Good day!  Hope everyone is off to a good start or end to their day.  Forgive me for the lack of a blog last week as I traveled to Las Mesitas Honduras to continue the partnership with a wonderful family God has radically saved and is now growing.  
Our students had a huge part in our going this year!  This past year during DNOW Weekend our students along with some other groups gave towards building a church shelter in this village, at the home of a family we met several years ago.  Our students raised roughly $1800 which paid for this church.  Last week I, along with 3 other folks, were able to go and build this church as well as spend some great time in the Word with believers in the village.  I've attached a video of the structure and a picture of the family, forgive the movie quality.  Please continue to pray for God's grace and provision in Las Mesitas.

Last night we continued our look at the Apostle's Creed and our God, the maker of heaven and earth. What we believe carries great weight in how we live.  It really does influence everything though we may not always admit it.  Going along with that is the importance of viewing and believing God to be the maker of all that was made.  The impact is huge and last night we looked at this.

I've posted the notes and outline below along with a video from Ignitor Media that helps clear up the topic of our God being incomprehensible.  This thought only adds to the blowing of my mind as I consider this huge God wanting to know me.  He invites me in but in my mind we shouldn't be on the same planet.
This big God is a personal God....and I, through Christ, can know Him.  God is maker of heaven and earth and this a simple, yet huge fact, should change everything about my life.

Wanted to let you all know of a cool event coming up on November 1st.  We are going to be at The Padgett's house for a time to hang out. We'll have details out later but hopefully your student and even you plan to come!  We'll have some corn hole, ultimate frisbee and of course fire!

Good afternoon!  I'm a bit late today due to a rather busy day.  These blogs are very important to me as they give me an opportunity to fill you in on what's going on within our ministry.

I do not take lightly the privilege to have a role in your student's walk with God.  So it is crucial that I communicate to you what we are teaching, where we are headed, and where we have been.  So I always look forward to Thursday mornings and the time I have to do this blog.

With that said, we have much to cover!

Refuel is our annual winter retreat to the mountains for a time in the Word and for some time together.  It's a relaxing, low key trip but one that offers the students an opportunity to unwind a bit.  I always love our time together.  

It's crucial we get folks signed up early too!  While we understand some just don't know if they are able to attend until later but we ask everyone to talk it over and look at the calendar and get those deposits in as soon as possible.  This helps us consider many things as we plan the trip.  

Our dates are January 17-19, this is MLK weekend.  We are headed to Gatlinburg, TN and the price is $90.  This price covers lodging and food and hopefully a T-shirt!

If you have any questions regarding the trip please let me know.  
In the meantime, be getting those deposits in as quick as you can ($10).

Last night we began a series looking at The Apostle's Creed.  Our focus for the year is REACH.  We do not want our walk with God to become this sad, meaningless stroll or trot.  We want to continually grow in our knowledge of who God is....so we REACH.  We want to Reach in our Faith or Belief and we want to Reach in our Practice or Actions, our life!

If what we believe influences so greatly what we will actually do we need to be serious about that which we believe.  We need to know what we believe and eventually we must make this belief our own.

The Apostle's Creed helps us with this.  It gives us the high points of the doctrines of Christianity.  It's a great launching pad for digging into that which we believe.  So last night we spent some time looking at it as a whole and then dove into the first portion....."I Believe."

Attached are the notes and bulletin from last night to best help communicate what we communicated during the Rock!   I've also included the video that gives in entirety the Apostle's Creed.  

It is crucial that we communicate and understand that the creed is not Scripture but a mere reflection of what God has communicated to us.  It is a declaration of faith, belief.  The attached sermon will better serve in guiding our thoughts as we seek to Reach in Faith.

Good morning!  Hope everyone is doing good and is off to a good start this Thursday.  I had the opportunity to go and speak at the Central Middle FCA this morning and had a great time.  A great group of students gathered as we looked a little bit at "forgetting what lies behind" and "straining forward to what lies ahead."  If you have a Central Middle Schooler ask them about me driving at the age of 12!

Last night at the Rock we did some straining to what lies ahead as we kicked off the new year.  We spent some time singing together, though the sound board had a demon in it, and some time looking at our new theme: REACH.


A theme is crucial for us at The Rock SM as we seek to do the most with what we've got meaning we want to be focused and have direction.  A theme, or focus, for the year helps us ensure that the students are challenged but that the challenge is kept nice and tight.....focused.
So this year we REACH, we strain forward, together, to leave the comfortable and strive for what lies ahead.  It's not always easy but we have the confidence of the Gospel to rest in each second.

We did show a video to help communicate what Reach is all about.  I've also attached the overview sheet below....this will also be in our ministry guide for the year.  At the end of the day it's good for us to have one thought we're driving to throughout the year.  We're praying God is glorified and honored as we Reach forward together this year!

This Sunday, after the morning service, we will have an opportunity to get together with all the students and adults. We ultimately do this for the parents.  We want to make ourselves available at all times, and we do, but we wanted to make it easier for you to see us, talk with us, or maybe even meet us. 

Recently we did a little tallying of numbers and learned that we have about 140 students that come to the Rock.  They don't all come at once due to school, sports, or other factors, but they are still a part of The Rock SM.  With that many students it totals a great number of parents.  It's hard to get to each one, which brings in Life Groups, another conversation, but it also shows the need to have a Meet & Greet.

Meet & Greet is a time for you to get a ministry guide, sign up for Refuel Winter Retreat & Reach Summer Camp, and also learn a bit more about our student ministry.

So hopefully you'll be able to drop in and see us.  We'll be located in the Recreation area immediately following the AM service.

Deposits:  If you sign up for Refuel or Reach Summer Camp during the month of September you will receive a $15 discount.  To get this discount you must place a $20 deposit on one of the trips. These deposits are non refundable and non transferable.  This helps us best plan and also cover any shortcomings financially.

In all of my excitement regarding the devotions I may have communicated that these started last week, when we first gave them out.  Well, they actually start today!  We are selling these devotions for $1 but have made it clear that if a student doesn't have a $1 they can simply grab one for free.