The session for men began with a rousing call to worship by Adam Bitter. He shared the story of one of his friends who has cerebral palsy and who, consequently, has trouble raising his hands in worship. Even in his weakness, Adam’s friend pushes his body to the limits out of love for God. Adam called us to be leaders in worship, to give everything we have to Him. What an awesome challenge that I think we all need.

Pete Burds began by telling us about one of his childhood heroes, pitcher Randy Johnson. Johnson once threw a 105 mph fastball that accidentally hit (and obliterated) a bird. If you dare, you can view the video here.

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“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” — Pope Benedict XVI

Matt Regitz started his talk at this morning’s men session with an encouraging thought that spoke to the heart of every man in attendance, “When I’m done speaking, you will be able to eat lunch!” which was, of course, was greeted by outrageous applause.

But Matt didn’t spend too much time on silliness. He immediately began sharing some personal stories of recent struggles from his life and the lives of his loved ones – which caused me (and I suspect everyone in attendance) to reflect on our past and present personal struggles. This was important, because when we struggle, we can be tempted to believe that we aren’t where we are supposed to be…but that thought is a lie. God has us right where He wants us to be at this very moment; our challenge is to trust that!

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What does it mean to be a man? In today’s society there is a lot of clutter surrounding what it actually means to live a genuine masculine life. It is a harsh reality that there is lot of temptation around us and these temptations have distorted the answer to this question. These struggles can often steer us away from who we were meant to be and what God has planned for us.

Jimmy reminded us that you can be close to God’s grace, but your sins against purity and chastity can deflect that grace away. He talked about his time in middle school when he was very involved in his church and a youth group, but was still struggling to have an honest relationship with God because of his daily struggles fighting temptation. Continue reading

Some Rules Were Meant to be Broken

Rachel Allen had some rules for the young women today. She gave them some great ways to help them to discover God’s limitless love and perpetual support. Matt Fradd had some rules for the young men as well. However, they were rules that limit God’s work in their lives (which should be ‘Limitless’), so these are ones to break.

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