Weekly Update 12/29

Greetings! Hope that you and yours had a great Christmas, and that all our students are enjoying their holiday break.

Thursday, December 31- Friday, January 1
It's Lock-In time! We will be having a lock in at the church to kick off 2010. Youth should arrive between 8-9pm. At 9:05pm, the doors will lock and no one will go outside and no one will be allowed inside. We will be playing many games, hanging out, shooting Nerf guns, and we will bring in the New Year in a pretty cool way. All we ask is that each youth brings a snack to donate. The church will provide the drinks, but we need the students to bring the snacks. We hope to see you, and all your friends Thursday night!


Last Sunday, we handed out some important information. The first sheet was a financial outlook on the activities we will be doing in 2010. We wanted to give everyone a heads up, and also offered discounted prices for those who will be attending more than one event with us. The second sheet was the calendar for spring 2010. While these could change, the calendar will give you a pretty good overview of all the things that we are going to be doing. The third and final sheet was for the junior highers and it concerned CIY:Believe. Speaking of which..

Sunday, January 3, 2010
At 5:30pm we will have an informational meeting for all junior high students and their parents concerning CIY:Believe. Like last year, CIY will be held in Highland Heights, KY on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. We all had a blast last year, and we hope that all our junior high kids will attend! The meeting will be held in the Commons and will be very brief. We are asking that you make a deposit to reserve your kid a spot, we are reserving our spot at CIY and our hotel the first thing Monday morning. Make sure to view the financial information for discounted prices.

Following the parent meeting, from 6:00-7:30pm, Ignite returns! We will be starting a new series called Basic Training. We will be looking at the similarities between the duties and experiences of our military and our own faith journeys. Join us Sunday as we sit down with Tiff Belcher and discuss her experiences as a part of our armed forces.

Earlier in the day, we will be beginning a new BFC study called Bible 101. It is a study that we will start every year off with. Bible 101 is a quick overview of specific Biblical teachings and necessary Biblical knowledge. We hope you will join us for that!

If you are in need of any of the handouts, or have any questions about upcoming events, please e-mail youth@bowlinggreenchristian.org -or- call the church office at (270) 842-6231.

12/27 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert"

Lesson

• Review
• Read Matthew 3:1-3. Remember our first lesson? Things have come full circle.
• Read Matthew 3:4-10. So John wasn’t politically correct. What is his beef with the Pharisees and Sadducees?
• Read Matthew 3:11-12. I’m good, but someone will be greater.
• Read Matthew 3:13-17. Why did Jesus get baptized?
• Remember, John the Baptist, considered by Jesus the greatest among men, in his darkest hour wanted to know if what he was doing what the right thing to do. Do you ever get to that point?
• Read Matthew 14:1-2. So we see what happened to John. They think that Jesus was John reincarnate. Wouldn’t it be great if people looked at us and said it is like Jesus was back from the dead?
• Read Matthew 14:3-5. Once again, not being politically correct. Remember, John wasn’t making political stands, he was making moral ones.
• Read Matthew 14:6-12. What a way to go out. What does this tell you about the people who live in opposition to what we are preaching and teaching?

Application

• What aspects John’s life should we mimic?
• What have you learned from this study?
• The central message of Christmas is that Jesus has come to earth. Is this still not the message? Though it is not in a manger, Jesus is here living in us, and will be here one day as the victor and ruler of the world

Weekly Update 12/22

We wish you a merry Christmas!!!

Thursday, December 24
BGCC will be having a Christmas Eve service in the Commons starting at 6:00. We will be done in less than an hour, so we hope that you will join us!

Sunday, December 27
We will conclude our series on John the Baptist.

12/20 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice In the Desert"

Lesson

• Review. Where are we? What has just happened
• Read Luke 1:57-61. Sometimes doing God’s will defies logic. People kept their names within the family. They didn’t make up names, they kept it all in the family. It didn’t make sense for them to name him this, especially since John was not a Hebrew name.
• Read Luke 1:62-66. Let’s say expectations are a little high. People have seen that God is definitely in this situation. Question: Is your family pointing towards God? Do people realize that God is working in your family?
• Read Luke 1:67-79. When my first child is born, this is the prayer that I am going to pray over them. No, they aren’t going to be as good as John the Baptist but their job in life, our job in life, is the same thing. Find one thing that was mutually exclusive to John?
• Read Luke 1:80. Why did he go to the desert? Some believe that he belonged to a group called the Essens, look it up and research them. But the big deal is this, he’s learning, he’s preparing.

