Hello friends and family. It's been a while since the last update. Things are going quite well and, frankly, we at the Bridge Student Ministries are kind of in the quiet before the storm... You see, come November 4th The Bridge Anderson celebrates our 3 year anniversary! On this date, the church is launching two HUGE programs: KidStuf 252 and Aftershock.
KidStuf 252 is aimed for the young kids and their parents, teaching the kids in skits and songs about the love of Christ and inviting the parents to become involved in their kids' spiritual lives. Aftershock? You guessed it! It's for the youth and it's going to be big. Basically, everything that has happened on a Wednesday night youth gathering (games, songs, message) and more is going to become Aftershock on Sunday mornings at 11:30ish. The name Aftershock was arrived at by yours truly. I presented the idea of the name to the rest of the leadership staff and they liked it. When I looked up what an Aftershock meant, this is one of the definitions that popped out: A further reaction following the shock of a deeply disturbing occurrence or revelation. Now, one definition of "revelation" is: God's disclosure of Himself and His will to His creatures. Aftershock is going to a rockin good time where our aim is to empower the teens to make an impact to those around them, to create an "Aftershock" in their own world: at their school, in their family, at work, etc.
What about Wednesday nights, you ask...? Wednesday nights will be the nights that small groups meet. Each youth leader is involved with these small groups. I'm helping with the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade boys and Kylee is with the 8th and 9th grade girls.
I've had the opportunity to get closely connected with a youth kid that is a little unsure of what he believes. You see, he was adopted as a baby and his adopted dad became an alcoholic. His adopted parents (which, for him, are his parents) split up and his mom recently married a man from Anderson and he moved here with her. They got involved with The Bridge and he was thrown into a private school, Liberty Christian. He grew up going to a public school and isn't quite used to having chapels every Thursday. I asked him if he would consider himself a Christian and he said "yes." I asked him how he became a Christian and he said, "Because my parents that adopted me were Christian." Now, we know that no one is born into a relationship with Christ, it's a decision that God wants us to make. He wants us to essentially lay down our lives and give up control to let Christ come in and change the way our life is lived. Of course, I didn't want to come across pushy to him by any means. So basically after some questioning and prompting, he came around to saying that he doesn't want to give up control of his life. We wants to have control of how his life turns out. Well, I explained that with giving control to God, you in the end gain control over certain aspects of your life. Christ comes in and cleans you from the inside out and if you continue to be open to him, the worldly desires that you wanted to satisfy with your old life become less important in this new life with Christ. In the end, you are gaining control of your life. I think he may have gotten a little overwhelmed and said, "I'm still learning..." The kid is seeking, as we all have done and still often find ourselves doing, for what he believe. He's at a crucial time in his life where he is learning to make his own choices and decisions about his life, and it's the same with the rest of the kids in the Student Ministries. It is an exciting time, for sure!
Some of you have been praying for Alison, a girl we have mentioned in our previous posts. We got a message from Justine, a friend of hers that goes to the Bridge. Justine has been an amazing influence on her as well and has connected with Kylee and I quite beautifully. This is her message (for your information, "Shishka" is Alison's nickname:
Kylee and Phil, Something incredible and beautiful has come in the midst of all this. I find that trying to be joyful during a rough time is hard but a little bit easier when God gives me a sign. Shishka said "I think I might be coming back to this whole church thing." I just noded and said that was great (like the selfpreocupied person I am.). Then later on when we were in the car we were talking about a friend of ours and Shish said "I think she just needs something, just like I'm finding religion. " I totally agreed and that time it sunk in a little more but... not deep enough. Later when we got to The Bucks we didn't talk because yet again i was preocupied with myself and hadn't even thought more about what was going on. God is incredible, I'm still a tad bitter with a hint of anger and resentment but He knows that. Shishka has never known if there was a god. She's had many conversations with different friends and has been struggling with her personal ideas and beliefs, i had no clue that this was going to happen. She wants what you have. She wants the love you guys have. She sees the joy you exude, the peacefulness, and beauty you exude. She looks forward to Wednesday's... they are her favorite day of the week.
Thank you for your continuing thoughts and prayers. God is moving, there is not denying. Pray for Justine as well. She is a strong girl but is struggling as we all do at times. May God continue to pour out his blessings upon you all!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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