An update

Wow. It has been a while hasn't it? It is amazing how easy it is to go months without sitting down ande valuating what God has been doing in your life for other's entertainment, but I will try to make it short and sweet for you!

God is good. All the time.

Since moving here in January, I have seen God do some awesome things. No I have not seen thousands come to Christ, yet... but I have seen God be faithful to answer my prayer requests. God is faithful to answer things according to his timing and His will, even when I feel like they should be done a bit differently (ever been in that situation?)

Since my last update the ministry has continued to grow spiritually. We are finally finding ourselves with a small group of people committed to the BCM, and I am seeing God shape those people's lives more toward the image of His Son Jesus Christ. I see my students taking opportunities to share the Gospel with their friends and classmates. It is a humbling experience. It is humbling because I know that I have nothing to do with it. If there is anything I am learning in my adventure in Boise, ID is the fact that I am utterly incapable of taking any credit for what God has been doing. It is amazing to see how when I feel like I am at my lowest point or my teaching is not that strong, that is when God decides to speak to the hearts of others. However, when I am prideful and arrogant as I teach (sure that because of my wisdom it will change my students lives) is when I don't get to see God's hand as  much (even though I know He is still faithful to keep working).  This is so antithetical to what the world teaches, "Make a name for yourself, success is found in large groups who adore you."
I am thankful for Jesus Christ, who chose to use 12 men, several of them uneducated fisherman who would constantly not understand the teachings of Jesus, as the vessels through which He poured out His truth to a dying world.
"God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

Our free lunch is going well, with attendance somewhere around 55-60 each week. We have seen several students deepen their relationship with Christ through this ministry, but I would ask earnestly that you would send more workers into our ministry to talk to those who come to free lunch (some who would have never set foot inside of a Baptist church) and develop intentional relationships to share the Gospel.

I love international students. As I was driving in Meridian, ID I began to think of how I could reach out to this people group on campus who are often overlooked and I began to earnestly pray that God would equip me to form relationships with them and show them the love of Christ. God is so faithful to answer your prayers when they are in accordance to His Will and good pleasure. The next week I was bombarded with a host of international students that I met in the most random of places, and I have been able to use the gifts and experiences granted to me through Christ to reach out and start forming relationships with them, mainly in the form of ping pong (give me 2 more months and I will be a champion ping pong player). I love the different cultures and the openness to discuss spiritual matter with many of them. I look forward to continuing my friendship and ministry to them. God is faithful to answer the desires of my heart.

God has also been faithful to provide the beginnings of a BCM men's bible study. One of the things I have been lacking is the lack of Godly men to encourage and sharpen me, as well as just have fellowship with other guys. I now have those things, and I look forward to seeing what God will do in that ministry, as we challenege each otherto be the men of God that God has called us to be.

Tangent time.

What does it take to be a man?

It means stepping up and leading your wife and children.
It means loving your wife as Christ loved the church.
It means bearing the responsiblity for your family.
It means fleeing from sexual temptations.
It meanst fighting against the schemes of the Devil with the weapons of the Holy Spirit.
It means discipling other men.
It means taking young men under your care and showing and teaching them what it means to be a Godly man.
It means dying to yourself to serve others.
It means interceeding for the lost and broken.
It means stepping up to serve in the churches.
It means being someone that a woman can respect and see the Savior in.
It means being a protector.
It means being committed to God.

It means so much more, and many men are turning into sissies who would rather fulfill their own selfish desires than be accountable to the God who created them.

End Tangent.

I have also blessed to be intentionally discipled by a dear friend a few years older than me. This time spent with Chris has blessed my life in so many ways, especially in my relationship with Casey and what it means to be a man after God's own heart. It is yet another assurance of how extremely important discipleship is in the life of a believer.

Now the big news...

"Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”- James 4:15

This is a verse that every Christian should hold fast to. Since moving to Boise, the truth of the importance of praying and living in God's will has become so real to me. I have realized that God's ways are so much higher than my own, and that it is complete stupidity to try to force my own will in my life.

Tangent.
Let's think about this, if God is the author and creator of Salvation, knows all His plans for you, and is a good Father, then it would make complete sense that everything He sends my way in regards to my future is glorifying to Him. I want you to notice something, I didn't say that it would be a pleasure filled road. Sometimes God sends people to places where they will be killed for their faith. This idea that you are "safest when you are in the center of God's will" is often misunderstood. Thousands of people have died for being in the center of God's will, but God constantly works good from what we have seen as evil. For example, the death of Jesus Christ was the ultimate fulfillment of being in the center of God's will, yet it has brought hope and salvation to so many people.  Being in God's will is stretching, but the thing we can remember is that we can have unmeasured joy because we know that God is allowing us to be a part of His amazing plan for the world. We must not buy into this worldly philosphy that if you follow God in His wil that everything is going to easy, but we must buy in to the truth that we can have joy knowing that the God of everything loves us, never forsakes us, and gves us joy and peace in the midst of the hell of this world. All that to say, we are safest in God's will, but in a very different way that so many intrepret it.
End Tangent.

Three weeks ago, I sat in a leadership conference with a pastor from Ada, Oklahoma. Pat Kilby is a good friend and I have been very blessed to get to know him as well as his brother Ryan, who actually was the guest speaker at our retreat this past weekend. Pat spoke of expecting God to do great things in your ministry if you will trust Him enough to do the big things. During this conference, I kept thinking about how excited I am to move back to Lubbock and get this solid teaching and discipleship in the Bible Belt once again. I kept thinking how awesome it would be to move to Ada, Oklahoma and work under Pat and Ryan Kilby and be back in my comfort zone of the South, in a place that preaches straight up truth and the Gospel. I began to daydream of how through them, I would become a great leader. I wanted my plans to be fulfilled, even though I had been trying really hard to pray that God's will be done in regards to my future place of residence.

Then God spoke to me. No, not audibly, but that still small voice that only the sheep of God can recognize. It said this...

"I want you to stay in Boise."

That's it. Nothing else, no explanation, just a command.

Instantly I knew what this implied. I must forsake all the plans that I had, and trust God that His will is sovereign, good, and will glorify Him.

I said "Ok God, I'll do it."- simple words, but life-changing.

God has called me to serve in Boise, ID for quite a while, until He tells me to go somewhere else. I will finish school most probably at Boise State, and then wherever God wants me to go for seminary. I am excited and at peace about God's will. I know that He will do great things through it! There is the obvious sadness that comes along with the fact that I will not get to see my family and friends in Texas near as much, but I love God more than I love them, and desire to serve God more than I want to serve them. This may seem harsh, but it is the way that we are supposed to think and act, that is the whole premise behing Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

I love all of you back home in Texas, so much. But that pales in comparison to the love I must have for the God who stepped down into time, lived a perfect life, was hated, mocked, beaten, whipped, and died a sinner's death, raised from the dead three days later, and is now the living Savior for all mankind. I love God, even when I must be taken out of my comfort zone. But don't worry! I will come home and see everyone over the holidays...and you can come see me!

I am still dating my wonderful woman Casey Sharp, and she has been completely supportive of my ministry and obedience to what God has called me to do (trust me she was really looking forwards to being a Texan once again). In two days we will celebrate our 7 month anniversary, and I am such a blesed man to be pursuing a Godly woman. Be sure that on the next blog update I will touch on more personal things, not just the ministry.

I love you all, and I am thankful that we share the same Father in heaven who has adopted us out of our sins to be saved and sanctified through His Son Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Phillip

What must I do to be saved?

