Love one another, even when you don’t like people.

Have you ever had those days where you just don’t like people? I know that I have them, and far more often than I should. Between the stories on the news, comments on the internet, drivers on the road, and customers in stores- we are bombarded with examples of people at their worst. It’s an easy reaction to become exasperated with the human race.

However, Jesus made it clear how we are to treat others. Very clear- Love each other. And he didn’t have any addendums to this. Nowhere did he say “Love each other, except when they cut you off on the highway.” Or, “Love each other when they are nice to you.” And especially, “Love each other if they are of the same mind as you.” Nope. Not even a little bit. Here’s the thing, love is a verb. It is an action. Many times love is viewed as an abstract, a feeling which cannot be quantified or explained. It’s not, it is a verb. And Jesus knew this. Jesus was telling us that we are to actively love one another. And, if you are wondering what that means, Paul spells it out for us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” I’m sure there were some hard eye rolls when I pulled out 1 Corinthians, the classic wedding verse. But if you look at this from a personal verb standpoint, it reads very different- My love for others is patient and kind. I show love for others by not being jealous or boastful or proud or rude to them. I do not demand my own way because I love others. I am not irritable to others and I keep no record of being wronged. Totally different, right? Jesus issued us this commandment, not for our good days, but for the days where we don’t like people. For the days when those little annoyances have piled up on us and we are ready to throw things at the cashier who is not paying attention and is taking forever.

We are to be patient and kind and NOT be irritable and demand our own way. Jesus knew that what he was commanding us to do was the opposite of what the world expects from us. It is the opposite of our instincts. It takes action. It takes a verb. And if we are to bring the light of Christ into this world, then we have to step up with every encounter we have. It means that we have to actively show love to all people, even when we may dislike them.

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” John 13:34 NLT

What Makes Great leaders Great

What is it that makes a person a good Christian leader? What is it that separates those who follow Christ and those who have not found the love of God in their lives yet? These have been two burning questions in my mind since we left camp 9 months ago, and since then I have struggled to answer the question. What is it that I should be doing to demonstrate good leadership as a Christian man in my everyday life?

 I became focused on the surface attributes that everyone does. First, I must be better at whatever it is I am doing than everyone else because that immediately makes me the leader, correct? Two issues immediately became apparent when I attempted to install this idea in my life. The first was that I was never going to be as good at some things as others, and if all I based leadership on was being the best, I would fall short in many areas. When I think back to some of the most brilliant leaders I have ever met, none of them established themselves as perfect or the best. They were just trying to do the best they could and help as many others as they could to find the love from God that they had. That was my second issue.  Even the greatest leaders I have met or heard speak were not the best in their field at times. It had to be something else.

 So the next area I thought to try was control. To be a great leader you must control everything and instill in others your dominance. Immediately, I found this difficult to replicate because as I began my attempt to control others and establish a leadership, the opposite would occur. They would not look to me as a leader, but instead as a pushy, obnoxious man who attempted to control them in order to feel better about himself. Where was I going wrong? If a leader is not always the best at what he is doing and a leader is not just the person asserting control or fear, what is a leader and what makes that leader a good one?

 Then it finally dawned on me. Some of the strongest and most influential Christian leaders I have ever met were not perfect or in control, but instead they loved unconditionally. I realized that the men who had helped shape my spiritual life through Highland and other Christian environments I have been a part of did so through unconditional supportive love. They lead by example in one area at all times, loving others. John 13:34 “"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This commandment was so special it was given apart and separate from all the others. It focused on one thing and one thing only, love.

 Now you maybe asking yourself, “Well of course I love everyone but I don’t feel like I am a great leader?” Well I felt that way too. Then I found this quote in a book I have been reading by A.G. Riddle, “Great leaders as forged from the fire of hard decisions.” How does this apply to love and Christian leadership? The great leaders I have known have loved through difficult and trying times. These leaders love everyone regardless of their stories or their background. They love through their character flaws and difficulties. That love and caring displays and it creates what their leadership is founded on.  This love is difficult and hard, but it is through these fires that their leadership is built.

 I want to grow in that area. I may never be the best speaker or the greatest writer, but I want to be a leader in my communities for Christ. I want my life to be an example for Christ and I feel that if more Christians focused on this tenant of our faith, Love, we would become great leaders for our world that at times feels so lost and distant from the love of Christ. May God bless you all.

