Good day!  Hard to believe January of 2015 is fixing to be history.  So hard to see time move so fast but a great reminder to, as Paul tells us in Ephesians, redeem the time.  James says that life is a vapor, it's here today and gone the next.  Time moves fast and we must take advantage of each moment.  This thinking helps us keep focused on making the main things the main things.  I pray we all seek to honor God with our time, talents and energy.  It'll be June before we know it!

Had a great time continuing our walk through Titus last night.  It was a great challenge to look at our life, our actions to see if there is evidence of someone who has been changed by the Gospel.  Students and Adults were challenged to be and do good but also to surround ourselves with people who do likewise, both young and old.  Attached are the notes and questions from last night.

Also very encouraged talking with several students who are dealing with the realization that it's tough to walk with God while living in a world that is opposed to Him.  The realization that there is an issue, a stronghold, is the first step to action.  Praying these students continue to seek God in the midst of these struggles.  There is great hope in the name of Jesus and each week we try and show them from Scripture that Jesus alone is Lord and that He demands and deserves our all, our life.  Join me in praying for these students to see a clear picture of His grace, love, mercy, and calling.

Esperanza means hope.  Hope exists though many people live without fully realizing it.  Many people aren't as privileged as us to have things we can access.  These are things that are physical, petty things but can also be serious physical things such as the ability to read. They can also be spiritual things such as discipleship, the ability to worship with a congregation each week.  The spiritual need around the world is huge.  This need is also huge in La Esperanza, Honduras.  This city named "Hope" is dark and we seek to join a local pastor to shine light in the darkness.

The way we seek to so this is by going to visit many of the people we currently see on other trips, to work alongside them in the gospel.  Only this time all our energy will be spent training them.  The need is huge but the task is large.  I'll admit...as excited as I am about this trip (the most of any I've ever attended) I'm equally nervous and scared.  I'm scared because the task is a great one.  Consider this.  They don't speak our language and the majority of them cannot read or write.  So if we teach an hour, half of that time will be spent in translating.  If we desire to equip them by leaving material, they can't read it.  Add to this their knowledge and understanding of Scripture is that of 10 year old, only knowing big chunks of Scripture and what they know they've been told by a priest who is out to rule over them and manipulate them.  Yet in spite of this they desire to know truth and we have been tasked with the mission of exposing truth.  This is a great need and a great burden and a large feat.  We pray you'll join with us in praying for these guys.
For more information on how you can help and more details please visit #esperanza. 

• Consider talking with your student about where they sit in the main sanctuary.  We attempt to have a youth section but at the end of the day it's nothing more than a common area for students to come and sit together.  We don't push it, discourage or encourage it, it's simply there.  It's easy to get lost in such a big sanctuary.  There is quite the temptation to stay on your phone the whole time or sit behind a big fella and "hide" from mom and dad.  I know for me at that age I needed a little encouragement, thankfully I had a dad who had a swift and very long hand.  So this "tidbit" is not because we have students acting crazy more than it's the fact that if left to our own devices, with no accountability, we are destined to fail.  So I encourage you to have a conversation about good places to sit and the importance of that decision for them and other attending a Sunday service.
• Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  Through the years reverence for the house of God has gone down.  Youth ministry has led this charge and I have not done a good job of teaching this.  I need to change this and I do need your help in this.  It's easy to notice the youth section of any church due to the paper wad bulletins, gum trash, actual gum on the chairs or perhaps in the persons hair they were sitting behind.  Wednesday night is no different really, this morning I picked up trash for about 15 minutes.  I will be really pushing the need to respect the house of God and keep it clean but would appreciate any support from you.  
• These are not huge things and for the most part our students are good students but at the end of the day they are students who are learning what it means to follow Christ and they, like us, need all the help they can get as they learn and seek after Him.   I'm thankful we have this opportunity to pour into their lives as we keep the main thing the main thing.

Have a Great Day!

Good morning!  Hope everyone is good and enjoying this short week.  It's always weird that a long weekend always seems to make for a longer week, or is it just me.  For 67 folks affiliated with the Rock it was a busy weekend as we journeyed to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg for a weekend away, in the mountains, in the Word.   It was a great time with great weather, worship, fellowship and time in the Word.  It's always tiring when you do a youth trip but as I look back I'd do it 100 times over.  

Refuel is always a great time....it is tiring but it is good to see students getting in the Word, together, led by adults.  The foundation is being established in their lives so now we pray they do the hard work of a farmer and care for the seeds that have been planted.  Sooner or later a farmer will get tired of caring for someone else's field.  So he merely teaching the other farmer to tend to it and watches carefully to offer help as needed.  This is our role, to raise students who can farm on their own.  You've heard it...give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat the rest of his life.   We want these students to eat for the rest of their lives, whether we're here or we're gone.  Sooner or later these students must decide if the cross is worth it, if the gospel is worth it, if God is worth it.  We pray they see Him for all He is....this surely makes our job a bit more simple.  Show them God, through His Word, through your love.

Week 2 of our Titus study and what seemed to be a very hard chapter to teach through has become one of my favorite chapters in all of Scripture.  The situation is this: Paul is writing Titus to explain to him his mission.  In doing so Paul encourages Titus (1:1-4) and then sets the scene (1:5-16).  Through Paul's letter to Titus we see many correlations to our life and time here.  Titus is being sent to "put what remains into order."  This simply means he was being sent to make straight what was crooked, like an orthodontist.

