Had a great time tonight celebrating Christmas as a family.  We played some games, had some hot chocolate, someone made a mess with the marshmallows and didn't tell us, had some special prayer and conversation regarding the losses at Central HS and then read the Christmas Story together from Luke 2.   All in all a very good night.   

Just a reminder, we will not be meeting the next two weeks so our next time back together will be January 9th.  

We generally let you know when our new monthly devotions are out but this upcoming month is a big one.  It's a simple devotion book but the challenge is out to our students to buckle down and do these things with us.   During the month of January we'll walk through the Gospel of John together.  

The simplicity of the devotion comes from the layout.  5 youth leaders have simply walked through John and offered a simple explanation of what they've read.  We'll observe, interpret and apply the Scripture.  Another layout we may see is the Light Bulb - Question - Arrow.  All in all either method drives us to the Scripture, to be honest with it and ourselves.   At some point we must wean ourselves from devotions and allow the Bible to be the biggest influence.  Devotions are great but can never and should never replace the Word itself.  Yes, every good devotion has a strong dose of Scripture.  Devotions are great but can I read the Bible for myself?  If all I have is Scripture am lost, needing explanation or can I thrive?  We're growing together and part of that growing process is continually pointing students to the only source of true wisdom, Scripture.  

I pray you'll join us as we begin this in January.  
Unfortunately, due to a computer upgrade, I've lost the ability to make the devotion, booklets and actually print them out.  I'll be digging into that but for the moment all we'll have is our online version on our website.  It's easy and completely fine.  We'll be working to get the printing situation figured out.  Look for those online in a few weeks.

Middle School Refuel is tomorrow.  All the info you need is at THE REFUEL PAGE.  The info we went through at the parent meeting is there.   Plan to meet at the church at 12:45p for the buses to leave at 1p.

The sign-up for this event is closed, unless you've talked with me tonight.

HS Refuel sign up ends soon so please get those deposits in by the end of December!


Hope everyone has a great Christmas!   
GOOD NEWS - GREAT JOY - CHRIST THE LORD - LYING IN A MANGER

Good afternoon or evening or maybe even morning!   Just wanted to take a quick minute and get you up to speed with all things Rock.  I know we've got sports and band and school wrapping up for Christmas break and things are a bit hectic.  I'll keep it brief!

Jacob Stewart taught for us last night at The Rock.  Jacob has been leading our college ministry for a few months and we thought it would be good to have him teach some in The Rock.  This will do nothing but help the transition of our high school students moving into college soon.  
We've been in a quick Christmas series the last two weeks.  Last night we took a broad look at Advent.  I've attached the sermon notes for you to follow along and hopefully continue the conversation at home.

• REFUEL - This is happening next week for our Middle School students.  Everything you need to know can be found at our Refuel Page.   After next week we'll convert this to our High School trip.  We will be having a parent meeting next Wednesday at 6p in the OLD choir room, back hall of the Rock.  We'll go over the info sheet provided on the Refuel Page.  Other than that the bus will be pulling out at 1p on December 20th! 

​

• TACKY CHRISTMAS - This is our annual party where we unwind a bit, have some fun but also have some serious time to gather around the real reason for Christmas.  So break out your tacky stuff, BRING A SWEET TREAT TO SHARE and we'll put that with our Hot Chocolate that we'll provide.  Should be fun!

Good afternoon, its Andrew! Great night at the Rock last night! If you weren’t there, odds are you were helping out or rehearsing for the Christmas musical this weekend - know it's gonna be great looking forward to seeing all the hard work you guys have put in!
For those of you that did miss the Rock last night we started a new series called The Christmas Story in light of this great season! We only get three weeks in December to meet together in the Rock and what better way to spend it than talking about the Birth of Christ!
Last night we looked at prophecies, specifically prophecies that were fulfilled by the Birth of Christ. We answered what prophecies are, why they are important, and what they mean for us! All in all, a great night and I pray a helpful one! If you did miss last night checkout my sermon notes. (great conversation starter with your student!) I'm excited to continue this Christmas season in the Rock as we reflect on the birth of Christ!
Next week we will get to hear and learn about the Christmas story from Jacob Stewart our college and career director - make sure you are there to support him! Gonna be a great night!

Hope you have a great rest of the week as you strive to know Christ and make Christ known!