The final journey home

Tonight everyone on our team met back up in Dublin at a hotel outside the airport…..we watched the end of the world cup and cheered with the whole lobby.    That’s that kind of cheer that I feel inside my spirit as I leave Ireland once again with a fantastic team of young people.  They have spent themselves this week serving the country of Ireland.    This has been an amazing stretch for our team and I an encouraged once again at the level that our kids can operate at.    After a few spar sandwiches and some salt and vinegar crisps the whole lot was off to sleep before our final big day!   To Newark and then on to New York City for just a little while and then the final flight directly back into Tulsa.

Parents you can be super proud that you students have demonstrated great character and incredible attitude as they have ministered.    Thanks for allowing me to lead them on such incredible adventures.
God Bless

Xtremely His
Kevin W. Norwood

 

THE FINAL PUSH

Portlaoise/ Dublin Team:  The final travel for our missions trip has been completed!    The Dublin team has now transitioned to Portlaoise.    They  worked  really incredibly hard to finish their project that should have taken one day to complete.  They painted a complete inside of a house and redid it to the owners speck and worked through dinner to make that possible before they departed to be in new host homes tonight.   Tomorrow they will work on the new church building and then on Sunday be a part of all the ministry that takes place.    This is the most traveled team that has ever been with us.  I am amazed and super pleased with them and their tenacity.    They are working with Noel who took his students to Navan to work for Urban Soul and then to Dublin for the night service of Urban Soul.  Props to him for going the extra mile to make all of this missions trip work for his students.   Projects fell through that would have filled a whole week but this has worked into a pretty amazing trip for our students and for theirs.    All I know is that God works all things together for GOOD….if we just trust him…..  Super Proud of this team

Navan/ Brim:  I have talked with the Munoz’s tonight and their team has worked themselves to death.    They have been back to a couple of the care facilities that they were in last year.  This year the conversation has led to Jesus which a year ago was totally off limits.    They have worked with a team from Tennessee and from Hawaii…..This has been the greatest trip we have ever had as far as reaching across all lines and working with so many new people.  God has given us great favor with the national church and with churches all across the states.   Thanks to all our students who have worked so hard, I am super proud of them….

Limerick:   Today we completely painted the inside of the church entry and kitchen.   We completely washed the walls inside the church on scaffolding  and painted all the benches around the room.  This has been a complete work day because a whole lot of people from the church showed up as well to work.   There were 8 bags of trash and the place completely looks new.     They hung up flags for their first ever missions emphasis…..HOW EXCITING….  what was exciting was how many different nations we put up for members of their congregations home country flags…..  THERE IS SOMETHING WAY COOL ABOUT THAT!!!      They made sure that everyone who comes is up   (17 different flags were put up!)     I am so excited to preach to this congregation on Sunday…. I believe that God gave us a word for this trip and that God over the time we have picked up trash and worked hard has ever given greater clarity to the word for this weekend…..

Dreams…..has God given you a dream?

Is it like Joseph’s dream…..God gave it to him, he shared it…..it cost him everything…..in his culture he would never be the ruler or leader over his brothers….they were in line before him…..  Still in his culture he spoke up what GOD was going to do!!!!    And God came through in an amazing way…..when the moment came for revenge or for payback to his brothers…..he rejoiced in God giving him a dream to carry him through the tough times to his future…

Peter has a dream that says KILL and EAT…..no way God I have never touched any of that food that is not KOSHER…..but God says  go against your culture and do what I AM TELLING you to do!!   If God says it is okay, it’s okay….   Then the spirit whispered to him “there are men at the door, get down there and go with them…..Don’t ask any questions..    So Peter out of his dream practiced INSTANT OBEDIENCE just like Cornelius had….This dream changed everything…..But he didn’t let OPO’s  (other people’s opinions) keep him from taking the gospel to the WHOLE WORLD!!!!!

Other people in his culture had opinions…….believe me…because he went against the grain of what had always been done……but it was of GOD and he was obedient….

