Pell City Newsletter

Dear friends and family,

                Well, the summit is over, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we truly don’t want to leave. This summit is our first full summit after our 2-3 week break in Florida/Alabama and it has felt very fast and yet very slow at the same time. We saw some of the biggest confessions and changed lives in this church so far this year, and I’ve been very excited to write this newsletter to tell you all about Eden Westside.

The Church

This church has been praying for the summit for a long time and even went through the Daniel Fast in preparation for the summit. They have a great outreach ministry in the community with their Revelation walk and they are really seeking after God to find out what His will for their church is. They had some incredible stories about how God had provided the land for their church, and how He had provided far more than what they needed and how they have gotten to us it for His glory. Pastor Jackie passionately leads the church and is really excited to see how this summit will affect them in the long run. The testimonies here were some of the most amazing out of the year. One lady’s testimony was truly amazing. For the majority of her life, she had lived a lie. She was very good at imitation, the point that she was able to forge two diplomas from universities that she had never gone to. And so with those two diplomas, she lived her life just as regularly as everyone else. She got jobs with those diplomas, got married, and continued to live her life, even up into the summit. But during the summit, God really began to grip her heart and show her the sin in her life, and that she needed to confess it. So on the final Sunday morning, after she had confessed to her husband, in a spirit of brokenness she got up in front of the entire church to confess the lie that she had been living for almost all of her life! This is just one of the awesome stories we have had from the summit.

The Ministry

For whatever reason, I have seen team members get into the lives of the church members more at this summit than any summit prior to this, and that in of itself has been really cool to see. We have also been invited over to more family’s houses so we have been able to get into their lives as well. This summit I got to stay with Clint Smith, the drummer on our team, and almost every night, we had some kind of deep discussion about life, the Bible, or some kind of controversial topic (LOVED it!) One of the greatest things about this summit by far was our amazing host people Barbara and Warren Lovvorn (yes, it is fun to say.) They were such a blessing to us from the first night and God really did a work in their lives that is unbelievable to see. The stories in this church were great as team members got to get into the lives of their host families (including two guys who were there when their host dad got engaged to his girl friend!)

The Team

Like I said in the previous paragraph, the team really reached out to impact the church members in a way that I had never seen before. Some of the band members really reached out to a man named Thomas who the drummer at the church, and really poured time and effort into spending time with him. The team got a chance to come over to my host home and have a night of games and then the next week we got to shopping as a team. (Note to self: shopping with girls is vicious. I repeat, VICIOUS!) Add in an afternoon of bowling and that’s just a few things that the team got to do while in Pell City. One of the biggest things that happened to our team though was on one of the mornings of the first week. There is a huge hill behind the church that we were at, and Jeremiah (our team revivalist) told the team that he wanted us to climb up the mountain. There were many different roads that we could have taken up the mountain and we were supposed to decide what road we should take. I’ll tell you more about what I learned in a little bit, but it was the coolest sight to see my team walking up the mountain in different patterns and paths.

 My Life

Life has been good, and I am blessed. God cares enough for me to bring me down notches to show me where I am compared to him. While on the mountain, God showed me about peace. In the last month, things have come up that have really rocked my peace, and given way to a lot of doubts and concerns in my life. (Also known as worry). As I walked up the mountain, I was looking for paths which characterized my life, and I decided to take a path through the trees. I had worn sandals that day, and as I walked up through the woods, the ground kept crumbling under my feet and I soon realized it probably wasn’t the best idea. But after I finally made it up, I looked back and started to see that if I had had the right footwear; it would have been much easier. Just like in life, we have footwear that we can choose to wear or not wear. It’s one of the least famous parts of the Armor of God, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. As I looked at the hill, I started to realize that it characterizes my life in that, trials will come, whether I like it or not. However, if I have the right “footwear” or peace in those trials, it makes for a much easier job than if I worry. (This is the clearest way I can try to explain what God taught me. It’s kinda hard, and it makes sense in my head, hopefully it does for you too)

Well, we only have 4 meetings left. It’s so hard to believe that we are coming to the end, but I am already looking forward to telling you all about the next summit!

