Grace Student Ministry

Three recent posts from our Pastor's Blog give an overview of what our Student Ministry (5th - 12th grades) is all about.  I only have 1.5 years until my own daughter is a part of Grace Student Ministry.  Yikes!

Part 1 explains that a core issue for the young generation of Grace Church is spiritual apathy.  Part 2 give three categories of what it looks like to be a follower of Christ, namely:

1. Pursuit of God
2. Connection with the Church
3. Engagement with the World

Part 3 gives some direction on what you can do.

-- Joey Espinosa

How Do I Help My Child Live a Spirit Directed Life?

One of the most common questions from parents who are Christ-followers is about helping their child learn to know and follow Christ.  This question fits in well with our discussion on the Holy Spirit, but first let us go back to the basic problem we all have – sin. 

A basic definition of sin is “rebellion against God and disobedience to His laws and ways.”  The Bible is clear that sin brings about the punishment and result of death (Romans 6:23; James 1:14-15). And since we are all sinners, then at some point we all are dead.  We deserve the punishment of everlasting death, and we are incapable by ourselves to love God and obey Him.  This is the state that we are all born into, including your child.

But the Holy Spirit gives new life to those who have faith in Christ (Isaiah 44:3-4; John 3:5).  “Just as water brings life to plants and trees that are made to drink of that water, so the Spirit brings spiritual life to those who are made to drink of that Spirit.” (“Big Truths for Young Hearts,” p. 159-160). 

But hear is the kicker: the Spirit gives life, but we are powerless to love God if we don’t have the Spirit.  Therefore, how do we get the Spirit to work in our lives in the first place?  The answer: we can’t control Him. 

“The only thing we can rightly do, and the one thing we should do, is this: we should bow our heads and admit before God that we are helpless to save ourselves.  We are unable to make ourselves come alive. . . .  We should put our hope in the kindness of God, his mercy towards sinners, and his power to save those who admit they cannot save themselves. . . .  His Spirit must give us life. He alone is our hope!”

So with regards to our children, the best we can do is lead them to know God’s laws and ways (by what we teach them and what we model for them), and to earnestly cry out to God to have mercy on them, so that He would work in their hearts to help them know Him. 

Questions or comments?

Regret

"[S]omewhere in your life, there’s been a moment you wish happened differently. You lost your job. You lost your marriage. You were too slow to act in a car crash. Your son, the one who used to laugh so hard when you’d build towers of wooden blocks for him to knock over is running away from you and you’re left wondering what you could have done differently."

 I tend to live with so much guilt and regret.  I fail to trust God and truly believe in His love for me, and His full payment for all my sins.  What do I need to do on those days where I know I messed up?  Jon Acuff reminds us:

 “God didn’t ask you to be God that day.”

That's just it.  When I dwell on guilt, when I worry, I don't need to just 'get over it.'  I don't need to try harder.  I don't need to ignore it.  I first and foremost need to repent.  Whenever I fail to trust in God's love and gospel message, I am living in proud unbelief.  

--  Joey Espinosa

Coats for Kids

In our Preschool programming, we just began a 3-week series on "God Owns Everything."  We are teaching that as a response to God's ownership, we should be free to be generous, and that we should honor the Lord with our wealth (Proverbs 3:9).  We will teach through the accounts of Zacchaeus, the Rich Young Ruler, and the Poor Widow, from the New Testament.

As a application of this Biblical principle, we will be collecting money to buy coats, hats, and gloves for children in Greenville who do not have any.  More specifically, we will donate these to Pendleton Place, a local emergency shelter for children. 

If you have a child in our Preschool programming, please have him or her bring $1 to their class, and we will collect the money during our Big Group time.  As you talk about this with your child(ren), remind him that since God owns everything, we should be generous.  Since He has given us so much, then we should be generous towards others. 

If you have questions about this or anything else regarding our Preschool programming, please let us know.

Downtown Campus

Grace Church will have a new location for its Downtown campus, starting March 7.  You can watch the video below for more information. We will offer Children's Ministry programming for Nursery through Kindergarten (5k).  If you are interested in worshiping and serving at our Downtown campus beginning March 7, and you have children in this age group, please register using this form.  Questions?  Email us at children@gracechurchsc.org.

What I've Just Read, Currently Reading, About to Read

Just Finished (in the last few months):

1. Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Tedd Tripp). My 3rd or 4th time through it. I believe it's the best parenting book with regard to Gospel-oriented principles. (When I went to Kenya, I took 2 dozen copies of this to give to church leaders.) To see a summary of each chapter, use the label "Shepherding" on this blog.
2. Big Truths for Young Hearts (Bruce Ware). Book intended to help parents of elementary and middle school children communicate theology to their family. I'm not lying at all when I say that it helped me personally understand Biblical truths better. The sections are each about 3-4 pages, with a couple of discussion-provoking questions at the end. Again, use the label "Big Truths" - and more posts are coming over the next few months.
3. The New Eve (Robert Lewis). Pastor Bill White gave this to all the pastors on staff for them and their wives to read. It's basically a counterpart to Men's Fraternity (where we originally got our Men's Roundtable material from), aimed to help define Biblical womanhood.
4. Strengths Finder 2.0 (Tom Rath). Highly recommend for everyone. I think it helps each of us understand how God has uniquely gifted us, and how we can use those gifts for maximum impact. The main part of the book is taking a 30-minute online assessment.  It's my second time taking such an assessment, and the results didn't come out exactly alike both times, but the common theme Analytical did, and is definitely a God-given strength for me.
5. Why the Mighty Fall (Jim Collins). Being analytical, this business-oriented book speaks my language of trying to understand why things happen. Specifically, the book studies major companies that completely tanked, so that we can learn to see the warning signs and avoid the same fate. At Grace Church, we are growing so fast, and going into so many unknowns, that we must remember to continually evaluate what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how things might need to change.
   

Currently Reading

1. Walking the Small Group Tightrope (Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson). I haven’t read in about 3 years, so I'm anxious to go through this again. It helps us understand the tensions that are inherent in Small Groups (for example: more bible study or more fellowship time?).
2. A couple of resources about Passover.  I'm trying to figure out to what level God would have me be involved in leading or participating in a Passover Seder.  Definitely for my family.  Definitely in Camp Grace. Probably in Community Group, and maybe for a mid-size group in our church.
3. A Gospel Primer for Christians (Milton Vincent). Another book that I've read before, but it's more meaningful this time around. This book is designed to help us apply the Gospel to our lives after the point of conversion. Everything in our live needs to be about the Gospel.
   

About to Read (I have a continually-growing stack of "must reads")

1. Age of Opportunity (PaulTripp). Counterpart to "Shepherding a Child's Heart." I'm only a few years away from having a middle-schooler.  Yikes!
2. Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell), Hug Your People (Jack Mitchell), or another business-type book.  Leading a staff of 8 (mix of full-time and part-time), and 600+ volunteers, I know that I have a lot to learn about vision and leading people.

By the way, try ordering these or any other books through Osborn Mission. Philly and Elizabeth are friends and faithful servants that are about to serve overseas to bring the Gospel to an unreached people. Check out their website.  Ordering through this link (it goes through Amazon.com) helps provide them with support.



What are you reading?

--  Joey Espinosa

Theophilus and the Widow

Since we're in the midst of a teaching series on being Courageously-Generous, and since we're teaching a 3-week series in about "God is Generous" in our Preschool programming, we thought we'd share some thoughts from Jamie Munson, pastor at Mars Hill Church.

"Like the widow, are you willing to joyfully trust Jesus with your life, and, out of love for him, sacrifice more than just your abundance?"

Read the full article here.