QUICK RENEWAL THOUGHTS
Still thinking about all God did at RENEWAL (our middle school retreat this past weekend) and I'm STILL having trouble putting it into words but I know that some of what I learned will affect me over time while other things have made an IMMEDIATE lasting impact on my life. In the spirit of thanksgiving (even though i'm still partially brain dead) let me say this:
TO THE STUDENTS:
I'm also thankful for ALL the students who showed up FIRED UP AND PASSIONATE about having a great weekend! You guys rocked and made RENEWAL the amazing experience that it was. I'm always grateful for what God teaches me through being with you guys. My prayer for you is exactly what I prayed for you in our sessions at RENEWAL that you would know the grace and love that Jesus freely offers you. That you would live in the Truth that God has made you a "New Creation" in and through Jesus Christ. I pray that gas was poured on your fire for Christ and that you're burning brighter hotter and bigger than ever before for all to see, for the Glory of God. I also pray that whatever God did in your life over this past weekend that you would boldly give HIM credit for it. There are things that God did for you that no man or woman could ever have done for you and He deserves all the glory for that! Praise Him!!!!
TO THE LEADERS:
I'm so thankful to everyone who served, supported, showed up, prayed, etc. for our RENEWAL experience. It took LOTS of people's effort and energy to pull it off. It also took SO MUCH OF GOD to do the heart surgery that He did but know that it couldn't have happened with out your hard work and dedication to the vision. Like I told you guys at the RENEWAL leader meeting the wednesday before we left..."I believe so much of what we do in GSM is about US DOING THE POSSIBLE AND PRAYERFULLY ASKING GOD TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!" Believing that if we just do whatever we can do, that God will ALWAYS do the rest...and that's what happened at RENEWAL friends! You did all you could (which was A LOT) and THAT was enough!!! So thank you so much because it was fun watching God do what only he can do!
TO THE PARENTS:
Thank you so much for getting your students to RENEWAL. I believe with all of my heart that what you did showed them how much Jesus matters in their life. Proving to them with your actions that their spiritual journey towards Jesus was worth $50 and a weekend away from the comforts of home. It's worth meeting new people, staying in cabins, being challenged spiritually, playing games, etc.
Your commitment to getting them in environments where they can grow closer to Christ is inspiring and EXACTLY why we do GSM every weekend of the school year.
What your student experienced at RENEWAL is a taster of what we do every week at GSM.
I love that we have a ministry that's not defined by one or two big events a year, we have on-going high impact ministry for your student. I pray that you would know that we go to great lengths to help your students connect with Jesus in a real way.
I also want you to know this:
the same leadership that led RENEWAL, leads every single week at GSM. From the kitchen staff to the cabin leaders. We didn't have some other staff from the campgrounds leading your students. The leader that was with them is committed to being at GCC and GSM so you can rest in knowing that the person who loved on them all weekend long can be the same person loving on them all year long through GSM.
Lastly, I pray that you know
my heart and the heart of our GSM staff is to truly help your students take steps towards Christ and we realize that we're your supporting cast in that effort! We recognize that THAT is the job God has given you and I want you to know we'd love to walk alongside you on that journey. 3 things we always make sure to edify/cheerlead in GSM: 1. the ministry of parents. 2. the ministry of GCC. 3. The KINGDOM OF GOD. I personally believe we don't have to consistently edify GSM, that speaks for itself. Thanks for trust us with your students for this weekend and throughout the year!
TO THE GSM STAFF:
You guys are my rock! You're some of the greatest people I've ever known in my entire life. You make what I get to do such a joy. I love how much fun we have together. You took this crazy idea I had and pulled together amazing creativity and helped make it everything I envisioned God wanted it to be. I'm amazed at your faithfulness and willingness to buy in to vision. Doing what we do it's easy to focus on building your own kingdom, but
I'm so grateful that the ONLY kingdom you guys are interested in building is God's Kingdom!!! (You guys know my heart for that.) Thanks for helping point out my blind spots and pulling WITH me. I pray that I am as much a blessing to you guys as you are to me! I wouldn't want to do this with anybody else. (I know we say that a lot around our church, but I mean every word.) Let's keep chasing Jesus together and bringing students and leaders along with us! I love you guys!
CONCLUSION:
I still haven't found a way to put into words what I really want to say but that's a glimpse of what I'm feeling right now.
We don't post a lot of our messages for GSM but I was out of town at Simply Youth Ministry Conference this past week so I figured I'd post the message clips from this past week's services.
We're in a Relationships series titled "It's Official".
Week 1: Who are you yoked with
Week 2: Slow Fade
Week 3: Restoration
Week 4: Let's talk about Sex
Flow: We broke up the message into 3 Parts and put a song special before the first video and after the second video, then rolled worship after the last video.
Song Special: "Mess of Me" by Switchfoot
Restoration Message - Part 1 from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.
Restoration Message - Part 2 from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.
Song Special: "Amazing Grace" - remixed/customized
Restoration Message - Part 3 from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.
(I took the 3 points in the last video from Doug Fields.)
I can't wait for this series to start in GSM High School this week! It's about to rock somebody's world! It's packed with all the stuff that makes the high school environment so awkward that you can cut th
e tension with a knife.
In a series like this, somebody always gets a foul or two called on em and that's sometimes just what we need to get back on track.
Half of RENEWAL was at night because it gets dark at 4:00 p.m. (ok 6:00) so there's lots that didn't get captured because we were outside all over camp, but here's a little video I made. I'm not our video guy, I just love taking photo's and making little videos to highlight some things I see from my perspective.
I believe one of the greatest characteristics about my GSM staff team is this: