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WELCOME TO OFF ROAD

OFF ROAD is the Jr. High place to be! We are the Jr. High ministry here at Westgate Church in San Jose, Ca. This blog is the place to find out what is going on in OFF ROAD, what we are learning about and how to get connected. I ask that you look around, click on some links and if you have any questions contact me (drew@westgatechurch.org)
-Drew Froese (Director of Jr. High Ministries)
OFF ROAD SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday @ 6:40

OFF ROAD EVENTS

All OFF ROAD information can now be found at www.westgatechurch.org/ministries/students

SUMMER CAMP DATES- MARK YOUR CALENDAR= June 17-20

Parents: OFF ROAD is in desperate need of leaders. We are looking for people who are interested in working with a great group of adults to impact the lives of Junior Highers. If you or someone you knows would be interested in serving in this way then please email drew@westgatechurch.org.

NO OFF ROAD this Saturday

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

This Week # 2-22

This week in OFF ROAD we switched things up a bit and looked at the Christmas story through the perspective of Mary and Joseph. I was able to do a monologue, acting the part of Joseph, walking the students through the stress and agony of finding out that Mary was pregnant, and claiming it was from God. The struggle to make the decision to divorce her, and then having the angel speak to me, telling me that the baby in Mary’s womb is the son of God! I was also able to give the perspective of feeling unequipped to father the Son of God, and the excitement of who this child is and what He is going to do- save all people. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is my son, no way!... How would I raise this child, this sweet little baby that would eventually take the nails, take the beating, and take the pain that I deserve. My sweet little boy, who would die for me, who took my sins, who paid my price.

Christina then spoke as if she were Mary, excited about being chosen to mother the Son of God, but also terrified of disgrace, humiliation, rejection, and lack of skill. Yet, even though these were all real fears, she decided to follow what God asked, laying down her fears, and submitting to being God’s servant. She told us the difficulty of being unwed and pregnant, but that she found her hope and faith in the promise of God. She spoke to the rejection she received, even from some members of her own family, but the hope that she had. She spoke of the humble beginnings of her little baby boy, and the hope that she has in God’s promise- her son.

After Christina’s monologue I was able to share a bit about how my perspective of Christmas has changed since having Makenna just over a month ago. First, I have a better understanding of the truly human nature of Jesus. Makenna is completely helpless- completely. Without Amy and me she would die. When she is hungry she can cry, but if we don’t feed her she doesn’t find her own food, she is totally dependent on us. To me this is a cool reminder of the vulnerability Jesus had for us, being fully human. We often picture Him as this great man, the powerful Son of God, yet he was fully human too, completely dependent, and totally helpless little baby.

Another perspective that has changed about this Christmas, and my very of God in general is how excited he is to see us, spend time with and watch us grow. Every day I look forward to getting home to hold my little girl. I can’t wait to just be with her. She doesn’t even have to do anything, I just love hanging out with her. God is the same way. He is so excited to hang out with us. He looks forward, in eager anticipation, for the time he can just be with us. He just loves spending time with us.

Lastly, and this has been the coolest realization for me: I love Makenna so much. I do, I love my sweet baby girl. I love her so much that I change poopy diapers, I hold her when she is crying, I love to cuddle her, kiss her, take naps with her, hold her, I love her. SHE HAS NO IDEA. NO CLUE HOW MUCH I LOVE HER. If you were to lay her on the floor and line up a bunch of people and ask her which on loves her she wouldn’t be able to tell you. I love her so much and she has no comprehension of that love. In fact there is nothing she can do, or has done, to earn my love or to take my love away. I wrote a lullaby to express this:

Hush little baby don’t you cry

Daddies gonna sing you a lullaby

Sweet little baby I love you

There is nothing you can do

I love you with all my heart

I’ve loved you from the very start

I will hold you in my arm

Keeping you from every harm

You’ve no idea how much you’re loved

By both me and the one above.

It is a sweet realization for me to start to understand that just like Makenna has no idea how much I love her, we have NO CLUE how much God loves us. Our understanding of his love is like Makenna’s understanding of my love- NO IDEA. God loves us so much that he gave His son (whom he also loves unimaginably) to die for us. We really have no idea how much God loves us, and the truth is He says to us all the time, “Hush little baby I love you, There is nothing you can do. I love you with all my heart. I’ve loved you from the very start.”

