This week was a great week of youth ministry.
High School recap: The students came. They voted. The topic was "Relationship with Parents". It was close to Self-Image in the voting so that is looking like it may be the topic for next week. Ted Wesson took the lead on the discussion. It was a good night as we learned what parents are thinking and gave some good insight to students on how to honor their parents in a biblical way. The students asked many good questions that were answered. We recorded the discussion so if you would like a copy let us know.
Middle School recap: The topic voted for was Alcohol and drugs. Brian Mumau led the discussion on this topic. Pastor Matt joined him to answer questions from the students that were very good. The question asked the most was why is that stuff so bad. We talked about how your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit as well as how Paul tells us in Ephesians to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jocelyn Nordstrom gave her testimony about the consequences of using Alcohol and drugs improperly. The students had good discussions about this topic in their small groups as well.
This series is off to a great start. We are looking forward to seeing students lives changed.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Parent update (March)
Listed below are sections containing information specific to Middle School and High School students. Read it all or just the section that best fits you and your family.
Middle School:
Encounter: Our Middle School Worship Service:
During February and March, we continue looking at key characteristics of Jesus. Two weeks ago we looked at Jesus the comforter, this past week was about Jesus the servant, and the upcoming weeks before Easter we will touch on Jesus the Provider, Savior, and Forgiver.
Revolution: Our Mid-Week Program (Wednesdays 7:00 – 8:30 pm)
Last week we started a new series on Hot Topics. This series will be very interactive because students may ask questions to a panel of pastors that will respond giving the topics a practical and most importantly, a biblical view.
The topics we plan to cover are purity, self-image, drugs and alcohol, relationships with parents, sharing your faith, gossip, building a relationship with Jesus, peer pressure; you're never too far from God despite mistakes, and Absolute Truth.
Save the Dates:
Ms Lake Champion Retreat April 25-27
MS Survivor Night June 13
MS Camp August4-8
High School:
Weekend Worship
Our study on James has gone well. It will be completed this Sunday, March 2nd. Due to scheduling, we are asking that you spend the month of March enjoying the weekend worship together as a family. Starting in April, we will look at another short series to help the students transition.
Extreme – Our Mid-Week Program (Tuesdays 7:00 – 9:00 pm)
The high schoolers start their series on Hot Topics tomorrow. This series will be very interactive because students may ask questions to a panel of pastors that will respond giving the topics a practical and most importantly a biblical view.The topics we plan to cover are purity, self-image, drugs and alcohol, relationships with parents, sharing your faith, gossip, building a relationship with Jesus, peer pressure; you're never too far from God despite mistakes, and Absolute Truth.
Important Dates
Survivor Night (just High School) – March 7-8
If you have a high school student that is not connected, this event is a great way to help them find a friend, or even bring a friend. Please go to this link for detailed information:
http://www.princetonalliance.org/events/survivor/
HS Missions Trip Informational Meeting- (Sunday, March 2 12:30 -1:15 pm – Chapel)
This coming Sunday parents, potential goers, and anyone curious has the opportunity to take 30-45 minutes of your time to join us for questions, vision, and direction about the summer missions trip.
Middle School:
Encounter: Our Middle School Worship Service:
During February and March, we continue looking at key characteristics of Jesus. Two weeks ago we looked at Jesus the comforter, this past week was about Jesus the servant, and the upcoming weeks before Easter we will touch on Jesus the Provider, Savior, and Forgiver.
Revolution: Our Mid-Week Program (Wednesdays 7:00 – 8:30 pm)
Last week we started a new series on Hot Topics. This series will be very interactive because students may ask questions to a panel of pastors that will respond giving the topics a practical and most importantly, a biblical view.
The topics we plan to cover are purity, self-image, drugs and alcohol, relationships with parents, sharing your faith, gossip, building a relationship with Jesus, peer pressure; you're never too far from God despite mistakes, and Absolute Truth.
Save the Dates:
Ms Lake Champion Retreat April 25-27
MS Survivor Night June 13
MS Camp August4-8
High School:
Weekend Worship
Our study on James has gone well. It will be completed this Sunday, March 2nd. Due to scheduling, we are asking that you spend the month of March enjoying the weekend worship together as a family. Starting in April, we will look at another short series to help the students transition.
