This is what I needed today!

2 Lies the Devil Loves to Tell God’s Children

The devil is a liar. That’s all he is, and he’s good at what he does.

He’ll tell you whatever he needs to tell you in order to trip you up, or keep you down.

And he’ll change up the delivery of his message depending on what you’re going through.
So when you’re suffering a trial, the devil will whisper a message of hopelessness to you.
He’ll say something like:
This will never end.

On the other hand, when you’re in a season of blessing, the devil will try to shake your confidence by telling you the exact opposite:
This will never last.

But trials do end. Joy comes in the morning. There is a mountain of victory on the other side of your valley.

And blessings do last. Even though seasons change, God’s favor is forever. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Don’t let the devil twist the truth.
Catch him in his lies, and stand on what God says.

Ten Commandments of Retreat Planning | Being Ministry

This is a great read about planning a retreat

Ten Commandments of Retreat Planning | Being Ministry

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I love hearing stories of how God is using students

CHANGING THE WORLD, ONE KID AT A TIME

Several years ago, we set a goal in our youth ministry to sponsor one kid on every continent that we could sponsor a kid on as a youth ministry.   We're not there yet, but so far, our Encounter High School Ministry sponsors 5 kids or organizations monthly by asking students to bring $1 a week to our weekend services to help us sponsor them.  Here's who we've been sponsoring for quite some time now:

1. A boy named Marvin in El Salvador through World Vision
2. A girl named Ruby in India through World Vision
3. A girl named Luyando in Zambia through World Vision
4. A boy named Hector in Tecate, Mexico through HIS Ministries.
5. An orphanage called Welcome Home where I adopted 2 kids from in Uganda

We are still very much committed to trying to help our students wrap their heads around the larger needs in the world through education and action for those who live in extreme poverty and this month, we did 2 things to add some more fuel to this fire:

WE VISITED HECTOR.

We made a day trip to Mexico on 11/11/11 to visit Hector and some of his peers at a Day Care center in Tecate where he goes daily and through which we sponsor him. In the process, we played with him, loved on him, put a name to a real face with some of our students and Hector, and we brought he and his family some food & household basics:  rice, beans, flour, sugar, potatoes, avocados, salsa, salt, oil, pots/pans, dish soap, and laundry detergent.   In the process, we found out that Hector's Dad whom I've met before recently left his mom for another woman and kicked Hector's mom and he and his siblings out of the house.  They are now living full time at the daycare center.  Words cannot describe how huge an impact this partnership is having with our students and Hector's family.  Maybe these pictures might help.

WE ALSO HELD A "NO MEAL, ONE DAY" FASTING AND WORSHIP NIGHT.

We partnered with One Meal, One Day - an event that Compassion International puts on and we invited our students to skip a meal (or all their meals for a day) and bring the money they would have spent on food that day to youth group for a worship event so we could sponsor the poor around the world.

The result?   Students fasted and prayed and gave $354 toward the Famine in the Horn of Africa and pledged enough money each week for us to add another child to our sponsor list.   I'm so excited to introduce our students to a girl from Thailand that we now sponsor through Compassion International.   Her name is Keke.  May God use our youth ministry to completely transform her life as we partner with Compassion.

Here's some pictures to tell this new story.

LifeWay funnels 1273 Bibles to inner city youth - Tri State Defender

What a great idea to get the word out!

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNElVH3kr2u8eskvW5eB7_c7P6aEcQ&url=http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/6927/1/LifeWay-funnels-1273-Bibles-to--inner-city-youth/Page1.html

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Dream and prat

I honestly feel like our MO going into 2012 is getting people into the presence of God. That’s where dreams are conceived and problems are solved. That is where miracles happen. That is where we are transformed. That is wherethe will of God is revealed. The primary mechanism? Prayer and worship. We need to pray and worship more strategically. We need to pray and worship with more faith. We need to pray and worship personally and corporately. http://www.markbatterson.com/

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Disciple Now

We’re only one decisionaway from a totally different life.  We’re onlyone decision away from making a difference. 

Disciple Now

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Disciple Now

I’ve come to terms with the fact that “it’ll never be the same.” What I mean by that is that we can’t be who we were.  We’ve got to change–change our systems, change our structures

Www.disciplenowcurriculum.com

Or Disciple Now

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