One last thought….King HEROD..decides to murder Peter so his poll numbers will go up… He was going to lynch him publicly.  He throughs him in jail and puts four sets of soldiers around him, locks him up, puts him into the heart of the prison…   Peter falls asleep knowing that his life is coming to a close….the angel comes and wakes him up, has to tell him how to get dressed,  tell him to come on…..the gate swings open on its own…the handcuffs fall off……   They depart the prison completely free…..and  he THOUGHT HE WAS DREAMING….. the angel left him and he found himself WALKING IN HIS DREAM…..  God had spoken to him that he would be the rock that this new church would build on and HIS WORD was true……walking in your dreams is the very best place to walk…..just some things to think about….
Xtremely His

Kevin Norwood

 

Powerful impact

Dublin:   The team performed it’s new drama from Aaron Keyes.  It was received really well and  they finished their project in Dublin so that tomorrow they can travel to their final destination of Portlaoise.    There they will begin again to build relationships with yet another town and team.    Great job being flexible and for just working so incredibly hard!!!   Awesome.

Navan:   This team has split into three towns and has revisited one of the ministry places from last year.   They have taken on bigger and more amazing projects and with all of them working together this will be a huge success.    Way to go to this Munoz led team.    You guys are making a difference!

Limerick:   The words from the all of the community coordinators as they finished up working with us today was that they will drop by the church to see what is going on.    As the city councils photographer took pictures of all the changes that have happened it was amazing the reception of the pastor as he worked right along side us this whole time.   There was definitely a connection with the church and the community.    The church turned out all three days to partner with us so it has been quite a mob of people who have taken on litter and junk.  Today our kids did face painting and clowning as well……

All together a great day of ministry!

Our boys of Bible Quiz placed second in the national finals.  I am so proud of them and all that they have accomplished this year.    Way to go!!!

Thank you to Owasso First Assembly for allowing us to do so many amazing things at one time.  Our team is just the best and I would trust them all around the world as we work together to build the kingdom.   It has been an awesome week.

By the way Urban Soul in Owasso had 35 students show up while 22 are in Ireland, 10 are in Michigan……They painted and cleaned most of Elm Creek Park and the city was very happy with it!!!!!  And xodus today had 28 students show and have a great time……  Michael Boggs you are doing a great job interning this summer!

God Bless

Xtremely His,

Kevin

 

The Dream Script and Not Guilty Anymore

Today we introduced to Ireland two new pieces that we have written of the past few months.

One was a piece called Dreams….  Have you ever had a huge dream….then someone else came along and shrunk it down to size because of who YOU are…or maybe they let some air out of your dream so it would “fit” you…. or maybe they were dream killers and just popped your dream completely….  Or maybe someone stole your dream or humiliated you about your dream or completely let the air out of all that you thought you were going to do or be…..   IF that has ever happened to you  I have great news…..God is a dream builder and a dream giver…..Pick up the dream he has for you that you  may have put on a shelf or had crushed….dust the pieces off and get on about doing what he has for you…..

All of our students did a fantastic job speaking, singing, doing drama and preaching.   I was so proud of them.  Kathryn text me from Dundalk and told the same story to me about their students and all the ministry that took place today was outstanding.

Our team in Dundalk split out again today to have half of them go to Belfast to be a part of Summer Madness.  This is one of the largest Christian festivals in all of Ireland.   Our students have written a new piece to Aaron Keys  ”you’re not guilty anymore”.   It is a very powerful piece that they produced and tonight they performed it on stage with Reggie as the closer to this whole event.   This year the Sunday night was an event where anyone could be invited so that the altar call could be for salvation.   Our crew just got back with me as I am writing this and everything went awesome.

We have a day off in Dublin tomorrow and then we go to three new towns to once again build relationships with teenagers and adults from local churches and do Urban Soul to touch the community that they are in.

God Bless
Xtremely His

Kevin

 

Day Three Dundalk and Bray

Today was a busy day for the team in Bray.   We worked with an organization called Tidy Towns.  They have taken on a couple of major projects to make Bray a much more beautiful place.    We planted a new flower garden at the local bus stop.  We cleared trash down a walk way that leads to the harbor and we cleared another garden spot that will go along the river.   After we had worked really hard this morning doing all that we went to play frisbee will a whole park full of younger children.  After our lunch break we went to clear the path up the path to Bray’s Head.  Bray is a famous beach town and one of their main attractions is a walk way up to the top of the mountain that has a cross on top.  This path is paved part way then  it gets pretty steep.  So we cleared all of this pathway for the city of Bray.   Concluding our evening we were on the beachfront two different times doing outreach and inviting families out to service tomorrow morning.    This team has worked incredibly hard and tonight as they were headed home they were all worn out but anticipating a great Sunday.  They will be the service…speaking, singing, drama….you name it.

