Family Ministry, part 1

This past weekend, our family was blessed to attend Group Publishing's "KidMin 2011" Children's Ministry Conference.  Anne and I helped in "The Shelter"- their prayer room, our boys helped out before and after the main sessions, and our daughter helped out with a band's merchandising table on Saturday night.

I also attended all of the sessions that Brian Haynes led; it was solely focused on family ministry.  Over the next few weeks, I'll post some thoughts about the sessions, his philosophy of ministry, and some ways that we might equip parents to lead their families. 

Here are some introductory thoughts right out of my notes from his first session:

Theological premise/foundation for family ministry?
-There is a generational training plan in place
-Parents and families must intentionally integrate faith into daily life
    -They do this by modeling spiritual service and evangelism

All disciples of Jesus are given the mandate to make disciples as the church.  The family has a distinct role to play.
  -Deuteronomy 6- community-wide and around my table, by the way that we live- church oversees the family by equipping them.

Family of origin has the most influential impact on the lives of kids.
   -Deuteronomy 6 to Psalm 78 to Proverbs 22:6 to Ephesians 6:4

Parents have a primary faith influence, either positively or negatively (even if absent).  They leave a legacy whether they like it or not.  They abdicated their role to us and we called them to us and told them that discipleship happened at the church.  Now, faith takes place in a certain building, in a certain place, on a certain day, at a certain time. This is called "compartmentalization."

What does this mean for how we practice ministry if the church and family are to partner together to make disciples through spiritual formation?  How are we to "do" ministry?

Help me write this blog!  Please post your thoughts, comments, questions, and your PUSH BACK below. 



For more detailed information about who Brian is, what he does, and a lot of specifics, Brian has a website where he lays his model out at Legacymilestones.com.  Brian also blogs about his journey at his blog http://legacyblog.org/.  I know that he'd love for you to check it out and connect with him.

Lies, Lies, Lies

We are surrounded by lies and deceit.  At least that's what the Bible tells us:

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places"-Ephesians 6:12.

We are taking our entire year's worth of youth group in both middle school and high school to talk about the lies and deceits that we hear, accept and then make decisions based on.  All of these lies are ruinous to us, and we need to do two things: 1-recognize them as lies, and 2-make decision to seek the truth.

Here is the list of lies that we'll be covering in one way or another this year:

1. God is not enough
2. God is not really involved in my life
3. God should fix my problems
4. God is just like my father
5. Everything that happens is spiritual warfare
6. Iʼve never been exposed to Satanic activities
7. Beautiful people are worth more
8. I have to perform to be loved
9. I need a boyfriend/girlfriend
10.Itʼs ok to go out with a non-Christian
11.Itʼs not really sex
12.I canʼt handle the loneliness of being alone
13.Itʼs ok to be one person at home and a different person with others, especially online
14.If I just had friends, I wouldnʼt be lonely
15.Iʼm my own authority
16.My youth pastor is my connection with God
17.Everyone at church is judging me
18.Of course Iʼm a Christian, I...
19.I canʼt overcome sin
20.In certain situations itʼs ok to break the law or rules if Iʼm not hurting myself or others
21.The benefits of constant media usage outweigh the harms
22.Itʼs not a waste of time, even if it is, itʼs ok...
23.Having a successful career is more important that just being a mother or father
24.What I do now doesnʼt affect the future

Please let us know how we might come alongside and encourage you!

A little about us, part 3- Youth Group

Sunday School

D-Group

And now...Youth Group.  What is it?  Why have it?

For the last 40 years or so, Youth Groups have been a huge part of churches and their programming geared toward kids.  When I was growing up back in the 80's (Dated?), each Sunday night you;d find me hanging out with the youth group of First Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City, Georgia.  We met each week in the homes of other kids; each week was in a different place.  We'd gather for some food, some fun, and a youth group lesson, usually 15-20 minutes in length.  The favorite topic?  Sex, of course.  I remember that the week before "sex night" (that just doesn't sound right!!) we were handed small pieces of paper, a pen, and encouraged to write down our questions, ANY questions that we had and the following week, our poor youth minister got up in from of the group and answered them. 