Extreme – Our Mid-Week Program (Tuesdays 7:00 – 9:00 pm)
The high schoolers start their series on Hot Topics tomorrow. This series will be very interactive because students may ask questions to a panel of pastors that will respond giving the topics a practical and most importantly a biblical view.The topics we plan to cover are purity, self-image, drugs and alcohol, relationships with parents, sharing your faith, gossip, building a relationship with Jesus, peer pressure; you're never too far from God despite mistakes, and Absolute Truth.
Important Dates
Survivor Night (just High School) – March 7-8
If you have a high school student that is not connected, this event is a great way to help them find a friend, or even bring a friend. Please go to this link for detailed information:
http://www.princetonalliance.org/events/survivor/
HS Missions Trip Informational Meeting- (Sunday, March 2 12:30 -1:15 pm – Chapel)
This coming Sunday parents, potential goers, and anyone curious has the opportunity to take 30-45 minutes of your time to join us for questions, vision, and direction about the summer missions trip.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Recognition
Would you do what you do if no one saw? What if no one saw you doing what you are doing and you never got a pat on the back would you still do it? What if you accomplished more in your school or workplace than anyone has ever done and no one said anything to you or about you how would you feel?
What if God asked you to go to a remote town and lead the town to relationship with him but he said no one would know who did it? Would you go? God may be calling you to do just that. It is pretty humbling to think about that. I have been wrestling with that lately because it is so easy to think that you should be given credit for this and that when really God should be the one getting all the credit.
What if God asked you to go to a remote town and lead the town to relationship with him but he said no one would know who did it? Would you go? God may be calling you to do just that. It is pretty humbling to think about that. I have been wrestling with that lately because it is so easy to think that you should be given credit for this and that when really God should be the one getting all the credit.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
New Series
We are starting a new series this week on Hot Topics. This series will be very interactive as we will having students asking questions with a panel of pastors answering them and giving the topics a practical and most importantly a biblical view on the topics.
Topics we will be discussing are: purity, self image, drug and alcohol, relationships with parents, sharing your faith, gossip, building relationship with Jesus, peer pressure, you're never too far from God despite mistakes, and Absolute Truth.
If you have an ideas or questions you think we need to address in any of these topics please let us know.
Email: youth@princetonalliance.org
Or you can comment on the post
Topics we will be discussing are: purity, self image, drug and alcohol, relationships with parents, sharing your faith, gossip, building relationship with Jesus, peer pressure, you're never too far from God despite mistakes, and Absolute Truth.
If you have an ideas or questions you think we need to address in any of these topics please let us know.
Email: youth@princetonalliance.org
Or you can comment on the post
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
This Past Year
OVERVIEW
This past year was amazing in Student Ministry here at PAC. We started the year with a series called "The Climb" where we looked at our Spiritual lives as a Journey. We talked for 5 weeks about the tools that you need for the climb. We looked at Bible Study, Prayer, Accountability, Scripture Memory and Involvement in the Church. This series really set the tone for where we headed after that. With that as our base we spent four weeks talking about relationships and purity in those relationship. We closed out the school year with hot topics such as different religions, how to deal with temptations such as alcohol, drugs, sex, cheating, and lying. We talked about how to respect our parents. For the last two weeks we had 2 of our graduating seniors share their heart to both the middle school and high school.
BY the NUMBERS
We had a year where we set many highs. Numbers are dangerous to focus on but they are a good way to measure if what you are doing is working. We are only going to look at the numbers that count: Relationships, Salvations, and Commitments to Ministry.
Knowing God
Middle School
We had attendance that remained steady despite a huge graduating 8th grade class the year before. We had one of our highest attendance's in years for our Middle School retreat. We saw 11 students except the Lord for the first time on this retreat. Praise God! We had solid biblical teaching on the weekends with Courtney McLaughlin teaching one hour and Pastor Matt teaching another hour. Each class was different with Courtney addressing key issues that students were going through from a biblical perspective. He took a survey at the beginning and got there thoughts on what they wanted to learn. Pastor Matt taught through the book of Acts in detail.
