"So why did God give up Jesus?"

The title of this blog was the very question that a middle school girl asked me during the bible study and it was a question that impacted many.

The night started off with energy, spaghetti, and a whole lot of new kids. As you may or may not know, I decided to split the middle school and high school up on two separate nights. Last week, I had a total of 4 middle school students. I challenged them to bring friends and they came through. I had 12 students tonight! That was huge, but not as big as what was to come.

I started off interacting with the students as normal. I do my dumb cham stuff that breaks the ice and helps connect others with laughing and what not. Soon after, I begin the bible study. Of course, I started with a object lesson..."Name that baby food". Who knew what was about to happen?

After the object lesson, I began to run over Matthew 5:13-16(msg). Quite to my surprise, we didn't stay on that long. I had a young girl raise her hand in the middle of the lesson with a baffled look. I pointed to her and said, "do you have a question?" She said, "So why did God five up Jesus?" I heard a bunch of "yeahs" very low under other's breathes. I responded, "great question..let's look find out."

So at that point, I walked through John 3:16 & Romans 3:23. I explained to them why Christ had to die and came to die for the world. I went through why we fell short and how Jesus can fix that. The girl then followed up by asking, "So how do you come into a relationship with Jesus?" I grinned and I took the group through Romans 10:9-10. I explained to them about asking Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. I explained my testimony quickly and what Christ did for me.

At that point, I asked the entire group to bow there heads. I simply said, "If you would like to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior then just make eye contact with me." 8 students looked at me and I about lost it. I walked them through a how to get saved.

Can I say that TOTALLY ROCKED MY WORLD!!! Everything, the ups and downs of church planting and sacrificing, totally paid off. I got to experience God moving first hand. It is still surreal to me. I plan to follow up these next weeks with them. God rocks my world!

Please keep these students, me, the student ministry, and The Commons in your prayers. God is doing some incredible things here. Come be apart of it in some way.

-Cham

PS. I didn't edit check this content b/c I'm worn out. Please forgive any mistakes or type-os.

Crawlin' with a purpose...

One of the cool things I get to experience is watching people jump on the mission that Christ has called us to. I have had the privilege to hang out with some incredible guys that are passion about "muddin'/crawling" and also their relationship with Christ.

Recently the group's name and mission, "Crawlers 4 Christ", was birthed out of these two passions. It consist of a few guys from The Commons and from a few other churches. Their desire is to reach out to people with the love of Christ and to build community around one of their favorite hobbies. It's totally legit with cards to hand out and everything. It has just been pretty cool just watching it form through all the talk and rides that I have been own with these guys.

The other day as the group was leaving the trails, we met a guy who was needing help with his 4x4 truck. The guys spent and additional 2 hours in the dark trying to fix the truck so that he could get home. They met his physical needs and also talked to him about Christ as well. The guy was super thankful because most people wouldn't have stopped and taken the time due to fear of being tricked or robbed (the trails can be a shady place). As mentioned earlier, it is just a cool privilege to be around guys from The Commons and other churches that have a passion for Christ and to help others. God is doing great things here in Arlington, WA.

-cham

When going to prom pays off...

Why I go out of my way to do things...

As you may or may not know, I had the privilege of taking about ten students to the prom a couple of weeks ago. It started off with just a van ride down, but I couldn't leave it at that. I decided, "why not provide free pictures for them instead of them paying for one at the school?" So I did.., and it paid off. Just getting the chance to serve, hanging out with students, and going the extra mile was worth it. Last week was when I separated the Middle School and High School on two different nights. To my surprise, a few of those students from the prom outing showed up and loved it. It was totally worth my time, effort, and talents. I am always reminded about how Jesus tells us to go the extra mile for others, so we can impact them. Well, here is the proof. I have students who before prom, may would have never considered or connected with The Commons Student ministry.

So when are you going to prom?

-cham

Prom...would you go back?

Prom::.

Prom is one of those special moments in a student's life. The dresses, the tuxes, flowers, food, and fun. If you had a chance to go back to prom (no matter your age), would you? Well, in my case, YES! Tomorrow I grab the church van, 10 high school students, my photography camera, and we head off to prom. Are you going to be at the prom? Technically no, but I am driving some of my students and their friends to Seattle for their prom. One of my students came to me weeks ago and asked me if I would be interested. I was totally cool with it. So I will be the "limo driver" for the group. I thought to myself, "Why not give them some free professional photos as well?" You would have thought I hung the moon. All of a sudden, I had other students contacting the one who asked me trying to get on board. The chaos i create.

