As We Gather Again...

December of 2013 a few thousand college students gathered in Louisville, KY for the Cross conference, which stands to equip and mobilize students for their role in reaching the nations with the Gospel. As my readers then, I asked for your prayer over us in how God may shape and fashion us for His calling in this upon our lives and the work He would do during the few days we spent there.

In a few short weeks we will be returning to the conference, but in our respective cities and campuses, simulcasting Undaunted, seeing how the Lord may equip and move in us even more for our role in making His name be glorified amongst all peoples. 

As we gather once again around God's Word to seek understanding and insight into His purposes for missions I ask for your prayer in preparation and throughout in a few ways for those who will be tuning into the simulcast: 

1. Pray for those who attended Cross 2013 and committed to seeking missions as a viable option for what God is calling them to do. As they return, they may still be in waiting to see what is next or in the process of pursuing a missional life internationally and what they may learn through God's Word in preparation for this. 

2. Pray for the new attendees and what God will have in store for their lives as they seek to honor Him. I know personally I grew a great deal at Cross 2013 and I'm sure can learn even more this year. I'm excited to see how the Lord may work through those who have yet to attend and what He may teach and place on their hearts through this time we have together. 

3. Pray for the speakers. As all are very prominent in our Christian society, pray that they may continue to be humbled before our God and used to bring Him glory through the teaching of His Word and the encouragement they are bringing to students calling us to step out in faith and place a blank check before God with our lives as Platt spoke of during Cross 2013.

4. Pray for those already on the field. Pray for the fruitful laborers scattered across the globe who are working patiently and diligently to bring the gospel to those who haven't heard. Pray for their safety in Christ and that they may continue to seek Christ and trust in His sovereignty through all things they face cross-culturally. 

5. Pray for the senders. Pray for those who are called to stay and reach those in their surrounding. And as they reach those placed in their workplaces and cities that God would work in them and provide in a way to where they are able to support and uplift our brothers and sisters serving internationally through prayer and monetary support to where they may continue the work God is calling them. 

I am extremely thrilled to see how God may move and work through us and all others gathering around our screens February 27th to tune into this simulcast. May God be honored and praised by our time together that we will be moved to act in bringing the Gospel to those who have not heard.

The Molding of a Shepherd

My entire life has been spent involved in some type of ministry. Pretty much after entering this world, I was placed in the church. This was the calling on my father's life: to be a pastor. Though it wasn't mine, I still went along for the ride, mostly willing. With this calling placed on my parent's lives, however, I had a front seat ride through a thrilling and trying life spent in ministry. I learned and grew a great deal and the most prevalent thing I can remember growing up is how I would never pursue this with my life. The line read, "I could never do what dad does." It's funny how we are bold and make claims that seem to be very valid, yet can turn entirely wrong in an instance.

As I went through middle school and high school, I began to struggle some with the toll of ministry on my family. I mean that was our life. It consumed us. We were nearly at the church 5 out of 7 days a week sometimes and I found it daunting. But as I began to mature, nearing the end of my high school days, God began to work on my heart and truly show me the reasons we are placed in certain situations: to rely on Him. Through certain issues that arose at the end of my high school career, through relationships and not receiving a full ride for college, I learned a harder way of what it meant to rely on God for the provision He would provide and saw fit to sustain me. Even in my doubt and feeling of lostness, He provided. It came through for my schooling to still be paid in one way or another. I was extremely thankful for the encouragement of my family at that stage in pointing me to Christ, as I was even broken down in my mother's office at work after receiving the news. She stated, "It will be okay. God will provide still. This was not meant to be but it will still be alright."

Here I am about four years later, looking back on this moment and seeing the incredible provision of the Lord. I still entered the sidewalks of Marshall University in the Fall of 2011, as a biology major in hopes of entering the medical field upon graduation. This was the plan. The only formidable option of my future because what else would I do? I began the #sciencelife, got plugged into a campus ministry and small group, as well as a church. I was on my own for these things and it was a little weird. It was the first point in my life where I saw my faith as my own and I wasn't following my parents’ path in it. It was the first time that I truly learned what it meant to place my identity in Christ above all things. And it was a beautiful thing to behold. Christ in His glory and my life used to glorify Him.

As we continue onto sophomore year, I continued in the #sciencelife in hopes of medicine. I also had the incredible opportunity to serve on my campus ministry's leadership team, which if you had asked me a few years prior I would have laughed and never thought I'd be in that position. It was a truly humbling year for me as God broke me down and truly showed what relying on Him in uncertainty was. This was the year that plans changed. This was the year where I began to let go of my dreams of medicine and hold onto the will of God, trusting in Him in all things and proclaiming and glorifying Him in all things. Come Spring semester, I came to the point a lot of college students come to, trying to answer the question of, "What will I do with my life?" Thankfully I was a sophomore and had plenty of time. Or at least I thought.

