Tennessee 1: Recap

So much happened this week, I'm not sure where to start, what to cover, etc. But let me try.

We got through it with out many glitches at all! I felt a little flustered the first couple days, with registration, getting everything rolling, and tournaments, but everything got done and done fairly well, not just by myself but everyone on our team. I kinda wish I had more energy and memory to go into detail about each day, but I don't. Sorry. But that would result in a long post. So you're welcome. I'll breeze over some stuff day by day, if you'd care to join me.

Monday was registration and our first session. For the most part, registration was painless and I got to hang out with some youth, pastors, and leaders. My favorite part of the day was getting to pray for these. I mean, it was simple and kinda short but amazing. Our God is powerful, and he listens to our prayers, so knowing I was doing the most I could for them was great.

Tuesday was, obviously, our first full day. We had our morning session, small group times, the prayer room was open for the first time, a basketball tourney, and evening session. I got to run the tourney with some Bible College reps and JB and I set up the prayer room. Overall, a busy but fun day.

Wednesday we continued that schedule, trading basketball for volleyball. Again, fun had by all and I continued to feel God make his presence known to the students. It is an awesome feeling to know I'm part of something bigger here, and although what I'm doing just helps the production of it all, it lets everyone else not worry about that and reflect on the Father.

Thursday was similar, but we cut out lunch, a tourney, and made free time a whole lot longer. The money CIY would have spent on lunch for students went to CICM (http://www.indiamission.org/) and groups were asked to find meals off campus. We went to a little waterfall in the mountains near by. It was small, but beautiful and fun. Followed by coffee at a local roaster, The Coffee Company. MOVE finished up that day showing the film Love Costs Every Thing.

Friday was our last day and was very similar to Tuesday and Wednesday, but with dodgeball. It was fun to see the students' excitement all week long and it only grew. That night we handed out Kingdom Worker cards, which contain a challenge to do something for God's Kingdom. We had a deal with Milligan to use their pool for baptisms and I received a couple texts asking to make sure that was open. It warmed my heart to know students were taking this step.

This week, I would like to acknowledge a couple people I met. Please take time to read about my encounters with them and pray for them.

J.R.
I met this guy the last day of the conference. He had just finished running three miles and spent most of the time talking about sports. I made a joke about "the ladies" and he started telling me about how his mother taught him how to be a gentleman, opening doors, cooking, cleaning, and waiting on the women in his life. He proceeded to tell me his mother had past away during heart surgery. He said it with a smile though, because he knew he was honoring her and that he would see her again one day in God's Kingdom. He quoted scripture to me and showed a spiritual maturity I did not expect from a Junior in high school who fit in the standard jock stereotype on the outside. At the end of the week, he stood to acknowledge the decision he made this week to pursue full time ministry.

Jordan and Theresa
These are a couple folks I met the first day of MOVE. We were talking about where they were from, how many students the brought, etc. Turns out neither of them were the youth pastor. He resigned a month before they left. But Jordan and Theresa are teachers and have the summer off, so they brought the students. I praise God for their willingness to come and for placing the students in their care.

Tomorrow, we turn it around and do it again. Keep praying for high schoolers across the country and for all working for CIY's strength and perseverance. Love you all!

The Preparation Will Pay Off Soon

My team leaves tomorrow. Raise your hand if you're pumped. I know I am. We have spent three weeks in the office, doing a few odd jobs, preparing housing, and making sure we're ready. Let me tell you about yesterday, today, and look ahead with you.

Yesterday, we viewed the film Love Costs Every Thing made by CIY in association with The Voice Of The Martyr. It was fairly intense, seeing brothers and sisters persecuted and even killed for confessing faith in the God I love. The film was full of great stories that broke my heart and inspired me. You can watch it at any MOVE event this summer, or it will be available in the fall.

Following the showing, we took place in a 24 prayer like the one students will experience at the events. Each of us had a half hour shift in our prayer room (set up in the conference center). Like I said in a previous post, I'd love to share more with you because it was an awesome experience, even when tired (my shift was 1:30am), but I don't want to spoil it for students attending. Let me just say that God will be present, moving, and working through and despite the stations and experiences we have set up.

Today, the Colorado team left early in the morning. The rest of us did a lot of work to make sure our teams were ready to leave (two teams tomorrow morning, one next week). Now we are packing, hanging out, and getting stoked to start events and see God's plan fall into action.

I want to look into the near future with you now to share some requests for prayer. To be honest, I know nothing about these students, I may not get much time to interact with them, and even if I do it may amount to nothing. But I love them and my heart breaks for them. Frankly, I'm not sure who will understand this if they are without the Holy Spirit. Logically, I should hate high schoolers. They are loud, don't always smell nice, and can be arrogant. But they are the future of the Church, and they continue to amaze me and show me God's glory. So, if you will, ask God to work in the high schoolers at the events, their friends, and the strangers they meet. Ask that God will start their hearts towards him and his work, that their friends will be affected by this change and even the strangers on the street will react to how they shine.

