IMPACT is a summer event at Lipscomb [University] designed to provide an atmosphere for teens that enables the development of a personal faith, which will impact their world for Christ. (taken from http://summerprograms.lipscomb.edu/page.asp?SID=186&Page=6337 )"Hooked" was theme of this year's IMPACT, and we learned about how to recognize and discard our "hooks" that attach us to sin. Jeff Walling (one of my favorite speakers of all time) was there and gave us many, many good metaphors to help get his point across. I hope you enjoy my recap of my weekend at Libscomb University.
Speech 1: Don't get hooked on the wrong things, because you might miss the trip of a lifetime.
At the Atlanta Airport on his way to IMPACT, Walling had just left his first flight and was making his way to his next when he saw one of the new InMotion stations. (InMotion is pretty much a DVD, Mp3, etc... player rental company that allows your to rent their merchandise at one airport and return it at another) This station had Toy Story 3 playing on a screen to attract costumers, and of course Walling was one to be caught because it was at the scene when the toys finally gave up hope that there was no way out of the death trap of the fiery inferno. You know the part I'm talking about! He stood there and watched it, captivated...until he heard on the speaker "Last call for flight to Nashville." In which he ran like a mad man, trying to get to his gate. A woman was closing the door to his plane, they locked eyes, she shook her head seeming to say, "You ain't gunna to make it, buddy." Luckily he did make it to the plane, and to IMPACT!
Walling used this story to start off and to show us how easy it is to get hooked. He explained that if we let something small distract us from our path, then we could miss out on the journey of a lifetime with Christ!
Speech 2: GROW UP!
In the book of Ephesians, Paul urges the church to "become mature" and "no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming." He says that we are just "baby Christians", and that we are still just feeding on milk, not eating whole food. We need to Grow Up in Christ so that we can serve, not be served. Walling went on to say that Being a "baby Christian" is not okay! This is how Satin postpones the battle (in which he WILL be defeated).
During his speech, I thought about another lesson I had learned about spiritual warfare. I remember that we are supposed to be warriors for the King's army and fight for what is right, and then I thought, but if we are just infants how can we even try to fight. I imagined an army of babies wearing little camouflage trooper helmets and diapers, carrying little machine guns and pacifiers, and, with bright primary colored war paint on their faces, crawling (not marching) into battle against grotesque monsters that are trained to kill mercilessly. We are babies, not warriors. If we don't grow up and practice the ways of the Lord, then we will never get anywhere!!!
Speech 3: Three signs that you are "Hooked"
1)"It's all about me!"
If you find yourself thinking this then you are most likely spoiled and/or become irritated when things don't go your way. The Truth: you'll have more fun and enjoy more when you are serving others than being served. (but you don't know that yet)
2) "I'll eat ANYTHING!"
When you're a baby, you eat what ever is put in front of you whether it is mushed up peas or a sugar coated cookie. As you get older though, you begin to get picky about what tastes good and what doesn't. You reject the peas and run strait for the cookie. Spiritually Satan hands you a sugar coated idea:
"All people should be respected."
(you agree and eat it)
He hands you another idea:
"If all people should respected, then all of their ideas should be respected too."
("I guess that makes sense" -munch-munch)
And another:
"If all their ideas are respected, then you can't say which is right or which is wrong."
("Well, umm, what if that idea IS wrong? Like if he said, it's okay to break the law? That would be...")
"Be quiet and eat your cookie! Look, it has sprinkles!"
("Oh, ummm, those sprinkles do look good..." <chomp> <chomp>)
And another:
"If you can't determine what is right and wrong, then popular ideas like "Gay is Okay" have to be respected."
("Wait a second...")
So, do you eat the sugar coated cookie/idea?
3) "I know it ALL!"
You are judgmental about others and think that you are perfect. It's easy to point at someone and say all of the things that he or she is doing wrong, but it is not your place to judge them. Let God be the judge!
