Do what you do!

I am really enjoying this season of my life. I feel like for the first time, either in a really long time or ever, I am doing exactly what I have been made to do. I truly love my job at City Impact and working with teens! Helping them discover who they are, helping them discover what it means to be a follower of Him, teaching them to grow in their faith, I am so humbled that God would use me for this ministry. The staff City Impact has put together is astounding and the dedication to transforming students from the inside out is a wonderful vision.

I am also super blessed to be working with the students of Lincoln Christian School on the upcoming performances of the musical "HONK!" God gave me a great passion for drama and I am so thankful He has given me an outlet to use that creative side of myself. Not to mention the wonderfully talented students, teachers,  and parents who I have the joy of working beside. If you have a chance to come see us this weekend I can not encourage you enough to come see the show. Everyone has worked so hard, I am sure that you will be entertained.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with HONK! it is a modern, musical retelling of the classic The Ugly Duckling. Do not miss the importance of this story, just because it is a children's tale, there are many strong principles that can be learned from the journey of this young duckling called "Ugly". Love, Inner-beauty, refinement through hardships are themes that followers of Christ should be familiar with and they resound throughout this musical! They certainly resound with my journey to where I am today!

So here is the point, you were created for a specific reason...with a purpose...a reason for being...a unique calling only you can fill! Mine is to minster to kids through drama and City Impact; Ugly's was to be a swan; find out who God made you to be, then DO WHAT YOU DO!

Music Monday

At ILA last night we had a special visitor - Gospel Hip-Hop Artist Michael Fugitt! HE was awesome and did a fantastic job of getting the kids hyped!

He will be performing on Saturday April 28 at Peter Pan Park in Lincoln if you want to check it out... and here is a sample!

Good Friday!

This past weekend at ILA we had a great Easter Celebration. Our students went through the events Holy Week in a shortened version, we shared communion (with wine, not juice which was a surprise to the students), we had several students share a monologues that corresponded with the events of that day, and had an awesome dinner as a family.

I stated in my last blog that Holy Week is very dear to me as a believer and has been a big part of my ministry. It being Good Friday I was reading the words of Jesus today, as He spoke out from the cross. His words (or statements) that would change the course of humankind's relationship with the God of the Universe. Jesus died once for all and His proclamations from the cross are astounding.

"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing," Luke 23:34. Jesus told His disciples that His life would be forfeit for the forgiveness of sins. His death was the penalty of our Sin and all who believed in Him would have forgiveness. Being God, knowing that He would die for our sins, why did Christ call out for His Father to forgive? He already had stated that His sacrifice would be sufficient. It is the Nature of Christ reveled to us while still in His Earthly form; Jesus is, has been, and will always be our intercessory. He stands before God and serves as our advocate. In doing so on the cross He revels His nature to us.

"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise," Luke 23:41. Jesus shows that His redemption is for all who believe. Faith in Christ is our assurance  that we are adopted into His family and it is not limited to people based on their past deeds. The person Jesus told these words to was sentenced to death! God could reach a person who was in the process of being executed! If God can reach him, God can accept anyone into His family.

"Woman, behold your son, John behold your mother," John 19:26-27. This gives us insight to the humanity of Christ. He was concerned about His mother and asked His best friend to take care of her for Him. It is like the guy dying on the battlefield asking his friend to deliver a note to his wife for him. A tender moment among awful brutality.

"I thirst," John 19:28-29. John referred to Christ as the Word of God, made into flesh; God with us, Emmanuel. Jesus knew that all scripture and prophesy concerning His life and death must be fulfilled.

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani - My God, My God, why have you forsaken me," Mark 15:34. This one is interesting, is Christ in despair? Does He truly believe that God has left Him? That would be impossible as He, Himself is God! The hymns say "The Father turned His face away," but a true separation cannot happen. In fact, Jesus is quoting scripture! He is the Word of God and He is remembering the words of David as he penned Psalm 22. As He feels the weight of the sins of the world cast upon Him. Holding on to scriptures, He feels our pain at the thought of separation from God. This is not a cry of despair, but rather an encouraging word to Himself to keep going...to finish the task He was sent to do...God does not desire for us to be forsaken, forgotten, or separated from Him, through Christ we never have to experience that!

"It is finished," John 19:30. Done...OVER... FINISHED! His sacrifice is paid and being God, He claims it to be acceptable! Finished means just that! No more will will have to slaves to sin, our freedom has been paid for!

"Father, into your hands, I commit my Spirit," Luke 23:46. Jesus has shown His obedience to give up His life for us. With His dying words He offers up His spirit to His Father's Will!

Week before Holy Week.

I love Holy Week! I am always amazed at what God is walking me through as I prepare for this time. For 14 years Holy Week meant me be part of a drama, showing the events of that week 2000 years ago. I gained a deeper understanding of the events each time I took part. For a number of years I even had the blessing to portray Jesus (picture is me in Good Friday make-up).

But this year is completely different. There is no play, no performance to get ready for, no recreation to create. I am just telling the story. I loved hearing one of the many pastors I know deftly progressing throughout the week. The anticipation and frenzy of Palm Sunday....the beautiful uncertainty of Thursday ... the sobering despair of Good Friday ... the elation of Easter!