In Christ,

                Josh   

Oxford Newsletter

Dear friends and family,

                Greeting from the town of Oxford, otherwise known as the town next to Ole Miss University! We are about to finish our 2 week summit here in the town of Oxford, and it has been nothing but amazing. Sorry these are back to back (Wifi is kinda iffy from church to church)but this is actually our first full summit since Ellendale way back at the beginning of the year.

The Church

The church, in short, has been incredible. First Baptist of Oxford started praying for revival TWO years ago when they found out that we were coming. That right there humbled us from the start. One gentlemen was invited one night and as he walked in he asked his friend what was going on. “We are having a revival,” his friend said. “No, not that. Something is different about this place, I can feel it,” was all he replied. The first Sunday morning the sanctuary, that can seat about 500 comfortably, was filled to capacity for both services and was even more crowded for the Sunday School hour. That night, our team watched in amazement as the sanctuary continued to fill up until we were so packed into the pews that the teens had to bring metal chairs in to sit down! What a sight! The congregation continued to blow us away as they sang with the praise team. The sanctuary is more of a long, thin room, so when they all sang, the sound would get channeled right into the praise team, which was a literally heart-stopping experience.

The Ministry

 A lot of the team got to go to a nursing home in the area, and God really used them in the lives of many of the elderly people to lift up their spirits and to just listen. God also brought a great opportunity for our team to serve the church on the third Sunday. On a normal third Sunday, we normally have one combined service and up until this summit, it has never been an issue. However, First Baptist of Oxford’s sanctuary that could hold about 500 was filled to overflowing in both Sunday morning services, so the idea of having a combined service in there was simply impossible. Instead, on the Thursday before, the team got together and searched through the church to find spare chairs that we could put in the much larger fellowship hall. Although it wasn’t the easiest  thing in the world to do, we were able to squeeze 777 chairs into the fellowship hall and got to receive the blessing of seeing over 700 of those chairs filled that Sunday morning as the two services came together to worship God.  This summit, I got to stay with Justin Weeks, who I had stayed with before, but also Matthew Fredericks, who is our team leader and a teacher in base camp. It just goes to show that God listens to even little prayers because I had always wanted to stay with a Base camp AND Happy Heart City teacher, so that all three areas would be in one place, but I had never really put a lot of deep prayer and meditation into it. And yet, He still blesses us. J The three of us stayed at the Fisher’s house, with John, Elizabeth, John O, Sally Barrow, and Ferris. They were INCREDIBLE to us and blessed our lives on numerous occasions. Hopefully, we will get to see them in the future.

The Team

Right now, I am actually writing this letter to you as I ride in the truck up to Pell City, Alabama for our next summit. However, in between Oxford and Pell City, there was one little thing our team had to do, but I’ll take care of that in a minute or two. Over these last weeks, I have never had so much FUN with my team. I can’t explain it, and don’t get me wrong, we can still get on each other’s nerves J but God has been so good over the last couple of weeks by bonding us together in new and different ways. One way was an Ole Miss baseball game that we were taken to on the second Friday we were there. Although we wound up losing (by just one run though), we had such a great time laughing, making jokes, and just being silly and relaxed at a ball game.

    After Oxford, our team drove down to Naples, Florida (I know I know, suffering for Jesus) to play at the Life Action Vision Gathering conference. Simply put, people who donate to Life Action are invited to come down to see and hear about what the plans are for Life Action in the near and far future. God proved that He was bigger than all our problems, and smoothed the hills and raised the valley for us. After the conference, we still had about two days left in Florida, so what better to do than to GO TO THE BEACH! We got to go two days in a row and just had fun with swimming, volleyball, castle-making, and even burying people in the sand! God really stretched me in these last few weeks, way more than I can even go into right now, but I can honestly say that I am thankful for EVERYTHING that I learned from God and others! :D

My Life

It’s actually really weird right now, we are getting ready to go back into a “normal” summit, and yet, we’ve been out of a summit for about a week and a half and now “normal” doesn’t seem so normal anymore. We are praying that God does some amazing stuff at the church in Pell City. My life has been honestly really blessed in the past four weeks or so. Getting to spend more and more time with team members, getting past that “I kinda know you” phase” to “How can I be praying for you?” phase, and that is such an encouragement and blessing in my life.    

