Engage In Their Relationships
You don’t need to tell me that Jr. High is too young for kids to be in relationships with each other. Besides being ridiculously short-lived(often lasting a day at the most!), most JH relationships are charged with emotions that most students don’t know how to handle in the first place. As I’ve been giving some Biblical advice and teaching on some particular kinds of relationshipst reminded me that I need to encourage parents to be in the loop about how they can disciple and partner with their kids in the journey to learn how to find the right person in the future for marriage.
It’s been said, over and over, that how we learn how to pursue relationships will in many ways dictate how we will pursue marriage in the future. Relationships are practice for marriage in the same way that practicing an instrument leads to proficiency in playing that instrument with one caveat: If you practice wrong, you will get worse, not better!
Now, please don’t get me wrong! I am not encouraging students to be in relationships. In fact, my hope is that they would wait to pursue guy/girl relationships until later in High School or after graduation. However, I also see that relationships will happen in JH and to not teach them or give them God’s perspective as revealed in His word would be irresponsible as a spiritual leader. As a parent, it would also be irresponsible for me to not know where my kids are at in terms of their relationships. Ultimately I want them to have a good marriage because I want to equip them with the truth compared to the half-truths and out and out lies that come from the media and our culture.
One great way to engage is to meet with your child’s special friend and let them know your standards, rules and guidelines for the relationship. This is appropriate as long as they are living in your home and are your responsibility. Let them know spiritual perspectives. Advise without preaching, asking for their feedback, but always be willing to search the Bible with them to show where you are coming from. Set good boundaries that they agree to with you. Boundary issues may be time spent phoning, texting or communicating via technology sources. Other issues may be physical contact, curfews, and time spent together, either alone or otherwise.
The bottom line is that helping your kids with their relationships shows them you are on their side, wanting them to avoid as much heartache as possible, and experience as much joy and equipping for future relationship success. The majority of parents will not engage out of embarrassment or neglect, but join the minority that go against the flow of the culture. Come along for the ride, not fearing the worst, but believing the best!
Pastor Mark
Wondrous
I grew up going to camp every summer at Alpine Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead, CA. I grew up in the Covenant Denomination and this camp is where I spent many winter and summer camps. If you have ever ventured into my office you will see years of my camp pictures posted on my walls. The pictures might be a little embarrassing, but not what took place there. This camp is where I accepted Christ in elementary school, but it was my junior high years at this summer camp that I really started realizing what it meant to daily surrender my life to Christ (something I am still learning). It was those junior high years that things began to change.
I believe that is why I am passionate about The Peak. I have had the proviledge of being at 11 junior high summer camps through RHCC and every year it gets better. I witness lives being changed by God and I would not trade that for the world.
Something wondrous takes place at The Peak and it is hard to even begin to describe with words. Maybe it is the fact that we are hours away from home and enjoying nature. Maybe it is the amazing accommodations we have at Cascades. Maybe it is all the fun activities we are able to do. Maybe it is the community we share as we live life together. Maybe it is the messages we hear from Mark as the Spirit moves through him in a mighty way as he teaches. Maybe it is the small group discussions where students realize they can be transparent. Maybe it is the unity we feel as the Body of Christ. I don’t think the answer is “maybe” I think that the answer is that IT IS. Camp is powerful because we have an All Powerful God who is directing it all. He is in control of the fun, the laughter, the community that is felt, and the lives that are being impacted to live for Him. God moves each year, and we do not take that lightly.
My prayer is that this summer every one of our students will be able to experience God while at The Peak. Not because I want to sell them anything. I want them to realize that God has a plan for their lives, and God wants to use them each day. And something about being away from the busyness of life helps you realize these things.
I know I did. That week each summer at Alpine Camp made me stop and think about my life. It caused me to get out of my routine to evaluate if I was going to surrender my life to Christ, or to allow “life” to overrule my obedience to Him. It made me think about choices I was making and if they were honoring to God.
Maybe the word wondrous is the wrong word. But, if you have ever been to The Peak, when the Spirit of God moves it is beyond words. And I cannot describe fully what takes place.
My hope is that our week at camp is a time every student will experience God in a wondrous new way.
Jen
End Of An Era
Yesterday when I heard about Pastor Dale’s transition as our Senior Pastor, I had a chance to take time to reflect. When Dale and the team of families stepped out in faith and started the church in 1978 who would have thought it would have grown into the far-reaching, impactful ministry that it has become today. Because he stepped out and followed the lead of the Lord, I have had the privilege of seeing my kids and wife serve and follow God together for the last 15 years of my life. Those have been really special, special years.
When we first came in October of 1994, I was a 29 and the father of a couple of newborns. Trying to balance the family situation I was in and working through a rough transition from my previous church, I found myself trying to hide at the church office, leaving my wife alone and isolated. I’m not proud of those days. I was just trying to survive for myself and retreating into thinking about my needs alone. Then Pastor Dale shared a message series on marriage. As he opened up about his marriage it really caught my attention. As he shared his failings and his victories I related to what he was sharing. Although I didn’t know him well at that point, I had heard from everyone I talked to that family was first to Dale and it should be for all of us. That lesson stuck in my life.
I will always point back to those hard times and that series in particular as a time when God rescued me and my family. I am so grateful that Pastor Dale listened to God’s heart and shared so authentically to our body, even if my family was the only one saved. It made a huge difference that has multiplied exponentially into mine and countless other family’s lives. For that we will always praise God and be thankful.
As Dale turns his attention to new opportunities for impact, I am assured that he will always be putting his family first as he reaches out to person after person with the love of Jesus. In a way, the end of his era as the Senior Pastor at Rolling Hills is the beginning of this next chapter in his life story of influence for Jesus. Thanks, Dale, for your investment into thousands of lives and families. The Lord used you to fill us with passion and vision and we will forever be full of gratitude and appreciation!
Pastor Mark
What Would You Sacrifice?
If you knew your son would be a speaker who led 1,000,000 people to Christ in the next 25 years, what would you sacrifice to make that happen?
If you knew your daughter would one day be a reknown author and counselor who helped thousands of anorexic girls find healing in their spiritual lives, what would you sacrifice to make that happen?
If you knew your son’s passion for God would lead to him becoming a pastor to youth and result in scores of young people turning to Jesus throughout his lifetime, what would you sacrifice to make that happen?
If you knew the noise that pounds from inside your son’s bedroom from practicing the drums would lead to him being part of an internationally known band that made a priority of getting clean water to every person in Africa, what would you sacrifice to make that happen?
If you knew your daughter would be the first female President of the United States and she was dedicated to influencing the world nations to feed the hungry world-wide and make the end of world hunger possible, what would you sacrifice to make that happen?
What if each of these sons and daughters were so impacted by Christ that they made a late night commitment to follow one of these dreams at the Peak and they would point back to camp as the time they started down that road, what would you sacrifice to help make that happen?
I can assure you of this, I would sacrifice my vacation, my gifts, new clothes, eating out, a new car, a bigger house and pretty much anything else so my kids could one day be impacting the world for Christ. I have seen 15 years of big decisions happen at camp so I know I will sacrifice for them to go, believing that God will use that experience for lasting lifechange.
Will you?
New Series Kicks Off This Weekend
Every morning you wake up and go to work. Why? You go because you want something. Maybe you want to please your boss. Maybe you want to make a difference in the world. Maybe you just want a paycheck. No matter what your motivation, it is driven by some kind of desire. Desire is what makes the world go around. So often we come to church and feel guilty about our desire. We try to make up for having desire or find ways to set our desires aside. But what if we looked at faith in a whole new way? What if desire was actually the beginning of a much better life in Christ?
We are kicking off our new series titled “WANTED” tomorrow and it will last the month of April with the exception of Easter weekend.
WANTED: Week One – April 5, 2009
Every day, each one of us is driven by our desires. It’s the filter by which we process every choice. It’s how we decide what we will eat. It’s how we decide what we will watch. It’s how we decide how we will spend our time. Desire is a part of who we are. But doesn’t it seem like so much of Christianity is about ignoring our desires? Doesn’t it seem like if we follow Christ we have to consistently set aside our “wants”? Or could it be our desires are not something we have to ignore, but simply follow to the true fulfillment of what we want, the true longing of each of our hearts?
WANTED: Week Two – April 19, 2009
What you think you want isn’t what you really want. Have you heard that before? It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? After all, our desires can be really strong. They can even bring a few moments of satisfaction. But there is truth in that statement because beneath the desire is a question we rarely ask ourselves, “Why?” Why do I want what I want? What do I think this desire will give me? And perhaps, more importantly—will this desire lead me to where I really want to go?
WANTED: Week Three – April 26, 2009
Our wants seem so big, don’t they? We desire a lot of things—the latest gadgets, things that will make us feel more valued and loved. But the problem isn’t that our desires are so big—in fact, they aren’t big enough. Many times we are willing to settle for something less, something that only sort of satisfies us, instead of desiring something bigger and more fulfilling.
EXPERIENCE:
If you’re a kid, summer is filled with days of endless possibilities. But for us adults, summer is just another season. We still have to go to work. We still have to go to the grocery store. We still have to do laundry. Life doesn’t take a break, especially when you have a family.
But if you’re like many families, you want to find a way to connect with your kids this summer by taking a vacation. (And the option of walking away from work for a few days is attractive as well.) Whether it’s camping out at the lake, driving to the beach or just spending a day at an amusement park, there are times when each one of us needs to take a step back to recharge. There are times when we need to know that life is about more than the e-mails filling up our inbox or the voice mails on our cell phone.
Recently, I ran across the following article from a pastor in Canada on why unplugging ourselves from our overly connected world is so needed.
UNPLUGGING TO RECHARGE
By Carey Nieuwhof
Earlier today, I realized I am totally living in 2008. I was answering text messages, e-mail, Facebook messages, being instant messaged on Facebook, checking blog comments and twittering all at the same time. And the weird part is, I don’t mind it. It’s just how we communicate right now. But tomorrow I start my vacation. We’ll drive Saturday to our favorite family vacation an hour away to a lodge we’ve gone to each summer for over ten years now. My youngest son, Sam, calls it his favorite place on earth next to home. We literally count down the days to this vacation on a whiteboard on our fridge. The whole family loves it.
One of the things that makes this “resort” we stay at so attractive is that it’s a throw back to an earlier time. No TV. No radio. No wireless routers. Cell service is okay, but not great. Twitter is a sound that chipmunks make. Facebook happens when you fall asleep reading and your head drops. They don’t even have regular mail there, let alone e-mail. We’re unplugging for a week together, and it’s fantastic.
I think we were wired both for rest and work, and over the years I’ve learned that to work best you have to play hard—that’s been a slow lesson for me. So what about you? What charges you? As the summer draws to a close, find some ways to not only recharge yourself, but also connect with your kids.
Spring Cleaning
In the middle of February until the middle of March I have gone through every closet, dresser, and storage bin in my house, and even tackled the dreaded garage in a massive effort to do spring-cleaning. The dark days of February make me long for spring, so I had to do something to keep my mind off of the last days of winter. I went through items that I have not seen for years that have stayed captive in the dark reaches of our closets. I saw things I haven’t seen since we moved into our house 5 ½ years ago.
I set out over 25 bags of stuff on our porch this morning for the organization that was coming to haul it away. When I came home at lunch, it was all gone. Man, it feels great to have it all gone!
But, what all of this stuff in the closet made me realize was; in the dark lots of things can hide. I think about all the areas in my life that I will neglect and allow to be “in the dark reaches of the closet.” Areas of my thought life, my attitude, my actions, what I watch and take in, those areas that I know God wants to work on in my life. Many times they are the areas that I like keeping in the dark because I think it is way too much effort to bring them to the throne of God. I complain that they will take too much work, and that it is nicer to live life with them tucked away rather than out in the open, where the light it. The areas that I know if I would just allow God to shine His Light in I would experience a new freedom in Him.
I know deep within me that God is not a God of condemnation, but the Almighty who so desires for me to find daily freedom in Him. To continually move forward in my growth in Him and not get stagnate or allow things to hide in the dark.
I am reminded that each day I need to ask God to shine His Light on all areas of my life, and each new day God will give me the ability to lay them at His feet. He alone is the one who can change those areas. So when I expose all the areas of my life to His Light I can feel a new sense of “cleansing,” a new sense of freedom that only Christ can provide.
This kind of exposure isn’t easy, and it is only done with God’s strength and endurance, but then again doing spring-cleaning of a whole house and garage is worse!
Jen
A Brave, New World…
He gave his message a bunch of thought, but God seemed to be silent. As he thought about what to share in the group, nothing stood out. He humbly got right with the Lord during the service, but still God didn’t give that clear direction we all want. Finally, he decided to share a message from a few days ago that was certainly pertinent and relevant. And he waited…
Finally, unexpectantly at 5:50pm on Sunday night God spoke and gave him a message to share from Proverbs 13. The fire in his heart was lit and he was excited in a new way. He arrived and connected with the students, sharing and chatting, being an example of what a leader should be. With attendance taken care of and Mark’s message given, it was off to the group time.
Opening with a time of prayer and confession, he led his group of students and they prayed for each other’s spiritual challenges. After the prayer groups came back together, it was almost time. He made sure each student had a Bible and they turned to Proverbs. He shared a story, authentically revealing how hard it is when your friends aren’t the most godly influences. He asked questions in order to get everyone involved. As different students shared, it was obvious that the topic related to each person there. A short rabbit trail on getting shocked by electronic fences was quickly navigated and then he brought them back on to the main passage. As he showed the value of seeking wisdom from those who are living examples of a faith lived out daily, each person was affirmed, even in the midst of their varying degrees of brokenness and struggle. Finally, a short 35 minutes later he closed in prayer.
Was it the youth pastor who so deftly led these young 6th and 8th grade students? Was it one of the High School age apprentices, cutting their teaching teeth on the group? Not even close. In fact, it was Konner C., a student who was teaching for his first time in our group. Konner is just one of many Junior High students who are stepping out and being the leaders that God has called them to be. Last summer, God called him to start a weekly Bible study at his middle school. As he worked with his parents to prepare each week, the 15-20 students who faithfully came were challenged and encouraged each time. As he modeled a sensitivity to listen to the Holy Spirit, care about the other student peers in the group and unfold the word through reading and discussion, Konner was stepping out into a brave, new world where adults actually disciple their students and give them vision and opportunity to step out and do it. They may risk failure. They may not be the most accurate in their insights. They may lack the confidence. But, if God is for them, who can be against them? Get ready for more of these stories. God is moving and Konner is not the only person you will hear about in the days and weeks to come.
Praising God,
Pastor Mark
Parent Discipling News!
This week I had the opportunity to talk to one of my guys in my small group. Spencer is a great guy who loves the Lord and has a true heart for his friends to find a relationship with Jesus. One of the reasons I was calling was because Spencer wasn’t able to come to our Fusion group the last few weekends since his basketball team was playing in a number of tournaments and had a bunch of travel that unfortunately kept him away. As we chatted about how well his team did (they won their league!), I also asked him how he was doing in staying close to the Lord. His answer thrilled my heart! He said he was doing really well and each day his mom and he and his brother read from the Bible and talk about it over breakfast. To hear that they were doing something as simple as reading the Word and talking about it confirmed in me that discipleship is happening in that family.
You don’t have to have a Bible degree to do what they were doing. You just have to do it. You also don’t need to have all the answers. In fact, when you don’t have all the answers, you can model to your kids how to find the answers. And if you don’t know how to find the answers, you can model a humble spirit and suggest ways to connect with people who could help you find the answers. All good and necessary things if we are to be godly parent disciplers.
Additionally, as I was asking Spencer what I could be praying for in his life, he asked me to pray for his friend who he was reaching out to. He wanted to have a sleepover with a Bible study so he could help his friend get a bit closer to God. His example challenges me! His example of God working in his life is a huge reason why I love working with these amazing kids and their fantastic families!
Praising God for each of you!
Pastor Mark
Finding Switzerland
I must admit I am a shopper. I do not even have to buy anything in the stores I enter; I just enjoy walking around and checking things out. The person who I love to shop with the most is my mom. Probably because we talk about life, like the same stores, and enjoy each other’s company while we shop. My mom does not live in this state so when she comes for a visit we are off to shop. It has always been what we love to do together since the time I was in junior high. In fact, when we struggled to get along in my junior high years we always had our neutral ground, shopping! It was the activity we enjoyed doing together that made us smile, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company. And as we perused the store’s racks of clothes, I found myself truly opening up and sharing was going on in my life with my mom. Now, it was not because she bought me things, in fact many times she didn’t, but it was our “Switzerland” in the midst of a rocky relationship while I was in junior high.
