Ignite, La Croix's ministry to the Southeast Campus, has kicked off for the fall semester. There are hundreds of thousands of students populating campuses around the country and the statistics show that college campuses have become a true mission field. You can be a part of reaching these students, and you can do so from beside your bed at home, during lunch at work, or just about anywhere - by praying. And here is a tool you can use to guide your prayers.

“Pray40”, is a 40 day prayer vigil for college campuses that begins today. People can go to the here and sign up to receive daily prayers. It's a great way to make an impact on campus!

- Rob

If you missed Thursday and Friday (and the weekend for that matter), I'm sorry to say you missed a lot. There were several inspiring talks regarding servant leadership in various arenas, and there were several messages of hope that ministered to leaders right where they are.

If you get a chance, you'll want to follow up with Christine Caine after her great talk -there is a webcast with Christine that we'll be hooked up to at the church during the lunch hour this Thursday.

- Rob

Edited: 08/09/2010 at 12:06 PM by rmehner

Thought I would share with you one thing from yesterday's summit sessions. These are "5 R's for resisting temptation" from Pastor Adam Hamilton.

1. Remember Who You Are - A Child of God
2. Recognize the Consequences - Will I feel alive after I do this or dead and ashamed?
3. Rededicate Yourself to Christ - "Stop, drop and pray - it's like a cold shower."
4. Reveal Your Struggle to a Trusted Friend - Secrecy is powerful and confession diffuses the power.
5. Remove Yourself from the Situation - Better to leave whole than to stay and be broken.

- Rob

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. - Hebrews 13:7

I just returned from Asheville, NC where my wife, daughter and I were visiting my son and my sister-in-law for her 40th birthday. We had all rented a little house (we had to get creative with sleeping space) up in the mountains above a river; just a beautiful and fun place to be. But an "icing-on-the-cake" opportunity arose when I called Dr. Bob Tuttle, whom many of you know and who is a great friend of La Croix and mentor to several on our staff. He is leading the trip to Israel that several of us are taking in November.

I called Tuttle because he has retired just outside of Asheville. Retired from teaching, I should say, not retired from staying busy; so I was not sure I would catch him at home. I did, and to my delight he invited me to his home for breakfast. I had to get up at 6:00 and drive an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, but was it ever worth it. Two and a half hours of sitting with Tuttle overlooking the Smokey Mountains and apple orchards, meandering through his gardens, and praying with one another. I could practically see Jesus sitting on the other side of the table with us. Wisdom, peace and beauty wrapped up with some delicious coffee and food.

Tuttle is one I often remember and imitate. He has had a profound impact on my life and for that I am grateful. It is important that we all have leaders like this. Is there someone in your life whose faith you would want to imitate? If not, do you WANT a person like that influencing your life? If so, where might you find them? Let's you and I talk about that sometime.

- Rob

I just returned from a week of camp at Blue Mountain Retreat Center outside of Fredericktown. The camp is for kids going into 6th, 7th and 8th grades. The last night is an opportunity for the kids to "say so." Twenty-four kids gave a first time confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. For the counselors there, this makes the week of heat and exhaustion worth it.

Consider these two bits of scripture.

But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." - Romans 10:8-11

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. - John 12:42-43

What a thrill; 24 kids for the first time confessed Christ because they were more interested in the glory of God than the glory of their peers. And over 40 others recommitted their faith to Christ. That's a good week!

- Rob

Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. - Galatians 1:1

My small group is starting a study of Galatians. The very first verse hit me harder than it normally would because we have commissioned two mission teams this weekend (a youth team to Toronto and a group of over 40 to Swaziland, Africa) and have another one in Russia.

These teams originate from La Croix Church in Cape Girardeau, just like Paul originated from the blossoming church in Jerusalem. But Paul reminds us and our mission teams who really sends us out - not men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.

- Rob

I was sitting in the room with my son, Michael, recently as he was watching the movie The Incredibles. He likes to listen to a line over and over (part of his autism) and the line he kept playing that day got my attention.

