Our mission is to build a coMMUNITY of students in ministry
What does that mean? Well, simply put we believe that all believers are gifted by God to serve Him and to reach the world with his love. Our job is to help students find and grow their gifts so they can serve God with their entire lives.
If you are a middle or high school student looking for a life that is real, full and alive, I want to encourage you to join us on our adventure! The Christian life isn't about rules, it's about experiencing an amazing, life changing relationship with our Creator and then sharing that relationship with our friends here on earth.
If you are new to our ministry, I want to welcome you to the family and give you a little insight into how we do things and why.
On Sunday mornings the Student Ministry is committed to students and leaders attending services together as a community of believers. This accomplishes several things. It begins the life-long habit of being part of a community of believers on Sunday mornings. It also gives our older students a chance to model for the younger. Additionally, the opportunity for students to see their leaders and parents in church, which communicates the value of regular church attendance.
If you are new, we want to encourage you to join us in the student section. If your parents want to sit somewhere else, that is fine. We would love to have your whole family involved though. When you enter the church from the narthex, the student section is on the far right. If you need help finding someone to sit with, come over and find me and I would love to meet you, introduce you to some other students and leaders and help you join the fun.
Last thing, there are a ton of things happening all the time in this ministry. We try to have a little something for everyone. There is no way to know all that is happening without doing a couple of things. First, read your newsletter. It is full of details that you will wish you knew if you miss out on something cool! Second, get involved on Sundays or Wednesdays. Where there will be announcements and hot sheets with all the news that you need to know every week.
Welcome to the family...
All Hiz,
Michael J. McCrystal
Director of Student Ministries |
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The Breakfast Club
Day and Time: Sundays 9:30 a.m. - Noon
Ages: Middle School and High School
Location: Sanctuary and 2nd Floor of Gym Building
Purpose: Fellowship (RECEIVING OTHERS INTO OUR FAMILY of FAITH)
This program is designed to give students who are new to faith or seeking answers about God a place to come, feel welcomed, have fun and experience a connection with other students and leaders.
A Morning in the Life of the Breakfast Club
You get to church a few minutes before the 9:30 a.m. service. When you walk in the front door of the church there are a few middle and high school students inside by the next set of doors. One of them looks strangely familiar. "Maybe he's in my math class..." When they see you they wave you over and say hi and welcome you and your parents. They seem pretty excited to be here. "What's that all about?" You cheat and check his name tag. yes, that is Kyle from math class. He recognizes you too but can't remember your name either. (Soon you'll have a name tag to help us remember your name too.) After a minute of talking they point your family to the far side of the church and say "Hey, you need to sit with us in the Student Section." Ok, why not, you haven't had any better offers.
Your whole family sits down in the student section with you. It's not long before some of the adults in the section see them and start to say "hi" and meet your parents. Kyle came over a minute ago and pointed you out to some of his friends, who are all coming over to say "Hi" too.
When the service starts, you notice the band is pretty good. "Not Bad..." Then you notice the Bass player is really kickin'. The guy in front of you turns around and says "Hey, I'm Mike..." You mention the cool bass player. He says "I want to be Larry when I grow up..." and grins. Everybody is singing and having a good time. You don't know all the words yet, but they are on the screen and you can follow along pretty well.
The guy leading worship mentions that the next song came from the Student Ministry and the whole section goes nuts. "Are they allowed to do that in church?"
During the message you notice there are a bunch of students taking notes and scribbling stuff in the margins of their Bible. Others don't seem that intense, but look like you, trying to connect. It helps a lot when the preacher turns to our section and says things about the teenagers or directly to them. Everybody seems to shine a bit. "Hey, the pastor seems to like these kids. That's pretty cool..."
After the service everybody is heading over to the gym building. Some of the parents invite your parents to join them for a small group they belong to while you are already on your way over. On the way, there is a stop for doughnuts and some juice. You needed a little sugar to get going anyway.
It seems like the entire section from the sanctuary is trying to cram into one classroom when you get upstairs. There are students and leaders on couches, pillows and floors all over the room. From the front there are a few announcements about big events and then the worship starts. Cool, unplugged, acoustic stuff... feels like going to camp. The room is filled with voices of other students. Some of the songs you recognize from the service. (You hear someone mention stealing the song back from the music department...) The words are starting to click and you are getting into the groove now.
The morning goes really well. There is great music and when the kid stood up and gave announcements, you were blown away by the things being planned for the next month.
After worship the group breaks up in to a bunch of other classrooms all over the second floor and they gave you a book that says "Life Together" on the front. Looks kind of cool... The group of students does a lot of talking and a fair amount of laughing while they go through the stuff in the book. It doesn't feel like "Sunday School," it feels like friends hanging out talking about life. It seems like just a few minutes later (it was really 45) everyone says it's time to go. "It can't be over yet..."
When you are getting ready to leave some students ask you if you are coming to Alive that night. After a brief explanation, you say "cool, I'll be there." Before they leave with their parents, one of the people at your table comes over and says "be ready to get a little wet tonight. I hear Mike is up to something with the water balloon launchers..."
When you get in the car your parents seem to have had a good time too. You know you had more fun than they did though. They ask how it went.
Your answer begins like this...
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SonDay Night Alive!
