Senior Posters

For those of you who may have missed out on the posters

Rooted and Grounded

Ephesians 3:14-19

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

For those of you attending the Graduate Recognition, you'll get to see the gift all the seniors are receiving and it refers to this scripture.  We, as a congregation, have nurtured and supported our seniors as they have grown - both in years and in faith.  Now, as they graduate and step out into the world (sniffle, sniffle) I am so excited to see what amazing things they will accomplish.

I encourage you to check out the Senior posters at the back of Fellowship hall, share some cake with them at the reception following the Fusion Service and as always - worship with them and support them on their Faith journey.

Peace Pole

What is a Peace Pole?

From the PeacePoleProject:

A Peace Pole is a handcrafted monument that displays the message and prayer "May Peace Prevail on Earth" on each of its four or six sides, usually in different languages.  There are tens of thousands of peace poles in 180 different countries all over the world dedicated as monuments to peace.  They serve as constant reminders for us to visualize and pray for peace.

When you plant a Peace Pole in your community, you are linking with people all over the world who have planted Peace Poles in the same spirit of peace.

A Peace Pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. Each Peace Pole bears the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four or six sides. There tens of thousands of Peace Poles in nearly every country in the world dedicated as monuments to peace.

Your organization is invited to plant a Peace Pole at each of your centers to highlight the important work you do in many countries to bring about world peace through inner peace. Your Peace Poles would symbolize your mission and simultaneously link your work with that of people of all faiths and nationalities worldwide who are striving for a better world. Won’t you join this great network of peace?

Your Peace Poles may be purchased or hand-crafted locally, displaying the languages that are meaningful to your organization. Each Peace Pole should be dedicated in a ceremony that can commemorate a special occasion (such as the founding of your organization or the annual UN-designated International Day of Peace). The prayers offered at your Peace Pole dedication will help to activate the worldwide network of prayers for peace.

Relevance

rel·e·vance

noun \ˈre-lə-vən(t)s\

Definition of RELEVANCE

1

a: relation to the matter at hand b: practical and especially social applicability : pertinence <giving relevance to college courses>

2

: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user

 

 

If someone asked you to describe what you've done that has real relevance - what would you say?  What makes you important?  What have you done that has meaning?

 

Now that you've had a moment to ponder that question - did you mention anything that is relevant to God?  What have you done today, or this week, or this month  - that is relevant to Him? 

 

Stop for just a minute today and simply pray to God.  Don't worry about flowery, elaborate prayers - just talk to Him.  Tell Him thanks.  Tell Him what's bothering you, what you worry about - and ask Him to help.  He wants you to share your life with Him and to include Him in all the details.

 

So, before you go to sleep tonight - include God in your day.  Make it relevant.

It's On!

I'm going to make a serious effort (with some assistance) to get you a blog every week.  I have some fantastic Youth who will be helping me out by providing a few posts of their own.  We'll try and be sure to do special posts when we're away (Youth Annual Conference, Youtheology, Mission trip, etc.).  Please be sure to stay tuned for our posts!

Here's what's coming up for the Youth:
today we had a picnic at the park, played frisbee, some baseball and tossed the football a bit too.  We had a new chaperone (Walt Thomas) join us.  He has some great ideas for future Youth activities.

Next week (April 29th) we'll be going rollerskating.

Here's a little devotional for you to ponder.  It's from the devotional journal "God is in the Small Stuff".

This is real love.  It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us. . .  1 John 4:10

The only love that is completely other centered is called agape love.  This is love of the highest order.  When we love with agape love, we desire the best for the people we love.  We are even able to love those who are unlovable.
We are capable of agape love only to the extent that we give the details of our lives over to God and allow Him to work in us.  But even before that can happen, we must realize that God loves us and that He can only love us with this kind of love.  God's love is never self-centered, and God's love is always sacrifical.  While we were enemies of God, He loved us.  When we ran from God, He loved us.  And He loved us so much that He sacrificed the Son He loved most so that we could experience eternal life.
Love is the essence of God.  Love is what motivates Him to do what He does for us -- down to the last detail -- even when we don't love him in return.  Knowing that should give tremendous meaning to our lives.
Whenever you feel insignificant, remember how important you are to God.
Love yourself as the unique individual God created you to be -- nothing more, nothing less.
God does not help us because we deserve it; He helps us because He loves us.
Love isn't an option. We are commanded by God to love others.
Never confuse love with lust.
Loving God is the greatest thing you can do.

