Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Testimony/Baptism Night
Wednesday night, September 7th will be a special night in the UR as we highlight several different students' faith stories. It will be an incredible night of hearing the story of God written on the hearts of different students. We will also be baptizing students who have made Christ the Lord of their lives and now want to proclaim that through baptism! Do not miss out on this special night of worship together!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Rookie Day
This past Saturday we welcomed 33 new 8th graders into our Junior High/Senior High Ministry by having Rookie Day. This is something we kicked off last year to help make the transition from our Middle School Ministry a little bit easier.
The students were broken down into teams led by some of our awesome Senior High students. We kicked off the day by competing in an intense game of bowling @ Enterprise Lanes. Emily & Olivia's team came out on top and earned an extra $10 gift card to our next stop...Playtime Pizza! We spent some time eating together, winning tickets together, and just hanging out together!
We finished the day by coming to the Upper Room and enjoying some homemade desserts and letting our Senior High students share about what all happens in our JH/SH ministry. It was a great day and we had a ton of fun getting to know our Rookies!! Looking forward to a great year of ministry. Below you will see our teams and a pic of my adult volunteers. I get the blessing of serving with the best volunteers in the world....top notch!
The students were broken down into teams led by some of our awesome Senior High students. We kicked off the day by competing in an intense game of bowling @ Enterprise Lanes. Emily & Olivia's team came out on top and earned an extra $10 gift card to our next stop...Playtime Pizza! We spent some time eating together, winning tickets together, and just hanging out together!
We finished the day by coming to the Upper Room and enjoying some homemade desserts and letting our Senior High students share about what all happens in our JH/SH ministry. It was a great day and we had a ton of fun getting to know our Rookies!! Looking forward to a great year of ministry. Below you will see our teams and a pic of my adult volunteers. I get the blessing of serving with the best volunteers in the world....top notch!
Friday, August 12, 2011
It's A New Year
Hey gang!!
I hope you are as excited about a new year of life and ministry as I am. We have had an incredible summer, as we experienced the blessing of seeing God work and move in us and through us. From an incredible night of camp on Choir Tour where the Holy Spirit moved in freedom and power to life changing moments of service in the streets of New York City, to intimate times of worship at Student Life Camp. It has been a good summer.
However, we must not simply dwell ONLY on what God has done, but we must anticipate what He wants to do NOW and in the COMING days. I believe that God is about to do some incredible things in our church and specifically our Student Ministry in the coming days!
We will kick off a new year of IMPACT THIS Wednesday night, August 17th! I hope that you will be intentional about inviting your friends who do not have a relationship with Jesus to come and experience love and truth! We have a lot of stuff planned on a calendar, but if we do not plead for the Spirit to come and move that's all they are...merely stuff on a calendar. So....join me in praying for God to move in our church, to save the lost, and if it His will...send revival in our church and community!
May we be a people of ANTICIPATION! Love yall!
Clay
I hope you are as excited about a new year of life and ministry as I am. We have had an incredible summer, as we experienced the blessing of seeing God work and move in us and through us. From an incredible night of camp on Choir Tour where the Holy Spirit moved in freedom and power to life changing moments of service in the streets of New York City, to intimate times of worship at Student Life Camp. It has been a good summer.
However, we must not simply dwell ONLY on what God has done, but we must anticipate what He wants to do NOW and in the COMING days. I believe that God is about to do some incredible things in our church and specifically our Student Ministry in the coming days!
We will kick off a new year of IMPACT THIS Wednesday night, August 17th! I hope that you will be intentional about inviting your friends who do not have a relationship with Jesus to come and experience love and truth! We have a lot of stuff planned on a calendar, but if we do not plead for the Spirit to come and move that's all they are...merely stuff on a calendar. So....join me in praying for God to move in our church, to save the lost, and if it His will...send revival in our church and community!
May we be a people of ANTICIPATION! Love yall!
Clay
Monday, July 11, 2011
Beach Camp Update
What an incredible couple of days we have had at camp so far. After a great trip down on Saturday we settled into our condos for the week. Great condos with an incredible view of God's creation everyday!!
