Welcome to the Masquerade

This coming Sunday night at Crossroads (student ministry of FBC Birmingham, Alabama), we are having a special theme night.  We are calling it "Welcome to the Masquerade."  All students in the Birmingham area are invited to a night of fun and good times as we take a look at what lies behind the masks that we wear.  It all starts at 6pm, so if you're in the Birmingham area, feel free to come and join us for the fun.

I will be honest, in preparing the message for Sunday night, I'm getting super excited.  God has been showing me some cool stuff that I can't wait to share with those present at Crossroads.  As a teaser for Sunday night, one thing that God has been showing me is that the real God of the universe is strongly pursuing the real us that He has created.  That's all that I'll share at this time.  If you want more, drop by FBC Birmingham this Sunday at 6pm (costumes on).

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Crossroads Update

A couple of weeks ago, our student ministry started a new series called "It's the End of the World As We Know It." This series is an overview of end time events as the Bible talks about them. This has been a fun series to prepare and do. Reading different thoughts and study notes from a range of folks has caused me to really get in to it and try to get my mind somewhat aroud these events.

It always amazes me just how interested students are in the end of the world. Think about it. Teenagers do have this subconscious thought of lasting forever, but still they want to know how it all comes to an end.

One really cool thing that happened this week is that I got a text message from a parent saying that their student had some questions and was a little confused about these end time events. At first, I wondered if I had confused this student by teaching wrong. Then, God reminded me that this is why I am on staff at our church in the role of student pastor. I am called to come alongside and help parents spiritually train their child (not do it all for them). I gave the parent a timeline of events and my study notes with the invitation to help find more resources if needed.

As this series plays out, I'm anxious to see what God is going to do. One thing that I do hope for is that a passion and longing for Jesus' return would be ignited in our students' lives.

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The Bema

This was a message that I shared with our students last night at Crossroads.  It was the second message in a series we're calling "It's the End of the World As We Know It."  It discusses what the Judgment Seat of Christ is about.

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Crossroads Weekend Update

Series: "Bonding with James" An examination of the New Testament book of James by taking titles from James Bond movies.

Message: "Goldeneye" (James 5:1-6; Luke 18:18-27).  This message was the final in our "Bonding with James" series.  We are a very wealthy and prosperous society in America.  If not careful, our riches can blind us to the things that God is calling us to.  We looked to encourage students to keep our things - wealth, popularity, toys, etc - in the proper perspective so that they do not rob us from experiencing the great plans that God has in store.

Game: "Turkey Trivia".  This was a PowerPoint game with trivia questions about Thanksgiving topics.  It was fun to hear the answers from the students and watch their reactions to the answers.

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Weekend Update

We had a great night at the Crossroads last night.  We are still in a series called "Bonding with James" where we are going through the New Testament book of James and giving the messages movie titles from James Bond films.  It has been so much fun.  Here's a recap of what happened last night.

Games: We had a "Man, Gorilla, Gun" contest.  It was awesome.  The first time through, Jim Anthony came out the victor.  The second time it came down to two young ladies and they tied putting them both out!  Great way to get the blood pumping.

Music: "Everyday" - Joel Houston; "Made to Worship" - Chris Tomlin

Message: "Goldfinger"  James 2:1-13.  We talked about the sin of prejudice and favoritism.  This message was one that I was very happy with.  The struggle for students to compromise their convictions for popularity is so strong.  Before I began to speak, we played the game "Mingle" where students grouped together and were dwindled down to two winners.  We used that to illustrate how easy it is to leave someone "outside" just to get ahead ourselves.  You can hear this message by clicking here.

We closed the night with a time of commitment and prayer, then we sang "Hosanna".  It was a great night.  A visitor in Sunday School yesterday marked the 5th straight week that our students had brought at least one visitor to check out what God is doing at the Crossroads.

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Crossroads Weekend Update

Great night again this past Sunday with the youth of First Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama.  We are continuing our series on "Bonding with James" and looking through the New Testament book of James.

Message: "Diamonds Are Forever" James 2:14-26.  We focused on what genuine faith looks like and how it is demonstrated through our works.  We talked about how our works do not save us but rather our good works reveal to those around us that our faith in Christ is real.

Music: "Sing to the King" - Billy Foote; "From the Inside Out" - Hillsong; "Lead Me to the Cross" - Brooke Fraser.

Overall: I thought that this night was really good.  Once again we had one of our students reach out and invite a friend.  It is always a boost to know that the students trust you and what you're doing to bring their friends (or girlfriends) along for the ride.  We were missing some of our regulars though.  I would give the night a B++.

