Youth Cancelled Tomorrow
Since the weather is kind of bad and the roads are icy, we won’t be meeting tomorrow, February 2 for youth. Actually, there will be no activities at the church tomorrow night. Stay home, stay warm, and stay safe. Can’t wait to see you Sunday!
File Family Fundraiser
Several area youth groups are hosting a fundraiser lunch this Sunday, January 30 immediately after morning services at First United Methodist Church. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the File family as they continue to recover from the loss of their home. The entire community is invited, but here’s how we need your help specifically:
1. We will need some students to volunteer to help with the set up Sunday morning at FUMC.
2. We will need students to bring a dessert (brownies, cookies, etc.) for the lunch.
I hope you and your kids will plan on being a part of this awesome ministry!
Common Ground Youth Event
Hey Parents, I’m excited to tell you about Common Ground coming up tomorrow night! This will be our 2nd semesterly (is that a word?) community wide youth event here in Levelland. Area youth ministers are working together to plan 1 event each semester for all teenagers in our area. Common Ground will be at the Levelland Middle School auditorium beginning at 7:30 tomorrow night. The band Catalyst will be leading in worship and Joey Cummings will be speaking. We will not be meeting for our normal youth time at the church tomorrow. I hope you will join me in encouraging all our teens and their friends, classmates, teammates, and peers to be at Common Ground.
“I Want My Kids to be Happy”
Great article here. Have a great Monday.
XP3 This Sunday: The Invisibles
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:
Here is an overview of what we’re talking about. Listed below the summary is a “parent cue” to help you dialog with your child about the session. The question is intended not just to be asked by you, but to be responded to by BOTH of you. Use this opportunity to find out what God is teaching your child, and allow your child to see what God is teaching you as well.
THE INVISIBLES:
Series Overview
We are surrounded by the invisibles. These are people who simply want to know someone cares, someone notices—people who want to know God cares. Some of us would even say we feel that way—invisible to an entire world, daily passing us by. Whether that feeling is a familiar one or not, the reality is that each one of us has felt invisible at one point or another. But we didn’t stay that way. God saw us. He sees the invisibles. And because God took notice of us, we are able to open our eyes to see those around us.
Session One: Can You See Me? (January 9)
Sometimes you can stand in a room or walk down a hallway or sit in a chair and no one notices you. It’s not that you have some type of special ability that makes you invisible—people just don’t see you. They know nothing about you—nor do they seem to want to know anything about you. It’s like you’re not even there, even when you are physically in the room. You’re invisible. The good news is Jesus sees invisible people—even those who never realized they were invisible.
Session One Parent Cue: Describe a time when you felt invisible.
Session Two: In Focus (January 16)
Some people go unnoticed. There are people in the background of our lives we never see. Maybe it’s the guy at the gas station or the girl at the coffee shop. Maybe it’s the girl sitting in the lunchroom, or the guy hanging out in the back of the youth room. There are people all around us who we treat as invisible. But because of how God has seen us, because of what we’ve experienced personally, our vision is changed. How can we begin to see the people in our lives every day that may normally go overlooked? How can we see the people halfway around the world that go unnoticed? What can we do to bring those around us in focus?
Session Two Parent Cue: Who are some people that are consistently in the background scenery of your everyday life?
Session Three: Seeing Beyond the Seen (January 30)
Sometimes what we really want isn’t what we are asking for. Sometimes what we really need is invisible to us. Thankfully Jesus sees us, really sees us. He sees the obvious physical needs and the more subtle spiritual ones too. And not only does He see them, He cares enough to do something about them both. When it comes to reaching out to the invisibles, when we provide friendship, water, help—sometimes it just isn’t enough. There’s a deeper, spiritual need that can only be met through Jesus Christ. And because of that, we do both—we help with the physical need but point them to Jesus Christ for the spiritual one.
Session Three Parent Cue: Identify someone who is invisible in each of your worlds. What do does he or she need? How can you help with that need? How can you also point them to Jesus Christ?
E3 Christmas
The E3 Christmas party is this Sunday, December 19 from 6:30-8:30 pm. We will meet upstairs in the youth room for a meal (lasagna, salad, etc.). Then we will have a Christmas scavenger hunt. At the end of the hunt we will meet at walmart where we will purchase some Christmas gifts for some children here in Levelland that wouldn’t get anything without some help. We will have all the youth back at the church by 8:30.
Make sure your teens can be here and if possible bring $5 to help with the gifts we will be purchasing.
Myths You Might Believe About Your Teenager
Reggie Joiner published a fascinating article today about 3 myths about teens. Every parent needs to read this.
E3 This Week
There are 2 awesome opportunities for your teens to serve this week!
