This summer, I preached a message on the parable of the Good Samaritan (which in itself is an oxymoron, because Samaritans could not be good, at all, in the eyes of the Jews.  They were the lowest kind of people, despised as half-breeds and trash).  And there was one point I made in the sermon that keeps rearing its ugly head at me.
 It is a good idea for preachers to listen to their own sermons, and also to apply what they tell others to be doing.  This is commonly known as “practicing what you preach.”  It seems like the Holy Spirit is relentlessly bringing back my own words to me until I begin to practice them.  Here they are, again.
 ACTION IS THE CURE FOR APATHY.
 All summer long I preached this.  The Samaritan was the opposite of the priest and the Levite who ignored the man bleeding and dying in the ditch.  They passed him by with little more than a glance, but the Samaritan took action.  He did not assume someone else would rescue the foolhearty traveler.  He adjusted his agenda to the current need.
 We are an apathetic nation filled with lazy people.  We are fat, out of shape, prone to complaining, filled with rage that spills over on the interstates, and opinionated on the most absurd and unimportant issues.  We, as a whole, cannot keep the promises we make, whether it be to our spouse or the bank that holds the mortgage to our home.  We can’t say no to impulsive spending, we can’t pay off our credit cards, and we don’t know our neighbors because we are too busy working to pay off stuff we don’t need, or we are too consumed with surfing the web or playing video games to walk across the street an ask our neighbors the names of their children.
 We are apathetic, and we blame everyone but us: Democrats, Republicans, Bush, Clinton, Homosexuals, Abortionists, Evolutionists, the traditional church, the emergent church, Elvis, rap music and China.  We want shortcuts to everything, so we waste years trying to save minutes.
 I rant and rave, but what is the cure?  ACTION is the cure.  We have to move.  We have to forget about what we want; not just once, but daily, and not just daily, but dozens of times a day.  It is not easy to kill our apathy.  It really is like murdering someone: YOURSELF!
 So we need to follow the example of the Good Samaritan.  He was under no obligation to help the beaten and bloody traveler, not by law or conviction.  But when he saw a need, he took action.  You and I cannot remain lazy and apathetic when we are on the move for others.  When we busy ourselves with the things on God’s agenda (serving the poor, helping the least of these, putting our children, our husband, our wife first), then apathy dies quickly.
 So in Jesus name, turn off your TV, put your iPod away, leave the internet and text messaging for later, and have a conversation with a human.  Chances are they have a need, you can meet it, and in the process your action will kill your apathy before your apathy kills you.

“Praise to The Lord, The Almighty, The King of creation,Oh, my soul praise Him for He is my help and salvation!”
The lyrics to this old hymn rightly describe how we all feel at Crossroads today.  We wrapped up camp yesterday, and because of God’s grace and the prayers of friends and supporters like you, it was, without a doubt, the best summer camp we have ever held.  Here a few highlights…
*Over 200 students responded to the gospel, repenting of their sins and trusting Christ as their Savior*Roughly 250 students surrendered to ministry, indicating they felt the call of God for Kingdom work*Over $30,000 was given by students to missions around the world, specifically in India*2,800 students, adults, staff, teachers, preachers, and musicians made this a phenomenal summer for Christ Crossroads Summer camps began in 1996, and it was essentially me running the show with help from some college friends.  I answered all the phone calls, made copies of registration forms at a local gas station, and not only preached every service, but also led worship with my 2 bands, Monogamous Fish or Adam’s Housecat.  Now, with the help of Matt Orth, Jeremy Berger, Jeff and Brittney Becker, and Justin Brock, all I have to do is preach and build relationships with kids and youth pastors during camp.  It is such a joy to be a part of such a healthy ministry, and an even greater joy to see people moved by God’s spirit, and to see them respond to His voice when He speaks.  I have the best job in the world.  I can’t believe I get to do this! 
The next big Crossroads event that we need you to pray for is our Crossroads Winter Conferences (one for students and one for college/young adults).Gatlinburg, TNJanuary 16-19, 2009Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday WeekendThis will be our 11th year, so plan to join us that weekend and bring as many people with you as you can squeeze into your vehicle.
If you are interested in going on one of our India trips this December, applications are available online, but hurry because the trips are filling up.www.crossroadsworldwide.com
And finally, pray for me, my wife Charie, Brent Sears and Justin Brock as we leave early Monday morning for Malaysia.  I will be speaking in some churches, teaching at a large student conference, and hopefully visiting the tallest building in the world in Kuala Lumpur (I shall not attempt to skydive from said building).  I hope to be able to blog while we are on the trip, I am sure there will be much to share!

No matter how long I live or how many late nights I have to endure, I will never get tired of seeing tenagers respond to the gospel.

Sunday night at our Crossroads camps, around 60 students responded to the gospel by putting their faith in Jesus and beginning a lifelong journey of salvation.  Then last night in Chattanooga, TN, nearly 100 more students stood to their feet in front of over 1,000 of their friends and peers, and with all the lights on and all eyes open and no soft music playing in the background, they confessed their sin and trusted Christ for their salvation and redemption.

