Category: Ministry

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Revolutionary Change through Water

blake-mankinI visited Iamsecond.com today thanks to my friend Dan who tweeted about a video for Sam Bradford from the Oklahoma Sooners. As I was surfing around the site, I found a video for Blake Mankin. Honestly, I’ve never heard of him, but keeping with Sunday’s theme from New Passion and Monday’s blog post on Revolutionary Change through our local and global influence, I liked what I heard. Here’s a little bit about Blake…

In 2007, Blake started Hope for Africa at his school. The club raised more than $6,000 by selling buttons during homecoming. The money paid for two wells in Southern Sudan that now provides more than 10,000 people with daily access to clean water.

It all started with Blake asking a friend “What If?” – I wonder how many people are creating revolutionary change around the world because of those two words? “What If?” – I love that Blake said he believes “Jesus is the Ultimate Thirst Quencher.” Blake is not driven for change based on a desire for personal fame, rather he is out to create revolutionary change so that Jesus might be made known to those who are far from him.

Go check watch Blake’s video on Iamsecond.com HERE. You can also follow Blake on Twitter HERE. You can help Blake create Revolutionary Change through Water HERE by donating to his fundraiser!

Join the Conversation…Who do you know that’s creating revolutionary change either locally or globally?

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Revolutionary Change

106Sunday we complete week 5 of our Rediscover Church series at New Passion. This week we discussed how we value creating Revolutionary Change through our Local and Global Influence.

We focused on 3 main questions after looking at 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

#1 What am I Becoming? – Paul said he became all things to all people. We looked at the story of Dorothy from Entertaining Angels and how she chose to live poor in order to reach the poor, the homeless, the prostitutes, and the drug addicts. Her effort to create Revolutionary Change required that she bring herself on the level of the people she reached out to versus elevating herself above them.

#2 What is my Motive? Paul said he made every effort to reach out to those who were different than him and to become like them for one reason…to lead them to a loving relationship with Christ. His goal was not to become famous or to build his own following, his motive was to lead people to Christ.

#3 What am I Changing? Paul and Dorothy alike saw people embrace their vision of Revolutionary Change and they too took action. Change can only happen if we decide to start influencing the change.

I was reminded of the trip I took with a former church after Katrina hit Biloxi, Mississippi. It started with a simple idea of taking water down to the victims, within a few hours we were on the road with water and a few groceries in hand to do what we could, our desire to be involved led into 4 total trips, three to Biloxi and one to Texas. I’ve posted video of our first trip and our second trip. The video from trip #1 is 18 minutes long. We used it as a part of the following Sunday’s message to show the need in the area, the second trip is the relief trip we took our church on. We were literally larger than the Red Cross relief effort in the same area. The point is this, what may start as a small idea or a small effort, God can use for Revolutionary Change in the life of those you are  investing in and influencing for Christ.

Katrina Relief Trip #1 from Nick Carnes on Vimeo.

Katrina Relief Trip #2 from Nick Carnes on Vimeo.

Join the Conversation…How are you participating in creating Revolutionary Change? What are your dreams to see Revolutionary Change happen in our world?

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Reproducing as a Small Group

This is my second article that I’ve submitted for the Small Group Exchange Website…

leonardoWhen I was in third grade I had an alter-ego. As soon as the lights went out for bedtime in the Carnes household my world became an adventure as I transformed into my secret superhero identity. I was Leonardo, the Ninja Turtle. A group of my friends made up the remaining team of reptile ninjas and everyday at school we would share our adventures of how we defeated the Foot Clan Soldiers throughout the streets and sewers of our town. Yes, we were the Ninja Turtles. Well, at least we said we were…(Read the Entire Article on Small Group Exchange)

Join the Conversation (after reading the article) – What’s Your Thoughts on Reproducing as a Small Group?