We are so glad that your child has shown interest in taking part of our Cross Training for 2006. If your child has never been to Cross Training before, I am sure that you naturally have questions and concerns about an event of this nature. The purpose of this letter is to give you a basic idea of what Cross Training is and how we have addressed many of the common concerns. If you have any questions or concerns that are not covered in this letter, please feel free to contact me at any time.
What is it? – The purpose of Cross Training is to teach students how to be disciplined in their spiritual walk. The students stay at the church building for a week, going about their usual school routine in the mornings and afternoons. In the evening, we focus on the importance of discipline and of practicing habits that will deepen their relationship with God.
Why during school? Wouldn’t this make more sense in the summer? – This is a very legitimate question. I want to personally assure you that we take education very seriously in our youth ministry. The reason we do Cross Training during the school year is because I feel it is most important for these students to learn these habits in a busy season of their life. School can sometimes consume so much of teens’ lives and energies that they feel they have very little left for their spiritual disciplines. This week is designed to teach students to prioritize their time so that they can do well in school and spend time strengthening their relationship with God. Each afternoon will consist of a 2 hour block to work on homework: one hour of mandatory study hall (they must be working on homework or something school related), plus another hour of optional study hall (if they still have homework left, they can still work on it). To the best of my knowledge, in the two years I have been involved with Cross Training, no student’s grades have slipped during this week.
How do they get to school? – If your child ordinarily drives to school, he or she can continue to do so during this week. Otherwise, rides will be provided daily to and from Fort Dorchester and Summerville High School. This will either be in the church vans or with other students. Students will not be allowed to ride with other students unless you as parents have granted permission for them to do so.
What about extra-curricular activities and jobs? – I ask the students to clear as much of the week as they possibly can, but I understand that some things cannot be missed. Students turn in a schedule, signed by the parent, of where they will be and when. The student must either be at the church building or where the schedule specifies at all times. If the student must make a change to this schedule during the week, I will talk to parents to make sure they are aware of the change before the student is permitted to leave. Students must arrange rides for all activities other than school.
Will my child get enough sleep? – Cross Training is not an extended lock-in. Each night the students will have the option of being in bed by 9:30 pm, and they must be in bed by 11 pm. The guys will sleep in the Family Life Center during the week under my supervision, and the girls will sleep in the annex, supervised by adult volunteers.
How much does it cost, and what about meals? – Cross Training is basically free. Dinner is covered each night by different volunteers from the congregation. Students will need to bring food with them for breakfast and snacks during the day.
I hope your child will be joining us for Cross Training this year. It has been one of the most fruitful events that we have done in this ministry. Again, if you have any more questions or concerns, then please feel free to contact me.
If your child plans on attending, make sure they let me know by sending me a message by text, email or facebook.
Thanks,
Greg
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Cell Groups in March
"Excuse me, sir. Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?"
I was so relieved to be able to say, "Why yes I do."
Sadly, I was not so relieved at that particular moment because of the joy and peace found in the grace of Christ, or because of the eternal security that is found in salvation. Instead, at that moment, I was simply relieved because I knew that answer would mean he would leave me alone and let me go into the grocery store in peace while he looked for his next mark.
Something about the "can I talk to you about Jesus?" method of evangelism seems so phony to me. Maybe its just me, but I don't think so. I am a Christian. And by Christian, I don't mean that I have Christian parents, or that I celebrate Christmas instead of a "holiday season", or even that I go to church regularly. No, what I mean by "I am a Christian" is that I believe wholeheartedly that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died, was buried, and raised from the dead to purify mankind of their sins. I believe all that and put the entirety of my hope in it. But even so, I get annoyed when some stranger on the street tries to tell me that. I don't really know why, but I do. If that's the case for me, I wonder about the person who doesn't believe it - or isn't sure if they believe it. My bet is that such an approach would do more harm than good. In his book Unchristian, David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, gives the details of an in-depth study of the attitudes that Mosaics (people born between 1984 and 2002) have of Christianity compared to what older generations think. According to their study, one of the biggest complaints among outsiders in the younger generation is that Christians just want nonbelievers to "get saved" with no sincere concern for their actual well-being.
