Hello everybody! As you may have heard we have started announcing weekly service opportunities in CAM. We believe that God has called us to love the community around us by serving in whatever ways we can. We talked about these opportunities in more detail at our CAM: Blizzard Edition, but if you were snowed in, or just forgot, here they are again so you can be thinking about which one you would like to help with. (You can also pick up a sheet of these at our info table at CAM.)

Free Food Revolution
Sundays at 3 pm on the corner of state and mifflin. Show Christ’s love for the poor by serving food and interacting with the homeless community.
Contact- jziehr@wisc.edu

Pregnancy Helpline
Tursdays at 5:30. Help provide clothing, dippers, and baby food for families.
Contact- kjarvis@wisc.edu

Capital Lakes Retirement Center
Saturdays. Provide company and use your talents to entertain the elderly
Contact- smanderson9@wisc.edu

Allied Drive Food Pantry
Saturdays. Stock donated food supplies and help people shop for food.
Contact- jageng@wisc.edu

Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Hey everybody in CAM land and beyond! I hope all of you students are enjoying your break! Just a couple things I want to remind everybody of.

First is that a group of around 50 college students and leaders just returned from the Passion Conference in Atlanta Georgia. I was excited to go for a second time. I am always amazed at the magnitude of this event (around 22,000 students). God worked in some amazing ways including the raising of over a million dollars for different causes around the world including the funding of surgeries for kids, digging wells in Africa, and funding rescue missions for girls caught in sex trafficking. It’s an amazing thing to see broke college students give so much to help people in need.

The worship and speakers were exceptional as well. You can check out the talks at 268generation.com. I think the coolest part of passion for me is seeing all those people praising the name of Jesus. We came from all different parts of the country an all sorts of different backgrounds but we all had one thing in common… we wanted to lift high the name of the Lord.

I also want to remind everybody of the other winter trip to Georgia assisting Habitat for Humanity this week of Jan 9. A group of around 6 students just arrived in Georgia and is set to work building homes. Lets remember to pray for these guys and gals who are giving up their time to serve people and serve Christ.

Yes, believe it or not the Passion Conference of 2011 is coming quickly and we don’t want anyone to miss out on this AWESOME experience!! Around 20,000 students from around the world meet together in Atlanta, GA for 3 days of excellent worship, great teaching, and a chance to make a difference in the world. I went on this trip last year and it blew my mind! The music and speakers were absolutely amazing! It was an experience that I will never forget.

We would love if you came to Passion 2011 with us! I have posted a link below that show some highlights of last years conference as well as links to Passion 2011′s video and webpage. We’ve announced in CAM that we have a few tickets at the lowest price available, so if you are interested be sure to get your $150 deposit to Emily ASAP to reserve a place with us. She can be reached at enelsen@blackhawkchurch.org

Passion 2010 Photo Montage

Passion 2011 Promo Video

http://www.268generation.com/2.0/splash5.htm

So CAM just had our Fall Retreat this last weekend and our theme for the week was joy. The Bible tells us to be joyful (rejoice always, Phil. 4:4). I get a funny picture in my head when I think of a joyful person. I think of some guy with a goofy smile on his face giving high fives to everyone around. But what if something goes wrong? Seriously wrong, like financial problems, relationship troubles, sickness, or death. Do the high fives continue? Is it possible to be joyful in those situations?

There’s no doubt we are happy when circumstances in our lives are good. Visa versa when things are bad, we are angry or sad. So are we suppose to be abnormal and rejoice when we go into debt, fight with a friend, lose a loved one? Not exactly. BECAUSE of all these circumstances we are saddened. IN SPITE of these circumstances God is in control and working everything together for good (Phil. 1:6), and we can be joyful in that!

Consider Jesus as he was killed on the cross. His joy was laid up in the completed work of God when He was raised from the dead. Christ suffered through a horrendous death so we could be redeemed from sin. His joy in suffering was in God’s completed work of redemption. (Heb. 12:2)

What is your joy rooted in? Are you only joyful when the sun is shining and everything is “as it should be”? Take some time in the midst of you day (good or bad) to reflect on what Christ has done, and is continuing to do in you. Trials will come there’s no doubt about that. Are you seeking your joy from the good work of Jesus Christ?

If God come to you and said you could have anything you wanted, what would you say? I’d probably ask for a bajillion dollars. That number doesn’t exist you say. Well anything is possible with God… I just hope a bajillion dollars is as much as I imagine it to be. But really now, what would you ask for? Money, fame, power, security in your future, health, a loving spouse/family, the ability to fly?

