Christmas is upon us!

Hello all! I don't know about you but I love the Christmas season. Even if Jesus most likely wasn't born around this time of year, it is the one time of the year where a lot of people finally seem get it right, for the most part. People seem to be more proud of their Christian faith than ashamed. People feel outspoken enough to display a lighted nativity scene in their front yards, saying "Look I'm a Christian and I'm proud of it!" They consistently (for like one month at least) listen to music with good lyrics filled with hope and love. Secular music artists find it okay to record full length albums with Christian songs like, O Holy Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night, and so on. It's a nice break from the rest of the year when we just seem to lose focus on what's truly important: Jesus Christ and His impact on this world. Now I'm not saying that we should always display a nativity scene or other Christian symbols for all to see or always listen to "Christian" music (after all there are uplifting songs that aren't necessarily "Christian"). Some people would feel threatened by that if it were constant. What I am saying though is that we should take time to enjoy this season because it's a holiday that tends to bring (or attempts at bringing) out more good in people than bad. This season focuses on giving and not indulging. Through our giving we can witness how the Lord blesses it. And how fitting to start out a new year with these blessings. But will you keep them coming? A new year tends to prompt people to evaluate their past year or even perhaps their whole life, and sometimes causes them to realize how they could do it differently and make goals to change certain things.

As for me, I tend to worry. When I worry, I question whether God even understands what's going on. I've been working on this worry thing and this past year has been a lot of laying down my own plans and objectives for what I believe God has in store for me, and then watching Him make it all happen. I am having to continually learn how to stop worrying about things that I know God is going to take care of, and, when I do, He sees that I finally have the faith in Him to make it happen... And He responds. But in order to be in tune with God enough to understand that I have to let go in order for him to intervene, I have to by in rhythm with God. I have to daily be in relationship and in conversation with Him to be in rhythm with Him. The times when I actually find this easiest to do is when times are harder and uncertain: When worry has an opportunity to present itself. It's in those times that I feel that I need God the most, so He gets my attention. When things are "good," I tend to be comfortable with where I'm at and then forget about God and fall out of rhythm with Him. Though I'm better off by a worldly point of view, I'm worse off spiritually, which is far more serious. When I finally come to this realization, God finally gets my attention again... It's this unfortunate game we play with God. He just wants so badly to keep our attention. And that's all He asks of us. If we keep our attention on God, He will see that we are in rhythm enough to notice Him work and, in turn, give Him all the glory for it.

Anyway... that's what's on my mind at this point in time. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. Sorry it's been so long since my last blog.

Also: watch this video, it will move you like no other. It is from some youth convention down in Tennessee.

Love,
Phil and Kylee

AFTERSHOCK week one done.

Last Sunday, 11/04/07, Aftershock kicked off. And it went well. Responses from the students were INCREDIBLE. They were all astounded out how huge Aftershock is. Here are a couple of videos that I made for the Aftershock kick off Sunday. I thought you might enjoy watching them. The first is an intro video that will be played at the beginning of every Aftershock for quite some time. The second is a highlight video that was from the last Wednesday youth night that we had before the schedules changed to now Aftershock on Sundays and individual small groups on Wednesdays (hence the slides "end of an era" at the beginning and "a new beginning: Aftershock" at the end of the video).

Giving up control. Allowing God to move.

Hello friends and family. It's been a while since the last update. Things are going quite well and, frankly, we at the Bridge Student Ministries are kind of in the quiet before the storm... You see, come November 4th The Bridge Anderson celebrates our 3 year anniversary! On this date, the church is launching two HUGE programs: KidStuf 252 and Aftershock.

KidStuf 252 is aimed for the young kids and their parents, teaching the kids in skits and songs about the love of Christ and inviting the parents to become involved in their kids' spiritual lives. Aftershock? You guessed it! It's for the youth and it's going to be big. Basically, everything that has happened on a Wednesday night youth gathering (games, songs, message) and more is going to become Aftershock on Sunday mornings at 11:30ish. The name Aftershock was arrived at by yours truly. I presented the idea of the name to the rest of the leadership staff and they liked it. When I looked up what an Aftershock meant, this is one of the definitions that popped out: A further reaction following the shock of a deeply disturbing occurrence or revelation. Now, one definition of "revelation" is: God's disclosure of Himself and His will to His creatures. Aftershock is going to a rockin good time where our aim is to empower the teens to make an impact to those around them, to create an "Aftershock" in their own world: at their school, in their family, at work, etc.

