A story of an impacted life from our Brewfest outreach

Yesterday I recieved the following email from a gal who served with us at Brewfest this last weekend. For those of you that dont know what I am talking about we have the opportunity every year to provide free rides home for the annual Colorado Brewers Festival in Fort Collins. This last weekend an estimated 40,000 people were in Old Town Fort Collins enjoying the “Brewfest”. We had 7 vans giving rides all weekend and were able to give hundreds of people rides home. Durring this time of serving the community we get an opportunity to buid relationships with people and connect with them about their lives. Usually they ask us why we are doing what we are doing so we then have an opportunity to talk to them about the way that Christ has impacted our lives. This year the Campus Crusade Summer Project had over 60 students that helped us put this outreach on. Below is a story from one of the girls who was a little skeptical about the outreach but then watched God use her in an amazing way. I hope you enjoy the story:

I was one of the Campus Crusade students helping out at Brewfest in the vans on Saturday night. I just wanted to share a story with you from the night because your ministry that night was so awesome.

First of all, I was going in thinking… man… drunk people really frustrate me, and I can also remember wondering how people would receive the gospel when intoxicated. I thought, honestly, at first, that it might be kind useless to share the gospel with someone drunk and getting a free van ride home. It was a stupid and prideful thing to think, but that’s honestly when I was thinking! I knew they would appreciate the ride home and make that connection to the church, but I definitely wasn’t expected what happened.

I stood in line and started conversations with people and then would get onto the van with them in hopes of continuing the conversation. I met Katie and Kate, two girls aged about 25 from Denver. Katie was throwing up when I walked up to them. I got her a bottle of water and some towels and then offered to pray for her. She was thankful to have someone taking care of her.

Kate, her friend, however, was a lot more sober. She got deeply involved in conversation with me, and I ended up being able to share the gospel with her. She received it, and at first, it was kind of like, “maybe someday I’ll get there.” She talked about how good she felt after going to a church service and how her Christian aunt had been trying to reach out to her.

I remember I said something like, “how does it make you feel that God put me in your path?” She actually responded that she thought it felt like God was reaching down to her in her lowest point. I talked about asking God for a blank sheet of paper, to start over and live for something better than how she was living now. She was starting to get really serious in her sentences, noting that she really needed this. I got out my Cru Knowing God Personally booklet and asked her which circle she wanted to fit into… a life without Christ in the picture or the circle with the self yielding to Christ, and she very excitedly pointed to the second circle.

I asked if I could pray with her and help her receive the Holy Spirit. When we got out of the van, she grabbed me in a very tight embrace, and tears rolling down her face, she said out loud that she needed Jesus and wanted to be forgiven. Wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I prayed for her for a while, and she stood there for a while and just hugged me tightly. As she walked away, she turned back and said, “thank you for helping me start to change my life.”

How cool is that? Praise God!!!!! I was so excited. She was so honest and it was so real. I gave her my email, and she said she’d be in contact.

What an encouraging story and one that will keep us going back to Brewfest year after year. (Even if it takes me 3 days to recover).

Let Love Live.

New Church Plant in Fort Collins

This morning I had breakfast with a great new friend named Ryan Couch. Ryan is a church planter and the Lord has lead him to plant a church here in Fort Collins. Earlier this week I received an email from one of our nine70 leaders who follows Ryan’s blog. She told me about his church plant here in town and sent me information on how to connect with him. I sent him an email and told him that Fort Collins is a great town and we need more people within our community building relationships with people and connecting them with God. There are a lot of things I love about Fort Collins, but one of them is the fact that the churches in this community are really well connected. The senior pastors get together once a month for a time of prayer for the city and to connect socially. I think that this heart defiantly trickles down to the members of each church. I feel such a unity in Fort Collins. I have heard Pastor Dary say often that there is only one church in Fort Collins, it just meets in different locations. We have a great town and a great opportunity and platform to reach others for the gospel.

Ryan is a great guy and from hearing about his background and the pastors that he listens to and reads I can tell that he is very passionate about teaching the Word of God. We had a great conversation about church dynamics and how different churches fit into God’s plan in reaching communities. There is no way that one church can reach, equip and disciple everyone within a city but a whole bunch of churches in a city can reach the city for Christ. Ryan understands that well. His honesty and humility came about in our breakfast. I am truly excited about their new venture and I am thankful that the Lord brought us together to talk.

I told him that we at nine70 would be praying for him and we believe in supporting and equipping the Body of Christ (Not just Timberline / nine70) to reach others.

You can follow Ryan’s blog at:http://www.smalltownpreacher.com/ I hope that you will visit him and when he and his family come to town, lets do our best to welcome him in the Spirit of Jesus.

Let Love Live.

What you believe defines you

Have you ever been challenged with who you really are? How you are perceived? I know for many years (especially in college) I struggled with knowing my “identity”. I played football in high school, Jr. College and at Colorado State Univeristy  and for most of my life I was known as a football player. I was that stereotypical meathead football player who always spent time on the couch watching football, talking football and talking about football. Then my senior year came at CSU and I suffered my 8th concussion durring Fall Camp. My football career was over and in my opinion the one thing that defined me was now taken away from me. I remember being so frustrated at life and especailly at God. How could this happen?

Looking back, this situation was the best thing that ever happened to me and I know it is weird to say, but I am so glad that God took football away from me when He did. You see, I became a “Christian” while in college but never really understood what it meant. It wasnt until after my injury did I see my life and my faith differently. I was confronted by a verse in a Bible Study with a good friend, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I was challenged by this because I never really knew what it meant to be “in Christ”. A couple of years after my injury I finally moved from labeling myself a Christian and became a devoted follower of Jesus. This new relationship has now defined me in many ways. I am defined not by what I do but by what Jesus has already done. The challenge is that we allow so many other things to define us but the one thing that can bring true definition to who we are sometimes get overlooked. You are defined by what you believe to be true. Not only about yourself but what you believe about life and faith.

The definition of my life is about what I know to be true about life and faith. There is an old Rich Mullins song that I absolutely love, it is called “I believe”. I want you to take a look at the lyrics and allow the lyrics to speak to your heart.

“I Believe”

I believe in God the Father almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ
His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified and dead and buried

CHORUS:
And I believe what I believe
Is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not
The invention of any man

I believe that He who suffered
Was crucified, buried, and dead
He descended into hell and
On the third day, rose again
He ascended into Heaven where
He sits at God’s mighty right hand
I believe that He’s returning to
Judge the quick and the dead
Of the sons of men

CHORUS

I believe it, I believe it
I believe it
I believe it, I believe it

I believe in God the Father almighty
Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son,
Our Lord
I believe in the Holy Spirit
One Holy Church, the communion of Saints
The forgiveness of sin
I believe in the resurrection
I believe in a life that never ends

LET LOVE LIVE!!!

What if Starbucks marketed like a church

Here is an interesting comentary on our current Evangelical Church culture. It is something that we can laugh at, however it does give us some thought as to how we sometimes try too hard to advertise and stay “cool”. Id love your thoughts on the video.

Enjoy.