Take a few minutes this week to spend with the Lord - it could be while driving, maybe in the shower, before you go to sleep at night or when you first wake up in the morning.  Think about how much He loves you, the blessings He has given you.  His love isn't something you earn or something you deserve - He loves you no matter what (the good, bad and the ugly).  Don't forget to thank Him!

Guns, Knives, Theft, Drugs, Fighting.

Each day there is a headline screaming to us about some awful thing a teenager has done. There may be some kids out there doing awful things, but please direct your attention to the really fabulous things that our Youth are doing. We have a group of really amazing young people. Sure we have Honor Roll kids. We certainly have musically talented kids. We have athletic kids and theatrical kids. We have a Youth who is considering ministry as a vocation. We have kids in scouts and kids who are artistic. Many of our kids have jobs and are good employees.

But did you know our kids not only commit to, but follow through on doing a Mission a Month? Our kids have busy, hectic schedules -- they could easily choose to spend that time relaxing or having fun. Yet they choose to dedicate themselves to doing good things for God. They haven't been forced, they aren't getting a prize. In fact, it was their idea.

So what do they do on the other weeks when they aren't doing a Mission? They have one week out of the month they devote to fundraising to pay for those Missions. That's AT LEAST one fundraiser. Sometimes they have several in a month - especially in a year where we will be traveling for our Mission. We do some fundraisers around the church, like collecting Our Family labels, aluminum cans, the cookie walk, dinners and maybe a brunch here and there. But we also work outside the church to raise money - that way we are not overly taxing the congregation financially.

We're not all work and no play - we have fun also. We may go to a movie, have a hayrack ride or go ice skating or maybe out for pizza. Sometimes we just hang out up on The Roof - which is what we call our Youth Room up on the 4th Floor.

Each Sunday you can look around and see Youth sitting in the Fusion service, then right after the sermon they stand up and walk out. What is that all about?? Darn kids - where are they all going?? The Youth are going to Sunday School class. While most everyone else is getting ready to leave - our kids have signed up for Sunday School in addition to Sunday Service. Our amazing parents and adult sponsors will usually have something for us to eat for lunch - because after all we are talking about teenagers. They seriously like to eat!

How do you find out more about what these amazing, headline defying Youth are doing? We are all about technology. We e-mail, text, there's a facebook page, a blog and we have a spot on the website. We'll tell you all about our activities during Youth Moment at each service once a month. Sometimes we even go old school and hang flyers around the church. Pretty soon we'll be telling you about the new Confirmation Class that's starting or the Bible Study that's meeting. So check out what we're doing!

Camp Fontanelle BBQ and GaGa ball

Yesterday we went to Camp Fontanelle for their annual service, BBQ fundraiser and the second annual GaGa tournament.  We were a little short on players and had to recruit a couple of our daring chaperones to have enough for a team.  While we didn't win - we did pretty darn good.  I think if we practiced a bit as a team rather than as individuals, we'd do much better next year.  Darn!  Did I say practice?  Hmm, that probably means that we'll have to work something out to practice (and get really fabulous) for next years tournament.

This Sunday we're off this weekend for Youth Group and we will be having our YEC elections.  The term runs from school year to school year.  The positions are:  President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Senior High Representative, Jr. High Representative, YAC Senior High Representative, YAC Jr. High Representative.  I will be starting a few appointed positions this year also.  I would like the Youth to prayerfully consider their ability to serve in one of these positions and e-mail me by Friday (September 24th) with what position they'd like to run for.  We will then have a ballot election after Fusion, before 11:00 service up in the Youth Room.  The results will be e-mailed out later that day.  If you are unable to come on Sunday and would still like to vote - I will send an e-mail ballot and you can return it by e-mail or phone call.  I know some of you work or have activities that may keep you away.  Your vote is important and I want to be sure everyone has input.  I'll be e-mailing "job descriptions" soon.  If there is something you have an interest in or a talent for, that you'd like to be able to do (aka Spencer the musical unicycle rider) - please be sure and let me know.  You all have so many amazing talents!