It is hard to believe that there are only three weeks left of my stay here in Salado. The summer has gone by so fast! Here is an update of this past week...
-Monday through Thursday was Kidz Kamp for the 1st-4th graders. We had a total of 19 kids join us everyday in Georgetown for the fun. The day camp was centered around providing fun activities for the kids and integrate a few Bible stories along the way. I know the kids had a great time, but by the end of the week I was fairly tired and ready for the weekend.
-On Thursday night, I had dinner at the Warren household. This is an incredible family! They show so much generosity and kindness towards me, as well as everyone else in this community. Jeff and Stephanie have three kids: Paul, who recently graduated and will be attending Howard Payne University this fall, Andrew, who will be a junior at Salado High, and Matthew, who is entering 3rd grade. After some home-made enchiladas, me and the boys played some street hoops for a few hours before calling it a night. It was a great night of getting to know this family and spend some quality time with these guys.
-Friday night, I had four high school boys come over to my place to hang out for the evening. Although we did not engage in any very spiritual conversations, we shared some laughs and had a great time of getting to know each other even more. I am planning on having many more of these nights over the next three weeks!
-Saturday was so much fun! The Warren's invited me to go on an all day kayaking trip down the Colorado river. Jeff runs a local sporting good store and rents kayaks as part of the business. They had a scheduled trip on Saturday, in which they needed to chaperon the kayak renters, and he takes the boys with him to help load the kayaks in and out of the trucks. I was able to tag along and spend the day lazily gliding and fishing down the Colorado river.. Paul caught 34, Jeff caught 11, Andrew caught 6, and your amazing summer intern caught 5. It was a beautiful river and I had a fantastic time with the Warren's! It was a great weekend of relaxation and recharging for these upcoming weeks.
Continue to pray for these high school students and their attitude towards the gospel.
Pray that I will stay focused on being intentional with everyone in this community and not lose sight of my purpose here in Salado.
Love you all and thank you for your support!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Listen to this!
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/out-of-your-heart-will-flow-rivers-of-living-water
I have listened to this sermon multiple times. John Piper sheds so much light on how our spiritual thirst is quenched in Jesus alone! Drink deep!
I have listened to this sermon multiple times. John Piper sheds so much light on how our spiritual thirst is quenched in Jesus alone! Drink deep!
Out of your heart will flow rivers of living water!
I will share what went on this past week and July 4th weekend....
After driving back to Salado from Denver at midnight on Saturday morning, I then made my way to the Austin airport by 4:00 am. I had a flight leaving at 5:45 to good 'ol Indianapolis! I was home by 11:00 am and was greeted at the airport by my wonderful girlfriend Brittney. It was so nice to see her, share what God has been doing in both our lives, and spend some time together. I was even more excited to visit my family and share the July 4th weekend with them at home. It was great to grab some hugs from them and share all that has been going on in Texas. My parents are so incredibly supportive of my call to ministry and I cannot imagine how difficult life would be without their support and encouragement! On the day of the 4th, we had a large family reunion and it was the perfect day to hold one! I was able to hear many stories of my family's history and share some good laughs with the cousins, and uncles, and aunts, and second cousins, and uncles twice removed, and second aunts third removed in law, and sixth stepsister twice initiated with a quarter branch barely hanging on to the tree in the first place. Nonetheless, it was a great time.
After some long hugs, tears, and some encouraging words, I made my flight back to Austin. God has been answering prayers, in that, He is stirring up the hearts of these young men in this church. When I landed, I was greeted by some text messages asking me if I would be up for some guys coming over and spending the night on Wednesday. I texted back with an enthusiastic YES! The result...I had seven high school guys come over shoot some hoops, eat some pizza rolls, and most importantly talk about the Bible. They asked questions regarding relationships, sin, sharing your testimony, and "God Moments". These guys are hungry and my prayer is they will continue to drink deep from the Word of God and realize the renewing power of the Spirit.
Pray that God will continue to manifest Himself to these students and that I can continue to point them to the cross. Pray for the eighteen 1st-4th graders that will be around during Kidz Kamp this week. I will have every day between 8am-3pm this week to invest in the younger kids of this church body. Pray that God will give me a deeper hunger for his Word and that I would continue to drink deep of the time I spend with God.
Love you all and thank you for your support!
After driving back to Salado from Denver at midnight on Saturday morning, I then made my way to the Austin airport by 4:00 am. I had a flight leaving at 5:45 to good 'ol Indianapolis! I was home by 11:00 am and was greeted at the airport by my wonderful girlfriend Brittney. It was so nice to see her, share what God has been doing in both our lives, and spend some time together. I was even more excited to visit my family and share the July 4th weekend with them at home. It was great to grab some hugs from them and share all that has been going on in Texas. My parents are so incredibly supportive of my call to ministry and I cannot imagine how difficult life would be without their support and encouragement! On the day of the 4th, we had a large family reunion and it was the perfect day to hold one! I was able to hear many stories of my family's history and share some good laughs with the cousins, and uncles, and aunts, and second cousins, and uncles twice removed, and second aunts third removed in law, and sixth stepsister twice initiated with a quarter branch barely hanging on to the tree in the first place. Nonetheless, it was a great time.
