Most years I am itching for school to begin.  School brings order back to chaos.  School helps life remain balanced.  So I typically celebrate when school starts.  Not this year.  I've enjoyed a slower walk, an unorganized daily schedule.  There is order in summer, there must be, but this summer has been very enjoyable.  From camp, to Texas, to enjoying a new pool, to about killing myself laying sod, to Splash, to finding a new kitten (Chubb), to no mandatory bed times which leads to sitting on the back patio until 11 pm just because.  Summer has been a blast.  But just because it's ending doesn't mean God doesn't have something else in store as we head into a new season of life.  Friday night lights, early morning chores before the early afternoon football games, less grass mowing and longer sleeves are some of my hopes for fall.  I'm glad to see it go but this year more than any other year I'm really sad to see summer go.  So enjoy the last week of "whatever makes summer summer for you and yours!"

We've been telling you guys about our devos the last several weeks.  I'm hoping everyone is on board with these devotions as they are a great way for students, and even adults, to get in the Word of God.  It's amazing how we often allow things into our life, mind, heart that simply do not matter yet we do not make time for the Creator of the world.  I struggle in this and if you're honest you do too.  So while we realize these are the greatest devotions in the world we also understand that they are decent attempts to encourage people to get in the Word.  If you don't like ours, what are you thinking?  Kidding, but if you don't like our devos find another one!  The most important thing is not to have our devos read but for students and parents of The Rock SM to be people of the Word!

For this reason we make our devos available online.  Just look above, if you're on our website (therocksm.org), and click on daily devotions.  We have ones from the past as well as the ones we're currently going through.  They are set aside and labeled by the date.

The last several weeks we've been going back through our devotions.  Acts is the book and it tells the story of the early church and the mission of taking the gospel to the world.  It's encouraging, convicting and discipling!  

Last night we came away with the encouragement to be bold and willing as you do all you can to share the gospel, share Christ.  Troubles will come, confusion will enter in, but God is able and powerful enough to carry us through.  Who's to say He hasn't ordained such a thing to move us, teach us or lead us into a new season in life.  But each Wednesday Night, until September, we'll look back at our devotions to learn more about the early church and God's Word.  We'll also use it to model to students how we approach the Word of God.  Here's why.....if we fail to teach our students how to read the Word of God for themselves we are setting them up for spiritual failure as they move on to college aged life.  At some point they must be able to lead themselves in the Word.  We realize that at 12 this is all still new....so we go slow.  But never taking "this is too hard" as an excuse to substitute teaching for eating bananas through panty hose or any other crazy game to get a big crowd.  I'm really not sure how these things are going to help us when life gets crazy.

Sure, we could do a better job of having fun together.  There are definitely times and places for these things.  We plan these events..  But we try and set aside Wednesday night to be a time of learning, worship, teaching, and being together in God's presence.  We do have laughs, and fun, but we want meat to be served rather than cotton candy.  

So in light of this and in light of Acts 7 & 8 - be bold in your faith, be willing to go, be accepting of what God send into your life to teach and reach you!  When storms come, confusion sets in where will you run?

In case you need it.....here is the devo for this week. 

We are showing a movie this Saturday at the Rock at 5:30 PM.  We should go until around 9 pm but students will call or text when we get done.  It's a very good movie with a strong message to so many relevant issues.  Because of it's edginess we are asking each student that is attending to bring a permission form signed by a parent.  You can watch the unedited trailer HERE to get an idea of what the movie is about.  After the movie we will have a time of discussion.  There are some real issues brought about from the movie so there is a huge need to talk it out after it's done.  We realize we do things from time to time that doesn't appeal to everyone.  We have weekends events that have mixed results.  We have dodgeball, game night, swim nights, and so on and typically have 10 or 15 folks.  But it'd be great if we could have the entire group with us this weekend. 

