Last night was very encouraging as I noticed so many of our members and guests joyfully interacting with the children. Smiles and laughter filled the parking lot as so many partnered in loving on the numerous children. In a dark cruel world, loving places can be hard to find. I believe Forsythe is a place where you can find many opportunities to share in Loving on others. It is a privilege to be apart of such a family.
WARNING!!!!!! Behind the listing of these events is a group of adults and teens who have an agenda. We desire to use these events to help us Reach out to non-believing families, Connect with Other Christians, Grow In Our Relationship with Christ, Find ways to do ministry, and Worship God with our lives. May you know the amazing joy of this effort!!!!!!! We belong to the kingdom of God and we therefore have more reason than anyone to embrace this mission with LOVE!!!!!!!
Hello and Merry Christmas!!!
(an obvious hint to my costume tomorrow night),
We will be meeting at the Backdoor tomorrow night before trick or trunk. Please come and prepare your trunk for the kids. I hope you can invite several to attend! I’m looking forward to celebrate the new season with all of you.
This Friday Night – 5th quarter Costume Night!
We will be having 5th quarter at the Backdoor this Friday Night. Because we cancelled last weeks 5th quarter we will be inviting 6-12 graders for this event. It will be on Halloween night following the High School football games.
Denise will be preparing a special meal for all of us. We were hoping we could get some help decorating and someone to help us with bobbing for Apples. If you can help with decorations, bobbing for Apples, or cooking please see Denise.
Mini-Retreat at Barnard’s November 3-4 – “Why So Joyful?“
Also, since the kids will be out of school Tuesday, we will be having a mini-retreat at our House this Monday beginning at 4:00 p.m. and ending at noon on Tuesday for 7-12 grade. Please bring Bibles, sleeping bags, $10 for meals, drinks, and snacks, and fishing pole.
Service Efforts – Gifts for Sunnybrook Children and Food Baskets
It is a wonderful privilege to serve our community and congregation throughout the year. This event is a volunteer joy-giving effort that is very appreciated by children who are without nurturing families. We will be doing this as well as delivering food baskets to some needy families in our commuity. Stay tuned for more information on specific dates and times.
Christmas Party Wednesday Night December 10th at the Backdoor - Mark this on your calendar! Your Preaching Minister and Family Minister will be giving away some fantastic gifts this year! (Remember last years gifts) Everyone please bring a generic gift! Parents I could use some help with food and decorations!
December 11th Winter Wonder Slam Tour with Toby MAc and Relient K
Are you concerned about the music your kids enjoy? Please let us help you with this event! This would be a wonderful Christmas present for your child. This is one of the neatest and enjoyable Christian concerts your child could ever be around.(That is why I agreed to have it on a school night) Most teachers would work with students on making sure they can work on their assignments for the night ahead of time. I will also be glad to write a note. I wished they would have had it on a weekend!
They will love the music and lyrics, and I know you will love the lyrics they are singing to your child. I have purchased 25 tickets to this concert. They are $40 a piece. Compared to a secular concert this is cheap! Yet, this concert will have all the quality that worldly concerts use to pull kids into their type of music. We have people who are willing to offer jobs for our students to pay for their tickets. I wanted to let everyone know now so that they might save-up any extra pennies. This is the type of music that connects with our kids! The message is amazing! We plan on leaving at 3:30p.m. from the building on Thursday Dec 11 and returning at 10:45p.m.
Kids are entertained by so many things that are harmful to their development. This is something that I believe will be very helpful! Also, if you want to buy a 25-35 passenger church bus to help us attend events like this, I would be very appreciative. 
http://www.carpenterbus.com/inventory.php If you can’t buy one, would you please pray for one. It would help us tremendously.
I hope you and your family can be apart of all the events we are planning! Don’t forget our Sunday Morning young/middle-aged adult class that will be taught by a variety of teachers. (Sol Graves, Gary Stanley, Chuck McIntosh, and Jason Barnard) We will be covering Philippians 3 this Sunday Morning!
Okay I’m done preaching and begging! For Now!
Your Brother,
Jason
P.S. To win a million dollars and begin preparing for LTC click the title in the upper right hand corner of the page.
Dear Family,
I want to thank you again for your hard work and commitment to strengthening the faith of the present and future kingdom of God. It was beautiful to see Christ present in the lives of His servants as you honored His sacrifice through your labor.
