STUDENT LEADERSHIP

This wed. night from 6 to 8:30 at Brian's house is the student servant team school year kick off. We have 4 teams: a production team (weekend sent and program), a praise (read music) team, a tech team (read sound and lighting and videos), and a people team (greeters and cafe).

If your student wants to get involved, they should have already gotten an application from us. If not, they can pick one up and you can e-mail Brian @ brian@journeycom.org for directions to his house. Students who have already turned in an application should already have the information e-mailed to them by Tuesday.

BE A KID AGAIN

On Sundays, we're in a fun summer series about kid stuff. The first week was on DREAMING BIG, last week was on LAUGH OFTEN, this weekend is BE CURIOUS, and next week is FORGIVE QUICKLY. It's been tons of fun and we'd love to have your student join us. We meet at 8:30 and 10:30am on Sundays in Student Center A.

DODGEBALL

This Wednesday is Dodgeball. We meet in Student Center A at 7pm and we'll be done by 9pm. No you don't have to have a team. Yes you can come and just watch. $5 is the cost for prizes and ice cream we're giving to everyone.

IS THIS HELPFUL

Hello parents,

As you can tell, this blog has not been updated in about 2 months. I have received very few complaints about this, so I'm wondering how helpful this resource really is in the first place. I think having a place on the web where you can come to get information about our youth ministry would be helpful, however it appears to be not very useful.

for a while, I was posting all my message outlines and such so that parents could see what students were learning in our high school group, but I think that was a lot of time very few people seemed to enjoy. So I stopped.

I'm thinking about using this site as an updated announcement section, where I could post regularly the calendar issues you might be concerned about, like upcoming events, some praise reports, maybe a photo re-cap, etc.....

So, if this sounds good or if you have thoughts as the value of this web blog. Please comment on this post or e-mail me at "brian@journeycom.org". I'd love to hear from you if you 're a parent of a high school student at Journey.

WEDNESDAY- ONE NIGHT OF PRAYER

This Wed, May 2nd we are not meeting in normal small groups. We instead are joining high school students from all over East County for an evening of prayer and worship. It is the night before the "national day of prayer" when our nation is challenged to spend the day, praying that God will move amongst us and thanking him for the ways he already has.

We're meeting from 6:45 to 8:30pm at El Cajon Wesleyan Church. Please drop your student off directly at 1500 East Lexingon Avenue, in El Cajon, 92019- NOT at Journey. Click here if you need a google map from Journey to El Cajon Wesleyan.

ALL IN- WEEK 1

Our student ministries version of the JOURNEY UP series started this last weekend and will run parallel to the main service on Sundays.... finishing with our own Student Ministries version of the Big Event on Sunday, May 27th. Ours is called, "All In" and we're challenging students to decide to bet all they have on God. To go "All in- all for God, all the time"... kinda like someone who is willing to risk it all in a game of poker. Instead, we're willing to and challenging students to bet their whole life on God.


This week we looked at 2 very famous passages of scripture... one called the "Shema" in Deuteronomy 6:1-9 and another when Jesus quotes it in Matt 22:34-40.

The main premise we worked from was this:

LIVING ALL FOR GOD, WILL CHANGE ALL OF ME.

We concluded that this requires we wrestle with 2 questions:

#1. DO I WANT ALL OF GOD OR JUST THE PART OF HIM I’M COMFORTABLE WITH?

#2. DO I REALLY WANT GOD TO USE ALL OF ME, AND CHANGE ALL OF ME?


We then discussed 5 main areas where we will see change and drew a parallel to the 5 purposes we are challenging students to embrace with their whole lives as the foundation of Encounter.


LIVING ALL FOR GOD, CHANGES MY AUDIENCE. (GLORY)

I no longer live for myself, or to please people, I live for God.

LIVING ALL FOR GOD, CHANGES MY PERSPECTIVE. (GO)

I no longer believe that it doesn't matter if people live for God or not. Their present and their future is very valuable to God and what they bet their personal life "chips" on matters to God and thus it matters to me.

CHANGES MY BEHAVIOR. (GROW)

This is not so I begin to please God, it is because my focus has changed. Change is the natural result of a life connected with and directed to God.

CHANGES MY COMMITMENTS. (GIVE)

When I'm ALL IN for God, then that means ALL in. It will affect how I spend my time, my money, my resources. All of me.

CHANGES MY TEAM VALUES. (GET TOGETHER)

Neither the Shema nor Jesus' summary in the greatest commandments were given to individuals. They were given to the "community of believers." We have not been called to follow God alone, we've been called to do so as a community. We all rise and fall together. This task we call "journey up" is not going to be accomplished by one individual. It is only possible when the community of faith gathers around. We are part of that community.

INTERNET POSTING ADVICE

Hey parents,

Here's a MUST READ article you should grab a beverage and some undivided time to look over with your son or daughter. It is well worth the read on what should, and should not be, posted on the internet or myspace or a blog or whatever. It also has two VERY effective commercials imbedded in it you should watch together.

The website the above article is on looks good to me. I'd recommend you give it a look and a regular read... especially with this internet savvy generation.

Working with you to raise Godly, wise teens...

Encounter