Life Change

So I love to celebrate the awesome things and I also genuinely love to share the hard things too. That's real life you know? The good and the bad. The pretty and the ugly. However, I definitely love it so much more when I get to share the good things. As you know, last weekend on Easter Sunday we got to worship and celebrate our risen Savior Jesus and we part of that was baptizing 5 people whose lives have been changed by the gospel.

Well, this past weekend we were able to take 10 students (6 boys and 4 girls w/3 adults) to the Northwest Baptist Convention student conference in Vancouver, WA. This was a first for many of our students and it was an awesome experience. 3 students vocally expressed their faith in Jesus for the first time (Austin, Heather and Jonathan) and all of us were challenged in one way or another. Two quick stories if you will indulge me...

First, Jonathan is an one of 4 brothers. He and his brother have been spending time with our church off and on for the past year. They have a rough home life to say the least. Their parents got divorced a couple years back and shortly thereafter their mom passed away. The boys dad isn't home much and things aren't always easy. However, Jonathan and his brother Daniel have been seeking Jesus. Both have a lot of questions and are very vocal about their questions. Both attended the retreat but when the time came for any new believers to stand publicly and declare their faith in Jesus, Jonathan stood proudly. It was so awesome Sunday at our churches worship service to hear Jonathan testify that he "got saved" this weekend! It was also awesome to get to explain communion to him and see him take the bread and the cup for the first time! Please continue to pray for Jonathan, Daniel, their 2 brothers and their father Jerome.

Another highlight of the trip happened when I was standing in line for lunch on Saturday. Two of our girls, Heather and Megan, came back from their break out session and Heather came running up to me to tell me what she learned. She told me that she learned that she is a "minister" too! She told me it wasn't just up to me to minister but it was the job of everyone in the church! I said praise Jesus! I thought, if only all believers understood, owned up to and lived out this reality. We are all called to be "ministers of reconciliation" and the Bible literally calls us ambassadors for Christ! It's awesome to see these kids learning these things for the first time.

Please pray for those whose lives were changed by the gospel this weekend. Please pray that the seed would take deep root so when the trials come they will not fall away. We serve a big God who is able to do big things! Praise Jesus!