Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, First Baptist Jackson held their annual Disciple Now, also known as DNOW, which is a three day conference packed full of worship, missions, fellowship, and growing relationships with your peers and the Lord.  This year, the ongoing theme was to reset your mind and your heart as you approach the new year.  

This year’s main speaker was Chris Lovell from Bossier City, Louisiana. He is the head men’s basketball coach for Bossier Parish Community College.  Friday night, he spoke about having a committed relationship with Jesus, backing it up in Scripture in Ephesians 5:15-17.  He said, “Commitment is not about your feelings or emotion, but it is about doing what you said you were going to do to the one you said it to.  It doesn’t matter what is going on in your life.” He gave three points: 1. Your life matters. 2. Your time is short. 3. Seek God with all that you have.  To be able to have a committed relationship with Christ, you must communicate through prayer, read the Word, and love on others.  The most difficult thing for me is listening. I would find myself thinking that God should not hear about my minor problems when there are bigger problems in the world like cancer or death of a loved one. Luckily for me, God cares about all of His children and yearns for us to tell Him about our thoughts and problems.

Chris only held one more session Saturday morning because he had a basketball game to attend.  That morning Chris talked about taking a stand for God.  1 Corinthians 15 was the main focus in the Word. Chris loves giving definitions, so he defined taking a stand as when what you believe is backed up by your actions. One of the things that resonated with me the most was when he said, “You did not sign up to be a secret christian, you signed up to stand up for God.” Whatever you are involved in is how you tend to identify yourself . Chris had five points this time: 1. You will only stand for what you believe. 2. When you take a stand, you make a statement about what you will be known for and what you will not be known for.  3. You will find courage and strength to stand again.  4. God notives people who stand for Him.  5. God searches for people who will stand for Him.  

Later that evening, participants worshipped and laid their sins at the cross.  Patrick Lyle, FBCJ’s former youth worship leader, came back to Mississippi to lead worship, which is always nice to see a familiar face around the youth group.  After worship, high school students had a coffeehouse while the junior high students played laser tag in the gym.  It was insane.  Laser tag was the best way to wrap up D NOW 2018.