Letting Go, and Letting You In...

Well, that is a wrap for Stretch Full Circle 2008. We can all now take a great sigh of relief... alright and breath in real deep... and let it all out... Alright, nice job everyone...

Last night we capped off the middle school stretch conference reaching hundreds of students who have never walked into our doors before. I got to hear a story today of a family who had not been to church in over 10 years, but joined in with us today due to 2 of their 5 children hanging out with us at stretch. It's stuff like that, that screams to me I am in the right place.

We reached the pinnacle of our whole conference last night when we made it to our decision time that we wrap up the conference with. It's the time when we shut off all of the fancy lights and Travis (our hired speaker out of California) gave it to all of the kids straight. Guys... I am not promising things will be easy, or that you won't have to sacrifice, but this is what Jesus has done for you... what are you going to do about it...

He then asked the student to raise their hands and go to a leader if they are ready to make a decision. Maybe that decision was to come and to just ask questions or to pray. Maybe it was to repent, or maybe, just maybe it was to decide to be baptized. When he asked them to do this, so many hands flew up, to even the surprise of Travis. He even had to clarify that kids knew exactly what they were raising their hands for. Dozens of decisions were made, and it sent chills down the spine of almost every leader in the room. So from that point all of the students who made decisions left the room and went outside to talk about these decisions with leaders. (which is a brilliant idea to stray from being emotionally manipulative with a young mind, that will be a whole other post) From there Travis told anyone who had made a decision but had not gotten up to leave, or if you already have dedicated your life to Christ to listen to the last song for the night.

The song is called "At the Cross" by Foundation Red, and I have a bit of a connection with this song myself. This is the song that was playing 4+ years ago when I stumbled to the front of the room during worship to give my life to Christ.

You can listen to the song HERE.

To see these kids making these decisions, especially to this song really made me look back at where I have been. It's important at times to remember where you have been to get a clear look at where you are, and where you need to be.

I just remember my whole world being in that room last night, as the song echoes throughout the room, "I'm at this place in my heart, where I see the cross and I need to be forgiven... Laying down and letting go, and letting you in..." Watching middle school kids let go... God is good.

Pushing others to succeed...

The one thing that still continues to rock my world is just how many high school volunteers we have helping out. I know this kind of sounds repetitive, but this is why. I was thinking about this crazy adventurous life that is and should be Christianity. And I was trying to connect it with what I am seeing happening at Stretch. A huge part of being a Christian needs to be PUSHING others to be the very best that they can for God, and spending time praying for their ministry.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a ministry is vision cast and push those students in leadership to really take ownership of what is going on. All of the interns have been taking some students under their wings and have also been preaching about standing up and taking your cross.

Soon enough these leaders will be ready to stand up and to push others to be the best they can.

I'll tell you what, we had a nearly flawless night at Stretch, and it was because a whole butt load of people were working together. This group of students is going to start a revolution, and it will all start with a bunch of them pushing each other to be the very best that they can.

Some Verses for Help:

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
-Galatians 6:2

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
-James 5:16"

Stretch 08' And We're Off!

2007 Day 3 Attendance = 190 Students

2008 Day 1 Attendance = 200 Students

That = Awesome.

It's so great to finally see all of the hard work we have been doing coming together. All of the extra hours, all of the tedious tasks, and all of the blood, sweat and tears that went into the production that is Stretch finally showed some of it's seeds.

It can sometimes be discouraging doing so much work, and feel like you aren't getting anywhere. But I will tell you what... finally getting to see all of that work executed with excellence felt very, very good.

We had a record amount of volunteers helping out the core crew that made everything happen, which was such a huge help. Some of these high school students helped out all week with the little crappy stuff that just had to get done.

Something we have to be focused on is Jesus in times like these however. It's easy to lose Jesus in the bright lights, the loud music, and the fun stuff we do for Stretch. If we do all of this, but ultimately the Kingdom is not effected, than this is all a waste. I just pray that throughout this week, we can really continue to set our eyes on Christ and to let him work the real magic that is our conference.

Some really cool things that I enjoyed last night:

Watching our high school ministry step up and serve.
About a month ago we had our very intense series on serving, so to see them doing what we talk about and helping make day one a huge success means the world to me as a speaker and teacher.

Chosen Dance Company
Don't ask me how, but April pulled off getting a Christian dance company that does hip-hop, break dancing, and they are just all around incredible. They have performed half time shows at the super-bowl, they did the X-games, and concerts for huge artist. Watching them do their thing was awesome. I am going to take this moment to tell everyone that I am quitting ministry to join a hip-hop break dancing team... Well Not so much... but the idea was fun for that second. Check out this video of them:



Knowing that I was a part of something.
Everything that happens means so much more when you are making it happen. Frank, Ben, Melissa, April, Alex, Brendon and I worked our butts off to make it great, and it was great!

The Late Night E-Mail
Right before we headed home for the night Frank got an E-mail on his blackberry, basically was a mom stating that her son came home happier than she has seen him in a while. I told everyone that if we change one heart than this is a mission accomplished, so it's always great to hear the first of our many success stories.

