CONGRATULATIONS to Perry and Lucretia Noble on the arrival of thier little baby girl, Charisse Bella Noble! Check out Perry’s Blog for his annoucement and more information: Charisse IS HERE

Surfing the Internet you can come across some weird stuff, some corny stuff, and some good stuff.  Here is an article about a young lady making a stand for purity.  Take a moment to read the article:

Teen Girl Banned From School for Chastity Ring Heads to Court

If you notice in the article this young lady is not from the United States. The sixteen year old resides in England.  She is fighting for what she believes is right in a place that is considered to be spiritually dead.  Even if she loses, I hope that some people wonder and question why she would stand for this and investigate it.  God can use anything for His good and enlarging His Kingdom.

What stand do I need to make for my faith? How about you?  How can we (youth pastors, youth leaders, youth workers, parents) encourage or students to take a stand for what they believe?

What are your thoughts on the above questions or this article?

We are back from our summer youth camp to Panama City Beach, FL. It was absolutely awesome. Here are some of the highlights from the week:

• Over 400 Students attend
• 27 Salvations
• 87 Ocean Baptisms
• 85+ Staff and Volunteers attend
• Receiving multiple compliments about the behavior of our students
• Students making an intentional effort to minister to people at a local recreation park by handing out extra arcade tokens to families and telling them about Jesus and NewSpring Church
• A young girl asking us to pray with and for her family because she saw something different in us as we were on the beach.
• Having your students pray over you at the end of the week. Perry asked the whole student ministry staff to come down to the front on Thursday Night and then asked the students if they felt lead to come and pray over the staff. It was POWERFUL and MOVING. I had one middle school student pray this over me, “God, please give Alden wisdom and knowledge as he teaches us your word.” WOW! That will mess you up in a major way!
• No major injuries on 2 sprained ankles…only 2 trips to the hospitals.
• The GREATEST thing I experienced was seeing students getting serious about allowing Jesus to CHANGE their lives. Students wanting to be a part of a revolution that will change their life, their families, their friends, their schools, their city, their state, their country, and their world!

Great things always seem to happen in the lives as students, but it is out duty to make sure that they continue to grow/build on what God showed them at camp. I am excited about it and it continues this Sunday Night at IGNITE at the 2Seven. All Middle Schoolers in the Anderson area….Be there! It is going to rock!

WOW! Try to imagine 9 charter buses driving down the road together. Let me tell you it is quite a site to see. We all arrived safely this morning with over 600 Chic-Fil-A biscuits waiting on us. All the students were a little weary after a long bus ride but very excited to get the Gauntlet started.

Yesterday was the one of the hottest days Panama City ever sees. It actually set the record high for June 11th in PCB history at 95 degrees. But that was the overall temperature–we were on the beach. The temperature there was in the neighborhood of 103. That’s hot! Don’t worry though, we were pumping plenty of water into your kids.

The first two Gauntlet challenges were pretty awesome. There’s not much better than watching 400 plus students swarm the beach in competition. Challenge highlights for the day: 15 team members attempting to get their entire team out of the sand by packing them on 2, one-square-foot platforms, and 8 teams skiing down the beach on 2×4’s.

After the challenges and free time, we headed off to Arnold Sr High School for worship. Our band and tech guys had been setting up the gear all day so that when we arrived at 8:00 we were ready to rock. The band kicked off the night with some energy-packed worship. It was awesome to see our kids sing “Our God reigns” with their fists pumped towards the sky–declaring the sovereignty of our God.

Then Perry spoke about “knowing.” He brought it hard, challenging our kids to be sure that they know who they follow. His goal for the night was to make sure that every person in the room–whether Christian, non-Christian, or somewhere in-between–knew for sure where they stood with God before they left the room. It was great to see God working in the lives of our students as many of them made decisions to give their lives to Jesus.

So that’s day one of the Gauntlet. God is already doing some amazing things in the lives of our kids and leaders! Be praying for us as we continue to pour ourselves out for the sake of God and our students, and that God would start a movement in our kids that will not be stopped–even when we get home.

The long bus ride has begun.   Check in was a lot of fun from the reports that I have received!  Just got word that the 9 bus caravan had left Anderson, SC.  They are on track to arrive on time at 8 AM!!  We will update in the morning with arrival news!  Peace!

The REVOLUTION has begun.

I have officially begun my trek to Panama City Beach, FL. A crew of 5 peeps, Tyler Tatum, John Flowers, Sandy Gibbes, Deanna, and I left at 5AM from Anderson, SC. We are getting down there early to get the place prepped and ready to go for the arrival of over 406 students and 105 volunteers and staff! CRAZY!!!

Be checking back in to the site to get updates each day from the REVOLUTION!

Deanna and I have been trying really hard to plan our finances. We have been doing a great job to tell our money where to go, instead of the money just flying out of the window. God had really been blessing us. The reason for that is because we decided to get serious about our management of the resources He has given us. We went about that by a couple of steps:

1. We recognized we needed help.
2. We asked God for His wisdom and guidance.
3. We then sought out Godly, Biblical advice from someone who is passionate about seeing people live the way God intended them free from debt, Mr. Joe Sangl.
4. We followed the plan and were committed to it.

Through the steps above we have been able to accomplish so much. With that said, in that time, we have paid off her car, built up our emergency fund, and now are trying to build our 6 months expenses in the event of a major problem.

Yesterday, I got some real disheartening news. My car is in the shop and needs some major work. At first I was taking it in for a general tune up, but it needed some major things done to it. As I was on the phone getting the news and the expected cost, I was just getting really mad.

Honestly, I was getting mad at God. “Why would God allow this to happen when I am doing exactly what He wants me to do with managing the resources he has given me. Why now? Why me?”

Then it hit me! I have had my car for 5 years and the only other problem we have had, other than routine maintenance, was to replace a water pump. Not bad! So my perspective of the problem quickly changed. It changed from madness to joy and thankfulness. For 5 years God has provided with a car that has run like a champ, no problem, no major issues, no nothing…but the first time I have a problem, I blame God. Go figure…

God knew that I could not financially handle any major issues with my car at that time, so he protected me. Then he provided me with the finances to be able to handle the problem and I get mad?!?! God, I am sorry for my immaturity in this situation. Thank you for changing my perspective of the problem and helping me realize that it was not really a problem at all, but a blessing.

Next time, something hits you out of left field, is God really punishing you or has He been protecting you and providing for you along the way? Just a thought, as I know that was the case for me and I needed to change my perspective of the problem!

2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

God has given me everything that I need for life and godliness?

YES, He has!

YES, He is my source of life, knowledge, power, strength!

YES, God wants me to succeed in this life for His honor and glory!

YES, God gives more than I could ever ask or imagine.

How many times have you said, “This life is impossible?” or “I can do this anymore?” Really? The next time, just remember that when you know Jesus, God’s Son, you have everything that you need for life and godliness!

In the tough time you can make it, in the easy times you can do it, and in the so-so times you can make it! God has given everything you need to make it!