M.C Zavala!

Yeah, yesterday at Firehouse I had the stage! Well... maybe not a real stage, but you know what I mean. After an awesome evening of worship,crazy videos of fighting cat's and my message, we ended the evening with a rap performance by...me. The camera phones were out and students were some what entertained(I think)and it was on!! You see my nephew who likes to freestyle rap has been writing out some lyrics of his own for some time now, and I've been encouraging him to spit them out. After nagging him over and over to bring it on Wednesday, he still hasn't mustered the courage. So I decided to write out my own rap song with my own original lyrics. This past weekend is when I started writing them and boy... I did some thinking. Putting down lyrics on paper is not as easy as I thought it would be. I did this to give my nephew that extra push to show us his stuff. And what do you know...it worked! He now wants to rap next Wednesday. It was pretty crazy I have to admit, but it was all worth it at the end. On top of that my students actually enjoyed it! I have video, but I don't know how to post it on my blog. Maybe later when I learn all that stuff, but for now here are my lyrics to it...enjoy!

It was once said about a man on the cross, He died for our sins so we can call Him the Boss. He ain't no Rick Ross, He suffered the loss, so we could be His and believe in the cause. Creator of all this man is holy, He went from death to life so we wouldn't be lonely, His presence that I feel I'm eternally grateful, the love I have for Him I'm forever peaceful. So many times my life has it's ups and downs, but I put em on the cross to relieve all my frowns. You can have this life if you want it go get it, Jesus Christ is King and don't you forget it. Just reach out your arms and release all the baggage, He'll meet you were your at it ain't even a challenge! Forever you are His where ever you go, just give your love to Him and go with the flow! All glory to God...peace out.

You want the Good News first...

Salvation is for all! You know what excites me every time? When someone comes to know the Lord for the first time! Man...that never get's old. Never leave out the gospel folks, if your a Student Pastor you need to know this! Give everyone the chance to make that decision, even if you know they already have. It's shows your serious about who Jesus is and what He can do in our lives. You never know...a friend that someone brings may have never heard it in their life. Let your students get used to it, so that they know that it will always be presented. Sometimes we may leave it out because your group has already made that decision. Do it anyway! Peace out...

Gone Fishing

If you love to fish then you know what this picture above is all about. Yep...the dreaded, horrible, headache causing backlash. Monday morning I went out to my favorite fishing hole and enjoyed a great time fishing until...the backlash. Again, if you fish you know what I'm talking about, but just in case you don't know, it's when the fishing line in a reel gets all knotted up. Simply put...it's a big mess. After spending some time fixing the thing, something occured to me. The Spiritual Backlash. What would that kind of mess look like? And what are some ways it can be fixed? Unlike using knives, scissors, picks or whatever I can find in my tackle box, fixing a spiritual backlash can be a totally different ball game. One thing is for sure, it takes effort from us and the help from our Creator. It would have been way easier to just put down my reel and skip the pain, but if I did that I wouldn't' have anything to fish with and my day on the water would have been wasted. The backlashes in our own lives can sometimes be overwhelming and may cause us to give up and give in. Yet...when we put our confidence and trust in Christ, all the knots and pains start looking better. Were always going to have those spiritual backlashes from time to time, but knowing that Christ Himself knew a thing or two about Fishing (Luke 5:1-7) we can be sure that hope and perseverance can be found in Him alone. Peace out

Y4Christ Pics

[ UNITY ]

Last night was the bomb! Our student ministry attended the Y4Christ youth event at Promiseland Church. Over 200 plus students from our area come out for a time of worship, games, and a powerful challenging message, all to encourage unity within students. Unity in their schools, homes, and everywhere else they are. Last night we all came together as one. All for ONE purpose...to worship our Creator Jesus Christ! Teenagers were given the opportunity to extend their hand to a God who forever extends His to them. Many students responded and it was AWESOME! At the end of the evening we all broke up into small groups and I talked with a girl who hadn't been to church since the 8th grade and she was in the 11th now. That's what I'm talking about folks! Reaching those who are far from God who pursues us with a passion. I know without a doubt that God spoke to her that night. It was a great night and there will be more of them as we plan to make this a habit. All to Honor our King with...UNITY!! I'll post some pics soon. Peace out...