--- Written by Ian Johnston

The Pharisees among us

Every Easter, we hear the retelling of the different parts of the life of Jesus Christ, most specifically, the ending of His life.  For some reason, lately I have been drawn to the passages focused around the Pharisees, and it got me thinking about how, in some ways, our world isn't that much different than it was 2,000 years ago.

The word Pharisee actually means pure, or separate.  These were men who aspired to be the best of the Jews, and were considered to be the most righteous of all of the Jewish people during the days of Jesus Christ.  They definitely knew their stuff, and had worked very hard to be righteous in the eyes of God.  The Bible, however, certainly does not show them in quite the same light.  In the Bible, these men are depicted as uptight, arrogant men who wielded the word of God as a weapon to turn against Jesus and his followers.  They could not see past their bigotry, greed, or need to control others, even when the miracles performed by Jesus were shown right in front of their eyes.  They saw Jesus as a threat to everything they had and stood for, and took every opportunity to discredit or disempower him in front of the crowds.  They even went so far as to manipulate an angry crowd, already outraged that Jesus was not the warrior they expected who would liberate them from the control of Rome, into demanding that He was crucified.  All in the name of God.

The Pharisees were an elite group of self-righteous leaders 2,000 years ago, but they are still alive and strong today.  We live in a world where people use the Bible to strike each other down in the name of God and even Jesus Christ.  Jesus Himself said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."  (John 13:34).  I often wonder, if Jesus came back to our world, would he be met with the Love that he had for all of us and commanded us to have for each other, or the treachery of the Pharisees?  Would he find a world where people love and accept each other, or where they judge and condemn each other in His name?  Would he, too, be condemned?

God loved the world so much that he allowed his Son to go through one of the most agonizing deaths known to our world. He did this so that everyone who was ever born could be forgiven of their sins, no matter what they are, and be given eternal life by believing in Him.  All sins, all people, through His Love, whether the Pharisees approve or not.  It's a complete game changer.  This was the memo that the Pharisees missed way back in Jerusalem, and the Pharisees of today haven't really completely figured out yet either.  As you go into this beautiful Easter weekend, I challenge you to embrace the Good News all over again, and be joyful for the amazing sacrifice that God made for all of us.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."  -John 3:16-17

It's easy to keep "Christ" in "Christmas"

If you frequent any social media, it's not easy to miss the heated debate over keeping "Christ" in "Christmas" while partaking in holiday traditions.  It's also not easy resisting the urge to weigh in on your perspective of this controversial subject.  It is, however, easier than you might think to find Christ wherever you may look.

Santa Claus is Real

For centuries, the tradition of portly, jolly, white-bearded man wearing the red suit has been celebrated by many different cultures around the globe, and is often recognized as "St. Nicholas." The name used commonly in the U. S.  is actually derived from the name "Sinterklaas," which is how the Dutch spell "Sint-Nicolass."  St. Nicholas was the only son of wealthy parents in Myra (which is now in Turkey) who died from a disease when he was a young child.  He was raised by his uncle, the Bishop of Patara.  Nicholas followed in his footsteps and was ordained into priesthood.  He had a reputation for secret gift giving, such as putting money in the shoes of those who left them out, and helping to pay the dowry of young women by throwing money in the window.  His reputation evolved among other Christians, which was common for early Christian Saints. He is believed to be one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed.  He may not actually have lived at the North Pole (Turkey, rather) or employ a contingent of elves to build toys, but he was a man who acted out the love of God, and his acts of love later transcended him into the legends of him that many hold dear today.

O Saturnalia Tree...

The "Christmas Tree," among many other Christmas traditions actually originated from before Christianity was Christianity.  Evergreens were often seen as symbols of eternal life by cultures as early as the Ancient Egyptians and Chinese, and were later used by the early Romans to celebrate the Winter Solstice.  As one of the only natural occurrences of color in the winter time, the Romans used evergreen trees as decorations in Saturnalia, their celebration of the Winter Solstice, which was their most important holiday because it symbolized the approach of the spring, and the return of their crops.  As the Roman Empire spread all over the Western Hemisphere, so did many of their customs, including the use of evergreens to celebrate Winter Holidays.  Once Christianity emerged, early Christians would celebrate Christmas while the pagan Romans celebrated Saturnalia.  Naturally, the evergreens, along with many other traditions, such as gift-giving and feasting were assimilated into the celebration of Christmas Day as we know it today. 

