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• Alan Gotthardt:
  The Eternity Portfolio (Generous Giving)

32 Comments for 'Surviving in Seattle'

1. On March 14, 2008 @ 11:34 am BigFatPonyDancer84 said:

   • I hope you get better Greg and I hope the conference in Seattle is awesome!!!
     Good luck!!!!!!!!!

     ~*~Elenore~*~

   • Permalink to BigFatPonyDancer84's comment

2. On March 14, 2008 @ 11:38 am jennifer said:

   • Greg

     fervently praying for you, your team, & all the teens and youth that will be affected this weekend!

     <
     Frank & Jennifer

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3. On March 14, 2008 @ 12:15 pm Katie said:

   • I will be praying for you Greg. I really really hope you feel better. D2S last week in Atlanta was a great experience and blessng for me. I will be praying that the conference goes well in Seattle and that teens lives are changed forever through the power and love of Jesus and by God working through his servants like you, Zane, and Derwin. Will be praying for all of you guys!

     -Greg, I am close to through reading the Dare2Share book. Thank you so much for writing that. It has been an incredible help to me. I had never really learned how to share my faith before and I know that this will help me a lot. It is an AMAZING book and I have learned a lot by reading it. Thank you sooooooo much!

     ~Katie

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4. On March 14, 2008 @ 12:32 pm Genie said:

   • Greg:

     Sorry that you aren’t feeling well. I’ve got an hour and a half left at work and then will be meeting “my kids” at the church at 3 to head for the conference!!! The kids are really excited. I just know this will be a spiritual and enlightening experience for them.

     Can’t wait!!!

     Genie

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5. On March 14, 2008 @ 1:53 pm Becky said:

   • Hey feel better.I have a cold and it hurts bad to run around.

   • Permalink to Becky's comment

6. On March 14, 2008 @ 3:07 pm Janna - Laurel UMC Montana said:

   • The Laurel UMC kids are getting together for our big 3rd Friday CRAZY meeting. We all get together and play wacky games. But tonight Greg, we will be praying for the Seattle tour of Dare 2 Share.
     We are praying for those traveling to the conference, pray for the leadership team, pray for Lincoln Brewster and Washington Projects, pray for YOU TO GET BETTER (this seems to happen to you every year, doesn’t it?) and we will pray for THOUSANDS of teens to be touched by God during the worship, the speaking and the amazing drama.
     Lots of warm fuzzies and decongestants coming your way!
     PS: Take a hot shower at least an hour before the big show with one of those SudaCare Shower Soothers or Vicks Vapor Shower things. It will loosen the flem. Oh, and drink LOTS of water. 3x the amount you would normally drink.

   • Permalink to Janna - Laurel UMC Montana's comment

7. On March 14, 2008 @ 6:13 pm Jon Rehmert said:

   • Feel better and I hope the kids will learn

   • Permalink to Jon Rehmert's comment

8. On March 14, 2008 @ 10:17 pm Bubelaiken said:

   • Hey greg. guess what happen in Atlanta.
     greg you should be graceful because A tornado has hit Atlanta. We could be in that sitition. We could have that Dare 2 Share today in Atlanta and have tornando hit us. Im sooo thankful that We are not in that Area and all those peoples who went to Our Dare 2 share Atlanta is okay and is in not that sitition. Please pray for us. it is amazing how God protect us. Tornado will hit Atlanta again today and have bad storm coming up tommrrow. Be thankful.

     Love your freind Leyanet

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9. On March 14, 2008 @ 10:59 pm Bear15 said:

   • Thank God Dare2Share was here last week. A tornado hit in the area of the Georgia dome, which is next door to the world congress center. Major flooding in the dome. Glass is everywhere coming down from the skyscrapers. Damage to the Omni hotel and CNN center. Their have only been 9 injuries, no deaths. But the Georgia Dome was hosting the SEC tourament at the time. Major damage to Centinnal Olympic Park and the condos across the street from the Omni Hotel. God is watching and protecting tonight. 75 interstate has been total shut down to incoming traffic. There is extensive damage to the area of the Martin Luther King center area this is a low income housing. We are in prayer for all who are working, and those who are tring to leave. Public transportation is down. Please be in prayer as this nite continues. Weather is easying up at this point. there is more to come today the weather forecaster stated he was expecting this type weather for today.