Parents, families- reflect on this truth

Have a Wonderful Christmas and God bless

Monday, December 15, 2008

This Week # 2- 21

We ended our OMG! Series this week looking at some myths and truths about who God is. We had the privilege of having Pastor Joel speak to us on this topic, giving insight to some of the most common myths we here about God

Joel started the by telling us about an incident that occurred to him when he was in the 7th grade. Joel (or Joey as he was known at the time) was very competitive and his team had just lost a flag football game at recess. Because he lost and because he was so competitive he started to cry. His crying lead to a couple of friends asking him why he was crying and if he was okay, which lead him to get more worked up and cry harder. This in-turn lead to more students asking if he was okay which lead him to cry harder and start to hyperventilating. Again, this lead to the entire class crowding around him and the teacher come to his side saying, “Don’t worry Joey, I’ve called the ambulance.” In the end Joel was in the E.R. with his parents by his side and the doctor saying that everything checked out.

Although this story is hilarious the underlying theme of his adventure is fear. Fear of being made fun of, fear of rejection, fear of failure. At each step of his story he had the opportunity to stop what was going on, tell everyone that it was just because he lost, and end it, but he was afraid.

In the same way we often think, hear and believe that we should follow God because of fear, that the driving force behind obedience and our relationship with God is fear. The three major myths that Joel covered were:

God wants us to be afraid- fear of disapproval

God zaps all who disobey to hell- fear of punishment

God is keeping score and you won’t know if you have done enough until the very end- fear of judgment

After addressing each of these fears Joel read Romans 5:1-5, which clearly rock the foundations of each of these myths. He then read a book titled, “You are Special,” by Max Lucado. Check out the video below to see what this story is all about:

In the end these myths were debunked by the fact that God does not want us to be afraid of him, he loves us and wants us to be part of hide family. In fact he wants us to look to Him for approval and love because it is only in Him that we will be fully satisfied. God also doesn’t zap anyone to hell, but instead allows those who don’t want to live with Him to live without Him and lastly, God doesn’t keep score. The price has been paid, and we can find confidence in Him.

Parents:

Read Romans 5:1-5 together a few times this week and see what new things you notice each time you read it, write down what you have found. At the end of the week re-read all the discoveries and truths you have pulled out of these verses. Discuss with each other what God (as described in these verses) wants for us, for others, for friends, for non-believers. Then ask what that means for us.

Check out this video!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

This Week # 2-20

This Week # 2-20

Well everyone in some ways it is good to be back and in some ways I wish I could just stay home and hold my sweet baby. After this weekend’s services I realized that I missed the Junior Highers and Leaders the 2 weeks I had off, but I had a great time helping Amy and loving Makenna. Thanks for all your support and love.

This week we continued our OMG! Series- Discovering who God really is. We started the series a few weeks ago talking on God’s power and this week had the privilege of hear Lisa Averill (Westgate’s pastor of Children’s ministry) talk on the topic of the Holy Spirit. Lisa started off by addressing the fact that the idea of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit being three in one is a hard concept to understand, but she demonstrated the idea by showing us an egg. The egg is comprised of the shell, the whites and the yoke, all three different, yet all three make up the egg: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. After setting a foundation of the idea of the Holy Spirit Lisa went on to discuss the role of the Holy Spirit, what the Holy Spirit wants to do in us and how we can engage and know the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit plays many roles in our lives but a few of the roles discussed were of a counselor and a comforter. The Holy Spirit wants to guides us, sensitize us, and will convict us. These are roles that we often don’t rely on the Holy Spirit to fill. We try to rely on our own knowledge to guide us, we rely on outside sources to sensitize us to the needs around us and we often ignore the convictions we have because we think we know better. The truth is that the Holy Spirit works on our character, wants to mold us to be more like Christ, and makes us aware of the resources that we can’t find anywhere, but in Christ- hope, love, power, purpose, forgiveness, joy. Yet, because of our lack of understanding of this amazing part of the trinity we often don’t engage and embrace the work of the Holy Spirit. We need to rely on Him more, grow our relationship with Him and let Him work through us.