I had the opportunity to be able to do the teaching this Sunday on our current series, The Good Fight. The Good Fight is all about fighting FOR a relationship with parents rather then fighting WITH parents. I know from past experiences that the years in junior high can also be the years that the relationship between parents and child can be a rocky road, and the fighting can be continuous. So when I shared with the students about honoring their parents and not always seeking to be right all the time, I also shared with them how to start building that relationship with their parents.
One area I challenged the students to begin to fight for a relationship with their parents was by finding a “Switzerland”. A Switzerland is a neutral activity that both the parents and student enjoy doing together. This neutral place is where the relationship can be built rather then torn down, a place that the relationship can be deepened.
Finding a Switzerland takes time, but from my experiences it has helped foster a deep and meaningful relationship with my mom.
Enjoy finding a Switzerland.
Jen
Imitate Me, Part 2
I always thought my parents were sinless. Now don’t get me wrong. I knew intellectually that they had sinned, but they kept their individual sins hidden from me and never talked about how those sins impacted their life. Reflecting on that got me thinking. Do I do the same thing? Am I appropriately transparent to my kids about my failings and struggles? Or, do I fall into the same trap?
I am convinced that I need to admit my relational failings with my kids. When I blow up and go off on my daughter, I need to allow that experience to both humble me and motivate me to ask for forgiveness. When I don’t, I subconsciously let my kids think that behaving poorly is okay in the family setting. Would I yell at my boss and figure it’s fine because he will understand I was just having a bad day? No, I need to go back to him and make it right, just like I need to go to my daughter and make it right too.
James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” By imitating that truth in our families, we start to change the course of potential discipleship with our kids. By our humble, confessing attitudes, we communicate to our children that we live the truth of the Bible, not only in public, but also in the privacy of our homes. Transparency may be hard, but the rewards we gain will have lasting results.
Pastor Mark
Peak Counselors Needed!
I wanted to get the word out that we are looking to fill our counseling needs for the Peak this summer. The Peak is a highlight for every one on our staff. We believe it’s the best ministry week of our year! In fact, being a counselor at the Peak is like a year’s worth of small group meetings in one week. We always try to fill our counseling needs during the spring so we can do a good job in training before the summer hits.
Of course, we are looking for the right kind of people to be part of this team. We want men and women who love God and have a heart to love Jr High kids. We are looking for flexible individuals who want to invest in the hearts and lives of a group of students who are really moldable. You don’t have to be a star athlete, but being able to be active is important.
Finally, we would love to hear from you if you have any questions about getting involved. Jen does all of our staff recruiting for the Peak so if you are interested in being considered, just email Jen Gulbrandson at jen.gulbrandson@rollinghills.org. You can also call Jen at 503-638-5900 at the church office.
Pray They Get Caught
When I was a 7th grader growing up, I had a friend who started to influence me to do things that were leading me down a road that wasn’t a good direction to go. He started smoking and wanted me to do it, but I had such a weak stomach so that when I tried it the first time I got so sick I never wanted to try it again. Then we started doing some vandalism together. I once broke close to 15 windows in a house that was being built. Funny thing about that, we broke every window very loudly and did nothing to hide what we did. You know how we got caught? The last window we broke was a small window on the side of the house that had a neighbor living next to it. We got caught breaking the smallest, most insignificant window in the whole house. And did I ever get in trouble! I was grounded for a long time. My fanny hurt for a long time. I lost my parents trust for a long time. I didn’t like how my life was going for a long time. My parents ended up not letting me hang out with my friend anymore. I didn’t like it at the time, but it was the best thing they could have done for me. Just a short time later, my friend was a heavy drug user and I’m sure I would have been right alongside him if something didn’t change.
Do you pray that when your kids sin, they get caught right away? I’m so glad I got caught. My life direction changed because I got caught. I don’t know if my parents ever prayed that I would get caught, but I know I pray that for my daughters. I want to be part of helping them work out their faith amidst their failures. If not my wife and I, who will?
Will their friends always point them to God’s way of living? Not likely since they are usually young and struggling to find their way at the same time. Will their teachers and coaches do it? Not everyone goes to a Christian school or has believers in those influential positions. But we as parents are called to be there for them. We are called to point them the right way, discipling them into a lifetime of faith. We can pick them up and love them enough to say the hard things. We can forgive them and take the time to rebuild trust so they know we will always be there. Pray they get caught…then step up and be the parent they need when they need you most!
Pastor Mark
Wednesday Mornings
I love Wednesdays. A Wednesday is like a Friday to me. It is the last day of the week I work, and I gear down to be a homebody. Which I must say, being home is the best on a rainy day like today. I was just telling my husband today that Wednesdays are so fun for me because of how they start out. I get ready like any other day, but it is what I do when I leave my house that makes my heart smile.
I get in my car and pick up an 8th grade student, and then we drive to Wood Middle School. At 8:30 AM we meet with 9 other students for the weekly prayer group. The bonus is that I am not there to lead the group. My role is to be the adult who supervises this group. The students are the ones who lead this time; I just get to participate with them.
When we all arrive we start out chatting about life, about texting and how I need help, latest TV shows, and how school is going. Then we all gather together to hear everyone’s prayer requests and ask for prayer.
This group of students amazes me, and I am encouraged to grow in my walk with Christ because of them. I am honored that they allow me to be there each week and hear their requests, and watch them care for one another. And it is such a bonus when they minister to me and ask me what I need prayer for.
The students are living their faith out and being the body of Christ in their school community. It is great to get up extra early and see a glimpse of it every Wednesday morning.
Jen
Are You Ready For The Good Fight?
This Sunday we are starting a new teaching series that will focus on building the quality of your family relationships. The Good Fight series gives you and your students something to fight about, actually fight for—your relationship with each other. Below you will see the different summaries of each week’s Elevation message. Try to keep these thoughts in mind as you have conversations with your kids in the weeks ahead.
Take care,
Pastor Mark
Week 1: 3/1/09 with Pastor Mark speaking
The Good Fight series exposes the truth about family life: All families fight. We just fight about and for different things, and we fight in different ways. Some families are very vocal; others quietly stuff their frustrations inside. But regardless of how families fight, every family decides what they are going to fight over. Fighting about rules and issues will always drive us apart, but there is another way. What if we began to fight for relationship? What if our sole objective was to know each other and to honor each other? The Good Fight encourages students to stay in the fight and never give up on their relationship with their parents.
Week 2: 3/8/09 with Jen Gulbrandson speaking
When it comes to God’s intention for family, there are no ambiguities in Scripture. God desires for children and parents to turn their hearts toward each other and have a relationship. In order to have the good relationship God intends, we have to first learn how to change the fight. We have to stop fighting against “their way” and start fighting for a relationship. We have to surrender our right to be right and take up a new cause. We must prioritize relationship regardless of the cost.
Week 3: 3/15/09 with Pastor Mark speaking
This week is the final conclusion to our parent series. The goal of this week is to help students see the responsibility that they have to pursue a relationship with their parents. Some students have been hurt by their parents and they are living out the cycle by seeking to hurt their parents in return. This week we will look at the life of Absalom, who having been hurt, used the remainder of his life for revenge. We will see the outcome of Absalom’s choice and raise the question: Is this really the best way? Can students begin to break the cycle by refusing to use their influence as sons and daughters to inflict pain on the parents who may have hurt them? Can they be the instruments of healing in our parent’s lives?
Extended Camp Video
So apparently it might just be our church network that is not allowing youtube videos to stream, because i am able to watch them just fine on my iphone (got to love mobile techonology)!
Please leave a comment to let us know if you are or are not able to view the video!
Youtube Difficulties
For some reason we are having issues with our 678live channel on Youtube and none of our videos are currently available. We are quickly working on this and hoping to have this resolved sometime this afternoon. Check back in a little bit!
Determined To Disciple
I was reading some blog posts today and this one stood out to me as an encouragement to keep pressing on in the area of family discipleship. Mark Batterson has some good insights and challenges for each of us to consider. Check it out below and take a look at his blog at evotional.com.
Mark
C.S. Lewis said, “Every life is comprised of a few themes.”
Thought I would share one of my themes. I am such an imperfect parent. But I can also say that nothing is more important to me than being a great dad. Hard to put what I feel into words, but I know that my kids are my legacy.
God keeps taking me back to the last verse of the Old Testament. Malachi 4:6 says: “His preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
As I travel and speak, I’ve noticed that when I talk about the discipleship covenant I made with my oldest son, Parker, people always want to know more. Part of it is the helplessness we feel as parents when our kids get older. We need all the help we can get! I’m also concerned that we live in a culture where parents delegate their responsibilities. We want schools to educate our kids for us. And we want churches to disciple our kids for us. But that’s a good way to insure that our justice system will punish our kids for us. It’s so easy to let someone else do something that is really our responsibility.
Imagine what would happen if Christian parents really took their calling to discipleship seriously? We desperately need a parenting movement that equips parents to fulfill their God-ordained roles as mom and dad.
All I know is this: I am not going to let our culture raise my kids! I am determined to disciple my kids!
Posted by Mark Batterson, 2/17/09
Who Is Really In Control Of My Spending?
I was reflecting about how frustrating it is to try and teach students about having a Biblical perspective on spending money. This last weekend we talked about how important it is to not only commit to giving and saving, but to spend money in a way that pleases God. By talking about how the money we spend can be a reflection of where our heart’s loyalties lie, I kept thinking about how much I need to learn about this very challenge.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about giving people different talents to invest and return to the master. His big takeaway is that if we are faithful in the little things, He(Jesus) can entrust us with bigger treasures. Immediately I go to the insignificant things I buy. When I get a coffee at Dutch Brothers, am I sinning because I am paying $2.50 for something I don’t need, but I really like and can afford? My family is not starving because I have a coffee beverage 4 times a week, but am I unfaithful with the little things??? I just don’t know.
Then I think, what about the guy who makes millions each year? When he spends $100K on a car for the same reasons I want a coffee beverage, is he sinning and unfaithful in the little things too? I am really wrestling with this. I don’t want to be a hypocrite in teaching the students, but also as a model to other parents and families.
Compared to 85% of the world’s population, I am just as rich as the guy who makes millions is to me in our culture. Maybe the question I should be focusing on is not if it’s a sin for me, but if I am increasingly wanting to please Jesus in every part of my life? I know his Spirit is helping me to be more sensitive to the needs around me. He wants me to act without hesitation when he put’s a needy person or situation in front of me. To that end, I am excited about how this growth is changing me. I love how compassion is winning out over my old, self-oriented ways. I want to keep this mindset growing daily. Maybe what will happen is that I won’t have to worry about sin management because I am growing in being a grace giver to all. I think I like where that takes me in my faith journey.
Mark
Use My Ears
I know someone who has been devastated by some recent news. This news is life altering and on the scale of big, it is HUGE. And as I connected with her by phone every few days I found myself hurting for her. I had no words for her, no wisdom that seemed relevant at the time. I felt guilty for not having the right words to say or some words that would bring comfort to her.
In the past I have said to others, “God has a plan,” and “Trust God.” But, I cringed at the thought of saying these truths to her. It felt like if I uttered those words I was just saying it because I had to, or it was my duty. So instead I just listened to her and resonated with her pain, and after I hung up the phone I made my petition before God. That God would bring her the peace and comfort that no human comment could ever give.
I recently had a few conversations with some jr. high students that are really hurting. Life has thrown them some pretty tough stuff to deal with. And even though my desire is for them to draw near to the God, the Healer, I wrestle with a choice. Will I listen for a bit and then wait for my opportunity to give advice and tell them how to live, or will I really listen and allow them to pour out their hearts? I cannot look for my opportunity to speak because they would just shut down. So instead I felt God telling me to listen and not be so quick to speak. To not be so quick to give a remedy. To just extend my listening ear, and when they asked me a question I would then lovingly share how I have seen God work in my life in the midst of painful times.
I have to say that I did not always care enough to really listen. But, God is working on me to stop with the words and really listen. It is so hard, so very hard for a talker like me. But if I want to truly hear, I need to quiet my mouth, use my ears and truly listen.
Jen
College Doesn’t Turn Kids Secular?
Today I started to to try and do a better job of finding insightful information online that will be food for thought as we travel the journey of raising students who will live their faith for a lifetime. From now on, I will be inserting various blog posts and news items from the web in addition to original thoughts from those of us on staff at Rolling Hills. Let me know what you think as you get a chance to interact with it- Pastor Mark
The following response is from Tim Gebhart, Assistant Director of Wilderness Ministry at Ohio Wesleyan University. Before coming to Ohio Wesleyan, Mr. Gebhart reached out to students at Slippery Rock University.
Tim Gebhart writes:
The message that “College doesn’t turn kids secular” caused me to look at things from a different perspective than I usually do. In the CCO we often focus on Steve Garber’s The Fabric of Faithfulness, that Barna Group survey, and other sources that tell us, correctly, how habits formed in college are likely to remain for life.
What about habits formed during high school? In an interview, Mark Regnerus makes the claim that “most of the seeds for ‘secularization’ are planted well before college, but it’s only during college that the diminished participation in organized religion emerges and becomes evident.” A major cause of this “secularization” is the shoddy faith foundations of many teens (and their parents).
I have seen numerous examples that support Regnerus’ statement: High school students I have known whose parents forced them to go to church, and who kept them from alcohol and the whole party scene that comes with it but never gave reasons for these rules. The kids graduated from high school and went off to college. While at college they never went to church. In fact, most Sunday mornings they were still drunk from the night before. There was no sudden change in beliefs. These students did not get secularized by the atmosphere in their college town. While in high school (if not before) they decided that they didn’t want to have anything to do with church, and that alcohol and partying looked like a lot of fun. The college experience didn’t change their minds, but it did give them opportunities to do these things.
While college students do form long-lasting lifestyle patterns, they do not come to college as empty vessels or unshaped masses. College is a time when patterns are set in stone, but many of these patterns have been established long before. Looked at in this light, our role as campus ministers is to guide students to see the positive and negative patterns in their own lives, to reinforce the positive, and to alter the negative.
Too often, as Christian Smith says in his interview, students “can’t explain . . . what’s behind their thinking.” These students don’t know how to practice deep soul-searching or self examination. Their worldviews are made up of assumptions that they don’t even realize they are assuming. This is one place that we as campus ministers need to step in to guide these students in rediscovering the teachings of Jesus.
Many students have no solid answers to questions such as ‘Why aren’t you drinking?’ or ‘Why do you go to church?’ When confronted with these questions, students are either going to give in to their friends, the askers of the above questions, or they are going to examine the beliefs they’ve inherited from their parents, and make them truly their own. As Garber and the Barna Group assure us, whichever way students go, they are likely to continue in that direction for their whole lives. As campus ministers, we need to spend time with these students to teach them incarnationally that the gospel of Christ is true and meaningful in their lives. We need to live our lives as examples to our students, realizing that we aren’t perfect, but still we can demonstrate a consistent, faithful lifestyle based on the gospel. Also it’s our role to ask students hard questions in a safe context, a place where they can say “I don’t know,” and we can help them to discover solid answers that will hold up in the classroom and at the frat party – or in the dorm as they are deciding whether to go to the frat party.
Students often come to college with thoroughly unexamined beliefs. After they graduate, they will be much less likely to change their beliefs. This makes the college years a crucial time to correct and fine tune beliefs and lifestyle choices.
College Transition Initiative12/18/07 7:44 AMDerek Melleby (noreply@blogger.com)
You Can’t Sing What You Can’t Hear
I was reading this today from Mark Batterson, an insightful pastor in the DC area, and I thought it was worth posting- Mark
I recently read a fascinating story about a musical trainer who worked with Opera singers who could not hit certain notes within an Octave, even though the notes fell within their vocal range. It was a mystery. The trainer did extensive testing on their vocal chords, but he couldn’t find any reason why they couldn’t hit those notes. On a whim, he tested their hearing. And what he discovered is that these Opera singers could not sing a note they could not hear. The problem wasn’t singing. The problem was hearing.
Made me think of that phrase that is repeated throughout the New Testament: he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. I think many of us are trapped in negative cycles or sinful habits or destructive addictions because we haven’t heard the loving voice of our Heavenly Father say, “This is my child in whom I am well pleased.”
When you start to hear the voice of God–His loving voice, His graceful voice, His assuring voice, His powerful voice–you begin to sing what you’re heard. By the way, this is why it’s so important to read the Word. When you open the Bible God opens His mouth.
For what it’s worth, I’d rather have people hear one word from the Lord than a thousand sermons!
The Batterson Blog – Thoughts on Life and Leadership2/11/09 7:35 AMMark Batterson (noreply@blogger.com)
Get On The Giving Train…
Last weekend we talked about giving and the different ways you can give with the students at Elevation. It went really well and I enjoyed encouraging the students to take steps of faith and action in this area. I wanted to give you a short summary of the takeaways that we gave the kids so you can get some ideas on how to build the spiritual discipline of giving into their life.