Guys like Steve Rembert, Thom McArthur, Martin Huggins were awesome; they loved us, put up with our antics, and taught us what it was like to follow Jesus each Sunday night and on trips all over the place.

Our "youth group" has two parts:

• Our middle school youth group meets on Wednesday nights from 6-8pm.  We have a meal, do a group activity, have a group lesson, and then split into small groups for some deeper discussion.  It takes a special kind of adult to work with middle school kids; they have high energy, lots of questions, and are really coming into their own, developing their identity.  We love middle school kids at Eastview.
• Our high school youth group meets on Sunday nights from 5:45-8pm.  We have a meal, do a group activity, have a group lesson, and then split into small groups for some deeper discussion.  High school kids are at the point in their lives where they are asking big questions and dealing with big issues; they are wrestling with who they are.  I love the depth of our high school kids at Eastview.

This year, in both middle school and high school youth groups, we'll be talking about the lies that surround them, are told to and about them, are told by them, that they fall for and believe, and then act on.  Lies like:

• God could never love me.
• I need a boyfriend/girlfriend.
• The music I listen to, and the movies I watch don't affect me.
• It's not really sex.

Each day, kids in our youth group struggle with and fall for these lies.  Satan is the great deceiver, we actually believe that and this year, we will be confronting our students with the truth of the gospel, and most importantly, with the Truth that is Jesus Christ.

Our youth group is designed to be a great place where kids can feel welcome to bring friends and have some good honest conversation about the God that loves them.  This is called "community" and we see in the Bible that Christians are called to it.  We want to talk about with them what Christianity looks like and what it means to be a follower and disciple of Christ.  We are looking forward to starting up next Wednesday (for middle school) and Sunday the 18th for high school!!

Eastview Student Ministries Mid-Summer Update

It's been a great Summer, this is a great time to tell you a little about what's happened and what is coming up:

We took kids to both our middle school and high school weeks of camp at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp.  We also had kids go to 4&5th grade and 5&6th grade camp.  Please visit our church's Facebook page to take a look at pictures of some of the fun!  On the 17th of July in our weekly worship service, we'll be baptizing two of our students that made decisions to follow Jesus at Camp.  Pretty sweet!!

Just 2 weeks from now, we are leaving for Loveland Colorado for our senior high service trip for the Summer.  We're going to get some rafting in, and lots of opportunities to serve people.  It will be a great trip, I know that those going are really looking forward to it.

On August 10-14, we will be having a Vacation Bible School at Eastview.  This is for students e-klub age through middle school.  We'll have a HUGE carnival on Sunday, August 14 after Sunday service, food, inflatables, it will be a great time.  Come and see what the fun's all about!
We are asking that parents help as they are able, and if your high school student would like to help, please have them contact me ASAP.  We'll be handing out flyers on August 3rd, and having registration at Eastview and possibly one other location on Saturday, August 6th.  I'll have more details out shortly.


Fall 2011

We will be starting our regular programming for e-klub and middle school on Wednesday, September 7 at 6pm.  Our high school youth group starts on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 5:30pm.

We're bringing D-Group back.  What is D-Group?  D-Group was and is an intentional, straight-up discipleship/bible study/deeper-learning time.  In the past, we've read books together, gone through workbooks, etc, and the expectation for this group is that if a student joins, they will participate in the study.  This is NOT youth group, while we have fun, we don't play games or anything like that.  We have, and will talk about challenging stuff, and I hope that many of our students will join.  D-Group will be on Sunday afternoons, from 4-5:15pm.  While this is open to ALL middle school and high school students, in the past, some of our students were overwhelmed by the expectations.  I'd encourage all of our students to at least come to our first D-Group session on September 11, at 4pm.


