I Love Victory Church

I just want to take a few moments to say how much we love Victory Church, the students in Unite Youth Ministry, and the parents of our students. Shannon, our boys, and I have enjoyed so much support and encouragement during our 2 years as your youth pastors. We have so enjoyed the time that we have spent serving here at Victory Church, and we are praying that the next season in Unite is even more blessed than the season it is coming from. God has brought a momentum in Unite that can only come from Him, and I know that it is to usher in this next season with excitement and anticipation for His Will in each of our students.

We are also thankful to the leadership at Victory for believing in us and for continuing to partner with us as a family as we make this hard transition. We are excited for what God has for our family, and we know that our teenagers (we will always love you) are going to soar in this next season.

We love and believe in each and everyone one of our students here at Unite. Know that our door is always open.

Love,
PMac

Sleeping On The Bus

We still have sometime to go, but at least we all have been able to get some sleep.

This has been long trip, but I have to say that I could not be more proud of our students. They have shown love, patience, and maturity during this week. When there was strife, I saw grace. When there was disappointment, I saw strength. Most of all, when there was distraction, I saw them persevere through prayer. I am proud to pastor this group of teenagers, and I look forward to the 09/10 school year. God has incredible things in store for our teens this year.
Pastor Chris Wallace
Youth Pastor
Victory Church
www.victorychurch.ws

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I love Florida rain... when I am not stuck standing outside in it for an hour, that is. We all are drenched! It will make for a funny story, though. Seeing a group of 11 students, 1 college student, and 2 "grown" adults standing waiting in the rain for a trolley that obviously has been delayed by some natural disaster.

Everyone had a great attitude, and we were all able to laugh at how ridiculous we looked. I have been so proud of our teenagers.

We will be on our way home in a couple of hours. We should be rolling up to Victory Church around 8 pm on Sunday Evening. Just in time to say hi to the students that will be heading home from Unite. We will see y'all there!

Final Fine Arts Day

This is it! The results are in, the week is winding down, and we are ready for a very long drive tomorrow. Our students have been great this week. Their focus on God and their attitude towards each other was great. I know that we are going to have a great drive back to Pennsylvania. See you soon!!

Day 4

Today was spent watching our team do a wonderful job on their Small Human Video, and then we spent the rest of the day watching some really awesome performances from other churches. Our students were able to see other ways that people are doing ministry around the nation. It is incredible how a competition like this can birth so much creativity for the purpose of ministering to the world.

I pray that we take these ministry "lessons" and put them into practice. I know that our students have a desire to minister. Now, we get to go home and do it!

Unmistakable

Our small group, Unmistakable, rocked it out. Seth, Courtney, Tori, and Cayla clearly demonstrated God's desire to save us from ourselves and our struggles. They showed how God has the power to overcome any mountain. Way to give God your best!

Day 3

Today was a great day. Our Large Human Video, this is where people act out scenes to a song, performed today. They did a great job! Also, we had Courtney and Hannah do their vocal solos. Wow, both of them sounded awesome. I know that people were blessed by their worship.

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to seeing our Small Human Video group performing at 9:00 am. We're prayin'!

Unite Drama Team

Wow! Our students really got the job done. Even when Ashleigh slipped at the end she was able to play it off. It looked like it was part of the skit. But the best part of the whole experience was seeing our students go and pray with another group that they would do well. Our students showed God's heart and not their own. I am incredibly proud of our students. Not for their artistic ability, but because they have kept their eyes on God.

Courtney's Solo

Courtney persevered through a soar throat as she worshiped God. She sounded great!

Hannah's Solo

Hannah really got into her song, and she blessed the room by reminding us of how much God loves us.

First Day of Performances

This was a good day. I was able to see two of our teens preach the Word with conviction and knowledge. We were able to spend the day with some great parents that have traveled the whole way to Orlando, Fl to support our teenagers in this endeavor, and we were all able to go out to Downtown Disney and have some fun at the Rainforest Cafe.

