Upcoming Events
December 10th: Christmas Celebration (Evening Service)
December 17th: Christmas Program/Potluck
December 19th: Girls/Guys Night
December 20th: Christmas Party (Country Christmas)
December 24th: No Sunday School or Evening Service
December 27th: Service Day @ Mission Outreach (Meet at Church at 4pm)
December 31st: No Evening Service
January 22nd-23rd: I will be out of the office for ECON
January 24th: Game Night
February 3rd: Block Party Training at the church (All Ages)
Mission Trip: New Orleans
June 2nd-7th
I am excited for the mission trip we have planned for this summer. Parents are invited to join their students on this trip. I believe that parents serving with their teens will make a major impact in their students' lives. The cost of this trip will be $350. Please do not let the cost of the trip worry you. We will be having a fundraiser in February for students that plan to go.
Summer Camp: Student Life @ Louisiana Tech
June 24th-28th
Our summer camp will be at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La, the cost will be $335 (We will have a fundraiser for camp). I can personally vouch for this camp because I went to it as a youth. Student Life’s program, in my opinion, the best out of any camp program. The two reasons I chose to go with Student Life is it encourages community within the youth group; the youth are not as split up as other camps are. Second it is at a lower cost, Student Life at La Tech is about $100 cheaper than that of Fuge at Union. If you or your student have any questions about camp please do not hesitate to speak with me.
Student Interns
Starting in January I am starting a Student Internship. Each year I am going to choose two seniors to invite them to become interns. There are multiple reasons I am starting this program. First, I want to give the youth a voice in what is happening within the youth group; I am going to use the intern to help make decisions and plan events that will excite the youth group. Second, the intern will be a welcoming face to newcomers in the youth. Third, I want to use this program to help foster growth with our older students; my hope is this program will help act as a segway for the student intern to become adult leaders within the church. Fourth, I want to use this program as a discipleship tool.
Devotion
This time of year brings a flood of memories for me. I remember being at my paternal grandfather’s house on Christmas Eve. He never purchased a Christmas tree, he just went out on his land and cut down a cedar tree. I can still recall opening presents with the smell of cedar filling the house. As a child I thought cedar trees were Christmas trees and everyone who used pine or fir were out of the ordinary.
On Christmas day we will go to my maternal grandparents house. My grandmother would make a giant pot of gumbo. Their house would be so loud with laughter that you could not hear yourself think. Somehow, my grandfather would still fall asleep in his recliner.
All my grandparents have gone to be with Christ now but these memories still bring bittersweetness to my heart. The older I get, the more I recall how faithful to Christ my grandparents were. They read scripture everyday till they could not physically read and serve those around them in the name of Christ. Even after their passing, my grandparents legacy points their descendants to Christ.
In Joshua 3 & 4, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River. God blocks the water from flowing to have the Israelites cross over dry land. After they cross, The LORD tells Joshua to get twelve men, one from each tribe, to go grab a stone from the middle of the Jordan and place it where they would camp that night. These stones would act as a memorial of what the Lord had done for them. When their children see these stones and ask what they are for they could point to God.
Today, our lives should act as memorial stones. When our children look at our lives, they should be directed to Christ. When our lives end and all that our descendants have left of us are memories and traditions, they should see Christ in our lives. Is the legacy you will leave behind point to Christ?