This past weekend I had the incredible opportunity to take eight of our youth leaders down to the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta Georgia. We heard from some great speakers, (Andy Stanley, Francis Chan, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, Donald Miller and others) all of us were challenged in one way or another. We learned what it looks like to lead in uncertainty, we were challenged to love the Lord with all that we are, we were asked to commit to leading Godly youth ministries focused on Jesus, and challenged to share the greatest story that has ever been told with an unswerving diligence and dedication.
Over the course of this extended weekend I honestly believe that God has stretched me. There were times of heartfelt worship, moments of raw emotion, thoughts of missed opportunities, and words of encouragement. I was challenged to adopt a bigger dream and vision than ever before. There are many details that I need to work out yet before I share with you and my church body what this means and looks like. However, I know that this is exciting! It is big! It is going to rock our worlds and hopefully the worlds of many around us.
So in preparation for this dream right here at the start of seeing God fulfill it I have decided to quit blogging for a little over a month. I will resume blogging here at www.thesaltlick.tv on January 1st, 2010. My desire is to use this time to really focus on listening to God, and following the leading of His spirit.
Others in the blogging world have called what I am doing a “Blogatical”. That’s a pretty good description… There is a lot that I don’t know about what’s to come over the course of this next month. However, here’s what I do know. I know that God is the God of all things! I know that I want to hear from God. I know that I want to rely solely on His Holy Spirit and be led by Him alone. I know that I want to see God do some amazing things here in this online community as well as the community that I live in.
So until 2010, I’m signing off!
~Peter
Today I am going to try and slow it down. Take it in. Listen to each moment. Spend time with the kids doing silly things… drawing dinosaurs, birds in nests, cranes, and whatever else Noah’s mind can think of. We’re going to play pirates, build blocks, and legos. Grace will run around and play kitchen, and tag along with big brother. Today won’t come back…
Besides the obvious skill involved in getting all of those cards to balance there was a vital and necessary element to the whole production; the foundation.