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You are wonderfully made!
Jun 30th
This week’s lesson is from Psalm 139. The children in the Backyard and Clubhouse discovered that we are wonderfully made by God! You can watch the video here:
Watch the video here
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C.I.Y. Move Day #4
Jun 27th
The week’s theme is This Changes Everything, meaning that the resurrection of Jesus changed, is changing, and will change every aspect of our lives and the world. To put legs to this idea, our students are reading through the book of James, a letter to the early church that was written by the brother of Jesus.
The fact that James would write a letter about the Christian life is amazing because, just years earlier, he didn’t think his brother was the Messiah… let alone that he had risen from the dead. But, when he became a believer in Jesus’ resurrection, he was transformed and became a leader in the Jerusalem church.
In his letter, James challenged Christians with these words: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?… Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (Chapter 4)
To James, the list is endless of what can be transformed by the resurrection: families, language, and culture. Like we see in Chapter 4, relationships are big part of his list. So, that’s what our students focused on yesterday – UNITY – unity in their relationships with each other and, in particular, their friendships within the church.
If you’ve spent time around High School students, you know that each and every day can be challenging for them. I’m not just talking about whatever tasks they might have to accomplish, but also the relationships and social-pressures they have to deal with. One day, they’re best friends with someone and the next, the two are enemies. Those same social issues can make their way into the church environment (no different than the adult experience) and cause a Youth Group to be intimidating to teenagers who have never attended.
So, our students were challenged to reflect on their relationships within the Body of Christ. Have they focused too much on their own agenda? Have they missed out on opportunities to show the world what the resurrection has done in their lives?
The Church, the place where there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free,” insider nor outsider, should be one of the greatest apologetics to the world. This means that our youth group should allow the resurrection to transform it into the kind of place that can only exist if God is real and Jesus was raised from the dead.
After contemplating James’ challenge for unity, thousands of High Schoolers tied light-bulb-filled balloons to long pieces of string. The strings were then raised into the air as a symbol of our students’ commitment to seek unity instead of division. And everyone sang praises to God underneath a spectacular canopy of lights.
Join us in praying that each and every Parkview student remembers the moment when they committed to unity, to a resurrection life, to showing the world the kind of impact Jesus can make on relationships.
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Memory Verse
Jun 27th
The Monthly Memory verse is “Your teachings are worth more to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.” Psalm 119:72, NCV. Practice saying the memory verse with your kids at home.
Your teachings (hold hands like a book) are worth more to me (bring fisted hands to chest like holding something precious) than thousands (hands explode up and out) of pieces of gold and silver (hands in front rubbing fingers together like greedy for money), Psalm 119:72. (Open hands like a book.)
The Bottom Line is The Bible is better than gold!
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You’re Doing It Wrong
Jun 25th -
C.I.Y. Move Day #2
Jun 25th
One of the great parts of this conference is the amount of time our students have to connect with each other – through conversations about God, hours on the basketball court or soccer field, and… yes… late nights throwing things at each other (probably just a guy thing). I’ll admit that getting our students up this morning was more difficult than yesterday. But, because it’s the result of forming quality relationships, I like to think it’s a good thing.
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Like I mentioned yesterday, the week’s theme is This Changes Everything. What our students are focusing on is Jesus’ resurrection (“This”) and what it means for their lives.The practical application, in its many facets, of a belief in the resurrection is what our students hope to discover in the book of James, a letter to the early church from the brother of Jesus.
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Last night’s Main Session communicated this: the resurrection of Jesus is important to the whole equation. The Apostle Paul even wrote that if He didn’t rise from the dead, and all we’re left with is Jesus’ life and death, then Christians are fools.
So, our group spent the night contemplating what it would mean for them to unite their lives to the entire story of Jesus – not just his death, but also his resurrection. For the first time, hundreds of students made a public statement that they are ready to believe, follow, and join Jesus in bringing new life into the world.
The impact of this is huge. Once a teenager realizes that the Christian faith is not just about punching a ticket for Heaven, but also about bringing Heaven to Earth, their God-given potential can be unlocked and the Kingdom expanded.
Some of your teenagers committed to this last night… something that I’ll let you talk to them about it. But, I ask that everyone prays for them. There is nothing that Satan wants more than to take something good and use it for his purposes.
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If you have a few minutes, please join us in praying that:
1. All of our students experience a transformation that sticks and continues after this week.
2. Tonight’s main session goes well and resonates with our teenagers.
3. Our incoming Freshmen and the other students who are new to our community find a home with us.Thanks again for letting us experience this week with your students!
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