In the aftermath...

Photo Credit

The other night, I began thinking about all the things that have happened in my lifetime...President Bush (dad), President Clinton, President Bush (son), President Obama, Hurricanes, Floods, Tornadoes, Oklahoma City Bombing, OJ Simpson trial, Olympic Park Bombing in Atlanta, Columbine, 9/11, Anthrax attacks, Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Space Shuttle Columbia, Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech Massacre, Northern Illinois Shooting, Fort Hood Shooting, Amish School Shooting, Aurora Shooting, Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, and now the Boston Marathon Bombing. I haven't been alive very long...almost 22 years is not a long time when you think about it...but it really shocked me to look at this list and realize that all this (and more) has happened within my short lifetime.

 I never really know how to feel when something like this happens. It's definitely scary...it puts me on the edge...I try and fail many times to comprehend how a human can mentally desire and physically carry out such a heinous act of violence...Sometimes I get really angry at the people who do these things...Sometimes I just want to cry...but I try to find peace in the fact that even though I don't understand, God's got it under control...sometimes, it's all of the above...but mostly I guess I just don't know what to think. Maybe you're feeling the same way...

Photo Credit

Two things really struck me last night...M28 was in the middle of worship, we were singing one of my favorite songs - "Build Your Kingdom Here" by Rend Collective Experiment and as we were singing I just kind of fell to my knees overwhelmed by the words I was singing. Take a second to read over these lyrics and really pray them.

Come set Your rule and reign
In our hearts again
Increase in us we pray
Unveil why we're made
Come set our hearts ablaze with hope
Like wildfire in our very souls
Holy Spirit come invade us now
We are Your Church

We need Your power

In us

We seek Your kingdom first

We hunger and we thirst

Refuse to waste our lives

For You're our joy and prize

To see the captive hearts released

The hurt; the sick; the poor at peace

We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause

We are Your church

We pray revive

This Earth

Build Your kingdom here

Let the darkness fear

Show Your mighty hand

Heal our streets and land

Set Your church on fire

Win this nation back

Change the atmosphere

Build Your kingdom here

We pray

Unleash Your kingdom's power

Reaching the near and far

No force of hell can stop

Your beauty changing hearts

You made us for much more than this

Awake the kingdom seed in us

Fill us with the strength and love of Christ

We are Your church

We are the hope 

On Earth

I just began to cry and pray this over and over and over again. In the aftermath of all that has happened in the last few days, it's easy to get wrapped up in all of the darkness happening around us...but in this darkness is the time when our light shines the most. This is my desire...that God would build his kingdom here on Earth...that there is no denying his presence on this planet...that we can rise up in this aftermath and nothing will stop us. Yes there will always be evil and darkness in this world...but it's our job to GO and make disciples...to share the gospel wherever we are. You never know when your last day will be...(not to make you fearful) someone could walk into Starbucks or your office or your classroom today or tomorrow and start shooting...are you ready for eternity? Are the people around you, the people you love and care for...are they ready for eternity?

John 16:32b-33 - "Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." 

Like I said earlier...there will always be people who hurt other people...there will always be scary and evil things that happen...but we have hope! We have a Father who has overcome all of it!!!!! He has conquered it all!!! What joy! What hope! What peace!

So in this aftermath...find your peace in the one who has overcome the world, pray that God would build his kingdom here, and go spread the gospel like wildfire. Continue to pray for Boston...for the injured and the families who lost loved ones...for those who were there...and the ones who weren't. Pray for us as a nation...this event brought us all together. Pray for this world.

Photo Credit

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 

look full in his wonderful face, 

and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim, 

in the light of his glory and grace!

END IT: Shine a Light on Slavery

END IT Movement :: Awareness in Atlanta, GA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMyExi2q-ZI

So....Anthem...

YARD SALE FUNDRAISER!!!!

M28 is having a yardsale!!! 

Go through your closets, garages, attics, and basements...we are taking donations from far and wide. Anything and everything!!! We are trying to raise scholarship money to help students attend our spring break retreat: Anthem! 

It's never too early to start going through your stuff and setting it aside. We will be accepting donations at CrossWay Community Church the week leading up to the yardsale on February 2.

If you don't have anything to donate, then make sure you stop by Feb 2 and check out everything we've got!! It's always a huge turn out and we always have awesome things. Everything from clothes to books, movies, furniture, baby items, decor and last year we even had 2 kitchen sinks!! So make sure to get there early!!!

