The Digital Reach

Nearly half of US online adults are social media users, but 71% of online tweens and teens

• connect to a social network at least once a week.
• There are more Paypal accounts than Visa card holders.
• Americans sent 75 billion text messages in June 2008, a 160% increase from June 07.
• 70 million of the 90 million homes in the United States that are online have broadband connection speed and 37 percent of US Homes have Wireless or Wi-Fi.
• 9 out of 10 teens considers themselves to be “video gamers” and more than half play video games at least 3 times per week.
• 29% of teens would rather shop online than in a store.
• Consumers aged 18 - 26 are spending more time using the Internet (12.2 hours per week) than watching TV (10.6 hours per week) according to Forrester.

My thoughts...we are fast becoming a community that goes digital. We are interfacing more than we are interrelating. How do we translate that into effective means of communicating hope and love? Often we think that the latest and greatest is the key, when in reality, it's simply a trend people are moving towards.

Thank You

Eyes To See

We long to see. That's the cry of the very soul of man. It's why we spend billions of dollars to peer to the utter ends of the universe on a quest to "find the beginning." Man's attempt to see into space this week by touching for the last time The Hubble Space telescope underscores the pursuit for meaning and purpose in life.

Can a telescope really give us meaning and purpose? If devoid of the presence and control of an all loving and all caring God, then no. If to reflect the Glory of the Creator of the universe, then yes!

The focus in the media outlets have been on the scientific value of Hubble, rather than probing the deeper life questions that beg our focus towards the Creator God.

Do we really see? Or are we looking with the wrong lens?

"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4

I am a Musician

Had to post this...if you love music, love to play, have music flowing through your veins, like all kinds of music, check this out. It's worth the watch. Very cool.

"Stand by Me" performed by musicians around the world from SKAT on Vimeo.

Blown Away

God is up to something!

That's what I keep repeating over and over in my head. There's no other explanation for what's going on inside of our student ministry. Last week began what is seemingly taking shape to be a movement of God in our midst. Inspiring worship, broken hearts, students confessing sin to their peers, pledges of commitment and repentance, prayers of forgiveness, students coming to faith in Christ, it's all there! Amazing and humbling.

For any true revival or awakening to happen, there are several elements that must be present.

1. A Desperation for God. People are in need of God to an extent that they're ready to receive and respond to what God is calling them to.
2. Open and honest confession and repentance of sin. Confession happens privately and publicly in Scripture. When it's done publicly, much conviction takes place among the hearers, as I've seen recently in the many confessions of teenagers amongst their peers.
3. Obedience to God. God desires obedience more than sacrifice. The proof is in the pudding. When obedience happens, schools are rocked for Christ, families are transformed for the Gospel, and a real movement of God is submitted to and followed.
4. Response of Faith. This actually is the primary element of any true great awakening. The way an awakening happens within a person and the way a person is converted are one in the same.

My good friend Dr. Alvin Reid, in his book, "Firefall" produced the above list in his research on Great Awakenings in history.

Pray for our students. God is an amazing God. We must be humble and obedient to what He is calling us to.

Earth His Destiny, Heaven His Goal

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:17-18

What would we do if we had no God that understood us? What if we only had a God that made us then left us alone? We would be terribly lonely, incredibly bitter, and hopelessly wandering.

Yet God chose to empathize with his Creation. In the midst of a "Spit in God's Face" rebellion on Planet Earth, God chose to become who we are, yet without sin. He was saying, it can only be done by God. Living human life as God desires can only be done by God himself. So he came as a babe in a manger, raised by earthly parents who had no clue what to do what every parent does.(How does one raise the Son of God except by the power of God?) Jesus went through everything we did, yet did it flawlessly. Without sin.

So the created now have a front row seat, go-to person, in whose arms can collapse exhausted and sin weary. And the casting of our lives upon the altar over and over again serve as a reminder of the daily dying to self. Jesus is our empathy. More than that he lived a life we never could. Jesus knows what you and I did. And Jesus still cares and alone has the power to say, I conquered everything you couldn't in life, and ultimately conquered death.

Jesus empathized with the pain of dying, so we wouldn't have to. He put himself in our shoes, he put himself on our cross, so we wouldn't have to. There's a God-Man I can relate to!