We are praying that God does some amazing stuff at the church in Pell City. On our way down to Florida, we actually stopped in Pell City for lunch and a lady came in to meet us, just because she saw our bus and was excited for Life Action to come! It will be really exciting to see what God does in this church.   

As I close, I would like you to watch the video that this link will take you to. It’s only about 6-7 minutes long, so it’s not a full-length movie, but it is very powerful and convicting. We show it at every summit on the first Thursday night, and as I watched it last night, I felt that I should share it with you all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMG_PVaJoI

Love you all! J

In Christ,

Josh

Clinton Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

And so ends follow-up summit number 2! As I type, I am being bounced around as me and Senor Blake Mathis drive the semi-truck to our next destination: Oxford, Mississippi. He’s listening to a sermon (aka his “alone” time) so I figured I’d go ahead and get you all up to date on life!

The Church

We have been in Clinton, Mississippi at Morrison Heights Church for the past week, following up on a summit that the Blue Team did just last year. This church happens to be the home church of another LA team member (Joel Purvis) and I even got the honor of staying at his house this summit. This summit was a little different than others because instead of starting on Sunday, we started with a Home Life Café on Saturday. Since this church had a Home Life Café just last year, Steve, Jeremiah, and Mrs. Debbie re-vamped the lessons and created Home Life Café 2.0. (And they might be using some of their stuff again!) Mo Heights was more than happy for us to come back, and the final testimony night was really cool to see how God brought so many people back to principles and truths that they had learned a year ago. Dr. Greg Belser was a blessing to our team and we are going to miss being in Clinton.

The Ministry

Although short, these summits have shown our team that God does not need a certain amount of time to work. He can work in someone’s life in 2 weeks or in just one night; it depends totally on Him, not our schedule. This summit, I got to stay with Clinton native Joel and along with Nathan Cowles, we had some good times playing Mario Party, Tennis, and even making a short horror flick. We also got to hang out with Mr. and Mrs. Purvis (shout-out since they get this email!) on the tennis courts, in the Froghead Grill, and even just sitting in the kitchen talking about life. They were amazing hosts and will be missed! (Maybe we’ll see them again in Pell City?)

The Team

Ok, so by far the two coolest things that happened in our team this summit was a Baptism and Valentine’s Day! Mandy (a girl on our team) decided that she wanted to be baptized while we were in Clinton, and after seeing the baptistery, I can tell why. (This thing is a swimming pool) So we all got to get together after the service one night, and got to watch her get baptized! Valentine’s Day was cool because of something called Secret Sister. The girls on our team are right now in the middle of something called Secret Sister, where each girl on the team has the name of another, and so for this half of the year, they will do random acts of kindness/buy them things that they like and secretly give them. The boys on the team are in on it because, well frankly, it’s easy to keep it a secret if guys deliver the presents instead of the girls. So Valentine’s Day looked like a Florist shop as guys were walking all over the church with bouquets of flowers to go from girl to girl.

My Life

Not a lot has changed this summit from the last one. God is right now teaching me the importance of choosing Joy in my life, and what happens if I don’t. Happiness is great and all, as long as you can keep yourself happy. But what happens when that runs out? Joy is the only thing that can come out us when we are truly exhausted, and it’s NOT through our power, but only through God. (That was for free J ) Signing was good, I saw some people in the audience try to sign along, especially kids. I really love that. Like REALLY love that. Haha I love how God encourages us with the little things.

For those of you who don’t know, I have made the decision tooooo STAY with Life Action for one more year! I really feel that this is where God has me for the time-being, and I also feel that I have the most potential for affecting His kingdom on the road for the next year. So yep, there ya go! I look forward to this Oxford church, so I guess I will talk to you all in about 3 weeks!

Josh    

Olive Branch Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

                Surprise! You get another newsletter! Haha yes, it is rather soon after the last one, but this summit was only a week long, so I figured I would just do a shorter update on what’s going on in the life of Life Action/Josh Caton.

