Firing up for 2004-2005

We officially kicked off our year for SPACE on Friday night for this school year. It was so so so good to get to spend some time with some of my NYC team. Based on students' involvement with their summer mission teams, I invited some of them back to help with the SPACEcrew, our team of students that help with planning the Launches (community service days during the school year). It was great to have them together, although the time was too short.
We met at a Krispe Kreme and to start the meeting, I had three questions for them that they had to answer on an index card. (I'm notorious for using index cards...)
1 - Tell me how the donut factory relates to SPACE this year.
2 - How did you change this summer on your missions trip?
3 - What is your biggest dream for SPACE this year?
Some good answers. The point I wanted to make was that our launches have to be preparing students in some way. It's not just about service projects just to serve. There is more to it than that. There is an aspect of engaging the average student in a way that they are more in tune with the world, to bless it, to minister to it.
That was the good part. The unfortunate part was that we didn't really come up with a killer first launch to start the school year off with. Lots of ideas were talked about, nothing seemed to just grab our attention though. The other unfortunate part was that I felt like the whole point of the donut factory, the overall reason of why we do this, one major point of our whole existence as a branch of the youth ministry, the thing that haunts me about this movement... that whole message was lost. And not just that it was lost, but those that didn't get it... Thats a little disappointing too.
But I just tell myself over and over again... It's not something easy that we are doing here. There is someone who does not want this to work right. And there are people that will not understand it.
Do you live missionally? Do you hear from God routinely? Has Jesus branded your heart with a dream and vision? I'm not saying all these are true for me... But I know if any of these are true, not all people will understand, accept or gravitate to you...