Tomorrow, thirteen students students and a handful of adults will make the trek north to the snowy lands just outside of Pittsburgh to Homestead, PA. When the steel mills were booming in Pittsburgh, Homestead was a bustling place, but now that the steel industry has moved on, so have the jobs from Homestead.
While there we will partner with a ministry/coffee shop known as Eighth Ave. Place which has been fighting racism, poverty, and homelessness for years now. You can find more information on this ministry on their website, www.eighthaveplace.com, where they explain their vision, their passion, how to support the ministry, and show some pictures of the ministry. Under the vision section is the following quote: "It is God's will and our dream to unite the Body of Christ. 8th Ave. Place will welcome groups...to Homestead to engage in missions throughout Homestead and the city of Pittsburgh. Dialogue has begun...in hopes of working with mission teams to equip people to evangelize through word and deed in Homestead. The walls of racial tension must come down, and 8th Ave. seeks to work with any and all churches to pursue God's will." This is a phenomenal ministry, and we are blessed to have this opportunity to be a part of it.
For the past two months, our church has been collecting cold weather clothing to add to the ministries for the weekend; our students have been getting excited, and the members of our church have really rallied behind our teens. God is at work in the life of these high school students...lookout Pittsburgh, here we come!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Surrender in 2011
The theme for the beginning of this year has clearly been "Surrender." I'm currently reading a book by Robert Coleman entitled Master Plan of Evangelism, and it has changed my life. When talking about the disciples of Christ, Coleman writes, "Following Jesus seemed easy enough at first, but that was because they had not followed him very far. it soon became apparent that being a disciple of Christ involved far more than a joyful acceptance of the Messianic promise: it meant the surrender of one's whole life to the Master in absolute submission to his sovereignty. There could be no compromise."
As I tried to read on, I couldn't. I found myself stuck on this paragraph. I've probably read it 10 times a day for the last week. So I began asking the Lord, "Father, what areas of my life have I not surrendered?" "Where have I taken what I thought was mine when I should have given what was yours?"
The answer to these questions has broken me. In an attempt to get some further instruction and clarity on the issue of what surrender looks like in the life of a 21st century disciple of Christ, I listened to a message by Brent Knox. It was entitled "The Joy and Call of Discipleship" and can be found if you follow this link: http://www.gccweb.org/conferences/faithwalkers/midwest/2010_teachings - I've listened to this message twice already, and it has given me a new perspective on surrender and sacrifice. It is a talk that was given during the opening session for Faithwalkers, a winter conference hosted my Great Commission Churches, and it's a talk that I'll probably listen to a couple more times before I move on to the next one.
I ask that you would join me in praying that I, that we, that the church, that our leaders would make a conscious effort to live a life completely and totally surrendered to the Master.
Forever In His Grip,
ZB
As I tried to read on, I couldn't. I found myself stuck on this paragraph. I've probably read it 10 times a day for the last week. So I began asking the Lord, "Father, what areas of my life have I not surrendered?" "Where have I taken what I thought was mine when I should have given what was yours?"
The answer to these questions has broken me. In an attempt to get some further instruction and clarity on the issue of what surrender looks like in the life of a 21st century disciple of Christ, I listened to a message by Brent Knox. It was entitled "The Joy and Call of Discipleship" and can be found if you follow this link: http://www.gccweb.org/conferences/faithwalkers/midwest/2010_teachings - I've listened to this message twice already, and it has given me a new perspective on surrender and sacrifice. It is a talk that was given during the opening session for Faithwalkers, a winter conference hosted my Great Commission Churches, and it's a talk that I'll probably listen to a couple more times before I move on to the next one.
I ask that you would join me in praying that I, that we, that the church, that our leaders would make a conscious effort to live a life completely and totally surrendered to the Master.
Forever In His Grip,
ZB
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