     Your sister in Christ
     Nancy from the CREW of Atlanta neghan@aol.com

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10. On March 15, 2008 @ 8:48 am Bubelaiken said:

    • hey guys.
      i don’t know if you had heard news about Atlanta being hit by nature disater meaning Tornando.
      You know i think We have a very Lucky day today because Nobody died but got hurt and that is good news.
      Imagine If that Basketball game in the georgia dome ened early and peoples were out on the street when that happen. it would increased the death troll. I relized that god Protect us.
      It is amazing how god protect us.
      You know there is one thing im graceful we just recently have A conference 6 days ago for youth group. We could be in that area for that conference. I mean what if that conference was on that day. What if we were in that area. IM very thankful that we have that conference 6 days ago. I hope you think the way i think too.

      If you know somebody who lives Atlanta and have the house destory by tornado, family members or freinds or whatever. Please Help them out!

      American red cross is opening a shelter for Atlanta for peoples who don’t have a home or Have home destory by tornado.

      WE should be thankful.
      Thank god!!!

    • Permalink to Bubelaiken's comment

11. On March 15, 2008 @ 11:48 am BigFatPonyDancer84 said:

    • Thank The lord that everyone is okay! I’m praying for Atlanta!

      ~*~Elenore~*~

    • Permalink to BigFatPonyDancer84's comment

12. On March 15, 2008 @ 8:42 pm Rose said:

    • hey greg! i’m so thankful you are in the washington area! i was at the seattle dare2share last year and i went to the leaders meeting in portland! it was sooo amazing! your messages touched soo many in my youth group and in my friend youth group. i’m from yakima ( have you heard of it?) and my friend is from seattle. i wasn’t able to go this year because my church decided to try out acquire the fire since d2s is so close to our mexico mission. but i just thought i would let you know that when you your crew come it really impacts us all. i go to seattle pretty often like actually alot and i know the people there needed reached and not just there but all over washington. america. and the world! i’m soooooo grateful you stop by the seattle area and am happy to hear its one of your favorites!

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13. On March 15, 2008 @ 11:52 pm Taylor said:

    • I just attended dare 2 share in seattle! I took the cell phone challenge and i called my sister, my sisters name is samantha she love to go to youth group, then when she becamea freashman at Gig Harbor High school things changed. she was a sweet girl in a private school befor. than i would find drugs in her purse she would lie saying it was a science project. then i found picture of her drinking my mom’s wine. she would always tell me to leave when i was there first and just be mean if a talked. i knew she was a totaly different person. for the chanlleng i felt she was turning away from God, so i called her she did not answer and i didnt think she would call me back so i left her a voice mail talking to her about it. and i got a text, and it said, taylor i love you, so i was like what did you break? and she said i dint break anything i read the text and i listend. i was crying i made my sister, a 15 year old girl drinking wine doing drugs become closer to God and i felt so good, it was amazing!i bought her hawk nealson things i new she loved them i and i was so happy to give them to her! it had to be the best day for my because i brought i new family member to God’s family and made her end up in heavan with me the world and most of all jesus Christ!

      I LOVE YOU ZANE! got the shirt!(i am 12 bad speller!)i cant wait till dare 2 Share next year

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14. On March 16, 2008 @ 12:17 am Dan Williams said:

    • Greg,
      What an awesome weekend. Thank you for coming to Seattle! God bless this ministry!

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15. On March 16, 2008 @ 1:13 pm Bailey said:

    • I was there this weekend it was awsome i am so coming back next year :]]]]]

    • Permalink to Bailey's comment

16. On March 16, 2008 @ 4:19 pm Victor Horky said:

    • Hey Mr. Stier, how are you?
      Do you remember me?
      I came up to you after the first session on Friday night, I brought Lauren and Koby with me, he was the one that excepted Christ that night. You signed Lauren’s Bible and two one dollar bills.

      Koby is going to come to our youth group more often now, I pray that he’ll become strong in the Lord, his parent’s aren’t Christians.

      Please pray for the five or six Mormons that Lauren and I know, it’s really hard to minister to them sometimes. I do have your Dare to Share field guide, my youth pastor bought one for each of us last year when we came.

      Have a great time traveling to your next Dare to Share! God Bless!