Dundalk finished painting a wall and prepared for another youth club tonight.  Everyone of the Dundalk team is doing fantastic.  They will be a part of the services tomorrow and part of the team will travel to Belfast to be part of Summer Madness with Reggie Dabbs.   The other part of the team will host a young adult service tomorrow night.     All the places that we have organized are coming into place and on this part of the trip there is some stretching of talents and giftings that is going on.  I am so excited for you to hear in detail all that has happened but tonights blog is from a very limited phone call because of how busy both teams have been.   Hope all is well.  Check facebook for more pictures tomorrow.  I must sleep because I am leading a service tomorrow.
God Bless…
Xtremely His

Kevin

 

Day Number Two a huge success in both towns

Dundalk and Bray teams both had great days today.   The Dundalk team painted a wall, they hosted a kids club and then a youth club.   They introduced two new skits that we have written and then their was altar response at the end.   They had a fantastic day.   The two newbies with them Jason and Clarissa are having a great time and trip.

The Bray team finished clearing a graveyard…(go to facebook and check our my new photo album of before and after pictures and of course of my lovely wife Ann who is here working with me.  I love it when we are on the same team.   This is the first time in a long time because Ann is such an incredible leader that I usually send her out to do that but this year we are together and that is really special.  Team bray was on the beachfront tonight and did an outstanding job with our skits that we do to attract a crowd.  I am so proud of them.  I have a bunch of first timers on this first part of our journey.   We have had a great time bonding together and working hard.

I am so proud of your kids.  They are respectful and just some of the hardest working people that I know.   I think the thing that always amazes me is the character that they have always shines through in the really tough moments.   Xtreme thanks for representing Owasso First Assembly of God so amazingly!!
I have got to get to bed….

Night and talk with you tommorrow…..

Oh, if you want to follow along our devotional this morning was over Acts 1….key verse 1:8 combined together with 1 John 3…..key verse 7  ”no one who lives deeply in Christ make a practice of sin!”   Today we practiced serving others….what about you…..are you living deeply in Christ?   He said that those who serve first would be in His kingdom….who cares where as long as I am deep in HIM!!
Xtremely His

Kevin

 

Ireland 2010

This is the most aggressive that we have been in coming to Ireland.   We are going to travel more miles and be in more cities that before.  We will be in Bray and Dundalk to start.  Everything went perfect on travel to start our trip and already a day has been invested in demonstrating acts of kindness and compassion on purpose.  Both teams have worked today and go to bed worn out but fulfilled that we are a part of the great commission.   Thanks to everyone on my team who work so hard and are so dependable to do what I would do in all kinds of circumstance.   I would trust this team to work with me anywhere anytime.   Thanks for making life so fulfilling.

I am in Bray and our team is loaded with first time missions students and today was just a great joy watching them figure out how to work together but they all have a common thread.  They know HOW to WORK HARD and the keep looking for more to do.  They make me proud and so thankful for all that God has blessed us with.

I heard back that Pastor did a outstanding job with service and that Josh and the worship team did as well.   I also heard that Merge service was just as quality with Michael Boggs speaking.   Thanks so much to everyone who helps make Xtreme such a fantastic place.

Tomorrow morning our Bible Quiz team leaves to travel to Detroit to try and become a three time National Champion.    I know this is important to them so I support them 100 percent but I want everyone to know that I believe they are already champions because they are involved in ministry at the same time they burn to compete.   Thanks guys for making me so proud of what you do “behind the scenes” and not just up at the table.  Have a great trip.

I have got to crash….a full day ahead tomorrow.   God Bless
Xtremely His

Kevin W. Norwood.

 

Being a person of your contract!

The Bible says let your yes be yes and your no be no.    It is vital to integrity to keep your word.   Do you ever not keep your word?

