D-Now, Deas Vail, and The Godfather
This past weekend was nothing short of amazing! I had the opportunity to go to First Baptist Church in Sherwood to be a small group leader at their D-Now. The really cool thing about it, was that I had a great group of seventh grade girls....most of which, were in my group last year as sixth graders. It was good to see some familiar faces, and to meet new ones.
The theme of the weekend was "Closer" and the verse we kept coming back to was James 4:8, "Come near to God and he will come near to you..." The main focus during our small group discussions was how digging into God's word is the key to drawing closer to Him. We discussed why we need to read God's word, how to understand it better, and why it's important to apply it.
The speaker, Tom Harmon, did a stupendous job. He's from Minnesota, so when he spoke, we had to listen fast. He had a way of capturing and keeping the students' attention as well as presenting his message in a way that was relevant to every age group there. A lot of the things he said echoed points I've been hearing in other conversations and sermons. On Saturday morning, he actually gave the exact same example one of our girls did during our morning discussion time before worship. We were talking about how the point-and-read method of Bible study, opening up your Bible and randomly selecting a verse to apply to your life, can be a very unwise thing. One of our girls made the comment, "What if he flipped to 'And Judas hanged himself?!'" This comment, of course, resulted in an eruption of laughter. Then, when Bro. Harmon repeated her comment word for word during the service, our jaws dropped. It was quite funny.
The band that lead worship this weekend was a group from our school and they did an amazing job! I have to say, I was very proud to have two of my Freshlife kids up there playing and singing their hearts out for Jesus. Kim and Joe, you are such a blessing!
There were so many good points made this weekend, and God spoke to a lot of hearts. I wish I could write out a script of some of the discussions we had. Since that would be rather difficult, I will just share some of the things that made it into my notes.
"What you live is what you believe, all the rest is just religious talk."
"The safest place for a sheep to be is as close to the Shepherd as you can be."
"God gives us the freedom to make choices [our actions], but not the freedom to choose the consequences of those actions."
"Heaven is not for those who hope they're good enough, but for those who know they're not."
"What is going on in you that would propose that you have faith?"
"Faith must precede all attempts to reason."
"Often, we forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget."
"I'll go where You want me to go; I'll do what You want me to do; I'll say what You want me to say; I'll be who You want me to be."
"There's a time to buy and a time to sell; there's a time to invest in something, and a time to let things go."
"I am no match for Satan, but he is no match for Christ."
Other highlights of the weekend included a fun service scavenger hunt. Each family group was a team and we had a list of tasks that we could complete for different point values. Some of the tasks were:
The one thing that a team could do to win, hands down, was to find a flier for a lost pet, locate the pet, and return it to its owner. Unfortunately, no lost pets were recovered by the youth group. However, we did have a great opportunity to serve others in the community and enjoy a lovely time of fellowship as well. Part of the rules for this scavenger hunt was that pictures had to be taken during all of the tasks. Also, each group was given a bar stool that had to appear in each picture, with a member of the group sitting on it. We probably looked a little strange toting a bar stool around town and taking pictures with it. It was definitely worth it though.
We didn't win the scavenger hunt, but we had tons of fun running around town with the girls and our host parents. Speaking of our host parents, they were spectacular. They were so welcoming and were really a blessing this weekend. Praise Jesus for parents who let large groups of high school kids and strange college kids invade their home for an entire weekend. Saturday morning, Jessica and I woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, sausage, and biscuits; and the sound of giggling seventh grade girls. (We couldn't believe they were awake before us!) There was also a loaf of bread the youth pastor's wife had brought over, Otis Spunkmeyer muffins (which they sent back with Jessica and I), chocolate milk, and coffee! God bless them for making coffee! We had it both Saturday and Sunday morning, and even as a pick-me-up on Saturday afternoon. I'm going to start praying now that if I get the opportunity to go back to Sherwood next year, I am blessed enough to stay with the same family.
