This is our last day in West Virginia. We started off the morning by heading about an hour north to Beckley. We went on a tour of an Exhibition Coal Mine and a museum of early life in West Virginia. We had pizza delivered and then headed back to New Life Church for our last night of Egypt.

It was bitter sweet for sure. It was awesome to get thru all 5 days of the program, but at the same time we had so much fun and have grown attached to the people here that it became tough to say good bye. It was a great evening and an awesome finish to an amazing week! The way God moved thru our students was incredible!

Check out the photos here.

We started off this morning with a devotional and challenge from Pastor Ed and Kathy about making a wise investment with our lives. Hopefully it really made them think about the endless possibilities for their life in service to The Lord.

Then we rolled out about 30 minutes away to help with some environmental testing of the rivers and streams. It was a great opportunity for us to learn about the pollution that effects the water in this area, not to mention God’s creation.

Then it was back to New Life Church for Egypt! We had 69 kids, so its growing. Every night things seem to get better and run smoother! A lot of our shop keepers were witnessed to by the kids tonight! We had 3 shopkeepers in Egypt get saved. Since our students have to play the part of an Egyptian during the program, it was awesome to see the kids walk right up to them and tell them about “the one true God”!

To view some photos from today, go here.

Another amazing day! We spent the morning preparing for Egypt that night. Resetting everything; cleaning up; going over the lessons and dramas and marketplace. After lunch we headed out to 2 local public swimming pools and parks with fliers in hand. We had a few people dressed up in the Egypt costumes to hopefully attract some kids and invite them to Egypt. Apparently it worked because we had a bigger crowd tonight then we had last night. Our numbers were actually corrected today from yesterday. Yesterday we had 45 kids in Egypt, but tonight we actually did have 60! So its growing every night!

One little girl was lead to the Lord this evening! I know that God isn’t finished though. We will hopefully have even more kids and more decisions tomorrow night. We’ve given an incentive for tomorrow. If the kids bring a friend they will get an extra coin for the marketplace. We’re praying that the kids will respond to that and that we will have near 150 kids by the end of the week!

Pastor Ed and Kathy also made it here today for a visit! We put them to work in full costume, make-up and everything! We’re looking forward to Ed sharing with the students during the devotion in the morning.

To view some photos from today, go here.

Set up! We had about 6 and a half hours to set up EGYPT at the church today. As usual, our students rock! They knocked it out with 2 hours to spare for last minute prep and set dressing. Our first night of the EGYPT VBS went great! We had 60 kids show up and they all seemed to have a great time! A lot of them said they were bringing friends tomorrow, and hopefully they will.

Tomorrow we plan to go out to a few local places to do some Egypt marketing. We’ll be handing out fliers and talking to kids in the community to invite them to Egypt.

God is certainly moving through all of this and we can see His hand at work already.

Thank you for your continued prayers! More tomorrow. Til then, check out some pics from our first 2 days here.

Dear Parents,

First I want to thank you for allowing me to be a part of your kids lives. It is such a huge honor to be called to youth ministry at the church that I grew up in. Thank you for the trust and partnership you’ve given me and my incredible staff in Sr. High Connect.

As we continue to move the ministry forward here at ABT by changing the service times on June 6, the youth department will once again be at the forefront of that change. I truly believe that teenagers can make the biggest impact on our world and are the trend setters. As part of setting that trend for ABT, we are going to take this opportunity to change our youth department schedule for, what I believe will be, the better.

Since I started in Connect, discipleship has been that one missing piece of the puzzle. For one reason or another it just never happened. That is about to change.

Beginning June 6, we will have a specific, set-aside time to begin this very important part of a student’s spiritual growth. From 9:00am to 10:30am Sr. High Connect and The Hub will be open and available for students to begin a one-on-one or even small group discipleship program. Our youth leadership staff will be available to help or lead a group through the first 8 week study. It will take each student through the fundamentals of the faith in a way that is geared specifically for students. This will take some commitment on the students part, but that is part of growing up and learning responsibility.

During that first hour there will also be plenty of service opportunities available. Everything from the cafe’s to children’s ministries, media and first impressions team. The students can take that time be a part of helping first hour run smoothly. Then at 10:45am they can go to The Bridge Service.

Let me be the first to say that this DOES NOT mean that there is “nothing for students on Sunday morning”. That could not be further from the truth. Discipleship and Service opportunities are just as important as having a teaching time. Our goal in Sr. High Connect is not to enable students to become “spoon fed” spiritually. If they can’t feed themselves, then we aren’t doing our job as student leaders.

Wednesday night will become the “big night” for student ministries in Sr. High Connect. In a lot of ways, it already is. Wednesday’s from 6:30pm to 8:30pm will be our student focused worship services. I will continue my teaching series, we will have praise & worship time, small group time, as well as all of the other bells and whistles like food, Gladiator Games (spring & fall), etc.

We will continue to have activities and events that bring the students together. That will never change. Things like mission trips, camp, youth conferences, concerts and other activities just for fun will remain a solid part of our strategy.

I am so excited about this new format change! I know God is going to use it to make our student ministry even better! If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jason Knight
Youth Pastor
e: jk@abt316.com

Listen to part 3 of Jay’s Message Series “Babel” from Sunday, April 25, 2010

Jay also talks about the service schedule switch at ABT and how that will affect Sr. High Connect for the future.

Babel pt.3

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Listen to part 2 of Jay’s Message Series “Babel” from Sunday, April 18, 2010

Babel pt.2

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The Facebook Song

Phillippians 4:6-9

Don’t you hate worrying? I know people that are just the biggest worry warts. When we worry about stuff it starts to control us in a way. I think the best definition of worry that I’ve ever heard is this:

“Worrying is accepting responsibility that God never intended you to have.”

There’s nothing wrong with being concerned, but worrying will consume you. These couple of verses help with that. There are times in our lives when it feels like everything is going wrong. We start to worry, but we shouldn’t. Easier said then done, right? Paul tells us in these verses that we should turn our worried thoughts into concerned prayers. You wanna worry less? Stop and pray more.