Motown Madness: Live on Purpose

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Lenny and Larry's Baked Nutrition

This is another thing that I was extra excited for because it was my last time. But it wasn't exciting that I would never get to do it again, but excited that we were ready to make the most of it. I went to my first Motown Madness in 8th grade, and have been to most of them, at least for one night, the past few years. First we stayed at Abby Hick's house, then Bella Mills's, then Cassie Meek's, last year at Patty's, and this year she hosted us seniors one last time. 

The first night of Motown is always the main food event, even though it's around 10:00 before we get started. After the first service, the churches break off and each group goes to their host home for a month-awaited-and-planned-out smorgous board. Our idea was grilled chicken salad, tons of fruit, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn, salsas, and some other trimmings. 

Friday night, session one message highlights:
Speaker:  John Nix - fun fact:  He is the pastor at Toby Mac's camps and Camp Electric, which happens to be in Nashville, TN.
Worship band:  The Neverclaim

Church isn't a museum to put on a display but a hospital for broken sinners.
No matter how good your acting skills, it does not impress God.
God's grace and mercy is not because we are deserving but because He is loving.
Passage:  Acts 17-Paul discussing Christ's suffering and dying with the men in the synagogue-Why?  Because we sin.  What's sin-"Not only bad things committed but also good things ommitted" (James 4:17 "If anyone then knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.")  And sin is bad not only becuase of what we do, but also who we do it to; all sins hurt God.
Songs that came to my mind relating to this:  "Scandal of grace, You died in my place so my soul will live" and "What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus"
Sin is sin, and sin deserves death, but we can find redempion in Christ, and Him alone."You were dead in your transgressions and sins...but becuase of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ--it is by grace you have been saved."  Ephesians 2:1, 4-5

Saturday morning is in a tie with the awaiting and planning for great meals. Of course Motown Madness is about growing in the Lord with people from your community, but next it is also about the food. Honestly. Just ask anyone who has been involved. It's like a tradition. 

I had been in one of those energy ruts where it seems like nothing I do can recharge me. I was so exhausted. In that case, I was really looking forward to this weekend of rest and recharging for my body and spirit!

Patty was ready to fix me right up with some espresso. And some advocate spark for the afternoon. I was dead, but the artificial energy got me through!

 

Pancakes and pajamas are the perfect picture of comfort. I was dubbed pancake chef.

Patty was hard at work, too, up much earlier than we, making sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, and getting out the fruit and drinks. And her kitchen decorations are punny.

Breakfast is one of he best times to fellowship!

Acts 2:42, 46-47 The Fellowship of Believers  "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and prayer...in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor.."

 

 

My pancake of choice was apple cinnamon with pumpkin spice chips, and of course fresh fruit. The other pancakes some had were chocolate chip or blueberry banana-a variety, just like our personalities and backgrounds.

 

Session 2, Saturday morning
Passage:  More of Acts 17 where they are having more of an understanding talk of the scriptures with the Bereans
Church is not an organization but an organism.  (We need each other working the way we should so that church can function!)
God's word is also living; as we read it, it also reads us.  ("For the Word of God is living and active...it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  Hebrews 4:12)
Christ is not an addition to our lives, but He is our lives.  ("For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."  Philippians 1:21)
Catching a theme for this service?  There is more to living than just life.  Life is found in following Christ.

Thanks to David Noe, one of our college-age leaders here in Morristown, Motown Madness got a Snapchat filter!  We felt special for a couple days.

It's also always an adventure to find something to do during Saturday afternoon's free time after the morning service. On weekends like this where the weather is nice, parks are packed and recreational sports are taken to the next level. Sometimes people go bowling, make crafts, visit nursing homes, go to Starbucks, have a scavenger hunt, go to the mall, etc, but this year we did it big.

 We went out of state. 

Yep. Right after that morning service we packed up the coolers and a couple ads and drove to North Carolina to picnic at Max Patch.

I had never been here before, but now it's on my list of places to go back!  Not too far into the smoky mountains is this little road with stops along the way to view nature, park, camp, picnic, whatever, and we found us a nice little spot and set up camp alongside the river!

We couldn't miss this opportunity to get some great pictures of our senior squad either.

We took literally all the leftovers we had and spread out a buffet for our picnic lunch. Fresh food, fresh air, fantastic fellowship=best picnic.

This is my gospel gang, and we're here to proclaim The Name.  #GospelGang #NoShame

"I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you.  I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds."  2 Corinthians 7:4
When I can't express my feelings, God knows.
#NuffSaid

After eating we hit the road, but still not headed home!  There is more to see of Max Patch than this!  Up and up and round and round, you finally get to an opening at this here sign. Now for the hike. It's not that long, but it sure is steep!  But like all difficult things in life, the view from the top is worth it.