Hopefully by understanding a bit about who the Holy Spirit is and what His role in our life should be we can be more aware of what He is doing in our lives and be more in tune with Him while He is moving and growing us.

John 16:7- “But in fact it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come”

Questions to discuss this week:

Who is the Holy Spirit?

What does He do?

How do communicate with the Holy Spirit?

How does the Holy Spirit communicate with us?

When have you felt the Holy Spirit?

What can you do to be more in-tune with the Holy Spirit?

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Invite your friends to the LEADER MALL HUNT




Leader Mall Hunt December 19th... Come find us, we dare you!!!
We will meet at the Church at 7:00 and be back at the church at 11:00.
Invite your friends
Bring $5
THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

This Week # 2-19

This week in OFFROAD we started a new series called OMG! We started looking at the qualities of God, trying to better understand who he is and what he is all about.

This week we looked into God's Power. God's power is something that we ofter see as great, and big, but very distant, and we wonder why don't we see God's power the way it was shown in the Bible. We looked at the story of Joshua crossing the Jordan and soon after the Israelites defeating the mighty city of Jericho. When we read these stories we often quickly think, "Where is that mighty power now?" "God just must not reveal himself in those ways anymore... it is a different time." While I ask these questions too, I also asked, "What is it that the Isrealites do to allow God to show His power?

In both circumstances, and in most all examples of God revealing His power, it took people (whoever they were) to act in faith and trust first. When the Israelites had to cross the Jordan God required them to step out into the water first. He didn't say, " I will stop the water and then you can go through." He said, "You miust act first and then you will see my power." This happens again as the Israelites want to destroy the city of Jericho. God could have destroyed the city right then and there, but he requires the Israelites to show their faith by walking around the city for 7 day.

In the same way, if we want to see God's power we need to put our trust in Him. There are things going on around us all the time the people try to explain away with scientific blah blah, but the truth is God is working. The other thing we have to remember is that God's power is just as great as it was back in Bible times, and we are the vessels for God's power. God wants to, and can reveal his power to others through us. Again it takes us trusting Him, and acting in faith to have his power used in and through us.

So may we embrace God's power. May we step out in faith and act in trust so that God's power can be revealed through us and so that we can see His power.

Some questions this week...
Where do you see God's power at work?
Tell of a time in your life you saw God's power?
Have you ever witnessed a miracle? If so discribe it?
How can you act in faith and trust to allow God's power to shine through you?

Monday, November 10, 2008

This Week # 2-18

We ended our DUSTY series this week by looking at the “Y” in DUSTY- Yearning. Yearning to be covered in the dust of the master. In the end this is what it is all about, being covered in the dust of the master. But what does that mean? Do we need to go hang out in a dirt pit and wait to get dust all over us? This week in OFF ROAD we explored what this saying meant to people in Jesus’ time and what it means to us today.

During Jesus’ time the highest achievement one could attain is become a rabbi. Rabbi’s were the best of the best of the best of the best. Everyone else was just not good enough. In fact education started when children were 6 year old and between the age or 6 and 10 children had to memorize the entire Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) At the end of this time the students were quizzed, and if they knew it precisely and knew what it meant and could quote it word for word then they were allowed to move to the second stage of learning. If they were not the best of the best they were told that they could not move on and they would have to return to their family trade. For those who got to go on the challenge was then to memorize the entire Old Testament. THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT. By age 14 or 15 they had to memorize and know the whole thing. At this time the students would be quizzed and again, if they were not the best of the best they would be told to leave. If they were the best of the best they could approach a Rabbi and ask to take on his yoke. This meant taking on is religious philosophy, following him around everywhere, knowing everything about him and becoming just like him. If a Rabbi was approached he would grill the student with question after question making sure the student knew his stuff and if the student was the best of the best he would take him as a disciple. This disciple would literally follow him everywhere, to know everything about him, to become just like him, getting covered by his dust as he walked the dirt roads. This is where the saying, “May you be covered in the dust of your master.”

