The Snowbird Experience.

Monday afternoon, just after we finished packing for Snowbird our case manager for C and E said that we couldn't leave until Tuesday b/c the kids had an appointment they couldn't miss. This wouldn't had been a problem had we known about it and planned for a Tuesday departure. Seeing the bags packed our manager pulled some strings and worked it out for us! Monday afternoon we headed out for the Bird! If you don't know anything about Snowbird, let me just say, modern day community and devotion to Christ in everyday living. I'll never forget my 1st impressions of them. They did a "fall round up" for the youth of 1st Baptist Hendersonville, in which they dressed and acted like rednecks the entire time. They never lost character. You'd see them alone dancing and they didn't know or even care if anyone was watching. It was so genuine. It's a genuine character that carries into their walk with Christ. A group of redneck/hippies that absolutely do not comprise. By looks, they're a group that would fit in in down town Asheville. By conviction their a group that walks a more straight and narrow than your average church goer. When we 1st visited Snowbird a couple of years ago we saw a resemblance of what the early church might have been like. These people live, work, eat, serve and worship TOGETHER! They confess sins, challenge and build one another up AND their nuts. They make it cool to obey the living God. Their devotion to Him is not out of legalism but of a genuine desire to please Him. Ok, enough bragging. Our stay with them went from Monday to Wednesday. We immediately found our nitch wiping tables and sweeping the cafeteria. We found their running such a tight ship there's not an abundance of work to do. We felt unneeded, yet wanted (isn't that our relationship with the Lord). Hopefully we made at least one persons job a bit easier that week.
The kids had a good time, but were a bit young to understand or appreciate the camp experience. To them there seemed to be no difference btwn camp and just staying around the Holler. We came back Wednesday, a day early b/c they were breaking down.
The preaching was phenomenal and as always. We'll remember things Brody said for a long time to come. The messages were on the fear of the Lord. Fear being what happens when we encounter a HOLY God!

Community

Check out this Africa Safari video and see the benefit of a community.

Now, think about how a Christian community might battle our spiritual enemies.

Holler Day on a roof.

Early in the week we had a couple who clearly wanted to come to Holler Days, but they remembered they had to roof their grandmas house. Monday as I was running and praying God spoke to my heart to take the Holler to them. We arrived around 9:30 and finished around 5:30. It began to rain around 5:15, but we were close enough to finishing that all was well. We couldn't have done it for a better family than the Hendrix family. Their an amazing family of God containing a model marriage and upright children. The appreciation and fellowship we received blessed us more than we could ever bless them. I was so excited to see Levi, Tyler and Eric joyfully bust their butts for these people. They threw a BBQ lunch and ordered Pizza for dinner! Mid day the boys jumped into the gigantic pond for a swim. Check out Levi and Eric on the paddle boat.
On another note, 1st Baptist Church could be on the brink of revival. God's sturring in the youth and now the adults. Our music leader has been convicted of appathy in himself and the church. We're breakin "rules" and worship is heading back to the heart! It's amazing.
This week we're heading to Camp Snowbird to volunteer and work along with some of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Featured Runner!

I just noticed I'm the featured runner on the Run For Oneweb site! Speaking of Zhanna and the Run For One. Praise to God He's given us a little more than $1,000 just in time to satisfy the re-comitment date. We're heading up a benefeit mountainboard event here at the Holler July 14th to help the cause. July 15th we'll host a family/friend hillbilly golf tournament. It will be a time of celebration and awareness. Today I contacted several papers and the local news channel in regards to the mountainboard event. Each year we've been able to get some kind of publicity. Pray that the media will desire coverage of a positive and Godly event this year.

They won't know what hit em.

Last week we were at Youth Camp, Ft. Caswell. I'll admit that we were all sceptical going into it. After all, this wasn't Camp Snowbird and we're deeply in love with Snowboard. But God moved. God moved. God moved. Did I say God moved. No, you don't understand. God moved. The testimony can't be contained in this blog. I'll keep it short, b/c nothing I can ever say will give God justice to what happened. This time the youth actually opened up to us as leaders. They sought us out and spilled their guts. We cried together, we prayed our hearts out with faces on the floor, we laughed together, we worshiped together and we witnessed together. Believe it or not, I said witnessed. This week was focused on evangelism. The kids were both evangelized and taught to evangelize. Sharing our faith was connected to our faith. Adrian Despres fired us up, showed us where we "really" stood with God and gave us practical ways to share our faith. Bad kids came to God. "Good" kids came to God. Rejoice!
Our foster child, C is excited about birds and squirrels. He's so excited that when he sees one of these animals he'll say "get it"! We reply, "Ok C what will you do when you get it?" A sweet little voice states, "Hug it". We laugh and then let him loose to "get it". He never actually "gets it", but he never gives up either. He's as equally excited every time he sees one of those things. Towards the end of the week at camp many of us were excited about "getting people" for Jesus as C is about getting a squirrel. This included "cold calling" at Dairy Queen, the beach, the beach shop, gas stations and the mall. We picked up someone who's car was broken down, we bought someone a Mocha Moo, we washed someones windows, we gave away food, we gave away a personal Bible and we even gave away some money. Responses ranged. One guy said that he never sins. We asked another guy if he was going to heaven, in which he replied "Hell yeah!". The lady running the gas station cried to the point of tears and prayed to recommit her life to Jesus! I'm scared every time I witness and this was no exception. The kids were nervous, Levi was nervous, even Adrean Despres even admitted to fear. God didn't remove the fear, He only lit our fire. In 1 John 1-4 we find out that John is writing the gospel letter to share with others to complete his joy. He was so excited about his experiences with the Lord he couldn't be contained, he just had to share. Just like when your wife is pregnant, you get a new job, or try a new food. You tell others and it gives you a sense of joy. Sharing our joy completes it. When you or I have a problem with witnessing we need to experience God. Don't worry about programs or forcing things, just fall back in Love. The fear doesn't go away. Accept it. Embrace it. Witnessing video coming soon!

