The Movement Blog

Weekly Update 8.16

2010-08-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

This Week
Remember as you go throughout this week the testimony given by Steve last night. Remember how one person's influence to get him into a youth group, though he and his family had given up on church, changed his life. Be that person for someone this week and bring them next Sunday!

Sunday, August 22
We will wrap up our "Relaunch" series on Sunday morning as we focus on evangelism. Then, at Ignite, we will be hearing a testimony from Mark Doggett. Hope to see you (and those you invite) with us!

8/15 Junior High Sunday School: "Relaunch- Moving With and Encountering Each Other"

2010-08-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Moving With Each Other

Acts 2:44-47

· Verse 44-45

o As a government, this ideal is called communism. As a movement, this is called caring for one another and being selfless.

o What is the point of youth group? Is it to get something out of it, or put all you have into it?

§ The fact is, we are not called to get something out of it, we are called to put all we have into it. We have discussed this before, but often times the reason that we feel separated from God, or from others is because we are not doing our part in the relationship.

· Verse 46-47

o Why is it significant that they met together in the temple courts?

§ They did not abandon the Jewish religion. They simply saw that the hope had already been found in Jesus.

o Wow, this sounds like a perfect world doesn’t it? Almost too good to be true. This atmosphere would not last, but it gives us an example of the mutual love and support we are to give each other.

Encountering Each Other

Read 1 Corinthians 12:21-25

· We are all in this together. We are going to encounter each other, realize each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Corinthians 12:26

· Think of a time in your life when you were at your lowest point. Was the church there to help you through this time?

· Have you made a conscience effort to ask how your youth group members are doing? Have you seen if they needed anything?

· Have you prayed with any of the people in this room before? Have you prayed for any of the people in this room this week?

Closing

The only way that we can be a force is to know the equation: Force=Mass x Acceleration. All of us have to be moving together as fast as we can. We need to care so about each other and to know everything about each other. Only then can we become a solid form and move with a united purpose in every step.

8/15 Senior High Sunday School "Relaunch- Moving with and impacting each other"

2010-08-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Lesson by: Jared Graves

Moving With Each Other

Acts 2:44-47

· Verse 44-45

o As a government, this ideal is called communism. As a movement, this is called caring for one another and being selfless.

o What is the point of youth group? Is it to get something out of it, or put all you have into it?

· Verse 46-47

o Why is it significant that they met together in the temple courts?

§ They did not abandon the Jewish religion. They simply saw that the hope had already been found in Jesus.

o Wow, this sounds like a perfect world doesn’t it? Almost too good to be true. This atmosphere would not last, but it gives us an example of the mutual love and support we are to give each other.

Impacting Each Other

Read 1 Timothy 4

· Verses 1-8

o Does anyone see an instance of people following false teachings?

o Notice that these people who are referred to as following these teachings and leaders were once Christians.

o What does Paul tell Timothy to do with these people who are following the wrong directions?

· Verses 9-15

o Now Paul talks about what Timothy should be doing.

o What does Paul list here that would be the biggest impact on other people?

§ Setting and example.

§ How do we set an example in speech?

Questions

· How do we set an example in life for each other?

· How do we set an example in love for each other?

· How do we set an example in faith for each other?

· How do we set an example in purity for each other?

· How do these examples impact our fellow Christians?

Closing

Weekly Update 8.9

2010-08-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Weekend Recap
We want to take time to thank everyone who volunteered and attended Water War '10. It was a great success with 50 kids attending. A lot of hard work and volunteer hours went into this and we want to say thanks for all of your help.
Also, we had a great time at the Back to School Bash at Whispering Hills pool last night. A special thanks to Jennifer Perkinson for reserving the pool for us and for all of the 35 kids who came out and had a great time. There were two sandals and a shirt left at the pool, so if they belong to you, please contact Jared.

Tuesday, August 10
This month for "A 10th for the Lord" we will be going to Village Manor to visit some of our elderly friends. We will be playing games with the residents from 5:00-6:30 and then we will visit the Christian Health Center from 6:30-7:00 to see more residents. The Christian Health Center is for those who are struggling with mental health or physical health. We hope you will join us as we share God's light to these wonderful people.

Sunday, August 15
We are going to be back on schedule for Ignite starting this Sunday night. We are starting a series called H2O. The kids are going to be hearing testimonies from people within our church and seeing how their stories and lives can be used to bring others to know Christ. We will end the series on August 29 with a worship service and the launch of a new goal for our youth program. This is going to be a very exciting series and we hope all of you will join us.

Fall Retreat: National Missionary Convention, November 19-21
On Sunday morning, the kids received information on our Fall Retreat. We are going back to Lexingon, KY this year for the retreat to attend the National Missionary Convention: Windows of the World. This is the teen program that will show our kids what the Independent Christian Church is doing around the world and some missions that they might be interested in supporting. We will be staying at Bluegrass Christian Camp. In the e-mail sent out, the information letter will be attached.

Goodbye to Josh
Tomorrow marks the last day of Josh's internship at BGCC. Josh has done a great job with our youth and has grown in his personal ministry. We wish Josh the best of luck in his final semester at Johnson Bible College as well as his search for a full-time ministry. We hope you will take time to e-mail Josh or contact him and tell him thank you and send your best wishes.

8/8 Junior High Sunday School: Relaunch: Moving Towards and Encountering God

2010-08-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Devotion by: Jared Graves and Josh Knabel

Introduction (JARED)

We also launched individual ministries. The junior high is Impact Ministries. We carry over the same mission statement, except we look to encounter God, each other, and the world.

Every year, at the start of the school year, we are going to take time to remind us of our mission statement and to remember what we are all about. Today, we are taking a look at the first step of our mission statement, moving towards and encountering God

Moving Towards God (JOSH)

· Acts 2:42

o The four ways we move towards God:

1. Devoting to the apostle’s teachings

· How does knowing the Bible move us towards God?

· Challenge: To download sermons, read commentaries, etc. to try and further your biblical knowledge.

2. Devoting ourselves to fellowship

· How does fellowshipping with one another move us towards God?

· Challenge: To get an accountability partner.

3. Devoting to the breaking of bread

· Does this mean that we have to have communion every week?

· This is literal, but it also reminds us that we are to remember Christ in all that we do.

· How does the breaking of bread, and all that entails move us towards God?

4. Devoting ourselves to prayer.

· This is probably the hardest part of moving towards God.

· How can we improve our prayer lives?

· How does prayer move us towards God?

· Challenge: Pray through each day

o Analyze your day to see what God showed you, where did you sin?, what blessings were given?

Encountering God (JARED)

· Background

o Ahab has become king of Israel and instead of following God, he and his family are worshipping Baal.

o Elijah has sent Obadiah to Ahab and now we are ready for a UFC fight between God and Baal.

· 1 Kings 18:16-39

o Verses 18-20

§ Ahab and his wife Jezebel were so entrenched in worshiping Baal and Asherah, that the prophets of these gods were eating dinner with them every night.

o Verse 21

§ Basically Elijah is saying, quit having ADD, pick one or the other

o Verses 22-25

o Verses 26-29

§ These people were so entrenched in their beliefs that they were slashing themselves and hurting themselves to try and get their god to show up.

o Verses 30-39

§ Notice Elijah’s prayer. He did not pray for him to not look like a fool. He prayed that God would be brought glory, and that He would be real in these people’s lives.

· Do you think it is possible that God will show up in our lives when we ask Him to?

· How can we encounter God?

o Through prayer

o Reading His’ word

8/8 Senior High Sunday School: Relaunch:Moving Towards and Impacting God

2010-08-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

Lesson by Jared Graves & Josh Knabel

Introduction (JARED)

Last year, we had Launch Day. On that day, we decided to change our identity from a youth group to a movement. We also launched a new mission statement. We said that we would strive to move towards God, with each other, and into the world. We also launched individual ministries. The senior high is Impact Ministries. We carry over the same mission statement, except we look to impact God, each other, and the world.

Moving Towards God (JOSH)

Acts 2:42

o The four ways we move towards God:

1. Devoting to the apostle’s teachings

· How does knowing the Bible move us towards God?

· Challenge: To download sermons, read commentaries, etc. to try and further your biblical knowledge.

2. Devoting ourselves to fellowship

· How does fellowshipping with one another move us towards God?

· Challenge: To get an accountability partner.

3. Devoting to the breaking of bread

· How does the breaking of bread, and all that entails move us towards God?

4. Devoting ourselves to prayer.

· This is probably the hardest part of moving towards God.

· How can we improve our prayer lives?

· How does prayer move us towards God?

· Challenge: Pray through each day

o Analyze your day to see what God showed you, where did you sin?, what blessings were given?

Impacting God (JARED)

Background:

Hezekiah is the king from 2 Chronicles 29-32. He purified the temple, got rid of idols, brought tithes to God’s house. He dies, and his son Manasseh steps in to take his place.

2 Chronicles 33

o Verses 1-9

§ Basically all the good that his father did, Manasseh erases it.

§ He desecrates Solomon’s temple with idols, worshiped pagan gods, and sacrificed his children to them!

o Verses 10-20

§ This guy was despicable, but God forgave him.

§ Manasseh did a complete 180 and changed his life around. He tried to right all the wrongs that he did.

§ But that’s not what we are focusing on. Look at the fact that God was moved by Manasseh’s prayer. This is the God of all creation, the Lord of everything, omniscient, omnipotent, yet he was moved by this man’s prayer. Why?

· Because he saw the error and God saw his sincerity.

§ Manasseh turned his life around and was honest with God, surrendering all to him. God saw this and was moved, He was impacted by Manasseh.

· How do we impact God?

o Through prayer

o Through repentance

o By being real

Weekly Update 8.4

2010-08-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 7
This Saturday we are putting on "Water War '10". This will be a two hour competition from 2:00-4:00pm. It is open to anyone in junior or senior high. Please dress appropriately, bring a towel, and bring a change of clothes if you want. You may also bring your own water gun for the grand finale.

Sunday, August 8
This Sunday we are going to be having our Back to School Bash/Fall Kickoff. We will be having a swimming party at Whispering Hills Pool from 6:00 until parents pick their children up. Whispering Hills is located at 217 Brookshore Avenue. Here is a link to directions from the church to the pool: http://www.locallife.com/bowling-green/moreinfo.asp?site=BOWLINGGREEN&p3link=63237&dispmode=map

Weekly Update 7.26

2010-07-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 27
We hope you will join us for our final Summer Olympic competition tomorrow night at Southern Lanes. We will have four lanes reserved (one for each team) from 6:00-7:30. Please be on time so that we make sure everyone gets a chance to play.

Sunday, August 1
This Sunday night we will be saying goodbye to our departing seniors. We will have our second annual Senior Roast. We are thankful for Ryan, Tori, and Rachel for all that they have done and wish them best in college. We know that they are going to represent us, their family, and their faith well.

Saturday, August 7
August 7th will be Water Wars '10. We will all be together from 2:00-4:00 playing a lot of wet games at the church. We hope that you will invite your friends as a good way to kick off the school year.

Mission Trip 2010

2010-07-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Our youth took part in our annual mission trip July 11-17. We traveled to Seymour, TN (right outside of Gatlinburg) and helped with home repairs and landscaping. We worked for Mr. Eddy, who takes care of his wife, who has had three strokes and is unresponsive, and his father, who suffers from dementia. Mr Eddy's mother died three weeks before we arrived.
Below is a slide show that shows some of the things that we did throughout the week. Our kids completed two weeks of work in just under four days. We also had quality time hanging out in the afternoons and evenings, and on our free day Friday. Thank you to all who prayed for us during the trip and those who supported us by tithing to BGCC.

Most of all, thank you to a wonderful group of kids who worked hard, didn't complain, and came together as a family. A special thanks also goes out to the sponsors who sacrificed vacation time, and parts of their summer to come, work, and support these youth. Enjoy the slideshow and be proud of our kids:

7/25 Senior & Junior High Sunday School: One Thing-Having an Eternal Perspective

2010-07-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Lesson by Jared Graves

Introduction

What comes to your mind when I say the words “Second coming”?

What do you believe a Christian’s attitude should be concerning Jesus coming back?

This week and next week, Josh and I are going to give you one challenge for the school year ahead. My challenge for you this week and for this school year is to keep an eternal perspective. When school starts, it is really easy to become narrow-minded. We focus on what we have to do right then and there, and we do just enough to make it through the day. What if we were not promised tomorrow? How would we act, how would we treat people? My hope through this lesson is not to scare you into doing something, it is to motivate you to make a difference and have a different outlook on life.

Lesson

2 Peter 3:3-4

This is kind of like the fire drills and tornado drill you go through in school. When you were younger, you took them seriously. Now, they are a complete and utter waste of time. You know there is no fire, and you just go through the motions. There is no urgency.

Many of us have heard, over and over again, that Jesus is coming soon. However, we have begun to think that this is just like those fire drills. Soon to us is tomorrow, or at least within the year. So Jesus still hasn’t come, so we begin to let our guard down and think, “This isn’t happening today.” The thing is, it could.