Now the great thing about Jesus is we are not required to be the best of the best. We are just required to come as we are, submit our lives to him and yearn to be covered in His dust.

Parents ask your children this week:

What does it look like to be covered in Jesus’ dust?

What steps are you taking to follow Jesus so close that you are being covered by His dust?

What can we do, as a family, do follow Jesus the way He calls us to?

How can you/we grow our desire to be covered in Jesus’ dust?

Spend some time in pray this week ask God to help you grow closer to Him in the ways you discussed.

Monday, November 3, 2008

This Week # 2-17

“Strengthening our desire to imitate Christ while telling others the TRUTH of who he is.” Truth, the truth is GOD LOVES YOU. God loves you. No you don’t understand God REALLY loves you. More than you can imagine, more than you can understand, more than is comprehensible. God loves you. He is crazy about you. He looks at you and admires you in a huge way. There is nothing you can do about it, He loves you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, what has been done to you, who you are, God loves you. He gave his son up to die a insanely painful death for you. God loves you. I know we have all heard, “God loves you,” a lot, but I think that many of us don’t really understand the depth of God’s love. God loves you.

I started off the talk this week stating over and over again that God loves you. I called students by name, telling them that God loves them, described Christ’s death and really tried to help students understand God’s great love. The reason for doing this is I believe that if we really knew how much God loves us then we couldn’t be silent about our relationship with Him. We all know that we are called to share the gospel with others, but we are often too afraid, nervous, and unsure we don’t. But, if we grasp the immense amount of love God has for us our fears, anxiety, and lack of clarity would not stop us from the excitement of being able to express and share God’s love with others. If we know God’s love we should desire to show God’s love.

After speaking on God’s love, I turned to practical ways to help us share our faith. The acronym used is CPR- which, as you know, is a life saving technique, so I think the acronym is pretty cool. CPR stands for:

Communicate with God- We need to have a relationship with God so we can share with other who God is, what he has done and what he means to us. The only way to have a relationship with someone is by communicating with them.

Pray- When it comes time and you feel the tug in your gut to talk to someone about God, PRAY. Ask God for courage, strength and an open heart of the person you are sharing with.

Rely on God- If you are thinking, “I can’t do this,” YOU ARE RIGHT!! You can’t. You need to rely on God. Let God work in and through you. You are his vessel, don’t think that you can do it, but know that God can. Rely on Him. Guess what. When you do this He will come through.

Parents:

Take a look at this video and then answer these questions with your kids.

How is your relationship with God?

What does it mean to you when I say “God loves you.” (share what it means to you as well)

Who do we know that doesn’t know Christ?

How can we show them God’s love in a radical way?

How can we share God’s love with them?


Monday, October 27, 2008

This Week # 2- 16

This Week # 2-16

This Week we continued our DUSTY series as we focused on the “S.” “S” stands for strengthening our desire to imitate Christ. We were privileged to have Tim Buchanan, a good friend of mine and one of the junior high pastors at Menlo Park Presbyterian speak to us on what it looks like to strengthen our imitation of Christ.

For a great example of what it looks like to imitate Christ Tim took us through Acts chapter 3. This story shows the actions of Peter and John, two of Jesus’ disciples, who spent the most amount of time with Jesus. Jesus had recently ascended to heaven and left this work in the hands of the disciples. It was now their job to imitate Christ and show the world who Jesus is and what he is all about.

The verses tell us that Peter and John were on their way to prayer when they encountered a beggar. The beggar asks these two guys for money, which they do not have, but instead of turning away they heal the man, and he is able to walk! John and Peter faced the choice of helping someone in need or turning away to do their own thing (They were going to pray). When the choice was to be made they choose to help the cripple. (Says something about priorities, huh) In the same way we need to help those in need. Now, we probably won’t encounter beggars who can’t walk every day, but a day won’t go by when we won’t interact with someone in need. (Whether that be helping Mom with the dishes, giving someone who doesn’t have a lunch yours, etc.) To imitate Christ we need to help those in need.

