Making It Personal With Your Teen

Making It Personal

Allow your teen to see how you strive to grow so they can understand how to confront their own limitations and pursue character and faith. 

COLLISION STORIES

By Tim Walker 

I’m not the most coordinated person in the world. I can trip over my own two feet just as easily as I can trip over an object in my path. There’s a good reason for it. I have “athletically challenged syndrome.” It’s a real disease. Okay, maybe not yet. But if we can get enough people to petition without injuring themselves with pencils, paper cuts, etc., we’ll get organized.

So, needless to say, I know a thing or two about collision.

I’m the guy who stood in right field, praying the ball wouldn’t collide with my head.

I’m the guy who jumped off the bus at a band competition, thinking I could re-enact the 1980s “Oh What a Feeling”/Toyota commercial jump only to come crashing on the pavement, bloodying my knee and tearing my pants.

I’m the guy who had a head-on collision with my brother on a motorcycle trail. We both swerved. I just swerved the wrong direction.

It’s a gift, I know.

And while I’m not so great at moving around (my wife has a strict “please don’t do that” regarding my dancing), I am very grateful for some of the collisions I’ve had in my life.

Like the person who hit the bumper of my car when I was a newly licensed driver. Someone at a traffic light thought the light had changed and hit the gas, giving my car a bump. That moment taught me to allow space at the stoplight and to make sure I knew what was going on around me.

But I’ve also had some collisions in my life that have had a great impact on me personally as well.

Like my Sunday school teacher in high school, Phil Harley. He impacted my life in a huge way. He made a misfit, uncoordinated kid feel like he was a wanted part of the world. It’s why I looked forward to church and loved being around Phil and his family.

Or the time when I began to see the themes in my Lit class play out in the Bible, and when I began to see that all of life was a mere reflection of the story that unfolds in the Bible.

Or the time when I was driving on the Interstate, pouring my broken heart out to God and He brought both comfort and joy.

Or the time I met someone from another denomination who really loved God and I realized that my particular church didn’t have a monopoly on Him.

There are many other collision stories, moments when God’s truth collided with me, God’s people crashed into me, God Himself showed up in my life in ways that I never saw coming—much like a baseball soaring in the air or the tree that suddenly jumped into my path.

What about you?

What are the moments when God crashed into you?

What about the moments when His truth showed up somewhere you didn’t expect and He showed you something about who He is? Was it in the face of one of your children, your spouse or a total stranger? Was it in a sunset or in a book or a movie?

Take some time today to think about the ways God has collided with you, and you with Him. And how not only you collided, but you were changed.

Then do one more thing for me . . . tell your teen. Let your son or daughter hear about the collision from your own lips, let him or her into your story and get a glimpse of your collision stories.

And when he or she hears your stories about a God who collides with us, changes us, maybe they’ll be intentional about colliding with God as well. 

The NEW Work Force: Young Adults & Teens

Check out this interesting article by Doug Field about the emerging generation and their idea of work:

Who Are Millennials... & Do They Work?

Sunday Night Kick-Off Pictures!

If you haven't already seen the pictures from Sunday Night's Kick-Off, check out the link here:

Kick-Off Pics on Facebook

Also, take a look at the two new YouTube videos shown on Sunday Night (posted on the right side of this blog)

Ready for an AWESOME YEAR!

Sunday Nights Begin!

Parents & Students,

On Sunday, September 16^th, First Church Student Ministries presents: 

Sunday PM Student Ministries Kick-Off!

The first night of Sunday PM always ignites a lot of anticipation, and this year we have an even bigger reason to celebrate!  For 6^th through 12^th grade students, our Sunday PM programming has a new and exciting identity!  Our Sunday PM identity is Collide, “Where Life and Faith Intersect.” Collide describes students’ lives in so many ways:  Students are always colliding with something in their lives—whether it’s school, friends, family, faith, relationships, or decisions; they embark on a collision course everyday!  Colliding with Christ, coming face-to-face with Jesus on a Sunday Night, our desire is to walk away forever changed and united in God’s greater story! 

