Uprising headed to the DR...

I remember in High School and the opportunity that I had to go on my first missions trip with Oasis Student Ministries (at the time).  We ventured down with G.O. Ministries and I could not have imagined what was in store for us as we served a pastor in Hato Del Yaque, Dominican Republic.  The relationships I made and the bonds that continue to run deep are amazing, not to mention I was able to communicate a little bit with my knowledge of the Spanish language.  

Now, as a Student Ministries Pastor I have the honor of bringing along 4 students of my own & 2 adults on a trip with G.O. Ministries.  We will be headed to none other than Hato Del Yaque and staying at the church that my team from Oasis built.  Such a great thing to be a part of and I cannot imagine what God has in store for the students from the Uprising.  I know it is going to be a stressful, exciting, passionate, scary, and amazing week.  God is going to move in mighty ways and I am so excited to be apart of it.  

To keep updated make sure you follow my Facebook Page as well as the Uprising Facebook.  Also, GO Ministries will be keeping an update on the team's progress on their Team Tracker website.  (Team Tracker Site) .   We continually ask for your prayers as the week is going up very fast.  

till another day, 

normallyINDIE. 

Thank You...

I want to officially thank all those who call Twin Oaks Christian Church & the Uprising.  Below is my letter of Resignation as the Student Ministries Pastor here.  Thank you so much for all that you have done and all that God is continuing to do.

Dear Twin Oaks Family, 

Jenny and I are so honored to be able to call this place home and specifically have the opportunity to work with you as members on a regular basis.  I, Alec, have been so blessed to be lead by a great man in Randy Wheeler and could not be more excited about where the future of Twin Oaks, specifically the Uprising, is headed under his Christ-centered leadership.  

With all of that being said, Jenny and I must regretfully inform you that as of July 24th I have resigned as the Student Ministries Pastor here at Twin Oaks CC.  Jenny and I will be pursuing a job opportunity for her in the graphic design field in Indianapolis, IN effective immediately.  We have spent the last two weeks praying over this decision and although it hurts us so much to leave a church family that has been so loving and wonderful, we are 100% positive that this is what/where God is calling our family to next.  Jenny and I are still very much looking forward to spending a week with your students in the Dominican Republic as well as finishing the summer Uprising Events, but our final Sunday will be August 25th, 2013. 

It has been such a blessing to come under the leadership of an dynamic Pastor and staff.  We could not be more heart-broken to leave a church family that is truly doing the work that God has called them to.  I fully trust that God has already ordained the next Student Ministries Pastor for the position and I am so excited to see the powerful impact Pastor Randy and this entire church family is going to have on this community despite our departure.  

You all have been so loving toward us and we could not be more honored to have spent the time getting to know Randy, the Elders, and our entire team.  You all are such amazing men and women of God.  

God Bless, 

Alec M. Tod 

Let Go & Let God...

I had the honor and privilege of taking 11 High School students & 5 adults to CIY Move in Holland, MI this past week.  For those of you who don't know, Move is a Nationwide HS week of worship that takes place at numerous locations throughout the summer months.  It has been going on for many years now and more specifically I have been going to CIY Move since the summer of 2005 (5 Times as a student, 3 times as a leader, missing 2011 & 2012).  This week of worship, intentional growth, and fellowship was one of the most formidable weeks of my teenage years, therefore I jumped at the possibility of leading a group of students from the Uprising.

After lack of interest forced us to lower our numbers, I was discouraged wonder whether it was even worth it for us to go on the trip all together.  But the second I stepped onto the campus, boy was I wrong.  God began working in my heart, our adults' hearts, and in the hearts of our students immediatly.  Little did we know that we would have the opportunity by the end of the week to baptize 5 students, 2 students rededicate their lives, and 6 students commit to full-time vocational ministry.  Here is just a glimpse of the week that changed the Uprising forever.

This was just a glimpse into the amazing week that our students and adults had at CIY Move.  I encourage you to check out The Uprising on Facebook or Instagram (@uprising_sm) as well as get in touch with some of the students that went on the trip.  Ask them about their experience and I am sure you will be encouraged.  

till another day, 

normallyINDIE 

Trains, Trains, & More Trains...

We had the opportunity this past weekend to head down to Indianapolis with 4 student leaders from the Uprising to begin our first annual student leadership trip.  We ventured down to Downtown Indianapolis, IN and stayed at the Crown Plaza Union Station hotel.  If you are familiar with the Union Station, you know that it is a working train station & you can hear the sounds of trains throughout the night (sometimes scary, but very cool) you can also have the chance to stay in a repurposed train car.  Although we did not get a chance to stay in the actual train car we did get to act like we were fresh out of a Harry Potter movie :).

