Timothy's Mentors

Last week at CIY Move one of the things they focused on was finding a spiritual mentor. The talked about both sides of that relationship. Specifically, how God has called all of us to be investing in someone's faith, and having someone else invest in us spiritually as a mentor. It is a sharpening process that turns us into disciples who can actually make other disciples (which is what we are all called to do).

One of the great examples of this is Paul and Timothy's mentoring relationship. Its awesome that we have 1 and 2 Timothy to look and see how Paul encouraged and helped Timothy grow as a servant of God. If you haven't taken a look at those two New Testament letters, take some time this week to check them out because it will begin to paint a picture of what mentoring could look like for you.

The thing I would like to point out to you is something that was recently pointed out to me. Paul was not Timothy's only mentor. In fact the way that Paul describes it, he was at least 3rd in line in the mentoring process. Check out 2 Timothy 1:5. It says, "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." That is Paul talking there about the foundation of sincere faith that has been developed in Timothy by his mom and grandmother. They played the active role of mentors in Timothy's life.

I was talking about this with a student the other day, and I mentioned that even though it describes two family members being pivotal in his faith development, his dad didn't play a part in that. Acts 16:3 tells us that Tim's dad was a Greek. That doesn't give us the whole picture of Tim's family, but it lets us know that everything wasn't roses for Timothy. He didn't come from the perfect situation. However he did have family members who made sure to take time to pour into him. His grandmother and mother played an important role in shaping Timothy into the Kingdom Worker that he became.

Paul's mentoring relationship with Timothy was still an important one. Timothy was able to watch and learn as he followed Paul around. He would have gotten the chance to see how Paul spent his free time, and the things that Paul valued, which today we can see in all the letters that Paul wrote in the New Testament. Timothy would have gotten the chance to grow and learn through trial and error about sharing the story of Jesus. Being able to learn life alongside someone else is an amazing opportunity.

What I don't want you to miss though is the role that Timothy's family, even though it was far from perfect, played in his spiritual development. They placed the foundation of Christ in Timothy's life. God has positioned parents and family members in a place where they are uniquely gifted to do that best. Deuteronomy 4:9 is just one example in the Bible where God instructs parents to teach their children about God and His word so that they will be raised up in the way they should go. We all need spiritual mentors in our lives, and every child needs family members to be those mentors.

CIY Move: Day 5

Yeah ok so I slept in a little bit today. Our group still made it to breakfast on time, but I am definitely not posting as early in the morning as I was yesterday. Man, yesterday was jam packed with fun, excitement, and God challenging us! Thanks again to everyone who is praying for us.

God has really been doing some powerful stuff in our lives down here at Lee University this week. Our students are willing to step up to that challenge as well. Last night in our group time one of our students had an announcement for everyone. Last year at CIY Move she had accepted a challenge to receive a Kingdom Worker card with a random challenge to do something for Gods kingdom. The speaker that night said that you should only open it if you were willing to accept the challenge to try and do it. That scared our student a little bit, so she held onto that card and left it unopened for an entire year. Last night during one of break times she was praying and she knew it was the time to open it. So she did and she has been planning how to accomplish her challenge ever since. On top of that, another one of our students is ready to take a challenge because of it too.

The theme yesterday was influence, and asking how we could use our influence to bring God glory. In the Bible, the Apostle Paul took a young believer named Timothy around with him for a while on his journeys before eventually Timothy became the minister of the Church in Ephesus at a young age. That is an example of how someone influence someone else to grow and be involved in Kingdom work.

Yesterday I shared with you about our group time and how our students talked about mentoring and how we had a student who shared about mentoring another younger student. It was a really neat conversation to be a part of and it really inspired some of our students to start thinking about how they could serve and pour into other people.

Last night in our group time several of our students said that they wanted to start volunteering at one of our Middle School Outreach events called the Crossing, so they could find a middle school student to start mentoring. It was so awesome hearing here passion and excitement about sharing their faith and life experiences with younger students. Adults and parents back home be praying too, especially if you volunteer at the Crossing already. These HS students who are looking for middle school students to mentor at the Crossing, are going to need mentors themselves. Just imagine the impact they can have if the Holy Spirit works through one of your lives to help sharpen them as they try to help the middle school students they come in touch with. It is an opportunity we can't miss.