The Church

The team got a special opportunity to go to the church of one of our own team members for this week. Longview Baptist Church (Clay Debolt’s church) has actually already gone through a Life Action summit. Two years ago, the blue team came to this church and after a church had to cancel; Longview was more than thrilled when our revivalist Steve called to see if they wanted us to come back for a follow up. Steve and Jeremiah decided that instead of doing some of the regular sermons that they would for a summit, they came up with all-new sermons for each night, dealing with issues such as having a “fun-filled” marriage and guarding your heart. The last night of popcorn testimonies was really great as people got up and shared how God had moved in them and had brought them back to a fresh desire and longing for him.

The Ministry

The ministry at this church was a little smaller than most, mainly because we were only here for a week. However, once we leave this summit, we will be driving back to Bartlett to lead at Faith Baptist Church on Sunday morning, and then leading a Wednesday night worship service at Broadway Baptist. This summit, I got to stay with Blake Mathis (Acoustic Guitar player and Trucker extraordinaire) at the Krumalis household. This is not their first time being a host home, but it is the first time that they have met both me and Blake. From the barbecue outings to playing racquetball, they have been a joy to get to know and I know that Blake and I will miss them a lot. (P.S. Blake is getting married in July, hurray for Blake!)   

     

The Team

Right now, the team is doing really well, but you all can be praying for wisdom for us. A lot of the team is going through a really hard decision right now of whether to come back for another year or not. If God brings us to your mind, your prayers will always be coveted. Most of the decisions will be made by Feb 15, and a lot of the team is really seeking God’s Will on what He wants them to do.

My Life

Life has been good, if not a tad more stressful than normal. In my materials job on the team, it got a little tight on some during the week, but God was good and provided. One night, more people came than had before and I had not figured on the extra bodies and when we finally got all the papers passed out, we only had about 4 left. Wow, God is good, even in the little things. He has been teaching me a lot over the last few days about Joy, and how true joy is found nowhere else but in His presence. THAT is a humbling thought right there. J Signing is as good as ever, and every night I am just reminded how much of a blessing it is to get to do it for His glory.

Since this is a shorter newsletter, I’ll go ahead and add in some of the history of the last week that we had at the Grove, a camp owned by a church in the Bartlett area.

The Grove                 

After our little stop in Olive Branch, we cruised back up to Tennessee for a one day conference at Faith church in Bartlett. After Sunday, they allowed us to stay in their camp, the grove for the next 4-5 days. It was a tremendous blessing for a ton of reasons!

We were tired, plain and simple, and the Grove gave us just a nice time to sit back and just spend time with the team. Normally, you would stay with only one or two other guys, but last week, we got to stay with the whole team, boys and gals under one roof. We each had our own sides of the main building, but got to meet in the center area every day for board games, music, and of course some movies. A couple of the grand memories involve Chipmunks invading the girl’s room, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and a discussion after watching after the Elephant Room. Over this last week, I really got to see my team come together and bond in a new way, and I am excited to see what God

does in us this next half of the year.

In closing, I must ask that you all keep me in your prayers for the next couple of days. On February 15, we make our official decision of whether or not to return to Life Action for another year. I am pretty sure what my decision will be, but I would be so blessed if you all would pray God’s Will be done and not mine. If He does not want me to come back, then I pray that He will change my heart. Either way, His will be done. And yes, you all will find out in the next message if it is a Yes or no. J

In Christ,

Josh   

Bartlett Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello 2012! And hello everyone, I hope your New Years was great! Well, I’m back on the road again, and this summit has been truly amazing. It’s been one of the busiest ones by far, but it has been great to get back into the swing of things! I actually left Atlanta and flew back up to Michigan to meet up with some of the team up there. Some of the team drove down in the bus and the truck while me and Senor Nathan drove another truck for some extra transportation. It has been great getting to know the people of Bartlett, Tenn. and to see God work in their lives. So let’s get started then!

The Church

Ellendale Baptist church has about 1000 members and has the unique story of being built building by building over the years to where now there are 7 independent structures for different ministries. Pastor Jerry really loves to get into the Word, and many of His people stood up throughout the summit and thanked him specifically for that. Bartlett is a really interesting town, they have almost one of everything: shops, stores, restaurants, etc. In addition, they also have a church on almost every street corner, so it’s really neat to see such a following from the community in Ellendale. And through slightly older congregation, God really broke through in the areas of church unity, pride, and just having things in our lives that take the place of God. These people were by far some of the nicest people I have met in any church. Whereas normally the team would have to walk up and start conversations, they church members were the ones who were initiating all the conversations with us! They have really blessed me, and I know they have blessed the rest of the team too!