I hope to hear more as we continue on with this huge production. Keep this ministry in your prayers.

Policiphobia?

So I will admit, I have a past. I used to have a fast car, and I used to have a really well... fast lifestyle? Anywho... those years lead me to find myself in trouble with the police many, many times. I think what it has done to me throughout the years is give me a fear of police. I have the worst luck in the world with police. For example when I was younger all of my friends would be involved in the underage drinking scene, and I usually avoided that mess. I finally went to one of those parties, and I get busted by the police. That is only one of many examples (and if you are a student and reading this post, then I encourage you to talk to me about those years so I can tell you how I wasted some of the best years of my life).

All of that just to say that I have a fear of a police. And of course it figures, I am the only one to get pulled over while handing out kids camp door hangers this Monday. I got pulled over for soliciting and because one of my students may not have been quite wearing his seatbelt while driving through a residential neighborhood... oops.

It figures that the one person who is more phobic of police than any of the other drivers is the one to get pulled over. Luckily I didn't get a ticket or anything, but it's still just my luck! Maybe you feel like sometimes you just have some crappy luck with stuff like that, who knows.

Just when you think you're getting somewhere...

So tonight I got hit with one of those moments where you just have to say... crap. Because that is pretty much the only thing you can say. You will probably get similar posts today from Frank, Melissa, April and Brendon.

Tonight was a Sunday much like other Sundays. We are obviously going into Stretch Mode (Our churches middle school conference) but besides that, pretty much the norm. Our high-school group is coming off of a very emotional trip to Tennessee, a fire and brimstone message from me last week about living out our faiths, and a message this week from Brendon about taming the tongue and using it to honor God. That is why what happened next hit me off guard a little.

Every Sunday we have a circle in the auditorium after youth group is over. We basically do a recap with the coaches, interns, student leaders, and whatever students are still there. We talk about what went well, and what we need improvement on.

Tonight after a night of watching students and how they have changed, something was brought up in the circle.

A student brought up the fact that three new girls attending youth group had not really been introduced properly, or treated nicely, and even talked badly about.

That... Sucks.

After really thinking we were getting somewhere, and really getting to these kids, this happens. Which makes us all ask the hard questions. What do we do to not just put on a show, but to really mold the hearts of our students. This is the question we are going to have to answer together over the next few weeks.

I don't want to sell short the like 10 baptisms that we have had in the last 3 weeks at all, and I don't want to sell short the change I have seen in so many students. But it opened all of our eyes up to a whole lot more work we have ahead of us...

Why do I blog?

The answer to that one is simple...

I told someone the other day that I blog, and their first remark was, "Yeah, my life isn't interesting enough to blog."

So I thought about it, and I just want to clear up any misconceptions. I do not think that my life is more worthy than your life to write a blog about it. If anything, I encourage anyone who can write to do a blog because I think everyone has something personal to them to write about.

Second, my initial reason for blogging was to let people know what I was doing when I was touring the country last summer... But ultimately I want people to see the world from a different point of view than they are used to. Foremost, I want people to see Christianity from a new angle than usual. I think so many times people see Christians as boring, soft, and just all around Mr. Rogers like. I don't see it that way. If more people saw the huge task that Christians have, they would see there is a lot more on the line and lot more adventure out there. Early Christians lives were really a dangerous adventure everyday because they were putting their necks out there for Jesus every day. I don't think we as Christians do that anymore. I am just now starting to get this little glimpse of the radical life that is Christianity. I hope you join with me. Please feel free to leave comments on anything as well!

A Mountain Top Experience... Literally!

I filmed this upon reaching the highest point of the mountain we were hiking up on the Appalachian Trail. You have to take advantage of those times when you are really feeling on top, and there is an opening to clearly see your next steps so you can take them head on! And far too many times people miss opportunities like this because they are just taking life way to seriously. Do you see God in nature especially? I know I do...

Changing the Unchangable...

I want to share with you a story about a student that I spent a lot of time getting to know while on our our recent trip. I have received his permission to share with you, so I hope his story can give you a little hope with similar situations...

Going into this week, I noticed many students on the trip who have been doing this whole Christian thing, but even more interesting to me, a few who have not. When I first met my friend Paul, he was very open to learning new things... but that is all this week was. It was going to be a learning opportunity for him to learn more about the Christian Religion, so that he could look at all of the religions from an outside point of view, then go from there...

To make things even more interesting to me, in a random lottery, Paul ended up in my D-Group (small group) for the trip. From the get go Paul challenged every fact and idea that came his way, and very intellectually rebuked or looked at it from different angles. Many times Christians are scared to death of people like this. They are afraid they won't be able to answer their questions the right way, or know all of the information they need to meet the needs of someone like that.

I still remember this quote that Paul said to me and my Co-Leader the second day of conference. "I didn't feel anything, even thought all of the other kids were very emotionally moved by the worship and the message... I don't really expect to either" and basically got to the point that he was here to learn.

