Student Takeover Weekend 2022

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

For those that do not know me, my name is Brandon, and I am one of the student leaders here. And once a year, we do this crazy thing. You’ve already seen the confetti and all the loud students as you walked in. We do this thing called student takeover. And if you do not know what student takeover is, I want to go ahead and just cast a vision to you of why we do this. So the reason why we do student takeover is that we want to show you guys the church that is being raised here at Eastside. Not only do we believe that they’re the Church of Tomorrow, but they are the church of today and this day, like student takeover proves that when you pulled up the hill, you saw students acting crazy in the parking lot. When you walk through the door, you see students greeting you with a smile with the sign You went to get something to eat for you and your family. And there were kids there all the way back to E-kids, students leading us in worship. And we even have students that are going to be sharing the message today. So I’m super excited. I want to invite you guys again to lean in. All right. Because these students, you know, when I went to go ask them, when Micah went to go ask them, you know, their immediate response, all but one said, no, I absolutely don’t want to do this Bunch. You’re taking me way out of my comfort zone, Micah. You’re taking me way out of my comfort zone. I do not want to do this. And, you know, we challenged them. You know, we pulled the God card. We said, but God would want you to. And, you know, they bravely prayed about it. They bravely thought about it, and they said yes this morning. So we want to give them our full attention, and we want to be a church that cheers them on. And so this morning, I’m going to go ahead and invite my boy Logan out to the stage. Give it up for Logan. I’m just going to invite everyone in the room as we approach this holy moment. I’m going to invite you just to lift your hands. And we’re just going to pray over these speakers this morning that God would just work through them and show off. So, Father, we come to you this morning. And God, we are completely humbled by what you are doing in this room. God, I just pray that any lies in the anxiousness and fear the devil is trying to place in any of these students’ minds, God, you would just remove it right now. And God, I just pray that we can be a church and a family that would cheer them on because we know that God has something for them. So, God, we thank you so much for what you’re doing here at Eastside through our students and through our student ministry. I pray all these things in your name. Amen. Give it up for Logan one more time.

I just want to say you are definitely more lively than the 9:30 service. Hey, everyone. My name’s Logan Martin, and I’ve been attending Eastside now for about a year and a half with my mom, Angie Martin, my sister Ariana Martin, and my brother Aaron Martin. He plays the drums. Today I’m on stage to tell you about the verse Jeremiah 29:11, which states.

“For I know the plans I have for you’ – this is the Lord’s declaration plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)

This verse really hits home for me because I’ve always struggled with knowing what my purpose was in life and what God put me here for. So where my story begins is when I was born right out the gate, I had extreme respiratory problems, so I was rushed to the NICU and put on a ventilator. So pretty much my first seconds in life, I was breathing through a tube, so I didn’t have the best start. But then we got to my sixth-grade year, and this is when things really started to change for me because I really started thinking about what my purpose was in this life. So I’m praying about every other night, asking God, what do you want? Like, what’s my job here? He really didn’t answer me. So I kind of just like gave up after that point because I was like, Well, he’s not answering me, so I might as well give that one up. Then we, you know, stop praying, live life, get to late February, about my seventh-grade year. And this is when a kid at my school, he came up to me. He like said hi to me in the hallway and had a couple of classes, you know, here and there. But he came up to me and said, Hey, man, I really appreciate you because I wouldn’t be standing where I am if it wasn’t for you. Honestly, I really struggled throughout this year, but I always knew that I would come to the school, and you have a smile on my face. So that would always be the one thing I look for in the day. And that really struck me in a weird way because I never really thought about it because I always just, you know, did my own thing, and I really never thought about it. But it made me think that maybe this is what I’m supposed to do, maybe this is my purpose in life to be that beacon of happiness and just help everyone just be better in general. And I think this was when I began to cling to the promise in Jeremiah, in which God truly showed me what my purpose was. I have a challenge for all the students and parents out there. You’re included, too. So basically, what I’m saying is, if you are like me and you struggle with finding your purpose, I suggest you just go to the student ministry. Because honestly, I think it’s a really important part of my life now because it really just helps me grow, my life group, and all my friends. I think it’s just really helped me overall grow in my life with Christ. So I have one thing to tell you God has a plan, and I hope for your future. Thank you.

Good morning. Eastside, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m Paige Johnson, and I’ve been coming to Eastside for about four years now. When Bunch first asked me to speak, I absolutely said no. I said no way. I hate standing in front of people. I hate public speaking. There’s no way I can do this. But I said yes because I felt like it was my time to share my story. Who knows what if my story can hold on to impact someone. Jeremiah 29:11 states.