What about Wednesday nights, you ask...? Wednesday nights will be the nights that small groups meet. Each youth leader is involved with these small groups. I'm helping with the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade boys and Kylee is with the 8th and 9th grade girls.

I've had the opportunity to get closely connected with a youth kid that is a little unsure of what he believes. You see, he was adopted as a baby and his adopted dad became an alcoholic. His adopted parents (which, for him, are his parents) split up and his mom recently married a man from Anderson and he moved here with her. They got involved with The Bridge and he was thrown into a private school, Liberty Christian. He grew up going to a public school and isn't quite used to having chapels every Thursday. I asked him if he would consider himself a Christian and he said "yes." I asked him how he became a Christian and he said, "Because my parents that adopted me were Christian." Now, we know that no one is born into a relationship with Christ, it's a decision that God wants us to make. He wants us to essentially lay down our lives and give up control to let Christ come in and change the way our life is lived. Of course, I didn't want to come across pushy to him by any means. So basically after some questioning and prompting, he came around to saying that he doesn't want to give up control of his life. We wants to have control of how his life turns out. Well, I explained that with giving control to God, you in the end gain control over certain aspects of your life. Christ comes in and cleans you from the inside out and if you continue to be open to him, the worldly desires that you wanted to satisfy with your old life become less important in this new life with Christ. In the end, you are gaining control of your life. I think he may have gotten a little overwhelmed and said, "I'm still learning..." The kid is seeking, as we all have done and still often find ourselves doing, for what he believe. He's at a crucial time in his life where he is learning to make his own choices and decisions about his life, and it's the same with the rest of the kids in the Student Ministries. It is an exciting time, for sure!

Some of you have been praying for Alison, a girl we have mentioned in our previous posts. We got a message from Justine, a friend of hers that goes to the Bridge. Justine has been an amazing influence on her as well and has connected with Kylee and I quite beautifully. This is her message (for your information, "Shishka" is Alison's nickname:

Kylee and Phil, Something incredible and beautiful has come in the midst of all this. I find that trying to be joyful during a rough time is hard but a little bit easier when God gives me a sign. Shishka said "I think I might be coming back to this whole church thing." I just noded and said that was great (like the selfpreocupied person I am.). Then later on when we were in the car we were talking about a friend of ours and Shish said "I think she just needs something, just like I'm finding religion. " I totally agreed and that time it sunk in a little more but... not deep enough. Later when we got to The Bucks we didn't talk because yet again i was preocupied with myself and hadn't even thought more about what was going on. God is incredible, I'm still a tad bitter with a hint of anger and resentment but He knows that. Shishka has never known if there was a god. She's had many conversations with different friends and has been struggling with her personal ideas and beliefs, i had no clue that this was going to happen. She wants what you have. She wants the love you guys have. She sees the joy you exude, the peacefulness, and beauty you exude. She looks forward to Wednesday's... they are her favorite day of the week.

Thank you for your continuing thoughts and prayers. God is moving, there is not denying. Pray for Justine as well. She is a strong girl but is struggling as we all do at times. May God continue to pour out his blessings upon you all!

This DVD was specifically made to inform those unfamiliar with the town of Anderson. It will give you more specific insights on the calling God has placed upon us.

God bless.

Never underestimate how God can use YOU.

