YouthFire Blog

I just got back from a “Whiteboard Society” meeting. Basically, three of my friends and I got together around a whiteboard and discussed deep thoughts, questions, and ideas. It ranged from baptism to private schools to shaving and we ended our night talking about the church. We made two categories on the whiteboard. One section was about what’s wrong with the church and the other section was about what the church should be. We brainstormed and wrote and wrote and brainstormed and wrote some more. Then we discussed.

We decided to focus on what the church should be rather than to whine and complain and go off on tangents of what’s wrong in the church. It was rather interesting. I think the things that jumped out to me most were comments on how the church should be open, honest, and vulnerable. The church should share things with each other in a place where they can feel safe doing so without being judged.

I think the church should be more than just a building we go to on Sundays. It’s a community of believers. It’s fellowship, it’s service, it’s worshiping together. I recently blogged about how blessed I am to be a part of several wonderful churches. I have my home church, which I feel is kind of an extended family to me. I also have the campus ministry I’m involved with and a small group Bible study. It just seems to me that while we’re not to the point of complete openness and honesty, we’re getting there. We share our struggles, our joys, our sorrows. And I think it’s incredible.

Anyway, I think YouthFire is also a church. It’s a group of believers who get together and share their life experiences. I hope all of you who read this can continue being open and honest with each other, loving one another, lifting one another up, and serving God together. Come talk to me sometime! I want to hear about your life and share my life with you.

In closing, I leave you with some more of my thoughts on the church that I blogged about a few weeks ago:

“Sometimes Christians don’t always agree with each other, and I think that’s okay. The early Christians didn’t always agree on things either. We haven’t figured things out. It’s okay to question things. What matters is that we trust and believe that Christ died for us and rose again. When we have unity in that, isn’t that what matters? Philippians 2:1-4 says, ‘If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’

I think this is the beauty of the church. When we can put aside our piddly little differences and focus on Christ, it’s an awesome thing. When we can look out for each other, it’s beautiful. I see this in the churches I belong to. I think I forget this sometimes, so it’s just really cool to be reminded of how blessed I am to be part of a wonderful group of Christians.”

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” ~ James 1:22-25 (Emphasis by me)

I’ve been thinking a lot about servanthood lately. I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus lately too, and how he was such a servant. He touched the lives of the people he met, whether they be prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers. He loved them, he served them, he saved them.

There are so many opportunities in our lives to be servants, even in our everyday lives. I encourage you to serve those around you.

This isn’t really the point of this post though. I’ve been thinking a lot about Africa lately. It seems like such a faraway place, doesn’t it? I personally feel really disconnected from it. Do you remember when the tsunami happened? I know it wasn’t in Africa, but it was still in a faraway place. Then Hurricane Katrina happened, and somehow that affected me more. I think it’s just because Louisiana and Mississippi are closer than Asia. How could I have been so uncaring? Both places needed help.

Anyway, I think we need to start thinking about Africa. I could blow you away with statistics here, like about how many people die of AIDS every year, how many people die of diarrhea, or how many are killed because of civil wars. I’m not going to go into specifics though. All I’m going to say is that Africa needs our help. While African governments ignore or can’t do anything about the problems, other world governments are ignoring it too. That’s why it’s up to us to do something.

I watched a documentary last night called Invisible Children. It’s about children in Uganda who are abducted and brainwashed into becoming child soldiers. These children are between the ages of 5 and 12. Can you imagine your younger siblings or younger kids at church being kidnapped and forced to kill other people? These children are living without hope. You can do something about this. I encourage you to order the video to watch with your youth group. Then you can think of creative ideas to raise money to help these kids. You could even organize a trip to Africa with your youth group. Check out http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ for more information.

While Angel Tree and Salvation Army collect gifts for the poor and needy children in the United States, I think little is done for other countries. Operation Christmas Child is a way to help those in other countries. You can go to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC for more information about how you and your youth group (or your family) can put together a shoebox full of school supplies, hygiene items, and toys for a child in another country.

Are you looking for an easier way to help? Check out http://www.TheHungerSite.com and its affiliates. The Hunger Site provided 48,017,486 cups of food last year to the hungry in various countries, including Africa. You don’t have to send money or food or anything to help. All you have to do is click the button once a day. The Child Health Site provided critical health services for more than 486,000 children worldwide last year. Again, all it takes is one click per day to help out. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s effective, and it saves lives.

Finally, go to http://www.bloodwatermission.com for information on the importance of clean water in African countries. Did you know that more people die from diarrhea than from anything else? People drink water from unclean places, get diarrhea, get dehydrated, and have nothing except contaminated water to replenish themselves. It’s a vicious cycle. I encourage you and your youth group to raise money to build wells, or even go to Africa to dig a well! In a group I was involved with, we drank water for two weeks in place of all other beverages, then used the money that we would have paid for those drinks to send to bloodwatermission. It’s not a bad idea to do the same thing! It also is a sacrifice to do something like that…you’ll learn a lot!

I know this verse I’ll close with is kind of a punch in the face, but it needs to be said. James 4:17 says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” We all know we ought to help others. I feel the tug. Do you?

Hello everyone,

I am posting this during a very exciting time in the life of YouthFire.com. The ministry continues to grow and is reaching more people, in more parts of the world, than ever before with the incredible, life-changing Gospel of Christ. This is our goal, and we praise God that we’ve been able to accomplish as much as we have in the six years YouthFire.com has been in ministry.

Some of the aspects of YouthFire.com helping us to accomplish these goals are our very own chat server, which allows us to provide a safe haven to young people all over the world. We run our own Internet radio station that is spreading positive, Christian messages throughout the Internet. YouthFire Radio is now seeing a boom in listeners, and we’re having to increase capacity to keep up with the excitement. Our Web site has grown in size, with more data being added daily. We recently switched to a new Web host to make room for all of the new resources we have!

As I said before, it truly is an exciting time to be a part of YouthFire.com, and we’re so happy that you’re a part of it. All of these things are incredibly encouraging, but they require money to make them happen. That’s why we’ve come up with the “YF CREW”. The YF CREW is a monthly subscription donation of either $2, $3 or $5 through PayPal. I sincerely hope that you will prayerfully consider joining the YF CREW and sponsoring YouthFire.com for $2, $3 or $5 a month.

What’s in it for you? Well I’m glad you asked! If you sign up for the YF CREW you will be entered into a drawing for FREE YOUTHFIRE GEAR!

$2.00 Monthly Donation	$3.00 Monthly Donation	$5.00 Monthly Donation

Thank you for prayerfully considering supporting this ministry.

Sincerely,

Beau Hebert
President, YouthFire.com
BeauH@youthfire.com

PS If you don’t have a paypal account ask your parents/sibling/guardians if you can use theirs and then just pay them the money in cash, chores, good grades, or good behavior!

An incident occurred recently that ended in two people leaving YouthFire. Since then, these people have written some slanderous blog posts about YouthFire and its owner. In addition, Beau has received some harrassing emails. We don’t know how many people read this particular blog, nor do we know how many people from YouthFire are still in contact with these people. We are not going to say who was involved or what occurred. The blog of these people contains many lies. If you think you’ve heard about some situation that makes YouthFire or Beau seem terrible, please contact Beau or me to get the other side of the story. Don’t make your judgment based on one side of the story, especially, as in this case, if the other side of the story contains many lies.