You have read my blogs and heard what I have to say about it, and you have heard Pastor Nathan talk about the importance of Fallout. I want to give you a student's perspective on the weekend. Here is what one student has to say about their past experiences at Fallout and their anticipation of being at Farrington this year:In previous years I have had the opportunity to participate in Fallout on more than one occasion and Fallout weekend has always been one that I look forward to. It’s a weekend of faith, fun, and fellowship. Sounds cliché, right? But truth is, these three words define it perfectly.
Fallout weekend always seems to come at the perfect time of year when school is hectic and life feels like it is moving at a pace of one hundred miles an hour. For me, this is the weekend that I look forward to for quite a while during the fall semester. I mean, what is more fun than a weekend away with all of your friends, awesome worship, crazy speakers, and we can’t forget the classic pranks. (Last year, some leaders trucks were covered in sticky notes and team mascots were kidnapped!) Needless to say, the memories and funny stories that are made each fallout weekend last a lifetime and you certainly don’t want to miss out this year and be one of the students who has no clue what is going on when we share laughs over our memories from this awesome weekend!
During the midst of all the crazy fun, bonds are created with other believers of all ages in our youth group that last through most of your years in the youth ministry. There’s opportunities to share life with those going through the same things that each of us face everyday as we walk the halls of our school. The opportunity to fellowship with people in our youth group that we have never taken the time to sit down and talk with are placed in front of us and through conversations with them we are grown not only as individuals but more so as a body of believers. Every year, I have met other teenagers that have encouraged me in numerous ways and hopefully God has opened doors for me to encourage them too. I have left rejuvenated and ready to be a more bold witness, as well as a little more confident in knowing that I really do have other believers around me, going through the same things that I do.
Most importantly, the spiritual growth that happens over the course of fallout weekend is phenomenal. All throughout the weekend, we get to sit on big group lessons and learn from some pretty awesome speakers who are very mature in their faith. We also get to break into small groups and discuss things deeper and on a more personal level. This small group time is essential in our spiritual lives because it allows us to open the door to hearts and share important things with each other and learn answers to questions about word of God that help us to grow and mature in our walks with Christ. During these times, our awesome leaders take the time to discuss the things on our hearts with us and help us to dive deeper into the word of God. At fallout, The Holy Spirit is alive and powerful and moving in the lives of each student and each of us are grown and challenged spiritually. It is awesome.
Some moments of greatest life change in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ have taken place over the course of Fallout weekend. I have seen close friends come to faith in Christ and some even surrender to a calling in ministry of different sorts. Personally, at past fallouts God has used the things we have discussed and learned about to convict me of things that haven’t been right in my life and pointed me in a direction to fix the issues, as well as getting help from people that are further along in their walk with Christ than I am. I have surrendered to things greater than I could ever imagine that Christ has called me to do and had the support from those around me at Fallout to take the next step forward. Fallout can be a life changing weekend if we get rid of the “I can do it all on my own” mindset and surrender to a purpose, a calling, a love so much greater than ourselves.
I personally am really looking forward to change in locations of Fallout this year. I must admit, I am a little nervous to sleep down at the mission, not so much for safety reasons, (there’s nothing to worry about there!) but simply because it is something that’s out of my comfort zone. For me, I enjoy sleeping in a nice house in a neighborhood that I am familiar with. I like sleeping in a place where I can have my own bed, a nice bathroom to get ready in the mornings and being able to walk outside and drink my coffee before I start my day. Obviously, this wont be the case staying at Farrington. Over the course of the past couple weeks as I have kind of wrestled with the thought of sleeping at the mission, God has really humbled me and showed me that not everyone gets to wake up in the nice environment that I do each day. I have learned that stepping out of my comfort zone in order to learn to love people the way that the Father wants me to is exactly what God has called me to do. He has called each of us to live according to His will and that includes the things that don’t seem too appealing to us. Sometimes it can be hard for me to love people or really reach out to people that are “different” than I am or not in the same social class as I am or whatever, but when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter. We have talked so much lately about reaching our Jerusalem and how are we supposed to do that if we can’t even step out of our comfort zones and step into the areas that the people on the outskirts of our Jerusalem live in? I mean, Jesus loves these people, why is it so hard for me to?
Overall, I am REALLY looking forward to Fallout. I am praying that God would captivate the hearts of each of us there and make us fall deeper in love with Him. I am begging God to, as PT puts it, make God's want-to, my want-to. To make His desires, my desires. This weekend is going to be action packed, fun filled, and probably leave you spiritually and physically exhausted but it is totally worth it! I promise that if you allow God to move in your life, then He will. Open your heart to the things that He wants to teach you and it will be a weekend you will never forget! Go sign up…right now…like stop reading this and go to www.nehbc.com/fallout and register NOW! You don’t wanna miss out! :) For those of you counting with me.. We have TEN DAYS! See you there!
