As students are growing in their faith journey, one of the best things that we can do as the faith community is to come alongside students in order to show them the vital components to faith expression, such as celebrating the Lord’s Supper.

In an even bigger way, at FBCG Student Ministries, we believe that one of the most important pieces to a student’s faith journey is to build faith at home. On March 23rd, we’ll connect these two pieces into a Communion Workshop created specifically for families with elementary and middle school students.

More than anything, we want to equip families to have discussions and go deep with the Lord’s Supper as a family, but also be sensitive to the fact that at FBCG, we encourage only those who have made a faith commitment to participate in the Lord’s Supper. So while we won’t be administering the Lord’s Supper, we as a community will be going deep into the meaning and practice of communion on Tuesday, March 23rd.

We’ll gather in the Alpha Room at WEST Campus from 7pm to 8:15pm. If you are planning on attending, please RSVP to Sue Ann at saegan@fbcg.com!

I’ve stumbed into a handful that are a couple weeks into Lent with regards to stopping something and with a couple of weeks of Lent left I’d like to invite “readers” to join me in reading Mark as many times over during these remaining days of Lent.  Or for those that are really not so faithful…lets get Mark read ONCE!  Go ahead and GO PUBLIC and leave a comment and let the rest of the blog community know you are ALL IN!  I begin TONIGHT and then will remain faithful at reading Mark in the mornings.

In His Grip,

Pastor Bruce

TREK is starting a four-week series called Wizdumb. Every day we make choices and decisions about our lives. We have easy choices: will we take a shower or not in the morning, do we have time to brush our teeth, are we going to have cereal or Pop Tarts for breakfast. We also make choices that are tough each day: should we actually do our homework or just cheat, do we ask her or him out or do we just keep flirting and see what happens, do we go on a mission trip this year, where do we go to college, do I listen to what my mom and dad say, and what am I going to do with my life. Our choices and decisions have consequences that ultimately will affect our lives here and now, as well as in the future. Are you making wise decisions? Are you making dumb decisions? The goal in this series is to help you learn how to make wise choices and see that the difference between a wise choice and a dumb choice could affect the rest of your life. We are going to look at the life and events of Joseph from Genesis and draw out some wisdom that will apply to all of our lives.

Join us every Sunday morning for TREK on our East Campus (2300 South Street in Geneva) at 10:45 .  Hope to see you there.

As always, email me at smoore@fbcg.com if you have any questions.

ON-RAMP

One of the best ways to look at growth is to look at how trees grow in our world. The same goes for our growing up in Christ. We grow over time through committing ourselves to regular exposure to God’s word, prayer, service, and Christian community.

ONE BIG THING

KEY IDEA: We need to commit ourselves to doing things that will help us grow up in our friendship with Jesus.

KEY QUESTION: How would you describe someone that is ‘immature’ in Jesus? What do they do? What do they think about?

FAITH CHALLENGE

Give yourself a little bit of a test this week. Over the last couple of months, we have look at several activities that Christ-followers should commit themselves to if they want to grow up in taking hold of Christ. Which one do you need to give more of yourself to in your friendship with Jesus?

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
“Your son is here,” she said to the old man.
She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent.   He reached out his hand.  The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.  The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed.

All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lightedward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength.   Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.  He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital -the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.  Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse.  While she did what she had to do, he waited.  Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

“Who was that man?” he asked.

The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”

“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”

“I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here.

When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me,

I stayed.”

I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey.

His Son was Killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. 

What was this Gentleman’s Name?

The Nurse with Tears in Her Eyes Answered,

Mr. William Grey………

The next time someone needs you ….

just be there……Stay.

Each spring, Club56 participates with a mission project called Love In Action. This is a ministry that ministers directly to families in the area that have been affected by HIV/AIDS.  This project has been coordinated with volunteers from FBCG for some years now, and each March Club56 assigns a couple of small groups to serve with the effort on Serve Night. For Easter,  the Love In Action ministry will put together 40+ Easter baskets full of family friendly items that can serve as a hopeful reminder of God’s love for their family.

