Published December 9, 2016
North Annville Bible Church, Annville, Pennsylvania
Kevin
Ministry Highlights
We had a successful Reverb youth group event on Nov. 18-19. This event is a very memorable all night evangelistic experience. We had a good group of 31 people go. Four of our students made decisions to assure their faith in Christ and commit to following him with their lives. This was awesome! I’m thankful one of our students brought a friend who is not a believer, and this friend had a good time. I pray that this experience was a good one for him that God will use in the future.
Our Young Adult group had a good meeting again at Lebanon Valley College. One of our girls in the group’s father passed away about a month ago and she has been going through a rough time. She came to church with us on Dec. 4, and Alisha took her out to Dunkin Donuts afterwards. They had a great conversation, and she really opened up with Alisha. There is so much sadness going on in her world and life, and she just needed someone to share life with her. I’m thankful that we can be there for her and do what we can. Our church is planning on helping in the near future with some practical needs like meals and maybe other things. We will see what happens, but I’m thankful that we and our church can be there for a family that is going through a rough time.
Alisha and I are helping prepare our 5-year-olds through 6th grade to do well in their Christmas program. The last two years the kids Christmas program has been awesome. There is some acting and some singing. Nothing too elaborate, but it gets the kids involved, and lots of people in the families like to come out and support their children or grandchildren. Because I have moved to overseeing the children’s ministry in a hands-on way I have been able to help the kids this year get ready. It’s been neat to see them learn the songs and see them excited about learning their lines and their acting parts. One of my 7th graders in youth group was in the play last year, and he remembered the role that he had. I think he’s ready to move on to “older” things at the moment, but it showed me this was an experience that he will remember!
I was able to preach a Thanksgiving message called “Thanks for Nothing.” You can watch it here – https://vimeo.com/193565589. I wanted to ask the question of how thankfulness related to some of the difficult/bad things in our lives. To prepare for this message I met with some people from our church who I knew had or are experiencing some of the things I wanted to talk about. Meeting with them allowed me to share my message with them (and see their reaction and what stood out to them), and also get their thoughts to share with the congregation about their circumstances. I definitely liked getting the people of the church involved in the message preparation, and I look forward to doing that some more in the future.
I met with a lady who is interested in filling the big hole in our children’s junior church ministry. This is a great answer to prayer. The only problem is that she is currently teaching once a month in the 3-4 year old class. I’m not sure yet how the schedules will be rearranged but I know we are heading in the right direction!
Alisha had the opportunity to lead the “games and activities” at her work Christmas party. She even got a special recognition award because of her efforts. I was able to help her which was awesome. We worked together and brought a little bit of the “fellowship/team building/importance of relationships/clean fun” to the Christmas party!
Key Prayer Requests
On Dec. 8 we went to the campus of Lebanon Valley College to hand out cookies and meet students. Pray that God will provide follow up opportunities to talk to students and let them know that there is a church in this community that cares very much about them and wants to invite them to church. I’m praying that some of the students that we talked to on the 8th will be able to start not only attending church but also our Young Adult ministry. Also, pray that this event is just one event in a long line of practical service/outreach events our church is doing. I encouraged our people to think about ways we could apply the same service/be a blessing principles to the groups of people that they are in contact with each day. I have met with some key people to hopefully spearhead a group of people to start to do these types of events more regularly and reach a wide variety of people.
We still need God to raise up a new wave of ministry volunteers. Youth group, YAC, and Kids Ministry all need more adult leaders to minister to those involved. This month God revealed a few areas where we actually need more people, particularly in the nursery. Two times this month we didn’t have anyone to fill in the nursery schedule during the Sunday School hour. We got a couple people to sign up but I am also praying about the opportunity to spend more time overseeing the 0-4 year old ministry and helping that ministry thrive. Right now it’s just a group of people who rotate on a schedule and those don’t’ usually have the greatest commitment because there is no vision or direction.
Pray for our Christmas services and events. It’s always a special time of the year.
Pray for two students in particular in our youth ministry that are going through some rough times in their lives.
Prominent Lessons
This month was the beginning of our youth group Engage practice. Engage is a neat program that helps teenagers discover, develop and deploy their spiritual gifts and talents through the local church. What was unique about this first practice was that we only had eight students there with four adult leaders. This ratio made working together very good! We have been used to having about 25 students at our ministry events with about seven adult leaders so it was neat to be able to have only eight today. We got a lot accomplished and everyone was able to connect and interact with everyone. As we grow in numbers I’m constantly fighting to make sure the students get small group experiences. The challenge is then how to include the other 15-20 students who did not make it to Engage practice for one reason or another and still provide the same depth of relationships and make sure everyone is in tune with what God is doing in their lives.
Also, it was exciting to see one of my adult youth group leaders have an idea for a skit, share his vision with the group, and see it fleshed out. I think it was very encouraging for him to see his idea come together and see how the skit helped accomplish his prayer that the truth of the skit would sink deep into the hearts of our students. I love it when my adult leaders are thinking about ministry. It’s encouraging to me to know that I have adults who love our teenagers and want to see them all grow in their walks with the Lord.
Last night we embarked on our all-nighter called REVERB. This event is put on by Word of Life, and is designed to be an exciting night for teenagers that provides the opportunity to share the gospel in a powerful way. About 1,000 students and adult leaders filled the upper level of the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Here are two things I thought about the event a few hours after it was over:
- First, this event is an awesome opportunity to spend a lot of time with the students in our group outside of church. Not only do I and the other adult leaders get to spend time with the students, they also get to spend time together. They get a lot of time to hang out and have fun together. They get to see who they like to hang out with and build relationships sharing an awesome experience together. It was also great to see some newer students in our group see where they fit into the group and, also, how they invited their friends to join our group.