After walking through a down pour, where I had a rain jacket and the other guys did not, we made it to the restaurant where we were informed that we would have to wait an hour and forty-five minutes. Forty-five minutes goes by pretty quickly when you have guys that will run up and join a dance off that is already in progress.

It has been a long and wonderful day. It is lights out for the team!

Disney Dance Off

Here you are seeing Seth, Stephen, Drew, and Josh in an impromptu group dance off at Downtown Disney. I love these guys! Go ahead and laugh. I am!

Jeff's Short Sermon

Jeff really challenged the room to live beyond the ordinary. Great job, Jeff!

Stephen's Short Sermon

Stephen did a great job speaking on living in God's moment. Are you living for God's moment?

Registration Day

There are a lot of people here at this Fine Arts Festival.  7,500 students are registered for this year's Fine Arts Festival.  This made for a 4 hour line at the registration table.  We took shifts on the line so it wound up being a pretty relaxing day.  We were able to see people that we know from Pa, as well as, meet new people from all around the country.

Now that we are registered and ready to go, here is the schedule:

Tuesday

Stephen 4:20 pm South 210 E

Jeff 4:28 pm South 210 E

Wednesday

Hannah 9:08 am North 220 D

Courtney 9:16 am North 220 D

Unite Drama Team 10:20 am North 320 C-D

Thursday

Unmistakeable 9:00 am North 310 C-D

We are praying that as our students use their gifts to glorify God that the people that are watching would be blessed.  I am so proud of how our students have kept a ministry focus.  It would be easy for them to focus on winning alone, but they have continued to focus on God through devotions and accountability.

We ended the day at the evening worship service.  Jeff Deyo led worship, Phil Stacey was performing preservice (yes, he was on american idol), and Mark Vega brought the message.  The time of worship was intense, and the message didn't slow down.  Our students were encouraged to give it all to God and to allow the scars of healed wounds be a testimony to the world.  So many times we continue to have guilt or shame over our past, when we should be sharing our faith and the testimony of how God's grace has healed us.  It was a powerful time of worship and prayer.  

I know that this is going to continue to be an incredible week!  

 

Fine Arts Arrival Day

What a trip. Thanks to Elite Coach it was a very enjoyable 22 hr drive. Most of our students were able to get a decent night's rest on the bus. Bob, our main driver, has been incredibly gracious and patient with our students and leadership. Even when the bathroom was overused (you don't want to know what that smelled like).

We are here at the Residence Inn. The students are excited to go out to Checkers for lunch, pool in the afternoon, and glorifying God through their varying talents this coming week. We will continue to keep our eyes focused on God. He will decide how far we go in this competition. I know our students will be giving 100% of their focus and energy.

We will be getting a schedule of performances tomorrow, Monday, afternoon. I will post times and performances as I have the opportunity to do so. You can also follow shorter, but faster, updates at http://twitter.com/pmacwallace.

We are here! Time for some hot breakfast and warm showers.

We just crossed into Florida!

We are in the bus!

Guatemala

Wow! What an incredible time that we had in Guatemala. We made new friends, God bless facebook, and we saw a lot of children and teenagers ask Jesus into their lives. I have been so incredibly blessed to see our teenagers reach out to people that they can't even communicate with. I saw teenagers learning how to communicate with their hearts rather than their mouths.

It is incredible how honest you have to be when you communicate with your heart. You cannot hide behind frilly words, or pithy statements. You have to bare your heart and learn to love someone regardless of how they smell or how many boogers are on their face. I want to challenge you... see if you can love the people you come in contact with today with your heart. Give a hug, a smile, or a kind word that allows them to see that you value them. Find someone that doesn't know Jesus and show them the value that Jesus placed on their lives with your heart, not just with superficial words.

You can change the world through the love of Christ!

What I am learning...

This has already been an incredible summer, and we are only a couple weeks in to the season. As leaders, we must continue to learn in order to grow so that those that are around us can grow, as well. Over these past couple of weeks my educational curve seems to be spiking. I am seeing things in my life, other's lives, and in the community around me that are causing me to look a little deeper.

