Are you ready for another exciting year of Spring BREAKTHROUGH???
We are gearing up for our third year surrending our spring break in order to bring the love of Jesus to those in the Charlotte-area!
Sign-ups are NOW ACTIVE! (click link)
If you don't know about this event, check out this recap from last year.
SPRING BREAKTHROUGH 2011 Week-In-Review
For those of you who aren't joining us for the Winter Retreat, please see the following events and changes for this weekend.
Sunday School will meet this Sunday at 10AM. ALL grades (6-12th) will meet in the OutHOUSE.
First Serve is this weekend! Join with the Good Shepherd family in serving the surrounding community and inviting all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ! Meet at the church at 8:45AM.
BIGHOUSE will NOT be meeting this Sunday due to the retreat! We will see you next week, February 19th!
Greetings BH Family!
The time you have all been waiting for is right around the corner, The Winter Retreat!
Please familiarize yourself with the following information so you are all set to enjoy an amazing weekend in Lenoir, NC, learning how to be captivated by our Creator!
Logisitics:
-We will leave from the Corner Campus THIS Friday (Feb. 10) at 5PM sharp! Please arrive with your payment for the retreat ($85) and all of your bags. You will also need a signed permission slip if you have not had one completed this school year. *Consent form HERE*
-We will return on Sunday (Feb. 12) around 2PM to the Corner campus.
-All meals and transportation are provided in the cost of the trip. Please eat dinner before arriving on Friday.
-Please consult the packing list at the bottom of this message.
-Parents and Adults: it would be great if you could donate some baked goods for the weekend! Cookies, brownies, and other sweets! We have to keep the energy up some how ;)
Packing List:
-the use of mp3 players or cell phones is not allowed at camp.
-a Bible
-Basic clothing (you will want to dress WARM)
-pillow, twin sheets or sleeping bag
-toilitries (toothbrush/paste, shampoo, you know the deal...)
-shoes for hiking
-flashlight
-notebook and pen
-a prayerful and reflective spirit =)
Our main Scripture: Luke 9:18-27
v. 24: "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. "
It's hard to trade things; whether baseball cards, or cars or fantasy football players
No one wants to give-up something if they think they won't get value for it. Everybody wants to "trade-up", and get more than they started with. No one likes to "trade-down"; to lose.
Jesus is pretty clear: You have to start by losing.
He wants you to part with the stuff you think is the greatest; the stuff you're attached to, so that you can get something better.
Your ambition, your measurements of success, your ideas of worth, your need for approval, your desire for popularity and power - It all needs to be turned-in, given-up and let go of.
He promises that the moment you do, He will place in those empty hands, something of greater value than anything you could have acquired or made for yourself.
Once again, the voice of Jesus sounds very different than the voice of the world; the media, your friends, your teachers, your parents, your bosses.
They tell you to get for yourself, to win. Jesus says, this way is not life, but the way to lose your way.
And in the end, it all comes down to trust... Do you believe that Jesus will make good on the promise: LIFE?
The only way you'll know, is if you try.
What are the things you need to lay down, to remove, to place upon the table, and slide across it to Jesus, and say, "OK, now what do you got for me?"
Pray this week about trading-in, and truly trading-up.
Hello BIGHOUSE Family,
Lots of important news and info for you all…
WINTER RETREAT UPDATE!
The retreat is next Sunday, February 10-12 at Camp Harrison in Lenoir, NC.
Friday, students must arrive at 5:00PM.
We will return on Sunday at 2:00PM.
The cost is $85.00 which includes all meals, transportation and lodging.
A deposit of $30.00, made out to Good Shepherd Church, is needed by THIS SUNDAY to confirm your spot. You MUST sign up by this Sunday as well.
A packing list will be sent out tomorrow.
Email Kristin at kristindwyer@gsumc.org with questions.
To sign-up online, visit the following link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dDJ2OHVXRzVVTDZTTkl5TzRKOGFtOXc6MQ#gid=0
THIS SUNDAY ONLY:
1) Combined Sunday School at 10:00AM
All students, grades 6 through 12 will be experiencing the Sunday morning service together. They can meet at their normal classes and meet their family in the GS Lobby after worship.
2) Senior Moments will be at 11:30AM!!!
For this Sunday only, our FREE BREAKFAST for 12th graders will be from 11:30-12:30, departing from the Corner.
3) BIGHOUSE will be from 3:00 to 5:00!!! (Note special time, due to the Super Bowl)
We will have a great meal, awesome time of worship, HOUSE Church time, and… BAPTISMS!!!
If students wish to be baptized this Sunday, please contact the BH Staff.
All parents, friends, and family members are encouraged to attend BH and share in this important time!
The message this Sunday at BH will be: "COME TO LIFE!!!"
…Text Messages begins!!!
Sign up to join this class and be part of a journey into understanding the Bible. Whether you are reading the Bible on your own, or part of a group study, this class will give you tools to understand all the crazy things going on between the front and back cover.
To sign up please visit the Facebook Page or email kristindwyer@gsumc.org
Text Messages, Tuesdays 7-8:30PM starting February 7th!
Daily Dying Devotion No. 4: FOLLOW THE LEADER
Our mains Scripture: Luke 9:18-27
vs. 23-24: Then he said to them all: “IF anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and FOLLOW ME."
