Random Cool Pictures of my Kids
Pic #1: Elijah wanted a mustache like dad used to have, so he created his own
Pic #2: We were getting things ready for InnerMission up at the church, so my kids decorated themselves in these cool outfits.

I Love my Kids!

My Brother and I in Chicago

This is a picture of me and my brother, Bobby(and Caleb, my nephew, in the background). Of all places we get to see each other is in Chicago at the Navy Pier. We were on Mission Trip and they were on vacation the same week, so we met up at the Navy Pier! It was good to see him and the fam!

I love my brother !

What is our L.I.T. Ministry?

We have just started a ministry in our church for 5th and 6th Graders called L.I.T. which stands for Leaders in Training. The whole goal is to disciple these students and help them find their fit in ministry. This link gives a better description of what it is and gives an idea of what we will be doing: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0f8ba5f7bbf6dfdac794

I met Clint May, who leads this ministry in his church, back at a conference in April. When Clint was talking about this, it was like the light went on. The thing I like about it is not just the serving part of it, but the strong discipleship emphasis.

We just started two weeks ago and I am looking forward to seeing how God uses our children to minister in our church. My daughter Hannah is involved and really enjoys it!

Pray for Nic and Mark in Panama!

Nick and Mark are with AWESTAR in Panama this week. They will be arriving back on Sunday sometime...I am so proud of these guys! Check out these pics.

Update from Studentlife Chicago Wednesday

Pic #1: Caleb Holding up the Bling Bling

We are in a group of other churches and our name is Gold Rush---we have a little cheer that we do before we go to our mission site

Pic #2: Crazy Pic at our Mission Site

Pic #3: Group Pic at Wheaton after morning celebration

Pic #4: Holders of the Key: Austin and Jacob--these guys are responsible for making sure all of our supplies/food are ready to go before we leave for our mission site.

Pic #5: Williams Random Pic of the Day: Enjoying the food at the #2 rated cafeteria in nation

Got a chance to meet more people at our mission site. A great group of people who are doing a great thing for their community. It's cool to see how relationships form just through serving. Please pray tomorrow specifically for Nicci as she will have an opportunity to take on of our new good friends out to lunch--what an incredible ministry opportunity.

Just want to say I am so thankful for our two adult sponsors: Jeff and Nicci---they really love students. What a great investment they have made in our students this week.

Our students have been wonderful and have done such a fantastic ministry this week and is allowing the Holy Spirit to mold them. One thing that has been stressed this week is that we are not just doing this to get a pat on the back or doing these things to get a warm fuzzy which is what happens many times, but that we are allowing Christ to change our thinking and for us to realize that much of our ministry should happen outside of a time schedule....sometimes we think that we can only do ministry when the church sanctions it or it is scheduled, but true ministry is an overflow of the heart.

This week I am reminded that we are teh flesh and blood of Jesus alive in the world through the Holy Spirit. I am reminded that I am God's hands, feet, and ears.

This week, I have been reading a book called, "Irresistable Revolution" by Shane Claiborne and it is very intriguing. Want to share one quote that has stuck with me this week:

"....some time back we have stopped living Christianity and just started studying it." I find it sometimes easy to study the Word and not allow it to be digested. How about you? Are you living Christianity or are you just studying it?

Have a great evening!

Wise words from Nick: Please help me....William is a bully :)

Can someone from Ridgeway come and save Nick? Tune in tomorrow for the latest...........

Monday/Tuesday Update from Studentlife Chicago

Let me give you scoop on the pictures above first:

1. This is some of our students standing in line for dinner: Austin, Alex, Amber, and the back of Jake's head. The food is absolutely fantabulous. Wheaton has the 2nd best food cafeteria in the nation---lucky us!

2. Williams Random Pic of the Day--we will do a Williams Random Pic each day for your viewing pleasure.

3. Like I said before, Wheaton has the 2nd best food cafeteria in the nation--not so good for me...since yesterday morning Immodium AD and Kaoepectate has become a close friend of mine. It's not because of the food here--It all started yesterday morning. I am feeling a little better today--praise the Lord for Immodium and Kaopectate! (Did you know that diarrhea is hereditary? It runs in your "jeans"! :)

4. The Humanitarian Service Project is where we are serving this week. They are a non-profit organization that reaches out to senior citizens and children. They provide birthday gifts for over 1200 children each year and so we had an opportunity to wrap gifts for these children. They also deliver groceries to over 115 Senior Adults and 100 needy families. (See below about our day)

5. This is a picture of our group wrapping gifts. I was amazed at the gifts of our group in wrapping---I for one thing do not have that gift(ask my wife) and so I was the designated bow person.