I began to research what I could do with a biology degree. Over the course of that semester, I visited a seminary because BCM (the campus ministry I'm a part of) took a trip and I thought why not? I learned a great deal from the trip but still held onto the notion that I would pursue something with my degree rather than ministry because as I stated when I was younger, "I could never do what Dad did." So the weekly Google searches continued.

As I entered junior year, I was given leadership over a group of guys, where as the year before I had just assisted and co-lead. "Me leading a small group?" was the recurring thought throughout my head but God humbled me and worked incredibly to make Him glorified through our lives. We rallied with each other and learned a great deal from His word in Ephesians and shared with one another what was going on in our lives. As we would state repeatedly throughout the year and how I would summarize it, "Our knowledge was surpassed," referencing Ephesians 3. They bore a great deal with me through my weekly career path and I thank them for putting up with my indecisiveness.

It was in the spring again when things began to change. Due to family circumstances, my Dad had to leave and be with my granddad last minute on a Saturday night and he called me to ask if I would fill in for him Sunday morning. Me, you know the one who could never do what Dad did, was now being called on to preach? What? I couldn't fathom it, yet I said yes with his reassurance I would be fine. It was a whirlwind of a night in preparation and then I took off the next morning with the prayers of my brothers and sisters flooding over me as I preached God's word. It was incredible to see the way God used me for His purposes to be fulfilled. I had never thought I'd be in that position, yet here I was, in the pulpit.

God worked mightily in that and I had another opportunity over the summer to fill in for my Dad again. And again, I was stunned in how He works in unforeseen ways and how He works beyond what we could ever think. The verses we had just studied in Ephesians in my small group were coming full circle in my life;

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen"(Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV).

God was working in me far beyond what I could ask or think. Thus began the thoughts that had been in the back of my mind, that I had ignored until now because I couldn't anymore, am I called into ministry? I began to walk through earnest prayer throughout the Summer and the beginning of the fall to see how I might be used and it all kept coming back to this, I tried to determine if I needed to utilize my major in any way and struggled to see it as a waste the past four years. But I finally came to terms it would be utilized in some way. The Lord can use any aspect for His glory and that is something I continually need to hold onto.

Which brings me to this point: I am called into the ministry. Never did I think I would say that nor have ever been surer of something in my life. My indecisiveness over the past few years has ended, though I do not know where this will lead still as I graduate, I just know for now that I will pursue some sort of work to glorify God in ministry as He has called. The Lord has blessed me with gifts of understanding, wisdom, and the ability to articulate, speak, and write that I cannot lay to waste but use to build His kingdom while I am here on this Earth. I ask as my readers, brothers and sisters in Christ, that you pray with me and for me as I continue onto what He might have me do in order that He may continue to increase in my life and that I may become His humble servant in building up the body on the Earth for what is in store for us in glory!

(Photo credit: http://barbarashdwallpapers.com/sheep-wallpapers/)

The Last Firsts

Entering your last year or last phase of something calls for many last firsts. In regards to my life at the moment (and numerous others around the country) this calls for the last firsts of your senior year of undergrad and boy are there many. You have your last first day of school, your last first club meetings, last first small groups, last first night of college ministry, and the list could continue. As I have began to realize how many of these "last firsts" I've been experiencing, legacy has been a recurring thought and idea upon pondering these events. And with it the question, "What legacy will I be leaving behind as I enter my next phase of life in May?"

What type of legacy would anyone want to leave? One where they're not well known but served greatly or one where they made a large impact on countless people? One where they were the top of their major or one where you just breezed through undergrad with minimal effort? The answer should lie where our lives lie, Christ. Our legacy should be Christ. We should be seeking to serve Him and glorify Him throughout the rest of ours and especially in the final moments of our time in undergrad. 

First and foremost through our final firsts and those moments and experiences following, we must continue to actively seek Christ through all aspects. He should be our motivation to succeed in everything. School and work are ways of glorifying Him. As we look into a future career or future schooling come the new journey in May, we must actively seek ways of glorifying Him through them. And with that, the stress of life and what we will do can weigh hard on us. It's a huge ordeal picking your life. But what a blessing it is to know our Lord is sovereign and as we seek to glorify Him we will be doing what we are called to do (1 Timothy 4:6, Matthew 6:33).

