THE RESCUE on CNN

ARC ALL Acess 09: Ed Young Jr.

• 7:36 PM: countrycuban Falwell is speaking before Ed Young Jr. comes up. He wants to leave us with a verse... 2 Corinth 5:14. The love of Christ should be ALL that compels us.


• 7:43 PM: countrycuban Topic is: The Local Church


• 7:43 PM: countrycuban Ministry is brutiful. Brutal side to ministry, but also a very beautiful side to ministry. What an awesome oppurtunity we have in the ministry to point people to Jesus.


• 7:48 PM: countrycuban Subject is on betrayal. Betrayal is brutiful. If you're in the ministry, betrayal happens. The Bible is a book of betrayal. Look at Adam and Eve.. that's where it all started.
  


• 7:50 PM: countrycuban You can't get betrayed by your enemies... THAT's what messes you up. Only can the people you bring into your life, betray you. That's why it hurts so much. We all fall into one of three categories... 1-Getting ready to get betrayed. 2. Midst of betrayal. 3. Coming out of betrayal. BETRAYAL HAPPENS.


• 7:52 PM: countrycuban Genesis 37. Betrayal occurs during defining moments. It happens during crucial situations.


• 7:52 PM: countrycuban We all have a "crazar". A craziness radar. LOL


• 7:56 PM: countrycuban Technology can become the tail of a Pitbull the Are you blogging or bragging? Are you twittering or littering? Technology can give us a sense of arrogance and importance if we don't use it correctly!


• 7:57 PM: countrycuban Betrayal comes from those closest to us. The people who betrayed Joseph, were his brothers. There is ALWAYS a Judas at your table. And he is usually close enough to kiss you, then diss you. Be very, very careful!


• 7:59 PM: countrycuban In ministry, there are 3 types of people... 1. People who are "with you". 2. Those who are "for you". 3. Those who "use you".


• 8:00 PM: countrycuban Betrayal is fueled/engineered by envy and jealousy. Jealousy has the word lousy in it. Someone who is envious is on the edge of the ledge of BETRAYING you!


• 8:01 PM: countrycuban Gen 37.4, "they". Who is your "they." Who do you surround yourself with?


• 8:03 PM: countrycuban How do you react when someone is blessed? How do you react when someone has God's favor? In the ministry... pastors and leader tend to struggle with pride more than anyone. When pride walks on the stage, God walks off. Church leaders also tend to struggle with envy when they see the point person in charge or look at other churches.


• 8:04 PM: countrycuban People who betray, don't realize they're betrayers. Usually they have been betrayed themselves, and want others to feel the same level of betrayal... they are confused so they don't realize they are betraying.


• 8:05 PM: countrycuban Gen. 37:14-15. The bigger the dream, the bigger the betrayal.


• 8:06 PM: countrycuban "God gave you eyes, plagarize." -Ed Young LOL


• 8:08 PM: countrycuban Envy is the only one of the deadly sins that does not start off with some promise. All the other sins start off with some promise. All the other sins start off "fun"... besides envy. It starts off ugly, and ends up ugly. We need to learn to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep w/ those who weep.


• 8:09 PM: countrycuban Gen. 37:23-24. They stripped him of his robe, but they didn't realize that they were stripping the Kimbo Slice of faith. Joseph was ready for the faith fight.


• 8:10 PM: countrycuban Listen... PIT HAPPENS! That pit wasn't empty, it was full of anger, resentment, envy, mistrust, pain. It was PITiful. When someone pushes you in the pit... WHOA! It's a full pit, not an empty one.


• 8:12 PM: countrycuban (Sidenote) Pastor Ed Young Jr. is hilarious! He should have a comedy tour! LOL


• 8:17 PM: countrycuban Betrayal can lead to a total breakdown, or breakout. When you're in the pit, if you become pitiful... you have the oppurtunity to never again give your heart to someone and to stay grumpy.


• 8:18 PM: countrycuban Down in the pit there are some pit vipers... some negative people, don't let them bite you with that negative venom. There are the adders, or the ladders. The ladders encourage you and help you OUT of the pit.


• 8:19 PM: countrycuban When you're in the pit don't ask, "why me?" Ask, "what now?"


• 8:20 PM: countrycuban Potipher's wife was Hotipher. LOL


• 8:21 PM: countrycuban Only three in the Bible who were ripped. David, Solomon, and Joseph. Only them three were described as handsome and well-built.