It Doesn't Matter how you do it

All of these traditions, whether they originated from the birth of Christ or not, are rooted in the most powerful force on this earth, God's love.  Sometimes it's hard to see just how much His love has permeated everything around us, whether it's the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, to the celebration of St. Nicholas, one of the most generous wielders of God's love in Christian history.  What's important, is how you celebrate His love to everyone you come in contact with.  The traditions that we've come to know Christmas by are only kept because of the love that they inpire in one another, and the gratitude that we have for God's incredible gift to the human race, which was inspired by His love for us. 

"A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  - John 13:35

Not by our facebook, not by how we celebrate holidays, or even what holidays we celebrate, but by the way we treat each other and demonstrate God's incredible love.  Look for God's love in everything around you, and let it fill you with joy, not judgement.  Instead of jealousy, take joy in seeing God's love fill the hearts that have not yet discovered Him, and pray that He begins His work in them.  Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

HPYC 2014: Live With Abandon

The 2014 theme for Highland Park Campmeeting and Youth Camp this year is “Live with Abandon.”  When I first heard the name of this Newsboys creation, I thought… really?  Live with abandon?  That sounds like a rather reckless message to be coming from a Christian Band.  Typically, the phrase “live with abandon” means living in total surrender to something, with complete disregard for anything else.  Usually, that abandon refers to following our wants and desires without any regard for any moral implications.  This is no way for anyone to live.   As I soon learned, it gets scarier than that. 

Michael Tait and Duncan Phillips describe it as letting go of your life and letting God take control.  They say that human beings don’t feel comfortable with that.  We want to take control, and we want to fix our problems ourselves.  Living with abandon is all about giving up control of your life and giving it over to God.

Paul lived with abandon, but not to his own desires or natural instincts.  He lived with abandon to the will of God, and he gave up all control over to God without any regard for his own life.

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jeusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has giving me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s Grace.”
- Acts 20:22-24 -

We all go through a lot of rough times in our lives, and those rough times seem to follow us wherever we go, whether it be to school, to our homes, or to our workplaces.  Sometimes the problems seem bigger than us, and sometimes they are.  This is when it just seems natural to give up the control, and give the problems to God.  He’s really good at those.  He’ll walk you through it. 

Now for the scary.  How about when things are going great?  Or when there’s something you really want?  Can you give it up for Jesus Christ?    I am happy to say that I don’t live with abandon to my natural inclinations; however I do play it safe in my life far too often.  I can only pray that God will show me how to live the life he wants me to, instead of the life I want to.

I would like to invite you to our Youth Camp and our Campmeeting this summer to learn alongside with me, and the rest of our Highland Park congregation, about living life with abandon to Jesus Christ.  If it’s not a life changing experience for you, you’ll still get something out of it by learning how to build your relationship with God, or maybe even start your walk with Him.  Come join us at 7:30 p.m. any nights from July 27-August 3, and then hang out and enjoy some great ice cream afterwords.

- by Jack Grimes

The Great Sin

We're all guilty of it, we've all been on both ends of this sin, and it hurts every relationship we have had.  So what is the 'Great Sin'?  Pride.  Pride is the root of many of our sins, the root of many of our inabilities to improve our hearts, pride is what often times prevents us from honestly examining ourselves and seeing where we need to be more like God and less like us.  And the type of pride I am talking about, is the pride that is buried in all of us.  It's not being proud in a good day's work, proud of your children, proud of someone complimenting you, etc....but to a certain degree, the pride I am talking about is a perversion or an uncontrolled obsession with the mentioned examples.

C.S Lewis wrote,

"In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself.  Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all.  A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

Pride leads to judgement, to jealousy, to anger, to spite, and many other sins because it becomes more about how we measure up to the person next to us, and not about bringing glory to God.  That is the difference from being proud of something and being prideful.  When we are proud, we accept compliments but recognize that we succeeded because of the gifts God gave us, for his glory NOT for our own. How many times do we get upset when we don't feel like we were recognized for something we did? That is our pride essentially wanting and longing for people to see us as superior or better.  As an athlete this resonates with me, how often do we want to celebrate all the good plays we made, but forget about the mistakes we made?  This is what makes pride so dangerous, because we often want the most grace from other people so our pride is intact, but our pride prevents us from giving the grace in return when other people mess up.

Finally, when we give our receive advice, pride so often gets in the way of the words being said, and the truth that may or may not be there.  We love to give advice, but often when someone says something true about us, whether it be a fault or a shortcoming, how quickly do we discount what they say.  Pride prevents us from taking criticism, but also enables us to be the harsh critic that our friends and family might not need in that situation.  Show some humility, show some love that person, and more importantly be understanding and receive constructive advice from people that you trust.  They see you a lot clearer than you do sometimes.  

