A fantastic weekend
Shari and I spent an amazing weekend in the church I was pretty much spiritually raised in. John, our youth pastor at WVPC, took the leadership team and tribe leaders (those who could come) to the UG Conference at Puyallup Foursquare Church. It was an amazing time of refreshing and remembering why we do what we do. We were able to take Michael, which was great. I am so thankful that he was able to sit under such excellent teaching, and I had a chance to talk with him about it afterwards. It was a great shared experience.
We also enjoyed our host families. Michael and I stayed with the guys in a house with a basement bigger than my parent's whole house. It was amazing. They had a theater room where we stayed up way too late and watched movies. Michael also watched some NCAA basketball, which he loved. Like most folks, his brackets have been busted, but he's enjoyed them anyway. They spoiled us for breakfast Saturday morning, with pancakes and bacon, along with some fruit. We were a little late making it back to the conference that morning, but it was a great meal.
For me, the highlight for the weekend was being able to pray with students during an altar call on Friday night. First, I was given the nod to pray from John and Amy. This showed a tremendous trust on their part, and seemed to heal a small wound that had been saying, "You're not trustworthy, and nobody's going to look at you as a leader." Second, I was up there praying, and something inside me burst with excitement that God was using me to pray over kids, and I was expecting Him to do something miraculous in their lives. I wasn't just praying because it was the right thing to do, but because God hears our prayers, and wants to answer them. He has not only given us authority to heal, cast out demons, etc., but His power is alive and well in our hearts to set people free... though it's really Him who does it all. Let's be clear about that. Finally, it was a highlight because Shari and I were praying for kids together. There's nothing like ministering with your wife as a team.
More in another post...
We also enjoyed our host families. Michael and I stayed with the guys in a house with a basement bigger than my parent's whole house. It was amazing. They had a theater room where we stayed up way too late and watched movies. Michael also watched some NCAA basketball, which he loved. Like most folks, his brackets have been busted, but he's enjoyed them anyway. They spoiled us for breakfast Saturday morning, with pancakes and bacon, along with some fruit. We were a little late making it back to the conference that morning, but it was a great meal.
For me, the highlight for the weekend was being able to pray with students during an altar call on Friday night. First, I was given the nod to pray from John and Amy. This showed a tremendous trust on their part, and seemed to heal a small wound that had been saying, "You're not trustworthy, and nobody's going to look at you as a leader." Second, I was up there praying, and something inside me burst with excitement that God was using me to pray over kids, and I was expecting Him to do something miraculous in their lives. I wasn't just praying because it was the right thing to do, but because God hears our prayers, and wants to answer them. He has not only given us authority to heal, cast out demons, etc., but His power is alive and well in our hearts to set people free... though it's really Him who does it all. Let's be clear about that. Finally, it was a highlight because Shari and I were praying for kids together. There's nothing like ministering with your wife as a team.
More in another post...
Labels: Parenting, Praises, Youth Ministry
posted by Pastor Paul at
6:55 AM
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