• 8:22 PM: countrycuban Joseph in the pit for 10 years... was loyal. Get UNDER the authoriy structure that God has put in your life. If you wanna go UP... ya gotta go UNDER. Pit promotion numbero uno!


• 8:24 PM: countrycuban When someone is a betrayer, it's always followed by a bunch of lies, and a bunch of people believing the lies of the betrayer. Watch out for those people! Some people wanna believe the negative stuff about their leaders! The gossssip, the ssssslander, the liesssss, the blogsssss... all the "snakey" stuff!


• 8:25 PM: countrycuban We want over-night sucess, but we are all enrolled in the U. of C. The university of character. God will mold you and shape you, when you get under.


• 8:40 PM: countrycuban Sometimes what a betrayer can mean for evil... God can use for good!


• 8:41 PM: countrycuban Betrayal can bring a staff together.


• 8:42 PM: countrycuban Betrayal can separate the players from the posers. When you get kicked into a pit, turn around and if someone's got a ladder... HIRE them! They've got your back!


• 8:42 PM: countrycuban If you have a Biblical church structure, you can survive betrayal. Have a structure that promotes leadership. Allow the leaders to lead.


• 8:44 PM: countrycuban Bylaws don't matter 'till they matter. When you go through betrayal, they matter!


• 8:46 PM: countrycuban The brutal part of betrayal, hurts the heart. But there is SUCH a beautiful side to it. It will solidify your church and see who is with you, who is for you, and who is against you. God can use the PIT to get to a whole 'nutha level. You can look the devil right in the face when he is trying to strip you, and say, "I'm like Kimbo Slice! I am ready for the pit. Because it's not gonna be a breadown, but a breakout!"

THE RESCUE: MIAMI RECAP

One of the best experiences I've ever had. I didn't sleep through a revolution, and you shouldn't either. Learn more at www.invisiblechildren.com


The Rescue: Miami from countrycuban on Vimeo.

Shift 09-Kara Powell

• 9:45 AM: countrycuban "Transformation That Sticks"


• 9:53 AM: countrycuban After a conference, are you gonna end up suprised... how long you can go without thinking about God? It's possible, and sadly, it happens so often.


• 9:55 AM: countrycuban Sometimes we have so many good things in our lives, that we let it distract us from God. Don't let hours go by without thinking about God... not even minutes! We need Him to be the center of our lives, yet we push Him to the sidelines.


• 9:56 AM: countrycuban If we go an hour or more without thinking about God, how long do today's teens go without thinking about Him? Days, hours, weeks? This is why there is a CANYON b/w youth and youth workers.


• 9:58 AM: countrycuban Take care of your Seniors in your Youth Group. What happens when they get to college? 50 percent of seniors in youth group after they gradaute (18 months later)... will be struggling with their faith, and probably ending up leaving it.


• 10:00 AM: countrycuban Parents and everyone else must understand that trajectories are established before the Senior year of high school. The launching is merely the ritual. This is NOT the college ministries problem, this is the youth ministies problem.


• 10:02 AM: countrycuban Are your students going to have a faith that sticks? When it's 4.20 (National Pot Smoking Day)... is their faith gonna stick? When they get invited to party on Thursday night... will it stick? When they see their first round of beer pong... will it stick? When they get tempted to go to the bedroom... will it stick? When the Philosophy professor is BASHING their faith... will it stick? Will their faith stick?


• 10:02 AM: countrycuban 1. Relationship we build with kids and the philosophy of our ministry.


• 10:05 AM: countrycuban When asked what Seniors liked about youth group... they didn't say their friends. They said their youth leader! Building a relational ministry is important, but when the seniors said that the youth leader is their favorite part... what happens when they go off to college and you're not there? What happens when you need to pay attention now to all your other students? They now feel abandoned, and end up shelving their faith.


• 10:05 AM: countrycuban 10 percent of Seniors wish their youth leader could've come to college with them. Are we making them too co-dependent. Jesus needs to be the center of focus in their lives, not you or me as a youth leader.


• 10:06 AM: countrycuban 1 Corinth 11:1 . The number one mistake we do, is we don't talk enough about God. Quit acting like they need to follow you... they don't!


• 10:08 AM: countrycuban 2. Seniors want more time for deep conversations in youth group. For 7th graders, games is fun... not for Seniors. Second was mission trips. Third was service oppurtunities. They want Kingdom-Centered Justice. Service is giving someone a glass of cold water, when they're thirsty. Justice is asking what couldn't they get it themselves, let me help them get it, let me put a system in place so they could have no problem getting cold water again. Don't build codependency!