My life, many times, fills like what Titus is going through.  I look around and see situations that I see here in Titus, people claiming to know God but denying Him with their works (v.16). It's frustrating and hard work but ultimately we see that the gospel is worth it.  This good news of reconciliation and redemption is worth the struggle.  Any time we have to share the gospel is the perfect time to share it.  I'm praying the students were challenged and struggled last night to Stand Firm in/for the Gospel.

Attached are the sermon notes and bulletin/outline. 

Praying you have a good day and rather than simply making time for God today I pray we'll give Him the whole day because after all, He first gave it to us.  Use it for Him and His glory.

Good morning, afternoon and evening, whenever you may be reading this blog.  Really do hope you at least take a glance at these each week.  Our hope is that we connect you with what we're doing here at The Rock each Wednesday night and throughout the year.

With that in mind tonight we begin a new study at The Rock.  We'll be walking somewhat slowly through Titus.  Titus is a huge letter written by Paul to Titus, a young pastor sent to a struggling church, in a struggling area, with tons of distractions and false teaching.  Titus needed encouragement, the church needed some leadership and basic doctrine and a lot of spurning to action.  Paul instructs Titus to "go and put what remains into order."  The theme that runs through this letter is really simple and one we'll continually point to each week

Tonight we begin looking at this with a pretty serious message of encouragement.  I'm praying as we look at the first four verses students are encouraged and reminded of their identity in Christ.

Attached are the sermon notes and bulletin for tonight.

Refuel is this weekend and all you need to know about the trip is listed on our Refuel page.
It is mandatory that we have a consent and permission form for each student.  These forms and the "what to bring" list is located on the Refuel page.  If you have any questions please email me or call the church office.

Good morning!  Hope you're staying dry!  I wanted to write and give a quick update regarding Refuel.  We have updated our Refuel page with the details you need to know.  You can find that page here!

We do have a meeting tomorrow night at 6pm in the Rock.  It will be a bit loud but it's really the only place we have to hold the meeting.

I have provided three forms for you.  Two of which I need back, permission and medical consent.  The other form is more of a list of what you need to bring. It would be helpful maybe to print these out and fill them out that way you have ample time to gather information needed.  This will also help us leave on time Saturday rather than filling out forms while we're loading the bus.

Also - on Saturday, for those going, please use the parking spots on the sides of the building and leave the area between the old building and fellowship hall clear for loading.  We have many folks attending and will need to ensure safety in the parking lot.  

When you arrive at the church please bring luggage to trailer and then come into the fellowship hall to reduce crowd outside and to also help us at we check in.  There will be a check in table you will need to come to in order to let us know you're here and let us make sure we have all the information we need.

Looking forward to this Wednesday as we get into Titus and then also for the weekend as we unpack what it means to living extraordinarily through ordinary lives.

Good afternoon!  I kind of want to make a "Frozen" reference here but I'm afraid I'm a little too late in the game for that and it's seems a little disrespectful as we consider those around us, very close to us, that are less fortunate and really suffering during these times of severe weather.  To us it's often a joking point but to them it really can be a matter of life and death.  Praying it gets warmer and that we discover opportunities to come alongside these needs to offer support.  We worry more about our pets than we do other human beings sometimes.  God help us!

Actually God has helped us! Through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirt we are more than capable of living a life that is pleasing to the Father and one that will bring glory to Him.  If we'll simply awaken to all He has done and walk in His way things get really simple.  Our hope this year within our student ministry is that we reach for these things.  To know Jesus and to follow Jesus with all we have.

Last night we started a new series that helps in this.  For the next 10 weeks we will journey through Titus.  Titus is a book that's helps us see that we should be and do good.  In light of all that God has done for us there really shouldn't be any other option but to be and do good.  So we will discover what it actually looks like to be and do good because sometimes this seems like the last possible option for us....to be and do good.

I hope you will join me in praying for our students and workers as we work through this challenging book. Again, the hope is that we see a turning of the tide in our ministry.  That we all "increase in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."  2 Peter 3:18.

Attached are the notes and bulletin from last night to help you track along with what was said and hopefully even continue the conversation at home or begin the conversation if your student wasn't able to join us.

Over the last few weeks we've had several sign up for Refuel, which is good.  Unfortunately we didn't plan for this and many of our students will be sleeping on the floor, hopefully on air mattresses.  We love this problem but would always rather to know ahead of time in order to have adequate arrangements.  But it does make it interesting, exciting and fun!   We're looking forward to getting away for the weekend.

I'm super excited about our study for the trip.  We're changing things up a bit by going through a DVD type study called "Ordinary."  This is a book that is saying a lot of things similar to where we're headed in Titus.  So we're excited to see what God will do through our time in His Word.  Amazing things happen when the people of God spend time in the Word of God and allow Him to do a work only He can do.

As for the details surrounding the trip we are still working through these.  With all the additions to the trip roster we are having to tweak some things such as schedule, transportation and such.  We are actually meeting tomorrow to finalize details and then we'll get a list gathered up for the blog/website.

We do have a Parent Meeting next Wednesday (1/14) at 6pm, in the Rock to go over the trip.  What you need to bring, what time we're leaving and such will all be covered during this meeting.  We will also have a consent for you to fill our.  This consent will be good for the entire year, each trip we do.  So once we have this consent on file you'll be set.   I will plan on putting this info and consent up beforehand for you to look over and fill out.