ifiwereaparent

THE BLOG MUST CHANGE!

2010-06-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well...It happened. God blessed Amy and I with an 8 lb. 2 Oz little boy named Grayson Joshua Carter. I guess the blog must change...

I've learned a lot in the last two days. I was trying to comprehend it by using just simple words to express what has gone through my heart but it has been very challenging to express it all. So as I sit here, speaking with you, I would have to say that the only words that come to my mind and lips at this very moment are Grace, Love, and Hope. For some weird reason that is what I am thinking at this very moment.

Can you believe it...I mean come on...the World Cup is on, my favorite sporting event ever and it only comes around every 4 years, and I am thinking of Grace, Love, and Hope while sitting in a dark room while Amy sleeps and tears filling my eyes.

It's funny...If you think about it...I have become soft. Ha! I chuckle to think about it. Did I just say chuckle? Wow, HA, you get my point. Wow, I am a dad and I am officially an emotional basket-case.

You see, my mind has been captivated by this idea of grace. Yesterday, I truly witnessed grace. Labor and delivery was like the scariest and most hopeless feeling I have ever had but probably one of the most hopeful and thrilling moments of my life all at the same time. I know that makes no sense to some of you. Then again, if you are a parent...you know exactly what I mean. I mean I am overwhelmed that a human, a women, can go through something like that and live. I watched as I personally witnessed the hand of God keep a life together yesterday while at the same time bringing another one into life.

I remember begging God for days last week, up to the day of delivery for His grace over my wife and did He ever? You know many of us, including me, strive in situations of pressure. I mean I, we, like situations with short deadlines where we don't seem like we have enough time to get something done but we have confidence to know we can so we do it. It's a control thing I guess, to be the one in the driver seat of something. I used to say I understood grace, and I do too some degree. I understand that without God's grace on me there is no way I could ever know Jesus Christ and could never have a relationship with Him. I know without God's HUGE hand of grace on my life I am one step away from stupid. I understand and lose my breath at the thought that without my Savior I would have nothing. However, I realized yesterday as soon as I thought I understood grace fully God poured His bucket on me once again. I saw grace when I realized God had given me a wife like Amy. I witnessed grace when I realized I was now a dad. But people, I FELT Grace...I mean I really felt Grace when my wife was struggling and I was no longer in the driver seat and could only sit back and plead with a Holy God for mercy and His Grace and He showed up and poured it out so freely. I realized, could it be that the most treasured times in life are missed because I, we, never get in places were we have to plead for mercy and grace? It was the scary, helpless, just plain terrifying but a moment I would NEVER trade my life for because I FELT THE GRACE OF GOD in that moment like never before. It was a moment in my life I will never, ever forget when my Dad, Yahweh, showed up and poured out His Grace.

Love...Love is big word. No really, I mean it is a BIG WORD. It was so big that God used it in three different ways and He used it throughout His entire Word. But we don't always think about that word Love like God sees it do we? But yesterday and today, My heart exploded with true Love. I truly love Grayson. I would have to admit it, I have totally fell in love with him already and that only took the 1 second when my eyes first saw him and my ear first heard his sweet voice. I use to say I loved a lot of things. For instance, Jello. Man, I love Jello, so I thought. Especially when I go to my mother-in-laws house and she fixes a whole bowl for the family and nobody touches it because they know they will lose their life if they dare to stick their dirty spoons in my Jello. So what do I do? I just grab the whole bowl as I walk by the serving table and eat it straight from the serving bowl. Ha, man do I love Jello. I used to say I love a lot of different things but I learned a lot about Love yesterday. I can truly say I love my wife. Now, you ladies don't give me a hard time. I know...I loved my wife before too but I mean I really love my wife. I don't think I could ever be more proud of a single person like I was her yesterday. I really don't have words to describe it. All I can say is that there is nobody on this earth that I will ever love more than my wife Amy. As I experienced God grace, and pleaded for his mercy on Amy yesterday, my eyes burst with tears as I thought about the deep love that God had planted in my heart for this women. It was a moment I will never forget when I realized the blessing God has given me in my wife Amy. Oh...I understand Love more today than ever before. I understand there is nothing and nobody I love more than My Savior Jesus, My Wife, and My little Boy.

Lastly Hope is on my mind...I have lots of hope...I have hope because I know the ONE where the only true hope is found, the Christ, Jesus, My Lord. So to explain hope to you and what has flooded my mind and heart over the last couple of days I will conclude with a prayer that I have prayed over the family that God has given to me because I know this Hope is rooted in Him.

My Prayer: Lord, my only hope is in You. My hope is rooted in your goodness, grace, and love that you have given to me and my family. Thank you for baby Grayson and what a blessing he is to Amy and I. My prayer is that Grayson comes to know the grace and salvation that I and his mom have experienced. I pray and beg for your mercy on him and that you would prick his heart, convict him of his sinful life that he is now born into, and that he would repent in the near future so that he too will know the greatest gift known to mankind Jesus Christ, YOU as Lord and Savior.

My prayer is that his heart would overflow with a love for Your Kingdom. I pray he grows up to be a man that is blameless, full of integrity, and develop a heart like David so that you to can say he is a "man after your own heart." Oh Lord, don't let him look only like me, make him look more like You and his heart beat for your heart.

But Lord, my urgent prayer is that he would have a true heart for the world. A heart that does not settle for playing the church game or going after all that America has to offer but that he would be broken for his friends, family, and the billions of people who do not know you across this world. That he would fully understand the call Christ call true Christians to. I pray that Amy and I will raise him up to be these things and please let us be his example in our home by how we love our neighbors and how we share the Love of Christ and the Gospel to others so that others will know You. Let us be the parents that lay everything done for you and he sees us give up our wants for your wants and our needs for the needs of others. Let Grayson see his mom and dad give it all and be spent for the Kingdom. Let him say of us when we are gone from this earth, "my father and mother gave it all for Christ and that's all they truly lived for."

But Lord, I beg you to give us your grace and mercy and direction to show us what we must do to be the best stewards of your creation Grayson. May you do with him exactly what you have planned for Your Glory through him. May he have your heart, a heart for the world and your Kingdom.......Amen...

"If i were a parent" blog must change!! CHECK IT PEOPLE....I am a parent!!

The Local Church is being attacked!

2009-11-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

The local church is being attacked. Below is an article I wrote out to parents this past week. Really believe this is a major issue for the American Church. Also, Check out this website I ran across about this issue http://www.jimfeeney.org/local-church-decline.html.

