The Next Big Step For the Dekold Family

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so excited to be able to tell you about the Transition that God has us in. Let us just start out by saying this; we have never been more excited about what God is doing at Lakeshore church!  We believe that Lakeshore is on the verge of a new season of ministry like never before!  We have never loved a local church like we love the people of Lakeshore. God has and is doing something unique and it has been amazing to be a part of it.  We have never loved a group of teenagers more than we love the students of Paradigm!  Whether you were part of paradigm in the past or the present, it has been an amazing journey to see what God has done in the past 7 years as we have served as youth pastors to some of the most amazing students on the planet!

In saying all of that, we want to share with you that God is transitioning us out of Lakeshore Church. It all began 11 months ago when we felt God preparing us for transition. We received a call from Pastors Carey and Meghan Robinson asking us if we would pray about joining them on the journey of building a church from the ground up! Initially, we thought it was crazy and didn’t give it much thought but God began to speak to us and work on our hearts.  The more we prayed about it and the more we tried to get away from the idea. But God kept bringing it back up in our spirits.  The more we tried to run from the idea the more it was brought up in our hearts.   It was in late August that we sat down and had a conversation that we both knew this is what God was preparing for us.  We took the next month to pray, seek counsel, talk with our Pastors (who had been praying with us regarding this decision for the past 9 months) and hear from the Lord. The decision to transition out of Lakeshore has been a difficult one! But we are excited to be on this new assignment from God!

We are being obedient to the call of God and transitioning to Southern California to help plant The Movement Church.   Orange County is 90 % unchurched and there is a great need for more churches to reach out into their communities to be the tangible expressions of Jesus .  Up to this point there are 25 other people moving their lives and their family to help plant this church. To get to know more about the heart and vision of The Movement Church go to http://www.facebook.com/theocmovement

God has done a great work in our heart to get us to this point and we are excited and looking forward to this great adventure building His church!  Transition is never easy but we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that being in the center of His perfect will is the best place to be and it is the only place we want to be.

The Plan Moving Forward

Pastor Brad and Denise  have been more than gracious throughout this entire process and we are so thankful for leaders that care more about people than the process! We couldn’t have asked for a better church or better pastors these past 7 years. We are committed to finishing these next few months strong at Lakeshore ensuring that the student ministry doesn’t skip a beat and moves forward stronger than ever.

We are taking a giant leap of faith trusting God and we know He is faithful and that He is going to take care of our every need.  We are leaving everything we have come to know and love to follow His call on our life. Initially we won’t receive a salary until the church is able to bring us on full time; so we will be raising support and we plan on getting a job to make up the difference to cover our living expenses.

Three areas we need support in are prayer, finances and encouragement! Please consider supporting us as we embark on this journey!

Here is a brief timeline moving forward for the Dekold family

Jan – Stay focused on student ministry at Lakeshore / Fundraising
Feb – Transition and Training new Youth Pastors
Feb 28^th – Dekold Baby #3 Due Date
March 1^st – Final Day on Staff at Lakeshore
March  –  Making arrangements to move, Packing up the house
April  -  Loading up Truck / Moving to California

Once again, a huge thank you to Lakeshore and Pastor Brad! We will always call this place home! Thank you to all the families that have taken us in over the years. And a huge thank you to Paradigm leaders and students! Ya’ll are so amazing! We will miss every single one of you!

Nick, Liz, Gavin, Emory & Baby #3

My Top 3

It’s been a while since my last post.  Summers are crazy!!  At least in the life of a youth pastor.  I love it though, teenagers are out of school which means more time with them doing things for the Kingdom of God.   This post will serve the purpose of  letting you know whats been going on this summer and few things God has shown me along the way.  For the sake of  your time I will give you my Top 3 for the summer in no particular order!

1. Servolution.   – See previous post

2. YFN – (Youth For the Nations)  - YFN is an incredible summer camp that our youth ministry is a part of every year, and every year God blows me away with what he does in the lives of our teenagers.  I get the privilege to pastor some of the most amazing teenagers on the planet and it is so full filling to see them grow in their Faith and maturity in the Lord.  YFN is a huge propelling tool that helps us along the way!   This summer we were able to experience God’s healing power right before our eyes.  All kinds of teenagers were healed of asthma, scoliosis, and so on.   We saw so many of our teenagers get free of junk that was holding them back and also so many walls come down in their lives.  It was amazing! I have been around church camps long enough to know its easy to hype things up but I 100% believe that God moved powerfully in our teenagers lives and that his Word cannot return void. My prayer is that what God did at Camp this year would be sustained by disciples and devotion to the things of the Lord

