Moved For A Season...

Hi everybody!

This blog has moved!

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Opening Up Some Boxes

Hi, all of you beautiful people!

I was thinking over Christmas Day-ish about unwrapping gifts. Unwrapping boxes. Boxes with

clothes

iTunes Gift Cards

more clothes

external hard drives

more clothes

avacados...

And the thought occurred to me. (thought-occurring sound FX)

We often hear at NewSpring that people should not "box God in". That we should let God be God in our lives. Which is to allow Him to be sovereign. To allow Him to be a driving force in our lives. To allow Him to free us.

But what about the boxes we build for ourselves? What about the way we DON'T ALLOW OURSELVES to do things?

We all have a routine. We all fall in the ruts of life. We get up, brush our teeth, whip our hair (ha, because that's the way it's done),
eat breakfast, start the day at work, school, etc. etc. And we get up the next day and do it all over again.

That's the way we do things. We go to church. We sing, we sit, we sing, we sit, we listen, we go home....even in places like NewSpring, we catch ourselves doing this. After a while, the unique can get...well...mundane.

I don't want that to happen in our community. Are you with me?

Jesus did not give us life so that we could

compartmentalize it

tame it

shelf it

put time limits on it

We are called to live timelessly. We are called to live a life with NO limits. That is Christ's promise for those who believe in Him.

Following Jesus is not about being seated...

but standing up.

When was the last time you let yourself out of your box ....to worship?

to OWN you faith?

to GIVE (time, relationally, unconditionally) to the poor, the homeless, the widow, the orphan?

to truly LOVE?

to MAKE friends with a stranger?

to TEACH by example of LIVING?

It is difficult to do these things, but Jesus continually GIVES of Himself so that we may GIVE to others...

He is NOT boxed in.

NEITHER SHOULD WE BE.

Thanksgiving

Of all the things I'm thankful for the best
Are these right here:
I am thankful for God giving me rest,
And friends throughout this year.

I am thankful for time with family,
And with Jesus too.
I am thanful for laughing merrily,
And for times that were blue.

I am thankful for the sad rejections,
And for acceptance.
And things unplanned for, things--interjections--
That I must give to chance.

I am thankful for the sun's beaten course,
That lights up each day.
Thankful, for the Source of all things around;
Of stars that shine and play.
(Oh, that we would for Him be stars that shine and play!)

I am thankful for the depths of this Love,
which we try to share.
And though it is a road sent from above,
And we, as we stumble, should not give to despair.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi, everybody. Sometimes it is very easy to be thankful.

Sometimes it is very difficult to be thankful,

especially in the case of:

adversity, rejection, despair, grief, sadness, brokenness, loneliness, in the midst of need...

For us, whether we are blessed with many material things are not, as followers of Jesus, we should recognize the extent of how fully dependent we are on Him.

We sing hymns about how He is all we need. Are we making this a reality? Are we bringing heaven to earth? Are we living in such a way that we know and show others that God will never leave us or forsake us? Are showing love to those in need by giving our time and our attention? Are we allowing Jesus the authority to pull us out of the pits we find ourselves in?

We should always have a spirit of thansgiving. Trying to live simpler lives, more in tune with the Spirit of God.

So here's the challenge: Over this Thanksgiving weekend, let us take time to examine ourselves. When we are with family, with friends....stuck in store checkout lines....

1.) Am I living a life that is thankful for God's blessings, and as a show of thankfulness, obedient and in tune with what God wants for me?

2.) In living with a spirit of thanksgiving, am I actually focused on giving back, or am I more focused on taking more? Do I really need more...STUFF? (and for some of us the question might need to be "Do I really need to eat more STUFFING?" ;-P )

3.) What can I do to give back? How can I lift others up and humble myself? How can I make this world more like God intended it to be?


You CAN make a DIFFERENCE.


Have a great time with your families, your friends, and with God over this holiday weekend!

Peace Be With You.

Blowing Some Dust Off this Blog Site....

AGH!