Over the past few days, the concept of what it means to be saved has been brought to my mind over and over again. Salvation through Jesus Christ is an amazing, refining, heart wrenching, and scary process more often than naught. But what does it mean to be saved? We live in a culture where many people believe they are "saved". Let me make one point clear, I am not God, and I do not claim to be. I have no authority to judge whether someone is going to Heaven or Hell, that is not my place, nor would I ever want it to be. A judgement like that deserves a perfect Judge, and that is God's role.

However, it is my duty as a Christian to stand up for the most basic principals of the Christian faith, even in the midst of opposition of what so many view as the "norm" for salvation. Are you ready?

Salvation is not a prayer...necessarily. It is not walking down the aisle in an emotionally charged room...necessarily. It is not listing Christianity as your religion on facebook....necessarily. It is not baptism...necessarily. It is not easy....necessarily.

All of these things can be associated with salvation, and for some people this may be the moment that they truly get what salvation is, but salvation in Jesus Christ is so much more than that.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."- John 3:16

This is our hope, this is our salvation. Believing in Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to believe? The greek word for believe infers to entrust oneself in. We are called to entrust ourselves completely in Christ, not just say empty words.This is called FAITH. The result of this FAITH is a lifestyle that reflects our dependance and focus on Christ. How people do we know that claim to have believed in Christ, yet their life has not changed at all? Yes, it is a life change! God did not save us to stay the same! He saved us from sin and death so that we can walk in righteousness and life!

1 John talks extensively about what it means to become a born again Christian. It states, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God."- sounds a lot like John 3:16 doesn't it? But here is the kicker, it goes on to say, "We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him." Once you are born-again, you do not continue to dwell in darkness as you once did! There is a life change. What this is not saying is that we will be perfect, or that we will not struggle with sin, we are human and our flesh still craves for it's sinful desires. However, we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, and it is impossible for someone who has the Spirit of God inside of Him to live completely in sin, for the Spirit that lives inside of us is jealous for God's glory, and has created a new creation!

Salvation is this. Completely trusting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and a total surrender to Him as Lord and King of Kings. It is acknowledging that we are separated from God because of our sin, and it is the plea to God to save us through His Son Jesus Christ. It is the willingness and desire to repent from our sin and trust Christ with our lives. To repent means to "think differently", and to turn the other way. When someone accepts Christ as their Lord and Saviour they approach life completely differently. It is amazing to see people who have experienced a total life change through Jesus Christ. My old roommate Ryan Burden is an excellent example. Jaxson Fanta is an excellent example. I am an example, and you should be too! Are we perfect? No. Will we ever be? Yep. But not in this lifetime. This is no way gives glory to ourselves, but all glory goes to God who is finishing the work He started in us!

God still cares about the way we live our lives, if you don't believe me read the New Testament sometime. The majority is written to encourage Christians to continue living the life that God has called them to live in Christ Jesus. If someone is unwilling to surrender their life to Christ, maybe they should reevaluate their salvation a little bit. Harsh statement? Absolutely. But I take my cue from James, "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one: you do well. Even the demons believe- and shudder!" The result of salvation is a changed life, not a perfect life, but a changed one. I will tell you a secret, even Paul the apostle had trouble with sin, but his attitude toward that sin reflected the mindset of Christ. "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."- Romans 7:14-15

I do not want to come across as a know-it-all, legalistic, and bible-thumping Christian, but I will stand by what Jesus has done for us and what he expresses salvation to be, a complete and amazing life change done by Jesus Christ himself, not by our own works or merit, but all by His saving grace.  Salvation changes a person from the inside out. First their soul is made right with God, and then over the course of our lives Christ molds us more into the image of His son, and prunes us so that we may bear more fruit (Romans 8:29, John 15). We live in a culture that claims to know Christ, yet walks in darkness and approves of the darkness. How many of us are willing to die for our faith like our brothers and sisters in hostile countries? Christianity is not a game, nor is it a cool fashion statement. It is a complete surrender to Christ to save you and help you walk through this life, carrying  your cross with Him one step at a time.

So for those looking for an easy religion, look somewhere else. But to those looking for a fulfilling, life-altering, eternal, refining relationship with the creator of the universe, come to the cross of Calvary where a perfect God subjected Himself to torture and ridicule, died on a cross to pay the debt for our sins and transgressions, died, and rose again three days later so that we may put our complete hope and trust in Him and be made free from the bondage of this life. Jesus came for those who wanted to enter into a true relationship with God, not those who want Him on the back-burner.

And for those who already know Christ and have experienced his grace, I pray that you (and myself) would recognize that God wants us to change the world through the Holy Spirit that we possess. I pray that we would make Christ our number one priority, for if we truly know Him we cannot let Him be on the back-burner in our life. Christ came so that we can have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). God is love. God is truth. God is awesome.

We cannot let culture adapt who Jesus Christ is. We must follow what God's word has called us to do. Love God. Live for Him. Tell others. Be changed.

A new season

Been a while hasn't it?
God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. :)
Many things have happened over the past month, and I will try to address them as best as I can.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to lead my first mission trip. We went to Cheney, Washington and worked at a woman and children's shelter, a homeless youth shelter, a crisis nursery, and a couple of local Baptist churches. My team consisted of 2 guys, and 6 girls. Intimidating enough I would say. But one thing I have come to notice, is that through prayer and petition God always seems to put the perfect team together, especially on mission trips. Everyone did such a fantastic job, and worked to the best of their ability, and then some! It was such an awesome, and a priveledge to lead such a fantastic group of people. We also learned how to evangelize on college campuses, and it is definitely something that I have taken back home, as well as all the other ministry tips I learned from our awesome host, Arlette.  I also got to learn how to drive a 15 passenger van that just so happened to be a part of a local spanish church (as you will see in our team picture)

Other news: I knew from within the first month that I was here that God was telling me that I would be staying here longer than one semester. As of right now, I have signed up to stay another semester through December, if not longer. There is still so much work that needs to be done, and God has allowed me to be a part of it! Please continue to pray for me, and those souls here that we interact with who have not received Christ.

And now the news that everyone is waiting to hear about:
Yes there is a girl. Yes she is wonderful. And yes I am interested, to say the least. God's will is being sought continually in this process, and prayer for that process would be much appreciated. There are some complications in regards to my standing as a missionary and pursuing relationship, but I trust completely that God is faithful to reveal what to do in His timing. And that is what it is all about, Christ Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. As I continue to pray and seek His will, it is about Him and what glorifies Him. She is a wonderful, smart, funny, insightful, dignified, beautiful, and amazing woman of God. Yet despite all of these things, Christ must be the focus where are eyes are fixed. Whether God wants us to pursue this relationship now, or at a later time, it is going to be done the right way. It is a refining process to say the least. One that teaches both of us to practice patience, and to wait on Christ.

Now here is the questions, what does this process look like, not just for me, but for all Christians?
It starts first and foremost with abandoning the world's idea of relationships and dating and focusing on what God desires for a relationship. God's desire is that it would glorify His name, and as Christians it should be our heart's desire to do exactly that. It requires setting boundaries. It requires seeking Christ personally, as well as together. It requires giving up what your "perfect" list of a future spouse, and allowing God to show you his list. It is time consuming. It is not physical. It is spiritual first and foremost. I could tell you that I have been perfect in relationships in the past, but it would be a bold faced lie. But thanks be to God that He continually renews us and gives us new opportunites. And He gives you new opportunities as well.

My prayer and my hope is that first and foremost, I will stay in God's will and do what He has called me to do. Everything else will fall in place. And to be honest, that can be a little intimidating, but that is where the word "faith" comes in. As Hebrews says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Have faith my friends, for if you seek God, you learn that He is faithful.

SpreadtheWord my friends,

Phillip

Who do you love?

