Sunday Night Rewind
Today was an amazing day at Renovation.
The moment that Toni started her brilliantly written (just for today’s theme) and given reading/poem there was an energy that ran through the place that kept growing as Nick and the band roared into Johnny Lang’s song Turn Around… that was just plain sic! It continued as we engaged in singing passionately Rise and Sing… loved hearing the harmonies in I Give Myself Away/I surrender!
I gotta admit after spending the last 36 hours hanging out with our students and getting to bed around 1.30 this morning… I was dragging a little but by the time I got in the ring I was fired up and ready to roll!
I felt a Holy Spirit intensity throughout the morning that I don’t know that i have ever felt… it was powerful and griping.
The enemy known as Guilt was exposed today for what it is… a fraud and when we have the courage to shine the light in the darkness of our heart and confess the sin that we have committed against God and each to God and each other then guilt begins to lose its power and and grip on our hearts.
I got to meet a few new folks today… one man showed up on Easter and has been back the last 2 weeks… I asked him how he heard or got connected to Renovation… he said i was in a recovery program… I said did Mary Lou bring you and he said she did… Mary Lou strikes again! I love that lady.. she is one of the silent giants at Renovation. She brings a car full every week from the recovery house that she works at.
Speaking of the weekend… I loved having the honor of going with Joshua and his leaders as we took 18 teenagers to Acquire the Fire at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
We left at 7.00 am Friday morning and returned late last night.
We got to be a part of 15,000 students worshiping and learning and discovering God’s best for their lives. It was incredible to see hundreds of teens walk forward and give their heart and lives to Jesus Christ Friday evening. We had several kids that gave their hearts to Christ… we all were blown away as Hillsong United led us for an hour of passionate worship late Friday night.
It was a great experience… it was our first road trip… the first experience to expose our kids to just how big our God is and how there are thousands of students that look like them and think like them that are going after God hard! We are trying to lay a foundation with our student ministry that is built not on events but upon experience… experiencing God in different ways… different places…
As a pastor I was blessed… as a dad of a daughter who went I was blown-away… thankful for bringing leaders like Joshua and Tina, Dina, Patrick, Jimmy, Renae, Mark, Mandy who love God and love students!
As our students grow in their walk with Christ and in their passionate pursuit of Him we as a Community of Faith will grow with them… students, young adults have always led the way in an “awakening”
I can imagine one day not long from now that we see hundreds of young people who are leading us… showing us what it means to abandon all for to follow Him!
