Hey Parents,
Hope you're having a great week! Wanted to make you aware of some information about what's going on in our Student Ministry here at FBCG!
1. We have IGNITE Tonight!...Jeff Rush will be hanging out with our Middle School students and Coat will be hanging with our high schoolers....doors open @ 5:45 so encourage your student to come and hang out!
2. Do you remember your elementary school years??....c'mon think back....do you remember what your favorite part of the day was? If you were anywhere close to a normal kid, then your answer should be RECESS!! I mean who didn't love that part of the day where you got to ditch the books, ditch the teacher and run around outside with your friends right??
Well on Sunday nights from 6:00 -7:00 we're going to have some Recess time for you parents. Come hang out with Jeff, Kathy Decker, and Julie Buttrey for a time of fun, fellowship, and we'll do a little bit of talking about parenting and your students and lifting our families up in prayer! Come hang give it a try this week! We'll be meeting up in The Attic!
And don't forget that while we are meeting, our girls will be going through A Daughter's Worth & a study of James with Crystal and Lydia at the Kelly house, while our guys will be going through a Francis Chan study on Courage with Josh at Josh's house!
3. All of you should have gotten a letter in the mail this past week about our upcoming Pure Sex series that we'll be leading our students through during the month of March. Several of you have expressed encouragement and support for this series as we know it's something that all of our students face on a daily basis. However, some of you have, with good reason asked for a little more info and insight into what this series will actually cover and what will be discussed. I want to encourage you to join us Sunday night for our Recess time because we will spend a few minutes giving you the info you need and we'll answer any questions you might have on the series.
4. Wednesday night, March 7 is BIGNITE...we'll be having a "Just Dance" party with some fun with the XBOX 360 Kinnect system....gonna be good stuff!
5. On Sunday night, March 11 WINTERJAM is back in Nashville...this is one of our students favorite events each year and we'll be going again this year....Students pay $10 at the door for admission...we'll be leaving at 4 PM on that Sunday afternoon and should be home around 9 or 9:30....parents and families are welcome to join us in going...it's always a great time!
6. Summer camp is on the calendar! We'll be going to Centrifuge in Panama City Beach July 9 - 13. The camp is $296 and we are asking for a $50 "I'm Committing to Camp" Non-refundable deposit by Sunday, March 25th. You'll be getting some more information in the mail in the next few weeks about this trip, but let me just take a moment to encourage you to consider investing in your kids by sending them to camp this summer. I can speak for myself and say that Fuge Camps played a huge role in my spiritual journey and I believe it can play a huge role in the lives of your students as well! Sign-ups are live on the church website...visit the link below to sign your students up!
http://fbcgoodlettsville.com/templates/System/details.asp?id=50292&PID=914664
Have a great rest of the week and check out some thoughts below before you take off!
Jeff
Focus on This One Thing
So, let's do a quick survey:
If I asked you whether you would like your child or teen to display any of the following characteristics, what would you say?
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Goodness
Kindness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Let me rephrase that: Is there anyone who doesn't want to see theses in their kids? I mean come on, many of us pray for these things to be active in our student's life.
Why wouldn't you? Kids who exhibit these things become adults who make outstanding spouses, parents, employees, bosses, and citizens.
Now another list. Anyone interested in seeing these characteristics at work in our students' lives?
Outbursts of anger
Hostility
Quarreling
Jealousy
Envy
Drunkenness
Dissension
Exactly. None of us. In fact, it's a bit repulsive.
Your pray against these things, don't you?
As some of you are realizing, this list isn't arbitrary. In fact, it's pulled directly from the Bible (Galatians 5:19-23).
The two lists describe what happens when God is at work in us and when He is not.
What has bothered me about his for years is that sometimes my life can look more like the second list, and less like the first. What gives? I'm a Christian. Shouldn't' my life automatically default to the better virtues? Shouldn't some change ensue? How come when I pray, things don't change nearly as much as I want them to?
Well, I left one of the virtues off the list. In addition to the Holy Spirit bringing love, joy and more, He brings one other thing: self-control. (It's in verses 23.)
For years, I thought self-control was such an odd addition to the list. You could almost frame the list and hang it somewhere prominent if it wasn't for the word "self-control." That one is just so, practical or something.
But more recently, I realized that it might be the most important virtue of all. Why? Because if I have self-control, everything else is so much easier.
Self-control makes it easier to love. And to be gentle. And to keep peace. Being able to control yourself leads to fewer outbursts or anger, fewer quarrels and means you can stop drinking or not drink at all.
Omit self-control, and both lists start to look either impossible to attain or impossible to avoid. Add self-control, and the whole thing flips.
Which is maybe why one of the best things you can do for yourself, and your family, is to put more focus on the virtue of self-control.
What if every day you were more intentional about choosing to do something you didn't want to and showing your kids how to do the same? What if every time you prayed, you also prayed for the virtue of self-control? In your child's life, teen's life, and your life, it might just change more than you think!
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