Let's Make A Deal

Aight parents.  Guess what's coming up in a little over 4 months away? That's right...TCTC or in layman's terms: Tennessee Christian Teen Convention.  This trip is our mid (ministry/school) year trip for ALL middle school and high school students....basically our entire ministry.  Which brings me to my next point....we want YOUR teen going.  Yes even yours; and we'd love to have a few of their friends to go too.  This trip is the best value you could invest in your teen's spiritual walk.  Our goal for TCTC is to have EVERY teen in our church (and a few of their friends) attend this trip.  Now, the trip in years past has averaged around $165 but we always try to get the cost down by doing fundraisers.  But here's the problem: students sometimes don't show for a fundraiser.  So here's where YOU (yes, YOU) come into play.

What if I told you, with the fundraisers we have on tap for this fall, your student could go for half the cost?  What if I told you, you could relax come trip time and not stress selling a kidney on the black market?  What if I told you, by working together, we could accomplish more?  Well, here's the deal: you make the fundraisers a priority for you and your student, and I promise to bust my tail to get the cost for TCTC down to a reasonable expense.

But let's get this trip jam-packed with teens so that they can experience the life changing conference that is TCTC.

What's Happenin' @ Collision

What's Happenin' @ Collision

Below is a brief summary of what we have been talking about recently.  Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes.  Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Series Overview

The word hashtag has taken over our social world.  Everything from natural disasters to sports events to just silly catch phrases at the end of a status update.  A hashtag groups information based on a descriptor...something that describes the data. The question we are asking of our students is, what message identities you?  What hashtag describes you? #Party kid? #True friend? #Cheater? #Complainer?  You see, there are certain things that every Christ follower should be described as-certain things that should be our #hashtags.  This series will dive into these and expose how a life that uses thee #hashtags is a life best lived in a relationship with Christ.

Week 2 (2014.08.27)

So this week we are really diving into one of the primary attributes of any Christ Follower....love. Our culture/society are lovers of lots of things...But what should the Christ Follower love. If you were to quickly glance through the gospels, you'd see the Son of God primarily concerned with one thing...people. Too often "Christians" are known more by what they "hate" than what they love. What if, as a result of your influence, your teen began to live ad Jesus loved instead of hate the way the world hates. And what if, their world around them was changed forever because of their presence in it. Love, has the power to do just that.

 

Intentional Interaction 

 

• What are some of the challenges to having our lives "#Hashtagged" with love for God and others? How can we overcome these challenges?

• How do you decide which people you will love and which people you won’t?

 

The Full Circle App is Live

The “Full Circle App” is now available on iTunes and the Google Play Store.  This is the one place to get all the details of the Family Ministries (children, students & families). Download it today by scanning the QR code or  searching for “Full Circle App” on the app stores.

What's Happenin' @ Collision

What's Happenin' @ Collision

Below is a brief summary of what we have been talking about recently.  Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes.  Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Series Overview

The word hashtag has taken over our social world.  Everything from natural disasters to sports events to just silly catch phrases at the end of a status update.  A hashtag groups information based on a descriptor...something that describes the data. The question we are asking of our students is, what message identities you?  What hashtag describes you? #Party kid? #True friend? #Cheater? #Complainer?  You see, there are certain things that every Christ follower should be described as-certain things that should be our #hashtags.  This series will dive into these and expose how a life that uses thee #hashtags is a life best lived in a relationship with Christ.

Week 1 (2014.08.20)

This is our first week back after the LOOOONG summer break (we've missed these crazy kids), so our plan is to intro the series, have fun and fellowship with everyone again and re-connect.  The bellow question would be a question to ask at the beginning of this series and at the end to get a feel for what's stirring the heart of your student.

Intentional Interaction

• Ask your teen what word do they think describes them?  What word do they their friends might use to describe them?
• Parents, use this time to speak a little encouragement into their lives and pick one word that describes your teens best quality (PRO-TIP: if you think it would be received better in letter form, why not take a minute tonight to write - yes with pen and paper- a note that outlines your teen's best qualities).

COLLISION Returns with a new message series

We are so excited to announce the start of a new series on August 20th as we start back to school.  The word hashtag has taken over our social world....the question we are asking of our students is, what message identities you?  Party kid? True friend? Cheater?  Starting August 20th we'll tackle this question.  Stay tuned here for updates and discussion questions to use with your teen. Parents, start now to encourage your teen to get excited about the return of COLLISION and to invite a friend or two to join them!

High Call of Parenting

I came across this article earlier this summer by Jim Burns and wanted to share this with you all.  Be encouraged, you have a high calling from God to parent well.