Mr. Incredible drives into his driveway and a little neighborhood kid sits there staring at him. Mr. Incredible, who was not in a good mood, says,

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

The kids says, "I don't know, something amazing I guess".

Mr. Incredible hangs his head and says under his breath, "Me too, Kid".

I think many of us, like Mr. Incredible, can become disillusioned by life. We're waiting for something amazing to happen. Life doesn't look like we imagined it would. We are sure we were meant for more than this!

What we don't realize is that God works right in the midst of the ordinary. We watch for "amazing" and we miss magical moments. We expect God to do huge things in us and through us, and we miss the everyday ways that He blesses and uses us. We can miss opportunities to love and to be Christ to the world because they weave in and out of our everyday experiences.

Jesus walked among normal people. He seemed to do extraordinary things on normal days. He taught life-changing lessons on normal walks from place to place. He poured into and left His message in the hands of ordinary people.

He was amazing. He was amazing on normal days with normal people.

Maybe we don't have to be "incredible" to be "amazing"!

-Angela

Perhaps you've heard the term "nay-sayer" and know that it refers to someone who doubts and is contrary to pretty much everything that is presented. Today I'm coining a new term, "nay-prayer." By this, I'm referring to anyone who doubts or is contrary to anything regarding prayer or for whom praying seems to do nothing but increase doubt and negativity toward God. Pretty much describes all of us at some times or in some ways, doesn't it?

I believe that God intends prayer to be communication between us and him that is anchored in an established relationship of trust, love, and knowledge of one another. However, the opposite is very often true; prayer is borne out of a need or desire we have for a specific outcome and our trust, love, and understanding of God is formed from the results. In other words, instead of trusting God and knowing his character before we pray and regardless of the outcomes, we judge God's character and faithfulness by whether or not we get what we want. This creates "nay-prayers" for sure.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus, who was not hindered by sin nor a lack of faith, did NOT get what his heart desired - he did NOT get the cup of suffering he was about to drink taken away from him as he asked. He did find the strength and peace to carry out God's will, and he found it in the Faithful One he already knew loved him. His relationship with his Father was not at stake with the outcome of his request to be spared that deep suffering.

- Rob

A heart to offer
A soul to give
An old life to die to
A new life to live

Our ransom is paid
Freed from the past
Called to God’s service
Equipped for the task

Armored with boldness,
With faith, truth and right
Conquer the Darkness
And Walk in His light

“… Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do, it is already happening. Don’t you see it? …” Isaiah 43:18-19

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!" - Isaiah 30:20-22

I read this yesterday in my daily reading, and I love the imagery here. Our teacher opening our eyes and ears to see him and hear his direction with the result that we see our idols for what they are - unclean things or filthy rags.

Lord, in the midst of affliction and adversity, show yourself to us and guide us away from the things that have stolen our hearts...our hearing...our sight; and lead us to you. Amen

- Rob

Obedience and Abiding go hand-in-hand. Check this out from John 14 and see if you can see the relationship.

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

...If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

- Rob

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." - John 17:20-24

Jesus prayer for his disciples, the original twelve and all who would believe after them, is that we would "be in" him (think "ABIDE") as he and the Father are in one another. The results of such an abiding according to Jesus' prayer are a strong witness to the world, display of Christ's power, unity among believers, and a nearness to Jesus that he longs for. Could it be that if we are not abiding the opposite would prevail; a poor witness to our faith, bearing no fruit for the Kingdom of God, dissension and quarreling among believers, and a distant relationship with Christ?

Abide and obey.

- Rob

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. - John 15:4-12

This is the first, and really the best evidence for the theory I proposed in my last post - that the NT after the Gospels really boils down to "abide and obey." Jesus really could not say it any clearer. We must abide or wither and die spiritually. And we must obey his commands to "remain" (or keep abiding) in his love. And the primary example he gives for obedience is to love others as he has loved us.

- Rob

The mission trip to Guatemala turned out to be more than anyone expected or signed up for! In order, here is what they experienced:

earthquake
volcano
flooding
mudslides
a night stuck on a bus trying to get to the airport

They also experienced the grace of God in a very real way as they made connections down to the second, peace that they should not have had, and grace as they finally got on the plane and home safely.

