Well, I think it's obvious that the bulk of my time hasn't been spent on the computer this summer...which is fine with me. However, I'm sorry my blog updates haven't been very consistent. Things have been going pretty great up here this summer! It's weird to think that there's only a week left. I'm certainly excited to see my family, not work in dishes, and return to Laramie. I'm also really loving my time here and wish I had more. Oh well.
Throughout these last few weeks we've had a bunch of cool speakers come through. A lot of pretty "prominent" people in the Navigators have come by, and it's been awesome to hear them talk. We've talked about everything from living day by day to worship to dating to missions to discipleship to being good stewards to growing deeper with God to developing convictions and much more! It's a very large load of amazing info to take in at once, so I'll definitely be spending time this week to going over what God has taught me this summer. I've learned a lot of things, most of which I wasn't planning on learning. Something I have realized recently is that I'd like to go on an overseas mission trip next summer. Ta-da! This guy named Chase Pettus came and spoke to us about missionaries and overseas missions and the need for people to be going, and I got pretty fired up. I know I've been to a few places outside the USA already, but it would be awesome to go on a missions trip having the spiritual maturity I have now (compared to Brazil in 2006). I am hoping to be involved with planning/leading wherever UW goes this next summer, because it sounds like the whole Rocky Mountain region of the Navs will be partnering together to go different places next year. It should be exciting, and I hope I can be a part of it! I know I only have one more summer left of still being a college student, so I want to take full advantage of it.
Well, this week should be packed with awesomeness. We'll continue to meet with Bruce and Eddy from Taiwan, we're going to go evangelize at Crankworx in Winter Park, CO (http://www.crankworx.com for more info), a bunch of people are getting baptized on Wednesday morning (hopefully including Bruce and Eddy!), and we're going to have an awesome closing banquet on Thursday. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed with all the transitions that will be going on in my life in the next month, but instead focus on today and take take full advantage of the opportunities that come my way...while still planning for the near future. It's crazy stuff, but it's life...and I'm finding that life is much better/easier when God is the center of it.
That's all!
Love,
Kolten
Passage for the week: Romans 14
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Elite 8
Why hello everyone. Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile, but the computer is becoming less and less a part of my life over the summer. Just so everyone knows, things are still going great here at SMR! I'm currently in a coffee shop in Granby, CO about to do my Half Day Alone With God (H-DAWG). I'm finding that these are one of my favorite new parts to the summer. Having an extended period of time to just read the Word, pray, look up questions, memorize the Word, etc. has been really beneficial. If you've never taken half a day and gone somewhere by yourself to just be with God, I completely and totally recommend it. This is something I'm hoping to continue when I get back to UW.
July 4th weekend half of our group went to Grand Lake, CO to do initiative evangelism. Some were nervous, some were stoked, and some thought this type of evangelism didn't work and was stupid (I was pretty excited). The guy who was most opposed to this went out to a skate park and talked to some kid riding a bike. And guess what? The very first person he talked to accepted Christ! There was also another girl who was so nervous she almost threw up before we went. She was paired with another guy who almost faked sick to get out of it. And guess what? They ended up being a part of 3 people coming to Christ! It was a crazy day. Overall, 8 people came to Christ on July 3rd! Now, I've been hearing a lot of people say that evangelizing door to door or randomly around large groups of people isn't effective. I even heard on a Christian radio station a few weeks ago that the listeners (and the host) agreed that you need to get to know someone first before you share the gospel. I say that's crap. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with getting to know someone and then sharing the gospel with them. In fact, it's great! But, if you look through the Bible there are plenty of examples of people going out and sharing the gospel in cities and towns where they didn't know anyone (and thousands of people came to Christ). God calls us to "Preach the Word! Be ready in and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2). So, for anyone who thinks initiative evangelism is wrong or not effective, I have at least 8 people who would beg to differ.
So that's that ;). Also, things with Bruce and Eddy are going well. I'm still meeting up with them weekly, and they seem to be growing a lot. We're also having a lot of opportunities with some Turkish people here at the YMCA. They are all Muslim, but none of them have ever done anything with it. In fact, a few of them have never read the Koran. We've been getting into a lot of good conversations, so I'm excited to see how this pans out over the next few weeks.
Well, there's a lot I could go on about, but that will be it for now. We are going to Water World in Denver this Saturday! After that, I WILL post pictures on Facebbok. Don't fret people, they're coming. Until then, have an awesome summer!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
July 4th weekend half of our group went to Grand Lake, CO to do initiative evangelism. Some were nervous, some were stoked, and some thought this type of evangelism didn't work and was stupid (I was pretty excited). The guy who was most opposed to this went out to a skate park and talked to some kid riding a bike. And guess what? The very first person he talked to accepted Christ! There was also another girl who was so nervous she almost threw up before we went. She was paired with another guy who almost faked sick to get out of it. And guess what? They ended up being a part of 3 people coming to Christ! It was a crazy day. Overall, 8 people came to Christ on July 3rd! Now, I've been hearing a lot of people say that evangelizing door to door or randomly around large groups of people isn't effective. I even heard on a Christian radio station a few weeks ago that the listeners (and the host) agreed that you need to get to know someone first before you share the gospel. I say that's crap. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with getting to know someone and then sharing the gospel with them. In fact, it's great! But, if you look through the Bible there are plenty of examples of people going out and sharing the gospel in cities and towns where they didn't know anyone (and thousands of people came to Christ). God calls us to "Preach the Word! Be ready in and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2). So, for anyone who thinks initiative evangelism is wrong or not effective, I have at least 8 people who would beg to differ.
So that's that ;). Also, things with Bruce and Eddy are going well. I'm still meeting up with them weekly, and they seem to be growing a lot. We're also having a lot of opportunities with some Turkish people here at the YMCA. They are all Muslim, but none of them have ever done anything with it. In fact, a few of them have never read the Koran. We've been getting into a lot of good conversations, so I'm excited to see how this pans out over the next few weeks.
Well, there's a lot I could go on about, but that will be it for now. We are going to Water World in Denver this Saturday! After that, I WILL post pictures on Facebbok. Don't fret people, they're coming. Until then, have an awesome summer!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
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