Author: Heather Lea Campbell

Faith ♥

christianity, faith
Now for one of my absolute faaaaaaaavorite topics, faith.
((Lately in church, the pastor has been preaching out of James on the passage about Faith and Works.  This happens to be one of my most absolute favorite verses.  My friend Brandi also talked about this idea a bit in chapel last week, and I had a fabulous conversation with her before she spoke and amazing conversations with people following her “sermon.”  This summer, I faced the difficulty in teaching the idea of faith and works, because it’s a hard thing to teach without sounding legalistic.  So I feel like it’s about time for me to write about it!))
So I’ll begin :)

Faith without works is dead.  What does that mean?  It means that you cannot have a true, saving faith without repercussions afterwards.  Salvation is more than just praying a prayer; it has to have after-effects.  Think about a marriage—they make a promise, sign a piece of paper, and go on with their life living the same way, right?  NO!  Every day when they wake up, they renew their commitment and strive to please their spouse.  A relationship with Christ is the same way.  You make a commitment to a relationship with Him, and this love for Him should radically change your life daily.  I believe very deeply that it is impossible to get into heaven without a transformation in your life, even if you “pray the prayer” and “ask Jesus into your life.”

Am I being harsh?  Some might think so.  Let’s examine the word “faith”, though!  The word faith in Greek is pistis.  The word in itself means “an active, working faith.”  It is used hundreds of time in the Bible, and if you took a look to examine each of these times, usually you will see that in the context of the passage around it there are actions supplementing the faith.  I think that some people mistake “faith” and “believing.”  James says, “Even the demons believe, and they shudder.”  Does believing in God get you to heaven?  No.  Faith does.  What’s the difference between faith and believing?  The action put into faith.  Faith then, by its definition here, “is an active belief.”  If you take away the actions or works from faith, all you get is “belief”, and belief gets you nowhere in eternity.  When looking at the two words behind “faith” and believe” in Greek, the difference is the conviction behind “faith”, and the actions put into it and not into “believe”.  Faith without works is dead, not only in the fact that it is no longer death, but it doesn’t bring you Eternal Life.
In our modern Christian attempt to draw more people to Christ and show that Christianity is not about legalism, I think that we have produced an apathetic Christianity.  Christians are too comfortable in their lives and aren’t doing anything about their beliefs.  (Listen to Lecrae’s “Send Me!”) I think this is incredibly sad!  When Jesus called his disciples, what did He say?  GET UP and FOLLOW ME.  He didn’t say, “Just, um, believe that I exist and we’re good!”  They believed in Him, but by their actions they gained true faith.
Let me be clear here, you do not obtain salvation through actions.  You obtain salvation through faith.  Faith is an active, working belief, meaning you believe in it and thus are driven to do something about it.  Example:  I believe that my bed does not have snakes in it.  To have faith in it would mean that I would actually get in the bed.  We believe in God, but to have faith in Him would be to follow his commands and to live out his promises.

So how do we have an active, working belief—Faith?  First of all, following His commands.  We are commanded to Love God with everything we got, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  This is the summary, to me, of living out faith.  James talks about how true religion is helping out the orphans and widows, and if we see anybody in need to help them in a physical and tangible way.  I think tithing is a good way to act out your faith in God and His church; it shows that you trust in the church the same way I trust in my snakeless bed.  Evangelizing, spreading the Gospel, is an amazing way of spreading your faith by living out God’s commands of making disciples.  Discipling a younger believer, getting involved in choir, attending a camp or retreat; these are all good ways of acting out faith.  Making war with sin and trying to overcome temptation is necessary.  The great thing about living out faith is that there is not “cookie-cutter” way of doing it, which eliminates legalism.  Each person has their own special gift; make sure to use it when you live out your faith.

The bottom line is, if you believe in Jesus Christ and call Him your Lord and Savior, that HAS to have an effect on your life…it has HAD to have moved you!

