Not That Into You: Parent Cue for August

NOT THAT INTO YOU:

Series Overview

Every one of us has experienced it at some point. At one time, we were really into a relationship—whether that’s a friendship or a dating relationship—and now, well, not so much. We’re just not that into it anymore. So we walk away or we let the relationship die. But what happens when that relationship you’re not that into anymore is the one you have with God? You were really into Him at one point. You were feeling connected, directed, close. Now it feels like nothing. How do you deal with it?

Session One: The Breakup? (Aug 8^th 2012)

There is a natural ebb and flow to our relationships, isn’t there? There are times when we feel really close to someone, and times when we don’t. The reasons vary, but there are times when we’re just not feeling that into a relationship. It’s true of our friendships and other relationships, but what happens when it happens in our relationship with God? And when it does, why is it so difficult to admit it?

Session One Parent Cue: Describe a time when you felt really close to God. Now, describe a time when you felt really distant from Him.

Session Two: Fight for Me (Aug 15^th 2012)

When you’re not that into a relationship, you have a choice—to stay or to go. God has made it very clear in the Bible that He’s not going anywhere. He’s in. But we’re the ones who struggle with the choice, and that struggle sometimes involves fighting our own feelings and perceptions. It’s a fight that we have to be willing to take on, and a decision each of us has to make. And while it may feel like it, it’s not one-sided, God isn’t going anywhere. So are you going to fight your own tendencies to pull away? Are you going to fight for your relationship with God?

Session Two Parent Cue: Have you ever been tempted to walk away from God? What made you come back to Him . . . or walk away? 

XP (XPerience: (Aug 22nd 2012)

Our hope for this XP is that students and leaders alike will find encouragement in knowing that these times
of disinterest or distance from God will come and go—they don’t have to stay around forever. But we also
want to make sure we don’t gloss over how tough it can be to just make it through. Ultimately though,
we can be thankful that when we are feeling not that into God, we have a God who will be faithful to us,
fighting for us, and working to get our attention in these disparaging seasons.

But we aren’t. And the XP for “Not That Into You” is about reassuring your students, and maybe you and
your leaders, that if you have ever felt this way, if you have ever wrestled through this, you are not alone.
This XP, like the first week of the series, is about getting to the place where we can honestly admit and
openly talk about the seasons of our discontent with God, and will take place between the second and third
sessions of the series.

The XP for the “Not That Into You” series involves putting together a panel of individuals and providing
them a series of questions ahead of time to talk about seasons when they weren’t that into God.

Session Three: Do You Know Me? (Aug 29^th 2012)

So you decided to fight, to stay in your relationship with God even though you’re feeling not that into Him. And for some of you, you’ve already seen a big change. There’s a new connection. There’s excitement. But for others, you’re fighting and nothing’s happening. You’re working, but you’re not getting anything in return. So what’s the problem? It may be that “me” is getting in the way, that your focus is on you. And in the process, you have made God very small, boring and predictable—a God you think you know, but One who is actually so much bigger than us.

Session Three Parent Cue: What are some things you’ve learned about God in your relationship with Him? Search online for “names of God” and go through the list and identify specific ways you’ve “experienced” those names. For example, one of the names of God means “provider.” How have you seen God provide in your life?

IMAGINING THE END

Focus your energy and effort on the issues that will make a lasting impact

Leaving Home: 5 Things I Want My Children to Take With Them

By Reggie Joiner

A few years ago my daughter Hannah, who was 20 at the time, moved out of my home. She moved into a house with a few other girls. It was one of those things I knew was coming, but I just didn’t know it was going to happen as fast as it did. She had been talking about it for a while, but one afternoon when I got home, everything was gone—well, the things she wanted to take were gone. She left the things she didn’t want.

I remember looking around and, as a dad, it was kind of a sad moment. I remember thinking this may be it. She may never be back in my house again. She may never move back. It created a little controversy in our house when it happened. One of the issues was with her eighteen-year-old sister who came to me very upset. At first, I thought she was upset because Hannah had moved. But I quickly found out that it had nothing to do with Hannah—all the curling irons in the house were gone.

