Defining Beauty

Hello HS Parents!

This past Wednesday night we entered our second week on "Purpose/Meaning" in our ASK series. Our focus was on all of the beauty around us and how we tend to just walk past it. We also discussed how God's definition of beauty and our definition of beauty is very different.

For example, let's say you walk into a restaurant and sit down to a meal. When the waitress brings it to you, you might notice how delicious the meal looks (beautiful sight), how the aroma of the food makes your mouth water (beauty through smell), or even how good it tastes when you take the first bite (beauty through taste). You've done a great job of noticing the meal, but God has not. The beauty He is focusing on is the one who served it.

Here's a challenge for us - the next time you're in a restaurant and your meal is served…look past your need for steak sauce and ketchup and into the heart of the person who brings your food. Notice the beauty that God created in him or her and know that if both of you are standing before Him, you are EQUALLY beautiful to Him! 

Don't forget to be praying for our mission trip to New Orleans. We will be leaving next Saturday at 7:00 AM. Please let me know if there's anything I can pray about for you or your family.

-Michael

It's All About Jesus

Hello HS Parents

Tomorrow will mark the halfway point for the new content we've been discussing in our Sunday Bible study groups. We will be 7 weeks into "The Gospel Project" and have 6 more to go. We started in Genesis and have been moving our way through the Old Testament. 

The subtle teaching here (behind the obvious Old Testament content/foundations) is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is found throughout the entire canon of Scripture. Much of our teaching is typically focused on New Testament passages that reveal the life of Jesus or the teachings that follow His resurrection. What we find in the Old Testament, though, is that there is a constant thread pointing to the Messiah - it is all, truly, about the Christ.

Tomorrow we will be looking at this more directly and talking about Jesus as a faithful Son. We will be jumping ahead, a bit, and looking at prophesies that He fulfilled and the way He fulfilled His calling/purpose. This teaching lines up perfectly with what we're covering for the next few Wednesday nights as well: "Purpose…Why Am I Here?"

Please let me know if there's anything I can pray about for you or your family.

- Michael

Upcoming Events: 

February 24, ManUp at Floyd Center

March 9 - 16, Mission Trip to New Orleans

FAMILY PLUS High School - Feb 9

Hello HS Parents!

This past Wednesday night your students completed the fourth and final week of "Origin" from the Ravi Zacharias "ASK?" study. The study focuses on Origin, Meaning, Morality, and Destiny. Next week we will have a night of worship and communion together; we will begin the first week of "Meaning" a week from Wednesday night.

Tomorrow we continue into week 5 of The Gospel Project and will be focusing on God's laws. Naturally, this will plant us firmly in the book of Exodus. We will be looking at this from the standpoint of the freedom God's law provides - not the captivity that many believe His law place us in.

Lastly, Cynthia Hopkins is a freelance writer and speaker who lives in Texas; she is a gifted communicator and a friend. I've had the privilege of writing with her on some projects with LifeWay. She has recently written a three week series on her blog about social media. Below is the link to Part 3; it is a MUST READ for all parents. I think you'll find that reading Parts 1 and 2 will be a must for you as well.

A Crash Course in Social Media, Part 3

I hope you've had a great week. Let me know if there's anything I can pray about for you or your family.

- Michael

Upcoming Events:

Girls of Grace - February 23

Man Up Event - February 24

Spring Mission Trip to NOLA - March 9-16

Spring Retreat to Gatlinburg - April 19-21

FAMILY PLUS High School - Feb 2

Hello HS Parents!

This past Wednesday we finished week two of our study on the Origin of Man. This week we focused on "Reason and Order." We watched some video from mathematician John Lennox who is well respected in the scientific community AND a devout Christian and apologist. Be sure to ask your students their thoughts on his comments.

Tomorrow in our Bible study time we will be on our fourth week in The Gospel Project. We will still be in Genesis and discussing our trust in God's Word. It seems that instead of trusting it, we tend to question it, belittle it, and disobey it. Your high school student will be challenged in these areas and their responses to God's Word in their lives.

Don't forget that tomorrow is the deadline to register for Winter Jam which takes place next Saturday night. If your student has not yet registered for the Spring Mission Trip to New Orleans, please have them fill out a card tomorrow.

Let me know if I can pray about anything for you or your family.

Thanks!

Michael 

FAMILY PLUS High School - Jan. 25

Hello HS Parents!

We are in our second week of looking at Genesis on Sunday mornings (keeping with the church wide Bible reading plan), and the Origin of Man on Wednesday nights. The material is proving to be challenging for some and frustrating for others. 

This past Wednesday proved to be the most challenging yet. We discussed cause and effect and the fact that our universe is pointing back to a cause of our Almighty Creator. We focused on three little words in Genesis that cover a LOT of supernatural happenings: "And God said." These three little words throughout creation have such power. Think about this - when God spoke in Genesis, some things had not yet been created. Things like air, breath, vocal chords - yet God "spoke" these things and "said" words that had power ONLY because HE is the One Who said them.

This coming Sunday we are going to be talking about Scripture and the fact that it is inspired by God, reveals His expectations, and glorifies Christ. Some of the questions we'll be asking are:

1 - In what ways might Christians be tempted to supplement the Bible's authority with something else?

2 - Do you agree with the statement that, "In all God does, His first aim is to glorify Himself."

3 - What part of your life is working counter to God's intentions?

PRAYER AND FASTING RETREAT

We have 12 students who are joining us for our Prayer and Fasting Retreat tonight and tomorrow. If you would like to join us in the fast (at your home or wherever you may be), we will be fasting for the entire day on Saturday. 

