Everybody stop, Twitter Time

I was talking with Pastor Jeff and some of the creative team about twitter yesterday and they let us know that you can text twitter and it will update it on your blog. I saw Pastor Jeff's Twitter on his blog and was inspired to begin. I had been thinking about it for a long time and there are many times I want to text, but don't know who to send it to, so now I have an answer! Not only that but the internet is awake 24/7, so I'll never be without a texting buddy again :-)! Check back for more Twitter updates.

The Thursday Morning Poll

Cue the music! Today I am beginning a new tradition for the Travis Warren Blog. We have 6:30 am prayer and then I go to my office and I got to thinking today, why not do a poll every Thursday after prayer. The other voice in my head said, "that's a great idea!" So from now on, beginning today there will be a new poll every Thursday. In the poll we will tackle some tough questions and some "tough" questions ;-). They will be related to life, ministry, society and whatever else the voices in my head are saying (just kidding of course, that's the Yerba Mate tea talking).

Today's poll is about...

I'm casually reading a book called 50 facts that should change the world and it's all about crazy facts that we don't think about. Here's a few:

• 1/3 of the world is at war
• 30 million people in Africa are HIV positive
• More than 150 countries use torture
• There are 27 million slaves in the world today

It's not the most positive read, but it certainly gives me a sense of purpose in brining to the world the message of hope and that there is a Savior that can redeem you from the atrocities that we see every day. This book is stirring me to action and prayer. We need to always be communication the message of hope and love to everyone we see. Today's poll is about this book and the facts in it. It's not a very uplifting book and it's filled with well "interesting" opinions about these fact, so I don't recommend it. It is a good book for bringing awareness to how bad it really is and how much the world really needs the message that sustains us.

I Heart (love) People

That list above is intense. I know in my life I've struggled to love some of these types of people. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for those that treat us like garbage. What do you do when there is somebody you can’t love? We’ve all got people in our lives that are difficult to love, yet true Christ followers love people.

You’ve heard it said that you should hate those who do wrong to you or to the ones you love, but what do you say?

In John Chapter 8 Jesus is presented with a you’ve heard it said that, but what do you say kind of question and his response is the model for our life if we are going to truly love people. The woman caught in adultery is cast at his feet and religious people of the day want to kill her because she has been labeled as an "adulteress." Jesus looked past the label and saw a person and loved her. He says(in the new Travis translation), whoever has never been labeled as a "sinner" cast the first stone. One by one the stones were dropped and the religious left. Jesus turns to the woman and tells her he doesn't condemn her and to go and leave her life of sin.

All those types of people and words above are just labels. If we'll peel back the labels we'll see people that need to be loved. Because Christ loved me when I was cast at His feet and labeled a sinner, I can drop my rocks of anger, hurt, and fear and love all people. I can look past the label and love the people.

You've heard it said that all Christians are intolerant, but this Christian loves people. You've heard it said that all Christians are intolerant, but what do you say? Label or love?

New Service Recap

Last Sunday was the first Sunday youth service at 11 with Jr. and Sr. high and I could not ask for a more incredible day. From the beginning to end it was outstanding! The volunteers did an incredible job of "being the energy" during the entire service. HUGE PROPS TO PRODUCTION!!! The production volunteers stepped up huge and put together a service with zero flaws. We did multiple videos for the first time in the GRID and they nailed every video, sound and lighting cue. Here's some rapid thoughts about the service:

• Meeting in the foyer and then going over to the GRID created instant energy when we walked into the GRID. It felt huge!
• The new foyer volunteer shirts rule the planet, props to Kristian Gorman!
• TONS of new Check-ins, great job Steff keeping it flowing.
• The youth foyer greeters did such an incredible job of snagging students before service and inviting them to youth. PROPS to all of you.
• Adam's welcome and musical chair giveaway was rockin'
• Worship was off the heezy! When Terryl talked about praise and went back into break free no less that 90% of the room was jumping. It was the first time I'd seen many of our Jr. high crew really engage in worship.
• The message went incredible well. 20 to 30 hands were lifted to drop the stones of anger, revenge and hurt that people had towards different people and choose to love and not label. I truly believe God was healing hearts that had been broken by others as people forgave and loved.
  
• 7 hands were lifted to receive Christ or rededicate their life to him. One for sure was a first time salvation. Here's a clip of an email I got from it: "You got one of the kids I bring to church saved thanks man. thats totally cool his whole family is talking about it. praise god right."
• There were 5 first time guests and a total of 73 people there!
  
