Passionately Following Jesus
Hello Daily readers and more…please join me today over at www.shanepadgett.com where I will be guest blogging. Shane just started blogging on his own personal blog, so do me a favor and show him some comment love over there! Thanks for supporting another blogger’s blog today! I am a link…I will take you there 🙂
Nick
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
I was reading in Romans 5 this morning, and this portion of Chapter 3 stood out to me…”we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” – Over the last three to four years it seems that I have faced more individual sufferings, trials, and tests than I ever have in my life. The question that popped into my head as I read this was, “Have those issues I have dealt with produced perserverance, character, and hope?” – “Four years and now on the other side of some of these things, have I increased in these areas?”
In my eyes I may say no! Because I live with my imperfections everyday, but my hope is that in the eyes of Christ I have and in the eyes of others, they will see that the Lord has grown me, stretched me, and matured me in perserverance, character, and hope!
Join the Conversation: Are you seeing perserverance, character, and hope being formed in your life? Care to share how God is doing that?
So I opened my big mouth and I am in the middle of watching something HUGE unfold right in front of my very eyes, and it has nothing to do with me, this is seriously a GOD thing, and I am blown away that in the last week I have had the opportunity to be a part of what is going to happen in 2009. “Kingdom Day” has been one of those things that I told some people about and then I blogged about it, and it started catching fire in front of my very eyes and the response has been great so far , but it will totally be bigger than I can grasp on my own. Go HERE to see how “Kingdom Day” started, and continue reading to get a better idea of what is going to happen.
I am not trying to be overly spiritual here with the name “Kingdom Day” – but I feel it is time that the Church that claims the name of Christ quits talking and starts walking. We are always talking about being unified as the Body of Christ, yet we never do anything about it. Recently we have seen some progress in this area with new methods such as the ONE Prayer Campaign, but what if we went a little further? What if we quit praying that Christ would use us to make a difference in the world around us and in the life of people who are in need, and we take action to be the answer to our own prayers? That’s what Kingdom Day is all about. Its not about gathering a group of students to see who can go out and recruit the most souls for the Kingdom of God. Trust me, I am pro-evangelism and I am pro-sharing our faith, but we (Christians) talk a lot! I believe it is time that we quit talking and start living it out and showing our cities and our communities what the Kingdom of God is all about. ‘Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done…’ We are the body of Christ and it is our responsibility to be the hands and feet for Jesus, to flesh out the faith life we say we have. I believe actions truly do speak louder than words in many cases. In James 2:18, James said that he would reveal his faith through his good deeds. In chapter 1 verse 27 James told us, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” – It is evident that part of God’s will for his Body is to take care of the hurting, the broken, and the needy.
We are asking Student Ministry leaders to unite their students with at least one other student ministry in their community to plan a service project for their city and community. Projects may be as large as renovating a park or helping a local mission or community center do minor repairs and renovations or could be on a smaller scale of working a soup kitchen for the poor or helping an elderly adult with projects around their home. With student ministries varying in size we want each group to plan their own projects that will take place on April 25, 2009, Kingdom Day. This project is powerful in 2 ways: #1 Student’s are learning how to serve together with other members of the Body of Christ, despite their denomination, their worship styles, their personal preferences, or their group size. As leaders we are taking on the responsibility of paving a path that is pleasing to God with our students, so when they take our place as adults, they will lead the revolutionary church that Jesus intended. #2 With each student ministry partnering with other student ministries in their local area and serving with this campaign on Kingdom Day, our students will take part in the largest single service project in the history of the church! I believe that would bring a smile to Jesus’ face. One day…One Church…One Mission. Together we will unite under that which unites us, the banner of Christ, and we will live out the Gospel of Love for all the world to see, and Christ will use our students in an awesome way!
Ephesians 3:20 (NLT) “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish “INFINITELY” more than we might ask or think.”
We are in the process of getting a quote on a website package as well we are discussing the details with youth ministry networks across the country, both small and large. We will reveal more solid details as decisions are made, until then, here are a few questions I would like you to ask yourself (Pastor, Youth Pastor, Volunteer Leader, Associate Pastor, Etc…):
Email me or leave a comment if your student ministry will be involved and if you have any ideas or thoughts as well as your willingness to help fund this campaign (& maybe effective ways we can raise funds). We look forward to serving with you!
