The Good News

Some time ago, I was studying Paul’s writings to the church in Ephesus in the books of 1 and 2 Timothy.  As I read through the aging apostle’s writings I was struck with his fascination of what he called, “the blessed Gospel.”  Here was a man who had seen and done it all for Christ.  He had matured as much or more than any man had in Christ, and yet, here he was, absolutely fascinated with the power and beauty of the Gospel!  I was pierced by my own flippancy toward what is “the power of God to us who are being saved.”  I had viewed the Gospel as something for non-Christians to hear, and for new Christians to make their foundation, but beyond that we should mature into something greater.  I’d been a Christian for years.  Yet again, I was confronted with Paul and his childlike adoration of what Jesus had accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection.  Was it possible that I had far undervalued the enormity of what it meant that God Himself had become a man— to die, and then be raised from the tomb after three days?  What incredible wonder is this that the Creator would enter His own Creation simply to let them kill Him— just so He could have them???

Over the course of the following months, I was struck, stunned, astounded, and driven to my knees in awe and gratitude over what Jesus Christ did for me, for us.  I had never known how complete His work truly was, and why He was able to utter, “It is finished,” until that period of time, and my life was revolutionized once again.  All it took was one moment with God, when He opened my eyes and I saw what He’d done, and everything became clear:  ”It is finished.”

In two and a half weeks, at FireUP be.loved 2011, Jesus will be the center, the essence, and the everything of this event.  The Good News will be proclaimed, and lives will be changed.  I hope yours is one.

 

A Heart That Burns

A few years ago, I went to an event of a similar nature as FireUP, and it was at that event that I heard a man speak of something that so burned in my heart that it brings tears to my eyes to this day as I speak of it.

The preacher was a man about fifty years of age, he spoke with a burning passionate love for Jesus, and a conviction that what he spoke was Truth.  In his message, he told a story of being a man in his early twenties.  He was at a conference with about three thousand young people, the same age he was, and the man speaking asked the young people there to commit to live a life faithfully burning before the Lord.  And at that conference three thousand people in their early twenties responded to commit to a life of faithfulness before God.  They celebrated together dancing in worship before God.  Three thousand young people.  Commitment.  Dancing.

As I sat and listened to this fifty year old preacher tell this story, I was wondering why the tone of his story was tinged with sorrow.  He paused after telling of the dancing, and the commitment all three thousand had made.  His voice caught in his throat as he said, “three thousand young people, dancing…  and now, thirty years later, after trial, hardship, and time, of those three thousand, all that are left is a handful.  A handful out of three thousand that still dance, and burn before the Lord.”

Something in my heart tore open.  How grievous!  That at a conference, everyone is ready to live for Jesus, and when they get back home, life gets in the way.  Friends don’t want them to change.  Parents are uncomfortable with this new passion they have.  People wonder why they have to be so radical.  It’s like a wet blanket is being thrown on them… and the fire begins to fade…  Not right away, but slowly over time.  Soon a year has gone by, and they return to the conference where the year before they had committed to burn for Jesus, and here, a year later, they’re a bedraggled wreck, storm tossed and tattered on the sea of life.  How sorrowful!

So, as much as I love conferences, and watching people worship with passion before Jesus, what I love even more is when I meet one.  One person who wakes up in the middle of the night crying out for God to move in their city.  One person who walks with integrity in spite of the response of their friends, family, and workplace.  One person who sets all of their life aside to spend a couple hours everyday with God in prayer and in the Word.  I love conferences, and dancing masses of people, but I’d trade it all in a heartbeat for one.

So when we designed this event, the thrust was to lead people into an encounter, a personal meeting, with the Living God.  But we refuse to let it end Saturday, August 20th.  It must carry on throughout the year.  It’s not enough to get excited once a year at a big conference!  Jesus is exciting everyday!

But we can’t do it on our own.  We need the company and support of the family of believers. Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs. So, get involved in a church, a small group, a discipleship group.  Get tied in with people who will push you deeper and deeper into God’s burning heart. Find a friend that will commit to pursue Jesus with you, and commit to each other to hold the course.  My hope is that each year, as you return to FireUP, you’ll come back stronger and more in love than when you left the year before, and that throughout the year you will enjoy the strength and encouragement that comes from being a part of a local church body.

Because we know that resources are at a premium, we’re providing access throughout the year to weekly podcasts, devotionals, and books that will challenge you to continue to burn with love for Jesus— one day at a time, all year long.  That access will be provided for you when you sign in at FireUP be.loved in August.  See you then.

In hope,

Charlie

FireUP be.loved 2011

This is the first of the Director’s Blogs.  In the weeks leading up to FireUP be.loved in Marquette, MI on August 19 & 20 this will be used to keep everyone up to date on what is developing, and what God is doing in our hearts to prepare us for the event. After FireUP it will be a weekly devotional to help deepen relationship with God throughout the year.