The cool thing about him being in our D-Group is that he was having his needs met in two ways. My Co-Leader was Damian who throughout the whole ordeal kept challenging Paul to let down his guard, and allow himself to be emotionally moved by what the Spirit was doing in the room and on his heart. And on the contrary, I was able to help Paul with his very challenging Theological questions about the faith. I would not have been able to had it not been for going to Bible College, and really having some incredible professors challenge me to ask those same questions. So as you can see, it is no accident that the incredible needs of this student could be met in this group.

I remember on one night, their was an activity in worship that challenged everyone in the room to allow the Spirit to lead them to do different things. Maybe it was to post a prayer on these big boards. Maybe it was to pray, or to read the Bible. But in this particular moment I felt moved to write Paul a note that simply said "Don't stop God from doing to you what He's trying to do". Paul later on said thank you, but was still not open at all.

As the week went on... Things changed.

When God is working on your heart, no matter how realistic, no matter how intellectual and no matter how closed to conversion someone can be, God can still do his work. As the days went on, and the questions got harder and God worked even more on his heart, I could tell that he was already not the same man.

On the last day Damo and I had the opportunity to just sit down on a bench and to talk to him alone. We asked him how he was, and what questions he had. He shared some unbelievable stuff, and asked some really hard questions. We helped guide him the best we could, and answered his questions the best we could. We layed our hands on him and prayed... and sent him away with the challenge to pray his whole way back to the dorms. I knew from the second he left when I looked over to Damo and he had tears in his eyes that God had taken hold of his heart.

We had figured out that Paul had a new Mission. Paul's new mission was to change Christianity as it is today. To get past the legalistic and occasionally hate-driven faith and take us back to our core... Jesus Christ, and the love he challenges us to share.

Shortly after, I had received word that Paul had decided to hand his life over to God, and be baptized.

Very shortly after me and Damo baptized him at the very creek, in the very spot that I was baptized only a few years ago.

I hope all of you can learn from this that no one is "unsavable". If you invest enough love into someone, they will eventually be able to see God. It doesn't take yelling or convincing. Just guiding.

I also challenge all of you. I would not have been able to help Paul nearly as much if I had not been equipped to do so. I challenge you to ask yourself... are you equipped for todays Pauls? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." When you really have to defend your faith... are you equipped?

Through this ordeal the Kingdom is a stronger and better kingdom. I look forward to a long lasting mentorship and friendship with Christianity's newest weapon.

Passionate Teens... Why I do what I do...

Throughout my recent trip to Johnson City, Tennessee there are a few main reasons why I couldn't help but think about how far I have come, and why I do what I do. It's kind of cool how that particular college has quite a bit of history with me. It's where I first decided to hand my life over to God. The next year it was where I first decided to go into full time ministry... and that is what i want to talk about now. When at CIY this year now as an interim youth pastor, I got to see why I made the decision in the first place. The one word to describe the reason is... Passion. I got to see students giving all of their energy and emotion into worship, prayer, and helping other kids in the group. If even 1/10th of that passion could be harnessed for the kingdom. This youth group... This Church... This Town... Well they would be changed for the good forever.

So I captured just a little clip from this week of the passion that drives me every single day...

On the road again...

So I am currently in Johnson City, Tennessee for Christ in Youth's MOVE conference. For those of you who don't know I actually started this blog because of my internship last year with C.I.Y. throwing these same conferences. That is actually where my blog is going to begin tonight. It has been really exciting see a bunch of friends that I had toured with last year just randomly down here, but at the same it has been equally as difficult. It has honestly been hard for me to be down here, and to not be directly involved in making the conferences happen. Perhaps I have some kind of weird control issues, or maybe I just genuinely miss the job. I have been talking to my girlfriend Melissa several times about just missing the impact that CIY has on teens, and the possibility of being involved with large conference planning sometime in the future. I think it's a really cool thing. Anywho, at the least it has gotten me very excited for our middle school conference Stretch. I look forward to going into full steam plan mode when I get home. Hope to blog again before the trip home. Peace.

Dangerous Wonder... I GET IT!

So last week I decided to step a little out of the norm, take a short break from work and have a nice 3 day adventure trekking the Appalachian Trail. Ever since trekking in Fiji it has just been something I have found so exhilarating. So me and my last roomate from Eastern, Bryan Jones, not to be confused with my senior pastor Brian Jones, hit the trails late Thursday night at the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.

I found very quickly that hiking at night can potentially be a very BAD idea...

Even with our snazzy head lamps we could hardly see. The blazes on the trail were somewhat faded, and there were trees knocked down all over the trail from a very large storm that they got in that area a few days prior. About 2 miles down the trail we ran into a down tree, and began the difficult task of searching for where the path continued on the opposite side. After about 10 minutes of searching, we had still not found the path, and decided if we should make the executive decision to hike back down to the Jeep, and drive to our next checkpoint.

