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
Monday, May 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Finally
So after way too long I am giving you a life update.
As many of you know my struggle with moving here was the likelihood of loneliness. Now that I have been here for nine months things in that department have really fallen into place. I love my church and am able to go over to people's houses on a regular basis. Furthermore, I have made a lot of friends at one of the the local colleges called Moody. Its been really good for me and I am really loving how things are going in my life.
Youth group is going well and can't wait to see where things go from here. Our discipleship group that meets Sunday nights has been going outstanding. The students have been wrestling and discussing deeper truths of scripture. My relationship with my students continues to grow and I just love them all so much. I pray that God will continue to use me to impact their lives for Christ.
Another thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is who am I becoming. I realize as a 22 year old my thinking and who I am isn't set. My habits aren't fully set either. While I am not saying older people can't change but as you get older its harder and harder to change. With that being said I have really started to look into some key areas in my life that I feel aren't up to par. One key area is cleanliness. While seemingly not a huge deal I feel it is important to get a hold of. If I live with someone again I want to be able to respect them and our space. Being messy has no benefits and only feds my laziness. I have tried to remedy this by cleaning every day this week since I have gotten home. We will see how long this lasts. They say it takes 40 days to form a habit. I am on day 3 so only 37 more to go, hopefully I will make it. My second area is money matters, while I don't feel I am absurd with my money I eat out at least once a week if not like three. This is a waste of money, and isn't good for me. I have started to buy healthier food and cook for myself. This saves my money and health. Which lastly brings me to my last area health. I am trying to exercise more and eat healthier. Heart disease is the number one killer in America. I don't desire this to be me, but I know unless I change things drastically it very well could be. Ultimately I want to honor God with my home, my money and my health. I have made some steps in the right direction and will continue to do so. So if you are in Spokane, lets hang out cook some healthy food and go on a bike ride!
Love,
Dan
As many of you know my struggle with moving here was the likelihood of loneliness. Now that I have been here for nine months things in that department have really fallen into place. I love my church and am able to go over to people's houses on a regular basis. Furthermore, I have made a lot of friends at one of the the local colleges called Moody. Its been really good for me and I am really loving how things are going in my life.
Youth group is going well and can't wait to see where things go from here. Our discipleship group that meets Sunday nights has been going outstanding. The students have been wrestling and discussing deeper truths of scripture. My relationship with my students continues to grow and I just love them all so much. I pray that God will continue to use me to impact their lives for Christ.
Another thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is who am I becoming. I realize as a 22 year old my thinking and who I am isn't set. My habits aren't fully set either. While I am not saying older people can't change but as you get older its harder and harder to change. With that being said I have really started to look into some key areas in my life that I feel aren't up to par. One key area is cleanliness. While seemingly not a huge deal I feel it is important to get a hold of. If I live with someone again I want to be able to respect them and our space. Being messy has no benefits and only feds my laziness. I have tried to remedy this by cleaning every day this week since I have gotten home. We will see how long this lasts. They say it takes 40 days to form a habit. I am on day 3 so only 37 more to go, hopefully I will make it. My second area is money matters, while I don't feel I am absurd with my money I eat out at least once a week if not like three. This is a waste of money, and isn't good for me. I have started to buy healthier food and cook for myself. This saves my money and health. Which lastly brings me to my last area health. I am trying to exercise more and eat healthier. Heart disease is the number one killer in America. I don't desire this to be me, but I know unless I change things drastically it very well could be. Ultimately I want to honor God with my home, my money and my health. I have made some steps in the right direction and will continue to do so. So if you are in Spokane, lets hang out cook some healthy food and go on a bike ride!
Love,
Dan
Monday, January 17, 2011
Jesus Our Healer
It has been quite some time since a last blogged and for that I apologize. There have been my thoughts, ideas, happenings, etc. That I wanted to blog about but never seemed to get to it. With that being said I am doing well. I am loving being a youth pastor. These last 7 months have been a huge blessing. I continue to grow and be stretched. The church family is fantastic and I love them all. But I do have a special heart for my students it has been a such a privilege to work with and along side them. I am pumped about 2011. This is going to be an exciting year full of exciting things. To many for one blog post however, one of them being a Discipleship group that I recently started. Last night we had our second time together. It was great just to lead the students in discussion and listen and watch as they taught each other. This will be a life changing experience for those who let it be.