2 Peter 3:5-10

We are on God’s time. While this seems like a cop-out, it is true. While we do not know the day, we can find some warning signs in Scripture to let us know that the day is coming. Remember though, these signs are not steps in a map, like a treasure hunt. They are birth pains (like Jesus says in Matthew 24). Also, we cannot say that something hasn’t happened, so Jesus can’t come. Lastly, don’t get caught up in how and when, just focus on the fact that it is going to happen. We just need to take a look at the frequency of the birth pains. Here are signs we can look for:

Signs in nature (Matthew 24, Luke 21)

Earthquakes, famine, sickness, disease

Wars and rumors of wars

Until 1914 no universal world, then we had two. Death toll from conflicts since then set to top 23 million

Isaiah says that we will call evil good, and good evil (Read 2 Timothy 2-9)

We will be tolerating on everything but the things of God.

More people will hear false teachers of God than truth.

Matthew 24 says that Christians will be persecuted. Now, we don’t see this really where we are today, but if you look at the past century, there have been more Christians martyred than all the time leading up to this past century combined. There are 200,000,000 Christians who face persecution, death, or torture every day. (Persecution.org).

(Matthew 24:14) There will also be a revival in people coming to Christ. Everyone will be reached with the Gospel. Is this happening?

The most telling is that people will ignore the warning signs.

2 Peter 3:14-15. God is waiting until all possible people can come to know Him.

Conclusion

I tell you all this to tell you this:

Don’t get caught up in figuring out when Jesus is coming again. Just know that He is. Just know that when He does, there are no more chances. No more chances to reach out to people. No more chances to live a better life. No more chances to grow closer to God. This school year, and every day from here forward, I challenge you (and myself) to live with an eternal perspective. Know that this could be your last day, your last breath. Live it to the fullest and leave nothing on the table at the end of the day.

Weekly Update 6.22

2010-06-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight, June 22
Tonight, we will continue our summer long "BGCC Summer Olympics" competition. Tonight will combine both academic/logic and athletic competitions. Please dress appropriately. If you didn't come three weeks ago for kick ball, don't worry! We will put you on a team.

Sunday, June 27
This Sunday is the Josh Knabel show at BGCC. Josh will be doing both Sunday Schools and then answering the question "What are different ways to spread the Word of God?" during Ignite. Hope to see you there!

6.20 Sunday School "The Holy Spirit"

2010-06-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Senior High- Jared Graves
Junior High- John Baker

Introduction

Many times, people will take a jar with them on a vacation or a trip. They will collect dirt/air/etc from that place and bring it back home with them. Baseball teams often scoop up some dirt from their home baseball field and take it with them to give them good luck and to remind them who they are playing for.

If you had a jar, what points in your life would you have liked to bottle up?

If this worked in our spiritual lives, what point would you bottle up?

Probably the most overused phrase in the Christian life is “mountain top experience.” These are instances in our lives where we believe that things really couldn’t get any better. They are the moments when God was so evident, it felt like you could reach out and touch Him. These are the times that we feel like we want to bottle up. Then, when bad times come, or that spiritual high wears off, we can sneak a sniff of the moment from our jar and let that feeling come over us again. For those of you who went to CIY, this happens every year. We always say “I wish I felt like I did at CIY”. How can we maintain this momentum, how can we always live our life with the same enthusiasm and excitement as those mountain top experiences?

Simply put, the Spirit of God never changes. We are always holding the Spirit within our heart. Today, let us find out more about the Spirit and examine how we can keep the momentum from CIY or find that mountain top experience at any time and in any situation.

Bible Study

Hand out the papers that have every mention of the Spirit of God in the Bible. See what we can learn from the Bible verses.

What does our research today concerning the Spirit of God tell us about His workings in our life?

If the Spirit of God never changes, why do we feel like we have come down the mountain?

If it is our fault for getting down from the mountain, what can we do to sustain the Spirit’s workings in our life?

Weekly Update 6.6

2010-06-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

First things first...

We had a GREAT "Promotion Sunday". Combined, our Sunday morning total for junior and senior high was 41 students. Then we had 32 students for Ignite. With some of our students on vacation and others out of town, I can already tell that this year will be awesome, and I can't wait to see us grow beyond our current state, both spiritually and numerically!

TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT
It is VBS time at BGCC. All our senior high students are invited to come and volunteer for VBS. Our junior high students will be taking part in their own special section of VBS. They will not be doing the normal "kiddy" VBS, but will instead be taking part in a new and exclusive week-long experience. They will need to wear clothes to be active in (and shoes to fit that). Tonight we will be walking around a lot, so please dress accordingly.

Thursday, June 10
Also this week, we will be traveling to Barren Heights to do a service project. We will be leaving the church by 8:00am and will return by 3:00pm. While we are there, we will be helping them do some landscaping and getting them ready for their summer camps. Barren Heights is a great place for persons with disabilities and their families. We have some members at BGCC that have attended there in the past. Please let me know if you planning on attending this trip and if you are a parent that is interested in taking students on this trip. We need more parents.

Sunday, June 13
We will be continuing our series "Life's Toughest Questions" Sunday night. We will be answering the question, "I feel like I fit in better and enjoy hanging out more with my non-Christian friends than I do the people in my youth group. Does this mean that I am disconnected from the body?" We will also be playing some games and continuing to grow together as a body. Hope to see you there!

CIY 2010
We have 16 youth leaving for CIY next Monday morning. Those students need to have their BGCC and CIY waiver, along with the remainder of their CIY payment before we leave. We are going to have a great week. Please be praying for the students, sponsors, and conference. Thanks!

6/6 Sunday School "Yearly Check-Up"

2010-06-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Devotion by Jared Graves

Introduction

Students will play a get to know you game. This will serve as an opportunity to welcome new students to the group and make them feel welcomed.

“Find Someone Who”: Students are to go around with a sheet of paper and find someone that fits the description of each statement. They can only use the same person twice.

Bible Study

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-20

Which gifts/parts of the body would the Corinthians celebrate?

What are the gifts/parts of the body that we seem to hold higher in the church today?

Read 1 Corinthians 12:21-27

What are the gifts/parts of the body that the Corinthians would have looked down on?

What are the gifts/part of the body that we seem to look down on or totally ignore?

Application

We are one body. Today we have some new faces with us. I hope that you will take time to get to know them more and welcome them with open arms to our group. To our new kids, we say welcome. However, we also want to let you know that you are at a new point in your life. Now you are called to a higher responsibility. Let us use our gifts to the best that we can and let’s be a well-oiled machine for Christ, His Church, and His people!

5/30 Sunday School "Peer Pressure"

2010-06-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Devotion by Josh Knabel:

Introduction & Bible Study:

Students are presented scenarios about peer pressure and must take time to match up the correct verses with the right scenario.
Scenario 1- Ephesians 4:25, Ashley should explain why she won’t be going to the party. She should tell Jessie about the youth group event and her feelings towards it
Scenario 2- Galatians 6:1-2, Mark should sit down with Terry and explain what he’s seeing in Terry’s life. He should try to persuade Terry to get involved in the church again. He should also avoid getting involved with Terry’s new crowd.
Scenario 3- Philippians 4:6-7, If Alan were going to be blackballed for not attending the party, he should turn his worries and feelings over to God and trust God to make his remaining years in drama enjoyable.
Scenario 4- Psalm 37: 23-24, Eddie should refuse to join his friends in taunting the new kid. Even though Eddie stumbled before when he made fun of the new kid, the Lord will provide strength for him to resist this time.
Scenario 5- II Corinthians 5:17, Rita should try and explain to her friends that she really doesn’t have the desire anymore to do the kinds of things she used to do. She should then offer some alternative suggestions for what she and her friends could do together, suggestions that go along with Rita’s new personality.

The kids should take some time and write down some other situations that go along with peer pressure, and then share the ideas, while also checking to see if the five bible passages relate to the options they’ve chosen in anyway

Conclusion:

Now just because we have biblical answers does that mean that standing up to peer pressure is going to be easy, just remember that God has promised to be with and help us when were in a tough situation, but he hasn’t promised that we’ll never face anything like that, or that life will always be easy, that’s why we have to rely on him.

Weekly Update 6.1

2010-06-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

TONIGHT!!!
Our 2nd Annual BGCC Summer Olympics kick off tonight at Covington Woods Park. The game will begin at 6:00 and end at 8:00. If you miss this week, it does not mean that you cannot participate in the rest of the competitions. Come out and get ready for a great time.

Sunday, June 6
Sunday is promotion Sunday. All eighth graders have been moved up to our senior high class that meets at 8:30 in the youth center. Our new friends from the fifth grade will meet in the Youth Center at 9:45 with the junior high.

Sunday night is Ignite, where all students, junior and senior high, meet together for games, food, and fellowship. This week's devotion is coming from Josh as he answers the question, "Why is Jesus important?" Josh will be giving his testimony, and we will take time to make sure we get to know each other better.

Thursday, June 10
We will be heading to Barren Heights camp in Louisville, KY to help them out with some landscaping in preparation for their summer camps. They are very excited for us to come up and help out, so hopefully we can have a big turn out. If you are coming to the mission day, please contact us (youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org). Also, if you are a parent who wants to accompany us as a chaperone, you are welcomed to come. Once again, just let us know by e-mailing us.

Mission Trip
We still have one slot remaining for the mission trip (July 11-17). If you are interested in attending, please let us know so we can reserve your spot. The cost is $200 ($150 if you have set up a payment plan).

Have a great week!

5/24 Weekly Update

2010-05-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, we want to wish everyone with final exams good luck. We pray that your hard work and studying will prove useful and that you would be successful in your tests this week. Finish strong!

Tuesday, May 25
In anticipation of carpet being put down on Wednesday, there are some final touches needed for some parts of the downstairs at church. We will be opening the doors starting at 3:30 for those who can come and help us finish. We are grateful for those who have sacrificed their time over the past few weeks to help us out in restoring our children's ministry wing.

Sunday, May 30
Our Sunday School classes will be taught by our new intern, Josh Knabel. He will be leading a Bible study and discussion on Matthew 14.

Sunday night is our annual End of School Bash at the Schreiner Farm (directions are available Sunday). The church and the Schreiners will be providing hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, condiments, and s'more making materials. However, the rest is up to you to bring. Please note what everyone is supposed to bring:

6th & 7th Graders: Drinks
8th & 9th Graders: Chips
10th-12th Graders: Dessert

Please bring what you are assigned to contribute to the group. We will be eating, playing games, and burning our homework from the previous year. See you there!

5/23 Sunday School "Taming the Tongue"

2010-05-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Devotion by Jared Graves

Introduction

Students will play a game of “Mad Lib”.

The right word placement makes all the difference in the world. We could say something that portrays the same message but switch just a few words around and say something completely different, and possibly unintentional.

Bible Study

Read James 3:3-12

James is very serious in his discussion of what words can do. What were our words initially meant to do?

What now have our words turned into?

Today we are going to look at the Proverbs and what they have to say about the tongue. The tongue is kind of like nuclear science, it could be used for good, or it could be used to bring destruction and hatred.

Gossip: Have the students find the following Proverbs, and have them wait for the signal to read them: Proverbs 16:28, 20:19, 19:1, 18:6-8

Read Proverbs 16:28, 20:19, 19:1, 18:6-8

What do these Scriptures say about gossip?

What is considered gossip?

Anger: Have the students ready to read the following passages from Proverbs: 14:17, 14:29, 15:1, 15:18

Is anger always a sin? (Psalm 4:4 states, “In your anger, do not sin”.)

Read Proverbs 14:17, 14:28, 15:1, 15:8.

What is the fine line between anger and destruction?

Truth: Have the students ready to read the following passages form Proverbs: 15:1-2,4,7-8,29, 19:5,9, 21:6, 20:15.

Read Proverbs 15:1-2,4,7-8,28,

One author stated that these verse could indicate that all our speech should be a prayer to God. Agree or disagree?

Read Proverbs 19:5,9, 21:6, and 20:15

What is the difference in a tongue that professes truth and a tongue that gossips, tears down, lies, etc?

Application

What are some tidbits of wisdom that we can use from what we learned today to keep our mouth doing what God created it to do?

What steps can someone take to tame their tongue?

Weekly Update 5.17

2010-05-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 18
We know that we are winding down the school year, but if you are available to help out with the restoration of the church's basement, we would like to have your help. We will be painting on Tuesday night from 3:30-7:00. We will have food provided, but we need you to bring your painting supplies. Please note that this is not a night to come goof around. We will have fun fellowshipping, but the work will be very serious.

Sunday, May 23
Sunday morning we will be taking a look at the Proverbs. At Ignite, Chris Day will join us and will discuss the question "Why do I hold grudges and can't seem to let go?" Our worship team will also be performing, so we hope to see everyone out.

Summer Intern
Please take a moment to welcome Josh Knabel to our ministry staff. Josh is a senior at Johnson Bible College and will be filling the summer intern position. You can add him on Facebook. Make sure you come and introduce yourself to him Sunday.