It has been a joy serving with you in this great cause of spreading the Gospel of Christ. Scripture reminds us that we are in a spiritual war for advancing the gospel of Christ. Thank you for working through numerous adversities to ensure a significant victory for Jesus Christ this past weekend.
May our commitment to Jesus Christ and His Word be an example that our children will never forget.
Thank You,
Jason
About this time last year, Christina and I were blessed by this skit. Since then, I have seen many renditions of this powerful skit. I believe that Christina did a wonderful job modifying the skit for Discover 2007. Mallory, Jarod, Billy, Thomas, Cheyene, Holly, and J.T. did a phenomenal job of acting it out. Unfortunately, we do not have a recording to add to the splendid collection.
I have seen my share of skits, but this one makes me cry every time. Imagine how much I cried when I saw my kids acting out this skit. By the way, I’m usually the one who doesn’t cry. In fact, in my masculine defense, I proudly say that this is the only movie that makes me cry every time.
Why?
I sometimes cry because of how I can see God desiring me to choose Him over the world. However, most of the time I cry because of the many times I’ve seen the person at the end of the rope crying out for help. Many names and faces come to mind. How about you?
Jesus commands us to help pull on the rope(the ministry of reconciliation). I can’t think of a better image of what we are trying to do through Discover. We want them to know that they have a God who hasn’t given up on them. I believe He will do whatever it takes through our Discover team to pull that kid back home with Him where he or she belongs.
Do you know some people at the wrong end of the rope? How can we help you bring them to Discover 2008? Please, let us join you in pulling on the rope.
6 a.m. Lock-in completed!
Can I not grow up? I love all these ministries dearly. I get excited to see people get that “aha” moment and embrace God’s call for their lives in these vast areas. However, I get an unmatched zeal for working with the youth. I’ve never been a cool youth minister! I’m basically a country boy from the rural areas of West Monroe, LA., who raised sheep and missed school to attend livestock shows from age 4 to 18. When God put a passion in my heart for ministry at age 15, I thought I would just breeze through the required times of youth ministry and move to the pulpit. You see these weird kids have been one of the reasons I “can’t grow up”. They have done something to me. I walk into a room with them and I feel this weird vibe. They have many obstacles that break my heart and I want to see them in heaven. However, I lack the coolness, the lingo, and the ability to create fun gun games for their entertainment.
They don’t find my jokes near as funny as the adults. They haven’t told me thank you as much as the adults. They make me feel young at heart and old all over. So why do I love them so much?
There is one youth event that makes me feel older than any of the others. I shudder when they request it and immediately begin thinking, “how long can I handle this?” Some of my older retired youth minister friends say the event is from hell itself: ALL-NIGHT LOCK-INS!!
As I write this I am in the slow process of trying to recover from one that occurred last night! My body is yelling, “You Big Dummy!!” My heart is saying, God, thank you for letting a guy like me be a part of their lives. They grew so close last night. They verified to each other that there was a God, by showing His love to each other. One of them wanted to be baptized into Christ last night. He was ready to trust God with his life.
So we baptized him. We celebrated! Heaven celebrated!!! I wish you could have seen the look on his face! It was the 3rd time I’ve met him. Pray for him, please! His name is Blake! Pray for us and his family that we may nurture him in his walk with Christ.
I want to be clear about why I think we saw success last night. It wasn’t a gifted youth minister or cool games. I know this may sound simple and cliché. Here was the blueprint for last night: We begged God to bless our time together and none of us felt qualified to be there. He showed up, convicted our hearts, and we were richly blessed as a result.
Those kids remind me of how much I hope to see myself as He sees me, nothing more, and nothing less.
Greetings Future Blog Friends! My good buddy, the Blog King(John Dobbs), has helped me set-up my first Blog. This Blog will primarily be used to initially inform and update the Blog World of our 3rd annual youth rally, DISCOVER 2008. Last year we had a wonderful turn-out. This year we hope you all return and continue to spread the word of How God is moving in an area that is a wide-open mission field. If you have never heard of us or thought about visiting us, please come check us out! You all are welcome to stay at John’s Big New House – free!!!!
We are preparing the red carpet for your arrival! Our dates for Discover ‘08 are October 17-19. The Theme is “I Believe”.