High School ministry has great rewards! However, it can be the most difficult ministry in the church as well. There is a STRONG URGENCY to reach these students because statistics show that the majority of them after the age of 18 will never accept Jesus Christ and many within the church will leave and not return because they never really knew Him. We are asking our parents to stand strong at their post as parents and continue to push the importance of ecclesiology! Ecclesiology is the local church. Throughout the NT over 90% of the time when the bible speaks of the church it speaks the local church. Student ministry is not another club, event, social network, activity like school sports, school clubs, para church organizations like FCA, Young life, etc...Some of these are excellent activities and events but they are NOT the local church and they do NOT teach Ecclesiology. What happens in turn is students grow up and leave the church for other organizations or they become the typical church-hopper.

By not developing in young people the Urgency and commitment that Jesus called for in the local church it is devastating not just to each student but to the local churches in this country. You end up with what we see in So many areas of our country specifically in Tennessee where you have churches on every street corner. Those churches are not there because someone wanted to start a church those churches are there because someone got mad, someone got their feelings hurt, someone felt they didn't belong and they misunderstood true commitment to the local church and Ecclesiology and "took their toy and left." They had very bad theology!

In the church, if people would recognize there calling to a specific body of believers and were willing to lay their life down for their other brothers or sisters in their local church then you would not have so much church hopping or so much uncommitted lives to His church. God would have to call me to a certain place before I would leave. Josh Carter isn't going to put his resume out or even think about another body of believers unless God calls me and they come get me. God never called someone some place and didn't tell them a direction to go throughout the scriptures... I have heard so many adults say, "well..we are not leaving the church but we are looking around." I ask, "where is that in the bible? That's like saying to my wife, "Honey, I love you and am not going any place but I am going to look around for another women if that is alright." Crazy...What type of commitment is that? I have heard, "well...my kids doesn't really like it"...My answer to that is..Did God call you parents here? If God called you then commit everything. Maybe the issue isn't the ministry but the kid..Maybe the kid is lost and convicted. Who wants to go some place where they are convicted when you are lost and don't want to change. What you do by jumping ship on your local church is teaching your kid that preference is more important then the calling of GOD. Blasphemy! For example: Take a student of ours Emily...In the church I should be willing to lay by wants and life for Emily. For my wife, I should want to lay down my wants and life for my Wife Amy. In the church Emily is my sister. In the church my wife is my sister! In heaven and on earth in the church, we all are family. Now, there is NO other lady more important than my wife Amy who I dearly love. But in the church I must be willing to die for all and all for me. TCBC is our family! TCBC is our life!!! Jesus calls us to this radical type of commitment! If we understood this then we could conquer GREAT things for the Glory of God.

What I am asking parents of high school and even middle school students is that you teach your child ECCLESIOLOGY by making their student ministry (their church) their priority over ALL ELSE! Including sports teams, school clubs and events, para church organizations....I was so proud of my wife. She is the assistant swim coach at Sullivan Central High School. They decided not to have practice on Wednesday because they didn't get done in time for students to attend their specific churches. Praise GOD! All these things are good but they are NOT the church. I was so proud of a family in our church who has an 11th grade son who asked me about a para church organization such as younglife, fca, one way, etc...They said their son wanted to go to a weekend getaway with this club. I said great that's fine but the problem was the student couldn't go to xtreme with his own youth group (His church) I said, not good! You teach your child that preference is more important then commitment..Local church is less important then something else. The family listened and now the student is active. This same family fought for years with this boy about coming to summit or any student ministry event. They forced him for years to come. They were doing their job as parents by showing their kid what is important. Now, this student is making huge leaps and is now serving in our middle school ministry and loves to come.

I think of a student Chelsea who runs our Wired Middle School Ministry on Wednesday nights. I am so proud of her. You know Chelsea is very smart, involved in everything including sports, president of student counsel of a major high school (south), lots of friends, fca, you name it she is apart of it. However, Chelsea has made the local church her MAIN priority and because of that I am telling you that she is more mature and understands theology, doctrine, and commitment more than some 50 year olds. However, Chelsea is still a high school student, a teenager, and at times her parents still have to make choices for her. She is still not ready for full responsibility to run her life and she makes good choices but a high school student cannot make the best choice all the time. She has proven herself but she understands the importance of mom and dad keeping her on track especially in the area of Ecclesiology.

Parents, I am calling out from the Word of God that Ecclesiology is important. The local church is to die for. Jesus did!! Please help your student develop this type of commitment before we have another generation of "preference over commitment people and church hoppers." If America is to be saved it has to be through this generation and without the local church strong through their commitment to die for one another the local church in America is in trouble. Please stand strong at your post as parents and take up this challenge!

day 30

2009-10-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Prayer breakfast at 6:30 am in the Outpost in the morning. Super excited about getting together with everyone in the morning! See ya there!!

Day 29, Be silent!!

2009-10-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well...two more days. Saturday is the 31st and God has done Great things through this prayer blog. Please spend Thursday in a day of praise by "being silent a know that He is God." Today, Thursday instead of going and asking God for things and instead of talking, just take some time today to just be still and listen to see what God is saying. What is he laying on your heart to pray for the student ministry in the next couple of days. I really believe God will tell us what we should be praying for and what we should do and pray for after this prayer blog.

So, when will you spend some time today being silent and listening for God? Driving down the road and you turn off the radio? Sitting at home and not turning on TV? When and Where will you be silent?

Tuesday & Wednesday Day 27-28

2009-10-26T18:05:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Sorry for not blogging today but just had no chance to get to it so i hope everyone just continued to pray. These last couple of days are so critical for us as we finish this month of prayer up. So many people have been participating and thank you for your emails of encouragement. Below are the things I would ask everyone to pray for everyday for the rest of this prayer blog. Again, this will be the blog for Tuesday & Wednesday.

Thursday, I will blog (Wednesday night) one last time on this prayer emphasis and then on Friday morning I would like to have a prayer breakfast with everyone. However, it is totally depending on who RSVP's and see if anyone can make it. If you can make it Friday morning at 6:30 am for a light breakfast and prayer time in the Outpost I promise you will be gone by 7:30 am. Please RSVP by Thursday at noon. RSVP at jcarter@tcbchurch.org and let me know if you can come.

