Reminder to those attending Winter Jam. Meet at church as soon as you can after school on Friday. The plan is to leave around 4:00 so be there before then. right now I only have three from our church signed up to go. Hannah Doles, Grace Barkes and Ravynn Fulkerson. Anyone else planning on attending please let me know ASAP.
I want encourage youth to join us for Sunday School as we begin a new series that I think they will find helpful and engaging. The series is entitled "Better Than One." It's about finding and building true Christian friendship. Here's a description from the right Now Media site:
"In this 4-part series, Pastor Dhati Lewis unpacks true biblical friendship. He teaches students how God created us to need people and challenges students to choose godly friends. You'll also watch real-life stories of other teens who struggle with the realities of friendship. This study will empower teens to build solid friendships, to show kindness to nonbelievers, and to be a good friend."
We will run this series from Feb 12 - March 5 during youth Sunday School.
Finally, please read the letter below concerning Quest and an upcoming meeting to discuss our attending this year. Save Feb 19th after Sunday School for this important discussion.
Dear Youth and Families,
We are approaching the time of year when I begin to start making our summer plans for the youth ministry. For the past 5 summers we have offered a trip to Quest Camp at Green Lake, Wisconsin. This has been a great experience for the youth who have attended and has been well worth the efforts put forth by our youth families and congregation to send our youth to this event.
Last year was again a good experience, but I also sensed from our youth a certain “been here done that” attitude that was a little concerning to me. My original plan was that Quest should be an every other year experience in order to make it more of a unique opportunity when we do go, and also to give youth an opportunity to attend our local ABC camps every other year, such as Indian Creek and Westport. This, along with a big trip planned this year for the final bell tour are things to consider in whether or not we attend Quest. All of these issues have given me pause as to whether it is time to take a break from Quest for a summer.
Another issue that concerns me is that I’ve noticed we have some youth that attend Quest and get very excited about their walk in Christ while there, but are “missing in action” when it comes to youth group and Sunday School. This continues to concern me greatly as one who is charged with overseeing the spiritual formation of the youth of FBC. Are we doing a disservice to our young people by not expecting a deeper commitment to their spiritual growth? Some of this I take responsibility for as one who has really pushed for youth to attend Quest without much expectation other than being involved in at least one fundraiser.
Having said this I am looking for feedback regarding whether we should plan on attending Quest again this summer. If the consensus is we should continue attending every year, I feel there needs to be higher expectations of those attending Quest to be involved in the spiritual formation activities throughout the school year such as youth (now called 6:33) and Sunday School. Please know your feedback and ideas to reach a solution are valued. We are scheduling a meeting to discuss this on Feb 19th after Sunday School and highly encourage your participation if you or your young person are hoping to attend quest this year. If you can’t attend please share your thoughts in written form before this date.
In Christ,
Dave Doles
For more info on Quest go to questglcc.org
I want encourage youth to join us for Sunday School as we begin a new series that I think they will find helpful and engaging. The series is entitled "Better Than One." It's about finding and building true Christian friendship. Here's a description from the right Now Media site:
"In this 4-part series, Pastor Dhati Lewis unpacks true biblical friendship. He teaches students how God created us to need people and challenges students to choose godly friends. You'll also watch real-life stories of other teens who struggle with the realities of friendship. This study will empower teens to build solid friendships, to show kindness to nonbelievers, and to be a good friend."
We will run this series from Feb 12 - March 5 during youth Sunday School.
Finally, please read the letter below concerning Quest and an upcoming meeting to discuss our attending this year. Save Feb 19th after Sunday School for this important discussion.
Dear Youth and Families,
We are approaching the time of year when I begin to start making our summer plans for the youth ministry. For the past 5 summers we have offered a trip to Quest Camp at Green Lake, Wisconsin. This has been a great experience for the youth who have attended and has been well worth the efforts put forth by our youth families and congregation to send our youth to this event.
Last year was again a good experience, but I also sensed from our youth a certain “been here done that” attitude that was a little concerning to me. My original plan was that Quest should be an every other year experience in order to make it more of a unique opportunity when we do go, and also to give youth an opportunity to attend our local ABC camps every other year, such as Indian Creek and Westport. This, along with a big trip planned this year for the final bell tour are things to consider in whether or not we attend Quest. All of these issues have given me pause as to whether it is time to take a break from Quest for a summer.
Another issue that concerns me is that I’ve noticed we have some youth that attend Quest and get very excited about their walk in Christ while there, but are “missing in action” when it comes to youth group and Sunday School. This continues to concern me greatly as one who is charged with overseeing the spiritual formation of the youth of FBC. Are we doing a disservice to our young people by not expecting a deeper commitment to their spiritual growth? Some of this I take responsibility for as one who has really pushed for youth to attend Quest without much expectation other than being involved in at least one fundraiser.
Having said this I am looking for feedback regarding whether we should plan on attending Quest again this summer. If the consensus is we should continue attending every year, I feel there needs to be higher expectations of those attending Quest to be involved in the spiritual formation activities throughout the school year such as youth (now called 6:33) and Sunday School. Please know your feedback and ideas to reach a solution are valued. We are scheduling a meeting to discuss this on Feb 19th after Sunday School and highly encourage your participation if you or your young person are hoping to attend quest this year. If you can’t attend please share your thoughts in written form before this date.
In Christ,
Dave Doles
For more info on Quest go to questglcc.org