Sunday morning. Alarm clock rings. I swing my arm down upon the snooze button; a momentary lapse in noise, a momentary lapse in judgment. A few minutes of restless quiet envelope my sleepy frame before reality smacks me in the face. It is Sunday morning. It is SUNDAY morning! I am going to be late for church! I throw an outfit together and freshen up before heading downstairs to my family – some still decked out in pajamas. I guess I wasn’t the only one…

In my mind, church that week had just become another routine activity to check off my list. My primary concern was not anticipating a gripping message but merely on the routine activities I had to complete before I scurried out the door. My focus was entirely skewed and I didn’t plan on gaining anything from the morning service. However, nothing could have prepared me for the unreal experience that lay ahead.

I arrived on time with enough to spare to talk with some friends and get settled in the seats with my family. Soon the guitars cued the congregation to rise to their feet. We began singing awesome praises to our Savior. (But praises only ring if the heart is rejoicing.) We all bowed our heads in reverent prayer. (But it can only touch our hearts if we do more than close our eyes.) Finally, we sat back down as the pastor got ready to speak. He spoke of Jesus becoming entirely humble and servant-like as his disciples arrived for a meal one day to find the foot-washer was “off-duty.” He painted a picture of the disciples’ pride and negligence to stoop to such a task then illustrated the probable, contrasting silence as the disciples realized their Master was washing their feet. While this story is incredibly moving, especially if you have ever had the humbling experience of having a loved one wash your own feet, this is not what stirred me most.

The pastor went on to say that Jesus made a sacrifice so He could teach a lesson to His disciples. “For he who is least among you all-he is greatest,” Jesus says in Luke 9:48. Jesus’ sacrifice was key in many areas of His life on earth, but sometimes the sacrifice part is missed. However, I don’t think I will ever forget the wonder that comes in sacrifice after the wonder that captured me next.

“You may think I’m crazy,” the pastor began, “but I want to try something. I want you to take off your shoes. If you feel led, I want you to take off your shoes and bring them right here to the front,” he gestured towards the stairs at the foot of the stage. “Some of us are going to walk out of here barefoot today, and some people might think we are crazy, but you know what? That’s okay. These shoes are going to go to the Soles for Souls program where people who have to walk miles without shoes every day in countries everywhere will have shoes on their feet. “

I have never been more amazed, overjoyed, or stunned in church than in that moment. Gradually people all around from all different areas of the sanctuary began to come up, shoes in hand, feet bared to the world. Some of these people had on their Sunday best – their most impressive pair of kicks. And you know what? They placed them all over the front of the sanctuary and walked out of that church barefoot.

Sometimes God places a call in the church that we know about ahead of time. But oftentimes, God is spontaneous and may ask something of us that we are not prepared for. Our heart condition and responsiveness will determine our reaction to such an incredible call. And let me tell you – the immediacy of people’s sacrifice was awing. It was incredibly moving to see people so willingly sacrifice forever their prized possessions. Who knows what intangible burdens the congregation laid at the feet of the cross that morning? But somewhere, men and women who have never known the comfort of soles, who have never known the blessing of a Spirit-blessed soul, will receive both gifts just as quickly as the congregation sacrificed.

In 2002, Dan Haseltin, Jars of Clay’s lead singer, visited Africa and was changed forever. He saw poverty, physical and social suffering, and disease that “shook him, challenged him, and changed him.”

When he returned home, he knew he had to do something. According to his Web site, “He came back with a vision for clean blood and clean water in Africa—blood free of the HIV virus and water free of parasites and bacteria that cause AIDS patients and others undue suffering.”

He and his bandmates began Blood:Water Mission—an organization committed to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic and build clean wells, support medical facilities caring for the sick, and fight poverty, justice, and oppression—all in Africa. The band’s target audience is the church and young people, so they saw an opportunity to spread the word and call the church to action.

Recently, Blood:Water began an initiative called the “1000 Wells Project.” This project seeks to build 1000 wells and clean water projects in 1000 African communities. And they are asking people to give up $1 to the organization that can provide one year of clean water for an African.

Jessie Miller, an intern with Blood:Water Mission and a senior at Middle Tennessee State University from Lebanon, Tennessee, said, “So far, we’ve drilled around 350 wells which has affected more than 250,000 people.”

Jessie was in Jars of Clay’s target audience before she came on board. At Passion 2007, she visited the “Do Something Now” booth, and felt a tug toward Africa.

“They challenged us to drink water for two weeks and save our money that we spent on Cokes and coffee, and then donate what we didn’t spend,” she said.

Through God’s timing, she was contacted by a girl who works at Blood:Water Mission and began volunteering in June 2007. She volunteered until December 2007 and began officially as an intern in January of this year.