I started looking around at the things Hannah had taken and the things she had left. Do you know what determined what she left and what she took? Simple. She took the things that were important to her and left the things that weren’t. Trust me, when I figured that out, I really started looking around—I wanted to make sure she took a picture of the family and me! But the bottom line was, what mattered to her was gone—with her—and what didn’t matter was left behind.

I had to keep telling myself, “Okay, she is twenty, she is on her own, she is in a house”. And as I went over it again and again in my head, late one night, I took out my notebook and I started writing. She was out of my house and doing her own thing. She was an adult and she was moving forward. So how do I pray for her how? I wrote down five things. And these are the five things I want to pray for all of my children. These are five things I want for all my children’s lives. But that night I prayed this for Hannah:

1) That she will keep moving in a direction towards God. That is the end goal. At the end of it all, I just want to make sure that whatever happens in her life, she just keeps moving in a direction towards God.

2) That she will have an ongoing relationship with God’s Truth—that the value of Scripture and the value of God’s Truth will not dim in her life. I want the message to ring so loud and clear in the hearts of my children that they never get away from the power of God’s truth in their lives.

3) That she will have the right people in her life to challenge her and inspire her. This makes me nervous. This is what keeps me up at night. Besides her mom and me, I just want to make sure there are other adults, other friends, other people who will continue to challenge her and inspire her in her walk and her faith, because I know how important that is. That is community.

4) That we will still be friends. When it is said and done, isn’t that what every parent wants? Let’s be honest. Isn’t your dream that when your children grow up and move away that you are still good friends and still in relationship with them? Absolutely. I still want to have a degree of influence in her life. I still want to be her friend. I still want her to be friends with her mom, friends with her sisters and brother. I still want all that to stay in tact. I want that to be a value in her life that she never gets away from. From her graduation from college, to her wedding day, to when she has kids—I want all of that to be intact and all of that to be right. That is family.

I wrote down one other thing that I pray for.

5) That she will never get away from her sense of mission to be the church. I want her to know that she is wired, that she is created, that God designed her to be the church. I pray that her influence in whatever circle she lives in will be the kind of influence that God has designed her to have. I don’t want her faith to be tied to a place where she goes. Rather, I want her faith to pour into every area of life and every person she encounters. I pray that her significance will come not from what she is doing but from the fact that she knows she is doing the thing God called her to do, and that sense of purpose will always be a part of her life.

Those are five things I want to be really true of her life, and true of the lives of all my children. This, for me, is the essence of what a life needs to become, it’s what I want to move my children towards. And it’s not only how I pray, but the grid through which I process my actions and words to make these things a reality in her life.

These five things may not be a tangible object that Hannah or any of my other kids can pick up and pack up, but they are the things I want them to take with them—no matter how close or far from home they live. 

Reggie Joiner is the founder and CEO of The reThink Group, and the author of Think Orange.

Get connected to a wider community of parents at www.orangeparents.org

hvarvell@wordalive.org

Youth Lock-In!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday August 10, 2012

8:30 pm-7:00 am the next morning

Registration will begin at 8:30 and you must have your permission slip signed to come.



There will be no dinner served but there will be a midnight snack. :)

hvarvell@wordalive.org

August Series- Just Not That Into You

Series Description

Every one of us has experienced it at some point. At one time, we were really into a relationship--whether that;s a friendship or a dating relationship--and now, well, not so much. We're just not that into it anymore. So we walk away or we let the relationship die. But what happens when that relationship you're not that into anymore is the one you have with God? You were really into Him at one point. You were feeling connected, directed, close. Now it feels like nothing. How do you deal with it?

Session 1: The Breakup

Bottom Line: My relationship with God has moments when I feel close, and moments when I'm just not that into Him.

Session 2: Fight for Me

Bottom Line: God never leaves, but sometimes I have to fight my own feelings and actions to stay in relationship with Him.

Session 3: Do You Know Me?

Bottom Line: When I am so focused on me, sometimes I miss seeing God for who He really is and make Him into someone who is easy to walk away from.