• 10:09 AM: countrycuban Youth ministry and missions trips is not an event... it's a process. Money and Medical releases is your prep for missions trips. What happens after? Maybe a video for your youth ministry? That does nothing... that is NOT stick faith. The effects of the trip will not, will NOT stick! Before trips, teach them about cross-cultural relations, and team dynamics. During, give time for reflection. After, expand the circle of impact for your students.
  


• 10:14 AM: countrycuban They did a poverty simulation. WOW. That is so amazing. They will NEVER look at an underprivileged person again.


• 10:16 AM: countrycuban Videos have a powerful impact on students. If you need to get your youth group on a cause, start at Human Trafficking. There are 900,000 people trafficked yearly. About 103 every hour. 11 every 5 minutes. 17,000 are trafficked in the USA.
  


• 10:21 AM: countrycuban NY TIMES wrote an article that MTV is starting to incorporate shows and interviews that profile student activism (justice) b/c reality shows are not having an effect anymore. Shouldn't the Church be leading the way for this movement? Not stinkin' MTV!


• 10:24 AM: countrycuban 3. Innergenerational Youth Ministry. In our churches there's the student worship, the adult worship. The youth pastor, the adult pastor. Balance is something we swing through on our way to the other extreme. We have SEGREGATED the youth from the rest of the Church. It is causing them to shelve their faith. The more high school seniors are involved in adult worship services, sermons, and mentoring... they have higher church maturity.


• 10:27 AM: countrycuban Don't have the students segregated from the main church! When you involve the students it'll change the students, and it sure as heck is going to change the whole church! When we see students come together with the main congregation.. that's what generates sticky faith.


• 10:30 AM: countrycuban 4. Early Preparation. Seniors when asked how well the youth group prepared them for college... only 15 percent said they were prepared well. 85 percent felt the youth group FAILED. When it comes to preparation, it's never too early, and it's never too late. Start prepping junior year or even earlier... not at the end of senior year.


• 10:31 AM: countrycuban Do the students you work with, know your story or testimony? How can you expect the students to share, if you never have? You grill them, but they don't even know how you became a Christian! Share your experiences, share your ups and down in your faith... be real.


• 10:34 AM: countrycuban Put effort with the Seniors, and help them find a local church and ministry. 90 percent wished that their youth leaders would've helped them find a church. www.liveabove.com .
  
  Youth Transitional Network helps with that.
  

Dave Ramsey-Town Hall of Hope

• 8:32 PM: countrycuban Listening to Dave Ramsey @ Town Hall for Hope.


• 8:32 PM: countrycuban If failure is chasing you, then it will RUN you towards excellence!


• 8:32 PM: countrycuban If there is no chance you can fail, there is NO reason for you to do your best! Failure must be an option!


• 8:32 PM: countrycuban Whining is not a little known form of prayer. Take responsibility of your mess. If you hold on to lemons, you'll never get lemonade.


• 8:33 PM: countrycuban Work like it all depends on us. Pray like it all depends on God.


• 8:34 PM: countrycuban You can work while you're praying.


• 8:35 PM: countrycuban The children of the Great Depression were forever changed, and MUCH more careful with their money.


• 8:35 PM: countrycuban The children of the Great Depression were forever changed, and MUCH more careful with their money.Unemployment was 25 percent in G.D. The market dropped 89 percent. Stock Market lost 90 percent of its value. We've only lost 57 percent.


• 8:36 PM: countrycuban Unemployment is only at 8.5. percent. This is NOT the worst recession we've had since the Great Depression.


• 8:36 PM: countrycuban Fear is false evidence, appearing real.


• 8:40 PM: countrycuban What do I invest in? Not in fear! It's gonna be ok. Put money in the stock market. Where there is no vision the people will perish!


• 8:41 PM: countrycuban 100% of stock market investments with a 15 yr history have made money.


• 8:42 PM: countrycuban Economic forecasters, are there to give weather forecasters credibility. LOL


• 8:42 PM: countrycuban He who lives by the crystal ball.... eats glass.


• 8:44 PM: countrycuban (Sidenote) Why in the world, when journalists mention Twitter on the air, they always make fun of it? (a.k.a. - "Those crazy kids on Twitter!")


• 8:46 PM: countrycuban 35 counties represent 50 percent of the foreclosures. They are fairly localized.


