How Not To Pray

A video groundZero made to show how NOT to pray:

Re-Perspectivising

I havnt done anything incredible.  I have only helped where i could, and whether that means preaching, cleaning, organizing, planning, whatever.  I have just wanted to help other teenagers be awakened to Christ like I have been.  Recently i came into my office (cubicle) like every normal day and became buried in work for awakening.  After being there a couple of hours i looked over and saw a letter sitting on my desk.  This is what it said:

“When I started coming to groundZero, I was living off my parents faith.  I thought I was perfectly fine just because I went to Church, knew Bible stories,  and prayed a little bit.  Jordan Boyce preached a message that turned my life around.  He spoke about apathy and how church kids can easily be apethetic and lazy when it comes to Christiainity.  I went home than night and thought about the message.  I rededicated my life to the Lord and have been coming to groundZero ever since”

Signed, Anonymous

God has a way about bringing things into perspective.  Reminding us who all the work is actually for, right at the exact time a reminder is needed.  Notes like that reaffirm just why I do what I do, and brings the sacrifice Jesus did for me in to a bit closer in perspective.

JB

groundZero: 2007

As i was writing that last post, and thinking about groundZero i began to think about what has happened to our youth group in the last year.  2007 was a phenominal year for groundZero.  It was packed with ups, downs and surprises.  I would have to say that the highlight for me was getting the best youth pastor on the face of the planet.  Pastor Marco became the youth pastor of groundZero March 6th, 2007, and he has proven to be more than anyone of us could ever ask for.  He is a man of integrity and character in all aspects, but still is the most normal, cool, down to earth person i have ever met.  No matter what genre of music, or what background a teenager comes from, P. Marco is able to relate to them.  Some amazing things happened in 2007, but none of them compare (and none of them would have happened) without Pastor Marco become the leader of our movement.  Anyway heres a vid for you to see the rest of what went on in 2007. 

groundZero: A History

So recently one of the youth in groundZero wrote a pretty sick article for a research paper for school.  It was accurate and what surprised me was how prophetic it was.  He not only wrote about what has happened through the many years of New Life’s Youth Group(s), but he wrote into the future of our group.  These kinds of things excite me.   Anyway here it is: A wave of awesomeness hits you as you step into the room. A street light blares above, all three colors lit, seeming to ask the question, ‘Will you come in or turn back?’ You continue walking and turn to your left. A seven-piece band is playing, and the ground shakes as people jump up and down, screaming rock lyrics. But soon, the music slows. Guitars and crash cymbals calm to make way for the piano. People raise their hands or bow their heads, some even sitting on their knees to worship their Creator, Savior, and ultimately, the Master of their life, Jesus Christ. This event, groundZero, is not just another youth group. It is the beginning of a revolution.But it did not begin this way. It started in the 1990’s as the youth group of New Life Worship Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island. In 1997, several teenagers decided that the group needed to change from a sort of social club to a ministry. The group grew to about ten youth, who met in a fellowship hall every Friday. They set up and broke down each week, and “Worship at times was just a person playing the acoustic guitar” says Jason Corcoran, one of the groundZero youth leaders. For about five years, the group averaged 10-20 youth with a peak of 40 at times. The name changed frequently, shifting from ‘Youth Blast’ to ‘Counter Culture’ and ‘Generation Go’.But around 2005, things began to change. “At this time several youth began to get serious with God and ultimately became passionate about God and their Generation,” Jason continues, “God gave us the new name of ‘GroundZero’which stands for the center of rapid, intense, or violent activity or change.”And change it did, both rapidly and intensely. The weekly attendance grew from 20 to 50, and the group moved into a newly built room, complete with a stage, café, and media systems. GroundZero now averages 100 youth weekly.But it is not only numbers that make a revolution? They are part of it. But if numbers were the only indicator, groundZero would easily be glazed over. Though the average youth group has only twelve teens , there are youth churches, such as the Generation Church in Seattle, that reach a weekly attendance of 1,200. Even Awakening Conference 2007, a groundZero event that featured popular Christian bands and artists and attracts youth from all over New England, reached only half that number.However, Webster’s American Family Dictionary defines a revolution as “a sudden, complete, or radical change in something”. This is what makes groundZero a social and spiritual reformation. Not the amount of people reached or distance of ministry, but the depth of the change it has caused. Mother Teresa once said, “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.” That is exactly what groundZero has done. A good example of this is the testimony of Samuel DeSousa, a fourteen-your-old who has been attending for not more than a year. He first came when some of his friends invited him. Though he had been a Christian before attending, he says that groundZero helped him to live the way he should. “GroundZero is what saved me,” he concludes.Between 150 and 200 people from all over New England have converted to Christianity through groundZero and Awakening Conference. The ‘Connect’ Bible groups reach out to over five middle and high schools throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts. But it doesn’t stop in New England. Twenty members of groundZero will be going on a missions trip to New Orleans in August to reach out to victims of hurricane Katrina. This February, dozens of teens will be participating in an event called 30 Hour Famine, raising money and doing community service to help provide for some of the starving children around the world.Ultimately, there is only one thing that has made groundZero a revolution: “The fact that Christianity, that Christians, are selfless. The fact that Christians are called. We’re called to love and care. ” Mike Servello Jr., one of the speakers at Awakening Conference 2007, describes this perfectly: “I think one of the most beautiful things we can show the world, [is] where the most popular kids in our local high schools can sit with the nerdiest, craziest, whacked out people in church, and really genuinely love them. Come on, now that is a revolution!” By the way he also has a website, check it out. www.jadededges.com