For the project, we are asking families of Club56 (and any families that want to donate) to help gather the items that we will need for putting together the baskets on March 10th. We are in need of the following items:

Cellophane, Baskets, Lip Balm, breath mints, lotion, Easter candy, deodorant, nail clippers, playing cards, hair brushes, combs, gift cards (Wal-Mart, Target, or grocery store), children’s books, crayons/markers, diapers, curling ribbon, toothpaste, tooth brushes, razors, shampoo/conditioners, soap, gum, wipes, emory boards, journals, crosswords/Sudoku puzzles, bubbles, coloring books

Going shopping together as a family on behalf of this mission project is a great opportunity to build faith at home. It provides an opportunity to talk about compassion for others, being generous, and having a Jesus attitude of serving others with what God has given us. We will be collecting items until March 10th (when we pack the baskets), so feel free to drop off your donations in the box in the gym at FBCG East Campus on any day – including Sunday mornings!

Thanks for your help to make this year’s gift to these families a HOPEFUL and COMPASSIONATE reminder of God’s hope in the celebration of Easter! Please let Tim Balow (tbalow@fbcg.com) if you have any questions!

ON-RAMP

Evangelism is one of those things that we normally don’t consider when we think of taking hold of Christ. We usually think that it involves sharing the Gospel with someone. While that is an important part of it, evangelism is very practically about influencing others towards Jesus so that they can truly hear the Good News that Jesus offers the world.

ONE BIG THING

KEY IDEA: Taking hold of evangelism means that we need to be active in influencing others towards Jesus.

KEY QUESTION: What are some very simple ways that we can influence others towards Jesus?

FAITH CHALLENGE

Influencing others primarily involves how we show each one of us has been transformed through Jesus. Look at the ways that you’ve seen Jesus work in your life and seek to share those ways with other people during this week.

Just last month, a statistic was released that should be a concern for fathers: For the first time since 1990, there was an increase in teen pregnancies in 2006 (by 3%). For many, that leads to discussions about what approach works best to prevent teen pregnancy. From our perspective, there is compelling research showing the importance of a father’s role. For example:

• There is a direct correlation between fathers increasing their involvement and warmth of communications, and teen daughters decreasing risky sexual behaviors. (Child Development Journal, May/June 2009)
• Teen girls without fathers were found to be twice as likely to be involved in early sexual activity and seven times more likely to get pregnant as an adolescent. (Child Development Journal, May 2003)
• Girls who have good relationships with their fathers tend to delay their first sexual experience. (Journal of Family Issues, Feb. 2006)

  To Think About …Dad, whether your child is a teenager or much younger, this is an area in which he or she will benefit from your awareness and concern. Here are three key steps to make the most of your influence on your child’s ideas about sex:

1. Be an involved dad. As the above research studies show, building a good relationship will give your child security and confidence to make wise decisions–as well as opportunities for you to teach him about specific issues.

2. Be proactive. It might be awkward at first, but take the lead when it comes to teaching your kids about sex. Convey your expectations clearly and give them good reasons to wait. Do your research and be ready to counter some of the other messages they will hear in the culture. This is a very tangible way you can protect your child’s innocence.

3. Address it early and often instead of having “the talk” just once and hoping it does the trick. Establish the subject of sexuality as something you feel comfortable talking about. There are age-appropriate ways to address it even with young children. Then, if you do decide to have a more extended conversation with your 13-year-old over a weekend, you’ll both be prepared and have a good idea what to expect, and there will be much less nervousness. Remember, first messages are usually the most powerful. It’s better for you to present an accurate message that reinforces your values than to argue against what they may have already heard from others.

One final note: If your child falters in this area–which could include making a life-changing choice–be quick to forgive, express your love, and continue to demonstrate your support for him or her, even though you don’t approve of what has happened and there are difficult consequences and changes coming for your child.

plagarized from:

NATIONAL CENTER for FATHERING
P.O. Box 413888 :: Kansas City, MO 64141
800-593-DADS :: http://www.fathers.com/ :: dads@fathers.com :: CFC#10541

The average young American now spends practically every waking minute—except for the time in school—using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Thanks to time leveraging provided by multi-tasking, your average 7+ hours of time with electronics is supersaturated to contain 11 hours of media. Machines are changing not just the individual lives of your children but affecting whole generations. I’m no luddite but this is bound to have some implications…

See article:

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/nyt/20100120_Children_awake_Then_theyre_probably_online.html

On-Ramp

Our world is obsessed to getting more money. Generosity enables us to be released from loving money. God’s word says that we cannot serve both God and money, but we can certainly serve God using our money.

One Big Thing

KEY IDEA: Taking hold of generosity involves seeing how we can serve God using our money.

KEY QUESTION: Does it matter how much we are generous? Where is a good place to start being generous?

Faith Challenge

With generosity, the hardest part is getting started. If you have never been generous with your money with the church or with another organization, I would encourage you to pray about where God might be leading you to serve Him through being generous with your money.