Next, we must be actively pouring into those around us. We are called to be in community with one another (Galatians 6:1-2). And we are called to reach the lost (Matthew 28:19-20). With each aspect we have duties as believers to uplift the body, and as we are the older generation now (strange concept considering I feel like I was entering a college campus just yesterday for the first time) to pour in the younger bodies, discipling and preparing them for the roles they will one day take as we depart. It is a beautiful thing to see a true biblical community at work encouraging one another, sharpening one another, and bearing with one another what this world brings against us as we seek to glorify God.

And because we are on a college campus, what better way to reach out to the lost? They surround us. We have been directly placed in classes and other venues with those who do not follow Christ and what an opportunity we have to bear witness to His name as we go about our daily lives. Let us hold fast to the truths of the Word and then live them that those around us might see Him through us and their hearst be changed to bring honor to the Father (2 Timothy 2:10).

Lastly, let us enjoy these last first. As I ended my last first bible study group with the brothers I'll be walking through life and the Word with this year, it was bittersweet. It's great to get started again and be able to pour into the body in this aspect but also sad realizing it is all coming to an end. This is why we must take hold of these moments and soak them in for all. Let us take hold of the opportunities afforded to us as God rightly sees fit and use them to glorify the Father, that he may receive the praise honor and glory of everything in our lives because of all He has bestowed upon us. Let our legacy be on our campuses how we lived for Christ and the words of John 3:30 be what we leave behind,

                                "He must increase, but I must decrease.”

21 and Counting: The Findings of True Community

Yesterday, I celebrated a milestone in my life of fully reaching adulthood as most would call it. As I reflect on the past 21 years of my life, I am overwhelmed with how God has moved and molded me into who I am today; and I look forward to see how He continues to do so as I continue on day by day into the next year of my life.

The striking thought of it all is the community He has surrounded me with throughout it all. My family has been incredible encouragement and support in whatever situation, from high school drama to the tough realities of the "college living" outside the comfort of home. They have stood firm in the Word and have been excellent examples of faith and how to live to glorify God in all things. Through them all I have learned a great deal and will continue to do so in whatever situation.

The second aspect of this community is the family in Christ I have found. Growing up in a Christian home and being a pastor's kid, I was always surrounded by believers and had that encouragement. It wasn't until I left home for college that I was semi alone. New city. New life. It was then for the first time I had to pursue this community myself. I had to seek and find my identity in the Lord without parental supervision, and it was all by His grace that I found community in my church and my campus ministry. Through these places, I have come to know incredible brothers and sisters in Christ that sharpen and push me to understand and have a deeper love of God.

Through both these groups, family and friends (but also considered family in a different context), I have seen the true importance of community in the Christian life. Just as we are called to reach out to the lost and we need to be actively sharing the gospel, we are called to gather and be with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2) and seek to restore one another in love. As we pursue Christ, let us gather so that we may encourage one another in the faith, love one another, and celebrate with our brothers and sisters when it is a time for celebration, grieve in a time of grieving, and above all else, actively push one another in seeking Christ more with our lives and how our lives might be lived for His glory.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)

Five Strategic Ways to Pray for the Coming Year

As we approach the heavily anticipated and also heavily dreaded school year for the late teens to early twenty somethings embarking on college campuses, we must actively pray for them and what is at hand for the coming year and all they will encounter. 

1. Pray for the Freshman

    Pray for the incoming class that will be experiencing everything new for the very first time. For those that will be entering new cities and new dorms to live in as well as the ones commuting from home, pray that they will settle well into their new lives. Pray that they will realize the need for Christ in their lives even as they leave home that they may actively pursue him through every aspect of their lives, that they may bring him glory. Pray that they will stand firm in their faith and not be swayed by all that is around them even though they aren't under parental control anymore. Pray that they will find a body of believers to actively be a part of in worship weekly, pouring into the church as well as ministries on campus to reach out and share Christ to those in their surroundings. 

2. Pray for the Sophomores and Juniors 

    Pray for those coming back for their second and third years that they may continue to seek and pursue Christ in all aspects. That they may continue to glorify him throughout their studies and be a light to those around them. Pray that they begin to look for ways to pour into the next generation that is coming in and point them to Christ. Pray that they will find patience and rest in God knowing that he is in control of all, even when plans start to drastically change from major choice to what is going to happen with their life.

3. Pray for the Seniors 

    Pray for the seniors (or super seniors as some are) that they will even in the end, see how their lives can continue to honor and glorify the Father. Pray that though they are in the final stretch of their college career for most, that they will still see their role is important in pouring into the younger students, actively discipling them in Christ. That they may take their leadership roles humbly and with a willingness to serve in whatever aspects to glorify the Father. Pray that they may have peace and rest and ease of mind of what is actually coming in May as they prepare for life after college. Pray for their transitions from college life to graduate/real world life that will soon come in the next few months. 