THE XP: The XP for the Not That Into You series involves creating a panel of Christ followers who can share their stories about the ups and downs of their relationships with God. The XP is intended to take place between Sessions 2 and 3.

©2009 The reThink Group. All Rights Reserved.

hvarvell@wordalive.org

MAY-Testimonies

Testimonies!

This month we'll enjoy hearing from leaders, peers, strangers... as they share what their turning point was when they decided to get serious about serving God.  They'll share about the moment God became REAL to them in the most tangible way.

Testimonies help the person sharing remember their encounter with God and it encourages those listening to know that we serve a living God who is actively moving in our lives, if we'll just let him!

Those who overcome the evil do it by “the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12: 11)

"The “word of our testimony” is the same thing as this:  “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”  It is all about “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  It is all about the Spirit of the living God walking around in us.  This is the word of our testimony.  It is when we grow to a point when our actions are the Spirit of Christ living out His life in us.  Then we are poised for the final overcoming, or the final victory."
this excerpt came from  http://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/overcoming-by-the-word-of-our-testimony/ 

hvarvell@wordalive.org

JUNE

June is full of fun!

Save These Dates:

June 8th (Friday Night) - Rock-A-Thon fundraiser for Youth Camp!  It will start at 9pm in Tama Hall and we'll rock until 7am Saturday.  So get a rocking chair ready, borrow, bribe, beg... Ha!  We'll worship, watch a movie, play games, hang out, but we'll also bag food for Isaiah 58 to help with their food distributions. Get your sponsor sheet and envelope from me if you don't already have one.

June 20th - 24th -CAMP!!! at Woodland Christian Camp (look at previous posts to see all of the info) it's $180 to go.  You get yourself there, we'll get you home!  It's in Temple GA just under an hour away.  You have until June 13th to sign up.

June 27th is a tentative date for a Pool Party!  We'll break for Sabbath with a sPlAsH!

hvarvell@wordalive.org

Graduation Dinner May 3rd 2012

Congratulations Graduate! 

We are so excited for you accomplishment and that’s why we want to celebrate you as well as encourage you for this next chapter of your life.

We want to bless our High School and College Graduates with dinner, a gift, a slide show presentation, a blessing from Kent and Bev, family fellowship, and words of encouragement from our Guest Speaker Dr. Paddio. May 3, 2012 at 6:30 pm in The Connection.

You can bring up to 4 friends or family members with you, but don’t worry, if you have a big family we can still accommodate them!  We would just need $8 for each additional guest you bring.

Appropriate Attire for this event is Business Casual.

There are only 2 things we need from you.  Please fill out and return the registration form (located at the information desk in the Connection) so we can begin to prepare for how many guests will be attending.  Provide 5-7 pictures of yourself.  They can be you in your cap and gown, with friends, with family, whatever you would like to see in the picture slide show.  We need these pictures and registration no later than Sunday April 22^nd.  You can bring these pictures on a CD, jump drive, or e-mail them to hvarvell@wordalive.org .

If you have any questions please email me or call 256-452-8703 ext 118.

Dating By Numbers - April 2012

Series Description

Let’s be honest. There are more than a few areas in life where a crash course would be helpful. And dating is certainly one of those areas. For a lot of students, dating is something they just fall into—they are old enough to do it, so they do. But just because they are the right age and in the right stage of life, doesn’t mean they know how to go about it. They need to learn the basics. They need to understand the fundamentals. They need a crash course on dating, and we want to give it to them. So the question we want to be answering these next couple of weeks is, if we could pick the top three things we want students to know as they prepare for this season of life where dating plays such a huge role, what would those three things be? What do we look for? How do we know when it is time to end it—and then how do we go about ending it? And what do we do when we find ourselves with a single status? These are the basics. Our way of beginning at square one. And the hope is, with the right start, their time spent dating now will set the course for their future relationships in the right direction.

