Saturday, I got to lead two breakout sessions at the South Carolina BCM conference, Converge, on relationships. I had a blast getting to know different college students from across the state. We looked at what God had to say concerning dating and preparation for marriage, and I was so encouraged by the feedback I got. I am working to get the Freshmen 15 book done as soon as I can, because a lot of the college students really encouraged me in this project.

As I promised, below are some links of further help on the subject and some other equipping resources. For those of you at the conference, I’d love to hear your feedback here on the blog or on Facebook. And I would ask you to pray for this project so that it can cover over a multitude of sins (James. 5:19-20) by keeping people focused on God.

Connect:

• BLOG – travisagnew.org – Travis’ blog that has these notes and excerpts from the upcoming book, Freshmen 15.
• PODCAST – Travis teaches a college Bible study called Fusion and this is the podcast that has some of those messages.
• FACEBOOK – find Travis on Facebook and be alerted when the Freshmen 15 book becomes available.
• NORTH SIDE – Travis’ church’s website.

RESOURCES:

• Matchmaker Messages - sermons on dating and relationships
• Freshmen 15 Excerpts – Here’s some rough drafts on a few of the chapters.
• Freshmen 15 Table of Contents – here’s what the upcoming book is all about.
• Pulse Radio – online radio station of our church.

Here’s some of the scripture we used and didn’t get to use in the breakout. Check these out for further study:

• 1 Cor. 7 – main passage we used on whether or not to get married
• Matt. 6:33 – what do you seek first?
• Ps. 37:4 – delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart
• 1 Thess. 4:3-5 – learn how to control yourself
• 2 Tim. 2:22 – flee from youthful lusts
• 1 Cor. 6:18-20 – your body is a temple
• Matt. 5:27-28 – danger of lust
• Eph. 5:3 – not even a hint
• Genesis 39 – Joseph running from adultery
• Matt. 19:8-12 – seriousness of marriage
• 1 Cor. 10:13 – no temptation has come on you that is not common
• Jas. 1:12-17 – how lust is born
• Gen. 24:62-67 – waiting on God’s timing
• Gen. 29:20 – years seem like minutes…
• Prov. 31 – P-31 woman
• Prov. 6, 7 – watch out for a certain type of women, fellas…
• Judges 16 – Samson just doesn’t know how to pick them
• 1 Tim. 2:9-10 – modest is hottest
• 1 Pet. 3:3-9 – dress for the ladies
• Mark. 10:9 – what God has joined together…
• Eph. 5:22-33 – husbands and wives
• Col. 3:18-19 – husbands and wives
• 1 Tim. 4:12 – be an example in your purity
• Song of Solomon 2:4; 4:9; 5:10; 5:16; 6:3; 6:9; 7:6; 7:10; 8:4; 8:6-7 – righteous attraction

Tonight at Fusion we discussed the need to hide God’s word in your heart (Ps. 119:9-11).  Sure we’ve heard about it and people are always telling us it is wise to memorize scripture, but when are we actually going to resolve to do it?

The time is now.

Just like we leave in the morning with the things we need in our pockets, bags, or purses to help us through the day and be prepared, we must be prepared by hiding God’s Word in our hearts!  We can’t wait or hope we can make it through the day.  We must anticipate being tempted and tested all day long, and so we need to have scripture memorized so that we are literally armed to fight against the temptation.

So get some notecards, write the verses on one side and the reference on the back, and get started.  Find the areas in your life where you are currently struggling (worry, selfishness, lack of contentment, lust, loneliness, etc.) and find some verses that state God’s thoughts on those subjects.  Memorize them.  Chew on them.  And have them ready for when the battle comes.  When the temptation comes, don’t expect to be able to stand firm in your own reasoning.  Hide God’s Word in your heart!

Here are some sites to get you started:

• Topical Memory System – this is a topical memory system I developed and worked through a few years ago and ranges on topics but tries to equip you in areas in which you need to know the Word.
• Navigators – the Navigators set the bar for Scripture memory.  They have a topical memory system to put verses together in categories which allows you to work through the scriptures.  This site actually has flashcards for you to use.
• Biblical Counseling Workshop – this site gives you a list of verses to memorize and also displays them for you.
•  Bible Verse Site – this site has a great list of scriptures.  If you are not too keen on the King James’ English, then you can memorize them in your preferred translation, but this list is done be categories and really helpful.
• Mentoring Disciples - these verses are also categorized by different topics.

Closing random thought:  I like to have pictures on my blog posts because they help messages stick.  So I googled “scripture memory” in the images tab, and the guy below this is what I found.

Doesn’t that just scream scripture memory?!  He’s actually a teacher that emphasizes this stuff a bunch, he just make me laugh out loud tonight.

I’m going to start posting parts of an article by Rick Warren concerning worship and my thoughts on what he says. He just has a way of organizing thoughts really well, and I thought this would be a great medium to tell North Siders why we do what we do on a Sunday. So make sure you keep checking back for more convictions on worship.

12 Saddleback convictions about worship (Part One)
by Rick Warren

Jesus’ ministry attracted enormous crowds. The Bible tells us that crowds followed him wherever he went. I believe that a Christ-like ministry still attracts crowds today. You don’t need gimmicks. You don’t need to

compromise your convictions. You don’t need to water down your message. If you minister to people the way Jesus did, they’ll want to be around your ministry like they did his.

