Bolt Conference

I just got back from an awesome conference. For any youth pastor & leader that did not make it to the Bolt conference you don't want to miss it next year. It was filled with incredible speakers, fantastic workshops, and great time to hang & get to know other pastors & leaders. Last night Monty Hipp spoke and he asked a question that has had me thinking since he asked it. He asked, "If Jesus had your dream would he change the world or change the channel?"

What do you think? 

Meditate vs. Memorize

Ps. 119:97 - Oh, how I love your law! I MEDITATE on it all day long. (Psalm 119:97-104)

I've always been told of how important it is to memorize God's word, but what good is it if that's all I do is memorize it? How much nonsense have we memorized for a school test & how much of that do we remember now. Just because you memorize something doesn't mean you'll remember it, let alone do anything with it. See, we're not to just memorize God's word, we're told to meditate on it...

Joshua 1:8 - Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; MEDITATE on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 

Memorizing is is just filing something away in a vault that might come out again at some other time. Meditating implies constant action, its taking something and living it out; Its asking how does this apply to me and what am I going to do about it? I must do more than just memorize God's word, I must meditate on it. When I meditate on, not just memorize, God's word I gain wisdom (v.98), insight (v.99), understanding (vs.1o0, 104), direction (vs. 101, 102), & satisfaction (v.103).

I must do more than just file away what God speaks to me, I must allow it to completely transform me.

Meditating on the WORD,

Coach Luis

The other day Pastor Chilly posted a blog about communication. I was challenged to be a better communicator. I want to communicate in such a way that I can take others on a journey with me; that they would feel what I feel, see what I see, hear what I hear, & smell what I smell. I want to communicate in such a way that it hits the heart of those I'm communicating with. The only way for me to communicate that way is if what I am communicating is alive to me. When something is alive to you, you speak about it with joy, passion, intensity, & a genuineness. Well, I had to ask myself, "How do I communicate God's word?" If God's word is alive in me then it will be alive as I communicate it. I don't need to quote it word for word for it to be communicated, it should just flow from my life. I pray that others would see God's alive word alive in me daily.

Alive,

Coach Luis

God's word is amazing! I was reading a familiar passage of scripture today and was again moved by God. Many people can quote Jeremiah 29:11, but how many can quote the verses before & after that?

Jeremiah 29:11-14a - 11"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you," declares the Lord...

God's plans for us are great but we'll never know them until we seek him with everything we've got. God wants all of me, not just part of me. Holding back robs me of God's best - we I seek him with my whole heart I'll find him!