Day and Time: Sundays - 5 - 7 p.m.
Ages: Middle School and High School
Location: Gym Building
Purpose: Worship (REFLECTING GOD’S LOVE)
Son Day Night Alive is a rollercoaster ride every week. Massive competitions that will shake you with laughter, an awesome student band that rocks the house, new friends who are trying to figure out their faith just like you, and best of all - God in a way that really makes sense! Come see what everyone is talking about...
This is a safe and fun entrance point for new students/seekers. The emphasis for each night will be around the excitement and fun of life in Christ. Students will be exposed to the Gospel in ways that relate to them, student leaders leading ministry, positive adult role models and an atmosphere of fun. Each night will have a live band, fun and exciting competitions, lots of good friends and of course food.
A Night in the Life of Alive
It's Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. You get out of the car and walk toward the gym. In front of the gym there is a large group of students gathered at the door. As you get closer you are greeted by an adult leader who helps you check in and get a name tag. While this is happening a strange roar begins inside the gym. The sidewalk shakes just a little. "Very cool, that's the band..."
The doors open and everyone rushes in toward the stage. The band is already going at full steam, there are lyrics on the screen and cool graphics that go along with the music. During worship several students get up give announcements with all the cool stuff getting ready to happen this month. It's hard to believe there's that much going on.
The worship set ends and a student comes up on the stage. Everybody sits on the floor and listens while they give a devotion that really makes sense. It's pretty cool to see students leading stuff like this. "They must really believe it to risk getting up in front of all their friends to talk about it... "There are a ton of adults around the room, some are on the back wall hanging out and others are on the floor in the middle of the students. During the songs several people came over and said "hi" and even knew your name. "How'd they do that... oh yeah, the nametag. I forgot about that..."
After the devotions one of the leaders gets up front and welcomes everyone again and says that they have a little surprise for everyone tonight... The leader breaks the huge crowd of students into teams and then brings them out into the courtyard for this strange, amazing competition. There are water balloons flying in the air and all kinds of laughter going on. "It's great to get to relax and just be a kid for a change..." (NOTE TO PARENTS- WATER BALLOONS ARE NOT A CONSTANT, ONLY AN EXAMPLE OF THE SILLINESS WE GET TO DO WITH YOUR KIDS) During the game you even worked up the courage to talk to the 11th grader who did devotions earlier. He was really cool and wanted to hear what you thought. Maybe he even shared more of his story with you. (Of course, he also popped a water balloon on your head after your talk...)
After this competition everyone is pretty much wiped out and ready to just hang out. Everyone then goes into the gym again and there are video games to play and foosball music playing. Everyone is hanging out having a good time. "Hey, somebody brought pizza. Awesome." After some pizza and a Coke things are wrapping up for the night. As you get ready to go, you are given a hot sheet with all the details you had forgotten from the announcements earlier. As you say goodnight to your new friends one of them asks you what you are doing on Wednesday night...
"You've gotta check out Half-Time..."
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HALF-TIME
Day of Week: Wednesday Nights 6:00 - 8 p.m.
Location: Meet in the Social Hall
Ages: Middle and High School
Purpose: Discipleship (RECOGNIZING OUR GIFTS)
Wednesday nights are a refuge for believing students to come and be refreshed and grown through intense worship experiences and creative small groups and bible studies. Each week will provide different experiences designed to deepen their relationship with God and equip them for their life of ministry at home and school. (6:00 - 6:30 p.m. All students and leaders have a "Family Dinner" in the Social Hall.)
A Night in the Life of Half-Time
You arrive around 6:00 p.m. All of the adults are on their way to the Chapel for worship. At the doors of the social hall, a student leader welcomes you with a grin and points you in the direction of the dinner, the sign in desk, cool people to meet and probably a leader or two. At about 6:30 p.m. we clean up dinner and gather for worship.
Upstairs everyone settles into a room and talks for a few minutes. A student and one of the leaders starts leading worship. The lights are down low and there's candles in the center of the room. It feels kind of different here; it's really mellow and you can almost feel your batteries recharging.
The worship is really different. There's a cool feeling in the room. Everyone is just wrapped up in worshiping God. There isn't anything fancy, but it is so real.
At the end of worship, a leader starts a time of prayer and the students start to pray. One at a time, students pray and it goes around the room to anyone who wants to talk with God. It's so comfortable and quiet, it's easy to get lost in prayer here.
When the prayers close, a leader shares some of the things that are happening in the ministry and then everyone heads down to the gym to hang out and talk. Some of the students from the Sunday night band pick up a jam session. Very cool...
In the car on the way home your parents want to know how it went. It takes the whole ride home to give them the play by play of the whole night.
"I guess that means you are going back next week?" they ask.
"Oh, Yeah..."
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YOUTH I.N.C.
Day and Time: Wednesdays at 5:00pm
Ages: Middle School and High School
Location: Social Hall
Purpose: Ministry (RETURNING TO THE WORLD FOR CHRIST)
Youth I.N.C. is an outreach ministry that encourages students to use a variety of their artistic talents to share the Gospel message with the community. Dance, Drama, singing, a variety of musical instruments and the visual arts all come together for a common cause sharing God’s love with the world. The talents, gifts and willingness to serve others drives and defines this ministry.
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