Funny Isn't It?

When I saw the Zits cartoon that you see above. I laughed because I think there is so much truth to that. We live with our teens and so we often times don't see what other people see. Sometimes it is good to get a fresh perspective and ask other people what they may see in your teens. I am sure that I see things in your teenager that you don't see, but of course I also don't see the things that you see. The Bible says, "Point your kids in the right direction—when they're old they won't be lost." [Proverbs 22:6 (Message)] I want to encourage you that I see some good things in your teens. You may not be seeing it, but I know that I do.

NO Youth Group

There is NO youth group this Sunday. It is Labor Day weekend and I want to give you and your family as much time as possible to spend together. Enjoy your time together as a family.

To Save A Life

Last year we took a group of teens to the theater to see the movie "To Save A Life". It had a profound impact on many of their lives and I still hear them occasionally talk about it. Now that it is on DVD I want to watch it again with them and then follow it up with a 7 week series that will encourage them to deepen their faith in God and then encourage them to begin to reach out to their friends. My prayer for this next year is that our teens begin to step out more and share their faith with their friends. I think that the things in this movie and that we will discuss in the 7 week series following it will help that happen. I am planning to show the movie on Friday, September 17th, and then kick off the series on Sunday, September 19th.

Unight

The Unight Event went great! I think that our teens really connected with God in some cool ways and were challenged to begin to live in Christ as He lives in them. (Colossians 2:6) We spent about 15-20 minutes praying for our schools, teachers, communities, government, friends, and themselves. It was a really powerful time as we saw about 100 teens spending time praying in groups.

Hopefully these questions will spur on some cool conversations this week around the dinner table:

• What was your favorite part of the Unight Event?
• Why is praying so important? And why is gathering together as different churches/youth groups to pray important?
• What things should we as a family be praying about?

Inviting

This past Sunday Brad talked about how we should be inviting people to come to church and how 1 in 4 people surveyed have said that they would go to church if someone would just ask them. Are you going to be inviting someone to church this week or for Back to Church Sunday on September 12th? Encourage your teens to invite their friends out to youth group and perhaps you could even volunteer to drive them, so that their parents don't have to worry about it. Imagine the impact we could have if each family in our church invited one other family to church.

Prayer

"The reason why we obtain no more in prayer is because we expect no more. God usually answers us according to our own hearts." ~Richard Alleine

<<First Name>>, is there anything that I can be praying for you or your family about this week?