If you have children, then regardless of your own career or ministry aspirations and activities, one of God’s primary callings on your life is that of godly parenting! This is a tremendously important and high calling! Parents are called not only to nurture their children to become independent and

functioning adults, but to impart to them a spiritual legacy.

One of my greatest fears is that parents aren’t investing the time and energy

it takes to leave a spiritual legacy for their children. The average parent

simply does not take a proactive role in building up the spiritual lives of their

children. We may invest countless hours into our children’s education and

extracurricular activities, but when it comes to spiritual development, we too

often allow circumstances and chance to affect how we manage our family

life and especially that of our calling as parents.

When it comes to growing faith, much more is “caught” than “taught.” The

spiritual development of your kids is directly influenced by the example they

see you setting at home. Kids have a highly tuned hypocrisy detector, so if

you are tempted to project the illusion that you are a “perfect” Christian,

please understand that your kids already know better, and this won’t

produce a vital Christian lifestyle in their lives. Rather, it’s much better to

intentionally live out a genuine faith in front of your children everyday; one

that models what it means to follow Christ despite your struggles and

failures. This teaches them what faith looks like as it’s lived out in the real

world, both when you are at your best and when you are at your worst.

Today, there is a fresh wind inspiring parents to take an active, intentional

role in nurturing the faith of their children. Be a part of what God’s Spirit is

doing in this area! Fulfill your calling! Don’t miss out on perhaps the greatest

legacy you can pass on to your kids: a life that demonstrates a passionate

pursuit of God and love for Him. Be reminded, encouraged and challenged:

The process begins with you!  .

What Happens when Parents and Kids see Youth Group as Simply an Elective?

For the past few years, it has been obvious that the culture in which we do ministry has fundamentally changed.
I know that pop culture continues to devolve into twerkfests on MTV, but that is nothing new. What I am seeing that is new, is that the Christian adults within this culture have a totally different worldview and values than those Christians that have gone before them.
There was this time in youth ministry’s heyday where a youth group was made up of the kids of that particular church and their friends. It was important for the kids to be a part of youth group, and if it wasn’t important to the kids, it was at least important to the parents. In fact, much of my early years of student ministry was bemoaning the fact that so many church kids would be forced to come to youth group and cause trouble for me and my leaders. If I only knew how good I had it.

Now, students along with their parents see fellowship, gathered worship, church, and youth group as electives.

Our post-modern, determine-your-own-values-and-reality mindset has finally trickled its way into the local church. Carey Nieuwhof wrote an excellent blog about the 15 characteristics of today’s unchurched person. These 15 characteristics are spot on. But I would actually go further and say that they are not just characteristics of today’s unchurched person, but of every person both in and out of the church. And now church, youth group, and actually any spiritual discipline are firmly on the bottom of the pecking order. This means that if homework, sports, vacation, being tired, practice, fill in the blank, don’t conflict then both students and their parents might consider attending some gathered Christian event like church or youth group.
For adults, this elective version of church involvement doesn’t really have any short-term consequences to their faith. Most Christian adults had some incredible experience in late high school or college and are maintaining that faith as they go through the rest of their life. They can take months or years off of church and fellowship and still have a mostly intact faith. While there is a ton to say about this new cultural expression of Christianity, the parents here are not my concern. My concern is for the faith development of their kids.
These adults have had a significant faith encounter in their youth, but are not helping their own kids participate in the very activities that God used to grab ahold of their hearts when they were younger. And unlike their parents, any significant break in community makes it next to impossible for the adolescent to ever really enter the group later.

Students are relational animals and will only participate in an environment where they have friends and feel welcomed and cared for.  

Even the least clique-y youth groups on the planet still have relationships and those relationships have history. If a group of students spend a year doing youth group together, Bible studies, going to the movies, going roller skating and skiing, and going on a mission trip together, there develops a history. A student who chooses youth group simply as an elective and misses out on these memory-making events will naturally feel on the outs, and once they feel on the outs there is little incentive for them to commit.
Add to this the fact that they culturally don’t feel a need to participate, feel little guilt spiritually and see little need for a gathered experience, these poor students don’t really have a chance!

For the sake of their children, adults need to model that commitment to Christian worship and fellowship is not an elective.  

This goes against every cultural trend. But for the sake of our kids, for the sake of the students we are called to love and care for, may we help the adults in our lives go old school in their Christian understanding. As much as faith in Jesus is about a “personal relationship,” it can only be worked out in community. And community only happens with students through a safe environment that is an authentic, consistent time together, building memories, and spurring one another on toward love and good deeds!

May we, in a loving and gracious way, sound the alarm and make the case that involvement in student ministry is not an elective course in faith development, but vital for the faith formation of our students.