• Adam did the offering message as well and did an incredible job.
• Jenny finished it up with close.
• The superstar volunteer of the week would have to be... Post coming soon!

It was a huge success this last Sunday and it will continue to grow. Make sure you get there if you are a student. If you're a parent make sure you students comes. It will be life changing.

Next weeks message: I Heart Guitar Solos! Don't miss it!

New Youth Service begins in 3...2...1...

This weekend we launch our new youth services for Jr. high and High School and I am so excited!!! We will begin at our 9am service with Jr. high only and move to our 11am service with a combined Jr. and Sr. High. This weekends message is I heart people and it's gonna get rowdy, so make sure you are there!

MHS Soccer

Last night Andrew Chavez invited me to his soccer game verses Lake Stevens at LSHS. I showed up a little late because I got lost (I live in Lake Stevens, but know little of where anything is). When I arrived he was on the sideline because of a face injury. From what I gathered he got kicked in the face protecting the goal (he's a goalie) and had to be pulled out of the game for liability reasons. There was a fear that he broke his nose, which after seeing the swelling and bruising, he may have :-), better follow up with that. It was a lot of fun watching the game and with about eight minutes left Austin Cohn (Jaisa's brother) kicked the winning goal for Monroe. It was awesome kudos and congrats to Austin. The team is now 2-0-1, two wins and one tie and may be in first place.

Playing sports is an incredible experience. I played baseball for 12 years, wrestled for three and played football for one. It taught me discipline, hard work and team work. I have tons of stories and memories of wins and losses that I will cherish for a life time.

One thing I admire tremendously about Andrew Chavez is that while he lives, eats and breathes soccer, it always comes second to his relationship with God and church. I've seen Andrew show up for church and events tired and worn out from a game, but unwilling to miss what God has for him. In today's sports crazy society it's difficult to keep the proper priorities in tact, but fight for it and you'll have stories, memories, friendships and possible scholarships and the character to back all of it up!

The Retreat recap and testimonies

This last weekend we shuttled 40+ people over to Cascade Community Church, jumped on a bus (I drove down, so I could be back for service) and rode down to Camp Berachah. Along with the youth of GRID 29:11 (The Rock Church's youth ministry) we had Cascade's youth, Monroe Community Chapel's youth and Crosswater Community Church's youth. There were upwards of 150 total people at the Camp. It was an unprecedented weekend where churches put down their denominational differences and rallied around one central similarity, their love for Jesus Christ.

It was incredible to see churches mixed with churches worshiping together, eating together and sleeping in the same cabins, laughing together. It was one of the funnest youth trips and weekends I've ever been a part of.

The high point of the whole weekend for me was the last night we were there. The speaker Jeff Geise felt like God was directing us to do a feet washing and communion service with an emphasis on mending broken friendships. I couldn't believe it when students from other churches were going up to other students and repenting for having offenses. Friendships that had been broken by differences and such were mended and I truly believe God was smiling upon the unity that was produced from this event.

That night for me personally was incredible too. I had student after student come wash my feet and thank me for the impact I had in their life. I was so humbled and so honored to be able to be a part of their life. We have some incredible students and to be able to pastor them is an incredible honor. I also had an opportunity to wash Pastor Jim from Cascade Community's feet and thank him for his friendship and camaraderie in youth ministry. I had the honor of watching Jim pastor young people and I was blown away at the caliber of pastor that he is. He is one of the greatest pastor's I've ever seen in operation. I knew he was awesome, but I didn't know he was out of this universe awesome!

While at The Retreat God reminded me that 10 years ago we started praying for unity between The Rock, Cascade, and MCC and that the answer to that prayer began at that retreat. God truly does answer prayers and I cannot wait for what else God has in store for this city.

This kind of event and unity does not happen, at all, around the U.S. I've maybe heard about something like this 1 or 2 times in my life. This is the beginning of what revivals are born out of and I am expecting God to do something supernatural as a result of our obedience. It was an inspiring weekend and I cannot wait for next years retreat!

States test can you beat my score?

In 2m 54s

Click here to Play

Work Party?

I told everybody on Saturday to check the blog to see if we would have a work party this Saturday. Well... because we're gone for The Retreat and so many of our incredible leaders are going as well we will not be having a work party or Saturday night service. We will have a work a work party on Saturday the 22nd, so come with some clothes you can get dirty and lets sharpen the incredible tool we call GRID 29:11 to reach more people!

Since you're here at the blog check out some of the other posts below!

Crazy cool video

I saw this video from YouTube on another blog and I had to show it here. We should totally do something like this sometime.