The Hills: March 2009

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." -John 13:35

For the past month, Graham and I have been traveling from Charlotte, NC to Atlanta, GA to Oklahoma City, OK witnessing thousands of teenagers come to know the truth in this verse. Student Life's spring conference this year was based on the theme, Live Love. For eleven weeks, a production and customer service team from Student Life traveled all around the country hosting conference events each weekend. Every three conferences, a different event director and event coordinator would lead the team in these events. Graham and I were able to lead the team in the last three conference events not only for this year, but for good, as this is Student Life's last year to do the spring conference. What a fun time this was! All three weekends were wonderful - but I have to say that getting to see one of my best friends, Lauryn Lane, in Atlanta was a definite highlight :) The conference events were led by Francis Chan, Stuart Hall, JR Vasser, and Kristian Stanfill. These men have been blessed with the incredible gift of sharing the Word of God in such an amazing and effective way. It was a blessing to be able to serve alongside them during this time!

If you have not heard Kristian Stanfill before, I strongly encourage you to check his music out. He and the guys in his band are some of the most genuine and solid guys I have seen lead worship. Nothing they do from stage is about themselves, but soley about the Lord - I believe that anyone who has been led in worship by them would agree with this statement. Take some time to visit his website...it will be worth it! www.kristianstafill.com

There is nothing more powerful and moving for me than to stand in a room full of teenagers worshiping the Lord. Being able to do this week in and week out is an incredible experience and the exact reason that I love my job. It is my prayer that every student that comes to a Student Life event will walk away understanding more about who they are in Christ, and for this event in particular, understanding what it means to truly live out God's greatest commandment: to Love.

Each week I was blessed with the opportunity to share about Compassion International. Seeing how this is already my heartbeat, it was such a joy and privilege to be able to tell thousands of people about an opportunity for them to live love by sponsoring a child through Compassion. If you do not sponsor a child through Compassion, I strongly encouarge you to look into this opportunity. After seeing it first hand, I can tell you with 110% confidence that Compassion International is truly living out the Gospel. There are over 5,000 references in the Bible to caring for widows and orphans. This is not an option for followers of Christ - this is the Gospel. Compassion is making it possible for people all over the world to live love in the life of a child who is living in poverty. For just $32 a month Compassion is providing children with food, clothes, healthcare, education, Christian development, and most importantly, the hope that can only come from Jesus Christ alone. $32...though it may seem to be a sacrifice for us to give this money up each month because we will not be able to eat out as much, drink as much Starbucks, go to a movie, or whatever else we do with our money...it really is not a sacrifice when you think about the fact that it can provide life for a child. You can read more about it at...www.compassion.com. Please do :)

Some pictures from the Live Love Conference...

Kristian leading worship...