For the next two days I beg everyone to pray hard over these couple of things

1. Continue to pray for our students both middle school and high school. We still have LOTS of students who are not involved in the ministry but on Sunday mornings and this scares me and our leaders very much. God has been working through His WORD at Summit on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights at Wired but so many students have messed up priorities and are no shows. We believe this starts in the home please pray Parents will step up and help their kids have the priority of God and His church, the local church. This is a major problem that we look over but it is a small sign of a BIG problem. One of the top, if not the top thing we see in students who grow and become successful in their walk with the Lord and in character are students who have the priority of being committed to church. I have been in student ministry long enough to say this is not legalistic or over powering but a PROVEN fact and people, parents some times don't seem to understand this. It is amazing to see adults (parents) who come serve in the student ministry and see this with their own eyes and then are shocked at the amount of students who we have that lay out, work, or just do other things instead of being committed to the church. It is very hard when those same parents who allow their kids to do this come to us when they are juniors or seniors and are losing them and want us to fix the problem but its to late. Please pray that our parents would step up and make their students have right priorities before its to late and pray that not only all the students become committed to coming but would be open to God and He would change their lives.
The type of commitment we are talking about is throughout the NT. I think about Christians all over the world like in Asia that give their LIVES for the gospel and their local church. These people are willing to die, literally and many of them do as martyrs just to be together with a local body of believers on a consistent basis. It is not legalism it is Christianity and we in America don't understand this. Pray our students, the next generation won't miss this truth!

2. Pray for revival in our own students and salvation in many of our students and guest who are coming. We still believe we have many students not saved, have not relationship with Jesus but have a strong intellect toward Him. This is one of the reasons for the #1 request. Please pray that God convict hearts and we would see things happen in this student ministry and through this student ministry like we have never seen before.

3. Continue to pray for leadership. We need so many more adults. Please pray we get them SOON!

Day 25, Sunday

2009-10-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a great night with our middle school students and leaders over at the bonfire/cookout at the Sprinkles. We had a great time!

1. Today, Sunday pray for Summit our high school service tonight. We are starting a new series called "my bubble" Basically it is a series about priorities. We are supper excited about it! Pray that God would work, give me the words to preach, and that MANY students would come, worship would be awesome, and we would see students changed! We start at 6 pm! Please pray for Summit.

2. Continue to pray for our students to be broken and we would see many of them come to Christ in salvation and also pray that we would reach more students that God would open doors for us to see more and reach more students in our schools and in our community. I will write more on this one day next week where we will spend a whole day on this topic.

Praise the Lord on the Lord's day tomorrow!!

Day 24, A fight against addictions and pride

2009-10-24T08:37:00.001-07:00

Day 24, Sorry about the late blog...again working at the church til later on and coming home and not being able to get to it.

1 . Today I feel called to pray for students who are currently dealing with sin and dealing specifically with addictions. We have lots of students who deal with pornography, lots of students who are playing the party scene or dealing with an urge for alcohol You name it we probably have one dealing with it. Pray for the students who are doing these things and are not broken about it. Pray that God would do what He has to do to break them and bring them to a place of repentance, a place of commitment, a place of salvation. Pray specifically for our high school students because this is where we see a huge down turn in life typically. Specifically 10-12 grade.

2. Again, pray for leadership. God has been so good in this area this month as we have several opportunities to gain new leadership. God is doing it and we thank Him. Continue to pray God would send us people to help reach and disciple these students.

Day 23, Friday

2009-10-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Urgent prayer request. I want to use today to pray for a student who has been visiting the student ministry for around 2 months now. He is a middle school student. His name is Jacob Presnell. Jacob also has MD and is in a wheelchair.

Jacob is very sick with flu since first of week and is in the Hospital with breathing tube and feeding tube in. Not doing well...Please pray for him. I have been at the hospital tonight to pray with him. I told the parents we would pray and this is a big connection of people doing this prayer blog this month so lets us eit for this.

Today pray for Jacob and the Presnell family. Pray Jacob would be healed and be able to get over this flu. Thank you!

October 22, Day 22 Pray for Protection

2009-10-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hello. It is day 22 of the prayer blog. On Next Friday morning, October 30 at 6:30 am in the Outpost we are going to host a prayer breakfast for everyone who has been involved in our prayer emphasis. This way many of you can get to work by 8 am. I know some of you that is early, including myself! However, I want to involve as many people as possible and this is how. If you can make it that would be AWESOME! Please send me an email at jcarter@tcbchurch.org (just click on the link) and RSVP so I will know how much food to get. It won't be a huge breakfast but some small things and we will spend time praying together and talking about what God did through this month! It would be awesome come together for this! RSVP with me soon. Thank you!

Today, as I woke, I thought about the pressures of student ministry. You know, student ministry is exciting and there is just so much impact you can make but it also is a ministry that has a lot of weight. To change a world you must change the next generation. I know I have heard that quote before but I cannot remember who said it. However, It's true! Many days in student ministry you wake up and you go through in your mind all the 170-200 students in the ministry and all their troubles. You think about all the parents, leaders that are effected by the ministry. You think about all the potential and the excitement of where God wants to go. It is many times like a roller coaster. Up and down, Up and down, Up and down...

Student ministry is exciting and great things to occur but we are full aware that Satan is working as well. Today, I need you to cry out to a Holy God for protection and for power. We have students, families, leadership that are struggling and Satan wants nothing more than to destroy them because he knows that if he can reach them he can effect the next generation and the next and the next.

1. Today pray for protection (purity, self-control, actions, mind-set) of our leadership. All our teachers, student leaders, myself... Pray God would keep His hand upon us and keep us from the evil one.

2. Pray for the protection (purity, self control, actions, mind-set) of our parents and students.

Beg God to keep His hand upon this ministry and continue to work. Cry out and ask God to heal our students and their hearts, their families, and protect them and our leadership. Ask Him to keep Satan as far away from us as possible.

I have noticed in ministry when God is working and their is great momentum Satan really works hard. The weight of all of that is hard to take especially when you are a leader trying to work so hard to change the mind-set, heart, and ideas of families to what the Word of God says and the way God has for them. Today, we know we have victory in the Lord!! There is hope!! However, Satan is working as well and students, parents, our leadership need these prayers! Thank you in advance!!

thursday, day 22

2009-10-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Post for thursday will be up around 10 am tomorrow. Sorry for late notice...

Wednesday, Day 21

2009-10-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good day. Started off this morning with a great morning of prayer. God has been so good through this emphasis. I cannot tell you all the phone calls, minsitry oppurtunities that have opened up due to your prayers! Thank you so much! I can't wait to tell you all of them at the end of the month.

