This morning as a consumed my daily dose of information from the blogosphere I see that most people I read after are happy and thankful. They did not leave me much to say but I will take my turn. It is good for us to express thanks because silent gratitude is not much use to anyone.

This morning I have a loving family, wonderful church, awesome friends, more than needed in housing, ridiculous ease in access to food, and I have not pent one moment of my life without any of those things. I will eat a meal today that would be the best and largest meal that the vast majority of the world would consider they have ever had. I live in a generation that has more conveniences than any king one hundred years ago. I could not imagine how I could be any more fortunate by being born into this family, in this county, and in this time in history.

Today I want to say “thank You” with the “You” being my gracious God! All the things I listed in the previous paragraph were not provided to me solely by any person. All anyone in my life could ever be is an instrument of God’s goodness upon my life. For a moment I would like to challenge you as you consider for what you are thankful to first stop and consider to whom are you thankful.

THANKFUL. 1. : conscious of benefit received <for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful>. 2. : expressive of thanks.

President Abraham Lincoln understood this when he officially set aside the last Thursday of November, in 1863, “as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.” Thankfulness is only possible when we realize what we have received has been giving to us by choose in our lives and not by chance by an all knowing, loving God.

My friend Chris Gardner expressed it very clearly on Tuesday night when he shared the story of the 10 lepers. They all had the same circumstances of being healed from leprosy but on one CHOSE to express his thankfulness. When we look past what we receive and look to the giver do we find our greatest ability to be thankful.

I am amazed this morning when I think about how the Giver of all good things gave Himself. The God of Heaven took on a robe of flesh and died the death of a criminal on earth to give me an everlasting life free from the eternal penalty of sin. I have some many things to be thankful today and so do you regardless of your current state. Some of you may be going through the darkest season of your life. Could I challenge you to look back the “what” this morning and to the “Whom”. Do not believe for a moment that the God who died in your place desire to harm you. He is doing a wondrous work that we cannot understand. To the unbeliever He is drawing you to Him. To the believer He is conforming you into the image of Christ. Both of these things are acts of gracious love.

Today when you sit down with you family and make mention of all you are thankful for take a adequate time for all those present to realize first of all to Whom we are thankful. Use this day for its designated purpose “as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.”

Today as you express you gratitude for Jesus who died in your place would you consider helping other people in other places know He died in their place as well. Here is a link that you help you learn how you can help the spread of the Gospel in China by seeing a church planted.  http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fc91195352c523053aee88497&id=a62091c321

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The Our Generation Summit is a premier event for us PIONEER SENDERS! You will have the opportunity to spend time with missionaries around the world. Not “spend time” like you might get the few minutes before and after they present at your church. I am talking about some real, quality time hanging out in Gatlinburg, TN together!

This years theme is “The King’s Command”. We will, as we always do, take a look at the Great Commission as a command to be obeyed and not an option to be considered! We have an emphasis on the Giver of the command which is our King Jesus! I hope you will join us!

If you have questions about the event please call me at 770.853.8148 or email me at TrentCornwell@gmail.com. Make sure you check out www.bcwe.org. It has all the info I will give you when you call – but will still be glad to talk with you if you have time.

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Our team is coming dow to the lobby in a few minutes and we are headed to do some field study of an area in the south west part of the city so I offer you these scattered thoughts.

1. Learning the language (Hindustan – Hindi). Yes, many in the middle class speak english. Many people are here from south India and speak more english. In few cases is in the language of the heart and very often it is just not functional.

2. Hindusim is very hard to understand. It never tried to be a united religion.  Millions of people across the country worshiped gods of their village and got categorized as Hindus. To know what a person believes you must ask them and listen. No book can tell you about a particular person.

3. There is incredible diversity in living conditions. I a slum area can be right beside a fairly nice middle class home. The diversity is without exception. It is always in eye sight. You can hardly get to a place of means where you do not see poverty right in front of you. You are not often around poverty where you can not see some signs of better conditions in the distance.

4. There are very, very few Kingdom workers here for the population. We have heard of about 100 but are certain there are many many more. From the 100 we have heard about only about 10% are working directly with the people of New Delhi. Others serve in logistical roles of supportive ministries for the greater north India area. This has reconfirmed are commitment to urban, church planting.

