Hello from OZ!

This month, our youth group is taking a look at characteristics from characters in the Bible and using one of my favorite and oldest memories from my childhood, the movie “The Wizard of Oz”.  When I was growing up, we didn’t have VCRs, or TiVo, or DVDs, we watched what was on TV that night and that was it.  Once a year, one of the TV stations would play “The Wizard of Oz” and it was a really big deal for the whole family.

This series takes us on a journey to follow the yellow brick road much like Dorothy did.  She was in a place she didn’t know, and she thought she was all alone.  Doesn’t that sound like us sometimes?  I mean, we have this journey which is our lives, and God has laid out a path for us (the yellow brick road).  But just like Dorothy, we run into intersections, and bumps, and struggles.

This series is teaching us that as we walk, the Holy Spirit is in us, guiding us.  When we reach those intersections, He helps us choose which is the right path.  Unfortunately for some of us, we don’t listen until we’ve taken the wrong path and the Holy Spirit lets us know by convicting our hearts.  God laid down the path, Jesus showed us how to walk it, and the Holy Spirit makes sure that the way we walk lines up with Jesus and the Father.

The fun part of this is that we get to take a look at a few really neat characters in the bible along with the Holy Spirit.  Last week we talked about Moses and having wisdom much like the scarecrow wanted to have brains.  This week we will be looking at the Tin Man, and a bible character that really shows Heart.  Lastly is courage and the Lion and we’ll be looking at a character named Daniel and the courage he showed.

I’m looking forward to see how God speaks to us individually through this series and how we can learn to walk the yellow brick road together!

Gary

Have you ever heard of an idea so incredible, so amazing that you thought it was impossible to accomplish.  Something so simple, yet requires an amazing amount of faith?  This month our youth series used the movie “Pay it Forward” in which a 7^th grade boy is challenged with an idea.  He was to find a way to change the world and put it into action.

In the movie, the boy comes up with this idea that becomes a movement that inspires and spreads.  His idea is to simply do something for three people.  It has to be something big, something they can’t do for themselves.  Then those three people do something for three people, so on and so forth. 

An idea like this is so simple, but has the potential to change the world.  It requires, however, a great deal of faith.  The incredible thing about this idea is that it’s nothing new.  Jesus Christ lived His entire earthly ministry with the pay it forward mentality.  He taught His disciples the same thing and then told them to go forth and make disciples of the nations.  He teaches his disciples to pay it forward, and they, in turn, should teach others to pay it forward.  You know where that leaves us, paying it forward!

Much like the movie, this idea requires a great deal of faith, both in our Lord Jesus Christ and in each other.  Jesus fed thousands, healed the sick, and even raised the dead.  He continually associated with the poorest and the most needy.  Jesus never expected payment for his services, but instead, explained that we should go out of our way to help those in need. 

When an official came to Him and asked about eternal life, Jesus explained the pay it forward idea.  He explained that when someone is in need we should not just pass them by on the road like the priest and Levite.  We should, instead, be like the good Samaritan and help.  We are called to not only bandage them, but to ensure they are taken care of.  When the official told Jesus that we should love God with everything we have and love our neighbor as our self, Jesus replies by saying “Go, and do likewise” in other words, Jesus says, “Pay It Forward!”

Gary

So our original date was rained out, and this Friday it rained as well.  So what were we to do?  Have a CAMPIN of course!  Our new church location provided an excellent opportunity for us.  Since the worship center was cleaned out and empty, we were able to set up 10 HUGE tents inside the building (with two small tents outside for a few brave youth).

We did have a campfire outside and it was a great night of games, and fellowship.  34 teens showed up for what was probably the best camping trip we’ve ever had.  One of the things that made it so awesome was something that happened just after dark.

There is a family that lives next door to our new church property and they have two teenage boys, Garret and Wade.  While our youth were playing flashlight tag, they saw one of the boys hanging out in the yard next door and they crossed over the field to meet him.  It was the most amazing sight to see a group of our teens reach out to the neighbors and they invited them to come back to hang with us and they did.  It was really great to meet them and they spent several hours with us.

Of course, we had to play little sally walker, mafia, and a few other choice games.  I’ve posted the pics on the youth photo page for everyone to see.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did at the event.

Oh, and if you ever get the chance, you DEFINATELY want to try Donna Waldo’s Pancakes.  They were AWESOME!

Gary

The youth camping trip that was scheduled tonight, 9/18 has been postponed until next Friday night due to the soggy ground the the continual rain coming our way.  The camping trip will now be on the 25th instead.  Everything is goingt to be exactly as it was tonight, only a week later.

If you have any questions, let me know. 
Gary

Wow, ok, I just added over 300 pics from the children’s minsitry events over the past year.  I should be adding the pictures from the county fair either tomorrow or Monday.  Check back and check out the photos.  For Kids Photos, click the link at the top of the page.  Same for youth photos.

