Thanksgiving part 2

Now, we're playing scrabble. My brother and sister-in-law are coming over at 4pm. I am royally losing at scrabble. Yep. Loser. Oh wait! 14 points! Still losing...

Thanksgiving

Soon

In HSM yesterday morning, we discussed eternity and if we are ready to enter eternity. For the unbeliever, he must make a decision to follow Jesus to spend eternity in heaven. But what about the believer...is HE ready to go to heaven? Many of us aren't. I know I don't feel ready. There are so much we want to do; so many dreams to be fulfilled. Still, if we are to love God with all of our heart, wouldn't that include desiring heaven and to be in his presence.

We ended the morning service with a drama some of our students participated in to depict what it will be like worshiping around God's throne. They did it to the song "Soon" by Brooke Fraser. The chorus says:

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I'll see Him
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and Very Soon

Soon from Wooster Grace Students on Vimeo.

Take a Cue

The other week, an 8th grade boy came up to my wife and handed her some money. Amber was unsure what it was for, since it was too early for our Pizza Fundraiser forms, and nothing else was coming up that required money. So she asked him what it was for.

He said he had gotten a financial gift and wanted to give some to Monopa, the teenage girl from Thailand that Middle School Ministries adopted last year and support. Amber looked down to see how much was there, thinking it to be $5 or even $10, and saw that he had handed her $90!

Because of this student's generosity and willingness to give out of the blessings that he has received, a 14 year-old girl in Thailand can eat, have shelter, and hear about Jesus! What a heart for obedience and thanks mom and dad for no doubt modeling that for him to see. I was touched as well as challenged in my own life to be giving out of the many blessings that I have received and we could all probably take a cue from this 8th grader and his willingness to be obedient and give to the Lord.

- Josh Atkins

Grace College Visit

Every fall, the HSM (High School Ministries) team travels to Grace College so that Nick can teach a youth ministries class for College freshman and sophmores. It's a good time to recharge as a ministry team and plan for the coming year, too. We went last week (November 3-5) and had a great time. Some of the highlights included:

- having college students over for dinner on Tuesday night.
- training to-be youth pastors and leaders in how to reach students in the youth ministry class.
- driving down to Indiana University to watch the Hoosiers play the Grace Lancers.
- Steak 'n Shake late at night.
- Playing wii at the guest house.
- Seeing Grace College with all the Autumn foliage (beautiful!)
- The roadtrip itself!
- brainstorming fun and creative series for HSM in the spring.
- Stopping at Starbucks for Steve :)

Anyway, the list could go on but we figured you might rather enjoy some pictures, so if you have a minute, view our trip.

Welcome to the Family

As most of you know my job here in Student Ministries is half 'administrative' and half 'ministry.' This means that I get the best of both worlds. I get to work at my desk and do a lot of behind the scenes work (PPT, office stuff, etc) and then I also to get to break free from my desk and hang out with a lot of cool people! And although I'd much rather be out and about with students all day every day, there are things here that just have to get done to have a successful smooth running ministry. I was reminded yesterday that my job at my desk can be so fulfilling even though it's not the preferred half of my job......

Yesterday I was tasked to put together a list of contact info for all of the people that have committed their lives to Christ for the first time in HSM this year...As I read through the names, my heart turned to mush and I was overwhelmed. It's so cool workin' here getting the opportunity to read through this list of names...recalling their very own personal story of when and where and how they met Jesus -- and how their lives changed and are changing. Let me share with you the first names of all the students (that we know of) that have embraced a life with Jesus since the beginning of November last year......

alissa
kyle
megan
jessi
lauren
skylar
tiffany
ashley
brandon
tim
jake
erica
abby
zach
andrea
emma
brienne
lexie
katie
sarah
jamie
annalise
cassii
nicholas
cassidy
matt
kaila
amber

Welcome to the family, guys.

Post Game Review!

by Pastor Nick

Post Game is now a few weeks removed but what a great night it was. Over 200 students and leaders landed at the Student Ministry Center at Grace to hang out, have fun, & discovered more about who we are at Grace.

I arrived at 1pm to discover 6 people already working tirelessly to set up. There were 7 of us who worked from 1pm until well after 1am to make this a sweet event. What did we do?

• Set up the Karaoke station
• Put down the thousands of proverbs on the floor for confetti decorations
• Set up the lighting
• Helped the band do sound checks
• Displayed the prizes
• Blew up hundreds of balloons for the mezzanine
  
• Turned on all the gaming stations
• Put the hoops down in the gym for basketball
• Set up the tunnel entrance for the SMC
• Got the sumo wrestling ready to roll
• Organized the registration
• Prepared the food (and oh was there some food)
• Prayed together for the evening

All of that because we wanted to see students bring their friends and find a place to connect together. In total over 100 people came who were not on our roster of 300 high school students at Grace. That translated means 100 people who had never been to Grace before visited our facility. They had a great time, watched a nice band The Colission, & heard me share about how our lives have been changed by knowing Jesus Christ.

So that's it, right? It ended at midnight or a little after...we just had a party? No, it didn't really end then. Actually on Sunday we saw a number of visitors return for our HSM service and 2 students made first time decisions to follow Jesus Christ!

Praise God for His faithfulness & thanks for praying. Post Game 2009 was a great success!