• 8:48 PM: countrycuban When you buy a house, make sure your cousin Murphy doesn't move in, in the spare bedroom and brings his 3 brothers... broke, desperate, and stupid. LOL


• 8:49 PM: countrycuban 52 percent of single moms live under the poverty level. If you wanna help someone... there's someone you can help.


• 8:50 PM: countrycuban 60 percent of foreclosures were in 5 states.


• 8:53 PM: countrycuban A Congressman can make a drunken sailor, look normal when spending. They're out of control!


• 8:53 PM: countrycuban Big banks have no soul. Local banks, you can get yourr hands around them if something goes wrong; local banks use their brains & are more stable.


• 8:55 PM: countrycuban When the President starts firing CEO's, you know who is in charge of things.... trust local banks!


• 8:55 PM: countrycuban Gold is the SNUGGIE of investments. It's sold on midnight cable, and if you buy it... it'll make you look stupid! LOL


• 8:56 PM: countrycuban Receptionist should be the director of First Impressions. Service with a real person is important.


• 8:58 PM: countrycuban Goods and services are what has value in a completely decimated economy. In Katrina, they were not trading gold. But you could have traded a piece of tarp or water bottle for just about anything. Gold is a crummy investment.


• 9:00 PM: countrycuban Learn to think for yourself. We the people, are the healing agent for this economy.


• 9:05 PM: countrycuban The biggest & best businesses were started during or following a time of economic recession.


• 9:07 PM: countrycuban Hobby Lobby sales went up 5% during the recession of the early 70's. It was a business started in a garage at the beginning of the recession in 1972.


• 9:07 PM: countrycuban I read the book the Tortoise and the Hare as a kid, and everytime I read it... the Tortoise wins. Be slow and steady.


• 9:09 PM: countrycuban Dave Ramsey is having a lot of technical difficulties, probably find a government employee out there with his hand on switch.


• 9:11 PM: countrycuban Creating jobs is not going to cause the economy to go up. Unemployment is a symptom of the recession, not the cause or the problem. Jobs are going to be made up, as this thing heals itself. Fixing the economy, will fix jobs!


• 9:11 PM: countrycuban Don't be an Eeyore during this economy. Don't whine, take responsibility! Don't wait for the economy to fix your life... go out there and take a college class...or look at your career track... go after it yourself!


• 9:13 PM: countrycuban When you get pushed out of the nest, you can hit the cliff wall on the way down... or spread your wings, baby! Maybe you need a push b/c you're an Eagle... but you've been acting like a Buzzard!


• 9:14 PM: countrycuban Stop speculating about the End Times. The Bible says no one knows the time, so anyone that predicts it's coming... is wrong. The Bible says that while you're here, no matter when the end is... those who plow, should do so... in HOPE!


• 9:15 PM: countrycuban 3 things to do if you're struggling w/ Hope.....


• 9:16 PM: countrycuban 1. Get up. Take action. Get moving! When you get moving, and install yourself into the situation. Don't stay at home watching Oprah re-runs on the couch! Your best chance at success, is you! If you wait for Washington to fix your life... you're gonna be waiting for a LONG time!


• 9:17 PM: countrycuban There's a great place to go when you're broke.... to work!


• 9:17 PM: countrycuban It's all about the attitude. What's your attitude like?


• 9:18 PM: countrycuban The number one habit of sucessful people, is being proactive


• 9:19 PM: countrycuban 2. Don't participate in "loser-talk." If you spend time with losers... you're gonna become a LOSER! Your income will be within 10 percent of your 10 closest friends. Don't let people hinder your potential! Don't let Eeyore rub off on you.


• 9:20 PM: countrycuban Don't you tell your kids not to date certain people, b/c they are losers in your eyes? Then when you're adults... you go out and hang with them all the time?


• 9:20 PM: countrycuban A friend of Dave Ramsey's reads the Bible and the newspaper every morning... that way he knows what both sides are doing. LOL


• 9:22 PM: countrycuban 5 years from today, you will be the same person, except for the books you've read... and the people you meet. An average millionare can't tell you who got voted off the Island, or who went home on a dating show. He spends his time on important things. What do we do with our time?


• 9:29 PM: countrycuban 3. Learn to give again. We talk about giving, but we need to do more of it. If you're broke, go serve soup at a soup kitchen. You'll get your eyes off of your hopelessness and see you do have hope. Go talk to an old man at a nursing home who hasn't had a family member visit them since they dropped him off, twenty years ago. You'll get your eyes off of your hopelessness and see you do have hope.