The Ministry

This summit stretched our team in ways that no summit has before. A pastor’s conference called OneCry was taking place right down the road and they wanted us to play for it. What did that entail? Getting up earlier than our Sunday morning call time, working the conference all day, then driving back and doing a summit meeting that night. Needless to say, God was more than faithful. I wrote this little insert that night to explain a little of what happened that day.

Can I share with you what God to me today? It’s pretty amazing. Ok, so today, our team got to lead the ONECRY Pastor’s meeting in Memphis, Tenn at Faith Baptist Church. There were 150+ pastors and guests all coming to find out what Onecry was all about. So we had to get up early, like be at the church at 6:30 early. But lo and behold, Dustin (worship leader) bought us Mcd’s for breakfast, the day was off to a good start. After tons of little tiny difficulties, and God showing His power, the conference got under way, and men such a Bill Elliff and Michael Cait got up and shared their hearts, really crazy stuff. Now lunch, that was what blew my day away. I had asked if I could sit with the other pastors and after getting permission, me and another team member sat down at what appeared a regular table of guys. One of the 4 men was a gentlemen in all African attire by the name of Edmund and he had some incredible stories. He had trusted God to get him over to the US, and then after hearing about One Cry, God provided for the money to get him here. Another gentleman at the table had actually lived right around the area of Georgia that I used to live, almost within 20-30 minutes. The man to my left got into a conversation about sign language and how I learned it and got on the road. I found out that he was a worship leader and that he had a smaller congregation but he enjoyed a lot of the stuff I got to do. After lunch, I got up, truly blessed. One of my friends came up to me, and I just said “Man, lunch was great.” They answered, “Yeah, I can imagine, you had lunch with Clay Crosse.” Who? I know that was the worship leader, but who was he? Turns out, I was sitting right next to a 4 time Dove Award winner and never knew it. God truly blessed my socks off, and he saw it fit to even show me how much he blessed me.

Like I said, we were truly blessed. This summit, I got to stay with Justin Weeks, a happy heart city worker and one hilarious guy! We were able to stay with Stan and Pam Walls, two dear people that have really welcomed us into their home and, along with their dog Sam, into their hearts. We are going to miss them a lot. L

The Team

What can I say? It is so good to back with my second family. It was so cool to see our team meet back in a hotel lobby in Bartlett and just start talking and laughing just like we had never left. So far this summt, some of us have hit the mall, restaurants, we’re even going to play Tennis later today! I think that one of the two highlights for my team has been playing volleyball with the church’s college group, and also going to the Memphis zoo! The host families have been such a blessing, inviting the team over to just have fun, it’s a nice way to relax and just spend some time and laugh. After this summit, I’m really excited to see how God is going to use us this next half of the year!

My Life

Life has been going really good. Or more accurately, God has been really good to me. I have gotten to be in more and more skits for both Base Camp and Happy Heart City, and it’s an incredible blessing (even when the skits go wrong every once in a while J ) Signing is back with singing and it will never cease to amaze me just how God can use it. As I signed some of the nights, I would look out and see people of all ages from a young girl in Base Camp to an elderly gentleman trying to follow along and sign with me. It’s something that I honestly can’t explain in words, it’s one of those “You have to be there to experience it” kind of things. However, God chose to use something else to blow my mind this summit. On the second Sunday, there is a time for people to come back and talk about salvation. I got the honor of talking with a man named Chris, who was just confused about where he was. After about 10-15 minutes, I had no idea what else to say, and so I felt God just say “Don’t worry, just pray.” So we prayed and I asked him to read 1 John. Imagine my joy when he came up to me the next Sunday night to tell me that he had been saved that Wednesday! I could not believe it. God had chosen this man to come into his family, and I got to see it happen before my eyes. The acting is fun, and the signing is encouraging, but this story really does take the cake for my entire year on the road so far. J

Thanks to you all for your continued support. If you ever want to write me, please do! I love getting mail, email, and I WILL respond! (New Year’s Resolution…kind of ;) I pray that these letters really give you an idea of just how awesome our God truly is. Well, off the play some tennis! Love you all!

