A Great Weekend

Two of the most encouraging things I have been involved with intersected this past weekend. The Urban Hope Training Center celebrated its tenth anniversary on Saturday evening. I was not ready for the evening to be as emotional as what it was. But hearing testimony after testimony of lives changed by Christ through that ministry was unbelievable. Talk about encouragement. Wow. There is still much to be done at Urban Hope, but Philly has people who know Jesus that are making a difference in the inner city and it is a blessing to be involved in it in some small way.

The other part of the weekend was the second OB ministry reunion. This too was held at UHTC. Always a great time to see students who ministered so faithfully through the summer and then get to talk with them now that they have returned home. Some are flying high. Others are struggling. Others in between. But what an opportunity to minister once again! I am so proud of our adult leaders and for the way that they continue to pour into the lives of young people.

So now I am home for a while and have time to rest up. But this past weekend was a beautiful celebration of work that God continues to do in and through the lives of young people.

My Fall Tour

Just returned from twelve days away from home.

Drove the smallest rental car I have ever been in on the first leg of the trip. I think Scott Distler is still laughing at me every time he thinks about seeing me drive up in my luxury vehicle.

Enjoyed being able to speak for the Northern Atlantic Fellowship youth worker training day.

Loved being at Grace Church in Lititz and hearing great teaching about the spirit world through the "Ghostbusters" theme.

Had a great time with Matt Vosberg in E-town, with the youth group and speaking at the church.

Had a good visit with my folks in CA for a few days and got some landscaping projects done for them. Met with some former students of mine. It was a great time to catch up but is is a little weird to have 35 year olds still calling me Mr. Kurtaneck...

Learned stuff at the Association of Youth Ministry Educators conference in Atlanta.
Enjoyed the Red Sox losing...

But the highlight of the trip was at the very beginning as I had two great spiritual conversations on the airplane rides. First one was with a devout Mormon where I got ask lots of questions about his faith. Found out I'm okay if he is right (second heaven I understand...) . But got to share with him what happens if my understanding of the true Biblical Jesus is correct.

Second plane ride was with a guy named Ed. Not a believer but grew up in a mainline church (all the form and none of the power) but his brother knows Jesus and has been very involved with Campus Crusade for years. It was awesome to share the gospel with Ed and to know that he has examples around him of believers who are living it out. Just one more touch.

My life was energized by these conversations. But then again, it always is when I share my faith (Philemon 6 and 7).

The Fine Line is a new publication coming out that a friend of mine just wrote. Just got a copy of Kary Oberbrunner's book before it goes to press and I look forward to reading it. The topic, from what I understand, is how to live for Jesus and engage in a culture that is not really about Him. A call to live for Jesus. Cool. Will see how it plays out in the book.

But this is a theme I am noticing. Sarah and Stacie are joining the CE National team to be "Ambassadors." They will be traveling the country beginning in January to help Operation Barnabas participants, youth leaders, disciplers, parents and others, to get a better handle on discipelship.

Same theme as the book. How to live for Jesus--whether you are on a special ministry trip or just in everyday life. Just doing the God-thing on Sunday doesn't cut it. I was going to write "Just doing the God-thing on Sunday doesn't cut it anymore." But then again, it never has.

I'm praying that I live this out in my own daily life--through meetings, contacts, more meetings, preparations, even more meetings, and times with jr high, high school and college students--this week. Hoping anyone reading this will too.

Hard Work

This has been a full and interesting week. It started off with three full days of Executive Staff retreat. We talked and dealt with weighty issues that impact the future and our ministries in significant ways. Good things to talk about but draining all the same. On top of that, because we do the retreat here at the Philemon Center, we really do need to stay caught up on e-mail, phone calls and other projects. So it is not really a retreat as the word would suggest. Couple in the youth ministry classes which have kept us hopping this year, the OBI discussions, and I should be looking at this as "TGIF".

And while I am looking forward to a variety of activities --teaching Jr Hi SS, watching some of my small group guys play football tonight and others in the band, helping a friend move, reffing two soccer games and various and assundry home projects--I can't help but think that I really do like to work. Some will think I am crazy. But didn't man have responsiblity in the Garden even before the fall? I don't think work is a bad thing. I am blessed to love what I do. I am grateful to my parents who modelled that work is a blessing from the Lord.