“For I know the plans I have for you’ – this is the Lord’s declaration plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)

This is a promise that God has a plan for our lives regardless of the situation we may be in right now. He can work through it to be prosperous and give us hope. The summer I was going into sixth grade, June 17th, forever changed my life. I got the news from my nana that I had lost my mom. To this day, there are so many challenges and trauma I have to go through with my twin sister Taylor and our whole family. I didn’t know what the next step would be, nor would I know how to take it. My relationship with God at the time was not there, but it was kind of there. But it wasn’t there. There was so much I had to deal with. So many emotions. You can never think of everything I felt. The one thing that goes through my mind daily is when my nana said, Your mom’s heart stopped. I was young, so I didn’t know how to process it. I was like, Oh, she’s okay. She’s in the hospital. They’ll get her back up and going. But no, she had passed. One of the biggest things I had to deal with was seeing other people grow a relationship with their mom. There were so many things my sister and I had to go through that we didn’t know how to do, nor did we know how to take on. I saw moms and daughters grow together in a relationship that I didn’t have. I saw them bond together and become one and all, and I couldn’t have that. There were so many milestones that me and my sister had to go through without our mom. Starting middle school was hard without her. Then we started high school, and then we went to our first prom without her. And now we’re starting our senior year and going to graduate without her. Over the summer, I went to CIY camp with the E-high. It was great. And I started learning what community meant. Surrounding yourself with people that want the same thing as you and need the same thing of you was truly what I needed at the time. I started going to life groups more. Every other Monday. Emily Devoir was my life group leader, and she truly poured into me any time I needed her, any time of day, any time of night. She was there for me. With all this going on, I decided to get baptized on January 10th of 2021. Going public with everything truly was amazing. I felt overwhelmed with joy by everyone. Going back to the camp during camp, I’d ask God to lay something on my heart where he wanted me to be, what my next calling was going to be, and that I felt like it was time to lead. Bunch and Bre set me down, and they were talking to me, and Bunch said something that really woke me up. You have been in the position of being poured into. It’s time for you to pour into others. He asked me to become a life group leader, and that’s when I said yes to leading the six grade girls. I had no clue what God’s plan was for me when I lost my mom. Now I feel like I’m on the correct path that God is leading me to. Going back to Jeremiah 29:11.

“For I know the plans I have for you’ – this is the Lord’s declaration plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)

I have a challenge for all of you guys. Parents, adults. This is for you too. If you are not plugged in, please get plugged in. Life groups and serving really changed my life. I don’t know where I would be right now if I didn’t have someone pouring into me during the bad times. Thank you.

Good morning. Eastside, for those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Aston Martin. I’ve been consistently coming here for around a year now, and when Mike asked me to come up here. I tried to come up with every excuse in the book, but obviously, there was no excuse. I know you guys are probably tired of hearing the verse Jeremiah 29:11, but we’re really trying to drill this verse into your head. This is God’s promise for you and me. The verse reads.

“For I know the plans I have for you’ – this is the Lord’s declaration plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)

Before I share with you guys what this verse means to me and how it is applied in my life. I want to give you guys a little backstory. I was blessed with an amazing family and even better role models. I grew up around Christianity and always considered myself a Christian, but I was more of a comfortable Christian. I knew who God was but never knew God’s love. Before I started going to church, getting plugged in. Two years ago, I lived in Louisville, and this was the last place I thought I would be. I was just going with the flow of life. I was in a season where there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I was smoking weed, drinking alcohol, and chasing girls with no course or end goal for my life. I was digging my own hole deeper and deeper, blinding myself from God’s promise for me. And I had no idea this was all part of the process. Guys, if I’m being honest, I had no idea what Jeremiah 29:11 said until I was asked to get up here. But boy, I needed to hear it. The Lord declares that he has plans to prosper you and not harm you. And I want to camp out on that word harm because that is the spotlight of this season of my life. I was going through so much pain and suffering. I was harming myself and others around me. I put all the blame on God for all these actions and emotions I was feeling. But I had never been so far from the truth. I heard a sermon the other day by Steve Furtick, and he was talking about why God lets people go through these terrible seasons in life. And he said something that just stuck out like a sore thumb. It was so powerful. He said it had to happen. It does not matter the reason. What matters is only the response. My response was anger, hatred, blaming God for all of this I was going through. I would ask God why did he let me stray so far away from him? I want to ask God, why did he not give me a father that loves me? But when I changed my response from blaming to seeking, I realized that he did give me a father that loves me, a heavenly Father whose love has no bounds. I learned that I had to go through all of this to get to where I’m at now. If you read on Jeremiah 29 versus 12 and 13 says, then you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen. You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. It’s just like Amazing Grace. I was so lost. But now I’m found. All I did was change my response from blaming God to seeking God and His love. I finally realized that I couldn’t do it on my own. So I had to go to a Heavenly Father that I strayed so far away from. I went to seek the God that has a plan for me, the one true God that has plans to prosper me and not harm me. Before I leave, I want to give you guys a few words of encouragement that will help me. If you don’t hear anything, this is what I want you to hear. The promise that God has for you is usually discovered in the process. Thank you.

Hello, for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Katherine Taylor. I’m a part of the college ministry here at Eastside, and I just recently stepped into leading the high school freshman girl’s life group. To give you a back story or a little more context about Jeremiah 29 as a whole. The exiles had been sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. God sent them as disciples, and in obedience, they went. God had told them that after 70 years, He would return to them and fulfill the promise he had made to them. Which then leads us to Jeremiah 29:11.

