ok it’s a new year…new decade…new rhythms, well I am trying to find some rhythm on the dance floor with my family.  You see when I got back from Buffalo I was told that Sat. morning the family had Salsa dance lessons lined up…this was a family decision! Let me clarify, this was no just one dance lesson but the beginning of many already paid for dance lessons, so with that, I am loving my new dancing feet…this is serious stuff…down beats, step/step/step, pause on the seventh count, spacing, it’s going to take some extra practice so if you see me counting, stepping, and spinning I haven’t been smoking some stuff…I am just lost in the rhythm of the day!

much love !

Shall we call it 2010 or twenty ten that is the question?  Well anyway welcome to what I believe will not only be possible most exciting year of my life but the best decade of my very, very, very, young life!  I am looking forward to living out each moment and maximizing every opportunity that God gives me.  Can’t wait to see you guys at detour this week…I got to cut this short because I need to keep my new years resolution and go work out!

much love

I am so exited for all the students who are getting baptized tomorrow night at Detour.  God has done some amazing things in the lives of so many of you and I am pumped that some of you are ready to take that next bold step of living out your faith.  Many of you have been asking some questions concerning baptism and so I want to answer some of those for you.  Many of you have told me that you were baptized when you were very young and uncertain of the meaning of being baptized.  First, baptism is an outward expression of a person who has surrendered their life to Jesus Christ.  It is following Christ example as he was baptized just before He began to do his earthly ministry. And as you begin to let your life shine and live you life for Him it becomes the first significant step for you to take as you begin to fulfill God’s purpose for your life!

It is very common for people to get baptized at an early stage in life but yet not fully understand the significance and responsibility of such a decision.  That is why we call it believers baptism…they follow up with baptism once they believe and profess that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.  So it is common for some to be baptized for a second time because they, for the first time, recognize the importance of such a decision.

If you have not signed up yet but are planning to get baptized…first tell your parents of your decision and invite them to be apart of this very special night.  Bring a change of clothes…shorts, t-shirt and a towel…we will have the detour baptism t-shirts and if you want to keep the shirt bring $5.  We will meet in the green room at 6:30 to go over everything so please don’t be late!

If you can’t make this Wednesday night we invite you to come Sunday to our 11:00 service…it takes place in the same room and we will also be baptizing some students on December 13. Please get here at 10:30 so we can go over the details.

I hope this answers most of the questions if not call us or shoot us an email!

I hope everyone is enjoying time spent with family this thanksgiving…what a great season to pause and thank the Lord for all that He has done and provided.  These past several months have given me an amazing journey through God’s sovereignty and I have learned so much but most importantly my faith in God continues to increase and I continue to grow!  So I declare my thankfulness for the students He has entrusted me with, my family He has given to me, and for all the known and un-known blessing He has poured upon my life.

I got to get back to the kitchen, Bradley is cooking away and Tita is trying to keep it all under control, Thad is making his special sauces, Brittanie is setting the table, and Brooke is doing her hair…go figure!  I get to take out the trash!

Last night Bradley and Tommy scored big time on their sr project.  I  just sat back and enjoyed watching students put themselves out there for the world to know that they are in love with God.  They made it very clear that this was no game they where playing but it was them inviting us to join them in the worship of our Lord and Savior.  I was just blown away again seeing God move and seeing students give their lives to Christ.  I love their prayer…they wanted to see every student accept Christ love….not alot of them but all of them.  So I join them in their prayer!

Great job everbody…because it took a whole team to pull that off last night.

Last night was another amazing night at detour…I was blown away by how many of you showed up even with all that crazy rain we had. How about that opening song…the drama…our special guest…the worship…and then YOU!  God is truly transforming us and I am so glad that I get to be apart of the journey.  Last night we ended our ReACT series with written word LOVE and  God spoke very clearly to us last night. We saw about 20-25 students give their lives and many more expressed their willingness to live for Christ no matter the cost!

Compassion  invokes action but without love it just becomes our satisfaction!

What is important to God must be important to us!

What does the Lord require of us…to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Can’t wait to see what happens in December!

Finally!  The new site is up and running for you guys so I hope you like it…I hope you love it cause it about killed us to get this thing done!  I am now excited once again to hit up some more blogs.  We are finishing the re{act} series tonight and through this series I can see God at work in your lives.  I would say this may possible be our most important series of the year because it causes us to evaluate our lives individually and as a group to make sure that what is important to God is important to us.  Keep bringing in the socks and the rice bowls so we can help some people out in a big way! blog at you soon

Detour I got to say it’s been to long…I have been so frustrated with getting our new site launched that I just gave up on the whole blogging thing but we are so close to having the new site ready!  Let me just say D-NOW was the biggest student weekend that I have every experienced before…eveything was so tight!  Seeing you guys worship and celebrate on that level, leading hundreds of other students in worship was beautiful.  Our friend Chad did an awesome job delivering the goods…it was great to see the look on your faces when I intro Kulu to you guys…shock and awe!  Thanks for making it such a great weekend…I will be catching up with you guys over the next few days.  Got alot to share with you!

Last night was Detour’s end of the year cookout and with that we pull out the black tarp for some old school slip-n-slide!  Our friend Bill brought a couple of his huge blowup slides…the grill was hot with some hamburgers and hot dogs add a little music and about 300 students who just finished their last day of school…that’s a party!  

Today we are heading to the beach and I am looking forward to hanging out with some of the most amazing students…got to do some work in th office first!

Sorry about the long delay between post…i believe i just experienced the fastest season of youth ministry in my young, short life!  Today is the last day of school for everyone and our first day of summer ministry…and I can’t wait to get this summer started.  Here is the deal…tomorrow we kick it off with our first hang time of the summer and we are heading to the beach.  We are working on rooming assignments for Bigstuf as I am writing this blog. Next Monday night the girls are kicking off a Summer Bible study and we have over 40 signed up for that…you girls don’t want to miss out on Monday night’s, it’s going to be awesome!  Guys we kick our study off after we get back from camp and we will be having it on Thursday night’s…so don’t miss out on that.  We will be at Bigstuf this time next week!  It’s going to be one great summer with Detour.