Observations from Grantham

I am always thankful for reminders of why we do MOVE. Not that I really forget, but in the middle of a particularly eventful week (4 people sent to the ER, all are fine, I only logged 6 hours waiting around at the ER myself) a reminder can snap me back to reality.

On Friday evening I sat down for dinner with an adult sponsor who had been asked to come on the trip at the last minute because the youth minister at the church was not going to be able to make it. It was very cool to listen to him talk about the group, about wrestling with where God is calling him to MOVE, and whether he can really lead the group or the church would entrust him to do so. As we talked, it seemed clear to me that he has tuned in to what God is calling him to do in a way that he probably hasn't been for a while. That's exciting.

On Thursday night I stood for a few minutes reading the three word phrases students had written on the panels. There were some good ones, some you see week to week. I saw one that broke my heart because it was certainly written sincerely, but expressed a less than complete understanding of the fact that it's not by our effort that we are able to "do our best" for Christ. One other caught my eye, written in Spanish it read, "Reza, Habla, Mueveta". I may have misspelled the last word. The 2nd & 3rd words were pretty clear - speak, move. But I had to get some translation help (thanks , Tony) on Reza, turns out it's a specific form of the word "pray". Where had these three words come from? Well, Danny Curry had challenged students to pray, speak, and move.

I've been to our Pennsylvania event 5 of the last 9 years and have come to the conclusion that it's a great event (not that any of them aren't). It has a different feel and different flair. At times on-stage talent has expressed to me that connecting with the crowd at PA can be a challenge. But you see many of the same faces bringing new faces year after year. You see students breaking through difficult circumstances and choosing to follow Christ. It doesn't really matter what the zip code (or postal code for our Canadian friends from PEI) you're in, MOVE is about students (and adults) hearing God's call to Kingdom Work and choosing to move toward Him because He has already moved toward us.