Today is all about endurance and we will definitely need it. We are going rafting this afternoon, and the rest of the day is just as busy. We will have a blast, but please continue to lift up our students that they would stay focused, continue to connect with God, grow as they are challenged, and that all that happens here becomes a permanent part of the foundation of their faith.

Thanks! Enjoy the Pictures!

CIY Move: Day 4

YAWN!!! (What day is it?) I know its 6:30am as I am typing this, but it feels like, like... its way too early to be up and the Holy Spirit wants us to all go back to bed for a while. We are having so much fun that there is absolutely no way we have been able to get enough sleep. It's hard to believe its a Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who is praying for our group and all of the rest of the students, leaders, speakers, musicians, and workers here at CIY. Yesterday was a great day. Like I mentioned yesterday the theme was Godliness and the thing we heard over and over is that you don't TRY to be Godly, you TRAIN to be Godly. The more you train the better you are prepared to reflect God's character in any situation.

In our evening session the way they showed this to everyone was by having us right down a quality of God we wanted to be more apparent in our lives on a small hand mirror. We kept these mirrors with us all day to keep that in the forefront of our mind. Then in the evening session we took all of our mirrors to the front, and at the very end they had put all of the mirrors together into a giant Disco Mirror Ball that was reflecting light all over the room. It was a pretty cool example!

Another thing that I truly believe was an answer to prayer last night was some of the discipleship that I saw happening within our group. God tells us over and over again in the Bible, that we are supposed to love others because He has loved us. That love motivates us to do a lot of things. Mentoring others and helping them train to become more like Christ is one of those pivotal things that every Christ follower needs to get busy doing if they aren't already. I was so blessed to see our group doing that and talking about it yesterday.

The exceptional thing about that is that true mentoring and discipleship doesn't happen in a afternoon. It is something that honestly is pretty time consuming if you are committed to it. CIY yesterday challenged us to find somebody who could be our spiritual mentor and someone else we could mentor spiritually. Aaron, one of our adult leaders asked the group what they thought of that during our group time. Students said they felt challenged and excited. What happened next though rocked my socks off. One of our girls started talking about discipleship and mentoring with someone else who was already there! Our whole group got to take a front row seat to hear about all the lessons both the girls had learned from their time they had been in a mentor/mentoree friendship. The rest of the group got to see the evidence of growth and strength in these girls' faith (and it was evident). Please be praying that the students walk away from that moment and seek out a spiritual mentor, and also look back to students in our middle school who they can begin to pour into and help grow closer to Christ.

A couple of other awesome things. Last night our group also decided to dress up like superheroes. We had a blast and got some really good pictures too. We had a Smurf, a Tattoo Man (Sorry, but this student did use a sharpie), Batmans, a Jedi, Superwoman, Wonder Woman, Wolverine, GI Joe, and a few more that I'm forgetting. We had a great time and got some crazy looks.

The guys vs. the girls contest is still neck and neck 3.5-3 with the guys in the lead by a half point.

Please be praying for us today as I bet the tiredness really starts to kick in today. The conversations will really start to shift as well. We will all start talking about how we can continue to train ourselves to be Godly once we head home. Its really easy to focus in on God at a conference like this. Its once we get back in the swing of things with School, Work, Family, and Friends that it gets difficult. We start forgetting things we were truly passionate about, and we start making the bad mistake of trying to course correct on our own. Pray that our students would take steps today to put mentors and friends in their lives that are going to help them keep growing after CIY. Parents be praying and thinking too about how you can help support your son or daughter as they try and grow into the kingdom worker God wants them to be.

CIY Move: Day 3

It's 6:14 this morning. Our group is getting to sleep in a little bit longer today, because our breakfast time is not until 7:40 as opposed to it being 7am like yesterday. Thanks everybody for your prayers yesterday. We not only had an absolute blast throughout the day, we also had some pretty neat stuff happen.

Here is a random list of some of the notable things that have been going on:

*Last night I got word about one of the guys in my small group that Alicia and I have at our house. His name is Tyler and he is with the group from our church that is currently serving in Haiti on a mission trip building homes. His sister wanted us to know that he had just gotten baptized. Tyler is a great guy who has grown a lot spiritually the past few years, and we have all been praying for him and encouraging him a long the way. It was definitely something we passed on to the students and celebrated as a group. How awesome is our God!

