Our Aim

“Marksmen, fire when ready.”

I recently watched a show on Netflix called “Top Shot”. The contestants have to prove their marksmanship to be the best out of 16 who were chosen for a chance to win $100,000!

Paul speaks several times in the New Testament about his aim & what the aim of the church ought to be. Most believers immediately think of our aim to be: to please God, which is clearly true in 2 Corinthians 5:9.

Even so, I get excited to read Paul’s motivation for making His aim to please God. In 1 Timothy 1:5, we see his motivation is love!

“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

It’s encouraging to imagine a perfect community or a family of God whose individual and corporate aims are one. Paul writes about this unified aim to the church in Corinth & in his second letter to Timothy. (2 Tim. 2:4, 3:10; 2 Cor. 8:21, & 13:11)

THE DANGER:

Picture an army whose aim is clear: to defeat the enemy & protect its’ own. If individual soldiers became distracted with personal problems, strategy disagreements or even the desire for comfort, the enemy could easily get a foothold.

I have never fought in a physical battle, but my friend (former National Guard & Iraq veteran) has told me much about her time in war. Distractions or selfish desires can completely ruin a unit of soldiers & give the enemy the advantage!

I saw this on “Top Shot”, when contestants became distracted, complained about the discomfort with a weapon, or lost focus, they missed the target & were voted off the show.

The Application:

This made me think. How often are we distracted from our aim to please God? Do the comforts of our lives, desire to spend our paychecks how we want, and disagreements with each other prevent us from our aim to please God? How often do we forget why this is our aim in the first place?

We aim to please Him because:

He loved us SO much & made His aim to redeem a fallen people so that we may know Him & love others as we share this GOOD NEWS! (Watch what Felicia has discovered to be her aim in the video the below.)

Are you ready marksman? … to live out your aim? Don't overthink it soldier. Use the resources & talents God’s given you and simply:  Fire when ready!

September is OVER!

New "Jersey Metro" Mission Statement

God is doing SO much! How is it already October?!

First of all, I am so sorry for getting this letter out so late! This new job is very time-consuming.

Second, thank you SO much for praying for me throughout the beginning of the school year! I have felt God's power in me through your prayers!

Our staff are already prepared for Fall Retreat coming up NEXT WEEKEND! We only have about 60 students from New Jersey Colleges and Universities attending the $100 weekend retreat, but we hope many more sign up this week!

We don't just want students there for the sake of numbers! In our experience, college students have been transformed by God because they are surrounded by peers who are also seeking God, they are being poured into through multiple biblical talks, and they can experience being still through something we call a "Prayer Journey." This all combined over two nights and five meals! That's a LOT of JESUS! :) Please pray for the Lord to connect with students at Fall Retreat.

Another super exciting thing that has already happened is JERSEY CRU! This year I actually got a chance to speak at our statewide student meeting, where a third of the room was filled with NEW students! This is very exciting for us as a Jersey Metro team. We have been praying for the 550 students involved across the state to attend the monthly gathering and almost 200 have come! I was able to speak about the very real spiritual war we are in as Christians and challenge our students to persevere when our enemies: our flesh, the world, and Satan attack.

One of the ways we hope they go on the offense in this war is by taking something the world says to use for our own glory and use it for God's! 

Social Media is on the rise.... still. Why not use your Facebook page, Twitter post, or your Instagram picture to advance God's kingdom and His GOOD NEWS?! We've been encouraging our students to do this and use the hashtag, #GOSPELGOESVIRAL so that we can track how many people are reading what we post on social media about Jesus! Join us and let's see what happens! 

I'll be posting on my blog, facebook and twitter. Feel free to simply "share" or copy and paste what I'm posting. Be sure to #GOSPELGOESVIRAL :)

God's Different Plans

Fall Retreat (Oct. 2012) - UNMASKED

Women from Kean Cru at Fall Retreat 2012

              October went by so fast and Sandy came so quickly that I didn’t have time to tell you about the wonderful things that happened throughout Fall Retreat. Our theme was intended to be an encouragement to the 200+ students to show an appropriately vulnerable and transparent self while at  the conference with God and with others. At one of our break-out seminars, students did just that.  I was supposed to lead only one seminar on “How to know God personally” for those who may not yet know Jesus and for those who want to share how to.  With the exception of little light, the seminar went well.

 Immediately following this, I planned to attend the “sexual abuse” seminar with a student of mine who was looking for community. Upon arriving, I learned that our speaker (who turned out to be very ill) had not yet arrived. I immediately grew concerned for the 40+ young people in the room who had something to communicate about this topic. :( As I prayed, I felt the Spirit lead me to engage in conversation with these young adults. In the corner stood one of the regional directors, Jeff Martin and his wife Mary. With their support and the prayers of our intern/friend, Joel Aponte, I facilitated a really good conversation where students simply shared insights on how to listen and receive news that could be shocking, how to pray and comfort those in pain, and what to avoid saying to someone in this situation. God truly used this time for His good.

 
Throughout the past month a few students from this meeting have made me a “facebook friend”  and have sought out encouragement and prayer. To God be all the glory! Please pray for these young men and women, that they may seek God for comfort and if need be, seek a counselor or safe living environment soon!

Spiritual Warfare

Part of my job is to be trained in my job. Here's a bit of some of the article on Spiritual Warfare I've been reading through:

"In folk religion the posture of the Christian toward fallen angels is defensive; in Scripture the church is on the offensive, and the blows it receives from Satan come from a retreating enemy."

I wonder in my life if I've been doing that well. Am I on the defensive in my Christian walk or on the offensive? Do I wait for the enemy to attack before I respond with a strong Christian shield, or do I live life on the offensive against him?... I hope to not only be ready for any attack he has prepared for me, but come at him in helping advance God's kingdom! 

"Fallen angels are called 'powers of darkness' not because they are in any way creatures of night or linked to the common superstitious fear of the dark, but because they are permanent dwellers in a world of lies and ignorance. Living in a mental universe of lies, they persuade men to keep on embracing lies concerning God, themselves and the world, reinforcing the natural affinity of the flesh for darkness."

How often do we believe the lies of the "powers of darkness" and surrender all power our own?