Wednesday, February 29, 2012

27 Million...

Just making you aware. This is awesome. What is? The song. The heart behind the song. And the fact that 45,000 college-aged students were in attendance at this event. Look out world: the college students that follow Jesus are really doing it - they are following Jesus and therefore are UNSTOPPABLE!!!



Click here to find the song on iTunes.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Update and Prayer

Thank you SOOOO much for praying for me last week. What a great week. The message at FLOOD dealing with pain (a blaze through the book of Job) was powerful. This weekend was an incredible time of hanging and getting to know almost 40 young adults from PFB even better. I sure do love this group of young people.

Here's how you can be praying for me this week:
1).  This Wednesday night at FLOOD we are finishing up the series, "PERSPECTIVE: Getting Through the Pain." Our passage for this week is Deuteronomy 8. It has been an incredible time as we've looked to Jesus to hear what he has to say about this and how he gets us through those times of pain and trial.

2). On Saturday I am preaching at IGNITE (www.igniteusnow.com). This is something that God put on my heart to start back in October of 2008. And then he surrounded me with the most amazing team of people to work with to make this happen. We started with 90 people filling the first few pews of PFB Church. Our last one:

 our guess is between 400-500 people

What God has been doing through this is blowing my mind. The theme for this year's IGNITE is "FORWARD." I'm preaching, and I get to preach with my cousin, Megan Marshman. I am so excited. Please come out and join us if you can. Click here for all of the info.

3).  Sunday morning I get the privilege of filling in the pulpit for Pastor Glenn at PFB Church at all of the morning services. The title for the message is, "Let's Move On: Getting Past Your Regrets" out of John 21:15-22. Please pray for me as I prep, pray through, and preach this message.

It's a busy week of preaching and preparing, but I'm pumped. Thank you for your prayers. I love you all.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Called to the Wilderness




MINISTRY POSITION AVAILABLE: Wilderness Leader

As pastors, our job is to take "our" ministry into the promised land. We all work hard at taking the youth that Jesus has entrusted to us from where they are when we get them to where God wants them to be. But where is that? The Promised Land. The place that has an over-abundance of milk and honey. The sweet place. The place that makes it so that you can finally rest and relax as you enjoy the work of your labor.

But here's what hit me this morning. Moses, arguably one of the most impressive and amazing leaders the world has ever seen, never reached the Promised Land. The first 40 years of his life were spent in Egypt, getting the best education money could buy since he was considered royalty. The next 40 years, watching sheep. The last 40 years, leading the complaining and critical Israelites through the wilderness, never to arrive in the Promised Land.

Here are some principles to keep in mind as you continue to shepherd:

1.  "NORMAL LIFE" IS PREPARATION FOR CHRIST'S CALL. I can guarantee that Moses was not think about how he was going to be chosen by God to deliver his people from the oppression of Egypt. His first 40 years were spent in luxury, learning the culture and being given an education. But I can almost guarantee that those first 40 years taught him what he needed to take on Pharaoh during his last 40 years.

2.  THE BEST WAY TO LEARN HOW TO SHEPHERD IS TO WATCH SHEEP. For 40 years, Moses learned what it took to keep sheep going in a certain direction. He learned what it meant to protect and to provide for them, and to lead sheep wherever he wanted them to go. Some, I'm sure, would bite him and become stubborn at times, just like the Israelites would do as he lead them. Be prepared for the sheep to bite. It does hurt, but you are called to lead. But the best way to prepare yourself to lead others is to learn from those who have lead before and follow their lead. You learn how to lead sheep by leading sheep.

3.  YOU MAY NOT REACH THE PROMISED LAND.  We all want to know that we have made an impact on eternity. We want to be successful in ministry. However, here's my questions: how do you gauge success? By what standard are you successful? When do you know that you've arrived? I'm thinking that the key to our success in ministry is our faithfulness to do what God has called us to do. Some people will walk into a ministry where they experience amazing results. The reality is probably that they walked in and took over after someone else laid a great foundation. Some others will not - only inching their way forward as if the wilderness is swallowing them. The key is this: stay faithful to the call that God has on your life. Whether the wilderness or the Promised Land, our faithfulness should still be the same because the same God is God over all.

Hang in there. Be faithful. Be obedient. Stay reliant. And watch God do what only he can do. Of course, you may not get to go in and see him do it this side of heaven, but I bet he'll show you when you when you see him face to face what he did through you.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Update and Prayer...

This past weekend I experienced a dream-come-true. I was able to go back to Hume Lake and speak to over 1,000 high school students in the chapel that I made a huge decision for Jesus in 20 years ago. Here were some of the highlights:

  • I would guess that I saw between 60-80 high school students surrender to Jesus on Saturday night.
  • I would guess that I saw around 300-400 people (students and adults alike) stay back on Sunday night in the chapel to cry out to God and admit that they were broken and were needing healing.
  • On Monday morning, I sensed God telling me to ask if there were any more students who wanted to surrender to Jesus right after the worship team finished. When I did, 6 students stood up to surrender to Jesus. I didn't preach one word, but the worship team did through the worship time.
It was an incredible weekend.