God has definitely given Jessie a passion for this organization. She said, “I felt the need to help others—especially in Africa. I did other stuff with a few other campaigns, but I knew Blood:Water was a good fit for me.”

Jessie will continue interning with Blood:Water throughout the summer until her graduation in December with a degree in global studies, at which point she’s open to go where God calls her. But she does know that God has given her a heart of compassion for the people of Africa.

Right now, she writes “thank you” notes to people who give, answers the questions of those who are interested in getting involved, and mans the Blood:Water booths at certain events, among other things. Even in the small things, she’s dedicated to this organization.

She said, “We’re called as Christians to be servants despite the circumstances. It’s not about my needs and wants; it’s about serving others. It’s really important for my generation to get involved because there are a lot of organizations like Blood:Water that can grow and serve because of our efforts. Our generation wants to see a change in things and we have hope to give them, but we’re going to have to be the ones to make that happen.”

To read more about Blood:Water Mission and how you can help, click here.

William Borden

William Borden was born on November 1, 1887. He lived a privileged life as a child and teenager as the heir to Borden Dairy, Inc. When he was seven years old, he surrendered his life to Christ and dedicated himself to do whatever God wanted with his life.

A 1904 graduate of a private boarding prep school in Chicago, William’s parents gave their 16-year-old son a trip around the world as a graduation present. He traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. During his journey, he felt a growing burden for the hurting people of the world.

William wrote home about his desire to be a missionary. One friend expressed his disappointment that William was throwing his life away to be a missionary. But William wrote in the back of his Bible: “No reserves.”

In 1905, William arrived on the campus of Yale University. The other students knew he was different. One classmate said: “He came to college far ahead, spiritually, of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ and had really done it.”

During his first semester, William began meeting with a classmate to pray before breakfast. Over time, the prayer duo grew and birthed a movement that spread across campus. By the end of his first year, 150 freshmen were meeting for weekly Bible study and prayer. And by the time William was a senior, 1,000 of Yale’s 1,300 students were meeting in these groups.

In college, William made it his habit to seek out “lost” students and bring them to salvation. He founded the Yale Hope Mission, and created an outreach ministry to care for the orphaned and widowed and rescue the homeless and hungry.

One of his friends wrote about him: “He might often be found in the lower parts of the city at night, on the street, in a cheap lodging house or some restaurant to which he had take a poor hungry fellow to feed him, seeking to lead men to Christ.”

He made one entry in his journal that described what others saw in him: “Say ‘no’ to self and ‘yes’ to Jesus every time.”

William graduated from Yale in 1909 and went on to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. During seminary, he taught a Sunday School class in a black church and gave thousands of dollars to Christian causes.

In 1912, he graduated from seminary and was ordained that year by Dr. James M. Gray at the Moody Memorial Church. He then set sail for China hoping to work with Muslims. But first, he traveled to Egypt to study with Dr. Samuel Zwemer, a missionary to the Muslim people.

Unfortunately, at the end of 1912, William contracted cerebral meningitis and died only a few months later on April 9, 1913 at the age of 25.

That’s not the end of his story, though. William had influenced dozens to become missionaries because of his challenge. He encouraged hundreds to full surrender of their lives and fortunes to God. He led hundreds of people to a personal relationship and salvation in Jesus.

Prior to his death, Borden had written two more words in his Bible. Underneath the words “No reserves” he had written: “No retreats” and “No regrets.”

Source: Kuykendall, David W. “Profiles of Famous Christians.” 1994: California: http://www.kjvuser.com/profilesoffamouschristians.htm.

Amber Barron

Imagine her surprise! Marina became hysterical. As a result, she was beaten, raped, sold off, and finally locked in a windowless basement for a month, drinking water from the toilet and going without food.

She finally managed to escape. But now, she rarely leaves her two-bedroom home in northern Israel because she fears the government will deport her or the criminal gangs will force her back into prostitution.

This story came from the blog of Amber Barron, a 28-year-old freedom fighter for humans being trafficked all over the world.

Exactly one year ago, Amber (who was working in commercial real estate) read a CNN article about Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman sold into sexual slavery as a child. Now, a free woman, she works to free other girls in the same situation. Almost instantly, Amber said she heard God saying,”This is the work I want you to do.”

In June 2007, Amber resigned her job and joined Dan Trippie, to form and become president of Freedom’s Promise—an organization created to rescue women and children affected by the human trafficking trade, raise awareness in our communities and abroad, aid in the rehabilitation process of victims, and address the root causes of trafficking.

Human trafficking, a modern-day form of slavery, is the second largest organized crime industry in the world. Each year, 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders. And 14,500 to 17,500 national foreigners are trafficked annually in the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: “Many victims of human trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry. … Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved.”

