During the evening, we broke the group into their respective tribes and let the fun ensue. Each tribe had to come up with a name and create a flag. Our two tribes, Doel (purpose in Afrikaans/Dutch) and Hemel (Heaven in the same) then dove into face painting which turned out pretty amazing.
1) Jesus is OUTCAST. Even among his own disciples (and Peter in particular) Jesus was an outcast. Even after living with Jesus for years, Peter turned and denied even knowing Jesus. In the end the entire world would reject him and 'kick him off the island'. The Good News though is He knows we are weak and was still willing to die for all those who reject/deny/hide from Him.
2) Jesus OUTFITS us. Jesus became flesh with the purpose of saving us all. During his time, he just happened to do something else amazing: he provided us with a template of how to embrace His gift of salvation. On Survivor, the contestants have nothing really to start with. It is their wits, knowledge and character that allows them to overcome the challenges before them. Jesus provided us an understanding of how we can be God's children through Jesus' teachings and examples of how to live (read John 8:1-11)
3) Jesus OUTLASTS. After his baptism, Jesus wandered the wilderness for 40 days and nights. Then when He was weak and tired the tempter walks in and tests Jesus. We all have our times of trial (our 40 days) and temptations. We need to rely on Jesus' example. God is there for us and his Word serves as the guiding hand to get us through our pain, suffering and tribulation.
4) Finally (and maybe most of all) Jesus OUTGIVES. We all know the story of Jesus's ultimate sacrifice: His death for our eternal life. We read 'The Ragman' by Walter Wangerin Jr (http://home.earthlink.net/~joyful3/ragman.htm for a link) and talked about how we all have had our rags taken from us and replaced with splendid new garments.
It was a great evening with lots of great conversation. If you have not seen the videos and the rest of the pictures from the evening, check out our Facebook page HERE _