Celebration Sunday

Well, hey, good morning. We are so excited to celebrate

with you guys this morning, to worship with you.

So whether you're with us in person or you're joining us

online, go ahead and stand to your feet.

We're going to worship in together with one voice, with

one heart this morning. So come on, let's worship.

Worthy a baby so we get to see. Worthy of all the praise we can

ever breathe. Worthy of every breath we can

ever breathe. With every Jesus.

The name above every other name. Holy, there is no like you,

there is no beside you whooping up my eyes.

They want to show me who you are and who me with your heart and

leave me. And you love to go around me.

Worthy of every song we could ever sing.

Worthy of all the praise we can ever breathe.

So worthy is worthy of every birth we can ever breathe.

If you did, breathe. Jesus, the name above every

other day. Jesus, the only one who could

ever see, worthy of every birth we could ever breathe.

Live for you. Live.

For. You holy?

There. Is no one like you?

There is no beside you. Open up my eyes.

They want to show me who you are and Billy with your heart and

leave me in your love to those around me.

And holy, there is no one like you, there is no one beside you.

Warming up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me

with your heart and leave me in your love to those around me.

See, I will build my life, keep this up to you, my life on your.

I'll be shaking holy. There is no one like you.

There is none beside you. Open up my eyes and want to

ensure me who you are and who me with your heart.

And we, me and you have to lose around me and call me.

There is no one like you. There is none beside you.

Open up my eyes and I want to show me who you are and will we

with your heart and weeping me and you love to those around me

and I will will my life hold on. Your love is a poor foundation

if I will put my trust in you world and I will not be shaking.

You've got some praise. It was a really special time in

our youth retreat and these songs were inspired by that

time. Of the theme of forgiveness was

woven so far of kids receiving forgiveness from the Lord, but

also being willing to give it to those people in their life who

needed it. And it was really special to see

them working through that. So let's continue to worship.

Are you hurting and broken within?

Overwhelmed by the weight of your sins?

Jesus is calling. Do you come to the end of

yourself? Do you thirst for a drink from

the well, as Jesus is calling, you know, come to.

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

to leave behind your regrets and stays.

Come today. There's no reason to wait.

So Jesus is calling. So bring your sorrows and trade

them for joy. From the ashes a new life was

born. As Jesus is calling.

O Come due the altar. The Father's arms are open wide.

Forgiveness was one with the precious blood of Jesus.

Rise O Come due the altar. The Father's arms are open wide.

Forgiveness was born with the precious Lord of Jesus Christ.

Bow down before him, for he is Lord of all.

Sing Hallelujah, Christ is arisen.

Endure what I say. Is it He won the wonderful Sing

how they move here, rise in the winds, And lift them up, and bow

down before him, For he is Lord of all.

Sing how they move here, Rise in the wind.

No, come to the old. The Father's arms are open.

Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Don't come to the old turn. The Father's arms are open wide.

Forgiveness was born with the precious night of Jesus.

Bear you cross as you wait for the crown.

Tell the world of the treasure you found.

Father, we thank you, God, for who you are.

Father, we thank you that your arms are open wide, that we can

leave our regrets, that we can trade sorrow for joy.

Father, we can walk in the freedom that only you can give

us. So, Father, we invite you here.

Holy Spirit, would you move in this place?

Would you open our hearts, our ears, to hear what you have for

us today? Father, would you meet us here?

Father, we're desperate for you. We're here for you today.

God, you and you alone. So Father, we love you.

We give you all the praise this morning in Jesus name, Amen.

Well, hey guys, we've got something exciting coming up

right now. I'm inviting our kids to the

stage. It is celebration Sunday.

We are so excited for these kiddos to come on up.

They're going to worship with us for one last song, but come on,

we're going to turn up the volume.

We're going to turn up the energy in the room this morning.

I know these kids are super excited just to worship with you

guys to celebrate. Celebrate with you guys today.

They've been practicing. They sing this song every day at

camp this summer. They know this well.

They've got all the moves down, all the words.

They're excited just to worship with you guys this morning.

Are you guys excited to worship with them?

That's right. All right, kiddos, You ready?

You ready? All right, let's do it.

This is one true Fred. My God is always oil.

He always forgives. He is always showing me how to

be a servant. My God is a true friend.

My God is a true friend. I'm on the search, putting in

the work. Oh, I want to learn.

Looking for that true friend. Yeah, the secrets are finding

out of the only ones that Yeah, I made a true friend.

He always forgives, He is always showing me how to be a Sir.

My God is a true friend. Oh my God is a true friend.

Oh, I'm on the search. Putting in the world.

Oh, I want to learn. I'm looking for that true woman.

Yeah, I'm on the the answers. I'm gone.

Oh, can we come look for that true woman?

Yeah, the secrets are finding out about it.

I spend my day searching. I'm investigating, investing in

the lesson that my best friend gave me.

I've been watching his life, studying his words.

What I've come to find is he's been traced, searched.

We've seen him do something brand new, raise the game to I

Am Levi. I'm picking up please.

Discovering the evidence, magnify the pictures.

Zoom in, enhance never better. Pretzel true.

Let me spell it. Out for you Looking for that

true friend yet I'm on the There's a song running over here

we come Looking for that true friend yet she could shout

Running out the valley. Come on, let him hear it.

That's right. All right.

You have. To make your way back.

