Youth Story

Tonight we start our three part Christmas youth series called "Coming To Town". My main objective for this series is to give my students a very clear picture of who God has revealed himself to be through the birth of Jesus. We start off tonight by introducing the promises made in the Old Testament by God.  Jeremiah 23:5 & 2 Samuel 7:16 & Isaiah 49:6 Three different scriptures and books that all tell us the plans that God has to come through the line of David and how Salvation is also for the Gentiles and shall reach to the "ends of the earth". God revealed his intentions to us in the Old Testament and we can continue to see God's plan in the New Testament as we take a look at Luke chapter 1. Then we can take a look at John 1:1-16 where we will find that Jesus is the light of the world and has been since the beginning. Key points: God loves all of his people and has plans for them to have a future in his kingdom that will never end. God bec...

This weekend we held our district extravaganza for sports. I was working table tennis for the weekend, which is pretty standard for me these days because I spent so much time doing it for TNT. Overall it was a very fun weekend. I really missed spending time with the district because I missed out on camp and the convention this year. It is neat to see how the teens are growing up and becoming leaders at their churches. One of the things I am looking forward to now is the Nearly New Years event this December. I got everything planned out and the word has been spread. I have made a few changes to the event this year including adding a new location and forms. It has become an official district event which takes some pressure off of me, but I still want to work hard to make sure it is a success. I have been working three jobs lately and Kari and I are saving up to buy our first house. I am hopeful that we are able to find one in Williamson county that we like but the reality is t...

This week I finished up a series of very difficult talks with my students on issues that divide the church. Wednesday marked the day after the big election in which President Obama was re-elected for a second term. Over the past weeks I have talked with my students about some of these issues that were not only important to Christians but also seemed to be important election talking points as well. Last night I ended with a discussion on abortion. Though I am by no means a political "junkie" I do consider myself to be well informed on current political events. One of which was the swirling controversial comments made by some pro life politicians regarding abortion. I realized a very large need for pro life Christians to have much better way of voicing their position that might be much more effective and much less offensive. I was surprised last night to find out that although I pastor in a somewhat small country town, some of my students are pro-choice or at least s...