This year it is my turn to preach, to tell the story to a group of students...no make-up. I have been working hard to prepare power points, teachings, and relevant illustrations. I am looking forward to Palm Sunday when our ILA students will celebrate Easter as a group. Praying for God to be honored and for His story to be told well!

Words of encouragement!

It was an awkward transition to make. Most of the people who were supporting my family and I as missionaries know us well and love us dearly. They know our hearts and our desire to follow the Lord's leading. They understand God, His will, and how sometimes we have our course adjusted by Him. They love us and they are supportive of my new ministry with City Impact.
BUT......
There is still a creeping feeling that pops its head up from time to time. That voice that says "YOU FAILED", "YOU DIDN'T SEE IT THROUGH", "YOU QUIT"......judgment, condemnation, and guilt. This does not come from the people that supported us, the organization we were with, friends, family, or loved ones...it come from the enemy! I don't like letting people down!Sometimes I feel like I have...

Then I get a blessing that reminds me: The Lord is GOOD and I am exactly where He wants me!

The students at ILA have really started to connect to us! Caleb and Faith enjoy going to Sunday Nights. Renee is fitting in well with the HS girls class. I have herd that some of the students refer to me as "preacher". I had the opportunity to cook for all of our  kids and staff last weekend, pasta of course!  I am knee deep in planning an Easter service for our students and working on the curriculum for our next Bible Study. Awesome ministry, perfectly fits....but still sometimes that voice.

Renee ran into a pastor and theologian we know last week... She shared some of those feelings we have sometimes had....He simply replied "That's NONSENSE, you are right where God wants you to be! Michael and you were made for a job with City Impact."

That message also came through in sharing my story with the staff of Tuesday Night Bible Club. Everyone was so supportive and there is evidence of God's leading us to this ministry.

Finally I was listening to the Christian Radio and they were talking about how we are to be faithful to God's calling! We don't look at Abraham as a failure for not going through with sacrificing his son, but rather we celebrate him for the fact he was willing to give up everything for God. God simply changed his direction after Abraham stepped out in faith. Abraham was willing to follow God, even while looking at a deep personal loss. Why? Because he had faith; that God knew what He was doing; that God had Abraham's best interests in mind; that God had a bigger plan that Abraham didn't understand! Abraham knew all of these things, he must have, otherwise how could he have been faithful to what God asked him to do? How could he have looked at his son and said "God will provide the ram". He was not a quitter, God changed his direction!

Just like He has changed mine! Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement!

Feeling Inspired ... or full of info

I have been reading a lot! I mean a whole bunch of reading has gone on in my life....I feel like I have gone back to school. Seriously, the reading list that I have compiled over the past month has about 22 books on it! I now have access to 19 of them, so I need to get a few more and I have completed reading 17 so far! That is not counting the multiple curriculum books I have acquired and researched.

I am becoming more knowledgeable on urban youth ministry and multi-ethnic teaching and all that the church should be leading out in. It has been a wonderful time of discovery and learning. I am getting a clearer picture of how and why City Impact does ministry the way that they do and I'm excited to be apart of it!

Some of my favorites reads-
Beyond Charity by John Perkins
Deep Justice in a Broken World by Clark & Powell
Raising Up Young Heroes by Smith

All of this has confirmed that I am exactly in the position that God has wanted me in. I have had several opportunities to teach/preach to the students at Impact Leadership Academy and I have gotten some great feedback. I also planned and put on one of the biggest ILA events that comes around annually our Black History Month Celebration! With a ton of thanks to Lizzie and Ashley as well as Leadership Team leaders, it was a great night!  Black History Celebration went so well, I am working on planning our next big ILA event an Easter/ Holy Week celebration. I have started writing scripts for the students to perform and I am working on an outline for a message, its going to be an awesome night, I am praying God will continue to bless this ministry!

Why are you here?

Last night was my first official night of running program at ILA. It was a great night and I thank all of the teachers and faithful volunteers who make ILA happen each week.

Some of the highlights of the night included:

*Impromptu game of catchphrase during the hang out time.

*Being "initiated" with a display of my hand / eye coordination.
*Shepherd's Pie!

*GFG Shopping for middle school girls

*Sitting in on High School boys lesson and party time.

I attempted to answer the question "Why are you here?", by giving a message to the students. During that time in introduced myself and gave a bit of my story.  As I talked I began to turn the question to pose it to the students. I talked about all of the highlights we saw during our evening together but came to the conclusion that while all of those things are fun, good, and desirable to do....they in and of themselves were not a satisfactory answer to that question,  "Why are you here?"  The Lord gave me a message that the Gospel was the main reason that we were all there and a challenge to the students to say that they are being equipped to be "salt and light" in their schools and this community. Romans 1:16a "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." The gospel calls us to relationship with our maker; then as we seek to become more Christ-like it calls to action. To be a part of God's story, to minister to orphans, widows, and the least of these. God does not need us to minister to them, but rather allows us to be a part of this work.  I am grateful that this was our starting point. I look forward to the work that God will do through these students.