I was convicted today to just spend another day praising God for being who He is and saying thank you to God for how he has been so faithful to answer our prayers. Spend today thanking Him for that. One of the best ways you can thank him today is tell your story today to someone. Pray for your server today. Hand a tract out! Show God you are thankful for what He has done by doing what He has called us to today!

Please pray for Wired tonight. It starts at 6:30 pm. Pray many middle school students would come and it would be an amazing night of ministry. Please remember this today.

God, Thank you for working with this prayer minsitry blog. You are a GREAT GOD!

Day 20, Tuesday October 20

2009-10-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

1. Today for a major need we have in our ministry. We have two major services. One is called Wired and the other is called Summit. With these two services much leadership is required but the major thing that these services have is worship bands. A worship band, a good one, is one of the hardest things to create and manage. Our Summit band is one of the best bands I have ever heard and work hard. They are also great worship leaders. We are so blessed. However, many of them will be moving off at the end of the semester. With that happening we need some people to fill their spots and not lose talent or the gift of leading worship. Pray that God would send us the right people NOW so we can be prepared for a great spring semester. Also, pray for wired as we have a band working to form. Pray all of that would go well and work out. Please pray for this...It is a big issue and burden and really need this to work out!!

2. Pray for the new leadership we are getting that God would help them find their place in the student ministry and be fulfilled. Pray they find their purpose and God does great things through them.

3. Lastly, tonight pray for parents of students. Pray for wisdom in the area of dealing with problems. We have many students who are struggling with issues that their parents have no idea about and if they did find out would not know how to deal with the problem and so a lot of time make wrong choices or slide it under the rug. This causes major devastation. Pray for our parents that God would fill them with His spirit and wisdom to know how to read, understand, and help their students out. Also, pray for our ministry that we would be better equippers in the area of parent ministry to help parents see the warning signs and to know what steps to take...

Day 19, Monday!

2009-10-18T18:57:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for praying for us tonight at Summit! God did great things and He is surely blessing our student ministry. Tomorrow I will be starting a new part on my blog that is a place for students to go and share their stories about who they were before they met Christ, how and when they met Jesus, and what has changed in the their life since meeting Jesus Christ. I am excited about this...

1. Continue today praying for our students and revival in both the middle school and high school ministry. We have a major issue in America where people think intellect about Jesus is enough when in fact Satan is using intellect to keep people blinded to the fact that they are really lost. We have a lot of students who know all the bible stories but have no fruit in their life and have no story of change. I am really concerned for this generation because many are lost and some are blinded or cold at that fact. Please pray with me for brokenness and revival in our students in our ministry and around our community. Pray we would see great things happen through Summit in the area of brokenness and revival. Pray God would Open their hearts, eyes, minds by whatever He needs to do...

2. Continue to pray for leadership because discipleship is an everyday basis and we need MANY adults to step up (specifically parents) and reach and disciple young people. Pray that God would continue to send us people. Praise be to Him he has been answering this prayer. So please keep it up.

3. Pray for one of our leaders, Karen Cabiness who lost her grandmother today! Praise be to our Lord Jesus that she is home with Him.

day 18- sunday

2009-10-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry I am late with this...getting ready for a great summit tonight!

1. Please pray for summit tonight.

2. Pray many students would come. Pray for new guest!

Please pray at 6:00 pm as we get started!

Be back at it tomorrow with new blogs!

Day 17, Saturday October 17

2009-10-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Praise to God!! Since you all have been praying over the needs we have had the opportunity to see around 3-4 new potential leaders for the ministry! It is just so AWESOME to see God work! We have also heard numerous stories about what God has been doing through our prayer blog and it is so encouraging!!

1. Today our Ministry is having a leadership conference for all of our leaders at the outpost from 8:15-11:15. Just pray for that in the morning that God would allow us to be unified in team and we would be able to produce more through the equipping!

2. Remember to Pray for Summit our high school service Sunday night. Pray for Salvation's and that MANY people would come and our students would get excited about it and bring people. The Gospel will be presented so please pray.

3. Today pray for our local middle schools and high schools that Christian students would stand up. Pray that our students would be the one's to take initiative and students from Tri-Cities baptist Student ministry would be known by the students they are and how they stand firm for what they believe. Pray that our local schools could be changed for the Glory Of God through the students of Tri-Cities Baptist Student Ministry.

Friday, Day 16- Oct. 16

2009-10-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

The next and last 15 days of our journey together will focus on the heart of our student ministry and the heart of our needs. I have come to the full grasp that without God supplying our every need and keeping his hand upon us as a ministry we are going to have a very difficult time reaching and discipling parents and students.

1. Pray for our needs for teachers and connectors in both our high school and middle school ministry. We are currently in need of around 10+ of these in the student ministry combined and without them it will surely mean we cannot and will not be as productive as we need to be.

2. Pray for revival in our current students. I am blown away at how blessed our student ministry is. The amount of resources we have is CRAZY AMAZING!! (is that a saying?)
A lot of time because students in our ministry know nothing else but what they have, they seem to take it for granted. That also goes for our parents and leadership. The opportunity we have is just outstanding if we all could come together trust God with the vision He has given us and we came together to make it happen.

I often think of the quote I heard once that said, "So many of us are waiting on God to do miracles what He expected for us to do through muscle"

It blows my mind and breaks my heart that a lot of the time in the American church when it comes to giving your everything to God we in America don't understand that if you are going to serve God then it is going to cost you a lifestyle. To do Student ministry right Parents, Adult leadership, students must understand that you don't turn youth ministry on on Wednesday's and/or Sunday's but it is a lifestyle. People want to take youth ministry or serving God in general and place it in their current life but not change anything about their schedule or daily lifestyles. This cannot and will not happen if you sale out to God's way of ministry. In order to reach and change the world we must sale out to God and let the ministry change our schedule and lifestyle. Youth ministry is not and cannot be all about what we do two days a week but it is about God calling us to make it WHO WE ARE. It is in our DNA! Pray that students, parents, our current leadership, myself would sale out to God that we are willing to change our lifestyle or schedule if that means we can reach more students for the Glory of God. What can we give up in our own life to free up time to lead people to eternal life in Jesus? Is this important to us? YOUTH MINISTRY IS LIFE FOR US!

day 15

2009-10-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Half way through...