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS

WINTER JAM - February 9th. Register by February 3rd. Cost: $10

GIRLS OF GRACE - February 23rd. Cost is $50. Cost after February 3rd is $65

MAN UP EVENT AT FLOYD CENTER - February 24th. Cost is $10

SPRING MISSION TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS - March 9 - 16, Cost is $175 and covers transportation, lodging, and food.

Let me know if there's anything I can pray about for your family.

His,

Michael

FAMILY PLUS High School - Jan. 11

Hello HS Parents!

This past Wednesday we had our first "official" Wednesday night meeting of 2013. I challenged your students to take a close look at their walk with Christ and ask themselves if they are at the same place spiritually as they were last year or the year before that. We looked at 1 John 1:5-10 and discussed that Christians should "look" like Christians and that our encounter with Christ should be pushing us to be more like Him. I shared some radical transformation stories with them from some former students. Then we received communion together.

Next Wednesday we will begin a study that will focus on our worldview. All questions of faith and philosophy can be boiled down to four categories: Origin, Meaning, Morality, & Destiny. We are going to walk through all four of these for the next several months and inject into your students' worldview the biblical response to them. This will happen on Wednesday nights in Annex 2.

On Sundays we are beginning a new study that is different from what we've done in years past. It's not a biblical look at topics that teens might encounter. Rather - it's a Bible study. Every week, in every passage, your students will encounter the gospel through the in-depth study of biblical theology, apologetics, missions, and the grand narrative of Scripture. For those of you who have students telling you that they want to go deeper in God's Word - this is it. We will be on this journey for the next several months as well.

Please let me know if there is anything I can pray about for you or your family.

His,

Michael

Sabbath, Family, and Transformation

I had occasion this past weekend to spend some time resting. It's not something that I do often (that's mentioned as a weakness, not as a strength), but something that God COMMANDED us to do. Our constantly connected lives make this an incredible struggle, but I want to share one techno minister guy's experience with it THIS TIME. It's not very brief, so I'll understand if it's too long a journey for you to take. :)

My schedule is not unlike yours in that I have calls that I always need to make, emails that I always need to send or reply to, and work that always needs to be done. Like you, I could (and too often, do) spend an unhealthy measure of my time focusing on my work, my todo lists, and myself rather than taking the much needed time to rest. Like you, I could (and too often, do) make excuses about the urgency of my work and the fact that lives are at stake (it's easy to do this when you're a minister). And like you, I could (and too often, do) stay connected thanks to the small computer that's always on my belt 24/7 - my texting, emailing, photo snapping, video taking, phone calling, googling iPhone.

But this weekend, God provided a different experience for me…I was LESS connected. Part of that had to do with the fact that we were in the Smoky Mountains and a lot of times cell service is not so great up there. Part of it was that I work with an incredible team of staff and volunteers who helped me by taking care of business and holding necessary (but not urgent) conversations until today. And part of it was a recent experience I had during the Great I Am worship encounter. For me - it was exactly that - an encounter with God…and it was very humbling for me.

No matter how it transpired, I am so grateful. By not being connected I was able to enjoy so many beautiful things:

• I was able to enjoy God's creation. Several times I found myself thanking Him for the beauty of His creation canvas and for how it testifies to His "eternal power and divine nature." (Romans 1:20)  I was thankful for mountains, valleys, clouds, sunshine, dew, streams, rivers, rocks, fish, trees, leaves, grass, shadows, deer, ducks, pigeons, bears, clouds, color, laughter, tears and so much more than I can even bring to my mind now…my cup was overflowing.

• I was able to enjoy time. You know - they've stopped making it…so all you have to use is what's already been allotted. For us, very few things had to happen at a particular time so we were able to just enjoy TIME. Outside the pressure of the Krispy Kreme hot donut schedule and when we could feed the bears at the live exhibit - we were able to pretty much interact with the world on our time table. That's not a luxury that most of us get to enjoy very often. I was thankful for not having to set an alarm clock and the ability to allow my son to serve me in that capacity.

• I was thankful for my family. My encounter with God a few weeks ago is revealing many things in my life and character that I am still processing. But one of the most critical is a tenderness for my family. This weekend, we truly enjoyed each other. Unfortunately, I'm usually better at giving others more attention than I give my own wife and child (again, mentioned as a weakness, not as a strength) even when we are "on vacation." And for the sake of being transparent, I just have to tell you that God is not pleased with me about it. There are things to be proud of in my life, but the stewardship of my responsibilities as Kelley's husband and Carver's father is not one of them. God has been dealing with me to reveal the selfishness in my spirit about this in a way that is as merciful as Christ hanging on the cross and as cutting as His words to the Pharisees. His compassion and correction are revealing to me the precious gifts of God that each of them (Kelley and Carver) is in my life, and I was thankful to be able to just enjoy them for the weekend. And for the sake of being candid I must confess, I have felt more like a godly father and husband over the past couple of weeks than I have felt in nearly 15 years of marriage and almost 6 as a dad.

• I was thankful for transformation. Although deep down I "believe" that transformation can be miraculous and instantaneous (even if habits and routines take some time to be retooled and re-tasked), it can be difficult to "know" that Truth without having experienced it. God allowed me to experience that "salvation-like" experience a few weeks ago in a way that made Him as true and relevant in my life as He has ever been…or maybe more than I have ever allowed Him to be. I found myself thankful this weekend that He had not only allowed me to receive this life-changing gift, but that He had given me the time to be appreciative of it, to reflect on it, and to cherish it as a work of His Holy Spirit. 

So - if you've hung on this long, rejoice with me. Be thankful for me and with me. I have no talking points or suggestions for you, just one guy's testimony of how God is still working in his life…the testimony of a way-too-connected guy looking for, praying for and seeking God's balance in his life, family, and ministry. I pray that it ministers to you.

-Michael