Hey everyone this is Lillie Hutton. I wrote something on here when this was first created, but I feel I need to write something again. This past year has been the most testing and challenging times for me in my faith. I’ve had many distractions, and have been more stressed out than ever. This week I’ve really been thinking about making sure God is the center of everything I do.

Earlier this week I was talking to a friend of mine, Tj Ono. One thing he said really got me thinking about how us Christians live our life. He said, “There is a big difference between a ‘Christian’ girl and a Godly woman. Christian girls talk the walk and they still don’t know God” Then he said that a lot of people are ‘Christians’ but only on Sunday mornings. Sadly, that is true.

One time in class I heard some people saying, “Yeah I’m a Christian, I believe in God. But I don’t go to church, or read the bible it’s boring. I don’t want to.” And I’ve seen these ‘Christians’ make fun of other people, curse, and use the Lords name in vain. Is this the image we want Christians to have??

There is much more to being a Christian than just stating that you believe in Christ. Anyone can do that. But we need to live our lives for Christ. Let me rephrase that—we need to wholly devote our entire lives to living for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not just our Sunday mornings.

And how do we do this? Well being an image of Jesus is something I’ve been trying to really portray this year. Yes it can be tough. Blowing up in people’s faces if you’re mad isn’t something the Lord would do. Or cheating. Or gossiping. Or cursing. Or stealing. Or lying. And the list goes on. There are so many things that we see everyday. And I’m sure at least one of the things listed can apply to you at times.

I believe that we can change. We can change our attitudes, we can change our actions, and then we can take this change further than just our own lives. We can change the world. So let’s try this together- change your old habits that you know don’t reflect the Lord. Try living everyday for Christ. Take your Sunday morning self and place it into your everyday life. Make God the center of your thoughts. It’s the beginning of a new year- let’s start this new year right. 

I’ve also been thinking about what I’ve been called to do. The biggest thing that has been on my heart since the end of 6th grade is Africa. But in the past I just thought I was too young to really do anything since I can’t go over there yet. Well I was wrong. If there’s something you feel you’ve been called to do or help don’t wait until you’re older to do something about it.

Last year I had a feeling I should open some sort of club or do some sort of work for the Invisible Children organization that helps Northern Uganda and is trying to stop the war there. I didn’t listen to my heart because I believed I wouldn’t make a change. But why wouldn’t I be able to? There is absolutely no reason that I- and everyone else our there- can’t do something. This year I am going to listen to my heart. I believe if something is set so strongly on my heart and I never stop thinking about it, there is definitely a good chance that the Lord is speaking to me. I am going to do all I can to pursue my dream of going to Africa and make a change in the lives of those beautiful people. Well, I will have to wait patiently until the Lord presents me with this opportunity, but I know if He wants me there He will give me the chance and meanwhile I’ll do all I can do from here!

Before I end this I need yall- my brothers and sisters in Christ- to pray. Pray for me and everyone else out there that has big hopes and dreams. Pray that they won’t give up their dreams because they think they can’t make a change. Pray that they would be strong in the Lord and place Him in the center of their lives. Pray for a change in our community and our world that us ‘Christians’ will truly live our lives for the Lord and become more than just ‘Christians’ but Godly women and men who have devoted their everything to the Lord. Let’s make 2009 a year to remember.

Hey Guys,

I was just looking at this site and saw its been a while since the last contribution.  I really want to encourage yall to take the time to share what God is doing in your life lately!  With all the great trips and gatherings we’ve had lately, I know there are plenty of stories of God’s faithfulness out there.  Let us know how God is moving in you, and encourage your friends to do the same!

Email me or Jeremy, and we’ll make sure your story gets posted.

Love you guys!

Know Him, Make Him known.

brian -  bmccormack@twumc.org

Jeremy – jwoodley@twumc.org

Hi, Everyone! I’m Jessica Nailor and I am Going Public!I know most of you may not know me, but I want to tell you a little about myself. I have always grown up in the church, but I never really liked going. My dad never went with us either, and that just made it harder for me. To me it was just what a good little Christian girl does. She goes to church, says her prayers, and acts ‘holier than thou’ when needed. I was labeled a Christian, but was I really inside? Nope! 

I can tell you one thing for sure I was not putting God first in my life and I hate to say this, but I was one of the shallowest people I know. Maybe I didn’t always say stuff like other people did, but inside a constant judgmental commentary went on. I based my worth on how others thought about me and I strived to fit in what I like to call “The Woodlands mold”. I wanted to fit in and have a boyfriend, have a couple Coach purses and wear Sevens jeans. I am not saying I am or was a bad person, I just didn’t always live my life the way I know God wants me to live it. Now for some people it seems like they have this changing moment in their lives and then they are Christians, but it wasn’t like that for me it was and still is a slow process that I continue each day. I always had wanted to be a woman of God; I guess I just didn’t quite care enough to make any effort.  

