Experiencing GOD: Where in the World is GOD?

Experiencing GOD talks about watching to see where GOD is working in the world. And often times we think of places, maybe the mission field or a secular urban city. But in my decades of ministry experience I have often found GOD working in young adults. Young adults like Elisa Brown.

Just before the turn of the century, Elisa was in lay leadership at Forest Lake Church’s Deeper, actively involved with a team that was forming young adult community during a very difficult time in the church’s history. As a form of support, a sister church constructed a prayer room within the Forest Lake Church to help the members/staff through a time of stress/hurt/recovery. It was very meaningful Elisa and her peers, that would have a rippling effect in the years to come.

In 2001, GODencounters started with young adults leaders like Elisa and the Deeper team, basically wanting to encourage young adults to pursue a 24/7 experience of the living GOD. Elisa served as our coordinator of volunteers in 2005 when we gave special emphasis to prayer. She has been actively involved with GODencounters throughout, sharing Jesus with thousands of young adults both locally and nationally.

GOD has lit a fire in Elisa.

An employment opportunity moved her to the Chicagoland area in 2006, but this did not deter Elisa’s efforts to continue to share Jesus. There in Illinois Conference, she was instrumental in starting Oasis, fostering young adult community with GOD and each other. The Young Adult Convocation which convenes each summer is an outgrowth of Oasis.

And the fire keeps spreading.

Elisa’s passion for prayer and GODencounters has spurred her to share with her workplace and community. She served in leadership at the Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, where she helped in coordinating a 24/7 prayer room in their chapel. The story was picked up by the Chicago Tribune and received national coverage in USA Today.

But GOD is fanning the flame further.

After many months of prayerful deliberation, Elisa has accepted an opportunity to work with Adventist Health International in Malawi, AFRICA in the areas of Finance and Administration. She will be leaving for Malawi in July 21 and has committed to living there for 2 years. During this time she will be living at Malamulo Seventh-day Adventist Hospital. One can keep up with her adventures at her blog. There are many needs in Malawi and especially with the hospitals and clinics in the country. Currently Engineers Without Borders is working to completely rebuild the water system which will cost approximately $300,000-400,000. There are other needs like satellite internet, vehicle repairs, missionary support, computers, etc. If anyone is able or willing to help financially please direct your tax deductible donation to Adventist Health International and mark it “Malawi”. Most of all please remember Elisa in your prayers as she makes this transition.

GOD has responded to Elisa’s prayer by revealing His will. Watching GOD work through Elisa, observing Him ask her to move to Africa has been inspiring. It is profound how prayer has invaded every aspect of her life; GOD has fueled His fire, offering Elisa her next challenge overseas. And she is joining GOD in what He is doing.

Elisa is but one flame of many that are ignited.

Elisa has a wonderful story. But this is only one of countless stories of GODfollowing young adults changing the world for Jesus. We will miss Elisa’s leadership as part of the Young Adult Ministry Advisory, but wholeheartedly support what GOD is doing through her life. I write this to affirm Elisa and commend her faithfulness to the conversations she has been having with Christ. I see a sincere heart of service in her that exemplifies the Savior’s passion in so many ways.

Where in the world is GOD? I see Him working in the lives of countless young adults. Young adults who are recklessly walking in His footsteps, spreading His fame. Young adults like Elisa Brown.

Experiencing GOD: Relationship Required?

In Blackaby’s Experiencing GOD, he shares his assumption that one needs to already have a relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior in order to really get something out of his book.

“If you have not made this most important decision in your life, the rest of this book will have little meaning for you…” (p. 2).

I concur with Henry’s prerequisite, but his introductory premise sparked some curious questions in my head that I pose here in hopes you might have answers or at least opinions.

Jesus Christ Spotted At Wal-Mart

• What does it mean to “have a relationship with Jesus Christ?”
• What decisions have to be made to make the relationship with Jesus happen?
• Can a person be a church member [In the case of my/our faith, Seventh-day Adventist] and not have a relationship with Jesus? Explain.
• Where is the best place to get or start a relationship with Christ?
• How can people love Jesus and not love the church? Or visa versa?
• What are the differences between being a Christian, being a Seventh-day Adventists, and being a Christ-follower? What are the similarities? Does it matter? Explain?
• Who is authorized to help a person to get a relationship with Jesus?
• What role does Jesus play in my life? Really. Honestly.