This last Sunday I was able to preach for the second time at my church. I preached on Jesus being our healer. We so often see Jesus as a physical healer and not a person who can heal my wounded heart. Or we don't see him as big enough or powerful enough to effect change. This is nothing short of a flat out lie. Jesus is a healer, able to heal your deepest darkest wounds. Regardless if you were hurt by someone close to you or your own sins. If this is something you struggle with then I would encourage you to do a few things. First find someone who you can be real and honest with. Second be real and honest with God. Once that happens try to let it go. Because only then is God able to heal. I am not saying you won't still feel pain, but I am saying he can free you from it controlling you. Let his love fill you, and let go of the pain.
Love,
Dan
P.S. Click on the link to go to the sermon (however will on be available for a few weeks)
Sermon: Jesus our Healer
This last Sunday I was able to preach for the second time at my church. I preached on Jesus being our healer. We so often see Jesus as a physical healer and not a person who can heal my wounded heart. Or we don't see him as big enough or powerful enough to effect change. This is nothing short of a flat out lie. Jesus is a healer, able to heal your deepest darkest wounds. Regardless if you were hurt by someone close to you or your own sins. If this is something you struggle with then I would encourage you to do a few things. First find someone who you can be real and honest with. Second be real and honest with God. Once that happens try to let it go. Because only then is God able to heal. I am not saying you won't still feel pain, but I am saying he can free you from it controlling you. Let his love fill you, and let go of the pain.
Love,
Dan
P.S. Click on the link to go to the sermon (however will on be available for a few weeks)
Sermon: Jesus our Healer
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Cooking Adventures- Mr. Potato Head
It all started a few days ago or maybe a years ago? Its hard to know when the adventure started. Like most great adventures the protagonist had to be shaped, molded, and tested before the true adventure began. This story is no exception. Growing up I always loved to help in the kitchen. I have loved being around and cooking food my whole life. I loved kneaded the dough. I loved decorating the Halloween cookies. I loved mixing, melting, and molding. But I always had a coach each step of the way. Until recently.
Living out at college my love for cooking slowly was swallowed up by papers, convience, and general dorm life. But at last it was reborn! I moved out on my own. I started with the easy things: eggs, waffles, bread, ect. All the while honing my skills waiting for the true battles to come. I gathered receipes waiting for the day I would really dive in. That day came a few days ago when I realized I had a bag of potatoes going bad. WHAT WAS A MAN TO DO!!!!!!!!! Luckly, I knew I had a potato soup recipe a dear friend gave to me! I peeled and chopped 4 potatoes. I mangled one onion. Mixed in two cans chicken broth. Waited, added milk and flour. Waited added cheese and sour cream. Pesto a job well done!
Potatoes 0
Dan 1
Next would come my mom's famous mashed potato season a holiday favorite in our household. I was nervous how could I live up too it? Was I even worthy? I took on the battle. Peeling cutting, and mashing 5 lbs of potatoes. It was looking good. Victory was in sight I could taste the win in the air. I placed the mixture in a cooking dish to wait and see the outcome. One hour later the true test came. While it wasn't mom's cooking, I again would say a job well done!
Potatoes 0
Dan 2
But there was still one more battle to fight! I had a recipe for potato cakes. This particular recipe called for left over mashed potatoes. How convient for me considering I had 5 lbs of the stuff. But this battle would prove to be more difficult. I mixed and I rolled. I fried and I .... FAILED. I found it impossible to flip those little cakes. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it quite right! So what was I left with? A pile of half-burned potato cake mix and a big mess in my kitchen.
Potatoes 1
Dan 2
Am I defeated? No! Am I downtrodden? By no means! Look at the score Dan 2, Potatoes 1. I will learn to cook one recipe at a time!
Love,
Dan
PS If you live in or near Spokane come eat some mashed potatoes, sorry the soup is all gone.