Josh  

Christmas Newsletter

Hello all! I hope this little message finds you all enjoying your Christmas season! God has been teaching me so much over the break, but I really wanted to share something that God showed me today, especially considering the time of year that we are in right now.  

During my time on the road, my Mom has had the opportunity to minister to a very sweet lady named Kay and her husband Gene for a full day, once a week, for about the past 4 months. Kay has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and now is to the point where she forgets things after about only 10-15 seconds.  Mom mainly just spends time with Mrs. Kay for a day so that Mr. Gene can go out and just spend some refreshing time by himself. I learned that Mom would be going over a couple of times while I was home ,and I wanted to get a chance to meet them before I left, so yesterday I took a detour and went to their house to stop by and visit on the way to spending a day with extended family. When I first met her, we talked for about 3 minutes (and got to dance to Christmas Songs, I was sold after that J) and then she took me into their living room where their Christmas tree was all set up. We had “a really good time” in her words. J The first ornament she showed me was a snowflake, her favorite. A couple others were shown off, like a church steeple and a picture of her and a friend of hers. And then, all of a sudden, she went back to the snowflake, and started all over again. This happened for about 6 times, sometimes the order varied, but it was always the same ornaments. She also showed me little knick knacks that she had collected, and a little bit around her house. I only got to stay there for about 30 minutes before I had to leave, but God used Mrs. Kay and Mr. Gene to impact my heart in several ways in those few minutes.

Mrs. Kay is so in love with God, to the point that it is part of her very being. Even if she can’t remember from minute to minute, she still knows the truths that she learned years ago about God, and she is still sharing them with anyone she comes in contact with. What a testimony and what a challenge to become more like Him. Words of encouragement for me about God always being with me, finding value in Christ, and totally leaning on Him all came out in just those few 30 minutes. What a blessing to my soul!

Mr. Gene is 100% loyal to his wife. You can clearly see that he still loves her, and will love her “until death do they part.” After only 30 minutes of spending time with Mrs. Kay, it was great, but it was very physically and emotionally draining. I cannot imagine the amounts of patience that Mr. Gene has to live day in and day out with her, but I was shown an example of marriage today that I hope that one day I can at least come close to being worthy of living out in my own life.  

Lastly, as I look back on my day, I can only think, “How silly are my worries and troubles that plague my mind every day?” The most that Mrs. Kay knows about Mr. Gene is that he is a very nice man, who takes very good care of her, and yet he still lives with her, fully aware of that knowledge and cares for her every day. And I find myself complaining about things not going my way sometime or someone getting what I would really like. How selfish. And even especially around this time of the year when the biggest problem we have might be as little as someone cutting us off in traffic, how silly does that seem when compared to Mr. Gene and Mrs. Kay’s life? And yet, how do they respond? With love, joy, peace, patience…hey, those sound familiar don’t they? So often we talk about living through the Fruit of the Spirit, but I feel like today, I got to meet two people who truly live them out, not just in an “easy” life, but in one that if they were to get angry or depressed, the world would think it as the “normal” reaction. What an encouragement to see two people not being normal, but instead looking to Jesus for strength and comfort. Wow wow wow!

All in all, an incredible time, and I hope that it was an encouragement to you as well. As I close, I just want to take a moment to thank you all for all of the support and prayers that you have given me this past 5 months, and for some of you, perhaps even longer than that. It has been such a blessing to see God work in these churches, but without your support and prayers, it would have made things a tad more difficult to make this a reality. J I look forward to sharing with you all what God does in 2012, and I am so excited to hear about how God moves and works in your hearts in the days to come.

God bless, and remember the TRUE reason for this season (and for the rest of the year as well!)

In Christ, 

Josh    

Aledo, IL

Last summit of 2011- Aledo, IL

(This one is going to be a little bit longer, but that is because this is probably the last post of 2011)

For the last summit of the year, our team left the Life Action Camp after Thanksgiving Break, and hopped down to Aledo, IL, a small little town of about 3,700 people total. (Note: I have found out this year that I am a huge fan of small towns) This was our only 8 day summit of this half of the year, where we arrived on Friday, started Sunday and continued until the following Sunday, and then tore down that night. But this week showed us that God does not need a “time frame” in order to change lives and hearts as we got to see many different stories told and lives change in just the short time we were there.

