Friday - Ensign Peak and Service Projects

Our morning began at the foot of Ensign Peak where Will Galkin closed out our 2 Peter study, "Enjoy God's Promises" from 2 Peter 1:8-11. In the end he reminded us that 2 Peter, "serves as the apostle Peter's farewell address. He is burdened that his readers would NEVER stop growing in Christlikeness. So, Peter's emphasis in this book is for the reader to know that when God rescues people and calls them, His calling is effective. A Christian's life choices ought to be a reflection of who he is in Christ."  He ended by reminding us of  2 Peter 1:5, 2 Peter 1:10 and 2 Peter 1:11. We then made the trek up the hill, which seem like a mountain, to the top of Ensign Peak to have our discipleship groups. Ensign Peak overlooks the entire city so along with having our discipleship groups up there we also took in the breathtaking scenery and enjoyed snapping some pictures.

We headed back to Gospel Grace Church to have our equipping session: Why Plant Churches? This session was led by Lukus Counterman. He took us to various passages through out scripture and answered the "why?" by making these points:
Jesus Promised to build his church.
Jesus commissioned us to make disciples.
Jesus established local churches through his followers in the 1st century.
Jesus is establishing churches through his followers in the 21st century.
In the end he made the point that our Christianity is personal but it was never meant to be private!

After out equipping session we headed out to lunch and prepared for our afternoon of service projects. We, again, served the community by offering free car washes and helped prepare for our Teen event later that evening: The Cola Wars. While the car washes were happening, there were opportunities to have gospel conversations with those people who were waiting for their cars.

Our evening was focused on teaming up with Gospel Grace's youth group by hosting and participating in a community wide teen event called the Cola Wars. This event involves breaking up the youth into two different teams, Coke and Pepsi. They then play intense and exciting games to earn points for their team. In the end one team wins and then there is a Gospel presentation along with a free meal. This is a highlight for the Gospel Grace youth and it was exciting to come alongside them and participate in such a fun event while also proclaiming the glories of Christ.

It truly has been such a sweet week serving alongside Gospel Grace Church. Our youth, along with us leaders, have been poured into and have been challenged to walk worthy of the gospel, because we have been called, and with that calling we have been granted everything that we need for life and godliness. We are so thankful for all of your prayers this week. Please continue to pray as tomorrow is our last day of serving. We will be serving Gospel Grace Church and the community by running a carnival in the park tomorrow morning. Pray that there will be many opportunities to share the Gospel!
 " His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." 2 Peter 1:3

-STMI team