- The second thing I was thinking about comes from the conversation that I had with my students about the assurance of their salvation. I shared with them that although you only have to put your faith in Jesus once and you are saved for eternity, there is nothing wrong with doing it again. But I shared with them that they don’t have to wonder if they are friends with their best friend because they talk to each other every day and spend a lot of time together. I encouraged them that their relationship with Jesus is the same way. The more time you spend with God and the more you talk to Him on a consistent basis, the less you will wonder if you are saved once a year at a big evangelistic rally. I just encouraged them to continue to grow in their relationship with God each day, so that they can learn to know that they are saved!
One Monday, I met with a couple before my sermon the coming Sunday. I preached a “Thanksgiving” message and wanted to talk to some people who I know have been through some difficult times so that I could share their testimonies of how thankfulness related to those difficult situations. It was very helpful to not only get their perspectives and stories but also practice sharing my message to them in that one-on-one format. I wanted to make sure that my message about being thankful could apply to people who are in, or have been in difficult situations.
As I was finalizing my sermon prep later in the week I got a message from a girl in our Young Adult group. Her father passed away about a month ago and during that time we have been there for her but also offered to help in any way possible. How does thankfulness relate to her situation? How can she be thankful for this season of life as she is currently going through it? Is my message designed in such a way that it would encourage her to move to the thankfulness end of the spectrum or will my message turn her away?
A couple weeks ago Alisha jumped at the opportunity to the lead the “games and activities” at her work Christmas party which we had this past Friday. She loves to do that type of stuff, and naturally she enlisted my help. Together we planned a 20-minute program to entertain 60 people and allow them to mingle, interact and compete. It was really neat to support her in this way, and it was awesome to see how people from her company really appreciated her and the activities that she planned. She did a great job!
What was interesting for me is that I do this type of “games and activities” gatherings all the time, and Alisha helps me. We work together to do this type of thing almost every week but for her work partners this type of thing was special. Unfortunately, Alisha’s work isn’t really in the same “market” as our church draws from, and it’s too bad that no matter how much of a spiritual impact Alisha or I have on them they most likely won’t come to our church. But it has been neat to get to know a few people in her company and be able to share with them what I do and why I do it. In the future when our living/church location changes I see major potential in the connections Alisha makes at work and church—connections not only with her coworkers but also her patients.
Key Goals for the Next Month
Follow up on our outreach event at Lebanon Valley College that took place on December 8. Also, continue to share the outreach vision and work on spurring on another outreach event.
Have a great Christmas day and New Year’s day on Sundays. It’s a neat time of the year! Praying that the kids Christmas play goes great. The Christmas cantata does well. And for the candlelight service to go well!
Recruit people to join the ministry teams. Specially, meet with at least one person who would be a great kids ministry small group helper or leader. One of my helpers who asks people to help serve in various ministries opened the door with one lady which is so helpful and awesome. I am excited that she might be able to help out!
Continue to make progress at our youth group Engage program. Engage helps students discover, develop and deploy their spiritual gifts and talents for the Lord and the church. Our second practice is Dec. 11.
Alisha
Ministry Highlights
Participating in youth group and leading a girls small group.
I went to REVERB with the youth group and had a lot of fun building relationships with many of the students in our group.
Helping to lead YAC, our Young Adult Group. We have a wide variety of people who are attending from freshman LVC students to a married couple, to young adults from the community who never went to college.
Helping to lead our NABC Kids Sunday morning ministry. I lead a small group of six to seven kids and mentor high school students as they help lead the group as well. This month we started preparing for our Christmas play. I helped the kids sing songs, act out their part and learn their lines.
A girl from our YAC group shadowed me at work to get some experience in pediatric physical therapy. We had a good time together!
I visited a family from our church’s house to do some physical therapy treatment on a high school senior. We have been able to make a good connection over the last year or so.
Thankful that I have been able to connect through text with the 8th grade girl that has started to look forward to attending youth group.
A 10th grade girl who has been struggling a lot lately has been keeping in touch with me through SnapChat. Praying for her to work through all the things she is dealing with.
A girl from our YAC group game with me to church, and we went out to Dunkin Donuts afterward. It was great to spend some time with her and help her start in her relationship with God. I am thankful she felt comfortable opening up to me, and I was there to listen.
I had a great opportunity to lead the “games and activities” for my work Christmas party. The people there appreciated it very much, and I even got a special recognition award from the regional boss!
I also had the opportunity to oversee the student Physical Therapy clinic for Lebanon Valley College. I worked at that clinic as a student; now as a PT I get to help the students learn and do their jobs.
Thankful for the time I have to talk to our pastor’s wife about being a pastor’s wife.
Excited to participate in the ladies paint night at church this Friday and bring a girl from our young adult group along with me.
Key Prayer Requests
Pray that we have a great visit with family for Christmas. My cousin is graduating from nursing school on the 17th, and we are going out to support her!
Continue to pray for a girl in the youth group that is struggling. She has recently made some significant changes in her life, and I’m praying that although they have been very difficult decisions that God will use them to deal with the big issues. We have stayed in touch lately.
Pray for my sister in law that is going through a lot difficult things in her life. I’m excited I get to see her this month.
Pray that I continue to study well for my manual certification class and test.
Pray that I continue to apply what I am learning to my job every day.
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