The Church in the book of Acts was committed to growing. They were committed to preaching the good news about Jesus. If we are going to be faithful in our calling as a Church, so should we. However, I do believe that we have to take Jesus' instructions to his disciples in Matthew 10 to heart. In this instance, he sent his disciples out to spread the good news about the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. One of the things he told them was that while they were on their mission, they were to be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. I believe by this he meant that they had to be very savvy, but also keep focused. They needed to use methods of persuasion that would actually work. They needed to speak in a language that could be understood. But also, they needed to stay focused to what their message really was. The message the disciples had for the world was that God loved them and that God was going to redeem them. It was not a message about getting people on the right team by any means necessary. To be as innocent as doves, they needed to remember that Jesus' most important priority was not to convert their neighbor, but that they love their neighbor.
This month, we will be looking at examples in Acts that shows the early Church's commitment to spreading the good news about Jesus. One of the things I love about Acts is the pattern that emerges: Something amazing happens, when people notice, the disciples use the opportunity to speak about Jesus. When the religious leaders notice and get jealous, something bad happens to the disciples. Then something amazing happens again, and the whole thing starts over. I believe that if we live life the way Jesus has commanded us to do (loving our neighbor, returning hate with love, forgiving those who wrong us, having integrity, etc.) then amazing things will happen through us. When the amazing happens, we will have the opportunity to share our faith - whether it be to thousands of people (like Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2) or to one desperate and broken person who has lost hope (like Paul and Silas with their prison guard in Acts 16).
I was so relieved to be able to say, "Why yes I do."
Sadly, I was not so relieved at that particular moment because of the joy and peace found in the grace of Christ, or because of the eternal security that is found in salvation. Instead, at that moment, I was simply relieved because I knew that answer would mean he would leave me alone and let me go into the grocery store in peace while he looked for his next mark.
Something about the "can I talk to you about Jesus?" method of evangelism seems so phony to me. Maybe its just me, but I don't think so. I am a Christian. And by Christian, I don't mean that I have Christian parents, or that I celebrate Christmas instead of a "holiday season", or even that I go to church regularly. No, what I mean by "I am a Christian" is that I believe wholeheartedly that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died, was buried, and raised from the dead to purify mankind of their sins. I believe all that and put the entirety of my hope in it. But even so, I get annoyed when some stranger on the street tries to tell me that. I don't really know why, but I do. If that's the case for me, I wonder about the person who doesn't believe it - or isn't sure if they believe it. My bet is that such an approach would do more harm than good. In his book Unchristian, David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, gives the details of an in-depth study of the attitudes that Mosaics (people born between 1984 and 2002) have of Christianity compared to what older generations think. According to their study, one of the biggest complaints among outsiders in the younger generation is that Christians just want nonbelievers to "get saved" with no sincere concern for their actual well-being.
The Church in the book of Acts was committed to growing. They were committed to preaching the good news about Jesus. If we are going to be faithful in our calling as a Church, so should we. However, I do believe that we have to take Jesus' instructions to his disciples in Matthew 10 to heart. In this instance, he sent his disciples out to spread the good news about the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. One of the things he told them was that while they were on their mission, they were to be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. I believe by this he meant that they had to be very savvy, but also keep focused. They needed to use methods of persuasion that would actually work. They needed to speak in a language that could be understood. But also, they needed to stay focused to what their message really was. The message the disciples had for the world was that God loved them and that God was going to redeem them. It was not a message about getting people on the right team by any means necessary. To be as innocent as doves, they needed to remember that Jesus' most important priority was not to convert their neighbor, but that they love their neighbor.
This month, we will be looking at examples in Acts that shows the early Church's commitment to spreading the good news about Jesus. One of the things I love about Acts is the pattern that emerges: Something amazing happens, when people notice, the disciples use the opportunity to speak about Jesus. When the religious leaders notice and get jealous, something bad happens to the disciples. Then something amazing happens again, and the whole thing starts over. I believe that if we live life the way Jesus has commanded us to do (loving our neighbor, returning hate with love, forgiving those who wrong us, having integrity, etc.) then amazing things will happen through us. When the amazing happens, we will have the opportunity to share our faith - whether it be to thousands of people (like Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2) or to one desperate and broken person who has lost hope (like Paul and Silas with their prison guard in Acts 16).
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