There is no love in pride, there is no humility in pride.  God calls us to be humble before him.  Jesus tells a parable about two men going before God to pray, one a righteous pharisee, the other a tax collector.  The pharisee praises himself before God, while the tax collector humbles himself and says, 'I am not worthy'. (Luke 1 18:9-16).  So give glory to God in everything that you do,   because nothing we have is our own, but everything belongs to Him.

-Nick Kratz

Routine

Often times when we are crunched for time or running late the first thing that gets forgotten or ignored is the time we set aside for God.  I know I'm guilty of this all the time, whether it is first thing in the morning if I'm late, or if it is late at night and I am really tired, I often sacrifice my spiritual well-being, for the demands of this world. How many times have we played a sport, or been at work, or been at school, and messed up because we weren't in "rhythm"?  When we miss a step in our daily routine, it often has the potential to throw off our entire day, and I don't think that our spiritual life is any different. 

When we get into a groove and intentionally spend time with God, we feel at peace, we feel fulfilled, because we are doing what he has commanded us to do.  And this is important to realize, because when we are called to go to God in prayer, it's never for His benefit, I believe it is for ours.  God doesn't gain anything from our prayers, God doesn't need us to go to Him in prayer, He WANTS us too.  He knows that when we decide to spend time with him, we show Him love, and it shows a desire for a relationship, because that is what he has given us. 

How many times have we gone to a friend who will just LISTEN, and felt so relieved after venting because that's all we needed to do; just speak it out loud.  Praying to God on a regular basis is no different then talking to a good friend, in fact it's better.   We bring our joys, our worries, our fears, and anything else, and he listens.  The God of the universe  WANTS us to spend that time with him, WANTS that relationship with us, so why don't we use it?  I believe we are most vulnerable when we aren't being intentional about our time with God.  Like an athlete or a performer, who doesn't warmup properly, and they feel out of whack, when we aren't being intentional about our time with God, we leave ourselves vulnerable for poor decisions, poor judgement, and temptation. 

Praying on a regular basis, and making that commitment refuels us, it releases anxiety and stress, and frankly it allows us to maintain some sanity.  Verbally speaking out loud the problems that I have often clears up a lot of the anxiety and worries.  We tend to answer our own questions when we just talk about them out loud.  God wants to listen and we should let him! 

Like a player taking the baseball field who messed up his pregame warmup, or a singer, who didn't go through their vocal exercises, when we break these routines we often find ourselves in a funk.  Prayer is important, not just when we are asking God for something, but when we are choosing to share our lives with Him.  So i challenge you, to spend sometime in prayer every day...a minute, five, or ten, just get into a routine of doing so, and watch how it affects the rest of your day. 

-Nick Kratz

A message from the President...

Dear Friends,

In the late 1800's some christian men came together and created an annual week of evangelistic meetings. Their goal and purpose was to provide a place where people could come and gather, getting away from the rigors of life, and share in singing, reading, and hearing the word of God, proclaiming the salvation message of Jesus Christ. Initially, they would use tents, and a large tent for the services. This evolved into an outdoor tabernacle, open on three sides. Then they began to lease lots for the erection of cottages surrounding the tabernacle. Eventually, they added dorms for the purpose of housing teens, and a dining hall, thus began the youth camp program. 

"Oh that men would praise the Lord's goodness, and proclaim His good works to the children of man." Psalm 107:8 

These same goals and the grounds remain as a place dedicated to Jesus, and that redemption from sin is a free gift. In this tabernacle, cottages, dormitories, and on these grounds we pray that many more may find joy, and freedom in this good news, joining the thousands who professed faith in Jesus Christ at Highland. 

It is my sincere wish, and the hope of the board of directors, the Jr. Board of directors, Camp staff, Ladies auxiliary , and cottagers, that God will bless this Holy ground, and even more bless the individuals who annually hear and accept the invitation of Jesus to come to Himm confessing their sins, and professing faith in Him for eternal life. 

"What does the Lord require of you? But, to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God". Micah 6:8

Join us for the Highland Park Camp meeting week, check out how you can be a camper or attend services. Then praise the Lord for what He is about to do! 

"Behold, what manner of love the Father bestows on us that we are called the children of God.". 1 John 3:1 

Your servant in Christ, 
John D. Hollenbach, President