Mt. Rainier is so beautiful. People come to Seattle for the sole purpose of catching a glimpse of it on a sunny day. The problem with having one of the amazing crowns of God’s creative achievements is that we forget about it. We get used to it. We become home blind to it.

This happens with other things in life too. My wife for instance. She is amazing! And she is also beautiful! I realize that I become home blind when I get used to her, I take her for granted. When she gets dressed up for a date night (which rarely happens, the date night, not the dressed up) I get a chance to get healed from my blindness. She is a knock-out, and it took me taking her on a date to remember it!

This is the same way with our amazing leaders God has called into youth ministry at Believers Fellowship. God is moving in this world, calling up missionaries that do amazing things for the down and out. Think of the impact of Mother Theresa and how many people know about her. Think of IJM and Gary Haugen and what he is doing. But God is also at work on the home front. He is at work in our midst…and it’s exciting to see God using these homegrown heroes to make a difference in the lives of teenagers in Gig Harbor.

So in our new series, we will get a chance to hear about what God has done in the lives of some of the leaders/mentors to raise them up to have a heart for teens. We will see what God is doing in their lives recently, and see how we can learn from some of these homegrown heroes right in front of us!

This Wednesday Phil Hoffman will teach us a lesson in John 15, and Dave Columbini will teach on Thursday about what God is doing in his life!

See you there!

Last Friday we had over forty parents from Believers Fellowship come out to Real World Parents! RWP is a seminar put on by Wisdom Works ministries, and was presented by Johnny Pearson.

We came together, no one as experts, but all as seekers in how to connect our story into God’s story of love and redemption. We saw how our role as parents fits well with what Paul calls every Christian to be…an ambassador. In 2 Corinthians 5 we read “and we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were making his appeal through us…” We desire to model what an ambassador looks like to our family! When we become ambassadors, our home becomes an embassy! We were challenged in making our home an embassy to the world. This was contrasted with the way we tend to deal with the "world." We tend to isolate from the world, or putting rules on how much world comes into our home, or agree with the world...yet when our homes are embassies we transform the world.

Many parents came expecting to learn about behavior, but were pleasantly surprised to be challenge to live for God and that will be the biggest lesson their children will pick up. When we only deal with behavior, we miss the heart. The heart is formed in the home, not by our culture!

So hang in there parents! Your job is incredibly important and God wants to work in your heart so you can work in the hearts of your kids! Our prayers are with you as we strive to raise up the next generation of Christ followers that will make a difference in the world, in this city, in their schools, and in your neighborhoods!

Don't worry if you missed out, we are already planning another seminar for the fall!

We are back!

Here is blogging 2.o

We are going to give it another try, and get the word out that we have a blog, that is updated, that is a good source of upcoming events AND recap of old events.

Spread the word, and read on!

Johnny

Backpack Attack in need of retreat?

We recently took 28 kids into the wild on a three day two night backpacking trip. I LOVE this trip! To see the kids challenge themselves as they pack up what they need for the trip, sharing the load of supplies and food. To see the kids challenge each other to be real and genuine in sharing what God has done in thier lives. And to see God challenge them on the mountain top, getting rid of most of the distractions of cell phones, personal music, cars, and comforts of home and personal space.

All in all, it was a great trip to see how we as Christ Followers need to follow Christ. We looked to an unlikely source to see how to do this better. According to Ghandi, if we are to make an impact in this world for Christ we need to live more like Christ, present the Gospel unadulterated (meaning we need to present the gospel as the Bible shows it, not how western washington sees it), and we need to practice what we preach!

Thank you Ghandi for those profound statements. But here is the deal...he is right. If we don't see people like Christ saw them, and continue to love them like Christ loved them, then we will not make a difference. If we don't present the gospel as the Bible presents it (a powerful, hopeful, healing message that changes our hearts and revamps our lives) then we don't do it justice; a watered down version of truth will make a watered down impact. And if we don't practice what we preach, what does that make us? Answer? A hypocrite! Lets be real with our struggles, letting people see the healing process! When we hide our pain and put on a happy face it portrays a fake joy, one that doesn't last and burns us out. This is what we talked about three miles above see level...and it rocked our faces off!

But is backpack attack in need of retreat? The title implies that backpack attack may be to aggressive...and maybe a name change is needed. I say this because one of our fearless leaders had a major accident. One that required many stiches and finger reconfiguration...yes, a trip back down the mountain and into the ER.

Billy is fine, he is up and running and has no hard feeling about the Attack...in fact, it makes for a great story. But maybe if we changed the name we wouldn't have as many accidents (lots of bee stings, scrapes, cuts, and bruises as well).

What are some good, non-aggressive names for this event? Share your comments below!

Summer Fun

The days and weeks have flown by since camp! Sorry I haven't updated you about whats going on (by you I mean Dave).

After camp, we left to Montana on a mission trip...one of the hardest ever! We then had a great day of boating and bbq-ing. There were a lot of leaders and a couple of students that went on another mission trip to Mexico. And then there were a couple of Amazing Races. And we are still not done with the Summer schedule!

