Normal????

"Sometimes you got to step out of the normal that you live in to realize that your not the norm! There is a lost world out there that is within our reach if we will just take that one step."

This was the thought that came to mind tonight sitting in a living room in a poor area in Springfield. The smell of cigarette smoke, alcohol and drugs were present in the place. Cigarettes hung out of mouths while they sipped on alcohol. It was like a stop and smell the roses moment, OR RATHER STOP AND REALIZE APRIL THAT THIS IS THE WORLDS REALITY WITHOUT GOD. OUCH!!!

This is the thought that comes to my mind every week when I encounter the issues of students who were not raised in church. They don't know how to be a Christian...and certainly don't know how to act at church. We point our fingers, yell at them, but forget that it is our responsibility to first teach them in love how to be a Christian!

If we would just step out of "NORMAL" in church ministry, I have a feeling that God would begin to do huge things in the blocks of Springfield and Willard. If we would begin to think beyond "NORMAL" I think that the church would be actively reaching into unchurched students lives and reaching the alcohol smoke filled homes in America.

What is it going to take for us to have a "UN-NORMAL" thought? What is it going to take to help us realize that our normal as Christians is not the reality of America.

I think its time for us to pray that God would help us to reach the NORM! I think its time for us to seriously take that step....get out of our norm.

Visit an unsaved person's home...come to my youth group on Wednesday...go to a basketball game and listen to how the people act and say!

Its time for us to realize....WE ARE NOT NORMAL! How can we reach the NORMAL? How can we reach our world!????

The Victory is worth the FIGHT

"If you want a great victory, you have to be wiling to get into the battle and fight!" Henry Reiber

We tell God that we want to do great things for him. Yet, God doesn't always give us EASY stuff to do. The things he calls us to do come in packages that are quite intense and require that we fight for them. So before we tell God we want to do great things for him, we should ask ourselves first, "Am I willing to literally do whatever it takes to accomplish what God is calling me to?"

Lately, I have been in the fight of my life for some things. Last Wednesday, I was driving home seriously asking God why he chose me for these challenges. He asked me a question that is pretty basic. He said, "April you said you wanted to do great things for me right? Did you think it was going to be easy to see great victories and accomplish great things for me?"

Doing great things for God requires fighting. I daily fight in prayer for the souls of students who are addicted to drugs, pornography, alcohol, sex, sexting, cutting, suicidal thoughts, and a whole long list. I fight for the kid from the broken family who wan't raised in the church. I fight for the student who has never been given a chance or told he/she could do anything of worth in their life. I fight for girl who has been molested and abused and feels no worth. I fight for the unchurched students of this generation. I refuse to believe that drugs, alcohol, broken families, the lies of the enemy will enslave them.

I fight for the single mom who lost her job and doesn't have any purpose. The woman who has yet to discover God. I fight for her son to know the lover of his soul, a Savior.

Why? I know the God who breaks the chains. I know that God who frees from sexual addiction, pornography, drugs, alcohol. I know the God who heals the abused and broken. I know the God that restores broken families. I know the GOD WHO CAN BRING VICTORY IN THESE STUDENTS LIVES.

Call me stubborn, but I am rolling up my sleeves, putting on my boxing gloves and refusing to give up. I will not give up until we see the VICTORY!

Will you join me? Will you fight with me to see a GREAT VICTORY, in Element Student Ministries, or the place God has placed you!!!

Emotions

Emotions are numbing sometimes. You know how you have felt for so long, but you hide it deep down. However, some days it comes up and stares you in the face. It is pointless to deny it, because you know that is has been there all along. But to feel it is harder than to bury it.

Tonight I had to face my emotions yet again. I thought I had conquered them, had them under control and then Bam. Just kidding! It was really a tough moment for me. They were right there again.

So I must wonder what to do with them tonight. It is a good thing that I can again hand them up to God. Hand the source of the emotions up to God. In his Hands, they are yet again secure. He will work all things about for the good of me and my heart.

The Monument Place

I find myself in a place where I want to build a monument dedicated to all the things my Lord Jesus Christ has done in my life. I think that there would be far to many stones to stack in a neat little pile. I imagine that the pile would go on and on for miles. To truly think of all the things my God does for me on a daily basis astounds me. To think that God looked down upon the entire Universe and chose me to be his daughter and his agent to be a youth pastor and reach a generation of students.

Call me crazy, but this is what drives me. There is still so much to be done; so many more stones to be thrown in that stack, but the responsibility lies in my hands. There is a world to reach, but I can choose to do nothing about it. Should I be happy with a gathering of students, when there is a middle school and high school more of students who are devoid of a life with God? Who am I to pretend that the homelessness that is becoming more and more prevalent on the street is okay? Who am I to not give a rip about another family getting ruined by a divorce? Who am I to think that I have somehow arrived?