The Registration Packets have been mailed and they are amazing!  Ask your pastors to keep their eyes open this weekend and to register your group with the Registration Card inside!  Just have them fill it out and place it in the mail, the postage has already been paid.  Or you can register online through the website: www.mqtchurch.com/fireup  Inside the packets is a Housing Guide where host churches, families, campgrounds, and hotels can be found.  If you are a part of a church, and you would like to make sure your church received a packet, contact us at fireup@mqtchurch.com

In the packet we enclosed a letter from the director, in which I shared a few of the changes we’ve made with FireUP this year.  This is that letter:

This year, we’ve made a few changes to FireUP, and I’d like to take just a few minutes to explain some of them.

First, our greatest desire is to worship Jesus for who He is and what He’s done. So FireUP will have a very definite worship focus.

Second, we believe God’s Word is alive and active, and we want people to have the opportunity to have their lives change as God opens their eyes to see what He has declared in the Scriptures. The messages heard at FireUP will be biblical teaching and preaching.

Third, we hope to make the Gospel available to all people, and so through God’s provision, FireUP be.loved is free!

Fourth, our passion is not only to see teenagers come into the knowledge of God, but also anyone who is young, and willing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus. So FireUP is now for anyone who fits that description.

Lastly, we hope that this event will catapult teens and collegians into their schools as people of influence for the sake of the Gospel. So we moved the event from the spring to the end of summer.

Our hope for FireUP be.loved is that God will be touching hearts and transforming lives as he so deeply desires to do. We desire for Christians to be refreshed with new awareness of the love and beauty of Jesus. We hope that non-Christians will become Jesus’ disciples as they are confronted with the incredible scope of his mercy. The direction of my life changed at an event like this one. My hope is that many others will experience a similar change in direction, or maybe just a boost on their current path. I believe at FireUP be.loved in August, we will see both. I hope you will join us.
Sincerely in Christ,

Charlie Holsworth
Director

…but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

The last time I felt the Lord move me to write was almost two years ago.  The things happening in my heart were involving the disappointment I was having regarding a promise God had given to me about the leadership of FireUP (I have had dreams of speaking at FireUP since 2003.)  A year before I wrote about hope deferred, I had shared my vision with the Board of Directors of FireUP and had been rejected.  I knew God had promised this to me, and my heart was broken…  I was hurt, angry, frustrated, discouraged, everything I wrote about in those two blogs…

And now almost two years to the date after I wrote the first of those about my disappointment, we will be hosting our first ever FireUP be.loved and I have been charged with being the director.  The Lord did a mighty and amazing work to bring this about.  So what I want to share with you, is the path I had to walk to get here…  While I won’t share all of the details of the last three and a half years, what I will tell you is this:  Jesus is the dream, and whatever the current assignment he has you in, if you’re found faithful with that, he will entrust you with the potential he has planned for your life.

When God gives us these dreams, these promises, these hopes for our lives, He is giving us a potential we can live up to, if we walk faithfully with Him in love and obedience in what He has given us to do.  Our coming into His potential for us is dependent upon our abiding obedience.  Jesus spoke of the importance of abiding in His love, and how obedience and abiding are inseparably yoked together, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:10-11)  See, there isn’t joy apart from abiding in his love.  And there isn’t abiding in his love apart from obedience.  Joy, love, and obedience are all inseparably bound together.

So my point is this:  you can walk in the fullness of joy, and in the fullness of His love, long before you ever step into the full potential He has for your life.  If you’re waiting for circumstances to change before you walk in His pleasure, you’re falling more in love with an assignment, than you are with the Beautiful God who gives that assignment.  So establish yourself now in a deep and intimate love relationship with Jesus, walk in obedience in your current assignment, and He will bring you into the potential that He desires for your life.  That is the part that’s up to us.

But the truth of the matter is, He is the only one who gets us into the promises He has for us.  Over the years, we give up so many times, we complain, we stumble, we want to walk away, we run out of strength, and it is God, all God who finishes the good work He began in us.  The only thing we do is let Him pull us along in love and obedience.  And when we come into the promise he gave us, we’re so awestruck by His ability to get weak, broken, and powerless people into a glorious destiny that only He could create, that we’re humbled to tears at His kindness and sovereignty.

So now, FireUP.  To be honest, a lot of circumstances have changed in the last three and a half years.  We have a baby girl, Elisa Joy.  We bought a house.  We have another baby due in December.  I’m the Associate Pastor of Water’s Edge Church.  I’m the Director of the School of Life and Ministry, an equipping discipleship program in Marquette.  And I’m the director ofFireUP be.loved.  And I still work at Babycakes Muffin Company, a coffee shop downtown.  And I can tell you honestly, that while my joy has increased, the source has been the ever-increasing awareness of His pleasure in me as I walk obediently in love before Him.  He is just so kind, so good.  I’m so thankful that He kept me, and brought me into this time of life.

I’ll be writing the Director’s Blog here over the next months, both to keep everyone updated on our progress, but then as a resource for people who’ve attended the event to continue to go deeper with God throughout the year.  It’ll also be continually updated on the SLM website.  I look forward to this season God has for us together.