Although the trains were great, we had much more in store with this adventure to Indianapolis.  Starting in January of this year we begin to meet together with a group of student leaders from the Uprising Student Ministries.  We meet once a week to develop and grow as leaders and have the opportunity lead our Growth Groups which happen every other week on Sunday Night.  These are groups that are 100% student led and are great opportunities for students to grow as they are being taught by other students.

In Indianapolis, we were gifted with the opportunity to spend some time with Shane Combs who is the Director of Student Ministries at Bridgeway Community Church in Fishers, IN.  He is not only the pastor at this church, but is a great friend and brother in Christ.  I have had the honor of working with him in the past and could not have been happier to invite him to join us.

Shane Combs had so many great things to share with our students, but I would like to share with you some keys that stuck out to me as he shared them to us.

First of all in order to be a Leader you must first be a follower.  It is important to look at the leaders of the bible and realize first that they had to be leaders in order to understand how to be a leader.  Some keys he had the students write down were as follows

1.  Must be ALERT
        Be aware of What Jesus is doing in your life & your ministry
2.  Must be BRAVE
         What if no one else believes in Jesus, would you still follow him
3.  Committed
          You are so crazy, zealous that you will follow even to the point that it seems crazy

He also shared in our second session some nuggets that were important to keep in mind as our students lead our ministry.  They are as follows:

1.  Leaders Lead
        Leaders do just that, there is no time off of being a leader.  If you are a true leader you ALWAYS      
2.  Law of the Lid
        You will never be able to lead someone past the point of your leadership, must continue to learn
3.  What you allow to be inspected, will be expected
         Must let someone into what is wrong w/ you, a mentor that can push you and teach you

These were just a few of the points that he was able to share with our students and they were so motivated by his wisdom and knowledge when it came to student leadership.  I am so excited to see them implement what they learned into their daily lives.  God is doing some great things in our students lives and I am so excited to be apart of it.



till another day,




normallyINDIE.

The Uprising (Update)...

As you may know,  I am currently the Student Ministries Pastor at Twin Oaks Christian Church meaning I am the director of the Uprising Student Ministries.  It is an amazing ministry dedicated to creating a movement of middle school & high school students that are fearlessly making known the gospel in Detroit.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to work in a place like this and most of all be a part of some great student's lives.  I continue to thank God everyday for the opportunities my wife and I have been given.  That being said, I would like to give you a little update on how everything is going and what we have to look forward to in the future.

The Uprising is currently running between 20 - 30 Middle School & High School Students at our Sunday evening service.  We have had 2 - 3 new students consistently for the last month and God is truly blessing us with life change amongst the students that we currently have.  We have been very patient with this growth and our staff is hoping to continue to cultivate and make the best of the situation we are apart of.  We are currently running a Sunday night service that is similar to a church setting with a bit of a twist of fun, food, and shot's at the pot (currently at $40 in Amazon.com gift cards).  Every other sunday night we run our small group programming called Growth Groups.  This is a pilot program that has our student leadership team leading each small group that is segregated based on grade.  It has been an amazing outlet for those that are otherwise outspoken and a good opportunity to dissect what is being said during the sermons and how it applies to their lives.

Looking forward, we are currently in the middle of our fundraising for our Dominican Republic Missions team that will be headed to Hato Del Yaque in August.  Are number to raise is currently at $11,000 and we are so excited to see how God provides for us in the coming months to make this trip happen.  I am so excited for that opportunity for our 4 students.  We are also going to be headed to CIY Move in July.  This will be my 8th Trip to Move & first in 3 years, I could not be more excited to see old friends, see God move amongst our students, and lead our group to make some amazing decisions for God.

God is doing so many amazing things amongst our students and I cannot begin to describe to you all that is taking place.  I am so honored to be serving God in this way and I am so excited to continue to work in his ministry.  It is truly an honor to be apart of his ministry and I am truly blessed.



till another day,



normallyINDIE

the Presence Tour...

I had the honor of spending last weekend returning to my wife and I's first home, Cincinnati, OH, to attend the Believe Conference for Junior High students.  God blessed us with 9 students that joined us for an amazing weekend of growth and fellowship. 

This was not my first rodeo as this was my 8th time at Believe and 3rd in Cincinnati, so like before, the conference was top notch.  High level illustrations, great worship, awesome graphics, not to mention amazing, practical speaking.  But it wasn't all of this that made the biggest impact on my wife and I this past weekend.  What made the biggest impact is what makes ministry life so great and that is the relationships that are formed.  

