Missions: Middle School Retreat

The weekend of April 19-21, our middle school students braved the torrential downpours to make their way to Asheville, NC. Friday night's journey was rough, but Saturday and Sunday could not have offered more beautiful weather for the mountains in April ( I would have liked it to be a few degrees warmer).

On Saturday morning, we woke up to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, continental breakfast, and a dormitory full of veterans waiting for us to arrive.  We loaded up our vans to head over to the Veterans Restoration Quarters (VRQ) of Asheville-Buncombe Christian Community Ministries (ABCCM) to meet the volunteer coordinator, Kelly Freeman, and the numerous veterans who shared their Saturday with us.  Once we arrived, we were introduced to two veterans who had been involved in the VRQ's program for a while, and we could really tell how much they felt loved and cared for just by the way they shared their stories with us.  

After we met and were oriented, we were broken up into two groups - one to work on the garden at the VRQ and one to participate in cleaning up the Swannanoa River as a part of Asheville's Earth Day celebration.  If you ask anyone who went, they will tell you that the best part of our trip was eating lunch with the veterans.  Our students and adults learned so much by splitting up and sitting with a veteran as we broke bread together and shared our stories.  At the end of the day, everyone told stories beginning with the phrase, "Well, my veteran..."  

Once we finished work, we all cleaned up and headed over to the Fun Depot for food and fellowship.  Games were played and fun was had by all!  

On Sunday morning, we packed up and headed over to morning worship at First Baptist, Asheville where we participated in their youth-led Sunday worship.  It was wonderful for our students to see the different ways that students just like them were involved in sharing their faith and inviting one another and the adults in their congregation to think about the topic of prayer.  

Thank you all so much for sharing your students with us to serve in missions.  And, a big thank you to all of our adult leaders for the weekend - Charlotte Edwards, Dean Bailey, Beverly Munday, Joy Blashaw, Marti Perez, and Todd Whittington.  We could not have done it without you!

Missions: Charleston, SC

Our annual HS Spring Break Mission Trip to Charleston/Isle of Palms has come and gone. However, I pray the impact it has had on our students, leaders, and the people to whom we ministered will last for eternity! All week, we talked about putting our faith into action. Missions is simply Christians who are willing to reflect the love of Christ to the world. To understate it, we as a team made an impact for the kingdom of God. Our students worked tirelessly to roof FBC Awendaw and Luther & Judy's home. We cleaned up rotten cabbage and sorted through sweet potatoes at the Lowcountry Food Bank. We worked to remodel the kitchen at Tricounty Family Ministries and install insulation for their future counseling center and chapel. Not only did we accomplish all of these projects, but we did it with a servant's heart. It was tremendous to see our students give of themselves and lovingly serve others. It was an impactful week for our students, and I pray that God will continue to renovate our hearts as we grow in our relationship with Him!

Missions: Litchford Nursing Home

Sunday was a beautiful afternoon for a spring missions project.  Each fall and spring season, our middle schoolers load up the vans and head over to a nursing facility on Litchford Road to liven up their courtyards with flowers.

And, of course, we had to stop at Goodberry's on the way home to sugar them up before we sent them off to choir!

Reflection: Death in His Grave

We are experiencing this week some of the most holy days in our Christian year.  For me, Holy Week is a thin place - a place and time when God's presence is palpable.  God's Spirit is so active in my heart and in my life that I cannot help but come alive in Christ's presence.  He is here.  The very cells of my body are buzzing with the electricity of the Spirit.  Holy Week may be one of the only times that I can honestly say that there is not a bit of doubt in me.   I feel God.  I see God.  

This year, my Holy Week has had a soundtrack.  Just one song, really.  I was introduced to this song on our winter retreat by our worship band, and I have not been able to keep my mind off of these lyrics since.  They so beautifully express the work and love of Christ - in the lyrics and in the grit and honesty of the vocals.  

For most of my relationship with this song, the chorus has haunted my thoughts.  But, this week the bridge has been on repeat in my mind and in my lungs as I have sung these words proclaiming the beautiful truth of the gospel: 

He has cheated Hell and seated us above the fall

In desperate places He paid our wages one time once and for all

Take a listen.  Maybe you, too, will be moved to a place of worship for what our Lord has done for us, for Christ has died.  Christ has risen.  Christ will come again.

