Small Groups are Launching

Hey friends of Pathway youth - Sunday, September 13 marks the launch for our youth small group program. A small group is a group of 8-12 teenagers who will meet with their peers (guys with guys and girls with girls) and an adult leader and possible adult co-leader. They will begin Sunday nights at 5:45 pm and be done with students available to meet parents at 7:15 pm. Most will be on campus at Pathway, but some may choose to meet at a leaders home or off-campus site - we will provide transportation for anyone who needs it. We ask that you join us in prayer that these groups would be powerful tools for growing young believers and as Pastor Mike has been reminding, helping us to "capture the imagination of our community."

Imagine if other teenagers heard that there was a safe place where anyone felt included, had the time and space to share deeply with a trusted and confidential group of friends and adults who were always there for them, and discovered that God was in the midst of these relationships and his Word and Spirit could bring hope and resurrection to their lives and the lives of those they loved. That is our hope for these small groups. We as leaders as passionate that our young people know that we love them and they experience in 'real life' the love of God and learn how to be in relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit. To borrow another schema, we believe that small groups can help prepare young people to respond to critical questions like who is my master (who is the God of the universe that created me), who will be my mate(s) (those whom God is calling me to serve with in life), and where and how is God calling and equipping me for God's mission?

The student series we have chosen is Life Together, a series that combines easy to follow daily devotionals with DVD clips and group interaction. Follow the link to review the ideas and challenges that await your teenager. You can support your teenager by praying that they will spend time in God's word and be challenged to retain it through memorization and then come to small group and make it relevant and personal. Each of the five studies are just six weeks, and we plan to give each small group 8-9 weeks to complete each book in the series. Pray for each of our small group leaders and co-leaders that God will grant them wisdom, flexibility, openness to how the Spirit is leading, ability to communicate the Word is clear ways, and personal purity in their homes and lives.

Thank you for partnering with us, helping us get youth to places where God's Word is proclaimed and where they can hopefully encounter and respond to the living God. We love you more than you know.

Cedarmore 2009

It's Wednesday morning and I wanted to share with those back home what's been happening at Cedarmore. First, your sons and daughters are truly awesome young people made in our Creator's image and I have seen them reflect God's humor, courage, compassion and love. You might be surprised at how quickly your teenager has made new friends, tried new foods, or risen to meet new challenges. Some have even found Scripture to share with the group that is impacting them. Our daily schedule with 600 other campers is something like this:

We are in the Green Camp (with three other color camps rotating with us):

8:00 am Breakfast
8:50 am Morning Celebration
9:35 am -11:30 Rotation of large group bible study, small group bible study and Break Thru (a time of intentional relationship building with a small group)
12:15 pm Lunch
1:15 pm Connect (a time of intentional relationship building with our youth group)
2:45 pm C4 (Explosive competition within our color group)
4:15 pm Point of Impact (you know, the list of activities they wanted)
6:25 pm Dinner
8:25 pm Worship
9:30 Checkpoint (an intimate time of listening and processing what God has been teaching us as a youth group)
11:30 pm Girl TIme and Dude Sessions (a time where the guys and girls in our youth group to know and love each other and it may be humorous fun or words of healing and help)
Midnight - Bedtime???

I did bring a package of tissues with me and they are already gone - your teenagers have cried tears of joy and sorrow. I have watched them minister to each other, whether it was encouraging a younger student to get on the enormous zip line or playing a hot game and keeping a positive attitude. There has been lots of laughter and down time and times where students have really opened up about their curiosity about God, his presence in their lives, or why he might feel so absent. Our speaker, Allen Jackson (not the singer) challenged them last night with the formula that Curiosity leads to Connection with God. Many are curious what God has for them this week and it has already being revealed first through time alone in God's word and prayer, bible study, committed staffers here at the camp, times of musical worship, and in our times as a youth group. We are praying God's Holy Spirit to reign and his grace to be sweet to our teens.

Be sure and check out the camp website where you can email your camper, see pics, meet the staff and more. To see the photos we taken, we post them so only our friends on Facebook can view them. We do not post photos of your teenager unless there is filtered access. We'll update as we can. Thank you for entrusting your teenager to the Lord and the amazing job you do as parents and family to introduce them to our Savior. Your prayers are making a difference and they do hear that you love them.

Disciple Now 2009

Disciple Now will again be cooperative between local churches in Marshall County. The date is set for March 27-28. The cost will be roughly $35 per student. See the new google public calendar for Pathway Youth events. Subscribe to the calendar if you want to know what's happening this year! To subscribe, go to google.com and search the public calendars for Pathway Youth.

30 Hour Famine

The 30 Hour Famine will be April 24-25. Check out the links and anticipate being a part of solving world hunger.

Camp Deposits Due February 1, 2009

It's time for our youth to send in our camp deposits to secure our place at Cedarmore. Please turn in your $75 camp deposit for your young person(s) by February 1, 2009. If the cost seems unattainable right now, let Dan or a youth leader know and we will work with families who want to make monthly payments for the deposit. Remember, most of our students are able to pay their balance by volunteering to work our church camp fundraisers. Be sure and stay tuned for fundraising opportunities this spring.

Feb. 13-14 Live Love Conference in Memphis

The youth will be attending The Live.Love conference in Memphis, TN, February 13-14. We will depart from the Ministry Center as close to 3:30 pm as possible. If students live in Graves County, we will be driving down the Purchase Parkway and can pick them up en route. We chose this conference because we believe students need spiritual care and tending, away from the pressures of their habits and routines. Church camp, while powerful, only occurs once a year and we have been praying asking the LORD about an affordable option in the winter season. We were drawn to this conference primarily because of the speaker, Francis Chan. As a youth team, we all heard him speak in Nashville and were all impacted by his teaching, his commitment to Jesus Christ and his lived testimony. He is a clear, humorous, but passionate minister and speaks out of his experience as a shepherd and a disciple. We know our teenagers will walk away changed. We were also drawn to this conference because of the cost: $40. We are still uncertain what the final overall cost will be with food and hotel, but are asking students to budget between $60-75. If we can lower the cost, we will try and find a way. If cost is a problem, please speak with Dan or a youth leader and we will make sure the teenagers you know can attend. Check out the links to the conference for the schedule and events.