60-second Jubilee recap
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Uncategorized on February 24, 2011
After a weekend worth of Jubilee speakers, I’ve collected some of my favorite speakers’ quotes from the conference.
MICHAEL GERSON, former speech writer for President George W. Bush
- “The alternative to doing politics badly is doing politics better, not abandoning the system.”
- “A partisan gospel becomes an exclusive political gospel and then is really no gospel at all.”
- “A church as a tool is a church of fools.”
JAMES EMERY WHITE, pastor and president of Serious Times, a ministry exploring the intersection of faith and culture
- “Most Christians are raised to be waiters. You accept Jesus and wait for His return without redeeming anything in this world now.”
- “Be on guard. Think deeply about what is shaping you. Media tells us what to think & how to feel.”
- “Don’t ever stop the ongoing renewing of your mind. Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit in without even thinking.”
- “If you are a follower of Christ, a nonbeliever, after spending time with you, should walk away sensing something out of this world about you.”
SOONG-CHAN RAH, Asst. Professor of Church Growth & Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois
- “Are you willing to get cut, to get hurt, to bleed in order to be apart of the work God is doing in His people?”
- “Are we following a biblical Christianity or a cultural one?”
- “In 21st century America, we are seeing our faith rooted more in one culture. This is a cultural captivity of the church.”
ERIC METAXAS, New York Times best-selling author and former VeggieTales writer
- “We don’t need any more words; there are a lot of words. We need to see Jesus in your life.”
- “Speaking scripture to someone is not the same thing as communicating the Gospel.”
- “How we speak is just as important as what we speak.”
TIM WILLARD, author of Veneer: Living Deeply in a Surface Society
- “We are fiercely relational beings who come from a fiercely relational being. We came out of love to love.”
ERIC MASON, pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- “God changes the world through changed people.”
GABE LYONS, author and founder of the Q conference
- “If we talk about engaging culture but are not anchored, we will get in over our heads.”
- “Recognize the image of God in those around you and call it out of them.”
- “The place God has put you in is the place He is calling you to restore.”
Today is the day. Kick-off for Jubilee 2011!
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Uncategorized on February 18, 2011
In the marketing & communications and the events departments of the CCO, we begin planning for Jubilee the very next week after the last one. It’s a tiresome, year-long process of figuring out what worked, what didn’t, what we can do better and how to make the following year’s Jubilee better than ever.
Our labor is not in vain. Not only do students walk away with a renewed vision for life, but we do too. In two hours, thousands of people will be flooding the Westin Hotel and Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. I could really take a good nap right now, but I’m also ecstatic for the things to come this weekend.
Take a look at this year’s program booklet for a better idea of what Jubilee is about and who will be there. Hard work does pay off!
What does a marriage good
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Uncategorized on February 15, 2011
Josh and I haven’t been married for very long. Just about a year and a half actually. But I feel like this past 18 months has left us wiser than when we first began. Here are three marriage-defining decisions we’ve made so far:
.
Get rid of your television.
For some, this may sound a bit extreme. But the average American watches 32+ hours of T.V. a week. For Josh and I, this has been one of the BEST decisions we’ve ever made for our marriage. DISCLAIMER: We never actually owned a television, but we made a conscious decision not to buy one.
We talk more, we spend more time playing games and reading or venturing to coffee shops together to work on stuff. And when there is something that we want to watch on T.V. we either do it in community (by going to a friend’s home) which gets us out of the house and interacting with the rest of world or we go to the gym (which is clearly a healthy option).
And when we want to watch a movie, we set up Mega MoviePlex 5000. Translation: We hook our laptop up to external speakers and set it on top of a cardboard box.
Maybe you’re not ready to get rid of your T.V. completely. At least move it out of the bedroom.
.
Do monthly check-ups.
Occasionally, we sit down with each other and honestly ask the other person how we’ve been doing. It generally sounds something like this, “How am I doing as a wife? Are there areas that you feel you need to bring to my attention or is there anything that you feel like we need to talk about?”
Sometimes I don’t always like what Josh tells me and vice versa. But it gets us asking each other tough questions and being vulnerable with one another. This is also a great time to intentionally affirm the other person in areas he/she is doing well.
.
Be outwardly focused.
Yes, it’s important to pay attention to your spouse. However, it’s also important to do things together that cause you to look beyond your own relationship.
