i love podcasts. i tweet the sermons i am listening to often because i can’t help but share a good thing. there is a ton of knowledge available to us in this internet age. it used to be that you would hear the pastor of the church you attended and that’s all you got. maybe somebody would give you a taped recording of another sermon. but to have thousands available to you at the click of a button? brilliant. i never tire of hearing the word of God preached. i listen to one or two a day while i work [editing or formatting pictures for blog posts. i can't write emails or blogs with other words in my head.] lately i have been enjoying running to podcasts much more than music as well. here are some of my favourite podcasts, you should check ‘em out!

1. my wonderful youth pastor justin reimer: revolution movement [youth & young adults] – these are the sermons we hear every tuesday night at our youth/young adult gathering. can’t say i listen to the podcast… because i am there every week. but i needed to include revolution on this list. ;)

2. so blessed by rich wilkerson jr: the vous [young adults] – rich & his wife dawnchere lead a young adults gathering every tuesday night in miami, florida. his messages are relevant and challenging. i have been enjoying his “single and ready to mingle” series lately, all about the value of where God has you. if you’re single, He has a purpose for that and a specific calling for this season. live it fully. and likewise, if you’re already married, of course.

3. judah smith: the city church – the youth group i grew up in attended generation church conference every year, which is the youth group of the city church in seattle. back in the day, judah smith was the youth pastor, but after his father wendell smith passed away a few years ago from cancer, judah and his wife chelsea became the senior pastors of the church. i love his teaching. and chelsea’s. she can preach with the best of them.

4. steven furtick: elevation church – i started listening to steven’s messages after the release of his first book, sun stand still. [which i wrote about on my list of favourite faith books] — really challenged by his practical sermons on faith, finances, relationships, etc, if you’re looking for a series to start on, Hebrews 12 stands out in my mind.

5. mark batterson: national community church – started listening to mark’s sermons after the release of the circle maker, also on my list of favourite faith books. every now and then i hear a sermon that will stay with me forever. they are few and far between, because honestly, i heard a stat once that 95% of every sunday sermon goes in one ear and out the other unfortunately. ;) his abraham & isaac sermon is still on my mind today — look for it on iTunes.

6. mark driscoll: mars hill church – ohh the controversial, opinionated mark driscoll. i don’t agree with every single piece of information he says, but overall, i am a huge fan of his teaching. i love how he is all about raising up strong men in the church, strong families and strong marriages. he is passionate about ministry flowing out from strong homes. love all his sermon series, especially his latest on real marriage.

a few honourable mentions
[last minute additions -- none of these are in order of preference anyway!]
7. craig groeschel: lifechurch
8. perry noble: newspring church

any other podcasts that you love? share!

march 1, 2012. four months after november 1, 2011, the day i flew to quebec for three weeks. i love making note of specific dates. it’s not something i do consciously… “i must not forget when ____ happened on _____” – but those details stay with me. i like looking back & comparing to the present & thinking about the future. keeping exact dates in my mind mark that progress. i remember the jitters i felt flying out that day & i remember the excitement of landing at sunset.

three weeks: the longest i have ever been away from home. staying with three different people in three different homes over the twenty days. i was going to be alone, in montreal and quebec city, all day, everyday. the funny part was i didn’t even know “why” i was going. i just wanted to. i smile when i reflect back on those weeks. i am thankful for every day. i am thankful for every afternoon eating a lunch of dark chocolate, drinking coffee, reading through my bible, copying scripture into my journal. i am thankful for the incredible weather i experienced [cold and brisk and sunny!] i am thankful for the puffy black coat with fur-lined hood i wore each morning.

most of all, i am thankful God had a bigger purpose for those weeks than i ever imagined. there was one quiet evening [well, every night was a quiet evening but this one stands out as note-worthy] before my flight home. in quebec city, God spoke two specific, simple things to me: “Serve me and trust me.”

Serve me with your whole heart.
Trust me with your whole heart;
with your heart’s desires,
with your business,
with your relationships,
with your questions,
with your dreams.

Serve. Trust.

sounds easy enough. i love when i think i have God’s plans figured out. oh! this is awesome! three weeks to prepare for the wonderful winter you have for me. i am prepared, i am ready, i am excited. ya! i’ll serve you! ya! i’ll trust you. but my winter was not what i expected. it was a hard season. some days were dumb. i didn’t understand. some weeks were really painful. i was frustrated. the single most impacting piece of scripture throughout my Quebec trip was Psalm 37. i kept coming back to it again and again and i LOVED seeing how it lined up with this theme of “serving and trusting.” it has been my strength.

Psalm 37:3-7
Trust in the Lord, and do good; [SERVE!]
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. [STAY THERE! KEEP SERVING.]
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. [TRUST HIM]
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act. [TRUUUUUST]
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday. [HE SAYS HE WILL. TRUST!]
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. [WAIT FOR HIM. TRUST!]

what i love about the promises of God is that they never fail. never. day after day the words “serve me & trust me” have echoed around my brain. okay. yes, serve. yes, trust. yes, i can do that this morning. and this afternoon? yes, i can do that this afternoon. and let me testify that He has been faaaaaaaaaithful. He has ways that are high above my ways and thoughts that are high above my thoughts. every day of my life continues to be the most incredible journey of faith.

i love living my life with God in every season. every low point is walked [or cried, hahah!] through with His love & every high point is enjoyed with His blessing. i would not have traded the last four months since november 1 for anything. they have been some of the most stretching and most rewarding as God has used them to continually shape me into the woman i’m called to be. i am happy. i am blessed. but better yet, i am joyful — because i have learned to trust Him more.

we hosted almost nine hundred youth & young adults at our annual youth conference on february 3 – 5. we were blessed to have three amazing speakers for the weekend, pastor james murray from san diego [originally australia], pastor rich wilkerson jr from miami and our own youth pastor justin reimer. the conference kicked off friday evening, went all day saturday & sunday — two and a half days full of worship by our incredible team, special music guests theroyalroyal and as mentioned, awesome speakers. this was my third time attending conference and i was more involved than i had been for the previous two years. one of my jobs was incorporating social media into conference: twitter, instagram, facebook and the other was photography [shooting, of course, but also coordinating the team who helped me.]

the Lord has always spoken specific things to me at conference. i remember the “words” and direction i received the first two years during services, and this year, it was spoken through serving. the amount of volunteers, interns & leaders needed to put on this event is overwhelming. the work leading up to the weekend, the work of the weekend, the work during tear-down at midnight when everybody is running on four hours of sleep and dead-exhausted: it’s a lot. [clarification: i didn't tear down. i was in bed. whoops. but there were more servant-hearted people who did.] i had a very small part to play and i stood amazed at how God has designed the church. i believe in the church. i believe the church has faults, the church will burn people, the church will make mistakes. none of this surprises me! because the church is full of people learning to love. learning to love is messy. but it’s also beautiful.

1 corinthians 12: For the body does not consist of one member but of many... If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 

the girl that was in charge of shopping for pretty smelling soaps and bobby pins and hairspray and deodorant for the ladies’ bathroom is no less important than one of the pastors. the facility person who was up at 5am every morning to open the church doors for prep work has a valuable role to play. the cafe baristas who poured espresso all day long for conference attendees are cherished. [that one is obvious...] the interns who stood at the doors smiling and greeting are vital. God has a place to serve for every person — and church isn’t something we attend, it’s something we do. we serve, we lead, we grow. proverbs 11:25 says the one who waters will himself be refreshed. what a cool promise.

there you go, just a few of my thoughts. here’s a few photos of what went down. if you’d like to see more, check out the revolution fan page. some of these photos are by josh yong + ryan tam.