*The focus yesterday was about truth, and the message last night was given by a guy named Mark Moore by video from an MMA fighting ring. It was pretty cool. He talked about how we need to be willing to get off the mat time and time again to share the truth about Jesus.

*Our group is having a good time with the Vuvuzuelas that we brought with us, although a few people have let us know that the World Cup is over and the horns are simply not cool anymore.

*Speaking of cool, yesterday afternoon we had a thunderstorm go through for a couple of hours and it was really nice because everything cooled off. The forecast today looks like we will be back in the hot weather though, which I think will be good because our group wants to get outside and play some games.

*The worship time continues to be good and challenging. The group really enjoys the worship leader here. His name is Aaron Pelsue if you wanna youtube him and check some of his music out.

*Our challenge last night coming out of the final session was to come up with one name of someone we were going to share the truth of Jesus with in the next week. The students really stepped up to the challenge and wrestled with that decision. From our group time last night I can tell you that they aren't taking the challenge lightly. Be sure to talk about it with them when they get home. Parents especially, be sure to be praying for them and encouraging them in this Kingdom Challenge.

*In the guys vs girls contests after our group time last night, the girls rallied and won the contest to tie our overall record at 1-1. I am also going to try to upload some pictures soon, but I keep forgetting to grab the camera to get the memory card to the computer. I'll try and remember, but seriously I mean the Sun hasn't even come up yet...

Please Be Praying:

As the week goes on, students will start to wear down and get tired. Pray that it doesn't keep them from meeting God every opportunity they get.

The them for today is Godliness and how our lives should reflect God's Kingdom in the world around us. Pray that the students hear from God and are open and honest throughout today. I can tell you that our adult leaders have been having some great conversations with our students, and we hope that continues to be the case.

CIY Move: Day 2

Well its 5:40am right now and day 2 of CIY is just beginning. Last night was an incredible time for everybody. The theme for the night was grace, and it was clear to see that our group was being lifted up in prayer. Everyone was involved during the worship time lead by Aaron Pelsue, and the speaker Tim Grey did a great job of sharing what Jesus' grace is all about.

At this point I have no clue what time the girls went to bed, but the guys ended up all in their beds with the lights out just at 12:30am. In just a few minutes I'll pop my head back in the room and make sure everyone is getting up, because we have an early 7am breakfast today. You didn't realize your kids were capable of getting up this early during the summer did you?

My prayer for this week hear, is that our group would be authentic before God and each other. As we all try and do that I also hope and pray that His Spirit moves in our lives in a life-changing way that causes us to know Him in new ways, and to join others in His kingdom work. You can be praying for us today as we talk about Truth and how Jesus and the Bible should be our source for truth. It looks likes its going to be a great day, and we appreciate all of your prayers.

Here are a couple of highlights from last night:

*Guys vs. Girls: Each night we are having a contest that pits are guys and girls in a friendly competition. Last night our group faced off with each other by having a twinkie eating contest. The twist to the contest though was each round a guy and a girl were blindfolded and had to find their twinkie to eat it. Their group helped them find it, but their other clue was each twinkie either had ketchup or mustard. They guys had the ketchup ones and the girls had mustard. The guys came from behind to win 3-2. It was pretty gross to watch.

*I really loved watching how the group interacted on the ride and here at Lee yesterday. They trust each other and enjoy hanging out with each other. I think that will add to the impact God can have on them this week. Thanks for praying!

CIY Move: We have arrived!

Hey everybody we made it here safe and sound. Thanks for all of your prayers. Believe it or not we made it all the way to the state of Tennessee before we had to stop for a bathroom break. Pretty impressive what people are capable when you tell them that it costs $20 per bathroom break.

It is just as hot here as it is in Cincy. We have forecasts in the 90's all week. The girls dorm is really close to the cafeteria and the main auditorium. The guys dorm is a little nicer, but we are going to end up walking 5 miles each day. It'll be good for us ha ha. We are about to go to dinner here in a few minutes and things get kicked off after that. I'll try and update on how things are going often. Thanks for praying for our group!