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Weekend Update

We had a great night with the student ministry of FBC Birmingham last night.  We are in the middle of a series called "Bonding with James" where we are taking a walk thru the New Testament book of James.

Message: "Die Another Day" Part 2 in the "Bonding with James" series.  We talked about temptation and how to overcome it.  I really felt good about this message and thought that it came across effectively.  I was bummed out afterwards to find out that our podcast recorder didn't work (again).  Temptations are something that we all face but don't have to give in to.  If we set up guardrails and stand on the word of God, we can find victory over any temptation that comes our way!

Music: "Marvelous Light" - Charlie Hall; "Enough" - Chris Tomlin; "The Savior's Love" - old hymn.  It was good to have Josh, our music guy, back.  It was also his birthday, so we snuck a "Happy Birthday" in there for him.  I'm constantly reminded of how important musical worship is to a person's life.

Student Involvement: We did a game at the beginning of "Guess who's bad decision it is?"  This was a game that we made up.  We had students write down on a card a bad decision that they had made and turn it in.  We read them aloud (they knew we would) and had the group try to guess who's blunder it was.  This made a great icebreaker and lead-in to the message.

What are some ways that you deal with temptation?
How have you creatively taught about temptation with students?

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The Crossroads Recap

We started a new series about the purposes of the church with our student ministry.  It was a series that I had gotten from Simply Youth Ministry a while back called "Welcome to the Planet - What on Earth Am I Here For?" This has been a great series in showing students the reasons that God has created us and what He has in store for us.

Message: "Planned for God's Pleasure".  We talked about worship - what it is, how to know what you worship, etc.

Music: "Our Love is Loud" by David Crowder* Band; "Made to Worship" by Chris Tomlin; "Hosanna" by Brooke Fraser.

Good Points: The whole night fit together well with everything pointing to worship.  The music and message blending into one very well.  Our college worship leader was back to get the year started and had recruited a couple to help make a small praise band.

Weak Points: Many students were out.  Didn't have time to get the PowerPoint game together and going for the night.  That was okay though because we were out of time with the music and message.  It will be good when our time change takes place and we don't have to worry about time constraints.

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The Crossroads Review

This past Wednesday, we started getting back into the groove of the school year starting.  Two of our school systems that our church reaches had begun classes.  One is still waiting for that first bell to ring.  There was still a good atmosphere among the group.

Music: "There's No Greater Love"; "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus"; "The Potter's Hand"

Message: "The Crossroads"  Deuteronomy 30:11-20.  With the beginning of a new year in the student ministry, we went back to where we got our student ministry name and our theme verse.  We also talked about the power of choices.

Thumbs Up: I was proud to hear that a few of our students had worn their new student ministry t-shirts with the new logo to school already.

Thumbs Down:  The sound system went crazy on us with the wireless mic making all kinds of crazy noises.  Therefore, there was no podcast of that message (and I thought it was a good one, too.)

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Wednesday Night

I thought that I might try to keep up with all of the happenings that we do at the Crossroads Student Ministry (FBC Birmingham, Alabama) by posting about what our youth services looked like...

Series: FLIX - this was our summer series where we used video clips from movies to help illustrate God's Word and spark some discussion.

Music: "Nothing But the Blood" - Matt Redman; "I Stand Amazed" - hymn; "How Great Is Our God" - Chris Tomlin.

Message: "Not Being Lukewarm" - This message was presented by my summer intern, Casey Ortner.  He did a great job of sharing the importance of not living a lukewarm life.  We used a clip from the movie "The Three Amigos" where Martin Short draws a line in the sand and lays the challenge to Steve Martin and Chevy Chase.

Rating: It was a great night.  The musical worship was led by me and one of our youth, Teague.  Casey presented a clear message that the Holy Spirit used to bring some conviction.  I like how we ended the service by just spending some time alone with God in confession and prayer.  I would give it an "A".

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Student Life at the Beach Day 3

So today we welcomed a typical beach thunderstorm to camp. Nothing to really worry about. It rained pretty good for a little while then the sun came out with the humidity. It had been so nice, now we have sticky.
Today, we talked about an awesome subject: the glory of God. This was a good night. We heard a message that we need to hear so often: it's not about you. Many of the problems that we see in church come from people not getting what they want. Every thing that takes place on this playground called Earth happens in order to bring glory to God.
I also got to share with the students that came to camp about the future of the student ministry. They seemed to latch on to the idea of "the crossroads."

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