Man, that was awesome. Love seeing the energy you guys

are pumped turning up the volume this morning and the energy in

this place. Come on, let's give them one

last hand as they make their way back.

You guys killed it so awesome. Well, hey, today is Celebration

Sunday. We are going to just hear so

many stories of life change and all that God did through our

kids this summer. And hey, I just want to welcome

you here to Real Life Church. Whether it's your first Sunday,

whether it's your 100th Sunday, whether you're with us in person

right here, you're joining us online.

You're like family here. And we are so glad that you

chose to spend your morning right here with us.

So hey, before you guys take a seat, take about 30 seconds, say

hey to somebody around you, make him feel welcome, and then take

a seat. All right, if you want to find

your way to your seats, hey, you want to take a second and talk

to those of you who are newer in the room today.

If that is you, if you are newer with us this morning, thank you

so much for being with us right here at Kentucky Trail.

We're so honored that you chose to spend your morning with us.

We don't want anything from you this morning except for this,

and that is for you to introduce yourself to us.

We would just love to know that you're here.

We'd love to just just to know your name, say hey to you and

make you feel welcome here. If you could grab that

connection card, it's on your seat, maybe on the seat next to

you by now, but fill out that information on the top section.

Just hold on to it. We'll share what to do with that

later in the gathering. And at Real Life Church, our

mission is simple and that is to see people far from God discover

their real life and purpose in Jesus.

And each week we see people find hope lost, people come to know

Jesus and start a brand new story.

That's why we do it here. Amen, Amen.

That's right, so good. Well, hey, coming up in just a

few short weeks, fall life groups are getting ready to get

started. I know summer's winding down,

but hey, it's going to be an exciting time this fall.

We're excited to connect with you in life groups.

It's the perfect time to get together to do life together.

That's where real relationships grow is in community when you're

connected to other believers. So we would love to see you out

for that. They're actually going to launch

next Sunday for sign up so you can check them all out online.

You can check them out in the hub.

They won't start meeting till that first week of September,

but we would love to see you guys in a life group this fall.

So mark that down your calendars and look out for that for those

to go live next Sunday. Wait, today is celebration

Sunday. I am so pumped for you guys to

hear all the stories of all that God did.

Man, He really moved in some incredible and amazing ways

Through our youth retreat and kids summer camp this summer.

We saw a teen surrender to Jesus.

We had kids understand and know Jesus in just such a different

way that's going to shape their futures forever.

And this isn't just, I want you to get this part.

This is not just a highlight reel of all that happened this

summer. This is life change.

These are teens finding Jesus offering forgiveness to those in

their lives that will shape their future forever.

It's kids understanding that Jesus is fun, that he loves

them, that he is their true friend and their little

evangelist going out and inviting all their friends.

So we want you just to celebrate with us this Sunday.

Just to lean in to hear these stories of life change that

you're about to check out and you're here in just a few

minutes. Christy Hardy's going to make

her way to the stage. She leads our kids ministry.

She is amazing. She leads our kids ministry with

so much passion, so much heart. She loves these kids so much.

Can you just make her feel so loved this morning?

Give her a hand. We love Miss Christy so much.

But hey, before she shares with you guys, I want you guys just

to get a quick glimpse of all that God did some fun.

This is just the hype, the fun that these kids had this week at

summer camp. So check out this video.

Music. Isn't that awesome?

So we had an incredible week. It was we had the privilege of

taking eighteen of our kids to kids camp.

This is a camp that we partner with and we partner with a

church in Lee's Summit called The Summit.

And so it looks fun. It was fun.

But like Holly said, what you see are kids that were their

lives were transformed. It is not every day as an

elementary student that you get the opportunity.

It's like the hype of like the big kids camp, but it is for

elementary kids. So first, to make that all

possible, I have a troop of people that serve alongside me.

If you serve in real life kids, could you please stand up?

We would like to thank you. You can do it.

So if you are a parent of a camper that went, can you please

stand up? We would like to thank you.

If you are a parent of a kid that went, give it up.

Oh, and now I also want to thank there are two people that made

this week absolutely possible. You saw them a lot in the

videos. You saw them dancing down here

with the kids. My daughter Alyssa and my sister

Tanya went with me for camp this week.

And Tanya and I call each other sisters of our hearts.

So we're not biological sisters, but she is my sister of my

heart. And those two made this week

happen. So I know you don't want to, but

will you please stand up so we can thank you Alyssa and Tanya.

So this year at camp, I realized real quick that it was a real

bad idea at almost 50 to go on a missions trip, to go to youth

camp and then to go to kids camp.

So I almost died. If it had not been for Tanya and

Alyssa, it would have been. There's no way you wouldn't have

seen half the videos. You probably would have seen me

just like on the grass somewhere.

So it was an amazing week, amazing week.

But I want you to hear from our campers some amazing

testimonies. So before our campers miss

Alyssa, I asked Alyssa if she would come up and if she would

share and we can talk about how exciting it was and everything

they learned but to hear from them.

So we're going to have a video of them sharing their testimony.

But first, I asked Alyssa, who serves and leads our pre-K room

usually in the second gathering. Hi.

So yeah, I'm Melissa and I serving kids every week.

I serve in pre-K, but I'm also in aftercare.

So I know all of your kids pretty well.

So I'm sorry for you guys about that.

But so I get to spend time with them every week and I love it.

But this was the first time that I was able to spend up for like

a full week at kids camp with them.

So that was a lot, a lot of fun. The Holcombes and I got to

screaming each other about whose tribe was better.