Amber said, “Women and girls are given promises of good jobs in other countries such as cleaning houses, being a nanny, or modeling. Once they arrive in the country, their passports and visas are confiscated and they are taken to a brothel where they are beaten and raped, and begin work as sex slaves.”

Young Cambodian girl

Today in Cambodia, Amber said, “There are whole village areas that are filled with brothels. It’s common for mothers to sell their daughters to feed the rest of the family. [The village girls] start off at five or six years old participating in oral sex. By the time they are nine and ten, they are participating in intercourse.”

Mainly working in the Nashville area, Brazil, and Cambodia, Freedom’s Promise hopes to facilitate relationships with other organizations and build a large community of awareness locally, nationally, and worldwide about human trafficking.

Sadly, this issue is closer to home in our own American cities than most of us realize.

Amber challenges you to do something right where you are by raising awareness among your friends, family, and co-workers. She said, “This is an opportunity to wake America up to modern-day slavery and fight to free these people.”

For ways to help stop human trafficking or support Freedom’s Promise, go online to freedomspromise.org.

Do you remember the first time you went on a rope swing over a river or a lake? I remember the first time I ever used one. All of my friends were egging me on, daring me to swing out over the water and let go of the rope. All of the older kids had already done it, and it looked easy enough until…I actually had to do it. I remember holding the rope, swinging back and going all the way to the edge, and then just as I was about to let go, fear got a hold of me, and I stayed on the shore. It looked scary out there over the water! But I remember the first time that I was willing to risk my life out there over the water, because death by rope swing was definitely better than living and enduring all of the jokes and scorn of my older friends for the rest of my life. I pulled all the way back and then swung out over the water, and even though it was scary, I let go of the rope. Then there was a moment of intense midair flailing and flying, followed by being swallowed up in the water where I was sure I was going to drown. But then I finally came up out of the water, and I realized it was the most awesome thing I’d ever done, and I couldn’t wait to do it again!

The Christian life is kind of like that rope swing. A lot of times, life is scary out over the water, and we are afraid to let go of our lives - the rope - and so we hold on. But as soon as we realize that we can no longer hang onto the rope and we let go and give our lives to God, even though it might be scary out there, we realize that we’ve found life like we never knew was out there. And we find that life was nothing before we gave it to God.

This week was Great Commission week at my college. We had a speaker who spoke on the importance of following Jesus’ command to share our faith everywhere we go. He brought up a very interesting point that I’ve never thought about before. He said the problem with churches and Christians today is that we’ve lost the concept of a great idea.

Have you ever thought about what motivated the terrorists on September 11, 2001, to hijack several planes and fly them into buildings in suicide missions? They had what was for them a great idea. Now I am in no way endorsing what they did, but it is interesting to note that they so believed in their cause, their “great idea,” that they were willing to give their very lives for it. How many Christians today would be willing to give their lives for our cause, our great idea – the command to go and make disciples of all nations? I think we aren’t willing to give our lives is because we value our lives more than we do the Gospel. We are afraid of losing our lives because we think that we are the most important part of our existence. We’ve lost sight of a great idea that supersedes the importance of individual lives. Instead of telling God that we will go and spread the Gospel wherever He sends us, even if it means that we may lose our lives in the process, we have gotten to the point where we won’t even share our faith with a neighbor because we value our reputation more than we do their eternal destiny.

Jesus said that in order to find our lives, we must first lose them (Luke 9:23-24). He says that we must take up our cross and follow Him. The Apostle Paul says that he dies daily and that he is crucified with Christ. That means simply that in order to follow Jesus, I must value Him more than I do myself. I die to myself so Christ can live through me (Galatians 2:20). Will I lose my life? Yes. Will I find my life? Yes!

Let go of the rope and live your life for God. Grasp the great idea of the Gospel and give yourself to it!

What started as an insatiable love for music at a young age has turned into something much bigger for Stephen Miller. The 24-year-old musician/minister has taken his love for music and God’s call on his life, and moved it to several much larger platforms.

Miller, who serves as Worship Leader at Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land, Texas, said, “About 10 years ago, God told me that music is the most powerful language in the world. Then He called me to teach and minister to people through song.”

Four bands later, Stephen (lead vocals, guitar) is now joined by Micah Peacock (guitar, backup vocals), Will Colbert (bass), and Mario Diaz (drums).

“There is something about music that people are drawn to,” Stephen said. “It’s the same with theology and God. So we want to mix those two languages to reach the nation and connect people with Him—especially our generation, the post-moderns, because that’s who we identify with.”

Will Colbert, the youngest of the band at only 19-years-old, said, “I remember that nobody in my youth group actually wanted to worship God. So this is something I kind of fell into. After the first time I experienced it—worshipping God and leading his people into worship—it’s been amazing.”