      Victor.

    • Permalink to Victor Horky's comment

17. On March 16, 2008 @ 5:44 pm Garrett Dunn said:

    • It rocked. the conference is probably what made me realize that I had somethings that needed to change, and that my friends need christ. Thanks for bieng there. IT WAS AWESOME!!!

    • Permalink to Garrett Dunn's comment

18. On March 16, 2008 @ 6:03 pm ashley said:

    • loved d2s in seattel it was great and i took good into my life this weekend thank you

    • Permalink to ashley's comment

19. On March 16, 2008 @ 8:56 pm Valeria said:

    • Hey Greg!
      I was at the Seattle conference (it was so sweet!!) and I noticed you were sick…but you were super amazing anyways!!!!!
      Take care!

      -Val

    • Permalink to Valeria's comment

20. On March 17, 2008 @ 12:09 pm jonp117 said:

    • Hey Greg
      Seattle was the best than last year
      i just ended your book VENTI JESUS PLEASE. that was the best
      the book gave me the Strength to led 2 people in my R.O.T.C class to Jesus.

    • Permalink to jonp117's comment

21. On March 17, 2008 @ 12:10 pm jonp117 said:

    • Hey Greg
      If you listen to yourself you sound like the sloth on ice age 1 and 2.

    • Permalink to jonp117's comment

22. On March 17, 2008 @ 2:14 pm Axi said:

    • Well for being sick, Greg, you did an amazing job! This was my third time at Dare2Share and I actually got saved there the first year (thank you!). Bravo, and I love your book VENTI JESUS PLEASE. Seattle does give me the shivers with all of the un-Godly things that happen there, you can totally feel it. But I believe us Christians are totally going to take over Washington one of these days.
      God Bless,
      Axi

    • Permalink to Axi's comment

23. On March 17, 2008 @ 4:49 pm Heather said:

    • hey I loved this weekend, it really connected to me.
      I had just commited my life to Jesus on December 29th, 2007.
      so it really got me pumped, thanks for the boost and the encouragment to just talk to my friends about God and Jesus, so far I have at least 3 friends thinking deeply about it and I cant wait to get more cause I know God is going to send me more.
      thank you sooo much for this weekend!!!!!!
      ♥

    • Permalink to Heather's comment

24. On March 17, 2008 @ 7:41 pm John P said:

    • my name is john. i am the bassist at my church Quinault Valley Chapel. i recently have become less enthused about Christ and more driven by the guitar and the world around me. i went to the dare 2 share in Seattle. Friday we were on our way to the conference and all of the sudden our van starts thudding. the whole van is just rumbling and vibrating. we go in to a shop and they say they’re gonna wait til tomorrow because they were about to close. we convinced them to fix it but it still meant we would be late. my youth pastor had the chance to talk to an old freind and witness to him. the van did get fixed and we showed up and you guys were great.

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25. On March 17, 2008 @ 9:35 pm Ryan M. said:

    • i was saved about month ago, now experiencing life 4 the first time, went to d2s march 14-15. iv been to concerts and huge gatherings my whole life. this was the best, most meaningfull, and spiritually fulfilling event of my life thus far, (hands down). i just want thank all thoes who contribute to d2s, including lincoln brewster wich is now my favorate christian band, zane, derwin, greg, everyone, and god above all, thank u.

      P.S. i was baptized the next day on 03/15/2008

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26. On March 17, 2008 @ 9:36 pm Ryan M. said:

    • sorry, i meant 03/16/08 lol thanks agian.

    • Permalink to Ryan M.'s comment

27. On March 18, 2008 @ 4:59 pm Russ said:

    • Greg,

      I am a youth pastor in Dallas,Oregon. I keep running into you at the events and got to talk to you before the youth leader training last saturday. I wanted you to know that God has been stirring up some great stuff in our area and something cool surfaced just out of this conference. Right off this weekend, some of the students from my church who went to D2S helped pull a group together from their school and we had a our first unofficial meeting of a campus ministry. I was there shared the gospel and one of the students received the Lord. I’m praying that the fire that has been fanned will continue and grow into a movement on campus.

      Thanks for a great conference.

