In week 1 of this series, we talked about why it's important to grow in your faith?
This week, we answered the question, "How do you grow?" Last night, we talked very practically about what spending time with God looks like. We broke it into 2 segments...
1. Listening to God
2. Talking to God
After each segment of teaching, we gave students a chance to practice these disciplines. It went really well and hopefully students not only had a chance to refuel last night, but also to learn how to refuel on their own. They each received a prayer card to show them a good method of prayer called P.R.A.Y. praise, repent, ask, yield.
Here is a very basic outline of the teaching.
Listening to God
1. Listening to His words
The whole Bible is filled with God's words for us. If we read as if it were God's words to us, God is speaking to us.
2. Listening to His people
Sometimes God uses His people to speak to us. We should listen to wise, godly people.
3. Listening to His Spirit
God has given believers the Holy Spirit for a reason. Sometimes, the spirit nudges us to do something. That is God speaking to us.
Talking to God
1. Talking to Him honestly
God wants us to be open with Him. We shouldn't always say the things that we think we should say. We should say the things we are feeling.
2. Talking to Him respectfully
As honest as we should be with God, we should also respect him because we are talking to the God of the universe.
3. Talking to Him continually
The bible says pray continually. We can have an ongoing dialogue with God. He is always there for us. We can always talk to him.
Takeaway: Each student was given a little race car at the very end to remind them to spend time with God. Our series was called full throttle, because in order to be living the Christian life in full throttle, the pit stops are vital. Hopefully the car will be a friendly reminder of the need to refuel by taking pit stops with the Lord.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Full Throttle, Week 1 Recap
We are back with Edge recaps so that parents can stay in the loop and know what their son or daughter heard at Edge...
Full Throttle is a series on growth. It started last night and now is just a 2 part series. We are focused on 2 questions...
1. Why GROW in Christ?
2. How can I GROW in Christ?
This first week, we focused on talking about why it's so important to grow.
Ask your child about the Nascar Analogy: I talked about our Christian life as a Nascar race. When we accept Christ as Savior, we are crossing the starting line (the green flag) and usually it's a strong and exciting start...full throttle, and when we finally meet Jesus face to face, we are crossing the finish line (the checkered flag). So what happens in between the green flag and the checkered flag?
Pit stops are vital to the success of a Nascar driver. Without them, they will be pushing their car around the track. It's the same with us. Just like those cars, pit stops are vital for us. We have to refuel by spending time with God in order to keep running on full throttle.
We really focused on the relationship part of growing. If you were to start a friendship with someone, you are going to spend time with them, talk to them, and listen to them. It's the same with our relationship with God.
Ask your son/daughter about the story of my first girlfriend in 8th grade. Ask them how it was a really bad example of a relationship.
The secret to growth is spending time with God.
As we spend time talking and listening to him...we get to know him better and even start to see as he sees.
WHEN WE SEE AS HE SEES, WE WILL DO AS HE SAYS
Next week, we will focus on the practical question of "How do I grow?"
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Sunday AM Change
Hello parents,
I am excited to announce a change happening in Edge starting on Sunday, March 14th. Pastor Joe’s challenge for this year for our church is to go from being consumers to disciples. This challenge along with 6 years of doing Sunday morning Edge the same way has caused me to rethink our format. Right now, 180 students sit under my teaching in the gym. Because of the size, it is difficult to interact with students, connect with their different levels of maturity, and give them a chance to respond. While I know that growth takes place, I kept asking myself, “Is there a way that we could engage students more in order to see more growth?” With that said, our Sunday format is being renovated in order to be more intentional and purposeful about seeing students grow deeper in the love for Christ and the church. This program is called, THE CORE. The purpose of The Core is two part…
1. to create atmospheres where middle school students can grow more intentionally at their level of maturity
2. to help students understand what it means to serve in the church.
Explanation of THE CORE
All middle school students will gather together for the first 15 minutes of the hour for hanging out together, icebreakers, and Edge announcements. Then students will split into 3 classes by grade level. There will be a very qualified teacher and several assistants that lead this class with curriculum provided by me. Classes will be 40-50 students in size (as opposed to 180) which will enable the teacher to facilitate more discussion, connect with students at a deeper level, and give a chance for students to respond each week to the lesson. Along with these classes is a service program. If students are involved in an Edge small group, their small groups will rotate serving in our children’s ministry on a monthly basis. Each month, 4-5 different small groups would be assigned to an area of children’s ministry for the whole month (instead of going to class). That way, students will be growing/learning in a class for 3 months, then serving for a month (GROWTH AND ACTION).