Living out at college my love for cooking slowly was swallowed up by papers, convience, and general dorm life. But at last it was reborn! I moved out on my own. I started with the easy things: eggs, waffles, bread, ect. All the while honing my skills waiting for the true battles to come. I gathered receipes waiting for the day I would really dive in. That day came a few days ago when I realized I had a bag of potatoes going bad. WHAT WAS A MAN TO DO!!!!!!!!! Luckly, I knew I had a potato soup recipe a dear friend gave to me! I peeled and chopped 4 potatoes. I mangled one onion. Mixed in two cans chicken broth. Waited, added milk and flour. Waited added cheese and sour cream. Pesto a job well done!
Potatoes 0
Dan 1
Next would come my mom's famous mashed potato season a holiday favorite in our household. I was nervous how could I live up too it? Was I even worthy? I took on the battle. Peeling cutting, and mashing 5 lbs of potatoes. It was looking good. Victory was in sight I could taste the win in the air. I placed the mixture in a cooking dish to wait and see the outcome. One hour later the true test came. While it wasn't mom's cooking, I again would say a job well done!
Potatoes 0
Dan 2
Oh and look I had some fun with those potatoes!
But there was still one more battle to fight! I had a recipe for potato cakes. This particular recipe called for left over mashed potatoes. How convient for me considering I had 5 lbs of the stuff. But this battle would prove to be more difficult. I mixed and I rolled. I fried and I .... FAILED. I found it impossible to flip those little cakes. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it quite right! So what was I left with? A pile of half-burned potato cake mix and a big mess in my kitchen.
Potatoes 1
Dan 2
Am I defeated? No! Am I downtrodden? By no means! Look at the score Dan 2, Potatoes 1. I will learn to cook one recipe at a time!
Love,
Dan
PS If you live in or near Spokane come eat some mashed potatoes, sorry the soup is all gone.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Victory
I have always been amazed at God's ability to touch the depths of my heart. I am no way trying to limit God but it still just blows me away even after the 100th time. I have fought this battle constantly since being here. When I left salem I left so much behind. I miss living in a dorm with 40 other guys. I miss being able to go to a coffee shop and being gaurteed to see someone I know. I miss eating every meal with other people. I miss living 20 minutes from my mom and an hour away from my dad. And the list goes on. I have been struggling with feeling lonely. I built a life for myself in Salem, too much of one. I fell in love with being someone. I worshiped that idea. Then God called me here.
For the first few weeks it was pure exstasy I was doing what I love. I was riding the high of acutally getting paid to drink coffee, play video games, speak truth, and be compassionate. I hontestly don't think there is a better job out there for me. But soon reality sank in. I spending nights at home by myself from the time I got off work to the time I went to sleep. Granted, not many because I have a great church family who invites me over to their houses on a regular bases. But slowly lonliness started to creep in. This last week it reached its peak. But then sunday came.
It was a Sunday like many others. Got up went to church to pray at 8, greeted people then went to youth sunday school. I walked into the santurary, praying that God would really change my heart. A song played with this line "though none go with me I will follow". I was thinking to myself no one followed me here and that is ok I still will follow. I prayed to God that he would be my sustairer, my all in all, my satisfaction. That he would be everything I need. My source of joy. That He would take victory over these feelings. God came through.
Its a constant struggle for me to have God be all I need. I love people with passion. I care about them deeply and often seek that more then God himself. I am so thankful that God provided for me a loving church family that is meeting my needs in so many areas including the need for relationships. But God needs to be the one who is my source of joy. He needs to be my comfort, my All in All. And at least for today he is. I am thankful for the friends and families that are here. And I am thankful for the ones I left at home. God is good, All the time. All the time, God is good. He has given me victory, because he stepped in. Nothing that I have done. Praise be to him forever and ever.
With Love and Thankfulness,
Dan
I am praying that you are discovering everyday the joy you can find in Jesus. That you're allowing him to be your all in all. If your not I would love to talk to you about what that looks like. How it looks to live a life that is focused on Jesus. I have in no way arrived. But let's do this journey together.
For the first few weeks it was pure exstasy I was doing what I love. I was riding the high of acutally getting paid to drink coffee, play video games, speak truth, and be compassionate. I hontestly don't think there is a better job out there for me. But soon reality sank in. I spending nights at home by myself from the time I got off work to the time I went to sleep. Granted, not many because I have a great church family who invites me over to their houses on a regular bases. But slowly lonliness started to creep in. This last week it reached its peak. But then sunday came.