Maybe that means babysitting for a couple that has children and letting them have a night to themselves. Or cooking meals together for a couple that just had a child. Josh and I volunteer as Sunday school teachers at our church for the kindergarteners and first graders. Perhaps you help paint a friend’s newly purchased fixer-upper. Whatever that looks like in your situation, look for ways to serve those around you.
.
Comfort doesn’t ever breed growth. In my marriage, I hope that we never settle for comfortable.
Hot, hot, hot
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Spirituality on September 21, 2010
I have never sweat so much in my life. Dressed in my black leggings and a tank top, I knelt on my borrowed foam mat, carefully draped my dingy bath towel over the mat and folded myself into the first pose. Sweat was already beading up on the upper rim of my lip. The room temperature was over 90 degrees. I was experiencing my first hot yoga class.
After 60 minutes of intense poses in a piping hot room and burning sensations in almost every muscle in my body, the instructor directed us to lay flat on our stomachs, with our right cheek to the ground. “This morning you probably weren’t hoping to lay on a hard wooden floor in a pool of your own sweat,” she said. “But right now, this is probably the only place you want to be. It is all about perspective.”
As I laid flat on the ground, soaking wet and exhausted, I imagined what it looks like to embrace this attitude in every area of my life. I’ve been learning this lesson in the rough, beautiful adventures Josh and I have been struggling through the past couple of months.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 in this poignant translation, “Come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon your shoulders. It might appear heavy at first, but it’s perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and when you are yoked to Me your weary soul will find rest.”
Learning to live and love like Christ is a yoke, and yet it is so perfectly fitted for us. This might mean we don’t live in the beautiful, safe neighborhood that we’d like because of a conviction to reach out to others, or we may make difficult choices about where we purchase our food or how much we spend on luxuries like cable, the Internet or our cell phone plans. Perhaps our careers don’t look like the “successful” careers of others around us. But I think what the Lord keeps whispering in my ear is that really, these burdens are all about perspective.
Living without margins
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Family, Ministry on August 25, 2010
By far, August has been the most difficult month for me and Josh. With many unexpected expenses, our school loans and Josh’s seemingly endless search for a full-time job, the two of us have been
s t r e t c h e d, to say the least.
We had no money for gas, date nights, eating out, grabbing a mocha at Starbucks…and we jointly decided not to live off of a credit card for the month because that would make September all the more unbearable financially. So we just had to suck it up.
We honestly felt stuck. Friends would ask us to go to dinner or a concert or a ball game, and we didn’t want them to feel bad for us, we just wanted them to know the reality of the situation. We don’t have any margin this month.
Josh and I love hosting and inviting friends over for meals, but that’s difficult to do when you don’t have the resources for extra food. And we believe in giving to causes outside of the tithe money that we give to our church. We couldn’t do that either.
Sometimes there is little we can do to prevent months with no margins. But most of the time, we can do something about it. Learning to consume less is a healthy life principle. If our wants are constantly being put in front of others’ needs, something is wrong.
A stranger in spandex
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Life Lessons on July 15, 2010
As of late, the weather has been the perfect amount of sunshine with just the right amount of cool. Josh and I strapped on our helmets and ventured on a 12-mile biking journey to the Waterfront and back.
We prefer to take Beechwood Boulevard for the convenient bike lanes, green shrubbery and the peaceful, suburban-like scenery. I’m always encouraged when I see other people outside enjoying the weather in some way or another. We saw other bikers also enjoying the jaunt to Homestead.
I wouldn’t consider myself a serious cyclist. My bike is probably the cost of what professionals pay for their top-of-the-line helmet with breathable portals to keep their heads cool. I don’t “clip in” with special shoes or manufactured pedals. But I do sport my toe clips with pride—attributing much of my uphill speed to them.
This road isn’t heavily traveled, but there are a few traffic lights and stop signs to be cautious of. A couple of avid cyclists raced by me coming down a hill. My competitive nature stepped in, and immediately I began picking up speed to catch up to them. They zoomed through an intersection with a green light. I began nearing the same intersection as the light turned from yellow to red—still picking up speed. Should I chance it? Will my legs power me through? I squeezed the brakes hard, bringing my bike to a halt.
It’s not worth it, I decided. The light was red even before I got to the intersection.
Another cyclist pulls up beside me. This stranger in spandex remarks, “I’m glad you stopped. I was going to follow you and go through the light if you did.”