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28. On March 18, 2008 @ 5:36 pm Brett Heine said:

    • i went to the dare 2 share conference and i had a great time. it was really life changing for me and my youth members. so i want to thank you and every one with Dare 2 share. _Brett Heine with Basic

    • Permalink to Brett Heine's comment

29. On March 19, 2008 @ 2:44 pm Kelsey said:

    • Greg, how did your voice hold up, obviously D2S went well, I read the outcome, but did your cold get better before the conference?

    • Permalink to Kelsey's comment

30. On March 20, 2008 @ 10:50 am Kelsey Day said:

    • Hey Greg.
      Im Kelsey Day a 15 year old guy, I was at the conference in Seattle and I loved it I was completely broken before the Lord and it, to be honest felt GREAT. I am an adopted child and know my biological mother, Im not too fond of her for reasons that are partially graphic…when i was born i was left in my mothers hospital bed when she got up, got her things together and left, and my luck or more accurate Gods timming, a nurse saw me and decided to call a lady she knew and asked a rather awkward question…and I had a new mother. throughout my life I had gone to church and youth group but i never really COMPLETELY trusted Christ with my life untill a very urgent problem was addressed when Zane brought up the thing about when he was at a school some where…(didnt catch that part) the girl said “what if I lost all of my petals?”…..I instantly had thought about what i had done….I am not a virgin and at the time i thought it was a good idea because the girl and myself were extremely involved with each other and eventually things came to a screeching halt as I found myself lonely and ended up doing things with other girls. Satan had a very deep grasp on my thoughts and my life. I started thinking I have done something unforgivable. God was speaking to me and i held the $10 hope necklace I got at the booth during friday nights break, since then the necklace has been my median between myself and God. I asked God to please help me with my problem and take it all away from me. On that Saturday night when we got back to the church we were staying at I asked my youth leader if we could go and have a talk just him and myself, he said ok so we went and talked from about 11:00 untill 2:00 in the morning!! I never really had too much of a family experience because my mother owns 3 different businesses and doesnt have much time for me, that night i found my earthly father given to me from God and writing this to you is really emotionall for me. When we got back to our church on the i would say 3 hours of sleep I made known the bond that my youth leader and I BOTH felt saturday and told him and his wife (the other youth leader) that I had for sure found my real family in the Lord…we didnt get to finish the discussion we had on saturday night so on Wed. March 26th??? we will have lunch togheter and finish our conversation im really excited and i thank God and you, Greg for bringing me to know who my real family in God….i really dont know how to thank you enough and i dont know if you or how many other people will read this but I thank you and I thank the Lord my savior and the one and only God Almighty. May God bless your way and i look forward to seeing you next year!!!
      Kelsey Day 83

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31. On March 20, 2008 @ 11:29 am Nathan said:

    • Ya, so, where to start is the major question?
      My life wasn’t particularly bad. Growing up I had a great family, a wonderful church, and lots of other people that were really involved in my life. I learned to live and work with adults really well. Early on I learned that it wasn’t acceptable to, you might say, act like an idiot. I skipped a good portion of the “fun” part of one’s childhood.
      I never really had that many friends growing up. We were kind of far removed from the rest of humanity, lol, and I “didn’t get out much”. I socialized with my parents’ adult friends-but didn’t get to make many for myself.
      I used to hate being around other kids-especially other boys. Honestly, I was really arrogant. I thought that I was SO much better than them. I thought I was SO much more mature. I had only a very few people that I hung around with as a little kid. My world was very centered on these few relationships.
      These relationships shattered my world when, with two years, all of my friends suddenly up and left. I was very suddenly left alone, and I was hurt.
      I thought that God was personally out to get me-but I didn’t want to admit that to anyone. I gathered up all of that anger and channeled it directly to my creator. I started to ignore him, trying as hard as I could NOT to do what he wanted. I began to cuss and use His name in vain. I went through a rebellious stage where I ignored my parents and everything they told me to do.
      But, at church, I let my “life” shine. I became a compulsive liar, telling everything about the great things I had done for God over the week. I was always the good little kid. The one who never did anything wrong.
      The adults still loved me, to them I was a little angel. I taught myself how to socialize on a primal level with other kids, so they all got to know the me that I wanted them to see.
      But inside I was in turmoil.
      Did I mention that all of this happened when I was about nine years old? Starting at about that time, my life quickly went downhill. I became very depressed all of the time, crying almost every time that I knew that no one was looking. There were very few nights that I didn’t cry myself to sleep. I felt so wrapped up in my problems, my lack of friends, the idea that God had taken everything I cared about away from me.
      Thos were seriously dark days. I can remember waking up, stretching out a little bit, then thinking “Okay, it’s time to change”. Literally, those words, I washed the dried tears off of my face then stumbled out to my parents. I was always quick and short with them. Then I would get on the schoolbus, where I would transform into a happy-go-lucky funny guy who always had a joke. After I got to school, I made myself into a geek. The kind of person who knows everything-and thinks you need to also. I was still really arrogant, and made everybody think that A) my family was rich (which they aren’t) and B)I was very satisfied with my life. I was good at making other people feel bad, and I think that they all quickly got the idea that I thought I was better than them. I really didn’t feel that way. that way, inside I knew that I was wrong, and I felt even worse for it.
      I was far removed from the way that I acted. It actually felt like I was wearing a mask, a smile or a smirk or whatever. Literally, the pressing weight was there. It was awful.
      I remeber things like September 11th happening, and I remeber thinking “who cares?” I was so wrapped up in myself that I couldn’t even think about any other pain from any other person.
      It took about a year of that depression, but before long I started looking for a way out. I tried hurting myself a couple of times-but it didn’t really work for me, I don’t exactly have a high pain tolerance. I wanted something easier.
      Suicide was a great option, or so I thought at the time. I felt so much pain on the inside that I just wanted out. I wanted to get away from my family, from acting all of the time, from a God that I thought hated me.
      I knew what came after death, about heaven and all that. I was secure in my salvation from when I was a little kid. I figured that if I did kill myself I would end up in heaven. (I really didn’t connect with the fact that God would be THERE too).
      Statistics say that most guys who commit suicide would use a gun. I would have went with the pills. A nice-painless way to go, you just fall asleep. I thought about killing myself all of the time. I wanted out so bad that I feebly attempted once, by taking a whole bunch of aspirin (which just gave me a major headache and didn’t do a thing THANK GOD!)
      I got to the point where I was holding the bottles in my hands more times than I care to count in my memory. I felt so dark, so depressed, so overwhelmingly sad that I just wanted out.
      Thankfully, I never quite had the nerve to REALLY try to get out.
      D2S played a part in that. Some people from church right before my 13th birthday randomly asked me if I wanted to go to “this conference thing in Seattle”. I ignored the “conference” part, appearantly, and said yes to the “Seattle” part.
      At that point, I had stopped thinking about suicide so much. I still felt lonely and sad, but not quite THAT much. My main issue was all of the pent up anger that I had for God.
      D2S that year completely changed my perspective. The first night was so emotional for me as I watched the drama unfold. I don’t remeber the whole story exactly, but it was about this kinda weird kid who found Jesus and saw the need to obsessively share Him with everybody. I saw his devotion, and his death that came from it, and I broke down. Between that and some of the sessions the next day I released a lot of the anger, and God started to break down the wall that I had put up in my heart.
      In the last two years since I’ve done some counciling. I still have a lot of emotional problems, issues with trusting people and grudges and stuff, but my rediscovered faith has helped a lot. God continues to speak to me, and with His help I’m finally getting better.
      Satan was deeply grounded into my life before-and sometimes I still feel the need to suddenly lie or even kill myself, but whenever I turn back to God, Satan’s lies melt away.
      Survive this year was really AWESOME! I brought one of my friends with me and, from our talks since, I think she was really touched by the production. Neither of us can wait to go next year to Invincible, and I’m hoping that I can help build her up in faith.
      Thank you so much Greg for doing the Dare 2 Share conferences, and thank You God for making me open to them!

    • Permalink to Nathan's comment

32. On May 28, 2008 @ 6:32 pm Alisa Smith-Anderson said:

    • I have a request for you Greg. My husband is the newly appointed Pastor of Student Ministries, and as his wife,I have a small group I am leading. We’re taking on the “Gospel Journey” I know at the Seattle conference I attended, you talked on your cell-phone to the newly converted Stephen at the leader’s training and I was wondering who else is saved now? I thought it would make a nice conclusion to our Gospel Journey, along with our local converts that come about God willing. Thanks, God bless you and yours!

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