Just after Peter and John healed this man the people started questioning them about the authority they were using to heal the cripple. You know what they did… Peter and John spoke the truth. They shot them straight, they told the people like it is, they told the people what’s up, and they did all this with a firm knowledge of God’s word. We must also speak the truth and know God’s word. If we have opportunities to share Christ we need to do it. If we are faced with someone doing something inappropriate or wrong (Insulting others, cheating, etc.) we need to speak out against it. To imitate Christ we need to know the truth (God’s word) and speak the truth.

Although this doesn’t cover all aspects of imitating Christ (that lesson would be about a year long) is gives us a great foothold of where to start. So this week let’s look for opportunities to imitate Christ.

Parents ask your child these questions this week:

What does imitating Christ look like?

Why is imitating Him important?

Who do you see that is like the beggar from the acts story? (Really pry them hear, try to get them thinking about the people around them that they could help every day, not just the big issues)

When do you feel like you need to speak the truth? (Be specific, not just “school”)

Are you studying the Bible for yourself?

What do you want to learn from the Bible?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

This Week # 2- 15

This week in OFF ROAD we had an awesome worship night during the Saturday night service. If you didn't make it you really missed out!!!! Rick shared about his time in Laos, and the realization of how blessed we are to be able to live and eat like we do and to even worship like we do. Josiah shared his testimony and how he realizes that God is so much more than anything we can comprehend and we can't put God in a box, we just have to rely on Him. Throughout the night we sang worship to God and had an intimate time of sing, reading scripture and being silent in front of God.... It was good.

Parents, ask your child these questions this week:

What does it mean to worship God?
What are some ways you can worship God besides singing?
Do you pay attention to the words you sing, or do you tend to just sing to God without thinking about it? Why?
How can you continually be in worship?
Why do you worship God?

Also, spend some time worshiping God as a family this week (outside of "church")

Monday, October 6, 2008

This Week # 2-14

This Week in OFF ROAD we continued our series on DUSTY with a look into what it means to be unified with other believers. We looked at a couple passages out of 1st and 2nd Corinthians that showed us how to be unified but we started off with a good example of disunity. As I started talking Will was being a distraction talking to some of the kids so I asked him to stop. After asking him a few times we got into an argument, got really angry and he stormed out of the room. Some of the kids caught onto the act, but a few of the students felt totally awkward and shocked that such a thing was happening. This note only got their attention but kicked of the topic with a great negative example.

From there we turned our attention to 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. Paul is writing to the church of Corinth telling them that they should be of one mind and thought for Christ’s sake, that divisions in their church should be put aside and the focus of what they do should be Christ. Paul also speak to the fact that each of us individually are not anywhere near as great as we are together so we need to work together for Christ. This verse was accompanied by a demonstration where students were able to win a prize and all they had to do was come up and grab the prize to win it. The only catch was they could only use their… shoulder…elbow…wrist…finger. After 4 volunteers unsuccessfully attempted to win the prize the fifth volunteer was able to use all of those together, and of course, won the prize. It is the same way with Christ we must use our gifts collectively for him for the greatest good.

The next passage we looked at was 2 Corinthians 3:1-4. Paul is again writing to the Church of Corinth, but this time he is telling them their role to the world. He states, “We are Christ’s love letter to the world.” We as OFF ROAD, as Westgate, as the Church are God’s love letter to the world. If there is disunity and anger towards each other in the church, what does that say to the world. We need to be unified for Christ’s sake so that others can see and want to be part of God’s family.

We have to remember in all of this; it cannot be done on our own. We must invite God into each one of our relationships and let him be the center. When this happens relationships are healed, relationships are good and relationships are the way God created them to be.

We want to be unified so that OFF ROAD is a place where anyone can walk in and feel totally loved and accepted, a place where students who come every week, or once a year, desire to be part of because they know that at OFF ROAD they can be themselves and they will be family. OFF ROAD should be unified for the glory of God.

Parents ask your child these questions this week:

What is the importance of unity in the church?

Do you feel unified with others at OFF ROAD?

How can you help OFF ROAD be more unified?

When you come to OFF ROAD do you feel part of the family? Why/ Why not?

What can you do to help others who come to OFF ROAD feel like part of the family?

