Think On This

True worship of God must be a constant and consistent attitude or state of mind within the believer.
- A.W. Tozer

View of A Famine

This last weekend 35 of our students and staff participated in the World Vision sponsored 30 Hour Famine. It was an amazing weekend of great spiritual significance. Real and genuine worship of our God truly took place.

Thanks to all of you that supported our effort through your financial giving and prayer. The money is still coming in. When it is all collected I will share the total. The Lord truly blessed

The pictures tell much of our story.

Worship at the Portland area rally.

Serving at Northwest Children's Outreach. We sorted clothing, toys, books and baby supplies.

Candle Experience. We gathered for a time of quiet reflective worship on Friday night in which we had 300 candles lit. We then began extinguishing them one at a time at a rate of one every three seconds. It created a stunning visual of how many children die in a period of 15 minutes from malnutrition and preventable diseases due to poverty.

Prayer stations. On Saturday afternoon we spent about 40 minutes in silent prayer. During the time we circulated around to 10 different prayer stations and prayed for things like the Compassion children we sponsor, child trafficking in Thailand, our Mexico ministry, along with a confession station, a silence station in which we simply listened to God, and a station to offer our thanks to God, among others.

Break-fast. We broke our fast with an incredible third world type meal consisting of cury chicken, rice, pot stikers, bread and fruit. It was a feast, and man were we thankful! Thank you Jim and Charlene for your ministry of cooking!

You may view all of our pictures here. We are thankful for what God did and continues to do in our hearts.

Think On This

Faith alone justifies, but the faith which justifies is not alone.
-John Calvin

May we be a people of real faith.

James 2:14-17

New Look

All things must change eventually. Change is good.

Hope you enjoy the new look of brianeberly.com.

Aim Lower

We are playing this video at our 30 Hour Famine this weekend.

Very impactful.



We need to....
Aim Lower
Think Smaller
Give Up
Go Have A Cup of Coffee

Next Phone

Pastor Steve and I seem to be in a constant, yet friendly, battle over who has the coolest cell phone.

Well I think I have found my next phone Steve!

Holiness

What does it mean to be holy? Can we be holy?

According to Barna, "Barely one-third of Americans (35%) contend that 'God expects you to become holy.'”

See the study here.

According to God, "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15-16

Like Paul

Yesterday morning I began our series on the book of Romans with our Middle School students; by far one of my favorite books of the Bible!

Many of the books that one may read today have a short descripion or biography of the one that authored the book, usually on the back cover or the inside flap. As we bagan our study in Romans we saw that it offers much the same....a discription of the author, that of course being the Apostle Paul.

In 1:1-17 we see a great description of a man fully committed to living out the gospel. A man that modeled the life that I desire my life to look like.

This is what we see...

Paul’s role (vs. 1) - A servant of Christ Jesus

Paul’s title (vs. 1) - Apostle (one sent forth)

Paul’s position (vs. 1) - Set apart for the gospel

Paul’s calling (vs. 5) - To call people to Christ

Paul’s commitment (vvs. 9-10) - Serve with his whole heart, prays all the time

Paul’s desire (vvs. 10-11) - To visit the Romans, to bless and encourage them

Paul’s motivation (vvs. 14-15) - Preach the gospel to all

Paul’s reason for confidence (vs. 16) - The power of God

Think what the world would look like if we all looked a little bit more like Paul, who of course sought to look a lot like Jesus.

Still Cold

Took these pictures this morning of a water feature
near our home.

Beautiful, but cold!

Here Is Our King

Simply put...A Great Song!

David Crowder

Cold!

For all my friends and family in warmer parts of the country, I have three words...It's cold here!




To quote David Letterman...."It's so cold, I had to defrost my mail."

As I write this, it is 24 degrees. Add in the 15 mile hour wind that is blowing right now, and it makes it feel like a whopping 13 degrees! COLD! Here's an interesting Windchill Chart. At Timberline (ski area) the wind chill is -15 degrees! So cold they had to close!

They are telling us this is the coldest it has been here in 6 years! The crazy thing is, it is a beautiful clear sunny day!

Spring is on the way....I hope!

Mexico Bound

It's only February but we are already gearing up for our Mexico Outreach this summer! As of yesterday our 2006 Mexico Outreach web site is live! Thank you Aaron for the excellent work at putting it together!

If you are a student or parent of 180, this site will give you all the information you need including full application downloads.

We had a great outreach last year and are excited about what God has in store for us this year!

To get to the site simply go to www.180students.com/mexico06

We appreciate your prayers as we anticipate another great outreach.

Jesus?

Who is Jesus to you? Is He your savior? Is He your friend, does He help advance your cause, is He an icon on your necklace? Is He American? According to this article there seems to be some confusion.

How sad.

Bottom line..."...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

Thank you Jesus.

Sun!

We've been seeing a lot ofThis (Mt. Hood)

and

this (Mt. St. Helens)

because we finally got some of

THIS!

Thank you Lord for the sun and the beauty of the Northwest!

Think On This

Often we substitute prayer for service. It's easier to pray that someone's needs are met than to supply them.
- A.W. Tozer

Thanksgiving

All too often teenagers get a lot of bad press. Sometimes it's deserved. Often times it is not. We hear a lot about the bad things teenagers think, say, and do. As a Pastor to Students and an advocate for them, I try see the other side.

It is exciting to see students focus not so much on themselves, but rather on God and the things He is doing. Last night that happened in a big way. With all the bad press the media likes to give teenagers, I wish they could have been with us last night to get a glimpse into the hearts of students that are desperate for God.