Our annual All-Church Retreat is scheduled for September 16-18 at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp.  We hope that you will join us for this event.

A Little Later:

Our yearly visit to a Bible College is scheduled for November 3-6.  This year, we'll be visiting Ozark Christian College in Joplin Missouri.  We'll have more details out in early September.  High school students only.

Our annual Spaghetti Dinner/Dessert Auction/Talent Show will be scheduled in mid-February.  This is our huge fundraiser for the year.  The money raised helps keep our event costs low, and provides money for our scholarship fund.  


CIY:Believe for our middle school students will be sometime at the end of February, 2012.  Dates have yet to be announced, but we'll let you know ASAP.

Summer 2012


Summer camps for all age groups, specifics out late-2011, early 2012.

Mexico Mission Trip for high school students.  Each year we alternate between either a Summer conference/service project and our Mexico Mission Trip.  2012 is the Mexico year.  I've already been in contact with the mission that we support there to get some feedback about a trip next Summer.  While we will schedule a meeting in November that will have more details on this trip, it's important that you and your students be thinking and praying about this trip NOW. 

The two biggest concerns for this trip have traditionally been money and safety.

First, money.  Our 2010 trip cost was approximately $1000, but many students took advantage of our scholarship, sent support letters, etc and received money from our Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser. 


Second, safety.  There are obvious safety concerns in going oversees, and Mexico can indeed be dangerous.  There are a number of steps that we take to ensure the safety of the group, and that's one of the reasons we begin planning this trip a year in advance, so that you, the parent, can make the most informed decision that you can. 

The abilities, maturity and willingness of our students to listen is important; while
any high school student is welcome to apply for this trip, it's not for those that lack maturity or a willingness to serve. Because of this, we meet with each person being considered for this trip and we will have a very specific pre-trip process and a post-trip debrief for those going.

Please contact John Mulholland with any questions!!

CIY: Believe 2011 Recap

If I were asked to describe CIY: Believe in just one word...that word would be "awesome". 

Friday
We left Eastview on Friday morning shortly after 10am.  The girls rode with Kathy (one of our middle school youth leaders) in our van, and the boys rode in Big Purple (our church van) with Steve (one of our middle school youth leaders) and myself.  The drive was as you'd expect, loud!   We stopped for lunch at the Denny's in the bustling city of Wayland, Missouri.  We had a run-in with the local sheriff's deputies there, they told us the difference between a "shiv" and a "shank", which fascinated the boys. 

After, we finished our drive to Family Arena, in St Charles Missouri.  We registered, and picked up another one of our female youth leaders, my daughter Katie.  Went to the hotel and got checked in and had quick dinner before going back to the Family Arena for the night.  We picked out our group's t-shirts, and then enjoyed a night filled with worship, comedy and a great speaker, talking about the life of Esther, in the Old Testament.

Saturday
We woke up at a reasonable time, had breakfast at the hotel, and then to the Family Arena for the morning, more worship, an illusionist and a speaker, taking us deeper into the life of Esther.  Lunch was sandwiches at the hotel, and then back to Family Arena for a few more sessions.  The event was over about 4pm, and then we went to the Incredible Pizza Company for dinner and video games.  IT was a great night of food and hanging out as a group.  After around 3 hours, we returned to the hotel for a debrief of the weekend and more time with our group.  Lights out was around 11:30.


Sunday
After waking up and having breakfast, we went to Harvester Christian Church for their morning service and left St Charles by 10:45.  We stopped at Hardees for lunch in Hannibal and were in the parking lot a little after 4pm.

Here's what happened on a deeper level:

The kids were exposed to a lot of LOUD music that honored Jesus. 
By the end of the weekend, they actually liked "Christian" music.
They were in an environment of more that 3000 others, so for those that love Jesus, they are not alone.
The kids laughed at the jokes and thought the illusionist was cool.
The speaker told the story of a girl who lived for God regardless of the fact that her parents were not involved in her life.  In fact, they were dead.
The kids made some great relationships with one another.
The kids built great relationships with the adult youth leaders.

