Conference Time!

So I missed Catalyst this year...What a bummer.  However I was at a different leadership conference of sorts this weekend.  I was at SWACUHO.  A conference designated for Resident Assistants from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

We go to conferences to learn things.  I'm sure that if I had gone to Catalyst I would have learned some pretty phenomenal things.  I know I learned some pretty great things pertaining to my job by attending SWACUHO..

However, with many conferences we attend, listen, and then forget.  To this I say, what's the point?  Granted I will forget things about the conference that I just attended.  But, I do have ideas for pretty much every door dec I'm going to have to do from now until December, written down, and ready to be made, which is pretty great.

So why then would we attend a conference and then forget everything we learned?

I think it has something to do with the culture we live in today.  When we feel like we can access the knowledge that we learned at a conference at any time, online, we are less likely to remember it.

But there are also things that require real life application.  I believe we are unwilling to apply these new ideas because we don't want to have to work any harder than we already do.  We live in a culture that is all about what makes you comfortable which spells failure for new ideas typically.

We want to change but then when we get to the point to where change needs to happen, we decide to do something that is "more fun" instead of changing.

I believe we need to change our mindset in order to gain ultimate knowledge from a conference.  I will try to expound on this thought later this week.

Dead and Gone

So I really should put down my ideas on what I want to post.  I can't for the  life of me remember what it was that I was going to write about tonight.  So here I am thinking and pondering on what it is that I had in mind to blog about and I really don't know what direction to go in.

I believe I will tie some of what we were taught last night at London into some other thoughts that I have and see what happens from there.

So everyone has a past.  If they didn't have a past then they wouldn't have a way of getting here today.  Our past effects how we are today, however those experiences can also have no bearing on what we do in our future.

Sometimes I feel like we ponder too much of the past when we should be looking forward into our futures. Now granted Christ warns against us planning ahead for our lives.  However we do have to have some form of consensus vision of what he wants for us.  If we are lacking a vision then we are lacking direction as well.

Our past can have to different impacts on us, it can empower or enslave.

Our past can empower us to change the future.  Empowering can help us see where it is that we need to head in our lives, and realize our need to enact change into situations.  If we have a positive and flourishing past, or even a negative past that we learn from, then we will feel empowered to make a difference and a change in our future.

Our past can enslave us to our current lifestyles.  We may feel that we are caught in a rut.  Like we can't move and are stuck in the same process repeating ourselves.  Being slaves to our past is a constant let down, if we don't overcome our past then we will not be able to move on in our lives.

To no longer be a slave to our past we must realize that our past is our past.  We can't change it, but what we can do is change our future.

To move on, we must see as Christians, that God's grace supersedes everything in our past.  This means we no longer need to worry about our past.  It has been forgiven, and no longer affects our lives.

What's the point of this if you don't let it change you?

So I talked a little about change in the last post. So I believe that I'm going to take this concept deeper today. So the title, a quote from a recent film "To Save a Life." Has really provoked thought for me recently. 

I take this thought and apply it to each thing that I do.  What is the point of my involvement in each different group if I don't let it change me?  What is the point of my involvement if I am not a catalyst of change as well?

We must be constantly learning.  This is one form of change.  As we learn from our experiences, as we learn for our classes, we should be changing.  We should be applying this to our lives.  Because once again, what is the point if we don't let this change us?  It's all a waste of time essentially.

Each thing that I am involved in changes me in a way, as well as I should be enacting change within that system as well.

So with classes, I input what I have learned, as well as learn myself.  My input helps others learn and thus change, as well as I change as I learn.

At church, I am changed with each week of practical ministry experience, as well as my influence helps to change the students life.

At BCM I grow each week as I lead our freshlife ministry as well as help direct the overall direction of the BCM, and thus enact my influences in those to areas as well, affecting all who attend.

As a reslife employee I encounter situations everyday, and this grows my interpersonal communications skills and I in turn am able to help assist students in their college experience, enacting change in their lives as well.

On the debate team I am able to grow in my presenting and problem solving skills, as well as present effective topics in order to persuade others to my views.

If you are unable to see where you are being changed or where you are being a catalyst of change then something is missing.  When we come to the point that we are able to realize where we are the catalysts of change, then we will be an even more effective catalyst of change.  This will deepen our power of influence and allow for more leadership opportunities among other things.

What am I doing?

Blogging today seems kinda dry for me.  However, I need to get at least one post in for this week, so I'm not trying to catch up over the weekend.  I feel like the past week and half I have been spread everywhere. I don't think it's going to slow up anytime soon either.  

Staying this busy is something the plagues our culture.  We spend so much time doing things, but are we actually doing anything?  That is what I sit back and ask myself at times like this.  I really begin to wonder how this affects myself. I begin to think if all this stuff that I'm doing is really making a difference. 

I think it's hard at this point to be able to justify not doing some things though.  As a college student, if you plan on succeeding after college you have to be preparing yourself for the workforce after graduation.  So I spend my time involved with things that are targeted at doing that such thing.  These things take up time though and I have to assess how effective I am in each of these markets.

As I assess this I come to find that I may be able to be effective in these places, but am I enacting change? Moreover can I enact change?  I believe that what I do is important, but is it something that builds towards the ultimate goal?  

I believe that everything a person does can point to Christ.  Or at least it should point to Christ.  The only way it won't is if it is done in sin.  With that I ask myself if I do things out of sin.  I believe that at times I do, I mean everyone does at one point or another.  

I bring all of this back together and I say that what I'm doing has purpose, that I am leaving my mark in places, however I don't believe that sometimes I forget to point things towards Christ.  That part is the most important of all too.. 

This is where I stand right now.

While His Friends Slept, Jesus Wept, and it's No Wonder Why...

Well it took me forever tonight to get the internet to work.  Sometimes I wonder about the Tech system. Anyway, I've had some stuff on my mind recently and something that I encountered today served to reinforce it.  We as "Christians" (whatever that's supposed to mean) need to not settle, we need to be constantly moving forward in our walk with Christ.  What happens is we get into a routine, where all that is required from us is Sundays, maybe Wednesdays, and if we're lucky Tuesdays (for BCM'ers).  Other than that, we live our lives, emphasis on OUR lives.  We are focused on US instead of CHRIST.  Now I'm mulling over some other thoughts that I may talk about in the next weeks, though currently I'm sticking just with the thought of settling.  At London the staff kinda has this saying, Don't settle for good when you can have great, or something along the lines of the 4-H motto, "To Make the Best Better."  Why can't we do this?  Why can't we live a life where as we sing to Hillsong lyrics we let Christ actually "Take it all"  No we sit here, happy with our lives as we know it.  That's not what it's about, if we are not experiencing growth, if we are not seeing life change, then we are not fulfilling our duties as "Christians" which means "Little Christ" but most of the time we are far from being little Christ's.  It kinda irks me, yes I need work, I admit it, send me to REHAB anything but get us out of this.  Here's the thing, today, we did Super Summer Arkansas interviews (online apps found here )  we are short guys, in a BIG way.  We have plenty of girls, but we need guys, like alot, but the probblem is guys settle, guys believe that they have to have jobs and do things in order to advance themselves in the world.  Guys don't buy into a life patterened after Christ, they buy into a "church" mentality, one where they show up for church and that's as deep as they get, so what I leave is with this, how to we get guys, how to we get MEN to buy into Christian lifestyles, where they see the need to do more than just show up for church, and actually become servicing members.