Rocking the Slopes!

I spent yesterday riding Purgatory with my friend Craig. We haven't ridden together in 12 years! God is so good to us! He even gave us free tickets (thanks Vickie and Paul) and a great powder day. It was a great day of riding. We decided before we even hit the slopes that we would try to share Christ with every person we rode the lift with (remember the Chair Lift Evangelism post and the snowboarding for Jesus post). Anyway, we definitely shared with every person we rode the lift with. Not one person turned us down. Everyone is hungry for Jesus! Four stories stick out as dramatic examples of where people are at. Here they are:

1. "D" is a Colorado native who loves the outdoors. As we shared with him he was very open. He believed God was little bit of everything - nature, people, etc. As we shared the gospel with him Craig told his story. Craig said, "When you get to the real issues isn't it more about not wanting to give up the steering wheel? That's how it was for me. I had a love affair with the steering wheel of my life and I wasn't gonna let anyone touch that sucker, especially not Jesus." "D" replied, "I think that is probably true for all of us." I was shocked at how honest he was. God please bring David to yourself.

2. "M" came here for college and never wanted to leave (hey, that's what happened to me). She grew up with faith being "pushed down her throat." We used the tactics approach with her and asked her a ton of questions about her current belief that the goal of life is to follow your heart and be happy. We asked her if she would be surprised to find out the Bible was true and God was God. She said, "not at all." Once again, this precious young woman was completely open to talking about Christ.

3. "N" is a middle school student we shared with. God has been working on his heart but he didn't yet have a relationship with Him. We challenged him about the choices and pressures he will soon face and asked him what his foundation is. He said, "none." We got to share the only true hope with him before the lift ended.

4. Chuck jumped on the lift and right off the bat I asked, "what's your name?" He said, "Chuck." Working through the sound barriers I said, "I had a mentor named Chuck." He asked, "That's cool, what did he do." I replied, "he was a pastor." And before I could ask the next transition question (what's been your experience with Christianity?) he boldly replied, "that's great because I'm a Christian too!" We got to encourage him for the rest of the trip.

Those weren't all our conversations but a few that stick out in my mind. It was great to see, once again, that everyone is interested in Jesus and each of these people were at different places in their journeys towards Him. I hope these stories encourage you as you share your faith today! Check out this old snowboarding video from years ago if you want. Have a GREAT day!

Chair Lift Evangelism!

Special Note: Take a stand for life this Sanctity of Life Sunday!

Go big Jake!!! Yes, that's Jake, but not yesterday. I stole it from his facebook photos. Anyway, I had a great time riding Purg with Jake, John (see his pic below), Jesse, Janessa and Maddie yesterday. Usually we're in the backcountry riding big jumps but I had a blast just riding the slopes yesterday before meeting back up with everyone else at the lodge for chili and games. It was a great snowday!!! There were numerous lifts where the 6 of us completely filled the chairlift and a few where Jake and I rode alone but pretty much every lift we rode with strangers we were able to work through the sound barriers sharing the Good News. It was a blast. We shared with a college student, Nick, who was very open and interested in Jesus. We shared with Mike and Rachel who didn't really want to talk about it. We shared with another High School student who was a believer but needed encouragement in his walk with God and then got to share briefly with a father and daughter skiing together. I also got to share with an old co-worker that I still pray for often. All in all a great day! I had more fun getting into spiritual conversations with people than I did snowboarding.

After riding, we stopped by the gas station where I saw Anna. This past summer, at the same gas station, I asked her how her day was going to which she responded, "everyone hates me." I told her that wasn't the case because Jesus loved her more than she could ever imagine. I didn't really get to talk with her more that day but asked her yesterday if she remembered when I said that. She said, "Yes! I always say everyone hates me but that was the first time ever that anyone has ever responded the way you did. It totally made my entire day." We chatted a bit more but John and Maddie were waiting for me in the car so I had to go. Who ever would have known such a small comment would have impacted her like that?

We always think "Jesus loves you" is a trite or cheesy thing to say, but it's not. You don't always have time to go through the whole gospel with someone so why not leave them with something. Remember the "hookers for Jesus" post? Check it out, a prostitute came to Christ as a result of that short phrase and now leads a ministry to other prostitutes.

Well, what a day! Snowdays are always fun but yesterday was the best!

Snowday!

Update: Here's what happened!

Snowday is here! A great way to share your faith is to get out and have some fun with a bunch of friends. Any new friends you bring will have a great time hanging out and will inevitably see Christ in you (that's what we call the Body witness). That's what we're doing today. We call it a snowday. It will be a day packed with snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding, snowball fights, sledding and much more. We'll top it off with a huge chili dinner. Check out the video below about what we'll be doing. Finally, try this out yourself. Invite a bunch of friends to do some fun outdoor activity where you live and make it an opportunity to reach out to people that don't yet know Jesus!

And, of course, we'll be snowboarding too!

Snowboarding for Jesus!!! This is an amazing story!

Many of you know I used to be a sponsored snowboarder (thats me in the picture, you can click the picture for a bigger view). That entailed getting a lot of free boards. It's been a good 13 years since I bought snowboarding equipment. Last year at our December Men's Retreat (to see the recap of this years December retreat click here), God had been putting on my heart to give a whole snowboarding setup to a boy, Glen, who came to the retreat for the first time. I didn't want to at first because it was a lot of gear and I didn't have the money to replace it. Giving him that gear meant I'd have to ride older gear I hadn't ridden in a while. I finally caved to the Holy Spirit's prompting and gave this young man a board, bindings, boots, helmet and goggles (actually, the same board, boots, bindings and helmet from the picture above). He was thrilled. He had wanted a board so badly he had been carrying a block of snowboard wax around expectantly. Talk about faith!!! Anyway, I haven't spoken with him for a while but got a text from him the day before yesterday. I asked him if he was still going strong for Jesus. He told me yes, "I skate and snowboard sharing the Word of God with others." He went on to say that he has led 3 atheist friends to Christ and has also led 4 strangers to Christ doing this skate and snowboard evangelism! Wow!!! I thought this was a great example of yielding to God's leading especially when it costs something (remember David's heart).

Sometimes evangelism isn't cheap; it may cost you time, energy, possessions, reputation or money but it is so worth it. Knowing what I know now about how this young man would use that board for God's glory I would have gladly given him all my gear. Praise God for Glen! Pray God keeps him strong and continues using Him to share the Good News! Have a blast applying the Christmas evangelism ideas before Christmas gets here. Merry Christmas!!!