Russia Mission Trip

This past summer, one of our own YAM’ers went to Russia on a mission trip.  Stephanie Criser, who most of you know has a passion for Russia, was able to join the group of Boyce College students for  a few weeks in Russia conducting a training for church planters and evangelists.  Check out this article from The Towersabout the trip and with a quote from our own Criser!

Don’t forget as well that the World Missions Conference The Gospel: Believe it, Share it, Send it is coming soon.  Make plans to attend the weekend of November 7-9th!

Toys, Candy, and Jesus

The Young Adults have an exciting opportunity coming up to start living out these “Transformed lives” that Dr. Henderson has been preaching about on Sunday morning.  On Saturday, October 18th, our own Bo Irvin is leading an outreach to the Upward Soccer families who have been attending the games for these past 8 weeks.  From 9am – 1pm, we will be asking the parents a series of 5 questions about their neighborhood as we survey the needs of the community.  As a thanks for their time, we have goody boxes filled with toys, candy, church info and a gospel booklet that will be given to their kids.

Bo is in need of 7-9 people for each of the 2 shifts (9am-11am & 11am-1pm).  He will be in the Sunday School classes on Sunday and small groups on Wednesday for you to let him know of your interest.  As a group, we have plenty of “fun” activities planning and coming up over the next few months.  But we also are called to live out these transformed lives through our actions.  Thanks Bo for helping us with this opportunity to put our faith into action.

Mr. Green, in the Kitchen, with the Candlestick

Correction:  The author was so excited about board game right that he put “Friday” instead of “Saturday.”  Please correct this in your iphone, outlook, calendar, or mind.

Set your calendars for Saturday, October 11th at 7:00 pm for Board Game Night.  Board games you say?  Isn’t that what we used to play when we were kids?  Yes it is.  However, board games offer numerous benefits to your soul:

1. In these hard economic times, it will cost you $0 to actually play a board game. 
2. Board games let you actually look at the person you are playing against instead of sitting next to them.
3. Who doesn’t enjoy watching Marcie get all competitive . . . “Shut her down”
4. Did we mention Spena is bringing his famous Queso Dip?
5. Who doesn’t want to touch up on their Bible Trivia?
6. Because conversation happens around a table . . . or on the floor.

So here are the details:

• Saturday night, October 11th, 2008
• 7:00 in the Youth Room in the CAC (they have the coffee machine)
• Bring a board game or 2 or 3 or 4
• There will be sign-ups Sunday morning for chips, desserts, fruit, veggies, cookies and drinks.  Try and bring at least one item.
• We will go until the last person yells Yahtzee!

And we’re back!!

And no I don’t mean the dream team (see below) but I am talking about the ccbc young adult website.  While things have been pretty stagnant over the past few months as we have been working through the transition from Scott to Jeremy, the wheels are now in motion to start this new season in the life of the young adult ministry.  Some of the leadership met on Sunday night and began to hash out the events for the Fall.  Stay tuned to both the website and the Facebook group for all the information you will need.  If you have not joined the Cedar Creek Young Adult group then you need to send a message to Allison Whitworth to get you invited.  Also a thanks goes out to Austin Lewis for joining the creative team working to see that this Facebook group continues to be a means of communication to all of you.

I hope you are excited about the way that God is working in the church.  Continue to pray for Jeremy as he seeks to lead the YAM’s to follow in this same direction.  More info to come on the upcoming events!

Ministry Teams . . .

  I am excited about some new directions for ministry at CCBC – I thought I might email you and see if you might be interested in them too.  For as long as I can remember, CCBC has had ministry teams for our children’s and youth ministries.  While I am not certain of our YAM’s leadership in either of those areas, I know both our children’s and youth ministries have greatly benefited from your regular service.  Bravo!

  With my transition into a position that, essentially, is responsible for developing ministries along the lifespan, we are starting some new ministry teams.  Specifically, ministry teams are being created for our young adults, middle adults, and senior adults.  The function of these ministry teams is to make sure that we are caring for our own – but to also help us strike a healthy balance in being outward focused too. 

  President Abraham Lincoln spoke of government BY the people, FOR the people (all of the political conventions recently have compelled me to reread some of my American history!).  Well, with these ministry teams, they are FOR their age group (ie., young adults, senior adults, etc.), but they will by BY whomever is willing to serve.  This means that I would love to see senior adults serving on the young adult team and vice-versa.  Now, realistically, I don’t expect to see any kind of flood of enthusiasm related to this model.  I am convinced, however, that working to break down some of our generational barriers in order to produce some inter-generational fellowship is a worthy goal. 

  In light of all of this, I am diligently looking for men to lead these ministry teams.  The mix of things I am looking for in these leaders really limits the number of folks who would be eligible – and all the ones I have approached and am considering are already vitally involved in ministries at CCBC.  Please pray that the Lord will lay conviction upon men’s hearts to help lead our church in ministry!  My most regular prayer right now for CCBC is that God would raise up 5 men who really get the big picture of what the church is all about – who love the church (even with all her warts), God’s Word, and who are willing to roll up their sleeves in order to move our church forward.