June 10
Next month's "A 10th for the Lord" will take us to Barren Heights camp in Louisville. We will leave the church at 8:00 and will return at 5:00. We will be assisting with some cleaning and groundswork. If you are interested in going on this trip (adult or youth) please contact Jared (jared@bowlinggreenchristian.org).

5/16 Sunday School 3 John

2010-05-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

Senior High- Jennifer Perkinson, Junior High-John Baker

Bible Study

Read 3 John 1-4

Just like in 2 John, the writer is praising a member of the church whose children (whether they are actual children or spiritual children) are doing what they are supposed to do.

Read 3 John 5-8

In this time there were many traveling evangelist. A messenger would preach the same sermon over and over to each church he visited. However, as he went along the way, he would give a status report of what the other churches were doing. Gaius showed hospitality to these people and supported their cause.

Read 3 John 9-10

Now John contrasts Gaius and Diotrephes’ actions. Diotrephes does not welcome those who are coming to spread the message. What are the things that Diotrephes did to the messengers of the Gospel? (Refuses to welcome them and makes sure that those who are in his church do not welcome them)

Read 3 John 11-14

John concludes his letter with a charge on holy living. He also highlights another brother in Christ, Demetrius, and his reputation.

Application

If we had to make a theme of this book, we could possibly say that it is all about having a good reputation.

Discussion Questions

What is Gaius’ reputation?
What is Diotrephes’ reputation?
We see here that very early in the church, there were already people who saw church in “teams”. Is this thought still prevalent today? How can we avoid the mindset that different denominations are different teams?
If stories about your faith circulated around, what would your reputation be?

Weekly Update 4.26

2010-04-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

First of all, a very special thanks to Franklin and the worship team for a great worship service last night. Also we want to thank those who came to celebrate The Movement's 1st birthday party Saturday. We're glad the rain didn't keep you away and we had a great time! Now to the week ahead:

Sunday, May 2
In our Sunday School classes we will be studying 2 John. On Sunday night, we will continue our "Life's Toughest Questions" series. We will send out an e-mail soon with the topic that will be covered.

4/25 Sunday School "God is....Life"

2010-04-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Lessons by Jared Graves

Introduction

Review. This is the final week of our series on 1 John. We have learned two attributes of God so far. The first week we learned that God is… (Light) and last week we talked about God being… (Love). Today, we are going to talk about God being life.

Activity: Have a large dry-erase board to mark on for this lesson. On one side of the board have written “Good world”. With a line dividing the two sides, write “Bad world” on the other side of the board. Students are going to list the difference in the two and which aspects of everyday life fit in which category.

One of the predominant misconceptions of our faith is that we are to be completely and utterly secluded from the world. It is especially bad when people have kids and remember all the stuff they had to deal with in high school and life and so they are ULTRA protective to try and keep them away from the things of this world. In our English translations of the Bible we find that we are supposed to stay away from the world and out of the world. However, we find that in the original language, there is a difference in “worlds”. There is the world of the flesh, which is all the things that are sinful and detrimental to our Christian walk, and then there is the world of people and creation that God loves and created. That is why the phrase be in the world, but of the world makes sense. We are supposed live in this world, be with all different types of people, but we need to avoid sin and the things that would compromise our faith.

Before we begin today, let’s discuss and list the differences in the “good world” that we are to be apart of, and the “bad world that we should avoid”.

Bible Study/Exegesis (What it meant then)- 1 John 5

Everyone turn to 1 John 5

Read 1 John 5:1-5

· In Christ we are victorious. What is the end for all those in the world? Death. 10 out of every 10 people die. It is the ultimate statistic. However, if we have Christ, we are victorious over this world and we can hope in a life that is given by the Life-Giver.

· What does it mean that we have victory over our faith?

Read 1 John 5:6-12

· Do you see what John has done here? There is pattern that he followed the entire letter: This is who God is, this is how God does this, and this is what you should do about it. Now look at what He did with the pattern: This is who God is (Life), this is how God does it (overcoming the world), but now John shows that this is what God did about it. God sent His Son to live in worldly terms.

· What is the big deal about the difference in water and blood? Water came from Heaven as an inanimate object. It doesn’t breathe, etc. Jesus wasn’t a vapor, or something that was not real, He was real, He bled, He was like us.

Read 1 John 5:13-21

· What is this sin that leads to death? Which sins do not lead to death? Should we more concerned with discerning which sin is which or just try not to sin at all?

· Why is verse 21 there? How does it relate to God being life? Idols are temporary and lead to death. God is living and offers us life.

Application/Hermeneutics (What it means now):

Which of the three attributes of God that we have studied this month appeals most to people?

What is one thing you learned today?

Weekly Update 4.20

2010-04-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 24
You are invited to a birthday party! It's not for a specific person, but for the Movement. On April 25, 2009 we took part in Launch Day, where we launched ourselves into motion. This Saturday from 1-3, we are going to celebrate a year of moving. We will see highlights from a great year, eat birthday cake, and play party games. Please let us know if you will be attending by e-mailing youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org, calling the office, or joining the event on Facebook.

Sunday, April 25
We will be concluding our Sunday School series on 1 John this week as we look at God being life. So far we have talked about God being light and love, and how we should continue to strive to be light and love as well. As always, if you miss a lesson, feel free to go to the blog and check out the outline for the lesson.

Sunday night we will be continuing our "Life's Toughest Questions" series. Franklin Wiggins will come and speak about baptism and our band will be playing. We hope to see everyone out Sunday night. Remember, you can still send in your questions to 502-517-9170, or e-mail them to youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org.

4/18 Sunday School "God Is...Love"

2010-04-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Review. Last week we began the series called “God Is…” by looking at basically the first two chapters of 1 John. We said that “God is light”. We noted that God doesn’t live a private life, He is the same every second of every day, and has always been that way. We also discussed how, as followers of God, we cannot say that we belong to him and live a lifestyle of darkness, or with any hint of darkness.

Online, we had a discussion about the rest of the chapter dealing with the Antichrists. You can get on the blog and check out what you missed if you did not participate. Any questions from last week?

While I’m not sure that one word “best describes” God, this one comes close. Today, we are going to explore John’s discussion of God being love.

Bible Study/Exegesis (What it meant then)- 1 John 2:28-4:21

Everyone turn to 1 John 2:28. We are going to ready through chapter 4 today.

Read 1 John 2:28-29.

· These verses serve as a transition between light and love. The reiterate the idea of Christians continuing a light-filled life, and staying away from the darkness.

Read 1 John 3:1-6

· Just from these verses, what evidence do we have that God loves us?

· We are also seeing a continuation of the idea that we are to strive to be like God.

Read 1 John 3:7-10

· Is this saying that once we accept Christ we should no longer sin, and if we do we lose that salvation?

Read 1 John 3:11-24

· We asked earlier for the evidence we have that God loves us. Let us now ask a similar question. From what we just read, what evidence should we give to the world that we are full of love?

· 1 John 4:1-6 will be our on-line discussion this week. We will be talking about false teachers and figuring out a way for us to identify them.

Read 1 John 4:7-21

· John does the same thing here that he did with the discussion on God being light. He takes the truth that God is love, and now implies that we are to take that truth and live it out. Our actions and everything we do should reflect love. We should love God, love friends, and love enemies. We should be full of love.

Application/Hermeneutics (What it means now):

What is one thing you learned today?

Weekly Update 4.12

2010-04-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 14
We are going to A 10th for the Lord a little late, but it is better than never. This Wednesday from 3:30-6:30 we are going to be painting and working on our adopted part of the campus. Hope to see you guys out!

Sunday, April 18
This Sunday morning we will be exploring 1 John looking at God as love. Sunday night at Ignite, we will continue to answer the question "What does it mean to be a Christian?" Hope you will join us.

4/12 Sunday School "God Is...Light"

2010-04-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Let’s begin by noting that there is no way that someone could do a series called “God is…” and have all the names and attributes of God listed. It is impossible. So what we are going to look at over the next three weeks are not a complete summary of God, rather it is a look at three attributes of God that the writer of 1 John wants to highlight. We are going to look at the three L’s: Light, Love, and Life.

Bible Study/Exegesis (What it meant then)- 1 John 1:1-2:27

Everyone turn to 1 John 1. While we are turning there here is a little background. While some say this book was written by John the beloved the disciple, others say it was John the Elder, and others someone else, we know fairly certain that this was written by the same person as the person who wrote John the Gospel. The word structure and some of the same themes are present in these letters as in the Gospel.

Also, the reason for the writing of this letter is to address the problem of declining commitment to the cause of Christ. This is after the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem and the Christians, as well as Jews, were dispersed throughout the land. Along with declining commitment, there was the problem of false teachers who were coming and leading the people astray. So we need to see this letter as an apologetic letter, standing up for the Christian faith and correct teaching.

Read 1 John 1:1-4

· Starts very similarly as the Gospel (Read the first few verses of John)

· Think about our series on evangelism, what is John trying to do here in the introduction? He is trying to show his credibility and showing that he knows this Jesus that he is writing about.

Read 1 John 1:5

· This is one of the eternal truths that no one will dispute. Light and dark cannot coexist. What this statement says is basically this, as a human, you have a public life, but some of us have lives that we live in secret that are in stark contrast to who we are in front of others. God is not like that. He does not put on a mask, and He does not change. He is the same God all the time and in every situation.

Read 1 John 1:6-2:17

· It is almost like John talks about God and has everyone nodding their heads, and then very abruptly he turns it into, “But you aren’t acting like that is the God you are following”.

· These verses highlight a hypocritical life. It is not just the life lived by what we like to label as “Sunday Christians” but all Christians. In a very simplistic way it is like saying don’t work at McDonalds but eat on your breaks at Burger King.

· Remember, the epistle was written to combat the decline in commitment. What do these verses say about our commitment to God?

· What was the other reason for writing this letter? To combat false teachings. There was a teaching (how quickly people twisted Christianity to be easy to do) that there actually was no one thing called “sin”.

Application/Hermeneutics (What it means now):

Is there a thought in people’s lives that God has a secret life?

What do you derive from 1 John 1:6-10, when he discussed the Christian walk?

What is one thing you learned today?

Weekly Update 4.6

2010-04-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hope that you had a great Easter! Here's what is coming up in the coming days for us here at BGCC:

Saturday, April 10th...maybe
We ARE going to do "A 10th for the Lord" this month. It just might not be on the 10th. We are trying to work out some things with people here at church and the community and we will let you know ASAP what we are going to be doing and when we are going to do it. This is probably the most vague announcement we've ever done...

Sunday, April 11th
Our Sunday School classes will be beginning a series entitled "God is...". We are going to be looking at 1 John and finding the three things that John describes God as being.

On Sunday night, we will begin an exciting new series called "Life's Toughest Questions". However, this series goes NOWHERE, unless we get your input. We have some questions that have been submitted for the series, but WE NEED MORE. We need more texted in questions to 502-517-9170. We need more e-mailed questions to questions@bowlinggreenchristian.org. However you do it, please send in your questions.
This Sunday night, we will be starting answering one of our questions. We are going to answer it in two parts, one this week, and one next week. Hope you will join us at 6:00 Sunday night.

Weekly Update 3/28 New Opportunity

2010-03-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hey gang,
While there is nothing going on this Sunday for the youth program, we would still like to make sure that you know that you are invited to join us for Easter on the Hill. We will be having an awesome worship service beginning at 10:00am at Van Meter Auditorium on the campus of WKU. We hope you will join us.

Even more, we hope that you will help us take part in a ministry opportunity. We had previously been granted the opportunity to give postcards out to those kids who attended Potter Gray. However, someone raised issue with it and we now have a lot of postcards just sitting here in the office. So, we are calling on our youth to be the hands and feet of Christ and hand these suckers out. We want you guys to organize yourself with your family, or just your friends, and deliver these cards to people in the community. They do not have postage, which means they can't simply be put in mailboxes. They need to be handed out or left on doors. If you are interested please shoot me an e-mail (jared@bowlinggreenchristian.org) or give me call in the office with how many cards you want to take and hand out. Let's be an example to the church and the community by showing the love of Christ and inviting others to accept the invitation of love that God has given to us!

Jared

3/28 Senior & Junior High Sunday School "Hosea"

2010-03-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

Senior High-Steve Briggs, Junior High-John Baker

Introduction

Have the students get in two groups. They each will have one White-Out bottle and will be asked to go through an article laced with typographical errors. They are to change/erase anything that is wrong. At the end of the time, come together and see who caught the most errors.

Today, we are finishing our series on Hosea. We’ve covered a lot of material the last three weeks. We started out in Hosea 1, which showed us God telling Hosea to take for himself an adulterous wife. We find that the wife, Gomer, continued to cheat on him and we only know that Hosea is the father to one of the children that Gomer has. The next week we looked at Hosea 2—3, where God shows Hosea that the Israelites were quite like Gomer. They were supposed to be in a covenant relationship with God, but they had decided to suit their own interests and likings. At the end of the lesson, we see God instructing Hosea to go to Gomer, and to stick with her, telling her to turn from her ways. Last week was a little gloomy. We went through God’s speech to the Israelites, telling them about all the wrong that they had done to Him. We find that there are many parallels between the Israelites of that time, and the Church today.

