Comments on: Surviving in Seattle http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/ Relentlessly pursuing Christ and His Cause Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:20:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Discount airfare. http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-176185 Discount airfare. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:09:16 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-176185 <strong>Cheap airfare....</strong> Airfare.... Cheap airfare….

Airfare….

]]> By: Soma labs. http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-147517 Soma labs. Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:47:21 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-147517 <strong>Soma labs....</strong> Soma labs. Soma labs serogen.... Soma labs….

Soma labs. Soma labs serogen….

]]> By: Alisa Smith-Anderson http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-69966 Alisa Smith-Anderson Thu, 29 May 2008 00:32:53 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-69966 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! 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!

]]> By: Nathan http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57710 Nathan Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:29:40 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57710 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! 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!

]]> By: Kelsey Day http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57700 Kelsey Day Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:50:01 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57700 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 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

]]> By: Kelsey http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57535 Kelsey Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:44:49 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57535 Greg, how did your voice hold up, obviously D2S went well, I read the outcome, but did your cold get better before the conference? Greg, how did your voice hold up, obviously D2S went well, I read the outcome, but did your cold get better before the conference?

]]> By: Brett Heine http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57330 Brett Heine Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:36:33 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57330 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 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

]]> By: Russ http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57322 Russ Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:59:46 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57322 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. 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.

]]> By: Ryan M. http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57166 Ryan M. Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:36:41 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57166 sorry, i meant 03/16/08 lol thanks agian. sorry, i meant 03/16/08 lol thanks agian.

]]> By: Ryan M. http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle/comment-page-1/#comment-57164 Ryan M. Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:35:06 +0000 http://www.gregstier.org/rants/surviving-in-seattle#comment-57164 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 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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