{"id":1395,"date":"2011-02-04T18:19:59","date_gmt":"2011-02-05T00:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=1395"},"modified":"2011-02-14T11:14:36","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T17:14:36","slug":"state-of-the-communion-2011-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/state-of-the-communion-2011-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the Communion: 2011, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update:<\/strong> Click here for Part 2<\/a>, Part 3<\/a>, and here for the 2010 Highlight Video<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a series of three posts we will publish several highlights from 2010 written by members of our staff, to remind ourselves of God’s greatness toward us, and Christ’s faithfulness to build his church. This won’t be comprehensive, but will highlight some of those things that took place that were unique to last year. The full report is also available for download<\/a> in case you’d rather print it off and read it in one sitting.<\/p>\n

What follows are reports from the\u00c2\u00a0Biblical Counseling Ministry<\/a>, Parent\/Student Ministry<\/a>, and the Music Ministry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Biblical Counseling<\/a>, Tim Bradley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0year was business as usual. There were\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0highs and lows\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0counseling ministry, children hearing about\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0greatness\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0our God and participating in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0biblical mission by sending toothbrushes and fluoride treatments to Guatemala, and going to\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0rez for Christmas Store, a parenting seminar, and\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0completion\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0first year\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0marriage ministry classes. Again, this was business as usual, but God was faithful to work through\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0ordinary to display His glory by saving some, and sanctifying many.<\/p>\n

God was also faithful to display His glory by bringing over 250 children, 100 volunteers and many families from DSC,\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Vista del Norte neighborhood, and\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0community at large to VBS. This is always a highlight\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0my year and for many others. We work hard, have a blast, herald\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0gospel\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0Jesus Christ, give DSC a facelift for a week, brought\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Arctic and Popsicle\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Penguin to\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0desert in July, and grew more in love with Jesus and kids.<\/p>\n

One\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0highlights\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0VBS 2010 happened on Friday during family night, undetected, and in\u00c2\u00a0the quiet recess\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0auditorium. Our God was performing a miracle in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0heart\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0a 21 year old visitor, and God and this young man were\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0only ones who knew what was happening.\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0first we heard\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0it was when this 21 year olds mother came into\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0church office one October afternoon and shared with me\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0story\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0her years\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0prayer for her son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soul being answered at VBS.\u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0woman shared that she lived out\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0state, was in Albuquerque visiting family, and that she and her son came to family night with their relatives. She had been praying for her son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s salvation for years, and was growing weary\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0his utter disinterest in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Lord.\u00c2\u00a0She testified that her son sat through\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0entire family night program, but that he seemed totally disinterested and appeared to be texting with his phone throughout\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0evening. She was frustrated, but she also expected this from him.<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to her, her son was listening,\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0Lord was changing her son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heart from stone to flesh, rescuing him by His grace, and answering her years\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0prayer. A couple weeks after VBS her son shared with her what had happened, began going to church, and proclaimed his love for Jesus. Her heart was overjoyed, and she was compelled to encourage us and proclaim God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goodness in saving her son. She was in and out that afternoon in October, and we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0young man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name, but we praise our merciful and loving Father for displaying His glory in and through VBS and in\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0life\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0a 21 year old saint. Soli Deo Gloria!!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Parent\/Student Ministry<\/a>, Greg Schneeberger<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to share three encouraging anecdotes:<\/p>\n

First, our High School leadership team is growing, and our youth band has improved tremendously. As a result\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0our Sunday meetings (835am), more HS students are actually going to church than ever. These students are like a mini Community Group for me. I get to disciple them in a hands-on way. Several\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0our young men have expressed a desire to pursue ministry.<\/p>\n

Second, Mid-High nights were great this last year, especially our\u00c2\u00a0Reformation\u00c2\u00a0Day Party and our Christmas party. We had lots\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0students and parents show up for a great time together as a paradox family.<\/p>\n

Finally, one key area\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0growth has been partnership with other churches. We did camp this summer with Heights Cumberland, and just returned from a winter retreat with four other churches. God is building some cool unity among\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0body in Albuquerque.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Music Ministry<\/a>, Drew Hodge<\/strong><\/p>\n

Soon after starting the job in April I had the vision to do a “night of worship” concert. After discussing the idea with some of my team members we came up with the idea of a concert with a live recording. So we started working, and writing. We wrote some new worship tunes, and deciding on the songs we thought best for the worship concert and the live CD. In August we started meeting and going over details for the night and nailed down the final list of songs for the record. September was full of band rehearsals. The night itself was a sweet time of worship through song and Scripture. After the concert we got right to work on the record: editing, mixing, mastering, and preparing artwork. We were able to meet our Christmas deadline for the release of Cause for Praise. We have been blessed by hearing what God is doing through the album. Our hope is to make a record every year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: Click here for Part 2, Part 3, and here for the 2010 Highlight Video. In a series… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}