February 28, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

Four of us just SKATED our way back from a Dare2Share conference in Lincoln, NE this weekend.

On the surface it looks like just another fun conference for teens : Top-notch music, awesome staging, excellent speakers with lots of great information to share. But as a parent, I came away with enough food for thought to feed a small army (just ask them at work, I think I may have started a feeding frenzy!)

I was drenched (in love!) with buckets of icy cold spiritual truth that brought me to a new level of awareness -

Where is my focus?

Whether I’m walking down the hallway at school (or work), cruising the mall, or sitting in church; am I focused on me and my own comfort zone, or am I painfully aware of the greatest need of anyone I encounter. . . a genuine, growing, active relationship with Jesus?

Where am I on my own spiritual journey?

Am I a rebel, a poser, or am I a loser for Christ?

Where are my friends on their spiritual journey?

Now wide awake to the reality around me, I was eager to learn.

But this wasn’t just a lecture class, oh no no no! They actually expected me to do what they’d been teaching me. (And if I’d stepped out to the bathroom, or been spacing off? Too bad, just do the best you can with what you know).

And then off we went into the wet, soggy streets of Lincoln. It felt like a wading pool in more ways than one. I had never done an evangelistic outreach to people I’d never met before. In some ways I felt like a toddler splashing around in a wading pool.

But my daughter was watching me. . . and this was her second time at Dare2Share. I’ve always taught her that anything worth doing it worth doing badly until you can do it well - and now it was time for me to model it for her.

It was an unforgettable experience. Looking back I realize I missed some opportunities - but my earthly father always taught me - “It’s OK to make a mistake, as long as you learn from it.”

It’s not easy to step out of your comfort zone but. . .

I DARE YA!

Wanna hear more great stories from the Dare2Share conference in Lincoln, NE? Go to gregstier.org

After a 7 hour drive, we climbed out to find these ice sculptures!
(Created just for us by our Heavenly Daddy - is He talented or what?)

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February 21, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

I want to invite and encourage each of you to join me and thousands of other Christians during this Lenten season as we “Seek God for the City“.

Prayer guides are available for purchase online. Just click on the “Seek God for the City” link (you can find it on the left side of this page in the LINKS section under the PRAYER category).

I’ll be praying for my city with a group of people where I work. Please prayerfully consider getting your neighbors, co-workers and/or congregations involved in this unified movement of prayer. I’ll keep you posted on our progress - would you keep me posted on yours?

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February 2, 2007 by His Kingdom Herald.

It’s so nice to be missed!

Several of you have noticed that I haven’t been blogging much lately. . .

Daddy has been asking me to spend extended periods of time with Him in prayer (Mary’s portion) and has had me researching and acquiring some new tools for the Kingdom Reign website (Martha’s portion).

This reminds me of a thought provoking question that a co-worker once asked us during a staff meeting - “Which is more important: doing or being?” We were all REQUIRED to give a response. Each of us voiced our opinion and argued our point; some for “doing”, and some for “being”.

We were then confronted with a very interesting insight:

Perhaps it’s not a matter of either doing OR being but more a matter of both DOING and BEING.

It’s a catchy little tune isn’t it? Do-be-do-be-do!

The scriptures warn us that faith without works is dead, and yet Jesus did pull Martha up short when he informed her that Mary had chosen the better portion. She had allowed her hungry heart to draw her from the DOING FOR Jesus into the BEING WITH Jesus.

My prayer for each of us is that we would be able to find doing and being as natural to us as breathing in and breathing out.

Oh, that we would be able to draw in all that we need from heaven and then exhale what we’ve been given into our world, so that His kingdom might come and His will would be done on the earth as it is in heaven!

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