Camp Loucon Pictures #2

Camp Loucon Pictures #1

Grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. It has come and it has gone. Our 2008 Fall Retreat at Camp Loucon was a blast. It was incredible the time we had to share with each other laughing, singing, worshiping, and simply being with each other.

These first particular pictures are of the first night being together playing icebraker games and getting to know one another. An further synopsis of the weekend will come in a later blog entry. Until then, you are welcome to enjoy these memories with us!

Shalom my friends.

Camp Loucon Fall Retreat 2008

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope this letter finds you well as I find it to be giving me lots of excitement. This is the finals letter of information for you and your child in regards to the 2008 Western Kentucky Fall Retreat. I want to thank you for signing up and participating. If you have not already paid the $25 registration fee, please get it to me by November 2^nd, 2008. Also included is the Camp Loucon Release Form. You must have this properly filled out and returned to Adam before or the day of the retreat.

So here are the particulars in case you overlooked them in the newsletters.

The trip is from November 7^th through the 9^th. That is a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will leave at 6:00 pm SHARP. If you can not get here by then due to ride situations, please let either Adam or Leslie know so that we can plan accordingly and pick you up if need be. We will be traveling in our church bus and if we have more than the allowed 15 people, Leslie Hughes will be the additional driver. If we still need more, thanks be to God, we would love to have you. We will return Sunday around 3:30 pm in the church parking lot. (Times of return are subject to change).

Here is the list of items to bring:

warm clothing

clothes that can get dirty

linens and/or sleeping bag

pillow

towels

toiletries/personal hygiene items,

BIBLE,

NOTEBOOKS,

flashlights

Camp Loucon Release Form!

Any questions contact Adam or visit the blog.

**NOTE** Cell phones will be allowed but we are not responsible for them being lost or stolen or damaged. Once we step on the bus, cell-phone usage will be used for talking with parents only. Then once we are at Loucon, they will not be allowed at all. Parents, if you have questions or concerns with this, please let me know. I will have my phone on me at all times (270-313-9375) except for when I’m on the zip line. Also, no iPods or mp3 players or other community preventing devices allowed on the trip.

Finally I want to encourage all of you to be in prayer as we prepare for this retreat. Parents, I hope that you use the time with your children gone to get some good work done, perhaps go on a date, or take that much needed break that you so deserve. I want this retreat to be a restful one for all of us. It will also provide exercise and an opportunity for the youth group to come to learn more about who they are and what God is doing in their lives. If you have any questions please call, email or talk to me. There are fliers around the church if you would like to take a peek at those!

Peace to you in this time of changing seasons!

October 2008: The Not-so-Superheroes

The Not-so-Superhero Like Heroes of the Bible
Batman is the best superhero because ____________________________.
Yeah, right! Spiderman is because _______________________________.
No, no, your both wrong. The all-time best superhero is...Mighty Mouse!

Superheroes. Definitely a fascination of these characters is alive and well amidst our culture today. Walking through any major store you will find Halloween costumes of not so much the traditional zombie or witch costumes, rather, you will find Batman, Spidey, the Hulk and other “great superheroes”. People will do anything to be like them. Why is there such a fascination of these characters?

Cool Costumes
Neato Gadgets
Multiple identities
Or perhaps, the ability to make a difference in the world...perhaps

Often times they are young, good looking, with a confident personality. Yeah they struggle with things, but in the end, they always come out on top and if they don’t at the end of one comic, wait until the next edition and you’ll see them rise to the occasion again and save the world.

Constantly fighting off “evil” and appearing to have it all together.
Yeah, these are perfect candidates for making an impact, changing the world and doing incredible things.

Although they help us escape our problems for a while, we can’t help but ask the question, “What about us?” Think about it, where are the super hero’s at here? When was the last time you saw someone swing down from the roof of the Executive Inn building to save someone? Better yet, when have you looked up and saw an image of a bat in the sky and felt reassured that things were going to be ok?

How are we to live up to these characters? Can we compare to the man who can stop a train, or a man who’s only vice is from another planet far, far away?

Why aren’t there any ordinary people, with ordinary powers that change the world by doing ordinary things? Why can’t I be a superhero? Why can’t I make a difference like them?

In a book that contains lots and lots of stories, there are appearances of some pretty ordinary, world changing people who’s lives were a wreck. Who needed no costume or mask to change the world. People who were young and old; people who again to repeat, were a mess, who did not have it all together, who believed like a superhero: That Another World is Possible.