Let's be real, we could spend a Saturday night going to the movies with friends or hanging out by a pool, or just hanging out at home texting everyone or we could head to the Rock and bring those friends with us and get real about life and death.  This has the impact to change lives and thinking.  I pray we have a good crowd.

Also, to help out with food, we are asking that students bring their favorite drink or movie snack.  


Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy this last bit of summer!

Forgive me for not updating you last week.  My family and I went on a road trip and time was of the essence!  But we do have some things to let you know about so I'm hoping you're up for reading a minute.

At The Rock SM we seek to lead students to knowing Christ and following Christ.  A huge part of this is reading God's Word.  In order to make this easier, this sounds bad really, and also to make it more meaningful we write devotions for each week.  We know we don't have the best devotions but they are full of purpose and heart.  We simply try and write simple devotions that will lead students into the Word and also help them learn to study the Word on their own.  We don't make them flashy, we just make them authentic.

How does it work?  Each Wednesday we have a bulletin at The Rock so we've turned this bulletin into a devotion guide.  We still have announcements and sermon outlines but now we also have a weeks worth of devotions.  What if I miss Wednesday night? If you miss, or your student(s) miss we have them online at therocksm.org. Just look under "daily devotions" and you'll be able to pull them up on your smart phone or kindle.  They are saved in .pdf form so really you don't have to be here on Wednesday.  BUT, we want you here on Wednesday night!  This is also a good way for parents to read along with their students and be fed in the process.

So get plugged in and make sure your student is spending time in the Word!
To make this easier I've attached the devotion guide for the week but keep in mind these are also available on the "daily devotions" page. 

On Saturday, August 1st ,we will be showing a movie at The Rock.  The movie is a sensitive movie but one that speaks loudly to a huge need in our culture. I would recommend sending your student to see the movie and be involved in the discussion that will follow.  We do need to communicate that there are some scenes portrayed that are a little crude.  These scenes lead to an event (suicide) that ultimately changes the heart of one student who then begins to live unapologetically for Christ.  It’s a convicting, honest movie that we hope will help turn the hearts of our students to also live a life that is unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Below is a letter of recommendation from a parent.  Laura Colquitt has a strong desire to show this movie and to also offer a time of discussion for our students regarding the movie.  She has been huge in coordinating this event and is willing to discuss the movie in detail with anyone who has further questions.
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Dear Youth Parents,

I would like to encourage you to allow your youth (grades 6-12) to participate in the movie and following discussion on August 1st.  I would like to warn you that some very heavy but very pertinent topics would be addressed.  All the major issues faced by teens today are addressed including: suicide, bullying, cutting, drinking, drugs, parental pressure, premarital sex, fear of failure, dating, parents' divorce, hypocrisy, teen pregnancy, loneliness, self-worth, peer pressure, school violence, pressure to succeed, abortion, college stress, and rejection.  The movie takes a Biblical stance and encourages teens to make a positive difference in their schools.  I am excited about the opportunity that my girls, Mallorie (going into 7th grade) and Brianna (going into 9th grade), will have to view this movie with their youth group and discuss the issues in a setting where adults care for them and can give them godly guidance.  Even more than that, I am looking forward to the impact that all of our youth can have in our schools and the positive difference they can make!

Sincerely,
Laura Colquitt
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Really hope you consider allowing your student to come, watch the movie, and be involved in the discussion that will follow. I can assure you the issues addressed, words heard and scenes viewed are prominent subject in any school campus, neighborhood or city square.  We must be bold in confronting relevant issues.  This is one small step in being proactive and addressing the needs/concerns.  Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or concerns.


* Due to the rating and sensitive issues we are asking each student to have a permission slip signed.  We just want to be open and honest with all parents.  Permission forms are available at the Rock and below.

Post camp blues are among us as vacations, camps and summer seem to have our groups scattered amongst the lower 48.  But we press on in light of this!  That's the great thing about technology, you can miss but still be connected.  With our new bulletin the choice is there to dive in and be a part of the conversation or ignore and do your own thing.  So really the choice is up to you.