It's been a good week to just be still. The worship is incredible and the teaching is great. It's interesting that last nights message was very similar to what we have been talking about at Ridgeway in regards to hearing God's voice. An interesting point that Darrin made was that in Psalm 119:105, it says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Note, it does not say a trucklight or a floodlight, but a lamp...the lamp illuminates the here and now--not the future meaning that following Jesus and His Word is step by step and day by day. He wants us to cling to him on a minute by minute basis.

We had a great day on our mission project....we have been able to meet a few people--pray that our conversations would flow with grace and love towards the people who work at the Humanitarian Service Project. It is not a religious organization, so there is great opportunity for us to impact those who work the the Project. So, could you pray for us in this regard? We will go back tomorrow so please be praying for us between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

PARENTS: YOU CAN GO TO WWW.STUDENTLIFE.COM AND GO DOWN TO FIND YOUR STUDENT AT CAMP, CHECK WHEATON AND THEN LISTEN LIVE. You can email your student or send a gift card or listen to the services live, check out pictures or the Studentlife Blog

Hope everyone is having a great week! Will post more tomorrow!

Mike

We Made It

It's 1:47 a.m. in the morning and we are settled in our rooms! The above picture is William's nightly routine of cleaning his nostrils. Can you believe we only stopped twice during this 11 hour trip? I am amazed at the depths of our bladders!

Our team had a great day in the van of getting to know one another better! It was a great day! Later this morning we will check in at Wheaton College......will post more later!

Mike

A Note from our good friend Nick: NICK IS THE COOLEST EVER!!!! HES MY FAVORITE!!! GIVE HIM MONEY.....ALOT OF IT!!!!!

StudentLife Chicago or Bust

We leave Sunday for our Studentlife mission trip. We are going through StudentLife and will be serving at a comunity service center. We have a group of eleven adults and students going.

We will do our best to give you daily updates on what is happening in Chicagoland. We will be staying at Wheaton College!

Darren Whitehead, teaching pastor of Willowcreek Senior High will be bringing the Word. Kristian Stanfill, worship leader from Northpoint, will be leading in worship! It's going to be GREATTTTT!

Pray for us as we travel....we will travel all day Sunday and stay overnight in Chicago and start on Monday at Wheaton College. Pray for us to be obedient to sharing the Gospel as the opportunities present themselves.

Mike

Continue to Pray for our Summer Missionaries: Aaron, Mikayla, Bethany, and Mandi

Check out http://www.awestar.org/ for the Trip updates. Here are some pictures from their site. We will be having a welcome home party for the missionaries....will keep you posted.

Can You Find Dre in this Picture?

Monday's Falls Creek 2008 Video

This is our Tuesday night Falls Creek Video---Kudos to Brandon H. for all you did this week in getting the videos together....they were all wonderful!

We are Back!
What a great week! Yesterday we had a great day of worship, fun and more worship! I want to say thank you to all of our sponsors and cooks: Hillary Atkinson, Megan Dobrinski, Shawna Mattes, Jana Purcell, Kristen Pieper, Sarah Lehew, Greg McMullen, James Purcell, Chris Matthews, Bob Thomason, Brian Shepard, Brandon Helscel, Jennifer Grant, Jana Foley, Pam Vallett, and Lena Mohney!

Our cooks won 2nd place for their meat dish: Subtle Butt(a.k.a. Roast)--ask your students about subtle butt :) They did such a great job! The food was tremendous!

A HUGE THANK YOU to Brian, Chris, Jake, and Amber for leading us in nightly worship---you guys are great! Thanks for your ministry to us during the week!

Also thank you to our students who helped to stay back and clean the cabin while everyone went home: Brittany, Kristen, Katie, Danielle, Andrea, Jacob, Nick, James, and Brian and Kristen! You guys did wonderful.

Overall we saw God do amazing things: One student gave their life to Christ, 5 students feel called to ministry, and we saw many students--over half of our students reconnect and recommit their lives to Christ!

We will be sharing what God did on Wednesday, July 9 at 6:30 a.m., so parents, I hope you will join us!

The Devil Prowls Around Like a Roaring Lion

I write this not to give the devil any credit because he truly is a moron, but I write this to ask you to pray. Usually at the heels of victory many times there are obstacles or defeat right around the corner. I am reminded by Elijah and his victory over the Baal prophets on Mt. Carmel and immediately after that astonishing victory, he was defeated by depression. In a sense this is what we battled a little bit yesterday.

The mix of being tired and Satan's desire to destroy us proved much fodder for him, but I must say that today we are doing well. It is a new day and Christ lives in us. Jesus who is in us is greater than he(Satan) that is in the world.