Well I know this may sound silly, but my life was touched in the form of a series of books. They were the Diary of a Teenage Girl Series about a girl named Caitlin. The books started off with a girl a lot like me. She was shallow, and really wanted to be ‘popular’. Well she got her wish, but instead of being happy, she started doing things like drinking alcohol, and she almost made some big mistakes with her new boyfriend. Anyway, she eventually becomes a Christian and I was amazed at how much happier she was even when life was getting really tough. She had to make some pretty hard sacrifices when she felt God was telling her to do something, but as you read through the whole series, you realize that their really was a reason for all the things she had to do for God, and she ends up being a lot happier.  

In result of reading those books, I went out and bought a new bible study book, where the main focus is allowing God to enter your life and guide you. I know it is something I am going to have to work on, but I have to let God take over my life and handle all my problems. I have really been trying to trust God with more of my life and work on letting him take over. I am still a shallow, judgmental person even as I sit here typing this, I know it’s going to take a lot more than a book, and a bible study to completely get rid of my sinful ways. But every little step is something, and I am just going to have to keep working on it. I have sometimes questioned God about things like why my dad still isn’t a Christian even though I have prayed for him so much, but I know this is all part of a plan that is so much bigger than me and I just have to accept that, even when I don’t understand it. I’m going to keep working on becoming closer to God and letting him lead the way, because I have a feeling things will be a whole lot easier that way! I just have to realize how much God loves me, he loves me more than any boy or even my parents.  

Thanks so much for reading my long rambling story, if you managed to make it this far without getting completely lost and confused then congratulations, because even as I re-read this thing to myself it not making much sense:).Lots of Love,Jessica

Heyy Everybodyy!!! Heather again. For those of you who don’t me I’m the girl that talked about the Revolve Tour that looked like she was about to barf her guts up. J So anyways, the other day (the 25th) my boyfriend Blake came over. Well my little 5th and 6th grade neighbors were also out side. You know how those little kids are, all in your business and everything. After that night I can bet you I have it the worst. I LOVE them to death though.Well at first they wouldn’t leave us alone at all, so I told them if they left us alone I would let them all (there was 4 of them) come in my closet and pick out anything they wanted. It worked.. They ran off screaming. Well me and Blake were sitting on my front porch and I had my back towards the girls when one of them screams, “It looks like they’re making out!!!” That didn’t go over with me to well.

Hey people! My name is Andrea, and I am going public! (Woooooooooooooh!!!!!*clap* —I know you are doing that secretly!) And I am here to tell you all about the love of my life! But let me start from the beginning. One random Sunday my friend was at church. I had not seen him in a while and so I wanted to spend time with him, so after worship I stayed in the Hanger (oops?!) but now that I look at it, God put me there for a reason.  It was the day that Haley Graham talked about living your life to the fullest. She said that she only personally knew around five people that really lived their life like they weren’t going to wake up tomorrow. I thought about it for just a moment and I thought that she doesn’t know me that well, so she obviously doesn’t know how I live. I put this thought in the back of my mind and didn’t even think about it until Wild Weekend ’07.  

Shane Heuman talked about whether we would go to heaven or hell, and do we know about God, or do we actually know him. And he told us to really think about it. And I did. I thought about a lot of other things as well. Would I be standing at the gates of heaven on judgment day and God saying “Sorry, maybe if you would have just let me be your friend.” Would that be me?  Do I really know God, or is he like the dude that I see at church every once and awhile. I had accepted God as my Lord and Savior, Creator and Father, but as my best friend? I just didn’t know.  

Then peace rushed over me like a flooded river and I knew in that very moment, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I, Andrea Leigh Horton, was going to, one day, be lying on the ground at the feet of my best friend and sing “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY-THE ONE WHO ALWAYS WAS, WHO IS, AND WHO IS STILL TO COME.”(Rev. 4:8)I knew in that moment that I was going to heaven. But I also knew that the next step in my faith, to grow with God, was to live life like there is no tomorrow. That is when the thought from Haley’s sermon resurfaced. 

I came back to school on Monday morning with that thought in mind. So I thought; as going along with the thought, that there is no guarantee of living on to the next morning so it would be best if I went ahead and told the “boy of my dreams” that I liked him. Pretty sappy and gross, right? Well at the time he meant a lot to me, so this was a really big deal.  