“For I know the plans I have for you’ – this is the Lord’s declaration plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)

This verse states that only God knows what tomorrow brings and two God will never set us up for failure. He wants us to have hope and trust in him, even if we don’t know the outcome. For most of my childhood, this verse was quote-unquote, easy to live by. I spent all of my life in the church, the usual youth group on Wednesday nights, Sunday school at 9:30, and service on Sundays. As I used to call it, the big church at 11. My family had just always raised me to always put my trust in the Lord, good or bad, and just let God do the work. And I know I’m pretty biased, but I’m proud to come from the family. I do. I’m so appreciative of the life I live and the family God gave me and blessed me with. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school and cosmetology school that I had to figure out what trusting in God and this verse meant to me throughout high school. There wasn’t a soul I didn’t make friends with. I was a people person and still am. To this day, I talk to a wall, even if they don’t talk back to me, lol. However, when I graduated high school, reality hit me like a truck. As the days and summers went on, I lost more and more of the people. I not only called my friends but my family too. Then came cosmetology school, a school full of over 100 girls anywhere from the age of 17 to 55 and maybe five or so who claim to know Jesus. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved high school, and goodness, am I so, so happy to be in the career that I’m in. But at that time, then more than ever did I need to cling to Jesus. But it didn’t happen overnight. I immediately started doubting my worth. My anxiety became at an all-time high, and the people that I thought would be in my life forever were nowhere to be found. I felt alone and completely out of sorts. Besides my family, the community I once had was gone. I was worried, fearful, anxious, stressed, and scared. I had to learn to be content with being alone, knowing that at the end of the day, if all I had was Jesus, I’d still be my happy-go-lucky self like before. Back in 2014, on August 6th. The worst news I could have imagined happening happen. My mom sat my sister and me down and told us that God had gained my God-fearing, honest, goofy, selfless, loving grandfather, one of the best grandfathers I could have ever asked for. He always used to say I was larger than life. So with that reminder running through my head, I kept trucking even though it wasn’t going to be easy. Fast forward from 2014 back to the winter of 2021. I had seen Maverick City Music twice, once with my parents and my sister and the second time at Passion with E-College. There was a song they performed at both places. And it goes like this. Fear is not my future. You are. Sickness is not my story. You are. Heartbreaks are not my home. You are, you are. Death is not the end. Jesus, you are you are. All of my childhood to now, almost anything I do, there is music applied to it in some type of way. I love to sing. Music is my heart for Jesus. So when I read this verse, the first thing that popped into my head was this song. It gives me a sense of peace and hope. Along with this comes community for me. I don’t know what I’d do without my family, friends, and Faith Grant. My life group. Ali, Micah, Bunch, my cousin Sophie, and all of my church family community had saved my sanity. They support me, encourage me, reassure me, and hold me accountable in my walk with Jesus every day. So with all of this being said, my challenge to you today is to get plugged in, find your community, and find your people who can save your sanity. People who can point you to Jesus and remind you you are not alone. Whether you’re an adult, college, student, or middle school age, Eastside has so many different life groups that you can get plugged into. I can’t say enough about how much community changed my life. Having people to talk to you about your faith in your relationship with Christ is what it’s all about. Now I can confidently say this promise, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and hope. Thank you.

Well, this morning. You know, if you are not humbled by what God has already started and is doing right now, then I just want to challenge you to evaluate where you’re at. Because, you know, I think about the student’s testimonies. I think about the students who got here at seven eight and came leaders and worship. I think about the students that got here at 8:30 to get excited and to rally around the fact that they get the opportunity to serve all of us. And, you know, I’m going back to all four speakers. They left us with encouragement. They left us with challenges. The main challenge that we heard is that it makes sense to get plugged in when we think about God’s plans for our life, whether we’re completely unclear of what’s to come. One thing that is clear is that he wants us to be in a community with him and with his people. And so this morning, I want to invite you just to close your eyes. Because I fully believe that God has made it clear to you this morning that you have a next step. You know, I think about what Paige said, that if it wasn’t for her life group leader, she does not know where she would be in our darkest moments. Aston reminds us that it’s through the process that we discover and understand that God has a plan and a purpose for us. Logan said God revealed to me through someone else. I do have a purpose, and I do belong. He does have more for me. Just like Kathryn said, if it wasn’t for the community, she didn’t know where she would be right now. She wouldn’t be on the stage. She wouldn’t be able to share her story. So this morning, I want you to evaluate God. What is my next step? And maybe you’re like, Brandon, it’s not clear this morning what my next step is. Well, then we’re going to pray this morning that God would make it clear because God does have a next step for you, whether it’s to step into a life group, whether it’s to come on Sunday morning at a regular basis, whether it’s to step into serving, whether it’s to leave here and to find someone and ask them where you were. You come alongside me and teach me how to pray, where you come alongside me, teach me how to read my Bible. I’m just in need this morning. So this morning, you’re thinking about whatever the next step is. I just want to invite you to stand. And as we go into this last song this morning, I want you to make whatever the next step is your declaration. As you worship, I want you to pray because I know there’s an inner fight inside you that’s telling you to not go to talk to someone, to not get into a life group, and to not step into serving. I want you to declare this morning God’s promise of your life. That he has a plan for you that you will not leave this church until you find someone to talk to. To help you take the next step.