Saturday night David preached out of Matthew 4 as Jesus called out the first disciples. The theme this week is "Devoted" so David talked about what it takes to become a follower of Jesus. Sunday morning we looked at Matthew 5 and the relationship between Jesus and His Father. David made the statement that devotion to Christ as Lord means to delight in God as Father. We talked about the importance for us to understand the nature and relationship that we have as God being our Heavenly Father and how that brings sovereignty, love, forgiveness, and favor upon us! Last night David preached the clearest and most powerful sermon on the Gospel I have ever heard! Powerful! We had great conversations in small groups and looking forward to even more today!
The weather has been great and the waves are beautiful! Continue praying! Click here to see some pictures of the week so far!
Saturday night David preached out of Matthew 4 as Jesus called out the first disciples. The theme this week is "Devoted" so David talked about what it takes to become a follower of Jesus. Sunday morning we looked at Matthew 5 and the relationship between Jesus and His Father. David made the statement that devotion to Christ as Lord means to delight in God as Father. We talked about the importance for us to understand the nature and relationship that we have as God being our Heavenly Father and how that brings sovereignty, love, forgiveness, and favor upon us! Last night David preached the clearest and most powerful sermon on the Gospel I have ever heard! Powerful! We had great conversations in small groups and looking forward to even more today!
The weather has been great and the waves are beautiful! Continue praying! Click here to see some pictures of the week so far!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
We are HOME!!!...for a bit
WOW! What a week at The Bowery! God definitely has His hand of blessing on an incredible group of guys and ministry. Our experience at The Bowery was an amazing one as we served, worshiped, and were ministered to by such an outstanding group of men who are seeking the Lord whole heartedly!
We flew home tonight...after a delay at the airport...we finally made it in at 11:00 PM tonight....we start our journey to Orange Beach in just a couple of hours. Be praying for God to do a great work in and through our 60 students and adults who will be going! We will be worshiping with David Platte, Tony Merida, and Aaron Keyes this week. I am definitely looking forward to a sweet time of renewal with the Lord and our students.
Be checking back daily this week for updates of pictures throughout the week! You can also check out www.studentlife.com for more information about their ministry! God is so good!!
Click here for all of my pictures from our Bowery Experience!
clay
We flew home tonight...after a delay at the airport...we finally made it in at 11:00 PM tonight....we start our journey to Orange Beach in just a couple of hours. Be praying for God to do a great work in and through our 60 students and adults who will be going! We will be worshiping with David Platte, Tony Merida, and Aaron Keyes this week. I am definitely looking forward to a sweet time of renewal with the Lord and our students.
Be checking back daily this week for updates of pictures throughout the week! You can also check out www.studentlife.com for more information about their ministry! God is so good!!
Click here for all of my pictures from our Bowery Experience!
clay
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Mid-Week Update from The Bowery
Hey!
Man has it been a great week so far! Between getting up at 6 am, serving around 200 people every meal (600 meals a day!), painting, cleaning walls, mopping, taking out trash, leading chapel services, unloading donation trucks, building relationships with the students (those going through the program at the Bowery), sweeping, and so much more, there is no doubt that God alone is providing us the strength to serve Him so that He alone is glorified.
One of the opportunities we have had is to help serve at what is called "Outreach Ministry." Here, we helped load an entire box truck full of everything from fruits and vegetables, to sweets and soup. We took the truck to two different parks (one each day), then set up an assembly line so people in the surrounding community could come through and fill up a bag full of food or grab a bowl of hot soup and some water. This was such an incredible opportunity to not only meet the needs of so many people, but we were also able to share the joy Christ has given us to some people who really needed it.
God is not only doing some great things through us, but he is changing our hearts at the same time. Each night as we are winding down, we have been able to share story after story of what God is showing our students through their service and the relationships they are building with these men. What an encouraging thing it has been (and will continue to be!) to see students reaching beyond the material nature of this world and finding their fulfillment and joy in something as rich as the love of Christ.
Continue to pray that God would reveal himself not only through us but also in us, and that he would continually be glorified by the strength he is giving us to serve His people.
Click here to see more pictures from this week!
Man has it been a great week so far! Between getting up at 6 am, serving around 200 people every meal (600 meals a day!), painting, cleaning walls, mopping, taking out trash, leading chapel services, unloading donation trucks, building relationships with the students (those going through the program at the Bowery), sweeping, and so much more, there is no doubt that God alone is providing us the strength to serve Him so that He alone is glorified.