High School
We had our highest high school average attendance ever. We had the second largest group at the Life Conference over the summer and the largest to ever go from PAC. We had 45 commitments at the Life Conference which was almost 50% of the students that went. We had 8 students make first time commitments for Christ. We had 37 commit to full time ministry and 23 of those commit to becoming missionaries. It was an amazing conference. We saw students encountering God in new ways this past year. There were high school students who were healed emotionally, spiritually, and physically all because they trusted in the power of God.
Developing Community
Middle School
We saw our volunteer base grow not just in numbers but in there relationships with Students. Many volunteers took the extra time to take their students out for a coke, have them over to their house for a sleepover, and out to do something fun. All this was done to build relationships. Relationships are huge in middle school as students need to have a mentor in their life they can trust to share the tough issues and gain a biblical perspective. We saw many lives changed in small group times. We even had students laying hands on students and praying prayers of healing over each other. With our huge kids klub camp outreach during the summer we had our highest one day attendance ever with our week average one of the highest ever. We saw 65 total commitments with 15 of them being first time decisions for a relationship with Christ.
High School
We saw many one to one relationships develop between students and adult leaders. The adult leaders would many times be spending time with students outside of group to discuss serious issues that students were going through from a biblical perspective. We had about 70 high school students volunteer to help with Kids Klub Camp this past summer. We had a band fest for both middle school and high school where we had 250 students show up and the majority of the students were unchurched and they all heard the Gospel preached in a clear way.
Bring Hope into the World
Middle School
We started our first ever Middle School Leadership team and it was a huge success. We met once a month to discuss being a leader in your school and at home. We put a huge emphasis on spending time with God as well as serving and loving their neighbor. We closed the year out with a service project where we made sack lunches and handed them out at the Econo Lodge, which our church has adopted. As a large group we made care packages to be given out to homeless children in our area, college students, and troops in Iraq.
High School
At the Life Conference we saw our students give away jewelry, ipods, and lots of money for the mission work being done in Burkina Faso. We saw 6 students graduate and go to Bible School looking to become pastors and missionaries. This year we saw the start of a high school leadership team that has focused on leadership and the students spirituality. The leadership team went into Camden the week before Christmas to hand out Christmas gifts to the homeless. As a large group we made care packages to be given out to homeless children in our area, college students, and troops in Iraq.
This past year was a very successful year in student ministry. God was really at work in our midst. We are looking forward to what God has in store for us this year. I can't wait to see what he will do.
We are always looking for people to join the work that God is doing in Student Ministry. If you would like to be a part of this work please contact us: youth@princetonalliance.org
This past year was amazing in Student Ministry here at PAC. We started the year with a series called "The Climb" where we looked at our Spiritual lives as a Journey. We talked for 5 weeks about the tools that you need for the climb. We looked at Bible Study, Prayer, Accountability, Scripture Memory and Involvement in the Church. This series really set the tone for where we headed after that. With that as our base we spent four weeks talking about relationships and purity in those relationship. We closed out the school year with hot topics such as different religions, how to deal with temptations such as alcohol, drugs, sex, cheating, and lying. We talked about how to respect our parents. For the last two weeks we had 2 of our graduating seniors share their heart to both the middle school and high school.
BY the NUMBERS
We had a year where we set many highs. Numbers are dangerous to focus on but they are a good way to measure if what you are doing is working. We are only going to look at the numbers that count: Relationships, Salvations, and Commitments to Ministry.
Knowing God
Middle School
We had attendance that remained steady despite a huge graduating 8th grade class the year before. We had one of our highest attendance's in years for our Middle School retreat. We saw 11 students except the Lord for the first time on this retreat. Praise God! We had solid biblical teaching on the weekends with Courtney McLaughlin teaching one hour and Pastor Matt teaching another hour. Each class was different with Courtney addressing key issues that students were going through from a biblical perspective. He took a survey at the beginning and got there thoughts on what they wanted to learn. Pastor Matt taught through the book of Acts in detail.
High School
We had our highest high school average attendance ever. We had the second largest group at the Life Conference over the summer and the largest to ever go from PAC. We had 45 commitments at the Life Conference which was almost 50% of the students that went. We had 8 students make first time commitments for Christ. We had 37 commit to full time ministry and 23 of those commit to becoming missionaries. It was an amazing conference. We saw students encountering God in new ways this past year. There were high school students who were healed emotionally, spiritually, and physically all because they trusted in the power of God.
