As MANY of you know I am a movie junkie. But more than that I am one who likes to use movies to foster spiritual discussions…to tease out meaningful conversation. I believe that the movie trailer for Sarah’s Choice above will do just that! And I have been invited to include our ministry in a private screening of it on February 18 at 7 pm in Aurora at the Total Living International Studio (2880 Vision Court Aurora — Right there near Rt 88).
Simply call 630-801-3838 to reserve your seats. Call around and let others know and certainly let me know you are coming so I can look for you.
Very creative and very inspiring! Please enjoy the two minutes and realize that more than you are aware of will step into the shoes of the adult community and GET IT. Get the impact that they will make on Society and Christ and His Kingdom. Be encouraged and influence a young person TODAY!
Applications are coming in quickly for the mission trips to Roseland, Mexico and Ecuador. Last Sunday morning we hosted a parent meeting to go over some of the specifics of the three individual trips and the financial make and requirements as well. If you were unable to make the meeting and are looking for more information, here are the links to each of the packets.
First, let me say that the Winter Retreat was great. Anytime that we have that many students (there were 110+ of us on the weekend)skiing, tubing and just being in the snow and ice and we walk away with no major injuries, I consider it a success. Instead of trying to log my thoughts on last weekend, I have decided to share them with you via video. This is my first attempt at a video blog so be kind. Feel free to share your thoughts as well.
This Wednesday evening, Student Ministries will be hosting Rob Rienow, founder of Visionary Parenting Ministries to begin a conversation about God’s Grand Vision for the Home. We are thrilled that Rob is going to continue our conversation with building faith at home and is designed for BOTH MOMS AND DADS. This event will take place in the chapel at FBCG East Campus from 6:45pm – 8pm.
On Thursday morning, Women’s Ministries will be hosting Rob to speak specifically about nurturing faith in preteen and teen’s lives through practicing faith at home. That event will be for MOMS ONLY and will take place at FBCG West Campus from 9:15am – 11:15am.
Resources will be available for purchase after both events. If you have any questions, please contact Bruce McEvoy (bmcevoy@fbcg.com) for Wednesday evening’s event or Lorene Coffey (lcoffey@fbcg.com) for Thursday’s event!
Yesterday’s earthquake in Haiti will soon prove to be one of the most challenging and tragic disasters in history. An Associated Press update noted a projected death toll of up to 500,000 people in the city of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding communities. The government infrastructure, basic systems like water and sanitation, as well as the general morale in the country has undoubtedly gone from bad to worse in the last 36 hours. This has already proven to be the biggest tragedy in Haiti’s history, and the worst is on its way with the country struggling to figure out the way forward for the already impoverished country.
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), one of the ministries that FBCG Students serve on a regular basis donated 25 million meals to Haiti in 2009, making it the number one receiver of FMSC meals. FMSC is beginning to put together a response plan to the crisis in Haiti with opportunities for volunteers to donate and serve.
One of the greatest God sightings is learning that the centralized warehouse where FMSC meals are stored in Haiti managed to survive the earthquake and 18 aftershocks, leaving the food to be able to be distributed. God’s hand and protection is on this ministry, and with the 60 students from FBCG that will be serving at FMSC on Wednesday evening as well as the 140 adults that will serve on Saturday, FBCG’s partnership with FMSC will prove to be a real collaboration with God’s spirit to rid the world of poverty.
Learn more about donating to the FMSC Haitian Response Plan here the Feed My Starving Children website.
Students are entering finals this week and with them come the tried and true finals rituals of “study groups”. Have you ever wondered about the value and validity of study groups? I mean what is really our motivation for gathering in a study group. Typically they exists for a couple of reasons. First, for those who had failed to make it to class, take good notes or read the course material view the study group as a sort of stay of execution. It is their last ditch effort to gather the information needed to pass the class. Sometimes it works but most of the time it is unable to prevent in inevitable. Second, the study group is a excuse to put oneself into relative proximity of the attractive member of the opposite sex that you have been desperately trying to make aware of the fact that you exist. The result? You typically leave the group having learned nothing more about the subject matter and your confidence is shaken because your premonition that she does even know your name is confirmed when she says something to the effect of, “What about you Stanley, did you have anything in your notes about the process of photosynthesis in aquatic plant life”? Really? Stanley? How do you forget a name like Sterling,….. not that this happened to me. There is of course the rarest of occasions when like-minded people assemble for the mutual benefit of everyone in the group and it actually results in positive output on the test, but that of course is the rarest of occasions.
