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Many things define a church and who they are, but
not many things can speak louder than a church
seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. When I
came on board with Long’s Peak Church as the youth
minister, there were a flood of ideas that I had in
mind for the group. As we started pursuing these
goals and ideas, I quickly realized that what we
really needed was to define who we were as a youth
group and then allow our actions to follow. Since
this process of defining would become the backbone
for our actions, it would have to be something at
the core of our Christian faith. The choice was
simple. As a church and as believers, Jesus left us
with that purpose in the Great Commission. It is a
statement of action and a mark of an obedient
people. This, I believe, is really at the heart of
our youth program. The first word in the Great
Commission is “Go” which does not mean staying
within the confines of our own church campus. We
have done many things to incorporate that theme into
our group. Some of these things have been outside
our comfort zones, but God has really blessed us.
In fact, I have been known to mention that a church
our size should not have the capability or means to
do what we have been able to do. I have been
discovering, however, that God knows no limits to
those who are obedient to follow His commands.
A year ago, our church was able to sponsor, support
and create a youth conference called 1 Truth. We
had around 400 in attendance for a starter
conference to minister to teens across the Front
Range and challenge them in their beliefs. That
conference was a significant milestone for our group
and was centered in the Great Commission by trying
to reach teens in our own community. This year we
are taking a small group to New Orleans to continue
rebuilding after the hurricane hit three years ago
and to minister to those lives that were affected by
that event. It has been hard work in preparing for
the trip, but we have seen God work throughout our
planning. An example of this is that through the
generous donations of others, we have been able to
raise all of the funds for the trip that we needed
without any cost to the group. On top of this, we
have been granted plane tickets that were donated
for each person in our group. And if this was not
enough, we were grandfathered in before the airline
problems affected us. Folks, things this complex
cannot be coincidence. Everything fell into place
in the right timing. That is all God. Now, we are
fixing to leave in just a little over a week, but
when one has actually experienced all that God has
done thus far, one cannot wait until the actual
mission arrives to see what He has planned for us to
do. Please be praying for us as we continue to find
out God’s role for us in New Orleans!
Thank
you for your continued support and prayers!!
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