Coming soon: The Gospel According to the Office

Starting in January, our Sr High group will begin material called "The Gospel According to The Office."

As I stated in my December 2010 church newsletter article, this show is extremely popular with our students.  So, we're going to use it to communicate the Gospel to them.

For part of the study time, we'll be using material from a group in New York City called "Mockingbird."  To see what the lessons look like, go here, and click on the first link.  We'll also be writing material for 5 or 6 lessons.  Since there may be concerns about what specifically we'll be watching, below you'll find an episode list.  And, since I cannot provide a copy of those episodes to everyone and their brother, I suggest that you visit NBC's website, find the "show clips" link, and watch a 2 minute overview of the episodes on question.  You can also visit Hulu and watch full episodes there.  As of right now (1:30pm on Wednesday, December 15) all of the seasons and episodes are there.

Here's the episode list that we'll be using:

Performance Review
Business School
Did I stutter?
The Surplus
The Coup
That's What She Said (this is NOT an episode, but a compilation video)
Christmas Party
The Chump
The Fire
Email Surveillance
Conflict Resolution

As funny as this show is, it is really, really, dumb.  It is also, really depressing and accurately portrays life without God.  To see some compilation videos that demonstrate the absurdity of it, go here and here.

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?

Student Ministry Recaps

September 19, 2010         High School Youth Group

• 13 students, 3 adults
• Theme:         Crazy Love: Chapter 3
• Overall:         Watched a recap of “The Last Lecture”, a Zac Smith Video, talked about what it meant to rejoice and to not be anxious.  Discussed the life of Paul and how he was the writer of those words (on rejoicing and anxiety), then watched the chapter video.  
• We are working hard to encourage the kids to read the chapter before Sunday night.  We're going to change up our schedule a little bit this Sunday.  

September 22, 2010         Middle School Youth Group

• 15 Students, 7 Adults
• Theme: Who’s the Man?  Is believing in God lame?
• Bible Story:         Daniel 3, Matthew 5:10-16
• Overall:         Games went well, kids were especially worked up.  Had some trouble keeping focus in big group and small group.  We talked specifically about how we need to encourage one another and stand for what we believe in.

Student Ministry Recaps

I want to apologize for not getting these up.  I simply have not made this the priority that it needs to be. 

Senior High Youth Group-Sunday September 12

• We had 16 students and 2 adults.
• We introduced the "Crazy Love" series  by reading the preface and chapter 1 as a group.  We spent some time talking about our inaccurate  views of God and how those false views affect our relationship with God.

Middle School Youth Group-Wednesday September 15

• We had 13 students and 7 adults.  
• Our second week in a four week series dealing with the bigger question, "Who is God?"....we talked specifically about the gifts that God has given us now.  Our bible story was from Genesis 15 and dealt with the promise that God made to Abram in the Old Testament that Abram would be the father of many nations.  During our small group breakout, we had an awesome time of sharing with our students about the way that God has blessed us with the opportunity for eternal life.  Several of our students got very personal about what's been happening in their lives and we closed with those students praying.  It was a pretty powerful night.
• We handed out a "Take Home" sheet for this week's lesson.  You can find it off to the right on this page, just click on the "Middle School Take Home" link and download the 9-22-10 sheet.

From this point forward, these will be posted by Thursday afternoons. 

Student Ministry Recaps, April 18-24 2010

Senior High

April 18, 2010

Topic:  An exploration of what it means to "fear the Lord."

Take Away:  Fearing the Lord has to do with being aware of God's ultimate power.  This fear can be a deep respect for that power but can also be a literal fear.  We should use this fear to both honor God and change our lives to grow closer to Him.

Next Week:  A discussion of the role of music as a part of worship.

Middle School

April 21, 2010

Topic:  Eternal Life.  The story was John 20:1-31. Jesus died, and his followers were very sad.  But then the unexpected happened...he rose from the dead and appeared to his followers.


Take Away:  God made the ultimate sacrifice when He gave his son to be crucified.  God is all powerful and can do unbelievable things...we need to believe.  the fact that Jesus rose from the dead gives all of us hope.


Next week:  John is gone..so it is party time.

E-Klub

April 21, 2010

Wednesday night our Operation Space lesson was on the Incredible Impact. We learned how the Bible has an incredible impact on our lives by transforming us. To illustrate the change, we rolled volunteers in toilet paper and watched them burst into a beautiful butterflies. The Bible transforms us as the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.