Another reason why this D-Now was so cool: Jessica and I were partners. Last year, we were partnered at this D-Now and it pretty much explains our friendship today. We had only known each other for about three months, but the girls though we had been best friends for years. There's something about a D-Now that knits hearts together, I think. At least, that's been my experience.
The only down side to this weekend, was that I had to do some school work while I was there. However, it wasn't really a downer at all because I was writing an article on a really cool band, Deas Vail. I believe I mentioned them in my last post. You should check them out. I got the interview questions back from Andy Moore, the guitarist and a Tech grad, on Friday night. Thankfully, the host home had Internet I could connect to from my laptop, so after the scavenger hunt on Saturday, I was able to sit down and put together the article by the midnight deadline. Also, Jessica is an English education major, so she was able to help me out by looking over it before I sent it in. The article was printed in today's issue of the Arka Tech, which you can find just about anywhere on campus-just in case you were wondering. It was a fitting day for it to print, as their newest album, "Birds and Cages," is available for only $1.99 on Amazon for their music download special of the day. You should go buy it. Right now. If you want to.
Okay, I suppose I've procrastinated enough. It's time to go dry my hair and write an article so I can partake in the new Thursday night ritual. (NCIS marathon) Unfortunately, Tesa will not be joining us tonight. It just won't be the same. However, I'm sure we'll keep her informed of how the evening is going. Yay for text messaging! Get ready, Tesa. Random quotes are headed your way! :)
Oh, Harmony and I finally watched the Godfather on Sunday. We feel much more knowledgeable about gangsters now. We're even planning a mission trip to Vegas so we can witness to all of the hoodlums with our new, hip gangster terminology. We plan to work in key phrases like: "It's time to go to the mattresses" and "Leave the gun, take the cannoli." Surely they can be worked into our presentation of the Gospel...right?
The theme of the weekend was "Closer" and the verse we kept coming back to was James 4:8, "Come near to God and he will come near to you..." The main focus during our small group discussions was how digging into God's word is the key to drawing closer to Him. We discussed why we need to read God's word, how to understand it better, and why it's important to apply it.
The speaker, Tom Harmon, did a stupendous job. He's from Minnesota, so when he spoke, we had to listen fast. He had a way of capturing and keeping the students' attention as well as presenting his message in a way that was relevant to every age group there. A lot of the things he said echoed points I've been hearing in other conversations and sermons. On Saturday morning, he actually gave the exact same example one of our girls did during our morning discussion time before worship. We were talking about how the point-and-read method of Bible study, opening up your Bible and randomly selecting a verse to apply to your life, can be a very unwise thing. One of our girls made the comment, "What if he flipped to 'And Judas hanged himself?!'" This comment, of course, resulted in an eruption of laughter. Then, when Bro. Harmon repeated her comment word for word during the service, our jaws dropped. It was quite funny.
The band that lead worship this weekend was a group from our school and they did an amazing job! I have to say, I was very proud to have two of my Freshlife kids up there playing and singing their hearts out for Jesus. Kim and Joe, you are such a blessing!
There were so many good points made this weekend, and God spoke to a lot of hearts. I wish I could write out a script of some of the discussions we had. Since that would be rather difficult, I will just share some of the things that made it into my notes.
"What you live is what you believe, all the rest is just religious talk."
"The safest place for a sheep to be is as close to the Shepherd as you can be."
"God gives us the freedom to make choices [our actions], but not the freedom to choose the consequences of those actions."
"Heaven is not for those who hope they're good enough, but for those who know they're not."
"What is going on in you that would propose that you have faith?"
"Faith must precede all attempts to reason."
"Often, we forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget."
"I'll go where You want me to go; I'll do what You want me to do; I'll say what You want me to say; I'll be who You want me to be."
"There's a time to buy and a time to sell; there's a time to invest in something, and a time to let things go."
"I am no match for Satan, but he is no match for Christ."
Other highlights of the weekend included a fun service scavenger hunt. Each family group was a team and we had a list of tasks that we could complete for different point values. Some of the tasks were:
- Help a woman with with children or an elderly woman with her groceries.