We got drew in on it. I taught him the Kava tribe

cheer and he went home and showed it to his kids.

So that made him really angry. Malia ate more snow cones than I

ever thought would be possible actually.

So that was that was a great we got to celebrate Emory's

birthday. I convinced the kids that my

name is Bagel Cream Cheese and that I'm faster than a peregrine

Falcon. So just lots of fun that was

going on. But the really amazing part was

witnessing God get to work through these kids.

So I saw them making connections about God's love for them.

They got to go outside their comfort zones and they learned

about what it meant to be a true friend.

Just in my group, I had Brooklyn, Emery and Malia.

So Brooklyn asked questions and she made new friends and she was

so brave and she tried so many new things.

Malia prayed out loud way more than once.

I two or three times. She did such a great job.

She asked questions and answered them and she was so good.

And Marie asked and answered questions too.

More than once. She recounted entire Bible

stories from memory, even when it wasn't asked of her.

So that was just mega impressive.

And she read out loud from the Bible from everyone.

So that was just in my group and just every time I walked in the

hallway, I got to see another kid that I knew just making

connections and having so much fun and loving Jesus.

And I just, I saw so many amazing things.

So these kids made connections and grew closer to Jesus and I

had the privilege to watch them and help them.

We weren't just eating snow cones and playing with shaving

cream, but they're building foundations and they're learning

how to follow Jesus. So kids need community just like

we do. And this opportunity let them

establish those relationships. So I was so happy to be a part

of it. And thank you guys for letting

me hang out with your kids every week.

Thank you. I might be a little proud.

So like I said, we're going to in just a second, we're going to

watch the kids share what they learned on my side.

I had the amazing privilege of going around and I get to go to

every group and I get to watch. I saw Jack Petrie, I saw him

having his Bible open and helping other kids around him

find versus the Holcomb kids. I saw them doing that too, going

over and helping kids. You were too, OK, you were too.

They're like me too, me too. And I saw just some lights come

on, some transformation. We learned every day with a

different truth on how Jesus is the ultimate true friend and how

we can model our lives after him because he is the only example

that we need to be modeling our lives after, right?

And to see that and to see the passion in these kids, I just

encourage you when you let, when you watch this, if you have a

kiddo that's an elementary age, start thinking now about camp

next year and planning ahead to send your kiddo to camp next

year. It is infinitely worth what you

will see of them having that community and having that time

to step out of their comfort zone and out of their homes that

you know, just to spend like 8 to 5 with us just immersed in

other kids that love Jesus. So we are going to hear from the

kids on how awesome and everything they learned from God

this week. My favorite part of camp was

hugging Mommy and Christy. My favorite part of camp was

your shit music. My favorite part of camp is

worship. Worship.

Archery, dodgeball worship and the science lab.

When we did Epic eats, Epic eats, Epic eats.

You can make pizza and stuff. Getting to meet the other kids

and getting to do different stuff that I don't usually do

either craft country and or archery craft country because it

was really fun and it was just very crafty science worship and

sleep time when we did nap time, nap time, nap time, archery

lunch and nap time and nap time is, well, I'm not supposed to

tell anybody, but it's like this secret agent stuff because like

our theme was like true friend, but it's like we have to solve

cases and stuff. So it's really not not time.

And one thing God showed me at camp is that true friends are

loyal because God is loyal. What makes God a true friend is

he's always there for you. God taught me how to be a true

friend. I learned at camp like that

about forgiveness and how we can forgive people even though they

did something wrong. He's a true friend.

True friends are loyal because God is loyal.

God is with you everywhere that you go.

What a true friend is and what they can do to help you.

That a loyal friend is always by your side.

Like if you're sad, they'll always be there for you, to

cheer you back, to cheer you up. How to be a kind person and

enjoy life even if something's bad happening my God is my true

friend told me to have be happy and smart, be a true friend.

God showed me what loyal means. True friends forgive because God

Forgives. One thing that made me

differently after I left camp was I learned new things and did

awesome things. OK, when I get home from Kent,

I'm camp. I'm probably going to read my

Bible whenever I get home. I'm going to be nice to my

sister when I get home. One thing I'm going to do

differently is tell my friends that I love them.

I'll tell people about how fun church camp is, ask my mom

questions differently. Man, it has been such an

incredible week. I am so proud of each and every

one of our campers. They have just exemplified what

it looks like to follow Jesus. Thank you so much for sending

your kids to camp and if you played a part in that at all, we

really appreciate it. God is so good and He is working

in real life kids. You, mom and dad.

I love you mom and dad. Wasn't that awesome?

So we had different themes for the leaders every day.

And that one was Christmas in July.

So yeah, we had a lot of fun with that.

So I want to thank you. I have the amazing privilege of

being back with your kids every week and this week it just it

was awesome. Kids, people often they're like,

you know, they're kids, They're they're going to be our future,

but there are now they're not going to be our future.

There are now and your children are a blessing from God and in

real life kids, our mission is to see kids far from Jesus

discover their their real life and purpose in Jesus.

We have the same mission that all of you have.

It is not different. We don't have a junior Holy

Spirit where these kids are less than or they have just a little

bit of Jesus. And I, I just can't stress

enough of what we do in the kids department.

We're not babysitters. We don't take your kids and we

don't go back there and just play a couple games and throw

some snacks on the floor. I mean, it might look like that

after. That's not what we do, but the

kids, they had that opportunity to step out and they keep

talking about a true friend and what a true friend was and how

to model their lives after true friends.

