We Are The Revolution!

When Revolution Student Ministries began back in July of 09' the vision was simple... to love God and to love People. That's it. Pretty simple yet so profound. (Jesus actually said it was the greatest commandment, right?) So, that's all we wanted to do. If we could just point the students (and leaders) toward an "authentic" relationship with God and help them see that there's a world full of people who desperately need Jesus, then we were doing exactly what we felt like we were called to do. So we spent the first few months talking about God. About His greatness, His personality, His power, and His desire for an intimate relationship with us. Our hearts desire was to see the students fall passionately in love with God, so that nothing else mattered to them but Him. At the same time we wanted to instill in the students such a passion for Jesus that their relationship with Him would have no choice but to spill out of their lives and into their homes, into their communities, into their schools and eventually around the world. So here we are... on the eve of the last part of that coming to pass... the "around the world" part, that is. This past Winter the students raised money and we were able to host an orphan from the Ukraine, which was great, and that "is" kinda reaching around the world. But tomorrow night we'll be boarding a plane, with 17 students and leaders from Revolution, and we'll actually be going around the world to Curitiba, Brazil to minister the Gospel in the public schools, in orphanges and in the slums in that part of South America. This is such an amazing thing to see happen in such a short amount of time. Everyone on the Team had to raise $1,500 on their own for the trip. Some of them sold their personal belongings at garage sales, sold stuff on ebay, worked side jobs... all kinds of things to get the money to go. And they raised money to go on a missions trip. That's right... a missions trip! Not to Six Flags or summer camp (which isn't bad). But on a trip to reach people for Jesus. God is so good. We feel so privileged to be doing what we're doing right now.

Be sure to check our blog each night as we will be posting something new every day. We can't wait to see what God does THROUGH the team this next week. And even more than that, we can't wait to see what God does IN the team this next week. Please pray for us. We want God to move mightily in Brazil. We are the Revolution!

Love Ya!
Jim

It's OK to Be a Kid

We've been talking about being Authentic followers of Christ for the past few months. Tonight in Revolution we were talking about the scripture in Matthew 18 where Jesus said for someone to enter the Kingdom of God that "they needed to be converted and become as a little children."

One of the attributes of a child is that they trust. Like when you were little and your Dad asked you to jump into his arms because you knew he'd catch you... well here's the video of me and Robert that kinda goes along with that:

OK. First of all don't judge me... it's all in the editing. No, he didn't really do it, so there! But the fact that children trust that their dad's going to catch them when they jump, they trust that he's not gonna let them sink when they're learning to swim and that he's not gonna let them fall when they're learning how to ride a bike. It's the same with our relationship with God. He wants us to trust Him in everything... like a child. He wants us to not worry... just like a child doesn't worry. He wants us to be totally dependent on Him and not independent, thinking we can do everything on our own... just like a child is dependent on his father. So, that was the whole point of tonights message. We've got to humble ourselves as children because they are the greatest in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 18:4). It's not the one who can quote the most scripture, or the one who volunteers the most at church, or the ones who are morally pure that are the "greatest" in the Kingdom of God (even though all these things are important). It's the one who humbles himself like a child! Go ahead... read it for yourself. I'm not making this stuff up. So go ahead and be a child... He's waiting for you to trust Him and rely on Him again like you used to. Like you did when you first gave your heart to Him. That time when you would read the scripture and actually take it litterally and believed it. He wants us all to be true "Children of God." Because it's OK to be a kid... one of His kids, that is.

Love You Guys!

Jim

You're So Rich, and You Don't Even Know It

Hey Guys!

