Stunt Junkies - Part 2

It was hard - with Peter basking in the sun in Dominican Republic - but we carried on without him. I attempted to fill his shoes and play his guitar. While all were initially impressed with my rendition of "Smoke on the Water," we then went into the first song. Trevor kicked me off the stage after the first few measures. He is such a musical snob and doesn't know rockin' creativity when he hears it.
Anyway, into more serious matters, our 2nd night of "Stunt Junkies" dealt with the topic, Forgiving Yourself. Most of us know in our heads that Jesus forgives us, but letting that settle into our hearts is another matter. We compared the stories of Peter's denial and Judas' betrayal of Jesus and pondered how they dealt with their grave sins. Judas, we know, kills himself. Peter, weeps bitterly. We are never told in the Bible how Peter resolved this, only that Jesus forgave and restored him (John 21). Which is how we forgive ourselves - not looking to ourselves to be convinced, but listening to Jesus and taking the risk - doing the stunt - of believing what he says about us is true.
The night also touched on the very sensitive topic of suicide. We encouraged any who needed to talk to do so or even if they have a friend who would show suicidal thoughts or tendancies that they need to talk to trusted adult for help in the situation.
Finally, Ty - one of our leaders - gave an awesome personal testimony to the forgiveness of Jesus in his life, and how he came to accept it. I am so grateful for Ty and all the leaders who do such a great job of ministering to our kids.
Forever your partner in loving our teens,
Pr. Mielke

lock-in

This past Sunday night was a great night for Ikon. We had our biggest turn out of the year. I was glad to see so many people bring friends to experience 24t7 before the lock-in. We started a new series called stunt junkies. Over the next few weeks we will be talking about the risks of following Jesus. The inspiration for this series came from the Discovery Channel show by the same name. So of course, we have some classic ikon videos to go along with it. (check out this week's on the youth website) This past week we looked at the calling of Paul, Nathaniel, Matthew, and Peter James and John to be disciples. We discussed what they had to leave behind to follow Jesus; we then related these stories to what we must leave behind to follow Jesus today.

The lock-in was a good time too. We had basketball, rock band, Wii, group dances and more. Besides me and Janice only a few stayed awake the whole night though. It was definitely one of the best lock-ins we have had in the last 5 years.