It was a Sunday like many others. Got up went to church to pray at 8, greeted people then went to youth sunday school. I walked into the santurary, praying that God would really change my heart. A song played with this line "though none go with me I will follow". I was thinking to myself no one followed me here and that is ok I still will follow. I prayed to God that he would be my sustairer, my all in all, my satisfaction. That he would be everything I need. My source of joy. That He would take victory over these feelings. God came through.
Its a constant struggle for me to have God be all I need. I love people with passion. I care about them deeply and often seek that more then God himself. I am so thankful that God provided for me a loving church family that is meeting my needs in so many areas including the need for relationships. But God needs to be the one who is my source of joy. He needs to be my comfort, my All in All. And at least for today he is. I am thankful for the friends and families that are here. And I am thankful for the ones I left at home. God is good, All the time. All the time, God is good. He has given me victory, because he stepped in. Nothing that I have done. Praise be to him forever and ever.
With Love and Thankfulness,
Dan
I am praying that you are discovering everyday the joy you can find in Jesus. That you're allowing him to be your all in all. If your not I would love to talk to you about what that looks like. How it looks to live a life that is focused on Jesus. I have in no way arrived. But let's do this journey together.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Here's to Summer
For those of you that know me well, you know I hate heat. Give me raining and overcast any day. Because of this I often find myself longing for fall. I can't wait to wake up cold. I can't wait to have to wear a sweatshirt for most of the day. But summer does have its good things too.
What a summer its been. Graduating college, within a month moving to a new city, having my first full time job, teaching, planning, etc. If you haven't heard I got my own bike and I really do enjoy it. There are some guys in the church that I go riding with. Its awesome. I like biking. Now if I could find some people to play soccer with then that would be sweet. A lot really has happen since May when I graduated, too much in fact for this blog post.
Its hard to believe that I have been here for 3 months now. In some ways it feels like I have been here forever and in some ways it seems like I just got here yesterday. What a journey its been. I have been stretched, loved, mold, and changed. I often find myself comparing my time here with my time in Chicago. Starting a new life from scratch. Pouring it all out to start over again. I am so thankful for that summer. Not only did I spend time with my amazing brother. But I can totally see how God grew me there. It prepared me for a permanent leave. I built my life in Salem. And some days I will be honest its really hard. But gosh I know God is using me here. The youth are awesome and I am continually growing closer to them. God is using me in their lives. I am excited about where we will be going this fall.
I have told my students that school year is such a great chance for them to make friends and to share the gospel. To be Christ like followers on their campuses. I am excited for them and this opportunity. I am excited for the growth that school will cause in them. About half of my youth group in involved in sports and I plan on attending many games over the next several months. Can't wait to see them in action. I have grown to really care about these students. They all have their unique gifts and talents. I know God is working in their hearts.
As for social life I am making friends here and there. But nothing like Farrar life. I spent 4 years living with 45+ guys for 9 months out of the year. What a change! But their is beauty in this life too. I find my relationship with God is stronger then it has been since Chicago. I find I am diving into the recesses of my heart to find the good, the bad and the ugly. I am truly learning to love my alone time. To think, process, clean, and cook. And I am enjoying even more the time I do spend with friends. The friends I have made have been so good to me. Its amazing what God can do in three months. I am excited about what he is going to do over the next three!
With Love,
Dan
What a summer its been. Graduating college, within a month moving to a new city, having my first full time job, teaching, planning, etc. If you haven't heard I got my own bike and I really do enjoy it. There are some guys in the church that I go riding with. Its awesome. I like biking. Now if I could find some people to play soccer with then that would be sweet. A lot really has happen since May when I graduated, too much in fact for this blog post.
