Today our Jr. High mission team met at the Mineola train station and headed into Living Waters Fellowship in Brooklyn where we will be based for our NYC mission trip this week. Our train and subway rides were fun and overall non-eventful. When we exited the subway station we met our first challenge. It was bitterly cold outside (temps in the low teens), and the GPS said we had a 12 minute walk to the church. Unfortunately we thought we had turned up one street at a 5 point intersection, when in fact we had turned up a different one. We ended up walking in a nice big circle, and it ended up taking us about 40 minutes to get to the church. Our legs, faces, and hands were so cold and numb. It sure was nice to walk into a warm building! After getting thawed out and settled into our rooms, the team met my dear friend and chef John Long, who is on his 95th mission trip and is here to cook for us this week. He had some delicious hot chocolate waiting for us. After a time of sharing our team had dinner with John and Pastors Ron and Ana. After cleaning up we enjoyed an evening of fun playing Dutch Blitz and relationship building using questions from my book What Would You Do?. Tomorrow we are heading up to The Bronx to work with Pastor Reggie Stutzman and Real Life Church.
Youth Winter Fest 2015 Recap Video #YWF15
Youth Winter Fest 2015 was absolutely incredible! It was awesome having 16 churches together in one place to meet with God and grow in our relationships. Best of all, we have heard stories of dozens of students who made decisions to make Jesus the leader of their lives, and that is what it is all about! Our theme this year was Honor, and our speaker Lamont O’Neil challenged us to be men and women who honor God in all we say and do. We had a great time of worship with Mitch Parks, Daniel Bashta, and the Fellows. We also experienced a powerful time of ministry by the Nubian Gents and Feminine Fire – the ministry Lamont O’Neil started 20 years ago to mentor and disciple students. Many reports have been coming in about the impact our morning seminars had on them. The three seminars were on Honoring God in our media habits, Honoring God through music, and Honoring God in our relationships. The prayer room was also a major hit with students. And, of course, we had tons of fun on Saturday playing football, table games, hanging out in the snack shop and playing volleyball, basketball, and dodgeball tournaments. Everyone’s already asking about next year. Here’s the recap video. Enjoy! #YWF15
The Dream Has Come True!
Today, after months and months of prayer and hard work, our daughter Natalia’s dream of starting the first-ever Christian Club at Roslyn Middle School came true! They had 11 students there for their first meeting, and they all left saying they had a good time. We are very thankful to the school administration for their support, to Mrs. Marx for supporting the club as their advisor, and to Emma Rucci and Long Island Youth For Christ for their guidance in walking Natalia through the process of getting the club started. We are SOOOO proud of our daughter who is such a courageous leader. Yeah God! Way to go Natalia! You are making an impact and leaving a legacy!
Leadership Nugget: I Will Help You
(Start at 3:05) Leadership requires team. Leaders need companions for the journey. We all need help in order to complete our mission. It is only when we are honest about our questions, fears, and inadequacies, admitting that we don’t know it all, that others are able to step up and help us.
I See You At The Pole
See You At The Pole is a prayer rally where students meet at the school flagpole before school to lift up their friends, families, teachers, school, communities, and nation to God. It is a student-initiated, student-organized, and student-led event that happens one day a year in September all around the globe. It is a day committed to global unity in Christ and prayer.Last year on this day, I woke up early and took my daughters to their respective schools for SYATP. At each of their schools, they were the only ones to show up. They prayed anyways. As I pulled away from the school, I had a few emotions going on inside of me. I was proud of my daughters for standing up and praying, even if it meant doing it alone. I was sad that more kids didn’t show up. I was determined to pray prayers of faith and believe that God was and is working, despite what we see. As I was driving home, I felt God whisper to me, “Tell your girls that although they didn’t see anybody else at the pole, I saw them at the pole, and I am pleased with them.” I sent them a text later in the day to that effect to encourage them.
This morning, one year later, I woke up early and did the same. This time my daughters were on their phones inviting friends to join them. I told them that if even one other person showed up, it would be double from last year. I am happy to report that 6 students showed up at Natalia’s middle school to pray. As we wrapped up an administrator approached saying, “The kids were drawing some attention, so I was asked to come find out what is going on.” I told him about SYATP and that they kids were gathering together to pray for the school, including him. He shook my hand and smiled. I then went home and picked up Claudia and we went to the high school, and 4 students and 1 teacher showed up. When the kids finished praying, I left to walk to my car, and I was stopped by a school employee who asked, “What were the kids doing over there?” “Praying,” I responded. “Are you guys Christians?” he asked quite enthusiastically. I told him we were and he lit up, telling me what church he goes to. It turns out I know the pastors of his church.
God moves when we pray. Not only do I believe He hears and responds to our prayers in a vertical way (God to us), He also allows our prayers to have an impact on those who are witnessing us pray (horizontal). People ask questions which can lead to spiritual conversations, Christians all of a sudden discover that people they see every day are believers, and people are challenged to examine their own faith. Pretty cool. Today as a dad, youth pastor, and member of the community I am proud of my daughters and all of the students who prayed today. And remember, there may only be one “official” day of prayer, but we are called to be people or prayer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. PRAY!
Canadian Wilderness Trip Lesson #2: Camaraderie
Guys, generally speaking, are terrible at deep friendship, and I am the chief of sinners in this regard. I have a lot of friends, but very few close friends. I long for such friendships, but I’m a dude, and I suck at them. When asked what our goals were for our spiritual retreat, one of the things I wrote down was camaraderie. I was really looking forward to some “man time” with the fellas – my college friends Heath, Jonathan, and James, specifically. This trip did not disappoint.
Catching up on life over the past 18-20 years, praying for one another, paddling until our arms felt like they were going to fall off, encouraging one another as we took turns portaging 50 lb. canoes on our shoulders while also carrying 50 lb. backpacks, laughing at dumb guy jokes and noises until …
(What is this strange moisture on my eyeballs?!),
sharing our stories of struggles and triumphs until …
(Gosh, I’ve got something in my eyes again. Do you see anything in there?!),
and seeing each other naked bathing in the lake until …
(Dude! I swear I must have styes in my eyes, they burn so bad! I can’t open them anymore! The burn is so deep!!!),
relationships were deepened, lifelong friendships were formed, and more than likely our minds suffered scarring.
I was reminded afresh that life is not meant to be lived in isolation, and adventures are meant to be shared. The great joy of life is experiencing it with others and creating stories that will be retold years down the road. The great challenge of life is to remember that we are not the only ones who struggle on this journey. We know this in our heads, but we need to risk experiencing this truth by opening up our hearts and being honest with one another. As the great C.S. Lewis said, “Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself …’” (The Four Loves). Going on a trip like we did created a space in which we could all say, “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself …”.
A Celebration of Small Groups
Shelter Rock Student Ministries Delta Small Groups End of Year Party!
hrt <3 Girls’ Spa Party and manUP Lasertag and Burgers
Tonight our Sr. High girls hosted a spa party for our Jr. High girls, and our boys went out to play laser tag and eat burgers together. A fun night of fellowship for our Shelter Rock Church students!
REVKEVJR.COM 