Last night at the Refuge was an awesome night. We played some cool games and had a ton of fun, it was good to see all the students.  Everyone got to have some time with God.  In Psalms 46:10 it says Be still and know that I am God!  We gave the students time to pray, pray for others, read the bible and write their goals for 6 months. Students had time to be still and listen to God. Parents ask your student about last night and what they learned.  Remember kill ball is Not going to happen on Oct 31st instead we are going to have a Bonfire on that night. Details about the Bonfire coming soon.

Jesus Calms the storm

Last night at the Refuge we talked about going through storms in life. We read Mark 4:35 where Jesus calms the storm. Jesus was in the stern right by the rutter and was in control.  You are in the storm for his purposes. In storms we want God to do a removing job, he wants to do a improving job.
Hebrews 13:5 says Never will I leave you Never will I forsake you.
Parents take time and ask you students about last night.

Rembember Next class Sundays at 9:30

Ladies and Gentleman: REFUGE is Tonight

Hey there everyone, I hope things are going great for you today.

Tonight is going to be so stinking awesome, we have some great games planned, actually lots of new games, also we have some great worship and we have some really fun elements of worship we are going to be doing tonight doing our worship time.

I believe God has some pretty insanely great things in store for tonight, so don't miss out tonight on REFUGE!

Here are the details: 

Where: CVMC
When: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
What: A bunch of epic awesomeness slammed into 2 hours.
Why: Because God has called us to create a space for students to experience Christ through relationships, and teaching.
What to bring: Yourself, a friend, and tell that friend they need to bring 14 friends, and tell those 14 friends they need to bring a taco for Adam. :) *yeah free tacos.

Hope to see you there tonight!

P.A.

Devotion Tuesday

Do Something!

A recent survey found that 77% of Americans believe in Heaven, and 76% say their chances of going to heaven are good or excellent.
Apparently, our job of evangelism is almost done- since nearly 8 out of 10 are headed for the streets of gold...right?
Then again, this survey never got past the surface questions. I wonder what the percentage would have been if the inquiries would have dug just a little deeper. It would have been so easy to slip in a quick follow up question:

"Since you believe that you are going to heaven, let me ask you this: why do you think you deserve to go there?"

Of course, once you drop that line, all manner of weirdness breaks out. Believe me; I think I've just about heard it all. Everything from alien connections to karma to even atheism. That's right- I've spoken with atheists who believe they are going to heaven.
Huh?
Generally what it boiled down to, though, was that most people believe they are pretty good. Good enough, in fact, to not have to end up in hell...therefore heaven must be their destiny.
Isn't that just like us Americans? As long as were not as bad as some people, we're sure to be headed for Paradise. So we take a mixture of belief systems, movie messages, conversations, and relatively harmless verses from a multitude of religious texts and-poof- everyone has there own made to order religion that's sure to end up all good.
The truth is that it is not going to end up all good. This survey reminds me of the rich and beautiful people on the Titanic who were drinking champagne and playing games with chunks of the iceberg while the ship was rapidly taking them to their deaths. I'm sure that more than 77% of them believed that everything was going to be alright- but the reality turned out to be very different than they expected.

Jesus addressed this exact issue:

"Knowing the correct password--saying "Master, Master,' for instance--isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience--doing what my Father wills. I can see it now--at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, "Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? "You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.' (Matthew 7:21-23- The Message)

Apparently there were lots of folks in His day who thought they were going to heaven as well. Jesus is plainly warning them that it is not a matter of religious works- but one of righteous faith.

The survey and this passage send a clear message to me:

We're asking the wrong questions. Many evangelistic techniques try to persuade a person to want to go to heaven. I've got news for you- most people already do! The issue for them is not whether heaven exists, or even if they believe they are going. The key is *why* they think they are going. It boils down to believing vs. behaving. If works could get us into heaven, then why did Jesus waste His time by coming to earth and dying a horrible death? As well- I think deep down most people- no matter what they say outwardly- know that they don't deserve heaven. Yet instead of facing that awful truth and turning to Christ- they decide instead to keep drinking the champagne of false religions and playing the games of denial and positive thinking.
Meanwhile the ship continues to go down.
How should we respond to this survey? The same way that of the greatest preachers who ever lived encouraged his congregation:

"Brethren, do something; do something, do something! While societies and unions make constitutions, let us win souls. I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work and quit yourselves like men. Old Suvarov's idea of war is mine: `Forward and strike! No theory! Attack! Form a column! Charge bayonets! Plunge into the center of the enemy! Our one aim is to win souls; and this we are not to talk about, but do in the power of God!" - Charles Spurgeon

P.A.

REFUGE this Wednesday night

Hey there everyone I hope your week has started out great. This Post will be a little shorter because my Monday is pretty swamped but I wanted to drop you a line and let you all know this coming Wednesday night is going to be awesome, we have brand new games we are playing, some great worship we are going to be doing and finishing up give it up series this Wednesday night.

So here is what you need to know.

Where: 6:30 - 8:30pm - At CVMC.
To Bring: Bring your friends with you, we will have lots of awesome things for you guys to do.
What: We will be learning about what it means to give back to God what is already His!

We can't wait to see you guys this Wednesday night!

P.A.

Great night at REFUGE

Man last night was so awesome! We had so many awesome students come last night and hang out with us. Here is a wrap up of what we did last night.

Started out with a dance party with the dance "interlude" it was pretty great, then we started into some games. We got to play a staple at REFUGE called the duct tape relay, then we got to play chicken on the roof with about 90 students! It was seriously crazy, I thought someone might get hurt but they were ok :), then we played spin that wheel where we got to draw on people's faces, saw a student where a batman costume, and see a student get pie in their face.

Worship was great we only did 2 songs because of time, but we got to sing together which is always fun, then we split into senior and junior high to for our discussion time. We talked last night about giving it all up for Christ, and how God requires the first's in our lives.

We then split into our small groups and I heard from our small group leaders that it went really well!

We had a blast last night, we hope to continue to grow and minister to students!

P.A.

REFUGE tonight!

Hey there everyone! I can't wait to see everyone tonight. It's going to be an amazing night tonight. We hope you can join us!

Here are the tails!

Where: Crystal Valley Missionary Church
What: REFUGE youth ministry
When: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Why: Because we love Jesus so much we believe that junior high and senior high students in the middlebury area should have a place to be themselves, and be able to ask questions about God. This is a REFUGE. 
What to bring: Yourself and a couple of your friends!

Tonight we are starting a series called "Give it up" We are for the first time tonight going to split our Junior high and Senior high students for our talk time! I can't wait to see what God is going to do.

IF you want to come early doors open at 6pm, we have octaball that is going to be stinking awesome! So come and hang out and listen to some really fun and awesome music.

Hope to see you later!

P.A.