After 21 years doing this, I love it more today than any other day.  I am more humbled now that I get the honor to preach the riches of God’s grace than I have ever been.  I just can’t get over what God does in a  person’s heart when He illuminates them to His death on the cross, His resurrection, and the love He has for them.

I laid down in the Country Inn and Suites, room 313, at about 11:30 last night.  The last time I looked at the clock before falling asleep, it was 2:13 AM.  I couldn’t fall asleep because I just couldn’t get over it.  I kept thinking about those kids who began the journey of faith.  I kept seeing them at the altar,  broken over their sins and overwhelmed by the gentle power of the Holy Spirit.  

I sincerely pray that it will never become old to me, that I would never count it as a small thing when a sinner converts to faith in Christ and crosses over from death to life.  And I pray that you would never grow tired of all the wonderful things that God does in your life; your wife’s gentle touch, the playful screams of your kids, legs that work when you wake up in the morning, clean water to drink from the tap.

I apologize for gushing forth all this juvenile joy, but I just can’t help myself, because there are some things in life you just can’t get enough of.  

Recently, a simple question asked by a pastor got some people to thinking.  Churches across the country began to preach series’ based on the book (that sold millions) based on this one idea.  The book went to #1 on the NY TIMES bestseller list.

What if you only had one month to live?

How would you treat people?  Spend your money?  Talk to your children?  It is indeed a good question to make us stop and take notice of how we order the steps of our days.  But just like most trends in Christianity (or trends in general), it lasted for a season and people largely returned to life as usual, though hopefully with a renewed sense to make some lasting changes and to live more deliberately.

This week at Crossroads, I had the opportunity to hear about a young man who had EXACTLY one year to live.  This was not a book title or a sermon series, but an actual human being who had a finite number of days left on this earth.  You might be inspired by how he lived his last year with us.

July 4, 2007.  One year ago.  Thomas Bayham was a 17 year old rising senior from Loranger, LA.  He was at Crossroads summer camp with his youth group.  The very first night of camp, Thomas felt the Holy Spirit drawing him to salvation, so he stood to his feet and publicly confessed his sin and trusted in Christ as his savior and Lord.  Three nights later, July 7, Thomas Bayham stood to his feet to surrender his life to ministry.  He felt like God had a specific purpose for his life and he wanted to preach the gospel.  He was saved and called into the ministry the same week.

July 4, 2008.  One year later.  Thomas Bayham was an 18 year old teenager who had spent the last 10 months in and out of the hospital with a rare disease that finally took his life.  He died exactly one year from the day he gave his life to Jesus.  And he really did give his life to Jesus, and to ministry, because he did more with his faith in one year than many of us will do in a lifetime.

When he returned to LA from Crossroads, he was on the football team, living life like a teenager, taking a bold stand on is team and at his school for Christ.  When he got sick, he told people that he trusted God and God would work things out.  He told his team about Christ, he testified to all his friends about his salvation.  One night at his youth group at church, he took off his football jersey and laid it in the middle of the floor.  He told all the students there that his jersey made him part of a team, and they were a team for Christ that needed to work together to see all their friends saved.  He was so radically changed by Jesus that even after losing dozens of pounds and going in and out of consciousness, he shared the gospel with his nurse and led her to faith in Christ before he died, right beside his hospital bed.

Thomas Bayham was buried this past week.  And everyone that knew Thomas knew that his last year on earth was different.  He lived the gospel, he lived the change.  And he is with Christ now while we still get the honor of living the difference here in this world.

One year was all he had.  He did not waste a minute of it.  May the same be said of me, and of you.

Recently, a simple question asked by a pastor got some people to thinking.  Churches across the country began to preach series’ based on the book (that sold millions) based on this one idea.  The book went to #1 on the NY TIMES bestseller list.

What if you only had one month to live?

How would you treat people?  Spend your money?  Talk to your children?  It is indeed a good question to make us stop and take notice of how we order the steps of our days.  But just like most trends in Christianity (or trends in general), it lasted for a season and people largely returned to life as usual, though hopefully with a renewed sense to make some lasting changes and to live more deliberately.

This week at Crossroads, I had the opportunity to hear about a young man who had EXACTLY one year to live.  This was not a book title or a sermon series, but an actual human being who had a finite number of days left on this earth.  You might be inspired by how he lived his last year with us.

July 4, 2007.  One year ago.  Thomas Bayham was a 17 year old rising senior from Loranger, LA.  He was at Crossroads summer camp with his youth group.  The very first night of camp, Thomas felt the Holy Spirit drawing him to salvation, so he stood to his feet and publicly confessed his sin and trusted in Christ as his savior and Lord.  Three nights later, July 7, Thomas Bayham stood to his feet to surrender his life to ministry.  He felt like God had a specific purpose for his life and he wanted to preach the gospel.  He was saved and called into the ministry the same week.

July 4, 2008.  One year later.  Thomas Bayham was an 18 year old teenager who had spent the last 10 months in and out of the hospital with a rare disease that finally took his life.  He died exactly one year from the day he gave his life to Jesus.  And he really did give his life to Jesus, and to ministry, because he did more with his faith in one year than many of us will do in a lifetime.