I hope I have done this topic justice.  Please read James 2, Hebrews 11, and Romans.  And then go do something about what you believe in.

Glad I didn’t miss chapel…

college, god, identity, love

Today God really reminded me of how much he loves me.  His love for me is extravagant and just more that I can ever imagine.  His love is more intimate than any other friend’s love for me.  I don’t even choose to be loved by Him, He loves me no matter what.  His love is amazing, and stronger than any other love I have ever known.  It’s overwhelming and enticing.  It’s irresistible.  It’s grace-filled.  It’s mighty.  It covers all of my sin and is greater than all the “good” things I have done put altogether.  It’s not contingent on what others think of me.  It is not dependent on any other factor than God’s mercy.  It’s just…God.  God IS love.

Dear Sam…

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Dear Sam,
This completely and utterly stinks.  I miss you so much.  I’m so ticked that your life was taken because of a drunk driver.  I’m sad that you were so young.  It sucks that it was the same week as the anniversary of Sam Lipka.  I just don’t even know what to say.

I remember when we first met in middle school.  We rode the bus together every day.  We were typical middle-schoolers.  One day we hated each other, but the next day we had each other’s backs.  I remember that you were one of the ones that brought a lot of new styles to Ferg Middle with you.  You were pretty much like Avril Lavigne, and we called you that.  We didn’t always get along, but we didn’t have to.  We bonded every day and I can’t ever remember a time where I hated you.
High school, we didn’t see each other as much, but our relationship definitely grew.  We are so different, but that never seemed a problem.  Remember Drama class? Our production of the Wizard of Oz?  I remember you telling me I only got the part of Dorothy because I didn’t do any other plays.  I also remember the countless laughs that we shared in that class. That class was boss!
We always seemed to have a class together.  In Brit Lit, I hated all the books.  But you loved them.  You loved English class and you were always reading something.
I will never forget your big purses, your distinct giggles, you making fun of my pledge to purity.  I remember “Bringing Dillon Back” and our Senior shirts.  What would you do for a jolly rancher? haha we thought we were so clever.  I remember laughing about your height, complaining about our huge breasts, and just the weird sexual jokes.  The notes we passed were hilarious, and filled with pictures of “turds” I cannot remember how that started, but it started pretty early in our relationship.  Even after high school, we joked about it over facebook, which was really our only interaction.  I thought it was crazy when your brother married one of my best friends growing up.  I laughed as we joked about me marrying you and your boo at the time.
I think one of my favorite things about you was that you were you.  You didn’t apologize for that.  You knew exactly who you thought you were.
I am going to miss you.  I think a lot of people are.  You had your friends, your enemies, your frienemies.  I’m learning how  fragile life is.  I’m also learning how important the relationships I had in high school really are to me.  I might act like high school meant nothing to me, but they did.  I miss high school sometimes, because we were so naiive and honestly, that was the simplist life would ever get.
Bleh.
Sam, I love you, and I’m learning through this.
Love, Heather :)

This is Weird.

college, youth ministry

So this is weird.  I’m thinking about how we are all going to grow up one day.  I feel like just yesterday I was in high school, not understanding who I am and struggling to fit in.  And here I am, in college, with a slightly better understanding of who I am and people who are constantly affirming that.  It’s crazy.  And tomorrow, I’m going to be an adult.  Well not really tomorrow, but when I get to that point, I am going to wonder where the time went.  I wonder what it’s going to be like when we are 80 years old. Weird. So. Stinking. Weird.

As I looked online for curriculum, and pa-rouse youth ministry sites, I realized something.  One day, my colleagues are going to be the people writing this curriculum and making these sites.  My friends are going to be the ones speaking at huge conferences and camps like Centrifuge and Crossings.  I may even know the next Lecrae (and hopefully marry him!)  They are going to be writing books that I turn to when I want to pull my hair out, and making the curriculum that I will use with my youth group.  What is weirder, I might be one of them!  Whoaaa!  Thinking about this has made the reality that “One Day, I’m Going to Be an Adult” almost more real.  Should I start writing my book?  Should I start getting the curriculum I just wrote for our WarZone published?  hahahaha.  Oh my.  Tis Strange.