• 9:29 PM: countrycuban Not all giving is of money. Why is giving important?| Because, when your eyes are off of yourself, you ALWAYS have more hope.


• 9:29 PM: countrycuban Hope doesn't come from Washington.. Hope comes from you and me. Hope comes from the nail-scarred hands of Jesus.

Shift 09-Francis Chan Notes

• 10:10 AM: countrycuban Francis Chan speaking #Shift09 here: www.tangle.com !


• 11:30 AM: countrycuban The church needs a radical shift. Youth ministry needs a radical shift. Everytime he reads the book of Acts, he doesn't put the Bible down and says, hey... that's just like us?!


• 11:31 AM: countrycuban The book of Acts just shows this unstoppable force of Christians who were on FIRE! Why is that so different from the church today?


• 11:32 AM: countrycuban Why are churches today so stoppable unlike the church in Acts that was so unstoppable.


• 11:34 AM: countrycuban We just resovle ourselves that Acts was just so different b/c well, times are different now. Why can't we believe that could happen today?


• 11:34 AM: countrycuban Acts 4:13. Boldness. Peter and John were common and uneducated men, but people were astonished by their boldness and passion.


• 11:37 AM: countrycuban We know WAY more than the apostles did, but we go, "no, we could NEVER talk to our neighbor about Jesus." Why can't we have that boldnesss?!


• 11:38 AM: countrycuban Jesus got the 11 apostles to reach the world with no internet access (lol). And yet, we can't get 11 friends to reach a few square miles? And it's the same Holy Spirit... what's the problem?


• 11:39 AM: countrycuban Revelation 2... have we forgotten our first love?


• 11:40 AM: countrycuban Sometimes we put our confidence in our new knowledge and education, instead of our Saviour.


• 11:41 AM: countrycuban Be careful not to turn your experiences into principles. - Oswald Chambers


• 11:44 AM: countrycuban You don't want to stand in front of the throne and have God tell you, " You knew what I wanted you to do, but you got scared. Why didn't you do what I told you, why didn't you go through with the thoughts and vision I gave you?"


• 11:47 AM: countrycuban You might not be as educated as Hybels or Piper, but you're more educated than the apostles, and they did pretty good huh? They believed in the power of the Holy Spirit... that makes all the difference.


• 11:49 AM: countrycuban You can lose that first love, you can lose that boldness, you can lose that belief in the Holy Spirit... when you feel complacency in systems.


• 11:51 AM: countrycuban Can you be filled with the Holy Spirit and be bored at the same time? There's NO WAY!


• 11:53 AM: countrycuban 1 Kings 18. Elijah just called upon God , and fire of the Lord fell. When the people saw that, the people fell on their faces, and started saying, "The Lord is God." The unbelievers, now believed. Does that happen in your church, or in your youth group?


• 11:54 AM: countrycuban Sometimes at our gatherings, we look more like the prophets of baal, instead of Elijah.


• 11:55 AM: countrycuban James 5:17. Elijah was a man, just like us. We've got that same Holy Spirit.


• 11:56 AM: countrycuban The life change, what we see in the book of Acts, we can't manipulate that. That's real.


• 12:00 PM: countrycuban John 6:63. The flesh is of NO help... the SPIRIT is what gives life. It all rises and falls on the Holy Spirit. That's what causes us to to be crazy in love with God.


• 12:02 PM: countrycuban There's only one way you can go from Hoochie to Holy... and that's with the Holy Spirit!


• 12:04 PM: countrycuban People need to be attracted to God, BY God... not by speakers or programs.


• 12:05 PM: countrycuban There is so much pressure to build an amazing youth ministry, but at the end of the day, it's about God's Spirit.


• 12:08 PM: countrycuban Great message. I seriously needed to hear that. :)

It's Been a Year...

It's been a year.

A year of tears. A year of missed phone calls. A year of missed talks. A year of missed laughter and jokes. A year of missed birthdays. A year of missed holidays. A year of missed hairstyles. A year of missed dinners. A year of missed family member's salvations. A year of missed family member's baptisms. A year of sadness. A year of happiness. A year of growing. A year of faith. A year of clinging to the promises of the Lord. A year of talking daily to my Heavenly Father. A year of sensing the urgency to reach the lost. A year of having the peace that surpasses all understanding. A year since my grandmother went to be with the Lord.

An ETERNITY we will some day, get to spend together.

"You Wouldn't Cry" by Mandisa