If you had been following my tweets over the weekend, @normallyINDIE, it seemed as though we were running into someone left and right.  And I know what you are thinking, "what else is new? Any pastor runs into tons of people he knows at christian conventions?"  But this time was different.  I feel God placed these people in our path this past weekend to remind us the value of relationships as well as the value the people have in our lives.  The weekend was like an impromptu family reunion.  My wife and I got to see one of our best friends Sarah Brown, who was integral in us getting together, my brother & his awesome girlfriend Lindsay, Ash, J-Trav, Reverend Katie Brown, Papa Brown, Court, Post, not to mention the GUMC crew and the giant crew from Eastview (just so happens to be my home church).  All of these people have had such a huge impact on our lives and it was so fitting to see them in the place that Jenny and I called home at the beginning of our marriage.  It was a weekend of memories that will not go forgotten and all I can do is thank Believe for making it happen.  

I learned so much this past weekend and have seen a huge change of heart in our student's lives through the testimonies that were laid out by God this past weekend, but in the midst of that, what God continued to speak to me was that ministry is all about relationships.  Not only ministry, but life is all about people and Jesus came to this world to save people.  So often we can get focused on numbers, budgets, church sizes, logistics, when God may be screaming at us to say "time to seek after my people who are lost".  

He has placed so many people in our path both to have an impact on and for them to have an impact on us.  If we are willing to take to time to stop and listen.  God is bringing his people to us and I am so thankful to be a small part of that.  

till another day, 

normallyINDIE. 

Going on a Trip...

I have been blessed over the last 7 years of my life to visit the Dominican Republic/Haiti Island three times, two of which included trips with G.O. Ministries and their amazing staff.  These are opportunities to both grow spiritually as well as serve the Dominican People.

I am so excited to announce that we will be taking another trip to the Dominican this August with 5 High School Students from Twin Oaks CC.  It is our first trip with the Uprising and it is going to be an amazing opportunity to again serve these people and grow together as a group.

Some of what I am so excited about it:

Reconnecting with Missionaries
Meeting new Friends in DR
Remembering my 5 years of Spanish
Sharing God with our Students
Telling stories of life change with our Families

We leave for our trip August 6th - 13h and I could not be more excited about it.  I have attached a video below that was created by GO Ministries.  It only excites me more to join them in August.

till another day,




normallyINDIE

The Multiply Movement...

I normally don't do this, but there is just something about this book that I had to write about it before I finished reading it.  This book has merely hit me exactly where I need to be hit at the exact right time in my life and I could not be happier about it.  I am sure many of you have heard of Francis Chan and David Platt, but many of you have probably not heard of the Multiply Movement.

This is a movement that began with the release of the book Multiply by Chan & Beuving w/ a forward from Platt.  This is a book that is dedicated to leading people through the disciple making process.  This process being the single most important thing that us as Christians have been called to do.  It is established very clearly in Matthew 28 & Acts 1, that our job as disciples of Jesus Christ is to further his gospel through the making of disciples.  But the interesting thing is that the disciple making process tends to get overlooked.  Instead we focus on the conversion process and after the individual has accepted Christ we move on.  This is not what God has called us to, but instead he understands that it is indeed a process to make a disciple.  Thus Chan, Platt, & Beuving have set out to explain this process and make it applicable to the everyday Christian.  Because this is a job for EVERY christian, it is important to put it into terms that EVERY christian can understand.

I have most recently been reading this book with the Student Leadership Team at the Uprising and they would agree that it has challenged them to go much further when it comes to spreading the gospel to their friends.  It doesn't just stop at acceptance, but it is a process.  This has also reminded our team that we are continuing to be made into disciples as we walk through this journey.  It is really exciting to think about, that we are never done growing, changing, and being led into a deeper relationship with Christ.

This book can be picked up at your local bookstore or online bookstore.  The great part about this is that the website www.multiplymovement.com has video lessons from each chapter available for FREE.  This takes the reading that much further as you dissect what it means to be a disciple making disciples.  Check out this book now, it WILL change the way you look at being a disciple.




till another day,


normallyINDIE

the Slaves are Freed...

Last night was our first night of the Uprising since our atmosphere redesign thanks to a great friend from Metro South Church, Jon Whaley.  If you do not already know, the Uprising is a movement of students in the Down River area of Detroit that are passionately spreading the gospel to the "10,000" students in our area.  It is an exciting time in our ministry with the new year rolling around and we all feel that the Lord is leading this ministry to do something amazing in 2013.