1. Thursday night our senior adults are having their annual Harvest Banquet at the church. Our students will be serving them. What an incredible chance to serve those who have served us so generously for so long! Students need to be at the church by 5:30 Thursday and need to dress nice.
2. Saturday morning we will be taking students to Mardel in Lubbock to load the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes from the entire area into an 18-wheeler. We will leave the church at 8:00. After we finish at Mardel we will take all the students out to lunch…we’ll even pay! Should be home by 2:00.
XP3: Angry
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:
Here is an overview of what we’re talking about. Listed below the summary is a “parent cue” to help you dialog with your child about the session. The question is intended not just to be asked by you, but to be responded to by BOTH of you. Use this opportunity to find out what God is teaching your child, and allow your child to see what God is teaching you as well.
Angry:
Series Overview
What ticks you off? Traffic? Long lines? People who don’t follow through on their promises? It’s amazing how we all can do an emotional 180 when life fails to meet our expectations. For the next three weeks, your student will be challenged to redirect their anger from the stuff that doesn’t really matter to the stuff that does. They will be exploring the things that make God angry, and they will be working on ways to move outside themselves and begin doing something about bigger problems in the world.
Session One (November 7)
You may see the title of this session and think this series is about helping students deal with anger in their relationships—that’s a future series. We want students to realize that we all get angry. It’s normal and natural. But are we getting angry about the things we should get angry about? Is it worth verbally tearing someone to shreds over an inconvenience to us when there are bigger issues in the world—issues that make God angry? (This session focuses on experiencing wonder and discovery.)
Session One Parent Cue: Why did a good God give us the ability to get angry? Is it because there is something good that comes from our anger? This week you may want to ask your student about their pet peeves or the things that make them most angry. Try to strike up a conversation about why those things really get to them, and be willing to share the things that make you angry as well.
Session Two (November 14)
This session uses all three of our XP3 elements—wonder, discovery and passion. As Christians, we focus a lot on what Jesus saved us from, but He also saved us for something. As followers of Christ, we can be a part of what God is doing in the world.
Session Two Parent Cue: Students will be challenged to figure out what makes God angry. They will be looking for things in the world and in your community that just don’t seem right compared to God’s standard. Ask them about the things they find most troubling from God’s perspective. They will also be working on creating a plan to do something about one specific thing that makes God angry. Ask them about their group’s plan. See if you can help make their project a success!
Session Three (November 21)
This session is all about passion, aligning our hearts completely with God. We want to move students beyond getting angry about the things that make God angry to doing something about it in our communities and in our world.
Session Three Parent Cue: This week, students will be challenged to come together as the people of God to do something BIG. Instead of meeting in small groups, students will respond to the session by participating in a group-wide experience, called The XP, as well as an activity with their small group. Ask them about their experiences. Encourage them to continue looking for ways to be a part of something bigger than themselves. What are some ways you can do this together as a family?
XP3…ATTACHED
I’m so excited about XP3! If your teen hasn’t made it yet make sure they are here this Sunday at 5:30 as we will be starting a new series.
WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:
So what are we talking about at XP3? Here is an overview of the new series as well as summaries of each week’s discussions. Use this information as a cue to prompt discussion with your teen.
Attached:
Series Overview
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.
Session One (October 10)
This session has one primary objective—for students to discover what they are attached to. Every one of us is attached to something—some person, thing or experience that brings us great joy and contentment. On the flip side, it can also leave us feeling discouraged. We don’t expect a student to walk into XP3 and walk out clearly knowing what this “something” is. But we want this session to prompt that search, to help students start looking around their lives and find out where they attach their contentment.
Session One Parent Cue: Students will be challenged to look at their lives and consider the things that require the greatest amount of their time, money and attention. In their small groups, they will take a quiz that 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—and be willing to confess the attachments you see in your own.
Session Two (October 17)
Attached Session 2 picks up where last week left off—by discovering where we’re attached. This session takes that discovery and builds a sense of wonder as we encourage students to attach themselves to something that doesn’t change—God.
Session Two Parent Cue: 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. You may also want to take this opportunity to share some of your own attachments to things other than God, and how those things let you down and what you learned from those experiences.
Session Three (October 24)
This session helps students experience both wonder and discovery. Last session we challenged them to attach themselves to Jesus Christ, but this week we’ll talk about the reality of what that looks like. It sounds like a great concept, but for each one of us, to fully lean into Jesus Christ seems risky. We want to rely on ourselves or something else. It’s an illusion, a myth, because leaning into Christ is the safest place we can be. But living in a world that can temporarily meet every need we have, it feels risky to trust in someone you can’t see when you can trust in someone or something you can see.
Session Three Parent Cue: 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.