That's a one liner. Anyway, yeah, it has been a while since I have written on this blog, and since I am feeling englishy today (which is the sense and/or impression of one's ability to be quite prolific with words and creative with speech) I will begin with a blog post full of...

Here we go:

Has it ever felt sometimes like God wasn't THERE. I've had people tell me before that "I haven't been hearing from God" or " I haven't felt God" or the most frequent "Umm, God...WHY?"

Now I don't have any specific Scripture references to quote to you today. WWJD? Say "Just trust me on this one."

I believe the overwhelming majority of the time where we are NOT connecting with God is when we are too connected with SOMEONE or SOMETHING else. And believe it or not, that can even mean being too involved in your work (I say this to those of us in ministry who tend to get too "bogged down"). I can't count the times that I've been so busy with

the task at hand,

or the school-work,

or the relationship problem,

to really step back and seek God's heart for the situation. And often times we don't realize that we have been disconnected from God until we are so far down our own path in the woods that we forget the 4-lane highway to our right. (If you've seen The Village you might remember something like this.)

And then we ask the question of "God, where are you?"

And God's response is "I've been here the whole time. Where were you?"

Ouch. Zinger!

What do you have to do today to find your way out of the isolated path in the woods, and onto the obvious road that God has planned for you? What do you have to do TO RETURN? What is it TODAY that you need to let go of in order to live life, not just to exist, but to live life to the full?

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and (realionship with) God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6 (italicized translation inserted)

Prayer Room?

So, I have a lot of ideas to try out in ministry. Not every idea is perfect for every ministry. But in every church or community there are people who have been tapped by God to carry out ideas that benefit the whole. Some ideas work, some don't work. Some work once, and others work then not anymore. The great ideas are the ideas that people want to be a part of and participate in. Those are the ideas that help you grow in a relationship with Jesus.

Well, one idea that I really want to see God use is a prayer room (perhaps at 9 19, even at NewSpring). I got the concept from Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is a room that the church has available, where people can go and pray for whatever they are wrestling with, or what God has laid on their heart. It is a place open during services where people can gather to pray for God to move in the service. I would like to see volunteers there to pray with people, and teach them about prayer and speaking with God. Basically, a little prayer closet.

Let me know what ya'll think! Maybe somebody can take this and get it rolling!

Welcome to 9 19!

Hey guys! The past couple of weeks, Matt Feiling and I have been meeting with Kevin Baynard, president of Clemson's FCA , in order to strategically organize and enhance FCA's ministries. We are meeting again today in order to hopefully lay down some hard decisions as far as how to get 9 19 jacked up on Monster energy drink! (metaphorically speaking)

It's been awesome getting the chance to look at 9 19 in the mindset of, "This is awesome! How do we make it phenomenal?"

some things we're looking at:

• Volunteer Strategy
  
• T-Shirts (cause they're gonna be awesome!)
  
• Service Breakdown
• Small Groups
  
• "Getting out of the chair and getting out there!"
  
• Creative Strategy

I think we getting ready to see some big things happen this semester and the next at 9 19! Please pray for God to move in the lives of those leading and attending 9 19, and pray for God to get you plugged in, involved, interested, and ready to embrace His purpose for your life!

WOTA: In-Hand Sandwich Dispersion

Today, I reintroduce a completely random but age-old past-time of The Word of The Awesomeness (WOTA) ! Yes, a series of entries better than the Encyclopedia Brittanica that compiles the nuance-words or our hyper-changing culture.

Today's entry:

In-Hand Sandwich Dispersion (IHSD) n., a condition that causes a sandwich (or burger) to disintegrate in mid-consumption. This condition is caused by the breakdown of kinetic friction between internal middle elements and the outer elements, involving the tear-away of the bread/bun portion of a sandwich, leaving the middle section exposed in one's hands. (see also, Simultaneous-Bite Push Away) This breakdown is usually caused by excess condiment usage. Internal middle elements of the sandwich may completely break away and fall off in the process. In instances of extreme sandwich size, IHSD is frequent.

