So... be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way! - Dr. Seuss
October 2 is the big day, 4 more weeks! So excited as we are getting so close to our launch date for New Generations Church. My family and I and so many other people have been very busy and hard at work working and preparing for this new amazing church. I believe that God is going to bless every part of it. I believe that it is going to give people new hope in the local church and it will be one of the greatest churches in our area, everything for God's Glory.
Our Launch Team has been participating in 21 days of prayer and fasting since Monday. Its been great, I feel like my love for God has strengthened even more and my passions are being refreshed and renewed. I was able to push other things out of my schedule and focus on what really matters. I started a book (finally) called Sun Stand Still. I challenge everyone to go out and buy it. What happens when you dare to ask God for the impossible? Its written by Steven Furtick who planted Elevations Church in North Carolina not too many years ago and it is a thriving, healthy, and growing church and one of the fastest growing churches in America. What happens if we ask God for the impossible like Joshua asked for in Joshua 10: 12-14: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on[a] its enemies,
as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!
I'm learning so much and excited to keep going and dive in deeper and to always remember that God can do the impossible.
I've been listening to this song a lot lately, so I decided I should share. God is Able. Such a incredible song and something to never forget that God is able, and he will never fail.
"If the size of your vision for your life isn't intimidating to you, there's a good chance it's insulting to God" -Steven Furtick
Sometimes I like to sit down and think about the simple things that have made my day or week extra special 1. Spending the week with my Mamaw and Papaw in Nashville 2. Seeing my old youth pastor and his wife (Doug and Haley) in Birmingham this weekend 3. Listening to the Time Life Singer/Songwriter Collection on the Drive back to Detroit 4. Breakfast in Downtown Plymouth at Starbucks 5. Taking a long walk with my mom and dad in the evening in the neighborhood next to ours 6. Going to Dairy King with my family and Carmen tonight!
"Some like the high road, I like the low road, Free from the care and strife. Sounds corny and seedy, but yes, indeed-y; give me the simple life."
Grow Leaders Conference was incredible! I went to so many different classes and was able to learn practical things to bring into the new church. Also Highlands Worship team is amazing, their songs are so good and all original ya have to go buy some of their cds! On the drive back home we stopped in Nashville to spend the night at my Mamaw and Papaws, and I decided to stay for the week, until Friday. We've been having a blast! I'm having a chill week with lots of laughs :) It's been a movie kind of week. We've watched Shutter Island, Planet of the Apes Rises, True Grit, and Rango so far. Also a few Mario Kart Wii races have fit in too! Man I've missed them. When I get home I'm going to be busy so I'm loving the time down. Be home by Tuesday!
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars and change the world. - Harriet Tubman
This is one of my favorite quotes ever. I love reading and collecting quotes, in fact I have a whole journal filled page after page with hundreds of quotes. There are so many people that have lived before me that made a huge impact on this world and I just love to hear what they said and how they made a difference. In my room back in Washington I had the first part of this quote on my wall. Every morning I would wake up and see it and every night before I would go to bed I would say it. Every great dream begins with a dreamer. I want so much to dream big dreams, and whats so cool to me is God can do better. I hear Ephesians 3:20 all the time:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
but its not very often that I really take time to think and understand that its so important to have a vision and a big dream because the bigger the dream the greater its going to be because God is able to do so much more then we could ever ask for, dream of or imagine in our small minds. No matter how successful I am or apart of a church that will be I never will stop having a strong dream and a strong vision to do bigger and better things because I serve a BIG GOD, and through him all things are possible!
Just on a side note :) I've been so inspired by the amount of young people at this conference. I've seen a handful of young adults probably my age, 18 or 19, just fired up for God and their local church. This is going to be the generation to make a real difference and put the hope back into the local church!
My mom and I flew into Birmingham Alabama on Thursday to experience The Church of the Highlands during their conference week along with my dad who has already been here for 2 weeks. Thursday night was the kickoff for Motion Youth conference. There were over 2000 students just on fire for God and it was such an amazing thing to see and be apart of. Some of the most incredible worship services I have ever experienced featuring the Highlands worship team and Leeland. I was also able to hear some awesome and challenging messages by some of the most influential pastors in our nation today, such a great experience. I also heard a really great message based off of the Dr. Seuss book Oh, The Places You'll go... which explains the new blog title!
This morning we went to the 8:00 service at the main campus and then went to two different campuses for the 9:30 and 11:30 services which was really cool. It was typical service except for the main message was on a screen, streaming live from the main campus. Tuesday night is the kick-off for Grow Leadership Conference. More lessons, classes, worship and messages to come my way and I cannot wait to see what I learn and bring back to Michigan!