You don’t have to respond to all, but sure would love to see/read what’s on your mind for some of these questions that popped up for me.

Experiencing GOD: Directions when LOST

I’m the type of guy, who likes to know where he’s going. I get all jazzed when mapquest or google maps give me every single turn and distance, getting me from here to there. I like having a clear sense of direction and knowing what to expect. Give me the big picture and then I’ll sign on. I like having the answers before the quiz. I like to know what’s up ahead.

So you can probably predict that I don’t like being lost, I’m not big on suspense, and I’m not much for asking for directions. An example of this would be my complete frustration and exasperation with the show LOST, with it’s characteristic lack of coherent direction, absence of closure, and the endless questions that no one seems to mind are left unanswered. Flusters me to no end!

When Experiencing GOD asked the question “When you come to the Lord Jesus to seek His will for your life…” Clearly my response was that I typically want the Who-What-When-Where-How-How Much-Why all spelled out in detail, along with what the outcome will be. Doesn’t everyone?

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and in reference, Experiencing GOD suggests that Jesus is my “Map.”  Further, Blackaby says that the way Jesus gives me direction requires me to follow Him one day at a time.

Clearly the amount of trust that requires is challenging. Am I ready to trust GOD enough to relinquish navigating my own life? Especially when I feel lost, am I willing to trust that GOD knows where He’s going? Am I willing to turn over my control and let Jesus be my Way, relinquishing any other road map for my life?

Blackaby talks about driving with a farmer to the farmer’s home, “Because there was more than one way to get to his house, he (the farmer) could have taken me any way he wanted to. You see he was my map. What did I have to do? I simply had to listen to him and do what he said. . . He took me a way I had never been and could not have discovered on my own. I could never retrace that route by myself. The farmer was my map; he knew the way.”

Today I am challenged with this statement:

Jesus is my Way. I don’t need any other road map.

Young Adult ReNEWal

An East Texas area young adult event will be held during the Ark-La-Tex Camp Meeting at the Jefferson Academy Church (Texas) on July 25-26. The young adult/youth event begins at 7:00 p.m. Friday night with Café Renewal and continues Sabbath with services beginning at 10:00 a.m. For more information call or email Lane Campbell at the Texas Conference Young Adult Ministries Department, 817-790-2255 ext. 143 - lcampbell@txsda.org Web site: www.youngadults.texasadventist.org.

Live His Mercy, Love, and Sacrifice

A Valley/San Antonio (Texas) area young adult event will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown McAllen July 18-19. The event begins on Friday night at 7:00 pm and continues Sabbath with services beginning at 10:00 am. For more information you may call or email Raphael Balarini (956.221.9533 - raphalink@hotmail.com) or Pastor Armando Miranda (965.230.0227 - ptrmirandjr@excite.com) or Lane Campbell with the Texas Conference Young Adult Ministries Department, 817-790-2255 ext.143 - lcampbell@txsda.org Web site: www.youngadults.texasadventist.org.

Almost Like Being There

With gas, food, and life as expensive as it is, it’s difficult to be everywhere you want to be…in person. And with the flurry of young adult gatherings this summer, cloning might have had to be involved to get you to all the places you wanted to be.

So find here a couple of links to various media files that can give you glimpses of the young adult gatherings we have had this year so far.

Of course this is not a comprehensive collection. If you know of other links let me know, and I will gladly add them to this list.

Cafe Renewal {held in conjunction with Texas Conference young adult gatherings}

• Photos from the Texas Conference website

GODencounters Conference - Florida

• Video streams of this year’s conference as well as an archive of past presentations.
• Photos on Facebook, but you can view them even if you don’t have Facebook (public link)
• Photos on MySpace

GODencounters Conference - Tennessee

• Audio stream of Sam Leonor’s Sabbath morning message.
• Audio stream of Sam Leonor’s Saturday night presentation.
• Praise Worship mp3 files.
• Photos on Facebook, but you can view them via this public link.

GODencounters Sabbath - Pennsylvania

• Awaiting for files to be posted

GODencounters Weekends - New Jersey

• Photos thanks to Cherry Hill SDA Church
• MySpace Photo Album

IGNITION

• Go to AdventSource to purchase CDs and/or DVDs of the general sessions.
• Get a panoramic tour of the encounters cafe, a space created for young adults to relax, refresh, and relate.
• Photos in Facebook (public link).
• Feature article in the Northwest Gleaner.