This title of this blog is something God has been teaching me for the past three years - to have confidence that God can use me to do great things for His Kingdom. I think of God and all that He is and all that I'll never know about all that He is (that He is the creator, the absolute beginning of everything), and I think 'why would God pick someone like me?' I mean, I'm as human as they come. I screw up all the time, make stupid choices, learn from those stupid choices, and often make those stupid choices again. Through my eyes, I see myself as a stumbling block to God, that I wouldn't be much help in furthering His Kingdom. What's great, though, is that God says I'm wrong in thinking that. There is NO way I could have gotten to where I am today by myself. God has chosen to bless me far beyond what I feel I deserve. But the cool thing is, God wants to bless me more! He wants to bless ALL of us more! I mean think about it, if blessing someone would help further the Kingdom of God (which is want God wants to do), why wouldn't He want to do it. But here's the kicker: YOU have to want it. Do you want it? Even if you feel like you are being blessed right now, He wants you to have more of it. Seriously.

I talk a couple of blogs back about two kids named Alison and Mickey who didn't want anything to do with God but went on the youth trip over a month ago. Kylee , Gabe, and I have connected well with them and had them over a few weeks ago for a movie night, along with their friend Justine (a Bridge kid). Alison got into talking about the rough stuff in her life and the night got pretty emotional. God moved in that moment. Keeping in conversation with them, they have seeked our advice in certain situations and Alison starting talking about how she doesn't understand why God is bringing all this "negative" stuff in her life. Alison just opened the door to talk about God! This was exciting and I did my best to explain how God uses some (seemingly) hard stuff in our life to bring about the good in the end. God sees the bigger picture on the other side of the pain and sometimes the pain is used to refine how you are just as fire refines and purifies gold (1 Peter). I talked about the athlete and the farmer analogy used in Timothy - how the athlete must beat his body into shape, how the farmer must persevere through the uncertainties and worries that comes with farming in order to reap the fruits of his labor. She said that it has changed her life and all of these things she continues to hold on through this temporary pain she is experiencing. What's more is that both Alison and Mickey came to Youth last night. This is an incredible step forward, especially since after the youth trip they both said that they would not be back...

Who knew that God would use me in the ways that He has used me. I know Kylee feels the same why and we are humbled and thankful. God is powerful, and He believes in you and wants to use you, if you will let Him.

Kylee has spoken off and on and I had the opportunity to speak at youth a couple of weeks ago (ironically enough on the problem of pain). Kylee is now starting up drama with the youth kids this week and I am switching on and off with another leader in leading the kids in worship (pray for me, I'm not a great singer). Though I'm not a great singer, I still feel this is what God is calling me to step up and do! It's excited to feel that calling and know that God (the creator of the universe) is behind me every step of the way. He will move when I can't, for his strength is made perfect in weakness.

God bless you all!

We're about a month into this youth ministry thing. It's getting easier; it's getting harder.

It's easier because we're knowing names, building a little trust, a little respect. We're starting to figure out our place in the system (we even got an office yesterday)! Our support raising is well on it's way (58% as of today). And there are so many amazing new things starting up at the Bridge in the next month: a college ministry, a service on Sunday entirely for youth, and a new children's ministry aimed at parents too. It's an exciting place to be.

I say it's harder because every relationship gets harder. There comes a point when it's not just about football games or cute shoes or whatever else you can think of to talk about. There comes a point, when enough trust is built, when it starts to be about drugs, or drinking, or families falling apart. The conversation is about pain. Loneliness. How God could let this happen. And it's harder to hear it. Harder to find the next words or when to say them.

It's intense sometimes, and it probably will get more so as we continue to know people. But this is love, right? Pray for us to love how He loves. Pray for our kids as they are figuring out, some frantically and some joyfully, themselves, the world, and God. We are so humbled and so amazed that we even get to be on this journey. Thank you so much for joining us in it.

New Updates.

So far we have 40% of our support raised in the first week of being (or trying to be) in conversation with our sponsors. Truly it is a humbling experience. I mean who wants to ask for money from people?! It honestly puts you in your place: helplessly reliant on God. We have just been grateful of all that has happened thus far and are excited to talk to more of our potential sponsors next week (after labor day, of course!).

Of course, financial support isn't all we need. What's even more important is the prayer support and just knowing that our Christian brothers and sisters got our back spiritually. If you can give, thanks... but also pray! If you can't give, that's fine... but please pray! Pray, pray, pray! Pray for the names Alison and Mikey and for more opportunities like last night...