Its hard to believe that I have been here for 3 months now. In some ways it feels like I have been here forever and in some ways it seems like I just got here yesterday. What a journey its been. I have been stretched, loved, mold, and changed. I often find myself comparing my time here with my time in Chicago. Starting a new life from scratch. Pouring it all out to start over again. I am so thankful for that summer. Not only did I spend time with my amazing brother. But I can totally see how God grew me there. It prepared me for a permanent leave. I built my life in Salem. And some days I will be honest its really hard. But gosh I know God is using me here. The youth are awesome and I am continually growing closer to them. God is using me in their lives. I am excited about where we will be going this fall.
I have told my students that school year is such a great chance for them to make friends and to share the gospel. To be Christ like followers on their campuses. I am excited for them and this opportunity. I am excited for the growth that school will cause in them. About half of my youth group in involved in sports and I plan on attending many games over the next several months. Can't wait to see them in action. I have grown to really care about these students. They all have their unique gifts and talents. I know God is working in their hearts.
As for social life I am making friends here and there. But nothing like Farrar life. I spent 4 years living with 45+ guys for 9 months out of the year. What a change! But their is beauty in this life too. I find my relationship with God is stronger then it has been since Chicago. I find I am diving into the recesses of my heart to find the good, the bad and the ugly. I am truly learning to love my alone time. To think, process, clean, and cook. And I am enjoying even more the time I do spend with friends. The friends I have made have been so good to me. Its amazing what God can do in three months. I am excited about what he is going to do over the next three!
With Love,
Dan
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
He is no fool!
These last few weeks have been total chaos with VBS, Camp and people visiting. Its been almost a week since we got back from camp. For those of you that know me at all, know I love camp. I spent 3 summers basically at camp. Gosh I miss that. But what an opportunity to see camp in such a different light. To be there as a leader to students I had already been working with. It was a blast. My prayer for the group from the beginning was for all 19 of us to go home changed, leaders included. It did my heart well to see all of our students stand and commit to something. Some committed to living one life. This was a huge theme of the camp to be the same person regardless of where we are. To bring the same person at church at school at work and at play. As for me I fell more in love with my God and Savior. By far the coolest experience was taking the time to pray for each individual student. The Holy Spirit used us leaders in powerful ways that night. It was a private moment for each student to be prayed over by each leader. Prayer is powerful. I know in my life it has been so meaningful to me to have people pray out loud for me. With that I want to challenge you with this. If you say to someone I will be praying for you. Why not take the time to do it right then and there? You may be surprised to see how much God uses you.This last weekend I had my mom and my best friend in town. Wow what a blessing. These two people are two of my favorite people. I love them both to death. My mom and I went to a silver mine in Idaho that was pretty cool. My best friend and I mostly just chilled. But that was refreshing and needed and great. It was hard to see them go. Reminded me a lot of what I have given up in coming here. But I will count all things as loss in order to gain Christ.
There is always themes in my life of what God is teaching me and this has been the theme of late. I hear it in Sunday school. I hear it in sermons. I heard it at camp. We live in a broken world and a broken society. They tell us to be our own man. To do what makes us happy. Yet at the end of their life their fortune and fame amounts for nothing. What good is it to gain the whole world and lose our soul? If we pour all we have into selfish vain things. At the end of it all it will count for nothing. But if we invest in what's eternal then at the end of it all it will be worth something. This has been the lesson for me lately I am having to learn all over again what it means to give it up in order to better serve. I have given up friends, family, and Farrar in order to come here. I am leaning on Him and He will be my comfort. But God has called me here and I am blessed with a great church family and a great group of students. I realize I needed to be taken out I cared more about spending time with friends then I did about truly investing my time. And that is the lesson in full circle. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose".
I hope your are learning from my rants. Take the time to evaluate what you need to give up to follow Christ. What is weighing you down? For me it was the need to please people and be around people. My life was the people around me, Christ was in many ways not at the center. For you it could be work, television, boys, girls, cars, facebook, ect. I am not trying to say these are bad but they are when they get in the way with your relationship with Jesus. So again I ask what do you need to give up?
For those of you that may read this and have yet to know Jesus, to begin to understand that he loves you and desires to have a relationship with you. I would love to talk to you. I will not pressure you or "shove the bible down your throat". But instead I would love to show why this is so important in my life and what he has done for me. I would love to show you how to live a life with significance and meaning. Because the God who created everything we see around us wants you. I would love to start the discussion.
Love,
Dan
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