Solid Rock in Wilmington July 16

SOLID ROCK is a team of high school students (grades 10-12) who audition to be a part of the group. They combine singing, instrumental music, acting and other artistic expressions to present a program to encourage people in their relationship with God. Prior to a one-week tour, including stops in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and New York, they meet for a week on Cincinnati Christian University‘s campus to rehearse and prepare.

We are looking forward to hosting SOLID ROCK as one of our own students is a member of the group. We have had several students from our church family who have been a part of the group in the past and they have great stories of their experiences.

The picture above is a photo of this year’s group at one of their earlier presentations. I snagged it off of the aforementioned student’s mom’s Facebook page.

If you are in or near the Wilmington area, we’d love for you to join us. SOLID ROCK will present their program on Thursday, July 16 @ 7:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Great Week at MOVE #kingdomworker

Last week we took some of our high school students to the MOVE Conference held on Cedarville University’s campus. Christ In Youth has been producing weeks of conference for nearly 50 years and it seems like they just keep growing in number and getting better in quality.

This year’s theme was “You Are Here” and was based on the first six chapters of the Old Testament book of Daniel. Kind of a funny thing about the theme – anytime I saw the theme “You Are Here” I assumed it was about those of us who were going to be at MOVE. Once we got rolling in the week, it was obvious that the “You” was not a reference to “me” or to “us,” but to God. God was present with Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and He is present with us. That thread ran throughout the week of conference – You (God) Are Here!

Over the past few years, there has been an intentional move on the part of the coordinators of the week to challenge students to take what they experience at conference and live it out at home. They use the phrase #kingdomworker. All of us, no matter our age or location, can be kingdom workers. Several of our students accepted specific challenges to be kingdom workers at home. I’m excited to see how they work out those specific tasks in the coming weeks and months.

One of the benefits of MOVE (or any summer camp or conference) is time spent with students. We had two times each day that was focused on talking about and applying what was happening during the week. We also had free times and meals together, which provided times for conversation and getting to know each other.

On one particular day, the students had a chance to write encouraging words to each other. It was cool to sit back and watch them think through what they could write to encourage others in the group.

There were several fun elements included throughout the week. In the book of Daniel, there is a unique event that involves King Nebuchadnezzar. The king has become quite arrogant, so God warms him that if he doesn’t change, God would humble him. Nebuchadnezzar ignores the warning so God caused him to live as an animal, complete with long nails that look like claws and long hair that grows to resemble feathers. You can read the entire story in Daniel 4. To highlight that event, students were encouraged to come to morning session in animal outfits. Here’s some of our group:

It was a good week to see God move in the lives of students and adults and send us out to be kingdom workers. I’m looking forward to see the commitments made this week become a reality.