Overcoming

Life is not always very much fun, especially the life of a believer in Christ.  That might sound hopeless, but it's actually a declaration of hope in the nature of God. If God hadn't been willing to go to war with Satan for our souls, we would be in a heck of a spot. Quite literally, a heck of a spot... one of our own doing.

Oswald Chambers once said that "life without war is impossible, either in nature or in grace". Nature is at war because of the fall into sin, but the fight of grace in our lives is based in Christ. God's gift of His Son, which we'll be celebrating in full force 21 days from now, gave us hope for the future. But it didn't come without a cost.

If the Christian life is to be anything like Christ's, it is to be set apart and holy for God's use, however painful His usage is.

How small is your strength! (Proverbs 24:10)

Sometimes I realize how completely lost and hopeless I am. It's not like I want to be a fool, but sometimes I really am a fool.

Colossians 1

What does the Bible say about us as Children of God?

We have been "...strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 

     giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 

Summer statistics

Western Wisconsin by the numbers...


La Crosse Interstate Fair: 265 children reached, 85 decisions for Christ
Monroe County Fair: 12 children heard the Gospel, 350 books distributed

5-day Clubs:

Tomah area: 60 children reached, 4 decisions
La Crosse area: 265 children reached, 24 decisions
Eau Claire area: 78 children reached, 13 decisions

That's 126 children in Western Wisconsin who made decisions for Christ through CEF this summer!

The REAL Good News

"Bank robbers sin."
The little girl was adament on that point.

"People who rob banks. Bullies at my school. My big brothers; they're mean to me."

Those were her answers to our question, "Who has sinned?" Over the course of Good News Club, we went through the gospel five or six times, and each time the girl replied, "bad people have sinned." Whenever that happened we told her, "the Bible says in Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned. That includes me and you." It seemed she was beginning to understand, so Mrs. Weibel asked the little girl if she could tell US the gospel. The little girl picked up her Wordless Book bracelet and began.
"The gold is like some roads in heaven where God lives. The dark is like bad things that bad people do."

I stopped her a second and asked, "Who has done bad things?"

"People who rob banks." ...OK, so we weren't there yet.

Western Wisconsin, here I come! -- Oh wait. I'm already here!

I've just come on staff with Child Evangelism Fellowship.

This is crazy exciting!!

Keats, Harry Potter, and the Matrix. Because I'm not a Poet.

Who was it who said, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever?"
Ah yes.
It was John Keats in his poem Endymion, and I think he was wrong.

Keeping up with Testimonies

Unless you, dear reader, know a hardcore CEF/CYIA participant (and I happen to know several - what a coincidence), you may not have heard testimonies recently of the great work God is doing through CEF in the Midwest region!

My coworker's comment when I told him what I was doing was "wow, I haven't heard of CEF in a long time. Are they still around?"

I think Child Evangelism PR needs a reboot, maybe. But you didn't hear that from me.

Hopefully you (dear reader) know all about what CEF has been doing in Western Wisconsin over the past few years. But just in case you haven't, I've compiled a list of links to check out for testimonies, news, and some all-around fantastic pictures of teens and kids and grown-ups serving the Lord.
Check them out!

* Testimonies from Western Wisconsin hosts, parents, teachers, etc.
* A photo gallery of CYIA 2010 
* Quotes from children (what this blog is really about!)
* For old photos (I mean like ancient, ancient, 2008-2009 photos), see here and here

Check out the stories. Are you excited? :)

Exciting Stuff!

265 children were reached during the La Crosse Interstate Fair with 85 professing faith in Jesus Christ. Exciting?? Yes!

One more exciting thing: they were reached by teenagers from Western Wisconsin!

When you put those two things together, you may see what I see...

Teen Mentorship

A study by the Barna Group indicated that 6% of teens listed “pastors or other religious leaders they know personally” as their top role models, while 6% listed “entertainers (including musicians and actors)” - an interesting similarity in statistics.
But even with parents excluded from the role model survey (they had been the top response at first), a "close relation" to the teen came out at the top (37%).

Unfortunately, as the president of the Barna Group pointed out, "teens rarely identified spiritual mentors" in the survey.
 

Well. A new opportunity and call has presented itself this spring.

Over the past three summers, I've been training and teaching with Child Evangelism Fellowship to spread the gospel to kids in western Wisconsin. This year I won’t be training to teach kids… I’ll be helping train their teachers!

This Easter...

Most glorious Lord of Life! that, on this day,

Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowed hell, didst bring away

Captivity thence captive, us to win:

Teach Me to Breathe

I had never thought of this before today, but perhaps... perhaps I've looked at my relationship with God backwards.

In my Sunday school class this week, our teacher mentioned how our brains eventually learn how to multitask, so we can walk and chew gum and talk on the phone all at the same time!

But while we are conscious of doing all this things, on a deeper level, our brain is controlling the function of our heart, lungs, eyes, and nerve endings. We aren't conscious of it, but our heart is beating and we are breathing as we walk, talk and chew.


So.
Instead of consciously thinking about God all the time - impossible to do; I know, I've tried - I need part of my brain to automatically think of Him when trials come or I see something beautiful. I need, in short, a sub automatic mental function that connects to my spiritual consciousness.

But I never had to train my brain to make me breathe on its own. I have had to strengthen my lungs to gain a greater air capacity, but my brain already knew to make me breathe without my help. But don't you think the same God, who made my brain keep me alive automatically, could make me able to run to Him automatically?

Where Bethel Actually Quotes an Evita Song

I just discovered an entry in my diary from January:

"One semester of college down!
And no more to go? For now?
I don't know. I wish God would lead me through
everything, but it seems like he's left me to my own devices for now."

Just when you think there are no alternatives left...

That journal entry was written just two weeks before I got accepted at the last minute into my hometown college, where I'm currently taking six credits worth of classes.

It seems that God wants me there, participating in solid Christian fellowship this semester.

I guess now I'm wondering will I be fruitful here? I haven't trusted God - I haven't been abandoning myself to him for so long, I can hardly remember what it feels like. I don't remember the firm pressure of his guidance, like a heavy hand on my shoulder, steering me.

"Where do we go from here?
What do we do for our dream to survive...
How do we keep all our passions alive
As we used to do?"
- Evita

Change is Coming

So here we go, getting ready for another summer of seeing God transform lives!











This year, I'm not interning. Just working with the teens as they preach the Gospel.

There's nothing more fulfilling than seeing God work in the lives of young people - or older people. And that's what CEF is about... reaching children, and their families and caregivers. One child who had attended 5-day club was able to present the Gospel to children and parents at a fair later that year! She got to see the Lord use her as a worker for His kingdom - is there anything more exciting or life-changing than that?

The changes God produces in our lives have an effect on each person we come in contact with, bringing His love further and further outward until the whole world has heard the Good News!

Is this the summer when every tribe, every tongue, and every nation will hear it? God can transform any life; there is no task too large for God.