Today spend time praising God for being faithful during the 15 days we have come through! He has really used these prayers! Praise Him Today!

wednesday, day 14

2009-10-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

1. Today pray for priorities. If there is one thing that students know is how to stay busy. However being busy with school, work, etc...does not always mean they are accomplishing anything. We have a lot of students who are doing a lot of things but getting nothing done for the Kingdom of God. Pray that students would learn to make God and His church at the top of their priorities. Pray that parents would learn to make decisions for their kids that will help them make what is important first. First it has to start in the home with parents being examples. Think: yeah the student might work 20-30 hrs a week, go to school, play sports, be popular, make good grades but have no idea what a relationship with the Lord looks like and has no disciplines in their life to become the person God wants them to be and if nothing else don't understand their role in the great commission. Lord have mercy on us! Its not about what they do or how much . It should be all about who they are in God and His will.

Remember to pray for our middle school service wired tonight at 6:30!

Tuesday, Day 13 Its all about leadership!!

2009-10-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

Wow..I cannot believe we are half way through the month. Thank you for helping in this matter and lifting these request up. Today is short but is our biggest need.

1. Leadership...I know that leadership issues have been talked about in other blogs but I want you to pray for nothing more than leadership today. We have TONS of open spots where we need adult leaders (specifically parents) to step up and help. If these spots are filled I know God would take this ministry and do AMAZING things. Please pray that people would step forward and approach either the middle school or high school ministry and offer help.

By the way...If you know anyone who can then tell them to go to www.tcbcstudents.com click on leadership and you will see the tabs for MS or Hs needs on the left. All they have to do is check them out and call us or email josh at jcarter@tcbchurch.org and find a place to help.

Everything rises and falls with leadership and student ministry must have LOTS of leadership because of what we are dealing with. A lot of students who need a lot of attention and help but we need adults. Please pray hard that people would step forward. Thank you!

monday, day 12

2009-10-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well...God is great and is really working in both our middle school and high school ministry. Summit was awesome thanks for praying. Tonight I want you all to pray for 2 things on monday.

1. Pray for the purity of our students and pray that many of them would be broken over their sin. We believe students are involved in bad relationships and satan is really leading students into major purity problems. Sex, porn, etc...u name it we are praying for and working through with students. This generation needs these prayers.

2. Pray that parents would not be blinded to these and they would be aggresive and not passive when it comes to protecting their students from making poor decisions in areas of realationships/purity.

sunday, day 11

2009-10-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well almost half way through this month of prayer! God is so good and He is doing great things through your prayers. Starting monday we will be turning or attention to more areas in the student ministry but today, sunday, is the Lords day so let's just spend today praising Him for what He is doing. Continue to ask you to pray for Summit sunday night and MANY students would come...

Keep praying please!!! Doing great!

2009-10-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Getting excited about Sunday!! Pray for summit!

Here is Saturdays list! Keep up the praying God is working...

1. Summit Sunday Night

2. Salvations and brokeness we have a lot of students that still don't know the Lord as their personal Lord and King.

3. Filling the many needs in the student ministry. We cannot proceed without more adult leadership! This is big!!

God Is working keep praying warriors!

Friday, October 9 Day 9

2009-10-09T06:17:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone! I am so sorry for not getting this up till now...Not been able to get free to a computer to blog. Meeting till later last night, family time, and then just now got to a computer. I will also post tomorrow's this morning at some point.

Thank you for all your praying. Please comment on the blog what God has been doing through this. Others would like to read about it so we all can be encouraged.

Today's List is short but here it is: Please pray for this, VERY IMPORTANT

1. Pray for our high school students that they would find their purpose through serving. On Wednesday nights we have tons of high school students either running our middle school ministry or serving in Awana's or Preschool ministry. However, we have a TON who are not. Students, well people in that matter, can only be spectators so long and you lose them. If they find purpose and fulfillment in serving it catapults them into consistency and we have a better chance at helping to disciple them if they are around more. If they don't they just become spectators 2 hours a week against their 100+ hours they get of trash in the world. (you get my point) It is impossible.

2. Pray for their parents that they would see this and push their child to understanding that and would do their jobs as parents to help their child find a place of service. We have a website at www.tcbcstudents.com where they can download a service form and get involved today. But please pray that these parents get involved themselves and are the example to their student(s) to get involved and serve as well.

3. Lastly, Pray for Summit this week! God is working but Satan is working hard to stop the progress. Pray for our Leadership Todd Overbeek, The Summit Band, Skit Team, High School leadership who counsel, the cafe people, setup people, production people, everyone who is involved. Pray that this Sunday MANY students would come and we would see GREAT THINGS HAPPEN!!

Thursday, November 8- PRAISE GOD, GREAT NIGHT!

2009-10-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you for praying for our middle school service tonight called Wired. We had 5 students give their lives to Christ. Pray for the follow-up with these students and also pray that we would have the wisdom to work with these students. This happens a lot in middle school ministry because they went forward when they were little but have serious doubts and want to nail it down and except Jesus. Just pray for clarity and discipleship to take place. Thanks for praying.

Thursdays request is the same as today's. Reason for is because this is a MAJOR issue in our student ministry especially in the High School ministry and please pray for the following stuff another day because we need your prayers on these issues:

1. Today pray for out middle school and high school students to be less apathetic and more committed to their local church (youth group). Some place in the past generations we have lost the idea of surrendering your life to Christ and have watered down the gospel to a "get out of hell card." Once you prayed the prayer then make your own priorities and make your own way of life and you will be ok. I have seen countless and still have countless number of students who are "hit and miss" when it comes to their devotion to Christ in their personal lives and are apathetic when it comes to being committed to the local church.

2. Pray for our leaders as they have the hard challenge of dealing with students (not all) but lots of students who don't understand the commitment Christ calls them to in their daily lives and what Christ calls them to in being committed to a local church specifically Tri-Cities. I think about the disciples and how radical their lives had to be and I think about people in other countries who give their lives just to be able to be devoted to Christ and His Church. Pray that our leadership continue to teach this type of commitment despite Satan's constant attacks.

3. Lastly, pray for the parents of these students who are less committed to Christ in their personal life and less and less committed to the local church, specifically the student ministry. I know for a fact that it starts in the home and can prove from God's Word that this is His plan. Pray that parents would be bold and would also be committed to Christ in their personal life and be more committed to their local church. That they would set their child's priorities for them and make Christ and His church #1 because a child will not do this. Pray that this starts in the middle school students because if it is not taught by example from their parents early in middle school then high school becomes damage control and we are faced with the issue to fix them which is extremely difficult and many times seems impossible.I ask for your constant prayer on Wednesday on this issue because this is something we face daily as the lack of push in the home seems to weaken and weaken in our world.

