Escape ... The Unexpected Journey

Our annual middle school camp is officially less than one week away! We have 43 students and 7 staff signed up from our community, this is the most we've had in a long time, so we are excited to see the Lord growing our group and stirring an excitement among students. We're doing a Hobbit Themed camp this year, the unexpected journey. Our speaker will be teaching 5 times throughout the weekend on the amazing adventure that Jesus invites us to join in.

A few prayer requests for camp ...

Our students - many of our students are new to the group. Would you pray for team unity, and that students would love each other well and speak words of life to one another. Pray that God would prepare their hearts to hear His Word and that they would respond to Him.

Our staff - Kevin, Steve, Rob, Shaun, Suzan, Donna, Hannah and myself as we lean in with students, point them to Jesus and encourage them in faith. Pray for wisdom, ears to hear, words to speak and endurance... 4 days of camp with many high energy middle schoolers : )

Our speaker - Dave Lambert, a long time Cadence missionary and friend is coming to speak, and I'm really excited about that! Pray that he and his wife have safe travels and get over jet lag quickly. Pray that he connects with students and finishes up his talks.

Our camp team - A group of students from Multnomah University are coming to lead various components of the camp. Pray that they also have safe travels and adjust to Germany time. Pray that they would dive in with students well! Many of these students are interested in a future with Cadence after they graduate. Pray that God would speak to them and perhaps lead them towards Cadence.

Safety - We are maxing out our facility! Praise the Lord for the highest turnout in recent Escape history. Would you pray that the Lord would keep us safe - both physically and emotionally/relationally. As we near camp, we are still waiting on some final safety approvals from the various participating bases/youth groups. Would you pray that God would grant us favor with the right people and that He would make it all happen, in His timing.

THANKS for praying!! Our students are super excited for the weekend, and I'm excited for them to hear the Word and learn about Jesus.

Welcome to 2013, we're off and running!

Equip 2013
We spent January 25-26 with 20+ middle schoolers that were interested in growing in their faith and ministering to their peers. Our theme was "Team Captains" and we talked through the weekend about following our leader (God) and leading others to Him. Each of our CSM took turns teaching. I spoke the first evening about "Why are we on the team?" and how God doesn't need us, but has chosen to invite us to join in His work. That night I also lead an experiential game where staff hid around the building with different flashlights and students were sent out to find as many as they could. Some lights were dim and flickered on and off, others were bright and easy to find right away. Afterwards we asked students what sort of light were they? Did their light shine bright? Or did they turn it on and off depending on where they were and who they were with? Overall, we had a great weekend with our students! Praise the Lord for middle schoolers who are desiring to grow in faith and seek to impact those around them for eternity.

Good News 

A new twist on an old classic - if you've ever volunteered for VBS or little kiddo Sunday school, you've probably made a salvation story bracelet.

Black is our sin, 

Red is Christ's blood, 

 White  is for being washed as white as snow, 

Green is for a growing faith and 

Gold is for the promise of heaven.

I thought it would be fun to make this more middle school cool, so with Isaiah 52:7 in mind "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peach, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"we did Gospel style pedicures last week.

Bible studies are off to a good start this semester. With middle schoolers, we recently finished up a character study, where we learned what Christ-like qualities we need to be putting on and growing in. With high schoolers, we completed a worldview study, where we read through a book about how Christianity compares to other world religions and practices. For the next two weeks, we're going to look at the book of Daniel and discuss what it means to "resolve to not defile ourselves" as we live in this world. I'm still praying about March, but I'm currently leaning towards a study of Esther. Would you pray for my girls as we prepare for a new study?

MythBusters, Theology Style
"You know how when good people die, they become angels? Does that mean bad people become demons?" This was a question we were asked last year from a student. Hollywood is doing a great job teaching our students false truths about God. This semester we are seeking to bust many bad theology myths that are running rampart in our culture. Like... do all dogs go to heaven? Is Morgan Freeman God? Do we have a juke-box Jesus? Should we really set the world on fire? Are we really born that way? In the coming weeks we'll be looking at how Hollywood and the media have portrayed God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), Satan, demons, angels, heaven, hell and the end times. Then we'll take a look at the church and how Christians are portrayed in the media, and how the Lord calls us to be His witness.

Side note, on my flights to/from the states this Christmas, I started watching a few movies that really troubled me so much that I turned them off within the first few scenes. Each of them portrayed Evangelical Christians as total idiots, and I was frustrated by them. Christians and holy living is being mocked in numerous movies and sitcoms today, and I think it's important that it's addressed with students.

We'll also spend time talking about love/relationships, anarchy, following our hearts, the American dream and zombies/witches/vampires. It's going to be a fun semester!

Would you pray for our study... that students would understand Biblical truths and learn to filter the information they receive from media and discern what is truth and what are lies.