4. Pray for the Faculty 

    Pray that the faculties hearts may be softened that we as students may proclaim the gospel in whatever ways we may have the opportunity for. Pray that we will actively seek ways to minister to them though they are our professors, that they may see Christ's love through our actions and school and ultimately that seeds may be planted that they may come to know Christ. 

5. Pray for the Campus Ministries

    Lastly, pray for the campus ministries that are about to be in full swing again. Pray that they may humble themselves before the Lord that they may make him known and glorify him through their worship and fellowship throughout the year. That they may have an active presence of reaching out to the students on campus that they may come to know Christ. Pray for the campus ministers that they may not become overwhelmed with their responsibilities but that they will find rest in the Lord and look to him for strength in ministry. That the Lord may use them as instruments and speak through them that we may learn and grow in the Word together. Pray that we all may grow and active fruit may be seen from these ministries in the lives of the students.  

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." -1 Corinthians 15:58

The Stability Found in Uncertainty

Throughout most of my college career, I have been in a place of uncertainty. Uncertainty in the way my life would be heading. I came in with big plans for my life, then all of a sudden, one semester, these plans crashed and burned to the ground. It was a trying time yet I came to a great place in my walk with Christ. I truly learned what resting on him meant. As it says in 1 Peter 5:6-7:

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

His care for us is immeasurable. I mean he sent his only son to die on the cross to save us sinners from the wrath we deserved, so why wouldn't we go to him with our burdens in life? Why not humble ourselves before him? There is no reason. This is a very hard concept to grasp and it was hard for me to learn. It was difficult for me to relinquish what I thought I had control over, when in all actuality it was God directing and molding my path. It was great I had the desires to pursue dreams and had made plans for what was in store, but with that we must have the understanding that they might not go that way or take the same path we envisioned to accomplish them. That is okay. It is okay to not know what is next.

And with not knowing brings a whole slew of emotions and fears. It brings much anxiety and worrisome thoughts to mind about what we will do when we graduate, who we will marry, should we change our major, what school to attend, and many others. When we truly cast our burdens on him, however, and humble ourselves in his presence, we find rest. We find the comfort of the father who cares for us. Because he cares, we know we will be okay. With being okay brings the question, are we doing what we're supposed to? How do we know? We can know by pursuing him and building his kingdom that we are in his will and pursuing the right path for our lives. As Kevin DeYoung states in his book, Just Do Something, "The will of God for our lives is that we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. The most important decision we face is the daily decision to live for Christ and die to self.1"If that is our most important decision, then we should find rest knowing that we don't know what's next. As long as we are pursuing Christ, we are in his will and doing what we are called to do. I received great advice from a mentor once from Psalm 119:105

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

As he was explaining the verse with the analogy of the lamp, he stated that God's revealed plan for us is like a lamp. With a lamp it only shines to a certain extent. We see a little bit at a time because he knows if we knew the entire thing we wouldn't be able to handle it. We cannot handle what our entire lives will amount to, but we can handle the fact that our Lord who is sovereign cares for us and is in control. He knows what is in store for our lives and that is a great understanding and feeling upon which we can rest. You may still be walking through a period of uncertainty about what is next or are unsure about what decision to make like myself, but trust me in this: the Lord knows and we can go before him humbly to cast what anxiety and burdens of life we have. We can find stability in the uncertainty with the Lord. As Hannah prays in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 we must also,

"And Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."

_____________________
1. DeYoung, K. (2009). Just Do Something. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers.

 Photo found at www.homeschoolstory.com

A Letter to the Editor

Dear My Little Big Bro,

I thought, since it is your birthday, we would reminisce a little and enjoy a few throwbacks from our past ...

Looks like we always had the best poses...

And faces

And then there was the matching...

Oh how I don't miss the matching 

Looks like the calmest fight we ever had

We always went hard for Halloween 

A selfie before it was a thing perhaps?

 It is an incredible blessing to be able to have you not only as a brother by blood but a brother in Christ. Though we had our moments growing up, we truly came to have a deep bond as brothers as we grew older, in understanding and sharpening each other in the Word for the glory of God. It has been amazing to see how you have grown into this leader for your family and I look forward to seeing how God may use you as you continue your education and then go from there to proclaim the gospel in whatever context. You have set an incredible example for myself as I continue to grow in my faith and I am extremely thankful for your advice and understanding of my life and writing as I venture further into the blogging world. I'm extremely grateful for your support and hope you enjoy your first birthday as a father! Hope you've enjoyed the look into the past!

Love, 

Your Big Little Bro