Guest Blog: Allen Murray

“I’m at Caswell and I just set up two surf rods by myself thanks to the teachings of Allen Murray.” That is a text message I received from Derik a few weeks ago. He asked me if I would write a blog post reflecting back on my time as a member of the youth group. So when he sent me that text, I knew it was how I would begin. Of course I know it probably makes no sense to most people to start off a blog posting about my time in youth group with a text message about fishing a couple years after graduating out of the youth group at Southside. So I’ll explain.

I was always the kid in youth group that decided no matter where we went on a trip, no matter the time of year, if there was water I was going to bring a fishing rod. (If I didn’t have a fishing rod I would even use a clothes pin and a spool of line to catch fish, with success I might add.) I absolutely loved to fish, and when Derik came along he learned this quickly. But Derik wasn’t much of an angler when I met him. I’ll be honest there was one particular time we were surf fishing at Kure Beach I knew for sure that my fishing rod was about to become property of the Atlantic. But over the years Derik invested in a couple of surf rods and I taught him how to fish. So it was really cool to get that text the other day, being able to see Derik use the knowledge I gave him to fish on his own. That brings us to 2 Timothy 2 where Paul writes to Timothy:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach also.

Paul taught and mentored Timothy to be a minister of the gospel; likewise is the case of my time in the youth group at Southside.  Now I’m in college getting an education and preparing to be a church planter and I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it wasn’t for the investment of the leaders of 180 Student Ministries.

So much was learned in the 7 years I spent in the youth group. I received a first-hand taste of what biblical exposition is on those Wednesday nights out in the shed going through Philippians and 1 John with Derik. I can still remember some of the lessons he taught from those nights even though it has been 4 or 5 years ago. We had a lot of real intimacy those nights with just a few bibles, a djembe, and Derik on guitar.  It was an example of discipleship that I want to pass on to those I have in my ministry.

I received my first real experience of missions when we went to Augusta, Georgia for World Changers. I was able to see the impact of the gospel change a woman’s life for the better. It set me a flame for sharing the gospel that summer. We made other trips as well, some local, some a bit further, and now I’m excited to see the group going to Jamaica, Brazil, and beyond.  So you could say I taught Derik a bit about fishing for fish, and he taught me a bit about fishing for men.

I received a lot of one-on-one discipleship from Derik, John, Neil, and Dan while I was in youth. Derik poured a lot of bible into me and I cannot begin to thank him enough. He challenged me and always enjoyed throwing out a big seminary word in there to mess with my head at times. He put good books and good preachers in front of me. Sometimes we went toe-to-toe debating theology, at times a bit too far. But we never stopped trying to advance the kingdom together. If I had something going on I knew I could give these guys a ring and they would be there for me. They prayed for me. They were there at the hospital if something happened to someone in my family. They cared.  If there is one thing I can say about these men who poured their lives into mine, it is that they are way more than just youth leaders. They are my brothers in Christ and my friends, and I pray our friendships are lifelong.  

So many memories were made while in youth group. Reflecting on the road trips alone are worthy of a blog post. In these few paragraphs I just wanted to give a bit of reflection in my time with 180. I pray that in years to come many more can make such reflections under that ministry, and that someday I might be able to make the same kind of investment into making disciples of the Lord Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria- to God alone be the glory-

Allen Murray- www.eyeswellrubbed.com

She Chose Life

Teenage pregnancy is the not so often talked about side of parenting. Some parents want to cover their child's decision up. Some parents end up paying for the unthinkable. What's left is either a young lady heartbroken, grief stricken, or ashamed with seemingly nowhere to turn.

That's where a great organization called Lifeline steps in. They provide stopgap measures for new mothers and offer grief counseling for those who've had an abortion. These are just some of their services. Today we had a chance to give to this organization. Sometimes when we do a carwash, it serves as a fundraiser tied in someway to a trip or an upcoming event for our ministry. This time, we chose to help another ministry in town. I was so proud of the students and adults who could have been doing something else on such a gorgeous day. Instead, they served it up!

The neat thing here, is that we all came from moms who chose life! Thanks Mom.