Often the ways we try and help our kids learn how to give is by giving them some money just before we leave for church and reminding them to put it in the offering basket when they get to their class. One big challenge for JH students is that they don’t learn to use their own money in that situation. It’s hard to remember and even harder to get change for their money on short notice. Ever wonder why your kid doesn’t give when you gave them a $20 bill for their allowance? So the kid goes to church with a $20 in his wallet and when it’s time to give his tithe of 10%, he doesn’t have any change so he waits until next week. It’s not that he doesn’t want to give, it’s more a matter of not having a means to give. Below is the segment of my message that dealt with applying the message and starting to give financially:
How do you start giving?
- First, answer these questions in your heart
- Do you love Jesus?
- Did Jesus give his life so you could be his follower?
- Will you follow Him in every part of your life?
- Will you start to give your money this week, no matter how faithful you have been in the past?
- Get your parents involved so you are teaming together to do this
- Ask for a checking account(which allows for learning how to write a check and use a check for your giving)
- Try to use the online giving tool at church if you don’t have cash you can easily give(this only works if your child has a debit card connected to their checking account)
- Pray for the cheerful joy of giving, in every situation that you give
- Be confident that your gift, no matter how small or big, is changing the world, one person at a time
As I worked with my Freshman daughter, I tried to apply these principles. She was very responsive and desiring to give, but she got easily stuck because she didn’t have money with her and she didn’t remember to get money before Sundays. All in all, when she used her debit card to access a regular offering gift of $1.50 taken out of her checking account each Sunday, she can now feel confident that she is faithfully giving. She always had a cheerful attitude about giving so her actions and her heart are lining up.
I hope this post will help you to take ground in this area and let me know if I can better clarify any of these thoughts.
Pastor Mark
Imitate Me, Part 1
I was reflecting today about how much it frustrates me when we lose continuity in any of our ministries in the Junior High. Last weekend we didn’t meet for Fusion because historically, when we would meet on Super Bowl Sunday, we would have so few leaders and so few students. The ensuing results of all the absentees would be multiple combined groups with strange group dynamics. So we press on and meet as frequently as we can, hoping to keep the continuity of discipling our students at the forefront of our leader’s hearts and minds.
To that end, I would like to start a series of blog posts that will help you to better build spiritually into your kid’s life. In 1st Corinthians 11:1 it says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” When we get challenged to start discipling our families or some other setting, what usually stops us is knowing the right place to start. I often think that Jesus wasn’t nearly as concerned about where he would start with his disciples as he was about starting where they were at. I try to do the same in my Fusion group of guys.
During the course of my group time on Sunday nights, my apprentices and I do something called Imitate Me time. We talk about one important aspect about our faith and walk with God and share it with our students. We challenge them to take a step in that aspect this week and see if they did it the following week when we meet again. By seeing if they did imitate in their life the challenge I gave, I can see if they are taking steps with God or just taking up space in our group.
Each one of us has a number of significant areas in our spiritual walk that are worth imitating. With me, it’s my consistent time reading the Word, praying and listening to sermons every morning as part of my workout. Another area is my desire to serve at Hazelbrook Middle School and help in a math class each week on Tuesdays. You may be really good at writing encouraging letters to different people and modeling that to your kids. You might have a gift for fixing things that you could teach to someone. You might be gifted in sports and love to help others by coaching or assisting a coach and helping them to be successful.
Whatever you have that has shaped your faith, take that and figure out how someone could imitate that in your life. Break it down and simplify it so it has steps and a progression. Try and transfer it to your son or daughter and see if they pick it up. Just remember that it won’t happen automatically. You have to decide to start somewhere and move forward. Each one of us is worth imitating so let’s start helping our kids follow Christ more closely as we teach them how to imitate us as we imitate Christ.
Pastor Mark
Red To Black Series Overview
RED TO BLACK: We live in a culture that moves fast. We can get a burger and fries in less than three minutes, and we can download new music in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, this fast pace usually means we don’t stop to think about the money that constantly comes and goes, passing through our hands feeding our desire for more. But did you know throughout Jesus ministry one of His most prevalent topics was money? That’s right. The way we use our resources is important to God. The next four weeks we are going to take a look the power of greed and materialism. We will also be looking at the way we give, spend and save our money, and how these habits reveal the thin green line between our hearts and our money.
Week One (February 1st)
This week we will be playing a game called Wall Street for most of the service that will simulate the stock market. After playing the game, Grant Vandehey will be sharing from 1 Timothy 6, especially focusing on how the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
Week Two (February 8th)
We all want to make a difference in this life. We want to be a part of something beyond ourselves. This week we will show how giving connects you to something bigger.
Week Three (February 15th)
Have you ever walked into Target to buy toothpaste? You walk in the door focused on the one thing you need, and walk out with $40 of stuff you realized you “had to have” once you entered the magical land of marketing. This week we will be talking about how what we see affects our desire and ultimately our pocketbook.
Week Four (February 22nd)
Chances are you have a list of “someday” items. Things you are going to buy, repairs you are going to make, vacations you will go on someday. The trouble is saving money for these things takes time and self-control. But when saving becomes a part of a monthly, weekly or daily routine, then we will be able to ultimately do more with our money than we can do today.
EXPERIENCE:
Math teachers teach math. Science teachers teach science. But who is teaching your child to manage their finances? Whether you realize it or not, your child is affected by the way you treat money. Think back to your own experience. How did your parents handle finances? Did they talk about it openly? Did your parents spend more than what they had? Did they save money? Did they give on a regular basis? How have your parents’ financial habits affected you?
This month, spend some time reflecting on your financial habits. Then spend some time alone answering the following questions about your financial goals for your child. Follow up by finding a time to get alone with your child, listen to their goals and come up with a plan to help them responsibly manage their resources.
Income/Spending:
1. What are your child’s expenses?
2. What do you want your child to pay for on his or her own?
3. How do you expect your child to pay for these things? Will he or she have a job?
4. How much will you allow your child to work while in school?
Savings/ Debt:
1. What expenses do you see in your child’s future? (car/ college/living, etc.)
2. How much of these expenses will your child be responsible for?
3, How can your child avoid debt?
4. Does your child need a credit card? Will you co-sign for one? What is the credit card for?
5. Will your child take out loans for college? What is the plan for paying those off?
6. Does your child need to save up for taxes? Do they know how to pay taxes when the time comes?
Giving:
1. Do you give on a regular basis?
2. Why would you or your child want to give?
3. In what ways can you encourage your child to give?
The Journey Of Love
I still remember my first love. She was a beautiful Hispanic girl in Ukiah, California. We never talked. I just saw her and fell in love at first sight. In order to look more like her, I had my Mom buy gallons of chocolate milk so I could drink my skin darker, but to no avail! Eventually(2 days later) my love for her faded and I fell in love with dinosaur bone discovery and my first love had come to an end.
When I watch young, junior high students fall in love, I inwardly chuckle because I see kids fall into the same journey with the same steps each time. These steps seem to be the outgrowth of the maturing of students from fear of the opposite sex to obsession then back to balance and eventually to marriage. Here are the steps I’ve seen in my many years in student ministry:
Step 1- The Mean Stage- In grade school two kids who like each other tend to hit or bug each other for no particular reason than to start the journey of love. This step comes and goes like the wind so kids can have many relationships in one day.
Step 2- The Third Person Stage- Usually in late grade school to junior high school, students find out that they are in a relationship because they get informed of such by a mutual friend. Actual communication between the two persons doesn’t happen. This third person relationship lasts only as long as the third person wishes to be in the middle of things, sometimes even years long. Most of the time, these relationships last for a week or two and then end with bang.
Step 3- The Phone Stage- This stage is fun because communication between the guy and the girl takes place. However, in this day and age that communication is only rarely face to face (unless you could video chatting on the computer). Typically these relationships rely on innumerable text messages, cell phone calls and instant messaging. This abundance of communication often ends when face to face activities begin which typically ends the relationship because the two don’t know how to relate on a personal level.
Step 4- The Group Stage- In order to solve the awkwardness of the face to face personal activities together, the group stage comes into play where groups of peers coincidentally show up at a mall or movie theatre and hidden within the groups are a boy and girl who “like” each other. To “like” someone is to say you are in love in youth terms. This stage can last years and is very healthy since friendship is the best foundation for youth relationships.
Step 5- The Affection Stage- Often when a relationship progresses, the involved students may show affection like hand holding or sitting next to each other. This usually causes friends in close proximity to erupt in jeers of embarrassment or to run for the hills because of the syrupy love speak that almost always accompanies the mutually affectionate.
Step 6- The One-On-One Stage- Right on the heels of the institution of affection in a relationship is often the “talk” that leads to declaring the relationship is an exclusive entity. Now that it’s declared as such, every conversation with someone of the opposite sex can be construed as threatening to the integrity of the relationship. When hurt feelings occur, hours-long conversations must happen to work toward making things right. If one or both of the parties stop working on making things right, the relationship often ends. If they both work hard and keep working hard it may lead to the next stage.
Step 7- The Engagement Stage- Usually after a year of One on One stage dating, the two persons in love decide that they wish to spend a lifetime of working things out together so a ring is purchased and wedding plans are made and months later the happily married could start the journey of married love.
The journey of love is full of fun and conflict, joy and despair, but full it is. Even though this little overview is more tongue-in-cheek than Solomonic wisdom, I hope you will get a kick of the ways that love happens today.
Mark
Sometimes You Need To Leave The Cabin…
Last month when we had all the snow, I found myself in a situation I never thought I would be in: Cabin Fever! After too many days of no school, no work, no normal schedule and more, I found my patience getting strained to the limit. I had become overly cranky and not very fun to be around. Cabin fever comes from the situations in camping where the weather keeps people in and recreation becomes mere survival. No one likes cabin fever. It’s boring. It is depressing. It can feel endless. Much like the way we can see our kids when get family cabin fever on a spiritual level.
Family cabin fever isn’t a clinical condition or even something you may have read about. I started thinking that the cabin fever effect can happen with families, especially families that become disconnected with their spiritual community. When you become so myopic about the challenges your kids are going through, when you seem to fight the same fights, over and over, these are the situations that can drive us to deep discouragement. We may only see the ways our kids don’t seem to grow and develop and miss the positive steps that may be small and yet formative. I know this is something I struggle with often. I see the continued messy rooms that never get cleaned unless we badger the kids. The lights that remain on. The lost or forgotten homework that seems to happen every other night. Unfortunately, these daily growth challenges can make us forget that there is another bigger challenge lurking that we are missing.
The reason cabin fever is so hard to deal with is because we weren’t meant to stay in the cabin! We were meant to enjoy the world outside the cabin. It lodges us for a night or the occasional meal, but we were meant for the world outside. It’s when we only see the cabin and not the world that we lose perspective. We are supposed to be forming children who will one day be able to impact the world and one day repeat this process with their kids. If all we care about is a well-behaved, cabin environment, free from frustration and with a minimum of stress, we will have missed the boat! We need to leave the cabin and see if our kids can take their faith into the world. We need to find out if they have what it takes to own what they say they believe. If not, they will walk away and probably never come back. Why would you come back to a faith that’s all about avoiding stress and frustration and trying to control those who cause it?
Most of us would rather be fully alive, outside where our faith can thrive and impact others. We want to be graded on the way our lives counted for what matters most to Jesus. If we parents can thrive in that kind of life, your kids will pick it up and run with it too. We need to show them that our families will be best when they leave the cabin and enjoy the world.
Pastor Mark
Thrashed
I came home and noticed that my daughter’s Children’s Bible was sitting on a dresser and not in it’s normal place. When I picked up the Bible the cover was completely torn and the binding was coming apart. I irritability asked my husband, Darren, why our daughter’s Bible was so thrashed, and he proceeded to tell me what happened. He said that she wanted the Bible off the top shelf of her bookshelf and when she grabbed it the weight of the Bible made it crash on the floor, causing the tear. The tears only got worse as she tried to keep the Bible on her lap, but because of the weight of the Bible it kept slipping off her lap and falling to the ground.
That night I was at Bible Study, and while using my Bible I realized my binding is completely separated from the rest of the pages. I have had my Bible for 19 years. It was a gift from the senior pastor of the church I grew up at. I have thought of getting a new Bible for years, but the thought of not using the Bible that has been with me since I was 15 is hard for me to think about. My Bible is so thrashed because I have taken it with me many places, dropped it many times, and read it for years.
Then I thought of my daughter’s Bible being just as thrashed as mine, and I realized it is because she enjoys God’s Word. After months and months of reading her the Bible, she is beginning to want to see it for herself.
The same day of the thrashed Bible incident, I took out a jr. high student for a snack after school. We had the best time chatting and eating. Towards the end of our conversation I asked her how she stays close to God throughout the week. Her response blew me away. She proceeded to tell me that she prays and reads her Bible most nights before she goes to bed.
My prayer since my daughter was born was that she would grow up to love God and be in The Word daily (just like that jr. high student). I am excited to see that she has thrashed her Bible in an effort to look through the passages throughout the day.
Not only do I pray that my daughter knows God’s Word and is transformed by it, but that I lead the example before her. Thrashed Bibles, gotta love ’em!
Jen
Bridging The Gap
We have a United Service coming up this next Sunday the 25th and it got me thinking. We originally started United Services in order to provide a way for us to try and stem the tide of students not connecting with our Adult services before graduation from High School. We have seen, especially in the last 8 years, a vast increase in students who don’t connect with our Adult services after High School. We have also seen that this phenomena is not specific to our church, but is indicative of a national trend in churches today. We wanted our United Services to be unique and have the leadership cross the different generations of the different age groups that would participate. We wanted them to occur about 4 times a year, which we have done a pretty good job keeping to.
Unfortunately, what I have observed happening is that the students perceive that the United Services are no different than the family worship weekends that we have periodically during the course of the ministry year. Even though the services have youth staff up front leading worship and different elements of the service, they still don’t see that as enough of a difference as to be noticeable. I know that many hours and much thought has been given to this challenging situation, but it seems that we are making too little progress.
I am interested in what different families are perceiving. I would love to hear back about what your kids are saying. I ask my girls and get good feedback, but I would like to hear from others, young and old, just entering Junior High and even those who graduated long ago. Give me pointers. Point me to books to read. Set up a time to chat and let’s hit this challenge head on with a passion to see change happen. Let’s hear what the kids think and try to assimilate all the ideas together and see it we find the heart of Christ to unify His church in the midst of it all!
Thanks for helping me in this ,
Pastor Mark
Red To Black: The Prequel
When I was growing up, I knew my Dad was a generous giver at our church. He was on the finance committee and was always willing to help others with financial wisdom. He gave me an allowance each week and instructed me on the importance of giving to the church and valuing finances with the right perspective. So how come I never gave? Did I just not get it? Or did I have to learn and hear from God in his timing?
Today, it doesn’t seem like many kids get a consistent allowance. Often, they get very little training and accountability in how they handle money before they leave the home. In fact, we see that more kids don’t have any control over the money they receive. If they want to go out, they hit Mom or Dad up for the money. If the parents have the money and the desire to let them go, they go. If the parents are running short, they don’t. More schools are stepping up and giving instructions about practical finance in parts of classes they offer. Unfortunately, the schools don’t have a spiritual/Biblical foundation for their financial instruction.
If we want to help our kids avoid going into the Red(by taking on too much debt and financial crisis), we need to prioritize helping them by equipping them to handle finances before they are in crisis. To that end, we are getting on board with the whole church as we start the series called Red To Black. We will be teaching our kids the Junior High specific applications of the message topics that will be taught throughout the life of the church during February. We are also encouraging our families to prioritize going to the seminar as a family. While most helpful for a high schooler, the seminar could be very helpful for junior high students who are mature.
I hope and pray that as we anticipate this Red To Black series and take ground in equipping our kids for now and the future, we will find that much heartache is saved in the future. Pray about your involvement and anticipate hearing from God.
Take care,
Mark
Confessions Of A Reactive Parent
With the turning of the calendar into another year, I was considering resolutions and looking back on what happened this past year as a way of getting calibrated for direction for this coming year. Last year I tried really hard to realign our ministry efforts from only focusing on students to taking ground in the area of helping parents be more effective in discipling their kids. As we have used this blog and tried to raise this value in numerous other ways, I have consistently tried to look in the mirror and see if I am following the model that we are holding up for our families. As I am my worst critic, I don’t feel I do a good job discipling my own kids. Thus the title of this blog…
To say I don’t disciple my kids would be a huge overstatement. My wife Rhonda and I are very integrated with our faith and our family life. We aren’t legalistic, focusing on the do’s and don’ts of the faith. We allow our kids to make mistakes and help them process what needs to change when they do have missteps. We model a daily walk with Christ and do this while both working, albeit as staff members at Rolling Hills. We are good, reactive parents, helping our kids process life situations as they come up with grace and wisdom, keeping our faith at the forefront. While much of living life by faith is learning how to react to situations and not compromise, this is only part of what a disciplemaking parent is called to do. The other part is to be proactive.