Walling gave us this short prayer, "Dear God, I don't have it all together. I'm just trying to do what is right. I'll leave the judging to you."
Speech 4: Can you really drop the hook?
Hooks are like masks, we put them on to hide from the world, isolating ourselves because we don't think anyone will understand, thus making ourselves feel even more alone. Also, we are greedy creatures, we need to stop grabbing for more, because it won't make us happy. Our attitude also comes into play with our hooks. When we drop our hook, it'll need some adjustment. First, PUT OFF the hook and keep it off. Second, PUT ON Jesus Christ.
Beware, Satin won't let go of you that easily. He will follow you, tempt you, to put the hook back on. He'll wave one of those cookies in front of your nose and dare you to eat it. Don't give in!!! Continue growing in Christ and he will protect you!
Okay, I've taken off my hook, now what do I do? Walling told us that taking off the hook is just the first step. We must keep it off, too! He gave us some suggestions as to how to keep it off: Volunteer at church, in the community, at school, etc. Don't be afraid to lead others in the way of the Lord!!!
<End of Speech Recap>
Besides just Jeff Walling's speeches, we also took a few classes. the classes that I took involved the practice of celebration, the practice of "slowing", the practice of secret services, and learning what guides our lives.
Celebration
God designed it! He is the DJ of the turntable of the universe, and he understands celebration.
One very good example of celebration in the bible is the story of the Prodigal Son. (Boy spends all of inheritance... ends up eating pig food... returns home, hoping to get a job as a servant for his father... Father happy to see his son... Throws a B.I.G. party... you know the story)
So why do people miss out on the celebration?
It's because we are so preoccupied that we either forget about it or ignore it.
Celebration is part of growing up. It is a way we express our joy. IT IS NOT A BAD THING!!!!!
Slowing
"Do or do not, there is no try." -Yoda
You can't become a great athlete by just saying "I want to do that", you must train to become a great athlete. It is the same with the spirit, you can't just say "I want to be a better Christian" you have to train to be a better one!!
Why is HURRY dangerous?
-we miss the miracles around us
-we become to busy to love others
-we miss out on intimacy with God
If we are always rushing about, we won't be able to accomplish God's plan for us because we will just pass it by!
Secret Service
Say no to AA,
Say yes to SS!
AA- Approval Addiction-when we feel the urge to act a certain way in order to feel like we belong
SS- Secret Services- when you do something for someone else with out calling attention to yourself.
These are some of the scripture that the teachers used:
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
1 Corinthians 4:3-5 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
What Guides My Life?
There are so many voices that speak to you throughout the day and they have the power to guide you. There IS a voice, however, that is still and small-the voice of God. He speaks softly to us so that we will lean in closer to him and listen.
So, here are the three steps that will help us hear his voice:
DISCONNECT-- stop listening to all of those voices!!!
DIAL UP-- start listening to him through prayer
BE DELIVERED-- God will deliver you!!!
Okay, so that about sums up what I learned in the classes at IMPACT.
BUT...
Don't even think that I'm done yet!!!!! I still have my experience to talk about!
Looking back at other experiences at big teen events like this (last Winterfest) there seems to be a sort of pattern... I hope that things don't stay like this for ever!
Anyways...
In the youth group I have a variety of groups of friends. There are the girls one year older than me that I hang out more often with because I seem to have the most in common with them. There are the girls one year younger than me that I have gotten to know quite well since the NBYG girls retreat where I met them. And then there are the girls that are my age that I only really hang out with because they ARE my age and we are in class together. They are the ones that I thought were my friends, but apparently they don't think of me as their friend.