Well, we've been talking about being "Authentic" Followers of Christ over the last 8 weeks. Because it's one thing to "say" your a Follower of Christ but it's a totally different thing to actually "be" a Follower of Christ. We've been in Matthew Chapter 6 and Jesus is very clear on some of the things that should be obvious in our lives if we are "truly" following Him. One of the things we've been discussing is the subject of money. Money is talked about in the Bible more than faith (402 times) and even more than love (558 times). The subject of money is talked about 2,580 times in the Bible! Jesus actually spoke about money more than any other subject other than the Kingdom of God. So, it must be an important subject, huh? Anyway, I told you guys about a website that you could go to and find out where you were on the world's richest peoples list so here's the link http://www.globalrichlist.com/ . After you go to it and type in your salary, look at the stats then come back here to the blog so we can talk. Go ahead.

So, what did you think? Pretty amazing, huh? To think that you're that rich and you didn't even realize it. It's crazy isn't it? Man, we've been lied to by all the media, that we gorge ourselves on every day, that tell us "we need this and we've got to get that" when all the time we've got soooo much more than 99% of the world's population. To think that right now, 1/2 of the world's population lives on less than $2 per day... wow! You see, we're measuring our "richness" by who we see on our favorite TV show, who we see on the big screen or who we hear on the radio. We can't do that because it will never be attainable. It's a farce... a trap... a merry-go-round that just goes in circles. The problem is that rather than just being content with what we have, we go on the never ending chase of "things" which totally saps our finances so that we don't have anything left over to help someone else. We need to re-focus. We need to look at our money as a vehicle to minister to the needs of others rather than a vehicle solely to supply stuff for me and my own family. It's so easy to fall into the trap though. To see someone else that has something nicer than what we have... it totally makes our flesh cry out for "where's mine!" And then we start the quest for something nicer. Whether it's cars, clothes, houses... it doesn't matter. We need to start looking at the other 99% of the people on the planet that are far worse off than us and gauge how much we have compaired to them. Not to some Movie/Rock Star. Because you're so rich... and you don't even know it.

OK... I need to breathe. There, that's better. Sorry. I'm just fired up about this subject right now. One day we will all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ and we'll be rewarded for everything we've done here on earth, whether good or bad (II Cor. 5:9-11). I don't want to end up there on that day and have to give account for the way that I wasted my money on something that's going to burn-up! Especially when I could have invested my money in something that will have eternal significance. Like fighting hunger, rescuing orphans, building wells, and most importantly "spreading the Gospel." It's definietly time to change our thinking.

Love You Guys,
Jim

Change and Being Flexible

I had lunch with a friend of mine yesterday and he asked me if I saw myself doing what I'm doing 5 years from now. In the past if I was asked that question I would have always had an answer. But with the things that have happened over the past couple of years I can honestly tell you that I have no idea. Now this doesn't mean that I don't have goals and that I'm not a planner. I'm an over-the-top planner most of the time. I love setting goals and seeing a well thought out plan come to fruition. But I've found that when I've said "I'll never," or "we're going to" or... (you get the picture)... we've ended up doing totally the opposite of what we thought. (I guess that's where the term "never say never" comes in.) I remember when I was in bible college and was asked what I was going to do after graduation. I always said, "I don't know, but I know one thing... I'm not going back to Georgia!" And where did we end up after graduation? Georgia. I can remember people asking us if we were going to have more kids. We always said, "no." Without a doubt, we knew we would never have more kids and look what happened... we adopted 5 more children! We've been in the ministry for 13 years now and we "never" thought we would work with teenagers. We've always ministered to adults. And look where God put us last year... "as youth pastors." And honestly... we love it! You know, we've read Jeremiah 29:11 and Psalm 139 so much that I think that we've forgotten the fact that He does have a plan for us and that He does know everything about us. I think that we need to plan as best we know how, act like what we're doing is going to be what we're doing forever and be faithful at it, but always be open to change. Always be in a position that you're willing to do whatever is next... whether it's staying where you are or stepping into a new position. Just be flexible. You never know what God has planned for you. But you can be assured of one thing... it's the "best" thing for you and for those He wants you to minister to.
As far as my answer to my friend... I told him, "I have no idea." I'm content with whatever God has for me. I can stay or I can go. Honestly, I think that's the best place (spiritually, emotionally and mentally) to be.
Love You Guys!
Jim