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| 2011 Ministry picture...Our families just keep growing! |
Virginia
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Joel took his first trip to the Washington DC area in June. He spoke at an overnight event in West Springfield, VA. The event was held for high school seniors the night of their graduation. The whole class was invited to stay the night at a local rec center in an attempt to deter destructive graduation celebrations. The seniors spent all night playing games, singing karaoke, swimming and just having a good time. At 4am, they gathered everyone together to hear Joel speak. This made for a challenging speaking environment but Joel said he connected well with the slap happy crowd and got some great feedback from kids afterward.
School Year Recap
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June is always a time for us to step back and celebrate all that God accomplished during the school year as well as plan ahead for next year. We are very thankful that more that 10,000 students heard the Gospel during the 2010-2011 school year. This number has grown consistently over the last few years and we pray that the Lord will continue to give us opportunities to share the Good News with those who don't yet know him.
Joel and Ryan took several days in June to redefine and refocus the goals of our ministry. We know we have come a long way since we began doing assemblies and outreaches but we still see potential for an even bigger impact if we continue to move forward. Please pray that we would use our limited time wisely this summer to prepare for a great 2011-2012 school year!
Message From Joel
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Teammates,
I heard a pastor say that to effectively communicate the Gospel you need to do two seemingly contradictory things very well: contend and contextualize.
Contend: We need to be willing and able to fight for the truth of the Gospel without compromise. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 1:9, “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” People will be offended. People might make fun. But we must consistently proclaim the truth without altering it in an attempt to make the Gospel more palatable. If we win people to a different Gospel, then we haven’t won them at all.
Contextualize: At the same time, we must communicate the Gospel in a winsome way that makes sense to our hearers. This means we need to be culturally relevant and relatable to our audience. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” Our vocabulary matters. What we wear matters. As good missionaries in the world we must “become” the people we are trying to reach.
Doing both of these things simultaneously is hard. Please pray for us, that we will be faithful contenders and attractive contextualizers in public schools. We will pray for you to do the same in your world.
Joel
