Discipleship lessons in a mosh pit?

Jeff and others on the El Salvador STINT team are learning the “best practices” of discipleship: doing life together. Ephesians 4:1-3 says, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Click here to read the most recent update from El Salvador.

The Vision Of SLO Crusade From Director Jamey Pappas

The God Who Does Not Lie

One of my favorite things about parenting is bedtime. Not only because it signifies that the end of the day (and a parenting break) is near, but more importantly because of the incredibly insightful and precious moments we get to have with our little glories right before they nod off to sleep.

Just the other night, my husband Reid had one such moment with our little girl. Reid was trying to explain the Easter story to Emma in a way that would make it relevant to her two-year-old heart and mind. He shared about Jesus and His love, and told Emma that God was the King and that she could be His princess. Suddenly, Emma’s huge eyes got even wider and she exclaimed with total delight, “I’m…Snow White!” And that’s how it is with our little girl these days: if Mommy and Daddy say it-then it MUST be so. It’s an awesome and weighty responsibility to know that the things we say to Emma are believed by Emma with an unwavering faith. Which lately, has got me thinking…Is the same true in my relationship with an infinitely more trustworthy Heavenly Daddy?

My junior year of college I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to New York four weeks after September 11th, 2001. In the aftermath of 9/11 there was a great spiritual hunger in the lives of many New Yorkers and it was such a unique opportunity to minister to people at ground zero and throughout New York City. But of all my interactions that week, one of the most significant moments of the trip came one day while I was sitting on the subway. A homeless man got on the train and began walking down the aisle towards me. He began a mantra that I’m sure he had repeated many times. He said, “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t use the money to buy drugs. I’m just hungry. Can you spare some change?”

I’m not sure why, but suddenly in that moment, the thought came to me: “What if this man had gotten on the train and said, ‘I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t use the money to buy drugs…But I do lie.’” THAT would have changed everything. It wouldn’t have mattered for a moment what this man promised he didn’t do, if he could lie and his words had no credibility. This got me thinking of Titus 1:2 which says, “This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began.” And it began to dawn on me that on the train of my life, God walks down the aisle towards me day after day and says, “I do not lie. I do not lie. I do not lie.” A promise He has made to me in Titus 1, and a promise which makes everything He says incredibly, unwaveringly trustworthy. So much so, that His very Words have the power to change my entire life.

Nine years later, I am still struck by that simple reality that the God that I know- the God who has written His precious Word and spoken it into my life- DOES NOT LIE, and can and should be trusted by me with an unwavering faith. As I think of our little Emma and her great faith in the words that we fallen humans speak, how much more does the God of the Universe deserve my unwavering faith in every single Word that He has spoken into my life? As we continue to walk this journey together, may we be a people who believe God and take Him at His Word, because He is a faithful and loving Father who cannot and will not lie.

- Misty Zeller, 7th year staff member

Men and Women’s Retreat This Weekend

Come join us this weekend for Men and Women’s Retreat This Weekend! Not only is it just a weekend where men can be men and women women, but God always shows up in amazing ways.

Get more info about the MEN’S RETREAT and join the facebook event CLICK HERE

Get more info about the WOMEN’S RETREAT and join the facebook event CLICK HERE