Our High school ministry spent last night in worship. It was our 2W2 night and a great night it was. We worshipped through song, silence, prayer, writing, painting, and reflection. The theme of the night was Thanksgiving. We wanted to express our hearts to the Lord through thanks. We thanked Him for who He is. We thanked Him for what He has done, We thanked Him for His many blessings to us. We even thanked Him for the difficult times, as Philippians 4:6-7 instructs us.

Here are some of the things the students were thankful for....

Faith
Forgiveness
Role models
Health
Family
School
Stupid friends
Beauty
Pain
Breath
Mystery
Love

And many, many, more!

May we never cease to express our
thankfulness to God.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

Generosity

God has blessed us with much. I sometimes wonder why. God has placed you and I in a very unique position. He has blessed us beyond what we deserve. We have ample money, ample food, ample clothing, warm homes, and valuable resources. Others are not so fortunate.

Did you know....

• 10 million children die each year - 29,000 a day - from hunger and preventable illnesses like diarrhea.

• One in 10 children in developing countries dies before the age of 5.

• 800 million people worldwide are malnourished. That’s one in 12.

• More than 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water supply.

• Approximately 826,000 people go to bed hungry every night.

• 31 million people in the United States are hungry or nutritionally deprived.

The statistics are staggering. What haunts me even more, is why God has placed us where and when He has, with all that He has given us? I think I know the answer...so that we might be Him to others. God desires us to share what He has graciously given us with those that are less fortunate. Oh that we could be more like the church in Macedonia who “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity....they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)

It is my desire and the desire of our ministry to learn more and more what it means to "well up in rich generosity." It is not something that comes easy for me, I'll admit it, but I want to be that way, and I want to make a difference. I want to be a part of God's story in loving others to Him.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, our ministry will be participating in the World Vision sponsored 30 Hour Famine. The famine dates are February 24-25. Between now and then we are encouraging as many people as possible to partner with us. Might you be one? Your tax deductable donation of any amount will be greatly appreciated! Please drop me an email or leave a comment under this post if you would like to join us in this effort.

Last year we raised $3,184. Our goal for this year is $5,000. When you consider that $30 will feed a child for a month, and $360 will feed a child for an entire year, you begin to see the difference a little generosity makes.

May we be a more generous people.

Prayer In Faith

This last summer our high school ministry had the priviledge of spending a week in Ensenada Mexico ministering along side Tim and Kathy Johnston, two people committed to reach people with the love of Jesus.

There were many things that week that the Lord used to challenge, encourage, and move me. One of those things was Kathy's fervent prayer in faith. On one of the days at the construction site where we were building a house for a needy family, one of the little boys in the family fell and cracked his head open while playing piggy back with one of our students. It became very apparent to us that he was in pretty bad condition so we made the decision to take him to the hospital.

After checking him into the hospital we then went to share the news with Kathy. She almost immediately went to prayer with us. I was so moved by her prayer and the faith that she had that the little boy would be completely healed and would not need the treatment that the doctors were wanting to have him undergo. A few hours after our prayer we went to see the little boy at the hospital and the Lord had obviously done a great healing! He looked great and he felt great! It was a wonderful testimony to his mother, who was with us, and certainly to us, as to how powerful our God is. It was also a wonderful testimony of how God honors the prayers of His people. Prayers offered in faith.

I received this week an email newsletter from Bill Drake, a Christian artist and speaker. He had just returned from a YUGO Ministries retreat in which he had led worship. YUGO is the ministry in which the Johnston's are partnered with.

Bill shared the following in his letter...

I first met Brian Johnston in Mexico, where he was serving with his parents in Ensenada. Brian’s heart for the Lord, and his enthusiasm for seeing the Gospel go out were always his calling card. Brian worked as an advocate for YUGO Ministries, trying to get youth groups to go to Mexico for outreach, and began to develop into a good speaker.

Eventually the Lord led Brian to plant a church in Lake Elsinore, California, and the church went from 150 to 600 in a very short period of time. On October 5th last year, while helping the driver move some new staging out of a delivery truck, Brian came face to face with his own mortality.

Poorly packed pieces of staging began to fall on Brian, and as he tried to get out of the way, he heard a sickening "crunch" as over 900 lbs of weight hit his head. He remembers falling to the floor as his entire body went numb, and with the last air in his lungs, answered his mother’s worried cry, “Are you OK?” Brian whispered, “I can’t breathe”. He surmised that he was now going to die slowly of suffocation.

Brian’s mom rushed to call 911 praying all the time for her son, and she specifically remembers crying out, “Lord, lift your servant up!” Minutes later, Brian realized that he was now able to breathe, if only the slightest breath. Then the ambulance, then the helicopter flight, the intensive care unit, and then, ‘the halo’ as they literally drilled a circumferal device into his skull that they would then use to try to straighten the three mangled vertebrae that now impinged on his spinal cord.

What happened next over the next few weeks is nothing short of a miracle. Brian is one of the less than 2% who can "walk and talk" again after this sort of neck injury. He is a man of great courage and resolve, and I had the privilege of ministering with him last Tuesday evening at the YUGO retreat.

Once again, God honored the prayer of his faithful servant Kathy, a servant that understands faith, a servant that prays in faith.

I am so thankful to have a God that listens to us and moves on our behalf. May we all pray in faith, believing that God desires to act on our behalf.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Proverbs 5:16

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. Darn it! Six more weeks of winter.

Oh how I am ready for Spring and Summer! I am now considering drawing up plans for an ark! I've never seen so much rain! The weather forecasters are even beginning to bore of their jobs. Today, rain, tomorrrow, rain.....

Think On This

"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." -Mark Twain