John Stonestreet quotes Axis on Breakpoint!

As always our Axis trips to the east coast are fun but are not complete without the proper amount of jet lag. When we landed in the Orlando airport and felt the warm, sticky air we knew that we weren’t in Colorado anymore. It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of the Spring Semester. There is much to be thankful for, and the team is carried by the inherent momentum of time and the desire to bond with students and teammates alike. We quickly found inspiration to bond as this was our final trip.

It never ceases to amaze me that God allows us to feel aches of emptiness, soreness, and fatigue so that the balm of his patience, kindness, and truth are so much sweeter. Thankfully, he didn’t call in the reserves.

According to the stats, the majority of students walk away from God when they get to college. Why is that and what can we, as parents, do about it? Find out more on The Axis Podcast.

Chasing the heels of our whirlwind tour to New York was our trip to picturesque Mount Vernon Ohio. When we landed in the small Akron/Canton airport the weather was warm, a welcome change from the chill northern air. As we made our way across the state to Mount Vernon we had a very relaxing drive through beautiful plains and quaint farm towns. We stopped for lunch at a family diner in the bustling town square and ate our fill of sandwiches, salads, and lemon Jell-O. Not to be outdone by busy New York City, Mount Vernon’s small square kept quite busy with its many exciting antique stores and stylish coffee shops.

Check out Axis' first ever podcast! It's a little rough around the edges, and you might hear me, your host, say "things like that" a hundred times, but there's still some great content that I know you will enjoy. The podcasts will come out once a month for now, and if you want to find them on iTunes, search for "Axis."

If there's a topic you would like for us to cover, or if you have a question please send a quick email to podcast@axisworldview.org, and we will do our best to answer it as a part of the show.

We have a day off in NYC: Times Square, the Rock, Battery Park… we stumble upon the Dead Sea Scrolls. Curiosity gets the upper hand. There are too many receipts to remember what we paid to see the old books, but that doesn’t matter. There’s simply no price tag for a find like that.

One young man I had the privilege of getting to know was encouraged by what we had to say. In the conversations that I had with him, he would comment on how we stood out from the other speakers because we were making an effort to get to know as many people as possible. He said that we viewed students as being people that were worth our time to invest in and talk to even after the sessions were over. Our conversations reminded me of the importance of person to person mentoring and discipleship. When the church tries to get people to say that they want to become Christians but then doesn’t follow up with them, it leads to seeing people as decisions and numbers. But taking the time to really invest in people’s lives and challenge them to really grow and mature in their faith changes the way that we as followers of Christ see people.

... This same concept came up in one of our small groups while at ACSI’s leadership retreat in East Troy Wisconsin...One girl wanted to know how we as Christians can avoid simply labeling those around us in order to no longer have to look at them as image bearers but rather simple labels? ...

... Most children have received a “piggy-back” ride from their dad while they are small, but few can say that they have had a real “Piggy-back” ride. The Pliema family, who hosted us also were also the owners of a modern day pig farm...the owner asked if any of us would like to ride the pigs? Asha and I quickly jumped into the pens and began to look for a suitable pig to ride...

When you think of California, normally the only thing that comes to mind is a day at the beach or walking down the streets of LA. However, our team got to experience a unique treat on our recent visit to Reedley California where we spoke at Immanuel Schools. In a small community in the middle of fruit orchards near Fresno, we were greeted by an energetic group of students who were ready to engage us and provided us with a captive audience...

On our recent trip back to the great state of Texas, we got to visit and speak at Covenant Classical School in Fort Worth Texas. What set this school apart from so many others was it’s heavy emphasis on reading “the great books” and studying Kant, Aristotle, Plato, and many other thinkers throughout the ages. It was apparent in our conversations and discussions that they were well versed in the realm of classical thinking and logic.

A strange feeling over came over our team at the beginning of our second trip of the Spring semester. We were all excited about the prospects of needing to pack both our swimsuits and snow gear even though the thoughts of frozen Canada after sunny California were daunting...

Tornadoes, thunderstorms, flooded buildings, and cold fronts were not enough to dampen our time with Veritas Christian Academy. The students were engaged with the presentations even with all the distractions occurring around us. During each presentation, the students were quick to answer questions, and ready to think about the worldviews around them...

...Students were intrigued to learn how the numerous ideas saturating pop-culture and media have a profound impact on the way they view the world and live their lives. The student body raised a lot of questions like “What is true faith?; “What is the appropriate standard for music?”; and “How can we know God’s will?”...