Even in the midst of the battle, many victories were won. One of the things we do in our cabin devotions is we meet in our family groups and share what God did during the day and share what decisions were made during the service. Many of our students recommitted their life to Christ......it was a great victory--praise the Lord.

Could you pray for the continued moving of the Holy Spirit today? Through the tiredness of us all may we stay focused to hear from God.

I love our students---they have been so great this week. We've seen many walls be torn down and drought driven lives turned to Christ. It's been an amazing week.

Parents, the lives of your students have been changed by the power of Jesus Christ. What preparations do you need to make in your home and in your life when your student returns? You should be so proud of your students! Can I gve you a couple of suggestions?

1. Know Jesus--Invite him to be Savior of your life. If your home is not filled with the presence of Jesus Christ it will make it more dificult for your teenager to stay strong in following Christ.

2. Start praying for your students as a parent and then as a family! Pray for God's protection over them.

3. Get plugged into church. Your students have taken some bold steps this week, why not you? How about you stepping out of your comfort zone and providing the spiritual leadership for your students. Allow our church to partner with you as a parent.

4. Ask them how their week went--ask them if they made a decision for Christ Don't just let them go to sleep when they get home....talk to them!

5. Join us Wednesday, July 9 as we celebrate what God has done.

Can I speak heart to heart? Parents, church.....if you do not Christ as your Lord and Savior--today is your day.....KNOW that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. This thing that we do is not a crutch nor is it just another activity nor is it religion......Jesus is our hope, He is our Messiah, and Lord. There will come a day when we will all have answer for our lives. We seem to think that we have all the time in the world, but you never know when your time will come. There is a 100% chance that you are going to die...then what? Will you be able to talk your way into heaven....Will you be able to get into heaven because you're a good person?
The only right answer is Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life....No one comes to the Father except through me." There is no other way to get to heaven(even if Oprah tells us differently)
As we have been challenged all week--will you FOLLOW Christ? Jesus loves you so much! I'm speaking on behalf of our students and I'm hoping that they will share with you when they get home, but for the sake of your own soul, come to Christ! I urge you and plead with you!

How do you ask Christ into your life?
Through praying:
Admit that you are a Sinner(For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God)
Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and he rose again
Commit your life to Him--die to yourself

If you have any questions, wait for us at the church on Saturday and we woul love to chat with you!

Parents, thank you for allowing your students to join us this week! They have ALL been great--it has been a joy! We have had incredible sponsors and cooks!

May God Bless You! See you tomorrow between 11 and noon. We will call when we get to Oklahoma City to give you an idea of when we will be arriving!

I have not been able to download any pictures orvideo....will try again later

The Drought is Over! (In More than One Way)

My 15 year drought is over. One of the things they do here at Falls Creek is the t-shirt contest. In my 15 years of going to Falls Creek we have never won or came close to winning the contest. Now think about this....there are approx. 100-150 churches here.....so we entered the contest and we won the award for BEST OVERALL T-shirt!

Very cool.....BUT.......that pales into comparison to what God is doing in the lives of our students. THE DROUGHT IS OVER IN MANY OF OUR STUDENTS' LIVES! We've had many students recommit their lives to Christ and last night one of our students, Mallory, invited Christ into her life!

The whole atmosphere has changed since Monday night since our struggle with the enemy and so I want to say thank you for praying. I'm not for sure what you guys did in church last night, but your praying this week has put an end to the drought of many of our students.

Our devotion/cabin time last night was absolutely cool! The worship was incredible! What was cool though was what happened afterwards. Before I tell you what happened, one thing we have tried to do is not have a plan...usually we have a specific plan, but we've intentionally not had a plan so that God can truly reign.

As soon as the worship was over one of our students Terrance M. asked if he could share a Scripture. Terrance really challenged the students and after that, student after student came and testified through Scripture and testimony! It was absolutely wonderful! It was a great encouragement to me as their youth pastor to see passion where there used to be no passion.

Parents, you would be proud of your students--they have ALL been great! I will post more later this afternoon because I want to share specifically what God is saying through the messages....if you have a chance listen to last nights message. Go to www.skopos.org and then Falls Creek/Current Summer Downloads/Listen to the Service.

Continue to be in Prayer!

Mike

Falls Creek Update Wednesday, July 2

Hello again Parents and Church! We had a great day yesterday! Pastor Scott and Brian V. made it in yesterday afternoon. I am so grateful for our pastor...we are very blessed as a church to have Scott. Scott has always been so supportive of our students.

