Encouragement

One of the things that the Lord has really put on my heart recently is encouragement. So far, I have realized two things about encouragement: 1) Encouragement is powerful – with just a few words, we are able to affirm, refuel, and inspire others, and 2) encouragement is a gift.  I am blown away by the fact that we have the ability to use our mouths to build each other up.  We can be used by the Lord to communicate His love to His children!  Crazy!

When we encourage others, we are glorifying the Lord.  We are appreciating the unique ways that He has gifted His creation.  We are celebrating the fact that He uses sinners to do incredible things for His Kingdom.  Because encouragement is so important, we need to make sure that we are practicing it in our lives!  In order to make the most with this gift, we should keep a few things in mind when speaking to your student(s):

• Be specific.  Whether you have an incredible or not so incredible student they need you to be specific with them, don’t just say, “You’re doing a great job.”  Let them know WHY they are doing a great job.  Talk to them about the gifts you have seen them use.  Talk to them about the impact they are making in other students’ lives.
• Be authentic.  Don’t say anything you don’t mean!  Giving out insincere encouragement will quickly make your words useless.  Empty words are a waste of the incredible gift that the Lord has given us and can even be damaging to your students growth.
• Be thankful. A great way to encourage is to thank them.  Celebrate the awesome ways that the Lord has used them.  Make sure they know how much of a blessing they have been in your life.
• Be observant.  Capitalize on unique opportunities for encouragement.  Notice the moment when your student steps outside of their comfort zone on a serving trip.  Take the time to write letters of affirmation.  This also means that you are making sure you see those things that don’t often get praise, the actions that wont make them heroes, but matter in the long run of life.

Spend time in prayer about this.  Pray for the ability to look at others in the same way that Jesus looks at them.

I challenge you to spend some time thinking about the student in your life that needs encouragement.  Go out of your way this week to write them a letter or pull them aside for an intentional conversation.

-Pastor Jeff

Camp Follow-Up

Hi parents!

It is 1AM and I’m just getting back to my dorm to pack up and get ready to head home tomorrow morning. Your kids are doing the same thing right now after a great late-night service and group time — the finale of a truly great week!

I wanted to share some highlights with you before we make it back into town tomorrow afternoon. We’ve been at LIFT camp at Cedarville University (www.lift4life.com) all week with the theme #LEGIT: Be Real, Be Now, Be You. Our speaker was EJ Swanson (www.ejswanson.org). He has a powerful story he shared on the opening night — and continued each of the following evenings to challenge students to love God, share their own story and invite friends to church. The music was led by HeartSong, Cedarville Universities own worship team (www.cedarville.edu/heartsong). They have done an amazing job helping us be prepared to hear from the Lord and finding freedom in our worship.

I’ve encouraged your student to spend time with you on Friday night — before they jump into their world. I asked them to escape with you for the evening to talk about camp. I can’t wait for you to hear their stories and share their decisions with you. If it is at all possible, grab dinner and talk about camp together — here’s a few things you could talk about and a few questions to get you started:

·      What struck you about EJ’s messages?

·      Which Bible story EJ taught was your favorite?

·      Who was your counselor? What did you learn from him/her?

·      Did you do any outreach projects?

·      Did you make any spiritual decisions this week?

·      What song was the most meaningful to you? Why?

·      What did you do during the free time?

·      On a scale of 1 to 10, how good was the food at camp?

·      Did you miss me?

Just so you know your student probably got an extra sock or two in their suitcase, too, because it is camp and that stuff just happens, don’t worry about finding the original owner, just burn it.

Well, the bus will pull out soon and we’re just about on our way home. Camp is silent for now… but we’re trusting God the decisions made here will last for a lifetime. Thanks for sending your student to Summer Camp at LIFT— it is such a worthy investment — you’ll see it in their exhausted eyes when they get off the bus. See you soon!

-Pastor Jeff 

Parent Camp Information Letter

Your son/daughter will be attending Camp next week, July, 16-20^th!

The adults in charge for the week are Jeff and Alisha Miller, Derek and Melissa Glynn, Holly Hartley, Donna Glynn, Linda Flaker and Adam Glynn.

Transportation arrangements are as follows:

We will be meeting at 6 am in front of the Church on Monday, July 16.

 Please do not be late as it is important that we arrive at camp on time.

We will be returning on Friday July 20th at approximately 5 pm.

                                                                           

To write to your Student(s) during the week send your letters to: 

C/O LIFT Student Ministries

(Student Name @ Edgewood BC)

251 N. Main St.

Cedarville, OH 45314

If medication is being sent with your Student please provide clearly written instructions for dispensing along with the original medicine bottle (no medicine in baggie’s please).

If there is anything that you would like me to know about your Student before spending a week with him/her at camp please write me a note or feel free to call me at 309-786-7913.

Please be sure your Student is prepared for his/her best summer camp experience.

I am looking forward to spending a great week of camp with our students. I know we are going to have a memorable week.  As always be in prayer for the Spirit of the Lord to move freely among our group and for our students to make decisions of eternal significance.  

In the event of a family emergency please me at 972-345-2585.

In Him,

Pastor Jeff Miller

Edgewood BC 

A great blog post from my friend in ministry Doug Fields

I’m a people-watcher by nature anyway, but the environments where we waited in lines, sat closely to people, and were gathered in crowds basically became “observation on steroids.” If I boiled my observation into two categories, it would be:

1. spouses saying unkind things to one another.
2. parents verbally belittling their children.

I know this isn’t a new observation, but it was such a strong scent that I couldn’t escape.

Since it doesn’t take intelligence to be critical, let me suggest one relational principle that has helped me. I realize it’s easier said than done… but it’s as simple as:

DON’T SAY EVERYTHING YOU THINK!

I realize this takes self-control and a degree of humility, but the results are amazing!

• When an emotion is triggered and you want to react with a verbal dagger…don’t.
• When your pride is enhanced and you want to say something that will be a zinger comeback and put the other person in their place…don’t.
• When your patience is exhausted and a strong reaction will make you feel better…don’t.

I have a quick wit, and a propensity for sarcasm, and that is an amazing combination of skills that creates some really strong statements… that nobody hears but me.

As a spouse and a parent I’ve had to learn that I don’t need to say everything that I think. When I do, it ends up:

1. wounding
2. triggering more reactions
3. demeaning those I love
4. enhancing the situation
5. creating negative memories

Words are powerful! Misguided words hurt… they hurt deeply.

Just because you think something doesn’t mean you have to say it. Remind yourself, not all words need to be spoken.

DON’T SAY EVERYTHING YOU THINK!

Practice it for a day and see how it goes.