Thanks to CIY: Believe for putting on an awesome event!

Student Ministry Recaps, week beginning September 26

It's been a very interesting week.  It is evident that our students are coming to Sunday school and youth groups ready to talk and listen.  What have we been talking about?

Sunday School

We just finished a multi-week series through what are called the "General Epistles", 1, 2 and 3rd John, along with Jude.  Each week we asked the kids to read the book or chapter for the following week.  Also, we've asked them to paraphrase what they've read.  We had mixed results at the beginning with the reading and paraphrasing, but many of the kids have really taken to it.  At this point, more kids are doing the reading than not, and the number of those paraphrasing is increasing.  Starting next week, we'll be reading and studying the Gospel of John and learning Jesus' life and ministry.  Our hope is to introduce them to the Jesus they don't know.

Senior High Youth Group

We're in chapter three of Francis Chan's Crazy Love book.  We had some amazing conversations and sharing going on.  One of the main pieces that we talked about was how our human relationships affect our thoughts and relationship with God.  Again, many of the kids are doing the reading (hopefully before 4:15 on Sunday afternoon), and this has really helped.  Some of the questions are starting to change, revealing some depth that we hadn't seen before.  A main struggle with this group is unity, we have several small groups of 2-3 kids, so we are working on group unity.  Our upcoming SEMP service project will help with this.

Middle School Youth Group

We continue with our Grapple series.  Last night we finished the first section of our semester, called "Who's the Man?" which dealt with the nature of God himself.  Our Bible story last night was from the book of Jonah, and we grappled with the question "Isn't God just mean and cruel?", the main thought being that bad thing happen to people, and how can we trust God through them?  We've also been doing a "Bible Scavenger Hunt" each week, asking the kids a question and then telling them which Bible book that it is in, and having them find it.  So far, we've had kids read the ENTIRE book of Revelation, the book of Acts, and this week, their question is from the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament.

How you can help us help you

As you can see from above, at each weekly activity, we are asking the kids to do some sort of preparation, it might be reading, paraphrasing, doing a take-home sheet, or whatever.  We are working hard to equip you to minister to your own kids.  As a parent, this is truly one of the hardest things to do.  If you're like me, you feel inadequate (I do...and I'm a minister!).  We're trying to give out simple tools and things that you can do as a family.  Regardless of what we may think, polls continue to state that parents are the most important influence on the faith of kids.  If there are other things that we can help, please let us know.  You can call me at 319-393-9570, email me at eccparents@gmail.com, or...better yet, attend our upcoming "Second Wednesday" on Wednesday night, October 13 at Eastview.  It's an event just for parents and grandparents, we'll be talking specifically about building meaningful relationships with our kids.  W'll be hanging out from 6-8pm.  Would you join us?

The Messiah is "MORE"

Wow! Or is is "WAAAOOOOW!"

What a great night. Since it was his first conference, I asked him if he thought it was awesome, and he said, "What part of it WASN'T awesome?"

Our message last night was that our Messiah is "more"...more than we want, more than we desire, just what we need. He deals with out separation from God by coming to earth and being with us. He loves us!

The music is loud, the skaters skilled and Messiah is Present with us! He is MORE.

Be sure to check out the pics and videos...I'll be getting more up through the day.

Believe Pics here.


Videos here.

Youth Group/E-Klub recaps February 14-20, 2010

Trying to keep these shorter!

High School Youth Group -- February 14, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: Sunday night's lesson continued with the study of prayer. Several scriptures were used along with the Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6 to give us many examples of how, why and the importance of prayer. A good example presented to the students was ACTS.....Adoration...Confession...Thanksgiving...Supplication

What they should have left with: This form of praying was studied through scripture and students presented examples of how they can use this in their own prayer life. There was discussion on the obstacles and hindrances to prayer they face. Students were encouraged to use ACTS in the coming weeks when they pray.