  In this regard, many of you are aware that Jeremy Benge has happily agreed to lead our Young Adult Team.  I am very glad at this development and hope that you will join Jeremy in making our Young Adult Ministry a success.  In reality, this position is not about Jeremy at all – it is about ministry.  That means that it is about you too.  In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul uses a metaphor about how our lives are like a building.  Everything we do adds to our “building”.  The question he asks is, “With what kind of quality are you building”?  That’s a very practical question for those of you who consider yourself mature Christians – what ministry are you building here at CCBC?  It doesn’t have to be the YAM – because there are other options – but which one are you actively engaged in?  A life worthy of the investment of Christ’s cross has to move beyond passivity and apathy.  And I believe this ministry reinvigoration can begin with our YAM’s and spread to the rest of the church – but that remains to be seen. 

  If you are interested in the YAM ministry team – please make it a point to let Jeremy know you are willing to be a contributing team member.  If you sense that another team is right for you, then please let me know.  My only request is that you not sit on the sideline as God begins an interesting work here at CCBC – you will not want to miss out!

Fast Cash!

You better watch me!

Just a quick note . . . we are looking for childcare for Friday night from 6:15-8:30 at the church for our Leadership Banquet.  You’ll get $20 plus a good meal.  Let Scott know ASAP if you are interested.  Call him at the church at 239-2129 or email him at sdavis1611@gmail.com.

The Miscellaneous . . .

Hello beloved . . . wanted to hit you all with a few quick items of interest. 

First, please begin to be in prayerful consideration of who you will want to nominate to serve as a deacon for the upcoming church year.  Terms vary, but the committment and character required do not.  We need godly men who are willing to serve in a timely manner and who will fulfill their responsibilities without extensive oversight.  They must have good character, be intimately involved in the life of the church, and willing to stand for what is right.  The number of men we are looking for eludes me at the moment . . . but the congregation has the responsibility to nominate these men.  You will get a ballot on Sunday and they are due on Wednesday.

Second, we have some childcare needs that are upcoming.  Namely, on Friday August 22 from 6:00-8:30, we are having a very important leadership banquet to unveil our Fall planning.  Every Sunday School teacher, youth leader, committee head, etc, is being asked to be there – which means most of our normal child care workers are not available.  I believe we will pay $15 plus a free meal.  Please let me know if you are interested!

Maranatha!

Pilgrim’s Progress

Last night, we started our first discussion groups on the book, The Pilgrim’s Progress.  IF you missed last night, then don’t feel like you are out of the loop and can’t jump in the middle.  There is still time!  Here is the reading schedule so you can get caught up this week and be prepared to discuss what you learned this Wednesday night at 7 pm.

• 7/23 – pages 12-81
• 7/30 – pages 82-134
• 8/6 – pages 136-200
• 8/13 – pages 202-230

Also, if you have any thoughts or discussion, feel free to comment below or to find us on facebook!

Upcoming events

1) Remember Laxer Blaze Sunday evening (July 20) after church.  We need to try to get there at 7:30 and we should have almost an hour and a half.  Cost is $10 for unlimited play.  Click here http://www.lazerblaze.com/generalinfo.html for directions. 

2) Check out this review of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (first written in 1678) found at http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bbunyan5.html.  You can learn much more about the man and his times at the following website:  http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/.  Also, check out the pic – Bunyan had Paul Martin hair!  Join us for the study of this immensely important book on Wednesdays at 7.  Books cost $8 and you can pick one up on Sunday!

3) Paintball on Saturday July 26 at Conder’s in Elizabethtown.  Meet at church at 9 am and we will take the vans.  Cost is $25 for equipment rental, plus you will need money for your paintballs.  Shoot good-spend less!  Let Scott know if you are going!

4) Ridgecrest National Collegiate Week – like a mature youth camp on steroids!  Scott is speaking at this event and has a free apartment, so any guys interested in going would just need to pay the program and meal fee – the seminary will be paying for lodging.  This would be a great way to start off your school year.  This conference includes great preaching and worship, as well as lots of fun.  Check it out at http://www.lifeway.com/ev/ev_occ_details/0%2C2223%2CO%25253D617%2C00.html. 

Post – 4th update

Since I counted at least 15 people who were out last Sunday, just wanted to send out a quick update over some of the things going on in the next few weeks:

• The Rev. Dr. Scott Davis is preaching on Sunday morning on David and Golisha so make sure you get there early to get a good seat.  Alan is leading our Sunday School discussion over lunch so don’t forget your $3.  And finally, Will is preaching the Sunday Evening service on Ezekiel and missions completing the YAM fun-filled Sunday!
• On Wednesday, Braylon will be completing our Narnia discussion looking at Prince Caspian and the symbolism between it and Scripture.
• On Sunday evening the 20th, each of the mission trips will be sharing a brief testimony of how God worked around the region and around the world this summer.  Following this great time, we are headed to Lazer Blaze for some laser tag action.  Check the Events page for more info!