5. This is by far the most “spiritual” place I have ever been. Religion molds every facet of their lives and effects their economy greatly. The Gospel would not only have radical effects on the individual but on the entire country. Many of the things that hold back this nation from developing and moving forward is their captivity to tradition.

Well, I have to run. The team and bus are ready to go. Thank you all for holding the ropes. In the land filled of idols the Gospel seems sweeter. God is unchanged even when He is not worshiped. God is doing wonderful things in this country. Please, pray for our brothers and sisters here. Please, pray about being one of the 8 families we are asking God to provide for the launch team. We will give more information about this later but we need people in linguistics, Muslim evangelism, writing, media, and all must be in love with Jesus and committed to teaching God Word!

Love you all.

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KTUAM Training Video #3 from Christian Ministry Videos on Vimeo.

Identity is something that people of all ages struggle. Teenagers are not different and the question “who am I?” is heightened by the fact that billions of dollars a year is spent trying to answer it by telling them you are this or that type of consumer.

Think about this scenario. A sixteen year old young man who struggles with a desire to be accepted by his friends gets into a situation he should not be in on a Friday night. He has an internal battle between what he knows is right and what he thinks will help him solve his “I must be accepted by this people or I am a loser” problem. He buys into a lie. He takes the bait. He has no option but to be at church on Sunday morning with his family. He feels guilty for what he has done. he is trying to figure out why he feels so uncomfortable now in a place he once felt so comfortable in (this is not the churches fault but sin causes you to see things through a different filter). He is asking the question common to teenagers, “Who am I, really?.

The youth worker says someone of you in here have been out playing in sin all week and now you are in God’s house.  The young man thinks in his mind “who told this guy” not realizing it is said each week just in case it is true. By the way, I have no problem with this story up to this point. Then from here there are two options.

1. We tell these Christian teenagers they are hypocrites. They pretend to be good Christian kids when in fact they are bad kids. They are faking it by being at church. They are lying to everyone and we are tired of their hypocrisy.
2. We tell these Christian teenagers they are hypocrites. That, if they are believers, they are the children of God. There identity is found in Jesus Christ. They have been made righteous by the exchanged life offered by Christ. They are being fakes in this world. They are lying to themselves and they are tired of their hypocrisy.

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KTUAM Training Video #1 from Christian Ministry Videos on Vimeo.

A couple of years ago we put this videos together to show at the annual Our Generation Summit in Gatlinburg, TN. I will be using the videos series to introduce 5 articles of interest for missions SENDERS.

My alter ego in the attached video says “If I came into your house painted it red, put in a fire pole, and parked a fire truck out front you would become a fireman.. BIG DEAL!”. He is combating all the things churches do to keep missions in front of their young people. I would like to share, in my non alter ego, some practical things we do in our church to help keep a missions environment. If you have more ideas please share in the comment section.

• The Goer & Sender Coalition services. (mentioned in an earlier post)
• Missions reports in every mid-week service.
• Be up to date with missionaries so you can mobilize people to pray for their current situations. (Example: We prayed for missionaries in China less than 12 hours after they reported the news. Don’t wait for prayer letters)
• Take teens to a summer camp that was started and ran by foreign missionaries. (okay.. that was a shameless plug for our camp)
• Get missions reading material (magazines, missionary biographies, and history books) circulating around your church.
• Make an email ring for those who are gifted in media (design, video, writing, etc) and serve missionaries by meeting their media needs free of charge.
• Place pictures of your missionaries in your auditorium so they are seen every service.
• BIG 3. Every week we have a Country of the Week, Staff Missionary, and Strategic Partner for which we pray. Here is a link to pictures of the Country of the Week.
• Show video updates missionaries make specifically for the service it will be shown. (opinion: Missionaries are busy so don’t ask for something you will not use. Do not ask them to make elaborate videos. Seating at their desk talking to their computer for 2-3 minutes is good.)
• Introduce terminology that will help people talk about missions. (example: goer, sender, staff missionaries, deputation, faith promise, missions trips, strategic partner, mobilization)
• When missionaries are around make sure they get time with all age groups. Do not limit their involvement to one segment. (Example: We look to have missionaries at our young couple gatherings)
• Give updates about your year to date missions giving and you yearly goal.
• Look for non-monetary ways to help missionaries and promote it inside the church.
• Set up a committee in your church that takes for responsibility for making sure missions is being taught and promoted in every aspect of the church ministry.
• At your missions conference give people a chance to have fun with the missionaries outside of the church building.