Day 7, October 7 Wednesday

2009-10-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today is a day that I would like for you to focus on only three things that are current needs in this ministry and are major reasons why the American church is losing this generation.

1. Today pray for out middle school and high school students to be less apathetic and more committed to their local church (youth group). Some place in the past generations we have lost the idea of surrendering your life to Christ and have watered down the gospel to a "get out of hell card." Once you prayed the prayer then make your own priorities and make your own way of life and you will be ok. I have seen countless and still have countless number of students who are "hit and miss" when it comes to their devotion to Christ in their personal lives and are apathetic when it comes to being committed to the local church.

2. Pray for our leaders as they have the hard challenge of dealing with students (not all) but lots of students who don't understand the commitment Christ calls them to in their daily lives and what Christ calls them to in being committed to a local church specifically Tri-Cities. I think about the disciples and how radical their lives had to be and I think about people in other countries who give their lives just to be able to be devoted to Christ and His Church. Pray that our leadership continue to teach this type of commitment despite Satan's constant attacks.

3. Lastly, pray for the parents of these students who are less committed to Christ in their personal life and less and less committed to the local church, specifically the student ministry. I know for a fact that it starts in the home and can prove from God's Word that this is His plan. Pray that parents would be bold and would also be committed to Christ in their personal life and be more committed to their local church. That they would set their child's priorities for them and make Christ and His church #1 because a child will not do this. Pray that this starts in the middle school students because if it is not taught by example from their parents early in middle school then high school becomes damage control and we are faced with the issue to fix them which is extremely difficult and many times seems impossible.

I ask for your constant prayer on Wednesday on this issue because this is something we face daily as the lack of push in the home seems to weaken and weaken in our world.

Also, remember to pray for Wired (our middle school service) it is tonight at 6:30 pm!

Tuesday, October 6-Day 6

2009-10-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

1. Whole Ministry/Leadership: Continue today praying for the current needs of our middle school & high school ministry. We have a ton of open spots for leadership and are posted at our student website under leadership. (www.tcbcstudents.com) We need people to fill them. Please pray God would send us people soon.

2. Middle School Specific Ministry: Pray for Purity. Most recent stats say that sexual activity starts when students are in middle school and we have seen this a lot in middle school students through the years. Pray for the purity and the disciplines it takes so that our middle school students will stand against the pressure of society. Pray that God would keep their eyes, ears, mouths, and minds pure before Him.

3. High School Specific Ministry: Pray for influence & desire. Pray that our students would have more influence on their peers than ever before and that God would give our high school students the STRONG desire to share their faith and to bring others to church. Also, pray that apathy would be out and motivation would be on. Pray that the "whatever" generation would be a priority driven, God fearing generation among our high school students.

4. Student Ministry Parent Ministry: Pray for our ministry to be a stronger equipping ministry to Parents. Our desire is to be able to equip parents to do the things they need to do to raise their teenagers. Pray God would bring us people to make our parent ministry come to life and we would start to make this a major priority.

Day 5, Monday!

2009-10-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

Summit was awesome tonight! Thank you for praying but I will say Satan is hard at work so I ask you to keep up the good work on your knees for this cause in our student ministry. Please get the word out about this and lets get more people praying!

1. Whole Ministry/Leadership: Pray for the current needs of our middle school & high school ministry we have a ton of open spots for leadership and need people to fill them. Please pray God would send us people.

2. Middle School Specific Ministry: Pray for boldness & Health. We are really trying to change the environment of our middle school ministry. Our student must have boldness to stand for their faith and also to invite others to come and hear. A healthy middle school ministry will make a healthy high school ministry but this must come first

3. High School Specific Ministry: Pray for Purity..We are teaching a series at summit called "it". It has everything to do with dating, sex, and purity. Pray that our students and that many students we would reach would change the culture by the pure lives they choose to lead and find their identity in Him and not boyfriends or girlfriends. We deal with porn, sex, you name it these students are dealing with it so pray for the purity of this ministry, leadership and students!

4. Student Ministry Parent Ministry: Pray for the parent of the student ministry that God would give them the opportunity to sit down and have some quality time as a family and set priorities. We have many students who still are inconsistent at summit or wired or summit am or wired am and we are really concerned because parents are the ones that need to help these students set priorities in life. We have a lot of students who just need the consistency of a parents push to stay the course. But this is so tiring and Satan hits the parents so hard so just pray that God would give these parents the strength and the courage to stay the course and help students keep their priorities in check--Relationship with Lord, family, Youth ministry at church, etc...

Day 4, Sunday October 4

2009-10-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

Summit tonight! Sunday, Day 4! Pray for Summit tonight at 6 pm. We are expecting great things to happen. Pray that many students would come and we would have an AWESOME night at Summit.

1. Whole Ministry/Leadership: Pray for our 12th grade leadership. Pray for Todd Overbeek, Michelle Overbeek, Bryan Richey, Renee Richey.

2. High School Specific Ministry: 12 grade ministry. Pray for the protection of our 12th grade students in school that God would give them a boldness for their faith and that many 12th grade students would come to know him and be broken for him.

3. Student Ministry Parent Ministry: Pray for Parents of our 12th graders. Pray that the would be bold to be the parents God wants them to be. They would be equip ed and empowered to disciple their children in these age groups and their homes would be a place that God is honored.

4. Outreach/Community/World/The Lost: Pray for the student ministry to have an outward focus for our community and that God would allow us to be present in our local school and HE would open up doors for us to minister in our local middle school and high schools specifically towards 12th grade students. Pray that our high school ministry would be able to reach MANY 12th grade students in the near future and we would see these students be discipled here at Tri-Cities for the Glory of God.

Saturday, Day 3

2009-10-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here is day 3, Saturday!

1. Whole Ministry/Leadership: Prayer Emphasis. Pray that people would be dedicated and involved.Pray for our 8h grade leadership. Pray for Mark Williams, Tracy Alexander, Mechelle Williams, Lori Hopkins. We need more leadership in this area. Pray for our 11th grade leadership. Pray for Tim Kitts, Brian Bishop, Alan Kumpf, Wesley Crowe, Stephanie Kitts, Audrey Harless. We need more leadership in this area as well.

2. Middle School Specific Ministry: 8th grade ministry. Pray for our 8th grade students that many would come to know him.

