{"id":818,"date":"2009-07-17T18:49:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-17T18:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=818"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:51:09","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:51:09","slug":"7201","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/07\/17\/7201\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Urged to Accept God\u2019s Call, Leap into Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n

KNOXVILLE, TN (July 17, 2009) \u2013 The house was jumping when Pastor Efrem Smith commissioned the 5,500 students at CHIC2009\u2019s final worship service to return to their \u201cundone\u201d communities and make a world of difference.
\n
\nPreaching from the first chapter of Jeremiah<\/a>, in which God calls the youthful prophet to ministry, Smith declared to the people whose lives had been changed that, \u201cYour very life is a testament to a local church in the Covenant somewhere praying for you, believing in you, travailing in the spirit for your life, and you must go back and continue work that is behind those prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said the call on the students\u2019 lives is rooted in their baptism: All of this was about the community that is the Covenant believing in God\u2019s plan for you, praying for you, claiming God\u2019s justification and grace and wholeness and cleansing on you. And now you have an opportunity and stand up and say your prayer\u2019s been answered, pastor. You\u2019re prayer\u2019s been answered, youth minister. You\u2019re prayer\u2019s been answered, grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Efrem\"Smith gave two cautions regarding their call from God, telling them that they should not return home thinking they have to solve the problems of the entire world. \u201cI don\u2019t want you to feel so weighed down that you don\u2019t make a difference,\u201d Smith said. God will show you how to minister to a particular community.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t go home stupid,\u201d he said, evoking much laughter. \u201cThat\u2019s a spiritual word for somebody,\u201d he said with a broad smile. \u201cDon\u2019t have the spirit of stupid! Don\u2019t go home all religious. Don\u2019t go home thinking that you\u2019re better than everyone else, because the truth of the matter is that you\u2019re still undone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the students should go back to their communities with humility, they also return to their communities \u201canointed, appointed, equipped and empowered,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n

He suggested the students will return to their communities not only with a call, but with a vision as well. The events of the past week will enable them to see everyone around them in a new way, with new possibilities for change.<\/p>\n

Smith said he gave his life to Christ while a sophomore in high school because a friend named Joey returned from a youth conference and shared his own life that had been changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo back pouring out God\u2019s amazing love,\u201d Smith implored. \u201cGo back and be an extension of God\u2019s forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said the students will need to return with courage rather than the fear they still may have despite receiving God\u2019s assurances of call and empowerment. If they do not act, however, they will feel the dismay of returning as a person with an unchanged life, he predicted.<\/p>\n

As Smith had rooted the students\u2019 call in their baptism, he continued that their future includes expanding on the rich Covenant heritage. \u201cYou are a part of a heritage that has been going on for close to 125 years, and as a pastor in a Covenant church, I\u2019m asking you, I\u2019m commissioning you, I\u2019m imploring you to continue this legacy in your generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our movement, we have had the ability to see the world with God\u2019s eyes in such a way that God continues to re-invent our movement,\u201d he added, drawing laughter when he said, \u201cOur movement was a Swedish movement, but you can look at me and see that\u2019s changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Praise\"Because Covenanters have been willing to let God change them, women are now able to fulfill all of God\u2019s call on their lives \u2013 even as pastors, Smith said, which brought loud applause and cheering. He added that the church is becoming more multiethnic as well as even more committed to compassion, mercy and justice around the world.<\/p>\n

Smith closed by sharing a story told to him by Darrell Griffin, pastor of Oakdale Covenant Church in Chicago. Griffin had seen an impala at a Chicago zoo and learned that the animals can leap 13 feet in the air and jump 30 feet forward.<\/p>\n

Given the animal\u2019s amazing ability to leap so high and jump so far, Griffin was puzzled when he saw that the impala was contained in its area by a wall that was only three feet high. He learned that the impala will not jump if it cannot see where it will land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impala has no faith,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd so, even though it has the ability to go 13 feet high and 30 feet out, it won\u2019t even jump over a three-foot wall. Some of you \u2013 that is what your life is like. Even though you have the ability at this conference to go higher and to go further in your life than you\u2019ve ever been, you\u2019ve got to figure out what is the three-foot wall that is keeping you from going where God wants you to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it pride? Is it selfishiness? Is it low self-esteem? Is it hurt? Is it something that somebody did to you? Whatever it is, jump over the wall!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not let the three-foot wall keep you from going out, keep you from going further! Don\u2019t you let no wall keep you from being everything God has called you to be. I say you need to jump! Jump up! Jump up and get down! If you want to say yes to God\u2019s call on your life tonight, I dare you to jump!<\/p>\n

President Gary Walter spoke briefly and related several stories of lives being transformed during the week, of people who were making the leap. \u201cIn the Covenant, we don\u2019t believe in hype, we believe in hope,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t change a real life in a real place, then we\u2019re not real interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

The night also focused on giving to an \u201cundone\u201d world. Students gave $109,327 in the special offering to be used for sustainable missions projects in Thailand – click here<\/a> to see a related story. It also was announced that CHIC attendees had packed nearly 428,000 meals to be distributed to people in Africa who suffer from extreme hunger.<\/p>\n

The crowd cheered a music video of the Battle of the Bands winner Ellen Tkacsik, who attends Bellingham Covenant Church<\/a> in Bellingham, Washington. The CHIC production team filmed the video earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

Tkacsik won the contest on Wednesday night as worship service attendees cast their votes via text messages just before the service began. \u201cIt just feels crazy,\u201d Ellen said when she learned she had won, having garnered 40 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

The band Third Day also performed.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KNOXVILLE, TN (July 17, 2009) \u2013 The house was jumping when Pastor Efrem Smith commissioned the 5,500 students at CHIC2009\u2019s final worship service to return to their \u201cundone\u201d communities and make a world of difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStudents Urged to Accept God\u2019s Call, Leap into Action - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/07\/17\/7201\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Students Urged to Accept God\u2019s Call, Leap into Action - 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