Thanks to all of our family, friends, and church body who prayed for us over this past week! We are so thankful and felt the prayers. All of the departures have made it home safely and believe me, the students will be exhausted! Lot’s of sleep and awesome conversations about the past week are in order, and we are so excited to see how God moves through these life changes!

All three departures have left Panama, headed home to Louisville. Such an awesome and blessed week. Please continue to pray that we as a church will rally around these students and support them in the decisions they’ve made when they get home. They will need us to walk through life with them:)

Arrival times will be between 8:30-10am. Please also pray for our safety as we journey home.

I’m just always amazed at what God does when we get away from the distractions, when we get away from our routines, when we venture into a different setting (sure, the beach doesn’t hurt!).

 

It’s incredible the expectancy that our students came with–expecting to be moved by God’s Spirit, to forge a deeper relationship with Jesus, and possibly to completely alter the course of their lives. Something different happens when students take some time to put away their cellphones and computers and iPods and TVs and spend time seeking after the Lord.

 

On Tuesday we walked through the life of Josiah, and the idea: “What would it be like to uncover the Word of God for the first time in decades?” We talked about Josiah’s courage to do what the Word told him to do, regardless of what it might cost him in popularity or power. What was just unbelievable was to hear students talking with their family group leaders, saying things like: “I know it’s totally different, but I really think I feel like Josiah felt. I’ve had a Bible in my house ever since I was born, but it’s like I never really truly knew what I had there. But today I feel like I discovered the Word of God, and it’s like it’s speaking directly to me.” God was stirring hearts toward His Word all throughout the day.

 

Of course, there were plenty of other things throughout the day as well. Some crazy games of beach flag football. An ocean that was almost calling us to ride it’s waves. And a 60-year-old square dance instructor leading 450+ students in an organized square dance.

 

But probably the moment I will remember the most is a discussion with a group of students, and one of them spoke up for the first time in group after three days. That’s what I love about experiences like this, these small group communities…there’s an opportunity for everyone to be heard, for everyone to be known.

 

We were talking about reading and listening to the Word, and not just hearing it, but putting it into practice. We asked the students what stuck out to them from the passage in James 1:22 & 25: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says…whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it–not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it–they will be blessed in what they do.”

 

The student said: “What sticks out to me is the word ‘intently.’ It’s not just about listening to a sermon casually, or about reading your Bible just because you have to. I’ve got to be intentional with my time, prepared to meet with God and hear from Him.” And the rest of the students all looked down like they were all thinking the same thing.

 

That night our speaker used the story of Josiah to tell our students: “Get away from the distractions, get away from the things you want more than anything else, get away from your idols, and focus on Him.”And our students responded with tears and hugs and decisions for repentance and obedience.

 

God is moving in this little Hotel off Panama City Beach Road. Especially today, we need all the prayers we could get. Today our students will walk through the cost of following Jesus through the stories of Christians around the world–please pray that our students would be able to find themselves in the same story of sacrifice and redemption.

 

Much love,

 

Jesse DeYoung

Where do I begin, It has been such an incredible start to what is sure to be an amazing week.  After all of the planning and preparing, 12 Coach Busses packed with all three campuses of Southeast Christian have taken over the Paradise Palms Hotel in Panama City Beach Florida.  Moving 550 people in for the week is a logistical extravaganza, but we’re all here and ready for the real work.

Sunday night after a sizzling day at the beach, the Collide family got amped up in worship and grounded in a powerful message on Samuel.  Our theme for the week is “Something Bigger” and each day we are looking into the lives of average everyday people throughout scripture that opened their lives up to “Something Bigger” Every morning we unpack a character Samuel, Rahab, Josiah, Three Spies, and John the Baptist.  Then our evenings we layout a call to our students(and adults) to respond as they did to the “Something Bigger”. The challenge of the night was to listen for the voice of God this week and to respond as Samuel did, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

The Collide Family loves a good party, so after some processing time with their small groups, we hit our first late night party of the week.  A Karaoke party was in order with a whole lot of music and everyone meeting new folks.  After a night sleeping in busses, we all slept like champs.

Monday morning was a little sleepy to be honest, I’m pretty sure we were all climbing out of bed feeling like we just got ran over.  Luckily with the sun in the sky, the beach out our windows, and a week of goodness in front of us, it didn’t take long to shake off the cobwebs and dig into the day where we would unpack the Story of Rahab, the prostitute who wanted in to God’s story.  Great morning message and we had great small group time afterward digging thru the text and discovering truth.

Volley Ball tournament-spectacular, weather impeccable, adult leaders…better than I have ever seen.

Monday night in the midst of our worship Jodi Hickerson taught on Rahab and allowed students to respond to God’s rescue operation to bring them in to His Story.  It was so moving to watch hundreds of young men and women walking up with tears and brokenness in their eyes to a scarlet cord symbolizing God’s rescue hanging from the roof and to see them attaching their own stories of rescue and need for rescue written on scarlet cords.  Humbling, life-changing, powerful…only God.

You can imagine the kind of small group time we had all over the campus as students opened up and shared.  I’ve already heard of several balcony conversations where young men and women met Jesus for the first time last night, and asked him if he would rescue them too.

We’ve added pics from the Talent Show last night…pictures won’t do justice for the ridiculous amount of fun we had, but it certainly was a fitting end to a powerful day.

We covet your Prayers, there is so much our Father longs to do this week in our lives down here.  We wish you were here, but you can certainly join us by praying with us.

Today we unpack Josiah…and there are idols to be broken.

Grace and Peace

Matt

All 3 departures have made it safe and sound. Thank you all so much for being our prayer warriors back home. Please continue to pray for God to move in the lives of our students this week.