Happy and blessed Holy Week.

Ministry to and with Parents

As many of you may already know, our Student Ministry is working to better support our parents in raising students with lasting faith. We have implemented several new ways for parents to stay connected and resourced lately.

First, we have started this blog which is connected to our website (www.lifehonestly.com). Periodically, you will find a blog post with thoughts from Lydia or myself. We will try to keep parents posted on what students are learning on Wednesday nights or on Sunday morning. We will post resources we think are helpful for parents to be spiritual influencers of their students.

Second, we have created a TBC Student Ministry Facebookgroup. This group is for parents, adult leaders, and students. We will post deadlines, information on upcoming events, and much more. We encourage  to join the group on Facebook so you will get these notifications.

Third, we will begin to have retreat/mission trip report meetings for parents. We desire for you to get a glimpse of what we have experienced on retreats and mission trips. Often times, when students return from these trips, they are too tired to engage in long conversations about what they experienced with God and their friends. Therefore, Lydia, myself or another adult leader will return from retreats and mission trips 30 minutes prior to the rest of the group returning to the church to have a brief report on all that happened. Our desire is to give parents a glimpse of the experiences and some discussion points to use with their students.

Finally, a TBC Parent Conference is being planned for the fall. It will feature a national speaker who will help parents of all children to consider different ways to help children develop in their faith. More information will be shared in the upcoming months!

Thank you for allowing our adult leaders, Lydia and myself to partner with you in developing a lasting faith in your students. We pray all of our students will have a vibrant faith that is lived out daily!

-Andy

Missions: Spiritual Gifts

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by manes of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11

Discovering our own unique giftedness is an important part of our spiritual growth and faith journey.  Once we begin to see ourselves as God has made us, having gifted us for doing the work of his kingdom, we find purpose and place within that kingdom.  

One quick and fun way to begin thinking about our gifts is by taking a spiritual gifts inventory.  But, these inventories have their limits.  They cannot possibly be an exhaustive list of all of the ways that God gifts us for his work.  And, if they are an inexhaustive list, then we cannot accurately discover all that we were made to be.  Another danger in putting too much credence in this type of inventory is that it can pigeon-hole us into only functioning out of the results and never fully developing the gifts that we have.  If I score low on service but high on exhortation, I run the risk of stepping away from necessary and formative opportunities for service in order to hold out for opportunities for public speaking or preaching.  With that being said, though, for students it is fun and eye-opening to see that God has already given them some gifts that he can use for his glory.  It is empowering to know that God has gifted them for here and now not just for when they are adults who can serve on committees or preach from pulpits.  

This past Sunday, our middle school students were invited to discover what some of their gifts may be.  I encourage you to have conversations with them in the coming days about how God has made them and where God may be leading them to use their gifts.  

Reflection: Journey to the Cross

As I reflect on Christ’s journey to the cross, I cannot begin to imagine the emotions Jesus must have felt in the last days. After Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Last Supper in the upper room, He took Peter, James and John to the Garden of Gethsemane to spend time in prayer. After asking his closest disciples to pray with Him, Jesus went off into the olive grove to spend time in prayer for what He was about to experience. After spending an hour in prayer, Jesus came back to find the disciples asleep. After encouraging them to pray for themselves, Jesus went back to pray. Again, Jesus returned the second time to find the disciples fast asleep. Christ returned to pray for the third time.

So why did Jesus take the disciples to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane? Did Jesus need his friends to pray for Him? I believe Jesus, the Master Teacher, was teaching the disciples even in his last days. Jesus knew what was to come in the upcoming days. Jesus gained reaffirmation of his mission on earth. He was trying to teach the disciples about prayer by His example.

In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster puts prayer in the proper framework. “We pray so that we can align ourselves with the will of God. We pray so that God can mold us into his likeness. We pray so that we can be changed."

To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ….prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after Him: to desire the things He desires, to love the things He loves. Progressively we are taught to see things from His point of view.”

May we be transformed into Christ’s likeness as we approach Good Friday and Easter.

-Andy