My Well Deserved Vacation

Is currently being taken by your truly. I have been in need of a vacation for a while now, and seeing as I can't afford anything, I have been waiting on my ever so patient parents to tell me that we are going on a family vacation. That finally happened and I am enjoying myself quite nicely.

We are currently in Port St. Lucie, Florida, which is relatively close to Fort Pierce, staying with my Uncle Paul. He lives about 20 minutes to the beach, so it's a pretty nice gig he has going on here. It's a nice town, seems like a place I could see myself living in one day. But for now I am cool staying with my homeboys in Athens.

I will share some more inspiring wisdom later, for now, I believe I have a beach to get to and a sunburn to work on.

-Andy

Manna From Heaven (Exodus 16)

Man did God show up last night! I was stressing pretty bad beforehand (seriously thought I was gonna throw up a couple times, one of which happened to be right before I went on stage). Luckily God calmed my nerves and gave me the peace I needed to preach His word.

Wesley was out of town so I felt as if I was "in charge" of the youth group, and I gotta tell ya, it's a LOT of work! Seriously my body is still aching from last night! It's a pretty tough gig, but when you see six hands go up when you give the invitation it reminds you how worth it everything really is! One of the main things I hit during my talk was that Jesus is more than enough for anything you might be going through. We need to remember that whenever we go through hardships it's comforting to know that what He went through for us on the cross was so much worse than anything we could ever imagine, and He endured!! Christianity isn't about what we can get out of God, it's about what we can do for Him!

Again, pretty awesome night last night, although very exhausting. The link should be online soon.

-Andy

EDIT:
Here is the link to the sermon (for those who might be interested)

http://vimeo.com/5322403

Tomorrow. Am I really ready??

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I take on the Compass Church stage for the fourth time. This time I will be speaking on Exodus 16 and how God provided for the Israelites by raining down manna from Heaven. I have felt pretty prepared for a while now, but I recently have asked myself "am I really ready??" I have my outline done. I have done the preparation. I can walk through my entire 30 minute message with no problem. Why then do I feel unprepared? Why is it that I feel insecure about what I am speaking on? From the feedback I have heard from our creative team on my message they tell me it should be a very powerful and life changing service. So, again, why is it that I feel insecure about my message?

To answer that easily, I have no idea! God has placed this message on my heart for a reason, so that others can hear the gospel of Christ and respond to it. Plain and simple. These are God's words that I will be speaking tomorrow, not mine. There is no reason to be doubting, but I do anyways. Father, forgive me for doubting, and come tomorrow, allow me to be YOUR voicebox as I communicate Your word to students. May lives be changed forever and eternities altared because of what it is You have given me to say. May the honor and glory always go to You! Amen.

The way I am choosing to view this insecurity is that Satan is trying to get in and wreck my world. But the stronger I feel Satan push, the more faith I have in what God has told me. I mean, if he wants to screw me up THAT BAD, that probably means he knows my message is great and doesn't want me to preach it. Can't wait for tomorrow.

-Andy

Believing the Calling

Today was interesting. Wesley was gone to South Carolina for most of the day to spend the day with a bunch of campus pastors to talk strategy and see what works well for some church's and what doesn't. So it was me all by myself for the most part of today. Which sucks with it being a Wednesday and having youth tonight, made me kinda nervous. But Wesley believed in me and trusted I could get stuff done. I did, but I really didn't think I would. Lots of phone calls, things that needed to be finished for youth, lots of stuff for upcoming trips and camp, plus the whole set up of the building thing. Seemed kinda tough and that I might have forgotten something. Fortunately for myself, I got it all done.

One of my students in my small group brought this word of wisdom to me: "If God calls us to do something, doesn't that mean He believes we can do it??" See, God has called each of us to do specific things, each probably seem crazy and outrageous, but lucky for us, He believes we can do it. I doubt Wesley would have gone to the "campus pastor round table" if he didn't believe I could get everything done. He wouldn't have asked me if he didn't think I could do it all. Since he did, he trusted me enough to leave for most of the day. God wouldn't have called us to do what we do if He doesn't believe we can do it. If God has called you to do something, you CAN do it. If God, who created everything, tells you you can do something, well, that seems pretty convincing to me. Believe the calling.

