Deeply Rooted

When I heard that we would be leaving at 3 am and arriving at LAX at 4 am, I knew that was a bad idea. I was arriving exactly 1 hour before my flight to a very busy airport. Grand Rapids airport I would probably get through in like 30 minutes, but when I got to LAX, the line to just check my bag was backed up all the way to the next area. I knew that it was a bad idea to arrive 1 hour before my flight, but there I was. Kind people let me go ahead as my plane was literally boarding as I was waiting to check my bag and still needed to go through security. I then ran through the airport all the way to the gate feeling as if I was in the movie Home Alone. I got to my plane as the last group was boarding, and right then I knew I was ok. I immediately relaxed and put on my headphones listening to "No One Like the Lord" as the plane ride took off to Chicago. I felt immediately at peace and ready to head home.  When landing in Chicago, I was excited to be back in the Midwest. I had a...

On the final day of Circuit Riders sessions so much took place. It was a really cool day. Throughout the day, there was talk about going to Pirate's Cove to baptize anyone who wanted to give their life to Jesus. I originally wasn't planning to go as I wanted to get dinner because I knew that with having to get up at 2 am the next day, I did not want to go out to eat after the showcase, but I decided to go to Pirate's Cove! This last day was memorable and a great way to finish my time in California.  The morning session started where we talked about the Great Commission. We talked about our call to bring the message of Jesus back to our communities and to disciple new believers showing them the way that leads to salvation and freedom. We additionally talked about the Holy Spirit. We talked about the importance of living our lives aligned with the Holy Spirit and how he is our advocate. The Holy Spirit is who reigns within us.  The next thing we did during the session I heard...

When eating breakfast, we met a man named Ron. He was very kind, encouraging us to get into the Word and learn about the Lord. He was there doing a football camp with a high school. We had some great conversations with him over breakfast. It was the final two days when we met him. Breakfast was mostly outside in view of the pine trees.  Session When hosting a Bible study, it is important to get deep into scripture, build community with one another, and do life with one another. Believers need to spend their lives in community with one another helping each other through life situations.  Another important part of growing as a disciple is cultivating spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines allow for us to connect with God. There are inward, outward and communal ways to connect with God. Something we did was choose three disciplines we wanted to practice or grow in. I chose meditation, solitude and worship. Since this session, I have had moments where I just practiced these ...

Session 1 Session one of the day began with worship!!! I was sitting in both the humility and glory of God. During worship, I thought of God enthroned who would be the Lion with the heart of a lamb. God has so much glory that all the elders and creatures in the heavenly realms bow down in worship of him which I believe makes God the Lion, but he has the heart of a lamb which is of vulnerability and servanthood, sacrificial love that he would send his son. He has a lens of grace that allows him to see us washed clean by his blood. Then I thought of Jesus who was humbled to a man, he was the Lamb with the heart of a Lion. The center of who Jesus was during his time on this earth was moved to do marvelous things. When Jesus's heart broke for the broken, his heart was moved, and having the heart of the Lion he performed many signs and wonders. Jesus was the lamb in his humanity when he walked the Earth experiencing grief, tiredness, weariness, anxiety, and other common human struggles....

Messengers Track Something so cool about Circuit Riders was learning what goes into a really great Gospel message. I learned to really think about what message I am trying to get across to the audience I am preaching to. We had the challenge to write a Gospel message in about 30-40 minutes. Reaching the audience is important for the Gospel to be preached. Multiple important pieces go into effectively communicating the Gospel as well as getting people to respond to the Gospel. We wrote our messages at a park. I wrote a message on the importance of being united as Children of God for my campus community. I got feedback that really surprised me. I think I realized that I often think I am selfish, but the feedback I had gotten was to make the message more personal to the challenges I have experienced. They said it is important to be authentic with our audience about how we were challenged in what we were preaching. My thinking that I was selfish really impacted the way I wrote the message,...