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I would like to help introduce or reinforce certain terminology for us SENDERS. There is a term that is often used when referring to the role of the SENDER. It is called “holding the rope”. Here is the story where we get that term.

It so happened that a gathering of Baptist ministers at Northampton invited a subject for discussion, and Carey, who was present, at once proposed “The duty of Christians to attempt the spread of the Gospel amongst heathen nations.” The proposal fell amongst them like a bombshell, and the young man was almost shouted down by those who thought such a scheme impracticable and wild. Even Andrew Fuller, who eventually became his great supporter, confessed that he found himself ready to exclaim, “If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?” But Carey’s zeal was not to be quenched. He brought forward the topic again and again; he wrote a pamphlet on the subject; and on his removal to a more important post of duty at Leicester, he won over several influential persons to his views. It was at this time (1792) he preached his famous sermon from Isaiah 54:2,3, and summed up its teaching in these two important statements: (1) “Expect great things from God,” and (2) “Attempt great things for God.” This led to the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society; and Carey, at the age of thirty-three, proved his sincerity by volunteering to be its first messenger to the heathen. Andrew Fuller had said, “There is a gold mine in India; but it seems as deep as the centre of the earth; who will venture to explore it?” “I will go down,” responded William Carey, in words never to be forgotten, “but remember that you must hold the rope.”

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This is a repost from January 1st, 2011. The graphics have been free of charge by the volunteer design team of BCWE. We hope you enjoy them and use them however you see best.

Includes a .JPG file for all 203 countries and territories around the world, wrapped in a zip file.

Download them here.

Download Country Graphics

Another free resource from BCWE.org.

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My dad made a profession of faith when I was about 14 years old, which would have made him 38 years old. After a long restless night of conviction and dreams of eternal separation from me and my sister he went and found my pastor at the time, Larry Logsdon. The next year to a year and a half are where some of my fondest memories of my dad come. He was involved in Vacation Bible School, took the teens to camp, even shared his testimony in front of the church one night in a special watch night service. My father was always loving and kind to me and my sister. After his profession of faith he appeared freed from self love to be able to truly love us even more than he loved himself. He stopped putting us in dangerous situations concerning alcohol and driving.

He always struggled with fallen into or a lifestyle of abuse of prescription drugs. It would be this stronghold that would take his life at the age of 42. I will never forget driving through my little town of Hardin, Ky and having the ambulance pass me. After arriving home I realized just whom that ambulance was for as I turned around and headed back to the center of town. I was met by some family friends as I watched them carry my father on a gurney into the ambulance.

For the next few hours life becomes a blur to me. The next vivid memory I have is of being in my dads apartment gathering up bags of drugs for the coroner and finding a graduation card. It was Tuesday and I was to graduate on that Friday. I sat down and wept uncontrollable as I opened the card to read my dad’s last thoughts of me. My dad had always been very good at telling me and my sister how much he loved us. In the good times and the bad times of his life I never doubted his love and pride for us. As I opened the letter hoping to find some words that would bring comfort I found the card was still empty.

I tell you this story because it had such an huge impact on my life. I cannot express to you the crisis an empty card graduation card brought upon my life. What did I want my dad to say about me? What was it in life that I wanted to be known? These are the questions I would ask myself almost every morning for months as I would open and look at this card. It was as if the card reminded me that my dad and others could write whatever they wanted in a graduation card but it would be the choices I made in life that would write the story of my life. No one could that for me.

Please, do not misunderstand my feelings toward my father. I loved and love him dearly. He was loving, caring, and very funny. I have some wonderful memories of our time together. I also want you to know I learned many wonderful truths from him. We would talk for hours as we would go squirrel hunting or shooting bottles off the side of an abandoned bridge. With that being said, the most life altering lesson he taught me was on the day of his death.

My emotions about the blank gradation card went from anger as I felt like God should have allowed him time to right something. I know that sounds like a very ego-centric view of life. I would have to agree with you. I am just telling you the story of my reaction as a teenager. I pray it would be much better today. Overtime my emotion changed from anger to excitement as I realized that I was still young enough to decide what I wanted on that card. I could not only decide what I wanted my life to count for I could actually give my life to that effect.

