Youth Group Recaps: January 24-31

What a great week! We had an awesome turnout for both high school and middle school youth nights. God is working in both groups! Don't forget about the take home sheets! They can be downloaded from the link at the right. Help us help you by asking your kids about their progress each week!

High School

This past Sunday night, we talked about WHY we should study God's Word as people who want to be followers of Jesus. Specifically, the reasons we taught are:

1. The Bible tells us the truth
2. We should know what it teaches firsthand and not depend on others to explain it to us
3. Personal edification (growth)
4. To help others
5. Points us to Jesus
6. God's Word to us
7. To know God better
8. To avoid error.

We split into small groups for prayer and further discussion. The students opened up about some of things that were being brought out by the series. It is great to hear about what God is telling them.

Middle School

Last night, we talked about God's character, and how He always keeps his promises- the ones we want kept and those we choose to ignore. The story we read from is found in Genesis, and deals with God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We talked about how God deals with man's sin, and we had questions about why the earthquake happened in Haiti and many other DEEP questions.

Each week the leaders are amazed at the thoughtfulness and depth of the questions. We are going to make a slight adjustment over the next few weeks to allow for more of their thoughts and questions.

A slight programming note, next week I will be gone for middle school night. I begin graduate studies at Indiana Wesleyan next week, and need to travel there for a few days for their integration process. Steve Novak will be leading the lesson time next Wednesday.

Youth Group Recaps: January 17-23 2010

High School Youth Group- Sunday January 17

This past Sunday night, we answered the question, "What is the Bible?". Using the Take Home from the previous week, we talked about common attitudes and thoughts about the Bible itself, as well as the experiences of our own students studying the Bible. What we learned is that there is a great deal of frustration within the lives of our students when it comes to reading the Bible on their own. It appears that, outside of the Take Home sheets, none of our high school students spend any time in scripture on their own. While this is very disconcerting, as a ministry team we feel 100% confident that our focus on discipleship is the right thing for us to be doing right now. While we cannot force our students to spend time in God's word, we can be faithful in proclaiming it to them. After talking about these issues, we spent time dissecting 2 Timothy 3:16, which says that, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching , rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...." We broke down each of these 5 things and talked about what they meant and what they did not mean. We ended our youth group time in small groups, praying for one another.

Coming up next is the question "Why should we study the Bible?", and then we'll be spending time on their questions. At the end of this particular subject, we will give our students a tool to get them into their Bibles in a simple and practical way.

Middle School Youth Group- Wednesday January 20 2010

Due to the weather cancellations, our middle school youth group did not meet. Next week, we'll be talking about Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt, as detailed in Genesis 18:26.

No Youth Group/EKlub Tonight

Canceled due to weather.

Youth Group Recaps: January 10-16 2010

Both Youth Groups:

Beginning last week, each youth group will be given a Take Home sheet to work through to help them prepare for the following week's lesson. We ask them to read a few verses, and then answer a simple question or two about what they read.You can find these Take Homes to the right. We'd love it if you would ask your kids how they are doing on their Take Home during the week.

High School Youth Group:

In high school, we are talking about what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. We introduced the idea that there are five components of a disciple of Jesus:

1. A Disciple Reads God's Word
2. A Disciple is Engaged in Prayer
3. A Disciple Loves Others in Attitude and Action
4. A Disciple Desires to Reach the Lost
5. A Disciple is Engaged in Worship as a Lifestyle

In particular, we talked about how Jesus taught, corrected, supported, restored and gave Himself as an example to His disciples. We also talked about how Jesus does these same things to modern-day disciples. If we are to be His followers, then we are to expect Him to lead us the same way. We closed our big group time by watching two interviews with Colt McCoy, quarterback of the Texas Longhorns. Colt was injured at the very beginning of the game and in his post-game interview he gave a compelling testimony to the goodness of God.





Middle School Youth Group:

In Middle School, we're going to be talking about the Scary, Gross and Weird Stories of the Bible. Last week, we had a "welcome back" lesson and focused specifically on the value of good friends.

"The Myth of the Perfect Parent"

I encourage every parent to read the article "The Myth of the Perfect Parent" over here.

As I think about our ministry, our role in ministering to the families and students here at Eastview, there was one thing that really spoke to me in this article. The author talked about the prophet Ezekiel and his constant attempts to draw the Israelites back to God. From the article:

"How successful was Ezekiel? The destruction he foretold played out in every gruesome detail. From our vantage, Ezekiel's mission looks like an utter failure. But God spoke a few words in this narrative that changed everything. As God commissioned Ezekiel to speak his words to Israel, three times he prefaced his commands with this phrase: "whether they listen or fail to listen" (2:5, 7; 3:11). One of those three times God completed the sentence: "Whether they listen or fail to listen … they will know that a prophet has been among them" (2:5)."

Over the past few weeks, I have been in conversations with parents and ministry team members about what we do here....should we focus on fun? Should we focus on Jesus? How can we get kids to "care" about their faith? As much as I wish every single student in our ministry would give their whole lives over to Jesus, reality and statistics say that this not going to happen. And this saddens me incredibly.

But I find hope in God's Word. We cannot be responsible for the choices our kids make. All we can do as parents and a ministry is be faithful to God in proclaiming what He has done.

Youth Group/EKlub Cancelled for tonight

Due to pending weather situations, all youth activities are CANCELED for tonight.

We sent out 3 emails today:

1. a general email to all parents
2. an email specifically for parents of middle school students
3. an email specifically for parents of high school students

Did you get them? Are you on the list? If not, email me at jmulholland@eastview.net, and I'll add you!