Monthly Archives: August 2009

Aug 27 2009

Storyline #56: 2 Samuel 19-24 “RADICAL: Service in the Kingdom”

introFree files for youth pastors and CBSM small group leaders:

4 – 2 Sam 19-24 – Radical (mp3)

4 – 2 Sam 19-24 – Radical (handout)

4 – 2 Sam 19-24 – Radical (ppt)

4 – 2 Sam 19-24 – Mighty Men (outline)

4 – 2 Sam 19-24 – Mighty Men (Scripture)

4 – 2 Sam 19-24 – Mighty Men (service order)

We live in a teenage culture that is absolutely intrigued with “super-heroism.”  A young kid who is terrorized by nocturnal-winged creatures becomes a man, dresses up in a black-rubber suit every day, has the oldest babysitter ever named Alfred, and uses his childhood fear to avenge his parents’ death by serving society through the ridding of evil.  The lamest nerd in high school gets bit by a spider and now protects the world from bad guys.  Four turtles are given super powers through sewer slime, and now with ninja tactics they stop harm in its very tracks.  These stories captivate the attention of teens today, and there is a very good reason why.  God has designed us to desire this!

2 Samuel 19 – 24 is all about how we need to be radical servants for our King.  This is a passage where we see real life superheroes who radically serve their king.  Continue reading →

Aug 24 2009

TEXTimonies: text-messaged testimonies from our Back 2 School Bash

B2SB 09bThank you all for praying for our Back 2 School Bash!  The plan was to get as many teenagers as possible to come and be a part of this so that we could give them a free event to show them how much we love them, and to introduce them to Jesus or encourage them in Him. 

To be totally honest with you, I was somewhat depressed when we only had about 75 middle schoolers show up to play on the inflatables and 75 highschoolers show up for the pool part.  We were expecting about double that.  Don’t get me wrong…I was so glad that each of those students came, and I was so proud of all of our CBSM students inviting their friends.  We were just expecting many more.

Well, God totally turned the tables on me.  We had pretty much every student and more come to our worship service that evening from 6 – 8pm.  The room filled up with 150 students and the excitement was thick.  We kicked it off with a video and a game just like every Wednesday night because we wanted to show them exactly who we are and what we do every week.  The point of this whole event was to point them to Christ and to show them how much fun we have worshipping Him every Wednesday night as a student ministry! 

From the first verse of the first praise and worship song, we knew it was going to be a special night.  By the second or third song, nearly every hand was raised toward heaven and every voice was nearly screaming praise, honor, and worship to Jesus.  God was gracious enough to let me preach for 45 minutes to these students, and they all attentively listened with respect to God’s Word.  We sang two last songs and the students totally blew the roof off the place as they were shouting praises to Jesus!  Not only were we instantly encouraged in how much God used the night to glorify His Son, but text messages quickly started blowing my phone up.  I just wanted to share with you a few that will bless your socks off….just to hear what God did through our amazing night of worship at our Back to School Bash:   Continue reading →

Aug 22 2009

Storyline #55: 2 Samuel 11-18 “RELENTLESS: Righteousness in the Kingdom”

introFree files for youth pastors:

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (mp3)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (fillout sheet)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (ppt)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (Scripture)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (Outline)

3 – 2 Sam 11-18 – Relentless (order of service)

I remember being over at a buddy’s house when I heard he and his brother whispering.  I heard my friend saying, “Don’t do it.  It’s not worth it.”  But his brother left, and my friend was left there hanging his head.  Apparently, not only was my buddy’s brother a state-wide, all-star athlete and a straight “A” student, but he also could have any girl he wanted.  What they were whispering about was that a female friend of his called and asked him to come over because she was lonely and her parents weren’t home.  

2 Samuel 11 is a very similar scene with King David.  Just after being included in God’s eternal covenant of His kingdom and winning many war victories, David goes out on his roof and looks over the kingdom God has given him.  He spots a woman bathing, and keeps checking her out.  He asks some dude who she is, and he tells David her name, her father’s name, and her husband’s name.  David sends someone to get her like a lonely teenage guy texting a girl he’s been thinking about.  This is an OT “booty call”! They had sex together and both committed adultery on their spouses.  She went home and told David soon thereafter that she was pregnant by him.  Notice David’s deep sin right after God covenants with him.  David had others help him in his sin.  David is in deep!   Continue reading →

Aug 20 2009

Explanation of our Student Ministry Teams

ministry (new)mp3 of our SMT students and leaders meeting:

Student Ministry Teams Explanations (mp3)

Here are our Student Ministry Teams (SMT’s) explained…

 HELLO TEAM

Purpose: Greets first time visiting students.  Fills-out new student information card.  Writes and mails postcard to visiting students.  Gives information card to Pastor Chip so he can write a letter to them, give them a free item from our café card, and invite them back.

Students Needed: 4 students are needed so that 2 students can be greeters on Wednesdays, 2 students can be greeters on Sundays, and all 4 can write postcards.