And our kids face so much. They are coming at, things are

just coming at them constantly right now.

And it's just, it's, it's hard. It's really hard.

So they were able to go and get this community and be closer to

each other, just like when we have life groups and we get

closer to our friends that we are in life groups with.

So these were memories, yes, but they weren't just memories.

These were spiritual milestones. Your kids learned some really

deep truths and some really great things and all of the

groups that we went through, but we can't like we can't do this

alone. Real life kids is awesome.

You saw everyone and there's people back there serving right

now holding babies and and Lebanon preschoolers and telling

them about Jesus. But we can't do it alone.

If you have not sent your child back to real life kids, I

encourage you to do so. We like kids and we think it's

really fun and we get to teach them on their level about God.

And kids come to know Jesus as their savior and they can accept

Christ into their life, to change their life and to

transform their life. So what you saw was not just

some memories, was not just us having fun, which it was a

blast. But today it starts when your

kids can have these spiritual transformations.

They're not too young, so I encourage you to do a couple

things if you already serve. Amazing.

Thank you so much. Consider if it's not for you,

then please don't. No one wants someone that's

scared of kids holding their kids.

But if it is for you and you do not serve in kids, come see me.

You also can play a part by praying for us.

Pray for these kids. You saw all these amazing faces.

Pray for them. So that's my encouragement.

Send your kids if you don't already, join us if you want to

and pray for us no matter what. That would be great.

So now we are going to have our lovely pastor Sean join us on

stage. But thank you for the privilege

of being with your kids. Good.

Job, Christy. Give it up for Christy.

Come on. I love you.

I love you. I've never been introduced as

the lovely as the first for me. So Oh man, but man, how many

guys are proud They have an awesome kids ministry?

Amen. Pretty cool.

How many guys grew up going to a kids ministry at church show

hands. All right, so the rest of you

didn't grow up because children mystery, right, And I'm one of

those I I didn't grow up like all the stories are learning.

My kids know verses and stories in the Bible I hadn't even heard

of until I was in Bible college. And it's really cool to see this

Holy Spirit move on these young people and come to Christ and

these foundations and these truths.

Those are solid for a lifetime. And it's our job to push back

from really there's a St. has a huge agenda for our young kids

and just to be a light and to to bring hope and be a foundation

and teach biblical truth and to love on these kids the name of

Jesus, Amen. It's something very special.

So I would encourage you guys be praying for our for we have a

chance to pray later, but be work it down.

Pray for these kids, pray for these young people.

There is so many battles in this generation that even different

than the battles we faced and different schemes in different

ways. But we're blessed to have an

amazing kids program these amazing kids.

And I love you guys. I'm encouraged by what God is

doing this last summer. So we're going to transition.

We had a second camp this summer.

It was a youth camp. So it's absolutely crazy.

You probably recognize all these crazy kids over here, these

teenagers, and they're led by 1 crazy dude.

His name is Logan. Give it up for Logan right back

here. He's the bald teenager.

He was bald when he was a teenager.

He's like his dad. But it's gonna be good.

So I want you guys to check out this video.

I love you. Look, don't feel bad for Logan.

Don't feel bad. Check out this video.

None. The.

Music. Give it up, give it up.

You know, I'm, I'm torn on what I really have to say now because

the guy that preceded me is introduced as the lovely and I'm

reminded of my follicle impairment and it just threw me

for a loop. It's ridiculous.

Yeah. If it wasn't obvious enough from

the video, we had a blast at the camp this year.

We had awesome time. We we went boating, we went

tubing, launched some jacks into the lake, gave him a minor,

minor ear infection because of that.

So I'm sorry, Jack. We had games beach time at

Captain Ron's. We had margaritas.

Virgin margaritas. Yeah, I know the tab.

The tab said otherwise. I think some of the teenagers

lied, but we'll see. We had a movie night.

We had awesome worship. The band came down, abbreviated

band came down devotions. We had the Bay box, which if

you've never heard of the Bay box, you go up and ask the

students. The Bay box made this a retreat,

not only a fun in God, but also a retreat of romance.

And there was some fiery romantic relationships that came

into light that you would have never thought about.

And a lot of, I'm not going to go into anywhere, but there's a

lot of weird crossover strife stuff happening in that group.

So make sure you're praying. And before we go any further, I

just have, I have a lot of gratitude because we had a lot

of fun at camp and there was a lot of people that made it

happen. So I'm going to thank a few

groups of people. So first, if you are a parent of

a youth teenager here at this church, please stand up.

Nope. Yeah, there's some parents in

here. Yes.

Give it up. Give it up.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for entrusting

your teenagers to us for a week. It was more of a detriment to us

than it was a detriment to them. But I still thank you for

trusting us. Parents, thank you.

Second group leaders, if you're a leader, please stand up.

Give it up for the leaders. Give it up for the leaders.

Our leaders here, they put their heart, they put their soul, they

put blood, sweat, tears, A dash of BBQ all into your students

this week. They gave us, they gave us their

best effort the entire week. I like to thank we have Tori, we

have Brett, we have Julie, Diane, Hawley, Kyle, Mandy,

Lucas, Teresa. They all gave your students

their very best this entire week and you guys are blessed to have

them on our youth team. There's one more leader that I

haven't talked about yet. And you know what I'm, I'm

thinking about just not even doing this now, but Pastor Sean

for this youth camp, Pastor Sean opened up his lake house to us.

