NCS Presents Spiritual Renewal Day
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

By Rich Reaves

NORTHLAND WELCOMES JOSH MCDOWELL
The Lord opened a door for us to hear one of the country's premiere Christian speaker and authors, Josh McDowell. Josh has authored or co-authored over 100 books and spoken in over 100 countries. All in all, he has given over 23,000 talks to over 10 million students at live events, and Northland reserved him for a stop on his “Why Belief Matters” Tour. We wanted him to challenge us, and that is exactly what he did. He delivered three messages with authority and experience combined with a unique tender and humorous touch.

I invited three of our rival schools to join us for Spiritual Renewal Day. My hope was to have a memory with these schools other than on the athletic field of play. I asked each school to hand pick a dozen students or so to hear Josh speak. The day started on a humorous note with some friendly banter between NCS students and our guests from Houston Christian, Cypress Christian, and Concordia Lutheran. The day then continued with the reading of the following passage of Scripture:

28  Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV).

THE STUDENT SEMINAR
There was great energy in the room when Josh delivered his first of three messages. Josh opened with an honest and stirring message of his personal testimony of childhood abandonment issues and the resulting anger he lived with for years, especially towards those who called themselves “Christians.” He actually set out to prove Jesus was not who he claimed to be. Much like other atheists and agnostics before and after him, Josh, through his research, became a follower of Jesus Christ.

His second lesson openly challenged us to examine why we believe what we believe. Have we equipped ourselves with the abundance of evidence waiting for us to discover when the need arises to defend our faith? Josh exhorted us to study the plethora of evidence there is to prove the existence of God and the death, burial, and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. This lesson was a fast-paced and much-needed crash course in Christian evidences.

In his final and most challenging of the three messages, Josh gave us what he believed to be the true definition of love: “To protect and to provide.” Josh then passionately challenged the students towards greater spiritual purity while exposing the world's lies surrounding sex and the tremendous and inescapable consequences of sex outside marriage. This was an in-your-face lesson delivered specifically to the students present. Again, Josh was successfully able to be tough and tender in handling this much mishandled subject of sex.

THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY
During lunch, Christian comedian Tony Wolf performed first for the high school followed by a set for the middle school. I was impressed with Tony's obvious love for young people and in how he embedded a personal testimony into his act. Let's just say we will never visit a Waffle House again without thinking of Tony's song, “Waffle House.”

To finish the day we watched one of the most inspiring movies I have ever seen, “Facing the Giants.” This football movie takes place on the campus of a Christian school not that different from Northland. God is glorified throughout the movie when a struggling coach dedicates his team to praising God, in victory and defeat. Without giving too much away, let's just say impossible things become possible.

A PRAYER OF FAITH
As the credits were freshly rolling and the Casting Crowns song “Voice of Truth” was playing, I asked this closing question to an amazing day: “Does the Lord have your attention?” This is a question I must ask myself with each and every God-given morning. The Lord has proven himself in my life over and over. Have all my questions been answered…not even close! This has been a school year of unanswered questions, and I pray all us will realize that God's love for us is simply too great not to get our attention through the difficulties of life.

Please join me in being reminded of that six-hour Friday morning over two thousand years ago when our Lord painfully and thankfully bowed his head uttering the words, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Praise the Lord that because he finished what he started, we can begin.