On Sundays, doors open and students start piling in at 5:30pm to hang out, eat, and play games.  Programming including high-energy activities, worship, teaching, and small group time, begins at 6:00pm and ends at 7:30pm.  You’ll definitely want to be here early for Kick-Off Night!  Friends are ALWAYS welcome to any Student Ministries activity, and friends are greatly encouraged to come with you on our Kick-Off Night!  If you don’t know which door to enter through, doors #11 or 15 will get you to the youth worship center.

We also desire you plug into our morning worship celebrations:  An opportunity to dig in deeper into God’s bigger story! 

Sunday AM:

Worship Services                @       9 & 10:30    in the auditorium

Senior High Life Groups     @       9:00am        in the youth worship center

Junior High Life Groups      @      10:30am      in the BOG—upstairs, entrance is first 

                                                                             door on the left before entering the 

                                                                             youth worship center

Again, we are so excited about what God is doing within First Church Student Ministries, and especially in the lives of these students.  We desire to see students living for Jesus in all areas of their lives!  Thank you for allowing us to partner with you and be a part of your lives.

The BEST is yet to come!

Luke Diehl

If You Ran Full Speed Into a Glass Door...

... one may call it painful!  Or a COLLISION!   

Sunday Nights are going to have a new look and feel to them!  As you know, Sunday Night "youth group" is called "Collide:  Where faith and life intersect."  So, we're going to spend the first few weeks looking at what that exactly means.  

Every Sunday Night from 6-7:30pm, Doors Open @ 5:30 (door #11 or 15)

The following information is HUGE for you as parents:  

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:

Here is an overview of what we’re talking about. Listed below the summary is a parent cue to help you dialog with your child about the session. The question is intended not just to be asked by you, but to be responded to by BOTH of you. Use this opportunity to find out what God is teaching your child, and allow your child to see what God is teaching you as well.

Collide:

Series Overview

Ask anyone who’s ever run into a sliding glass door that was closed, or went for the same baseball as a teammate, or experienced a fender bender at a stoplight—a collision changes things. Whether it’s a bump on the head or a cracked bumper, something is not the same as it was before. The same thing happens when we collide with God or His truth or even other people. We’re changed. But unless we put ourselves in a position to collide, everything will stay the same. So are you ready to change, are you ready to collide? 

Session One: Impact (September 16^th)

Not many people would place themselves in the path of a moving object. Well, not most sane people. But if you understand the principle of collision, then you put yourself out there. You think about what you need to do, who you need to intersect with to make change happen. With whom or with what do you need to collide? Because if you never collide, you’ll never change.

Session One Parent Cue: What is one thing you would like to change in your life? What would it take to make that change happen?

Session Two: Blindsided (September 23^rd)

Have you ever met someone who was such a great example of Christ, but that person wasn’t a Christian? It sort of messes with your head, doesn’t it? After all, Christians don’t have a monopoly on caring for people. Not all things that are God’s truth exist exclusively with Christians or in the walls of the church. And if we realize that we can collide with truth in places other than the expected, God can use those collisions to show us new things about Himself and even change us. 

Session Two Parent Cue: What is something that you have learned about God from a person or source that wouldn’t necessarily be labeled “Christian”?

Session Three: Totaled (September 30^th)

Are you a safety boy/girl? Do you like the predictable? Do you like to know the outcome before you dive into something? Do you like to keep things the way they are—predictable? Isn’t that, well, a little boring? Maybe you need to collide with God. Maybe you need to place yourself in His path so that something in your life will change. It’s a collision that will leave you different than the status quo—and that’s a very good thing. 

Session Three Parent Cue: As a Christian, is there something you feel like you should do, but for some reason—fear, uncertainty, discomfort—you’re reluctant to do it? How can you push yourself out of that comfort zone and make it happen?