Well hello again!!! I have missed you! But don't worry, we will catch up.
I must say it again, God is good. Even when I don't feel like giving praise, He is still good.
I digress.
It has been a great couple of weeks! Over the past couple of weeks God has really shown me what it looks like to be in ministry full time, and it can be difficult. I definetly still have a very long way to go, but it is giving me a great taste of what it will be like down the road. Let me tell you something my friends, never take your college minister or pastor for granted! I never realized how much planning and prayer it takes to even organize a small event or mission trip. I am learning more and more that God wants a Godly man to be a leader, not an immature boy. I love to joke around, I do! But there is a time and a place for that, and more often a time and a place to be strong. My prayer is that God will continue to change me from the inside out, so that I can be an example to those around me and someone they can trust.

God has started putting non-believers in my life, and allowing us to form relationships with them. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! I need prayers my friends, THEY NEED PRAYERS!!! Help me knock down the spiritual barriers of darkness to allow the true light of God and salvation to shine into their lives. God is showing me over and over that we so often forget about the outcasts in society, or the ones who don't receive the attention they need or love, and that He came to redeem them as well. God is good, and He loves you and me.

We went to the Rock and Worship Road Show this past Thursday and it was absolutely fantastic! Bart Miller from Mercy Me gave the final talk, and it was very thought provoking. He talked about what it meant to love God. So often, we love the attributes that we like about God and His gifts. His love, our house, our friends, our money, being healed, etc. All of things are great no doubt and He deserves praise and love for them. But do we love God for just being God? If you were to ask me why I loved my future wife and I responded, "Well she cooks for me, cleans for me, makes my bed, rubs my back, takes care of the kids, etc." you would think that is a pretty shallow love am I right? Those are things that I will respect and love about my wife, but my hope is that I will love her for the very person she is! We should love God for merely who He is! HE IS GOD! And he has loved us enough not to leave us rotting in our sin and darkness, but has provided a way to enter into a relationship with Him. The question we all need to face is, do we love God for just being God? Do we love Him when the cancer doesn't go away? Do we love Him when we are poor as dirt and can barely lift our face? God is unchanging my friends and He loves with unconditional love, and we should strive to love Him in that same way, for if we truly loved God, we would change the world. (And no, we will never match the love that God has shown towards us, but we can sure love Him to our fullest).

I am going to Alaska next week to go serve Jesus with my college group back home for 8 days. I am so excited not only to see my friends and show Jesus to people, but also to place myself in a learning position to take notes and bring them back to Boise for when we go to Cheney/Spokane, Washington for our missions trip. I would covet your prayers for both of these mission trips. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blogs and pray for me, I  can never thank you enough!

God bless my friends,
Phillip

Every knee will bow.

Well it has been a while since the last update! Things are going very well! God is faithful, and will continue to be.
We had our first leaders meeting last week! It was fantastic getting to work with people who share the same aspirations to see the campus of Boise State encounter the living God. Early last week, I met with a former BCM director and he casually mentioned a ministry conference that takes place in San Francisco every year through Golden Gate Seminary. My heart leapt at the opportunity to take a trip to California and learn about Jesus! The bad news was that it was only a week away. I decided to go for it and see what happened. Praise the Lord that He provided a way for us to go! I decided that I would take our three leaders, Elisa, Shane, and Casey in the hopes that we could bond and grow together. From the get-go of planning this trip, Satan was in attack mode.
Tangent time.
Do you realize how much you are hated by the enemy? Do we truly realize how much Satan despises us? Satan will do anything in his power to take away the glory that we should be giving to God and turn it to Himself and ourselves. Satan hates you. He hates God. He hates salvation. He hates the saving grace and love that he has scorned. Every evil, slanderous, hurtful, and doubt comes from the prince of this world in order to mess you up. Satan despises God. Do we really get it?
Better Tangent.
Our God is bigger than Satan. He has CRUSHED him. And the same Spirit that has completely obliterated Satan and his sorry lot of demons resides in you when you accept Christ and turn your life over to Him. Do you know what that means? We are victorious! But Satan loves to tell us that we aren't. He loves to tell us that Jesus died for all people except for me. He loves to lie and tell us that God is not faithful. Let me tell you something my friends, GOD IS FAITHFUL. God is good. God is just. God has beat the evil forces of darkness, it is up to us to discern truth from life and live by the Spirit of truth that now resides in us. Does this mean we will be perfect? Does this mean we will not struggle and not doubt? Of course not. Satan is good at his job, but we can hold fast to the scripture that tells us that , "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37, and you should check out the verses leading up to that btw).
End tangent.
Everything seemed to be super difficult as we tried to organize this trip (and yes waiting until a week beforehand definitly did not help). We could not find a car that would support us adequately and enable us to drive safely through the storm of ice and snow we were forced to face. We could not find lodging that was free or inexpensive due to our small budget. Casey was diagnosed with walking pneumonia the day before we left. Things were hard. Satan put doubts on my mind. But God allowed these things to happen as he always does so that we could trust in Him completely. And he provided. Housing was given to us by two sweet couples from a local church we contacted who let us stay in their gorgeous homes free of charge. Gail and Joyce offered to let us take their 4x4 Jeep. Casey was given just enough strength and endurance to make it through the weekend, and that weakness she felt helped deepen her relationship with God. God is faithful.
We walked into the conference and the first thing I noticed was the large amount of asians that were present. And then the weirdest thing happened. A lyric from the Newsboys "He Reigns" song started playing in my head and would not stop. The lyric says, "The sound of Asian believers filled with God's holy fire." The rest of the conference I could not escape this thought. I looked around during worship and saw Asians worshipping. I have never seen a more beautiful or peaceful thing. It was amazing. We went on an urban excursion of our choice the next day. I decided I wanted to go to Chinatown and see how I felt about it. There was just enough seats in the car for those who chose to go. As we walked around Chinatown, my heart was elated. I could not stop smiling (and of course that had to do with being in an awesome new place). We met with a Chinese pastor and he told the story of how he became a believer. I ate dinner with a man from Thailand who imparted wisdom and love to me. I am not sure what all of this means but it def. showed me that I have a heart for the Asian people. I went home and decided to look on the IMB's (International Mission Board) website and just see what kind of short term mission trips are available. The first thing that came open when I opened the world missions link was something that said "Want to spend Christmas in China?"- it was listed under the urgent need tab. Very interesting to say the least huh?

All in all it was a fantastic conference and a great way to invest and build relationships with our fellow leaders.
God is good. God is faithful.

Phillip

The Kingdom

Wow! It has officially been over a month since I first arrived in Boise. God has done some amazing things for sure in this short time. I was thinking the other day that it feels like I have been here six months. Over this past month I have learned so much and seen God take care of me in so many ways. Let me list some.

1. Friends
I was so nervous that I was going to be going at this all alone. I have left some awesome friends back in Lubbock, and I miss them terribly. I thought I would be lucky if I could find a couple of strong Christians to replace them if I looked for several months. God knows my needs, he has provided several close friends already who truly love the Lord and seek His will. They encourage me, they work with me, and they allow me an outlet when I just need to rest. I am so thankful for all of them.

2. Leaders
This was what I was sent up here to do, establish leaders to take over when I leave. God showed me that I didn't have to establish leaders, they were already here waiting for an opportunity. God has blessed this ministry with several awesome Godly people who truly want to serve Him. It is has been awesome getting to do discipleship, and to be discipled by them as well. There is real potential in this Treasure Valley for people to stand up and be the leaders God has called them to be.

3. Home
I have always lived near my parents. I have always been blessed to know that I had a solid support whenever I would need it. When I came up here, I was nervous that I would not be comfortable with my host family, and that I would have no solid support system that I could see and touch. God has provided once again. My host family is awesome, and they love God. They have been so supportive of this ministry and truly try to help me in any way they can.