In many ways I depend on others (their pastor, their small group leader, their church) to do the proactive part. It’s not that I don’t try to be proactive, it just isn’t as natural to do as the reactive discipling which comes up spontaneously and irregularly. I trust the different voices who are speaking truth into my kid’s lives to do so. I just need to also be one of those voices too. But how often? In what context is it best? What information should I share? How do I balance relational closeness with informational accountability?
These burning questions will follow me this year. If you have something that has helped you to be a proactive discipling parent, comment on this blog entry and let me know what you do. I would love to be sharpened by the iron of the body of Christ.
Mark
Welcome Back & Happy New Year!
I’m back from an abundance of snow, travel, holiday bustle and time to reflect on the real reason for the season- Christ! With the adjustment to the normal schedule (Is there a “normal” schedule?), I wanted to let you know what is coming up with the Junior High ministry.
Elevation starts up on Sunday, January 4th at 11am with a new series called “Attached”. Here is some information that will help you be in the loop about what we will be teaching:
Attached:
Every one of us is attached to something—some person, thing or experience. The trouble with our attachments is that sometimes they let us down. For the next three weeks your students will be exploring the attachments that become part of their identity, and uncovering the truth about their identity in Christ.
Week One (January 4th)
Students will be challenged to look at their lives and consider the things that require the greatest amount of their time, money and attention. We will help them begin to identify attachments that may be shaping their identity. It is not a time for critique or judgment, but a time to peel back the curtain and look honestly at places of attachment. This week you may want to ask your student about attachments that they see in their lives.
Week Two (January 11th)
Students will be challenged to find their identity not in the things of the world—things that always change and have the potential to let them down and break their heart—but to find their identity in knowing that they are the beloved children of an awesome God. You may want to ask them what they heard the speaker say, and ask them what it means to be attached to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Week Three (January 18th)
Now students have identified the things they are attached to, and have recognized potential dangers associated with creating an identity based on things that do not last. They have considered the truth that they have already been given an identity as the beloved child of God.
Students will now be challenged to lean fully into Christ by fostering a growing relationship with their Creator. That feels risky to a student—and even to an adult. It’s not the reality, because trusting in God is never a real risk, but it sure feels that way sometimes. You may want to talk to your student about ways that you try to lean fully into Christ and things that make it really difficult for you.
I hope this little summary will help you reinforce the truth of this series into your student’s everyday life. Let us know any feedback you may have about what God is doing in this series by emailing me at mark.began@rollinghills.org.
In His Service,
Pastor Mark
Snow Days
Snow days are the best. I grew up in California so snow days are not something I grew up with. But after living in Oregon for over a decade, I quickly learned that this kind of weather shuts everything down and it can be like a mini vacation.
The only bummer about the snow that appeared was that I really was looking forward to our last Fusion of 2008. It has been such a great fall and I wanted to have one last Fusion before January. But, due to the inches of snow and the impending ice we had to cancel. Sad, but I know that all the students must be thrilled that due to the weather they had a snow day today.
Since we did not have Fusion last night, let me share with you why I enjoy Fusion so much:
1. Leaders: The Fusion Leaders are amazing. They care deeply for each student in their group and they take time out of their busy lives to be there for students.
2. Discussions: Each group has a relevant topic that students can discuss and be challenged to live out that week.
3. Meal Nights: A great time to celebrate through worship, having community, and a challenging message.
4. Friendships: Friendships in Christ are so essential to help students feel that they can keep living for Christ no matter what may happen.
5. Service: So many groups have taken the time to serve the community by taking food to the Food Pantry, handing our lunches to those who have no food, and putting together shoe boxes full of presents for Operation Christmas Child.
6. Students: The students we have in our jr. high program are the best. They make me laugh, they challenge me to live for Jesus, and I really enjoy spending time getting to know them.
I have worked in the Jr. High Ministry for over eleven years, and I must say as time has gone by I like it more and more each year. That is why when Fusion is canceled I can honestly say I miss spending time with the students. So thanks for letting me work with you, and thanks for allowing me to be a part of your lives.
To all of you jr. high students out there, enjoy your snow day! See you at the next Fusion!
Jen
Captivated
I love this time of year. The hunt for a great Christmas tree, decorating my house with items I only pull out once a year, and being a part of the shopping madness all makes my heart happy. This year we have added something new to our holiday busyness, Christmas Lights! After dinner time (which is very early at our house because our toddler wants to eat right away) we all get in the car and drive around looking at how people adorn their houses with a vast array of lights. Some lights twinkle, some are different colors, some are all white, and some are the latest LED version. We don’t care what kind of light it is; we are just on the look out for them all.
Our daughter will stand at the door that leads to the garage and repeat, “lights, lights, lights,” until we tell her that we must wait until after dinnertime. She loves it, and she is so quiet in the back seat of the car that often times we think she has fallen asleep. But, she has not drifted off into a winter slumber, she is captivated by all the lights she sees.
So I think to myself, what captivates my attention this season? Is it making out my wish list and focusing on all the things I want, or is it bigger then that? Do I desire to be captivated by the real Light of the World or worldly materialism?
In the Christmas Story in Luke 2 it describes how the angels appear to the shepherds in the fields. The angel tells the shepherds that he has great news the Messiah has been born. After the angels leave the shepherds say, “’Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Luke 2:15 NLT
Do I focus on Christ and see the wonderful things He has done in my life?
I do not want this Christmas to just be about gazing at a spectacle of houses aglow from masses amounts of lights. I want to stand in awe of the Light of World, Jesus the Messiah, who came to heal my brokenness and make me whole.
May I be captivated by His Light, and reflect Him in what I say and do.
Merry Christmas!
Jen
Anti-Community?
This year marks my 20th year of student ministry as a ministry profession. I still remember putting a resume together and praying to God that my first church would be anywhere but in the flat Plains states. Ironically, God called me to be the first youth pastor at a church in Alberta, Canada. Up there, they don’t call the flatlands Plains, but Prairies! However, to a lifelong Oregonian, with easy access to the ocean and the mountains, this seemed to be a geographical death sentence! But I went, in obedience to the Lord, and started my ministry in Lethbridge as a 23 year old single guy.
My biggest fears were that I would have a hard time making friends and would never get married. God had a few things in store for me. First, no sooner had I moved in to the church parsonage but a week later I had 4 roommates (well 5 if you count the guy who moved in for two days and moved out right away because he missed his mom’s cooking!) Those guys were fun to be around. They showed me friendship could be challenging. They became many of my first youth ministry volunteer leaders at the church. Talk about amazing and totally unexpected!
What made this all the more unusual is that I had such an open door relationship with so many different people in the church from the very beginning. I often went over to my Senior Pastor’s home and he became a strong father figure for 5 years of my life. I was invited in for meals to many different people’s homes and rarely went hungry from my poor cooking skills. I wish I would have invested more of myself into those precious people as they gave so much to me.
In looking back, I have never experienced that same level of community since. Honestly, I don’t even know why. I have friends here who I am deeply close to and friends who would drop everything and be there in times of crisis. Maybe it’s that the culture here is different. I find that just dropping in is replaced by scheduling a get-together a month from now because there are so many things happening. I see less of how people are really feeling and more of the superficial mask of “everything is fine with me!” How I long for those days gone by…
Look at Jesus. He had time to hang out with his disciples and do life with them. He dropped everything and went to lunch with Zaccheus. He went out of his way to go and heal someone and his life intercepted with a woman who had a huge need for healing that he wasn’t even aware of. She just touched his coat while he was on his way. Jesus modeled community by including all and being the example our culture sorely needs. I only hope that I will start to walk in His steps and fight the tide of Anti-Community that we have come to expect is normal. May we all want to be more than normal conformists, isolated in our suburban homes of refuge, becoming more and more independent and losing our connectedness along the way. I know that’s not what I want, but am I willing to change? Am I willing to open my home and reach out and include others?
With God’s Strength I want to!
Pastor Mark
More Is Caught Than Taught
Do you ever come to the realization that our kids behave a certain way most of the time, but you wonder how they came to be that way? Last night we were having our regular pick-up-your-clothes disagreement and my wife and I were wondering if little things like this would ever change. Will the girls start cleaning up after a meal without being told to? Will they do a load of laundry, just because they noticed it needed to be done and they happened to be available to do it? Will they spend time with God, without being constantly reminded about the importance of doing so each day? Sometimes I wonder if their actions will match up to their beliefs in the long run.
When I was growing up, I always saw my Dad spending time reading in the Bible and reading that day’s selection from the booklet, Our Daily Bread. He did it every morning, right around 6am before he went to work. Truly, it was like clockwork and he was as dependable as the sun rising each day. Funny thing, him doing that didn’t motivate me to do the same. In fact, until I went on a couple of mission trips and became a leader in my youth group I didn’t start to develop what my time with Jesus each day would look like. I knew I wanted to read the Bible and pray, but prayer put me to sleep most of the time. I tried to journal, but I felt stupid trying to write what my thoughts were. Being a young male, I’m not sure if I even had thoughts!
But over time, I was able to find a rhythm to spending time with the Lord. I found that I like to read through books of the Bible, two chapters at a time. I don’t read the Bible from start to finish, but I do read groups of books straight through like the gospels or the wisdom literature. I don’t pray silently, but I walk and pray out loud and as a result I don’t fall asleep! I almost always do this early in the morning with a time of exercise (which I now listen to message podcasts on my ipod shuffle while I’m running!) On the occasions when I find that when I don’t take time in the morning I feel like something is missing in a real, felt kind of way.
I guess the reality is that I did catch something eternally valuable from my Dad: his passion to follow God. Each day when I connect with God, my life is following the spiritual legacy that my Dad has lived and hopefully will continue to live the rest of his life. What are your kids catching from you? Are they catching that you have to be a workaholic to succeed in life? Are they catching that you are what you own? Or are they catching that your relationship with God is your constant, your Rock and your Strong Tower? It’s easy to say the right things on Sunday, but do they catch the same things the rest of the week?
Take care,
Pastor Mark
December Series
Christmas is such a crazy time. Students are busy dreaming about what they want to get, and parents are shopping frantically for what they want to give. We all become consumed with malls and wrapping paper. It’s a Wonderful Life and How the Grinch Stole Christmas play on TV and Santa Clause poses for pictures with every excited (and screaming) child. At church we tell the story about shepherds, angels and a manger, but so often the significance of the story is lost because it seems like just one more holiday tradition. Or we’ve heard it so much that we don’t hear it anymore. Our upcoming series is going to tell the Christmas Story—but in a slightly different way.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 4, 2008 @ OUR ELEVATION SERVICE
We will begin the series by looking at the life of Herod, a man who had everything. He was powerful and in control. But when it comes to the Christmas story, Herod missed the point. When he heard about the baby born in a manger, he felt threatened. This week we will talk about the danger of the Christmas story. That’s right, danger. Because each of us, like Herod, must determine how a little baby in a manger thousands of years ago threatens our security and shakes us out of our comfort zone?
SUNDAY DECEMBER 14, 2008 @ OUR ELEVATION SERVICE
This week we will talk about Simeon—a man who lived 114 years consumed with only one thought. Simeon wanted to see the Messiah. He knew that God was going to fulfill His promise, and he was wiling to wait as long as it took to see the promise fulfilled. This week we will encourage students to live like Simeon, patiently focused on the one thing that really matters.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 14, 2008 @ FUSION
We will conclude the series that night by looking at the lives of Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah, a religious professional, used all his skills and abilities for God, but somehow missed the power of God when He showed up in Zechariah’s life. When God promised to work a miracle, Zechariah was skeptical. But when an angel came to tell Mary that God was about to do the impossible, she praised Him for His great plan. This week we will begin to see how God can use us for something bigger than ourselves if we let Him.
Have you ever been a part of something bigger than yourself? Maybe you were able to send food, shoes, or presents to a family hundred’s of miles away. Maybe you were able to hold the hand of a grieving stranger. Our world is full of need and each one of us has been equipped with resources to meet some of those needs. And when we do that, we also gain in the process.
Whenever we are able to work together as a team, neighborhood or family, it is amazing how much we are drawn together. In the act of serving together all the tension and stress of our day-to-day lives seem to melt away, and we walk away with a powerful shared experience. This month, think about a project that you and your family can do together so that you can be a part of something bigger than yourselves.
You may want to consider one of the following options:
Compassion International: Compassion International is a Christian child advocacy ministry dedicated to release children from poverty. Through sponsorship programs, Compassion addresses the economic, health, environmental, social, educational and spiritual needs of these children. Currently, Compassion helps more than 800,000 children in 24 countries. Log onto their web site to find out one of the many ways your family can partner with Compassion to make a lasting difference in the life of a child. The Jr. High Ministry sponsors two children from Uganda and it’s a great way to be the hands and feet of Christ outside of our normal sphere of influence.
[www.compassion.com]
TOMS Shoes: TOMS was born in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie out of a commitment to produce stylish, comfortable, and practical footwear while improving the lives of children around the world. Every pair sold is personally matched with a donated pair to a child in need. This Christmas have fun giving TOMS shoes and celebrating the children who will also be comforted by your donation.
[www.tomsshoes.com]
410 Bridge: 410 Bridge began in 2005 by Lanny Donoho. The overall goal is life transformation, for Americans and Kenyans alike through building lasting relationships within cross-cultural communities. This month your students are partnering with 410 Bridge to help solve the water crisis in 410 bridge communities in Kenya by purchasing bottled water. To find out more about how your family can partner with 410 Bridge communities, go to their web site and click on the link to “communities,” then look for projects that interest you. Be creative in thinking of activities that would raise money and enable you to give to these communities.
[www.410bridge.org]
Jr High Ministry Holiday Schedule Update!
I wanted to let you know about the upcoming schedule as we head into the holidays since things can be less than predictable.
11/23- No Elevation due to Fusion Leader’s Retreat to the coast. Fusion will be meeting as usual from 6:30-8:30pm on Sunday night.
11/30- No Elevation or Fusion due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
12/7- Elevation is back and we are starting a new series called, “A Christmas Story”. Fusion small groups will be meeting at various times this weekend due to the Christmas drama at the Church. No regular Fusion this weekend.
12/14- Elevation is meeting. Fusion is meeting at RHCC and will be a meal night schedule. We are planning a special Christmas theme for Fusion that evening!
12/21- No Elevation or Fusion for the Christmas break
12/28- No Elevation or Fusion for the Christmas break
1/4- Elevation is meeting with a new series called, “Attached” about who we get attached to in relationships and finding the right kinds of people to attach to. There will be no Fusion this night.
1/11- Elevation is meeting normally and Fusion returns with a meal night schedule.
As always, refer to the 678live.com website for our schedule and let us know if you have any questions!
Pastor Mark
Just Released Parent Information!
Thanks so much for your support as parents! We love your kids and we want to continue to serve the family as you build faith into your kids. I wanted to take advantage of letting you know what is newly available to you to give you insights and understanding about the world of Junior High ministry.
Last Saturday was the first Bridges 2008 youthworker training event for Portland area youthworkers, both professional, volunteer and student youthworkers in training. We had over 300 plus come and participate in general sessions and breakout seminars and it was a real highlight. Mike Higgs, a veteran youth pastor locally, was our speaker and he gave a timely message on the need for youthworkers today. Take time to listen to it by going to http://www.678live.com and clicking on our podcast link. Download it to your mp3 player, hear the challenge and I believe you won’t regret it!
Our Parent Visit Night at Fusion on October 26th was a great success. For those who couldn’t make it this time, you can find the information content is also on the podcast link referred to above. Check it out, you will find it very helpful.
For those parents who want to keep up with the teaching on Sunday mornings at Elevation, download individual messages from the Chasing Daylight series at the podcast link as well.
Great information, great challenges, and tools to help you on the journey! Let us know what you think.
Pastor Mark
Elevation vs Fusion
During my close to 15 years of ministry at Rolling Hills I’ve come upon numerous parents and students who will ask me a burning question about the Junior High. They want to know, in a day of limited time and availability, which of the two ministry programs is more important to attend. That is a hard question to answer since I believe in the merits of both of them. In fact, it really challenged me to understand what am I doing to help our students become stronger followers of Christ in light of the few programs we provide (which I believe to be a good thing!) So, here it goes…
Elevation is a vital gathering of our students for corporate worship and challenging teaching for life change. I love the way our worship draws students into connection with Jesus and focuses their attention on the Lord. As we give our offerings and promote the many student-led ministry opportunities, our kids learn how this part of God’s family works. Our teaching gives hard hitting messages with a strong Bible connection, always looking to how it impacts the way we live each day for Christ. Finally, we personally worship through various stations to give a hands-on experience.