Would love to have you share what other links are out there for young adult gatherings. It’s almost like being there.

Identity Theft

sometimes i feel like my identity has been stolen!

fraud has been committed.

not my social security card, credit cards, etc…

but my actual identity. not the stuff that says who i am, what i own, how much i’ve got or owe.

but me. my actual identity - who i actually am.

by whom? by what?

before you think i forgot to take my meds… hear me out… maybe this will resonate with you.

what makes up a persons identity?

think about it. it’s the persons name, family, friends, job/career, culture, history… but mostly, it’s what PEOPLE think about you and what YOU think about yourself and how much you allow those thoughts to mold you - you identify with those thoughts - thus creating your “identity.”

Wikipedia says that identity formation is the process “by which a person is recognised or known (such as the establishment of a reputation). This process defines an individual to others and themselves.”

Do you want to be “defined” by your “reputation”? The one that others think about you? The one that you think about yourself??? Which reputation, from which group of people?

It sounds like identity theft to me!

I mean, seriously, most people build up a reputation that does not accurately reflect their true self. Right? I’m not saying it always happens… but so often, we put on a face, whether for good or bad, in order to accommodate our social setting. Consciously or not, we have different faces for different places. We commit fraud — we are fake, not the real deal.

Average Joe is a different guy at church than he is at the sports bar, or when he’s at work or playing family games with the kids.

The epitome of this idea can be best understood in the life of a teenager, who is coming to terms with who they are, but cannot risk to expose all of their experimentation with individualism. How many teenagers are THE same person with their parents as they are with their friends? What’s ironic is that as teenagers, most of us made comments like, “My parents just don’t understand me,” as if we really understood ourselves!

Can we afford to have our identity come from what others think about us, or from what we think about ourselves? Is there another way?

It’s one of the existential questions — Who am I?

I guess that depends on where you find your identity?

Do you find it in your car? Your clothes? Your career? Your cash?

Or can it be found . . . in your Creator?

God says we are his sons and daughters. Do we believe him? Or will we let Visa and Versace dictate who we are or are not, by what we have or have not?

The stupid and the intelligent things we do often give us our reputation.

Is our identity in what we do, or can it be in what God has already done?

Is our identity in what we or others think about ourselves, or is it in what God thinks about us?

Maybe our true identity cannot be defined by the things of this world… but by the One who made the world and gave us life.

Besides, who knows you better than the One who made you?

You and I are both guilty of identity theft. We are frauds . . . fakes!

We have stolen our true identity by pretending to be somebody we were not created to be!

But our identity can be formed by what God thinks about us and what He has done for us by coming to this world in the life of Jesus Christ and becoming our sin, dying as our sacrifice, restoring to us our original eternal identity. In Christ, we have eternal value. He paid the infinite price for us. Our identity in Christ means we are of unmeasurable worth.

Won’t we stop stealing our God-given identities by trying to be somebody we were not created to be? and start living like sons and daughters of the Most High God? … all the time, in every situation?

I want to be the same person I am supposed to be all the time.

No faking.

Totally real… authentic… transparent… me.

By God’s grace, I am what I am. (1 Cor.15:10)

Let’s be children of God.

Join Us In Experiencing GOD Together

Be part of our book club.

We’re starting with Experiencing GOD, by Henry Blackaby.

You can pick up Experiencing GOD today from AdventSource, amazon.com or at your local Christian bookstore, and join us. Weekly blogs on each chapter will begin, July 11, 2008, and it would be awesome to get your comments as we do this together.

Let us spark the revolution in our hearts. We want to fuel a movement of young adults wholeheartedly seeking a 24/7 experience of the living GOD.

Congruent with that desire, we urge you to find relevant ways to daily deepen your devotion to Jesus. GODencounters has an array of books recommended to further explore the themes introduced at young adult gatherings like GODencounters and IGNITION. We’re starting with the theme of Worship As a Way of Life: 24/7.

Read, pray, and process along with us. Do it with your small group, your bible study, your friends, or for your personal devos. Whatever works for you is fine. In addition to the blogs here, book club discussion boards can be found on Facebook , encounters cafe online , and MySpace.