On another still-weird-but-less-frazzled note, while I’m thinking of youth ministry majors, I’m quite disappointed with some of ours right now.  I’m beginning to realize more and more that people go into ministry to correct their own lives.  It is so incredibly sad!  This mentality is very common in my peers, that “I had a messed up youth.  So I’m going to go to college, major in youth ministry, and I will become reformed and help those in their youth to make up for my sin in mine.”  And honestly, I’m sure that I felt that at one time or another, that the program would help reform me.  Why shouldn’t it reform me?  But there needs to be a legitimate, specific calling to the ministry.  I don’t want to see more teenagers suffer because their youth minister committed a major sin and had to leave the church.  And that goes for me too.

I’m incredibly scatter-brained today.  God answered a huge prayer last night, but I still am not happy.  I don’t really understand it.  But I need to learn to rest in His grace and armor myself with His Strength.  I can’t fight whatever funk I’m feeling alone! oh no no nooooo…

Murmur Murmur Murmur, Why Am I This Way? MAKE. WAR!

christianity, music, sin

Do you glorify your sin? Are you tripping STILL off of who you once was? Are you putting up barriers because you can’t get past it?

I was. I am. And I am sure that you are too.
This was revealed to me this summer. As many know, I was an intern this summer at an amazing church in Illinois. I learned so much about ministry and about myself. One of my breaking moments was when it was revealed to me that I am so caught up in who I was, that I can’t be who I am now or continue onto who I need to be in Christ.
I see this happen a lot in myself and my friends. I have friends who STILL think that they have a sin that no one else can relate to. There are girls who weren’t exactly pure in high school, and now think that they don’t deserve a good Godly man who, in their eyes, got all their cookies together. There are people who were in gangs and now feel like no one can relate to them, so they fade into the background so that no one will notice them. There are many who feel like their family life is so messy, they refuse to talk about family with people. But the truth is, we have ALL had sin and we have ALL had trials. We put up barriers so people can’t get in. Even I have been guitly of this, I who thought my life was an open book! I never would have thought that I did this! I BLOG MY LIFE for goodness sakes!
If we aren’t putting barriers up because of our sin, we are glorifying it. Oh yes. A friend of mine told me that in his first conversation with a boy he was to mentor, the boy told my friend of all the things he had done: sex, weed, alcohol, gangs, etc. He said it without my friend even asking, and afterwards seemed pleased with himself. My friend just looked at him and asked, “Are you proud of that? Are you happy you did all that? Because you sure act like it!” Sometimes, we think that our testimony is so legit and amazing, that we almost take pride in the sin that he had committed. I am guilty, again. I know many Christians that sit around and talk about what their favorite alcoholic drink was “back in the day” (ha, two years ago?!) and laugh about the times they got flat our drunk and did some stupid thing. Why is this funny? And how can you laugh about it one minute, then try to minister with it the next?
Oh man, this reminds me of a story. A few years ago on a mission trip, I was talking with the girls I was mentoring about their testimonies. I was trying to help them work through them so they could use them to minister to those on the mission trip. One girl told me of how she cheated on her boyfriend, had sex with his friend, and contracted chlamydia. Just like that. I said, “And…?” She replied, “That’s it.” I asked, “And how are you going to use this as a testimony?” She shrugged. She didn’t know. I asked her, “Where was God in all this?” She said, “He helped me through it.” Although true, I was looking for more: “Did you learn anything?” “Yeah, he’ll help me when I need him.” That was not what I’m looking for. How about learning that sin has consequences? Or knowing that God was faithful to you even when you sinned, so you should revamp your life and repent so that you aren’t committing that same sin! I suggested these things, and it discouraged her. She wasn’t ready for a change, just corporate confession to make her feel better.
Okay, scripture time. This was one of the verses this summer that really spoke and got me to really think about what I was doing to myself. Philippians 2: 1-14:

1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul really was a terrible sinner. He had plenty to boast about, too! He was pretty much the best Jew, a “righteous” Pharisee, etc. He made it in the world. He even persecuted Christians. But he counted it all as loss. It wasn’t this mighty thing that he could now tell everyone he met. It was something that he could use to minister when needed. Our testimony isn’t what compels people to Christ. It’s the grace that does, as revealed through Scripture and through our testimonies. My testimony is powerful, I need to understand that. However, I need to focus not on all the bad things I did, but how powerful His grace was to me, that even while I was still a dirty rotten sinner, He died for me and I no longer need to even think about who I was. It is all behind me, and the Cross and my eternal life is ahead of me.
I know this is a long post, but here is something you should watch! It’s a song called “Make War” by Tedashii. It talks about how as Christians, we talk about our sin and glorify it SO much! But instead of glorifying it, we need to be making war with it!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

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Halloween is my favorite holiday. I get a lot of smack for this, but I frankly don’t care! Halloween is just my favorite :)

Halloween is exactly what we say it is. There aren’t any reasons to celebrate, it’s just for fun. Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of our Savior, yet we drop Him to the background and sing songs about Santa, decorate our house with Santa, and celebrate gifts from…Santa. I can’t remember a Thanksgiving where through the craziness of making a huge dinner and getting a handful of guests to come over, my family could be truly thankful and celebrate the small blessings. Easter was always about eggs and bunnies, two things which never made sense to me. Fourth of July? No, it’s called “Independence Day”, but we celebrate hamburgers and fireworks, not our blessed freedom and liberty as Americans.
Ironically, Halloween has less masks than the rest of the holidays. Maybe as I grow older and have a family of my own, my favorite holiday will change! In fact, I do anticipate it changing, as I hope to make my family’s Christmas about Christ, Independence Day about our Independence, and Thanksgiving about Thankfulness. And I DO try to make it like that for me as an individual. Yet for now, Halloween is my favorite!
Tonight, I’m dressing up and teaching my youth group, then I’m off to the Masquerade Ball here at school! I’m very excited that Halloween and the Sabbath are on the same day! Yay!
Speaking of Holidays and preserving their true meanings, on Facebook there is a group called 30 Days of Thankfulness. Every day, you’re supposed to post as your status a reason you are thankful. I’m participating for sure! God has blessed me a lot, and I have tons of reasons to be thankful. So I hope in the spirit of Thanksgiving, you will do the same!
Ps, I do not believe in Vampires :)

New blog layout!

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I liked the old layout, but I wanted it to be more personal. Since I’m sharing my life with you guys, I want to REALLY share it! Hopefully this is more “me”. I love the feedback I get on my blog, even if people don’t directly post it to the blog itself! SOOO please keep it coming! I love the affirmation!

PS, I am listening to Camp Rock 2’s soundtrack. this has made my day happy.
:)

Heather Potter

christianity, identity, testimony

I am like Harry Potter.

Stick with me here.
Harry Potter grew up in an environment where he knew he was different, not just physically. He was teased, made fun of, and his own family was terrible to him. One day somebody tells him that he is actually somebody completely different from what he was being told all along. And so he goes into this new world, trying not to be affected by his past, but also struggling to adjust to the new world. He knows that he belongs to this new world, and it really does make sense! Things are clicking together for him, and life seems to kind of fall into place. He is learning what it means to be this new identity, a wizard, while learning to use his gifts that he was literally born with.
I think you know where I am going here :)
I grew up in this world where I was told that I was worthless, different, and useless. One day I heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I realized that I am not of the world that I was living in. So I pursue Christ, and mold into the world/worldview of Christianity. I struggle because I don’t understand everything and I am learning everything through experience. But I realize that it makes sense. Everything that I went through in life is consistent with the new identity that I have discovered. And I also realize that I have gifts that make everything fall into place.
No matter what you think of Harry Potter, I’m sure that you can now identify with him :)

Boys Ruin Everything

Blogs about Heather

Most of the time, I post about what God is doing in my life. But I need a moment to rant. To be fair, I am a woman and have fluctuating hormones. As this is the week that my hormones are particularity high, I just need to get it all out.