[ Y4Christ ]

Tomorrow is the day! It's Y4Christ..."Youth Uniting For Christ." It's a chance to meet up with other local teenagers for some fun, food, fellowship, radical worship and a relevant message given by my friend T-Bear. Myself and other Student Pastors have been praying over this for some time now and we look forward to seeing what God has in store for our youth. It's going to be off the hinges folks! The event will be hosted by Promiseland Church San Marcos. It will begin at 6:30 and will end at 8:30. All students ministries are welcomed to attend. I pray that teens bring there not yet believing friends with them so they too can experience Gods grace and love. This event is for EVERYBODY folks and it's free! So come on out, I hope to see you there. It's Y4Christ..."Youth Uniting For Christ." Peace out...

G Sale & Church

This morning we had a garage sell at my house. It went great, made some money and got to invite some neighbors to church for our Easter services. One of my neighbors has a son that I invited also to our student ministry on Wednesdays. I hope he comes. It was good talking with them. Man...today is one of those days that's just dragging. Anyway, it's going good! I can't wait till tomorrow, were having 4 services and people are getting baptized...SWEET!! God is going to do some awesome things in the lives of people, I just know it. Peace out folks.

One Mission

I'm pretty stoked about this coming week and weekend! This Wednesday at Firehouse I'm going to speak about something that's off the hinges people! Our gratitude towards Jesus Christ as our Risen Savior will definitely be expressed this Wednesday. As you may also know Easter is just around the corner and it's going to be an exciting time for our church. This past Sunday we went to 2 services for the first time at FOSM. My wife and I were really excited in doing this! It was all God folks . Hes doing these things and were just so honored to all be apart of it. Glory to Him...for real! This weekend for Easter we will be doing 5 services. One on Friday at 6:30 and the others on Sunday morning starting at 7:07am, 8:30am, 10:00am, and 11:30am. Again...it's ALL GOD! I look forward to inviting people as our special guests. Man...did I mentioned I'm JACKED UP right now! Pray people for changed lives not only in our church, but for others as well. One mission, One Savior, One goal...to reach those in our community who are far from God... with a REAL REALTIONSHIP WITH GOD! Peace out.

Shattered Dreams

Yesterday and this morning I had the great opportunity to be apart of something special. I had

the privilege to be apart of the Shattered Dreams program at San Marcos Baptist Academy. If your not aware of what this program is all about, basically it is designed to increase awareness of the consequences of drunk driving and the effects it can have to those involved. http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/educa/shatdreams.htm There was a staged mock crash accident at the school on Thursday with all local law enforcement, fire department and so on. A total of 25 students from the academy voluntarily participated playing the parts of victims in the crash, the living dead which were students who's faces were painted white with black around there eyes...very creepy. The whole mock crash took place during school while students watched the events take place. Needless to say... it was some pretty powerful stuff to witness. Myself along with others were in charge of facilitating a retreat at the T Bar M in New Braunfels. The students who volunteered in the SD program were the only ones who went to the retreat . We had the privilege of getting to know the students a little better and just hanging out. Through out the evening on Thursday we did an ice breaker, had a few guest speakers and discussion times concerning the program. Things were funny and fun at times, while others were more serious and life altering. For example, there came a time during the retreat when students read letters from their parents. These letters were written as if there child was deceased, and had in them from everything from feelings,to wishes and encouragements towards them. As you can imagine, it must of been really tough for them to read those letters...and it was definitely that. Emotions were all over the room, students hugging each other others holding it in. It was one of the most emotional things I've seen. After that we did activities to encourage each other and had them write a letter back to there parents in the same way there parents wrote to them. The next morning we drove back to the academy and concluded at the chapel. During this time students got to read their letters while mom and dad where present. Yeah...again very tough. It was an experience I'll never forget and one that I'm very grateful for. I enjoyed everything about it and feel very blessed to have taken part in it all. Thanks to all the others who were involved as well, we made a great team guys God bless ya'll!