3. High School Specific Ministry: 11th grade ministry. Pray for the protection of our 11th grade students in school that God would give them a boldness for their faith and that many 11h grade students would come to know him and be broken for him.

4. Student Ministry Parent Ministry: Pray for Parents of our 8th graders and 11th graders. Pray that the would be bold to be the parents God wants them to be. They would be equip ed and empowered to disciple their children in these age groups and their homes would be a place that God is honored.

5. Outreach/Community/World/The Lost: Pray for the student ministry to have an outward focus for our community and that God would allow us to be present in our local school and HE would open up doors for us to minister in our local middle school and high schools specifically towards 8th grade students and 11th grade students. Pray that our middle school and high school ministry would be able to reach MANY 8th and 11th grade students in the near future and we would see these students be discipled here at Tri-Cities for the Glory of God.

Day 2, GO GOD!

2009-10-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

Well...day one was great! For day 2 and the following 3-4 days we will be praying for specific grades so not much different but leadership changes and grades. But please put as much into these every single day because each grade brings its own challenges. Been on the phone with several people today about participating in this. God is already working. One of our middle schools students shared their story today and had the opportunity to see Great things happen! AWESOME! GO TAYLOR!

Here is day 2, Go GOD!

1. Whole Ministry/Leadership: Prayer Emphasis. Pray that people would be dedicated and involved.Pray for our 7h grade leadership. Pray for Melanie Matthews, Mechelle Arrowood, David Webb, Allan Boardwine, Karen Cabinass, Beth Parker. We need more leadership in this area. Pray for our 10th grade leadership. Pray for Tracy Burns, Jeff Palmeter. We need more leadership in this area as well.

2. Middle School Specific Ministry: 7th grade ministry. Pray for our 7th grade students that many would come to know him.

3. High School Specific Ministry: 10th grade ministry. Pray for the protection of our 10th grade students in school that God would give them a boldness for their faith and that many 10h grade students would come to know him and be broken for him.

4. Student Ministry Parent Ministry: Pray for Parents of our 7th graders and 10th graders. Pray that the would be bold to be the parents God wants them to be. They would be equip ed and empowered to disciple their children in these age groups and their homes would be a place that God is honored.

5. Outreach/Community/World/The Lost: Pray for the student ministry to have an outward focus for our community and that God would allow us to be present in our local school and HE would open up doors for us to minister in our local middle school and high schools specifically towards 7th grade students and 10th grade students. Pray that our middle school and high school ministry would be able to reach MANY 7th and 10th grade students in the near future and we would see these students be discipled here at Tri-Cities for the Glory of God.

Day 1, Student Ministry Prayer Month

2009-09-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

The time has arrived! I am so excited about what God is fixing to do and already is doing in our church especially in our student ministries both in middle school and in high school. Thank you for participating in this month's prayer emphasis and please, please comment when you can about what God is doing through your prayers this month and what God is telling you and what you are seeing him do in your own life and in others.

Every night I will post 3-5 things really briefly that I am calling us all to pray about the next day. Be sure to lift these things up as you drive to work or school, before your meals, as relax with family, as you are going about your day. ALL DAY!!

Here is how it will work. We will have 5 categories. They are below...Each category will have something new everyday. For example: Middle School Ministry is number 2. The first day is for the 6th grade & 9th grade ministry. When you pray for all of these pray for the following:

-The salvation's of the people involved
-The salvation's of the people involved outside that we have yet to reach (for example: 6th grade students we have yet to reach and want to reach this year)
-The discipleship of these students, parents, and leadership involved.
-The leadership of the specific ministry request
-All the current needs or request given. (God knows them)

Here is October 1st prayer emphasis:

1. Whole Ministry/Leadership: Prayer Emphasis. Pray that people would be dedicated and involved.Pray for our 6th grade leadership. Pray for Kenny Arrowood, Christopher Matthews, Amy Carter, Cory Sanders, Charlisa Alexander. We need more leadership in this area. Pray for our 9th grade leadership. Pray for Ron Robertson, Lori Kumpf. We need more leadership in this area

2. Middle School Specific Ministry: 6th grade ministry. Pray for our 6th grade students that many would come to know him and would retain their own faith and not their parents faith.

3. High School Specific Ministry: 9th grade ministry. . Pray for the protection of our 9th grade students in school that God would give them a boldness for their faith and that many 9th grade students would come to know him and be broken for him.

4. Student Ministry Parent Ministry: Pray for Parents of our 6th graders and 9th graders. Pray that the would be bold to be the parents God wants them to be. They would be equip ed and empowered to disciple their children in these age groups and their homes would be a place that God is honored.

5. Outreach/Community/World/The Lost: Pray for the student ministry to have an outward focus for our community and that God would allow us to be present in our local school and HE would open up doors for us to minister in our local middle school and high schools specifically towards 6th grade students and 9th grade students. Pray that our middle school and high school ministry would be able to reach MANY 6th and 9th grade students in the near future and we would see these students be discipled here at Tri-Cities for the Glory of God.

Calling All Parents, Students, and Student Ministry Leadership to a month of prayer!

2009-09-10T09:20:00.001-07:00

Hello!

Thank you in advance for reading this and thank you for being apart of something that I believe God is going to do Great things in. God has led me to do this so this is the ultimate reason I am doing this. It will take lots of time and commitment but it is something we must do because I know God is leading me to do it.

About 1 to 2 weeks ago God started dealing with me on the issue of prayer and our student ministry. He started opening my eyes to the condition of our students, their home lives, parents, and their schools. I have been student pastor at TCBC for almost 5 years and we have seen GREAT things in our student ministry. However, I believe Satan is hard at work in the lives of our students, parents, leadership of our student ministry and the environments of the 27 different schools our ministry represents. We all need our Lord and need revival.

I am greatly burdened and have been extremely burdened for some time now over the condition of our students, their parents, our leadership and the schools. I have been worn out and lost much sleep over the issue and God has gotten me to the point of brokenness and truly understanding that without Him everything is worthless and with Him everything is possible!

After much time of keeping this to myself to make sure it was God leading me to do this I have been led to call all parents, students, and leadership to a month of solid prayer for our student ministry. Starting Thursday, October 1st through Friday, October 30 God is calling us to pray continually as a ministry. All of our parents, students and leadership are called to pray. Below are the details about this month of prayer and we will be sending more details out as we get them.

