Women's Retreat

This semester has been packed with activity.  One of my favorite events thus far has been our 2013 Women's Retreat held in Deland.
Last year the retreat took place in Winter Park, and I was disappointed I missed it.  I hoped we'd return to Park Ave. so I could enjoy impersonating a local sophisticate.  When I heard the plan to spend our weekend in Deland, I was a bit sad at first.  Then I realized what a great opportunity this was.
It's exciting to explore a new place if you keep an open heart.  Wesley's very own Aubrey Lane, Lily Geist, and Jacob Liseno grew up in Deland.  They turned out so well, I knew it had to be a nice town.  ;)
At retreat, everyone blossomed almost immediately.  The Spirit of God was clearly present the entire time, and we let Him express Himself more than we normally do.  (He won't force Himself on us.)  Our community was authentic and strong -- by the end of the trip, many of us had connected deeply with girls we never spoke to before.
This was partially facilitated through an idea we implemented.  A mason jar was bought, decorated and labeled for each girl.  Throughout the retreat, we encouraged everyone to put uplifting notes into the jars as we left them out.  By the end everyone had been blessed and took home a full jar.
I plan to keep mine for a long time.  I may even turn the notes themselves into a work of art, for that's what they already are.  Kind words, loving Truth from God -- they're forms of art with eternal impact.  This idea was cemented into me, by those jars and the prophetic words we spoke to one another.

You never know what impact your words will have.  I don't know just how this post will affect your life, but I pray it's constructive at least.
May we allow God the chance to speak through us.  He will speak if we are willing.

- Jess

Leadership Retreat 2

Humility. That is the word I would use to describe what the most recent leadership retreat taught me. I will admit I walked into the retreat preoccupied and a little cynical. I walked out with a renewed knowledge of why I joined the leadership team at Wesley in the first place, areas of growth I would like to focus on and a renewed excitement about Wesley's ministry to the college students of UCF, Valencia and more. I'm not on leadership to make the staff of Wesley happy. I'm not on leadership to have something to put on my resume. I'm not on leadership so that I can feel good about myself. 

I am on leadership because I have a calling from God - to love Him with all my heart, to love those around me as I love myself, and to bring others to Him by living a life that shows His love and His grace. Wesley's mission is to call college students to new life in Jesus Christ. As a part of the leadership team I have taken a personal vow to do all I can to see this mission through, for His glory, and not mine. This leadership retreat has challenged me to take on an attitude of selflessness this coming semester, and it is my hope that this challenge will strengthen my personal relationship with Christ, as well as show others His unconditional love and grace. 

Leadership Retreat

Wesley retreats always leave me refreshed.  Our Spring 2013 leadership retreat was no different, yet it stood out.  God clearly heaped blessing after blessing on us from the beginning.  These will stick with us through the busy semester.  Let us not forget what we have!

The first day of retreat, I became Wesley's newest intern.  Going into the weekend I had a confidence boost regarding God's provision and my potential.  By the retreat's end, all of our friendships were solidified and spirits were lifted.  We surrendered our plans to Him.  It was divinely contagious.

I'm still excited for His work in our futures.  He has placed so many glorious plans before us, and He'll continue equipping us for them.  We're going to spread the Love like nobody's business.

~ Jess

Commitment

The semester went by so fast. Some of you guys are entering into your final semester, others into your second and others in the middle of a limbo time as you are part freshman-sophomorish-junior...ish.

I am thankful everyday that I get to be your pastor, director, leader or whatever it is that I am. I look around at everything-Wesley that the Lord has blessed me with and I think, "Don't mess it up Erwin." I don't take for granted this move to Orlando or all the new changes in my life since June, especially my wife.

I wanted to write this post for a couple of reasons. One, I just wanted to tell you guys that Wesley will miss you. We are excited for the things that are happening at Wesley and look forward to seeing you all next semester. During this time I encourage you to rest---cause yall look tired sometimes---I aint even gonna lie. Really, take time to be present with family, call each other once in a while, email/fb your community group and tell them you are thinking about them and make sure you stay connected with each other. Hey, if you even want to call me you can. You know my cell phone, if not you should. 305-492-5132

The other reason I wanted to write to you all is to talk about what I preached about last Tuesday, COMMITMENT. Especially given some of the recent events happening in the local news dealing with Summit Church. I know a lot of you attend that church and have heard the news. Im going to keep this short and sweet.

Support your church and pray for the family, for Isaac, and for every person involved. Do not leave Summit. When you join a church you make a commitment before God that you will serve that church. You do not make a commitment to God that you will follow a pastor. As was mentioned, the church is bigger than any one person.

From the people that I have met from Summit they have all been mature believers. This difficult time is going to say something about your faith, your commitment to the church and your community and your trust in grace, healing, and mercy. The Christian life is filled with up and downs and I've said this before...It's Hard as Heck. The only way we can get through some things is together. Together.

When the going gets tough some people get going...they run away..they give up.