-Andy

One Week From This Wednesday

I'll be speaking again at the 706, our church's student ministry. I feel like I should be more nervous about this talk than I should but for some reason I feel like God is giving me a very calming attitude about it. Almost as if He is telling me not to worry and that everything is gonna be alright, which is strange because I have never really felt that before (coming from someone who would get nervous before EVERY cross country and track race for 6 years in a row).

I really do believe He is gonna come through, but I'm gonna be hitting the gospel pretty hard that night, so I would love to see some kids respond to that. One of the things God has spoken to me is this: if the kids don't respond, that's okay! I sometimes feel as if when an invitation is given and no one responds, then we as leaders have failed. But God has really been hitting me over the head with it lately saying if they don't respond it's okay. As long as we do our part there is nothing more we can do. At that point, it is up to Him and his power to come through for us.

For those of you who plan on being in attendance that day, read Exodus 16 (just go ahead and read the whole chapter I will be jumping around all over the chapter). I'm excited, I'm pumped, but at the same time, I am nervous and not so nervous. I know that there are people's souls (literally) at stake every time I get up on that stage to preach, but I believe that the words I speak are not gonna be my words, but the words God has placed on my heart to share with our students. Be praying big time that kids will respond to the gospel and that lives will never be the same. I can't do that, only God can. Remember, June 24th. If you are a student or a recent high school grad, be there!

-Andy

Wednesday Night Ramblings.

Still going through the story of Moses, here is what I pulled from Wesley's talk tonight. Good stuff from tonight.

Exodus 3

1. God Speaks

Moses was going about his everday life/business when God spoke to him in the burning bush. Moses had to approach the bush before God decided to speak to him. Moses had to realize there was something different and approach it. We need to hit the "pause" button of our life and take a look around and see where God can speak to us. It's not until those moments where we realize how big God really is. It might not be that God isn't speaking to us, it might be that we aren't listening. 

2. We have to respond to God. 

At the end of the day, our response is always gonna be either a "yes" or a "no," there is no maybe. 

How are you responding??

Find a way to listen.

Becoming the Voice

So this blog post is really just gonna be someone else's blog post, but I loved the wisdom when I read this.

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/uncategorized/i-am-the-voice/

I absolutely love Pastor Steven Furtick. I love listening to him speak, his audaciousness in the church, and how he truly believes God can and will provide if we are willing to step out. Even though he is only 29, he has so much wisdom and I love reading his blog and learning from him however I can. 

What a powerful word of wisdom for us! I AM the voice! After reading this I began to examine my own life and try to see what it is I am communicating to others, not only through my words, but also through my actions, and I have come to this conclusion: I can do better.

I think we all can. I believe we all need improvement in just about any area you can think of. None of us are perfect, but we can't use that as an excuse to not step out and try to improve. We all need to strive to be more Christ-like, not just through our words, but through our actions and how we live. 

We are constantly communicating whether we say anything or not. Keep your body in check to make sure your actions truly speak louder than words. 

Guest Video Blog

From my first ever staff meeting at Compass Church

http://jimcarpenter.cc/general/6-3-09-video-blog/

Please keep praying for me as I am awaiting funds to continue coming in. 

-Andy

Internship

So I'm starting to realize this: ministry is a lot of work! 

Along with that, I am having a blast working for Compass Church. It's just one of those places that has that environment that you wanna be in. As Craig Groeschel described it, I believe Compass has "it," which is that magical thing that every church wants but not every church has. 

My mind has been everywhere the past couple days, but I am trying to take it all in. Tomorrow is a pretty big day, I'll be working about 12 hours tomorrow, so should be fun. Haven't pulled off one of those kind of work days since I worked at Carmike Cinemas. Should be quite the experience for me.

Also, I found out that I get to attend "one" conference (http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/05/18/a-conversationnot-a-conference/) with some staff members. I think this will be just another great opportunity to gain some great ministry knowledge from some of the best and most skilled people in ministry in the nation (seriously, if you haven't heard perry noble speak before, you are missing out!). 

Greater things have yet to come, I believe this. God is preparring me for what He is preparring for me. PLEASE keep me in your prayers while I am doing this internship, I am taking quite the leap of faith even by doing this, but I believe God is gonna show up big time in my life. Prayers are most appreciated. 

-andy