Today, we are going to look at the final restoration that God has for the Israelites. See, God invented White-Out. He has, even with a huge list of transgressions, forgiving His people when they saw the error in their ways and repented. He sent His Son to die on the cross so that we can be forgiven, and that we can be made white as snow.

Lesson

Have the students get out their Bibles and turn to Hosea 11

Read Hosea 11:1-11

Take a look at verse nine. God knows His creation all too well. He knows that their first instinct when someone wrongs them is to go in anger towards the one who wronged them. God says, I’m not like you. I am holy. With this verse in mind, how do you view statements made by Christian conservatives who say that Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake were results of God’s wrath against people for not following Him?

Another lesson that we can take out of this verse is the fact that many people mold God into thinking exactly like they do. They want God to react in the same manner. God does not conform to our image of Him. He is holy and is not bound by human emotion or theories.

God, for the next two chapters resorts to calling out the Israelites for their wickedness and adultery against Him. However, these are a little different, because they are prefaced by the love of God. He wants to reiterate the fact that He always loved the Israelites. ALWAYS. He goes back to what they have done. Kind of a “I love you, and I want you to know that, but look what you have done to me”

Read Hosea 14:1-3

Hosea makes a plea to the Israelites. He tells them to ask God to forgive them, but also turns from their ways. Repentance is kind of a Christian-ese word. It’s something that we have said so many times but we rarely live it out. How many times do you ask for forgiveness but not do anything about it?

Read Hosea 14:4-8

Let’s go through and show the symbols that God uses there and say what they mean: Dew=Representation of a new day, Water to a dry heart. Green Pine Tree= Everlasting God

Read Hosea 14:9

This sounds a little like a proverb. Who are the people who are stumbling in the ways of the Lord? Allow them to answer, but point out that nowhere in this book did God talk to anyone who was not already a believer. God is talking about believers who are stumbling around because they continue to do what they want instead of what God wants.

Another question we could ask is this, can we tell people who are not living right without seeing their actions?

Application

What is the evangelistic message that was given to the world through Hosea? (That no matter what you have done and how long you have been running, God is still there waiting to use White Out).

Weekly Update 3.24

2010-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry that this week's update is coming to you on Wednesday, but I've been sick the last two days and have basically been useless.

Sunday, March 28
We will conclude our series on Hosea this Sunday morning. Steve Briggs will be leading the senior high class while the Bakers will be doing the junior high class. We hope you will join us.

Sunday night we will be concluding our "March Madness" series with a talk about love and romance. The band will be playing, so come for a night of worship in the auditorium.

Mission Trip
We have six spots remaining for the mission trip (July 11-17), please get your deposit in ASAP to reserve your spot. Also, at the end of this week, we will be filling our remaining spots with people from the church who want to go.

CIY:Move
Remember to get your deposits, or at least inform someone that you are attending CIY. We are looking forward to a big group coming this year and sharing in a wonderful experience.

3/21 Senior & Junior High Sunday School "Hosea"

2010-03-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Devotion: Jared Graves

Introduction

Instruct everyone to think of all the times that they were wronged in the last week.

There are two things to learn here. Number one, we are really bad at forgiving and forgetting. Number two, when we are wronged it sticks out. For many of us, we would rather be wronged a million times and never know it, than to be wronged once and know it, and feel the full effect of it.

Hosea is going to be the mouthpiece to the Israelites on behalf of God. He has been taught his lesson, and now he is a worthy bearer of this message. Think about it, Hosea would be a legitimate person to speak on adultery, and someone cheating on their true love. It happened to him all the time!

Before we go on today, let’s make sure that we are all on the same page. Who is Hosea? A prophet of God who was told to marry an adulterous wife. What has happened so far in the book? Hosea marries Gomer, Gomer cheats on him. God uses this as an opportunity to show how Israel has cheated on God. God shows that one day He will step down, take matters into his own hands, and reconcile Israel to Himself, and asks Hosea to do likewise with Gomer.

Lesson

Have everyone open to Hosea 4.

God’s charges against Israel:

· Hosea 4:1-9. How bad has it gotten in Israel? Even the priests are sinning against God. They are no longer holy, or setting an example for their people. Just to be honest, there are plenty of ministers out there who are serving their own wants and needs. They are simply allowing their flock do whatever they want to. There are plenty of people in the ministry for their own selfish wants. Obviously, we still haven’t learned the lessons of the past.

· Hosea 6:4-11. Ouch. Do you think God has ever said to you “Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears”?
What do you think about the statement “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offering.”?

· Hosea 8:2-4. The Israelites chose horrible kings, and those kings forgot God and lead the people away from Him. Kings were supposed to lead the Israelites in a godly way, keeping God first. Are there things that God has given us that we have used for our own benefit?

Application

What parallels are there between the Israel of that time and the Church of this time?

Weekly Update 3.15

2010-03-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

This Week
We don't have anything planned this week except our normal Sunday schedule. We will be continuing our series in Sunday School looking at Hosea, and Lindsay will be speaking Sunday night at Ignite about the pressure to succeed.

Mission Trip
We have 8 spots remaining for the mission trip. Please see Jared if you are going.

CIY
Also, we had our CIY meeting this past Sunday night for those who will be in high school next year and those who are entering college as freshmen. The deposit is not due until April 18, however, we would like to know how many kids are going so we can start making plans (we could have as many as 30). Please let Jared know ASAP if you are going on the trip. Just a reminder, the dates are June 14-19.

Life's Toughest Questions
Lastly, we want to remind you about our series coming up in April and May. We are calling it "Life's Toughest Questions". This series is going to be based upon the questions that we receive from people in our church and outside of church about faith, or aspects of faith. We want you to send your questions one of two ways. Either text your question to the youth's phone number (502) 517-9170, or e-mail them to questions@bowlinggreenchristian.org. We will reply to those texts when we know what date we are going to be addressing those questions. Please help us spread the word, we want this to clear up questions from people within and outside of the youth program.

3/14 Senior & Junior High BFC "Hosea 2 & 3"

2010-03-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Senior High-Jared Graves, Junior High- Sandra Baker

Introduction

Let’s review last week. The main guy in the story is? (Hosea) And God tells him to do what? (marry an adulterous woman, Gomer) What theme is brought up by God towards the end of the chapter? (You are so far away from being the person that I created you to be I don’t even know you. One day, I will. I’m going to make sure of it).

God is going on a soap box rant here for a little while. We know that it is God speaking, yet let’s try to read it in two different perspectives. Let’s read it as God’s words to Israel, but also as God speaking to Hosea and saying everything that he is feeling.

Lesson

Have everyone open up to Hosea 2:2.

Hosea 2:2-8 (Israel’s Sin)

God looks at the people that He created, He delivered, and that He loves and sees what they are doing to Him. We talked about adultery from a human perspective last week. How would it feel if our wife/husband cheated on us. But let’s see exactly what God is going through. God created every fiber of these people’s being. He created them with love and care. He made it possible for them to be born, he delivered their ancestors, He has done everything possible for them, yet they turn from Him.

Hosea 2:9-13 (Israel’s Sin)

God is going to get revenge for everything that the Israelites have done to Him. Does that sound like your God?

If we look at this carelessly, we would see God as a very vengeful God, but see what is happening here. God is saying all these things that you have perverted and turned into something for other Gods will be turned back to me. God is basically saying before you come home, I have to get everything else. Remember the commandment “No other gods before me”?

Hosea 2:14-23 (God moving to redeem)

Look at what God is going to do. 1) He is going to take Israel away to the desert. He is going to seclude her and take her away from all distractions. 2) When all distractions are taken away God is going to give back all the things He took, except now they are holy. 3) God will bring peace. With no competing gods, there is no need for battle.

Heaven is going to be awesome. This is what it is going to look like. This is God’s ideal existence; one with His creation.

Read Hosea 3 (Hosea application to God’s story)

It’s almost like God says, “If I can do this, Hosea, you can too.” Hosea learns that God knows what it feels like to be cheated on.

Basically now, you have Hosea marrying Gomer, paying a slave's ransom for her, and then saying let's do this relationship the right way. Does that sound familiar? God made us, married us in the old covenant, then as we sinned and went away from Him, He paid a price, His Son for us. Then, when we come back, we are told this is a new way of life, and this is what the relationship is supposed to look like. God shows that He loves us so much that He is going to make the first move. This was John 3:16 hundreds of years before John 3:16 was written.

Application

If there is infidelity in a relationship the blame is usually on the unfaithful spouse. However, is the other spouse at fault if they do not try to reconcile differences?

There is an entire world out there that does not realize that God has made the first step in reconciling them and restoring a perfect relationship. That is where we come in.

What are your questions? (From Jared's Blog)

2010-03-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

So let's all be honest. We don't know everything (though I do know most of it, just ask my wife). There are some questions that really bother us, and most of those have to do with our faith. We believe, but there are just some times when we have questions. We want to know why this happens, or why we can't do that. We are scared of being asked that one question that we truly don't know the answer to. Beginning next month, we will be starting a series at Ignite called "Life's Toughest Questions." We want to give people (in church and out of church) a chance to ask whatever questions they have. I, along with our leadership and teaching team, will take a look at all these questions and will try our best to answer them. We are going to talk about this more on Sunday night at BGCC, but we want you to start getting the word out. We are going to open up the opportunity to text your question immediately. You can text your question to (502) 517-9170.

We will text you back to let you know when your question will be addressed. So, what are your questions?

Weekly Update 3/8/10

2010-03-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, March 10
We will FINALLY have our first "10th for the Lord" this Wednesday. We have decided to dedicate the tenth of every month to God and serving His people. We were derailed by snow the first two months of 2010, but it looks like we will be good to go for Wednesday. We will be working in our adopted part of the campus, as well as painting the nursery and toddler rooms. Please come dressed appropriately. We will close up shop so that everyone will be done by 6. You are welcome to come as early as you want after school lets out. See you there!

Sunday, March 14
We will be continuing our Sunday School series on Hosea. I hope you will look at the blog to find out what you missed if you were not here on Sunday.

At 5:30 we will be having a meeting for those current 8th graders through seniors who are interested in attending CIY:Move this summer. We hope you will come for the informational meeting and so we can start planning for the number of kids that we are going to have.

At Ignite, we will be continuing our March Madness series. We are looking at some of the things that makes our life, well, mad. We are seeking to show how to live a less stressful life, and how to deal with tough situations by looking at what God says for us to do. This past Sunday we talked about good & bad belonging, and how to find our place in this world. This Sunday, John Baker will come and talk about peer pressure. We will find how to deal with it, and how to figure out the difference between good peer pressure, and bad peer pressure.

Congratulations
We also want to pass along a hearty congratulations to Ben Luna on his lead role in the BGHS musical Curtains. Ben did a great job and should be very proud of his performance.
Reminder We have 10 spots left on the mission trip for this summer. Please get your deposit in ASAP.

3/8 Ignite "March Madness-Belonging"

2010-03-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

Devotion- Jared Graves

Summary:
At this time of the year, when it comes to NCAA basketball, there are many teams who are trying to prove that they belong in the NCAA tournament. While all conference winners get into the 65-team tournament, 30+ spots are still out there to be filled by "at large teams". These are teams who did not win their conference, but still deserve to belong in the tourney based on their win-loss record and who they beat throughout the season.

A few years ago there was a team called George Mason. They did not win their conference tournament and they got in as an at-large team. Now, they were from a small conference so there were plenty of people, notably CBS Commentator Billy Packer, who stated that there were more deserving teams that got left out of the tourney. They basically said George Mason did not belong.

As a 13 seed, George Mason made it to the final four. They were one of the last four teams playing for a national championship. They proved that they belonged.

We are constantly longing to belong to something. We don't want to be left out, and we do not want to be socially inadequate. Sometimes we change things about ourselves in order to fit in. Sometimes we decide to take on new hobbies or interests in order to find a group of people to belong to. Belonging is important. However, we need to find out what type of belonging is healthy, and what is not.

1 Peter 2:9-12

Christians were now at a crossroads. They had to leave everything they knew and adjust to a new way of thinking and living. Some of these people were confused as to where they fit in with their new morals and way of life.

Bad belonging (two extremes):

Compromising our beliefs or friendships. This is never a healthy belonging. This always causes you to discard what is right and the good relationships that you have in order to seek acceptance from someone else.
Secluding ourselves, or becoming social hermit. We are not called to live in isolation. Peter did not tell the Christians to isolate themselves, rather to be a key part in the world. They just needed to safeguard their hearts and actions to make sure that they were not doing anything contradicting their beliefs. Belonging to comfort-zone groups who look, think, and act like us is not healthy.

