25 Day Challenge.

So if you haven't taken the opportunity, you should get to know Brendon Foulke, our new student pastor.

Recently, I got the chance to go with Brendon and a gang of about 30 up to Wisconsin Dells, WI for the Senior High Winter Escape retreat. I got to lead worship for our high school students, and it was a blast.

As Brendon and I sat down at the beginning of February and thought about planning and themes for the retreat, we arrived at Matthew 4's story of the temptations of Jesus. We both quickly noticed that if you look through that narrative, you see that Jesus fights each of the temptations that the devil throws at Him with Scripture.

Brendon and I aren't the smartest guys, but even we can figure out that knowing your Bible is pretty important. So that led us to decide that we were going to center the whole Dells retreat around gaining a love and knowledge for Scripture through something that we are calling the "25 Day Challenge."

Here's how it works: there is one reading each day for twenty five days (when you're finished with all 25, you will have read James and 1 and 2 Peter). After you complete the assigned reading, you need to journal about it. What do you think the point of the passage you read today was? What do you think God is trying to show you? What action steps can you take to apply the truth of God's Word to your life? I'm a few days in, and I think it's going to be a really beneficial discipline for me.

Anyway, I wanted to challenge you to join in with me. I'm doing it all on my blog (you can visit it here). Click on the "25 Day Challenge" link at the top of the page (or just click here), and you can see all of the assigned readings. I have made the personal commitment to blog through each day of the challenge. I'd love to encourage you to do the same. If you don't have a blog, journal in a notebook. Make a Word document on your computer and use that as a journal! Do whatever you have to! Knowing Scripture is important, and this could be a great way for you to get started on this worthwhile discipline.

So jump in! I'm looking forward to seeing what God does in your life through the 25 Day Challenge.