Guest Post: CIY Move Wrap Up

For me, CIY Move was probably the best week of my year so far.  The messages really spoke to me, especially when they talked about how I need to spend more time with the Lord throughout my day and devote more time towards him.  

My favorite part in the sessions though was probably the worship.  The Aaron Pelsue Band did and awesome job of singing and playing, but it wasn't that that made it so awesome.  It was the feeling you get when you are standing in the front of the room, 30 feet away from the band, and look back to see the rest of the room.  1,400 people with their arms open wide, singing praise to the Lord of the heavens and Earth, is an awe inspiring moment.  It would have been hard NOT to feel God's love and prescence in that moment. 

The change in people's relationships was also a wonderful thing to see.  Not only their friendships, but also their relationship with the Creator of the heavens and earth.  At the end of the week, people wrote letters to each other.  A prayer I had in that moment was for God to "make me and others an instrument" for his will, and for him to speak to others through the letters I and other people wrote.  Multiple people actually shed tears at letters they had recieved, and that was another moment where I could feel God's prescence as if it were a tangible, physical thing.  One of my friends also came to know God at CIY, and will be being baptized soon, which is cause for rejoicing.  

After I left Move, I had gained much that carried through to my regular life.  I had become better friends with a large group of Christian friends, and had also had a sort of renewal with my faith.  I had realized I was not spending enough time with my Lord.  If I spent more time playing video games than reading my bible every day, then something was wrong.  I encourage everyone to take up this opportunity to get to know God, or better understand him, next year when it comes time for CIY again.  I look forward to next year, and know with His help, it will be as good as or better than this year!

-Will McBeath, Parkside Intern

Day 2 at CIY MOVE

Yesterday (Tuesday), was a packed day! It was a great day but it was jam packed. Let me real quick try and catch you up on all the great stuff that's been going on here. I the morning we watched a film called Sons and Daughters all about God being or heavenly Father and how he wants each of us to speak into the lives of the Fatherless around us. It was incredible! Then after lunch some of our guys entered the basketball tournament. They made it to the final 4 before they lost. We knew it was going to be over when the other team threw down a reverse dunk (ouch). Later in the afternoon we had some hang out time, and then we all put on our cowboy outfits. We had so much fun acting like cowboys, Will dressed up like a horse, and tanner and dana dressed up like cows. It was hilarious. We definitely turned some heads at dinner time. Finally in our evening session yesterday the speaker talked about trusting God and embracing Him as our heavenly Father. She said we could never let God down because we weren't ever holding Him up. He is the one holding us up. It was a great truth for our students, our group time last night was full of some really good sharing. It's been great to hear students opening up, asking questions, and encouraging others in group time. Please keep up your prayers for our students and leaders. Have you read Matthew 5-7 yet? Read it and pray through it with us. Please dedicate time throughout the day to lift up our students to God. Pray that God's word is stored deep in ear hearts and that they would take His truth with them for the rest of their lives! It's been great. I can' wait to see what today holds. Matt

CIY MOVE: DAY ONE

First off just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been praying for us. Our trip today was as perfect as can be Praise God! Even the area where we heard traffic could cause hours of delays ended up only being a five minute delay. We had a lot of fun on the road too. Well it is hot, but that just means we sweat a little bit more during on the fun. Worship was awesomes tonight. Everyone got their heart rate going as we were jumping p and down praising God. It's going to be a great week. Keep praying and read Matthew 5-7 if you want to keep up with what we will be learning about all week. Tonight our speaker spoke through a video that he recorded at a Bull Riding School. The whole point was that we can't follow Christ just a little bit, but we had to go all in. Just like you can't kind of ride a bull. You have to jump on and go for the ride. Following Jesus is dangerous and crazy, just like riding a bull. Go ahead read Matthew 5-7 and tell me you don't think it would be dangerous for you to completely live out that passage. Thanks, Matt