I had an idea the other day, but now it has grown into a massive dream. What is it? I want to inspire student ministries all across the world to participate in the largest single day service project ever! Why? To live out the Gospel to our disconnected communities. Will this dream happen? I don’t know, that will require the body of Christ working together and being willing to unite under the banner of Christ, putting aside personal preferences, styles, denominations, number, and everything else that divides us in order to flesh out the faith we claim to follow. Here’s how this idea became a massive dream and where I would like to see it go…
I am a part of a local youth workers network that works together to promote and to host several annual activities and events for the students in our communities. One of the events we coordinate as a network is a city wide D-Now (Disciple Now) where each church coordinates a weekend of small groups that meet in homes and group activities with the students of their ministries. On Saturday evening of the D-Now all of the students who participate in the D-Now come to a central location to participate in a concert and a guest speaker. Basically it is a ‘feed me’ type atmosphere where students do no more than ‘come and watch’ a show. Our D-Now’s can bring in anywhere from 700-2,000 students depending on what band we bring in and who the speaker is, so I made a suggestion (the idea) that my buddy Shane was all about too because we have the same heart on a lot of issues…
Why don’t we (the network) capitalize on the opportunity we have on this weekend with these students to do more than ‘come and watch’ to mobilize them to ‘go and invest/serve’ in our community? 700-2,000 students from 30 + churches is an awesome time for the CHURCH to unite to make a difference in the life of those who live in our communities. So I have contacted the Mayor of Augusta to see if there is a park that needs renovating in a poor neighborhood, as well, we are looking at partnering with a local mission and/or community center to help repair, clean, and freshen up with paint and other services that can be accomplished by students. We have also discussed finding some elderly people, who are disabled or in need that needs work completed on their private homes. In one day, a whole community will feel and experience the impact of Christianity, under the banner of Jesus Christ, as represented by 30 + different churches.
So my idea blew up into a massive dream as I was taking a shower the other night. It was almost as if the Lord questioned me, “Why stop with 30 + churches and why focus locally….why not globally?” – And I personally was inspired and could not sleep, so I shot a few emails off to people who may can help get this ball rolling, if it is meant to be. My dream is this…I believe with the combination of bloggers and a few major networks of youth pastors this thing could become a reality. Each youth pastor who desires for their ministry to participate would partner with at least 1 other youth ministry and youth pastor in their area. Together these youth pastors would plan a major or a small project for their ministries to accomplish together on one day, while thousands of other ministries and students are doing the same in their communities, Saturday, April 25, 2009. In one day, youth ministries all across the globe would act out the single largest service project ever in the worlds history, all for the cause of Christ and to futher the Gospel through the example of our service.
The logo may change, some details may change, this is about 24 hours old, but my question is, why can’t it be done? I read in Ephesians 3:20 (NLT) today and it blew my mind…“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish “INFINITELY” more than we might ask or think.”
So, are you in? What can you do? What do we need to do? I need help!!! We have less than a year, but together it can be done. We may need a website, bloggers, logos, t-shirts?, I don’t know, but maybe you do. If you have ideas or want to join in and help push this forward email me HERE or leave a comment. Kingdom Day (name may change), Saturday, April 25, 2009 (Date is Firm 🙂 )
…about new sister and Jesus.
Gavin was in the bathtub at MeMaw’s house yesterday and here was their conversation (some of which is not exact word for word being that it was told to me, but was totally unaided and unprovoked…straight from a 5 year old’s brain & heart to his lips):
Gavin: “We need to go get Hailey a balloon and a blue balloon from the store.”
MeMaw: “Ok, we can go get Hailey a balloon, but why a blue one?”
Gavin: “The blue one is not for Hailey, its a thank you balloon for Jesus.” – “We can send it up to him to tell him thank you for giving us Hailey!”
I am so thankful that I have a 5 year old son who already has a heart to please Jesus. I was speachless when I heard the story, and as MeMaw told the balloon lady, she began to cry. Needless to say, I was blessed with a brand new Beautiful daughter this week, but I have already been blessed with two awesome sons, for which I cannot thank God enough for. We always hear how God will ‘open the windows of Heaven and pour us out a blessing’ and so many times people automatically think of financial blessings, but I know that it does not always come in the form of finances (that would make things a lot easier) but it comes at times like these conversations, becasue I would take a son with a heart for Jesus over all the riches in the world.
If the video comes out ok I will post it so you can see Gavin pray before he sends Jesus his ballloon.
Blessed,
Nick