Hey everyone! We had such an amazing time at CIY MOVE in Holland this year!  Over the week, we studied the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 with the theme of Where Heaven and Earth Collide.  Day 1, we learned that following Jesus is risky because His teachings are dangerous.  You can’t kind of follow Jesus; you have to be all in.  Day 2 we watched the new CIY documentary, Becoming Sons and Daughters.  The film challenged us to think about how we can make an impact on people’s lives who don’t have a present father in their homes.  In the evening session, we talked about how Jesus is our perfect heavenly Father.  The theme for Day 3 was The Colony.  The lesson was all about how our sin has a community consequence.  Usually we think that our sins affect only us but in reality, they affect the people around us.  Day 4 was all about forgiveness.  We talked about how forgiveness is a life-long process, not just a one time thing.  Before we came into the session, we all were had pieces of red paper taped on our backs.  On the inside of the paper, each student wrote who they needed to forgive and/or who they needed forgiveness from.  After a time of reflection and time to talk to youth leaders, the paper was torn from our backs and thrown away, representing the beginning of the healing process.  The theme of the Day 5 was The Way and it started with a cool opportunity to cheer on Oliver, a son of a Hope College staff member who has cancer and was picked up by Make A Wish for his 6th birthday to go pick out Legos in Grand Rapids.  In the evening session, we were challenged to be the light and salt of the world.  But, we are the salt and light of the world to bring glory to God, not ourselves.

Remember that God loves you and we are princes and princesses of the King.  When challenges arise, trust in God and His power.  Remember that our sins affect the church, not just us. Be the salt AND the light of the world, to bring glory to God. As we go back into our daily routines apply all that we have learned from this powerful week and LIVE IT OUT! 

-Interns

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Today our theme was THE WAY. Our favorite quote from today’s messages was from Chad Ragsdale, “The power and truth of Jesus Christ overwhelms our lives, if we are willing to listen to it.” Today we talked all about being SALT and LIGHT, from Matthew 5:13-16. In our D-Groups, we did an activity where we ate different foods–some not salted, some perfectly salted, and some overbearing salted… one that brought a very bitter taste to everyone’s mouth. The illustration represented us as Christians, and which type of salt we are and which we long to be. Tonight in our main session, Jayson French talked about how we are the salt of the world because we our lives are supposed to bring glory to GOD, not ourselves. We were challenged to think of how we don’t have to “try” to be light, but by living and walking with Jesus we will just naturally BE light. In our group time, we all received Kingdom Worker cards, which is something to ask us about tomorrow! We were all challenged with a specific task for the year to focus on being LIGHT. We’re excited to see ways that God continues to bring glory to HIMSELF and not US as we bring back all that we’ve learned and live it out in our own community and church body.

-Interns

Our theme yesterday was all about viewing God as our heavenly Father.  We took a different, more personal look at the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 9.  We learned in our morning session that God is our heavenly Father and He is the definition of what a father should be.  We also heard how we are sons and daughters, princes and princesses of the Most High King.  After the morning session, we watched a film called Sons & Daughters. The film was about 3 very different stories about earthly fathers.  We were challenged to think about how we can make an impact on people’s lives who do not have a present father in their homes.  Today we are focusing on how our choices, both good and bad, affect our entire Christian community. We will hopeful be updating later with photos.  Keep praying for us! -Interns

Last night, we kicked off the theme of When Heaven and Earth Collide, based out of Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. We heard from Kyle Idleman last night, and he talked about how following Jesus is risky, because His teachings are dangerous and crazy. His sermon was on video, and he was teaching while he was trying to learn how to ride a bull . . . which is crazy and scary! But his point was that we instinctively avoid things that are unfamiliar or uncomfortable for us, and so are a lot of Jesus’ teachings. The bull-rider throughout the video was teaching Kyle how to ride a bull, and he said, “You can’t just kind of ride a bull, and you can’t just kind of follow Jesus.” At the end of the day, you have to hold on tight and give it all you’ve got.

Pray for us today continue to learn more about God as our Father, and that we would listen to what He would have for us.

-Interns

Hey everyone! We made it safely to Hope College. As you can tell from the picture, we had a great bus driver. 🙂 We already ate dinner and are waiting for the first session to start soon. More to come soon! -Interns

Hey students & parents! If you’re joining us for CIY MOVE, there are a few things we need from you before Monday morning comes around. Yesterday morning during The Vine, we passed out the Packing List, CIY Medical Release form, and Chapel Rock Medical Release Form. We need both Medical Release forms before we leave on Monday morning. If your student did not bring one home with them, you can download them here:

CIY Medical Form

Chapel Rock Medical Release Form

Thanks and we’ll see you on Monday morning at 8:00!