Deeper Life Week

Its been a while since I last posted, I'll see if I can do something about that.

Over Christmas break I got the opportunity to go up to Camp of the Woods in Ontario Canada. Winter-camp was awesome, met some legit high school students and camp leaders passionate about Christ and transforming the youth of the area. I'm hoping to be able to make it up to Canada this summer for at least a week to serve at COTW. It was so legit with great fellowship and tons of snow, in the face a few times. It was called Reality Check- which was all about checking in with everyone and seeing where everyone is at spiritually- to see where we have slid in faith or even lost focus on Christ. IT was awesome reconnecting with them and i cant wait for summer.

This past week was deeper life week at Crown, last semester I found out why its called deeper life week through my Alliance History and Distinctions class. The founder of the C&MA started the Alliance when he broke from a Presbyterian Church in New York because of their rejection of specific people groups. From there Simpson started this church, not in hopes to create another denomination but to bring the focus of the Church back to Christ. Through this he created the Four Fold Gospel which is: Christ our Savior, Sanctify, Healer and coming king. The most important thought was Jesus Christ and his all satisfying work on the cross; plus nothing else. This life of following Christ know as the "deeper life" served as what it meant for a Christ followers to experience Christ in daily living.

Deeper Life was so Legit, our speaker Trance Nichols spoke on 'the facebook effect' but it was more about relating it to living a more Christ centered life and what that looked like. Each night had a message that permeated as the sermon went on highlighting a spiritual discipline. The authority and power of the word of God, the responsibility of all to give our lives to obey the commands of Christ in missions nad living. These two were just parts of the spirit moving in the hearts of those here at crown.

the most impactful night for me was on Wednesday when i missed the regular chapel time and came for teardown to work and the chapel was still full at 8:05 when chapel should have been over at 7:50 so i came in, sat, and listened. Basically what i missed was Terrance sharing his testimony of God's work in him, but i caught the end of it. He referred to an experience that he had as a kid that i related to him with and when he had the strength to mention it i felt a connection with him as a brother who has been through the same thing and, like me, has been freed from the pain of that situation. As i sat and thanked God for the moment God brought to mind for me the fact i had just shared my testimony and shared my favorite verse at the beginning of baseball practice. It was Col. 1:13,14 where "we" have have been delivered from a dominion of darkness and transfurred to the kindom of his beloved son" as god worked on my heart it became heavy on my heart that The freedom from the bondage of sin through Jesus is a stronger bond that that shared freedom that I had with Terrance. IT amazed me how God enlarged my vision, allowing me to see that the freedom that i share with every bother and sister in Christ is stronger than any experience or any other deliverance.

From there God continued to work on my heart relating to how we should care for and be watchful of our own actions for the sake of a brother. Because we share in this freedom, I don't want to hinder the work of God in their life. It reminded me of the Francis Chan Sermon at the "Think" conference where he pointed to Paul, in Romans 9, praying that he would consider himself cursed for the sake of his brother. What love is that? to hope be broken so that you would pray that God would take me instead of allowing them to live in their death(Eph 2:1) any longer. How Legit is that? To God be the Glory, how his mercies are new each day.

Praise to him alone. May you be encouraged and uplifted.

Right now Things are starting to take shape for this summer, Pray that God will lead and bring me further into that "deeper life" in Christ alone.

Amazing Life 2010

For the first time in it's history the church in Letovice was able to hold an independant English Camp. Before the camp out team arrived in letovice for 3 days of training where we met with the Letovice team from the youth group. the two teams clicked together from the beginning. We began with focusing on different aspects of englsih camp and making sure we were all on the same page with evening programs. The title for the camp was Amazing Life which went into detial highlighting the most amazing life in history- Jesus. This year was far easier in terms of tramslators as well having 3 of our best translators back who were not there the year befor.

God worked two miracles before camp even got started with Josh Anderson who was not able to join the team at the airport due to severe sickness was able to come later in the week with no extra charge, which was a direct answer to prayer. In addition to that our main technical person and guitar player on the Czech team, Nick- the youth leader's(Pavlik) brother, had been denied for the time off from work when asking earlier and apprached his boss one more time before camp and God also moved in that situation in to allow him to come to go to camp.

From Letovice we left with the students and went to camp riding all on the same bus. Some of he students had to ride by car becuase all in all we had 95 people at the camp with around half not knowing Christ personally. I spent a lot of time with one person from the Czech team named Ondrig who was next to me in my cabin and also was in my english class.



As for now I have to go from pavel's house but i will give more extensive updates from camp. Please pray for our team to have integrety and take this time durig follow up to reach out to the students more. Pray for Kendra Havlickeck with her soar sholder and that we all have energy becuase everyone missed out on some sleep last night because it was the last night of camp without a curfew. I will update again soon with great stories from camp. Also add some pictures, thanks fro your prayers!