My dad thought I was genius. I would often hear him talking with his buddies and telling them if there is a book that talks about it my son knows all about it. I wasn’t much of the mechanic or a hunter like he was but that never changed his opinion of me. My dad believed in me as only a loving father could for his son. Well, I was not and still am no genius but that summer I was smart enough to know I had a choice to make.

I decided if there was one thing I could have had my dad say about me in that graduation card it would be that I loved Jesus and wanted to serve him with my whole heart for my whole life! I have learned so much about the goodness of God since those days. I wish more than anything that I would have understood the importance of the Gospel not only in the life of unbelievers but in the life of believers. I had no idea how to help my father overcome his besetting sin of drugs.

I thank God for a earthly father who allowed me to dream about being whoever I wanted to be. I thank God for a earthly father who believed I could be anything I wanted to be. I thank God for a earthly father who loved me. I thank God for the time I had with my earthly father. I think God for being my heavenly Father and for providing comfort through the Word of God on a day that a graduation card would not have been sufficient.

Could I encourage you today to ask yourself the same question that I felt forced to answer. How to I want to spend my life? What would you want to be known? Can I encourage you to take a good look at the life, death, and resurrection and ask yourself why you would want to give your life to any other cause than serving Jesus. The impact of the death of my father pales in comparison of the impact of the death of my Jesus 2,000 years ago.

As I look over what I have just written I consider not publishing this. I have no desire to seem disrespectful about the death of my father. I am not looking for pity. I wrote to express the impact the death of my dad had upon my life. I struggle with quilt because I feel like if I would have been more I could have helped more. I deal with bitterness because I think if he would have loved us more and his comfort less my kids would have got to meet him. I deal with apathy as many times I feel very little emotion when I think back to those days and this brings more quilt. I publish this post hoping that it will resonate with someone who may have lost a parent or a close family member and has had a hard time dealing with the impact it made on their life.

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Last week, America experienced the largest amount of deaths due to storms since 1932 (?). Over three hundred people died as a result of the 600 + tornadoes that tore across the nation in April. The impact of these storms will be felt for years to come by those who lost their homes and for a lifetime by those who lost friends and family members.

The impact can even be felt in the cities by the people who were not directly affected by the storm. Over the last few days, I have had several discussions with several teenagers about God and tornadoes. There are many things we do not understand about God ortornadoes that can cause us to ask questions.

I will not be able to explain everything you might want to know about God and natural disasters in this blog. Not because of a lack of time, but because of a lack of knowledge. If I understand everything about God, then I would know everything about tornadoes. If I knew everything about God, I would know everything about everything and then I would be God. If that were the case, I would not write a blog, I would write a book you would would call the Bible. I am not going to do my best to tell you what I think I am going to do better than that. I am going to show you what I believe the Bible teaches about some of the questions you might be asking ormight be hearing asked in the hallways of your school.

How do tornadoes form? When hot air near the ground has a cold air layer slide up on top of it, the weather becomes unstable. In normal situations, the temperature gradually equalizes and there are no problems. But when the air masses move quickly and are extreme, any opening for warm air to move up through the cold air mass is like water going down the drain in reverse. The air rises and is rotated due to the rotation of the earth. (At least that is what I remember from my 4th grade science class).
1. Could God have stopped the tornadoes from happening? Before I answer that question, let me ask you a quick question. What is more frightening, that God allows tornadoes to occur or that God could not stop tornadoes? We know from the Bible that God created the world and the laws of nature (Gen. 1). We also learn later in the Bible in Colossians 1:16-17 that he “holds together” all things. So, could God have stopped the tornadoes from happening? Yes. We know of a story where he calmed a storm one night while out on a boat (Mark 4).
2. Is every natural disaster a punishment for sin? Absolutely not; however, it is a consequence of sin, and I will explain the difference in the next question. We see in several places in the Bible (Deut. 11:17, Numbers 16: 30-34, Rev. 6,8) thatGod has used natural disasters as a judgement for sin (sin being defined as anything that breaks his law). We are not told that every natural disaster is a result of sin, and we see many examples of where it is not the case. For example, the story of Job. The Bible says he was a just man, and yet we see a storm come that causes the death of his children.
3. What do you mean that natural disasters are a consequence of sin? If you misunderstand me, you might believe I was heartless and, worse off, non-Biblical in my thoughts about the deaths of the people from the storms. I do know that the people affected by the storms were sinners, because the Bible tells us all people are sinners (Romans 3:23). I am not saying that the world has natural disasters because of people’s individual sins. However, the Bible tells us that the earth “groans” in pain because of the result of sin. As you may remember when Adam and Eve (the first humans) sinned, the world changed. The fields got hard to plow, and thorns began to grow. We learn in Romans 8 that the world eagerly awaits the day it can go back to her original, perfect state. That is why I believe natural disasters are a consequence of sin.
How should Christian teenagers respond to natural disasters? We should be reminded that our life here on earth is only a vapor (James 4:14). We should be sensitive to those who are hurting and not make jokes about the situation. We are told to cry with those who cry (Romans 12:15). We should take the opportunity to talk to people about how Jesus saves us from the eternal consequences of sin. We should look for opportunities to do good works and help out those in need (Eph. 2:10). Assure yourself and others that God is still in control (Job 38:8-11).

