

I am so thankful for your prayers and contributions to get us here. Your sacrifice to give means that some of these students may surrender to full-time Christian ministry/missions. It also means that there are children here who may have heard the good news of Jesus for the very first time. God bless you for sending us to Nicaragua.

Pressing On,

Dale