Last Day in Panama City...

Hey ya'll - it has been an incredible week!!!! Things have gone sooo well and we are wrapping up. Good news report - we've had 6 baptisms and some waiting to be baptized when we return! God has followed through on His promise to give life to those who seek him!

To fill you in on our return - we are hoping to be back at the church around 9 am but we will let you know if that time becomes sooner or later the closer we get. As you know traffic and weather always plays into the time we are able to travel considering the distance. Please know we love you and can't wait to bring back the love of Christ we have recieved...

Also - please have extra grace for us as we have not slept in our own beds for a week - ha!

We love you - the Collide family!

Tuesday...

Hey ya'll - let me start by saying thank you to those of you who have lifted us up in prayer. God is at work in a mighty way. As our conversations have brought forth the work of the Lord from last night, I'm excited to let you know that we already have many students who are making decisions to follow Christ in a new way. There is nothing better than seeing the Lord work in the lives of those around you - even better is seeing him work in your own.

As we gathered as a youth group last night it was evident that God is chipping away at our calloused hearts. In fact as I write this I've had to pause. One of our students needs to talk - please continue to pray. God is speaking life into these High School students.

Today we studied the life of Josiah... He was a man who was in love with God's Word - the Bible says there was none like him. Today we are seeing that God's Word is what will sustain us in times of hope and times of despair.

Again, continue to pray - God is creating all things new! We are all well and healthy - we miss you all!

Monday...

Evening session is beginning and today has been all we could ask for! We started today digging into the story of Rahab and after spending some time in C-Groups studying what God could do through a prostitute whose found in the family lineage of Jesus - our reality is that we all have something in common with Rahab. We find ourselves bound by our past and God wanting to do something new within us.

After a great time on the beach, I've got to tell you - we LOVE your kids! They are the most respectful, fun loving, compassionate group of High School students I've been with... Everyone is well and we've had no sickness or injuries (even with the old leaders playing beach volleyball - ha).

Please continue to pray in the next 15 minutes as the speaker gets ready to bring us the evening message. Pray that hearts will be open and that God will do something BIGGER in our lives than we could ever ask or imagine.

We love all of you and can't tell you enough how thankful we are to
partner with you in awakening a generation to the glory of God.

We are here!

Hey Friends and Family!

We made it! All 10 charter buses of Southeast folks made it here to Panama City today. The two Indiana Campus buses traveled without flaw and we are safe and sound (as did the others). Having said that - we are settling in and God is already stirring the hearts of our students and leaders. Our prayer is that tonight as we look at the life of Samson we will be open to listen to what the Lord has to say.

In a culture where listening is hard to do, we truly believe that God wants to speak to a room full of High School students and begin to Awaken a Generation to the Glory of God. We believe if he changes us - it will change our families, our friends, and eventually our world. Please pray with us that we will see God heal broken hearts, comfort those students who are hurting, overcome depression and eating disorders, be a father to the fatherless, and much more... Most of all pray that God will be Glorified in everything we do!

We love you and ask that you would continue to ask God to protect us as we keep VERY hydrated and wear PLENTY of sunscreen.

Until tomorrow - The Collide Family

Ways you can pray this week:

We leave in approximately 118 hours from the time I'm posting this, and we're incredibly excited!

There are many things that you can be in prayer about this week as Bible & Beach approaches:

• Pray for God to open the hearts of all the students going from all 3 campuses (Indiana, Oldham County, and Blankenbaker)
• Pray for leaders to be ready to follow the Holy Spirit as we point students toward Jesus
• Pray for details to come together and that we would follow the Holy Spirit's lead in every minor detail (rooming assignments, travel arrangements, programming, our leader meeting tonight, and so much more)
• Pray for the speakers who will be there: Jason Epperson, Ajai Lall, Jodi Hickerson - that they would speak words of truth that our hearts need to hear
• Pray for Ryan Post and Matt Bayless as they prepare their hearts and minds to lead us musically in worship throughout the week
• Pray that students would connect with Jesus and with each other before, during, and after the trip
• Pray that real life change happens and that we all leave changed because of a new understanding of what it means to be a Kingdom worker
• Pray for the Christ In Youth staff who will be orchestrating details of the week as well as many other weeks of CIY MOVE conferences all summer around the country

We'll update more as Saturday approaches!

Bible & Beach 2011 video

We're getting pretty pumped about this year's Bible & Beach trip. Click here to check out a little music video to get you so so so so excited!