When the going gets tough Christians come together, pray, worship, and support one another.

My hope is that you would do the same.

Thanksgiving

I'm not going to lie, I have not been excited about the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving only appeared to me as a hurdle, trying to figure out how to overcome my need to do homework in the midst of family festivities, in a house without internet, and when I was going to work on my group project with my group mates. Christmas won't be like it has in the past... our family will be scattered around the south east, and my grandma's dementia makes it really hard to be around her - it makes me sad and I miss her. And having Christmas dinner in the cafeteria of my grandma's assisted living home didn't really sound like a cheery Christmas day to me. I was in the mood to just skip to New Years Eve and move on. But God has been opening my heart the last few days. 

Hearing Jim Keller's sermon on thanksgiving in relation to Luke 17:11-19, God used another's words to speak to me, when I was avoiding listening to His voice. He stressed the importance of realizing the difference between the feeling of gratitude and the action of thanksgiving. Unless your gratitude moves you to action, it really doesn't have much worth behind it. I realized that my gratitude to God for the blessings he's placed in my life didn't mean much, because it wasn't moving me to action. My attitude has recently been one of negativity, and pessimism comes more naturally to me. But I have the ability to change that, by changing my actions. 

If I'm scared and uncomfortable being around my grandmother, now that her dementia is progressing to a more serious stage, those feelings aren't going to go away unless I face them, find reasons to be thankful for her and the rest of my family, and remember that she is still the woman I have loved my whole life. That she is still here is something to truly be thankful for - so instead of spending my day off tomorrow wasting my time at home, I am facing my fears and going to visit her with my mom. 

Lately I've allowed my negativity and pessimism to allow me to forget all that God has provided in my life, to forget that I have things to be thankful for each and every day. This week, as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday set aside to give thanks to our Creator for all He has provided, it's important to realize that we should not let this spirt of thanks stay just in the holiday season. It should eminate throughout our lives, because as followers of Christ we are called to a new life and a different life - a life of praise and thanks. I know from experience it is hard to be thankful during the rough times... extremely hard. But if we can make that effort, if we can find even one thing to sincerely praise God for in each day, then maybe the rough times won't be so rough. 

-- Sarah Howell 

Christ to the Nations - Thanksgiving Outreach

This last Saturday, November 17th, CFL Wesley partnered with Christ to the Nations church for their annual Thanksgiving outreach to their community. This weekend was the sixth year in a row that this church fund raised and purchased complete Thanksgiving meals to hand out to the families nearby. We're talking full meals, here. A fifteen pound turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, stuffing, the whole deal. For the past four weeks, all of the offering money received during our Tuesday meetings were given to this outreach. When the day came for the church to purchase all the food, a total of one hundred meals were sent out to families in need, twenty of which came from the giving hearts of the students here at CFL Wesley.

On the 17th, a group of students, along with Erwin and Charity, went out to help the church hand out these meals to whoever was in need. There were some families who the church had planned to give the meals to, but bout eighty meals needed to be given out by going door to door and surprising people with the Lord's provision.

Most of the people we talked to accepted the food graciously, and some turned us away, telling us that we'd rather give the food to someone who truly needed it. Such selflessness from a community that isn't necessarily the most well off, was heartwarming, to say the least. The most touching of which, was a mother who took a meal for her next door neighbor, a single mother of three, who was not at home during the time.

At the end of it all, however, we couldn't help but notice, as we drove back to the church, how many homes we simply couldn't stop by to help. Families who saw us hand out our very last meal, and were clearly curious. There were so many people left to reach out to, talk to, tell them that the Lord will never forget them, and can provide in ways they would never expect. As we returned to the church, we heard stories from some of the other members of the church who handed out food. It's amazing how such a simple act can change a life. How $25 can make a mother break down in tears. Sometimes it's easy to take for granted how blessed we can be, when compared to such an experience.

Whether someone got one of the meals or not, I know the Lord is providing for everyone in that community, and that brings me great joy. An even greater joy comes, when I think about how God used me to bring that provision to those who needed it.

Wesley does NiceServe

So, after an insanely busy week in Atlanta working on my senior design project for engineering, I arrived home late Friday night. I got up early Saturday morning and experienced the joy of my first NiceServe. I was exhausted and did not want to get up, but the allure of 4Rivers and getting to serve with my friends got me out of bed. We had the opportunity of serving at Covenant House. This is a place where teens with nowhere left to go are given a home and provision. We reorganized a mess of a room, and even though it took 3 hours we had fun doing it. I also got to meet some pretty cool people. It is amazing how much can get done when the kingdom is actively moving. How great would it be if we would do these things without incentive or without knowing our friends were going to be present. The mess in that little room was overwhelming, but that was no excuse to forfeit our attempts at cleaning. The needs of the world are like that little room: completely overwhelming and sometimes appearing hopeless. Even when we can't see the difference we have made, we must push forward knowing that we do these things not for ourselves, but for God's glory and the opportunity to give as He has given.