Several weeks ago, after a lesson on God’s words being true, 5 students responded to the promptings of the Holy Spirit! One student gave his life to Christ, one expressed a desire to draw closer to Christ, and 3 expressed their desire to pursue Christ on a more consistent basis! God is at work in the lives of high school students at Ignite!
Glenn
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Tags: Holy Spirit, ignite, students responding
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So, a few weeks ago I was teaching a lesson where one of the application points challenged the middle schoolers to spend more time in the Bible. I gave out a few devotional books which provided easy on-ramps to getting into the Bible regularly. Afterwards, one of the middle schoolers came up to me and asked me for a copy of the devotional book. “I have time to read the Bible but every time I open it I don’t know where to start.” He’s taking the challenge right now to use the book for daily time with God until it’s finished! Join me in praising God for this young man’s sensitive heart. -Daniel | ||
Tags: bible study, books, devotions, middle schoolers, wild kingdom
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Tonight at WK we had our first ever all-worship night. It felt a little bit like a risk to dedicate so much time to worshiping through music but I was amazed at how God showed up. It was so encouraging to spend an extended time pressing in to God’s presence! Our group really took the challenge tonight and worshiped well. I am so blessed by God’s work in the hearts of Parkview’s middle schoolers! At the end of the night one of our adult leaders remarked to me, “I needed that!” I couldn’t agree more! - Daniel | ||
Tags: risk, wild kingdom, worship
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At Ignite! we were in a series called “Good Sex” designed to teach students Biblical principles for sexual purity. As we neared the end of the series students spent time establishing clear boundaries for their dating relationships, as well as for what they put before their eyes, and even what thoughts they would entertain. We try to do this discipline at Ignite! every two years. In my small group two students who were present the last time we established boundaries shared with me that they have remained faithful to the boundaries they set 2 years ago! They were pleased with their decision to pursue sexual purity and expressed absolutely no regrets! Glenn | ||
Tags: commitments, faithfulness, ignite, sexual purity
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Picture a group of 10 high school guys with 3 adult leaders sitting comfortably in couches and chairs arranged in a circle so everyone can easily see everyone else. Picture these guys talking openly about the boundaries they have set up in their lives. These boundaries are for how far they will go with their respective girlfriends, what they will allow themselves to look at, and even what thoughts they will entertain in their minds. A bunch of high school guys verbalizing God honoring boundaries in their lives! This a pretty typical small group discussion at Ignite! Praise God! Glenn | ||
Tags: boundaries, CARE Groups, honesty, ignite, sexual purity, small groups, vulnerability
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This past weekend Wild Kingdom loaded up on a bus and headed to Timber-Lee Christian Center in East Troy, WI for our annual winter retreat. We had a blast playing and growing together! I’d like to share a few highlights I observed:
My favorite middle schooler quote from the weekend: “I would give anything to be close with God!” Please join me in asking God for more! -Daniel | ||
Tags: come join my family, dino the bus driver, middle schoolers, prayer, sacrifice, timber-lee, wild kingdom, Winter Retreat
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I find it’s easy to settle in to defensive mode when the enemy attacks. Tonight was a night where clearly the enemy attacked. Ironically, our discussion topic was “breaking fear.” (Based on 2 Timothy 1:7 ) That means we can press in for the victory, out of defense into offense, even when the enemy advances an atmosphere of fear. Our team took the challenge and pressed in through prayer and I want to share with you some of the fruit from tonight: 1. Before youth group I was chatting with one of our 6th graders and it went something like this: “Daniel, I invited my friend to church.” “That’s great! Has he come yet?” “No, his parents won’t let him.” “Bummer.” “Yeah, but I’m gonna get him to come soon!” I don’t advocate for undermining parental authority but I was so encouraged by this boy taking risks and stepping up in obedience to Jesus! Let’s pray for breakthrough in his friend’s family! 2. We were concerned for the worship time because we had a rough start to the night. It was easy to just pray, “God let us make it through the night.” But in prayer God called us into a place of thankfulness ahead of time for what he was going to do so we pressed in. Guess what happened? God showed up! During worship one 8th grader asked me, “Can we sing this song again on Sunday?” I LOVE seeing God touch middle schoolers hearts and draw them into worship! 3. In my CARE Group I got to see boys stepping up and praying prayers over each other of breaking off fear and releasing God’s Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline! Let’s keep pressing in for greater victories! We haven’t seen anything yet! God has more! Daniel | ||
Tags: prayer, spiritual warfare, victory, wild kingdom, worship
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At our Winter Retreat this year we had a great time together and were challenged to Watch ourselves and our friends, Arm ourselves with the full armor of God, and Respond to God’s call on our lives. Over the weekend one of our students who is relatively new to our ministry prayed to receive Christ into her life! What a joy to see a young person surrender her life over to Christ! | ||
Tags: coming to Christ, ignite, Winter Retreat
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Over the last two weeks (1/19/2010 and 1/26/2010) I had several fascinating conversations which I’d like to share with you. 1. During worship on the 19th one of our 8th graders came up to me and said, “I brought a friend who doesn’t know Jesus. Can you tell him the prayer?” 2. During the lesson we challenged our group to move from inactive, benign faith into active, dangerous, Kingdom-advancing faith. After the lesson one of our 7th graders came up to me: “Daniel, I want to be a warrior in God’s Kingdom. Can you find someone to teach me to be a warrior?” 3. On the 26th one of our 6th graders walked in to our leader prayer time before youth group and joined us for prayer. He started, “God thanks for leading me to walk into this room tonight…” and went on to passionately intercede for the crisis in Haiti! 4. After CARE Groups one of our team members told me about how chaotic her group feels but then went on to celebrate the fact that they got to spend 15 minutes (out of 30 set aside for CARE Groups) in prayer! 5. Tonight I heard of two different middle schoolers expressing a desire to connect with God in deeper ways, to hear God, to have more of God! I love seeing movement like this! Thank you for all your efforts in prayer! Let’s keep pressing in for greater fruit! Praying with you, Daniel | ||
Tags: CARE Groups, Dangerous Faith, discipleship, haiti, non-christians, prayer, Sharing the Gospel, Taking Risks, visitors, wild kingdom
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I just found out that 5 guys from Ignite! who go to Glenbard West and Wheaton North are meeting on Sunday afternoons to study the book of Hebrews together! They didn’t start this Bible study to gain recognition or notoriety, they did it only because they share a friendship and a mutual desire to study the Word of God together. This is so encouraging to me as one of the characteristics we strive for in Parkview’s student ministries are students who have a love for God’s Word! Life change happens when we allow God to speak to us through His Word! Glenn | ||
Tags: bible study, God's Word, ignite
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