- Put up 15 shopping carts.
- Write a letter to an important person in the community, thanking him/her for the service they provide.
- Buy a police officer a donut.
- Buy your driver a drink from a drive-through and also pay for the person's order in the car behind you.
- Clean a gas station's bathroom.
- Wash all of a stranger's car windows at a gas station.
- Walk a person's dog.
- Wash a person's car.
- Collect 50 canned good items to donate to a local food bank.
- Go to a park and pick up at least 20 pieces of trash.
- Go to a local school and prayer walk, while picking up trash.
- Vacuum a person's living room, sweep the kitchen floor, and clean the bathroom.
- Mop a person's floor.
- Rake a person's yard and bag up the leaves.
- Pull at least 15 weeds out of a person's garden.
The one thing that a team could do to win, hands down, was to find a flier for a lost pet, locate the pet, and return it to its owner. Unfortunately, no lost pets were recovered by the youth group. However, we did have a great opportunity to serve others in the community and enjoy a lovely time of fellowship as well. Part of the rules for this scavenger hunt was that pictures had to be taken during all of the tasks. Also, each group was given a bar stool that had to appear in each picture, with a member of the group sitting on it. We probably looked a little strange toting a bar stool around town and taking pictures with it. It was definitely worth it though.
We didn't win the scavenger hunt, but we had tons of fun running around town with the girls and our host parents. Speaking of our host parents, they were spectacular. They were so welcoming and were really a blessing this weekend. Praise Jesus for parents who let large groups of high school kids and strange college kids invade their home for an entire weekend. Saturday morning, Jessica and I woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, sausage, and biscuits; and the sound of giggling seventh grade girls. (We couldn't believe they were awake before us!) There was also a loaf of bread the youth pastor's wife had brought over, Otis Spunkmeyer muffins (which they sent back with Jessica and I), chocolate milk, and coffee! God bless them for making coffee! We had it both Saturday and Sunday morning, and even as a pick-me-up on Saturday afternoon. I'm going to start praying now that if I get the opportunity to go back to Sherwood next year, I am blessed enough to stay with the same family.
Another reason why this D-Now was so cool: Jessica and I were partners. Last year, we were partnered at this D-Now and it pretty much explains our friendship today. We had only known each other for about three months, but the girls though we had been best friends for years. There's something about a D-Now that knits hearts together, I think. At least, that's been my experience.
The only down side to this weekend, was that I had to do some school work while I was there. However, it wasn't really a downer at all because I was writing an article on a really cool band, Deas Vail. I believe I mentioned them in my last post. You should check them out. I got the interview questions back from Andy Moore, the guitarist and a Tech grad, on Friday night. Thankfully, the host home had Internet I could connect to from my laptop, so after the scavenger hunt on Saturday, I was able to sit down and put together the article by the midnight deadline. Also, Jessica is an English education major, so she was able to help me out by looking over it before I sent it in. The article was printed in today's issue of the Arka Tech, which you can find just about anywhere on campus-just in case you were wondering. It was a fitting day for it to print, as their newest album, "Birds and Cages," is available for only $1.99 on Amazon for their music download special of the day. You should go buy it. Right now. If you want to.
Okay, I suppose I've procrastinated enough. It's time to go dry my hair and write an article so I can partake in the new Thursday night ritual. (NCIS marathon) Unfortunately, Tesa will not be joining us tonight. It just won't be the same. However, I'm sure we'll keep her informed of how the evening is going. Yay for text messaging! Get ready, Tesa. Random quotes are headed your way! :)
Oh, Harmony and I finally watched the Godfather on Sunday. We feel much more knowledgeable about gangsters now. We're even planning a mission trip to Vegas so we can witness to all of the hoodlums with our new, hip gangster terminology. We plan to work in key phrases like: "It's time to go to the mattresses" and "Leave the gun, take the cannoli." Surely they can be worked into our presentation of the Gospel...right?
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