Isiah 12

Whats happening next:

2010 Czech Retreat!

This past weekend we had our 2010 Czech team Retreat! it was a great time for everyone to spend a few days getting to know each other better as a team. We started the first night by working on English class things and getting everyone squared away as much as we can so that we can have the absolute best quality English lessons possible.
This year I have a level 6 class and will be teaching my own class. My helper/partner Laura and I have been working to make our class the most exciting and, well quality comes with experience. I'm confident once we get everyone comfortable they will be talking and learning like we're all old friends. This year's theme is 'Amazing Life' in which we will be teaching on the most amazing life ever, Jesus. I'm excited for that idea, I think for the message of Christ Crucified for the sins of the world to be sent, we need to start with Jesus. The fundamental doctrine of true theology along with being our savior, our heal, our redeemer and our coming king (C&MA 4 fold gospel).
We spent a lot of time doing activities that will bring us together and help us to understand our roles on the team. My sophomore year at Crown I took Gospel of John and was responsible, along with a team, to exegeses John 17 and present it to the class. Chris Gee used this same scripture to call us to unity as Christ prayed for us to have in this passage. The structure in this chapter is amazing as Jesus first prays for himself saying that he has completed everything the father has requested and the time of his glorification has come. In the large center Jesus prays for the disciples that they knowing the gospel of Jesus will be protected by the name of Jesus and are no longer people of the world but are now God's people. Next is the powerful prayer that that is so humbling by Jesus saying that the disciples would be anointed and be the same as Jesus into the world, they would be into the world.
Next is where Jesus Prays for unity and this was the point that Christopher made in our meeting nad I did to the class that Jesus is praying that we all would be "one with one another, just as you are in me," verse 21a says. At the end of the verse it says, "that the world may know that you sent me." then again it is reiterated in the next verse in Jesus praying that they may be brought to complete unity so that God is glorified and that the world will know. Then in this last section of Jesus' last prayer, he prays that all believers will have the love of the father in them, the love that God has for Jesus.
This love reminds me of 1 John 3:16 :This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers,"in correlation for John 3:16 ""For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." This passage brings it all together and assures us of are purpose.
Pray for unity for our team and that our focus will be on Christ.



This is a few members of the Czech youth group at a surprise party event having a good time.

Camp Finale and Follow Up

First-
English Camp Was Amazing!
Second-
Follow up was AMAZING!

This year camp was unlike any other; the theme was different (& more solid than ever), the camp was longer, we talked about the Bible more than ever and the letovice church has an amazing team.
In reference to the last post, the hike was amazing! we went to a tunnel system that was build before WWII that was so well fortified that there was a great struggle to overtake it. It was a stronghold for a while against communist forces but ended up surrendering. It was really cool to see the mountain side as well and get out hiking. I spent time getting to know some Czechs that i hadn't connected with all week. I met a guy named Komile from Boskovice. Boskovice sounds like an awesome place that i would like to visit sometime, we talked about all sorts of things including music (which we found out how awesome he was as a musician during the talent show the following night)and also about our backgrounds. That was on the way back but on the way to the tunnel i kinda jumped from group to group because i keep a fast pace (always training for football) crossing through a lot of farm land and small villages along the way where i greet random people doing yard work or just strolling around. Hiking in Czech is always an adventure, there are a lot of hills in Czech and some are much larger than you would ever expect but it does provide for awesome things to see. when we were at the tunnel entrance we had English class where we played one of my favorite games. it has a few different names and i cant really remember any of them. Its the game where you write or draw at the top of the paper and pass it, then the next person does the opposite of the last person trying to explain the image or draw what is written. From there you fold over the previous person's entry and pass it on. This activity is always a blast and my English class loved it.
We also got to tour the inside of the tunnel system seeing how strong it was built and how many little tricks they had to toss grenades out on other people or shoot at attacking vehicles. Well, now if i am ever going to build a massive underground tunnel system that wont easily be destroyed, i'll contact the Czechs. Its pretty sweet how they were able to connect it with tunnels that were over a mile away to distribute supplies and such. Now that I think of it i feel like humming 'A mighty fortress is our God'

Other than the hike, camp was awesome. I love how much energy there was with everyone getting excited about the weirdest of games. Almost every year I get the chance to show some Czechs how to throw an american football which is pretty awesome and surprising at how quickly some learn. The evening program was awesome too, we continued to discuss the stories of the Old Testament and ask questions about God and what his relationship is to man. It was awesome when we got to the life of Jesus. One of my favorite stories from the Bible is when there is a storm and Jesus is sleeping. the Disciples wake up Jesus because they don't know what to do and Jesus speaks to the winds and tells them to stop and the waves to be still. The next nigh we talked about the death and resurrection of Jesus and how it was a fulfillment of what God promised to Abraham so long ago. We did the life house skit which is always a powerful example of how distracting this world can be and how we can be separated from God but at the same time be reconciled back to him. It moved many to tears, God's grace is so very good.
From there everyone was dismissed to go and listen.. it was so amazing to sit and look at the stars and listen to God. from there it was an awesome time where some were continuing conversations and asking questions and others were enjoying the fire. I love the atmosphere around the fire, its always a time when things start to settle down.. not always but usually they settle down. At the same time it was awesome to see how active the youth group was in sharing Christ with their friends. It was really encouraging to the entire american team as we talked about it after camp. Its amazing that even when we see such great things happen, our hearts are even more broken for those who havn't seen or even tasted the truth of Jesus Christ.

English Camp is in full swing! As for English class I am teaching a level six class out of 8. I would defiantly have to say this is the most advanced class I have ever had, I having difficulty finding ways to make it harder but its working out great thus far. Yesterday I dressed up like the German soccer player Bastian Schweinsteiger and took a press conference from the class. It was a great time making up random information that I didn’t know about him and talking about how skilled I was. From there they had to write a sports column with the information they collected. I would have to say it was one of the best activities ever! The discussions groups are also solid, we had a little difficulty finding a balance between which languages to use but everyone is benefiting from active discussion. I really appreciate how much energy the Letovice youth group has, it’s easy to build on and get everyone involved. The games are rocking, the sports are rocking and discussion of God began the second night.

Tomorrow is the hike, so I must get some rest. Pray for our team with broken bodies, it seems a lot of us are suffering from something.