4. Ministry
I had no idea what I was going to do when I came up here. Of course I had some ideas, but as soon as I got here they didn't really pan out the way I thought they would. When I encounter things like this, it often reminds me of the saying, "Man plans, God laughs." Even though things didn't work out the way I thought they would, God is showing me that my mission verse is still in play, "Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:6. As I sought God's will in this ministry, He opened doors. He provided leaders, He provided ideas, He provided people, He provided what I needed. He gave me the idea of a free lunch for students, and over the past 3 weeks we have had an average of 30ish students, it is awesome! He provided the idea of a LifeGroup over 1 John, and we have had an average of 8 students each week! God is good, and He will continue to provide. God also provided boldness for praying for people by providing an awesome Christian friend to help me!

I have grown a lot this month, mainly in my reliance on God. I have learned over and over again that being uncomfortable and stretched is where God works the most.

I have no idea what the plans for the future are for me in Boise. I have no idea if God will want me to stay here, or to return home to Lubbock. But I will trust Him and allow Him to reveal it to me in His time.

Now some awesome news! I am taking some leaders to California this next week for a missions conference in San Francisco! Talk about last minute planning huh? The opportunity came up a couple of days ago and we just decided to go for it! It is hosted by Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and I have heard some awesome things about it. We will leave early next Friday and return on Monday night so please be praying that we will have safe travel because we are driving. I am also heading to Alaska next month for some mission work, and we are working on taking our BCM to Washington over our spring break to serve Jesus! Now that is just cool.

I think one of the one major ideas that God has continually put in my way is that all of this work I am doing is for the Kingdom. Pastors all across this idea speak of their work for the Kingdom. I had never really heard that term used that much, but I love it. I am learning more and more that as Christians, we must all work for the Kingdom of God. It is an eternal investment my friends. It does not matter whether you are Southern Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, etc. , as long as you believe in the basic concepts of salvation, Jesus, and God, we can work together to further His Kingdom! I tell everyone I meet that I do not want them to become a Baptist, I want them to know Christ first and foremost, we can deal with the rest as it comes. I love what one of the pastor's said about his own convictions, "I am Southern Baptist by doctrine, but a Christian by faith."
Amen.

God bless all of you, and grace and peace to you.
Phillip

The Master's Call

Tangent begin.

First off I would like to say this, as a Christian  I am no better than you. As a Christian missionary, I am no better than any Christian whom God has redeemed. As Christians,we tend to compare ourselves with other Christians, am I right? I think that we forget so often that we are all on a level playing field at the foot of the cross. And here is something that always blows my mind, the same spirit that lived in the apostle Paul lives in me. The question is what you choose to do with it. You can stifle it and live a mediocre life, or you can let it shine and glorify God's name in all you do. Once again, I sure do love to stifle the light so that I can be comfortable, or better yet because I am scared of the results. But remember, the same spirit that is in Billy Graham dwells in you my brothers and sisters! I say this because I don't want any glory for myself in anything that takes place in this life, and it is not because I am spiritual or more favored in God's eyes that I am where I am today. I am a broken, doubtful, sinful, adulteress Christian  that is saved by the same grace that you hopefully have been rescued by.

Tangent over.

God is good my friends. And He answers prayers. And sometimes He doesn't answer prayers, but even that can be an answered prayer. As you may know, I have been praying for boldness in sharing my faith. I have been praying that God would put people in my life to help me. And God is faithful. You see one thing about God is that He desires for all men to be saved, and He will provide the means to reach people if we are faithful and seek Him. You see I have been praying these prayers and trying to keep my eyes open for God to do something, which is how you should approach prayer wouldn't you agree? The other day I was interrupted in my nap (a sin that is punishable by death) by a text from my good friend Casey here in Boise, it read like this "So I totally had a dream last night that you and I were evangelizing on campus. It was an epic dream. :)" Now come on people that is just awesome. I am not saying that this was a full blown vision from the Lord necessarily, but it was enough for Casey and I too meet up and go do evangelism on campus together later that week.

Evangelism is scary. Or so I thought. But I had to change what I thought evangelism was. Amber called me from India the other day and shared with me how she evangelized at YWAM, and I decided to follow that model. All Casey and I did was ask people around campus if we could pray for them, that's it. If God opened the door or they had more questions or were interested in more info we would talk more with them. It freaked some people out, it annoyed some, and it was awesome to others. We didn't share the gospel with anyone yet, but I believe they saw two Christians who genuinely cared for them enough to pray, not sale them something. In Boise, you are solicited by everything and everyone, no one wants to listen to a sale's pitch. They want honesty, just like we al do. Some might not want to admit it, but they want some one who loves them unconditionally, and that is Jesus my friends. Boise State is an extremely liberal school, and that makes connecting with these students very difficult, but if anything it might give them a different view of Christians that we just want to lift them up in prayer. My prayer is that the people who we did have short conversations with will pop up in our radar once again, and we can build relationships with them.

I wish I could say that people dropped on their knees and accepted Christ, but to my knowledge that hasn't happened...yet. But I pray that one day I will get to see it happen.

I hope this was a fun quick read for you, and I pray that I will be consistent in loving others the way that Jesus loved us.

Phillip

He is coming soon! He will take His bride, He will make her new!

Wove....twue wuv. Marriage is what brings us together today....Yes it is.

Have you ever stopped what it means to be the the bride of Christ? For men, it is not always a subject we are willing to refer to, but that doesn't make it any less true. When you become a Christian, you become a part of the entire body known as the church. Christ calls the church his "bride" in a sense when John talks about it in Revelation 19;7. in Ephesians 5:25, it talks about the sacrifice that Jesus made for His bride, the church. This is such an awesome illustration, and one that I have really had laid on my heart lately. Let me explain.

THE PROPOSAL- God made the proposal with the death of His son, Jesus Christ on the cross. The question is, will you accept this free gift of eternal life and enter into an everlasting covenant with me? The answer depends on us. For the ladies out there, there is no more romantic proposal than this one...John 3:16.

THE WEDDING DAY-Everything in a marriage relationship that we have here on earth is meant to be a reflection of the relationship we have with Christ. On the day of a Jewish wedding in biblical times, the groom would make his journey to the bride's home, and carry her back to his home with people rejoicing the entire way. This is exactly what it will look like when Christ comes back for His bride. He will carry us home! There will be rejoicing! We will know we are safe in the arms of our Saviour.

FAITHFULNESS- What is one thing that is a requirement for a strong marriage? Faithfulness. We all know the consequences that arise when someone in a marriage is unfaithful. Lives are torn, hearts are broken, and everything is in disarray. We are married to Christ, and He is faithful beyond belief. Think about everything that a wife expects from her husband. Unconditional love, unconditional safety. God gives those every day we are alive. As the bride of Christ you can be sure of this, nothing is bigger than God, and nothing can overthrow Him that will ever overthrow us. God is faithful! When he makes a promise, He keeps it. Now the question arises, how faithful are we? How often do we commit adultery on God? This may sound harsh, but it is the truth. Whenever we reject Christ and return to our old partner, the world, we are choosing to commit adultery. Puts it in a new perspective doesn't it? Yet God still loves us, and keeps us, which is much more we deserve. You see God only says He hates very few things in scripture, and one of those things is divorce (Malachi 2:16). God doesn't do what He hates. He will never divorce you, even when you forsake Him to pursue a fling with the world. Once again, I could write a long blog on what the Christian life looks like and we can't stay away from God for too long before we are drawn back to Him, and once again if you would like to know more just ask me :). God is faithful. Kind of makes you think huh?