We brought bordering 40 people into his lake house.

We had to bring out two campers. He brought his lake house.

We peeled some leather off of his couch.

We sacrificed for the sake of us having fun. 3 pairs of his

sunglasses in one day. So in thankfulness of this, I'm

going to ask Shawn to come up and we got Shawn a present for

his sacrifice that he made during this camp.

And in this present, Yes, yes. In this present we got him

sunglasses and more importantly, a band so you never have to go

through the heartbreak of losing sunglasses again.

So thank you, Shawn, you for opening the lake house to it.

Retreat. How do we feel about what Shawn

did for us? Yes, yes.

And finally, I want to thank the students.

I want to thank you students for taking our time together so

seriously. You know, before.

Yeah. Give it up to the students.

Give it up to the students. It's good.

Before we left for the Ozarks, I told the students.

I told them that they had a serious opportunity in front of

them. They had an opportunity to

change what would just could have been a weekend of fun and a

weekend of late time. But the opportunity in front of

them was that they had four days removed from school, removed

from our daily schedules, removed from our daily lives to

focus solely on God. And I'm happy to report that our

students made the most of this opportunity.

They poured themselves out over the course of our time spent

together. We got into the word of God each

day. We started our day in Scripture.

We had worship together. We also had one of the most

impactful things on our students, leader LED devotions.

So I'm going to use this as an opportunity to really honor and

really think 1 leader in specific whose devotions

profoundly impacted our students.

So would you guys give it up for Lucas, Odell Lucas?

As Lucas comes up, he's going to share a little bit about his

experience at camp. But I want to tell you about

Lucas. Lucas has a huge heart for God.

He has the heart of a servant. The BBQ skills of Gordon Ramsay,

he brought down, He brought down his own smoker.

He made us ribs, he made us pulled pork, baked beans, the

whole thing. And he most importantly loves

God. He loves on your students.

You guys are blessed to have Lucas rubbing off on your

teenagers whenever they come and hang out with us at retreats or

just on Wednesdays in general. He is a man growing with God and

he shared his personal testimony with the students over the

course of the few days. And students, what did you think

about Lucas's testimony? Yes, so Church, give it up for

Lucas and we're going to hear a little bit about his experience

at the youth camp. All right, so if anybody didn't

know, I actually was saved one year and three days ago, so

thank you. With that being said, this was

my first ever youth retreat. So not only was this my first

ever youth retreat, I I personally had a fantastic time

every every bit about it. The tubing, the swimming, the

worship, the scavenger hunt, if you could picture it.

Logan and I were on a tube for a little while, the legs getting

entangled, flopping around everywhere.

It was a blast. The kids and the leaders trying

to slingshot water balloons and throw water balloons at me to

knock me off a paddle, Every bit of it.

It was an absolute blast. Obviously fun is is a goal at

youth retreat, but the main goal at youth retreat was getting

closer with God strengthening that relationship.

Now, as I did that myself, I also learned something about

myself because I was given the opportunity to lead a couple

devotionals. And I'm very grateful for it

because not only did I ended up really enjoying it, I figured

out that I was able to get closer with the teens by doing

that, telling them my experiences about the different

voices in my life, the forgiveness that, you know, I

had to work on to find. And that was that was awesome.

I didn't know what I was going to get out of that.

And I filled my heart, but I was also, I was also able to do that

through the DAILY GUIDE and me time, the life groups and

getting, I had a lot of fun, but getting closer to these teens

and breaking down those walls and stuff, that was the most

fun, that was the most fulfilling part of it.

And truly, you know, I learned just as much from these teens as

they learn from me. They might not know it, but I

really do, you know, every, every story that that we had

heard from you guys about forgiveness, any team that deals

with the same voices that we all deal with every day, I'm having

the boldness and the courage to talk about stuff like that is

very inspiring. Watching these guys form

connections with other teens walking with God, you know, it

just gives me hope that they can, you know, be with each

other and help each other on their own spiritual journeys.

I mean, the way God is moving through these teens is it just

fills my heart with so much joy. I can't, I can't even really

explain it, but I'm, I'm thankful for the whole

experience. I'm thankful for the parent for,

you know, allowing me to spend that time with their, with your

guys kids and just, you know, being there for them and getting

them closer, closer to God on their walk.

And it was just, I can't say how fulfilling it was.

With all that being said, I want to thank, first of all, I want

to thank God, but I want to thank Diane and Sean for

providing us a place and willingness for all this

craziness and everything that happened to happen.

I'm just being there. I want to thank Logan for the

great messages that he delivered, but also for being

someone that I can look to on my spiritual journey.

And then, but lastly, definitely not least, I want to thank all

the teams. I just, I just want to thank you

guys for being there, for wanting to be there.

You know, there's, there's probably other things that, you

know, I can sit on my phone or hang out with my friends or, you

know, do whatever, But you guys chose to spend this whole week

and get close, get closer with God and that's awesome.

But you know, having having the open mark, having the open minds

and the open hearts for God to fill you guys, it is just just

great. So that being said, I just want

to thank you guys. I want to thank everybody and

that's all I've got. General Lucas, a little bit

louder. We appreciate you, Lucas.

I look up to you, man. You have such a heart for God.

You're, you have a heart of a servant.

