they’re a group of christians playing music not musicians playing Christian music.

amazing talents and great hearts made it a really fun night.  had a fun visit with a local leprechaun, Robbie O’Evo and even had a few students attempt an irish jig to “Cotton Eyed Joe”.

We ended the night with a timeless prayer from St. Patrick as a our closing blessing.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation

Started out with a fun nite for food.  Lots of different pasta.  great garlic bread and good desserts.

series: REALLY? Do I really want the gifts God has to offer? This was the last in our series focuse on  basic questions about a students identity and the Christian faith.

big idea: helping students understand that the best gift they’ve gotten from God, after salvation is God’s love letter to each on us through the bible.  We gave out more than a dozen new bibles to our students. It was humbling to hear students who were so excited to get their very own copy of the bible to keep.  Shows that even in a church that is intentional about the proclamation of the Word, we need to do a better job of growing those that call the outpost home.

Small Groups: great discussions in all the groups.  love it when the “light bulb” goes off as you start to tie the truths of God words into practical applications. Answering the deeper questions about our faith and wrestling through the big questions: Who did Cain marry?  What happens to the poor innocent native?  Do babies go to heaven.  We left many things unanswered, but left the door open that there are answers.

Played a really new fun game that our own Daneul Miller came up with.  We called it “monster”…mostly because Skillet’s Monster seemed like a great song to play during the game.

UPDATE: Our pal Chad at youth leaders stash calls this game can war .  go and grab the fun title graphic there.

ht adam reed

we’re taking 35 meat loafs, 70 lbs of mashed potatoes, lots of green beans and corn….and home baked rolls.

we’re meeting up at the church at 1:00 pm and will then head north to the near west side of  cleveland.

if you’re going, please download a travel waiver from the link in the upper right hand corner here… ——->

or you can pick up a form at the church.

more details here.

Happy Friday Dance Party #1 from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

ht adam

ht the brillant chad swanzy

Lesson Topic: it was good to be back in small groups and walking through our theme Finders Keepers: a focus on three stories Jesus told (Luke 15) to help us understand his passion for restoring our broken relationship with God – the lost sheep-the lost coin and the lost son.

We talked about how Jesus used parables as a powerful teaching strategy to communicate spiritual truths. In these three stories, Jesus revealed his compassion for those who are separated from God because of their sin (the lost), and showing the lengths he goes to in order to find them, and the joy he experiences when they’re found. We also talked about what it means to repent, and how God is always available to forgive and restore.

Here are some questions that reflect the discussion in our small group session:
Jesus was telling these parables to help us understand God’s heart those people who are still “lost” to him—how is your heart toward “lost” people similar to or different from God’s heart toward them? If someone has sought forgiveness for the same thing 500 times, did that person really repent?

What do you think?

How can you help a new Christian grow spiritually and develop a stronger friendship with Jesus?

We wrapped up the night with this video to help drive home the point  of living out this mission of compassion with Jesus.

Attendance: We had a few new faces.

Volunteer Involvement: we were missing a few….Small group leaders shared that they all had a great time. Really good conversation.

ht mark matlock