We hope you will join us. If you are not acquainted with Experiencing GOD, find below a synopsis and critique:

A Review by Jonathan Russell

Blackaby, H. and C. King. (2004). Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the will of God. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman.

Experiencing God is a must-read book for anyone who is serious about experiencing a deeper journey with their Creator. With the experience of many years in pastoral ministry, Henry Blackaby takes the reader on a journey that deepens faith and challenges the status quo of Christian culture.

The premise of the book is summed up succinctly in its title. It is Blackaby’s goal to help his readers to be more than Christians: to connect deeply with their God and Creator.

Frankly, the book starts somewhat slowly. He starts out with some fundamentals of Christianity: the need to experience God personally instead of simply being familiar with doctrines. Also, the nature of God, how God always wills the ultimate good for His people. He then touches on the meaning of servanthood and being obedient to God. While there are some good insights in the first few chapters, the truly transformational material begins after fifty pages or so. Blackaby’s seven realities of experiencing God are the real meat and potatoes of this offering and what make the book essential to the faith and journey of every Christian. The bottom line for Blackaby is that the quickest way to experience God in your life is to look around your world to find what God is already doing, then simply find some way to join Him in the process. From this basic belief, the reader is lead on a journey of exploration, delving into the how-to’s of hearing God’s voice, and the nuts-and-bolts of responding to His call.

In the way that this book is put together, there is a profound simplicity. There are many authors that have dealt with spiritual development. Many seem to approach it from a decidedly right-brained relational perspective. Their basic premise seems to be that the old spiritual disciplines don’t lead to a meaningful relationship with God, so we must do other things to get in “the Spirit.” At this point, Blackaby differs from these other authors. He approaches the subject with a distinctly left-brained perspective, focusing on a relationship through certain specific, quantifiable steps and activities. His idea is that God still talks to people, and He uses the same old stuff to communicate with us, if we would simply listen and obey. Yet Blackaby takes the same old stuff, and transforms it into something that revolutionizes Christian culture.

Drawing on the examples of the Old Testament, the author points out that whenever God made plans, they were big. He points out that if we would truly allow God to make plans in our lives, the plans would be equally big. Then step by step, the reader is directed to specific practices and decisions that will lead them into harmony with God’s plans.

This book is not written as something that will point a person toward a relationship with God. It is written as a workbook that engages the individual with God, almost from the very first page, with thought-provoking questions and specific assignments about how to experience God today. The expectation is that the book will be an experience with God from the first chapter. Because of this expectation, the book delivers. As you read, you cannot help but engage with the Creator in answering deep spiritual questions. The author affirms this as he writes about the experience of meeting God in scripture.

“When you come to understand the spiritual meaning and application of a Scripture passage, God’s Spirit has been at work. This does not lead you to an encounter with God; that is the encounter with God” (p. 164). In the same way, this book does not lead you to an encounter with God, it is the encounter.

It is not without its faults, however. In every chapter, the author uses powerful personal illustrations that demonstrate the God-sized plans that can occur when a Christian is committed to following God’s plan above his or her own. While these stories can be inspiring and faith-building, they have an unintended side-effect. There are so many profound stories of faith that the author begins to sound more than human.

It would be easy for a reader to look at the book and say, “I could never do that.” So while the illustrations are well-intentioned, it would have been more effective had the author included some references to the journey of faith and the failures that occasionally come with it.

In spite of its minor flaws, this book is a classic that should be read by every Christian. It will revolutionize the way that the average person thinks about their relationship with God. It even has the power to change the way we do business as a church community. This book has the power of couching timeless, biblically based principles in contemporary language that anyone can understand and apply. As a result, this book is a resounding success in inspiring all who may read it.

Experiencing GOD can be obtained from AdventSource, amazon.com as well as other online outlets.

Worship 24/7 @ Pennsylvania Conference Camp Meeting

“This is the only meeting that I’ve come into and sat through during this whole camp meeting,” said one PA Conference GODencounters participant.  “I stayed outside the other meetings, but I feel accepted and welcome here.”  

I feel accepted here.  Intentionally creating a space for encountering God is a powerful, awe-inspiring experience - something you can sense when you enter a room.  More than just another event, GODencounters is about carving out space in our busy, fast-paced lives to sit, face-to-face with God, and each other.  As we do we realize an amazing reality: we are fully known and fully loved by the God of the Universe!  It is this reality that changes how we live.

