Perfect Opportunity

One of the hardest things to do as a young Christian is to share your faith. Especially with people at school who you're going to have to face every day AFTER that. What if they reject what you have to say? What if they roll their eyes and walk away? What if they tell some other people what you said? What if they laugh? What if...?

What if they listen quietly, then text you later with a simple "thank you"? What if they accept your invitation to church and respond to an altar call? What if they simply let you pray for them? What if they accept Christ and then tell others? What if...? You just saved a life!

Isn't that possibility worth the risk? High school doesn't last forever...hell does.

Here's your perfect opportunity. Say It Loud will be fun - low cost - meet new people - eat food - win prizes - and SOMEONE ELSE will be there to give an opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ! I know you're coming and I'm truly glad - it'll be a blast. But you just might be able to throw a friend a true "life preserver". Do you care enough to try?

Hey everybody!!!

I'm getting excited...we're planning our little heads off to get ready for the lock-in. It's been several years since we've had one so we're definitely due!

The NCU Crew is coming. They're bringing a rockin' worship band, a drama team, some testimonies, and a speaker. They're also going to be the judges for the Ardent Variety Show!

Speaking of the Variety Show...be sure to sign up with Jordan Nilson if you've come up with an act. It can be comedy, music, poetry (we'll give you snaps), martial arts demonstration, or any other creative thing you can think of. :o) We're going to open the show to parents too, so THINK HARD and sign up quick!!

Be ready to Box 'n' Bounce...we're getting a huge inflatable to help us burn off some of that energy. We will have a full concession stand operating and all the proceeds go to our Overflow Challenge for STL!!

Remember - tickets for Ardent are $10 in advance ($12 at the door) - you can invite a friend and their ticket is only $5 but $10 at the door - so get them this week! We'll be selling tickets in the foyer on Wednesday night.

Highlights from Campus Missions Training

We had Kent Hulbert here today - he's a Youth Alive Missionary. He was so great...I wish everyone could have heard it. But if you didn't, here are some of the notes that I got from what he said.

What is a Campus Missionary?

The attraction of how a life is lived can help people get closer to the point of receiving Christ. No matter where God places you…it’s a mission field. Are you dreaming of what God can do through your life? You have the opportunity to change someone’s life forever! If you just allow God to use you – He will FREAK you out by what He does!!

5 Habits of a CM:
Pray…
Pray daily. Even in the “smallest” moments…acknowledge that He’s listening. Take 30 seconds at your locker. Grab a couple other Christians – take 2 minutes to pray for your school. Jericho March – walk around your school and pray. James 5:16b

Live…
Live like Jesus. I John 2:7 This is the tough one. As you obey His Word, He will raise things up in your life to give you an opportunity to live for Him!

Tell…
Tell the truth. Be ready to give the reason for the hope that you have. I Peter 3:15 With GENTLENESS and RESPECT!

Serve…
Serve others. Matthew 20:27-28 It shows the love of Christ in a totally individual way. Start a campus club that finds ways to serve their community.

Give…
Give generously. I Corinthians 9:6-7 Not just money – time, talents, abilities. Personal sacrifice in order to reach out to others.

There are now 20,000 students who have committed to be CMs. We're working to double that number in two years – desire to reach 1,000,000 students!

We had about 6 more students sign up to be a Campus Missionary! I'm SO stoked about that. I've been praying about what we can do in the area of evangelism, and this is totally part of that answer. I will be giving an overview of what CMs are on Wednesday night...so stay tuned. I can help you get signed up too!

Turners List

Since Theresa the Great is incredibly busy at work, I told her I would add her Overflow ideas list to the blog.

• Sell discount cards
• Sell candy (like they do at school)

It doesn't sound like there was much "serious" brainstorming in their group. And since Theresa is too busy to blog it, I get to add my twist. :o)

And if you know Eric Turner, you know that blogging wasn't even in his vocabulary until I forced it upon him. LOL So here's the list from his group...they were more productive than Theresa's.

• Make tie dye shirts
• Sell homemade keychains
• Sell homemade jewelry

A few more STL ideas

Hey everyone, I hope you have all prayed about your overflow challenge and have your ideas ready to give to Pastor Annette; but just in case you are still stumped here are a few ideas that our group came up with last week.

• See if you parents/any relative will give you $ for each A or B you get on your report card
• Offer to do extra household chores
• Walk dogs
• Spring is coming - so do yard work (mowing, raking, spring cleanup)
• Give up a soda, energy drink, candy bar, coffee or whatever your daily personal treat and then put that money into STL.

Hope this helps. On with the challenge!!

Overflow Challenge

It was so cool to hear the excitement as we talked about what we could do for this first 3-month Overflow challenge. We KNOW that God can do something awesome through our lives as we make some sacrifices to try to change the world! Here are some of the ideas that my smart group had...

• Mobile car detailing - this is so cool...you go to the person's house and wash, wax, vacuum, and clean the interior of their car. I would TOTALLY pay for someone to come and do that!
• STL Store - we talked about various things that people can make (duct tape wallets, fabric purses, baked goodies, pre-made scrapbooks, etc.). We could set up a STL Store every Missions Sunday AND at the lock-in April 3rd! Then the people who have items to sell would work the store.
• Babysitting - give 1/2 to the Overflow challenge
• House cleaning - same
• Bake Sale - before/after Sunday service (once a quarter)
• Slave Auction - auction yourself off to do whatever the owner needs
• Marathon Relay Team - get people to sponsor every mile you run
• Group Rummage Sale
• Sell fresh produce from your garden

I was so impressed with the ideas that people had!! The sky is the limit! And what's really great about the Overflow Challenge is that it's in 3 month increments. So if you try something the first quarter and it doesn't go so well...change it up!

So try to nail down your idea so we can add it to the Challenge board on Wednesday! It's going to be awesome to see God work through our Overflow!

The Awesome Group

My group came up with some interesting ideas to raise money for STL. Here they are in list form:

• Run Marathon with Eric
• Horse Riding Competitions, give part of winnings
• Make Jewelry
• Video Game Tournament (Halo most likely)
• Make clothing
• Garage Sale
• Car Wash (WOO!!)
• BBQ for church, profits to STL
• Coin Drive
• Selling arts and crafts at a booth at River Boat days
• Concert

Those are the serious ideas that the Awesome Group came up with. Yay GOD!

Sunday

I'm really enjoying this series on prophecy. And I appreciate the fact that Pastor is covering some history first. No offense guys...but a lot of you are pretty shaky on your Bible history. I noticed Sunday that "your row" was having a difficult time focusing. Sundays are NOT just for adults! If you want more spiritual maturity, you should definitely tune in to every message that is preached.

Pastor even made some specific references to young people! Did you hear it? He talked about how people can't be educated out of sinful behavior. In high schools all over the nation, they TEACH about irresponsible sexual behavior, but teenagers are still risking their lives with premarital sex! We can teach what Biblical standards are, but it's your choice to apply them to your lives. He also warned about becoming self righteous. It's fairly easy to do when it seems like the whole world around you is getting worse and worse. Be a light to your world. Let them admire you for having high standards!

Did anyone catch the mistake in Pastor's notes this week? I have a prize for you if you did!