What to pray for: Pray for students & parents to come to know Christ, for people to restore broken relationships with God, and for Christians to stand strong in their faith. Pray for revival in our student ministry. Pray for revival in the homes of our students. The list goes on!

How this will work: I will blog every evening starting Wednesday Night, September 30th on the thing to pray for the next day. I will also host a pray breakfast at the outpost on Friday morning, October 30th for everyone to come together for prayer. More details will be on the blog as we get closer to that date.

What I am asking: I am asking for you to pray with me. I am asking for revival in our student ministry and in the homes and schools of our students. I am asking for hearts to be changed and lives to be different and for our student ministry to change our community and world. I am asking for the impossible in men’s eyes but the possible in God’s eyes. I am begging for you to join me.

Start Date: October 1 (be sure to check the blog out September 30th to get the next day’s prayer list to start on October 1)

PRAY: Choose whatever times is best for you to pray. Pray by yourself, pray with your family over the issues, pray as you are driving (keep your eyes open) Just remember to pray. We are asking you to remember the issues from the blog and pray about them as you go through your day.

POST: Remember to check the blog everyday to find out what we are praying that day. Also, please remember to comment on the blog for that day to tell us what God is saying to you and what He is doing through our prayers so that we all can be encouraged to see Him at work.

Twilight...what a waste

2009-03-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

Enough with Twilight....I have not really had a lot of time to post my thoughts recently. So, to get back into things I wanted to post a link that I would recommend for everyone to go and check out. I am getting the question from parents and young people all the time about my view of the "hit" book called Twilight. Al Mohler, president at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, does a great job a reviewing this series from a Christian Worldview. Check it out....

http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_list.php

click on Has The ‘Twilight’ Phenomenon Reached Your Home?

Let me know what you think parents!

Lesson #1 on Commitment for "the unknown child"

2009-02-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well...it looks like I am all alone on the blog so far. I have not had the time to get the word out about the blog with work, taking 3 seminary courses including studying the language of Hebrew, working on upcoming events, teaching, and hanging with the fam. but I hope to get the word out soon. Today, something has been on my heart.

If I were a parent...One of the lessons I hope I would instill in my kids is the idea of commitment. If there is one thing that I have noticed about this "whatever generation" is that feelings is much more important then the reality of commitment. They really seem to lay in the idea of "I feel therefore I am or therefore I will or will not." I guess what I am saying is it is really frustrating that students, adults, people in general can tell you they are all about one thing and turn around the next day and have all the excuses in the world of why they have decided to do the opposite.

What's got me thinking about this? What's got me burdened about all of this?

I have had multiple students who have skipped out on church from time to time or skipped out on going to a conference or mission project that I know would challenge them and be uplifting in their spiritual walk but they cannot because they don't "feel" like it, or they don't "feel" good because they have been working so much and they "feel" so tired. Where does this come from? I believe with all my heart it comes from their parents.

With this "feelings" type of lifestyle students are raised to half way commit to God and his church and I believe in the long run will continue to destroy marriages, which will destroy families, churches, and our world more and more.

First off, the bible says, "When we receive Christ, we also receive a family. The Bible calls God your Father (Romans 8:15). Jesus is your brother (Hebrews 2:11), although a special brother indeed! Christians are called your brothers and sisters (James 2:15). If we are Christians students need to understand that family is suppose to be committed to each other. I mean a mom and dad wouldn't look at their kid and say, "hey, if you don't feel like coming home tonight then don't worry about it?" Oh....or would they? Maybe that is the problem...Maybe the reason students are so less committed to the church anymore is because their parents are letting them make the decisions in the home for what they want to do based upon what they feel like doing." Make sense?

New Life dot net says, "Fellowship with other Christians is a channel of grace (Hebrews 10:24-25). The regular preaching and teaching of God's Word is a channel of grace (Acts 20:32). Even singing together with other Christians is a means of grace according to the Bible (Acts 16:25; Colossians 3:16). Fellowship, teaching, and corporate singing normally happen in a Church. If we remain outside of the Church, we miss God's grace through these channels." The truth of the matter is that 90% or more of the times that the word Church is spoken of in the NT is referring to the local church. Jesus Christ gave His life for the local church and so should we!

I am just so tired of students being even 95% devoted and not 100% devoted to the local church and I blame it on this idea of feelings. Oh...I think it is a lot more then that but I think that is part of it. So, lesson #1 for my kids (that I don't have). "For me and my house we will serve the Lord" and we will be committed to our brothers and sisters in Christ through the local church.

In closing....I am reminded of people all over the world especially in places like India and China. As I spent some time there in China last Summer I witnessed young people who are willing to give their life for God. They are willing to give their life up to just meet together with other brothers and sisters to just meet together as a church. I witnessed stories of men and women who had been beaten and drug out of their homes because the were devoted to their local home churches in their villages. It is a shame and it breaks my heart as I know it breaks my God's Heart that the American church and our families let "feelings" and other things take the place of His work and His church. I know some people say that God calls us to be committed to Him not only the church. I agree, but God and His church are one. The church is how God Himself has chosen to do his work in the world. I also believe it starts in the home and the church doesn't take the place of the family but God, the family, and the local church are ALL one and all parts must be devoted and work together and that is how God has designed it to work.

If I were a parent....my kids would understand the our family will give our life to our God and His church not matter what circumstances come. Nothing will get in between us and our devotion to Him and His church no matter how we feel.

It's Alive!!

2009-02-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Well...here we go. This is something that has been on my heart for some time. I kept putting it off and it kept coming up over and over again. After passing the idea around to several good friends I felt that it was time to start it. So here it is! It is ALIVE!!

"ifiwereaparent" is a place where I will share my heart with the hopes that parents and others can read about what is going on in the teenage world. As a youth pastor, with no kids, (hint:ifiwereaparent) there are many things I see as I deal one-on-one with students that breaks my heart everyday and I have lost MANY, MANY nights of sleep because I want to be able to give my advice to their parents (if it is worth anything) to what is taking place with there students and what I would do if I had a teenager in today's world.

Now, I know what you parents are thinking...he doesn't have a clue. I understand that perfectly and that is why I cannot give my advice to parents in person because I don't have kids. However, I do feel like I have 150+ kids because I am a youth pastor that has dedicated my heart and life to these students and I truly believe that if some things would change in the home we would see amazing results in students lives.

So, I would love to hear your comments as I share my heart. I hope that this blog will be a benefit to someone out there.

Ok....I am clicking save now...SO here it goes! IT'S ALIVE!!!