At IMPACT, the girls older than me were not present because they go to Senior IMPACT, while I'm stuck in Junior Impact. (My age and one year younger are at Jr. IMPACT with me.) I started the weekend by hanging out with my age girls. Let me introduce you: there are three of them. Two of which are identical twins in which one of them share my name. They are ALWAYS together so I'll refer to them as MnM (like the candy). The third I've only met a couple of times and goes to MnM's school. (not part of youth group) I'll call her R. Sooooo, I hung out with MnM and R for the first 2 days. The dorm capacity was two per room, but for IMPACT they sometimes squeezed 3 girls into a room. You can only guess which three of my group would be together. You got it. MnM and R shared a room while I was put in a room with two girls from the youth group who I barely knew (big youth group). Luckily it was the dorm next door.
I did my best to stay with them, but the way they treated me was like they didn't care if I was there or not! We'd wait in line to get into the classes and speeches and what-not, they would hold on to each other and walk in a line side by side. Have you ever tried to walk side by side with 3 other people in a VERY crowded area? I did. Once. I quickly realized that four was not going to work, so I was forced to follow behind the trio and try not to get separated so that I wouldn't have to sit by myself. They were kind enough to make sure that they found four seats together, however. They never seemed to wait around for me for anything. Whenever any of them wanted to do something, even if all of us didn't want to, we would do it together. Whenever I wanted to do something that they did not want to do, they said "Have fun with that, we'll catch you later." and then they would leave. How unfriendly is that?
The worst thing they did however was on the morning of the third day. Or rather, what they didn't do. That morning I woke up later than I had wanted to and took longer getting ready than I expected. When I was finally ready, I walked over to MnM and R's room to leave for breakfast with them. Their door was unlocked, but I knew that they had been having trouble with the old door knob. The lights were turned off though and the room looked tidy, like they had already left. Irritated and feeling abandoned, I found my one-year-younger friends and stayed with them for the rest of the trip.
They were kind to me, but they too eventually left to hang out with other friends, leaving and one other girl, Em, by ourselves. I knew what it felt to be ditched, and I didn't want em to have to feel it too, so I stuck with her. After talking with her, I found out that she was used to spending her time alone because her friends did this a lot to her, and if I wanted to go, she'd be fine with that. I told her that I didn't really have any where else to go, so we just stayed together and talked and laughed and had fun.
That night, we saved a bunch of seats, at least 12, for Jeff Walling's final speech, hoping that they would show up before it started. Unfortunately, they never did, and we felt terrible for saving so many seats when it was just us two. This is the cool part though. The part that made the whole thing worth while. Towards the end of the speech, Em tapped me and showed me her notebook. Six words in big letters across the page read, "Megan, I want to be baptized." I think a giggle slipped out of my mouth, bubbles from my heart that was boiling over with joyfulness. I immediately hugged her and told her what a great decision she was making and how proud I was. After a while, she gently pushed me away and said that she wasn't much of a hugger. Walling invited those who wanted to take on Christ to the stage once he was done with his sermon. Em didn't want to go at first, but then agreed to go if I would come with her. I held her hand as we walked up to the stage and held on to her the whole time we were up there.
I was so glad that she wanted to do this and I pray with all of my heart that she will continue to grow up in Him and become the beautiful lady that God intended her to be. I attended her baptism two Sundays ago (she wanted to wait so that her brother could be there). Praise be to God Almighty!!!
One more thing: we learned a new song at Impact and it has become one of my favorites. Here are the lyrics:
Verse 1:
There is Love
That came for us
Humbled to a sinner’s cross
You broke my shame and sinfulness
You rose again victorious
Verse 2:
Faithfulness none can deny
Through the storm
And through the fire
There is truth that sets me free
Jesus Christ who lives in me
Chorus:
You are stronger
You are stronger
Sin is broken
You have saved me
It is written
Christ is risen
Jesus You are Lord of all
Verse 3:
No beginning and no end
You’re my hope and my defense
You came to seek and save the lost
You paid it all upon the cross
Bridge:
So let Your Name be lifted higher
Be lifted higher
Be lifted higher
And the video:
I love that song!!!
And THAT is how my weekend went.
I hope you enjoyed my little recap and have learned something.
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