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 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: 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!