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34 Comments for 'Hearts on Fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee!'

1. On November 17, 2007 @ 11:54 am Emnet said:

   • I have a question.How do I tell an athiest who is super nice why they need Jesus. I mean, a person who I have NEVER seen without a smile on their face. A person who already knows what Jesus is but simply rejects Him because they don’t understand why they shouldn’t reject Him. A person who, when i tell them they should accept Him, simply answers me by saying “why? My life is perfectly fine without Him”.How do I tell that person that they need Jesus without scaring them into being a Christian by saying something like “without Jesus you are going to burn in hell forever” or “when everything in your life comes tumbling down and you’ve hit rock bottom, who you gonna turn to?huh?huh?what then?”.What do I answer to the one and only question my dear friend has about Jesus, the ONLY question,”why?”.Can you help me out with a way to approach that person using scripture, telling them that they do need Jesus without scaring the life out of them?

   • Permalink to Emnet's comment

2. On November 17, 2007 @ 2:32 pm gabe said:

   • just shine the Love of Christ Jesus emnet! someday that person, when they realize that stuff will never get them anywhere and then see you shining like a bright star will wonder, “whats up with that kid?” You don’t have to know everything, all the “secret moves” to ministry, you just have to love Jesus Christ will all of your heart and give him alone everything! He will help you with all the other stuff. (matthew 6:23)

   • Permalink to gabe's comment

3. On November 17, 2007 @ 3:28 pm Jen said:

   • Emnet - I would also encourage you to check out:
     http://www.dare2share.org/atheists/

   • Permalink to Jen's comment

4. On November 17, 2007 @ 11:02 pm Ben Miller said:

   • I was at this hearts on fire conference and you were amazing. But i was wodering what i can do for my friend that says that she believes in jesus, but that she doesnt have to go to church. And she also says that she hates it when people try to force going to church on her. She says that she has a good excuse in taht her dad is gone all week except the weekend so its more time to spend with him. im struggling with figureing out how to communicate this message to her. Please help me.

   • Permalink to Ben Miller's comment

5. On November 18, 2007 @ 1:40 am Nicolas Currat said:

   • Friday, November 16, 2007

     Double Dare (not the late 80′ TV show)
     A week ago I was asked to take a dare; Make that a double dare. I wasn’t forced to do it although I don’t chicken out much. It was to tell everyone in my own words and time about Jesus Christ. The ramifications of that double dare seemed invading of who I am today. This was an inconvenient dare. I was at a high school youth conferance called Dare 2 Share, and it was huge. More than 10,000 people praying, laughing and sharing in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Technically I wasn’t even a participant: I drove the van.

     Yet there I was at the Pepsi Center. Even before the conferance started, I was talking to a thirteen year old kid about how cool Jushua and Caleb were in trusting God’s power and protection and how the rest of the extradited Jews really turned to sin and doubted God’s will in the eyes of giants living in the promised land. There was a moment or two where I was concerned if I retold the whole story right. As I stalled this youth minister sitting infront of us blurts out with his mouth full: “Yeah, you preach brother. Go ‘head”. I mentioned how God cherished Caleb’s faith as whole-hearted. And to think that the majority of Caleb’s life was spent in the desert. That to me is awe-inspiring and indicative of delighting in God’s promise. -The preaching I wasn’t counting on was: this little buddy shared the major events of the Old Testament in hand stories with me. His church taught him that passage in gestures.

     The message of that first night was to choose Christ and serve Him first. Turning and recieving the free gift of salvation was one thing. But this conferance called us to quit lollygaging, address the distractions, have a plan to repent from the problem that stands in the way of being a living sacrafice. Make allegience to Jesus before country, friend, desires and family. It was a raw call to scantification. Like John the Baptist’s call for repentance. I cried those good tears as conviction and guilt surfaced in my head.