Going to camp.

Monday morning we head out for Church youth camp at Caswell. It will be our 1st time to visit the NC coast. Our kids, E and C weren't allowed to go so we have to leave them behind for a week. This will be the longest we've been apart for 3 months. Tonight was actually the 1st night we've been alone in the Holler House since we received them. We'll miss them dearly but it will be good for all of us. Usually time away draws people closer. Rebekah and I will serve as group leaders at camp so we'll need your prayers. I still plan on running and keeping up with our online business. It's going to be hectic. Pray for wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Pray our E and C will feal Gods presence while we're gone. Pray that the youth kids will get excite about God and do something radical.

Using Evil.

We're back from TX as of Tuesday. We tried not to consider the trip a vacation, but a missions trip. We had several opportunities to minister to the lost and the saints. Let me share one story with you now. It's a story of how God uses evil for good. On the way back we stopped at a rest area for lunch. The community (as in Momma, myself and Levi) found ourselves in a bit of a conflict. It was our 1st, so tensions were high. We took a few minutes to be a part and Levi climbed on top of a picnic roof to meditate and pray. As it came time to go Momma and I went to the car and wondered, impatiently where Levi was. Turns out that on his way down from the roof a lady asked him if he was meditating. That opened the door for the gospel of Jesus and he found her very receptive. The conflict was later resolved and we can all praise God for moving despite our own selves. This is one of several stories. In regards to the children, they had a great time swimming, playing and visiting family. They earned many nicknames. E earned the name Busy and she continued to live up to other nickname, Ramona. C, however earned 2 nicknames that included Hiccup and Giszmo. I believe their nick names speak for themselves. We budgeted high and came in way under. Total cost was just over $500. That included 10 days, 3,200 miles, food, lodging and entertainment. That's more $ for Zhanna,!
Last Sunday we had the privilege to attend the Church Tony Evans founded and preaches. We found ourselves in the midst of their 31 yr anniversary! It's amazing to see how God uses people in longevity. Wade from Honduras use to tell me that he believed most Christians were called to one place. He thought that too many times Christians run from their true call when they hit hard times. You could definitely see Gods blessing on Evans and his ministry as a result of 1 definite call to location. It's a predominantly black church so we enjoyed a style of worship out of "our" ordinary. We've never experienced such a friendly and welcoming Church as Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. They sang for an hour and a half. Music ranged from Gospel, acoustics, dance, hip-hop, soul and choir. We were unable to hear Tony Evans preach as they were giving him a break. The guest speaker was entertaining but not what we wanted to hear. It seemed more about prosperity than giving it all up for Jesus. If there's ever a next time, we'll be sure that Dr. Evans is preaching.



Justin

Church with David Crowder!

We're in TX this week for a cousins wedding. When I say we, I mean Levi (our 1st Holler resident), Momma, C & B (our two foster children). It's been a trial on our patience, but also an opportunity to build their lives and our character.
Levi had decided to join in on the run for Zhanna so we've enjoyed challenging each other, getting lost and exploring new territories as we travel.
We don't want this to be vacation, but rather a mission trip. Many times we find ourselves drained and discouraged so we began what we call, "Community". It's a time where the 3 of us get together and voice our frustrations, challenges for each other and express the condition of our walk with God. We encourage one another, confess sins and pray. I always come away highly energized and more ready for this evil world. On another note, I hear Levi singing "Give me Jesus" in the shower as I type. We're now in a hotel room together, so it's like our mini "Holler". True community is making us better people.
Sunday we visited David Crowder’s Church in Waco TX. It's not at all what I imagined, but so much better. Not sure why, but I imagined mega church, six flags over Jesus. It's wasn't that at all. The building must have been a renovation from something other than a church. It wasn't extravagant, they didn't start on time, there weren't more than 150 people and most everyone was young (20's and 30's). David didn't say a word, accept to sing. The preaching was phenomenal and very challenging. We were called to join with God in care for the defenseless. Nothing feel good about it. The "bulletin" encouraged people to car pool or to ride their bike to church. They were having a garage sale and the Sunday night session is ultimate Frisbee. Small group sessions were for weekdays. Speaking of the defenseless check out this video.

Justin