Good Belonging:

Wide variety of people from different races, colors, and backgrounds
A community that you can give and receive freely

3/7 Junior & Senior High Sunday School "Hosea"

2010-03-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

At what point is the weight too much for you to hold on anymore? Many marriages have to answer that question day in and day out. At the beginning of marriage, questions like: What would you do for your husband/wife? What lengths would you go to show them your love? are dumb. “I will love them no matter what.” And then no matter what happens and you have to figure out if you are going to hold on, or are you going to let go?

Many marriages are even based on the idea that God ordained the marriage. Everything happened so perfectly that there is no doubt that God had a hand in it. Yet that marriage struggles, and sometimes falls apart. Now, most will probably point towards their marriage as being God’s will based on circumstance rather than a burning bush saying that they should marry that other person.

Yet, there is one man, at least, who was told that God wanted him to marry someone. Hosea is one of the most interesting books in the Bible. Can you think of instances in the Bible where God has someone go through a life situation, and then at the end of it He says, “You see what I did there?” We are going to study the book of Hosea this month. We are going to see God put Hosea in a sticky situation and then shows him a truth from Hosea’s experience.

Lesson

Have everyone open the Bibles to Hosea

Read Hosea 1:1

Hosea begins his ministry during the end of the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, which was a prosperous but morally void time.

Read Hosea 1:2-3

This goes against everything we stand for. Usually people get a wife/husband, and then that person becomes and adulterer. However, God is telling Hosea to get a wife who is an adulterer before the marriage even starts. What would you say in this situation?

Read Hosea 1:4-10

Note that we know for certain that Hosea was the father of ONE of the THREE children.

How does God go from seemingly breaking apart the covenant to hinting a restoration? He says I am not your God, and then God’s split personality comes out and then contradicts Himself. No, God is saying listen. Right now you are so far from who you are supposed to be I don’t even know you. And then in verse ten He changes to, but one day you will. One day something, someone is going to happen that will bring you back into your proper existence.

Application

Let’s start to put together some obvious symbols in the story: Adulterous Spouse=Us, Hosea=Jesus.

What seemingly ridiculous situations have you found yourself in only to find that God was using it as a teaching tool?

Weekly Update 3/3

2010-03-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

Mission Trip 2010
Last Sunday, we had a meeting on our summer mission trip which will be July 11-18 in Gatlinburg, TN. We have 10 guaranteed slots left. To get your spot, you need to turn in a $50 deposit by March 14. If you need more information about the trip, contact youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org.

Sunday, March 7

Sunday morning we will start new Sunday School series on Hosea. Senior high meets at 8:30, and junior high meets at 9:45 in the youth center.

Sunday night we will start a new series called "March Madness". This series will focus on all the things that make our life, well, mad. We will focus on how to deal with an unhealthy urge for belonging, peer pressure, success, and love. We hope that you will join us!

2/28 Junior & Senior High Sunday School "Ethos-Knowing Your Mission"

2010-03-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

Senior High-Jared Graves, Junior High- Sandra Baker

Activity

Review Ethos: Knowing the facts, knowing your story, knowing your audience

This week we are talking about knowing your mission. All of what we have talked about is of no importance unless you have a purpose for your activity. You have to set goals, you have to have a reason for why do you what you do.

Lesson

Everyone turn to 1 Peter chapter four. We are going to read the first eleven verses today.

Read 1 Peter 4:1

Does this mean that we are all guaranteed suffering?

Could this verse go towards answering the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Read 1 Peter 4:2-5

When you become a Christian, life changes. Your friends that you used to have now reject you because you wont’ do the same things that they do. Peter urges people not to let others drag you down to their level?

How does Peter know that this danger is out there? (He was pulled down by Jewish-Christians to discriminate against those Gentiles who were becoming Christians. Paul had to have a “come to Jesus” meeting with Peter to show the error in Peter’s way.)

Read 1 Peter 4:6

How does this apply to the following situations?

· Homosexuality?

· Abortion?

· Assisted suicide?

· Gossip?

· Lying?

· Drinking?

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11

This is Peter’s charge to his readers, and to us today. This is our mission.

Let’s dissect the mission to see if we are doing a good job doing it.

Read through the mission and measure on a level between 1-10 on a personal and youth program level.

Application

Do you wake up each morning and make a list of things that you need to do that day? What if we woke up each day with a reminder of what God has called us to do? How would that change our ways of thinking and how we live our lives?

Weekly Update 2.23.10

2010-02-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 26-Saturday, February 27
This weekend is the 30 Hour Famine. Remember, youth (and those parents who are participating) are to stop eating at 12:00am Friday through 6:00am Saturday. We will open the doors of the church at 7:30 on Friday night and we will begin our lock-in at 8:00 with worship. Please bring your donation envelopes with you. We will add up the total and we will send a check to World Vision for that amount. Remember, for every $30 we raise, we feed a child for an entire month.
A reminder to parents, we would like for you to come and cook the "break-the-fast" meal Saturday morning. If you are interested in helping out, please let Jared know.

Sunday, February 28
We will conclude our series on evangelism Sunday morning in our Sunday School time. We will also conclude our "Clue" series on Sunday night. Weston will be coming to share how we, as humans point towards a Creator.

Also, we will be having our meeting about the mission trip at 5:30 in the Commons. Please come and hear about the trip that we will take. Remember, we have only 25 spots for sure, so the quicker you get your deposit in, the better. We can apply for more spots on the trip, but they are not guaranteed. Please come out Sunday night and we will discuss what will be an awesome trip!

We will see you Sunday!

2/21 Sunday School "Ethos-Knowing Your Audience"

2010-02-23T08:49:00.000-08:00

Senior High- Lindsay Graves, Junior High-Jared Graves

Introduction

Form teams of 3-4 people. They are to draw a “product” and an “audience” from a hat. They have 5 minutes to collaborate on how they are going to pitch the product to their given audience. They must then give a minute infomercial on that product for that audience.

How hard was it for your team to reach out to the given audience?

If you have a satellite television, or you travel much, you get the opportunity to see how advertisers reach out to people, selling the same product, but in very different ways. People know that based on different areas of the country, economic statuses, and backgrounds they have to appeal to different types of people. Last week we talked about the need to be credible when we are evangelizing. This week we are going to talk about the importance of knowing our audience.

Lesson

Everyone turn to Acts 3. We will be reading verses 11-26. Let’s give some background before we start. What we are reading today is after Pentecost, and is following Peter healing someone

Read Acts 3:11-12

What does the term, “Men of Israel” mean? (They are Jews)

Read Acts 3:13-15

He acknowledges that they worship the same god (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)

Read Acts 3:16-17

Peter isn’t being too kind to the people right now. He puts the blame on them for Jesus’ death, and then said it happened due to their ignorance. How is he getting away with this?

Read Acts 3:18

Why did he bring up the prophets? (They are Jews and looked for the prophets to tell them what to look for in the Messiah)

Read Acts 3:19-23

He asks them to repent, but then throws in the Moses reference to make sure that they see the connection.

Read Acts 3:24-26

How do you think this would have been received?

Application

By looking at Peter’s speech, how do we know that he knew his audience well?

What did Peter say that would speak to the Jews listening?

What are the different audiences that we face while trying to spread our message?

How can we say the same message in different ways?

Weekly Update 2/15

2010-02-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

30 Hour Famine

We hope that you are continuing to raise money and meet your goal for the 30 Hour Famine. We are looking forward to sending a big check and feeding a lot of kids. Keep working hard. The Famine is next Friday, February 26!

Sunday, February 21

We are actually going to have Ignite next Sunday. We apologize for last night, the forecast said that there was going to be enough snow on the ground to make it difficult and dangerous to travel. Obviously they were wrong, and we apologize. We hope you will join us next Sunday!

2/14 Junior & Senior High Sunday School, "Ethos-Know Your Story"

2010-02-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Play the game “2 truths and a lie”

Tie In: We have to know our past and use that past if we are to be considered qualified to endorse a product.

The US Government is in the process of passing a law that states if a celebrity endorses a product, that they must actually have used, or currently use that product. They don’t want someone who has never used the product to get up there and say they have just so they can collect money from the company.

Peter gave some pretty bold statements on the day of Pentecost. Anyone could look at him and be skeptical. However, if they tried to see if Peter subscribed to the product he was selling, they found quickly that he truly believed every word that he said.

Lesson

Have everyone to Mark 1.

If you were a fisherman in the time of Jesus what did that mean? (You were not the best of the best. In fact, you were close to being the worst. You were not smart, you did not make it through school, and you were probably just carrying on the legacy of the parents before you)

Read Mark 1:16-20. What type of faith would it take for you to drop everything that you were doing in order to

Other points in Peter’s life that gave him credibility:

Walking on water

He’s had his doubts (denial of Christ)

His reinstatement: John 21:15-18

Weekly Update 2/8/10

2010-02-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 10
We will be having our first "A 10th for the Lord". We have decided that we are going to give the tenth of every month to God by worshipping Him and serving His people. This week, we are going to help around the church by cleaning up our adopted part of the campus, as well as start to prepare the church to get painted. We hope you will join us from 4-6 on Wednesday (or whenever you can get there) and help us out. Also, we hope that you will stick around for WNL this week with your family.

Friday, February 12- Saturday, February 13
This Friday we are going to leave for CIY:Believe by 2:00pm. We will be returning Saturday night. Please refresh yourself with the hand out and all you need to bring (and not bring!) this weekend. We look forward to seeing you all!

Sunday, February 14
Sunday morning we will continue our study of evangelism. We will continue looking at Acts and what it shows us about the importance of evangelism, and how we go about being good evangelist.

Sunday night we will begin a new series called "Clue". We are going to look, over the next three weeks about the evidence we have for a Creator. What does the universe show us? What does nature show us? And lastly, what do we show? We hope you will join us!

2/8 Senior & Junior High Sunday School- "Ethos"

2010-02-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Evangelism 101: Ethos-Know Your Facts

February 7, 2010

Introduction

Have the students draw a subject out of a hat. They must then proceed to tell us about it for two minutes, even if they have no clue what the subject is, or they are not an expert in the field. At the end of everyone’s turn, see who was the most believable of all the presenters.

Aristotle believed that there were three ways of persuasion, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Logos was the words that were said, a logical appeal. Pathos was how it was presented, an emotional appeal. But Aristotle believed that Ethos was the most important. It was the credibility of the speaker. When we played the game, many of you didn’t know what in the world you were talking about. It’s like going to ask someone about a product only to hear that they’ve “never used it, but heard it was great.” We would rather hear from experience.

I think one of the biggest problems in the world today, when it comes to evangelism, is the fact that very few of us have good Ethos. Over the next four weeks, we are going to take a look at the ethos of evangelism, and how it should influence how we go about spreading the Good News of Jesus.

The first key ingredient of having good Ethos is knowing your facts. Newspapers have to send out corrections rather frequently because they do not do adequate research and give a false story. Once someone is caught in a false story enough times, they become ignored. Think about the boy who cried wolf!

Lesson

Everyone turn to Acts chapter 2. Here’s the background: This is right after the Holy Spirit ascended down. Those who were looking on asked if these people were drunk!

Read v. 14-16

Peter wants to make sure what is going on doesn’t get passed over as drunkenness. He wants them to know that they know what is going on, and it is important. Have you ever been around someone who converted to Christianity? Most of the time they act like a new person. Yet, when other people see them, they believe something is wrong with them. They think it is just an act. We must make sure that our faith and joyful living is not mistaken for a show. We must make sure that everyone knows the reason we act like we do.

Read v. 17-21

He explains the phenomenon that is happening at the present time. These are religious people, they would understand the Scriptures and for many, it would make sense to them. Peter’s smart. He realized he has all their attentions, and now he is appealing to their intellect.

Read v. 22-24

This would have been still fresh on the minds of all who were gathered here. While there was no National Enquirer, TMZ, or anything like that. But you who go to school know that rumors spread all over the school very quickly. Jews were very close-knit people, word would have gotten around. These people were in the very city that Jesus was crucified in. This would have been a big deal.

Read v. 25-28

Why is it important that Peter brought up David? (If you were going to get anything spiritual across to Jews, it starts with God, but David is like 1a. He must be mentioned and discussed in all things that have to do with religion).

Read v. 29-36

Peter uses Scripture to back up his claim that Jesus was the Messiah. He wants them to know that he is fully coherent and knows what he is talking about. If he had made wild claims but had no spiritual backing, he would have gotten shot down very quickly. But he knew Scripture, and his argument is grounded in it.

Application

Some questions for us today:

· How well do you know the message that you are supposed to be spreading?

· Can you get the facts straight so that no one can find any faults in your statements?

The first step to evangelism is to know the message and the significance of the message that you are spreading. If we cannot get this part right, there is no point in going on to any other step in evangelism. Tonight is the Super Bowl. There are going to be plenty of people who know ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING about football who will turn into football fanatics tonight. They are going to be made fun of (maybe even to their face) and ridiculed. I dare say we have a lot of people in our faith who are Super Bowl Christians. They talk big game, only when the show is on. But the rest of the year they do not act like Christ, read about Christ, or firm up their foundation in Christ. Let’s not be one of those people. Let’s make sure we know the facts about Christ. Only then can we hope to reach out and change the world

2/1 Weekly Update

2010-02-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 3
Just a reminder, we will have WNL this week from 6:30-7:30. A pizza dinner begins at 5:30.

