This week at Edge, we were on our 3rd night of our series called, "Jim" which is an overview of the book of James. We took a look at James 2:1-13, which is all about favoritism, or judging others.
This is a really important topic for all people, and especially middle school students. Here is the basic outline.
1. I started with a few example stories of favoritism.
2. We talked about what favoritism is...favoritism is writing someone off because of a superficial reason. It's making judgments about someone without even knowing them.
3. Favoritism is a sin.
4. "Love your neighbor as yourself" is the way to avoid favoritism.
5. Mercy triumphs over Judgment.
The bottom line here is when we look at a person, we need to see them how God sees them, as valuable, worth creating, and worth dying for.
We finished the night with breakout discussions on the topic and challenged students to think of one way that they could show that they value to someone they may have previously judged.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Full Throttle, week 2 recap
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.
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 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
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Upside Down, week 3
Our final week of Upside Down was focused on the fact that Jesus gave a lot of attention (maybe the most) to his closest companions or his friends and family. This really vital because I think it's sometimes easy to focus on serving people around the world and in the community and neglect the people closest to you.
Example of Jesus serving his friends
Jesus served the 12 disciples by washing their feet. This was the ultimate act of service because it was dirty and humbling. It was a job for a servant and back then people's feet were really nasty.
The Challenge
Not only should we allow Jesus' example to encourage and motivate us to serve, but we should also see that Jesus served the ones he was closest to. Sometimes we get comfortable with our friends and family that when we really think about it, we can't think of the last time we did something really nice for them or encouraged them.
Students last night made a commitment to serve someone close to them over the holidays and I am praying that they will follow through on their commitments!
Example of Jesus serving his friends
Jesus served the 12 disciples by washing their feet. This was the ultimate act of service because it was dirty and humbling. It was a job for a servant and back then people's feet were really nasty.
The Challenge
Not only should we allow Jesus' example to encourage and motivate us to serve, but we should also see that Jesus served the ones he was closest to. Sometimes we get comfortable with our friends and family that when we really think about it, we can't think of the last time we did something really nice for them or encouraged them.
Students last night made a commitment to serve someone close to them over the holidays and I am praying that they will follow through on their commitments!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Upside Down, part 2
This week, since we are celebrating Christ's birth by trying to do what He did which is serve, we gave our time to some people that many would say don't deserve it.
Jesus was always giving his time to what the Bible called the "least of these." Check out Matthew 25:31-40.
He was always giving his time and love to the unloved or who society would say didn't deserve it like the poor, the oppressed, the sick, the worst of sinners, criminals, etc. This is what made Christ live so Upside Down.
So this week in Edge, we gave our time to the least of these. We spent our time of worship this week writing cards and donating toothpaste and candy to guys at a juvenile detention center down in Green called Indian River. Many people would say that these kids don't deserve our time because of the crimes they have committed, but because of Christ, we know that they are well worth our time and our effort. After all, Christ thought we were worth it!
Pray with me that God would continue to show students this Christmas that it's not about them and that they would learn to live UPSIDE DOWN just like Christ did.
Jesus was always giving his time to what the Bible called the "least of these." Check out Matthew 25:31-40.
He was always giving his time and love to the unloved or who society would say didn't deserve it like the poor, the oppressed, the sick, the worst of sinners, criminals, etc. This is what made Christ live so Upside Down.
So this week in Edge, we gave our time to the least of these. We spent our time of worship this week writing cards and donating toothpaste and candy to guys at a juvenile detention center down in Green called Indian River. Many people would say that these kids don't deserve our time because of the crimes they have committed, but because of Christ, we know that they are well worth our time and our effort. After all, Christ thought we were worth it!
Pray with me that God would continue to show students this Christmas that it's not about them and that they would learn to live UPSIDE DOWN just like Christ did.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Upside Down, Week 1 Recap
This month, we are doing a series called, "Upside Down." This series is based on the reason for the season...celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Everything about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ was Upside Down from what the world is like. The world lives with a "me first" mindset, but Christ lived with an others first mindset. So during this month, we are going to celebrate this amazing holiday by living like Christ and putting others first. Each week, we will be talking about a different mission.
Week 1: Serving the World
Week 2: Serving the Community
Week 3: Serving our friends/family
Jesus did all of these things perfectly when he was on earth and so we are going to emulate Christ in that each week, we will have a different tangible way to serve others.
THIS WEEK: Serving the World
Last night, we talked about how Christ died for the world. He didn't just die for some people, for Americans, for those who love him, but he died for the world. (John 3:16, Mark 16:15)
The problem
There are 16,348 people groups in the world.
6,647 have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ (that's 40% and 2.7 billion people).
The Solution
The Solution is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. So if we know Christ, we are the solution. Christ commanded us to go and tell the world.
Our Mission
India is in the top 10 nations with the most unreached people groups (87% of their country is unreached).
Our church partners with the India Gospel League (IGL) whose mission is to share the gospel with India. They have missionaries there, share the gospel, train pastors (some HCC pastors have trained their pastors), and send them out to spread the good news.
One of the ways they ask people to help is by giving money so that a pastor can be supported and sent out to an unreached village to share the gospel.
It's $1200 to send a pastor to a village to live for a year to share the gospel with the village and start up a church. It's also just $700 to build a small structure for the church to start meeting in that village. That's $1,900.
We are asking that each student make a small sacrifice to make an eternal impact on the country of India. If 100 students give up 1 Christmas gift worth $20, and instead have their parents give them the $20 to support this pastor, we would have all we need to impact a whole village for Christ. What an amazing cause!
Please encourage your students in this! It needs to be their sacrifice, otherwise, we are not really putting others first.
Week 1: Serving the World
Week 2: Serving the Community
Week 3: Serving our friends/family
Jesus did all of these things perfectly when he was on earth and so we are going to emulate Christ in that each week, we will have a different tangible way to serve others.
THIS WEEK: Serving the World
Last night, we talked about how Christ died for the world. He didn't just die for some people, for Americans, for those who love him, but he died for the world. (John 3:16, Mark 16:15)
The problem
There are 16,348 people groups in the world.
6,647 have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ (that's 40% and 2.7 billion people).
The Solution
The Solution is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. So if we know Christ, we are the solution. Christ commanded us to go and tell the world.
Our Mission
India is in the top 10 nations with the most unreached people groups (87% of their country is unreached).
Our church partners with the India Gospel League (IGL) whose mission is to share the gospel with India. They have missionaries there, share the gospel, train pastors (some HCC pastors have trained their pastors), and send them out to spread the good news.
One of the ways they ask people to help is by giving money so that a pastor can be supported and sent out to an unreached village to share the gospel.
It's $1200 to send a pastor to a village to live for a year to share the gospel with the village and start up a church. It's also just $700 to build a small structure for the church to start meeting in that village. That's $1,900.
We are asking that each student make a small sacrifice to make an eternal impact on the country of India. If 100 students give up 1 Christmas gift worth $20, and instead have their parents give them the $20 to support this pastor, we would have all we need to impact a whole village for Christ. What an amazing cause!
Please encourage your students in this! It needs to be their sacrifice, otherwise, we are not really putting others first.
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