March 12, 2008
After much prayer and discussion, I have come to the decision to suspend the operation of Damascus Road Ministries‘ camps and conferences. My decision is based largely in part to my role as Executive & Worship Pastor at Washington Avenue Church. The ministries of DRM require a great deal of time to plan and promote and I am impressed that the work God has called me to as a pastor must supersede the work we were doing through Damascus.
I am completely at peace with this decision, though I am saddened when I think of the people we will not see as regularly. God purposed this from the start. DRM has been an incredible experience and I rejoice when I think of all the people I will see in Heaven who met Jesus at one of DRM’s camps or events.
I do not have the words to express what your prayers and support mean to me and my family. I ask you to continue to remember us now as we constantly seek to live life totally surrendered to His call and His work.
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Camp Damascus, DRM, Ministry Events, Winter Conference, Worship Rally | 
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Posted by Chris Lewis
August 12, 2007
I am absolutely brain dead and wiped out! After a weekend like this, you just want to sleep for about a week. The culmination of an event like this is a wonderful thing to experience and God showed up Saturday night! Almost immediately after you’re done though - it’s like all the anticipation leading up to the event turns on you and your body starts shutting down at the molecular level or something.
Anyway, thanks for the prayers and support. Thank you to everyone who helped. Thank you to everyone who showed up and worshipped together. And thank you most of all Jesus for being my everything! Thank you for the priveleage to serve. Thank you for the lives you touched last night. Thank you for giving rest to the weary. You alone Jesus are worthy of our praise and honor. You’re my best friend and I couldn’t imagine living a day without you!
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Posted by Chris Lewis
August 8, 2007
I am so pumped about Saturday night!!! I can’t fall asleep at night. It consumes my thoughts. I am so convinced that God is going to do something incredible that I can’t think about anything else. I am hungry to see people come to accept Christ!
Then a thought occured to me: What if nobody shows? What if this thing is a big flop? You better not post this, because then you’ll really look stupid when nobody comes!
You know, it’s times like these that I’d really love to square off and pop the devil sqaure in the pie hole! I hate this feeling – and I know it is directly from the bowels of hell.
We have been faithful in our planning. Have we been perfect? Of course not! But we will learn from our mistakes and improve next year. The point is, at this stage, we have done what we know to do. And to the best of our collective abilities, we have done as God directed us to do. The pitch has left the pitcher’s fingertips. It’s in that space between the mound and the batter. There’s nothing else we can do. It’s all up to God at this point. Wait a minute – come to think of it – it’s been up to God all along!
What I know is this. God has something cool in store for those who are there Saturday night. We are going to exalt Jesus and present His message of hope and love. We are going to do the same thing for 100 people that we will do for 10,000 people – that’s because we will worship the God of this universe. As far as that goes, it’s an audience of 1.
3 Comments | Evangelism, Faith, Ministry Events, Worship Rally | Permalink
Posted by Chris Lewis
August 6, 2007
This Saturday is a big day in my life and something I have been looking forward to for many months now. This marks our second annual Worship Rally and this year’s event brings with it much excitement and anticipation for what God wants to do in the lives of people at this worship experience. Our goal for this event is straightforward, unapologetic, and unwavering: we intend to worship Jesus and present His gospel in a fresh and compelling way.
My pastor, Chuck Bridges, began a series on prayer yesterday. He opened with this statement: “Prayer should be like breathing for the believer”. While I have spent time with my Lord, and sought His guidance about the Worship Rally, I wish that I could say that I invested an amount of time in prayer commensurate with the time spent planning and preparing for this event – but I can’t. Sure, I have petitioned God for His guidance, confessed my unworthiness, prayed for those who will attend, sought God’s anointing in my preaching, asked for strength and inspiration for all of our volunteers – but if prayer really was my oxygen, my O² levels would freak my doctor out!Now I have a strong prayer life, but the point I want to make is this. God expects us to do our part. I am fully convinced that a lazy spirit is not something that pleases an almighty God. He expects us to do our part. To kick it in neutral and then sit back and say, “No worries! God will handle the details” is deplorable. That’s testing God and Satan tried to get Jesus to do precisely that.
What I am saying is that no amount of planning or preparing on our part compares with time spent talking with God about the situation! Prayer is most relevant and effective when we align our priorities with His. Jesus gave us come pretty strong clues regarding what His priority is and how we can pray about it (2 Pet 3:9, Luke 10:2). God wants people to be saved. He wants people to repent. He is in control of the Soul Harvest. We are to ask (pray) for the workers (that’s me and you) to go out. I’ll do another post another time on our responsibility for personal evangelism. Right now, I’m asking you to pray for this harvest. The gospel will be presented. Jesus will be praised and worshipped. Pray for opportunities to invite people. Bring anyone you know who might need to hear about the love and forgiveness Jesus offers. Invite strangers and people you meet this week to join you next Saturday. You can bring people to a “concert” who would never darken the doors of a “church”.
God is up to something. I can’t wait to see what He does! We have prayed. We have planned. We have prepared. By God’s grace and His strength, we are ready. The tendency is to let up now. Please don’t do that. Pray. Pray now. Pray hard. Pray often. Pray together. Pray by yourself. Pray when you wake up. Pray when you go to bed. Pray in your car. Pray in the shower. Pray without ceasing. Pray again. Just pray.
Leave a Comment » | Evangelism, Monday's Message, Prayer, Worship Rally | Permalink
Posted by Chris Lewis