Finally the decision was made to head back... HOWEVER, we quickly realized that we had gone back down the mountain a different way than we had come up, and we had run right into the REAL Appalachian Trail, which was NOT the one we were hiking on... If we would have continued we would have hiked all night to nowhere. We had eventually gotten to a spot where we laid down our tents and continued the next day.

The next day was just... Hard...

We hiked basically uphill for about 8 hours that day... When we finally reached our checkpoint 15 miles later we were absolutely exhausted. We were sore, our legs felt like Jello, and man were we excited to find a shelter. They have these shelters along the AT for hikers to hang out, and not have to set up a tent. So we set up camp, took showers in the freezing spring, and cooked a nice freeze dried dinner. Shortly after we set up camp we were greeted by two separate groups. The first was a man in his mid 40's named Gene, and the next group was two women in their mid-40's as well.

Our time spent with these people was so much fun, we laughed, we gave advice about the trail that was ahead of us the next day, we shared our food, we talked about our home lives and what has lead us to be in the middle of nowhere that very night. We had just met these three people, but it felt like I've known them all my life by the time we parted ways the next day. At the very end of our stay with them, the topic came up of what I do for a living. We told them we are youth ministry majors and and work at churches, and they told us immediately that they were Christians as well. It was an incredible experience.

The last day was spent doing a lot of downhill, we also got to jump in the Potomac river, and lastly have a huge "ManBurger" immediately following our 45 mile journey. It's moments like that where I just feel so... alive... It's what I live for... It's what I write about. Heck, if even one person can get a little look inside a reckless life for Christ by reading this rambling, than I will be one happy man.

So what I learned:

1 ) - Even when it is dark in your life, and you are a little scared and not quite sure where you are going, doesn't mean that you should ever give up the adventurous attitude. With a true, genuine faith in Jesus Christ, you will come to find that the woods will end eventually... A clearing will come...

2 ) - If you want something bad enough... You will have to WORK YOUR (fill in the blank) off to get it... the reward will follow. Sometimes when life seems to be all uphill, you have to work really hard to get up it, but when you do... there isn't a better feeling. Working hard is definately a big part of the dangerous wonderer's life.

3 ) - Sometimes being Religious can really get in the way of being Spiritual. Right after meeting our friends in the shelter on the trail, I immediately had this weird feeling that this is what Acts 4 is like:

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.


I now work at a church, and this time I got to spend seeing the world as God created it, and not necessarily knowing what was coming next was probably the closest I have felt with Got in months. Don't ever let Religion get in the way of your faith. Continue fighting to learn more, and to do what truly makes you feel alive. God has given us the feeling of happiness to be used abundantly... go live in harms way... go down paths you may be unfamiliar with... Dangerous Wonder... I get it...

And I thought they were learning from us...

As you may know I spent this last week on a new kind of adventure down in the dry, hot world of Texas, Mexico, and New Mexico. Partnering with an organization called Casas Por Cristo, we sent two teams to Juarez, Mexico to build two houses for two incredibly deserving families. Although a completely different part of the world than Fiji, the last country I visited, I found several commonalities. However these commonalities are with the people that I had ventured into these places with. It is certainly easy to walk into Juarez and just be baffled by the incredible percentage of people who live under the poverty line. It's easy to ask such questions as "Why don't these people do anything to move out of these shacks built out of cardboard and wood scraps." It's really easy to come over the border and to say wow, these people are just so poor... These people are just so lacking... The more and more I adventure though the world, the more and more I get to know the hearts of the people on it, the more I see that we've really got it all so backwards. I come to Juarez to find that those families did more for most of us than we could have ever done for them. It's incredible how poor you can be and still have more than most of the people coming to help you.

I recall one night from the trip when we all got together at the end of the night, and one of our leaders asked us just a simple questions. "What do you think?"

Just one simple question. I wasn't ready to hear all of the answers to follow. Answers that spoke of tough guys being completely broken down to nothing. Answers that suddenly any problems between a husband and a wife were just not simply important anymore. Answers that described in detail how lacking a life is when it is not focused on those around us. How is it that 32 people can travel thousands of miles to come and work on a house, and the whole time it was more of God working on our hearts.

The reason I started this blog to begin with was to motivate any who may read to look past a normal Christianity that was truly surface, and to reach at a ridiculously close relationship with Jesus Christ that drive you to love people in a way that almost appears well... odd.

This trip only supported the feelings I already had of what it looks like to truly be alive. I felt alive when I was working my butt off in a dust storm, thirsty and tired, for the King of Kings. I felt alive when I looked in the eyes of a family that was just given a house for absolutely nothing. I felt alive when we gave them that house then told them that it was a "free gift from Jesus." I felt alive when I got to bear my soul with 30 people who can instantly feel like family. You can only go so far before you have to think to yourself. "This is how God intended life to be..."

As I read through Acts 4 yet again, the words just mean so much more to me now:

"32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. "

It's interesting how those words can seemingly come to life when you put yourself in the right situations...