When he returned to LA from Crossroads, he was on the football team, living life like a teenager, taking a bold stand on is team and at his school for Christ.  When he got sick, he told people that he trusted God and God would work things out.  He told his team about Christ, he testified to all his friends about his salvation.  One night at his youth group at church, he took off his football jersey and laid it in the middle of the floor.  He told all the students there that his jersey made him part of a team, and they were a team for Christ that needed to work together to see all their friends saved.  He was so radically changed by Jesus that even after losing dozens of pounds and going in and out of consciousness, he shared the gospel with his nurse and led her to faith in Christ before he died, right beside his hospital bed.

Thomas Bayham was buried this past week.  And everyone that knew Thomas knew that his last year on earth was different.  He lived the gospel, he lived the change.  And he is with Christ now while we still get the honor of living the difference here in this world.

One year was all he had.  He did not waste a minute of it.  May the same be said of me, and of you.

We just sent over 600 teenagers home today from our first week of Crossroads summer camps. It was the best first week we ever had in 13 years of camp with over 100 students making professions of faith and surrendering to God’s call to ministry. And it may be my age or a combination of a lack of sleep and massive doses of caffeine in my system (I broke down and hit the sauce again this week. Hey, whatever it takes for the kids…) but I have revisited an old memory all day long today.

Some adults at Crossroads were asking me today as they prepared to drive back to their hometown exactly how I got started in ministry and how Crossroads began. This prompted me to delve back over two decades to some of the defining moments that placed me on the path to ministry and helped shape the future of this great ministry I am honored to serve in. One really stands out and I have been thinking about it all day. Let me share it with you.

I was 15 years old. I was preaching every Sunday night at Givens Correctional Facility to young men who had broken the law and were serving time. I had been preaching for over a year at local churches in my community and word was getting out about a teenage preacher boy who was so young he had to get his parents to drive him to speaking engagements. Once I got my driver’s permit, things sped up, and looking back, they have still not slowed down.

One of the people I met while I was preaching in prisons was involved in the youth group at his church and he asked me if I would come speak to them on a Wednesday night. Back then I did not have to pray about saying yes or no when I got an invitation to preach. Fact was, I had already prayed on my knees for hours that God would give me opportunities to preach, so when I got one, the answer was an automatic YES. I didn’t care about details, money, mileage, or attendance.

At age 15 I payed cash for a vehicle. It was a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro, black with chrome mags. I worked for my father in his motor shop and on our farm to make money, and I payed $2300 for the car. I also bought my own gas, tires, and oil. I was so excited to have my own vehicle when I got old enough to drive because that meant I could go anywhere to preach and would not have to ride in my mama’s station wagon.

I drove to that little church and to get prepared for the message, I listened to my brand new cassette tape of “ON FIRE” by Petra, my 2nd favorite Christian rock band at the time (Stryper was of course first). And when I got there, I could not believe it! There were 12 teenagers!!! I was the luckiest man on earth. I GOT to prech the gospel to a dozen students.

When the service was over, my friend who invited me to come walked with me to my Camaro, and as he thanked me for coming, he reached into his pocket as his eyes teared up. He pulled out a fistfull of dollar bills, not folded neatly but crumpled up in individual balls like my grandfather’s cash used to be. He put it in my hand as he cried and thanked me driving all the way out there to preach to his kids, most of whom were older than I was. He was a great big man, and when he hugged me and said goodbye, I remember sensing how genuinely thankful he was that I had come.

I drove home with my stereo at full blast. I sang every word with John Schlitt, note for note, and when that cassette had flipped over and side 2 was done, I popped in “TO HELL WITH THE DEVIL” by Stryper and hit all the high notes with Michael Sweet. I had just preached, seen 5 students saved, and got paid for it! This was the life.

As I pulled into the driveway back home in Fountain Inn, SC, I gathered up the cash balls, unwrapped them, and stacked them flat on top of one another. My friend had given me $8. I looked at my odometer, which I had set before I left (to see how far I had traveled to preach the gospel) and it was exactly 100 miles.

I was 15 years old and I had just driven 100 miles to preach the gospel to 12 teenagers and 5 of them got saved and I got paid $8. It was the happiest moment of my 15 year long life.

Most everything about my life has changed since then, but a few things remain the same. I am still stoked about seeing teenagers saved. I am absolutely lit up about the gospel. And I still pray for opportunities to preach the cross to those who will listen.

I just have a feeling as I type this that someone (maybe you) needs to revisit one of those defining moments…a time when you were carefree and trusted God much more easily than you do now. You need to remember God’s faithfulness and the joy you felt at small chances to serve Him and share the story of your salvation. You did not care about money, you did not worry about details, you were just punch-drunk in love with God and willing to embarass yourself and risk it all for Him.

He is still the same God, and while we are different now than we were back then, there are some things that we need to hold on to…some things we need to never outgrow. Maybe you have a memory down deep inside that you need to dust off and remember. I hope yours is as sweet as my 100 mile adventure. It was the best $8 I ever made.