Imagine the scene as three packed out coach buses led by a police escort roll into a Central American mountain town of Jalapa, Guatemala. It was obvious by the commotion leading to the Hotel Puente Viejo that something was set to happen as God’s people gathered to IMPACT the city of Jalapa for Christ this week.

Our team arrived safely earlier in the day in Guatemala City with all of our luggage and a couple of smooth flights behind us from Indianapolis.  After a long bus ride (4+ hours) on a windy mountain road we arrived safely in Jalapa as well. The logistics have come together amazingly well, as one could hardly imagine what it’s like for 155 people to find all of their luggage and check into a foreign hotel at the same time after having traveled all day and not slept very much the night before. The hotel staff is fabulous and we’re a little spoiled because our accommodations resemble a tropical oasis. We ate a late dinner 8:45 PM local time/10:45 PM EDST which was our second impressive taste of Guatemalan cuisine (the first being a fast food Polllo Campanero stop on the way from the airport).

Everyone is healthy, although many are weary, and we’re excited for a solid night of sleep and our first day of VBS. We’ll be canvassing two neighborhoods in the morning and then jumping right in to our planned first day of activities in the afternoon. There’s quite a lot of excitement and anticipation in the air among the whole group of 155 of us. Also joining the team are 15 people from the Disciple Maker’s  partner church in Honduras that have joined in as a mission team of their own to help with translation and other general leadership, bringing the total number of workers here in the city for IMPACT ’11 to 170 people. We’re excited as the Lord leads us in the days of ministry that are ahead.

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Good morning! We’re heading into our 2nd full day here at SITS in Grayson, KY. Yesterday, we heard all about how we are a small part of God’s bigger story. During our worship experience, the students had an opportunity to “write their stories,” no matter how long, short, adventurous, painful, exciting. Several writing stations were set up throughout the room, and during worship students ventured over to begin writing their own story… where they are from, who has shaped them, what experiences they remember most, etc. 

Today, we are looking at what happens when we take God’s story and trash it for our own. Please pray for us as we take a look into the mirror today and discover how we have ignored (or trashed) what God has given to us.

Hey everyone! We’re heading into our first full day here in Grayson, KY. This morning, we learned all about how God wants to amend our stories, or, as one student put it, “Make things right.” We just finished up lunch and are about to head into our workshop times. Students have the option of going to Man of God, Women of God, Active Water’s Water Walk, orExpressing Your Story every day from 1-2pm. After that, we’re heading out to the lake because it’s a HOT day! Here are a few specific prayer requests for the rest of our day:

• Pray that we will all have fun together this afternoon and bond together as a youth group.
• Pray that today we will all be able to see, maybe for the first time, that our lives are a small part of a much bigger story that God is writing.
• And–as always–pray for open hearts!

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Well, we made it! We just ate dinner & now we are settling in before the first session tonight. Thanks for all your prayers today, keep it up! We will post pictures tomorrow.

Read John 10:7-10 before moving any further. Go on, open it up, read it!

The shepherd was a common figure for Jesus’ original audience. They would have immediately recognized all that this metaphor suggested. We miss a lot of this because we are not 1st Century shepherds. But John 10:10 is pretty hard to miss.

Do you know Christ-followers who seem to live in a constant state of anger, misery, and/or bitterness? They tend to make their faith all about rules… what to do, what not to do. These rules become their God. They seem to suck the life out of a room as well as giving Christ-followers a bad reputation.

God’s intent is not for our lives to be stale and boring. John 10:10 is only one piece of support for that, but there are plenty more. God desires us to live a full life, a life that’s purpose is something BIGGER than ourselves. If we surrender to His greater purpose, we will always have purpose, mission, adventure, and passion. Passion is the heart set free to pursue that which is truly worthy.

Persecution is a reality for nearly two hundred million Christians around the world. Daily, they risk their lives simply because they believe in Jesus. They could surrender, or convert, or quit but the love of Jesus is worth the sacrifice. For many of them, this road leads to death.

This summer, MOVE invites us on a journey around the world. From the jungles of Colombia to the war-torn streets of Baghdad, LOVE COSTS EVERY THING tells the real-life stories of Christians standing firm in the face of death. Though persecution is severe, the faithful continue to rise. The church is advancing. God’s people are risking it all in the name of love. And it is worth it, because love costs every thing.

Here’s a short preview of the film our students got to see this past week at MOVE.

We’re packing up tonight, coming home tomorrow, but this is only the beginning! Many of our students have made commitments for this coming year. . . to surround themselves with other Christians, bring breakfast to their teachers once a month, adopt a single mom and their family for the year, lead a middle school small group, memorize Matthew 5-7, do the Daniel Fast for 10 days, I could go on and on! And the best part is, we’re in this together. If nothing else, we learned this week that our lives are about SOMETHING BIGGER than us. As we studied John the Baptist, we saw that everything in his life pointed to SOMETHING BIGGER. Everything in his life was about Jesus… he never took the attention for himself, but always pointed it back to Christ.

God will use our life, and if we really want our lives to matter, they will always point back to Him! Our students are not coming home the same. My request to you… if you know one of these students well, or you are his/her parent, ask them what they’ve committed to and create a way to help them out. We’re not in this alone.

See you tomorrow!

So it’s dodgeball day, but it was a little shortlived. So we are making the most of it and playing ultimate frisbee instead.

We’re getting ready this morning to head into our last day. Yesterday, we looked at Daniel 1-3 and studied through the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego. Our speaker, Josh Howard, led us to 3:16-17,

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Then he said this statement, “Did you catch that? Even if. Even if. Even if. Even if God didn’t do what they wanted, they still would not serve other gods. Even if. We live in a world of only if. God, I will worship you only if… 

• My parents stay together
• I can still be popular
• I can wear whatever I want
• I like my minister
• I don’t have to sacrifice anything
• No one close to my dies
• My friends still love me
• I don’t have to give up anything
• I can still have the standard of living I want.”

What are some of your “even ifs?” Even if ____________, I will serve my God. Even if ________, I will remain faithful. Josh challenged us with that very thought last night. And as the night closed out, this phrase ran across the screen, “Speak, for Your servant is STANDING.”  As we head into today, we are getting ready to study the life of John the Baptist. In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist says that he is not even worthy to carry the sandals of Christ. If John the Baptist isn’t worthy, what does that make us? Please be in prayer for us today as we close out the day strong. Also, feel free to leave comments and tell us some of your “even ifs,” as well.

And here are some photos for your enjoyment. 🙂

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Today we had some extended recreation time and took off for the beach. Be jealous… very very jealous. 🙂