FOLLOWING JESUS.
We say and hear that phrase a constantly, without really thinking too much about it.
The disciples that day, though, couldn't avoid thinking about it. Jesus had just admitted that He was "The Christ"; the anointed one of God. He told them that the following things had to happen him as Christ:
He would SUFFER.
He would BE REJECTED.
He would BE KILLED.
He would BE RAISED.
And then, Jesus immediately invites them to FOLLOW HIM to where He is going.
They may have really liked the "being raised" part, but probably weren't too crazy about the other stuff.
Honestly, we aren't too crazy about the other stuff either.
The disciples, like you and me, would probably prefer to be "casual followers" of Christ; to watch Jesus like He's on our Twitter feed; getting a little convenient inspiration, grabbing a few cool quotes here and there, but never really investing anything; never really giving-up much.
Funny when we see Jesus talking about suffering and rejection and death, that He then asks his students to FOLLOW. (Kinda makes you realize how hardcore they had to be to accept the invite. :)
This wasn't just some invitation to stand during a worship service prayer, it was a call to DIE.
I don't know what you think of when you think about following Jesus. But I have a pretty good idea what Jesus thought of. He thought of hard places, difficult times and tough decisions. He thought about sacrifice and perseverance and commitment.
And THAT is where Jesus invites you to follow Him to and into; not just to awesome worship gatherings or to fun youth meetings and cool trips, but into places where you will face adversity, discomfort and sacrifice; not relying on yourselves, but on Him.
Jesus invites you to walk behind Him into those places because He knows that is where faith lives.
Because Jesus promises that at the end of everything, at the end of the challenges and heartbreak ... is LIFE; true, real, never-ending life.
Are you still willing to FOLLOW now?
Good, let's go.
Daily Dying Devotion No. 3: HARD WORDS AND HEAVY LOADS
Our main Scripture: Luke 9:18-27
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, TAKE-UP HIS CROSS DAILY and follow-me."
*Jesus doesn't want to change you, he wants to kill you.*
That's a pretty heavy statement, I realize, but it's the best way to understand how radically Jesus wants to alter who you are.
He tells the disciples, (and us) that if we want to be called a Christ-follower, every day, we need to "take-up our cross". We can be tempted to think that means we have to deal with some discomfort or some minor irritation as part of our faith. (As a child, when I would cause trouble, my mother would say that I was "her cross":)
But the cross wasn't just a cool t-shirt symbol or piece of jewelry. It was an instrument of death. It was a form of execution; a very brutal and popular one in the day.
So to those hearing Jesus' words, they understood just how much he was asking. He was asking everything. Not only was he asking them to die, but to participate by carrying the method; to willingly give it up.
Most people (teenagers especially), think that they can have their "Sunday" or "youth group lives", and then their "other" real lives (school, dating, friends, home). But that's too easy.
Faith in Christ means that you wake-up every single day and ask, "What needs to die, so that Christ can live?" What in my heart needs to die? Which of behaviors needs to die? (What on my Facebook page needs to die?:)
Maybe you've been living a "Christianity-light" lately; just giving an hour here, or a prayer there. Maybe that also why things seem so difficult, or why you are not sensing God's presence.
Jesus teaches us with his life that the cross is the way we really live. He shows us that when we surrender everything, that something else is given to us.
This faith thing should not be easy, friends. It cannot be easy. If it is, you probably aren't quite invested yet. If it is easy, you probably want Jesus's life and your life at the same time, but that isn't possible.
Today, put down your agenda, your plans, your preferences, and pick-up a cross, and see what He does.
Daily Dying Devotion No. 2: A SMALL, GIGANTIC WORD
Our main Scripture: Luke 9:18-27
Today: Verse 23: "IF anyone would come after me..."
...
Right after revealing who He truly is to the disciples, Jesus begins laying out the expectations, the requirements, really, to those who would follow Him.
And the first word he speaks is so small and short that we could be tempted to miss it...
"IF"
"IF anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me."
That is a small word with big meaning.
Jesus didn't say, "WHEN you follow me..."
You see, Jesus knew, that even though these young men had already been his disciples, already been learning from Him and experiencing His miracles, that what He was about to ask of them was heavy stuff; all this dying and denying stuff, all this talk about crosses.
Jesus knew about those young men, what He knows about us:
Not everyone invited by Jesus will follow Jesus.
Some find it too hard, too costly, too painful. They will avoid some discomfort upfront, but in doing so, will miss the real, amazing, beautiful things He wants for them. They will opt out-on Jesus and opt-out on "Life".
You are most likely a Christian if you are reading this, (or at least you've been around church and youth group a while). Don't assume becuase you call yourself a Christian, that you are following Jesus. Don't take for granted that you can.
Jesus wants the selfish parts of you, the hateful parts of you to die... IF you will allow Him access.
Jesus wants to free you from damaging habits and negative thoughts... IF you will give Him control of those things.
Jesus wants to relieve you from bitterness and unforgiveness... IF you place it in His hands.
Jesus wants to show you a deeper life than the one you are living... IF you will let Him.
Those are some big IF's.
Praying you opt-in...
(Each day we will look at the piece of Scripture from the past week's BH, and help us all apply it to our lives, and to "make it stick".)
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