Completely unaware that someone else was watching me, I grew silent. I thought about what could have happened if I had run that light.
The decisions we make affect others. Period. If we fail to understand this, we fail to realize the impression we can make in the world as Christians.
One thing that made a difference
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Coalition for Christian Outreach, Ministry, Spirituality on May 20, 2010
Here is my monthly newsletter for May that I recently sent to many of my friends, family and supporters. If you’d like to get a copy, send me your name & address here. I’d love to stay in touch with you and let you know about some of the amazing things God is doing through the CCO’s ministry.
You’re killing me
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Family, Life Lessons, Spirituality, Uncategorized on May 15, 2010
Four months ago, my father welcomed in the New Year in the hospital. The impetus was a severe infection in his foot caused by a burn from his pellet stove. You see, my dad can’t feel his feet. The nerve endings in his toes and fingers have deteriorated long ago. So the infection invaded his body for days before he even realized it. This is only a portion of the health problems he’s faced since the onset of diabetes in his late twenties.
While in the hospital, the doctors told my father that the enzyme that helps your kidneys filter everything in your body was exorbitantly high. It was poisoning him. Little did my father realize that shortly after his admittance into the hospital, his kidneys would fail completely. At 50 years old.
Without the infection in his foot, he likely would not have gone to the hospital. In a sense, that infection saved his life.
Sometimes we mistake the hardship, the pain, the aching—as God strangling us. When in fact, He is using those moments of instability and weakness to transplant new life into us. Sometimes what we think is killing us, might really be saving us.
Hold the salt, please.
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Family, Life Lessons, Spirituality, Uncategorized on April 1, 2010
I was at Rite Aid the other day waiting for a prescription, and to keep my husband from meandering his way about the store, I suggested he test his blood pressure on the gigantic sphygmomanometer sitting in the aisle. According to the chart, his systolic pressure was only a few numbers away from being considered in the pre-hypertension zone.
Later that day, we ventured to the grocery store. Since we’ve been married, Josh has taken a fancy to making his own peanut butter. We were deciding between the 50%-less-sodium kind or the you-better-believe-there’s-no-salt-on-these-suckers kind. After grabbing the ones with sodium, he quickly threw them back on the shelf and opted for the peanuts with no salt. He sited his blood pressure reading from earlier and added, “It’s the small choices over a lifetime that eventually compound into something that makes a big difference.”
In my head my jaw dropped, and I felt like someone just pummeled me to the ground. I thought, “You just hit the nail on the head.” What if we all started living with this concept in mind? How would that change what I eat? Or buy? Where I give my money? What I drive or don’t drive?
Why are we so quick to judge what is going on with our government, our company, our church, but we neglect to ask ourselves tough questions, have the audacity to answer them and live differently?
A hallway to heaven
Posted by Alicia Hoey in Coalition for Christian Outreach, Ministry, Spirituality on March 11, 2010
It’s been almost three weeks since Jubilee 2010, but stories continue to stream in about the work God is doing in people’s lives because of this weekend.
This one is incredibly intriguing to me:
A student named Cody from The Ohio State University narrates his Jubilee experience: “A couple of years ago, I was going through a struggle in my life. I wanted God to help me. That night when I went to sleep, I dreamed that I was in this long, white hallway with gray/black paintings and pictures on the wall. At this time, I had no idea where I was or what I was doing there. I did not think it meant anything until I arrived at Jubilee.
“After going to a couple of speakers and listening to Susan [Isaacs] and Bob [Goff], I knew what it was. These two speakers were saying, God has always been in their presence it just takes a while for you to realize it. The hallway that was in my dream was the connection hallway from the Westin Hotel to the Convention Center. After walking through this hallway numerous times, the dream I had came back to me as if I had it the night before. At this moment, I realized that God has always been there for me, so on the last night of Jubilee, I accepted Christ into my life.”
Months before this weekend, my co-worker Phil designed banners with various quotes about students’ experiences with CCO opportunities. During Jubilee, Phil and I hung these banners up in the long, white hallway like Cody saw in his dream.
God didn’t just orchestrate Cody’s presence at Jubilee this year. He arranged for Phil to be there. And me, too. And the CCO staff member that invited Cody there…and the list goes on. God has allowed us all to play a part in Cody’s story. Even you. Your prayers and your giving enable me and other CCO workers to be here. Thank you.
