Saturday, July 19, 2008

Mark Cahill preaching

6 comments:

Thoughts From Jeff said...

(joking)

The only thing that I have with Mark is that he chose to go to Auburn over Alabama.

(serious)

There are a few churches and a few ministry that are geared for winning their schools and communities for Christ, but they are far and far inbetween.

It is great to hear about youth groups and churches that care more about the people outside of the walls then catering to those inside.

pastorbrianculver said...

it could be the choice had to do with the celebrity status of Auborn over Alabama. You know...
Bo knows football, baseball, basketball, hockey, figure skating, and on and on!

We are hoping to restructure our youth group starting in the fall. The youth group has had the same format for a while now and it is not working. A typical youth night is this...

Show up at church around 5:45 and shoots some hoops in the gym. At 6pm they come into the fellowship hall where we have a meal provided for them. At 6:25 they run off to the restrooms and then into the sanctuary. They spend the next 20-25 minutes singing praise songs. Then the youth pastor gives a sermon or some kind of message. Then the kids go home.

There are kids who come and eat and then go home right before the message. There are kids who sit through the sermon and play with their cell phones or just talk amongst themselves while the youth leader is talking. Sure there have been kids who have gone forward to "give their life" to Jesus. Only to have several of those kids actively involved in sex, foul language and breaking the law (civil law). What we would like to see for this next year is a more active youth group. Not so much active in the sense of doing "fun" things, but active in the sense of mission work. We want to take them up to Chicago and work with the Royal Servants and reach out to the homeless and the people of the streets. We want to see them involved with Habitat for Humanity, we want to see them doing volunteer work helping the flood victims along the Mississippi River, we want them to help feed the hungry. We would like to see them see exactly what it means to be a Christian. They are in it for the fun. It can be very fun and hard at the same time doing mission work. That is where real growth occurs. It is okay to have fun events for them to do but I would rather have those things be a reward for all of the hard work they have been doing as opposed to just being a drawing card to bring people into the group!

Thoughts From Jeff said...

Living in B'ham for awhile it was fun to see the Auburn/Alabama rivary.

On the cell phones, my wife stands at the front door and all students have to drop their cell phones in the box. They can pick them u when they exit.

pastorbrianculver said...

that is exactly what we are going to implement in the fall. Our youth leader is still growing and maturing himself, so it is a learning process for him.

S.J. Walker said...

Ah, the cell phones. Yes. We have had to confiscate them at our study groups and so forth. Some almost have to be surgically removed. Then, to top it off for them, I teach a lesson on idols and being slaves to things other than God. Then, they get their idols back after word as they walk out the door. There is something wrong with that picture.

pastorbrianculver said...

that's right Sam! Maybe we should have a burning of the cell phones one night!!!!! Of course the kids would go home to their nintendo wii games, or their mp3 players, or their tv's (big screen of course!). It's no wonder kids are so distracted from God's Word. Society has taught them that having "things" is more important than anything else!