     When asked in prayer who wanted a personal relationship with Christ in view of God’s only means for salvation, 500 people raised their hand (we were told later). The Spirit moved and the pastor kept insisting remember this moment, this second. Likewise, the pastor asked who wants to pledge allegience to Christ ahead of any worldy affair, to resolve in conforming to Christ in every department of life at all times. Well the van driver wanted that. I don’t want to pussyfoot around with the remainder of my life as I am a slave to Christ and must render credit and praise to Him. They will know we are Christians by our love -not our hypocracy. I think God really holds those moments as accountability -not to hinge condemnation but to convict our earthly hearts and minds to let the Holy Spirit in more. That’s the way I see it. The door to start evangelizing in my life just got opened a little wider. I still didn’t take the double dare though.

     The next day challenged the commitment I made immediately, I grew up seeking approval and admiration of others. So when I got rejected growing up; feelings of self-blame and embarrasement would be intensly depressive. Everything about me I evaluated based on other people’s opnion: from asking a girl out, to my car makes me embarrased cause its ugly, old and leaky. This is where I was glad I was the driver of the van because those kids had to go door to door and collect cans for the Denver Rescue Mission, gather prayer requests and tell the people about the good news of Jesus Christ. It took guts because most the people weren’t open to this. The term coined by the pastor was “were spending our afternoon at P.U. Persecution University.”

     If we were trick or treaters, I was the parent on the sidewalk. I observed a neighborhood willing to hand out cans but so unwilling to recieve any Gospel message (we did get a few prayer requests). I saw in the youth a let-it-roll-off-of-you attitude and they kept on keeping on. I Prayed for them and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. The evangelizism door got opened wider, was I gonna walk through it? Did I have as much heart and courage the kids displayed?

     This conferance coinsided with my Faith birthday and on that day as a reminder of the victory Christ has on my faith I adopted a kid with Compassion International “Just for the price of your daily cup of coffee.” Thats a huge commitment but God has blessed me with a promotion at work and I don’t drink anymore so we’re talking surplus down the pipes to little Tino Tiwang of Indonesia. I got his pic right by my computer he’s sporting a Mickey Mouse shirt with his hands on his hips like he’s the boss. Tino’s 8 and lives with his grandparents. I can’t wait to start correspondance.

     As the conferance ended my eye was caught by this super smooth, “G”ed out hat. It was a black Dare 2 Share hat that had “D2S” on the front in some sort of gangsta caligraphy (I don’t know if that’s possible). I look for hats all the time as I work undercover security in retail. So the thought came to me that this hat would be a tool of evangelizm. So I got it and walked through that door to evangelize. The double dare is had.

     I wore it at work the next day and three people asked about the hat (one being my boss) and I directly asked them “What you know about Jesus?” I followed by telling them about His free gift, how I offered up my addictive sins and mentioned that the Holy Spirit is repairing my life daily. The double dare (from the conferance) is happening in God’s time and in God’s way. So yeah I took the double dare and I’ve been thinking more about who in my life could be next. I can’t wait to catch someone shoplifting and have them ask me about the hat. What grace is harvesting in me is from the light of God: I don’t know where the seeds of the Holy Spirit go. All I know is that at some point I got one, it landed in me and I gave my faith to Jesus to watch Him grow up in me.

     Posted by your friend, nic at 10:46 PM

   • Permalink to Nicolas Currat's comment

6. On November 18, 2007 @ 6:35 am Chris said:

   • Greg,

     Great job in Gatlinburg! I felt the power, passion of God in your message on Saturday afternoon. It was very effective because I know our youth were listening based on their conversations on the way back to western North Carolina on Saturday evening.

     We are attaching a link from our website to yours which will allow more kids to check out what you have to say about reaching their friends. Thanks for the passion in what you do.

     your brother in Christ,
     Chris

   • Permalink to Chris's comment

7. On November 18, 2007 @ 11:17 am kayla winn said:

   • hey!!
     Heart’s on fire is something i look forward to every yr. it’s amazing! this yr. was great! when u spoke about being a loser and the kind of loser we should all strive to be it touched me in an amazing way! i had a desire to be the person who can say.. “u know wat i am a loser.. one who lost everything to follow jesus!” i know i’m not that loser yet! but i took the double dare and i strive to be that loser! After walking out the doors of Heart’s on Fire i just feel so encouraged to go and change the world w/ the love of Jesus! Thanx so much for coming all the way to tn. to talk to us! I thank God so much for using u to make a difference in my life!