Application

• In this Christmas season, are we filled with such joy? Look at the utter joy of the family, and the community for the birth of John. They all know that this kid is special, and Zechariah makes it obvious that this guy is going to show people the Messiah.
• Are we that excited about Jesus? Are we excited about the opportunity to be the person God uses to bring His good news to the world?

Weekly Update 12/14

Thanks for those who have came to the Christmas parties last night. We had a great time! It's always to get to come together as a family!

Mission Opportunity

• Please look through your closets and see if there is anything that you have outgrown that you can donate to a family of refugees in the community. They are in desperate need of clothing for the winter months. Please bring your clothes, old or new, to the Youth Center early this week. We need to get these clothes out before the Christmas break. Let's show people Jesus this Christmas season.

Sunday, December 20

• We will be Christmas caroling from 5:00-8:00 this Sunday night. If you are willing to drive our students, we would appreciate the vehicles. We will be visiting our shut-ins and some elderly people in our community. We will finish at the Rose's house for some hot chocolate and fellowship time. If you are willing to drive, please e-mail us and let us know. Hope to see you out as we spread the holiday cheer!

12/14 Senior & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert: Actions Speak"

Introduction

• Did you ever find out a Christmas present before you got it?

Lesson

• Review last week
• Read Luke 1:1-4. Don’t you wish that we had all these accounts? Why is this important?
•  Read Luke 1:5-17. Don’t you wish that you had assurance when your future child comes that he is going to be great? Why is it important that he never has a drink?
• Read Luke 1:18-20. Zechariah doubts. Gabriel answers.
•  Read Luke 1:21-22. Zechariah plays charades
• Read Luke 1:23-25
• Read Luke 1:39-45. Before he is even born, John is pointing towards Jesus. He’s a quick learner.

Application

• John gets an early start on pointing towards Jesus. As you gear up for Christmas (which should be an all year celebration that Jesus came down to us) are your actions reflecting Christ?

Weekly Update 12/8/09

Saturday, December 12

I hope that you will join Project PG in making the "Angel Tree Breakfast" a success. We are still in need of youth to come out and help deliver gifts to cars of the recipients. Please let Jared know ASAP if you are available to do this.

Sunday, December 13

We will continue our series on John the Baptist in our BFCs. That afternoon, we will have our annual Christmas parties. The junior high will be meeting from 2:00-4:00 at Jared & Lindsay's house. The senior high, and junior high students who have senior high siblings, will be meeting from 5:00-7:00ish. We want to limit the travel times for everyone, so if you have children in both the senior high and junior high, you can just bring them both at 5:00. If you have children in both age groups, but only one child is coming (for instance if you have a junior high student who is coming, but a senior high student that is not coming) please bring them to their appropriate age group. No junior high student can come to the senior high party without their sibling. Please bring a snack, and a wrapped "Dirty Santa" gift.

See you this weekend at BGCC!

12/6 Senior High & Junior High BFC "A Voice in the Desert"

Introduction

• What are some of the things your family does to get ready for Christmas?
• Jesus wasn’t the only one foretold about in the Old Testament.  This Christmas season, we are going to talk about one of the main characters in the story of Jesus, John the Baptist and how he prepared hearts and lives for the coming of the Messiah.

Lesson

• Read Isaiah 40:3-5. We will find that John the Baptist used these words when speaking about Jesus. He knew the importance of getting rid of everything in the way of the Messiah coming.
• Read Malachi 4:5-6. What did Elijah do?
• 1 Kings 18. How are Elijah and John the Baptist similar? In the midst of unbelief and fake gods, Elijah stood for God and what he believed in. John the Baptist stood in the midst of all the false messianic movements. He lived in a world full of Gentile influence.
• 1 Kings 19:9b-18. In their darkest, times, both of them needed reassurance that they were doing the right thing, and pointing the right way.
• 2 Kings 2:11. Okay, so this is maybe where the similarities end.
• Why is this significant that this verse is the last verse in the Old Testament? Yes a bunch of men decided where these books were going, but I trust that God was working through men to leave a cliff hanger here. There were 400 years between this period and the first capital letter of the Gospels.  The deal is this, Elijah, John the Baptist, they are coming to present this fact: come to God, or things are going to get bad.

2009 Year End Review

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