Next week: We will conclude the study of prayer with any questions the students may have on prayer.

Middle School Youth Group -- February 17, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: Wednesday nights lesson continued with our "Scary, Gross and Weird Stories from the Bibel". Our story this week was from Numbers 22:1-41, about a king named Balak, a prophet named Balaam and a donkey that talked. We told the story using this.

What they should have left with: We talked about doing only what God wanted us to, and the roadblocks that sometimes get in the way of us hearing God's voice, and what we can do about those roadblocks.

Next week: We will be talking about Jael putting the tent peg through the temple of Sisera, the commander of the army that was coming against Israel.

E-Klub- February 17, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: We talked about living God's way. Our scripture was from Luke 6:17-26; Jesus taught that God blesses people even when life is hard. He warned people about the dangers of wealth.

What they should have left with: Christians do not live God's way to get recognition. We do it because that's how he wants us to live. We also learned that living God's way means that while can can be sad about things, God wants us to be happy with what we do have, and not to focus on what we do not have.

Youth Group Recaps: January 31-February 6 2010

High School:

This past Sunday was the final week of our "What is the Bible?" portion of our study on Discipleship. We are using the last night of these topics to answer the questions that the students have. We talked about the following questions:

• How do we know the Bible is true when compared to other religions?
• Where is the original Bible?
• Did dinosaurs and people coexist?
• What about things like “The Chronicles of Narnia”? Are they inspired?

Most of our time was spent on talking about the truth of Christianity. The discussion was good and carried over into our small group time. Next week's topic is "A Disciple is Engaged in Prayer." The Take Home is available on the right! Ask your high schooler how they're doing on the work.

Middle School:

Steve Novak, one of our youth leaders, wrote this week's recap for middle school night.

This Wed night began as a review of last week. We talked more about God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and more specifically what God did to Lot's wife when she looked back. Was it appropriate, too harsh, just plain weird, or something else. The responses were again pretty amazing, nobody taking the easy way out. All the answers came an explanation with even asking them.

We talked about God being merciful and just in the things he does. We did an activity that called for aluminum foil to be smeared with Crisco. We had the students write their thoughts about God's character on their pieces of foil. There was..loving, grace, perfect, holy, understanding, serious, nice(more than once)..to name a few. I thought it was a good exercise. When that was done, we wiped off part of the foil to represent a distinction between a fuzzy description of God and seeing Him more clearly. Note: a mirror was originally intended to be used, and the point may have been hammered better, but this got everyone involved.

Finally we split into small groups. Unfortunately there was not enough time to finish all the discussions we were having, but they were good discussions..some new and some from earlier in the night. And the question of the night was an honest one which I feel is awesome...Who wrote the books in the Bible? I am just pleased how comfortable the student was to ask that question?

E-Klub:

Finally, an addition. Moving forward, we'll be posting a recap of our Children's Ministry program (e-Klub) on this recap. This week's recap is written by Corie Novak, our Children's Ministry Team leader:

Tonight's lesson was from Luke 4:22-30

"The Jews were angry when Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and warned them of the consequences of their sins. They tried to throw Jesus off a cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and escaped." (this is the "point" from the lesson guides)

There was a bit of singing in the beginning, a "fun fact" that was given and there was welcome time where the kids went around and high fived friends. Tonight there were two kids chosen to help with the skit. They held up a "boo" card and a "cheer" card. The children then listened to the Bible story on CD. When the narrator talked of the crowd all the children were to boo. When the narrator talked of Jesus the kids were to cheer.