If you are or know of a college age person who would be interested in accompanying M28 to Florida for spring break March 3-8, please email me.

Mission28 Charlotte is the college outreach ministry of Crossway Community Church to the campus of UNCC. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ on our campus. For more info on us visit m28charlotte.com

What have I been doing lately? It's obviously not blogging...

I feel like I have been writing these "I'm sorry, we've been so busy" posts more often than not. It really is true though! I promise I'm not just sitting around watching Netflix. I actually worked 62 hours last week! Doing what? you might ask. Well...since you asked so nicely, I'm going to post the letters I've been sending out...

Hey! Hope you’re doing well! Anyway, Just wanted to write and share that this next semester, I have the opportunity to serve as an intern for M28, the college outreach ministry of CrossWay Community Church (CWCC) to the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). I am writing this to ask you to pray for me and consider supporting me financially as I give the next few months to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ on campus.
 M28 exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ on the campus of UNCC. We believe that a disciple is a person who has responded to the Gospel and given their life to Know Christ, Follow Christ within the community of the local church, and Proclaim Christ in the culture around them. Our mission to make disciples is accomplished through a weekly campus-wide meeting every Thursday; bi-weekly discipleship groups within the context of the local church; weekly evangelistic open discussions in the dorms; and an annual Spring break conference, as well as numerous outreach oriented events throughout the school year.
 During my time at CPCC I was a part of M28 and I’ve been a part of CWCC for most of my life. Through the past few years, I’ve watched Christ transform lives through this ministry, calling people from the bondage of sin to follow Him. Over the past 4-5 years I have been heavily involved in M28 and it is my joy and privilege to now serve this ministry full time. As an intern I will be required to work 50 hrs. a week and will officially be employed by CWCC. Interning with M28 will enable me to evangelize lost students through personal relationships, see new and young believers established in their walk, and see committed students equipped for the mission of making disciples. I will also help with planning, administrating and leading our outreach meetings and events. This coming spring semester, I must raise $5,000 for my salary. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with M28 as you help support me financially in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the campus of UNCC? Whether you are able to invest a one-time gift or a monthly pledge of $10, $25, $50, $100, or any other amount, your support will enable me to put my full attention on serving as an intern. All checks should be made payable and mailed to “Crossway Community Church” with [Intern Support Fund – Chelsey Miracle] in the memo to receive the proper tax deduction. Please note that CWCC has full discretion over all monies that go into their Intern Support Fund. If you desire to support me, please fill out the attached support slip and mail it to Crossway. Thank you so much for prayerfully considering this partnership. I am in great need of your prayers this coming semester. Pray for strength, wisdom, discernment and boldness for me, and that the Lord will use M28 for His Glory! Also pray for the students on campus as we seek to reach out and share with them. I look forward to speaking with you soon and answering any questions that you may have. For more information on M28, visit www.M28Charlotte.com.
 Thank you in advance for your prayers!

How cool is that? I get to share the gospel for a living!! I'm super excited about it! Admin-wise, I'm in charge of communications, basically that means that I make sure everyone knows what is going on each week through Facebook, Twitter, and making sure all the people in charge are on the same page too. I communicate with UNCC a lot and this past week I got to write a letter that they sent out to all the students who are interested in campus ministries. It's been a lot of admin work so far but I like that kind of stuff so it's been fun. I wrote an update letter on the 12th that says:

