Summer is over, #itstime for school to start. (part 1)

Well, it's been a while since we have posted a blog on here but #itstime to get it back up
and updated and ready to go.

This year and this summer has been such a life-changing year for me. In my personal life, marriage
and in our ministry.

As many of you know I lost my Dad this past winter, soon after God really begin to bless our youth group as we hit all-time record attendance in April. Then before we knew it SUMMER '13 was here!

This summer was nothing short of CRAZY! I mean at one point in time we didn't stop going and hanging out with the students and doing ministry for about a 6 week stretch.

With summerfest, national convention, 4 weeks of summer camps, 3 student deaths and the regular
crazy busy summer schedule that all of us youth pastors have (if you are one then you know what I mean) it was definitely a summer to go down in the record books.

We were blessed to see over a 115 students from OneWay get to experience some sort of Summer Camp Experience either from Impact East Texas, Discovery Camp or OneWay Camp "Relentless"

Over 40+ students were baptized in the holy spirit this summer and dozens and dozens of decisions were made (first time and recommitments)

Like I said this year has been nothing short of a life changing year for us.

And through all the high's and all the low's (and there have been some serious lows) I can honestly
say this year has forced me to grow and mature in every area of my life.

And all these things have lead up to August. And after dealing with all the issues we have this summer we kicked off a new campaign at OneWay called "Soulution" which was originally only meant for a teaching series has now turned into a HUGE ministry outreach within our own youth group.

Soulution is a ministry that entangles an Anonymous Hotline that any student can text or call when needing answers to questions, going through some tough situations like depression, suicidal thoughts and dealing with addictions. In the month of August we have received over 200 texts from students who had tough life situations that they were dealing with. And so unlike a lot of ministries out there we took on the challenge with the love of Christ and met it HEAD ON!

Now Soulution is a permanent part of our ministry and we still continue to get messages weekly from hurting and lost students who need encouragement and someone to care

(To Be Continued.....)