As many of you know the count down to the final day of school is well under way and summer will be here before we know it!! I know all those kiddos in Climbers, Camp Rock and the Students are pumped while the rest of us can’t believe it’s here all ready. Where does time go, how is it possible that another school year has come and gone? It seems like yesterday that we were in front of the boys school waiting to find out who their teacher would be and now there are 9 days left of the year. As summer is upon us and many of us are making our plans I want to remind all of you how important summer is to the life of the church at Summit. Over the past couple of years we have had great success with our KidzClubz and Summerfest, not just because of the amount of kids that were reached, but because of what happens in the life of every person involved. Kidzclubz are much more than a week of reaching out to our neighbors, but they also shape the spiritual life of every student that gets involved. In just over a month we will be sending our students to boot camp where they get trained, challenged and prepared for clubs, so please begin praying for each student that will be participating this year. We are also trying something new this year, Hill Country Bible Church Northwest (Cedar Park) has invited our incoming 6th and 7th graders to join them in a week long camp called Extreme Adventure at which they don’t hold anything back!! This year they are even dropping people out of the ceiling!!! This week is filled with fun, excitement and most importantly will challenge them spiritually. Soooo, all of this to say that if you have a student please use this summer to shape them spiritually, there is no greater investment. I was reminded of this last week while speaking for my grandfather when he reminded me that it was at a student event that God forever changed my life! Maybe you are reading this and don’t have a student, get involved by praying, maybe hosting or organizing Summerfest…each one of these activities will impact a life, what better way to use your summer than that?

Josh

-Loving God, seems like a given, but I am not talking about loving God in the way we use love in our watered down, hip-hop, western culture. I am talking about loving God is such away that our lives see everything through a God-loving lens…that our love for God is not driven by what we get out of it, but by a deep seeded desire to please Him, obey Him and make Him known to everyone we come across. Isn’t this the response of the early church? Isn’t this what our lives should look like? As cliche as it may seem, if we believe the claims of Jesus, the claims of scripture then we are too be a light to this world, to the people around us and our hearts should break for anyone that doesn’t know the joy and comfort of having a personal relationship with Jesus.

-Loving others, seems simple, but it’s so complicated. This doesn’t mean, nor did Jesus mean to love others that are just like us, but simply others! Jesus knew this world would not be changed by rules and regulations, but by love and servanthood. As people, a church that claims both of these to be high values, are we living them out individually? Are we looking at others in our church, in our neighborhoods, in our community, on our teams and loving them not because they are around us, because they, like you, are a created, loved child of God?

My hope and prayer is that all of us would have people in our lives that we are loving, serving and praying for. Summit is not going to impact this community, we are not going to be lights if we are not praying daily for the people God has placed in our lives. Remmeber this is not my challenge, nor our elders, it’s Gods.

Saturday brought what I consider along with many others the most affective community service/outreach/missional event we have done yet! Partnering with Callison has been such a huge answer to prayer and this proved true again on Saturday. Our relationship started with the desire to make a direct impact on the community we are surrounded by in a very real and practical way. This first happened when we were able to provide Thanksgiving meals to a number of families at Callison as well as the start of a clothes closet. I know this weekend may have just looked like an egg hunt, but did you know there are many families at Callison where the kiddos go without meals on the weekend? So, what looked like an egg hunt was also a way to provide a meal to some of those families!! Our prayer is that by meeting a physical need, God will use us to meet a spiritual need, but being our first time we had no idea what to expect. Honestly we were hoping a few people would show up…little did we know that over 400 people would show up!!

Then came Sunday! The day that everything we believe hinges on! We saw guests from the day before, we saw friends that were invited come for the first time and more than anything we celebrated the greatest single event in all of history, the resurrection of Jesus. Summit, let’s not forget what an incredible day that was and still is, without it everything we believe is just foolishness. Let’s be committed to remembering Jesus everyday, let’s remember that people all around us need Jesus and that we are the light to the world!! Don’t hide your light, let it shine. God desires to use you every day in many ways!!

-For people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus.

*There are a few people God has placed in my life that I am  praying will see how much Jesus loves them and desires to  be in relationship with them.

-Boldness to invite people to church on Easter Sunday.

-God’s provision.

*So many of you have given so faithfully and we can’t thank  you enough for that, my prayer is that you will see God  provide because of your faithfulness. (Remember, that doesn’t mean a new car!!)