Dear Friends and Family,
 So much has happened since I wrote you last! It honestly seems like forever ago that I sat down to send out all of those letters. I hope you guys are all doing well! Hard to know where to start…even though it’s only the 12^th, it’s been 12 of the busiest days of my life! The first 4 days of January, I was at a conference in Atlanta, Georgia called Passion. 60,000 college age(18-26) kids all gathered together over these 4 days to worship together, learn together, and most importantly to raise awareness about human trafficking and modern day slavery. Currently there are 27 million slaves around the world and together we raised over $3 million to put an end to slavery. We helped fund 19 causes that work to rescue and restore people who are enslaved and to prevent kids from becoming trapped in the cycle. We also helped launch the End It Movement…a 4 month campaign to raise awareness across the world. If you’re interested in more information check out enditmovement.com and you can sign the petition to end slavery.
 The rest of the week was spent listening to amazing teachers such as John Piper, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, and Beth Moore. I couldn’t even begin to describe all that I learned…but I did walk away with 46 pages of notes!!! I think my favorite thing was Family Groups…we broke down into community groups of about 4000-6000 people and then broke down into groups of 8 people called family groups. The 8 of us spent every morning and evening together talking and praying…it was humbling and encouraging and I didn’t know that you could grow so close to a group of people in just a few short days. Worship was absolutely amazing as well! Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Lecrae, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, David Crowder and so many more did a fantastic job leading us in worship. I will never forget the roar of 60,000 voices. Anyway, the first week of intern life is drawing to a close! The other interns and I have done so much this week it’s crazy! Justin, Turner, Wesley, Aly and I have all been hard at work to plan opening events as well as working hard on our upcoming spring break trip- to Florida. We started off on Wednesday with our Hot Chocolate booths. Pretty simple, we handed out hot chocolate and invited people to our Coffee House event the next day. We got to hang out with some students that afternoon as well. Thursday, Aly and I cleaned the intern office from top to bottom, Wes fixed the ceiling tiles, Turner made an awesome sign, and Juice(Justin…don’t ask why we call him Juice…I don’t really know but no one calls him Justin)…well…he was our entertainment. Our Coffee House was amazing! We had SO many people that came and hung out with us. We had free food and drinks (coffee among other things), games and fantastic music. I met a bunch of new people!! I spent a lot of time with 2 girls: Jasmine and Dominique this week. We met both of them at the Coffee House and they are both really sweet and want to get involved. Jasmine said she is going to try to come to our spring break trip and Dominique wants to start meeting one on one with me every week.
 Community Groups and Big Meetings start up this week! It’s going to be a great semester and students are going to hear the gospel afresh throughout the next few weeks. We’re also gearing up for our spring break trip called Anthem! It’s been so much fun trying to plan games and food and even try to figure out how big a room is based on how tall a guy on a ladder is (yes, we could have called the place but that is way too easy).
 It sounds like a ton of admin and planning…and it is…but it’s really about the people….reaching out and getting to know people. Over the next 15 weeks of the semester, I’m really looking forward to meeting even more people and developing lasting relationships and growing together with the girls on campus.
 For me, God has definitely been working on my prayer life…and the depth of my study life. I feel like I’ve grown so much closer to God in the last few weeks and the semester has barely begun. I can’t wait to see what he’s going to challenge me on this year.
 There’s so much to get done and so much to pray for. I really want to ask you to be praying for each of us in the coming weeks. Pray for Jon as he pastors us, pray for the interns as we try to get everything done, pray for our community groups and big meetings that they would be successful in reaching people on campus, and overall just pray for the campus. We can’t do this without your faithful prayers!!! Also, thank you for supporting me thus far. I have currently raised $2,700 of my $5,000 salary, which leaves me only $2,300 left to raise for my full support. In these next few months, I am excited to see God provide as he has so faithfully in the past. Would you prayerfully consider giving to help me meet this goal? All checks should be made payable and mailed to “Crossway Community Church” with [Intern Support Fund – your name] in the memo to receive the proper tax deduction. Please note that CWCC has full discretion over all monies that go into their Intern Support Fund. If you desire to support me, please fill out the attached support slip and mail it to CrossWay. Thank you for partnering with me in sharing the gospel! 

So anyway, as you can see...it's been a busy last few days. I'm still processing the messages from Passion and working on those to get them on here as soon as I can...I promise I'm working on them every spare little moment. Please feel free to ask me any questions that you may have about any of this, I'm more than willing to talk to you!! Be blessed! - Chelsey

Passion Live Stream!!

http://live.268generation.com/

Make sure you tune in!!!! Every day!! 3 times a day!! 

Hey everyone!! Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas!!! We most certainly did ourselves! Don't have much time to post this coming week...we're busy here getting ready to go to Passion!!!! 3 days away and we couldn't be more excited!!!! We want to ask you all to pray for us as we spend Jan 1-4 with 60,000 other young people worshiping God, receiving teaching and fellowshipping together. Pray for safe travels for us and for us to have open ears and hearts as we try to soak up all God has for us! We love you all! Can't wait to be back with you and share everything we learned at Passion!!! Happy New Year!! Chelsey and Emily

Christmas Eve!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! 

We hope that you have a wonderful time with family through the next few days. 

We would also like to invite you to the Christmas Eve Service at our church. 

Monday, December 24, 2012, 7pm

CrossWay Community Church

6400 Prosperity Church Rd.

Charlotte, NC 28213

Come celebrate the season, sing and snack with us tomorrow night. 

Bring your friends and your family. 

We hope you can all join us! 

Merry Christmas!

Chelsey and Emily