TIME CHANGE
The difficult part of this new plan is finding the space to make it all happen. In order to accommodate for this change, we are going to have to move Edge to the 11:30 AM hour. While this isn’t our first choice, it is the only way to make it happen with the space available to us. With this change, we will be able to meet in 3 large classrooms versus the 10 AM hour where there is no space available. We definitely don’t want to throw a wrench in your usual Sunday morning plan, but our purpose cannot be accomplished without this change. We feel it is more important to make this purposeful change than to worry about which hour we meet.
THE DETAILS
Starting on Sunday, March 14th, students will meet together at 11:30 in room 8/9 downstairs for our opening program (checking in, hanging out, games, and announcements). Then they will split into 3 rooms (Room 8/9, 10, and 11) for their grade specific classes. These classes will include creative teaching, student interaction, and discussion.
I realize that this change will mean that parents have a lot of questions/concerns about what this means for their family? We have spent hours with our best thinkers here at the church working out what this will mean for families. I can assure you that we have thought of most (if not all) of the questions/concerns that you might have. Feel free to ask questions and express concerns. We realize that most of the concerns will have to do with inconvenience because of what your family is used to. Please consider making a small sacrifice to allow your son/daughter to be involved in this program.
There has been a lot of thoughtful and prayful consideration of this change. I am really excited about how God might use this program in to deepen our student’s faith.
Thanks,Todd
I am excited to announce a change happening in Edge starting on Sunday, March 14th. Pastor Joe’s challenge for this year for our church is to go from being consumers to disciples. This challenge along with 6 years of doing Sunday morning Edge the same way has caused me to rethink our format. Right now, 180 students sit under my teaching in the gym. Because of the size, it is difficult to interact with students, connect with their different levels of maturity, and give them a chance to respond. While I know that growth takes place, I kept asking myself, “Is there a way that we could engage students more in order to see more growth?” With that said, our Sunday format is being renovated in order to be more intentional and purposeful about seeing students grow deeper in the love for Christ and the church. This program is called, THE CORE. The purpose of The Core is two part…
1. to create atmospheres where middle school students can grow more intentionally at their level of maturity
2. to help students understand what it means to serve in the church.
Explanation of THE CORE
All middle school students will gather together for the first 15 minutes of the hour for hanging out together, icebreakers, and Edge announcements. Then students will split into 3 classes by grade level. There will be a very qualified teacher and several assistants that lead this class with curriculum provided by me. Classes will be 40-50 students in size (as opposed to 180) which will enable the teacher to facilitate more discussion, connect with students at a deeper level, and give a chance for students to respond each week to the lesson. Along with these classes is a service program. If students are involved in an Edge small group, their small groups will rotate serving in our children’s ministry on a monthly basis. Each month, 4-5 different small groups would be assigned to an area of children’s ministry for the whole month (instead of going to class). That way, students will be growing/learning in a class for 3 months, then serving for a month (GROWTH AND ACTION).
TIME CHANGE
The difficult part of this new plan is finding the space to make it all happen. In order to accommodate for this change, we are going to have to move Edge to the 11:30 AM hour. While this isn’t our first choice, it is the only way to make it happen with the space available to us. With this change, we will be able to meet in 3 large classrooms versus the 10 AM hour where there is no space available. We definitely don’t want to throw a wrench in your usual Sunday morning plan, but our purpose cannot be accomplished without this change. We feel it is more important to make this purposeful change than to worry about which hour we meet.
THE DETAILS
Starting on Sunday, March 14th, students will meet together at 11:30 in room 8/9 downstairs for our opening program (checking in, hanging out, games, and announcements). Then they will split into 3 rooms (Room 8/9, 10, and 11) for their grade specific classes. These classes will include creative teaching, student interaction, and discussion.
I realize that this change will mean that parents have a lot of questions/concerns about what this means for their family? We have spent hours with our best thinkers here at the church working out what this will mean for families. I can assure you that we have thought of most (if not all) of the questions/concerns that you might have. Feel free to ask questions and express concerns. We realize that most of the concerns will have to do with inconvenience because of what your family is used to. Please consider making a small sacrifice to allow your son/daughter to be involved in this program.
There has been a lot of thoughtful and prayful consideration of this change. I am really excited about how God might use this program in to deepen our student’s faith.
Thanks,Todd
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