SENIOR SEND-OFF

Seniors (and Parents): As you are preparing for this massive life change that will happen in a matter of months, we want to give you some things to help you prepare for this transition. First though, we want you to join us in giving praise and thanks to our Lord for getting you to this spot right? You've made it through so many years of studying, projects, clubs, and much more. We are reminded how good God truly is to us.

As you're looking forward, I wanted to leave you with a few things:

1. Christian moving forward: Graduating out of the youth group does not mean graduating out of Christianity. Nor does it mean that you're graduating out of biblical community. If anything you build off of what you've experienced. It is inevitable that you'll be surrounded with many people with different worldviews (but that isn't too different than high school right?)

2. Experience doesn't trump truth: Existentialism is a tradition of philosophical inquiry that explores the nature of existence by emphasizing experience of the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. Look, you're going to have a ton of experiences in college no doubt and experiences are not always a bad thing. But it is backwards to have your own emotions and your own experiences inform and dictate what defines "truth" for you. Experience can give meaning to truth but it can also deny and reject certain truths. It is why you must be grounded in a source of truth that is beyond yourself and you must trust a source of truth that has been proven to be unchanging and for your good. Humbly let the Scriptures alone be your standard of living. Let Christ be your aim and your Lord but also let what he says about nature and life and joy be the final word.

3. Short & long term views: We want you to enjoy college for all that it is meant to be. We want you to mature during this time. We want you to build deep meaningful relationships. We want you to impact the community and join causes that push back what is dark. We don't want you to sacrifice your soul, however, for stupid short-term pleasure. College (like high school) is going to go by so quickly and we want you to know that there is a life afterwards so be wise with your decisions there. Don't neglect all of those who have supported you up to this point. Don't wait till junior or senior year to pull that GPA up or start studying. Don't waste your time there.

---------------------

In this issue:

1. Suggested Freshman Timeline
2. Resources we Recommend
3. Evaluations: for seniors, parents, and leaders
4. Article
5. Registration for IV RecWeek 2020

First Semester:

• Evaluate and research different social and ministry organizations. Ask about their purpose, vision, direction, and foundations. We would encourage you not to immediately join a fellowship or organization right away so that you can get adjusted to college life.
• Begin to build friendships and community as soon as you can. The first semester is great for you to meet people from everywhere and transition out of high school into college and young adulthood.
• Set and create healthy boundaries and priorities. Keep a schedule as to when you will study, exercise, hangout, dedicate to personal devotion, fellowships, etc.

Second Semester:

• By second semester, we encourage you to find and commit to a parachurch ministry on campus (in addition to attending a church). College is going to go by extremely quickly so we want you to invest in a community.
• Identify potential mentors to help guide you through college and your spiritual journey. Evaluate their own personal spiritual growth and then take the step to ask them to mentor you.
• As you get to know your community and school, begin praying for relationships to be formed with the non-Christians around you and ask the Lord to how you can begin cultivating a genuine relationship with them in order to share the Gospel.

JUSTIN WONG | JAN 18, 2018 | 14 MIN READ

Website: https://sola.network/article/collegians-leaving-home-churches

FREE! Open to anyone

There are two parts to Recweek this year! There will be 3- 90 minute sessions of tracks. Monday, May 18th from 3-4:30pm, Tuesday, May 19th 3-4:30pm, and Wednesday May 20th 3-4:30pm CST. You can choose a track below and we will send you a Zoom link. And the second part is a Virtual Large Group gathering Thursday, May 21st from 8-9:30pm where we will gather to worship together and hear a dynamic speaker on "Life After Normal"

Website: https://intervarsity.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=3b4fafd1142af6827ccb924df&id=a9a710bebd