We started out this redesign by working through Mark 5:1 - 13 specifically focusing on the Demons that took control of the man called "Legion".  It was an opportunity for all of us to come together, worship the Lord, and rejoice in the fact that just like Legion we have demons, and just like Legion those demons have been cast out.

God changed many of us last night.  He showed many that we are truly freed from what seemed to bind us, not because of our own doing, but because the demons that so easily destroy our lives tremble at the sound of our Messiah.

Our Messiah has saved us and there is nothing we can do, but rejoice, bow and do everything we can to tell the world just that.  It is an honor to serve in this ministry and I am so excited for the students in the Down River area to be drastically changed by the power of the Messiah.

WE ARE FREED!!!!


till another day,


normallyINDIE

A Childlike Gospel...

I had the honor of speaking at Twin Oaks Christian Church's Main Sunday Morning Service this past sunday.  It was an amazing opportunity and I am excited for what the future has in store.  By clicking the link you will be sent to audio of the message (video coming soon).


First Sermon @ Twin Oaks Christian Church


Thank you for listening.

till another day,



normallyINDIE

2012? We are still here...

It is now January of 2013 and the Mayans were wrong and we are still here.  With that being said, I would like to take a look back at the year that was truly amazing for the Tod Family.  If you received the wonderfully designed Christmas cards from my Wife, Jennifer of Turquoise Feathers Studio, LLC, you know that 2012 was a big year for us.  Just to lay out a couple reasons for why 2012 was such an amazing year for us.

I accepted my first position in ministry as the Community Youth Coordinator at Groesbeck UMC in Cincinnati, OH on Jan. 2nd 2012.

Jennifer & I tied the knot at the Harrison Center for the Arts in Downtown Indianapolis, IN March 10th, 2012.

Jennifer & I moved into our first apartment in March in Downtown Cincinnati, OH.

Jennifer & I graduated from Herron School of Art & Cincinnati Christian University (respectively) on May 12th - May 13th 2012.

I transitioned into the position of Pastor of Student Ministries at Groesbeck UMC in Cincinnati, OH.

We introduced Indie Tod into the world as we adopted our first puppy in August of 2012.

I accepted the position of Student Ministries Pastor at Twin Oaks Christian Church in Woodhaven, MI.

Jennifer & I moved to Southgate, MI in the Down River District of Detroit, MI.

I introduced the rebranding of the Student Ministries at TOCC entitled The Uprising

Jennifer accepted the position of Graphic Designer & Social Media Director at Mousetrap Mobile in Royal Oak, MI.

Jennifer's freelance graphic design business became an official LLC under the name, Turquoise Feathers Studio, LLC in November of 2012.

I preached my first sermon at the main sunday morning service at Twin Oaks CC on Dec. 30th, 2012.

As you can see, this year has been as crazy as they come.  We are looking forward to not moving as well as transitioning into new jobs.  But we are also excited about the new opportunities that will come to us in 2013.  Just a few things we are looking forward to are, Turquoise Feathers becoming a huge company, Missions Trip to Dominican Republic, Moving into our first house.  It should yet again be an exciting year in 2013 and I will keep you updated through this blog.


till another day,




normallyINDIE

the Uprising...

As many of you know as of September I accepted a position at Twin Oaks Christian Church in Woodhaven, Michigan to become their Student Ministries Pastor.  I have been working for this church for just over a month and last night we were able to launch our brand new Student Ministry service called the Uprising.

This is going to be a church led by students for students purely to spread the gospel to all of the students that are in our Down River Area.  The Uprising is dedicated to building up a group of students that will faithfully, humbly, & wholeheartedly serve the Lord.

I had the honor last night of putting on our Fall Kickoff with all the help I could get from my Adult Sponsor team.  We had a wonderful night of worship, fun, fall inspired food, and relevant speaking.  It was so exciting to see over 50 Middle School & High School Students there who were excited to hear what all of the Uprising was all about.

Now outside of all of the logistics and everything else, I am so excited to be serving God here at Twin Oaks.  To lead a service like this is what I have been dreaming about doing since I felt the call to go into Student Ministry back in High School.  I have been dreaming of the day when God will give me a chance to preach the gospel to a group of students that are anxious to hear it.  It is such an amazing feeling and I am so honored to be serving him in this way.

I cannot imagine what God has in store for us at the Uprising, but I am so excited and I know he is going to do some amazing things.

If you would like to keep up on all things the Uprising then check out:

Facebook: The Uprising

Twitter: @Uprising_SM

Website: www.twinoakschristian.com

I am so excited for the school year and to see what is going to happen.


till another day,


normallyINDIE