We then divided into 4 small groups, each with 1-2 adult leaders. Two small groups then travel to different centers together. The activities we do in our centers revolve around the story from the beginning of the night. Tonight's was on trusting. We had Snack-It Cafe, where the children got to make ice cream sundaes, they read the story directly from their Bibles. We had Games, in one game they played the children put a stack of pennies on their elbow and predicted how many they could catch by flipping their arm down. The other kids had to decide to trust their prediction or not. The second game the kids paired up and stood facing each other, on one side of the room. On the other side of the room their was a child with a small pool noodle. That child was going to toss the noodle at the ones with their backs to him/her. They had to trust that their partner would move them in the correct way in order to not get hit by the noodle. The last center we did was Surprise Station. The children tried to solve brain teasers and had to trust the teacher to give them the correct answer. The first on was to take six cups placed in a row. Fill three with water and arrange in this pattern:empty, empty, full, full, full, empty. With moving only one cup change the pattern to full, empty, full, empty, full, empty. The second was trying to balance a Bible on top of a piece of cardboard. This would be a fun activity to do at home with your child.

Our ultimate lesson the kids took home tonight was that they can ALWAYS trust in Jesus, no matter.

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.

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.

Eastview PArent Weekly, December 13-19, 2009

Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is almost over. We’ve had a year filled with activities and growth. We’ve moved to a multi-night youth group, and with all change, there are positives and negatives that come because of it. I’m in the process of completing our portion of Eastview Christian Church’s annual report. I’ll post it here on the parent’s website by Wednesday. I’d love for you to take a few minutes and check it out. Here are the important dates coming up (please note that the high school opening night for youth group has CHANGED to January 10th):

Calendar:

• December 16th- middle school Christmas party at Eastview during normal youth group time.
  
  • Students, please bring a white elephant/gag gift for gift exchange.
    

• December 19th- middle school party @ Chuck E.Cheese for those who have participated in the Bible/Homework/Scripture memorization “contest”.
  

• December 20th- high school Christmas party at Mulholland’s (385 16th St, Marion) during normal youth group time (6-8).
  
  • Students, please bring a white elephant/gag gift for gift exchange.
  • Boys-please bring your favorite bottle of pop or juice
  • Girls-please bring a healthy snack
    

• December 23rd- NO middle school youth group
  

• December 27th- NO high school youth group
  

• December 30th- NO middle school youth group
  

• January 6th- middle school youth group begins
  

• January 10th- high school youth group begins
  

Have a great week!

High School Youth Group Update

We've been studying the Gospel of John over the past several months. We've had some great conversations in small groups. Beginning in January, we'll be challenging the kids to be in Scripture and talking about topics that are close to their hearts.

At some point, probably in March/April, we'll be using material called "Dateable", which will help our kids look at their desire for relationships in a different way. It is neither an anti- nor pro-dating. It will prove to be some challenging stuff for our kids to work through.

Middle School Youth Group Update

We've had a lot of exciting things take place in our middle school group over the past 3 months. The vast majority of the students have been bringing their Bibles each week, many are completing their "homework" and some are memorizing scripture weekly. It's pretty exciting to see. Over the past 6 weeks, our lessons have been focusing on "Crime Scenes From the Bible", various stories from the Old Testament that keep them interested and teach a truth.

Last night, we talked about Genesis 4:1-16, the story of Cain and Abel. Youth Leader Stave Novak did a great job of talking about anger, sacrifice, jealousy and murder.

With a little bit of focus on their work (they get 1 star each for bringing Bibles, completing their homework and memorizing a verse) most of our middle school students should be able to join us December 19, from 5-7 pm for a party at Chuck E. Cheese.

Beginning January 6th, on Wednesday nights we'll be talking about "Scary, Gross and Weird Stories from the Bible." As we've done up to this point, there will be homework assignments and scripture to memorize.

Check back weekly to see what we've been doing!

2010 Scholarship Policy

Eastview Student Ministries scholarship policies have change. Click on the link to the right to take a look!

Eastview Parent Weekly, November 22-28, 2009

Dear Parents,

I just got back from the National Missionary convention in Peoria and WOW! What a tremendous weekend. Heard many great messages, attended some wonderful workshops and saw some old friends. We had a few students go with their families, and they also enjoyed the time there. The location next year is Lexington, Kentucky and the dates are November 18-21, 2010. I hope you’ll consider going as a next step.

