This past week, my husband Nathan & I took 11 high school students to Knoxville, TN for a Christ in Youth MOVE conference. Nathan & I went to these all through out high school so we knew what to expect. Or so we thought....but let me tell you, as awesome as our youth group was when we were growing up, they've got nothin' on these students.

The main topic for the week was "This Changes Everything" {the "this" being Jesus' resurrection}. The bottom line is that without the resurrection of Jesus, His life would be nothing but a gory rated R film. It was an amazing thing to think about how His resurrection literally changed so many things in today's society that you just don't think about on a regular basis! {ie. hospitals were created after the word "hospitality" which was something super important back in Jesus' time.}

Through out the week, we saw many videos on how high school students are doing Kingdom things around the world. Well, our students loved that. They wanted to know immediately how they could do something for the Kingdom. We had talked about different things they could do on a daily basis all week, but one morning we watched a video about Ruby who gave up her 16th birthday so she could raise money for a lady in Nicaragua to have a house.

Our students decided that they could do this too! All the guys on the trip talked about building a well in a foreign country & the long term benefits that it would bring to an entire village. The next day, they brought it up with the girls on the trip & everyone committed to building a well in 2015! I am so proud of how they took charge & decided that 1 birthday with presents had no eternal ramifications, but being able skip 1 birthday to provide water for a community of people & share the love of Jesus with them could bring so much more to the Kingdom.

I love each of the student's hearts & Nathan & I are so proud of them! So get ready blog readers...you will probably see many more posts about CIY & our "save the wells" campaign that will be coming in this next year. Please pray for leadership among the students. Guidance & wisdom on who to build with & where to build {we have researched some & run into some age restriction road blocks}. Please pray for calmed nerves & excitement from the students so they can have joy to share the love of Jesus with anyone they come in contact with. Pray that God will bless this trip & open all the right doors for His Glory!

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead". - James 2:14-17

This changes everything.