*That He will continue to provide financially beyond our  expectations.

*That God will provide the people we need to reach more and  more of this city.

-Easter Sunday.

*That God will move through the Children’s area, worship and  the message.

I am excited about how God is going to move….imagine if all of us or many of us decided to pray these things faithfully, please join me in your prayer.

1. Do nothing, which means nothing out of selfish ambition…eliminate the competition inside our relationships.

2. Put our partners interests above our own.

3. Take on the mindset of Jesus, who laid aside his rank, respect and what he deserved for each one of us.

This is only a quick snapshot, so please if you have missed either of the last two weeks go listen at:

http://summitroundrock.org/sundaymessages/

You can listen there or follow the podcast link and download the messages to your ipod, ipad or phone!

Let’s not just have marriages, but ones that Stay in Love

I don’t know how many of you read this, but I enjoy writing it!! I know it’s been a while since my last “letter,” but it’s time to get back after it!! As we are a month into 2012 there are somethings that I am very excited about:

1. Pray and prepare was an amazing three nights of prayer!  Thank you to all of you who were able to make it out a night or two.  It was so great coming together for prayer!  My hope and prayer is that each of you would continue to pray for Summit and the people of Summit on a daily basis!! Since then God has provided for us in a few awesome ways!! Let’s continue to seek God, scripture is clear that when we seek him, we will find hime, when we ask, he will give!! So let’s not forget that we have a father that wants to give to his children!!

2. I am also very excited about the series we started yesterday! If you missed it or were in the children’s area yesterday make sure you go to the website and listen.  I believe one of the greatest area’s of attack is in the area of relationships.  Whether it’s in a marriage falling apart, dating the wrong person or just existing…that is not what God desires for each of us!! Instead, He desires us to have amazing, life-giving relationships!! So, this week, love like a verb, not a noun!!!

Also, don’t forget our Valentine Dinner is this Sunday, go get signed up!!! It’s a ton of fun!!

What if every Christian actually lived as if this life wasn’t about them, but about the kingdom? Right?? Isn’t this the way our lives as Christians should be lived?  Now, don’t get me wrong this is much easier said than done, but what if, what if this year we decided to live out the math that scripture teaches us?  What would this look like?  Imagine with me for a moment, it would be a church body unified over something so great petty things would not be an issue, it would look like people loving others above themselves, it would look like people serving the needs of others, it would look like….dare I say it, the Kingdom of God here on earth!  What if this become our personal and church theme for the year, that we would decrease, so that HE can INCREASE!!  Just a thought, but what a powerful one it could be.

1. That God will use Summit to change this community!

2. That God will use each one of us to reach someone this year with the life-changing reality of Jesus Christ.  (Now this means you have to invest and invite people!!)

3. That God will use Summit to plant churches in Austin, Texas, United States and the World…sounds like Acts 1:8closeActs 1:8 8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (ESV) doesn’t it??? If you don’t know, go read it.

4. That God will provide more Baptisms in 2012 than 2011, what about an average of at least one a month???

5. That God would use Summit to serve even more people in 2012…think this is starting with Callison! Did you know someone at Summit just gave a family a mattress? Yes, the need in our community is that big!

6. That God would provide the resources we need to reach every man, woman and child!!! This is both financial and people!

…this is just part of my list!! Come on let’s pray that in 2012 God makes the impossiblePOSSIBLE!!!

I just want to thank all of you who participated in the Clothes for Callison Dodgeball tournament!! This morning Colin and I had the privilege of dropping the truckload of clothes off at Callison.  The staff that received the clothes were so grateful! It was fun to watch their expressions as we kept bringing in boxes and bags of clothes!  It may seem like such a simple thing to drop off a few bags of clothes, but just think, you were a part of impacting lives in very real and practical way!  I just want to thank Christa and Amanda for their help in making yesterday run so smoothly, y’all were awesome. The ladies at Callison were not only extremely grateful for the clothes, but for the organization as well!!

It’s amazing to me that this “partnership” with Callison fell into our laps less than two months ago and God is providing very practical ways for us to serve them.  Not only have we been able to provide clothing, but this week we are also giving six families Thanksgiving meals!!! This is amazing and demonstrate love of God in a very tangible way!  It is such an honor to be creating a church that truly wants to love on it’s community with all of you!!!

Thank YOU!!!!!