I had a conversation with my mom the other day about this topic.   She has always kept her word to me about what she will or will not do.    She is adamant about that with me.   If she has said she will pay for something she doesn’t let me pay for it.    She is over the top persistent about this principle.   Finally the other day she explained to me why she is so intense about this subject.   Her dad would constantly promise things to her and her brothers as kids and then never delivered!    He would constantly break his word to them, so much to the point that her picture of  what a father should be was never right.    She committed to herself that she would never do that to her kids.   I have been her child for 42 years and she still won’t drop that.     That is powerful.

She has challenged me on the commitments that I make randomly to kids and to others, how persistent am I in not missing those things that I commit to.   I have had to really look at that.   I keep commitments but sometimes it is on my timeframe instead of what someone else might expect.   She has challenged that my preaching will be affected by what I do in conversation.  I like it when iron sharpens iron.

I am working on this, to evaluate what I commit to and make sure that I can do what I say.    I understand that with my daughter and with those around me who trust that what I say will happen.   What about you?   Do you keep your word?

What is something better comes up?    What is worth your word?

Just talking out loud to myself today.

On a side note.   One of my friends turned 39 this week….oops  93.   She is full of wisdom and she is a person who again today spoke of this issue into my life.  Be a person of your word.   Be honest and do what is right.   People will value that a lot!   She is amazing and the hours that I spend with her are always full of her talking and me listening.   The Bible talks about this principle……Hang out with those who are wise and YOU will become wise.

God has truly blessed me with a surround sound room of wisdom!!  Thanks

Xtremely His

Kevin

 

Team..

Together Each Accomplishes More…..

Team approach is what I know.    It has been a really refreshing few weeks as I have been a part of a couple of teams working together.

The group of friends and co workers in the ministry in Ireland make me so pleased to be a part of the kingdom of God.  It is with great joy that I go and spend a week with them in February going to schools and talking with pastors and youth pastors.   The team work and the number of hours put into making that a success is a really outstanding and it is so fulfilling to go and see lives touched.

The other journey is over the past couple of weeks I have seen the fruit of years of labor of equipping young students with musical and leadership skills.   I have watched as those who have started on the journey with me have grown up into maturity and that is so powerful and uplifting.   Our team of people who have worked with us musically through the years has been amazing.   Working with them when they are grown up is really a cool thing for me.   It makes me want to work even harder with the next group that comes along.

I am preparing for some of the most aggressive messages that I have ever spoken about purity in the next three weeks.   The crew around me is praying with me and for me that we will make a life difference by talking so clearly about choices and about sexuality.   They are a great sounding board as we talk through subjects and they help keep me centered not out on the xtreme’s where I could go but where I NEED to go.

TEAM means that you talk things through, you work together to reach a common goal, you care about each other and ask the really true honest questions that need to be asked, like how are you really?    Team means that you applaud when each succeeds and you feel for the other one when things don’t go quite right.

Team….   Jesus gave us the intricate details of how to do it by DOING it!!   Let   me follow in His path and plan not my own.

Xtremely His
Kevin

 

Givers, Takers and Real Relationships!

Have you ever met someone who is a taker?   No really, someone who is always looking for something from you or from anyone around?  Have you ever been a taker?

What about a giver?   Have you ever been around someone who is always giving away?   Have you ever been a giver?

Givers and takers?   The world is full of both.

To give is a choice.   I make a choice to give….in words, in actions, in possessions, in things….   to give is MY choice.    Whether the person I am giving to receives anything from me is up to them.   I give without strings attached,  well sometimes?   How about you?   Can you freely give away?  Not with expectation except for the fact that you have become a person who looks like Christ.   He gave freely but in return His expectation was our all?

What about you?  Are you a taker?   Their are people who will suck you dry of everything that you have….it will never be enough for them.   They always want more with no thought ever of giving to anyone else in return.   Their world is really small and becomes really I focused…    Takers listen without hearing,  walk without heading any warning, refuse to change…..   Takers were with Jesus too.   They took his life….they asked Him questions,  they hated Him and His answers and took thing into their OWN hands.    For the sake of THEIR religion….   What about you….

What I have discovered is that Givers freely give to those who appreciate it, but to truly be a giver you still give to those who you know to be TAKERS, you just do it unto CHRIST instead of to that person…

Real relationship has a ton of give and take in it.   Sometimes you talk, sometimes you listen, but always your goal is to grow.

As Iron sharpens Iron….

Who will you be today?

Xtremely His

Kevin