He was told and nothing changed. Until I listened to the “Pursuit of Pleasure” sermon series by Matt Chandler. His words have totally changed what I thought of the world and my happiness. There was one particular sermon out of the four that was called “The Pleasure in Dating” so obviously I listened to it. And it was all about how Christ is your true love and the only way you can come to love a human being, is if they are living the life, and literally “oozing” with your true love. This changed my perspective a bit and I started to think if the guy I liked was a Godly man, and if I was a Godly woman. The more I spent time with this boy, and the more I listened to myself talk, I really thought that we were both devoted children of God, and we still are. But as time wore on I began to think more about the guy, not the Jesus in the guy. And I began to be so distracted during worship because I wanted to look good while I worshiped, for the boy, not for God.  

My mind was overwhelmed with thoughts of him and there was no time for God, or anyone else in my life. It got to the point that I was literally asking God to make me stop thinking about him. Then I asked my bible study group to pray for me, and that is when God answered my prayers. For the next two days this boy wouldn’t even give me a passing glance, which was odd. It became frustrating and it ruined wonderful days. I then decided that it wasn’t worth it anymore. He wasn’t talking to me, but yet I was so caught up in him that I couldn’t worship and mean it. It just didn’t make sense. So that was that. Bye bye boy!  

I went to church a day later, and I could feel God. When I was singing, the only people at Crowded House that morning were me and Jesus. The only person that mattered was Jesus. It was just me, standing at the feet of my Creator, Father, Savior, Best Friend and True Love, and I was singing praises with a song that I had never heard before that morning. It was fan-freakin-tastically amazing! And it was all because I just didn’t care what that boy thought. He wasn’t there to occupy my mind and I LOVED it. I truly worshiped that Sunday morning.  

Now I have found my true love. I even wrote a song in the middle of this and didn’t realize the entirety of what had come from my mouth. But it wasn’t me! It was God using me to help myself and other people. God is good. And he loves me. He loves me on the outside and inside. That is one thing about God that no one can relate to. He loves every extra pound that I weigh; He loves every zit on my face. He loves all of my imperfections so much that he DIED for them. That is how much God loves me, and you, and everyone. I just wish I could return that much love back, but we try, and life goes on!  

Andrea

            Decisions. That word in its self is a big thing. You make decisions all the time. From the time you were born, to most likely, the time you will die. Some aren’t such a big deal, like whether to try and sneak another cookie out of the cookie jar while your mom’s not looking, or if you want the green or pink side kick. Decisions can also be life changing, as in saying no to smoking, or giving your life to Christ. Like I said, life changing. Well, I got to thinking about decisions this Sunday morning. As soon as I woke up, my mom said we needed to talk. At first I was like, Oh no she saw the phone bill!!! Then I noticed the expression on her face and knew this was serious business. It turns out that my dad’s mother, my grandma, had a heart attack. So he had flown up there at like 4:00 am to be with her.

He was calling us and giving us updates on how she was and everything. At first, I was scared to talk to him. I could hear him talking to my mom through the phone and, I don’t know, I just had never heard him sound so…….down before. When I finally got the courage to talk to him, I asked him how the flight was, and all that. See the funny thing is he sounded fine all up until I asked him how his mom was. It was like the instant I said mom he felt an impulse that just told him to change. I don’t know. He said she wasn’t doing do well, so I told him she would be fine, told him I loved him and would be praying for her and everything, then I gave my mom the phone back.

By the end of that five minute conversation I had millions of tears running down my face, and millions of thoughts running through my head. What if she doesn’t make it? Is this really happening? God will pull her through it right? It was that last question that really got me going. I had been through death before not to long ago. My great-uncle, whom I was really close, to passed away. I was SO mad at God just asking him why he had taken him away from us. I still don’t know.

Then about half-an-hour later my dad called back. He told my mom the odds were stacked pretty high against her. I was just thinking to my self, “STUPID DOCTORS!!!!! WHAT DO THEY KNOW ANYWAYS?!?!?!?!” I was also pretty scared. I don’t know what I’ll do without her, much less what my dad will do. That got me back to two questions. One: If or if not God would pull her through?, and two: If he didn’t pull her through, then why didn’t he? Well I figured that if she dies, it’s because God wants her with him. So, in the end the doctors don’t really get to decide whether my grandma dies or lives. God does. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says,” Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  So, I guess He’s trying to tell us he does everything for a purpose. I mean everybody always says that but, it’s not always that easy to remember. So anybody out there who knows me, or even if you don’t, just try and help me remember that. I don’t want to be mad at God anymore. I don’t think he wants me to be mad at him either. 