Moses—A stammering, murderer and Exodizer
Abraham—Old and doubtful who’s offspring became a great nation
King David—Murder, Adulterer, father of a son who was into incest
12 men and women who were misfits, the “un-popular kids of society”
Paul—A murder, blasphemous, doubter and scholar
Finally, classic clown of them all, Jesus—from a nobody mother and father, from a bad part of town, nothing special but a carpenter, hung-out with the misfits of the town.

These people, are contributing authors of the greatest story ever told. A story of a God who used all of these people to save, not just a city, not just a girl, but the entire world. People who were not perfect. People who did not have it all together. People who missed the mark often. People whom no movie would probably ever be made for. People who were just like you and me...an ordinary mess.

Are you ready to become a hero? Are you ready to live into your identity that God has called you into? One with that contains a power much greater than any of the superheroes from our comics and movies. We can be heroes too. Do you believe it? Can you sense it? The seasons are changing and with it hope, peace and love are coming! Get ready ! Embrace yourself for a ride of a life time!

October 2008 Calendar

4th & 5th--FPC Fall Retreat to Leslie Hughes' house where we will pick pumpkins, carve pumpkins, sing, worship, play, and have fun! Meet at the church at 5 pm.

7th--6:30-8:00 pm Our Tuesday night Bible studies continue as we gear up for the LOVE discussion. Our time together for the month of October will be spent on prayer and other spiritual disciplines.

12th--5-7 pm movie night at the church.

14th--6:30-8:00 pm Tuesday Night Bible Study

19th--11:45am-5:00 pm We will be decorating the church for our Freaky Fun Fabulous Fall Festival, eating lunch, watching and Adam and Eve movie and then doing a service project. It will be a full day.

21st--6:30-8:00 pm Tuesday Night Bible Study

26th--our Freaky Fun Fabulous Fall Festival from 5:00pm-7:00 pm. Be thinking of a creative costume!

28th--No Bible study but there is a Youth Ministry team Meeting 7-8 pm

31st--Potential Halloween Ice-Cream social at the church. TBA

Happy Birthday to:
1st--Jack Lashbrook
2nd--George Triplett V
18th--David Triplett
22nd--Wade Zengel
29th--Carolyn Moore

October events to take NOTE of:

October is always a great month for many different reasons. Here are my reasons why I like it this year:

Right away we start out with a bang as we have the FPC youth fall retreat to Leslie’s house where we will get pumpkins (bring $$ for this), carve them, sing, play games, laugh, make memories and simply be with each other. This will be a great time for us to reconnect and grow with each other.

On the 19th we will decorate the church for the FFFFF and watch the awesome Adam and Eve movie and eat some good food. After it plan on going and doing a service project to the Boulware center!

26th is our annual Fabulous Fun Freaky Fall Festival at FPC from 5 to 7 pm. Remember to dress up for we will have a costume party and prizes will be awarded. Get those thinking caps on and come as a creative creature!

On the 31st there is a potential Halloween party in the mix to stay tuned for the details on that!

Throughout the month we will continue to have our Tuesday night Bible Studies! Make sure you plan on attending as we begin a new discussion soon!

Great End #4: Youth Group Info

Great Ends of the Church Bible Study
“The Preservation of the Truth”
September 2, 2008

Truth.

What is truth?

How do we know what truth is?

There is no absolute truth…except for this statement? No, that just is not right either.

Truth.

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark Twain
“Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” Martin Luther
“It matters enormously if I alienate anyone from the truth.” CS Lewis

All around us, we find ourselves being consumed by lies, half-truth’s or sadly, stories. All these give life to falsehoods and potential to devastating events that could prevent community. From people leaving out one key piece of a story to make them sound as if they are a hero, to children flat out lying to their parents about breaking a vase or spilling the milk, lying creeps itself into our lives no matter what age you are. Even though we know the consequences, why must we fib, lie or tell only half the story? Indeed, if you tell the truth, you never have to worry about what piece you left out.

Yet what does this look like for us being a faith community? How does this truth telling play into our daily life together? Better yet, with so many claims by many denominations that they have it “right”, how do we know who has what right and who is wrong? Where do we then find truth and hold on to this truth in the context of a body of faith? As the church, the bride of Christ, we have practiced preserving the truth for thousands of years. Thus, now in a time of definite uncertainty and pluralism, we have what we’ve always had to cling on to aid us in “The Preservation of the Truth,” our 4th Great End of the Church.

