Hear Ye, Hear Ye
I would like to take today with you wonderful readers (Mom, Jen and the Believe staff) to announce who our speaker for next year’s tour. This is always such a big whopping deal for me because I really do kind of “live” closely with whoever these people are for about a year. Over dinners, Starbucks, email, rush hour phone calls and many prayers spent together as we plan for Believe 2006-2007: Jesus event tour. The DNA of this event is becoming more complex. Let me explain that. While every year we are becoming more jr high intentional the community of people who invest into this event are growing in number and influence. As I sit here at the Bolger Leadership Center in beautiful Maryland there are a group of people who are emailing me with curriculum, with thoughts about last year and tweaks (and major changes). There are (besides the kicking staff at CIY) a group of jr high workers, Ladies and Men, pouring themselves and their experience on the foundation of next year’s tour. Let me blanket that statement with a common denominator that is running rampant through all the meetings I am having right now: A feeling of powerlessness is prevalent when it comes to having the “answers” for jr high students today. Everyone involved here is pointing to a feeling that we want to see a generation of students rise up; but we are acknowledging that we in and of ourselves don’t have the power or program to make that happen. We are submitting and waiting on the Holy Spirit to show up. I am confident that when we look at the person and work of Jesus Christ past and present renewal will come. Students will be changed. If we accurately portray the Word (Jesus), then students in a highly wired world will be impacted by His authenticity. When I look at the past speakers I can see the road we traveled in respect to jr high intentionality (key word). Speakers from Josh Finklea, David Nasser, Jeffery Dean, and Mark Moore have been the vessel for many impacting moments in the past. At Cincinnati Believe 4 years ago Mark Oestreicher met with me and we started a relationship on the commonality of jr high ministry. Since that time Mark has had a continued impact on defining the Believe experience. Mark’s friendship, expertise and sincere heart for jr high students make him a perfect choice for one of our speakers on next year’s tour. Along with Marko, Nathan Head will be joining us in select cities as a speaker. Nathan is currently the jr high Ministry leader at Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY. Nathan has been bringing students to Believe for 6 years. Nathan used to serve as the Jr high pastor where Jen and I attend so it will be great to see Nate contribute in this way. We firmly believe that Marko and Nate are two of the ablest jr high communicators in America. Both of these guys are currently involved in local church ministry and the lives of jr high students. And they are both excited that Lost has a new episode tonight. Furthermore, I personally believe that the directors have wanted us to hate Analousia from the beginning. She is not the one who is going to die. Can you say Diversion? Tonight! Peace