Heather Warfield

God Bless You Guys

Have you ever gone walking with no destination in mind, just to clear your head, just walking? And then ten minutes later, you’re totally lost. You don’t know how you got there, where you are, and the reason you left doesn’t sound as good as when you were leaving. That’s how I was. I took the four week Confirmation thing, but it felt like I still wasn’t completely satisfied. Then I started coming to Crowded House, and I found that a lot of people I knew went there. I started going places with the church, talked about it at school, and it felt good. I went to Wild Weekend my eighth grade year, and finally felt that incompleteness in my heart had filled up with all this new love and appreciation for the Lord. I now go to Crowded House and listen to the podcast and I’m in the church choir, and I’m finally at my point where I’m completely satisfied. So thank you, Crowded House. Thank you for leading me back home into the arms of God.

-Paige Hinton

This week we gave our students the chance to voice thier doubts.  Each person was handed a note card and asked to write down thier greatest doubt concerning thier faith and the list below is a compilation of all of those thoughts.  Our hope is to start an on-line conversation here on Going Public.  Please read through the list and respond in any way you see fit.  Then respond to the responses of others, thus creating a conversation.

I Doubt…

-God exists

-God really answers every prayer

-God really loves me after all of the stupid things I’ve done

-The rest of my family will find faith

-That some of the people I know will ever find God

-The people in this church

-That His plan is better than mine

-God’s reason for letting things happen

-Myself as a Christian

-That I can live up to who God wants me to be

-My own faith

-People’s honesty

-God cares about slavery

-That He always is with and listens to me

-That Jesus and God are one person. I think they are two people

-That He is everywhere all the time

-How He loves everyone the same, (like criminals)

-That there is eternity to spend with God

-That some words in the Bible are not true

-That God is really that powerful as they say He is

-That everything is going to be ok, that God will always be there for me

-God’s forgiveness

-That He is watching my every move

-God’s views on homosexuality

-That He is always with me

-That God loves us even when we mess up really bad

-He is always near

-How it’s possible to be perfect

-All those miracles, why doesn’t He do them anymore

-Hell, I think when people die they go to heaven and get a second chance

-You have to be a believer to go to heaven (babies that die)

-How the earth was made

-That atheists could be saved

-That God doesn’t hate anybody

-That people who believe in other religions cannot live a good life

-That all Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians go to hell

-Why things happen and how God will ultimately work it out

-When things get really hard or stressful that His hand is always guiding me

-Heaven and hell

-Things I don’t see, I have to see to believe

-That Christ is always with you

-People who think their interpretation of Scripture is correct and everyone else is wrong

-That people will listen to me

-That God is there when I see horrible things happen to good people

-God when I don’t feel like worshiping

-God’s plan when bad things happen to good people

-What the Bible says; is it all true

-There is a hell; hell is on earth

-That it is that simple to get into heaven

-That He cares about me amidst all the crap of the world

-Some of the stories of the Bible

-We care more about God than our religion

-Churches today are what God wanted His following to be like

-What we learn in Church is what God really wants

-What it feels like to be a Christian

-Sometimes that He knows what His plan is for me

-The Lord understands me

-He created the whole universe

-If I have really accepted Christ

-He will make my sister a good person as she gets older

-That as things change I can continue to have a strong faith

-The Bible is true

-People really hear the voice of God, especially whey they murder people b/c of it

-There is a life after this

-God can talk to you and hear you

-Everyone is created for a purpose

-That everyone who is Mormon or Jewish or doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell

-That every sin we do is rightfully forgiven, but still forgiven if we ask

-That all church people will go to heaven

-God sometimes, and it scares me

-How a whale swallowed a man named Jonah and Jonah lived

-That He is as good as people say

-That ‘manna’ fell from the sky and fed people

-God can be with everyone at once

-When dinosaurs were introduced

-We are not supposed to believe in magic, yet a guy levitated up to heaven

-The expanse of eternity

-God is always looking out for my best interests

-That all my problems matter to Him

-Religion

Your response?

I feel the warm tears run down my cheeks as I lift my hands in confidence to try to touch him. I lift my hands so that I can have that feeling of his love rushing into my palms. I cry because he’s so real he’s so amazing he’s so there. I cry because my friends well my family feels it to. They feel him. I know Even though he’s not in person, not flesh he’s still standing by me, standing by me and wrapping his arms around me. Telling me he loves me unconditionally. So I feel the warm tears run down my face and know there not just tears they have meaning that you are so real it’s scary. I stand with both my arms raised as high as they can go so I can feel his unconditional love rush to my palms. And to know that me lifting my hands makes me closer to God and to be able to feel his love and to get that feeling of unconditional love. It’s the most intense and scariest thing but so incredibly amazing.