Here's how you can be praying for me this week:
  • Tonight I am teaching on the topic of pain as we continue our series called, "PERSPECTIVE: Getting Through the Pain" at FLOOD. We are looking at Job 1-2, and 38-42. God has done some amazing things through this series. Please pray that he continues. Pray as I prep, pray through and preach this message tonight.
  • Tomorrow morning I am sharing with some of the moms here at PFB. Please pray that God would give me wisdom as they have asked me to speak on the topic of how they can talk about sex with their kids.
  • This weekend I am hanging with the young adults of PFB Church for our Young Adults retreat. We have about 38 of us going up to Big Bear for our retreat. Please pray for our time together and for me as I lead us in our times of Bible study.
  • Finally, please be praying for the IGNITE leadership team as we finish up all of the preparation for our IGNITE event on March 3rd (www.igniteusnow.com).
Thank you so much again. You all are amazing.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

IGNITE is coming!!!

Here's the teaser video once again to get you ready for IGNITE.


Please join us on March 3rd at 5:00pm (or come at 4:15pm for free food and giveaways).

Also, please let us know that you're coming. Click here and fill out the registration form.

You can get all of the info for IGNITE by going to www.igniteusnow.com.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Update and Prayer...

This past weekend I spoke to about 110 junior high students up at Hartland Christian Camp in Badger, California. What a great weekend. These junior high students were a blast. Here's the big news from the camp for me:

  • I was able to witness 12 students surrender their lives to Jesus during one of the chapel services. That just never gets old. As they stood up, the students around them started cheering and clapping.
Here's how you can be praying for me this week:
  • Please pray for FLOOD this Wednesday night. We are having an all-worship night, with interactive stations for the people to get involved in worship in ways that they may not usually get to experience.
  • This Thursday night, I will be sharing with graduate students on the LA Campus of Azusa Pacific. 
It's a lighter week for me this week with FLOOD being an all-worship night. Thank you so much for praying. Take care.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Update from Hartland Christian Camp

I just wanted to give a quick update about how things are going up here at Hartland Christian Camp. There are about 140 junior high students up here this weekend and they are a blast. Last night I spoke on the majesty and holiness of God, speaking from Job 38-42. It was a powerful night. And, it was a night of celebration as we watched 6 junior high students surrender to Jesus. It was awesome.

Keep praying. God is moving. It's exciting to see.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Update from FLOOD Last Night

Here is a quick update of what we saw happen last night at FLOOD:

1). We finished up the "PERSPECTIVE: Getting Through the Pain" series. It was a powerful ending to the closing of the series.
2). We saw three young ladies stand to surrender to Jesus. THIS NEVER GETS OLD!!! This is what it's all about.

I am so pumped up about last night. In the past two Wednesday nights we have seen 7 people surrender to Jesus and three people get baptized. God is on the move.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Prayer for This Week...

Hi there,
Here's how you can be praying this week:

1.  This Wednesday night at FLOOD I am finishing up the "PERSPECTIVE" series. The passage is Philippians 1:27-30. I studied this passage this morning and things were just popping out at me left and right. I am not finished studying, but already I am excited. Please pray for me as I prep, pray through, and preach this message.

2.  This weekend I am traveling up to Badger, California to Harland Christian Camp. I will be speaking to about 140 junior high students up there for their winter camp.

3.  This weekend, the high schoolers of PFB, and about 4-5 other youth groups in the area, are meeting at Azusa Pacific for "DISCIPLE NOW." This is their "winter camp."  There are still about 3-4 days left for students to sign-up for this event, and already there are almost 60 high school students just from PFB who are attending. Please pray for the Spirit to move in the lives of all of the students who attend this event. Please pray for all of the staff as they minister to these students. I am so excited to hear how God moves and the changes that happen in the lives of these students.

Thank you so much for praying. I cannot put into words how thankful I am for you.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Update from FLOOD

Hey there,
I just wanted to give you an update from Wednesday night at FLOOD. It was a night of CELEBRATION as we saw the following:

  • We saw four young ladies stand up to surrender their lives to Jesus.
  • We saw three young men publicly profess their faith in Jesus through believers baptism.
  • We saw a number of first-time guests join us for worship (I have met about 20 new people over the past three weeks who have come to FLOOD).
I was even able to re-connect with a girl (now a young woman) on Facebook who was in my high school group about 12 years ago. She moved to Idaho about 12 years ago, where she is married and has three beautiful kids. I invited her to join us on Wednesday night at FLOOD through the livestream. She did. Here's what she said:

"Wow! That's all I have to say!! Watched FLOOD tonight and it was absolutely amazing!!"

I was blown away. Our vision at FLOOD is this: to reach and equip as many people as possible to change their world for Christ. 

God is up to something, friends. As a good friend of mine says: FLOOD is like a water balloon that is about to burst. I couldn't agree more.

Thank you for praying. Please keep it up.