Though it was cloudy, it was still beautiful. It even snowed on us a little bit!  You could see forever from up there. It was amazing to see Gods work in a weekend full of Him to begin with.

 

Morgan, Roxanna, me, Julia, and Patty with the background views

Sunday school squad for life. 

Also thanks to Jack Tyler for letting me borrow his hoodie and blanket; without it, I would've died. My feet were numb and I was shivering even with all that.

 

 

 

 

I peeked in the perfect photobomb

 

This time next year, we will be all spread out at our respective colleges, but we've already been thinking about plans of how to meet up at times. Through high school, I have come to know and appreciate these girls so much. We are so different, but that's how we love each other and are able to keep each other accountable and pray for each other for any and everything.

And what are we to do with all that we have learned through life? --- "Go into all the world and make disciples..."  Matthew 28:19

"You will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jersalem [Morristown], Judea and Samaria [TN and America], and to the ends of the earth."  Acts 1:8

Session 3, Saturday night

Worship

It's not worship, preaching, then leave church into the rest of life; it's all worship.

We must be careful to worship the Creator, not creation.  ("They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised."  Romans 1:25)

You know how we get so pumped sometimes at the end of something that we chant for an encore?  (concerts, my team joking at speed workouts, "one more! one more!", etc)  Well, what if we were so pumped when we were reading the Bible that we chanted "One more verse!"  That's what John's kids started doing.  Funny, but what a great thought!

***One of those crazy things that God works out also happened during this message!  Something John said reminded me of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 and then in the prayer that was a few minutes later, he reference the same scripture.  God never ceases to amaze me.
Another thing to think on:  we like to make certain things known about us, our association with certain brands or people or activities.  What brand do you make the most known?  When people see you, what do they think of?  (Questioning myself here, as well.)

  Saturday night is the last session, and after a funny chain of events including a road being closed and a detour in the opposite direction, we barely made it back in time!  But we did, and that's what counts. We had a blast!
The Starnes family also has two dogs, Jake and Sam, and as you can see, they are quite friendly.  Good thing I'm used to it from my own pets at home.  The banana pajamas were just too much, though!

 

To end, I'll share one last thought that is really challenging, even to those who may seem to have it all together.
 We can have all the right answeres without being right with God.
Yep.  Like the first message, putting on a display in the museum.
Life can look all prim and proper on the outside, like you love life and serving and are honestly living for the Lord.  Sometimes it's even easy to fool people, even fool ourselves.  (Ever heard the saying, "fake it til ya feel it"?)  We can read the Bible, go to church, fellowship with other believers, know just the right things to say and ways to act, but if our heart isn't right, God sees right through all that even when others don't.
It doesn't matter if we look like we're on track with God if we aren't on the inside.  God knows.  God is the One who saves.  If your heart is hard or you're set on your own ways of living, don't fool yourself or others.
Don't just live the religion, be real-real love, real life.
Live on purpose.
 

Motown Madness

 Motown Madness is an area-wide discipleship weekend that my chuch, First Baptist, and another large church in town, Manley Baptist, take turns hosting each year.  This year, Manley was the host church, where we had our worship services in their brand new sanctuary!

 

Friday night, February 28th, we started out the weekend with an awesome service before heading to our host homes.  (Unless there is too few people in an age group and they have to combine) each gender of each grade, 7th through 12th, is assigned a host home where they sleep, eat some meals and snacks, and have small group.  My group, the sophomore girls, stayed at Cassie's house.  We have a large Sunday school group, and most of us got to come along with some that we invited from other churches.

 

Here's some pictures and things we learned and shared over the weekend.  You can find more from anything that anyone posted at Twitter #Motown2014 and Instagram #Motown2014.

Jenna inspired me to draw this picture.  Being rooted in faith, you grow, and when you grow, people can see it and you can give off seeds to make others grow, too!
"So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Colossians 2:6

Along with being firmly planted in the faith, I gotta stay firm!  I know through lots of experience lately that there is nothing in this world that I can put my trust and hope in.  The only One who can always satisfy my soul is Christ.  I often get distracted then disappointed by things that I want to do, but I know that my efforts are pointless if they are not backed by Christ.
"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God is my Rock in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."  Psalm 18:2

More roots...
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how long and high and wide and deep is the love of Christ."  Ephesians 3:17-18

This is a collage posted by the girl in the bottom picture wearing the purpleish scarf.  Her name is Katie, and she was one of our college leaders with our group for the weekend.

Up top left is Bella, who like me, loves to sleep.  And she loves cats.  How convenient we got a picture of Bella sleeping next to a cat. 