Parents, you will not believe this, but for us this is a first......drum roll please...........the guys won the Tuesday Edition of Dorm Wars! Not that it was perfect, but our guys won! Interesting enough you'll see the picture of the shrine of beauty products on our girls side....quite funny!

Our students played softball and volleyball yesterday afternoon.....our softball team played their hearts out, but lost. Our girls volleyball team won their first game!!! Wahoo!!

Our prayer this weeek is that students will "Be Still and Know that He is God". One of the ways is through teaching our students what a daily quiet time is. Please pray that
our students through this time will fall in love with Christ and His Word. Pray that the Word of God will bring refreshment and encouragement to the lives of our students.

Last night was a great night of worship! Darren Spoo, the speaker for our evening worship services challenged us out of John 1. He challenged us with the question: What kind of shoe are U in the context of your relationship with Christ? He brought out four pairs of shoes:
1. Fuzzy Slippers--fuzzy shoes are comfortable....are you tooo comfortable in your walk with Christ? Has it become just another thing to do?
2. High Heeled Shoes--high heeled shoes are tight and uncomfortable(not that I would know--but that's what the ladies say). Those who have a high heeled shoe relationship with Christ is characterized by being tight and uncomfortable--more about rules than a relationship.
3. Sunday Shoes--Sunday Shoes are shoes you wear once a week. those who have a Sunday Shoe relationship with Christ is characterized by an affair one day a week--your relationship with Christ is not a lifestyle but an hour or two.
4. Dress Up Shoes--he compared this to his children wearing his shoes for dress up. Dress up Shoes relationship with Christ is when you have not made your faith your own--you are living your parents faith.

So I ask, "Which one are You?" In our family group last night we added one more: Work Boots. People who have a Work Boot relationship focus so much on the doing that they rarely experience God. To be honest this is one I struggle with...I sometimes get so busy doing that I miss God, but I would say at the same time I also experience God through the serving....I see God change lives!

None of these shoes adequately describe or characterize what a true relationship with God looks like. The Bare Foot--no shoes is more of what a true relationship is---coming to Christ as we are with all of our imperfections and following Him.

God is up to something here. There are many students that are thinking. There are some students who know God in their mind, but not in their heart. Could you pray that would know in their heart that He is God?

We had a few students make decisions last night and I will share more either later today or tomorrow, but want to adequately follow up. God is doing work in the lives of our students and our adults.

Will try again to post pictures later today. Please pray for Pam V. as she makes her way here today to help cook! I love our cooks--it really is the hardest job of them all--Jennifer and Jana are wonderful! Thank you also for praying for Rachel B.--she is feeling better!

In Christ,
Mike


*Don't forget to also pray for our AWESTAR and China missionaries!
*Feel free to leave any comments and we will share those with the students!

China Update from Mandi

I just received this from Mandi who is teaching English as Second Language. Keep praying for her!

Hello! Thank you all so much for the emails and prayers! I started my first day of teaching today. I thought it went really well! It was pretty much a day to get to know the kids and lay down the ground rules. They are really cute children and most of them were very sweet. I only got through about half what I had planned, but I'd rather it be that way then run out of things to do:)

The Dallas Baptist students got here on Saturday. They are teaching elementary school this summer. There are about 25 of them. I have gotten to hang out with them and join in some worship services. They are all very nice and quick to include me. There are some very servant-hearted people in that group and I think I could make some good friends. I feel fortunate and humbled to be a part of such a great group. I am praying for a teachable spirit.

I don't think the DBU team is quite as adventurous in their eating as I am. They went out for pizza last night:) But a few of us stayed and went to a Chinese place nearby. The cafeteria food has been interesting, to say the least, but we're getting by;) Sorry I haven't been able to send any pictures yet. I don't have a place to hook up my computer to the internet, but hopefully I will soon.

Falls Creek Update-Tuesday Morning, July 1

Good morning parents and church! We had a great day yesterday--only one snag with the transportation--we had to switch our charter bus at our lunch stop--it was a very smooth transition. We arrived at Falls Creek around 1:45 p.m. and got a chance to sing Happy Birthday to Elizabeth--she was a presented with a gift--"I Would Die for You" by Brent and Deanna Higgins--the story of BJ Higgins(www.prayforbj.com) who gave his life for Christ. Elizabeth is new with us this year, so it was a great opportunity for everyone to get to know her.

The students had an opportunity to go swimming and to the different ropes courses before dinner. Each student is in a family group led by one of our sponsors. Would you pray that through these family groups each of our students get connected this week? We've got a great group of students!

Also, please pray for one of our young ladies, Rachel. She has a sore throat and is not feeling well this morning. We took her to the clinic yesterday, but the doctor was not there--we will try again this morning. Just pray that she will be back to normal this afternoon after getting some rest.

