First Impressions...

"You can only make one first impression."

Today the team is traveling to Hartford City, Indiana to spend the week in ministry at a youth camp. This is the first time that these students will ever see our ministry team from Valley Forge Christian College. We are very excited about this new adventure for our team. As we have been traveling for the summer, some of the members of the team have been mistaken for past members of the team by students. We always have a good laugh when this happens. This is why it will be so exciting to go and minister at an entirely new camp, we get a chance to make a first impression.
This reminds me of Christianity in general here in the 21st century. Have you ever told someone that you are a Christian and immediately they stereotype you with a ton of stuff that has nothing to do with following Jesus? This may have been because that person's first impression of Jesus was not enjoyable for them. This is why I get so excited to read about the early church right after the time of Jesus. In the book of Acts, these followers of Jesus received power from this upper room experience where the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, then they went and began to change their world with the message of Christ. I love reading through those stories where Paul is telling people about Jesus for the first time. This was their first impression of Jesus and some of the people that heard this message were never the same again. Even though a lot of the people of that time had heard very similar stories about virgin births and resurrections from the dead about other gods, the message of Christ resonated inside of these people as they got the stripped away, raw understanding of who Christ really was and how they could be a part of this new movement that in some ways was completely against the culture of their time, yet it connected with something deep inside of many people and they began this movement that we call Christianity today. I get excited about first impressions, hopefully our time here in Indiana is a life changing experience not only for the teens that we come in contact with, but our lives as well.