On Saturday, everyone gets free time between lunch and dinner, and since the weather was gorgeous, Panther Creek Park was a the hotspot!  In the top right, Bella, Katy, and Maddie set up their Enos and "hung out" for the afternoon.The bottom picture was Saturday night after small group.  From left to right is me, Abby, Katie, Patty (our amazing Sunday School teacher), Sara, and Olivia.

Here again is Olivia, who used to be one of my absolute best friends when we were in elementary school.  We had the craziest sleepovers and laughing fits, and of course I had to have a crush on her brother at one point.  Seems like everyone had that friend when they were young.  It has been great getting to see her at church again lately; we were all thrilled she got to come.
Abby has also been a great friend of mine for a long time!  We went to preschool together, but then went a long time without getting to see each other.  Now, we are both at the same church and are growing together all the time.  We even have the same birthday!

Katie is a new friend, but we're all glad she joined us!  She has a home church and church she sings at on Sundays, but she gets to come to FBC on Wednesdays.  She is one of the many college leaders we are blessed to have with us!  It is so important to have older, yet still young, people in our lives to share with us and encourage us in what they have learned.  Something that she said that I really liked was, "It's just as much of a sin to think that you aren't good enough," because God has made each of us to be used for His purposes.

This was while we were waiting around before worship on Friday night.  In the back is one of my best friends since preschool, Parker, and his friend who moved to the other side of town for high school, Ed.  They're such fun and goofy guys, but they're also sweet, too.

This was also at the park during free time.  Cassie and I tried to get a picture swinging, but those swings were hard to get high on!

Everyone always love the food at Motown.  It's a lot of people's favorite part!  Around here when kids her Motown Madness, they think of the awesome worship services and food.  We had all kinds of yummy stuff Saturday morning like muffins, coffee of course, fruit, sausage balls, ham rolls, and any snacks and sweets people brought to share.

I took a group of girls on a hike up to the highest point at the park, on a trail called "Point Lookout" where you can look over the lake from wayyyyy high up, and it is gorgeous.  We had a ton of fun!  One of the things we talked about in worship was being rooted in our faith in the Lord, so we had to get a picture with some major roots!

We also went to Sonic during free time, and Patty thought it was hilarious that the cat loved to lick milkshake off of a spoon.

 

I don't have any pictures to go with this, but the speaker/preacher who does Motown Madness is the one and only Chad Poe!  If you ever hear that he is near your area, you should really go listen to him speak.  He is not here to tip toe and make you love yourself, but to be honest and really share what life with Christ is all about.  He always says things that push me to be a stronger Christian.  He is also hilarious, so I promise no matter how long he talks, you will not get bored.He really hit me head on that weekend with plans, the way for my life.  I have plans.  I have a ton of plans and my own ways that I want my life to go.  But ya know what Jesus says? 
"I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  John:14:6.
Christ is not a suggested route of travel to eternity or a rest stop along the way, He is The Way.

Another tree analogy:  "Without roots, it is no longer a tree, it is an obstacle."Remember that the service, the music, the people, the clothes, the weather, the day, the circumstances won't always be the same, but the God we worship will always be the same.This is something that he said that I remember to stay humble:  "Until I realize that I deserve the wrath of the Lion, I will never get the mercy of the Lamb.

This is a picture I took a screenshot of on Instagram.  This is the man and his band who have been leading the worship at Motown for the past few years.  He is Chuck Hooten!  Not only does he have a great name, he has a fantastic voice and opportunity to use it to glorify the Lord.  I also just now found his blog!Having a strong worship leader is very important because music is a sermon in itself.  It is beautiful, teaches and inspires us, and gives us opportunities to worship our Savior!  Chuck did a great job of getting us fired up to learn and grow.

Here is a picture I took of Chuck up there doin' his thing!  He was a little panicked at one point, because the batteries in his earpiece died, and he had never sang without his music.  We encouraged him to wing it, and he did, with great success!  Now hopefully he will be more confident to burst out anywhere sharing his love for the Lord!

This poetic picture as she called it was taken by my friend Morgan, who I think is just super cool!  Today is her birthday as well!  She takes very pretty pictures when she goes places, like here at the park, the beach, and even overseas and on mission trips.  She also loves sports and is always up for something fun and challenging.  Her hair is also really long and silky, and she almost always has a smile on her face.  Her Biblical knowledge is amazing; we always go to her when we have questions!  I love her spirit for the Lord!

This beautiful girl has a terrific future ahead of her; she has an amazing voice and can play the piano and sing like a pro!  Her name is Hope, and you better just watch out because she will be out there singing and performing one day like those on KLove, like Laura Story and Mandisa!

 

Here's a final picture I threw together to sum up our adventures.
Small group, worship, happy hour at Sonic, and a walk in the park.