3. LA. Dream Center Missions –  Not long after we returned from Camp we geared up and a group of 24 of us jumped on a plane to Los Angeles California to partner with the Dream Center.  This was my second time there but once again God broke my heart for people and did amazing things through our team.  I think its so easy to go through life doing your own thing that you forget about the lost and the hurting.  I am thankful how the Lord works  especially through missions trips.  He does just as much work on you as he through you!  At least that is how is always is for me.  We were able to help the poor and hurting of LA in so many ways.  Homeless Ministry, Hollywood Youth Outreach, Cleaning, Landscaping, Laundry, Skid Row Outreach, Foster Care Prevention, Donation Center and those are to just name a few.  The most rewarding part of this trip from my perspective being the youth pastor, was seeing the students steps out in their spiritual gifts! We have recently been in a series called “The 411 on the Holy Spirit”.  Its rewarding to see the fruit of your labor – as the bible calls it. One night as we were doing a homeless outreach I was paired up with one of our students and we were talking to a homeless man. The students I was paired up with began to  give this man a word of knowledge that she felt the Lord was speaking to him.  Shortly after that he accepted the Lord into his heart.  After that day we didn’t see him.  Weather he became a radical christian or not, that is between him and the Lord but the cool part to me was to see teenagers hearing the voice of the Lord and being obedient to share it.  There were so many great stories that can be shared from that trip but I will save you the reading and let you watch it

Those were just a few of the incredible I was able to take part of this summer. I love my life and I love my church.  Neither my life or my church is perfect but Gods grace makes up for our imperfections.  We are all on this Journey called life one step at a time, and it is good.  You loving life?

The Good News Put So Simple

Servolution / Rockwall Missions Extended Recap!

Here is the extended recap video of our Rockwall Missions Trip. Enjoy!

Time – One Thing You Can’t Make More Of

I have been thinking lately on where and how I spend my time. Time is one thing in life you can’t make more, you can’t get back and weather you like it or not.. it is passing.  I am no where near where I want to be when it comes to time management and making my life count, but I aware of that and want to be constantly working towards getting better and doing things that are productive and make a difference.

Below are my goals and priorities to where I want to spend my time in order
1) Jesus- I am not saying this because I am a pastor and a leader but first and foremost because I am a follower of him.  I want to spend daily time with him,I wan to listen to him, be quite before him and  most importantly obey him. I believe spending time with Jesus is the absolute best thing you can spend your time on. I belive everything else in life flows out of your time with him. I need to make it a priority to spend time reading, praying, studying and listening. We all do

2) Family- I had a conversation with a wise man a few months ago. He asked me a question that got me thinking in a completely different way.  Me being a pastor (Shepherd), he asked me who my number one sheep is,  I immediately began to think of people I have been disciplining on spending a lot of time with, I began to think of different leaders on our leadership team. Then it clicked.  My number one sheep is my wife!  and a close second comes my kids.  I don’t want to be  ”that guy” who spends so much time ministering to and leading people that my family suffers because they weren’t given proper priority in my life.   I am passionate about my marriage, I am passionate about my son and still in the womb daughter.  If i can give my time and invest in people all over the world but don’t invest my family i have failed.   I see the enemy breaking apart and tearing up families…. my response to that is … “not in this house he doesn’t”   I want to invest time into my wife and children.  they are my purpose before anyone else.  God help me live this out!

3) The Local Church-  I believe the local church is the kingdom of God.  maybe not as we see it but more of what its called to be. I am passionate about the local church . I believe that the local church is a powerful force in a community. It is a place the hurting, confused and broken to come an encounter their creator.  On the flip side the local church is a powerful force that shouldn’t just wait for people to come to them but where ever they and what ever they do, they just “ooze” Jesus.  So in saying all that I want my life to count, I want to use my time to live for something bigger than myself.  Weather I am around a group of Christians, playing  a game volleyball with people who have never stepped in a church building or having a conversation with someone i just, I wan to be the church!

4) My Job- As a man I am called to be the provider for my family. I want to work hard, I want to be good at what I do. I have  an incredible privilege of being a Pastor.  I love people and love helping them grown in their walk with God.  I dont’ want to take what i do for granted. One of the greatest challenges for me as a Pastor is to be sure that what I do isn’t because I am trying to please man but rather please God.  I love my pastor and do my best to serve him and his vision but I want to work unto the Lord . Weather you are in ministry, the business world, work a full time job, part time job or you are a temp, I believe we as Christians need to have integrity in our church, have the best work ethic because everything do is to serve God and not people.

In live we are all given a different amount of time. The question in what will your priorties be  and what will you allow to have your time.  Ejoy life! Live it to the fullest!  Use it on something that counts!
Use your time wisely…. becuase it’s the one think you can’t mak more of!