As well, please ask the Father to continually remind us MOVE staff what we are doing.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10

It is insane to think God uses us, but he does! In fact, he prepared these works for us ahead of time. I can't explain how that makes me feel. It is so crazy and amazing. I pray that we can live out these works as God wants, and give him the glory.

Please tell me, how can I pray for you?

John 9

I was reading this today, and I wanted to share this with you. To begin, if you don't have a Bible handy, read the chapter here. To continue, I am no teacher, just sharing what I gathered from this passage.

You might notice this is the story of the man born blind. Spoiler alert: Jesus is going to heal him. Sorry to ruin it for you. But I like this particular healing a lot, because I think it shows so much and offers a diverse message. Please direct your attention to verse 3. "Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." I think this shatters the ideas I've learned and been taught. My general reaction to someone born with a "defect" is that it was a mistake, caused by the imperfection brought into this world by humans when they first sinned. While this is true, I should not have stopped there.


This man was born blind so God could be glorified. Have you heard the saying "everything happens for a reason?" I've always heard this used and interpreted it as saying things will work out for you in the end. I didn't see Jesus say that in this passage. Given, the man was no longer blind, but that's not why he was born blind.


Fast forward. Press play on verse 24 and 25.

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." ²⁵He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

 So the Pharisees didn't like Jesus because he questioned their traditions, commitment to God, and their view of him. So here he is, healing this (formerly blind) man on the sabbath and they are upset. People have wacky view of Jesus and God as a whole today. I think you can understand that without much explanation. The man's response makes me happy. We may not know everything about God, but we know he saved us. This is what we can know and share, what we have to bear witness about him with.

Continue on. Sorry for how long this post is, but there's so much I want to share! But here's verses 33 and 34.

"If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." ³⁴They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.

 Look at this: Jesus did not just heal the man's physical blindness but his spiritual as well! God isn't as interested as these temporary little shells we have now as he is in our souls/spirits/whatever you want to call it. I think that it's a lot more important that this man's spiritual blindness is cured than his silly little sight problem. In fact, later you see him and Jesus meet again and he worships him, not giving the stones a chance to speak.

While you're here, check out verse 34 again. The Pharisees were still blinded by their pride. These men thought they were better than the other, and so they didn't even listen to what he had to say. Although Jesus points out at the end of the chapter that they were not blind, as evidenced by the guilt they had.

This story as a whole is great evidence for many things: God's glorification is number one, our stories are all so important to spreading the name of Jesus, and there is a lot more healing that happens in this world than physical through Christ's name and we should never let it stop there.

So Many Updates, So Little Time

Sorry for updating so often, but there is so much to tell you about! First off, was our Memorial Day party at the CIY office. Well, our day actually started with team meetings to discuss goals in our own lives for the summer regarding leadership, serving, fellowship, spiritual growth, and professional growth. My team (Jenn, Michelle, Hannah, and led by JB) met at Joe Muggs in Books-A-Million and discussed ours and had some great bonding time.

Our afternoon proceeded meeting at CCO (Christ's Church of Oronogo) and sorting stuff to go out on our first truck. We thought it would be easy and quick, but the staff kept adding more and more to our list. The event staff have decided they did this to tire us out for the wiffle ball game. Some didn't even make it back to the dorm until a few minutes before the party.

But we made it alive somehow and ate some delicious brats, hamburgers, cupcake truffles, and other food. Soon we were onto the wiffle ball game. The first inning left us losing with a score 6-1, but we held it there the rest of the game. I think that's pretty good considering the staff wore us event staff down and cheated.

Tuesday, we worked hard again, getting a lot ready for the events that are coming up quick. What I'm super excited about is the work we did today. Aside from the trophies Addison and I made (with help finishing up from JB and Caiti), we got a look at my job at the events as customer service manager and the events coming up. I am so pumped. My job will be working with people. Like, hello?! That is Garrett Daniel DeMeyer. And it's just great to be finally looking at these events and getting some training.

In the afternoon, we went to CCO to look at some of the elements we'll be using for the sessions at Move. My. Goodness. The games and artistic design are sweet. And we got to see a bit of the closing for each main session and boy are they powerful. I must admit, and CIY friends are not allowed to make fun of me, I teared up a bit. I am soooooo excited for God's working and I know his Spirit will move this summer. If you are a student reading this and can't decide to come to Move, please do. You won't regret God's calling presented there.

Cpt. Red (aka our backstage managers)

Please, continue to pray for the students coming to the Move events. I am so excited for them. You have no idea.... I am tearing up again thinking about all God can do in them, through them. Ask our Father to let his Spirit fill us and these students that we can give them the best experience and they can see past us, our flaws, to God.

I love you all, and thank you for praying.