So I guess you can look at this post as more than informational... perhaps as a plea. I plea that you look deeply into your heart. I plea that you analyze what you are all about. I plea that you question what your walk with God is all about. I plea that you ask yourself who your life is all about. I plea that you take chances. I plea that you make yourself uncomfortable. I plea that you will work for change... You don't even have to be a Christian to ask yourself these hard questions. You just have to try real hard to answer them.

The more and more I get to meet all kinds of people all around the world the more I am realizing that I don't know, or I've gotten wrong. I went into this journey thinking I could teach so many people so many things. When in reality, it has been me doing all of the learning all along...

And lastly to my brothers and sisters of CCV who took this journey as well, you are all such gifted and incredible people. It was my privilege to serve next to you all...

An "ENFP" Stepping Out of the Box

Sometimes it's easy to feel like the world has just put us in a box. What I am talking about is beyond the box that stereotypes put us in. At CCV when you want to come on staff, or even become a volunteer you have to take a Myers Briggs Test, and then you also have to take a spiritual gifts test. Now there are a few things I love about these tests and a few things I hate about these tests. Check em' out.

What I like:
The Myers Briggs test especially helps you learn more about the direction you should be heading in. The test puts together all of your strengths and specific personality traits and puts them nicely into 4 letters to give you a little idea of what makes you tick the way that you do. The spiritual gifts test is also a good test to take. This test will really help you indicate your strengths, and help you decipher what aspects of ministry that you should be serving in. I really do love both of these tests, but I want to move on to talking smack about them for a second. And then finish with a Disclaimer!

What I don't like:
There is one problem that I dislike about each of these tests, and those are roadblocks. Once you take a test, and land a certain letter code, or a certain strand of spiritual gifts, it's easy to assume that person is unable to fit in any of those other categories. Let me explain my situation. I happen to be an ENFP. This pegs me as an Extrovert, someone who uses Intuition, a Feeler and a Perceiver. Now you can imagine how someone seeing these tests would say, "Adam can't just relax, and not talk, or be antisocial." Well let me tell you what, it's a lot more difficult if people peg you as someone unable to do so! I happen to work at a Cafe' that has a few customers during a 8 hour shift, and I do juuust fine to the surprise of many! We need to stay away from the assumption that the ability to Sense, Think and Judge are not options for an ENFP. Because my leading Spiritual Gifts are Discernment, Wisdom and leadership does not make me unable to Administrate.

Now let me finish with this disclaimer:

It is very important that you come to the realization that certain people will always be strong and weak in certain areas. It's important to realize God has given each of us very specific spiritual gifts to glorify his kingdom. If we were all the same tool we would not get anywhere. You can find the Bible littered with scriptures of Spiritual Gifts in 1 Cor 12, Romans 12, and 1 Pet 4 etc... They aren't in there so many times for nothing, there is an important role of these gifts.

HOWEVER:

It is very important that at the same time we push our fellow followers to grow in areas that they may be weaker at that we may be stronger at. We can also never assume that because something is not necessarily someones strength that the CAN'T do it. I'm going to be honest, I will never be able to teach like Melissa can, and she may not be able to discern the way I do. But sometimes when you give people the benefit of the doubt, they can truly surprise you. Maybe you need to get out of a box... or just maybe you have to let someone else out of theirs.

Until next time Matt Silver...

Brian Jones said it best when he said that this isn't Matt leaving, but us Sending out Matt to do what God has built him to do. As hard as it is to accept, I couldn't agree with him more. Over the 5 years I have gotten to know Matt, I have grown more than I ever imagined. So in honor of Mr. Silver, I thought I would dedicate this blog to Matt, and...



THE TEN THINGS I WILL MISS THE MOST ABOUT MATT SILVER!

1) The Matt Wave
-If you know Matt Silver you know about the well... flagrant wave that Matt does to say hello, it's almost like how someone would hold a sock puppet, and he twinkles his fingers. If you know what I am talking about than you are laughing hysterically, if not, than you probably think I am crazy.

2) The Matt Silver Patented Serious Face
-If you have been in Matt's group for a few years you know the face Matt makes when he is dead serious or angry. If you know Matt, this is one of the scariest things you will see in a lifetime. Watch out for the Matt Scary Face.

3) Wrestling
-If you are a GUY from Matt's ministry, than you have tried to fight Matt at one given time. I say tried because Matt is wayyyy tougher than he looks, and you will lose. I only witnessed Matt tap out once to Nick Bonavita, the captain of our wrestling team in highschool. They only tapped out because they were out of breath after rolling around for 10 minutes.

4) C.I.Y.
-If you've gone on a CIY trip with Matt, then you have really seen him shine. Silver loves to get to know people on a much higher level. Most likely the closest any of us have ever felt with Matt was on one of these trips. It was on these very trips that Matt Baptized me only a handful of years ago.