Friday, February 5
We will be hosting a 5th Quarter following the Greenwood/Bowling Green game Friday night. We will go from 9:15-12:00. We will play various games and have competitions between schools. We hope to see you, and many friends out Friday night.

Sunday, February 7
Sunday morning we will begin a new series on evangelism called "Ethos". Steve Briggs will be teaching the senior high and John Baker will be taking on the junior highers.

Sunday night we will be having a Super Bowl party in the Commons from 5:00-9:30pm. You may come and go as needed, but make sure to be there for half time, as we have a worship service and devotion (basically what we were going to do last night). We ask that everyone brings a snack to contribute to the group.

Services for Tomorrow

2010-01-30T09:41:00.001-08:00

Hello all,
BGCC is canceling services for 8:30 tomorrow morning. We will only have the 9:45 and 11:00 services. Therefore, we will have one Sunday School for both junior and senior high during the 9:45 hour. We will combine and mix and match so all of you who prepared so diligently for your book presentations will get to do so.
Also, we WILL have Ignite tomorrow night unless something else decides to pop up between here and now. Hope to see you out tomorrow!

Weekly Update 1/25/10

2010-01-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

30 Hour Famine
Yesterday, we handed out donation envelopes for the 30 Hour Famine. Remember, every $30 you raise feeds a child for an entire month. Our hope is that you go out and work hard to bring in money for these kids. We want to cut a big check to World Vision from our youth program! If you have any questions, please shoot an e-mail (youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org).

Wednesday, January 27
This week, WNL will be "Jeopardy!" as we explore Jesus as the boy in the temple.

Saturday, January 30
This Saturday, from 6:00-8:00pm, we will host a coffee house. We are still looking for acts, music, etc for our time together. We hope you will bring many of your friends and that we can use this as an evangelistic event. If you have any questions, or want to sign up to perform just send an e-mail to youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org.

Sunday, January 31
Sunday morning we will conclude our whirlwind tour of the Bible with presentations on Acts-Revelation. Here are the assignments: (s=senior high, j=junior high).

Acts- Ben (s), Kerrick (j)
Romans- Tori (s), Sawyer (j)
1 & 2 Corinthians- Daniel (s), Jessica (j)
Galatians- Allison (s), Demi (j)
Ephesians- Jared (s), Miranda (j)
Philippians- Elizabeth (s), Emma (j)
Colossians- Caroline (s), Harrison (j)
1 & 2 Thessalonians- Tori (s), Drew (j)
1 & 2 Timothy- Brian (s), Sarah E (j)
Titus- Blake (s), Sawyer (j)
Philemon- Elizabeth (s), Demi (j)
Hebrews- Ben (s), Kerrick (j)
James- Blake (s), Isaac (j)
1 & 2 Peter- Caroline (s), Jessica (j)
1, 2, & 3 John- Alex (s), Marissa (j)
Jude- Treasure (s),
Revelation- Jared (s), Isaac (j)

Sunday night we will conclude our "Basic Training" series. We will be launching a new mission statement and we will be highlighting all the different events that we will be attending and participating in this year. Our band has been working hard for this day, and we look forward to hearing from them.
Also, we will continue taking up "Coins for Hati". Bring in your loose change to be donated to the relief efforts in Hati.

Have a great week!

1/24 Ignite "Basic Training-Knowing the Mission"

2010-01-25T07:25:00.000-08:00

January 24, 2009

Devotion-Jared Graves

Intro:

The Wooden Rabbit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2PdyxMtiYM
Tonight we are taking a look at the fourth foundation of our faith. Tiff came the first week and talked about the importance of knowing who you are fighting for. Ben highlighted some of the tools that we need for our daily battles. Frank came last week and discussed putting others above ourselves. Tonight we are going to talk about knowing our mission.

Why do we get back to the basics? Because Jesus did.

Matthew 3:13-16. Why did Jesus get baptized? He sets a precedent for us, however, in a sense He is also leaving an old life behind and beginning a new one. He was leaving a life as a carpenter, and starting His ministry.
Matthew 4:1-11. This was Jesus' basic training. Jesus grew up in the synagogue. He knew the Bible inside and out, but now He had to live out His teachings. So do we. We have, most of us, grown up in church. We know the answers, and what we are supposed to do, but doing it is completely different.

What good does basic training do if it is never used?

Matthew 4:12-25. Jesus took His training and put it into action.

What is our mission?

Living a Christ-filled life
Standing up for truth, in a loving way
Making it a mission to reach others for the Gospel
We must remember that our enemies are never humans. It is always Satan. It is always a battle against all the spiritual darkness in the world. We NEVER fight against other humans.
Be an inspiration for a church looking for direction

January 24, 2010

Breakout Sessions

Read together Matthew 28:16-20

What are the barriers that we have in our lives that keep us from evangelizing?

1/24 Senior High & Junior High BFC "The Gospels"

2010-01-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

The Gospels: Jared Graves

Introduction

Get in groups of people who have shared in the same experience as you (a movie, a mission trip, church trip, field trip, class, etc). And write an outline for those events as if you were going to give a detailed report of them. Once done, they are to read their outlines. Point out the similarities and the differences in what was written.

Some of you shared the same experiences, yet your recollections of the events differ in ways. However I’m not going to stand up and look at you and say that you are fabricating a story because the two stories are not exact. Such is the Gospels. At ground level there are some differences in the stories. There are stories in one book that are in a different order than the other. There are some stories in one Gospel that do not appear in any of the others. How do we make this make sense? That’s what we are going to work towards today.

Lesson

First, let me mention that I am using two books for this lesson. The Bible, and the New Testament Introduction by one of my professors David Fiensy.

Let’s talk about order. Why are the Gospels in the order that they are in? Well the first three are together because they are called the Synoptic Gospels. Synoptic meaning “being seen together.” Let’s look at them first.

Non Interdependence.

· Theory 1: One Gospel copied and translated by the three.

· Theory 2: Gospels were compiled from notes and memoranda made by those who had been with Jesus.

· Theory 3: Oral Gospel then put into words by the three.

Literary Interdependence

· Matthew first, then the other two used the Gospels written before them.

· Two Source- Mark first. Matthew and Luke used Mark, plus a second source using Jesus’ sayings (Q)

o Page 126 P1

· My Thoughts:

o Matthew. Written first according to the ancient Christian authors. Wrote in Aramaic and Greek.

o Mark. Written from the first hand accounts of Peter.

o Luke. Read Luke 1:1-4. What do we learn: there were already several accounts of Jesus by the time Luke wrote it. Luke got his materials from “eyewitnesses” and “ministers of the word”. His purpose is to show Theophilus the actions, words, and deeds of Jesus are accurate.

Blow your mind? Any thoughts?

Now let’s take a overview look of all the Gospels.

· Matthew

o Author: Matthew, the apostle of Jesus

o Date: Between 80-100

o Occasion: To get Jews the true story of Jesus and to preserve the words and deeds of Jesus

· Mark

o Author: Mark in the company of Peter (Read page 143 P3)

o Date: Probably around 45

o Occasion: Mark writes more about action, not discourse. Mark has no Jewish coloring (in fact has to explain some Jewish customs), Mark points out the weakness of the disciples of Jesus.

· Luke

o Author: Luke

o Date: Between 58-60

o Occasion: Highlights Jesus’ words to the poor. Refers to the women disciples of Jesus more than others. Jesus prayers are noted more. The Holy Spirit is an active part of the story

· John

o Author: John the Elder

o Date: 90

o Occasion: A defense of faith. Goes against the Docetic idea that Christ did not live in the flesh (see 1 John & 2 John). The message is that Jesus is the new temple, the new feasts, the new Passover Lamb, and the new Law. He has superseded Judaism and its institutions.

Life Applications

How would you talk about the importance and the validity of the Gospels?

The important thing about the Gospels, is to see how it is written. Talking to a religious person? Try Matthew. Talking to a non-religious person? Use Luke, Mark, or John. Need assurance of your faith? Use all of them. They are so very important to our faith. Are they the only accounts out there? Probably not, but they are the ones that we can know for certain are legit. Don’t let theories and questions of authorship deter you from knowing the most important thing: Jesus is Lord, He loves all people, and He wants a relationship with them.

Weekly Update 1/20

2010-01-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 20
Hope you will join us tonight for WNL. We will be viewing the very first episode of the Mark L. Epsy show. Pizza night begins at 5:30, and the program starts at 6:30. We will also be having a very special prayer service at the beginning of the program for Robin Murphy, one of our members who will be traveling to Hati to help in the recovery efforts in the country.

Sunday, January 24
We will be taking a look at the Gospels during our morning BFC classes in a way that may be new to all of you. Hope you will join us.
Sunday night, we will continue our Basic Training series with a look at our mission, and whether we will choose to accept it.

Saturday, January 30
We will have a Coffee House for all youth from 6:00-8:00pm in the Commons. We will have coffee, hot chocolate, fellowship, and a talent show. If you are interested in sharing your talents, please send your idea to Jared. Hope to see you, and many of your friends, there.

Weekly Update 1/12/10

2010-01-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 13
We will be starting our WNL series "tV Land" tomorrow night. We will be having a program and then we will break out into discussion groups. The show starts at 6:30, with a pizza dinner beginning at 5:30. Hope to see you all out.

Sunday, January 17
This Sunday morning we will continue our overview of the Bible. Rick Abbott will be teaching the senior high class, meanwhile here are the assigned books for the junior high:

Miranda- Job
Sarah E- Psalms
Jessica- Proverbs, Nahum
Marisa- Ecclesiastes, Joel
John & Sandra Baker- Song of Solomon
Stephen- Isaiah
Jack- Jeremiah
Emma- Lamentations
Drew- Ezekiel
Sawyer- Daniel
Kerrick- Hosea, Amos, Zechariah
Isaac- Obadiah
Harrison- Jonah
Chaney- Micah, Habbakuk, Zephaniah
Demi- Haggai, Malachi

We will continue our Ignite series "Basic Training" Sunday night with an interview with Frank Williams. We will be talking about "Team over Me". Hope to see you out there!

Weekly Update 1/5

2010-01-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

January 6
BGCC's Skate Night & Volunteer Appreciation will be held at the Skate Box from 5:30-8:00pm. Come for a great time of skating, food, and fun.

January 9
The youth have adopted two little plots of land on the campus to take care of and clean up. Sheldon and Treasure have decided to organize a clean up on Saturday. Please watch for updates for times and specifics later this week.

January 10
We will be doing presentations in our morning BFC classes. Here are the assigned presentations for everyone. Senior High:

Peyton- Genesis, 1 & 2 Kings
Tori- Exodus, 1 & 2 Samuel
Caroline- Deuteronomy
Daniel- Joshua
Alex- Judges
Ryan- Ruth
Blake- 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra
Elizabeth- Esther
Jared- Leviticus, Numbers, Nehemiah

Junior High:

Sarah E- Genesis
Isaac- Exodus
Chaney- Leviticus
Drew- Numbers
Harrison- Deuteronomy
Stephen- Joshua
Kerrick- Judges
Demi- Ruth
Laura- 1 & 2 Samuel
Emma- 1 & 2 Kings
Chyenne- 1 & 2 Chronicles
Shelby- Ezra
Sarah A.- Nehemiah
Marissa- Esther

We also will be doing our first 10th for the Lord. We will be working around the church to make it look better, cleaner, and more appealing. The following month we will be helping out some of our elderly folks around their homes. Keep up to date!

Sunday night we will be having week two of our Basic Training series. We will be hearing from our very own Ben Luna about tools needed for the battle.

CIY:Believe
Thanks for all that registered for CIY. If you have not, you are going to have to wait until next year. All apologies, but we had to have our numbers in to CIY and the hotel to reserve our spots.

See you soon!

1/3 Senior & Junior High BFC "Bible 101: Overview"

2010-01-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

Introduction

At the beginning of every year we are going to go through a study on the Bible. It is a six year rotation, so everyone will be able to go through this study as they move on through the youth program here at BGCC.
This year is the first year that we are doing this, so we are getting to the basics of the Bible. For some of you, this is going to be old news, but for others, this may be the first in depth Bible overview that you have gone through. Today we are going to give an overview of the Bible

Lesson

What is the big deal about the Bible? Tell me why it is important. If it is that important, why do we spend so little time getting acquainted with it?

Vital statistics

Written over 4,000 years
Old Testament: Pentateuch: Genesis-Deuteronomy, The ‘Torah’. Written by Moses/ Historical: Joshua-Esther/Wisdom & Poetical: Job-Song of Solomon/Prophetical- Major Prophets (Isaiah-Daniel) & Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi)
New Testament: Gospels (Matthew-John)/ Historical-Acts/ Letters- Pauline: Romans-Philemon, General: Hebrews-Jude/ Prophecy: Revelation

Application

Bible drills

Weekly Update 12/29

2009-12-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings! Hope that you and yours had a great Christmas, and that all our students are enjoying their holiday break.