This band isn’t called to entertain. The guys say they’ve been called to shepherd people into worship while playing great music that breaks the mold. Reaching the world is a big dream for this up-and-coming, mission—minded foursome, but God has tattooed His purpose for them on Stephen’s heart and mind.

So far, the Texas-based band has taken several mission trips to New York to minister to people up north. And recently, they helped drive a large event in their hometown called “The Cause”—focused on bringing people in their community together.

“People in Kenya don’t have clean water, and they have to walk six miles just to get it. And there is a horrible AIDS epidemic in Africa,” Stephen said. “We wanted to connect people—believers and non-believers—with these causes and get them involved in helping out.”

According to Stephen, there are people in their own community, living just down the road, with no running water or plumbing. “We wanted to raise awareness—that there are even people in our own backyards that need our help. These situations are real—here and around the world.”

The challenge for this band as it is with most followers of Christ, according to Stephen, is to be both hearers and doers of God’s Word.

“The Bible says we are to help the orphaned, the fatherless, and the widowed—the poor, hungry, and sick,” he said. “I can write and sing all day long about how awesome God is, but if I don’t do something to back it up, then it’s not worth it. As believers, He continually calls us to be a part of new things all the time. It’s up to us to put our faith into action.”

To find out more about the Stephen Miller Band and to listen to their recently released EP, “Awaken My Heart,” go to stephen-miller.com or myspace.com/stephenmiller.

At church, we’re doing a study on Nehemiah. Most recently, the pastor taught from the fourth chapter titled (in my Bible): “Progress in Spite of Opposition.”

Background up to this point: Nehemiah, the Persian king’s cupbearer, heard about the destruction of the walls of his hometown, Jerusalem, and the devastation of his people, the Israelites. He got permission from the king and left with his permission to return home, gather his people together and rebuild the city’s walls.

Up until this point, the people had made progress but there were still gaps in the wall. But some leaders in surrounding areas got upset when they heard what was going on and decided to attack the Israelites and destroy what progress they had made.

Nehemiah placed individuals and their families—the jewelers, the goldsmiths, the gatekeepers, and others from all walks of life—in the lowest gaps and armed them with a weapon in one hand while they continued to work with the other.

We can assume they were terrified, because Nehemiah told them, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes” (Nehemiah 4:14).

The story goes on that everything turned out OK. The wall was rebuilt in 52 days and God protected the Israelites. But this really got me thinking about our roles as Christians today.

How often do we stand in the gap and fight for our faith? Or how many times do we stand behind the wall, almost silently squeaking out our praises to the Lord, and hope the enemy doesn’t see, attack, and bludgeon us?

In chapter four, Nehemiah went on to say, “And I, my brothers, my men, and the guards with me never took off our clothes. Each carried his weapon, even when washing” (Nehemiah 4:23).

Ephesians 6:11-18 says:

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.”

Do you always wear the full armor of God? Are you ready to stand in the gap and defend your faith at any time? Are you doing your part to build up the Kingdom of God?

It’s not often that you hear of young people who are changing the world. If teens today are anything like I was, then most of them are only concerned with sleeping in and doing everything possible to not miss the next big social event.

Recently, I read an article about five guys from Acworth, Georgia, who don’t fit the mold mentioned above. No, they aren’t superheroes; they are life-changers.

It all started when a young man named Conner Cress, a junior in high school, saw an image in a magazine of a “skeletal-looking baby, with toothpick-thin arms and legs and wide hopeless eyes,” accompanied by an equally sad story about the horrific conditions in Third World countries due to poverty, starvation, and dehydration.

Conner felt he needed to do something. So he brought the issue to four of his closest buddies—Logan, Dan, Kyle, and Jared. From that group and their desire to do something to help others, they created a solution.

Dry Tears, an organization to help provide clean drinking water to people in Africa, was formed. They chose the name to represent the lack of tears produced when someone is suffering from dehydration. The boys used their savings to purchase 1,000 bracelets with the words “Dry Tears” printed on them, and they began selling them.

Today, these young men have created a movement of change. They travel around speaking to schools and youth groups in their community. And they continue to raise money by selling rubber bracelets and T-shirts to support this campaign.

Breakaway magazine recently featured a story on these guys. The article stated: “Around the world, 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean water. Each day, about 6,000 people, mostly children, die from diseases related to bad or no water; that’s nearly 2.2 million deaths a year.”

Many times, we take for granted the freedoms, privileges, and blessings we have living in this country. Even in the simple things—like having clean water to drink.

Jesus called us to serve others. Our “neighbors” in Africa are suffering—and so are people in our own backyards. Jesus said, “I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me’” (Matthew 25:40, HCSB).

These young men are setting the example (see 1 Timothy 4:12), living out service to others (see Hebrews 13:16), and expressing their love for God. Even as teenagers, they are a fitting model for all of us.