Monday, September 29, 2008

This Week # 2-13

This Week # 2-13

This Week we had the providing of hearing Rob speak on Devotion. He kicked our DUSTY series off well as we are working through Devotion, Unity, Strength, Truth, Yearning. Rob looked into what it means to be devoted to something and how we can be devoted to God.

He started off by asking the students about the things they are devoted to. Here are some of the answers: family, video games, swimming, the Sharks, the 49ers, school work and friends. Although these are note bad things, Rob challenged that there is a more important things to be devoted to. Devotion means: the fact or state of being extremely dedicated and loyal. This is the way we need to live our lives with Christ, with extreme dedication and loyalty.

Rob shared a story of when he and a couple of friends (Will and I) went down to Anaheim to watch the San Jose Sharks clinch the Western division. When we went down there we could have just worn our Shark’s jersey and cheered quietly for our team since we were in enemy territory. Instead we painted our chest, screamed loud and out cheered the 19,000 Ducks fans. We are devoted Sharks fans. In the same way we need to be devoted fans of God. We need to write his name on our chests (not literally) and not be afraid to stand out even when we are surrounded by the enemy. We need to make noise for Him; we need to be devoted to Him. If we aren’t devoted to God we won’t stand out for Him, and if we don’t stand out for Him are we truly devoted?

So why should we be devoted. Well first of all God calls us to be devoted to Him. He doesn’t ask us to “kinda follow” him, or “give just some of our life” to Him. He asks us to be fully devoted followers of Him. Secondly, when we are devoted to him we show that by loving Him and loving others. This is not only helpful for drawing others to Him, but how great would it be if all Christians were truly devoted to God? Who doesn’t want to feel loved and totally accepted? I know I do, and if we, and those around us become truly devoted to God by loving others we can experience that.

Laslty, the time to start being devoted to God is now. Don’t think that when I get older it will be easier, because the patterns you establish now will be harder to break (if you don’t start showing devotion to God) or easier to keep (if you do) the older you get. Let’s start this school year with a commitment to true devotion to God.

Parents:

Read Matthew 22:34-40 with your child this week and ask them these questions:

What does it mean to be devoted to God?

Do you want to be devoted to God?

Are there things in your life that you are more devoted to than God?

How can you “write God’s name on your chest” (at school, church, home, etc.)?

How can I help you/ encourage you to be more devoted to God?

Pray with and for your child that they will be bold enough to be fully devoted to God.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

This Week # 2-12

This week in OFF ROAD we ended our 2 part series on the importance of small groups. As I stated last week I hope that all of you make sure that your child is signed up for a small group as this is a significant opportunity to grow in Christ and make sure they are planted and growing in the “good soil.”

The talk this week was focused on what the students can expect as they come to small groups. I wanted to prepare the students so that they can come to small groups knowing that there will be four significant things that they engage, four things that are at the heart of our small groups. The four elements come together in the acronym M.A.P.S. So here are our MAPS to small groups:

The first element that students can expect at every small group meeting is Meaningful God-centered conversations. We want to help students feel comfortable talking about God, their relationship with God, things they have read in scripture, things that they are struggling with, and areas they want to grow in their relationship with Him. If we look around our culture and in our lives many of our conversations are taken up by talking about celebrity, sports, politics, school, other people, but we don’t talk very much about God. If He is the most important thing in our life shouldn’t more of our conversations be about Him? I think so and that is one thing that each student can expect to happen at small groups.

The “A stands for accountability. This Christian life is not easy, especially in junior high and it is very very hard to do it on our own. When I was a freshman in High school my brother and I went out for the soccer team and it was one of the most physically grueling things that I have ever done (We didn’t touch the ball for the first month, just run, run, run) If it hadn’t been for my brother being there for me and I for him I would have probably quit. Our life with Christ will be have difficulties and struggles and we need each other to support us and keep us accountable to what God has called us to.

