20 Reasons I Am Thankful this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  I enjoy thanksgiving because it helps me slow down and count my blessings.

Here are 20 Reasons I Am Thankful this Thanksgiving:

1. Jesus for giving me an eternal relationship with God. 2. My wife, Cassidy. For her loving, sweet heart for Jesus and commitment to serving Him. I love you, Cassidy! 3. My son, Micah. He is a wonderful gift from God that I love with all of my heart. 4. My daughter, Hannah. I'm excited to meet her in just a few months! 5. My Dad, Jimmy. For being a faithful example of living and preaching the gospel. 6. My Mom, Jennifer. For her support and love for our family. 7. My brother, Jeff. For his example as a big brother and guidance over the years. 8. My brother, Justin. For his passion for life and love for me and others. 9. My brother, Jordan. For his life and example of being centrally focused upon Jesus. I miss you, Gord. I love you. 10. My church family at Church @ The Springs for being passionate about helping people come to Christ and grow in their faith. I'm honored to be a part of what God is doing in central Florida! 11. People giving us clothes and baby items for Micah and Hannah. We have experienced the giving heart of so many people. 12. Friends that help encourage me to be faithful to God's calling on my life. 13. That Micah's heart is healed and he's growing healthy each day! 14. That Hannah is growing healthy in Cassidy's womb! 15. A house to raise a family. 16. God providing money to pay for all of our medical bills for Micah's heart. 17. My extended family for their love and lives. 18 Living in the USA where I can be a Christian without persecution. 19. Airplanes for helping me fly to visit family in a short amount of time. 20. God's grace to enjoy another Thanksgiving with family!

Helping Students Make Next Steps

How do we lead students to become like Jesus in such a busy world? Spiritual growth takes time. You can't microwave faith. Spiritual growth is a process. In my experience, people usually have an unclear line on the next steps. Usually it is to trust Jesus as Savior and be baptized. Sometimes there is more to it. Sometimes we let people figure things out on their own.

All that to say, do you have a process that you can easily explain to a 6th grader? If we can communicate something to a 6th grade student and they can understand it, then it is clear.

We have tried to simplify the next steps for our students to connect:

Weekly Gathering: We invite students to attend "Source," our weekly gathering for students.. We want them to experience worship, relevant Bible teaching and connect in a small group. Our vision is for students to imitate Christ and influence the world.

Teaching with next steps in mind: Communicating the gospel to students is just as important to how they respond. Teaching should always have the big picture of the gospel in each message. Students must see God's Story and how their story intersects. Spend time explaining the Jesus of the Bible and not the Jesus of pop culture. Explain the background of scripture and paint the picture of what it means to know the God of the universe.

-Students need to understand they are lost without hope apart from Jesus -Students must see Jesus as THE only hope for their lives. -Students need a safe place to process what it means to surrender to Jesus. -Students need to see that Jesus saved them FOR something just as much as FROM their past.

A few clarifying questions to ask about next steps: 

Are new students feeling accepted and loved when they walk in the doors of the church? Do you meet before and pray for students with your leaders? Do students know how to respond and be counseled upon what it means to follow Christ? Do leaders know how to counsel students during the response in the big group service? How do you explain salvation? How do you explain baptism?

What thoughts do you have about leading students to make next steps spiritually?

Physical Boundaries in Student Ministry

Today I have written a guest post over at a great new website for student ministry called: www.theyouthministryblog.com I wrote a post about the need for physical boundaries in student ministry. 

Click on the logo to go read it!