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April 2017 Student Ministry

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Dear Church Family,

         The Student Ministry just got back from our retreat this year, and it was a blast! We spent much of our time just hanging out and playing games. We played some archery-tag in the mud and played some extreme capture-the-flag! And the lip-sync battle was an amazing show! I loved how fully our students threw themselves into this weekend. And it wasn’t only for the games. During our worship sessions, they were very responsive and were taking notes the entire time. Their small-group times at night showed us leaders that the Lord was definitely working. 

Our theme was “The Fulcrum.” Our sessions focused on Jesus being the center, or fulcrum, of our lives (Psalm 119:165-166), our universe (Colossians 1:17), our identity (Romans 8:1-4), and our hope (John 15:4-5). Jesus is the one who balances our lives for us by paying for our sin and inability to keep the law and saving us, making us “not-condemned” before God. We are new people who walk through this life in the power of the Spirit, blameless before God because of Christ’s righteousness in us! And our hope is abiding in Christ. I think this weekend was a turning point in some of our student’s lives, and I am so excited to see what the Lord will do in and through them. But with all of the positives about this weekend, there is a potential danger for which I want to be on the look-out.

My prayer is that the things that happened this weekend would not simply be seed scattered on rocky ground, which immediately springs up, but is then scorched by the sun. I am overwhelmingly thankful for the fruit that can already be witnessed in our students’ lives, but I want to see long-lasting fruit. We must not turn away from the plow, but we must continue to preach the gospel and abide in Christ. That was our last session; that they would abide in Christ, and He in them, and He will grow the fruit in their lives! Abiding in Christ is a spiritual and physical battle. It requires one to reject the distractions of this world and carve out time to spend with the Lord and His people. It requires that the Lord be protecting us and helping and guiding us back to Him daily. With these things being true, I have some requests to make of you, our church family:

Please pray for our students. They need your prayers. Pray that God would churn their hearts and sink the gospel deep down into them. That He would protect them from the world and from the distractions keeping them from growing in their faith. Pray that they would strive to abide in Christ, and that He would abide in them when they fail. Please pray for our
students.

Please talk to them about their relationships with God. They need people asking them how they are doing in their walk now that they are back from a retreat. They need encouragement and accountability to stay on track and keep Christ at the center. Please talk to them about their relationships with God.

Finally, thank the Lord for what He has done. Ultimately, I am abundantly thankful for what He has done and is doing in our youth group. He is certainly working, which is very good, because “unless the Lord builds, the builder builds in vain.” Ask the Lord to continue working in and through our church. That is the best thing you can do for our students. 

Sincerely,
Brian Van Doren

 

Posted by Brian Van Doren with
in Students

July 2016 Students

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This year we partnered with Refuge Louisville for the second year in a row. We took a much larger group this year, which was exciting for all of us! The students that were attending the trip for the first time had the opportunity to experience a lot of the same things our students did last year, while our second year students had the opportunity to build intentional relationships with one particular apartment complex.

One interesting experience that all the students got to share is the visitation of different religious facilities. The thing that always stands out to the students is the utter emptiness of these other religions and their “gods.” Whether it’s a Muslim mosque or a Hindu temple, they are all empty and powerless gods. It helps our students see how great, powerful, and close our God is.

Each day our second-year students spent time at one of the apartment complexes building relationships with the kids there. Every day Noah Vinson gave a short Bible lesson about the Gospel. The lessons were so impactful that, at the end of the week, several kids asked how they can be saved and wanted Bibles of their own or to give to their parents. You can see one of the kids proudly holding one of the Bibles in the picture to the left (far right in red shirt).  

All the students spent time with these kids sharing Bible verses or talking about how our God created everything by drawing with chalk. It is amazing how many relationships were built in such a short period.  We hope to continue to build these relationships in years to come!!

We also went to Crossings at the end of June (pictured at left). In my opinion, this was one of the best and most impactful themes they’ve covered. Rob Turner was our camp pastor, and he talked about identity crisis, identity challenge, and identity change. He used the woman at the well as a primary reference point and challenged our students in where they are finding their identity.

One of our students described Rob as being brutally encouraging, which is so accurate. He has a way of really getting to the heart of the issue and pressing in and encouraging change. Our students learned a great deal, shared a great deal, and got to know each other on a deeper level. I love the community that was built through this experience.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped us go on mission and to everyone that helped us get to camp!!! Your support and encouragement mean so much and has changed many lives!!

Much Love -  Mark

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