“P” is for pray. Here’s the deal- No conversation= No relationship. If I were to tell Amy that I wanted to continue our relationship, but there is one clause… there will be not talking. Amy would think I am crazy. Our relationship won’t work if we never talk to each other, there won’t be a relationship. We need to be communicating with God. We need to make sure that we converse with God so that we can develop our relationship with Him

Lastly, students can expect Scripture. We will be spending time with God not just by praying but also listening to Him through the reading of His word. The time we spend in the word will be both in the small group, but also encouraged in activities students can do at home as they prepare for small groups. Scripture is at the heart of what we do and it will be at the heart of small groups.

Parents: As you look at the aspects of small groups note that these are things that we don’t want to just encourage at small groups but in each area of you and your student’s life. Are you and your child daily spending time talking about God, checking in with each other, praying and reading scripture? If not how can you integrate these elements into your life? Discuss this with your child.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

This Week # 2-11

This week in OFF ROAD was another great week. We had about 90 students between the two services and I want to continue to encourage those regular attenders to try and make it to the Saturday night service as the 11:00 service is still very full.

This Week we started a 2 part series titled “The SG factor.” SG stands for small group and in the lesson I talked about what it is that Small Groups exist to do. The heart of what small groups are all about can be summed up in the parable that Jesus tells about the 4 soils. We looked at each of the 4 soils and what in the world Jesus was talking about when he said that, “some seed fell on the path… some on the rocky soil… some on the soil surrounded by thorns … and some in the good soil.” (Paraphrased Matt 13) After we read this parable I asked the students what it meant, and while some students got somewhat close, most students were confused (As were the disciples). We are lucky the disciples didn’t get it either because they asked Jesus what this parable meant. Jesus explains it like this, “The paths are those people who hear the word of God but never understand and don’t accept… The rocky soil represents those who hear the word, quickly accept it, but when their faith is challenged they don’t have deep roots and fall away… The thorns represent the people that hear the word, accept it, but then get entangled in the worries of this life and wealth and that overtakes them… But the good soil is those who hear the word, accept it live it out and produce a crop of 30, 60 or even 100 times that which was planted.”

Each area where the seed landed are really a distraction of this world. The distraction of the path is pride and lack of knowledge. The distraction with the rocky soil is testing of the faith and the distractions of the thorns are the worries of this life and wealth. All of these distractions happen because there is not good soil to root in, there is not the nutrients, soil and water that the plants need, that we need. Small groups exist to help student’s roots be planted firmly in Jesus by surrounding them with the relationships that build them up, encouragement that keeps them focused on God and a group of people that will hold them accountable to what God has called them to be so that they can produce a crop of 30, 60 or even 90 times more.

Parents:

Please talk over the importance of small groups with your child. Ask them where their biggest distraction is: pride and lack of knowledge, testing of faith, worries and wealth. Ask them how you can help them in each of those areas. Then I urge you to make sure that your child is signed up for a small group and that he or she comes every time so they can secure their roots in Christ.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

This Week # 2-10

This week in OFF ROAD we had our first 2 service weekend. God is good and both services went great! (If you don’t know we meet at the 6:40 service on Saturday and the 11:00 service on Sunday) Although Saturday was hot we had a decent turnout of about 30 students and I want to encourage as many students that can to go to this service to go to Saturday night as we need to make room for guests during the 11:00 service.

As we kicked off the New Year I decided that we should start with the foundational idea of SOAPing. Yes, junior higher need to be reminded to shower and soap, but this is a more important thing then hygiene, it is SOAPing with the word of God. The idea of SOAP involves four significant elements in spending time with God, something we need to be doing daily.

The first element is Scripture. To spend time with God we need to be in his word. Often times we think that reading the Bible is a chore and because it was written 2,000 years ago it is hard to find relevance to our lives today. The truth is as we spend time in God’s word He reveals Himself in unique, interesting, and relevant ways, but we will never know that if we are not in the Scripture.

The second element is Observation. Observation is important because as we read the scripture we should note what stands out to us, what is interesting, what the main point is and any questions we have. If all we ever do is read the scripture and we never observe it and explore it then it never becomes anything more than words on the page, but if we observe the scripture we the words that are written become alive and relevant.

Next, and most importantly we must Apply what we’ve read to our lives. What is God saying to you? What does he want to you to know? What does he want you to do? What does this scripture mean for you? By answering these questions the Bible becomes a personal letter from God to you. We need to make sure that every time we read the scriptures we ask God to speak to us and when he does we need to listen and act.

