Google has finally fixed the problem with the subscription box on the right hand side of this page. You can now put your email address in to be automatically updated anytime that I update the website. So, for those of you who just can't get enough of me, you can now get updates anytime I post new photos or information on the site. ;-)

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to post more pictures from the pit but I do have lots of pictures from camp this past weekend. It was great!! I had at least 2 decisions for Christ in my group. If nothing else happened at camp other than that it still would have been well worth it. We had an awesome speaker that came and talked to the kids and we had many activities for them to do. We also had some rap artists that came and performed for the kids. I led all of the worship music at camp and it was a good experience. I had never done anything like that before. On Sunday night we had things planned a certain way but everything went totally differently. It was a God thing though. We let Him take over and the next thing I knew over half of the kids were kneeling at the altar in front of me praying. I could barely get through the song I was so moved by God's presence in that room. I will try to tell you more about camp later but for now here are a few pictures. When I get the rest posted somewhere I will post the link here.


Here I am with my small group during quiet time. We were all working on our own. One of my guys is sitting on a bench across the way.


Me climbing the climbing wall!! I didn't quite make it to the top but I made it well over half way up.

Ok. I know that I have been meaning to get some pictures posted on the site so here is one. I will post some of the kids playing at the pit tomorrow. I left my camera in the office at the pit.


This is an old video game that we have at the Pit.

I am still desperately short of my fundraising goal for the summer. If I don't at least get closer to my goal then I will not be able to support myself all summer and make the return trip to Texas at the end of the summer. If you or anyone you know is still interested in making a donation to my ministry this summer please let me know or send in your donation. If you would like to make a donation, the donation information is as follows:

All donations are tax deductible.
Checks should be made payable to "YFC/USA"
Please write "RD# 23825" in the memo line of the check so they know it is for my account.
Checks should be mailed to:
YFC/USA
P.O. Box 228822
Denver, Colorado 80222

Thank you in advance for your generous support. Without you I would not be able to reach these kids for Christ.

In a matter of two days we have been able to put together a praise band for camp. I think that we sound great together! Our voices blend well together. The drummer (William) and I work well together and he sounds awesome! We have chosen all of the music already and Renee is beginning to get the rest of the worship stuff together. She is planning most of it and I am going to lead the worship. It is so great to have a band together and be playing again. I have really missed it and I am really enjoying getting to sing also.

Camp planning is going well. I have a lot of work to do but I am really enjoying the work and that makes it a lot more bearable. I have been surrounded by prayer this summer more than I ever have been in my life and I am really feeling the effects of those prayers on my life. I thank God everyday for all of the people who support me through prayer and financially. I also thank Him for knowing exactly where I was needed and exactly what kind of influences I needed in my life. Not only do I feel that I am making a difference in the lives of others but others are also making a difference in my life here. I can't wait to see all of the exciting things that God will do in my life this summer.

One of the intern leaders at Summer Institute made me start thinking about the importance of memorizing scripture.

We had read Secrets of the Vine as part of our training. It goes into detail talking about John 15. I think I already told you about our field trip to the vinyard in a previous post. One thing that struck me was how Jerry had memorized so much of the scripture. He recited all of John 15 to us and then we went to have our quiet time. When we came back into the big group we all sat in a circle in the grass just outside of the vinyard. As we listened Jerry began to recite even more scripture. He went through the entire sermon on the mount. We sat there for 20 minutes or so just soaking in God's word. When he finished he told us how he had worked to learn this scripture with his 10 year old son. He told us that his son almost knows all of it as well as he does. He then told us what a difference it has made in his life to have a chunk of God's word inside of him. It helps him to follow the example and teachings of Jesus everyday.

During Summer Institute I have gained a greater hunger for God's word and I like the idea of memorizing scripture. It is just one more way that I can be closer to Jesus. Therefore, I am commiting myself this summer to memorize at least the first chapter of the sermon on the mount. Thats Matthew 5. And possibly if I finish that then I will begin with chapters 6 and 7. Ultimately, I hope to make it an everyday practice in my life to work on memorizing scripture. I think it could change my whole way of thinking and my whole way of life. It just might make me more like Jesus. I also want to make sure and pray everyday and do an actual bible study as well as try my hardest to live for Him.

I hope that you too will make a commitment to a daily time with God. I know our schedules get busy but the rest of our lives go so much smoother if we go to him first.