Thursday, December 31- Friday, January 1
It's Lock-In time! We will be having a lock in at the church to kick off 2010. Youth should arrive between 8-9pm. At 9:05pm, the doors will lock and no one will go outside and no one will be allowed inside. We will be playing many games, hanging out, shooting Nerf guns, and we will bring in the New Year in a pretty cool way. All we ask is that each youth brings a snack to donate. The church will provide the drinks, but we need the students to bring the snacks. We hope to see you, and all your friends Thursday night!

Last Sunday, we handed out some important information. The first sheet was a financial outlook on the activities we will be doing in 2010. We wanted to give everyone a heads up, and also offered discounted prices for those who will be attending more than one event with us. The second sheet was the calendar for spring 2010. While these could change, the calendar will give you a pretty good overview of all the things that we are going to be doing. The third and final sheet was for the junior highers and it concerned CIY:Believe. Speaking of which..

Sunday, January 3, 2010
At 5:30pm we will have an informational meeting for all junior high students and their parents concerning CIY:Believe. Like last year, CIY will be held in Highland Heights, KY on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. We all had a blast last year, and we hope that all our junior high kids will attend! The meeting will be held in the Commons and will be very brief. We are asking that you make a deposit to reserve your kid a spot, we are reserving our spot at CIY and our hotel the first thing Monday morning. Make sure to view the financial information for discounted prices.

Following the parent meeting, from 6:00-7:30pm, Ignite returns! We will be starting a new series called Basic Training. We will be looking at the similarities between the duties and experiences of our military and our own faith journeys. Join us Sunday as we sit down with Tiff Belcher and discuss her experiences as a part of our armed forces.

Earlier in the day, we will be beginning a new BFC study called Bible 101. It is a study that we will start every year off with. Bible 101 is a quick overview of specific Biblical teachings and necessary Biblical knowledge. We hope you will join us for that!

If you are in need of any of the handouts, or have any questions about upcoming events, please e-mail youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org -or- call the church office at (270) 842-6231.

12/27 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert"

2009-12-29T07:06:00.000-08:00

Lesson

Review
Read Matthew 3:1-3. Remember our first lesson? Things have come full circle.
Read Matthew 3:4-10. So John wasn’t politically correct. What is his beef with the Pharisees and Sadducees?
Read Matthew 3:11-12. I’m good, but someone will be greater.
Read Matthew 3:13-17. Why did Jesus get baptized?
Remember, John the Baptist, considered by Jesus the greatest among men, in his darkest hour wanted to know if what he was doing what the right thing to do. Do you ever get to that point?
Read Matthew 14:1-2. So we see what happened to John. They think that Jesus was John reincarnate. Wouldn’t it be great if people looked at us and said it is like Jesus was back from the dead?
Read Matthew 14:3-5. Once again, not being politically correct. Remember, John wasn’t making political stands, he was making moral ones.
Read Matthew 14:6-12. What a way to go out. What does this tell you about the people who live in opposition to what we are preaching and teaching?

Application

What aspects John’s life should we mimic?
What have you learned from this study?
The central message of Christmas is that Jesus has come to earth. Is this still not the message? Though it is not in a manger, Jesus is here living in us, and will be here one day as the victor and ruler of the world

Weekly Update 12/22

2009-12-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

We wish you a merry Christmas!!!

Thursday, December 24
BGCC will be having a Christmas Eve service in the Commons starting at 6:00. We will be done in less than an hour, so we hope that you will join us!

Sunday, December 27
We will conclude our series on John the Baptist.

12/20 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice In the Desert"

2009-12-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Lesson

Review. Where are we? What has just happened
Read Luke 1:57-61. Sometimes doing God’s will defies logic. People kept their names within the family. They didn’t make up names, they kept it all in the family. It didn’t make sense for them to name him this, especially since John was not a Hebrew name.
Read Luke 1:62-66. Let’s say expectations are a little high. People have seen that God is definitely in this situation. Question: Is your family pointing towards God? Do people realize that God is working in your family?
Read Luke 1:67-79. When my first child is born, this is the prayer that I am going to pray over them. No, they aren’t going to be as good as John the Baptist but their job in life, our job in life, is the same thing. Find one thing that was mutually exclusive to John?
Read Luke 1:80. Why did he go to the desert? Some believe that he belonged to a group called the Essens, look it up and research them. But the big deal is this, he’s learning, he’s preparing.

Application

In this Christmas season, are we filled with such joy? Look at the utter joy of the family, and the community for the birth of John. They all know that this kid is special, and Zechariah makes it obvious that this guy is going to show people the Messiah.
Are we that excited about Jesus? Are we excited about the opportunity to be the person God uses to bring His good news to the world?

Weekly Update 12/14

2009-12-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks for those who have came to the Christmas parties last night. We had a great time! It's always to get to come together as a family!

Mission Opportunity

Please look through your closets and see if there is anything that you have outgrown that you can donate to a family of refugees in the community. They are in desperate need of clothing for the winter months. Please bring your clothes, old or new, to the Youth Center early this week. We need to get these clothes out before the Christmas break. Let's show people Jesus this Christmas season.

Sunday, December 20

We will be Christmas caroling from 5:00-8:00 this Sunday night. If you are willing to drive our students, we would appreciate the vehicles. We will be visiting our shut-ins and some elderly people in our community. We will finish at the Rose's house for some hot chocolate and fellowship time. If you are willing to drive, please e-mail us and let us know. Hope to see you out as we spread the holiday cheer!

12/14 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert: Actions Speak"

2009-12-14T09:41:00.001-08:00

Introduction

Did you ever find out a Christmas present before you got it?

Lesson

Review last week
Read Luke 1:1-4. Don’t you wish that we had all these accounts? Why is this important?
Read Luke 1:5-17. Don’t you wish that you had assurance when your future child comes that he is going to be great? Why is it important that he never has a drink?
Read Luke 1:18-20. Zechariah doubts. Gabriel answers.
Read Luke 1:21-22. Zechariah plays charades
Read Luke 1:23-25
Read Luke 1:39-45. Before he is even born, John is pointing towards Jesus. He’s a quick learner.

Application

John gets an early start on pointing towards Jesus. As you gear up for Christmas (which should be an all year celebration that Jesus came down to us) are your actions reflecting Christ?

Weekly Update 12/8/09

2009-12-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 12

I hope that you will join Project PG in making the "Angel Tree Breakfast" a success. We are still in need of youth to come out and help deliver gifts to cars of the recipients. Please let Jared know ASAP if you are available to do this.

Sunday, December 13

We will continue our series on John the Baptist in our BFCs. That afternoon, we will have our annual Christmas parties. The junior high will be meeting from 2:00-4:00 at Jared & Lindsay's house. The senior high, and junior high students who have senior high siblings, will be meeting from 5:00-7:00ish. We want to limit the travel times for everyone, so if you have children in both the senior high and junior high, you can just bring them both at 5:00. If you have children in both age groups, but only one child is coming (for instance if you have a junior high student who is coming, but a senior high student that is not coming) please bring them to their appropriate age group. No junior high student can come to the senior high party without their sibling. Please bring a snack, and a wrapped "Dirty Santa" gift.

See you this weekend at BGCC!

12/6 Senior High & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert"

2009-12-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

Introduction

What are some of the things your family does to get ready for Christmas?
Jesus wasn’t the only one foretold about in the Old Testament. This Christmas season, we are going to talk about one of the main characters in the story of Jesus, John the Baptist and how he prepared hearts and lives for the coming of the Messiah.

Lesson

Read Isaiah 40:3-5. We will find that John the Baptist used these words when speaking about Jesus. He knew the importance of getting rid of everything in the way of the Messiah coming.
Read Malachi 4:5-6. What did Elijah do?
1 Kings 18. How are Elijah and John the Baptist similar? In the midst of unbelief and fake gods, Elijah stood for God and what he believed in. John the Baptist stood in the midst of all the false messianic movements. He lived in a world full of Gentile influence.
1 Kings 19:9b-18. In their darkest, times, both of them needed reassurance that they were doing the right thing, and pointing the right way.
2 Kings 2:11. Okay, so this is maybe where the similarities end.
Why is this significant that this verse is the last verse in the Old Testament? Yes a bunch of men decided where these books were going, but I trust that God was working through men to leave a cliff hanger here. There were 400 years between this period and the first capital letter of the Gospels. The deal is this, Elijah, John the Baptist, they are coming to present this fact: come to God, or things are going to get bad.

2009 Year End Review

2009-12-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

We have a Year-End Review available for all of our youth. We want to know what we are doing good at. We also want to know what we need to work on. Just follow the link:
Register Now

Weekly Update: Things to Remember this December

2009-11-30T10:26:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, December is here. Here is a detailed glance at what is going on with the youth during December. This should answer all your questions:

Sunday, December 6

We will kick off new BFC series entitled "A Voice in the Desert". We are going to take a look at the life of John the Baptist, someone created to point towards Jesus. I also encourage you to come out either at 4:00 or 6:00 that afternoon to watch our children's musical. The kids have worked very hard and the deserve our support!

Sunday, December 13

We are going to have our annual Christmas parties the afternoon of the 13th. We will be splitting up junior and senior high BUT IF YOU HAVE A CHILD IN BOTH GROUPS, we want to make it easy on you. Simply bring them both to the senior high party. The schedule looks like this:

Junior High Party 2:00-4:00pm
Senior High & Siblings Party 5:00pm-7:00pm

We will be sending out directions as the time draws nearer. We ask that you please bring a "Dirty Santa" gift for the game that we will play. We hope to see all of you out there!

Sunday, December 20

We are going to go Christmas caroling again this year. We will be traveling to some of our shut-ins and will be sharing the holiday cheer. We will be leaving the church parking lot at 5:00pm for our various destinations. The night will conclude at the Rose household at 8:00pm. Once again, we will be sending directions out to everyone as the day comes closer.

Thursday, December 31-Friday, January 1

We will be hosting New Year's Lock-In at the church for all youth. Festivities will begin at 8:00pm and will end at 8:00am. We will be playing games, hanging out, and doing just about everything but sleeping. We will also be launching our new theme for the year. We hope you will join us!

11/29 Junior High BFC "Anonymous"

2009-11-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Has there been a point in your life that you have sat and wondered if there is a God? Or is there a point that made you question God’s sovereignty or power?
Is there a point in your life where you sat and realized that there was no way something would happen if it weren’t for God?

Lesson

Review Esther to this point. Esther becomes queen after winning what was essentially a beauty pageant. Haman gets power, and is against the Jews. Mordecai, cousin of and the person who raised Esther, refuses to bow to him and sends him over the top. Haman gets permission to wipe out the Jews. Esther now in the position to save the lives of the Jews.
Read Esther 7:1-7. Big, bad, overconfident Haman now is scared for his life. He goes to beg and plead with Esther to spare his life.
Read Esther 7:8-10. Haman basically dug his own grave. The fact is when people go against God or persecute His people, and then they are truly digging their own graves.
Read Esther 8:1-17. A beautiful story of victory and deliverance.
Read Esther 9:1-10:3. Remember a couple weeks ago we asked you to remember the fact that they, “cast the pur (lot)” to see when the annihilation of the Jews would occur? That’s because the Jews now celebrate, on February 28^th, Purim. The day they should have been wiped out, but instead they stood victorious and delivered.

Application

Though God was never mentioned in this book, how was it evident that He was at work?
What did He give to Esther to make her successful and a tool for the deliverance of His people?
What lessons have you learned from the study of Esther?

11/29 Senior High BFC "God's Beauty Queen"

2009-11-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

Introduction

5 minutes to prepare a persuasive speech on something you are passionate about. They are to be 30 seconds long.

Lesson

Review Esther to this point: Esther becomes queen after winning what was essentially a beauty pageant. Haman gets power, and is against the Jews. Mordecai, cousin of and the person who raised Esther, refuses to bow to him and sends him over the top. Haman gets permission to wipe out the Jews. Esther now in the position to save the lives of the Jews.
Read Esther 7:1-7. Big, bad, overconfident Haman now is scared for his life. He goes to beg and plead with Esther to spare his life.
Read Esther 7:8-10. Haman basically dug his own grave. The fact is when people go against God or persecute His people, then they are truly digging their own graves.
Read Esther 8:1-17. A beautiful story of victory and deliverance.
Read Esther 9:1-10:3. Remember a couple weeks ago we asked you to remember the fact that they, “cast the pur (lot)” to see when the annihilation of the Jews would occur? That’s because the Jews now celelbrate, on February 28^th, Purim. The day they should have been wiped out, but instead they stood victorious and delivered.

Application

Though God was never mentioned in this book, how was it evident that He was at work?
What did He give to Esther to make her successful and a tool for the deliverance of His people?
What lessons have you learned from the study of Esther?