As I said, Montana was very hard! It was different than any mission trip we have been on... different is good and different is bad. We had a great time as a group. Our fellowship brought us all closer together and the community that we are bringing back to the group is something I hope spreads around to the other kids and we continue to grow as a youth group! It was hard for a couple of reasons. First, the schedule was packed! We always seemed like we were tired, and that is hard to process everything that we are taking in. Second, the Native American culture is a hard culture to minister to. They need HOPE! They need JESUS! Hopefully the time we spent there made an impact, but we can't help but feel that one week there of helping clean up neighborhoods, painting houses, and working with a handful of rowdy and unruly kids made any difference. It only shows us how bad they need Jesus in their life to change their hearts! Pray for the Blackfeet Reservation, pray that people will come in there unashamed and teach them, not about "church" or "christianity" but about Jesus Christ and Him crucified!

As far as other events in the summer, who doesn't love the Harbor in 80 degree weather? We pulled some of our elders together to solve the mystery about who they are, and they then hung out with the students and towed them around on their boats. It was a blast! I loved seeing some of the kids I hadn't seen all summer long, and reconnect with kids I saw at camp and the Montana mission trip.

Mexico is a blog in itself! Come to church August 30th for the re-cap on that. :)

The High School Amazing race was yesterday! It was hard to compete with the epic two day race the year before, but I think it did okay. The sights seen and the challenges met were well worth the zero dollars the kids had to pay. Seriously, how often do you see a methane flame geyser? Or play putt putt at a hundred year old mansion? Or go to a farm to get the freshest fruit available? Congrats to the winning team of Erika Moss, Amy Moss, and Chelsea Demoss as well as Beth Moss (driver). Way to go girls!!

Stay tuned for the end of the month update where you will get re-caps on CORE groups as well as Backpack Attack!

much Love,
jp

Letters to home from Capernwray

Monday:

Dear Mom,

Wow! What a long day...after waking up at 4am to catch a bus, a ferry, another bus, and another ferry we took a short walk to the camp! Wow, the grounds are beautiful! It all over looks the ocean (we are on an island after all). I saw a volleyball net, a horseshoe pit, a bunch of canoes and kayaks, some motor boats, as well as a disc golf course! No shortage of activities!

So, we walked to our cabins...they are like five miles from anywhere...but comfortable enough. After dinner, (they call it supper here, isn't that wierd?!?) we went up to the worship place (another five miles!) and were led in worship by "the band". They were loud and really cool! And then Jeremy got up, I remember him from last year, he is so funny! He introduced our theme...WANTED. He says that God wants our heart. I agree! He talked about how camp is like getting a flu shot...where we get just enough flu so our body learns to deal with it. He says that we get a Jesus shot at camp...where we get just enough Jesus to not need him anymore. We need to stop getting shots of Jesus! God wants our whole heart, not just a little.

Anyway, I love you guys, miss you lots! Tell my annoying little sister that I am learning a lot!

Love,

Your average high school boy that went to camp.

Tuesday:

Momsie and Popsicle,

OMG! I love this place! The band is so cute! They are all so talented and smell SO GOOD! They where V-necks and skinny jeans. They are really good at leading us in worship too. They are a real band when they are not here at camp. Roman vacation...no, Roman Holiday! Anyway, check em out! They have a few shows coming up too. July 4 at the fair grounds and July 31st at the liberty theatre. Can I go when I get home?

Don't forget to feed my fishies!

I heart you,

your average teenage girl that went to camp

Thursday:

Dear Mother and Father,

Hello, how is life down in the United States of America? Things in the great white land to the north are grande. Did you know that they spell things different here? Yes! Apparently we are staying at Capernwray Harbour. How about that?

Anyway, we are having a grande time! Our days are quite full, and they fly by so fast. I can't believe tomorrow! I am getting to know a lot of other kids from other churches...I ran into a girl in my spanish class and had no idea she went to church! I guess that is a good thing about doing camp with other churches in Gig Harbour.

I am learning a lot about God. I get a chance to to journal each day and think about what I am learning. We have talked about how God WANTS our heart, God WANTS our future, and God WANTS our commitment. Tonight Jeremy is talking about how God WANTS our friends. I can't wait. Anyway, can't wait to see you tomorrow! We will get home late...like really late. Like we will get home Saturday morning!

Love you!

camper

The new perspective on Jonah

When we think Jonah, we think fleeing from God's call. We think big fish. We think veggietales. But yesterday we had a new perspective on Jonah. We didn't look at how we run from God. We didn't debate wether the fish is figurative or literal. We sang no songs about pirates who don't do anything.

We looked at the reason why Jonah fled. If you remember, Jonah didn't go and preach the word of God to the Ninevites because he didn't want them to know God. He didn't want them to repent. He didn't want them to recieve grace from God. He didn't think they deserved it.

Who is Jonah to say who can believe in God? Who are we to say that? Our attitudes can be the same as Jonah. We don't want to love our enemies...we want them to get what they deserve! But that is not what we learned on Sunday. That is not what we learn from Jesus either.

Jesus tells us that we must love our enemies, and pray for those who want to
harm us

Isn't that a pill that is hard to swallow? But get this. When we love our enemies...it drives them crazy! They can't stand that. They would have us return evil for evil instead of turning the other cheek. They would have us give them the attention they are crying our for. But...its easier said than done. Most of the time we are not like Jesus. We don't love people...we judge people. We don't give people our time...we are to busy to hear thier story, to busy to care, to busy to share grace. We have better places to go (like Tarshish) and nicer people to minister to.

Next time God prompts you to be Jesus (compassionate, gracious, loving, merciful) to your enemy...don't run to the other end of the world. Instead...BE JESUS to them!

Thanks John Pleau for teaching us a new perspective on Jonah!

much Love,
johnny