Lastly we need to Pray. Just like I can’t have a relationship with anyone without ever talking to them we can’t have a relationship with God and never talk to him. After we have chosen scripture, observed it, and applied it we should spend time praying, asking God to help us apply what we have learned.

Parents,

The greatest example children have of how to SOAP and spend time with God is through observation of their parents. I encourage you to SOAP every day, allow your kids to see you do it and invite you kids to SOAP with you. Here are some questions you can ask your child this week:

What did you learn in OFF ROAD this week?

What did you observe in the reading at OFF ROAD (John 15)

What did God tell you that you need to do through this chapter?

How can I help you do what God has called you to do?

Have you spent any time this week applying what you learned in OFF ROAD?

Sunday, August 24, 2008

This Week #2-9

This Week in OFF ROAD we finished our summer series of "Liquid" by looking at the story where Jesus calls the fishermen to be fishers of men. I started off by playing a ridiculous video from youtube titled- "Fishers of men remix."(see below) I told the students that I found a really cool video that went along with what we are talking about. When the video started they seemed ready to receive it, but after just a few seconds they looked around wondering, "Is Drew serious?" Of course I let it go for a while and then admitted that the song was just silly, but I guarantee that it will be stuck in their head for the rest of the week. Then we dove into the lesson.


As I read this verse I was struck by the simplicity of what was said and the actions taken. Jesus simply walks up to these guys, asks them to drop their nets and follow Him... and they do it. I liked how Jesus related right to these guys and asked the Jr. highers to come up with some ideas of what Jesus would say to people to today. My favorite was to a football player- Drop your pads and football and I'll teach you how to score a touchdown for me (A BIT corny I know, but it got them thinking) When they had finished suggesting a few ideas we got on to the first point of the lesson: To follow Christ we must first drop our nets.

When Jesus saw these guys on the water he didn't say to them, "Hey, hold on to those nets, keep doing what you're doing and then, when you can, follow me." No, these men had to drop their net in order to follow Christ, and the benefit was greater than they could have imagined. I asked the student to give some idea of nets that Jr. high students carry with them that they need to drop to truly follow God. Here are some suggestion: video games, popularity, t.v., homework, anger, and jealousy. It was good to recognize these, but the challenge following these ideas was- DROP THOSE NETS. Parents, I ask you to help your child discover their nets and work with them to help them get rid of them.

Secondly, after we drop or nets we must follow Him, and to follow Him means to become fishers of men, Christians who draw others to Christ. When I read the first word Jesus spoke to the disciples I found it amazingly clear what the calling of a Christ follower is; To show others the way to Christ. When Jesus sees these guys he doesn't say, "Guys, if you follow me I will make you great Christians, or good people," but in a sense, "Follow me and you job is to let others know the greatness of following me." As many of these students have just started the school year God's challenge to them was and is to search out the unbelievers(not hard to do) and them help lead them to the knowledge of God's great love for them. Because the truth is neither we nor they know the deep, deep love God has for us, and the huge desire He has for other to know this love.

Parents, please encourage your and pray with your child, not just this week, but every week to take these three steps to helping others know Christ.

1. Pray- pray for people you know individually who don't know Christ. Pray that you will have the opportunity to show and share God's love with them and that they will be open to hearing it. Pray also for yourself, to have courage when God puts it on your heart to tell others about Him.

2. Love- Love those who don't know Christ. No one is going to want to know the love of Christ if the love you show is no love at all, and no one wants to come to church with someone they hate. So love those around you.

3. Invite- Invite your friends to church. Honestly if it takes telling them, "I've got this really dorky youth pastor that I want you to come to church and help me make fun of," do it!!!! But, take the step to invite them both to church and to a relationship with Christ.

As I looked around the room today I saw about 80 Jr. high students and I was excited, but I I realize that just in our area there are probably 5,000 Jr. highers who don't know the awesome gift we have, but I truly believe that OFF ROAD will play a significant role this year, and in years to come in reaching those who are lost. Please make it a goal to bring others to Christ and to OFF ROAD where they will be loved.

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