Developing Community
Middle School
We saw our volunteer base grow not just in numbers but in there relationships with Students. Many volunteers took the extra time to take their students out for a coke, have them over to their house for a sleepover, and out to do something fun. All this was done to build relationships. Relationships are huge in middle school as students need to have a mentor in their life they can trust to share the tough issues and gain a biblical perspective. We saw many lives changed in small group times. We even had students laying hands on students and praying prayers of healing over each other. With our huge kids klub camp outreach during the summer we had our highest one day attendance ever with our week average one of the highest ever. We saw 65 total commitments with 15 of them being first time decisions for a relationship with Christ.
High School
We saw many one to one relationships develop between students and adult leaders. The adult leaders would many times be spending time with students outside of group to discuss serious issues that students were going through from a biblical perspective. We had about 70 high school students volunteer to help with Kids Klub Camp this past summer. We had a band fest for both middle school and high school where we had 250 students show up and the majority of the students were unchurched and they all heard the Gospel preached in a clear way.
Bring Hope into the World
Middle School
We started our first ever Middle School Leadership team and it was a huge success. We met once a month to discuss being a leader in your school and at home. We put a huge emphasis on spending time with God as well as serving and loving their neighbor. We closed the year out with a service project where we made sack lunches and handed them out at the Econo Lodge, which our church has adopted. As a large group we made care packages to be given out to homeless children in our area, college students, and troops in Iraq.
High School
At the Life Conference we saw our students give away jewelry, ipods, and lots of money for the mission work being done in Burkina Faso. We saw 6 students graduate and go to Bible School looking to become pastors and missionaries. This year we saw the start of a high school leadership team that has focused on leadership and the students spirituality. The leadership team went into Camden the week before Christmas to hand out Christmas gifts to the homeless. As a large group we made care packages to be given out to homeless children in our area, college students, and troops in Iraq.
This past year was a very successful year in student ministry. God was really at work in our midst. We are looking forward to what God has in store for us this year. I can't wait to see what he will do.
We are always looking for people to join the work that God is doing in Student Ministry. If you would like to be a part of this work please contact us: youth@princetonalliance.org
Ramblings
I (Matt) have been doing some reading lately in Nehemiah. I have been studying what Nehemiah went through as a leader.
In Nehemiah 1:3-4 it says, "They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven."
As I read that I see and feel Nehemiah's brokenness. Nehemiah heard what was happening to his people and his heart broke. He wept before the Father. His heart was burdened for the people.
I look at the people around me and where their values are and my heart breaks. It has been freezing cold around here lately and I can't wait to get in doors when I am outside. Then I think about the people outside who can't get indoors because they are homeless. I think about the fire that happened in the apartment below me a couple of weeks ago and how we aren't able to live at home. I think about how we are staying at my in-laws and how many people have offered us a place to stay. What about those who have no home and no where to go? I am watching TV and complain that the TV isn't big enough or the picture is messed up. What about the people who have no money to even get a TV? I think about conversations I have had with people who feel like we should spend more money internally at the church rather than on helping to reach the lost and dying souls. Do we care about the people who don't know Jesus? I see churches acrossed America declining and less and less people are being reached for Christ. I see more and more pagan devices out there tempting people in materialism, greed, impurity, and immorality. DOES YOUR HEART BREAK FOR THESE THINGS? Jesus' heart is and he wants to use you and me. Will you let him?
First Entry
This is the blog of Princeton Alliance Church's Student Ministry. On this site we will update you on what is happening in our student ministry. You will opportunity to respond and ask questions on this site by clicking on the comments box (you will need to set up your own account to do this) or you could just email us either Nathan (nkarcesky@princetonalliance.org) or Matt (mmurphy@princetonalliance.org).
As a youth ministry we are building momentum to bringing the unchurched to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as well as building the spiritual momentum of those students who already have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
As a youth ministry we are building momentum to bringing the unchurched to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as well as building the spiritual momentum of those students who already have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
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