Of course we'd love you to be a part of our ministry live and in person but we realize at times that's not possible.  Anyway, last night we introduced a little study we'll go through until September which basically walks back through our devos for the week.  We want to rehash what's going on in the devo much like we did at camp.  We're excited about our weekly devos and the think they offer students a way to get into God's Word but also they help equip students to lead Bible studies, interpret Scripture on their own and simply how to become a student of the Word.  The devos won't be on the same level with most devotion books you can get.  By that I mean our hope is not to make you feel warm and fuzzy and feel like you're the best thing in the world.  I feel most devotions end with the old Saturday Night Live "Stuart Smalley" Skit from years ago..."I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darnit people like me."  Unfortunately this is misleading and often causes us to depend on self rather than God.  We must face reality that we simply aren't good enough and that we are really incapable of producing the strength, wisdom, and energy needed for the calling on our lives.   So our devos point to the Word of God and we simply bring to light what Scriptures say.  You can hardly go wrong when you simply say "this is what the Bible says."

So last night we dug into the first two chapters of Acts.  I've attached the notes from that time together and also attached our devotion book for this upcoming week.  Anyone can access these devotions and past devotions on our "devotion page."  They will be marked by the week.

Hope you guys enjoy your last part of summer.  Excited for August and having our entire group back at the Rock very soon.  Until then have fun and don't forget your time in the Word!

Last night or tonight depending on when the site updates we revisited Reach Camp.  What a huge week it was for our ministry.  I see a difference in many of the students I've been around and pray we are faithful to continue to fan this spark into flames!  Life is easy on the mountain but when the ruts of life return we must still savor and seek Christ.  He is our ultimate joy!

So tonight we will spend some time developing a plan and setting our hearts to the future.  Speaking of the future here's a little glimpse into next year.  Typically at camp I begin seeking direction for next year. It's a great place to do this as I view students and their walk with God as well as our ministry.  God always seem to lead and we must be sensitive to follow.  So I've began thinking through different words/themes and focus points for next year.  Here are a few that God has brought to light so far:  Live - Abide - Overcome - Greater.  All these are feeding this "what's next" mindset.  All our themes really have fed off of each other.  At some point we'll begin anew but this seems like a year we summit to the top of what God started Shine four years ago.  I want us to think through our hope, vision and joy.  We need to be constantly reminded that Jesus is our greatest joy so I hope to spend this next year digging deeper into these truths as we raise students who know and follow Christ.

90% of the ideas I usually come up with are no good.  100% of my ideas are never new.  I've been debating and thinking through how to get devos into the hands of students and leaders.  We've battled through creating these as it's very time consuming.  Well I've spent my morning this week writing out overflows from my own devotions.  In doing this it's set up really well to make these devos to make available to our ministry.  There nothing special but simply an attempt to offer a devo to students but also teach them how to read and study Scripture.  

The cool thing is this....We will make these available each week and even put our announcements and sermon notes/questions in the booklet we'll offer.  They aren't big but the possibility of walking through Scripture together is endless.  So each Thursday I'll include this in the blog/email.  This way you'll have an electronic copy which can be opened in kindle or ibooks.  I'm excited about it and think this is one of those ideas that has some great possibilities. 

These devo booklets will work from Thursday to the following Wednesday.  They include some helps in the front and give Saturday as a time of reflection and Sunday as a time of rest.  So really 5 of 7 days spent in the Word.  For the next few weeks we'll journey together through Acts.  Identifying the "Main Ideas" of each passage and seeing the application or challenge for us.  We'll eventually be changing the helps section as we go and also offer some teaching through topics students are struggling with.  Students will submit questions or concerns that we will address in the booklet.  We realize we can't address all questions all students have on Wednesday night and preach through them or about them.  But this book offers a great platform to address these issues.  I'm excited about this!