Session One: Fairest 1 of All?
Bottom Line: The reality of what is inside a person trumps what we see on the outside.
When it comes to the basics of dating, there aren’t very many things we will hear that are totally new to us. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t important. That being said, at one point or another we have all heard phrases like, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, and “looks can be deceiving”. But oftentimes, such insights and similar warnings don’t keep us from making foolish choices when it comes to what we see on the outside of a person versus what we will find on the inside. Appearances can be deceiving—but also convincing. It is easy to be distracted and fall for what we see while missing the reality of what exists on the inside. But if we want to be set up with the most success in our future relationships than taking the time to discover what lies beneath the surface of another person is key—and develops our own character in the process.

Session Two: Not 2 Be
Bottom Line: Breaking up, done at the right time, and the right way, doesn’t have to break either person involved.
Breaking up is hard to do. But unfortunately, it is something most of us will have to do—or have done to us. And while that isn’t the most encouraging thing we could ever hear, it is a reality. How do we know when the time is right to make the break? What can we do to make this not so pleasant experience better? And then once we decide it has to be done, how exactly should it be done? Breaking up may never be an enjoyable thing, but it can be a dignified and respectable thing—when the timing and the method is right. When this happens we can leave a relationship knowing we treated the other person in a way that honors them and leaves as few wounds as possible.

Session Three: 3^rd Wheel
Bottom Line: Single isn’t second rate, and relationship status isn’t the point.
Though it is a message we may hear more subtly as adults, as teenagers it is a lot more loud and clear: Single is second rate. If you really want to matter, if you really want to be someone, then the key is to be in a relationship. Not exactly a great message—and not exactly accurate either. What if, when it comes to relationships, we are putting the emphasis on the wrong thing? What if the point isn’t our relationship status at all? What if in our attempt to fit into the culture we are compromising the things that matter the most? And what if God has something different, something better in mind? Relationships may feel like the whole world—but what if God is calling our attention to a different way of living?

 
Parent Cue: The Parent Cue is designed to cue parents to talk about faith with their child. The “Be a Student of What They are Learning” section provides a way for you to give parents info about this series and how you will unpack it over the course of the three weeks. In addition to the summary of each session, there are questions that both parents and students can use to interact with one another. Also, the Parent Cue provides a “Be a Student of Your Student” section to help parents connect with where their students are developmentally. See the Parent Cue document in your series downloads for more information. 

click on this link to go to the Parent Cue Parent Cue April 2012
Get connected to a wider community of parents at www.orangeparents.org.

©2012 Orange. All Rights Reserved.

 hvarvell@wordalive.org

2012 Youth Camp

 

Word Alive Youth Camp 2012

When:  June 20^th – 24^th (Wednesday arrive by 3pm – Sunday depart by 11pm)

Where:  Temple Georgia at Woodland Christian Camp    www.woodlandcamp.org

Who:  6^th – 12^th Graders
(Your student is eligible to attend if they are going into the 6^th grade next school year)

THEME:  Camp 2012 CROSSROADS - A Game Changer

Psalm 119:9 “How can a young (person) keep (their) way pure? By living according to your word.”

2012 Activities:
NEW Pedal Karts, NEW Slip-n-Slide, Swimming, Canoes / Kayaks / Paddle Boats, Archery, Mountain Bikes, Inflatable, Challenge Ropes Course, Climbing Tower, Canteen, Carpetball / Ping Pong / Air Hockey / Foosball / Skeeball, Fishing, Frisbee Golf, Softball / Basketball / Volleyball / Dodgeball / Soccer / Football / Tetherball / Ultimate Frisbee, Campfires, Hiking, Gymnasium activities, Playgrounds, Recreation Fields

We are so excited about this year’s camp!  The sky is the limit and we expect to push those limits. 

The Cost per student is $180.

A deposit of $50 is needed by April 29^th.  The balance is due by June 13^th.

A medical release form and an individual release form from Woodland Camp and Word Alive is needed to be filled out, signed and turned in by June 13^th as well.

  Please come back by the information desk and pick up a packet or e-mail me.  Please sign up your student if you want them to attend so we can begin to prepare for how many are coming!

 

--Heather Varvell hvarvell@wordalive.org 256-831-5280 ext. 118