Variety pack of zip-tie's... $9.72.
All-purpose scrubbing brushes... $8.48.
Pack of 52 jumbo sidewalk chalk... $4.22.
Students fasting food for a week and instead of buying food, spending that money on a ton of supplies to better an orphanage in Mozambique and craft supplies to share with hundreds of kids... Priceless.
We made it home from camp yesterday. This is a picture of Todd Theissen (camp speaker), Timmy Coleman and I wrestling in the pool at camp. It is a good picture to show what our entire week was like - fun and crazy! I'm really honored to serve such a great group of students and love them to death!
My personal Summer Camp Top 10 Moments:
"For I was hungry, and you fed me." (Matthew 25:35) Lack of food is an obvious, yet often forgotten dilemma in the world today. Close to 50% of the world eats roughly one cup of food each day. 42% of the people living on the vast continent of Africa don't have access to clean water. The life expectancy of people in Africa is a shocking 46. The average family income is $1.00/day. We can't even comprehend these staggering statistics.
I'm taking a team of 12 to Mozambique to serve with Iris Ministries in July. I met with the team yesterday to challenge them with something. We are going to eat only 3 cups of food each day this week, Monday through Friday. Did I mention these are high school students? Why are we doing this?
Another reason we are doing this is to raise funds to purchase supplies for our trip. The money that our team would spend on food will be collected next week and used to purchase necessities to donate to the orphanage (i.e. - supplies for the orphans, plates, cups, knives, forks, spoons, soap, spark-plugs... the list goes on and on!). We would like to raise $1,000.00 to purchase supplies to take with us to Mozambique.
You can join us this week in two ways: (1) Pray for Africa. (2) Eat only 3 cups of food each day, experience hunger, rely fully on Jesus and help raise funds for resources to donate to the people and orphanage in Mozambique.
WHAT CAN I EAT? If you want to join us for this partial-fast, I encourage you to eat what children in Africa often eat... rice, beans, cornmeal, cornbread, and maybe mix in a small portion of a vegetable.
DO I HAVE TO PARTICIPATE ALL WEEK? No! If you want to join us all week, awesome! You could also join in for one day, or even one meal. You decide!
WHAT ELSE? Drink plenty of water. Get plenty of rest. More than anything, soak in the presence of Jesus. It will hurt a little to not eat your normal portions of food for 5 days. Let's all rely on his strength through this! 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness."
WHERE DO I SEND THE MONEY? You can send any money you want to pitch in (or what you would have spent on food) to the following address:
Journey Church / Attn: Adam Barnett / P.O. Box 722764 / Norman, OK / 73070. If you send checks, please make them payable to Journey Church.
Matthew 25:40, "I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me."
If you participate this week at any level (prayer, fasting, finances, etc.), please post comments by clicking on "Comments" below. We want to hear what the Lord is showing you and teaching you this week through this experience. God bless you!
Chicago has been awesome. I knew this week would be a great learning opportunity for me, but God has been really stirring up my heart and convicting me of a few things. It has been a wonderful week of looking at my life from the outside and figuring out what needs to improve (all this to say - we should "evaluate" like this often, especially if we are in ministry!). Anyway, all of the sessions and break-outs that I've attended have been really challenging, funny and motivating to continue to invest in people and make a difference for the Kingdom of God. Charlie Hall led worship. I got to talk to him a little bit and catch up from the old days at Bridgeway. Here is a picture of Shane Claiborne, a guy that I admire a ton for what he's doing to shake the earth for Jesus. He's the author of Irresistible Revolution (which will really interrupt your lifestyle and make you think about some awesome stuff) and Jesus for President (just bought it at the conference and can't wait to get started). We're going to the Bulls/Cavs game tonight and then hanging out downtown all day tomorrow. Should be fun! God bless and hasta luego...
Our staff has been meeting a little this week to discuss Summer Camp. We've been sharing ideas for our camp theme this year. I suggested our theme should somehow involve Animal Planet, and then we release a ton of wild animals (lions, tigers, pumas, bears, hippos,etc.) on the camp-grounds. It would make camp an intense place of survival. Do you have any other ideas to throw out?
Well, we're up and running with our spring semester. It has been a blast so far. We are doing a semester-long "series" with each month focusing on a different value. The semester is called 112 Days: A Student Journey Experience, and the values we're teaching on include Living Differently (sharing and celebrating in the testimonies of others), Loving Recklessly (loving the things of Jesus vs. loving Jesus), Leading Courageously (redefining and reclaiming true biblical leadership), and Dreaming Wildly (creating a culture of dreamers in our ministry). I'm really excited about everything that we have planned for this semester of ministry and know that it will richly reward the students involved with SJ! A few highlights so far include...