Why do boys ruin things? Seriously. How come you can’t just be friends with a boy? It just has become ridiculous. The Lord has been teaching me how to control my male relationships, because in the past I struggled with not protecting my heart. But I have it down now, or at least down enough to know when I am and am not protecting myself (in reality, I might just be too good at protecting myself). But back to my rant. It seems like boys do not understand how to be just friends with a girl. If a girl gets close, it must mean she just wants to be your boo.
NO! It is perfectly healthy to have friends of the opposite sex! Boys! Quit being awkward and let a girl be your friend! She needs strong men in her life! Yes, men! So quit being boys and grow into men and give ladies of all ages a strong man to rely on and befriend!
Here’s the other way that I have been disappointed by males lately:
We are in a Mancession. Read about it in NewsWeek, Time, etc. Men aren’t employed as much as women. More accurately, men aren’t stepping up to the plate. There was an article about it in our school’s paper, and it got me more furious than I already was, to tell you the truth. I know of countless ministries that need men to head them, or even men to volunteer their time to them, but there are hardly any stepping up to the plate. I’m so tired of hearing every year at missions chapel “we need you men!” and not seeing very many sign up. It’s getting ridiculous. I cannot find one guy, just ONE GUY to help me with my ministry. It’s ridiculous!!! Seriously! You would think that Christian men would step up to the plate, but they are just as pansy as the nons.
I know I’m going to get a lot of crap for this post. And quite frankly, I don’t care. In the past, I had a comment by someone who said that I am a man-hater. Quite the opposite. I am a man-lover. I just can’t seem to find many men in our age. I don’t see many guys who are like Jesus Christ. And that’s honestly how I see it.

Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner

christianity, lgbtq, sin

Christians use this phrase all the time. Non-Christians hate it. Why? Because for some people, a Christian’s definition of sin is not their definition of sin. And that “sin” defines that person.


Not following? I’ll give you an example. Some of you may know that this last spring, a group called Soulforce came to my school (and it changed my life, read about the experience here). They are a group of LGBTQs and allies. For a queer person, to say that you hate their sin offends them, because you are saying that the very essence of them, the very thing that they feel defines them best, is hated by you. So to them, you are saying, “I love you, but I hate the very thing that defines you.” If you were to tell me, “I love you, but I hate that you are a Christian and I find Christ repulsing” I wouldn’t be able to be your friend. Why? Because I feel like you not only hate my Christ, but you hate the very thing that defines me, which in turn means you hate ME.

I think the phrase can be useful, just not with non-Christians. After talking with Soulforce, I realized that using this phrase with people who don’t have a relationship with Christ can do more harm than good.

But is the phrase useless? NO! Yet I think we need to remember what this phrase means. I think it’s a good summary of Ephesians 6:12.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Our fight isn’t against flesh and blood. It isn’t against sinners, pagans, non-Christians, etc. It is against the sin itself–the ROOT of the sin. That root is Satan and the “spiritual forces of wickedness”, the “darkness” that is in our world. That’s why we need to make war against those darknesses. We don’t make war by picketing, slandering sinners, and by telling people we hate what they are doing. We make war through prayer, through spreading the Gospel, and through love.

It can be a good reminder to yourself to hate the sin, meaning the darknesses behind it. But never tell a sinner you hate their sin, because that can keep them away from the light.