Brett will be writing in the next day or 2 to give a full report. He told me that he was amazed and grateful for how awesome his team was, how calm they stayed and how well they followed!

Bless the Lord for their safe return. And we bless the Lord for what a blessing they were to the people there!

-Angela

Edited: 06/01/2010 at 11:29 AM by abeise

Some of the students from Ignite are in Guatemala (along with a few of La Croix's own) on a mission trip at New Life Children's Home. If you would like to keep track of them, you can here.

- Rob

From the Lenten Reader, by Mary Fletcher (18th Century spiritual leader and friend of John Wesley...so pardon the old English):

He calls thee to the closest union. and though he knows thou art a perverse rebel, and cannot feel a grain of love but what he puts into thee: yet he doth wait that he may be gracious, and is a thousand times more ready to save thee than thou art to be saved. And so doth he delight in that communion, that the spirit continually cries, "Come."

Tonight is Encounter, an event designed to create sacred space for you to encounter the Lord through reflection, praise, prayer and the Lord's Supper. Come.

- Rob

My favorite line from John Ortberg's "guest appearance" was actually a quote from someone else whose name escapes me now.

"Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can stand."

- Rob

There is a jar that sits in the corner of my friend's living room. It sits on the floor under a tall, narrow, round lamp table. Most people never notice it even when the light is on. It wasn’t in some king’s castle. It isn’t as old as the hills. It doesn’t have bright colors or stunning patterns on it. In fact, it is rather unremarkable; an earthy, brown color that looks a lot like dried mud. This particular jar is plagued with tiny, barely-noticable cracks. If examined closely, you would easily see that this jar has been broken several times and glued back together. There isn’t anything important about this jar. If you were to pour water into the jar it would run all over the floor.

BUT...

in this plain, crack-filled, mud-colored jar are some beautiful flowers. Some people see those flowers as weeds, but the owner chose these flowers specifically for this jar and he tends to them so that they fill the room from floor to ceiling with the sweet smells of beauty. The aroma saturates the carpets, paint and seat cushions of the chairs and couch. It bleeds out from under the front door to greet all who visit. It seeps down the hall, following the children to their room where they do homework in the afternoon and sleep at night. There is nowhere that is not touched with the lovely scent.

May I be that jar.

- thanks to Gianetta Dunn for her contribution

In case you do not know them, I wanted to introduce you to Kendon and Wendy Wheeler, and the New Life Children's Home (NLCH) staff; La Croix supported missionaries. To do so, I encourage you to click on one or both of the links below. The tag line for NLCH is "children in crisis to children in Christ."

La Croix Website - Guatemala Page
NLCH Home Page

It dawned on me that this tag line applies to us all. We are all children in crisis - whether we recognize it or not - if we are not in Christ. And if we are in Christ, then he has a call and plan for us. Here is just a bit of it from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24:

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

May God's Holy Spirit "sanctify you through and through." Please pray for the Wheelers, our friends and coworkers in Christ. We have a short-term mission team made up primarily of SEMO students who are part of Ignite going to NLCH on May 21; you can pray for them as well.

- Rob

There is a woman in our church who writes poetry & short stories. I'm not sure if she wants me to use her name, but she sends me things from time to time and I wanted to share this with you.

The funniest thing happened. It would have gone unnoticed by most but it suddenly struck me as funny.

I had seen a dad walking with a young child, maybe four or five years old. The little girl was talking about something that was very exciting to her as she was waving her hands about. But the store was crowded and noisy so the man was having a hard time hearing his daughter. Finally, he stopped and knelt down in front of the little girl so that he could be eye level with her and give her his full attention. She heaved a sigh that sounded like it would burst her tiny body. She knelt in front of her father, too. I stepped back and wondered at the scene as it unfolded before me. She told her story to him as he patiently listened. When she was done, she stood, and they exchanged a hug. He stood only after he was sure that she had said all there was.

And God said, “It is good.”