Well, I am back in Miami and we are getting ready for camp next weekend. It is going to be great. We have a whole team of volunteer camp counselors that are going to be helping us out and then Stacy, Renee, and all of us interns are going to be heading up a lot of the activity planning as well as being counselors. We have already planned a major portion of it.

Tomorrow we will be meeting to start organizing the worship team for camp. I am at the PIT (our youth center) right now. I just finished setting up all of my sound equipment for us to practice with. My new friend that is going to play drums should be along in a while to help get the drums that we borrowed set up. We will have to clean them up too because they were in storage.

Camp is going to be awesome this year!! The theme is Camp RADIATE and the theme verse is "...let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds..." Matthew 5:16 I can't give away too much more information about what we have planned at this point because you never know who might be reading this. I don't want to give it all away to one of the high schoolers by accident.

Today we will be heading back to Miami where we will be for the rest of our internship. Our flight is supposed to be at 2:35pm. Let's hope that it actually takes off on time.

Yesterday was great! We got up early and took our final exam for the training we just went through and then we went to the first session of the day. When we got out of that session all of the interns were taken on a field trip. We were required to read Secrets of the Vine before we got here. Following with that theme we were taken to a vinyard. One of our leaders read some out of secrets of the vine and then the other leader recited John 15 from memory. It was awesome to hear the words of Jesus spoken in that place, a place very similar to where Jesus first spoke the words. As I listened to the words and I looked at the grape vines all around us I could feel Jesus' love all around me. I could feel the gravity of the words he spoke knowing this was the last important conversation he would have with his disciples. He knew he was speaking not only to them but to us as well.

We left the vinyard and stopped at a Wendy's to eat. Then on the way back to the college we stopped at the airport to pick up the president of YFC/USA. I got to meet him as he got off the plane and talked to him for a minute.

We got back to the college and got ready for the closing banquet. The banquet went well. Then we went to the auditorium for the final challenge session. The president of YFC/USA spoke and then we all took communion together. It was a wonderful ending to a hard week of learning and training.

I just wanted to mention that the evangelism training I was talking about in the last post has a website describing it in better detail. I really hope that everyone will be excited about this with me. After all isn't making disciples out of ourselves and our youth part of what God has called us all to do? If all of these youth workers with a gift for evangelism find this training useful then I know you will too. It is aimed at teaching everyday believers how to share the Good News! If you want to check out the website then just click here and let me know what you think by posting a comment.

Today was a good day and I thank God for every moment of it. I grew even closer to the people here. Especially the people in my small group. I am meeting some great youth leaders from all over the world. As I learn their stories they inspire and encourage me to continue on the journey that God has for me. Today it was all about world outreach. They talked about all of the international YFCs that there are. They encouraged us to persue what we are called to do but to always keep a global viewpoint knowing that Christ has called us as a whole to reach the world. I think that it would be a great experience to do a short term mission somewhere in another country. I hope to be able to do that someday.

In my small group we began telling each other our stories. So many times we can work or learn side by side and never take the time to get to know each other in such a way. We also took some time with God to write down things that we needed to tell him. Then they prayed over those of us that told our stories. It was great. I want to be able to lead a small group as well as our leader has lead us. The things we have done have really made me think about where I am with God and his purpose. It is amazing how God can take a person like me and transform me. He is growing and stretching me spiritually and preparing me for the task that I will soon face. I was overwhelmed when I first saw the neighborhood and met the kids but God is in control and in the end that is all that matters. I am just astounded by His desire to use me to reach these kids. Without him I couldn't do it. I would be nothing.

I went through some awesome training yesterday that I am really looking forward to maybe teaching in a sunday school class when I get back to Texas. I am almost completely certified to teach the seminar but first have to present part of it with an already certified teacher. Hopefully I will be able to find one either in Miami or in the local area of Texas to teach a seminar with before I bring it back and teach it myself at the church. There is also a youth version coming out very soon that is completely on DVD and I would love our youth to get fired up about evangelism. It always starts with us though. Because if we are not excited about what God can do through us then they won't be either.

Artist: Casting crowns
Song: Who am I lyrics

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt,
Who am I?
That the Bright and Morning Star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart,

Not because of who I am,
But because of what You've done,
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who You are,

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean (ocean),
A vapor in the wind,
Still You hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling,
And You've told me who I am..
I am Yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin,
Would look on me with love,
and watch me rise again,
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me,

Not because of who I am,
But because of what You've done,
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who You are,

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean (ocean),
A vapor in the wind,
Still You hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling,
And You've told me who I am...
I am Yours, I am Yours.