And that goes for you, Lucas. And that goes for all of our

leaders. I'm so appreciative to be able

to serve with you guys. I'm so appreciative to have an

opportunity to just rub off on these students in the same way

that you guys do. And you guys fill me up just as

much as I make an impact on you. It is awesome to serve with you

guys. And most importantly, again,

thank you students. I was reader, Lucas says you

guys did an amazing job showing out, paying attention and giving

it your all. So like I said, you've heard,

you've heard me talk, you've heard a leader talk, and now I

think what you really care about is to hear what our students had

to say. To hear first they're saying no,

but you're going to hear it anyway.

Hear first hand from our students how God was moving in

their lives. Check out this video.

We're live, welcome out to youth camp.

We're at the Lake of the Ozarks and we have had a blast.

We're on our last day, last leg of the camp and I just love to

tell you a little bit about what we've been doing.

We started with community night where the students had an

awesome chance to kind of get to know where they are and where

they have been LED in their Christian lives.

As we get through life maps, we have talked about the voices in

our lives and how it intimately forms how we walk with God.

We've talked about forgiveness and we've talked about

surrender. And I would love to give you

guys the chance to hear about what God has done in the lives

of our from our students, from our students themselves.

Before camp, I got bullied a lot by my classmates and like a lot

of people at school and stuff like that.

And like I kept listening to those negative voices, like

you're not good enough and just like stuff like that.

So I've had a lot of negative voices in my life outside,

outside voices and just me talking bad about myself in my

own head before camp. There were these two girls that

were really mean to me a couple years ago and it put me in a

really rough stage of my life and it was really hard to

forgive him. Before camp there was a burden

on my heart that needed to be healed and during camp God

personally on my heart that I knew I should probably do but I

didn't want to do it. I was struggled with like a lot

of things. Like mainly anger issues and

forgiveness. And now, after camp, I realized

that. I realized that God's the only

one that I need to worry about and who I need to follow and

listen to. But after I heard my mom

Christie's story and Lucas's story of how they have forgiven

their parents and stuff, I realized that I still haven't

forgiven them and that I I should probably forgive him

because if I don't that would just like weigh me down even

longer than it already has been. And after that, when I heard

their stories, we prayed. I forgave them finally.

And then after camp, I am planning on doing what God has

told me and to heal that burden that has been on my heart.

And when I came to camp, they did a lot of lessons about those

things. And when I heard Lucas and

Christy talking about forgiving people in their lives that did

things to them that rocked them, they really taught me about

forgiveness. And I started forgiving people

that they need to forgive and. Then coming into camp this time

and two years ago it was just like a mental reset and I've.

Been more. Positive ever since I first came

to real life and being here always brightens up my day and

kind of just shoes the bad thoughts away.

I guess I've had to forgive a lot of people because a lot of

people have wronged me, but I never forgot what they did to me

and being at camp with the group that I've been with made me

realize that you don't always have to forgive and forget.

Sometimes it's OK to remember what they did to you but still

being able to forgive the person.

Forgiveness is for you. You don't have to have the

clarity of them knowing that you forgive them.

Because even if somebody like really wrongs you, you could

always forgive them no matter how bad it is.

Camp has been such an inspiration for me and before I

was at Camp I didn't do a lot of things and then God has put so

many things in my heart that I want to spread to the world and

tell people. Give it up.

That's huge. Give it up for God.

Give it up for what God did in these students lives.

This is big stuff. This isn't something to just

gloss over. This isn't something to just

file away. Like man, that was a really cool

trip that these students have file in the back of your memory

and just move on. No, this is this is something to

capitalize on, right? There was a movement that

happened in our group and I'm really, I'm really of two minds.

I mean, I'm of three. No, I'm two.

The first mind is that there was some, there was a lot of stuff

that we covered in this camp and there was a lot of stuff being

dealt with by our teens and being talked to between our

teens and our leaders that you wouldn't see on the screen, like

deeper stuff, a lot more personal stuff.

And I'm of one mind of disappointment.

I'm, I'm of the mind of appalling.

I'm appalled that these students and these teens have to go

through some of the things that they've gone through, stuff that

I could never even begin to relate to because of the

upbringing I had. And you know how lucky I was

with the parents I was given and the circumstances I was given.

But there's some students that we have that haven't had that.

But in response to that, I'm of another mind.

I'm of a mind of gratitude because the way that God has

moved in the lives of our teens and the way that God has moved

in the lives of our students as they've grappled with these

things and face them head on, I could not have been more proud

of. It is so obvious and it is so

palpable the way that God has moved in the lives of our teens

over this retreat. Talk to them, pull them aside

for a conversation. It couldn't be more obvious that

God is doing big things in the lives of each and every one of

these students. And that's fruit to your guys's

account. That's fruit to the effort that

you guys put in and the vulnerability you showed the

leaders and how seriously you guys took the messages and the

devotions and the God in me time.

You guys across the board, five stars, no notes.

You guys did amazing. And church, I have a question

for you. If this is something to be

capitalized on, if the movement that is happening right here

right now is valid and this isn't, this isn't varsity and

youth isn't JV, but we're a whole church and we're a whole

people and everything that's happening right now is extremely

valid, then what are we going to do about it?

Because I'm asking a question, how do we move forward as a

church in support of these students and how do we move

forward as a church in support of this ministry?

