What have I been doing?

I don't know. It has been a long time since my last entry. I really do not know what has been going on that would keep me from blogging. If you asked me what has happened, I don't think I have been busy enough to keep me from blogging. Sure, I had things come up in the lives of my friends, went to see former players play, had regular youth meetings, been to one-way and had a youth/parent meeting, but that clearly isn't enough to keep me away.

I have realized that when I step away from Him, I really have nothing to share with you all. That is what he showed me today. I spent most of the afternoon watching some curriculum (had to look that one up) which I am going to start at youth probably after spring break. It is about sharing the Gospel. I was flooded with a bunch of emotions watching the videos. I looked at my last entry (about recapping the evangelism conference) and realized that it has just stopped for more than two weeks.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14,15

I really feel that satan has gotten a hold of me these past couple of weeks and has just allowed me to move my focus off of Him. I was really convicted watching the videos and realized the urgency in what He has in store not only for the youth at Tatesbrook, but the entire body as well. Continue to pray for all of us to continue to have opportunities to share our story with the world.

Trying to recap

Well after almost a week of trying to put what I learned into some sort of report, I have given up. There was so much information given that there is no way that I can just give you the reader's digest version. So, what am I to do. I think I will just try to give you highlights and hope for the best. Let's see....

We started out learning our abc's for evangelism. (this comes from Acts 1-2)
A - Attraction to reach people. We must connect with the culture
B - Build bridges. We need to pray to bridge the gap with the culture we are trying to reach.
When you work hard, you get what you can do, when you pray, you get what God can do!
C - Compellingly communicate the Claims of Christ (present the Gospel)

The next speaker talked on Leadership Evangelism. His reference was in Mark 4.
1. You must do the obvious
Ordinary people do ordinary things that no one else will do. Graham and Wesley started out by just doing the obvious.
2. You Determine you measure of sucess.
Keep in mind that we don't want to see more people, but more Jesus.
3. You must decide to be "Good News"
We need to constantly scatter seeds. We as leaders also need to keep sharing our evangelism stories.

Then we had a speaker talk to us about Conneting to Culture. He spoke about the four commissions that Jesus gave us (Jn 20). The are:
1. We are sent
2. We are sent to peoples
3. We are sent to peoples with a message
4. We are sent to poeples with a message empowered by God
We are told by God to go out to all different kinds of people in different places clearly sharing the Gospel, and to quit worrying about things we can't control. He has given us the authority.

All that is just from the opening session. I am sorry I can not write all the details, but I think that you would be bored. So what did I come away with after the first session? That I think we (as tribe leaders) are on the right track. I have really been convicted lately on the need for more prayer and that came out a lot during these two days. Finally, one of the last speakers of this session said this:
"God has called you to be a soldier. This is a battle, not a picnic." I know that it is going to be hard, that I am going to be stretched and that it is not always going to be easy. However, I am called to battle for these young adults in our community.

More to follow. Stay tuned.