Fusion on the other hand provides other important and complementary benefits to our kids. They have a much more personal touch with leaders and apprentices who are committed to discipling them in maturity as a follower of Jesus. They get to process the morning message via the small group since our morning talks are connected to our Fusion group discussions. Fusion also gives more opportunities for bringing friends who aren’t connected to church activities. By bringing friends who don’t go to church to a meal night, they get great food, humorous activities, awesome music by our worship band, and a powerful talk that leads to starting a life of faith.
Back to my answer about which is more important? I would say either and both. Ultimately, the life of a disciple of Jesus is meant to be lived in community. Part of any community encompasses the larger gatherings and the smaller gatherings. We need both. This isn’t even bringing in the component of disciplemaking as a function of the family too. We hope that what we provide for ministry programs will help our families feel supported and not be a burdensome stress in terms of schedule. If a person only participates in Fusion, they may miss the regular large group worship experience that glorifies God. On the other hand, if a kid only goes to Elevation, they get their tank filled with worship and learning, but miss out on community living with a smaller gathering of like-minded and similar students. Fusion is where the individual care is going to be the strongest, but Elevation is the place where a person can be more anonymous and take some time to get acclimated to our ministry.
Bottom line, I believe the decision needs to be a family decision. If you are too busy to regularly participate in both, I would encourage you to be regularly building into your kids at home. Elevation or Fusion will never be an adequate substitution for the personal spiritual formation that you can do in your family. You know when your child is feeling isolated and needs to get their spiritual scope expanded. You know best when your student needs to be built into by another influential adult in their life. As you choose based on your experience and knowledge of your child and as God leads you, rest confidently that you are being a spiritually-engaged parent. Way to go!
Pastor Mark
Dependency
I lost my voice this past Sunday morning. I had gotten a cold earlier in the week, and when I get a cough I lose my voice. So when I woke up Sunday morning not much noise was coming out. This was not the day for this to happen.
All I could think was: I needed my voice! I needed a voice to welcome students when they arrived at Elevation, to talk with Moriah over lunch, to run two Fusion leaders meetings, and give a message at Fusion Meal Night. Mark is in Hawaii this week, so Tyler and I were it. Tyler had so many responsibilities that I could not pass on my meetings and message to him. So by midday when my voice was almost nothing, I had to press on.
I am a talker. I love to communicate and ask questions. So this not-talking thing really isn’t my style. But, last night I found myself not relying on my abilities, but God. I did so much praying, and I asked everyone who would have pity on me to pray.
When 7 PM approached my voice started to come back. It didn’t hurt to say words, and I was feeling excited that God was answering my prayers. I got up to speak and apologized that they had to hear my voice. I told the visitors that I normally sound like a girl, but who knows what I sounded like that day. I spoke on Impact – making an impact for Christ.
But, something happened that night that moved me. God not only gave me my voice back, but he moved in my heart. The message I prepared to give to the students suddenly became a lesson God had for me. I felt like I was talking to myself, not a bunch of leaders and jr. high students.
I guess by losing my voice I also understood on a deeper level my dependency on Christ. Which caused me to realize that if I want to impact others for Christ, I must be fully dependent on God. To not trust in my abilities, but to put my trust in Him.
Dependency, it is a beautiful thing!
Jen
Out of the Mouth of Babes
Weekly, I work with Jr. High girls at my church. Over the years some people have commented at my patience and bravery to boldly go into that hormone charged arena! I counter back that I am the fortunate one in this equation. I get to learn from these amazingly insightful young women.
For forty days, my church is doing a study on 1 Samuel 14 when Jonathan and his armor bearer go to pick a fight with an entire garrison of Philistines. I have always loved this Bible story. I have always most admired the Armor Bearer’s faith to be willing to tell Jonathan in verse 7, “Do all that you have in mind, go ahead, I am with you heart and soul”. What faith and trust he had in Jonathan and the God he served.
Last night, I met with my girls and we were looking at verses 9-12. When Jonathan says the his Armor Bearer, “if they tell us to go up, we will go up and if they tell us to stay there were will wait for them to come to us”. The Philistines tell them to, “come up and we’ll teach you a lesson” that is the sign that God has delivered them into Jonathan and his Armor Bearer’s hands. Jonathan says to his Armor Bearer “climb up after me”. I’ve never noticed that as anything profound and I cannot remember reading or hearing anything about it being unusual…
That moment, one of my girls named Aubree sheepishly put her hand up and said, “What is really cool about this passage is that Jonathan told his Armor Bearer to follow him. The Armor Bearer always preceded him in battle, not followed. Jonathan must have trusted that God would shield him!” I picked my jaw up off the table and sat in awe. Out of the mouth of Babes… ok, Teens!
Instantly in the back of my mind I thought, this is why I love working with these girls. They amaze me. There is an occasional moment when I think I could be doing something else. But then there are many more moments like these where I am so humbled and honored to be in the presence if such wisdom and I know there is no better thing to do with a few hours on a Sunday evening.
Jenni Reiling
Fusion Leader for 8th Grade Girls
Every Step Counts…
Last night I was giving some of my guys a call to see how they were doing this week. Now, calling 6th grade boys tends to be a brief activity. Like me at their age, being verbal is not their gift. If I called girls, I would probably have 20 minute conversations, but with guys it’s just different and shorter.
So I called Zack M last night and it was really cool. After we caught up a bit, I heard about his Boy Scout outing last weekend and how well he did shooting arrows in his archery. It was fun to hear about this side of his life. I asked him for anything to pray about and he said all was good and that he didn’t have any requests. I wanted to chat with one of his parents and invite them to our Fusion parent night so I talked to his Mom.
It was neat because his mom was listening to his side of the conversation so when I started chatting with her, she shared a cool story. She said that I could pray for Zack’s scouting troop. She said that it’s hard because the older scouts don’t want to have the younger scouts along anymore since they get bored helping them and feel like they hold them back. She said that Zack tries really hard to encourage the younger ones and teach them what he has already learned. This stuck out to me because Zack is a quiet kid who doesn’t call attention to himself or point out the ways he is stepping out as a leader. I loved hearing that Zack cares about the younger scouts. I love seeing his heart for mentoring and reproducing himself. Although he wouldn’t use these words, he is discipling younger scouts in the way of scouting. And another key thing I know to be true is that Zack is serious about his faith and serious about obeying Jesus. He obviously learned this from his parents way before I had the privilege of being his Fusion leader, but now I can affirm his leadership and support him as he continues to take steps of leadership and faith in the future.
This is why I love these students! I hear these stories and I know the Spirit is moving and shaping lives, young and old, and God gets all the credit.
Pastor Mark
Risky
I spoke this past Sunday at Elevation on Risk. I chatted with everyone about taking a step of faith/risk when you know God is prompting you. But, I must tell you that I am not a person that would generally be classified as a “risk taker.” I used to be risky when I was a jr. high student. I used to be the first person to jump off of cliffs when we went houseboating at Lake Powell. I was the first to go on any ride at an amusement park no matter how high it was. But, I would never jump off a cliff now, and I get totally freaked out by those rides that drop you 12 stories in mere seconds. I guess my mortality has gotten the best of me and caused me to be more cautious.
But, I want to be a risk taker. A risk taker for God. I want to get outside of myself. I want to live for something bigger than myself. So as I wake up each day I am confronted with a question, do I live for myself or do I live for Christ? Do I seek my own selfish gain, or do I seek to honor Christ through my actions, words, and attitude? But I must say, this is hard! It is not the easy road. I have to daily surrender my agenda at the throne of God and seek Him wholeheartedly. It is hard, but so rewarding.
So I guess I am ready to be a risk taker…I know that last statement lacked self-confidence, but I have no confidence in myself, only in God. Confidence in the Almighty God who took a risk on me. He is the God who believes in me when I do not believe in myself. The God, who doesn’t need me, but wants to use me to represent His Name each day.
What a risk I take when I begin to surrender control to God. But, what an honor it is.
I am ready to practice what I preach…I am ready to take risks.
Jen
We Need You And You Need Us
Yesterday morning I was thinking about the relationship between the parent and the small group leader. It’s a unique relationship with a certain kind of mutual dependency. For instance, family relationships can be easily taken for granted. We know from countless surveys that children look up to parents in most cases. They often count them as the most influential people in their lives. But when they start to take them for granted, as often happens more frequently when they hit adolescence, that influence can diminish quite a bit. Enter the Fusion leader.
If I have an ongoing relationship with my child’s Fusion leader, I can let them know some of the relational dynamics that are happening in the home. This gives the leader insights that help them to know how to ask for prayer requests or how to counsel them when the child brings things up in a group time. Without these insights, the leader is often flying with blinders on, only working with the portions of their life which the student shares. Although over time students tend to share more of their lives with their leader, a way to speed that process up is for parents to have a personal relationship with the Fusion leader.
Another benefit of the Fusion leader is the reinforcement of family values that can happen. When parents see a disciplemaking ministry like Fusion as a frill or bonus for good behavior, we all lose. Our greatest desire should be to do all we can to help children come to faith and live that faith for life. Jesus said we should let the little children come to him and that those who hinder them from coming would be better off having a millstone hung around their necks and dropped into the ocean. Pretty strong words, eh? Isn’t the point that we need to put a priority on making disciples, and in particular, making disciples of our kids. This is the call of our Fusion leaders. And, according to Deuteronomy 6, it is also the call of our parents.
Every parent and leader is left with a choice: To have a partnership in disciplemaking or to ignore each other. In the Junior High, we are going to do everything possible to help leaders partner with Fusion leaders. Until the day comes when every parent knows every leader, our work will not be finished. We are committed to keep striving, failing forward and celebrating every situation where this partnership happens until Jesus comes again or God takes us home to be with him.
This Sunday, October 26th, we are having one of two Parent Visit Nights at Fusion from 6:30-8:30pm. This visit will be like a combination of bring your parent to Fusion and a Back To School night. You will get a taste of what our Fusion ministry looks like, hear from our leadership about the kinds of things kids are learning and what we are doing to support you, and find out the resources we are making available to you as parents. At the last 40 minutes or so, you will have a chance to meet your student’s Fusion leader and apprentices. As you meet them, start the process of being interested in them. They will want to get to know a different side of their students from your insights. Let them help you by sharing appropriate challenges that you are facing with your child as well as the victories you are seeing happen in their personal lives. We are doing two parent visits so one parent can come to one and the other can come to the one in January.
I hope you will prayerfully consider this important night and be part of a changing of direction for the best in building faith that lasts a lifetime in your son or daughter’s life.
See you there,
Pastor Mark
Does Respect Really Matter?
Yesterday I was helping out in a classroom at a local middle school and I was amazed at what I saw. Apathy was a rampant. Although through no fault of the teacher, the inmates were certainly running the asylum. While trying to help a few students do the simplest of math calculations, I could feel the anger rising up in my body as student after student just didn’t care. Now, I know math isn’t the most exciting subject and a person is usually only into it if they are good at it, but I’ll tell you. Only a handful of students in that class cared about getting their work done or even putting a dent into it.
It’s funny, but what matters most to those students was anything but what they were there for at that school. We could have had volunteers who helped each student personally and still they would have fought the help every step of the way. It confirmed to me the importance of having something worth living for that is beyond what we are right now. These students live by their appetites. Not their food appetites literally, but the appetites of their desires. Some desire the spotlight and will do anything to stay in it. Others want to power of control and will physically or socially brutalize others to get it. While others want satisfaction in self-oriented pleasure seeking on numerous levels.
How do you compete with these competing agendas? How do you show students who have given up on their dreams that there is a dream that is worth giving your all for? You see, respect can be demanded, but vision has to be caught. Control and discipline can by enforced, but a life enthralled with Jesus cannot be caged. I’m seeing this each week as more and more students fall in love with the idea and reality of following Jesus in the rest of their life.
What is the hope for these lost students? What is the vision worth catching? What is the dream that can only be lived outside of yourself? It is the students we are unleashing on these campuses each week. We need to pray them into greater degrees of influence. We need to celebrate and encourage the smallest steps for changing their schools. We need our families to be the place where they are affirmed in the quest to walk the Jesus life. Why don’t we together commit to trusting the changing of our school cultures to the ones who Christ saved and put there for such a time as this?
Pastor Mark
Take One Down, Pass It Around…
So here is a little known fact about me. I really enjoy reading, but finishing what I start is always harder for me than picking up the book initially. But I don’t get distracted by lack of interest, but by picking up another book and starting that one. My night table next to my bed slowing has a tower of books growing on it with books I have started and need to finish.
One thing I love about working with the staff here in the student ministries, we also read books together as a staff and discuss and process what we read and how it manifests itself in our ministries and our day to day life. So needless to say, between reading for fun and reading books with our team, that “stack” on my night stand grows taller before smaller.
I’m really excited about some of the books that I am “in process” with right and now and wanted to pass them along to you if you’re looking for a good book to chew on for awhile.
1. Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile
Rob Bell, Pastor of Mars Hill out Michigan, writes another compelling message that not only encourages us as the reader, but it challenges us in many areas in our hearts and mind and really makes us ask the hard questions about what being a Christ follower looks like in this day and age. One thing I love about Rob and his writing, he does not sugar coat Christ’s teachings and he lays it out the way it’s laid out in Scripture. Here is an excerpt from the back of the book that gives you a taste of how he calls us to be the Church today in our culture:
It’s a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity. It’s about empty empires and the truth that everybody’s a priest, it’s about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from. It’s about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.
2. Chasing Daylight: Seize The Power Of Every Moment
This is the book that our current all-church series is based upon (in case you haven’t been to church in the last 4 weeks). Erwin McManus, Pastor of Mosaic from Southern California, calls the church to take a step back and examine their daily lives and to look at our daily routines with a new set of “eyes”. It’s a great book that talks about taking advantage of every moment in our daily day of routines and using them as windows of opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ. For anyone who deals with the fears of uncertainty, taking risk, being assertive and taking initiative, and ultimately being some one who influences people to Christ, this book will serve as a great encouragement for you.
3. The Irresistible Revolution: Living As An Ordinary Radical
Shane Claiborne shares in his book about the tension we live in between being the stereotypical evangelical christian and the completely sold out radical for Christ. His book is more of a narrative testimony of his life from his inner city ministry involvement during college to working with Mother Teresa in India. The book is described on the back cover as “This book will comfort the distrubed, disturb the comfortable, and invite believers to change the world with Christ’s radical love”.
I’d love to hear if there are other books out there that you (parents, students, or whoever else is reading this) are reading and are being challenged in your walk with Christ. Any good ones out there that I should add to my night stand?
Tyler
Serving Together
On Sunday we had our very first night of Fusion Small Groups. And it was so fun for me to step back and watch the leaders greet the students as they entered. We have incredible small group leaders this year. I get the privilege to see them in action each week, and it makes my heart happy. This leadership team really cares deeply for each student and it shows in their actions, conversations, group times, and they dedication.
Pure Teen also started last week. Pure Teen is a 6-week class for 6th and 7th grade students to learn what God’s Word says about staying pure in your heart, mind and body and how to make choices that glorify God. And again, the leaders amaze me. Monte and Melinda care so much for each student in their class. Their passion for helping students understand and apply God’s Word to their lives is apparent.
I am amazed at the opportunity I have to serve alongside of these high school students and adults. They truly love Jesus and desire to follow him, and that inspires me. They come each week and spend time with the students, and that makes me so grateful. They realize this is such a critical time to pour into students, and they want to make every moment count.
My prayer is that my daughter will someday have a great leader in jr. high like the leaders we have this year. That she can continue on the faith journey with other mentors in her life that can encourage her not to give up. To have other Christ followers speaking into her life, when she doesn’t always want to listen to mom and dad. Leaders who inspire, encourage, and help her grow in her faith.
There is an old African saying, “It take a village to raise a child.” But I think, “It takes The Church to raise a child.” Are we not in this together? Isn’t it our role to care for one another and spur one another to seek Christ in all we do? Because after all, when we function in unity and live life together for Christ isn’t that being The Church? I love seeing a leadership team function in this capacity, and I count it a privilege to serve alongside each one of them.
What a privilege.
Jen
Taking The Time To Pray
In the last couple of decades in the church in general (not just Rolling Hills), we have seen that many guys have a hard time standing up and being the leaders God calls them to be. They are reluctant to take responsibility and they easily default to a place of minimal to no impact for Christ whatsoever. But I want you to know that things are changing. I’m seeing some daylight start to shine in the Junior High.
I love it when God speaks and our students listen to His voice. Two such students, Jacob M. and Maxx H, are stepping out and listening to God’s voice. These two prayer warriors heard God tell them to start a prayer ministry for needs in the Jr High and the church. So they started an email prayer ministry called “Prayer Services For You”. If you have anything you need prayer for, just email Jacob and Maxx at m.j.pray4you@gmail.com. They would love to pray for you and I assure you that they believe in the power of prayer.