Is it through generosity? For a lot of you that might be

the case. That might be amping up the

generosity. And for some of you, a few of

you right here right now, I really do believe that that

answer is serving. I really do believe that as

Christie and the same opportunity we have in the kids

youth ministry, we have in the youth ministry, we have a lot

more room for, for adults that care about shepherding and

rubbing off, not on just students, but on people, people

growing with God. And if that sounds like

something you'd be interested in, find me or find Sean after

this gathering and we can find out if this ministry is a good

fit for you to serve in. Because I'm just going to

reiterate what was already said, but this isn't the future

generation, right? This isn't like we're not laying

out the trail for them to follow, but they're side by side

with us laying out the trail as we go.

There's kids from our mission, our youth team that went on

missions trips. There's kids from our team that

serve with you guys. These are the students that are

working hand in hand with us right now as we speak.

And the question is what we want to do with it moving forward.

And we have big goals. If, if I need to sell you even

further on why you should want to serve on this team, we have

big goals. We have a God size vision from

the moment that our student checks in to the youth group and

from the moment that they graduate.

We want them to know a few things.

And we're at we have a book at our youth group.

It's called the seven Checkpoints and we use it as a

tool for discipleship, but in this book, it clearly lays out

what we believe to be the goals of our youth group from the time

that they get in and the time they graduate.

I'm going to vision cast you the goals from what we want from our

students and our time they spend with us.

We want them to carry an authentic faith.

We want them to hone spiritual disciplines.

We want them to set moral boundaries, find meaningful

friendship, make wise choices, submit to the ultimate authority

of God and put others first. And I'm, I'm running out of

time. I don't have time to cast the

whole grand vision that I have for youth group and what it

could be. But I promise you that you want

to be alongside with it. And that can look like serving.

That can look like being generous.

And that can simply also look like, and it's not simple, but

praying over our students as they're getting ready to

capitalize off of the things that happened in their lives

during this youth retreat. So again, I just like to thank

the parents, I'd like to thank our leaders.

I'd like to thank Sean, Diane, every.

I thank all of you that prayed over these students.

And finally and most importantly, I'd like to thank

the students themselves for taking it seriously, giving God

the glory during this trip, and making my time as their youth

leader more rewarding than I would have ever guessed.

So thank you, students. Thank you for the opportunity to

speak today, and I hope that you consider serving with us at

Every Life Youth. Who's blessed by today?

He's blessed, huh? I kept thinking God isn't just

good, he's so, so good and just here in Logan, man, Heartfelt

gratitude to have a man like that lead our group.

Amen. I mean, just a passion for

teenagers, a love of God. He's grown as it goes, but he

always surpasses my expectations.

So thank you, Logan, for being faithful to God and preaching

and sharing the lead. And so give up for Logan.

Fantastic. It's fun watching God move in

young people's lives to do some credible stuff.

No temptation. Today was a call it next

generation Sunday, but it's really not the next generation

like their, their, their greatest mission fields right

there. They're actually walking into it

this week. They're walking into their

schools this week with new friends, new classmates, new

seating charts, new places sit for for cafeteria time, all the

different things. And we're walking in.

Into those mission fields where they're not going to see them

maybe the rest of their life. And I would encourage you guys,

and this is my challenge for you guys to be faithfully praying

for the the kids and the teenagers as they step back into

the season. God has spoke to them very

clearly in a lot of different areas of life.

You heard about forgiveness. I was in a group of young men

that none of them really had like a, a healthy relationship

with their father. Some of them even know their

father's name and it's heartbreaking.

And you see that you you see how like the families have been

broken apart, how it affects young people's identities and

their passion and who God is. And there's a lot of forgiveness

that happened. And I want to say thank you,

Lucas, for being so authentic. Just keeping it real, man.

He, he just, I'm telling you there's a gift and a hand on his

life as well. But I would encourage you guys

to be praying and I'd be so bold to ask you to fast if you guys

could skip a meal a week this coming week and pray as these

teenagers and young people go into school and ask God to move.

Prayer always proceeds of movement and with the ability

maybe you're not going to be serving with the teens and the

the kids with the ability to pray and ask God to move.

And so do you only spend a little time in prayer.

You guys have seen the faces you saw, heard the stories.

And I want you to divide God and the Holy Spirit to empower these

young people right now and their generation to do something

outside of the normal, outside of just fitting in, to bring the

gospel and the light to the city and to their friends and to

strengthen them. And so, Father, come before you.

God, we pray for every teenager, God, every student, every kid

who went to camp. God, I pray that you make them

stand firm this semester. God, that you'd give them the

boldness and the courage. Got to walk in the light to

stand up when everybody tells him to shut up to live for you.

So you have the the right, the reason and responsibility to

share the gospel and be bold with that and not to try to fit

in and be whatever else wants them to be, but be what you want

to be. God help us to steward our young

people well. God thanks for the leaders that

are shepherding and caring and leading and challenging and

stepping into difficult circumstances and conversations

where the cards are maybe stacked against the things of

God that you show up and do a miracle.

Got things for a man like Lucas a year and three days 368 days

into journey of Jesus and you see him using his life.

God thank you for the ability to see you move and that the the

the promise of the Holy Spirit God, I pray you would fill this

place fill every young person God to to stand firm in you got

that to be a work that comes through them.

God, I pray that they would be little missionaries, apostles,

God, their schools and their friendships and their families

that are inviters of their neighbors and friends and

neighbors that come to church. They come to you, Lord.

And so we thank you for what you're doing this generation.