SEX- oh gross. There is no way that you can make a comparison between physical sex here on earth and God. That is just awkward. But is it really? Let's look at what sex is supposed to be, not the world says it is. Sex is not meant to be a physical reproductive process only. Scripture talks about it being the union of two into "one flesh" (Mark 10:8). Men are made to fit with women, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out right? It is part of our design. When we have sex with our spouse, you become one flesh, where all things fit together perfectly, and there is more than a physical connection. It is a deep emotional, and mental connection. One that cannot be expressed in words. Sex is a way of unifying a man and woman and forming stronger bonds between them, as well as confirming the covenant that they have made with each other before people. And it is the same way with God. When we accept Christ, we are ingrafted into Him. We are no longer seen as apart from Him, but partakers of His divine nature and part of His body (Ephesians 5). The Holy Spirit comes into us and confirms the covenant that we have made with Christ. The Holy Spirit comes into us, and it is a perfect fit. The repentance of mankind and acceptance of Christ as Saviour goes hand in hand with the grace and love of God, also not rocket science. Sex is meant to be pure and done in the right context, as is our relationship with God. God gave us sex to glorify Him! It is a physical picture of what has happened spiritually in our lives. Too often people don't understand the meaning and purpose behind sex, and it has distorted our view of the beautiful thing that God has given us not only for us to enjoy, but to help understand what has been done on our behalf.

I hope this made sense, but is such an awesome illustration that God has given us so that we can know Him better! I understand it can be awkward (especially for guys like myself) to think about, but it is scriptural. And it is awesome if you really ponder it. As we grow in our knowledge of our spouse, and how good He is to us, then it becomes more and more natural to want to show our love to Him! If you truly love your wife or husband, you will do anything to please them and serve them in love.

So maybe that is why we talk about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. I heard on Christian radio that one of the best ways to grow in your relationship with God is to start treating it like you would an earthly relationship. Talk to Him, learn more about Him, serve Him! And for those who don't know Him, accept the proposal that has been laid out before you and receive eternal life.

I hope this was helpful in the way you perceive Christ in a new way.
In Christ,
Phillip

The night is darkest before the dawn.

It has been such a great week! God is good. Did you know that? He is good when things are going great, and He is good when things are going terribly.  How often do we feel that when things are going badly for us, God is somehow not good anymore? It is all based on our perspective my friends, God is unchanging. God says that He loves us and values us, that too is unchanging. I just wanted people to read that and I pray that it encouraged some of you!

So once again, this has been a great week. I began taking classes at the BSC (Biblical Studies Center, or Center for short), and I love them. It is so awesome learn in a classroom setting about how the Bible was put together, how to defend your faith, the context of stories in the Bible, and how truly awesome our God is. I have got to meet several awesome people who I have began building great relationships with and I am so thankful for that. Several of these people have already invested in the ministry that I am trying to build here and have a true fire for the Lord.

As some may know, I am now an old man. I turned 22 on Monday and it was a great birthday, albeit a little different than I am used to. I have never been away from my friends and family this long, and never around the time of my birthday. Honestly, it didn't bother me the way I thought it would. I missed everyone of course, but that knowledge that God has me for His purposes is comforting beyond all belief and has really helped me with any homesickness that I have been feeling. I am so blessed. Tangent time. Do we really realize how blessed we are to know Christ and live in this wonderful country? I was laying in bed, and all I could think about for a while was how lucky I am to have a bed. To have central heating and air. To have food. To have water that flows continuously and is clean. To have a bible. To have freedom. Christianity is not growing like it did in America years ago because we have everything we could ever want. We have made ourselves dependent apart from Christ, and we forget that Christ is the one who provided the means for us to have all these things. My question to myself and you is, if everything was taken from you, would you still follow God? That is a tough question to face, but every second of every day people in less developed countries make the choice to follow Christ no matter the circumstances.

Tangent over.  So anyway, God has truly blessed me with friends back in Lubbock, and He is now blessing me with awesome friends here in Boise  who love Jesus. People who barely know me decided to throw me in impromptu surprise party for my birthday and we got to bond and share our vision for our respective ministries together. God has already provided people who are more than willing to help with the ministry we have here and it is such an answered prayer! I am telling you folks, prayer matters. I can't stress that enough, prayer matters. We had our first free lunch for all the student body at BSU today, and we had about 30-40 people show up. Most who did so were people that I knew and who knew Christ, but God brought others who I had never met before and it is my eager prayer that they will continue to come and we can form stronger relationships and grow in Christ together, or introduce them to Christ.

I had a great conversation with my friend Elisa who is helping me out with our ministry. We were talking about witnessing to people and I told her how I had been feeling really down and out because I could not work up the courage to simply go talk to someone about Jesus just out of the blue and share my faith. She encouraged me and really prompted me to listen to what God says and look for the opportunity. Just because I am a missionary does not mean I have some super awesome Jesus skills that I did not possess  at home. The same fear and trepidation that I experienced back home are still here, they don't disappear. But the key to overcoming these feelings is to trust Christ and listen to what He is telling you! This does not go just for me my friends, Jesus calls out all of us! We talked about relational evangelism and how that is usually the way that people respond the most positively in this area, as well as around the world. I can do that. But if God calls me to go witness to someone I don't even know, I pray that I will be strong enough to trust Him. Micah Roddy told me something about youth ministry several months back that will remain in my life forever. We were talking about investing in youth and really sharing Christ with them and he said, "You have to remember, this is not life or death we are talking about. This is heaven and hell."

Hell is not exactly a place that we like to talk about is it? But it is real. And here is the thing. God doesn't send anybody to hell, we are already going there (thanks to David Wilson for that awesome lesson). In fact, God doesn't want anyone to perish, that is why He is so gracious to wait before He comes back in final judgement (2 Peter 3:9). God has placed so many obstacles in our way on the path to hell because HE WANTS US. When we don't choose heaven and the free gift of salvation, we choose that we don't want to spend eternity with the one who desires to have fellowship with us, and God is just and good and honors our desire to not know Him and allows us to spend eternity away from Him. The price has been paid for sin, but until we repent and turn to Him, we never receive the free grace that has been given. Sin and God don't mix. But God took care of it, all you have to do is accept Him and his free gift. Isn't it so awesome to know that you don't have to be good enough to go to heaven? I could go for hours on this, and if you are interested in salvation and what it looks like, contact me! This is real my friends. This is truth. This is awesome.

I love you all, and once again contact me if you need prayer for anything. I also ask that you pray for Luke Anderson. His father passed away yesterday from liver failure and we need to lift him up with our thoughts, prayers, and actions. But don't worry, God is in control and Luke told me that his dad was a believer.

God bless,
Phillip

Do work Jesus!

            Hello! I have missed you! But don't worry, we can catch up...right now.
It has been an interesting week so far to say the least! Nothing big has happened, tens of thousands have not fallen to their knees before God and entered the freeing relationship with Jesus that we all share...at least not yet! But God has been doing some cool things.

             God is showing me that when He calls you to do something, you do it, otherwise you might just miss your chance. Earlier last week I was sitting at a pastor's meeting in a local coffee shop and noticed a couple of girls walk in carrying a bible. Instantly a small voice said that I should go talk to them, and after much deliberation I did. We had a great conversation and exchanged information which will come in play later in this blog. And then there is the other example. Yesterday as I went into the SUB (yes I did go to Boise State a day before classes started...and yes it was because I forgot it was MLK day), I walked past a girl sitting by herself. That same voice, in the same way, urged me to go talk to her. "Well let me put my bags down and then I will" was my reply. I walked over and put my bags down and got out my computer to check some emails, facebook, etc. Once again I had that notion to go talk to her. This time my response was "Yes I will do it in just a second let me prepare what I am going to say." I sat for a bit longer and continued to fiddle around on my computer while trying to think of the eloquent words to say to this girl and I felt that urgency that I needed to talk to her right then. I took a deep breath, wrote out my email address on a sheet of paper in case she needed it to contact me, planned on what I had to say, and got out of my chair.