Believe it or not this exact scenario happens in 2nd Chronicles. No, not the Chronicles of Narnia or Riddick. We’re talking about Old Testament Bible. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 1 we see God come to the king of Israel, a guy named Solomon. (I encourage you to read the story. The Bible tells it way better than I do.) Talk about hitting the jackpot! Here is Solomon’s chance to set himself up for life. So what is his answer… Wisdom. Wisdom and knowledge in leading his people. Not overly exciting at first glance but upon further review you start to realize that this answer in-and-of-itself is very wise.

Well needless to say, God was very pleased at Solomon’s answer and He gave him exactly what he asked; as well as wealth, riches, and honor. He ordered the sandwich but got the whole meal along with it!

Solomon is considered one of the wisest men in all of the Bible. He wrote much of the book of Proverbs which is full of wise advise for living a Godly lifestyle. Proverbs 13:20 states that, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” So Solomon, the wisest man around, says that the people you surround yourself with have a huge affect on your life. Its a simple equation. Wise influences = Wise, Foolish influences = Harm.

Last Tuesday I talked in CAM about how huge influences can be in our lives. They shape who you are, and who you are becoming. If the wisest man in all the world thought it was important to have good and wise influences, shouldn’t we?

Who are you allowing to influence you?

So if no one has officially welcomed you to Madison for this school year… consider yourself welcomed by CAM!! Hopefully if your reading this blog you’ve checked out our Welcome Week events. We’ve got some sweet things coming up that serve as pure fun as well as a great opportunity to meet some awesome people!

We kicked things off with a bonfire at picnic point on Wednesday. Sorry if you missed it… you missed a good time with s’mores, a fire, good people, and a beautiful view of the city of Madison. But if you did miss it don’t worry, Welcome Week is far from over. Next event is at my joint, 1317 Mound St. (currently called “The Seuss” because of its many crooked features). The Spoon Party, “bring your own spoon” ice cream party. This Friday at 8:00!

Then continue the long weekend activities with some ultimate friz at the east Nat Field at 2:00! It should be an ultimate show of ultimate, ultimately resulting in an ultimate time with friends. Oh yeah.

But here’s the kicker… CAM COOKOUT TUES. SEPT 7TH!!!! Complete with free food, a live band, and a whole lot of fun!!!! Everyone is welcome so bring all your friends, roommates, and even that random dude you just met on the bus. Hope to see you there!

A–A good reminder from Brandon last Tuesday about putting your relationship with God as your top priority. It reminded me of some of my favorite verses in Matthew 6 concerning worrying about the future. Priority 1: Seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, then all the rest will be added to you (v.33). Whew! Talk about easier said than done! But that’s a promise from God’s word that we can take to the bank. If we devote our time and energy into seeking God, our deposit won’t return void. Keep seeking God through the Bible and prayer so that we can be prepared when life throws us a curve.

B–Brewers… Well, there’s always next season!

C–CAMping. Although I was only in on one night of it, I was not disappointed. Good ol’ singing around a campfire, s’mores, hot dogs, s’mores, swimming, volleyball, s’mores, hiking, and s’mores. It was a good trip to Devil’s Lake. One activity stood out the most for me though and that was our massive game of s’mores, I mean… glow-in-the-dark ultimate frisbee. I had never played before and it was awesome!! A definite “highlight” of the week, maah! And better yet… no major injuries to report!!

Hey everybody in blogger land! This is actually the first blog post I’ve written in my entire life… so that’s my excuse if you think its bad. Anywhoo…

I just wanted to share some thoughts and a little personal testimony about the talk I gave last Tuesday at CAM about loving others.

First of all, God never lets me give a challenge to people from His word without giving me an opportunity to practice what I preach. So knowing that I figured somewhere along the line I would be challenged with the task of loving someone just as I love myself. A simple enough task you may think… until you really think about how much time you spend on yourself.

Ok so here it is. I’m working away on my talk for Tuesday when I get interrupted by a friend needing to chat. That’s fine, but it better not take long I’m thinking. Come to find out my friend was really struggling with some things and just needed someone to talk it through with.

I had two options: 1. Tell him that I couldn’t talk because he was distracting me from learning about loving others and I really needed to focus. (yeah I know, makes a lot of sense)
Or 2. Exercise my love muscles and take some time to listen to what he needed help with and offer some encouragement.

I tend to catch on to things slowly, so it was a good thing I had been studying about loving others for awhile. God basically thumped me over the head with all these verses I had been reviewing and said, “Are ya serious Brett? Why is there even a question in your mind about what you should do?”

So I sat and listened to my friend and gave whatever encouragement I could to him. And I tell ya… I learned more about loving others that night than all my other study times combined.

To be honest it wasn’t very difficult to love in this situation, but it got me thinking about if this wasn’t a friend or if I had something more pressing I needed to do. That’s the challenge for me. Can I put me aside and lift others up even when it hurts? Jesus did.

If you want to read more about what God says about love I would check out the book of 1st John. (especially chapter 4)

-Brett