This article was written in response to some of the questions that I am asked being a Student Pastor. I firmly believe the Bible.Even though it was written thousands of years ago, the Bible still has the answers for today’s questions, even those asked by teenagers. If you have more questions about God, tornadoes, or anything else that effects your life, and you want a Bible answer,contact me through my blog at www.TrentCornwell.com

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Today my friend Jake returns from China. I could not be more proud of my friend. God has worked tremendously through his life. He has been faithfully serving the Lord in China for the last four years.I strongly urge you to read his blog: Gospel in China. I look forward to getting to spend time with him and hearing about how God’s hand is moving in China. I know it has only been four years since we spent any lenght of time together but feel as if it was a lifetime ago. Discipleship, planting a church, marriage, a different country, but most importantly the Gospel has grown us.

Five years ago my wife, Jake, Steph. (Jake’s wife now),  Mark (missionary in China), Ben (missionary in training for China), Kelli (now our children pastor’s wife) and half a dozen other young people went to visit Harbin, China. We saw a city, a school, a people, and various other places that have become part of Jake and Mark’s daily life. What we did not see is the one thing that is the most important part of their lives in China. We did not see the church that God would use them to build or anything like it.

I would love and plan to see Jake’s ministry in China. I could get on a plane today and go see the church but I would see it without Jake. I would see a vibrant  church led by national leadership. I would see a bold church that is changing peoples understanding of evangelism in the country. Next week I will spend a week with Jake but will not see his church. I expect to find the same things in him I would see in his church.

In China I would see the effects of how God used Jake in the life of the church in Harbin. Here in America I will see the effects of how God used the church in Harbin in Jake’s life.

In the above picture you will see a picture of Jake with a guy we called “Maximo” in Peru back in 2003. We were 20 years old and just getting started on our working definitions of words such as; world evangelism, grace, hard work, and discipleship. I believe our understanding of the word discipleship has grown as much in meaning as the word “love” did from our wedding days. As Jake in Peru would try to work through spanish to “disciple” this guy I had no idea how this process would evolve in Jake’s life over the next eight years. His ability to speak the language, now Chinese not Spanish, has grown tremendously but not near as much as his ability to communicate the truths of God’s Word.

Jake and I (also Tyler Master’s family but that is for another post) moved to Dawsonville then Alpharetta over six years ago to start doing some preparatory work for the launch of Vision Baptist Church. God was molding our lives during this time to equip us for the work we will soon be doing in Alpharetta and Harbin. We knew that our personal growth would largely impact our future opportunities. I had no idea how vitally true this would be.

I know you may see this blog as sentimental ramblings about my friend. Well, it may have been but this is my blog and it is for me more than it is for you. Jake, Tyler (missionary in North Africa) as students in Peru would nightly pray over a cloth map and ask God to prepare us to be used around the world. What I would like to communicate is that..

Allowing God to work in your life must proceed asking Him to work through your life!

I am just as excited about seeing how God has worked in my friends life as I would be about seeing the work that God has built through his labor. The Gospel has changed lives in China. I am confident that Jake’s life is one of them. You can not really share the Gospel without being transformed by it.

Jake I know you are one of the seven people who read my blog. I want you to know I love you and am proud to call you friend. Our lives have changed greatly over the last 8 years. Our wives have changed us for the good, our ministries have brought growth, but I am thankful to have a friend that I know has had his life greatly and daily transformed by the Gospel. Read about Jake and my other friends at www.bcwe.org

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