5) Advice
- If you've ever made a bad decision, you can bet that Matt was there to offer better advice than mostly anyone else could give you. Matt got me through some really rough spots in my walk, in my relationship, with my family, with my school, and basically with any hard spot I've ever hit. He was always there to offer guidance. Thats what makes Matt not just a mentor, but a friend. I hope to come back to Matt and Carrie one day with my wife when I am older, and thank them even more then.

6) The crack
- "There is a crack in my bed", and that is what I will really miss about Silver. For the most part you will not really understand this one unless YOU are Matt Silver. ahhh, good times.

7) Yeahhhhh BOY
- You old school Rioters will know exactly what I am talking about. The yeah boys, and the Matt Silver Dialect will live on for years and years. I can still hear the yeah boys being yelled out for years to come. "thas niceeeee"

8) Late Nights
- I WAS the "that guy" of the youth group at one given time. Matt recognized from the first second I walked into youth group that I will take a little extra time and patience. Matt hung out with me at Riot hours after everyone else left. He stayed hours after I was even legally allowed to be out. We talked about everything. These are the weeks that Matt was Jesus to me. Who knows if I'd be here if it wasn't for these long nights.

9) Opportunities
- Matt believed in me. He believed I would succeed in ministry, even when even I sometimes doubted that. He trusted me to give the message to over 150 riot and impact students. That is an incredible responsibility that not everyone gets trusted with. I think I yelled at Matt Silver the first time he asked me about God. We were in a pizza shop just chillin'. Now look where we are. It's incredible.

10) A friend.
-Not only was Matt a great youth pastor for all of us, but he was an even better friend. When you hung out with Matt you never really knew what to expect, but you knew he was going to make you laugh somehow. We watched Matt grow from a crazy prankster to an incredible father right in front of our eyes. Whether it was laughing or crying we can all admit that although we will see Matt again we will always cherish Matt's heart. It will live on in all of us. Going on in the future, who knows when a youth group of my own will meet up with his in some random part of the world. Matt always called me a "life friend". A friend that you will always have whether you like it or not. Well I tell you what, I look forward to it...

A piece of history

So as many of you are surely aware of, the Democratic process to pick a nominee to represent the party has been quite a battle. You have Barack Obama, a symbol of hope, but also inexperience. And then you have Hillary Clinton, a symbol of Experience but distrust. And then you have them both attacking the Republican Nominee John McCain, stating "we don't need a 3rd term of George Bush."

I must admit, that throughout this election I have gotten more than interested. I watch CNN pretty much every day to support my candidate of interest Barack Obama. I run into some very large pros and cons that I occasionally am not sure how to handle.

The Cons - His liberal stance. I really like what he stands for and what he represents and how he presents himself and his solutions for this country. However, can I support a candidate who clearly does not oppose abortion? I know many people of faith love to get fired up on politics when someone doesn't back pro-life. However, what if I believed that my candidate would save more lives with his good stance on health care, defense and the economy? I mean, no matter who gets elected, r0e vs. wade will never get overturned.

The Pros - From the start Barack Obama has been a symbol of HOPE for everyone. I have never heard a speaker who can get such a crowed fired up with the point that our country is going in the wrong direction, and He is the one to do something about it. He will fight the race barrier and the inexperience barrier to prove that we together as a people can change this world.

Curiosity finally got the best of me when I decided to head to a rally in the City. I went to hear him speak in front of the historic mile in between the constitution center, the liberty bell and town hall. Me and 35,000 others screamed out O-BA-MA as "Will I AM" from the black eyed peas sang "Where is the Love". As you can guess I was standing up on a platform starting the chant myself with the cool sign my lovely girlfriend got for me. I waited for 4 hours to hear a 25 minute speech. This was the largest Obama rally in history, right where it all began in Philly. Perhaps one day that speech, and this man will be a huge part of our history. Feel free to share your thoughts.

The Key to Contentment... Well... Keys.

I'm not sure how I've done it, but I truly have found the key to being happy in life... I mean truly happy in life. Well, I guess I narrowed it down to a few key points that I think can completely change your life if you are honest with yourself. Many go their whole lives without ever truly being content. We chase all of these things to make us content, but we never quite get there. If we just get those grades, then man, we will get into that school. If we get that GPA in that certain major then I can land that perfect job. Then when I have that job I can buy myself all kind of stuff, and I can provide for my family. Then they will love me more, and I can be happy with them and all of my stuff. You know what. I say we cut out all of the middle men and just strive for contentment going strait to the source... God. That doesn't come easy, but I think there is a way to get there.

The first thing we need to do is to really get to know ourselves. This is a vital thing that many forget before they walk into ministry, or even before they start to walk with the Lord period. It's really next to impossible to figure out how God is going to play into your life and heart if you're not even sure who you are to begin with. It sets the building blocks of confidence. You can't be confident in God if you don't know at the core of your being who you are. Find out what your passions are. Get to a point where you don't feel you have to succumb to pressures of other people. Be comfortable in your own shoes, and be proud of that.