Here's a quick update for you guys: a few weeks ago, we went on a student leadership retreat for the high school youth (as was shown in the dvd). A teen that goes to the Bridge invited a couple of her friends that don't really want anything to do with God. What an opportunity! Somehow that weekend Kylee and I connected on a deeper scale with the two kids, Alison and Mikey. They live in Indianapolis and find it hard to attend youth on Wednesdays in Anderson, not to mention that they don't want to come in the first place. Well a couple weeks went by and Alison came to our Wednesday night youth event with her friend from the church. They and Kylee set up a movie night at our place. That night was last night.

After the movie, Gabe (the head youth pastor) came over as well to hang out and see them since he hadn't seen them in a few weeks. God truly made himself evident tonight and Alison shared what she is struggling with. I won't go into details out of respect for her, but, let me tell you, my heart broke for her. Stuff that I never thought kids at her age had to go through she's going through... all by herself. She's having to grow up a lot faster than a kid should. However, her sharing opened up a lot of opportunity for us to share our own testimonies and talk about how God has pulled us through similar types of stuff. And that probably the reason we get put through that stuff and the reason that God doesn't just take it all away is that He sees the bigger picture of how much of a better person we become through it. As fires refines and purifies gold, so are we refined by our own trials. We talked about how there is hope through it all and that our God (unlike other religions and gods) actually KNOWS our pain. For Jesus himself experienced it and because he himself experienced it, we know we can run to him in it and he has compassion on us and lifts us out of our despair.

It's that common understanding of pain and circumstance between us and our God that offers an intimate relationship unavailable through any other religion or god. It is that sort of intimate relationship that gives us hope in despair and brings about the end good through the (seemingly) bad means. Do not lose hope for the God who knows pain and works in pain is in control and sees the final product. And the final product is good. We just have to trust it though we cannot see it. This is where faith comes in. And this is where faith becomes proof enough.

Think about it, if there were no God, bad would be bad all the way through. But good CAN come out of bad... everyone has seen it at some point in life. In fact, isn't good all the more beautiful and evident when it does come from bad? Is the fact that we even feel we have a basis for determining what's good and what's bad the evidence for a God, an ultimate good-bad judge, in the end? I heard a pastor on the radio the other day telling a story about him relating to a kid having a hard time making "good choices." The kid asks, "How do I make good choices?" The pastor says, "Through gaining experience." The kid asks, "How do I gain experience?" The pastor says, "Through making bad choices." The bad things are what God can use to teach us, to train us, to beat us into shape. Gabe was talking about how you build muscle mass. In order to build your muscles, you tear them and break them down. When you break them down, they repair themselves and become larger in size.

Alison was broken last night. But there is beauty in this brokenness. There is a glimmer of hope and the healing has started and the opportunity for learning about a Creator and trusting a God presented itself. And we all felt it. And Mikey listened. Please pray.

Here we go!

Time to jump in. Time to go out of our comfort zone and meet these teens. Today Gabe, Kylee, and I went to Highland High School to hang out with them during all three lunch periods. Occasionally we'd find a Bridge youth and that made things comfortable... but we don't want to be comfortable right? When you are on new territory and are basically forced to talk to kids you don't know, there is nothing else to rely on than God himself to bring the kids along for you to develop relationships with and gain the respect to share your heart with them. That's what today was ultimately all about.

Tonight is the Bridge Youth kick off night where we have games and a band scheduled to perform. At lunch today we pushed for kids to come... and many of the conversations I had today ended with "See you later tonight." This is an exciting time. On Wednesday nights, the youth attendance has been steadily climbing since we've been able to be a part of it. All the credit goes to God, of course, as we are seeing these teens draw closer to each other and, ultimately, closer to God. They know they have a place to belong, a family to be a part of. Last week, the attendance was around 60. We'll give you an update on how tonight goes. Please be in prayer that those who are looking for a place to feel accepting will find it tonight. We're excited to see how God is going to work.

Packages went out 2 days ago (finally) and we are already hearing some responses about them. This blog is one of the many ways we will keep you up to date on what is going on. I'm sure we'll be talking to many of you soon. Thank you for joining our team!

This video is to inform our sponsors what this mission is all about.