MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

We exist to glorify God by making disciples of all people through Gospel truths and Gospel living. Our hope is to equip all youth to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind as well as loving their neighbor, community, and church.

1. Make sure you have a plan for growth this summer (personally & with the youth)
2. Recruit, recruit, recruit. In order to sustain and grow the youth ministry we're going to need as much help as possible. Ask those you know with good character to come alongside you to join our team. August is our projected training month.
3. Church Discipline. We covered the church discipline portion of our membership manual. Make sure you understand these crucial statements. (File below)

And there we go...we have graduated our class of 2018. I still remember their very first ACCESS kickoff. I think they were all under 5ft tall and still had braces. And now they are 2 months away from moving off to college and starting the next part of their life. While most of us are not their parents, we do feel a sense of pride, sadness, hope, and anxiety all at the same time because we have invested in them alongside their parents. That's a good and right feeling leaders.

I hope you were able to really stop and enjoy Senior Banquet. I hope you got to see the picture that is the community gathering together in order to congratulate and commission our seniors off. I'll say it again, youth ministry is the hardest of them all but it is the most rewarding of them all.

So for now, enjoy your last two months with these seniors. Encourage them first and foremost in the Gospel and do all you can to train them up towards HOLINESS before they leave. Speak with their parents as to how you can be a resource for their family. And then transition them off well. Thank you leaders for walking with these seniors - whether at the front end and forming their identity, community, and doctrine (MS leaders) or at the back end and counseling them, maturing them, and allowing them to lead (HS leaders). Thank you admin for being behind the scenes for our seniors to get to where they need to. For doing the hard work of logistics so that they can form memories and experiences at camps, retreats, Java Jam, and so much more.

June 3 Youth Praise (8th Commandment)

June 10 DG

June 17 Seminars

June 24 DG (MS/HS Combo)

July 1 Youth Praise (9th Commandment)

July 8 DG

July 15 Seminars

July 22 DG (Send off/Commission)

July 29 "Lit week" (*Camp Impact)

Aug 5 Youth Praise (10th Commandment)

Aug 12 Preparing (Identity)

Aug 19 Planning (Roles)

Aug 26 Praying (Praying)

Sept 2 Youth Praise/Meet the Family

Seminar 1 The Kitchen

Seminar 2 The Garage

Seminar 3 Self-Defense

Growing up the only girl among four brothers, when I pictured myself as a mother, I never saw myself having daughters. In my mind, girls meant girl drama. Despite my lack of imagination, God still graciously gave me two daughters, and over the past 18 years, I’ve learned over and over again how wrong I was to believe the negative hype around raising girls.

Girl drama is definitely a thing, and a well-documented one at that. Queen Bees & Wanna Bees (the book that inspired the movie Mean Girls) examines the unique tensions of adolescent girls, specifically stemming from their relationships with each other, and countless teen movies, books, and TV shows rely on these-all-too-common tropes.

READ MORE: LINK: https://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2015/september/save-drama-raising-girls-who-speak-truth.html

Katherine Langford as Hannah in 13 Reasons Why © 2017 Netflix

I am a mom. And I am a psychotherapist. I have actually been a psychotherapist longer than I have been a mom. That’s originally why I picked up the book 13 Reasons Why. I was intrigued by its premise: a teen takes her life, then leaves behind a record of who contributed to her decision, and how. Intrigued is one word I have used -- but if I am being intellectually honest with myself and you, I was put off by the premise. I was scared. As a mom of two daughters, 12 and 16, facing this book seemed daunting. I put it down. Even therapists have their limits….

I buried this book, along with its premise, for a couple of years. But like all things that scare us and bring out our vulnerabilities, this stuff comes back. This time, it came back in the form of a Netflix series that my 12 year old daughter began begging to watch. “All of my friends are watching it”, “They are going to spoil the ending for me!” (umm……that’s already been revealed!), and the ever-famous, "You are too overprotective…".

READ MORE: http://www.foxlevineandassociates.com/blog/2017/4/19/13-reasons-why-and-its-unintended-consequences

6/3 Senior Banquet

6/18-23 World Changers (Houston, Texas) ***CBC will host

7/1 MS Family Day (Parents Meeting)

7/9-13 VBS

722-25 DCamp (www.tinyurl.com/dcampimpact2018)

7/25-29 Camp Impact (www.tinyurl.com/dcampimpact2018)

8/10 Java Jam XII

10/4-6 Rooted Conference: Gospel-Centered Conference for Youth Pastors and Parents (rootedministry.com/conference)

12/26-29 CMC South 2018