Tuesday, April 29, 2008

DNOW 2008 What A Weekend!


WOW, what a weekend we had for our annual Disciple Now. For those of you who kept thinking DNOW was some odd acronym Dave made up – that’s what it stood for, praise God for the clarity!

Well, here are just a few things God did over the weekend:
· God opened the eyes of some students to living a new identity, not for self but for Jesus Christ! Here is a quote from one student “This weekend you made me realize that when I accepted Christ when I was 8 I didn't do it because I wanted to but because I saw my friend do it. I would like you to pray for me because i said that prayer at disciple now and accepted him as my Lord and savior…”
· God brought together 3 church youth ministries with over 150 students and over 75 adults (not to mention 1 Canadian from Manassas, VA J). It is a rare thing for churches to partner together. Most of the time churches are territorial and see getting together as competition. There was none of that here and Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17:21 was lived out this past weekend. Our students need to see the Church at large and understand that God is alive & moving beyond our own church walls.
· God introduced 8 new students to our youth ministry at SCBC. Some of them heard the gospel probably for the first time. Please pray for the seeds that were planted. Thanks to the teens who rose to the challenge Dave gave a month ago to take the risk and invite unsaved friends to our ministry events.
· God was glorified through the selfless service of so many adults and parents who sacrificed sleep, time and energy over the weekend. Honestly, I know that each of the 3 church youth pastors/directors cannot express enough appreciation for your help… so thank you for all you did, God noticed! AND, if I can promote for future events… we could have used several more adults helping with small groups and engaging students with the weekend content as well as a few other areas. So next time, do not just sit on the sidelines, get in the game. It’s worth it!
· God was honored through the creative talents students shared with the group over the weekend. We had a puppet team share a very cool neon black-light skit, three different youth groups led praise and worship through musical abilities. It is powerful to see how God has gifted the next generation with creative skills to praise Him and spread the gospel. I pray God continues to ignite and stir the passion in others.

This is just to name a few things. Every student has a story to share of how God spoke to them and is bringing together circumstances to make himself known in their life and family. I encourage you to walk up to our students and talk with them. You just might be pleasantly surprised to hear what God is up to.

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