The Church

First Baptist Church of Aledo has about 300-400 members in it, but since the community is so small, this church still has a big impact on the town. Pastor Luke has lead the church for a number of years, and every single member that I ever talked to had nothing but glowing comments about him. I got to talk to him a little myself, and he was very deliberate and thoughtful when he spoke, but still could carry on the conversation and was interested in what was being said. In short: I like him. J The stories that came out the last night during popcorn testimonies were pretty amazing, including one couple thanking God for bringing their daughter’s boyfriend to Christ that morning, a prayer request that they had been praying since the beginning of the relationship. Please continue to lift up Aledo as they continue to seek God’s Will for their lives, and also about some important decisions in their church’s near future.

The Ministry

The Praise team got really stretched for this summit, in more ways than one. First Baptist has a much smaller stage than most churches, so we had to drop two male and female singers, so that we only had about 4-5 singers for every song. This put a LOT more pressure on the ones leading, but they held up and carried through to the end. Our worship leader Dustin left on Thursday to get home to spend time with his wife, Jen, who has been having medical problems for the past 2 months (Please keep her in your prayers, we’ve kind of adopted each other as siblings J) . In his absence, Trevor Jones picked up the slack, and led the worship team on Sunday morning and night. (And might I say he did a fantastic job too!) Me and Jason Farson roomed together this summit, and we got to stay with Jo and Paul Kernan, a dear couple that I KNOW we will miss (Along with Banana splits, late night talks, and all the bickering we did back and forth J) I am going to save the comments about signing for the “My Life” segment, because this church touched me in signing much more than most of the other churches.

The Team

Short and sweet…I miss my team. A lot. But I know that if we stayed which each other all year….we’d probably kill each other. Haha, the entire team is now officially home, but I have a feeling that we will all be Facebooking, Skyping, and texting throughout the month. A couple team members even get this newsletter so this is a shout out to them! Please pray that as we are home for a month that we do not grow slack or lazy but that we will continue to pursue God, and come back more in love with Him than when we left.

My Life

This summit, I was asked to play a couple of parts in skits for Base Camp (2^nd-5^th grade) and I loved it! It was a great group of kids and it’s a LOT of fun to act with the BC teachers because they are very “improv” minded when they act, so sometimes you just go with the flow and the resulting skit is much funnier than the original idea. Now, onto signing. J

Since we only had two male singers, I kind of knew that I would be one of the ones off, but I got a surprise when I was told that they still wanted signing, just no singing! I got to sign without a mic! It was definitely one of the most fun and enjoyable times I have ever had on the team, and at the same time it helped me learn self control in signing while still putting joy and energy into it. God really blessed me again through signing this summit by encouraging words from the congregation. During popcorn testimonies, an elderly woman got up and thanked the team for being there and then thanked me for the signing that it had greatly blessed her. It was truly humbling, and even more so when more people came up afterwards to thank me. Praise God, because without Him, I couldn’t sign, let alone take my next breath. However, my biggest encouragement came in Base Camp. One of the teachers asked a young man what he had liked about the summit so far. The boy turned to me and said, “I actually kinda really enjoyed the signing, it’s really cool how you do that on stage, even though you don’t sing.” Out of the mouths of babes. That one little answer encouraged me more than that boy will ever know, because that was the first time a kid had said that he appreciated the signing. Up until then, I had just viewed it as a ministry to adults, but now God has encouraged me that in the next half of the year, He can use it to bless anyone He wants to, even kids.

Prayer Request: I am so thankful to go home, but I must admit I am a little afraid that I could easily get into the mindset of “I’m not in Life Action right now, so I can just go back to what I want.” That is so far from the truth. Please pray that I would continue this upward climb towards knowing God more that started this year, and that I would never be satisfied with what I know of Him. 

Well, here I sit in Midway airport, ready to take off. Thank you again so much for the prayers, they honestly do mean the world to me. Thank you all again!

Merry Christmas!

Josh