The next thing you need to do is Chase God. What I mean by that is you should try to seek God's face as much as possible. Try to learn who Jesus Christ really is. Seek as much knowledge as possible. You will never figure God out, because he is outside of the reality that we look from. But the more and more you learn, the better you will be able to configure what you really do believe. In turn this will help you learn more about yourself as part of the first part. One of the best ways to do this is to stick with many people with more wisdom than you. Those who are in leadership in your church or those who have been walking with the Lord for many years always have something useful to give to you. Another way to seek knowledge is of course my reading scripture. You really need to be pursuing the word, and being okay if it doesn't speak to you at that very time. It will eventually if you allow it. I promise.

The last thing, and of course the most difficult thing that will get us to true contentment, is true submission. I need to be honest, this kind of submission isn't easy, but it is what we need to strive for. This is the submission that means humbling down and sacrificing our wants for the joy of others. This submission means not always getting your way. This submission means doing what you feel God wants you to, even if it well... sucks. That is where the catch is. Complete submission will be the most difficult yet most gratifying thing you can possibly do with your relationship with God. If you do those first two steps, then finally hand your heart to God to take care of, He will guard it and make it grow. You will find joy in things you never thought you would find joy in. You will be a Christian like Jesus Christ intended you to be. The hard part is complete submission has a lot of aspects to it. You have your spiritual disciplines of prayer, scripture, meditation and many others. Also have to submit to who God thinks should or should NOT be in your life. You may also have to submit to where he wants you to go, and what he wants you to do. This may not always line up with your plans or hopes, but if you truly are following Him, it will be right where you are supposed to be.

Obviously there is a whole lot more to this whole system. This is only the icing on the cake, but if I were asked right now, "Adam, I want to be happy, I want to be content with life... what should I do..." Well then, now you know my answer.

We all have hobbies... right?

So from time to time the norm just becomes a little too... well... normal. Perhaps a little excitement in something in our lives would just give us that little kick start that we need to have. Maybe thats why we have hobbies. Perhaps we have hobbies that are passed down from our parents. Dad played in the marching band, and decided to pass down his beloved trumpet to you. Maybe you are influenced by the people you are around. A coworker decides he wants to hit the tennis courts, you think he's a cool guy, so you tag along. We all have some type of hobby whether you know it or not.

I recently picked up a few hobbies for the reason that I just wanted to try something new! I started off by acquiring a quite large fish tank and stand. I had a good ol' time setting it all up and adding a whopping 40 gallons of water and 4 very little starter fish. This is cool to me because well, I hate pets. I figured this was the next best thing. You know that feeling you get when your dog comes and sits on your lap, well yeah, I get that when my fish come to the top to eat... kinda. So either way, it has been interesting maintaining the tank and trying to find new fish or turtles or frogs to put into my tank to be my new friends.

Another hobby I recently picked up is guitar. I started my first acoustic guitar lessons about a week ago, and am leasing a sweet Carlo Robelli to practice on. I really love music, and I have always admired the abilities of some of my favorite artists such as John Mayer or Jack Johnson to just turn a piece of wood into the most relaxing sounds on earth. Perhaps if I stick with it, I may get good at it! I already did the drum thing, so it will be cool to be a little more well rounded.

All of this to bring up the question, what kind of hobbies did Jesus have? We all think we know Jesus so well, but at times when I ask questions like that it's easy to feel distant. I think at the same time it makes him feel more like a human who had likes and dislikes. I can picture Jesus walking from town to town, or just kickin' it with the disciples. Did he play the sports they played in his time, or was he always in studying scripture (he was extremely proficient with scripture) because thats what students desiring to be a rabbi or teacher did? Did Jesus love to ride boats, or is it just how he got around along with his fisherman followers?

A lot of times it's hard to relate to Jesus because of the mask that we put on him. We always see him so stern or Mr. Rogers-like. I figured it was worth while to step outside the box a little and wonder what hobbies did the man who give His life for us have. I mean, can you count walking on water as a hobby?

