We've arrived!

After a very long day of driving (4:00 am to 7:00 pm!)  we arrived in Carthage MO.  We are staying at the First Baptist Church.  They have been kind enough to let us stay here for free.  This really helped us keep our costs down. 

They have a very nice facility and we enjoyed playing ultimate frisbee tonight!

We start our week of ministry tomorrow in Joplin.  I'm sure that there is no way that we will be able be prepared for what we will experience.  My heart goes out to these people and I haven't even met them!

Here are some pictures of our place.  Many more coming tomorrow!  Thank you for the prayers!!!

Trying something new!

Getting my phone synchronized with blogger so I will be able to update everyone while we are down in Joplin!

Joplin, MO video

My Annual Report

Here is the slideshow of some of the highlights from this school year's ministry.  Hope you enjoy!

80's Night Recap

We had an awesome time last night at our 80's night event!  The funny thing is that most of the kids that attend weren't even born then, but they did their best to make it work.  We had some 80's music playing in the background and did several events that were popular in the 80's.  We had a Rubik's cube battle (to finish one side!), a quick Tecmo Bowl game, and a Rock, Paper, Scissor tournament.

For our worship time, we did worship tunes from the 80's like "Lord I Lift Your Name on High", "Awesome God", and "As the Deer".

The message portion of the evening was handled by our intern, Justin Dietche.  I worked with him this week to help him develop this lesson.  We centered around the idea of "fads" and how the 80's were a very stylistic decade.  It was here and then gone before we know it (which is a good thing for a lot of what came from the 80's - mainly clothes and mullets!).

He set things up with that premise: the world around us is constantly changing, but God never will!  If we place our trust in things of this world, or try and please people in this world, we will always be coming up short.  But if we strive to serve a God who as in Hebrews 13:8 is the same yesterday, today, and forever we will not be let down!!!  Or in James 1:17 we are comforted in knowing that we serve a God that doesn't change like the shifting shadows!  Our God is unchangeable, and unmovable!  He will NEVER go out of style.  We will never look back and say, "What was I thinking???", with God.

The majority of his lesson was based on that thought.  He then wrapped things up with an analogy of God, us, and a car.  Many times Christians view God as an annoying "back seat driver", telling them what they can or cannot do.  Others might even put Him in the "trunk" of their lives and take Him out whenever they need him (like a spare tire).  Still others might have Him in the front seat with themselves and enjoy the company, but never truly give over complete control of their lives to Him.  What he encouraged the teens to do was to "pull over" and allow God to take the wheel of their lives and give Him control of where they would go.  To completely trust in the One who can see the end before the beginning!  The One who has a plan and purpose for their lives and loves them dearly.

The mental picture of us wearing completely outdated clothes, listening to old music, and playing old games, was a great help in having the teens see the difference between a fad (80's), and an unchanging loving God!

Battle of the Bands

What an awesome night of music and fellowship we had on March 5th!  Five bands from all around the region came together at Foursquare Church in Rhinelander to "Battle it out" for an opening spot in this week's concert.  I will post some of the bands here.  A big congrats goes out to End of December as they were victorious!  You can see them this Friday night at our Remedy Drive concert.

Purity Banquet

What a wonderful evening we had Saturday night!  30 guests and a handful of volunteers made this year's Purity Banquet a night to remember!!!

The evening began for most of our attendees with a limo ride through beautiful Rhinelander.  Then we had our resident photographer, Sarah Hall snap portraits of them so they could remember the evening for years to come.

Thanks to Kim and Ann Prom, we had a wonderful three course dinner that included Chicken Cordon Bleu.

The message portion of the evening centered around, "Getting to the Root of the Problem".  We were able to deal with all aspects of purity in a very "PG" way!  The object lesson was a tree that I made to illustrate that very point.  Many times in our lives we try and "pluck" the "bad fruit" from our "trees", only to see them grow back days, weeks, or months later.  What we tried to get across is that by dealing with the root issues of sin, that would take care of the fruit problem.  Not only in the short term - but the long term as well!

We had a teenage couple share their testimony of how accountability counseling with Kim and I has really allowed them to remain pure.  We are greatful that God is using us in their lives and that HE is the one allowing them to stick to their pledge of purity!!!

We closed the evening off with a pledge of purity.  It was a five point pledge that was based off of Ephesians 5:3-4 and the points were:

1. To keep my body pure in every way.
2. To be in God's Word daily.
3. To be committed to my prayer life.
4. To deal with the root issues in my life, not just pluck to fruit off and move on.
5. To be aware of EVERY word coming out of my mouth.  I commit to building others up - not tearing them down.

Once again, it was an amazing evening and we pray that the Holy Spirit will guard and enable the people that attended to stick to their commitments.  That they would be able to live a life of purity!!!