 

The size of the gathering varied during the weekend, and on Sabbath morning the Blue Mountain Elementary gym was packed with over 140 worshippers encouraged to “BE” (the title of Pastor Matthew Gamble’s message) in God’s presence. 

Erich Mace and Frank Farkash led in worship, with songs old and new, welcoming participants to pour out their hearts as an offering before God.

The response was overwhelmingly positive to GODencounters.  “It is hard to put into words the feeling I had as our young adults filed into the meetings through the weekend,” says PA Conference Youth and Young Adult Director Kris Eckenroth.  “We had planned, advertised, and prayed for this weekend for so long.  It was our goal to provide a setting where young adults from all walks of life could come and encounter the living GOD.  The Lord brought a group of young adults who had a sincere desire to have an experience with Him.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is moving among the young adults of PA and that GE 2008 was just the beginning!”

Pennsylvania Conference GODencounters 2008 concluded with a time of commitment and communion.  Pastor Matthew Gamble, of vagabondservant international, invited worshippers into a time of reflection about what God wants to clear out of our temple - our bodies, minds and lives - for us to engage in 24/7 worship, making the correlation from the Biblical story of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem.  These areas of our lives were written down and placed in the fire, powerfully symbolizing the ‘clearing’ that Jesus had worked in our experience together.  Participants then received communion in stillness, as Erich played music quietly in the background.  It was a simple and powerful experience to share in community, and many people were crying as they received freedom from God.   

What a memorable weekend!  

Lord, you have been in this from the beginning.  All across the nation, and the world, gatherings like ours having taken place, making space for young adults to worship you in community and to encounter you as their GOD.  Now we ask, please continue to show up and work in our lives, by your Spirit, in a way that only you can.  We long to worship you with all that we are, with all that we have, with all of our time.  We long for worship to be our way of life.  Worship 24/7.  Amen.

 

**Special thanks to Steve Christiano of G.A.D.G.E.T. Media for the pictures.

Ge | two weekends, two states, two encounters :: PART 1

Two weeks ago my wife and I boarded a plan from Seattle and flew to our new home in Connecticut.  I knew that this transition would bring about some exciting challenges and opportunities, not the least of these was the two Ge events that were approaching.  

On June 20 I arrived at the PA Conference Campmeeting grounds, aka Blue Mountain Academy.  After getting somewhat acquainted with the team we had a prayer and the worship experience began.  Erich Mace started with an all acoustic set of worship music which set the tone nicely.  That evening I shared a message entitled Reality which emphasized the fact that Jesus knows everything about us and still loves us.  This love is what enables us to worship him 24-7.  On Sabbath morning, in a message entitled BE we identified the fact that all Jesus wants from us is to be still and know that HE IS GOD!  The apex of the weekend, however, was Saturday night.  As the Sabbath hours were drawing to a close, the young adults started filling in.  Erich lead us in a powerful season of prayerful worship and then I shared a message called Temple where we payed attention to the fact that Jesus went into the Temple and threw over the tables of those who were standing in the way of people worshiping God.  The parallel was then made that we are the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (I Cor 6:19) and a challenge was given to take time to consider what “tables” in your temple would Jesus turn over.  At this the invitation was given to write these issues down on the provided piece of paper.  A fire was burning during the entire meeting just outside a side door.  As people wrote down the various issues that were prohibiting their walk with God, they took the sheets of paper and placed them in the fire.  As they came back in, juice and bread were provided as a time to commune with God, accepting his body and blood.  It was a powerful time of repentance, contemplation, and forgiveness.  The evening ended with a celebration as we sang corporately songs of praise to God!

As I have reflected on the weekend, I truly believe that Jesus showed up in powerful ways.  What impressed me most about the Ge in PA was the simplicity of it all.  While the room was nicely decorated, the set up was simple.  Erich Mace is a phenomenal musician, but again the simplicity of song selection played acoustically created a atmosphere where every voice could be heard and people were free to sing with all their hearts.  Regarding the messages, I truly believe that God put it all together as we learned to be authentic with Jesus, be still with him, and give him freedom to rearrange the furniture in our lives that our preventing us from worshiping him 24-7.  

 

Who knows the entirety of the impact made over the course of this weekend, but for this vagabond, it was a blessing that I will not quickly forget.  

 

mwg