             Now let me make something very clear. Delayed obedience to God is still disobedience. I do plan on using that saying with my kids one day btw. So the second I got out of my chair to go approach this girl, she got out of her chair to leave. I awkwardly walked towards her and wondered if I should just tap her on the shoulder to talk to her as she threw trash away, but I figured my chance was blown.  You see, if  had been obedient the way God calls us to be, there is not telling what might have happened. Is it scary? Absolutely. Is it awkward? Sometimes. But God calls us to step out of our comfort zone and serve Him, sometimes we obey...sometimes we wait until we are comfortable. God taught me such an awesome lesson at that moment, trust Him...and let the outcome happen as it will.

               That girl I had exchanged information with earlier last week emailed me and told me about a college event called Engage Truth in town. It is basically the paradigm of Lubbock. At least 300 college students were there (I couldn't judge that well). It was an awesome experience and very encouraging to me, I even met a couple of people who attended and started building a relationship with one of them.

              Oh and guess what! I am taking classes this spring...but not as BSU. On campus there is a facility known as the Biblical Studies Center that offers free bible classes to Boise State Students that actually count as college credits! I am not a BSU student, but we may be able to work something out because I am a student and a campus minister. It is so awesome! I have already met several strong Christian believers there who share a desire for God's Kingdom to grow. I will post pictures up of it soon but it has already given me a platform to invite people to bible studies, free lunches, etc.  As of right now, I am taking introduction to the New Testament, and Philosophy and Christianity (which is a apologetics course). God is really taking care of me, and there is absolutely nothing I can boast in except of how awesome and powerful my God is. Like I said, big things haven't happened per say, but God deserves the glory for the little things just as much as the big ones. Can I get an amen?

            As far as the ministry goes, it is starting slow but it is still going to be awesome!   I have a bible study starting this Thursday over 1 John, a free lunch scheduled every week for all the college students who want to come every Wednesday, and am working on some international ministry but haven't made any progress on that yet. I went to a campus ministry meeting today with CRU, InterVarsity, and some other organizations and we are looking at more and more ways to partner with one another and serve Christ together. That is one of the coolest things in itself!

              Thank you so much for your prayers, I cannot tell you enough how grateful I am for them, and please email me any prayer requests you might have for me to pray for! Like I said on facebook, I have plenty of time and would love to fill that time praying for you! Just send me an email at phillip.grant89@gmail.com , call, or text me and I will be sure to pray for ya!

             I love everyone and miss you very much,

Phillip

The power of prayer.

          What is prayer? Why do we pray for others? Does God listen or change his mind based on our prayers? Are my prayers too weak to do anything? If God knows everything, why do we need to pray in the first place?
         These are questions that every person must face in their spiritual journey, particularly those who are Christians. These are questions that I face. God is showing me little by little what the power of prayer is and why He wants us to do it. This is not going to be an exhaustive, theological study on prayer which I would love to sit down and work out (which I am sure many would appreciate me not going into a 10 page blog), but a quick insight of what has gone on in my mind and life the past week.
            First and foremost, I want to say thank you for any person that has prayed for me at any time during this missional time or beforehand. Even if you just thought of me in passing and offered a quick breath of prayer for me, I cannot thank you enough. You see, God hears prayer, and he uses is it in amazing ways every day. Sometimes prayer can heal those who are sick, open doors for the gospel to be shared, mend broken hearts, or even uplift the downcast spirit. Prayer is the two-line communication we have with God. We talk (often too much), and He listens (at all times), and He often answers (but we rarely hear because we are still talking).
             It is my honest belief that honest, humble prayer help us conform our minds more and more to the likeness of Jesus Christ and His thoughts and attitudes towards things. As we ask for wisdom, for example, God bestows upon us Godly wisdom so that we can be a reflection of Him in this world. Prayer for others inspires us to move and help those we are praying for! A call, a text, an encouraging word  from the person who is doing the praying is often the result of prayer! St Augustine says it this way, "pray as if everything depended on God, work as if everything depended on you." I believe that some of the coolest answered prayers are those that spurn us on towards action.
            God wants us to pray so that we can do a number of things. 1. Acknowledge His sovereignty in every situation. 2. To seek His face 3. To conform our minds more and more to His kingdom and his work 4. To see supernatural things happen where He will get the glory from it so that it is without question that He is God of all!
            C. S. Lewis says this "prayer doesn't change God, it changes me!"
I have prayed often this week, more than I have in a long time. All my prayers have not been answered the way I would expect but of one thing I am sure. All this time I have spent with my head bowed before the King of Kings has programmed my mind to think more like Christ wants me to think. To live like Christ wants me to live. To serve as Christ calls me to serve. God has definitely answered several prayers this week, like bringing people to me who love Christ, but it is through the prayers that were offered that helped me to recognize that opportunity as my mind is continually being conformed to the likeness of His son (and trust me there is a long way to go). This is but one of the small aspects of prayer, and it is what He has revealed to me over this past week. But prayer is not limited to just our transformation of our minds, but an open door to see God do mighty and great things that we could never dream possible because we simply asked Him to do His will in our lives (and that is where the 10 extra pages could come in)
             And now I ask once again, pray for me! Since my last update and blog post, I have been overwhelmed with people's prayer and support of this ministry. It is an honor to have Christian brothers and sisters who are dedicated to serving God and lifting me up in prayer. Through prayer I know that God laid it on many people's hearts to just text or call me and encourage me, and the wisdom to do that comes directly from Christ!
I mean don't you know that your Heavenly Father wants to talk?
Take some time right now and spend time conversing with the best listener in the world, and take even more time listening to him speak to you. Start inviting Christ into your life and let him transform you!

And please let me know if there is anything I can pray for you for!
Phillip

Until The Whole World Hears.

           I love Casting Crowns. If you know me very well at all that should not surprise you. One of the things that I love is the simple fact that they are honest in who they are and live out a life that reflects Christ. So naturally they have had a huge impact in my Christian life. I promise this relates to my ministry in Boise :)
         One of the greatest things that I love about this band is my ability to relate to them and the songs that they put out. Songs about hope, songs about loss, songs about following Christ in the midst of a storm. Every Christian relates to these songs at some point in their life, but time and time again the truth that they represent will infiltrate my life and boost me when I need it. And boy did I need it this week.
          In this video listed below, Mark Hall is talking about his call to ministry and how it began when he first got to the Christian college to pursue what he felt God wanted for his life. Mark talks a bit about how he felt that because He was in God's will, everything would just work out and feel perfect. Let me tell you it is not always that way!  I hope you get time to  watch this!

