Doing Life Together

I love Long Hollow for several reasons.  I especially love Long Hollow for the way they love students.

I am blown away by the amount of money given to the Nathan Johnson Scholarship Fund.  I’m amazed at the adults who give a week of their vacation to spend time with students.  Some actually do both weeks!  I’m thankful for parents who support camp by making it a priority in their family.  I’m blessed to know that so many people are praying for our students and camp staff.

Our middle school students headed back home yesterday after an amazing time at camp. They grew closer to the Lord in so many ways.  They learned how to have a consistent quiet time, talked through how to navigate peer pressure at their schools, studied God’s Word twice a day, worshiped at many different times throughout the day, and made a tons of new friends.  Undoubtedly we’ll be hearing tons of stories of life change in the coming days and weeks, but here are some quick numbers to celebrate.  At middle school camp we had over 200 students make spiritual decisions of one kind or another.  There were over 75 students who made first-time decisions for Christ!

One additional cool thing was that our middle school students and adults gave over $6400 to help build an orphanage in Haiti!! You’ll hear more about opportunities like this in the coming days.  God is on the move all over the world, and we want to join Him!

Please pray for our high school students, who arrived at Horn’s Creek yesterday. They live in such a morally challenging day.  Pray they would be wide open to hear what God has to say to them, that they would leave camp changed, never the same again.

The theme for our camp is “Crazy Love,” which is based on Francis Chan’s book of the same name.  To quote Francis Chan, “this book is written for those who want more Jesus.”  I want you to partner with me in praying that God would raise up our students to be the most passionate, radically committed, in love with Jesus generation this world has ever seen.

Thank you Long Hollow for your commitment to students.  You bless me greatly!  What a privilege to be your pastor!

p.s. Check the front page of Long Hollow’s website regularly for pictures from camp!

I had a chance to talk with my dad this morning before church.  He and mom were in Lubbock, TX, en route to New Mexico to to ride some train (don’t ask!).

We had a good conversation - nothing really important.  It was great to talk to my dad and wish him a happy Father’s Day.

I’ve been thinking today about how much I’ve learned from my dad about spiritual things, just by watching the way he lives.

Some stuff my dad has taught me by example:

• To start your day with God.
• To love and cherish God’s Word.
• To choose joy.
• To be grateful.
• To not think of yourself more highly than you ought.
• To love the local church and faithfully participate.
• To willingly and joyfully tithe.
• To share my faith.

I’m grateful for the example my dad set for me, and pray I can do the same for my kids.

Thanks Dad!!

A week from today we begin one of the most “life-changing” ten days in our church year.  Next Friday, our middle schoolers head off to Student Camp at Horn’s Creek in beautiful southeast Tennessee (not far from the “Hub of the Universe,” Cleveland, TN!!).

Our middle school students will be at camp from Friday to Wednesday, and high school students follow from Wednesday to Monday.  As of right now, we have around 1000 students signed up!

These ten days bear as much fruit as anything we do at Long Hollow.  Why do we think that degree of life change happens in just a few days?  Well, for a number of reasons, but primarily it is a result of our students stepping back from things that divert their attention, such as phones, computers, TVs and iPod’s, and instead spending concentrated time in the Word, worship, and relationships.  When students have the distractions removed and are dosed with spiritual truth, life change can’t help but happen!!

I want to ask you to consider doing three things to help make this year’s camp a success:

1. Make it a priority for your student to go. Find out more info about MS camp here, and HS camp here.  Scholarships are available.
2. Pray for the students, counselors, and camp staff daily. Starting next Friday you will find a prayer link just for camp at Long Hollow’s website.
3. Give to the Nathan Johnson Scholarship Fund. Make a note of the gift in the reference portion of your check, and your donation will help someone go to camp!  You can also select to give to this fund if you are an online giver.

I’m as fired up about this year’s camp as any we’ve had.  I believe God is going to move in the hearts of our students in a powerful way!  May He raise up the next generation to live for His Glory!!

A big “thank you” to all our volunteers for making Long Hollow’s VBS week a huge success!

Thanks to the selfless giving of your time and energy, we pulled off three different VBSs  on three different campuses - all in the same week!  We had over 1600 participants and 111 decisions.

I appreciate all of your hard work and dedication more than I can say.  You have invested in the lives of children in ways only eternity will tell.  Thank you for loving our children well.

I’m grateful for you.  You guys are the best!

One of the most important steps we take after being saved is to be baptized by immersion.  In many passages of scripture, the Bible gives us a clear picture of the importance of baptism.  One of these is in Acts 8 when Phillip led the Ethiopian eunuch to the Lord.  The next thing the eunuch did was follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.  As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

Baptism has no part in the salvation process, but it is a significant step of obedience after we have trusted in Christ. Baptism is a public profession of our faith in Him.  At Long Hollow, we like to refer to it at as putting on the team jersey.  It is identifying yourself unashamedly as a Christ-follower.  Jesus commanded us to be baptized and was baptized Himself as an example for us.

You might have been baptized as a kid, then later gave your heart to Jesus, and feel no need to be baptized again. However, the order in scripture is that first we are saved, then we are baptized.  It’s not “believer’s baptism” until we are a believer.  Baptism is an outward symbol or picture of an inward transformation. Consequently, it follows salvation.  That’s why we refer to it as believer’s baptism.

If you haven’t taken this important step of obedience and been baptized, then I want to encourage you to do so. You can be baptized in any of our Sunday services on all of our campuses.  If you have questions you can email Diane Freeman at diane.freeman@longhollow.com or call the church office at 824-4006.

This Sunday after the 11:30 service in Hendersonville,  I’ll be baptizing a bunch of folks in our new outdoor baptistery in the courtyard right outside of the children’s building.  I would love to baptize you.  If you would like to participate or would like more info, check out this link.

I’m praying you’ll take this very important step of obedience soon!