Tori Keim

I know I already wrote something, but if you know the Lord, you understand that he changes you in ways you can’t even imagine. That’s what has happened to me.

First, I want to apologize to all of ya’ll and say that..basically this entire time for me in this youth group has basically been a lie, as far as my relationship with Christ. I thought I had him in my life..but I was still seeking him desperately. I put all of myself into different things to try to fill that desperate thirst for Him. I started going to all the events at church..literally every one I could. And I began to put on this front that I was some strong Christian that had this amazing relationship with Christ, and that I had truly been changed. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that it was all a lie.

It’s a very scary thing to figure out that an entire important year of your life has been a complete lie and that you have had very wrong intentions. I don’t know if you would know the feeling, but it happened to me and basically knocked me off my feet and it kind of shakes your faith right where you stand. You think that if you were pretending all this time, you would know that you really didn’t have this amazing relationship with God that you had been telling people you had, right? I had pretending so well that I had basically convinced myself that I really did have this relationship with Him. I know it sounds crazy..but like I really had. I had fooled everyone, including myself. So it scared me and shook my faith when I realized that it was all a lie.
I am so broken ya’ll. So broken I could not even tell you. And I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or anything like that at all. It’s not like that.

Now, I am so glad I was broken. Because through true pain and through true sorrow..you somehow find that light. God will show you that light at the end of the tunnel..and it may take like 371238173 years for you to see it..or for you to go with it..but he shows it to you. And it’s crazy to think that he is so big and he cares for me and you. Like, what the heck? I don’t even understand. I talked with Brian this past Thursday because..well I was just hurting horribly. And like we talked about all this stuff and I told him that it had all been a lie, and I really hadn’t asked Jesus to come into my life and be my savior and that I hadn’t made that commitment. And one thing he said to me just the image stuck in my mind..he said, “case, you do know that he died for YOU, right? Like, as he was walking up to be crucified and he was carrying the cross…he was thinking of YOU. And it was so hard for him..but because he was thinking of YOU it made him keep going. HE SAW YOUR FACE AND HE KEPT GOING. He died on the cross for YOU because he loves YOU so much.” and I had never in my life felt so loved..never in my life. I have not been blessed here on earth with the kind of Fatherly love that Jesus gives from my own earthly father. But, I have been blessed to have so many people here on earth that show me and love on me like Jesus loves me. I AM JACKED UP!! And when I was jacked up..He died on the cross for me. IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE TO ME AT ALL…not the least bit.. But it’s the truth.

The more time you spend trying to understand that whole fact, the more time you waste that could’ve been spent on an amazing walk with Christ. I wasted so much of my time not understanding the meaning of love because of so many reasons I can’t understand it. But like.. I can get a grasp of it from what I know of Jesus and what he’s done for me. And YOU.

I am so happy to say that I’m finally a Christian. I’ve finally accepting Him. When He’s always wanted me, I ignored it. I was craving Him. I was crying out for his love. And I could’ve had it a lot sooner..but I didn’t accept it. And now I have. I am a new person through Christ. I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME! And that is so exciting! I’m not who I was..at all. And that right there, scares the heck out of me..but knowing that I have Christ in my heart and have this true relationship with him is worth more than anything that this world could offer. more than anything. I just want to leave this on your hearts you guys…is your relationship with Him real?

Are the experiences that you’ve had with him real?

Is the story that you tell others about yourself real?

Is there a story that you tell others?

if not, why haven’t you? Why haven’t you had this real experience..have you let him in your life? You could be shutting him out and not even knowing it. That was me. That was me you guys..right there. Shutting him out and not even knowing it. I mean, you tell me..how long are you gonna pretend for? Because I can tell you right now..it is not satisfying and the only thing that will ever satisfy you will be God’s love and that relationship with Him. You could spend your whole life pretending..I shocked myself on how long and how well I could fake it. Do you fake it? And if you do have a relationship with him, do you think it shows by the way you act in your every day life? Do you think people could pick you out of a bunch and say..man that girl has this awesome relationship with God? Or what..wherever you are in life..where do you stand with God? Think about it. I’m sure you’ll hear a lot more from me in the future because I am a new creation through Christ now..and man things will happen to me, and I’m so blessed to have this amazing church family to share them with. Thanks for listening guys! Find out where you stand this week..Love life and Jesus at the same time.

Casey Copus