This is a difficult topic to discuss on many levels. Let’s face it, what I believe is truth may not be what you believe is truth. We all have our own truths, others have their truths and we are suspicions to anyone who claims to have the truth. Yet as disciples we have one thing in common that unites us and binds us together, the truth that lies in Jesus Christ. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus tells his disciples in Jon 14.6. For us this means that Jesus was the One who dwelt among us “full of grace and truth,” the One who came to “bear witness to the truth,” the one who promises “the Spirit of truth,” the One who is truth. Jesus, God with us, is truth, it is Christ that shows us the way of living and the way to God. Thus the fourth Great End of the Church is the church’s calling to preserve the gospel of Jesus Christ, holding fast to the way, the truth and the life. Truth then comes to life in our relationship to God in Christ through the leading and working of the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit.

As a body of Christ, a community, we have already seen what this means. We are called to be good news bearers, to dedicate ourselves to each other and pray, talk and learn about our faith, and proclaim the goodness of God and worship God through just that, worship. Now we are called to live out the truth, to become a people who preserve the truth by praying, thinking and talking with one another. To put it simply, we are to become theologians. To do this then we are to find our way back to how our fathers and mothers of the faith had practice theology, by living it out. Theology became a way of life for a community: worshipping together, studying the Scriptures together, searching tradition, and seeking to know truth and living it out together. Today, we have come to a place where this is not such a priority or way of life. Instead we lean on others to do the “tough” thinking for us. Yet it is important to know that we as a community, the body of Christ, are ALL called to live into the preservation of the truth, to talk about God, to ask questions about God, to pray to God, to put God at the center of our entire beings. This does not mean that our roles are all the same, but we are all called to do these things that are mentioned, to speak with each other about the way, the truth and the life.

Often times when we think about theology we think of lots of words that require great intelligence and a good understanding of faith. This causes some to sit back and say nothing about God and what God has been doing in their lives, leaving them and possibly their experiences invaluable or not important to the community. Yet theology is not limited to words and because of this, theology does matter to the betterment of the community and ultimately, the Kingdom.

There are many ways we as people of God, theologians, can enter into this great conversation about preserving the truth. As many among us will devote their lives to the academic level of faith, others will enlighten the community about the truth of God through their singing of hymns, their insight during a Bible study, by gathering with others in prayer groups, by reciting creeds and other personal ways to study God. All of these, again to reiterate the importance of the community entire to get involved in the discussion, is important for us to better “understand” the Truth. Theology is not a private matter. We would not have each other to lean on for understanding, for prayers or for better explanation if we tried to do this alone. Ultimately, keeping our theology to ourselves will only distort the truth or become delusional, as we now have it “right”. This is why we must be together; be theologians together, talk, pray, read, study the Truth. Together, we can preserve the truth.

Our voices will join with those who have gone before us, who are with us now and who will follow us. For those who have gone before us we are accountable to them and the way they lived their faith. “We are not alone in the present, for we live within the communion of saints, accompanied by mothers and fathers In faith that lived the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.” To aid us in this preservation of the truth, we keep Christ at the center of a circle that includes all of the voices of the church, those from the very beginning to the ones now and eventually the ones in the end. Our conversations then as a church longing to preserve the truth will always be about Christ, which will always pass through Christ. Essentially this conversation with entire generations comes to us through our confessions. Confession in worship allows us to become truth-tellers. It is in these confessions that we do not use them to judge the church, but rather to be questioned by them. Listening to the confessions of our forefathers, we will hear their hard questions addressed to us, forcing us to face honestly our own accommodations to the spirit of the present age.

To live as theologians together and to encourage one another to dive deep into the conversation about God, will help us preserve the truth. Which we as Christians, share that truth of God, in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Christ is the center of this truth, showing us the Truth of the Father, demonstrating the ways of truth with a life lived for the Father and the Spirit of truth to be our companion on our journey of truth living and finding. May it be so that together we will become theologians, holding tightly to the truth of Christ, sharing it with the world, all the while exhibiting the Kingdom of Heaven to all people.

Questions for your Pondering over Great End #4

September 2, 2008

First Presbyterian Church

Great End Bible Study

The Preservation of the Truth.

‘Theology

Scripture Readings

Isaiah 45.18-19

John 14.1-17, 18.37,38

What is it that you are most grateful for thus far this week?

What is one thing that weighs heavy on your heart?

Define truth in your own terms.

Christ says that he is “the way, the truth and the life.” What does this mean?

How might truth look like to someone who is African American, Hispanic American, Caucasian American, Native American, male or female?

In what ways can we demonstrate to the world the truth that lies in Christ of God?

Theology, define it and then share what comes to mind when you hear the word theology.

What is something that is truthful in your life?

How have you experienced truth that lies in God through youth group?

Why do we need each other?

If you could take a picture that in your own opinion captures truth in its fullest, what would it be?

To Aid you In the Discussion:

Where peace has been restored

When you know a right has been done

When home becomes sanctuary

Truth, hoping and dreaming—ways that truth comes to us