We learned that there are 66 books of the Bible. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. We are learning a song to help us remember the books of the Bible, in the order they are found. It's helpful to know the order so we can quickly find passages we need.

Next week we will still be talking about the Incredible Impact. Our skit will continue and we will learn more about the intentions of Virus, and what he plans to do to Earth.

Student Ministry Recaps, April 11-17 2010

Dropped the ball over the past few weeks, but we're back!

Senior High
Sunday April 11, 2010

Topic: A wrap up of the "Dateable" book. Discussion touched on risky behaviors, consequences of actions, and the appropriate roles for girls and guys in a dating relationship.

Take Away: Guys are supposed to take the lead in the relationship, even if that's not the way it goes anymore. Relationships are work and come with risks.

Next Week: The kids gave us a topic list, we're currently developing it.

Middle School
Wednesday April 14, 2010

Topic: Wednesday night was a fun night. The theme was God's healing touch. The story was from John 9:1-41, Jesus healing the blind man. For starters we had 6 students blindfolded. The object was for them to find someone with pudding, someone with a spoon, and then feed each other. It was interesting to say the least..and a bit messy. Afterward, we discussed how it felt to be blind, and then to see..and also how the blind man would have felt. Then a student who originally had the pudding said he was "manipulating" some of the "blind" students. So we talked about that for a bit and how it happens not to just blind or handicapped, but to regular people everyday.

Take Away: In the story, Jesus uses mud mixed with spit to put on the man's eyes to heal him. That led us to talk about how Jesus used ordinary things to heal this man. We are ordinary people and god uses us too. I saw some sparks in the eyes of some students who may not have realized that God uses the everyday person..including them..to do His work. What a great night.

Next Week: Jesus walks through walls.

e-Klub
Wednesday April 14, 2010

Topic: Wednesday night was a continuation of last weeks salvation discussion. The kids made glow in the dark crosses with pipe cleaners and beads. In snack we had bomb pops. And we had our skit that went along with our lesson.

Take Away: We met a new character in our skit. His name is Virus and he wants to take over Earth. He will be making further appearances in future skits. We learned the closest star is 4.2 light years away, which is 25 trillion miles. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. It would still take 2 million years to get there.

Next week: Our lesson will be on incredible impact. From science to music to changed lives, the Bible has an incredible impact on our world.

High School/Middle School Youth Group Recaps, March 21-27, 2010

High School Youth Group--March 21, 2010

Topic: The second week of discussion of the book, Dateable: Are You? Are They? has been awesome. Our students are learning about relationships, character and recognizing lies that have been told to them, their friends, themselves and even those they may have done to others. We talked about how our actions are important and what our actions say about us and how they make others feel. How if their friends ask them to lie for them, they will lie to them. It's great seeing our students talk honestly, openly and looking at their own relationships and expectations.

Take away: We need to be truth-tellers and truth-hearers in our relationships with others.

Next week: We continue this study next week with talking about their appearances, revealing clothes and physical boundaries.

A quick reminder....we will not be having Youth Group April 4th Easter Sunday. We want the kids to enjoy that celebration time with their families.

Middle School Youth Group--March 24, 2010

Topic: We talked about our need to trust God when He tells us to do things. We talked about the example of Jonah, found in Jonah 1.

Take Away: God wants us to be obedient to Him. As He asks us to do things, and we do them, we learn that He is trustworthy. We cannot simply say that we love Him with words and then not do what He asks.

Next Week: We'll be talking about Jesus' desire to heal us, using several stories of Him casting out demons.

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.

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.

High School Youth group Recap, November 15, 2009

I realized that I've gotten away from posting recaps of our meetings.

Last night, we watched the film, "To End All Wars" during our group time. After, we discussed love, sacrifice and purpose in the big group.

Those present were challenged to really think about loving their enemies and those that persecute them.

At High School Camp-NEICSC

Follow the goings on at the right!

Travel Day 1

Travel Day photos here...

And now for something new...

CIY Discipleship Info

The event itself will be held at Harvester Christian Church in St Charles Missouri. St Charles is a suburb of St Louis.

We'll be staying at the Days Inn in St Charles. The Address is 2781 Veterans Memorial Parkway, and the phone number there is 636-949-8700.

We will be leaving by 8am Friday morning and be in St Louis by noon. the plan is to check into the hotel, eat, and then go downtown to the Gateway Arch.

There is an evening session Friday night, and then we'll be back at Harvester Christian Church Saturday morning and afternoon for the rest of the conference. We plan to be home by no later than 10pm Saturday night.