ncbcsrhigh parents’ info

Dating talk revisited

Well, the talk seemed to go really well. I spoke without notes, as if I was having a chat in my office. I even brought my office chair and office mug to the stage.

Andrew Male video taped it for me and we plan to post it on youtube or Google videos or someplace in the near future.  Or make copies available to those interested.

I had much more to say, and I also want to give the students chances for Q&A, so it’s looking like we’ll do a Part 2 in two weeks, on Nov 8th.

I know kids are reluctant to talk about what they learned, particularly with this issue, so it may help break the ice by asking these questions:

1. What was unique about Mark and Cindy’s wedding?
2. What’s the magnet illustration?
3. What’s the story with the Dating Card?
4. What’s the needle and red thread about?

Dating

This Wednesday, Oct 25 the subject of my lesson will be dating, marriage, and sex.  This has been put on my heart lately particularly because over the past few weeks I’ve had a half a dozen meetings with students struggling in this area.  It’s definitely something we need to address as a youth group.

Just so you parents know where I’m coming from:  My approach to the subject is the positive approach rather than a negative shame-based or scare-tactics one.  We’ll be talking about the sanctity of marriage and why it’s worth protecting now.  I want to give them a bigger perspective on thier sexuality than what the world gives them.  I’ll also deal with forgiveness and practical tips on how to preserve one’s purity from here on.

As always, parents are welcome to join us anytime we meet.  I also plan to record the message and make that available to any who would want it afterwards.

Why you should compel your kids to attend the Fall Retreat

Many parents don’t realize the importance of our Sr. High retreats.

The #1 place where we see significant growth happening in our students’ lives is on our trips and retreats. There’s something about getting away from everyday life and focussing on God and his body for an extended time that produces lasting life change.

As I think back on my 14 years here, I could name a multitude of students whose lives were forever altered by a retreat or a trip. Several are on the mission field today. Some were highly at risk and came out transformed. Many who come disconnected relationally come away with friends and a support team.

The adult sponsors see so much ministry value in retreats that several years ago we went from one to three a year: fall, winter, and spring. We often see more spiritual and relational progress in one weekend retreat than in months of regular youth group times, so that’s why we’re as excited about them as the students.

This year’s Fall Retreat is coming on Nov 10-12. The focus will be on getting new people connected and working as a team. We’ll be doing a lot of team-building activities and mixers. Our spiritual focus will be on what it means to belong to the body of Christ.

The cost and time details are now out - you can download the brochure by clicking on this link: http://www.newcovenantbible.org/images/constantcontact/FallRetreatBrochure.pdf.  Also, make sure your new Medical form is on file at:  http://www.newcovenantbible.org/images/constantcontact/MedicalRecords2006-07.pdf  The cost is $65 if you sign up by Sunday, Nov 5th. (The price goes up $2 a day after that.) We will leave Friday the 10th at 6 pm and return Sunday the 12th at 3 pm. For those who can’t attend the whole retreat, we encourage you to come for as much as you can (it is easily drivable). The price to partially attend the retreat is $1.50 an hour if you sign up by the 5th (add $2 a day after that).

I encourage you to prompt, prod, and perhaps even offer incentives to your kids who may be reluctant to sign up. They–and you–will not regret it!

Caught at the A-Shop

Family Devotions

A friend and I had lunch the other day and he asked me what our family does with family devotions.   I’m going to tell you what I told him because today was a classic example of my favorite approach to this subject!

Those of you who know me, know that consistency is something I struggle with and family devotions is no exception.  We’ve tried the daily devotional books, but it’s just hard for me to do that with any regularity.  Plus, I’m not a “curriculum guy.”  I balk at prescribed lessons that may or may not be relevent to my family’s current needs, so that has soured my enthusiasm for them.  Plus they seem like assigned reading to me, and I’ve never liked assignments.  While they may be quite suitable for many families, I personally quit using such devotion books years ago.

So am I saying that family devotions are not important–that they’re no big deal?

Absolutely not!  Family devotions are one of the primary responsibilities of Christian parenting.  It’s just that for me, devotions are a way of life more than a set aside time.  To me, family devotions happen everywhere:  in the car, on vacation, in the pet store, watching movies, listening to secular radio, snuggling in my Lazy Boy, and often at the dinner table.

Take tonight for example.  I was in my Lazy Boy reading Google News on my laptop when Brenda called out to say her seafood enchillada dinner was ready.  I brought my laptop over to the table because I had just read: 

But as the Amish were burying their dead, there was also talk of heroics. Marian Fisher, 13, is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to “shoot me first,” in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates… What’s more, her younger sister, Barbie, 11, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to “shoot me second,” Rhoads said.

The four of us sitting around the dinner table reflecting on this current event was more powerful to me than any book lesson I’ve ever done.  We talked about the amazing faith of these Amish girls, how great it would be to have such a view of death and life, how their example is bound to impact the world, how dying well is as important as living well, how part of me wishes I were Amish.

This discussion led me to remind the girls of my personal mission statement, part of which reads, “…to make myself available for God to use for His glory–whether by my life or by my death…”  We had a great discussion about how people wrongly tend to cling to life as if this is all there is, when in reality as one Amish man said: “we believe in the hereafter. The children are better off than their survivors.”

So for those of you like me who struggle with consistent devotions at a set time and place, go ahead do your devotions anyways:  by sharing about life and faith as you encounter it–on the fly.  Talk about what following Christ means to you, what you’re learning, what you wrestle with, what you respect, how you feel about the culture, what you wish for them to discover.

 Oh, and the girls are now in bed, but Google News just gave me a topic for devotions for tomorrow:

Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Michael W. Smith joined a community prayer service at a nondenominational evangelical Christian church in the Lancaster suburbs…”Is this God’s will that this happened? Absolutely not,” Smith said….”

Are you “absolutely” sure about that Michael?  Yeesh.  Looks like we’ll be addressing the sovereignty of God next!