This Wednesday, November 25: No youth group, but we’ll be raking leaves at the church from 5:30-8pm. Please bring rakes, blowers, etc. A meal will be provided.


Important Dates Coming Up:

December 9: Final Middle School Youth Group for 2009
December 12: Ministry Team Meeting, 8:30-10:30am at Eastview
December 13: Final High School Youth Group for 2009
December 16: Middle School Youth Group Christmas Party at Eastview
December 20: High School youth Group Christmas Party at Mulholland’s house

Have a great Thanksgiving!

First Senior High Youth Group...

Last night was awesome! We had 16 high school students here for our first ever Sunday night youth group. We had a great time eating some pizza and just chilling out as a group. The environment was much more relaxed and we had some great conversation. We split into our new small groups, and continued the discussion there. We also introduced journaling into our group.

8pm came awfully fast.

Activity:
Discussions about favorite youth group activities, rules and expectations.

Teaching Series:
God's Status

Topic:
Talked about the 4 soils that Jesus explains in Matthew 13.

Key Verses:
Matthew 13:1-10, 18-23

Attendance:
16 students, 6 adults

Main Group Testimony:
Talked about the status of our hearts toward receiving direction from God.

Small Group Time:
Talked about our favorite parts of the past summer, and journaled about the current status of out hearts toward God.


Coming up next:
Middle School Youth Group (September 3)-Youth Group 101
Sunday School (September 6)-FaithWeaver
Senior High Youth Group (Sunday 6th, pm)- "God is out changing people's names"

Eastview Parent Weekly, July 19-25

It's that time of year...our summer break is half over. 3 out of 4 summer trips and events are past. Our final trip, CIY's summer conference is right around the corners, just 6 short days away, and then...September. The weeks of August will go extremely fast. Our ministry team met on Saturday to talk about Jesus, to talk about youth ministry, to talk about Eastview and how those three things should be aligned. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. At this point, I want to get through the next 6 weeks and start.

While the notes from our ministry team meetings are available for all to read (at right), here are some highlights from this past Saturday:

• It was officially decided that beginning this Fall, our youth group will be "split", with grades 9-12 meeting on Sunday nights and grades 6-8 meeting on Wednesday nights. Specific times and more details will be out in mid-August.
• Small Group Leaders for 2009-2010 school year:
• • Middle School-
  • John Mulholland
  • Rob Frederick
  • Steve Novak
  • Monna Kreher
    
  • High School-
  • John Mulholland
  • Megan Clark
  • Betty Dickerson
• Curriculum Plan for Fall/Winter
• • Middle School
  • “Scary, Gross and Weird Stories from the Bible”
  • High School
  • Gospel of Mark-The Person of Jesus
  • What it means to follow Him

In the meantime, I hope that you'll be praying for those going to Carbondale next week. I'm anticipating God working in a big way (which He does here) in the lives of those going. Pray from open hearts and minds, for sleep and rest and patience and encouragement.

As with our recent Kansas trip, you'll be able to follow along using the Twitter feed to the right starting next Sunday, at Noon.

Some thoughts from the past week

We've had a busy two weeks here at Eastview Student Ministry.

I spent June 29-July 3 with 6 middle school students and 2 adults in Florence, Kansas at Morning Star Ranch. It was a great time for work, fun and fellowship with those students. We met daily and talked about the 10 Commandments and their application for today. I was blown away by the questions these 11-14 year old students asked. There was an incredible amount of depth and spiritual hunger behind them.

I spent last week, July 5-11 with 86 high school students in Bristow (Big Enough to Accomodate, Small Enough to Appreciate!) Iowa at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp. In addition to co-deaning (which means that Hannah did all the work), I taught a class on media discernment using Britney Spears' "If You Seek Amy" as our media to review, and was a Family leader with a student from Ozark Christian College. We played a lot of dodgeball, ate some great food courtesy of the Huskey's, got eaten by mosquitos, heard some challenging messages and did some service projects. I got an inside view into the lives of 10 high school students. While there were moments of great discussion, the vast majority of the spiritual discussions that we had were shallow.