Meeting Time: Sunday nights from 5 – 6:15pm to write post cards.   Continue reading →

Aug 15 2009

B2SB: Back 2 School Bash 2009

b2sbslide092008 Back to School Bash Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyT5REtQtRc

If you’re a high schooler (9th – 12th), imagine yourself chillin at one of the coolest pools around on a hot summer day with all of your friends and meeting new ones.  We’re not talking about one of those lame kiddie pools, but we’re talking about The Sunset Swim Club in Athens with diving boards, water slide, ginormous lay-out areas, basketball court, volleyball court, etc.  If you’re a middle schooler (7th – 9th), imagine yourself romping around on the coolest inflatable games able to be found…such as: climbing mountains, slipping down water slides, stretching out on the bungee run, sticking to the fly wall, playing a little dodgeball, and getting your jump-on in the moonwalk.  Hard to imagine?  Then we dare you to add onto that a supper of barbecue, pizza, and hotdogs.  And then we’ll close off the night with a sweet all-student worship service, and a drawing for prizes at the very end.  These aren’t the cheesy prizes you find at some skee-ball arcade, but we’re talking gift cards to your favorite stores and restaurants around, iTunes cards, and a “choose your own” grand prize: a Wii, an iPod touch, a flat-screen TV, a Blue-Ray player, etc.    Continue reading →

Aug 13 2009

Storyline #54: 2 Samuel 7-10 “RELINQUISH: Covenant of the Kingdom”

introFree files for youth pators:

 2 – 2 Sam 7-10 – Covenant (mp3)

2 – 2 Sam 7-10 – Covenant (outline)

2 – 2 Sam 7-10 – Covenant (Scripture)

2 – 2 Sam 7-10 – Covenant (pulpit)

2 – 2 Sam 7-10 – Covenant (ppt)

2 – 2 Sam 7-10 – Covenant (service order)

            He looked absolutely dumbfounded at me when I asked him a simple question.  I remember witnessing to one of my friends about salvation in Christ, and he would tell me, “Chip, I’ve already got that.  My dad always taught me that you just got to have faith.”  So I simply asked him, “Chris, faith in what?  What is ‘just’ faith?”  He could not answer, and then his faith did not make much sense even to him.  Do you just have faith?

            As we take a look at 2 Samuel 7, my goal is for us to take a look at our own faith.  Do we understand salvation?  Are you truly saved?  What does it take to be saved?  Who is saved and who is not saved?  Do you share the full gospel of Christ with others?  Continue reading →

Aug 13 2009

When a Student Worship Night Goes Wrong

Last night did not go the way I planned at all.  We had a hilarious video to kick off our service, but the sound was muddled and no one could understand it.  And it played for 10 MINUTES!  The game right after the video was linked to the video, so it just didn’t make sense.  Praise God the worship team did an amazing God…they were the redeeming value of the night – haha!  My message last night just didn’t seem to connect as I was preaching.  A lot of times I judge it off of facial feedback from the audience.  People just didn’t seem engaged, as interested, or intrigued by the sermon content.  By the end of the night, I really had felt like I blew it.  Continue reading →

Aug 11 2009

You Got Skills (Overview) – Discovering Your Spiritual Giftedness

yougotskills (blog pic)

Free file for youth pastors:

You Got Skills – Overview (mp3)

As we are continuing our SMT’s (Student Ministy Teams) on Sunday nights, our church is moving to this model as well.  So our whole church is using Sunday evenings as opportunities to serve within the church and to serve the community for Christ.  It’s pretty awesome.

This mp3 is from this past Sunday night where I gave our student ministry a crash-course in understanding what spiritual gifts are, how they figure out their spirtiual giftendness, and how to use them most effectively.  Continue reading →

Aug 7 2009

Storyline #53: 2 Samuel 1-6 “SHAMELESS: Worship in the Kingdom”

intro

Free files for youth pastors:

1 – 2 Sam 1-6 – Worship (mp3)

1 – 2 Sam 1-6 – Worship (fillout sheet)

1 – 2 Sam 1-6 – Worship (ppt)

1 – 2 Sam 1-6 – Worship (outline)

1 – 2 Sam 1-6 – Worship (Scripture)

1 – 2 Sam 1-6 – Worship (service order)

2 Samuel 1 – 6 is a passage about personally praising God in public.  I’m so thankful for the church I grew up in.  It wasn’t as popular back then to have youth praise bands, but I do remember singing with my fellow teens to Jesus.  I remember returning to that church and worshipping Jesus in the student ministry with a soundtrack in the background.  Later I ended up interning at a church in Detroit that had an amazing worship band just for the teens and led by teens.  That experience really opened my eyes.  Then I began youth pastoring at a very small church where I began the teenage worship ministry under the leadership of Third Day and Jeremy Camp (CDs and an overhead projector).  Then we were so blessed to have 3 different guys (John, Jeff, and Jay) lead worship for us at 3 different times over the course of 3 years.  And now at my present church, I’m amazed at what God has blessed us with year after year with our teenage worship ministry.  God has given us drummers, singers, sax players, guitarists, keyboardists, etc.  The worship ministry here was one of the huge draws as to why I came.  I want that to continue as we grow in worshiping Christ personally and publically.  In fact, I wrote down about 10 things I wanted to address to my students in terms of worship, and it just so happened after studying this passage, it addresses all 10 biblically!   Continue reading →

Aug 1 2009

Storyline #52: 1 Samuel 18-31 “The King of Jealousy: Saul’s Demise”

5-title

Free files for youth pastors:

6 – 1 Sam 18-31 – Saul Demise (mp3)

6 – 1 Sam 18-31 – Saul Demise (fillout sheet)

6 – 1 Sam 18-31 – Saul Demise (outline)

6 – 1 Sam 18-31 – Saul Demise (Scripture)

6 – 1 Sam 18-31 – Saul Demise (order of service)

When a professional sports team wins the championship, their city welcomes them home with a ginormous victory celebration.  What cracks me up is when the city’s citizens decide to trash their city after the big win.  That has never made sense to me!  Such as, when the Lakers won the championship this year, there were people looting stores and shops, boneheads demolishing cars by jumping on the hoods, and some whack-jobs trying to take on the police.  Without the violence and barbarian-like behavior, Saul and David are also welcomed home from war with a celebration.   Continue reading →