I’m so proud of these guys and my hope is that they inspire others who may have a similar passion to pray and seek God’s face while they intercede for people like you with real needs.
Mark
Something Bigger
Fall is here. I was so ready for it. There is nothing like an Oregon Fall: cold, windy, rainy and a spectacular array of fall leaves. With the fall, comes my family’s yearly jaunt to the pumpkin patch. This past Friday we went to the Roloff Farm out in Helvetia.
We had such a great time. This was the first year Malena picked out her pumpkin and carried it to the cart. I was a proud mama. And I took a bunch of pictures to prove it.
When I was looking at our pictures, I was amazed that these pumpkins start as seeds and then months later end up as huge fruit. When you scatter the seeds and take care of the field that they grow in, your product will be plentiful.
This picture causes me to remember the very familiar Bible story in Matthew 13:3 – 8 about the sewer who scatters his seeds, and what happens to the seeds that land on good soil. This visual is a real picture of what we want to see happen in the lives of jr. high students. We want to create an environment at Fusion and Elevation that students can be themselves and grow up in Christ. We also want to come alongside each one of them to help them produce actions that show Christ is daily transforming them.
So like the sea of orange pumpkins that were everywhere in that huge patch I saw on Friday, we want to see a sea of jr. high students all over the surrounding areas making an impact on each one of their campuses, sports teams, neighborhoods, and their homes.
And it is taking place. Each week we get the opportunity to see students take steps of faith. They believe God is calling them to something bigger then themselves. They are allowing the seed of God’s Word to transform the way they live.
It all starts as a seed, but it is truly growing into something so much bigger.
Jen
Just Doing It!
As we are in the midst of Chasing Daylight, don’t ever discount what God is doing through our students. I have some great stories to relay to you.
This week our student-led study at Hazelbrook was forced outside the building while permission was gained to meet in a classroom before school. Even though they were removed, they met anyway and had a good meeting. God never said we would not face opposition. Pray for Konnor and Nicole as they persevere and lead even when circumstances are against them.
After we met for Fusion last week Adria and Nicole and another friend talked to me about forming a group of students who pray before Fusion and then greet everyone who comes. This was an initiative they had themselves. I am looking forward to what comes of it.
Elora started a prayer group for China a few weeks ago. She is feeling God call her to one day go to China so it made perfect sense to her to start praying for the people she will one day be reaching for Christ. It’s quite amazing how much she knows about Chinese culture and information already which allows her to gain more of a heart for their nation.
Spencer, a student in my group, told me he wants to start a Bible study on Sunday afternoons for friends who don’t go to church. One is an atheist according to Spencer and he just wants to have these guys over and read the Bible and help them hear from God. Taking the initiative…
Joel decided to reach out to a person at his school who no one befriends. It was hard, but he was doing it this week.
Caleb wanted to invite a friend to come to Fusion who doesn’t go to church. Pray that he comes tomorrow night.
God is moving. Spread the word. Listen to His voice. Start a little fire for God and we are destined for a wildfire of impact. It is going to happen. Will you be part?
Pastor Mark
I Love It!
On Sunday mornings it can be so hard to wake up and get going. But, this past Sunday was different; I woke up and was ready to see what God had in store for us.
After years of praying and wrestling through where God was leading our small group ministry, the Jr. High Staff finally felt we had a clear direction. We then spent the summer continuing to pray and plan, as we got ready to see Fusion in action.
Fusion is all about “fusing” life and faith. Helping students understand that Christ wants to be a part of every aspect of their life, not just when they walk into the church building.
So when 6:30 PM arrived on Sunday night I was ready. There was a buzz and the students seemed ready to see what Fusion was all about. We had a frenzy of getting students into groups, eating pizza together, and then playing some ridiculous games.
But, the part that amazed me the most was after Mark Began spoke. He shared from Chapter 2 of the Chasing Daylight Workbook. At the end of his message he challenged them to be “Jonathans” when they walked out of the doors. Mark challenged them to step out in faith. The ones who decided to take the challenge seriously raised their hands, as a sign that they were willing to be a “Jonathan” and that they wanted their leader to pray for them. It was incredible to see.
But, it gets better. When the evening was over I walked out of the Fellowship Center and a girl asked me if I had an extra Bible to give away because she didn’t have one. So I ran back to get her one. She then proceeded to tell me she needed it because she and 2 other girls were going to start a Bible Study on their school campus. They felt God calling them be like “Jonathan” and step out in faith.
I love it! What an amazing opportunity I have to be on this faith journey with them. All I can say is, I love my job!
Jen
Two Scoops Of Chasing Daylight
It’s crazy to think that this past weekend has come and gone already. FUSION has officially begun. It seems as if we have spent the last six months trying to unpack what FUSION would or would not look like. It was an amazing night. The Lord’s presence was moving amongst our students and staff. Seeing the way the students responded to the Word, their sincere worship, and their heart to “just do it” when it comes to taking initiative with their individual divine moments. This journey that we are embarking on this year with discipling these young students has begun, and I could not be more excited to see where the Lord leads us. This next week we will be on Chapter 3 from Chasing Daylight on “Uncertainty”.
If you were not at last weekend’s UNITED service, then you missed this gem that Chris Nye, Branden Campbell, John Finnerty, and Myself put together for the series launch! Enjoy!
Tyler
Promoting God with Pure Teen
Recently, I was thinking about how many reasons the world gives us as Christians for being “against” something. And then I realized how encouraging it is that we also have the opportunity to be for Someone who is far greater than all the problems we feel compelled to fight. Of course it’s important to fight many of life’s battles; but isn’t it refreshing to spend even more of our time promoting God and His goodness?
I had the privilege of teaching a class called Pure Teen for 6th and 7th graders in January. Another class will start next week. Pure Teen teaches students to put God in charge of their hearts, minds and bodies. I want to promote God to these students as they enter the turbulence of adolescence. They will face some fast-paced changes in the next few years but with God at the center of their thinking and doing, there’s no limit to the good that He can accomplish through them!
Will you join me in praying that students will come and learn to let God be their primary influence in this confused and media-driven culture? They have many battles to fight, but also a mighty God to promote.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12
Melinda Taylor, Pure Teen Facilitator
Additional Donors Needed!
We had an amazing first night at Fusion with over 162 students coming and 57 leaders who were loving the kids and investing in their lives! It was a night of high energy, powerful worship and the kids really responded to the message about seizing our divine moments. God is really good!
We also had a challenge. After doing one meal night, we found that our total meal cost would be closer to $500.00 compared to our original estimate of $350.00. Part of the reason for the difference is that the pizza cost more than our original quote and we had more people come (which is a very good thing!) If we can get two additional people to sign up and donate the original $350.00, we should be able to cover all the costs of meals for this ministry year.
God has blessed us with 9 different families who have either donated already or have pledged to donate and we are so grateful! This investment is so much more than food, it’s an investment in the outreach to our kid’s friends who need Christ. If you can help us out, just send in your check for $350.00 payable to RHCC with “Fusion Meal Night” in the memo area. You can send it to RHCC c/o Mark Began and I will make sure it gets to our bookkeeper.
Thanks,
Pastor Mark
Chasing Daylight Messages
I wanted to share a brief overview of the upcoming messages during the Chasing Daylight series so our families can be more informed about what to look forward to during this next 8 weeks.
Message Topics
9/28 at Fusion, Sunday Night- I will be sharing the story of Jonathan and his Armor Bearer and how they took the Initiative and did something when they were in a hard situation. We will challenge the students to go this week and make an impact by following God’s lead.
10/5 at Elevation, Sunday Morning- I will be looking at the story of Moses leading the Israelites to the Red Sea as they were pursued by the Egyptians. As they faced Uncertainty, I want the students to learn how to trust God when we don’t have all the answers.
10/5 at Fusion, Sunday Night- I will be summarizing the morning message and the topic of Uncertainty, but we will also be playing the short message that Erwin McManus, the author of the series, prepared to introduce this topic.
10/12 at Elevation, Sunday Morning- I will be sharing from John 4, the story of the Woman at the Well. The topic of Influence will be what is shared and the students will be praying for 300 plus students who need the touch of God in their lives.
10/12 at Fusion, Sunday Night- We will hear the McManus DVD message and do most of our application and processing in our first small group night.
10/19 at Elevation, Sunday Morning- Jen will be sharing a message on Risk, encouraging each of the students to live before they die and vice versa.
10/19 at Fusion, Sunday Night- We will hear the McManus DVD message and do most of our application and processing in our small groups.
10/26 at Elevation, Sunday Morning- I will be sharing about how important it is to Advance in our quest to chase daylight. My story will be from Numbers 13 where the spies were sent and came back with a divided report.
10/26 at Fusion, Sunday Night- We will hear the McManus DVD message and do most of our application and processing in our small groups.
11/2 at Elevation, Sunday Morning- Tyler will be speaking on Impact and the importance of leaving a mark wherever we go.
11/2 at Fusion, Sunday Night- Jen will be moderating as the students hear the McManus message from the DVD and Jen’s summary of the morning message. At this Meal Night, the students will be challenged to make an impact in the place God leads them.
11/9 at Elevation, Sunday Morning- I will be sharing about Movement and how our impact can go from isolated effects to united and powerful. I will be sharing about the story from 1 Kings 18 where Elijah confronted the evil prophets and turned the tide of a nation.
11/9 at Fusion, Sunday Night- We will hear the McManus DVD message and do most of our application and processing in our small groups.
11/16 at the United Services on Sunday Morning- We will be wrapping up the Chasing Daylight series with a United Service on the idea of Awakening. We will get the opportunity to hear about the great things God did during the series and worship as one body in praise to God!
11/16 at Fusion, Sunday Night- We will hear the final McManus DVD message and do most of our story sharing in the groups and have a more Junior High focus to our stories.
Email me at mark.began@rollinghills.org if you have any questions,
Pastor Mark
Help Students Chase Daylight
Hey Parents,
With our whole church starting a new series of messages on Chasing Daylight, I wanted to give you some pointers on how you can help your student get the most out of this important series. Just an FYI, Chasing Daylight is about everyone of us seizing those divine moments in every day and making them count for Jesus. The series is based on a relatively obscure story from 1 Samuel 14. Here’s how you can help your students:
1. Dinner Chats- Choose a night each week when all of you will be home and talk about how you are each trying to apply that week’s topic to your life. Be intentional and try to relate to where they are at as they try to express how they are growing in that area.
2. Quiet Time Challenge- Have each person in the family get familiar with the story about Jonathan, but also with the stories around it from 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. These two books are fast moving and full of good examples of doing the right thing and making mistakes too. Maybe during your Dinner Chats you can also share what you are each learning as you read 1st and 2nd Samuel in your daily time with God.
3. Step Out- As a family, step out and serve in some way a few times during this 8 week series. By serving, you learn and model how valuable it is to give back and care about others. Some ideas might be to donate time at your local school. You could also collect food for a local food bank. Another way would be to pick up trash at a local park. The best way is to find a personal “people” need and try to be used of God to meet that need.
These are just a few ideas for you and your family to make this season of Chasing Daylight a valuable, life-changing experience you will never forget!
Pastor Mark
Students Stepping Out
Just wanted to let everyone know that we have a couple of students, Konnor C. and Nicole A., who have started a student-led Bible study at Hazelbrook Middle School on Wednesday mornings at 9:15am in the Commons/Cafeteria. What is cool about this study is that it was started out of a desire to listen to God at the Peak and do what he was calling them to do. They have met the last two Wednesdays and it would be great if more of our Hazelbrook students could take advantage of this rare opportunity. When students take the initiative, they seize the divine moments that God made them for and Konnor and Nicole are definitely doing that. Pray for them as they learn about leadership by doing leadership!
Losing Never Feels Good…
I was grieving my poor fantasy football team today. I’m 0-2 and have not started the season off with anything close to a bang. It makes me want to give up and not even try. I shouldn’t have such a bad attitude, but for some reason, my intellectual reason and my subjective feelings are at odds.
I think this is why being a growing disciple of Christ can be so hard. I never feel like I do enough. I wish I could talk about Jesus everytime I open my mouth, but I don’t. Sometimes I don’t think about it. Sometimes I think about it and rationalize my way out of saying something. If spiritual growth was only about winning, I would feel better, but would I be better? I don’t know…
What sticks in my mind is how many people in the Bible ended up having lives that were not marked with continual success. Even David, the man after God’s own heart, had an affair and gave orders that amounted to murder and had major family troubles! That can encourage me if I only compare myself to him, but what if I am not supposed to compare myself, but actually listen to what God is telling me as I know what I know about David. He doesn’t want me to be David or live David’s life today. God wants me to be Mark Began, follower of Christ, lover of Rhonda, Jaelyn and Lexie, leader of students, and servant in Tualatin’s community. That I can do. That I want to do.
Now what was I writing about? Oh yeah, I need to get my fantasy team to turn things around this week…
Mark
Watch For The Drift
When our kids drift spiritually, it’s easy to dismiss it as an anomaly. Countless times during my 14+ years at Rolling Hills, I have seen strong, spiritual students start to make small but significant decision that lead to a slow, steady drift. I want to alert you to a few things that hopefully will help you to recognize and stop a drifting student before the downward spiral gets away from you.
1. Make 8th Grade Count- More students fade away from Jesus during their 8th grade year than any other time. Popularity becomes very important. Girls can tend to be very obsessed with guys and relationships. You may not realize this is happening, but one big sign is that they spend a ton of time on social networking online and an unusual amount of texting. Ask to see who they are communicating with. If you don’t know names, ask questions and find out about who they are. When you find out about the different “dramas” that are part of your kid’s lives, help them include God in the situations by bringing spiritual wisdom into addressing the problems friends are facing.
2. Does Faith Activity = Church Alone?- As students start to physically and emotionally mature, they will also start to own their own faith. Some obvious ways that your child may demonstrate that they own their own faith is by spending time in the Bible on their own, praying regularly, and growing more Christlike in their attitudes and character. In fact, any time a kid exhibits faith outside the church/ministry setting, you should affirm them. This is where the rubber meets the road since the goal of our faith is full integration into our lives. If they only live a Sunday faith, you are witnessing the momentum of a faith that is well into drifting away.
3. Unresolved Painful Experiences- When a student has been abused or has gone through the loss associated with divorce or death of a loved one, they can easily question the presence of God in their situation. When they see suffering around them and wonder why it happens to some and not others, they can start to drift away. Often it is because we want God to fix our pain and be a bandaid to our suffering. God has shown us throughout the book of Job that he doesn’t cause the suffering, but he is present in all suffering. In fact, when Jesus encountered the death of his close friend Lazarus in John 11, it says that he weeped and those who witnessed it were amazed at how much he must have loved Lazarus! God’s goal is not freedom from painful experiences, but He loves to be close to us IN our painful experiences.
What Can You Do When You See The Drift?
1. Pray for wisdom and act on what God impresses on your heart in your time in the Word and when you are learning spiritual truths.
2. Depend on the Spirit to change the heart or you will only get outward conformity.
3. Be engaged as long as you have your kids in close proximity. This window of time is short so make sure you don’t miss it. They will move on in life and usually sooner than later.
4. In the event of painful experiences, don’t be afraid to seek wisdom about having your child in a short-term counseling situation. Some pain kids just don’t get over. They need someone to help them process through it. Other situations where a counselor is needed include when a kid’s personality hinders the healing process. By avoiding a “perceived stigma” of going to counseling, you might be hurting your child’s maturity and development.
I hope this helps you be more aware of the spiritual development of your student. We want to see them walk with God for life and stopping a spiritual drift is a great way to keep them going strong!
Trusting Jesus With You,
Pastor Mark
Keep Praying For Us!
We have two really big prayer needs right now that any and all of you reading our blog can support us in. We still need 6 adult women who will commit to discipling our girls in small groups for Fusion this year. We want women who have a love for girls and want to see them grow deeper in their faith and have a desire to impart their life onto the lives of these precious girls. The commitment is for Sunday nights from 5:45pm to 8:30pm during the school year. If you are interested in being part of our team and need more information, email Jen Gulbrandson at jen.gulbrandson@rollinghills.org or call Zoe Anne Pilger at the church(503-638-5900) and she will help you get ahold of someone who can help you get answers.
Another big need is for us to find 7 more people to pay for a pizza feed for a Fusion Meal Night, which is one of the ways we want to reach unchurched students on Sunday Nights at Fusion. Each meal night costs $350.00 which covers the pizza and drinks for a group of 250 people. If you can help us cover a meal, either individually or as a community group, just email Mark Began at mark.began@rollinghills.org or call me at the church number above for more information.
Please continue to pray for these needs and I will update you as we get answers in the days and weeks to come.