One of the opportunities we have had is to help serve at what is called "Outreach Ministry." Here, we helped load an entire box truck full of everything from fruits and vegetables, to sweets and soup. We took the truck to two different parks (one each day), then set up an assembly line so people in the surrounding community could come through and fill up a bag full of food or grab a bowl of hot soup and some water. This was such an incredible opportunity to not only meet the needs of so many people, but we were also able to share the joy Christ has given us to some people who really needed it.
God is not only doing some great things through us, but he is changing our hearts at the same time. Each night as we are winding down, we have been able to share story after story of what God is showing our students through their service and the relationships they are building with these men. What an encouraging thing it has been (and will continue to be!) to see students reaching beyond the material nature of this world and finding their fulfillment and joy in something as rich as the love of Christ.
Continue to pray that God would reveal himself not only through us but also in us, and that he would continually be glorified by the strength he is giving us to serve His people.
Click here to see more pictures from this week!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Bowery Update
Hello friends!
Apologies for not blogging sooner, but it has been a super busy day for us here in NYC! I want to begin by telling you what an exceptional group of students I have the privilege of working with! They have been simply amazing!
Saturday was a long, but fun day! Our flight into NYC was great and we had an uneventful transfer to The Bowery. After hugging old friends we settled into our bunks and ate lunch with the residents. Saturday afternoon found us exploring SOHO and a couple of folks catching a quick nap. We then grabbed dinner at one of our favorite spots for dinner.....Soho Park.....great spot! We then bought our subway passes and headed up to Times Square for some quality time with a million other folks. It was fun to watch our NYC first timers see the lights of Times Square.
Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast and then rode to The Brooklyn Tabernacle for worship. What an amazing worship experience! God did a great work in us as we met with Him! After a late lunch we strolled thru Central Park for a bit before heading back to The Bowery. We served dinner last night to the community and began building relationships with the people. Ended the night with a memorable pizza experience at Sals Pizza. Great NY pizza!
Today has been such a great day! Our students engaged in a variety of different projects. Some picked up food at different restaurants that had been donated, some cooked, everybody served lots of food, some led in chapel services, some initiated fruitful conversations....all in all everyone worked to build The Kingdom! Beau preached a great sermon on our freedom in Christ from Galatians 5 in chapel today. Great word! The night has ended with the great NYC fireworks spectacular. Nice way to spend 7/4!
Continue to pray for our group. Pray for intentional conversations, open doors to share the Gospel, and lots of boldness. You can click here to check out pics!
Clay
Apologies for not blogging sooner, but it has been a super busy day for us here in NYC! I want to begin by telling you what an exceptional group of students I have the privilege of working with! They have been simply amazing!
Saturday was a long, but fun day! Our flight into NYC was great and we had an uneventful transfer to The Bowery. After hugging old friends we settled into our bunks and ate lunch with the residents. Saturday afternoon found us exploring SOHO and a couple of folks catching a quick nap. We then grabbed dinner at one of our favorite spots for dinner.....Soho Park.....great spot! We then bought our subway passes and headed up to Times Square for some quality time with a million other folks. It was fun to watch our NYC first timers see the lights of Times Square.
Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast and then rode to The Brooklyn Tabernacle for worship. What an amazing worship experience! God did a great work in us as we met with Him! After a late lunch we strolled thru Central Park for a bit before heading back to The Bowery. We served dinner last night to the community and began building relationships with the people. Ended the night with a memorable pizza experience at Sals Pizza. Great NY pizza!
Today has been such a great day! Our students engaged in a variety of different projects. Some picked up food at different restaurants that had been donated, some cooked, everybody served lots of food, some led in chapel services, some initiated fruitful conversations....all in all everyone worked to build The Kingdom! Beau preached a great sermon on our freedom in Christ from Galatians 5 in chapel today. Great word! The night has ended with the great NYC fireworks spectacular. Nice way to spend 7/4!
Continue to pray for our group. Pray for intentional conversations, open doors to share the Gospel, and lots of boldness. You can click here to check out pics!
Clay
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