Wednesday, March 11th from 7:00 – 8:30pm in the Student Center
All Small Groups will come together for One Service, Honoring One God, Becoming One Voice, with One Challenge . . . To Bring One Friend that doesn’t know Christ! Don’t Miss it . . . it’s going to be RAD! Our goal is to see 250 teenagers here for this service, you play a part in that!!!!
MAKING THE BAND
If you play an instrument or sing and want to get involved in playing in one of our worship bands now is the time… We are having a meeting Sunday @ 12:30 in the student center to see who wants to be involved. This is not an audition just a meeting of interest. Hope to see you there. If you have any question feel free to contact: Tyler Ellison or Josh Tollison
BAPTISM
Several of you have shown interest in being baptized. We are encouraging anyone who hasn’t and wants to, to get baptized on April 5th Palm Sunday, following the church service. It will be a great time to celebrate and an opportunity for you to show others what God is doing in your life! Just check I want to be Baptized on the tear off and we will get you more info!
MEXICO MISSION TRIP
Happens June 13th – 20th register on-line or at Seeds Book Store
Pre – $400 before April 5th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Reg – $415 after April 5th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Late – $425 after May 10th can only happen if space is available.
WILD WEEK
Happens July 7th – 11th register on-line or at Seeds Book Store
Pre – $315 before March 15th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Reg – $335 after March 15th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Late – $365 after April 19th can only happen if space is available.
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.” v. 4 (NLT)
Being a Father is both fun and challenging. I am learning as my boys grow they are picking up all the good and bad qualities that I show off in front of them. The challenge as they develop is to lovingly teach them the way they should act. How I do this has big returns in the way they respond. For example, right now Josiah is starting to lie. We are in the process of teaching him why he/we shouldn’t lie. It’s a process that if we aren’t careful we could totally miss the opportunity to teach him this in a loving way and something he will struggle with his whole life. My role as a dad has huge impacts on my boys. Realizing this early will save me from heartache later.
Something to think about: When it comes to the way you interact with your kids, do you spend more time building them up or tearing them down? Here’s what I mean, are you always pointing out things they are doing wrong or encouraging them in the things they are doing right? I was encouraged and challenged yesterday by this thought. As parents we should spend 90% of our time building our kids up and 10% of our time correcting behavior.
It’s a great challenge that may seem unreasonable at first, but what do you have to lose if it does not work?
Today, if you’re a dad, try to spend some extra time with your kids. Encourage them by telling them the good things you see going on in their life. Example, Josiah is only 4 but I try to encourage him daily with Words of Life. Give it a try, it will bless you and them and bring your relationship closer.
Last Night I crashed our 8th Grade Small Group! The team and students are kill’n small groups. If your in 8th grade it truly is the place to be on Wednesday Night. Last Night the topic was on Purity! Anytime with teenagers when you talk about purity it leads to talking about sex and how far is too far. Even though the students were a little out of control, once we addressed it and started the lesson there was a great discussion and Michael the 8th grade coach did a great job of getting them to talk and keeping us on track so they had time to talk in smaller groups also.
God is moving in the hearts of our teenagers. It’s exciting to see and hear from them how God is teaching them new things all the time. Here are two pics from last nights large group time
“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” v. 21-24 (NLT)
Choices! Let’s be honest, some are easier than others, but they all impact who we become. The Bible says that we need to throw off all the things that are from our old life that keeps us from living in the New Life that Christ has given us. There should be a difference and people should be able to see that difference in the way we live. We are to be the light of the world. Living the Christian life is a process. Although we have a new nature, we don’t automatically think all the good thoughts and express all all right attitudes when we become new people in Christ. But if we keep listening to God, we will be changing all the time. The question we need to ask ourselves is this, “Am I more like Christ today than I was yesterday?” This has been something I have really been focusing on this week since I challenged our students with it this last weekend.
Today, let take some steps toward Chirst. Lets throw off some of our old nature that keeps us trapped in sin and trust God to develop our new nature that has been given to us by Jesus. Lets strive to become more like Christ today than we were yesterday!
We had some warm weather yesterday and the family tried to take advantage of it the best we could. While grilling some steaks the boys and I played in the back yard One of their new favorite things to do is ride in the wagon. So, I strapped Jackson in, he like to bail mid ride and the seat belts keep him safe and contained, and pulled them around the yard. Even though the scenery never changed we had a lot of fun. The highlight for me was seeing Josiah pull Jackson around the yard and hearing Jackson say cheese every time he went past me! Here are some pic of our wagon ride.
“Because of Christ and our faith in him,[d] we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” v. 12 (NLT)
I have to be honest, this is one of those verses that I have read but skipped over many times because the last part of this chapter is so powerful. However, today when I read, this verse jumped out at me and convicted me of how I treat prayer. Prayer is my direct access to God and to think that I am entering into the presence of God and sharing words with Him and He is listening to me is so huge. Sadly, many times we, I, will pray without thinking about what is taking place. I am thankful that I can come to God anytime and anywhere, and He hears me. But my attitude and gratitude sometimes isn’t in awe of what is actually taking place. Sometimes I am so casual in approaching God, that I lessen all that Christ did on the Cross which made the way for me to have direct access to God. Maybe this doesn’t make sense.
Today, I want to remember each time I pray that I am entering into the presence of the most Holy God. I so desperately want to be changed from the inside out to be more like Him and less like me and I want to talk to Him as I would a friend. What an awesome privilege we have through Christ to have direct access to God, let us never forget that!
What a day!!! It all started with the boys both getting ready for School today at the same time. Yes, Jackson started preschool today. I was so excited for him and he seemed to have had a great day. Here are some pictures,
After we dropped him off to school I had the pleasure of participating on a “Man’s Panel” in MOPS. I was the only guy on the panel that had his wife in the room. Talk about accountability! It was fun and the questions were good. There are somethings that I feel I am doing really well at as a Husband and Father but there are definitely somethings I can work on. I learned a lot just from listening to the other guys. I was blown away by some of the answers when it comes to date nights, conversations, evaluations and stuff like that. My prayer was and still is that it would be helpful and real for all that were involved.
Just met a guy at church in the hallway of all places. As we talked I learned a little about him. He introduced himself as Randy from rockstarpreacher.com That website has a pretty cool ring to it. Come to find out that Randy has a teenage son who doesn’t attend church for a number of reasons. Hearing his story opened the opportunity for me to share my story of how I came to know the Lord. It’s amazing how God can use stories to connect strangers but he does. After sharing I learned that Randy has a teenage son, so I gave him a quick tour of the student center, and made sure he had some info.
I am excited to get to know Randy and his son better. I am hoping to grab some Starbucks and chil with his 15 year son in the next couple of days! In the meantime check out rockstarpreacher.com! It’s something that is just hatching and Randy’s dream that God will use it to influence those turned off by church but possibly open to God!
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.” v. 4-5 (NLT)
I don’t know if we realize how big these first two words are or how much they mean. But these two words ‘But God’ change everything about us. You see, we could put any situation in front of these two words, for example, ‘I felt hopeless, But God . . .’ The important thing to remember is God can step into any situation and change it.
Today, will you give your situation to God so you can experience the ‘But God’ today?
Dan Gould 