We woke up a bit earlier this morning than yesterday, so we could secure those sweet seats from yesterday once again, which we did for the first session but sadly, not for the second.
Anyways, the first session started full of energy and God focused electricity! We worshipped, watched some funny videos, some people in the crowd won free stuff and then it was time for the message!
Derwin Gray; former NFL star got up and preached to us about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He shared how Christ took on flesh and He dwelt with us and was here on earth. Derwin shared with us his personal testimony about how he collided with Jesus and realized that Jesus was on a collision course with the cross the moment he was born. Derwin challenged the teens to see how even they at their age can do great things for the Lord
Right after the session for the day, we headed directly into some seminars. I (Marv) attended a seminar with a few students from are group entitled: "My Friend Just Asked..." Which was a seminar based off of the questions people ask us about our faith.
The speaker (Matt Archer) had us break up into groups and see how we would answer certain questions in certain scenarios. In the end, he reminded us that the ultimate question to ask is: "Do you know Jesus?"
Several of our leaders attended an amazing seminar entitled: "Exodus" which is all about how a large number of teens are seemingly slipping through the cracks and eventually leaving church all together. This "Exodus" seminar was chock-full of ways in which we as leaders can help take this statistic to its grave.
Next up was lunch...which was a troublesome spot for about 55% of our team. The caterers were about 1.5 hours behind schedule, which delayed the dispersion of food tremendously. Some of us (the other 45%) were able to sneak in and get the beginning trickles of food without delay, but the rest of us were staggered throughout the food line that was only letting in 100 people at a time (and with a line of approx. 3,000 people this took awhile!). This caused some of us to be late to session 2 and also resulted in our not snagging those sweet seats again :(
The worship was very well done yet again and Derwin Gray got up and preached part 2 of the incarnation. This talk was a personal challenge from Derwin to the teens to live like Jesus and be the incarnation of Jesus where ever they find themselves. it was a powerful message to our teens to actively live their faith and not just give lip-service to the whole "Christianity thing". This is also where (in my mind) the quote of the week popped up. Derwin talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus said: "They put him on a stick like a poster, but on the third day he popped up like he was in a toaster!"
After the session, we went directly to the Louisville Slugger Stadium where we were to see Kutless play. It was 100 degrees outside and we were waiting for the bus to pick us up to take us there, so some of us were a bit grumpy but God got us through! We got to the stadium and found our seats to be viewing the concert from the rear...which didn't have great sound, so we chilled, talked and tried to find water and shade.
We also ate at the stadium and enjoyed some good down time. Some people stayed at the game and others left because of 1. the brutal heat and 2. the lack of interest in a AAA game of baseball.
Those who headed back (like myself) hung out with their leaders either at the pool (which most of the girls did) or in my room (where all the guys hung out). It was a GREAT time of relaxation and bonding with one another.
We ended the night with some good debriefing and we leaders sought to see what God was saying to the hearts of these teens.
The feedback was great and very insightful. The trip is going very well and God continues to move in the hearts and lives of the ACAC teens! Below is a 2.5 minute video recap of all that went down today. Enjoy..and don't stop praying!
0 comments:
Post a Comment