God, you're moving. God, we won't play a part of it.

We do play a part of it together.

Ask that our church would fast and pray as they enter the

school year. God that you do something only

you get the glory for by the time it's done and pray Jesus

name, Amen. Well, I think Logan did a pretty

good job vision casting why you should serve with kids and

teens. I thought that was about 10 out

of 10. I thought I probably should

retire. I think I got a guy that can

cast that vision and I thought it was pretty good, man.

Like you've seen the hearts and faces and maybe God just pulling

your heart a little bit. You know, you don't have to be

qualified or feel like you have all the you don't have to be hip

and cool and all these different things.

You have to love kids, love teens and love Jesus and there's

room. You know, we're not, we're not

begging for help. Trust me.

We want the people that God sends this way.

But if you feel like God's put a call in your heart to, to play

part of the story, whether it's young people or your kids.

And really, you know, we were complicated slots.

Sometimes you get her head. And ultimately it's just us

loving on them. And it's not, it's not what you

don't know, it's what you do know.

And if you know Jesus, I mean, Lucas started serving in youth

ministry, I would say about 3 or 4 weeks after he came to Christ.

And it's incredible. And he's, he's grown through

that. And you always get more than

you, you, you give. So when you're pouring out,

God's pouring in. And that's how you get in the

game and God shapes you. It's oftentimes you think ready,

set, go is the mentality. Like when I get ready, then I'll

go. And it's actually try, fail,

learn, try, fail, learn, try, fail, learn, try, fail, learn.

And if you want to grow with Jesus, I'll encourage you to get

into serving and a place you can pour yourself out.

Then you'll start to grow. And so maybe you guys put in

your heart to serve if you'd like to or be interested in, if

you take the connection card and just put your kids ministry,

real life youth, just right on there.

I'm interested in serving. We'll follow up with you,

connect with you, help you. There is a huge movement

happening. They're packing out the Hope

Center, which means we got to build something.

Amen. I mean, it's just what it is,

I'm telling you. And so we're, we're excited for

what God's doing. So I want to encourage you guys

that are new today and maybe your family or friends,

whatever. I will say thanks for being

here. We love you being here.

We'd love to see you next week. Amen Real life, I'd love to see

you out next week. I'd encourage you just to what

God's going to do in your life. It is absolutely encouraging and

our church is very connected, has a lot of fun, but ultimately

just to experience Jesus and we'd love to see that in your

life. If you've got real life home,

20% of what you give in real life goes directly to these two

ministries. So between personnel, between

all the activities, going to camp, all the overhead,

everything we invest the next generation.

So a fifth of our budget is pouring into these.

And so I encourage you guys to be faithful as God leads.

If you've never given, today is a great day to give Amen.

It's a great day to play a part of the story and I would

encourage you guys to do that. And so there's numerous ways to

give. You've seen it, you've heard it

many times, but giving boxes in the back, we've got buckets that

come down the aisles. You give online all different

things. I would encourage you if you

need help, maybe your season, and there's a lot of seasons

right now. People are hurting.

If you need food, clothing or shelter, just reach in the

giving bucket and take out, you know, there's cash, you see and

or just come out, talk to me and we'll help you out.

Amen. And so if I come before you pray

bless this time. God, thank you for just the work

that's being done week in and week out, really day after day.

It's not a week to week ministry.

It's a daily ministry. Thanks for those leaders you've

called to step in the gap. But like Ezekiel, like a clean

hand watchman got people who just step in the fray, got to

proclaim your truth, got to pray.

Give them boldness and strength. I pray for every student and

teen God, you'd let them remind them, God the truths you set in

their heart as they walk into a new school or new situation.

God give them boldness and courage.

I pray for her parents. Give them the courage to lead

for you. Teach them God to to humbly lead

their family. Do some Bible studies, pray with

their family just to be the culture that our teenagers, our

young people catch. God help us God to follow you.

God we give the glory. Pray bless this time pray Jesus

name Amen. Well, hey, did you all enjoy

this morning? That's right, man, what a

blessing it is just to hear how God moves and how He's shaping

the lives of our students and our teens.

It has just been a great celebration Sunday with you

guys. Well, hey, before you go, I've

got one quick thing for you coming up.

September 7th we have our Sporting Kansas City night.

We decided to do this again. So last year was our first year

doing it. We had so much fun.

We're like, hey, let's do it again.

So this is our second annual Sporting KC night.

It is for our youth group that is on Sunday, September,

September 7th. You can scan that.

Q Could get all the details, but we'll be sitting together in the

South stands at Children's Mercy Park.

We will watch Sporting KC play Austin Football Club and it is

going to be just of last. So if you are 6th through 12th

grader in this space, if you know a 6th through 12th grader,

hey, sign them up. We'd love for them to come.

Tickets are free for our students.

It is a great time for them just to come out, to connect with

each other, to hang out, just have some fun as the school year

starts. So they're not going to want to

miss that. Once again, scan that QR code.

I will say space is limited, so don't wait till the day, day

before to do that. Go ahead and scan that.

If you're interested, sign up your team.

It's going to be a blast. We would love to see them there.

And hey, if you need prayer this morning for anything, we would

love to pray with you, to pray for you.

You can head on up to the front of the stage after the

gathering. We would love to do that for

you. We'd love also to see you back

next Sunday right here at 9:15 or 10:45.

And remember, whoever finds Jesus discovers real life and

purpose. Have a great week guys.

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