Ok, so I really love websites and I love to write stuff down, but i’ve done a terrible job running two different websites, one for children’s ministry and one for youth ministry. 

So, to make things easier to get updated and to have a one stop shop for parents, I’ve now combined the cccmkids.com and cccmyouth.com into cccmfamily.com.  Our new site will have photos from both ministries and family events, it will also have information on upcomings events for both youth and children.  I will have permission forms, medical releases, etc for download, and it will have a great place for me to blog about the youth sermons I give.

As we move forward with this site, look for more information about Kings Landing, The Depot, and Victory lane as well as all of the youth meetings like the Drive-In, the Drive-Thru and The Garage.

I hope that you find this site useful and know that it will continue to grow and change into a true family ministry site.  Thanks for finding us and reading along.

Gary,
Family Minister

Hello everyone!

We started our new youth series tonight and it’s a little different than our normal series.  We are using a book to help look at a timeless truth from Philipians 4:8.  Tommy Newberry wrote an incredible book called The 4:8 Principle that helps us to shift the way we think to focus on positive things and not on negative things.

It’s amazing how much our thoughts control who we are and Paul really knew this.  When he wrote to the Philipians, he told them to think on the things that are good, true and praiseworthy.  Through this, we truly find the joy that God wants for us.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is that “Joy is not some distant destination that we want to get to, instead it’s a path that we choose to take every day.”   If we can focus on the positive things in our lives and “count our blessings” we will know an incredible joy that lasts.

If you want to see more of what we cover in this series, take a look on the right side in the youth sermons box and click on forrest gump, the 4:8 principle.  I will blog each week that we have a lesson and let you know what we covered.  It’s going to be an amazing series!

In HIM,
Gary

Ok, so today we had youth day at the lake, and just about everyone showed up.  It was insane.  We had to have three boats (all carrying 12 teens each) just to take us to the rope swing!  Plus we had at least 15-20 adults!  I think at one time we must have had 75 people there, it was AWESOME!

I’m not sure how you measure success in events like this, but I’m pretty sure we were off the charts in all catagories.  The kids had a tremendous time, we welcomed the rising 6th graders in, the food was incredible, the tubing was tons of fun, everything was just simply amazing!

But God is, isn’t he?  Simply Amazing!   What makes these events so incredible is that God is there with us and is what bonds each of us together.  Our love of Christ shows through when we love each other and put aside all differences and just spend great time together!

I want to thank the Goodings for opening up their house to all of us and the countless hours they spent making this event happen.  Thanks to all the adults that came and spent time with the teenagers just hanging out and watching them swim.  Thanks to Don and Greg and Jeff for driving the boats and most importantly, thanks to Christ for being there with us, giving us a beautiful day together, and helping us grow!

Pictures are up on the gallery at the top of the page.  I hope you take a moment to check them out!

Sincerely,
Gary

We just got back from our 09 Summer Camp on the campus of North Greenville University.  We went to Centri-Fuge this year again, and the theme was “MOVE”.  It was the incredible story of Moses and his leading of the israelites out of Egypt.  We learned each night to have Faith to Let Go, Faith to Wait, Faith of the Unknown, and Faith to Move.  We took 23 teenagers and 5 adults for this incredible journey.  This year we took 50% more teens than last year, and last year we took 50% more than the year before.  Because the teens got so many to go, I ended up dying my hair green.  I challenged them to get 20 to go, and they ended up with 23 so it was incredible!

I can tell you personally that I have never been to a camp like this one before.  We go to Centri-Fuge every year, but for some reason, this year’s camp was unbelieveable.  It’s indescribable how God moved through the teens and spoke to each of us individually as well as collectively.  Each of us experienced life change in a way that only God can produce.

I knew that something incredible was happening from the very first night of worship when after the second song, even before the message, half of the youth group was on their knees in tears.  I, myself, went through every hanky I brough with me.

Please take a moment to ask the youth about their experience.  Each one of them returned with a renewed fire in their hearts for God’s word, and His love in their veins.  We had 5 Teens accept Christ as their personal savior!  I know you can’t experience what happened, but I’ve posted pics on the website here for you to see some of the fun we had.  I don’t take pictures during worship or prayer time so you won’t see any of that, but just know that we had an incredible time!

Gary

I’m sorry for the long delay in updating the website, but with two summer camps, and a ton of other activities, Summer is the busiest time of the year for me.  I did, however, get time this week to post all of the pics from the drive-in movie theater we went to as a youth group.

In Belmont, they have this drive in and it’s 4$ per adult (over 16).  That’s for a double feature.  We got to se UP by Disney/Pixar and Night at the Museum – Smithsonian.  We had a blast as you can see!

Summer camp is in two short weeks and we are looking forward to having a BLAST!  22 teens, 5 adults, 6 days, 0 sleep…..something GOOD has gotta happen!

Gary