Matt grew up in a Christian home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where he enjoyed surfing and beach volleyball. Rachel grew up in Madison and attended Blackhawk from a very young age. They are both graduates of Wheaton College, where they met playing volleyball. They were married at Blackhawk in 1994, and were involved in youth ministry in Ft. Lauderdale for the next three years. From 1997 to 2000 they served with Peak 3, a high adventure ministry to youth in Colorado. They moved to Madison and Matt began his ministry at Blackhawk in August/September 2000. Hannah was born in October 1999 and Leah on January 1, 2002.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the midle of June. I’m sitting downtown on a beautiful, sunny day and just finished a meeting with another ministry leader about our downtown campus which we are planning to launch this coming mid September. In case you haven’t heard, Blackhawk Church is going to be launching a campus of Blackhawk at the Majestic Theater this Fall. We are really excited about this new venture to see what God has in store for us! This is going to be a full multigenerational church.

This coming Sunday, June 20 at Blackhawk, we are going to be having meetings after every service to talk with people about the new launch in order to find people who would like to be a part of this. I’m simply writing this as a head’s up to say that if you are planning on making Blackhawk Church downtownyour home next year, we’d love to see you at one of these meetings. Obviously, if you aren’t in Madison this summer, that will be a little hard for you to make. But, if you are here for the summer, let us know you are interested to come and be a part of Blackhawk at the Majestic.

Summer is finally here! I love this season of the year. It’s fairly warm and sunny during most days. You can often catch the scent of fresh cut grass or grilled meat in the air. Life tends to be a little more laid back. It’s a beautiful season.

For us at CAM, we took a couple of weeks off right after finals in order to plan out what next semester will look like. We had great times getting to know new team members and praying together that God would continue to lead us in the directions He wants us to go.

Now, as June is upon us, we are back in full swing with CAM for the summer….and we’d love to have you on board with us. We know that during the summer months, many different types of people find themselves here in Madison.

So….
whether you are a college student here to take a class or 2 over the summer…
If you you grew up in Madison and go to college somewhere else but find yourself back here for the summer…
If you are a student else where only here for the summer to take classes or work an internship…
If you are working in the area and looking for some people to get to know and spend time with…
If you are a graduating high school senior who is more than ready to take the plunge into the next stage of life….

…we are hoping that CAM can be a place for you to land, feel comfortable in and have a chance to take a look at what role God might desire to play in your life in this season.

We are looking forward to getting to know you this summer! Come hang out with us.

Matt

For all of you who were at Study Day yesterday and had the chance to make it to our time of worship, here is the clip I mentioned on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXh_tgjnYJw

It’s the story behind the song God of This City. I know that many of us just thought it was another great song written by Chris Tomlin but, it actually might surprise you where the song came from….. Hope that you you enjoyed Study Day! We’d love to hear how the day was for you. We look forward to seeing you all soon. Hope finals go well!!!

Grace & Peace,

Matt

This past week at CAM, we started a series on the book of Jonah. Jonah was a man who looked like the perfect God-follower from the outside but his heart was messed up. His life was like shiny poop. I used an example from a clip that I had seen on mythbusters based around the premise that “you can’t shine a turd.” Here’s the clip that I talked about. Take a look….
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-polishing-a-turd.html

If you missed this past Tuesday night…..let’s just say you missed an incredible evening. Our own Paul Lefeber from Blackhawk put out an album this past year and since that time, has been playing at different bars and clubs around the Dane County area. On Tuesday night, he took time out to come and play a mini concert for our crowd at CAM. Let’s just say that the night was really great. As Paul played many of his own songs and shared with us where his inspiration for them came from, I found myself being encouraged and looking at my own walk with Christ in a deeper way. Paul is a great story teller and his honesty with our group was refreshing. At the end of the night, he offered free cd’s to anyone who couldn’t afford one. In other words, our “poor college students” got hooked up with free music.
Yes, it was an amazing evening……but he fact of the matter is, in my opinion, this entire semester has been amazing! Every night that CAM teams have put something on, I have walked away thinking to my self, “what a great night!” This is the strongest our ministry has been in the 9 years I have the chance to be involved with CAM. We hope to see you at more Tuesday nights that are up and coming.

This past Tuesday night we began our new series called “when I grow up.” We talked about how the decisions that we make today will affect the people who we become tomorrow. There is a story that each of us is writing and a path that each of us is on. The pieces are connected. It’s like “the domino effect.” Here is a link to wikipedia’s thoughts on the domino effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_effect

At the end of my talk, I asked people to answer these questions.

At the end of your life, What story do you want to have written?

In light of the story that you want to write, are the decisions you are making in life helping or hindering you in writing that story.

We are all on a path. What path are you on and where is it taking you?

While I was prepping for my talk, I came across 2 great clips from youtube that exemplify “the domino effect.” One is with old school dominoes while the other is with mentos and diet coke. My guess is they might not bring any more any more clarity to what we discussed Tuesday night…..but they are stinkin fun to watch!!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGqZAMHS-M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vk4_2xboOE

I’m sitting this morning watching people on the news share more and more tragic information about the ramifications of the earth quake in Haiti. Needless to say, it is staggering. I feel like there is only so much that I can take in at one time yet, I don’t ever want to turn it off.
I received an email from a friend of mine on staff at Blackhawk named Paul Lefeber who lost a friend there. Here is his email…..

I just received news from Mariah that a friend of ours (Ben) was killed by the earthquake in Haiti. He and his wife have only been married for a few years. She was in the same building but survived. He and his wife were finishing seminary degrees at Wartburg in Dubuque, IA. They had previously interned at a church in Lincoln. He was a guy with a lot of life and passion for Christ. They were in Haiti on a short term mission trip, serving on Lord.

If you would, please pray for his wife Renee and his parents (also pastors). This is an amazing tragedy for them.

Also, perhaps you could take a moment today to pray for what is going on down there. It sounds pretty unbelievable. I can’t help but wonder how many stories there are like Ben’s. Not to mention the untold numbers of Haitians who have died.

If you’re interested, here is an article about Ben:
http://www.wibw.com/nationalnews/headlines/81548117.html

Peace,
paul

Welcome, Seth Dunham – New CAM Intern!

Seth is on board full-time with the CAM team at least through May 2010 and is already an awesome asset to the team. He has his undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Trinity International and is a recent graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with a Masters in Divinity. He is taking on some teaching oppportunities and other leadership roles within the ministry this and we hope you all have a chance to meet him soon and get to know him throughout the semester. If you’re interested in being in touch, friend him on Facebook (he needs friends) or email him at sdunham@blackhawkchurch.org.

Hi everyone.

A couple of weeks ago, at my last talk for the semester, I used a quote from CS Lewis that a few people have asked about. Here it is in case you are looking for it.

“I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes.”

Excerpt: “Morality – Not an End in Itself” by C.S. Lewis

Only 3 days left to sign up for Passion 2010 at this amazing rate of $140. We also have a great deal on hotel rooms at a hotel hooked onto the conference center. But, on Dec 1, the deal goes away….. so sign up today. Questions? Contact Valerie Ryan at vryan@blackhawkchurch.org.