This last weekend I was able to take my students on a student conference in Vancouver Washington. What an amazing trip. We had nine students and thee adult leaders, simply fantastic. We left early Friday morning and arrived in Vancouver hung out for a bit then grabbed dinner. Next we went to our first session which consisted of worship and the first message by our speaker (more on him later). Than had a late night activity which was Portland Comedy Sportz. Oh man this was funny and for my students if you are reading this "Can I get back in the boat now". The next day consisted of two more sessions lunch and driving home. A short trip, but oh how God moved!
The speaker for the weekend was a man by the name of Ed Newton. While he was very funny and seemed to connect well to the students he still preached the word of God which was such a wave of relief. It seems there is a famine in the land of the Word of God. Too many churches are failing to preach God honoring messages using His Word. Too many people have traded the Bible for pop culture. But Ed preached the Word of God. He used stories effectively to convey real truth, from who is Jesus, what it means to follow him and where to go from here. His messages were used effectively by God in the lives of my students. Many of them made decisions to follow him more closely and to give up the things that hold them back.
The car ride back was outstanding. We had half the group in our van. Towards the end of the drive we discussed how God had impacted us this weekend and what decisions we made. This was an encouraging time to hear how He moved as well as to hold each other accountable to these decisions.Then we spent time on each person saying what we liked and appreciated about them. This was a powerful time to encourage one another. Lastly, we ended this time praying and praise God for the week he did this past weekend. I love how God moves even in the midst of car rides.
All in all it was a great trip and many students lives are changed. I am excited to see where God leads them in these next few weeks, months and years. And to see the impact this weekend had on them. This is what I live for I love to see God move in the lives of students!
As for me I am doing well. I am still striving to honor God with all aspects of my life. My apartment got pretty messy but my spending habits are getting better as well as my exercise habits. I am thankful for God's work in my life and am excited about the changes that are going in inside of me. To God be the Glory! I am encouraged to know that I have matured greatly since being here, although only by His grace in my life. I have found how to be content and joyful even in the midst of pains and struggles. I am still learning and growing in how to better be a youth pastor, but thanks to my Senior Pastor and Jesus I continue to get better.
With Love,
Dan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Dan, so pleased the conference was a good time, and especially, God-honoring. It would be great if the youth had a time of sharing where they could openly tell the congregation about their experiences and how God worked in their lives.
ReplyDeleteSince we're invited to commit time and money to helping their events take place, it would be so rewarding to get to hear first hand how those events affected them and impacted their relationships with Christ.