Serving Him,
Mark
FORWARD MOTION
September Teaching Series
We’ve all made resolutions and set goals, but too often we fall short of what we expected to accomplish. Unfortunately it’s often the same when we try to become the Christian we really believe God has called us to be. We fall short of the goal and become increasingly discouraged. In this series, your student will learn that following Christ is more about the small steps we make every day, not about the huge leaps of faith that we think we need to make. They will set a goal, determine the first step and then make it. The series will end with a celebration!
Week One (9/7/08)
Following Christ is about steps, not leaps. This week your students will be introduced to the myth: that Christianity is all about taking big leaps of faith. They will encounter some of Scripture’s most daunting verses, and wrestle with what it means to have a life of spiritual growth. Each student will set a goal for himself or herself, and the next few weeks they will revisit their goals.
Week Two (9/14)
The way you get from where you are to where you want to be is one step at a time. This may sound ridiculously obvious, but we all forget it. We want to go to the gym one time and look like a model; we want to make one smart comment at work and be promoted right to the top. But we know deep down that isn’t the way things work. The good news is that in our spiritual development, God has not left us alone to work out the mess. He has sent His Spirit to guide us. This week, students will look at the power of the Holy Spirit to guide their paths, and they will make a plan for beginning to take the first step toward their goals.
Week Three (9/21/08)
Celebrate the steps you take in your relationship with God, and celebrate the steps others take as well. It’s all about celebration, not the cheap kind of celebration that comes from making a big deal out of nothing, but the real party that comes naturally when we know that we have made even the slightest move in the right direction. Your students will talk this week about what it looks like to encourage each other and celebrate with each other whenever they make progress toward one of their goals.
EXPERIENCE:
Many of you crave forward motion in your family. You know what you want your children to be. You want them to be kind, respectful, responsible, intelligent, creative individuals. You want them to be able to succeed when they grow up and leave your home. But sometimes you look at them and you think that it may never happen.
This month, think about helping your student make one step. Think of one new thing that you would love for your child to do. Maybe it’s to improve his or her science grade, learn how to do laundry, cook a meal or change the oil in the car. Once you have decided on one goal for your child, communicate your desire to teach this skill and let your child know why it is important to learn it. Then spend time during the month helping teach your child how to accomplish the goal.
If you want your student to improve his or her science grade, sit with him and study flash cards. If you want them to know how to do laundry, do a load or two together until he or she gets the hang of it. By communicating to your child why you want him or her to know or do a certain thing, you communicate respect. By spending time helping them learn, you are letting him or her know of their importance to you. You will also alleviate your child’s fear of disappointing you if they get it wrong.
The most important thing that fuels forward motion is celebration. Make sure that you celebrate your child’s step! Tell him or her that you are proud of them for working so hard or for learning something new. When your child knows that they can make you proud, they will be much more motivated to continue working on their new goal.
Yearbook Pictures
School kicks off next week, and with a new school year comes new student pictures and ID cards.
Hopefully yours are as class as ours were!
Labor Day Eve
Going back through the archives of past student ministry videos, I came across this video that former high school pastors Joel & Mike created to stir up some excitement within the church body of RHCC about the festivities that come with Labor Day every year.
Thank You
For two months I had been trying to teach my daughter to say “thank you” in sign language. And for two months she just looked up at me with a stare that said, “what are you trying to say to me?” I wanted to give up, because I thought I was not getting through to her.
Sometimes, I find myself wanting to give up in other areas of my life too. But, just when I feel so discouraged that I want to give up, I am reminded that God is with me through it all. He is trying to teach me things. He is speaking to me, and many times I tend to give Him that same look of “what are you trying to say to me?” It amazes me that each day God meets me right where I am at. He walks with me through my failures, my victories, my hurts, and my brokenness. He will never leave me, but my role is to stay by His side and seek Him with every part of my life. I am humbled with how He never gives up on me.
I know deep within that God wants me to grow in my knowledge of Him, but also allow that understanding to transform the way I live. He wants to change the way I view people. He wants to use me to care for those who are overlooked. He wants to use every attitude, action and word spoken to bring Him glory.
So I think back to teaching my daughter, day after day and hour after hour, how to express her gratitude. And one day she got it. Her great-aunt put a Band-Aid on her hurt finger, and when I said, “say thank you.” Malena finally said “thank you” in sign language. I screamed with delight, which kind of alarmed her. But, after her look of alarm, she kept signing thank you. She got it she finally got it. I realized I need to not give up, she will get it.
Thank you God! Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for meeting me right where I am at, but also desiring me to take the next step in my walk with you. Thank you that you teach me over and over what it means to live as a Christ Follower, and never do you say, “I give up on her.” Thank you!
Urgent Need
Starting in September we are going to be reconfiguring our small group ministry into a brand new approach to discipling called Fusion. Fusion is all about fusing our faith with all parts of our lives. Fusion is about relationships and living life-on-life with each other. Fusion is only as effective as the leaders we have who invest time and their very lives into the kids. That is where you come in.
We are looking for 5 or 6 committed women who choose to the follow the voice of God and build into a group of 8-12 girls this year. Each woman will have a High School apprentice to work with and share the rewarding privilege of ushering our girls into a future of lifelong impact for Christ. Please don’t consider this if you feel guilty or see it as a way to keep track of your daughter’s behavior. We really want women who are called and genuinely care about girls. No experience is required, we will train you!
We have been blessed to have enough men step up to be discipleship leaders this year, but we could sure use more guys who would be willing to help in support areas like our Hospitality Team. That team functions as a mixture of setting up and tearing down the various sports activities, being a presence in the hallways, and helping manage the handing out of video games and board games each week. This role is a weekly responsibility with one week off per month whenever there is a meal night.
Please join with us and pray for God to provide for these very important ministries. If you can be part of either of these urgent needs, please email jen.gulbrandson@rollinghills.org or mark.began@rollinghills.org so we can chat with you directly about this exciting opportunity!
Family Mentoring
A couple of months ago we as a staff went away on a planning and strategy retreat, we spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how we could do a better job connecting with parents and families so we are just a ministry about Junior High students, but of their parents too. To that end we are trying to do a more concerted effort at blogging, providing prayer needs for you to know how to pray for us, and having monthly emails or parent letters available.
One other idea we had was something we have never tried before. We wondered if we provided family mentoring for a month at a time around a certain topic. This mentoring would be limited in size to a max of 8 couples and the topic would change each month we did it. Some ideas for topics included Dealing with Rebelling Kids, Talking About Sex With Your Kids, Finding Spiritual Things In The Media You Watch & Listen To, How To Encourage The Right Kinds of Friends, and Learning How To Serve Together As A Family.
We envision a typical mentoring time as having some sharing of content with a majority of time spent discussing ways to incorporate it into the lifestyle of the family. Although primarily a youthworker/parent mentoring to enhance the family, some sessions could incorporate having the JH students attend as well. It’s such a new idea, we just want to see if it has legs and scratches someone’s itch out there.
If this is a ministry you think is worth us pursuing, please comment or let me know by emailing Mark at mark.began@rollinghills.org.
Thanks for your input!
Pastor Mark
FUSION Teaser
Here’s a teaser we put out to announce our new small group ministry launching this fall on September 14, 2008.
THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2008, we will be having a parent meeting during the 9am service in the Future Book Store (located next to the Atrium Cafe) to discuss the new ministry as well as field questions from parents about Fusion and anything else related to Jr. High. We hope to see you there…did I mention free doughnuts and coffee?
Extended Camp Rewind Video
Here it is! Here is the video we showed at our service last weekend. It was awesome putting this video together. Looking back at the footage over the past week and piecing together this project I was reminded again at how great and marvelous our God truly is as He moved in a mighty way at The Peak.
Many have asked about the songs used in the video. The first song is called “Counting on God” and it can be found on the “Everyone Overcome” album by The Desperation Band. The second song is “Healer” and that is off Hillsong’s new album “This Is Our God”. Both songs can be purchased on iTunes or wherever else you purchase your music.
Podcasts and Notes Are Up!
Hey everyone! The messages and notes have been uploaded and are available for listening and viewing right now over @ 678live.com under the podcast menu. The individual notes are available for download in PDF format. You will find the download link on the page of the particular podcast you are listening to. Feel free to contact me if you have ANY issues trying to access the notes.
We are currently trying to get ALL our podcasts from here on out linked to the iTunes podcast directory. So in the mean time, unless you own Quicktime Pro, you can only listen to the podcasts via 678live.com. If you have QT Pro, you can download the QT file from the website. Again, if you have any questsions, call me at the church or drop me a line at tyler.eaton@rollinghills.org
Continue The Impact
It’s now been just over a week since camp ended and I must say I am more rested, but I am honestly missing it a great deal. Camp has become more than an event that we do every year. It’s more like spiritual pilgrimage. We go to camp to meet God in ways that we can’t any other time, but God changes us in so many unexpected ways, it’s hard to describe. It just goes to show that when we try to put God in a box in terms of how we expect Him to act or how we see Him working in the lives of students. It’s like trying to put a wild stallion into a tissue paper corral. You just can’t make God predictable!
Many of you have already heard scores of stories and experiences about what God did at camp. You probably heard that 40 staff and students got baptized this year. You may have heard from your child that God is calling them to a mission field like Africa or maybe to start praying before a soccer game. Whatever it is, don’t dismiss it. Don’t ignore it. Don’t extinguish the spiritual flame that your child came back with. For them, that experience was the most real God has ever been in their life. He spoke to them! He cared enough to include them in what he started back in creation and continues to this day! He did it, not me or anyone else God may have used. It was God, the God of the universe who chose your son or daughter to step out by faith and go out on a limb for Him!
Do you recall times in your life when you felt a similar way? You probably do. Or maybe the pain of years of neglect has erased those times from your memory. In either case, you have a choice to make. Will you feed the fire that is burning? Will you be part of helping your child take their faith further than you ever thought faith could be taken? You, as a parent, have the power I’m talking about. It was given to you by God when you started your family. He wants you to continue the impact He started during camp this year in your child’s life. He wants you to have the joy of watching them inspire you. He wants you to know that impossible things happen when we believe by faith. Is it too much for you to imagine that your son might feed hungry people after school, because God called him to do it at camp? Can you just not see your self-absorbed daughter, truly make a decision to start a prayer group at her school? What if it costs you gas to drive your daughter to school early? Can you handle the personal conviction that may come if your son wonders why you don’t care about the poor like he has learned God cares?
Hard questions we all need to wrestle with. Will you?
Thursday Night Recap Video
Here’s our final recap video of the week! Enjoy!
Responding To God’s Call
Here is a powerful selection of clips from students sharing how they feel God has called them to be used in their day to day life. This was recorded during our worship time so the audio is kind of unbalanced at this point because the life music overpowers most of the voices. We are going to do our best to see if we can altar the audio at all to show at our Camp Rewind Service on July 17th @ 11 in the Back Room @ RHCC.
God is alive and moving in the hearts of your students!
Tonight Was The Best…
Tonight the Spirit was in this place! We talked about how pain has perspective when we combine it with faith in Jesus. With worship that ushered us into the throneroom of Heaven, no person, young or old, left without knowing with confidence that Jesus is our highest priority for life.
I love your kids. They have such tender hearts. Oh that everyone could see a replay of what happened tonight.
By the way, the video that we have been trying to post online has been having difficulties getting uploaded. When it does, make sure you come back and see it. Out of the mouths of babes, the most profound visions and callings were spoken by your kids. They were just a few of the many students who heard God speak to them this week.
One final time for this year, so long from the Peak,
Pastor Mark
Huge Praise!!!!
This morning we got to see 40 students and staff get baptized and go public with their faith. Here are the names of all those who got baptized: Jordan R, Erika S, Jill I, Adria S, Brice H, Alex S, Daniel E, Cassie A, Chelsea C, Emily H, Valerie W, Michael W, Hannah L, Sarah L, Abbie B, Rachel C, Katie B, Heather A, Randal S, Ian S, Rich F, Austin G, Spencer C, Stephanie S, Taylor H, Justine M, Alexa G, Maddy C, Shawn V, Spencer G, Tess R, Anna M, Sabrina S, Evan L, Zack M, Brandon B, Michael N, Nicholas B, Stan H, and Howard H.
Will you pray with us as we pray that these students and staff go home and live by the frequency of faith in Jesus every day? I know they will really appreciate it!
Pastor Mark
Wednesday Night Recap Video
Oh man! What a day! Cannot wait until we can get clips from Wednesday night’s talent show up on here for you all to see some of the “talent” that is brewing here at camp.
Until then…enjoy our wednesday in review!
The Ocho Showcho Live Thoughts
The Ocho Showcho is the Peak’s version of American Idol. Lots of willing participants and William Hungs galore. Here are some live comments on the proceedings…
Vickster enters with the Olympeak Torch, thus beginning the opening ceremonies
Jen, Kim, Laurie, Janna and Val are doing a ridiculous opening ceremony synchronized swimming/dance number. Very strange and very long lasting. I think they are doing the whole Olympeak theme song. Finally over…
Chris and Jon are MCing. Nice intro and boring explanation.
Judges introduced. Mocking remarks to Mark. Branden introduced to round of applause. Jen loved as usual when introduced.
Terra and the gang are first act. Looks like a cheesy dance number. Wrong, it was a cheer/song with actions based on the rules of camp. A few slip-ups, but I’ll never think of FUFA the same again.
Log Cabin 13 next. 8th grade boys and who knows what is coming. Looks like a skit about boxing. No props to speak of, but good Biblical content, albeit inaccurate since David loses to Goliath, but David wins in the end. Loses points for no head chopped off.
Standeven Cabin next. Girls. Probably a Hannah Montana number. Wrong, it’s a skit about breaking rules and chewing gum. The old gum chewing skit. An outdoor school fave. Pretty well executed. But who will eat the disgusting gum? A little violent on the stage, Laura eats the gum. Very nice and horribly executed.
Nathan next. One man show. Shirt off and freakish shoulder blades. Plays Rubik with shoulder blades. Must have pictures. Crushes cup with shoulders. Stupid human tricks. Holds shoe between shoulders. Amazing and vile, all at the same time. Chris thinks Jen’s child Malena should be held between his shoulders as a form of baby carrier. He might have something there…
Log Cabin 8 in the house. Gameshow that makes fun of counselors and Mark Began. Not sure what to make of this. Time for this lame act to be over. Judges railed about it.
Senior Leaders next, with good sarcasm from the hosts. Brightwood three next.
Brightwood 3 with some props. Looks like a skit. Jaws. Or maybe a skit about the wicked, biting fish that bit Brenda. Various students attack biting fish until dead. Concludes with a song and dance with finger snapping and more. I’ll bet they never make it to American Idol with that number…
Fletcher with some mid act entertainment. Bizarre conversation ensues.
Senior Leaders finally. Inappropriate exercise video workout with absolutely wrong leadership by Brandon. Lack of one-piece swimming and workout apparel knocks off lots of points. Extended and long number with wild audience participation. Lose the horrible clothing and come back later. Kyle accosts the judges with close range exercising. Crowd was really into it. Brandon loves it, Jen is crying and speechless, Mark is blown away again, but not in a good way!
Jon enters wearing a body suit or onesie. I must admit, it works for me! I gotta get me one of those!
Dance party intermission. Now Chris in onesie. Both look like they are ready for sleep, especially Jon’s hair.
Next act is Full Throttle. Lots of makeup. Big points for integration with video and dance. Big points for 8th/6th grade crossover. I think we are going to see a Thriller remake. Points lost for rated PG-13. Major points lost for Michael Jackson number. Well in sync without being an N’Sync number. Kyle disturbing again, but at least appropriate this time. Lumbering movements add to the reality of movements of the undead. More points off for acting like zombies. Mark hated it, Brandon loved it and Jen thought it was pitchy.
Will is up next. Jon and Chris are pitchy. Shoes are coming off. Music happens, he’s wrestling himself, he’s losing, are he and Gumby related? Hard to believe and even harder to comprehend that he can contort like a human ball of string!
Laura up next. She’s playing a song. I think I’ve heard this before. Yes, in kindergarten. It was lame then and lame now, but kinda cute when you do it through your nose…
Nice mid-act comments. Ryan next with his patented awkward looking front flip. Probably the most painful thing I’ve seen tonight, next to the man wrestler. Kind of hard to watch, probably due to go to the hospital, sprained his ankle and broke his back, but such a show stealer he keeps going and the crowd pities him all the way.
Hannah and the homies next. Finally a Hannah Montana number. Just what I was waiting for. Wardrobe malfunction, instrument malfunction, noise malfunction, act malfunction. I was wrong, it was a spoof, a spoof of a lame act malfunction, may they go away, very far away, like way, way, way far away.
Jon cuts deep with a sarcastic remark. Chris responds with Godliness.