I have seen students step up in ways that they haven't in the past. Whether it is a teen that takes the command in a team building exercise on multiple occasions, or a teen that leads a group of his peers in a discussion by getting real and open about hurts or struggles in their life, there are real leaders in this generation. I am seeing a trend where the world and media are asking this generation to sit back in "community" and to not ruffle feathers, but there are students that are stepping out realizing that simply going with the flow isn't enough. They are starting to catch a vision for greater things. They have PURPOSE!

At first glance this seems exciting and adventurous, and it is, but we should not get caught up in the highlight reel of life. So many times we love the rallies, camps, and retreats. We feel like we can take on the world at that moment. The only thing that we never seem to calculate in our plan of action is time. I have seen teenagers that can lead their generation to greater things. You can lead your generation to greater things, but are you ready to stand there when everyone else has given up. It is easy to commit to a moment, but are you ready to commit to a movement?

Unite, I know that you can do it. It takes time. What I've learned so far... Time kills dreams if there is no vision. We need to stay focused on what God is calling us to do when the homework is due, the break up happens, when our friend seems to stop caring, and the many other very important things that happen in life. Many situations will come our way, but when we stay focused, we will come through the other side more blessed than when we started!

Fine Arts Festival

Wow! Our students have some incredible talents. I have seen two of our students sing, one of our students having written one of those incredible songs, and another student preached his guts out for five minutes. What an incredible start!

There will be another day of performances tomorrow, with the majority of our group doing performances in their categories. These are more than just performances, though. This is training for ministry. These students are worshipping God with the talents and gifts that He has given to them.

I am so proud of you, Unite!!!

New Season

Man, what a crazy time these past couple of months have been. Here at Victory Church, we are getting ready to go into a new season. We are growing in Unite, as well as, in our big church. It is awesome that we are running out of room. So now, we are going to multiple services for our main service. This has been awesome because I have seen students and adults both stepping up and helping out. These people have full-time jobs and school, and yet, they are putting in the time and energy to make this thing happen.

I have been especially proud of our students. They have been putting in the time and energy that is needed to serve others above themselves. How awesome is that? No prodding or pushing by some nosey adult. On their own they have had the desire to serve others. This is where we are going to see the personal growth that so many people in the world say that teenagers are incapable of experiencing.

To every student that is stepping up and helping, I am so proud of what you are doing. Don't stop! You will see a reward far greater than you thought. It may take a while before you see it, but it will come.

What a Weekend!!!

What a phenomenal time that we had at this year's Winter Retreat!! This weekend put some perspective on a situation that I have always questioned. Here we are in the midst of Superbowl season, and I always wondered where the coaches get there sense of accomplishment. I always wondered if they somehow felt slighted by not being "in" the game. It seems that they never get to do the "fun" stuff. No smashing heads, end zone dances, or leaping grabs would seem to deflate the feeling of accomplishment.

As I ponder this question, I know reflect on this past weekend. I, being the Youth Pastor, am not being directly targeted by the events or speaking. I partake in the worship times, but I am still focused on my students and the needs that they have during these times of reflection. It would seem that this weekend would have been flat for me. Guess again!

I now understand better why a coach seems to be the happiest man on the field when the team finally lifts up that Superbowl trophy. Instead of only thinking of his accomplishment. Instead of only having a piece of his journey to this time of joy and prosperity. The coach has the unique opportunity to have a little piece of each person's journey. The love, influence, and responsibility that the coach has in each person on the "team" causes him to have a greater perspective of the cost the journey inherently possessed.

I say all of this to make this point... I am so incredibly proud of each student and leader that was at this year's Winter Retreat. I saw the struggles that you pressed through, the burdens and addictions you laid down, and the joy that you had when you found the freedom that God wanted to give you all along. I love each of you, and I thank God for the ability to serve you. I am humbled!!