After some long hugs, tears, and some encouraging words, I made my flight back to Austin. God has been answering prayers, in that, He is stirring up the hearts of these young men in this church. When I landed, I was greeted by some text messages asking me if I would be up for some guys coming over and spending the night on Wednesday. I texted back with an enthusiastic YES! The result...I had seven high school guys come over shoot some hoops, eat some pizza rolls, and most importantly talk about the Bible. They asked questions regarding relationships, sin, sharing your testimony, and "God Moments". These guys are hungry and my prayer is they will continue to drink deep from the Word of God and realize the renewing power of the Spirit.
Pray that God will continue to manifest Himself to these students and that I can continue to point them to the cross. Pray for the eighteen 1st-4th graders that will be around during Kidz Kamp this week. I will have every day between 8am-3pm this week to invest in the younger kids of this church body. Pray that God will give me a deeper hunger for his Word and that I would continue to drink deep of the time I spend with God.
Love you all and thank you for your support!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Update!
Sorry for the delay...the place I am currently living does not have Internet access and the past month has been quite busy. Here is a quick recap of all that has gone on:
-Super Summer was fantastic! The entire week was spent investing in ten 8th graders and discussing with them the lessons they learned from Seminars. I was able to build great relationships with a few of the young men and spend a lot of extra time teaching them and pouring some of what I learned into them. It felt so fulfilling when the kids would come to me with questions on the Bible and seek my direction. One young man in particular, Brent, is still emailing me questions and looking for advice as he seeking the Lord. It has been such a blessing to help those kids, and I learned a lot about my heart for teaching and my desire to invest.
-Immediately following Super Summer was Vacation Bible School at First Baptist. I was simply known as the "Rec Guy". I spent each day of VBS outside in the 100+ weather, goofing off with 1st through 4th graders. I had the opportunity to follow up with one child's decision on following Jesus, and was able to walk him through the first steps of a life hidden in Christ. VBS was a great success! We are currently working on contacting all the parents without a church home, trying to invite them to get connected to our body here at FBC.
-After a week of preparation, we took almost 60 kids to Denver, Colorado for our summer mission trip. It was incredible! Most of the students have never been exposed to the urban community, let alone, starting conversations with complete strangers in the city. Each day we would do a project in the community and try to show people the love of God through our actions. On Monday and Tuesday, we took sack lunches into downtown Denver, in hopes of being able to share the meal with someone in need. I was so very proud of the students and how well they jumped out of their comfort zone to talk with random people in the city. I was able to meet a few people who were homeless and share a meal and the message of the Gospel with them. Outside of the scheduled events was where God really used me. Each night of the mission trip I would gather together the upperclassmen and talk before going to bed. We had incredible conversations! I was able to share my testimony and my experience of college with them and help answer some of the questions they had concerning the Bible. God has been answering my prayers! My prayer has been to feel competent for ministry and have opportunities to share what I know with others. And God provided just that! Denver mission trip was a success!
I will share some more about my weekend in Indy and this past week in Salado in another post!
Pray for these high school students, that the fire that was lit in some of them would continue to be fed and their desire to seek God would grow even stronger. Pray for me, that I would not get distracted with earthly things but set my mind on things above and continue to jump on the opportunities God is providing me!
I love you all and thank you for your support!
-Super Summer was fantastic! The entire week was spent investing in ten 8th graders and discussing with them the lessons they learned from Seminars. I was able to build great relationships with a few of the young men and spend a lot of extra time teaching them and pouring some of what I learned into them. It felt so fulfilling when the kids would come to me with questions on the Bible and seek my direction. One young man in particular, Brent, is still emailing me questions and looking for advice as he seeking the Lord. It has been such a blessing to help those kids, and I learned a lot about my heart for teaching and my desire to invest.
-Immediately following Super Summer was Vacation Bible School at First Baptist. I was simply known as the "Rec Guy". I spent each day of VBS outside in the 100+ weather, goofing off with 1st through 4th graders. I had the opportunity to follow up with one child's decision on following Jesus, and was able to walk him through the first steps of a life hidden in Christ. VBS was a great success! We are currently working on contacting all the parents without a church home, trying to invite them to get connected to our body here at FBC.
-After a week of preparation, we took almost 60 kids to Denver, Colorado for our summer mission trip. It was incredible! Most of the students have never been exposed to the urban community, let alone, starting conversations with complete strangers in the city. Each day we would do a project in the community and try to show people the love of God through our actions. On Monday and Tuesday, we took sack lunches into downtown Denver, in hopes of being able to share the meal with someone in need. I was so very proud of the students and how well they jumped out of their comfort zone to talk with random people in the city. I was able to meet a few people who were homeless and share a meal and the message of the Gospel with them. Outside of the scheduled events was where God really used me. Each night of the mission trip I would gather together the upperclassmen and talk before going to bed. We had incredible conversations! I was able to share my testimony and my experience of college with them and help answer some of the questions they had concerning the Bible. God has been answering my prayers! My prayer has been to feel competent for ministry and have opportunities to share what I know with others. And God provided just that! Denver mission trip was a success!
I will share some more about my weekend in Indy and this past week in Salado in another post!
Pray for these high school students, that the fire that was lit in some of them would continue to be fed and their desire to seek God would grow even stronger. Pray for me, that I would not get distracted with earthly things but set my mind on things above and continue to jump on the opportunities God is providing me!
I love you all and thank you for your support!
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