Mark Hall Testimony
      
          So how does this relate to me? Well first off I suppose I should tell you that I made it safe and sound to Boise! The roads were absolutely perfect on the way up, which I can assure you is very rare for this time of year and I cannot thank everyone enough who prayed for my Dad and I. It was a beautiful and scenic trip and I know that anyone coming up from the LBK this summer is going to really enjoy it! We arrived in Boise and got to spend some time just hanging out and meeting all the partnership church pastors and forming relationships. These pastors are so awesome. The faith that they have that God is really moving in the treasure valley is simply amazing. You see, these pastors aren't over 2000 people like back home, but of churches from 30-200. It is so awesome and humbling to see the desire for the treasure valley to know Christ come from them. Their stories are pretty legit too...one of them happened to be an ex-secret service man who helped protect some of our past presidents. Pretty legit huh?
         So anywho, my Dad flew out the next morning and here I was...alone. I went to church with the Graves' (whom I am staying with) and was in for a real shock. 20 people in a church is not something I am accustomed to. I sat in with the youth and did a bible study with them for Sunday school. There was only two, Toby-age 13, and Shelby-age 11. It was pretty fun but I would covet your prayer requests for Shelby. Shelby's parents are divorced and her mom wants absolutely nothing to do with church, while her father's side of the family is heavily involved in the LDS (Latter Day Saints) church. Shelby will come to our church when she is staying with her mom because Joyce (the woman I am staying with and pastor's wife) will pick her up, but when she is around her Dad she is taken to the LDS church. Pray that God will put the truth on her heart and she will make the decision to follow Christ in spirit and in truth. After Sunday School, we all gathered and had the sermon. Starting this past Sunday, we started doing a simulcast from Southcrest back home! It is not live, but it is pretty awesome to see my friends on the screen when I am across the USA. This is definitely  a bitter-sweet thing. I miss everyone so much! After church I got to go eat with Gail's son Keegan and his family. They have one 7 year old girl named Amber, and TRIPLETS! (Molly, Tara, and Jack).
           It sounds like a pretty good day to everyone who is reading, but to me it was extremely hard. I didn't feel God. I wasn't comfortable. I missed my friends. I was not used to worshiping in this different church atmosphere. I felt lonely. I doubted God's sovereignty. I doubted whether God was there at all. I was frustrated. I considered packing up and going home. I was ashamed of considering packing and going home. I had no idea what I was going to do the next day, or the next, or the next. So you know what I did? I prayed. Did I feel better? Nope. So I napped. After I woke up I felt better and I got to spend some time with a friend from Summit that night.
            Here is the thing, as Christians we tend to put a lot of stock in "feelings". I did not feel like God was there. I felt lonely. I felt abandoned. I felt, I felt, I felt. But feelings do not determine who God is. God is good. God is truth. And God was with me during that day even when I felt like he wasn't. I wish I could tell you that after praying I felt an amazing peace come over me and God said "Don't worry my child I am here." but that wasn't the case, sometimes...but not that day. The peace came gradually when I decided to continue with baby steps and asked God to help me. If you look all throughout the book of Psalms, you will see the psalmist struggling with his own incapacity to understand what God is doing at the time, but you always see praise following the questioning...even when there is no answer. I cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate all the prayers that have been said for me, because I know without a doubt that is what helped sustain me. I woke up the next day and got to spend some quality time praying over the campus and seeking God's direction and guidance, and it was AWESOME. All those fears and worries disappeared yesterday when I just started doing what God has called us all to do, pray. It was so cool walking around Boise State and praying for God to use that campus to bring people to a relationship with his son Jesus Christ. The highlight of my day is when I got to hike the small mountain trail that leads up to a cross that overlooks the entire city of Boise and all the way to the border of Oregon. I plan on doing this as often as possible to take time to be in nature and silence so I can pray for the ministry here  and for whatever else needs prayed for. Here are some pics of the hike. :)

             My goal in this blog is to present what God is doing in my life as I try my best to walk in His will. Like I said in the first blog, I hope to be honest, because I believe too many Christians just pretend like everything is ok and never share their hurts or their struggles so that others can pray for them. Satan does not like Christians. He will do anything in his power that will corrupt or destroy a Christian's ability to produce fruit so I ask once again that you will continue to pray for strength and protection over me and this ministry this semester, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. Until the whole world hears, we are to preach Christ crucified my friends. I pray for the boldness for us to do it and the eyes to see the opportunities.

God bless all of you!
Phillip

Beginnings part 2.

"Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:6

Sound familiar? This is my mission verse, and hopefully this blog will help you better understand why! 

         If there is one thing God is teaching me through the beginning process of this mission trip is that He is in control, and He is willing to let me see His hand in anything if I choose to have faith and open my eyes! God made it pretty clear that He wanted me to go to Idaho, but it is a completely different ballpark trying to figure out what He wants me to do while I am there! Keith and I flew up to Boise a couple of months back to start scouting out the area and get a feel of what God wants our purpose to be. Now I must say, but throughout this entire ordeal, I had not been nervous...until I got to Boise. As we pulled in the city and were driving to Gail's house, the seemingly overwhelming task that lay before me started to shatter the confidence I had in what I was doing. I had no doubt that I am led to be here, but once again figuring out what to do is another task entirely. Keith helped me fight threw those feelings several times through the course of the trip, but they were still so evident and frightening as we spent more time in the city and on campus.

        (Tangent). It never really occurred to me how amazingly privileged I was to live in  Lubbock, Texas. I was surrounded by strong Christian friends and opportunities to find a  bible believing church and college ministry basically everywhere I turned my head. It came as a real shock to me that not everybody shares these blessings. There are Christians in Boise, no doubt. But from what I have heard and what I have seen, it is nothing like what we have in the bible belt. But don't worry! Jesus wants people to know Him, and He will use people who are willing and responsive to His call to fulfill His desires, already He has started doing things :)

        As Keith and I spent time with the pastors of the very small baptist churches in Boise over those next few days, I could feel there desire for this treasure valley area (Boise, Meridian, etc) to know Christ and have a relationship with Him. It is so awesome to see that kind of faith. But as we ate lunch, those fears began to return. I mean come on, this is a daunting task! Starting a Baptist Collegiate Ministry in an area where I know hardly anyone, or anything about the city! I am going to have to walk up to complete strangers and share my faith every day. I am going to have to start conversations and find leaders in a campus of 20,000 students. How can I do this? I am good at talking to people but this is crazy! I have been thrown into the deep end of the pool, with a shallow faith.  What if I fail? What if everyone thinks I am crazy? What if I lose my faith because I become so disheartened?

          Satan sure knows how to distract you from the truth doesn't he?

          But my God is truth, and He doesn't stand to the side for long when His children need some truth to push on.

       

        These questions and concerns would come up over and over again, but God loved me enough to reveal Himself to me as He usually does, through His Word. I woke up at about 5 in the morning the third day we were there and reflected on the task before me. I couldn't go back to sleep so I pulled out my iPhone and started reading the Bible on it. When you need wisdom, it always is nice to go to the book of wisdom, Proverbs. As I love to say, "A proverb a day keeps the devil at bay." As I am reading through I find this verse. "Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight."- Proverbs 3:6. It is like those words jumped off the page and formed a barrier around my heart that Satan cannot penetrate. God revealed that as long as He is in the center of everything I do, I cannot fail. Does that mean that everything is going to turn out like  I plan? No. Does that mean life is going to be a breeze? No. I think alot of people fall into that trap of thinking when you trust God everything is going to turn out fine and dandy, and that is rarely the case. The Christian life is hard, but if you trust God and look to Him, He will take care of you and shape you through it.

           Before going on campus the next day, we went up to a mountain overlooking all of Boise and the treasure valley. There is a giant cross up there and Christians will often come to pray over the city. Keith, Gail, and I spent about 30 minutes doing exactly what that verse teaches, praying and acknowledging God's sovereignty over that day. We prayed that God would put someone in our path who we could tell about what we were doing and try to get them involved, we prayed for the student athletes to use their pedestal to share Christ and to build relationships with them, we prayed for too many more to name, and then we went to work. Now I must say, prayer is not always answered immediately or the way you expect, but when it does so happen it is an awesome thing to witness.

