Confrontation is a Catalyst for Change

We're back! Winter break is all wrapped up, the students are finally back in school and things are going back to normal. Really it hasn't been very long, but I'm ready to get going again. This semester is going to start off in a hurry as well. We have our annual Winter Camp coming up in just a couple days, and that is always one of the most exciting events for us in the year. So if you could keep that in your prayers that would be absolutely fantastic!

We had an awesome snow day up in Denton

A talk on confrontation

At least once every year we take time to teach our Corefas (group leaders) about the topic of confrontation. This year it was my job to team up with another staff member and tackle this topic in a 2 hour long talk to our leader team. Most people absolutely hate confrontation and giving a talk on it would probably rank among one of their least favorite things to do, but luckily the Lord has used the last couple years to form me into someone who was actually excited about it. Over the years the Lord has used many mentors and peers to help transform me into someone who actually likes confrontation. The main reason is that I can now see how valuable it can really be. Often confronting someone can be the most loving thing for them in that time of their life. I've learned that it can actually be an act of love and care to confront. Not only that, but confrontation is often the catalyst for change in people's lives. We rarely grow when we are comfortable, so sometimes it takes the uncomfortable act of confrontation to jump start growth in someone's life. We reminded our students that they need to care more about someone's future than their feelings in that moment. Confrontation, or Care-frontation (the cringy, but albeit memorable phrase we taught our students) is a huge part of being a good minister. It is one of the major ways we can start moving people onto God's agenda instead of their own.

Meeting with a student

Putting it into practice

Fascinating enough, right after we gave this talk on Care-frontation, I had to have a hard conversation with one of the guys in my Core about some of the ways he was hurting people with his joking. It certainly wasn't a pleasant conversation, but in the end it led to me being able to explain to him what unconditional love really is. He really believed that he had to earn everyone's love. I was able to explain that for Christians we get the opportunity to mirror Christ's love for us, a love that we did not earn, to other people. That we would love him even when he messed up and said hurtful things. This was a revelation for him, something he had never thought possible. He had never grasped Christ's love for us, but hopefully after that conversation he is one step closer to understanding it. That all came out of a simple confrontation on his manner of joking. It's amazing what Christ can do. 

Staff retreat games

Going to a park during retreat

Beautiful view after a hike

Playing with the niece

Prayer Requests:

Pray for Winter Camp

Pray for our new sermon series on Orthodoxy, and the staff as they prepare for that.

Pray for one of our students who is in the hospital because of some serious mental health issues.