Weekly Update 11/23/09

2009-11-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome weekend in Lexington for our Fall Retreat. Our kids had an amazing time! A special thanks goes out to all the sponsors, to Bluegrass Christian Camp, to Derek Sloan, who did awesome in leading us in worship, and to all the youth who made this weekend so great. It was awesome seeing the youth realize what marriage and sexuality is supposed to look like. We all left with the desire to have all the little symbols in the wedding mean everything that they are supposed to! Thanks for a great weekend. Now to the week ahead:

Guy's Night Postponed
We are going to have to postpone guy's night to a later date. We tried to squeeze it in before Thanksgiving, but it is looking like that is not going to work. We will reschedule and do it!

No Wednesday Night Live or Sunday Night Ignite
Just a reminder that all Wednesday Night programming is off until 2010. Also, we will not be having Ignite for the rest of the year. We will be doing some events on Sunday nights, but they will not be at the same time as Ignite. Just be watching the updates.

Sunday Morning
We hope you will join us as we wrap up our series on Esther.

Happy Thanksgiving
We hope that all of you will have a blessed Thanksgiving. Make sure to set aside time to realize the great ways in which God has blessed us. We are sure thankful for all our youth. You guys are the best!

Weekly Update 11/16

2009-11-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 18
We will be having our final WNL of the year this Wednesday. We will come together to play some games and relax. We will meet from 6:30-7:30.

Friday, November 20-Sunday, November 22
The Fall Retreat is finally here! We will leave at 4:00pm and will be finished with the retreat at 12:00pm on Sunday morning. Look for the usual last minute e-mails soon!

Sunday, November 22
For those not attending the retreat, we will be having one BFC on Sunday morning in the Elementary Power Up! room at 9:45. Also, there will not be any Sunday night activities at the church.

Tuesday, November 24
Guys Night @ Jared's! We will hang out, make a campfire, and who knows what else. We will start at 5:00 and end whenever you have to leave, or no later than 9:00pm.

December Events:

6th: No Sunday night due to Christmas plays
12th: Youth will be helping with the Angel Tree Breakfast
13th: Christmas parties at Jared's house. Junior High from 2-4, Senior High from 5-7.
20th: Christmas caroling around Bowling Green. Meet at church at 5. End at 8 at the Rose's house.
27th: No Sunday night
31st: New Year's Lock in begins at 8:00pm.

11/15 Wake Up! BFC "Anonymous"

2009-11-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Name the greatest scene you have ever seen from a movie.
What is the greatest line in a movie that you have seen

Lesson

Review- Where are we? What has just happened
Read Esther 4:1-3. Look at the genuine reaction of grief and pain in Mordecai’s face. Imagine a Jew knowing about the Holocaust before it happened. This is what Mordecai is facing.
Read Esther 4:4-11. Esther wonders what she can do about it. She knows that if she goes to the king and says something without an appointment, and if he does not extend his scepter, that person dies. She hasn’t seen him in 30 days. It doesn’t look like he would reach out to her does it?
Read Esther 4:12-14. Think of the best actor you know of. Picture Sean Connery from “The Rock” or another older actor reciting these lines.
Read Esther 4:15-17. She knew that she could not do it on her own. She knew that she had to have God on her side, and the prayers of his people. When you enter hard times, or something that you are scared of, do you take the chance to get other people to pray for you?
Read Esther 5:1-2. Whew.
Read Esther 5:3-8. Why hasn’t she already asked the king to save her people?
Read Esther 5:9-14. Haman is on a power trip. Things don’t look good for Mordecai
Read Esther 6:1-9. Oh Haman, you arrogant punk…
Read Esther 6:10-14. Why didn’t Mordecai go back home? He knew that it was still going to be a bad day for the Jews. Haman is solely motivated by revenge at this point.

Application

Do you think that God has put you in a certain situation, economic status, workplace, or school for a certain purpose? Have you asked?
How did God show up today?

11/15 Snooze Button BFC "God's Beauty Queen"

2009-11-16T08:01:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Name the greatest scene you have ever seen from a movie

Lesson

Review- Where are we. What has just happened
Read Esther 4:1-3. Look at the genuine reaction of grief and pain in Mordecai’s face. Imagine a Jew knowing about the Holocaust before it happened. This is what Mordecai is facing.
Read Esther 4:4-9
Read Esther 4:10-11. Esther wonders what she can do about it. She knows that if she goes to the king and says something without an appointment, and if he does not extend his scepter, that person dies. She hasn’t seen him in 30 days. It doesn’t look like he would reach out to her does it?
Read Esther 4:12-14. Think of the best actor you know of. Picture Sean Connery from “The Rock” or another older actor reciting these lines.
Read Esther 4:15-17. She knew that she could not do it on her own. She knew that she had to have God on her side, and the prayers of his people. When you enter hard times, or something that you are scared of, do you take the chance to get other people to pray for you?
Read Esther 5:1-2
Read Esther 5:3-8. Why hasn’t she already asked the king to save her people?
Read Esther 5:9-19. Haman is on a power trip. Things don’t look good for Mordecai
Read Esther 6:1-9. Oh Haman, you arrogant punk…
Read Esther 6:10-14. Why didn’t Mordecai go back home? He knew that it was still going to be a bad day for the Jews. Haman is solely motivated by revenge at this point.

Application

Do you think that God has put you in a certain situation, economic status, workplace, or school for a certain purpose? Have you asked?

Weekly Update 11/9/09

2009-11-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

Verse of the Week: Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Wednesday November 11
We will start our first of two discussions on the movie 'Amazing Grace.' We will be talking about standing up against injustice in the world, our schools, and even our churches. We will meet from 6:30-7:30.

Saturday November 14
We want to wish our very own Ryan Eaton good luck as he defends his state championship this weekend in Lexington in the KHSAA State Cross-Country Meet!

Sunday November 15
We will continue our series in our BFC classes on Esther Sunday morning. Then at night we will be having our last Ignite of the year. From 6:00-7:30pm we will join together for worship as we conclude our Mirrors series. We will meet in the Youth Center at 6:00 for games and snacks, then we will go over to the auditorium for worship and a devotion. We hope you will come out!

Friday November 20-Sunday November 22
Just a reminder that we will be having our fall retreat in less than two weeks! If you are not attending the retreat, we will be having a combine BFC that day with both Junior and Senior High students during the 9:45 hour.

Prayer Request
We want to lift up Isaac Baker in prayer. Isaac had a bicycle wreck and did major damage to his knee. They are awaiting word on whether surgery is needed to repair it. He is in a lot of pain, so prayers would be appreciated.

Have a great week.

11/9 Ignite "Mirrors-Our Abilities"

2009-11-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Devotion-Jared Graves

Intro:

Who would be the best person to: Save someone from a burning building? Lift a heavy object? Play video games? Take care of small children? Run and get things for you while working? Sing the national anthem?
We recognize our abilities, but do we recognize where they come from? Do we truly understand what we have been given? Are we finding our true potential and using them to the best of our abilities? Are we allowing the world to dictate what we can and cannot do, or are we doing things with the ability that God has given to us?

Devotion

Genesis 1:26
History is full of people who reached their full potential because of faith, or determination
Moses: Had a speech impediment, but allowed God to use him to set the Israelites free
David: David was given a specific set of skills that would enable him to strike down Goliath
Peter: A fisherman, was uneducated. Yet he is regarded as the founding father of the Church.
Paul: Though he was brilliant we see from various accounts, and a hint or two in the Bible that he wasn’t good looking, and actually appeared to be a rather frail person

Application

God gave you unique abilities and characteristics. There is evidence of God in each and every one of you. Some of you have a great sense of humor, some can run fast, others can babysit, others show compassion to people all the time. God’s fingerprints and His character is often found when we explore ourselves.
Do not allow anyone to tell you that you are not good enough. Do not settle for anything less than your best. Press on, keep fighting, because you are going to win a crown whether this world gives it to you or not.

M&M Discussion

November 8, 2009

Who knows who Michael Jordan is? Did you know that his sophomore year in high school, he was cut from the basketball team? The coach didn’t believe that he was good enough to make the team. That was a turning point in his life. From that point forward he decided to prove the coach wrong and not only made the team the next year, he not only hit a game winning shot in a college championship game, and not only won six NBA championships. He became one of, if not the greatest basketball players of all time.

Do you think that you can take failures and have those help you succeed?

Have you ever been told that you weren’t good enough to do something? Have you ever failed at something and said that you would never do it again?

Do you think that there are millions of people who are denying their true abilities and gifts because they were told that they were not good enough?

Read together 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Is it possible that God did not give you an ability to do something because He would rather have you serve and excel in another capacity?

Did you catch the fact that everyone has a certain gift in the Church? We all have been given abilities?

Why did God give you certain abilities? If no one answers this way, note that God gave us gifts to point towards Him, and to be a tool for evangelism.

11/8 Wake Up! BFC "Anonymous"

2009-11-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Is there a situation that you look back on and said that something or someone that was considered to be “at the right place, at the right time”?

Lesson

Review last week
Do you have a relative that you look up to?
Read Esther 2:19-23. Who was Mordecai? We will find out later that this is very, very important.
Read Esther 3:1-4. Why did Mordecai refuse to bow down before Haman? What does this tell you about Haman?
Read Esther 3:5-7. Just remember this
Read Esther 3:8-15. Did Mordecai’s actions cause this to happen? No, it just sent it over the top.

Application

Do you think we have enough Mordecai’s in our Church today?
What does a Mordecai look like? It is not someone who stands up against taxes. Mordecai wouldn’t be going to tea parties. He wouldn’t stand up on the side of the road and hold signs calling people who have had abortions murderers. Mordecai would be the man who simply did what he was supposed to do, and remembered who his God was.
Do you think we need more people protesting, or living an exemplary life?
How did God show up in the story today?

The Movement Blog

Weekly Update 8.16

8/15 Junior High Sunday School: "Relaunch- Moving With and Encountering Each Other"

8/15 Senior High Sunday School "Relaunch- Moving with and impacting each other"

Weekly Update 8.9

8/8 Junior High Sunday School: Relaunch: Moving Towards and Encountering God

8/8 Senior High Sunday School: Relaunch:Moving Towards and Impacting God

Weekly Update 8.4

Weekly Update 7.26

Mission Trip 2010

7/25 Senior & Junior High Sunday School: One Thing-Having an Eternal Perspective

Weekly Update 6.22

6.20 Sunday School "The Holy Spirit"

Weekly Update 6.6

6/6 Sunday School "Yearly Check-Up"

5/30 Sunday School "Peer Pressure"

Weekly Update 6.1

5/24 Weekly Update

5/23 Sunday School "Taming the Tongue"

Weekly Update 5.17

5/16 Sunday School 3 John

Weekly Update 4.26

4/25 Sunday School "God is....Life"

Weekly Update 4.20

4/18 Sunday School "God Is...Love"

Weekly Update 4.12

4/12 Sunday School "God Is...Light"

Weekly Update 4.6

Weekly Update 3/28 ***New Opportunity***

3/28 Senior & Junior High Sunday School "Hosea"

Weekly Update 3.24

3/21 Senior & Junior High Sunday School "Hosea"

Weekly Update 3.15

3/14 Senior & Junior High BFC "Hosea 2 & 3"

What are your questions? (From Jared's Blog)

Weekly Update 3/8/10

3/8 Ignite "March Madness-Belonging"

3/7 Junior & Senior High Sunday School "Hosea"

Weekly Update 3/3

2/28 Junior & Senior High Sunday School "Ethos-Knowing Your Mission"

Weekly Update 2.23.10

2/21 Sunday School "Ethos-Knowing Your Audience"

Weekly Update 2/15

2/14 Junior & Senior High Sunday School, "Ethos-Know Your Story"

Weekly Update 2/8/10

2/8 Senior & Junior High Sunday School- "Ethos"

2/1 Weekly Update

Services for Tomorrow

Weekly Update 1/25/10

1/24 Ignite "Basic Training-Knowing the Mission"

1/24 Senior High & Junior High BFC "The Gospels"

Weekly Update 1/20

Weekly Update 1/12/10

Weekly Update 1/5

1/3 Senior & Junior High BFC "Bible 101: Overview"

Weekly Update 12/29

12/27 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert"

Weekly Update 12/22

12/20 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice In the Desert"

Weekly Update 12/14

12/14 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert: Actions Speak"

Weekly Update 12/8/09

12/6 Senior High & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert"

2009 Year End Review

Weekly Update: Things to Remember this December

11/29 Junior High BFC "Anonymous"

11/29 Senior High BFC "God's Beauty Queen"

Weekly Update 11/23/09

Weekly Update 11/16

11/15 Wake Up! BFC "Anonymous"

11/15 Snooze Button BFC "God's Beauty Queen"

Weekly Update 11/9/09

11/9 Ignite "Mirrors-Our Abilities"

11/8 Wake Up! BFC "Anonymous"

Weekly Update 3/28 New Opportunity