Shianne plays next. A little guitar number. A littler song, but a crowd fave. One line of a famous song. Well executed and just dandy.
Evan comes next with his patented chair and keyboard number. It’s good to see some serious musicians in this competition. I feel like climbing a mountain and singing at the top of my lungs. He was made for this show. I do think he is playing the whole song. I’m still on the mountain. When will I come down from the mountain. How about when this song ends…still going…still going…maybe over…still going…still going…over and awesome!
Sam on the stage with Chris. Gunnar introduced. Break dance number, lots of flailing about, lots of spinning about, cool uniform and points off for Spurs jersey.
Banter between Sam and Chris. Clay joins and groans. Zombie act fails again.
John and Sarah doing who knows what. John wearing rabbit head. Sarah wearing who knows what????? Pokemon theme song. Lip sync number with lots of energy, but John just looks strange with a blank expression as he gravitates to the music. Sarah is definitely the talent in this pair. Running around the stage now during the bridge. Seem to be hitting each other. Conflict resolution would be good. How about if they battle it out in the stadium?
Timber 3&4& Log Cabin 10 are on with a crowd that is bigger than the audience. Taylor gets jiggy with it. Break dancer is kinda lost in the whole thing. Cool glasses and totally in rhythm. I think this thing is going to have close to 40 different verses. Sean back with Mary had a little lamb. Just a cool little rhyming walk down Mother Goose Lane.
Timber 11 and 12 next. Preston and Sam going ninja with TMNT theme song. Good outfits, lots of prancing, special effects, and good use of camp property. Judges comment on the environmental friendliness of the act. Turtles attack Chris and John.
Timber 11&12 are the ones. Jaelyn takes her lily sweet time setting up. Seems to be a skit about Frequency Fashions. Great outfits with totally duct tape from many colors. Relatively lame dialogue. Music late. Music finally arrives. Nice hat, rainbow colors, totally righteous. Courtney with summer wear. Calli with ???? Banter getting more witty. Leslie comes with attitude and runway style. Jessica comes with some crosses. Points for godliness!
Junior Girls with an Olympic number. Strange froglike actions. Kelly and Sam hopping around the stage. Now everyone else hops around. Jaelyn tries to hop around, unsuccessfully. Patrick back in gangbanger wear. He’s breaking out. Patrick goes MC Hammer, you gotta like it. I wonder how many more of these do we have left…
Tyler on with a prop. Shirt comes off. Singing a Grease number with Chris. Per last year, another cross dressing number. Lots of energy from both, but inappropriate swimwear so I have them already eliminated. In fact, I’m sending Chris home afterwards due to EXTREME wardrobe with disturbing qualities. This cannot go on anymore…Finally ends!
With that totally disturbing act, the Ocho Showcho is over and out for ’08!
Something Wonderful Is Happening
We are seeing an amazing breakthrough this week. Students are really getting it! I keep on hearing about 8th grade groups who have genuine, spending-time-together-every-day friendships with 6th grade cabins. The Spirit is working powerfully in this place. Your prayers are being answered in mighty ways. Tonight I heard a taste of the good things that are happening. Konnor C. shared that he is loving getting to know guys like Jonathan D, Clay D, Michael W, and Jake R among others. He said that they have changed his life as he has grown as a leader because of the challenge to adopt a cabin. Isn’t God absolutely awesome?
I love serving Jesus by loving your kids and watching them do far more than I could ever imagine before coming here. It can only be a God thing!
Mark
Wow, camp is awesome!
Hi family. Mom, dad, Isaac, and Amelia. How’s Camp Rockaway? Things here are really great, we are seeing the Lord work in amazing ways. The weather has been great and we are spending lots of time at the lake. I have climbed the iceberg 3 times! Tonight my cabin group is participating in the talent show. I was bit by a fish in the lake and we are doing a funny song about that. Moriah and Natalie and daddy are having a great week too. It is fun for us to be here together. I miss you and look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
Love, Mom
SIXTH GRADERS = AWESOME!!!!
Ok- so, I used to think that 6th graders were kind of immature dorks, and I will admit that I was one too, but I was wrong. Every year, Mark Began (pastor) challenges the 8th graders to do something hard, and this year it was to adopt a 6th grade cabin (group) and/or clean tables. My cabin did both. We decided to adopt cabin #6, who’s leader was like the only person we knew. Now, we have gotten to know them, prayed for them, taught them how to serve in tennis, and all sorts of other things. I have made 6th grade friends I would like to keep for a long time.
Better Every Year
This is my seventh year at the peak, and I’ve been here in almost every capacity- student, small group apprentice, small group leader, logistics and staff and I can honestly tell you that The Peak gets better each year. I continue to be amazed at the new ways that God moves through each group of junior highers.
I’ll admit that I was a little nervous about this year, since about two-thirds of our leaders are first time camp leaders, but this group has turned out to be one of the most loving and intentional groups of leaders I’ve served with. I’m constantly surprised at how much they know about their students, the amount of time they’re spending together and the lengths they’re willing to go to to make this camp an unforgettable experience for each student. (I’ll admit that I’m the one who’s responsible for all of the pies in the face you’re hearing about, but these leaders did it without complaining) The hearts of these leaders are ones of total service and it’s led to one of the best atmospheres I’ve experienced. Your students are in very capable, caring hands.
Speaking of which, I can’t explain in words how great it has been for me to get to know your students over the last few months, and especially the last week. I love spending time with them- whether it’s during games, on the waterfront, or simply watching movies on Sunday nights at the SWAMP. Thank you for sharing them with us this week, and trusting us enough to take them so far away from you. Camp has been such a large part of my heart for so many years, that to be able to put all of my energy into something I believe so much in this summer has been a true blessing. I can’t believe I get paid to hang out with such amazing, funny and creative students. I feel like I should be paying you for this opportunity.
The Peak has always been my favorite week of the year, and this time around has been no different. I pray that your students come home feeling the same way.
In His love and service,
Vickie Chambers, Jr. High Summer Intern
A Little Glimpse of Heaven
I have the privilage of serving at our jr high camp. Yesterday at dusk, as we were preparing for a night game I had a moment to look up at the moon. It was an orange finger nail hanging above the mountain, framed by two huge pines. Below was it’s bright reflection in the still lake. It made me think that it’s the sun that makes us be able to see the moon. It is just reflecting the sun’s light. Then that light was refracting off the moon to the lake. It was the perfect image of camp. As Jesus shines, we reflect HIS light to the students.
This week has been so increadable on many levels. The campers are wonderful, it is a delight to watch them unplug and connect with God in new and unique ways. With huge smiles they treck from one end of camp to the other squeezing every ounce of fun out of their free time. The adult leaders are servants extrodinare! Often, they are only functioning because of the large doses of caffeine they consume! Our staff meetings are more like a gathering of the tired but wired! I love watching the student leaders the most. I learn so much from these old souls in young bodies. They give me confidence in the next generation.
Like the brief moment I got to gaze at the moon and reflect on God’s glory is this time at camp. It is a little glimpse of what Heaven will be like. All ages, all races, both genders living communally, serving each other. Laughing, crying, dancing, singing, working, playing all together. It’s not perfect but the amazing, wonderful, awe inspiring moments totally out weigh the momentary minor problems. It makes me long of the day when we will never have to load the buses but will live like this in the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ forever!
-Jenni Reiling 🙂
Following the Call
Hello everyone!
My name is Grant Vandehey. For those who don’t know me, I’ll be going into my junior year next year at Tualatin High School. This past year of my spiritual journey has just been so incredible since Mississippi. I was a leader all year at extreme and now I’ve become one here at the Peak. It’s amazing how much I’ve learned from my time leading small groups. I feel that I’ve learned just as much, if not more, from the kids as they’ve learned from me.
This past month or so, I’ve been spending a lot of time in prayer and in Scripture, just trying to find my calling in God’s Kingdom, and I believe I’ve found it. God has blessed me with an absolute PASSION for spiritual teaching and guidance over the past year leading these kids. I’ve been meeting with leaders and mentors of mine at our church a lot this past year as well, and I love doing that. Having conversations about my faith is what I love doing. There’s nothing I love more than sharing what I believe with others who haven’t heard about Christ, discussing it with mentors/leaders, or teaching the next generation about Him.
With all this in mind, I’ve come to a point where I really know what God wants to do with my life. I need to become a pastor. There’s just nothing I love more than teaching and sharing my faith. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life that this really is what God wants me to do. This week at camp has made it so clear that this is what I need to be doing with my life.
From all of you reading this, I could really use some prayers in figuring out exactly how to go about this and how to stay true to this commitment I’ve made.
God bless all who took the time to read this post, and all those who have been praying for all of us to have a great year at camp.
And God bless the parents of the WONDERFUL 7th grade boys in my cabin that have been such a blessing to me and their other leader Patrick. To the parents of Andrew, Nathan, William, Caleb, Jacob, James, and Sean, all I can say is keep up the great work, because you’ve done an amazing job at raising these kids.
Once again, many thanks to everyone back home, and see you all soon!
-Grant
Cheri’s Blog
Hey family and friends! We are having a blast here at the Peak! It is amazing!!!! The OchoShowcho is tonight!!! That is a talent show to be done solo, double, or cabins!!! Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are making braceletts in our cabin. So far we are making a ton and giving them out as presents. We are going boating today as a cabin. It is going to be so much fun!!!!!!!!!!! We looked for hours for the hidden madalian and didn’t find either. Oh, well! We tried and came really close! I hope to come back as a counsler in 2 years, because camp rocks!!! Please send us all letters and mail! We love recieving notes and presents from you! The campers won the night games last night and as a reward each cabin was rewarded a shaving cream pie to put in any leaders face!! My cabin chose Mark Began!!!! Ha Ha!! Today when we were blogging(Our pic of me holding up Jessica) we had a bunch of fun making about 70 pictures, dementing our heads and twisting ourselves together!!! We love the Peak!!!!1
Miss you all,
CHERI LUIKART
Meleah’s Blog
We are having such a BLAST at camp! It’s definitely different from last year, but in a good way. It seems shorter and really life changing. My whole cabin can’t wait for the Ocho Showcho tonight. We are gonna do something sooooo cool! ~Meleah
Calli’s blog
OMGosh!!!! Camp is so much fun! We have gone swimming, played in train cars, ate the best food, and have the best cabins. Every night when Mark preaches the gospel, almost 30 people cry every night! The message is always so intense. Mark and all the rest of the leaders have really made an impact on my life this year.
I Love The Peak!
What a great camp! I just want you to know that you have amazing students! It has been a joy to play with them, laugh with them, worship with them, and watch God move in their lives.
I kinda feel old because the 6th grade class were just babies when I first arrived as the girls director at RHCC in the summer of 1997. To see my nephew here at camp has made me realize I have been a part of quite a few RHCC Jr High camps. And every year I think that year’s camp is the best week we have ever had, and this week seems to top them all! Our leaders truly love and care for each student. Mark is doing an outstanding job speaking. Tyler and the band have led us in awesome worship times, and our key staff take care of all the tiny daily details that make this camp run smoothly. What a priviledge to be here serving your students.
I would like to say thank you for entrusting your students to us this week. We are so blessed by each one of them. And the best part of it all, we still have a few days left.
I JUST LOVE CAMP See you all Friday!
Jen Gulbrandson
Timberidge 5+6
Best trick ever
Okay so @ lunch today we were like eating grapes and i (to the upper left) decided to put one in my mouth and put it on a napkin in the bowl and asked if anyone wanted some grapes. Cheri said yes and took the bowl grabbed the grape i had put in my mouth. are whole table yelled NO!!!!! As we told her what happened her face went from bewilderment to disgust. she wiped her tongue and drank like two gallons of water. It was FUNNY!!!!!!
Love,
Moriah, Jessica, Laura, Cheri, Madison, Jordon, Jenny, and catie
yo yo it’s camp yo
johnfinnerty
So, I’m here at camp havin’ a great time. Last night Chris and I rocked the Stupid Human Trick Show. Let me tell you these kids have some pretty stupid tricks up their sleeves. All sorts of things your eyes should never do were done, not to mention the mass contorting of all extremities — hands, arms, fingers (big and little). It was fantastic. Also, I got totally cream-pied in the face by the fletch-dawg. It was extremely messy and slightly painful. LATER! -Roy McCoy
Cabin 9 Perspective
I was totally against going to Wild Waves as a leader, but I was surprised by the bonding that happened! I’ve been on more than 20 camps as a leader and this was the first time I learned all my kid’s names on the FIRST DAY! One of my students is Shawn H. He was a reading buddy with Monte S. who is on staff at church. Shawn came and we had an amazing experience the first night as he prayed to receive Christ. Without prompting, Andrew K., a student in the cabin, just started mentoring Shawn in his new faith! Look for more through the video testimonies that are coming later in the week.
I wouldn’t consider this cabin spiritual giants, but it’s obvious that the respect and reverence for God is there. They don’t always have the answers to the questions we ask, but they have a strong curiosity about spiritual things and seem really teachable.
One thing we did for bonding as a cabin was to get these crazy pink clown hats and ties. When we busted them out, the guys loved them right away and wore them the whole first night! It may have been something silly, but it really bonded them on another level.
The kids are really tired of Grant and Patrick speaking in songs(the classics from the 60’s and 70’s), but they are loving it just the sa
The Peek!
Hey everyone!
I’m having such an awesome time here at camp! my cabin group is so fun and they are all so nice! Yesterday me and some of my cabin group went horseback riding it was really cool but everyone was really sore afterward. we also went boating and tubing that was a blast! so I’ll talk to you all later see ya!
THE PEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HI people
i am having a great time at the peak. Night games are great , plus so it the food.i miss you all and will talk to you later.
Meg M.
Timberidge 5+6
Hey parents and friends!
We are having an awesome time here at the Peak!!! We are meeting new friends, drinking lots of water (Tell me about it) and winning night games!!! WHoa! Awesome!!! We are also with the best leaders in the planet, Erica and Margot Standseven!!! We are also learning a ton and becoming closer to God like never before.! Tonight we made a commitment to go beyond our comfort zone!! It was hard to do but we did it!!! Yea!!
We have also made friends with 6th and 7th graders to complete the 8th grade challenge that Mark gave us. It was to make others feel comfortable when we may not be in our comfort zone!
We miss you all,
Cheri, Jenny, Jessica, Caitie, Madison, Jordon, Moriah, and Laura
CAMP IS FREAKING AWESOME
I love these kids so much! its so great to be a leader here! These kids are experiencing God in this place. You won’t see the same kids when they return.
Sarah Finnerty
campers view
hello this is maxx h. and jacob m.
this camp has been a very fun and inspiring week. we have got closer to God and had fun doing so. the counselors are great, they are very faithful with God and are extreamly fun. Mark’s quad time with us and God has once again made a huge impact on our lives. the peak has many things to offer. we had lots of fun going boating, blobbing, going on the ice berg,and wild waves!!!.
so once again we have had a great week at the PEAK!!!!!!!!!!!
Pray For Us Tonight!
I’ve been hearing some great things about what students are doing to step out by faith. I heard one cabin had 4 students respond to Christ on the first night alone! I keep hearing from different leaders all the time how much bonding happened at Wild Waves and how it has set the relational tone for the whole camp. This is hard for me to swallow. We only did Wild Waves because we couldn’t do boating last year and weren’t sure if we could do it this year either. So God is in control and he works through EVERY situation and circumstance.
Tonight we need your prayers in a major way. We are looking at Noah, Abraham and Moses and challenging the students to step out of their comfort zones and follow God by being a leader in some way when they come home. So many of them are taking on serving roles here at camp and we want them to start preparing to go home and continue right where camp left off. We also need prayer as the kids and staff are getting really tired so conflicts are on the rise and we are having more opportunities to see the Spirit influence relationships that are under stress.
Pray for our leaders tonight as they identify and pray for kids who they see God preparing to be leaders. Pray that they will have discernment and prophetic eyes to see the potential in each of their kids of whom they love very much.
You all would be proud of how much your kids are being loved by the volunteer leaders and HS students who are cabin leaders this week. They have gone the extra mile in so many ways. Make sure and thank them when we get back as many of them are your peers who sacrificed a week of work or vacation to invest in these young emerging adults.
Serving the King,
Mark
Monday Night Recap Video
One of the highlights of our evening group time is coming together and watching the a video recapping the events of the day. Here is the first in our daily recap videos.
just a side note…
there is a clip of a girl being blobbed in this video that we found on youtube that is insanely ridiculous. I’m pretty sure you’ll know which one it is. So no worries, we are not teaching your kids to fly!
Here are some pics…
I am including some pictures from our Quad Time on Monday night. We had a great time of worship and learned about faith. The students were challenged to walk by faith and just trust in their beliefs. It was a cool time with tons of excitement!
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