I am Yours,
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am Yours,
I am Yours.


When I was asked to describe a song that described my life today this is what I came up with. Who am I that God would call me to do this work. He hears me when I'm calling and catches me when I am falling. The eyes that see my sin look on me with love. I feel so undeserving yet so grateful for our gracious God who has sent me here.

I learned a lot today...about ministry...about myself...and about my calling. It's not about me but it is about truly changing lives and committing everything I have to the cause of Christ.

We had the evening off tonight. It was one of the interns' birthday so about 20 of us decided to take her out to dinner. It was one of the best fellowship times I have ever enjoyed. When we got back to campus a few of us went down to the main room of the dorms to have a little worship service. It started with about four of us in that room (I did not have my guitar but traded back and forth with someone else who was kind enough to let me play). I have not felt so close to God in a long time. As we played and sang and prayed the crowd grew and pretty soon we had about 4 guitars playing, 1 person on piano and about 20 or 30 voices. I think that God just drew everyone in to that room.

I pray that God would show up in your lives as strongly as he did in mine today. I pray that you would experience total surrender to him in worship and that all of your surroundings would fade away until all there is is just you and God. I pray that God would show up in a powerful way in your life and he would make your purpose known to you.

We just experienced our first full day of training. It was a lot of fun. There is so much information being given to us. The speakers were great and I am slowly learning more about myself and the plan that God has for me. The interns met today and had a small group time. I really enjoyed meeting with these other believers who have the same interests as I do. We then finished our time in a big group going over a personality profile that we took a test for. It was interesting seeing what the test determined to be my personality types. It was fairly accurate I think.

I really enjoyed the worship time that we had tonight. I can really feel the presence of God here at this training. The Bethel College praise band is very talented. I hope that they play again for us tomorrow.

Well, I traveled to Summer Institute in Indiana today. Despite many delays and a cancelled flight I finally made it. I spent the majority of my day sitting in the airport with several other YFC people that we ran into while we were there. We finally got another flight and made it here just in time for intern orientation. I was a little uncomfortable with all of the new people at first but I am already starting to feel better. The worship tonight was great and the speaker was awesome. I have a feeling I am going to learn a lot while I am here.

I am leaving for my summer institute training early in the morning. In fact I am not sure why I am still awake. I have to get up at 4 in the morning. The plane leaves at 6:45 in the morning so we have to meet at Stacy's house at 5. I think it will be about a 3 hour flight to Indiana and then we will be picked up at the airport. I will be returning to Miami late on the 16th. Please be praying for the other interns and I as we travel and attend the training this week and next week.

The burger bash was great!! I met lots of kids from around the neighborhood and hopefuly sparked their interest in our activities and programs. I also kind of got a good idea of which kids I am going to include in my discipleship group. I decided to take a group of 3 or 4 elementary kids. The basketball tournament went well and so did the hoola hoop contest. The girls kept trying to get me to be in the hoola hoop contest but I did not give in. Though they did add me to the sign up sheet.

The food was great, the kids were fun to hang out with and get to know, and the speakers message was great. What more could you ask for?

Today we are holding a huge gathering for the youth in the community. We will be having a basketball tournament, a hoola hoop contest and there will be a whole lot of food. This is going to be a great way to reach some of the kids in the community and I plan to find a few kids to include in my discipleship group today. Also there is going to be a speaker and he is going to share his testimony and share the gospel. I pray that at least one child would be reached through this message.

Wow!! The past couple of days have just flown by. I have had so much going on since the moment I got here. I finally made it to Homestead and was introduced to my host family. They are great people! They have been very nice and have warmly welcomed me to their home. I am so lucky that they chose to be a host family this summer.

I am having a lot of fun and already I am being challenged to come out of my comfort zone. We are ministering to a group of unchurched kids in an area of Homestead. Most of these kids don't have the greatest home life and they live the only way they have ever been taught to live. They are in desperate need of someone to just love them for who they are.

I have already started to get to know some of the kids and have a relationship with them. We are having an activity tonight with the junior high and high school group that will be fun. This will be the first time since I got here that we have worked with that group of kids. I will tell you all about it in my next post.

Yesterday we worked with the middle school age group and just had a getting to know you time with the rest of the interns. It was a lot of fun and I got to know some of the kids.

Saturday we will be having an event called the Burger Bash. It will be a cookout and a basketball tournament for the kids in the neighborhood. We are expecting a very big turnout. Please pray that this event would go well and that we might reach out to some of these kids and show them the love of Christ.