So this weekend, I am looking forward to more "work". The variety of these next couple days will be great. And I can't imagine living life by the motto: "I'm living for the weekend" so I can sit around and do nothing. May as well be dead at that point! Hope everyone reading this has a good weekend too.

Setting the Pace

I love it when people "get it". Usually it seems to be the young people I get to work with. I'll brag about my daughter Bekah and her friend Marissa as examples. Someone left our church who was overseeing the nursery. No one was stepping forward to say they would be willing to take on this ministry need. Well, along come two 15 year olds who said, "Why don't we?" It has been fantastic to watch them in their excitement organize and communicate with adults and other teens in the church. So a church of 400+ has two 15 year olds organizing the nursery ministry. You go girls!

The other aspect I have appreciated is that they were given permission by church leaders AND they are being mentored in this process by a mom in our church with five children. Talk about the older generation training up the younger generation.

And practically? We've found it down-right humorous that when adults are asked if they would be willing to serve in the nursery--they have a hard time saying "no" to two teenagers who are just staring to drive and are taking on major responsibility!

Loving God and serving others. Really fun when people get it. And my experience is that I am personally challenged when 15 year olds are leading the way.

Good Discussion in Freshman Foundations

One of the ways that I have chosen to be better connected with youth ministry and other college students this year is through leading a "break out" group for the Freshman Foundations class at Grace College that all new students must take during their first semester. Todd, a TNI student who is a junior, asked if I would be the faculty mentor and he would be the student mentor. Even though it has only been two weeks, it has been very positive to work with 17 freshman--and especially with Todd. One of the complains from last year's freshman is that the student mentors were not used enough. First thing I did was inform Todd that was not even going to be a possibility because he was going to work harder than I did... So far, so good.

Today's break out group discussion related to the first 9 chapters of Andy Stanley's book The Best Question Ever. Todd took the first part of the book and my discussion questions related to the concept of redeeming the time. Our group was great and we walked away with one vital concept: there are only two things that last forever--The Word of God and people. Those are the most important things. And when the "pressing " things come into our lives--and they always do--we need to be sure we do not neglect the most important for what is urgent.

Great words to live by. And today is a new opportunity for me to apply them over the busy-ness of what this day holds.

He supplies our needs

It has been a whirlwind weekend. This is the weekend that all the students come to Grace College to start the fall semester--and I'm involved because of my responsibilities in leading the youth ministry major (The National Institute) that CE National and Grace College partner together to run.

Lots of new people and lots of opportunity to train people in minsitry. I'm looking forward to sharing this one thought with students that I learned anew this past week:

I just sent out our quarterly support letter to our teammates. Dana and I raise our own personal prayer and financial support to be connected with the ministry of CE National. In these updates I list what God has been doing and what the plans are for the next three months. One of the last paragraphs I wrote in my fall letter mentions that as we approach the end of the fiscal year (Sept 30 at CE National) we were about $4000 behind in our annual support.

Now I know there are a lot of people who are really sweating as it relates to finances. Some situations for some of our friends have been challenging and down-right difficult. And because of that , some of our teammates have let us know that at this point they just cannot continue to financially partner with us in the same way they have been. I appreciate their teamwork and also their willingness to communicate. They will always be key parts of our ministry team--whether finances are involved or not.

But the other reality is that we are behind about $4000. We know that God supplies our needs. Not always the wants--but I have seen the Lord come through so many times--I believe he takes care of a lot of "wants" along the way too! After I sent the letter out, I get a voice mail from some dear friends. The sweet voice on the other end tells me, "the Lord has blessed us and we love you and believe in what you are doing. There is a check on its way to CE National right now for $1000 and we will see that the other monies are sent in the coming weeks."

While I know God supplies our every need, it sure is fun to see it unfold before our very eyes. and I also beleive that God used the prayers of his children to help move the hearts of these friends who had the where-with-all to help meet this need. So here is just another example of how everyone is important in the body of Christ! He used some to pray and some to give to meet the need. Again.