I share this with you to encourage you to take those extra steps to impact others. I get a chance to hang with some students that do not attend the student ministry and probably has never been to church too. What a great opportunity to interact with those students and provided them with great memories through photos and to show them the Love of Christ. God has called me to a cool ministry and I love every minute of it.

-cham

Easter Sunday

Easter:

We had an incredible day yesterday at The Commons. We had over 141 people at our Sunday Morning Worship service. It was a cool time just seeing new faces, excited kids, and people looking to connect with others and with Christ. We decided to keep it simple yesterday in the service and it worked out well. Tim, our pastor, brought a passionate message on the love of Christ and the Gospel. We had a ton of people give up their place in the service to meet the needs of childcare in the other rooms. It was an incredible time. I am excited to here some God-stories to come out of yesterday.

My PNW Family:

One of the biggest loves I have for The Commons is the real authentic community and family vibe that we have going on. Over the past few days, I received multiple calls from different families inviting me to eat with them for Easter. They wanted to make sure that I as well as other team members had a place for Easter since we live way far from our families. It was such an overwhelming sense of love that I felt from each phone call, text, and face to face invite. So...I spent yesterday hanging out with multiple families and enjoying some incredible community. It's just a beautiful thing. I even ended up learning how to weave a basket when I hung out with my friends from the Tulalip Tribe (check it out pics on my facebook fan page). I had such a great time yesterday. Days like yesterday just confirm that I am where I need to be. I am so blessed

Big Week:

This week has a lot going on:

Men's Group Tonight:

I am always excited about this. The guys in The Commons have really stepped it up and I am so privileged to be among such an awesome group of men. I am expect some more new faces tonight. Plan to watch a little NCAA action with them afterwards.

Community Groups Kick-off:

This is the week where the Commons kicks-off new community groups. The awesome thing is that they will be lead by other Commons family members and not the leadership. This is such an exciting time. I can't wait to see such incredible things come out of these groups.

Students:

We are watching the Passion of the Christ this week in the Student Ministry. It has become a tradition for us. It puts things in a visual perspective for my kids. I am praying that questions and life changes will arise after this Wednesday.

Also, I am preparing for the big split. Next week, I will begin splitting Middle School and High School up. The reason is that I am loosing a lot of High School students b/c they want to tackle some deeper things that we could not necessarily go into with Middle School. I am really praying and expecting some great things to come out of this split. Change for some is never received well at the beginning, but over time I think this will extremely be beneficial to all.

I hope everyone had an incredible Easter Weekend. I encourage you to impact those around you and support those who need help in and out of the Body of Christ. Please keep me in your prayers as I walk through some potential job situations. My prayer is that it helps and not hinders what I do here at The Commons.

-cham

Everybody has a story...it just takes a second to listen.

It has been interesting the last couple of weeks. I have met some very interesting people with some really cool stories.

Last week, I was interviewed by a general manager at a local retail store here in the area. Come to find out, he was a PK (Preacher's Kid) and a former student pastor. It was pretty cool considering that I live in a unchurched area. We ended up sharing stories, struggles, and life. I was amazed at this encounter and I think he was too.

Yesterday, I had to go to a local Lab Testing Facility for a infamous drug test required by potential hiring companies. I met a doctor there that turned out to be a church goer at a local church. He was fascinated with my name which lead to my move up here which lead to me sharing why I was here and what I do. He shared about his life and his move as well as his journey as a believer. He was a really cool guy with a fascinating life and background.

I share this to encourage everyone to stop.., look.., listen.., and connect. If we stop in our busy worlds for a moment, we find that there are real people created by God with interesting stories. From there, we need to look for those moments where we can strike up a conversation. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but try it. Then we need to listen. You will be amazed how interesting the world outside of your world is. Last, we need to connect. Connecting in the sense of impacting that person. Leaving them with a blessing of some sort. In most conversations, I always ask in my heart, "Ok...God. How can I bless them or What do You want to do through me to bless or impact them?" Then I do it.

I just share this because there are so many people with fascinating stories that we can reach out to, bless, and impact. We just need to stop, look, listen, and connect.

-cham