Faithwalkers conference 2008
By Karl Quickert
http://www.evergreencc.com/news/intouch/intouch-full.shtml The theme of Faithwalkers this December was "Totally Committed." 2200 people united together at Tan-Tar-A resort on Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri to worship, listen to teaching, cry out to God, and grow in their faith. Over 160 people from The Rock and over 325 from all of Evergreen came. Below are two testimonies from students at The Rock. Since I've talked to quite a number of people, I can say with confidence that their testimonies represent the experience and feelings of multitudes of others.
Fully Committed to Christ
by CoryAnn
Throughout high school I began to grow in my relationship with Christ and I realized his supremacy over my life. There were many things I gave to him, however, two things I held onto: my family and my future.
Two weeks before I left for school my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Broken, I laid it at the feet of the Lord. He's comforted me in every aspect I've needed. However, this circumstance caused me to hold on to my education goals even more tightly. Like my favorite hobby, cooking, it was something I could control the results of.
I had plans for my life. I was a biology and Global Health major and I was going to go to medical school. My class schedule was chosen for the next four years. I was a diver on a division 1 diving team. I was involved in a campus ministry called Greek intervarsity, and I planned to Rush Alpha Phi in the winter. Through Greek intervarsity I was hopefully going to run a Bible study and I was invited to help plan for the large group meetings. I also had a summer internship set up with a surgeon at a hospital, something extremely hard to do as a freshman.
I didn't think that I was making it an idol in my life, but looking back on it I realize it consumed a large amount of my mind. Fortunately God had different plans for me.
The first change he had for me was removing me from the diving team. The third week I was at school I hurt my ankle and needed surgery in the winter. Despite this I still had everything else. Slowly God began to change my heart; it started during finals week when I had this random urge to transfer to the U of M. But I quickly pushed that side. Two weeks later over Christmas break God placed transferring to the U of M on my heart once more. I even made a pro/con list and The Rock was listed on the "pro transferring" column three times: once for a church, another for a small group, and the third for a group of sisters to live with.
Finally at Faithwalkers, the Lord placed transferring so strongly on my heart, I could rarely think of anything else. I realized that during the previous month my desires had changed. I had always wanted to serve the Lord and he really placed in my heart the desire to be a mother and raise my kids. I realized this would not coincide very well with my plans to be a doctor.
At Faithwalkers I received three confirmations from the God that solidified my decision to transfer. My decision to transfer to college in the Twin Cities leaves me scared and broken. Scared because I no longer have clear goals for my career and for the first time in my life I'm not taking a science or a math class.
My decision to transfer to college in the Twin Cities still leaves me with many questions and challenges. All at once I feel humbled, fearful, and fully committed to the Lord in ways I have never experienced in my life before. Something that I realized, though, is that EVERYTHING is temporary. It breaks my heart to be back at Northwestern and see the ways in which my fellow colleagues are investing into things of this world. But Lord has blessed me with overwhelming amounts of peace and joy in knowing that it's worth it to give it all up for Him.
Place Worth Planting
by Erik Williams
So I've been sitting back in my hometown of West Salem, WI reflecting on the amazing last few days we spent with one another in Missouri. And for that matter, reflecting on the last year of revelation, healing, and growing God has done in my own life.
One of the main messages that hit home with me was Rick Whitney's on how we need to choose to plant our flags and die, and his constant reference to an old photograph from 35 years ago of a group of guys -- some who are still with us and some who are not.
Since Faithwalkers last year, every single friendship I have ever had in my life has either been lost or utterly tainted (for the time being). Nothing is the same. I have lost so many "close" friends when God rescued me. Even my "Christian" friends from before are no longer in my life, as the Christianity they live out is no walk of faith at all. From family to friends to those I held most dear all has been seemingly lost.
But now I think of my brothers and sisters at the Rock. And I find myself grateful to have all of them in my life. They are people with such genuine compassion for one another, such a zest for life, and a desire to seek out God day by day. Yet the flesh in me screams, "Hey Erik, remember every dear friend you've had in your life until now, and how you've lost them all one by one. One at a time they all left you."
By the last day of Faithwalkers, I completely slapped that demon in the face and sent him packing and here's why.
The difference between every relationship from my past and my relationships with my brothers and sisters at The Rock is a difference of who we are yoked to. As I reflect, I realize that every single friendship I had before was based on temporal, ever-changing, seasonal things: where I went to school, what bands I listened to, what sports I played, what movies I watched, what classes I took, what drugs I did, what parties I went to, what kinds of craziness I tolerated. And when my life changed, when I decided to die to self and let Christ take the reigns, when I changed, all those fleeting things faded away. I lost my friends because our friendships were based on garbage, ultimately meaningless things that none of us can take with us into the next life; things that when change came, meant an abandonment of our bond as friends.
My brothers and sisters at The Rock, however, are friends because of our unique choice to be yoked to Christ, dedicating ourselves to an UNCHANGING, PROMISE-KEEPING, ETERNAL being – one who WILL be there in the next life, ushering all of us in. Is that incredibly encouraging to anyone else?
The road to heaven's gates is long, treacherous, hard, and difficult. But I can say with confidence that with each of us yoked to Christ, making that same journey, we will never be alone. Not only is He there, but each of us offers our own unique fellowship and encouragement as well as we continue to be yoked to Him.
Committing to the Rock, committing to this body, has been a spiritual battle, a challenge in my heart in recent months. But no more. At the Rock and most certainly in Christ, I have found a place worth planting my flag; a place worth pouring my life out. I have found brothers and sisters more than worth fighting the good fight with.