Please pray for focus. Last night there seemed to be some sort of spiritual obstacle , not from students but from the enemy. We had our cabin devotions planned out, but changed them due to a sense that the enemy was trying to keep us from focusing. Last night in our cabin devotions, our theme was EXAMINATION using the Scripture from Psalms 139:23,24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." So essentially through this Scripture and speaking it, we were giving the Holy Spirit permission to step on our toes--to reveal anything that offends Him. As Brian asked us to pray, it seemed to be the turning point for the evening.This along with the worship was a turning point to becoming focused.

We asked the students and I ask you, "What Kind of Sheep are U?" Everyone falls into one of these three categories:
a. You are a goat, not a sheep(Read Matthew 25:31-46 and John 10)
Do you know Christ as Lord and Savior--not just do you say it but do you live it? Has there been a point in time where you gave your life to Christ? Unfortunately, according to the Scripture, if you have not done this you will be cast into the eternal fire(v. 41)
b. You are a sheep, but not following Christ
This is a difficult sentence as we explained tonight because in our church culture it seems we can justify anything and try to fit everything under the heading of being a believer. Essentially are you following or not...He's either Lord or He is not--there really is no in between although in our American culture we have added a category to make us feel "safe". (Romans 6:1-2)
c. You are a sheep on the heels after Christ following diligently behind Him
Are you following Christ as best you know how? Is He the center of your life?

What kind of sheep are U?

After our worship time, the family groups met to dive further into these three points along with talking about how they are doing. It was a great time of sharing and praying for one another.

We got to bed about 12:05 p.m. Man, our guys did great in getting to sleep--so kudos to our guys.

We have an incredible group this week. Today is our first full day and will be eating breakfast shortly. We have two incredible cooks--Jennifer G. and Jana F.--Pam V. will be joining the team tomorrow!

I will try to post some pictures later today and may see if we can get a video posted as well. You can check out last nights evening service at www.skopos.org .....go to Falls Creek/Current Camp Materials/Evening Service.

Also, keep praying for our AWESTAR and China missionaries this week!

Jacob sends out a shout out to his family--Woot, Woot! Zachary says hi mom in Kansas!

Thank you for praying!
Mike

Falls Creek or BUST!

We leave in the morning for Falls Creek. If you don't know much about Falls Creek, it is the largest youth camp in the world. Each week, 5,000-7,000 students gather together to worship and seek God. You can check out more at http://www.skopos.org/ and go to Falls Creek. You can also listen to the evening worship services by going to the same website and clicking on Falls Creek/ Camp Materials/Listen to the Service

It's going to be an incredible week. I am hoping that we can provide you with daily updates to see and hear what God is doing through pictures, testimonies, and blog reports. The first update will probably be Tuesday morning--Mondays are always a hard day due to traveling and getting everyone on the same page.

Could you pray with us this week? Pray for those who do not know Christ to ask Him into their lives and for each of us as believers to truly seek God. The theme for the whole camp is GRAZE....our cabin theme/t-shirt is "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There." We've all heard at one point in our life from our parents or another authority figure, "Don't Just Stand There, Do Something." We want to challenge our students to simply spend time with our Messiah--simply to love Him--adore Him. Our desire is to "be still and know that He is God." Would you pray that our students would not be blinded by the misperceptions that is presented to them about who God is by the world? Pray that they would KNOW the real God and His deep desire to know and love them.

Parents, I pray that you will be refreshed this week! I will be praying for you as you prepare for your students return on Saturday.

Mike

**Also, while we are at camp....check out the AWESTAR updates of our missionaries in Peru(Mikayla and Aaron) and Chile(Bethany) among other trips @ http://www.awestar.org/ and to go trip updates. We also have another missionary in China(Mandy). We had a great opportunity to host the AWESTAR missionary leaders before they headed for AWESTAR University--what a great experience--so in essence we feel like all those who are going on AWE trips are part of our church family!

Freedom Celebration 2008

We just wrapped up another Freedom Celebration. Our Freedom Celebration is a great ministry to our community. We have FREE Hot Dogs, Ice Cream, Games, Pony Rides, and best of all a great FIREWORKS SHOW! I'm a little biased, but I would say one of the best around and it's all right in front of our church. I'm guesstimating that we had around 2,000 people.

Got to meet a lot of new people which is always a cool thing. Brian, Sherry D. and their team did such an excellent job of putting it all together. It's always thought through and done very well. Our desire as a church is for this to be a BRIDGE event--inviting people in our community to a non-threatening environment but creating the opportunity to BRIDGE them to Christ through simple conversation and Christ-like attitudes.