The fact of the matter is, sometimes in staring at the monument we don’t move beyond it to make a new monument. The point of life is not to make one great huge monument and camp out there. The point is to keep going, keep believing, keep risking, keep walking, keep jumping, keep seeing when no one else can, keep praying, keep working, keep trusting….and keep living out this GOD LIFE!

Tonight I talked with my students and saw in them the attitude I want to develop. When God gives you a challenge, you take it on, not just partially but with guts. Keep believing God that today just might be the day that He will yet again do a great work.

I don’t know about you, but I am folding my chair up and hitting the road. I am ready to see some serious God stuff happen in my personal life, Carpenters House, Element Student Ministries, my leaders lives, students lives, and the lives of the people I work with!

The power of Prayer

There is something about staring your dying Grandpa in the eyes and trying to tell him to have faith in God, that God loves him and can work in a miracle in his situation. I don't know about you, but in moments like this I don't feel much like a woman of faith, nontheless a Pastor. Its hard to stand up for your faith with family. You want to make them understand so badly their need to just trust in God.

Over the past month, I have watched my Grandpa grow weaker and weaker, losing more weight than I ever thought possible. I can see what the cancer is doing to him. I hear more reports from doctors than I ever care to hear. They all are at best the worst scenario. In moments like this, its tough to remind yourself that God is bigger!

Right now, I don't know what to feel. One of my heroes is dying, and there is nothing I can do but pray. I know prayer seems a little weak to me at the moment, but I remind myself of its power. Knowing the power of prayer, I wanted to ask you guys to please pray for my Grandpa and my family.

Specifically, pray my Grandpa would accept Jesus Christ into his heart. Pray that he would be healed of cancer, pray for my step-grandma trying to take care of him, and pray for my family who is very torn up about this whole situation.

An Average Day in the mind of a youth pastor

Today I am planning for Element! There is so much that goes into youth pastoring, the stuff that no one ever see's, besides those closest to you.

Today I am trying to figure out how to disciple students. It is not always easy. I am going to give you a glimpse into what is on my mind today. If you have any tips or advice, I welcome it!

1. I want to start managing my time better.
• Get better Rest/Exercise
• Put my relationship with Christ #1
• Make time for the LOST
• Make prayer an absolute must
• Take time out for Relaxing/friends/social life/thinking/Doing what I love

2. I want to start walking in faith!
• Actively believing for flat out miracles in students lives. (Freedom from drugs, addiction, redemption in broken families)
• Begin to think risky. Be willing to do “Untraditional Things” with my life personally and as a Pastor.
• Wait/Trust in God. (For a move of God in myself, in Element, with my future/ bringing along my husband, etc.)

3. I want to begin to DREAM Big Again.
• I want to do what has never been done before.
• See God do the impossible and laugh in Satan’s face!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Coffee shop????
• Radical new discipleship???
• What to do with all the time I put into Liberty? Can I find a better job to lead me to a better avenue to reach Willard? Start a coffee shop?????
• Or do I need to keep my Liberty job and just believe God to open doors despite 40 hrs being given to my job?

4. Be creative!
• How can we make Element different?
• A place where God is free to move?
• Not stiff in a schedule service and structure. Yes we will be structured, but not so structured that God can’t mess up our service.
• How do we begin to truly disciple these not so “unchurched” students anymore?
• How do we disciple students who are still very much living “IN SIN” outside of Element? How do we help them get free from sin?
• How do we engage the guys in Willard?
• How do we grow? By sending out students out to be our greatest promoters!
• How do we manage what we have and help students grow deeply in love with God?

Service:
• Pre-Service Prayer
• Creativity in Presentation. (Video/skits/energy/serious/drama???????)
• Worship—how do we make it not routine???
• Sermon—How I present it??? (Change/random/entertaining, but in purpose not to entertain….but teach students how to love God.
• Altar Time—How do we keep if fresh—keep students connecting with God?

Outside of Service:
• Develop discipleship. (One-on-One/Group? Small groups, but where?)
• Mentoring Program—Teach leaders how to mentor students
• Develop relationships—Focus more on beings strategic about “LIVING LIFE” with students!

Thoughts:

• Do more sermon series focus, with discipleship follow up????
• Be Ahead of schedule/with videos/service ideas.
• Hang out with at least one student a week outside of Element Service

Readability

Readability. The dictionary definition is the state or quality of being readable. Every author wants readability for their book. They want people to not only read it but understand it. They want everything to flow. Its all out there on paper: their thoughts, their passions, what statement they are trying to make. Its out in the open to be read by all. An extension of themselves on paper to either be embraced by another or tossed aside.

I like a good readable book, most people who are readers would agree. However, do you realize that our lives are readable? Every day someone is reading you, and your actions are telling a story! For those of us striving to live for God and point others to the Kingdom of God, this should be a good reminder. How I act is telling a story that people around me read.

What story are people reading through the actions of your life today?