           As we walked down into campus we saw a huge, green, monster truck that so happened to have a Texas license plate on it parked in the student parking. We chuckled amongst ourselves and discussed how appropriate it was that it was from Texas. As Keith was walking through the SUB, he noticed a guy with a huge Texas belt buckle and started a conversation with him. I stopped by later and got a chance to share what I was there for and asked if he would be interested in checking out our new ministry. He said sure, we exchanged information, and went on our way.  Pretty cool huh?

            Later that day we went to a basketball game with some of Gail's friends and I got to meet there son who goes to Boise State University,and works with the football team, and he also expressed some interest in checking out the ministry. So another prayer was answered because Jake has already helped establish some connections with the athletic program at Boise State since then and helped us get involved with a coaches' bible study every Wednesday. It is so awesome to see how God is working already! Does this mean that these people are going to become involved in the ministry and God is going to shower blessings from them, who knows? God is so good. He reveals what He needs to reveal in His perfect time and it is up to us to acknowledge Him and go along for the ride.

            I hope you enjoyed this blog and it is my prayer that more awesome things will happen so that I may share them with you and encourage you in your own walk with Christ! Keep praying please!

SpreadtheWord

Phillip

Beginnings.

"Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:6
             Pretty cool huh? Well, here I am, another college student trying to survive another day and beginning a path that God is laying out for me step by step. Over the next 6 months it is my hope that people will get to read this blog and see the amazing things God is doing in my life. But I suppose that means you should understand how I got to this point! Storytime? Yes. Storytime.  As with most stories, this one has a beginning, but as with most audiences, we want to dive right in to where the action starts. So let's go that route and if you want to learn more about how I got to this point just ask me, I don't mind sharing.
            About 5 months ago I had enough of school. I had enough of not knowing what my future was. I had enough of Lubbock. We've all been there before right? So I decided I wanted something different. This isn't one of those stories where someone has a grand vision that radically changes their life, but one where God gave me the desire of my heart in amazing way through prayer and people. My college pastor Keith Garner, whom I shall mention often, would always say that there is absolutely no better time then when you are in college to take some time off and serve Jesus. Keith served as a summer missionary in Thailand when he was in college at Texas Tech University and it had a tremendous impact in the direction of his life. Every time that Keith would say this, my ears would perk up and I would think that sounded like an awesome idea! Yet time and time again I fell off that emotionally charged high of wanting to stop school right then and there and would resume my studies until the next time he would say it. This time was not the case.
            I decided that it was time for me to go serve Jesus in a place other than Lubbock, Texas. I would be lying to you if I told you that the idea of taking a couple of semesters off, working, and just having fun without the stress of school sounded awfully good to me. But here is the thing, as a Christian, I am called to glorify God in all that I do (and granted I fail at that more often than naught), and I knew inside that merely "taking it easy" in my case would be limiting what God would want me to do. So I decided that I would do missions! Oh the excitement was bubbling! I met with Keith the next morning for breakfast and told him my desire and we began looking for places to serve for a semester. We looked at China, Thailand, Central Asia, as well as a myriad of other places, and I was pumped! I had been to Thailand before with our college ministry and was excited at the chance of going back, but isn't it amazing that if you choose to follow God, He will direct you where He wants you to go? Let me explain.
               I went home to tell my parents all that had transpired and my plans for where I wanted to go. As
I told them my plan to go overseas and serve Jesus, I was not given the reaction that I expected. In my mind, I pictured happiness, pride, and total support from my parents as I told them my plans. What I received was quite the opposite. Being parents, they were worried about my journey into another country and neglecting my studies. To say the least, it was very difficult to deal with. I went home that night with all sorts of questions and worries on my mind about whether not I was doing the right thing. As I prayed, I decided to try something different. For the past few hours I had been asking for what I wanted, for where I wanted to go, ME ME ME. This time, I gave the control to God. My prayer was simple, which is usually the most powerful ones to pray. "God, send me wherever you want me to go and I will do it."
                 He answered.
                Quick tangent. Southcrest Baptist, the church I attend, funds missions all over the world, including the United States. One of our church's main focuses is on four small baptist churches in Boise, Idaho. One of the pastors, Gail Graves happens to originally be from Idalou, just outside of Lubbock. This pastor's mom had recently passed away back in Idalou and he was in town for the funeral and paid a visit to Southcrest while he was here. Gail had recently been put in charge of reestablishing a Baptist Collegiate Ministry on the Boise State campus. The funding had been cut and the ministry was basically non-existent when they handed it over to Gail.
                 Now Keith had been a BCM director in several places so Gail was brought to him to help discuss what needed to be done and gain some direction and wisdom in his path of reestablishing the BCM.  As they talked, they discussed how awesome it would be to get a consistent semester missionary in the college ministry to come up and help grow the new ministry. Both Keith and Gail thought that this would be years in the future and it wasn't until after the meeting that Keith realized that he had met with a student interested in doing semester mission work....me! I stopped by to say hi to Keith the next day after praying that simple prayer and his first words to me were, "Hey Phillip, how would you like to go to Boise, Idaho?" which I responded very promptly, "I don't want to go to Boise!". Isn't that usually the case? We pray for something and are sincere, but when the door is opened we fall quickly back into what WE want, not what God wants. Well luckily Keith explained to me all that happened the day before, and God reminded me of the prayer I had offered the night before and we decided to take some time to pray and see if it was God's will for me to go, and would know more details once I got back from Summit ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado in a couple of weeks.
                 Another quick tangent ( I promise most of my tangents build back in to the story). Summit Ministries is a two week apologetic camp where more than 60 hours of class time are devoted to learning why we believe what we believe and how it stands up to skeptics. People from all across the nation, and even the world come to this camp. The camp has about 8 sessions during each summer with about 100-200 students per session, in my case there were about 200 students. I sat down in our assigned seating based on birth date, and begin having conversations with the two people seated next to me. The girl on my left was from Oregon and the girl on my right just so happened to be from Idaho. Boise, Idaho. And a student at Boise State University. I asked the person who sat in front of me where he was from later on that day. Boise, Idaho. And a student at Boise State University. He also happened to be in my small group, as well as someone else who was from north Idaho. I was playing ultimate frisbee with a new friend during one of sports days and found out that he was going to be on the track team....for Boise State University.  I found out that the girl whom I sat beside had a brother who lives in Boise who also came to Summit. You see, God had a plan. He began laying the path for me long before I knew any of these people.
                 God wants me to serve in Boise. My next blog will be devoted to some of the other cool things that God has done to help bring me to that realization. My hope in this blog is not to point to myself and anything that I have done, but all to God who is good beyond measure. I want you, yes you dear reader, to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ through reading what He is doing in my life. But I want to tell you, it is not always going to be good blog updates. There is going to be times I am certain where I am being stretched thin and am desperate for relief, but it is my prayer that even in the hard times I will follow Christ and pronounce His good name to the world. I am not perfect by any means, but God has cleansed me and made me righteous through the blood of His son Jesus Christ and he can use even the most broken of vessels to accomplish his purpose. My blogs will not always be this long, I know it can be hard to read somebody's ramblings for too long, but it is my prayer that they will always be meaningful.
                   One last thing, pray for me. Remember, behind every great work of God, there is often a kneeling figure. I am going into a world outside of my comfort zone, and I need prayer from you. Let me know if there is anything that I can pray for you about as well! This is a two way street my friends. The things that I would ask you to pray every day for is that people in the Boise, Idaho region and college campus would come to know Christ and have a strong relationship with Him, and that God will open doors that we will not walk past to lead them that way. Pray that God will move big in Idaho, He wants so badly for us to come to know Him and receive the free gift.
                    Well I hope you enjoyed the beginnings of the path God has laid before me and I look forward to seeing where it will go from here! Stay tuned for the next blog!