So why do people still gather in study group despite the ominous motives and often times less desires outcomes. Because we share a common fate. What brings people together is the fact that the final looms ahead of all of us and there is a certain camaraderie that results when people gather to defeat a common opponent.
So what does any of this have to do with community (defined as authentic Christian relationships)? Well, everything. Community happens when there is a common understanding amongst a group of believers that what we share in common, is greater than what makes us different. Community exists when we understand that we are sinners, saved by grace and that is our identity. Community happens when we understand that we are all a part of the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12) that as such there is a vital role that God has in store for each of us to play. Community happens when we recognize that there is strength in numbers and that we are created with innate need for each other. In short, community happens when we choose to allow it to happen, to find common ground and to become together in Christ what we can never be apart.
Last year, President Obama declared January as the Prevent Human Trafficking Month. As Christians, we need to be about the opportunities to demonstrate God’s love and liberation to those that are oppressed and broken, especially at the hands of others.
One of the really exciting things for me as I look out at the emerging generation (18 – 28 year olds) is the passion and enthusiasm behind sustained thinking and action into these seemingly unsolvable problems like human trafficking. There is a huge desire to not only get involved on a prayer and financial level, but to actually participate in the liberation process on the front lines.
While we can’t all be in those places, I am thrilled that the generation of students (10-18 year olds), especially at FBCG are extraordinarily in tune with the social crises that threaten our world. As a faith community that strives to see a BIG GOSPEL, we need to be about encouraging students to not only embrace God’s dream for the world in the future, but also to help them see that God’s dream for kingdom and salvation can be experienced NOW in very tangible ways.
As we are nearing the half way point with January, I would encourage you to take some time to learn about the Not For Sale Campaign. This is an organization that has committed itself to resourcing, advocating, and progressing towards a world free of human trafficking.
Suffering and oppression is never an easy thing to talk about with students. Nevertheless, there is an incredible opportunity to talk about God’s dream for the world through a social crisis such as human trafficking. Here’s some questions to help facilitate discussion based on learning about human trafficking:
Questions to ask:
1. What does human trafficking deny humans that are made in the image of God?
2. How can Christians bring wholeness to people caught in human trafficking?
3. Since human trafficking is considered a ‘global crisis’, what can we do now for the problem?
TREK is participating in the current series at FBCG entitled Taking Hold: Knowing and Following Jesus. After our efforts during the love life? series at informing parents of what we covered and encouraging follow up in the home, we thought that we would continue to this effort for this series. In order to get up to speed check out this short clip from a sermon by Francis Chan that we looked at in TREK last week….
I Jn 2:6 says it so bluntly, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” Those words have been sticking with me. We must walk as Jesus did. Chan said it so well when he stated that, “we like Jesus as a Savior but not as a role model”. So in this upcoming series we are going to be tackling the question of how? How do we walk as Jesus walked? How does that become more than a W.W.J.D. bracelet in our lives? How does it become real and living and changing? What are the essentials that help us become men and women that are being shaped into the image of Jesus? How?
Pastor Brian and Pastor Jeff challenged us to be in service every week for this series. I hope that you will chose to answer that challenge and join us in the journey.
Oh please click on the link just above. I was unable to embed the video into this post but you will be entertained and blessed. But the video will illustrate the importance of how a student ministry and parents WORK TOGETHER! Or how I might say–SHOULD work together!
I really believe it! I believe that the FOUNDATION for Spiritual Formation occurs in the HOME and thus parents would be wise to resource the church…Student Ministry. And when they are resourced then perhaps we can work so well together that God’s Song is championed like the couple with the guitar. Ultimately the Faith at Home direction we are moving toward rests on the shoulders of moms and dads. However, it is with expectant HOPE that I see a partnership that forges in this coming year that we can celebrate and support one another. Be encouraged as Parents! We are in this together…For Christ and His Kingdom.
Happy New Year!
Pastor Bruce
TREK's mission statement is to be a student ministry committed to doing whatever it takes to reach high school students and lead them toward becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.