And Finally Some Answers

I could never ever explain how this last month has turned and twisted to completely reveal how overwhelmingly good our God is. So I left you off with my thoughts coming out of returning home from Fiji. It was a really hard task to come home to so many people who will never quite understand why I even came home to begin with. As I expected I immediately received some words of doubt. I had to listen to people with lots of wisdom whom I looked up to very much tell me very honestly that they believe I made a wrong decision and acted off of emotions. That is hard to listen even if you know they are wrong. I almost convinced myself they were right, then quickly reverted back to the fact that it was a very real thing and they will never understand what was laid on my heart that day. On the other side of things I did receive lots of praise for trusting God even if it makes no sense. Trusting God even if it means losing credits, losing money, and having some question your integrity. So as you can see a little bit of mixed emotions. It hasn't been easy playing the guessing game as to why God would bring me home all this time either. It has been some huge mystery until now that is. There are few distinct things that have happened in the last month that have made me have to sit back and go... wow. If I was still in Fiji, that would not have happened. After jumping on deck with Matt Silver in Student Ministries I got heavily involved. I went to the Pennsylvania Christian Teen Convention with the youth group the day after 3 long days of travel. I started going to all of the meetings, and hanging out with a bunch of students. I then got to spend some time on another trip to Camp Tockwogh to take those relationships to even the next level. While returning from that trip I had a conversation with a student I had taken under my wing for years. He had decided to have me baptize him that very next day at youth group. That very youth group that just so happened to be my very first time speaking the message. Matt had given me the privilege to speak to over 150 students that night about Faith in a world full of Pain. I felt at home. I knew that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Also lining up in my life at the same time was the unexpected adventure that is who I will call Jeff. Jeff was a guy in my small group that I was leading in conjunction with youth group. Jeff told me that he wasn't sure if he was going to make it to all of our meetings because he was going to be homeless in two weeks. This his me hard, and I did everything in my power to find Jeff a home for two solid weeks before landing him an incredible home with a woman to love him like a Mom can the day he lost his home. This may be a small thing to me, or a small thing to you, but now Jeff has a home. If I had denied God in returning home, Jeff would most likely be "on his way back to lock-up" in the quote directly from him. He has a clean slate and new chance at life that he wouldn't have had before. But holy cow it doesn't stop there. So to even go beyond the sermon or the baptism or even Jeff, another blessing was set in my lap to only reaffirm how crazy God is. As you are all very aware of by now, it was quite a blow learning about Matt Silver leaving CCV. That is the man that picked me up when I was lost. He invested so much time in me. He became my friend and he brought me to Christ no matter what it took. It was only 5 short years ago that Matt Silver Changed my life forever, and now he will be moving to a new place. I could only imagine what it would have been like to come back from Fiji and know that Matt had already left. So I find out the day after finding out about Matt, and the day after finding Jeff a home that the church is hiring interns. As you could guess I jumped at the opportunity, and I can't even explain how happy I am to be able to work at CCV. I get to do what I love, with the people I love, for the people I love. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for absolutely blind obedience. It's weird how the puzzle pieces are kind of beginning to put themselves in place a little. I am sure that I will never quite understand why God does what he does. But seeing some answers to some real big questions is really showing me to never doubt, even when everyone else does. It has been next to impossible to try to break down the most eventful month of my life down to a few paragraphs, but I hope by reading this you can have a little idea of why I'm here, and where I'm going. And if you get an idea of where I'm going, let me know. Because I'm pretty much winging it. God is so good. Trust him with everything. It will turn out alright, I promise. Maybe not now, maybe not soon, but when you hand over control, you can't lose...

So What Did Happen In Fiji?

So, the infamous question that seems to always come up time and time again. I think to try fully explain the yearnings God has put on my heart throughout this process would almost sell Him short. As most of you already know when I left for Fiji I was incredibly sick. I was running 104 degrees throughout the whole flight to L.A. and remained ill for the following 3 grueling days of traveling to Sau Bay which was to be my final resting place until May 21st. The first week there, which included by 21st birthday was one of incredible discomfort and hardship. To be completely honest that first week, I did want to come right home. However that feeling didn't last long. After becoming acclimated with the weather and different environment, along with becoming family with the other students instantly made my whole life easier. I can't tell you a time when I felt so dependent on God. We lived off of the land and off of each other. We spent the majority of our time chatting about God, playing with large knives, hiking, snorkeling, kayaking, worshiping and throwing coconuts around the compound. It was incredible, I was home... As you can all guess this wasn't the end for me however. God put something on my heart as heavy as a brick. It's that feeling that something definately isn't right, but I'm not sure what. Some may say I just let emotions get the best of me. But this was so much bigger than that. This was something real, and I was more than willing to listen. After approaching the director I was instructed to take time and really think about all of this. I spent that week in prayer, in the word, and even in quiet meditation down on the beach, trying to understand what God was asking of me. And it was very clear to me all at once that God wanted me at home. This was not easy for me to grasp or understand. It was so hard to get to that place to begin with that I thought that there was no way God would take me out of here if only He was the reason I was there to begin with. But it was clear. This has happened in my life before, I can only explain it as something that happens to you between a feeling and a vision. Either way, blindly I followed what God had asked of me. The hardest part was knowing that this wasn't possible without opposition. I feel as if everyone there made it incredibly difficult to make that decision, but in the end I submitted and followed God home. By the time I had actually gotten off the island I spent about a month there, and it was the most life changing month of my life. I don't regret going, and I am sure I was there for a reason, I could name hundreds of possible reasons. But for whatever which reasons God called me to be in Collegeville, Pennsylvania for the time being, so here I stay, only to be finally getting some answers now. You must know this is the incredibly abbreviated version. Some of the specifics are still kind of painful to talk about to be honest. It is something I will carry with me forever, and the journey continues....

Back to Life!

Because of the crazy changes and the never ending adventure that is my life, I'm going to be bringing the blog back to life! I will be starting with some journal entries from my time in Fiji, so keep your eyes open! Peace & Love.