I learned a few things over the past few weeks:

1. Most of the high school students in my group had no idea about why they were baptized. There was no ability to articulate their faith or to integrate it into their lives. Additionally, they had no idea how to study, much less read or apply, God's Word into their daily lives.
2. Students are hungry for God's Word. They are spiritually dry and will turn to anything that provides them the slightest bit of satisfaction, no matter how temporary or fulfilling.
   
3. My guess would be that the parents of these students are completely un-engaged in both the lives of their children and their own relationship with God.
4. Our churches are doing a lousy job at discipleship, both to adults and students. On the final day of camp, I visited with some girls from another church. While they could not agree on the specifics, they guessed that their church was made of of 25-40 people. But, their high school youth group would be about 8 in numbers. Last year, this church cancelled their Wednesday night youth program because they were "too small". FAIL! 8 high school students is WAY above the 10% rule (if your high school group size is 10% of your congregationsize, your youth group size is average). Here is what this church has communicated to their high school students: "You are unimportant. We don't care". No doubt this church will lament the loss of these students over the next few years as the walk away from both the church and Jesus. They will likely point to culture, temptation, all the usual suspects, but they will never, never, look to themselves.

It would be so easy to leave it there, but it's not that simple.

A few weeks ago, we graduated 4 students from our program who have remained engaged throughout high school, and while it's WAY too early to tell, I think they'll be sticking around. We celebrated this. It is right to.

Remember January-April of 2002? The Taliban were defeated in Afghanistan. With a few dozen Green Berets and the Northern Alliance we toppled a government.

How about May-December of 2003? Iraq was invaded, Saddam Hussein was captured and we had relatively few casualties.

2004-2008 were grim years in Iraq. IED's wounded, maimed, and killed thousands of American soldiers. Innocent civillians were killed by the thousands. It took 4 years to create a strategy that is only now bearing any fruit.

In case you missed it, we're in the process of sending at least 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, and they aren't cooks and PR people. These are battle-hardened troops, taking with them what they learned in places like Fallujah and Anbar.

These 4 students are an anomaly. They are not the norm. When I go through the names of the graduates next year, and the year after, and so on...I'm not so sure of what I see.

I fear that the battle has yet to begin.

• I see an insurgency being created and strategies being formed. I see students who were baptized years ago not equipped for battle because other things have gotten their attention.
  
• I see little compromises in their lives, and frankly, I see parents doing nothing about it. Students who have no business dating, are. (Reminder: dating leads to one of two things...break up or marriage. At 14, do you really think your daughter is going to marry her current boyfriend?) Students are downloading music and movies illegally online on their computers. Students clothing is getting tighter on the girls, necklines are falling and shorts are rising. The excuse "I can't find anything else" is both lame and a lie.
  
• Students who are interested spiritually are squashed because their parents do nothing to encourage it. There is no scripture reading in the home, either private or corporately.
• Students are left home, for hours at a time by themselves. So there they sit, ears consuming all the best Beyonce and Nelly have to offer, eyes taking in all the internet has for them. No filters, no guidelines, no guardrails. Why? "Because we listened to bad music when we were kids and we turned out ok."
• We are "cultural christians". We speak of faith and Jesus, but we just talk about them. We say that Jesus meets all of our needs, but we'll work like He has no clue what we need.
  
• We have a "culturally christian youth ministry". As long as our kids leave our youth group with the intent of being good citizens who can take care of themselves, raise a family, will not get into "too much" trouble, and attend a church maybe even a Christian college, we're ok. After all, we just graduated 4 of them. And look how good we feel about ourselves.

Hmm. As we plan for the Fall, with all of it's challenges with a split youth group and a facility situation, we're going to war. I'll let you in on a little secret. Jesus already won it.