     Kayla

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8. On November 18, 2007 @ 1:24 pm sarah said:

   • hey
     i went to hearts on fire. IT WAS AWSOME

   • Permalink to sarah's comment

9. On November 18, 2007 @ 1:44 pm sarah said:

   • i dint get to finish my sotry about hearts on fire canfrence . i loved it God really spoke to me at the conference but i really thought you did really good

   • Permalink to sarah's comment

10. On November 18, 2007 @ 3:56 pm Elizabeth said:

    • Greg,
      It was amazing how you touched me in Gatlinburg. I’ve been striving to keep that want and passion to witness in my life. Your situation with your father got to me in the scense of understanding. I have a father that I have never met.Instead I was led to believe another amazing man in my life was. He was until I was 16. My life changed in that a story about my mother’s “friend”. By the end she admits the friend is her. The manipulation of your story of being some guy named Tony and then being your father didn’t surprise me, because my mom used the same trick. It helped me to understand that I’m not alone at all. I’m now 17 soon to be 18 and I’m a person I never thought I COULD EVER be. You have given me the want to evangelize. I have taken the double dare and I’m going to use it. Life will not turn me around. Instead I’m going to turn life around.

      (P.S.- By the way, that wonderful man I call my dad and has been raising me since I was 3 months, his name is Greg. Weirdly funny…

    • Permalink to Elizabeth's comment

11. On November 18, 2007 @ 6:17 pm chan said:

    • hey! i went to the hearts on fire conference in gatlinburg tennesse and i thought you and your message were great. i took the dare,tell as many people about god as you can. the person i chose first was my dad. everyone i knew loved you and your message. you were funny also. i had a great time!!!
      -chan

    • Permalink to chan's comment

12. On November 19, 2007 @ 11:08 am Maggie said:

    • Greg just wanted to say your blog is great! BtW you should have a cheaper vesion of the gospel jorney ’cause I really wanted to see it but its really expensive

    • Permalink to Maggie's comment

13. On November 19, 2007 @ 7:03 pm Aly said:

    • I took the double dare a few weeks ago, when D2S was in VA. My story–I was in a horrible place, had a few addictions to some things, and had a ton of “stuff” in my life. I accepted Christ and am now telling my friends, and slowly working on my best friend (who actually called me at 4 in the morning while I was in VA, and she was completely wasted)…but she has more addictions and problems then anyone I know. But I have also talked to my cousin who lives out in Idaho. She ended up pregnant not too long after graduating, and then ended up marrying the father, but I told her about the GOSPEL, and now I am working on all my friends here who have no idea what they are missing out on….they have no idea that the one person they need in their life can’t be bought with any amount of money, and that they need Him more than anything…anyways, keep doing what you are doing, because you all are changing lives, which can only have a “pay it forward” type of affect!!

    • Permalink to Aly's comment

14. On November 20, 2007 @ 5:02 pm Ed said:

    • Hi Greg -
      Just watched the latest chapel service podcast. Great talk, thanks. You might enjoy a short, but excellent book by Dominic Smart, called “Grace Faith and Glory” which is published by Authentic Lifestyle. Some of the main points came out as pastoral letters, and are cached online at http://tinyurl.com/35hwa2

      Title: Grace, Faith and Glory (Freedom in Christ)

      Author: Dominic Smart

      Publisher: Authentic Lifestyle

      ISBN 1-85078-533-3

      Your double dare thing sounds like an interesting idea. It’s good to share!

      Cheers
      Ed.

    • Permalink to Ed's comment

15. On January 22, 2008 @ 12:00 pm josh bingham said:

    • is there a website for ken freeman one of the speakers at hearts on fire if anyone knows email me at whitedude502@aol.com

    • Permalink to josh bingham's comment

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