But how do you develop a worship service that’ll minister to those crowds each weekend? It’s important that you figure out why you do what you do before you figure out what your worship service will include. At Saddleback, 12 convictions determine how we minister to the crowds on the weekends. Here’s why we do what we do in our worship services.

1. Only believers can truly worship God.

The Bible says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24 HCSB). Worship must rest on a true understanding of who God is – and that can only happen when a person has a relationship with God. You can have a worship service full of people, but only believers can really worship.

Trav’s Feedback:

This is such a foundational principle! So many churches can get caught up in performing songs that help people relate to them, but worship is intended for Christians to engage their living God! Just this Sunday, we used a James Taylor song in our contemporary services, “You’ve Got a Friend.” I loved hearing my C-Group talk about it on Sunday night. They said, “it wasn’t cool or clever, it was powerful. The message of the song – I wanted to be that for you guys!” It was a song that evoked worship.

But personally, I never want to do clever songs to entertain on a Sunday morning. I want what ever we do to inspire and motivate authentic worship to erupt in our midst! Sunday morning should be a time like a family reunion. We get together from time a part and catch up and celebrate. But when we gather in a building on Sunday morning, we are recapping all that God has done in our midst in the last six days and we just lose our minds for a while. We get so wrapped up in how big our God is, we just tell him how much we love him in a lavish way!

Application: believers >> worship God! Don’t listen. Don’t stare. Don’t be a spectator. I don’t care if your music teacher in elementary school told you that you couldn’t sing well. God’s ears are different – they hear the heart! You don’t like the style? I apologize, but we can’t cater to 1500 adults at North Side. It’s impossible! But if I am a mature Christian, I should be able to worship God passionately accompanied by any type of music.

So this Sunday, whenever you gather with your family to worship, realize this is your time to corporately express how incredible Jesus is!

How your baby’s growing:

Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel.

The nerve pathways in his ears are developing, which means his response to sounds is growing more consistent.  [We have definitely noticed this reality.  I will start singing to him, and he starts acting up.  He really likes "Made to Worship," that normally makes him start to dance a whole bunch!]

His lungs are developing now, too, as he continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when he’s born and takes that first breath of air.

If you’ve been reading my blog lately, you know that I am currently working on a book entitled, “Freshman 15.” You can read some rough excerpts from it here.

The reason why I am writing it is that I love college students. They have the passion and excitement as students in the church coupled with the maturity of the adults. If you go too far often in one of the opposing sides, you can either get unbridled enthusiasm with no depth or over-comfortable apathy. College students have the ability to change the world. The college students who follow Christ in college are inspiring to watch.

But there is a problem. Churches drop these individuals like a bad habit once they graduate high school. It’s the most absurd investment in the country! Churches spend money on cribs, VBS material, Sunday School supplies, pizza parties, youth camps, mission trips, baptism Bibles, and then all of a sudden – when the investment is about to pay off in a massive way with a return of unbelievable portion – churches drop them. And college students are isolated in an environment that does not support or encourage authentic Christianity, and they drift away. They drift away not only from the church but from God.

What I’ve realized in my time spent with college students is that 1 out of 15 items is normally what either makes or breaks them in college. If a Christian stops walking for Christ in college, it is often one of these 15 things. That’s what the book is about. It is about the 15 ways to “put weight” on in college. Each chapter is one of the 15 most prominent things. They are:

1. The One Thing – have to decide what’s the one thing you are going to live for
2. The Worldview – role of the Bible and developing your worldview
3. The Entourage – the people closest to you need to be closest to God
4. The Date – if mission doesn’t define relationship, then the relationship will determine the mission
5. The Purity – not even a hint of sexual immorality
6. The Party Scene – love limits freedom
7. The Church Hop – danger of becoming spiritual couch potatoes
8. The Outreach – casual Christianity causes casualties
9. The Influencers – it’s hard to influence a world that is significantly influencing you
10. The Budget – some financial decisions will cost you more than what you will ever want to afford
11. The Classroom – glorify God in the classroom
12. The Time – don’t be lazy and don’t over commit yourselves – make the most of the time
13. The Family – even when it’s hard to tolerate your family, you are called to honor them
14. The World – get out of the States before you graduate college
15. The Will – you find God’s will by doing God’s will

Those are the rough titles and big ideas for each chapter. I am working feverishly to have this book done before another batch of students graduate high school. I want it to go in the hands of our college students here at church as well as high school seniors in order to prepare them. I hope it can equip them to live for Christ in college.

What’s neat is that God is opening up other doors for this message. Amanda and I are about to head to Myrtle Beach for me to lead a breakout session at the Converge conference with the South Carolina BCM. I’m going to basically teach the date chapter from the book. My friend and director of SCBCM, Ken Owens, has been a great support during this process and has prayed for this book and given a lot of helpful feedback.

If you have a moment, please pray for this weekend that God will use his Word to impact a lot of college students. And also pray that I can carve out time to get this project done. I want to assist college students to ensure they can continue to walk for Christ in college.