Family Weekend

This weekend has been great as far as getting some wonderful family time. Last night, my Dad and I went to the Thai restaurant in Anderson (very yummy!) and today I helped the fam clean out the attic (lots of memories up there...).

Can I say that I really enjoyed time with my Dad? For those of you that know him, you know he can be a really cool guy to be around. I really enjoyed our conversation, talking about construction, funny stories, and pretty much anything. It's also really awesome to have someone with which you can be with and not have to say anything, and everything be OK.

Today was good, sleeping in a little bit, helping move boxes, working out, and then going to work (my current location). I haven't written a blog in a while....I will be writing more as time allows. However, I need to make sure that I write my ideas as they come, so that I can type them up here afterwards.

CHURCH TOMORROW! GET PUMPED!

Are You Part of the Remedy?

So I got a little music CD yesterday...

David Crowder* Band's latest and greatest is one of the best CD's I've bought in a while....or ever! On top of great tunes like 'For The Glory of It All' and a remix of 'Everything Glorious'
the album features some sweet tunes such as the title song and a decidedly "Crowderized" version of 'O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing' among others.

The ten song album is very well composed, and it develops as a message to the world as what Christ-followers should be....a part of the solution, not part of the problem. This is underscored in the soft tones of the final song of the album, 'Surely We Can Change'.

If you haven't got ahold of this, you better get to it, cowboy!

Available on iTunes.

Completely Amateur Music Critic at your service,
-- RWS

Creative Treasure-Box on a Toilet Paper Roll

This blog is here as an outlet to my personal adventures, but also as a storage place and bulletin board for moving the Kingdom of God foward. Hopefully, this site can serve as inspiration, and if you (the reader) ever want to sit down and discuss the ideas posted herein, I am just an email away and would be happy to meet if possible.

I say all that to say that Momentum is the element of change. This momentum comes out of a desire to help others and to see the world change through the power of Christ and His People. Momentum came from a question, "What, Lord, do you want me to do?" and "How can I serve you and serve people better?". Today the question arose, "How can we (as a middle school ministry, Ignite) do more for our students?"

Tonight I was in the bathroom. Not the most glamorous thing ever, but while I was visiting the room with the bath in it, I suddenly had a flow of thoughts that immediately HAD TO BE WRITTEN DOWN! I found a pencil in my drawers pocket and, having no paper at hand, found a discarded cardboard toilet paper roll in the trash. On this unlikely piece of parchment I scribed the following ideas, which I want to share:

Ignite Career Day
- Allowing a duo-talk with a staff member and an outside Christ-follower that applies God's awesomeness to the real world, and emphasizes the importance of choosing a career path that brings honor to God.
- Allows students to learn about different careers and how God works tnrough those career-ppl.
- Promotes future planning
- Give-aways that highlights the message/career.
- The additional goal of this providing a valuable memorable experience.

Ignite Interactive
- Parents are invited to worship w/ kids.
- Addresses the importance of good relationships at home
- Provide a source of outreach to those wthout good home lives
- Provides a time for students' families to network
- Allows parents to become acquainted with small group leaders

Ignite: CREATE!
- A Saturday event followed by service on Sunday.
- The event provides a time for kids to learn painting, sculpting and drawing
- Music Fun "seminar" with NewSpring band members and affiliates
- Service emphasizes God's imprint of creativity on us, and how we can use our talents to make the world a better place and as ministry to others.

Ignite Supercharge Championship
- A Saturday event followed by service on Sunday
- A series of sports events for students. Teams compete in different sport events in bracket organization to advance to a grand-prize championship.
- Concludes with related message and worship on Sunday.

Ignite Revolution
- A Saturday event followed by service on Sunday.
- This event focuses on local missions; helping local charities and those in need.
- More frequent version of "Mission Anderson"
- Message on Sunday focuses on the importance and call to help and serve others.

Well, That's all I got right now. It's GAMETIME people! Let's get rockin!