So That The World May Believe

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:20

I find this prayer amazing that Christ prayed for today's church. He prayed for UNITY, as we would say...but is this unity the "oneness" that Jesus had with the Father? To me it seems deeper, more connected, interwoven, enmeshed, and of the same heart.

So if we as a church body, are one, or "in Christ", then the commonality is Christ. Why then are there so many "churches"? The answers I get to this question, (and often pose myself) don't seem to measure up to the standard that Christ wanted for his church. But yet here we are. Serving Christ alongside each of our little (or large) communities of faith. Jesus knows our brokenness. That's why he PRAYED for that which needed to come about: UNITY and the WORLD to believe that Jesus was sent by the Father.

Prayer works. Prayer, more times than even our presence with others, is so powerful and can minister even across TIME, as Jesus prayed for future believers. Our prayers are so time-centered. How often do we pray for future generations?

Lessons From The Wilmington Four

Hiking fifteen miles with three good friends is a great way to spend a weekend! We knew more about each other when all was said and done. It was a great time to share in God's Creation and just hike the trail as a band of brothers.

Cross Without God?

We have crosswalks everywhere. We must cross them to get from one place to another. Yet they remind us of a task most of us carry out everyday: Walking. Walking is easy. Or is it? If you cross the road, and don't look at where you're going, or at what's coming, you could die.

So it goes with our spiritual lives. All throughout Scripture, (350 times) the word walk reminds us that there's a way that pleases God our Father. Either we walk in his ways or we don't. Many walked in the ways of God, very few, were consistent at it. Most flubbed up. Yet God calls us to walk in his power, not our own. It's this struggle that we fight with. Our way of doing things vs. God's.

That's where we are with our students. Challenging this generation to walk through life with a God they can trust is the goal of an exciting series we're beginning Wednesday night!

You Have To Laugh

Found this and thought I should add a little political humorous flair to the blog!

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job.

Depression is when you lose your job.

Recovery is when Obama loses his job.

For those of you who didn't vote for President Obama, this might amuse you. For those of you who did, just simply allow room for some good jesting! : ) It's OK to laugh people! President Obama would laugh at this joke! See here.

The Power of The Gospel

God is at work in the hearts and lives of students! Praise God for what he's doing through my friend Clayton King:

Can 2,000 people be saved at once anymore?

Filed under: Blog Post — Clayton King @ 4:18 pm

We are not living in the book of Acts, the West has become post-modern and post-Christian, church attendance is declining, and Billy Graham is no longer doing stadium crusades. So can 2,000 people still get saved all at once? Evidently, they can.

I just saw 2,000 people repent of their sins and publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ.

The backstory: The event was the TN Youth Evangelism Conference. It was held in downtown Nashville, with just under 12,000 attendees. On Thursday night, I sensed the Holy Spirit challenging me to pray an audacious prayer, reminding me of the 1,500 people who trusted Christ in Beaumont, TX in January. I confessed to The Lord that I did not have faith to pray for 2,000 people to be saved. He would not let me go. He kept bothering me, telling me that the gospel works and that if I would just believe Him, He would show off.

I reluctantly submitted to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and I did, indeed, ask God to give me the faith to believe that 2,000 people would begin a journey of salvation on Friday night. I prayed fervently, and began to notice that the more I prayed, the more I believed God would do it, and the more sensitive I became to the lostness of the people around me, even in the airport and the hotel.

I preached from Romans 10:8-10 a very simple message on what is required of us in order to be saved. According to Paul, we have to believe in our hearts that Jesus is raised from the dead and we have to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. I told them they were not allowed to rededicate. I did not want any Christians to make a re-commitment. I was only going to extend an invitation for people who had never repented, never believed, never been saved, never met Jesus personally.

Instead of doing a typical Baptist invitation (heads bowed, eyes closed, music playing softly, lights down with nobody looking), I had all the lights on, all eyes open, no music, and everyone looking. Then I challenged them to do exactly what Paul commanded the church in Rome to do for salvation.

STAND UP. OPEN YOUR MOUTH. CONFESS “JESUS IS LORD.”

I did not allow anyone to clap or shout or say amen. The room was totally silent. One by one, people began to stand up and declare their faith in Jesus. You should have heard it…voices filling an auditorium with thousands present, confessing the Lordship of Christ in front of earthly and heavenly witnesses. God had answered my prayer.

Afterwards, I met lots of people. A 51 year old chaperone was saved. A 29 year old youth pastor was saved. And 3 of the security guards were saved. There are 2,000 new names written in God’s book, people who have begun a lifelong journey of salvation.

The gospel works. We don’t have to dumb it down, we just have to declare it with boldness, love, and conviction. The Holy Spirit does all the work in people’s hearts because Jesus did all the work on the cross. Pray for all your new brothers and sisters in Christ who have a new heart, and new life, and new destiny.

Derik's thoughts:

God still moves. He's been moving since Creation. A simple, profound explanation of the gospel message stirs hearts and minds by the power of the Holy Spirit. The result? Teenagers bustin' heavin wide open!

Student Testimony Night Then Unleash

We're set for a great line up of what God's doing in student's lives Wednesday night! I'm so excited to hear of how God is shaping the lives of our students! After tomorrow night we head to Anderson SC for the UNLEASH conference! Woohoo!

Snow Skiing In the 70s

It felt like the 70s anyways. It was probably one of the warmest ski retreats I've been on with a group. Our speaker Sterling did an awesome job with excellent video teaching along the 8 hour trip up to the slopes, and the night session for which we were so grateful. We skied and had some awesome times of worship and teaching. God was impacting hearts and minds as several of the students committed their lives to Christ over the weekend, and many became closer in their walk with Christ. It was great to get to know some new faces and connect with some good friends. We couldn't have pulled this off without the help of our wonderful team of adults and leaders. Great trip.