part of our family at The Vine just had their baby girl while on vacation. Ella was born
8-9 weeks early. our students have been praying for specifics that the parents of Ella,
kent and candace, have been asking us to pray for. saturday night during worship here
at the (scheduled InsideOut) lock-in we prayed for Ella to be able to breathe on her own
with no ventilator. sunday morning got a text form kent and ella was breathing on her
own. Praise God!

just emailed with kent:

yesterday, he had asked us to be praying for “no infections”; which we did last
night at youth. kent sends me this this morning: “Guess what? She was taken
off the antibiotics yesterday. Her cultures were all negative: no infections.
I am working on the next video. I’ll have it up shortly.”

to which i respond:
that’s awesome! kent, you should have seen the passion and energy in the
students faces yesterday morning after “no sleep” when they heard the news of
ella’s breathing. and then last night in prayer. i just sent out texts and
emails to them…….no infections was our prayers last night. God rocks and He
is awesome to be doing what He’s doing in your family’s lives. i know it is
hard on you guys BUT He is being made known and glorified through this…..i
know that for a fact in the lives of about 50 students who are seeing the
demonstration of His power when we pray.

to answer the question “WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY JOB?” again is this:
i have had about 10 texts messages from different students asking how they are
doing before 8am. they had been thinking about them and praying for them and
wanted to know. i love to see this generation given the opportunity to get
vested in the lives of people and follow through. FAITH is being grown out of
the life of Ella into the live’s of these students and Ella is only 3 days old.
it reminds me that no matter how young a person; God will always use the humble
(Ella has no clue or maybe she does……what she is doing for the Kingdom) to
build His legacy of love in this world. i love that i have the privilege of
doing life with these students and teaching them things like this. if humble to
the Lord (a 3 day old precious little girl who can NOT speak yet, walk yet, or
carry out major physical action yet can advance God’s Kingdom in such a huge
way) what greater potential they have to do the same.

just some thoughts!

i’m constantly humbled by how awesome our God is and how the students at HD allow themselves to be humbled by His presence. they show this in so many ways. here’s a few examples: 1) 2 sunday nights ago, almost the entire youth body hung around and worked their behinds off tearing down set, sound and stage. there were pieces of stage, cables and screens flying around everywhere. last night, the same thing. these students are an example of how this generation wants to see change take place in this world by stepping up and getting their hands dirty. even if they aren’t quite sure what an aviom or cat5 is, they didn’t stand there……they asked what do i do next, what can i do to help? TRANSLATION: WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

everyone is concerned where this generation is going and what the world will be like in 10-20 years. i’m excited because, i believe in these students, i believe in this generation because they are willing to humble themselves before God and serve Him and serve the Body and serve His people! they get that humility is “not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less!” my thoughts on the term leadership: leadership is best when led from the back; when you put yourself last. you are allowed to see and enjoy other’s successes. whoever said it was better to be in the front row, hasn’t experienced the JOY that i have watching these students from the back as they begin to unravel the Lord’s call and purpose in their lives. loving others! yes, serving is an act of love!

it is an honor and privilege to be serving the Lord as these students’ pastor!