Servolution / Rockwall Missions

This past week (June 22-29) we took a group of amazing selfless hardworking teenagers on a missions trip to our home town. We want to revolutionize the way we see missions. When most people here the term “Missions trip” we usually think of going to Africa or India or Asia. I think going to all those places to serve people and spread the love of Christ is amazing but God really put in on our heart to meet the needs right here in our own city, and that is exactly what we did ……

Here is an overview of what we did and the ministries we worked with

Monday – Worked with Helping Hands of Rockwall
Our team was split into groups. Some worked in the food pantry, Some worked in the thrifts store sorting clothes, Cleaning donations and some were in the back taking the donations as they came in

Tuesday – We worked with Care Center Ministries in Dallas
This first day with Care center we worked with an outreach they have called “The Basket” They feed over 100 families 2x per week and for some of the families this it he only food they get. We prepared for the basket which takes place on Wednesdays We organized food and prepared the boxes to be giving out the next day

In the Evening we wen to a nursing home in Garland and brought dessert to the Senior Citizens. We also hung out and played bingo with them

Wednesday – We continued to work with Care Center Ministries. On this day the families came to get the food from the basket. Half our group mingled with the people while the others walked to the food to the cars and prayed for the people

Wednesday night we had our summer kickoff party at Paradigm

Thursday – This was our final day working with Care Center Ministries. We went to local apartment compelxes that they have built relationships with and went door to door telling the people about the church and praying for any needs they had

Thursday night we worked with the Pregnancy Resource Center in Rockwall – We helped build binders (over 1000 sheet) and part of our group went and cleaned their offices.

Friday – Fun Day at Six Flags and then Debriefing back at the church

When Something is Nothing

For the past month God has had me meditating on a scripture that has really made me think and has really challenged me. The scripture is John 15:5 ….  ”Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing”    At first glance it seems like a basic scripture that is common sense, but the more you think about it the more challenging it gets.  I began to think “What about the guy who is the CEO of a company, and is making millions but isn’t a follower of Christ”   he is doing something isn’t he?  This is where it gets more challenging.  If we interpret this situation through he word then biblically speaking all of this persons accomplishments or well doings ar still considered nothing.  it makes me think…. how may people are doing something but because it wasn’t God inspired but rather man inspired, God still sees it as nothing.. I want my life to be something, to count for something to make a difference for someone and to have substance.  it doesn’t have to be a life of fame or a life that is in the limelight.  I just want to live a life is substance, i want to make a difference, I want to serve my saviour.  so the challenge of the scripture summed up is this.   Just become you are doing something doesn’t mean you are doing SOMETHING!.

3 Resons Why I love Which Which

I went to which which yesterday to meet with one of the interns for lunch. I love eating at which which for many reasons but here are my top 3

1. Lemon Juice Packets  (I put it in my DrPepper.. It’s soooo good)

2. Mrs Vickies Chips  (I wish I could find these in big bags)

3. I like writing my order on the bag  (they always get my order right this way)

My only complaint about which which is even thought they have deliscious sandwhiches I always seem to leave still hungry

My Son Is A Rockstar

My son loves music… its seems like he always has.  He constantly plays the air guitar.  Andrew Nemeth (projectnemeth.com) gave him a little toy guitar (which he calls his “Guit”) and he is always wanting to play with our Guitar Hero guitar regardless of weather the game is on or not. Definetly a rock star in the making!  On a more serious note, 2 summers ago at YFN liz was pregnant with Gavin and one of  the interns prophesied over Gavin while he was still in the Womb and said that he was going to be a worshiper and a muscian.  I know it is still too soon to tell but it sure seems like it’s heading that direction.  Regardless I love my son more than I ever thought was imagineable and he is a Definate Rockstar in my books!

Elevate

Tonight at LakeShore we started something new!! It’s called elevate, not Elevate service, just Elevate. What it is, is a time of corporate prayer and worship. It was a great time. I honestly didn’t know how many people would show up because our early morning prayer gatherings we used to have weren’t greatly attended, but then again they were at 6:30am. My guess is that there were around 300 people that showed up to pray, seek the face of the Lord and to worship their creator. I was very pleased with the turnout and also the participation. Prayer is a powerful thing! I think sometimes we get so used to doing things on our own and we leave prayer and ultimately God out of our lives. We need to be people of Prayer. When we pray, God moves on our behalf! All in all a great night. Afterwards about 20 of went and raided Braums for some good food and ice cream!

I will leave you with the prayer focus for the Night. Our Senior Pastor challenged us to take the same prayer focus from tonight and pray one focus each day. The focus came from the acrostic WATCH. I am not a big fan of acrostics but he is… so here it is

1. World – Prayer for missionaries, Peace of Jerusalem and World Issues

2. America – Prayer for Our Goverment and Country

3. The Lost – Prayer for our lost friends, family members and coworkers

4. Church – Prayer for Church leadership and unity in the body

5. Home – Prayer for marriages, children and unity in the home