I wanted to share 5 of the most important but simple things that I have learned or have been reminded of through the Motion Conference:
1. God speaks in a whisper. The close you are to God, the clearer you can hear His Voice. (Rick Bezet) 2. The person on this planet you love the most is compared to filthy rags compared to God's love for us. (Leeland) 3. God is first and everything else must follow (Mark Pettus) 4. I need to both understand and encounter God. Know the word, and experience Him. (Chris Hodges) 5. Have honor in everything you do, show honor. So many times in ministry things may seem not important but they need to be done for some reason. Do tasks that seem small or unimportant with honor. (Dino Rizzo)
Today was my 1 week mark of my time in Sydney and though totally unexpected to me and many other people I am sitting writing this on my couch at home in Michigan. For so long I wanted to take the opportunity to study at Hillsong in Sydney. I love Hillsong, I love Sydney and I love the ministry so everything seemed perfect, but I was missing the incredible once in a lifetime opportunity that was right in my face which is to help launch our new church in Michigan. Being apart of the local church is such a huge passion in my life, making it thrive and exciting. So, through listening to the opinions of my friends and family and asking for God's guidance I have decided to follow my heart, move back home and be a part of this incredible opportunity. I believe that sometimes God will close one door and open another, but I also believe that sometimes He opens two doors and lets you pick, so I had to choose what was more important to me and where I'm at right now. and that is to be apart of New Generations Church. I'm thrilled to be home, I can't wait for the opportunities that are going to be thrown at me. I'm sure many people are not going to understand my decisions, but I'm not going to let what people think of me and what I do determine where I go in my life. I know that God gives us the desires of our hearts. I hope you all understand that I have to follow my heart on this one and I couldn't be more excited. Living life with no regrets! I guess this Sydney Experience is shorter than we all thought it would be! I'm loving blogging and will continue to write as new things happen in my life!
I'm sitting here in a convenience store right around the corner from my apartment. Its really hard to concentrate due to the Indian rap blaring in my ear. Yesterday was quite interesting we cleaned our kitchen.... I think the people who lived there before thought it would be nice to leave us some food. I'm not sure how long it has been since someone lived there but by looking at the chunky milk, dried cottage cheese and rotten meat I'm guessing it's been a while. Success! Its all clean now :)
My roommate and I decided to go shopping at Ikea to look for furniture for our completely empty apartment. And I needed clothes desperately! Did I forget to mention that my bags got left in Los Angeles?! Big bummer. So I needed to go shopping. We took a bus to the train station and then took about and half hour train ride to a shopping center. I got a few new sweaters and kitchen stuff like measuring cups, a pot, and knives! We took the train back but then had no clue how to find our bus again... it took about 45 minutes to figure out where we were!
Got some pizza, bought some juice boxes, and watched Toy Story 3 to end the night!
- by the way my luggage found me last night!
This morning we were supposed to go to Bondi Beach, but the weather resembles a Tsunami, so it go canceled. Missing summertime in Michigan! All that has lead me to this convenience store... The guy just changed the station. This song has probably said the F word about 60 times. I think it's time to go. Miss ya'll
Keep me in your prayers!
Well, after many months of planning and prepping I'm finally in Sydney!! Leaving my family at the airport was honestly the hardest thing I've done in my whole life. There were many times In the plane I thought to myself, "what the heck and I doing?!?" I wanted so bad once I got to LA to turn around and head back home. I knew in my heart I wanted to be in Sydney though, this is where God has called me. I started in Detroit and flew to Chicago, had a very short layover which meant that I had to run to my next flight which was actually very fitting because I was in the same hallway that Kevin and the Mcallisters were in in Home Alone! I made it, then landed in Los Angeles, and once again had to book it! I got to the internation terminal with 20 to spare before boarding... and I still hadn't gone through security. But all that chaos aside, I'm here and so excited! Went for coffe at an amazing shop called Sanoma and got a "Dirty skinny Chai latte" soooo good. Met my first roommate Diana, and went shopping for the apartment. So far it's just me and her but 2 more should be coming soon! Such a cool aparment too! Theres a swimming pool, sauna, hot tub, and gym all included :) niiiice.
Internet is still a problem, can't seem to get it. So me and Diana are in this crazy little internet room where you pay $3 for 30 minutes. We are surrounded by young guys yelling at their screens and across the room playing some interactive video game...
Also still working on getting up pictures. Just got notified I have 2 minutes left! I'll try to post soon, keep me in your prayers!
