Knock it Off--Week 4

When you hear these 2 words "attractive people" what comes to mind? If you're like me right away their beautiful physical looks comes to mind. When I was asked to write a blog about attractive people I thought what!? But then I read a little more into the concept of what they were talking about. The word attractive means to
(of a thing) pleasing or appealing to the senses.

"an attractive home"

(of a person) appealing to look at; sexually alluring.
"an attractive, charismatic man"

Similar:, good-looking, nice-looking, beautiful, pretty, as pretty as a picture, handsome, lovely, gorgeous, captivating, irresistible, sexy, sexually attractive, alluring, desirable, sensual.

My avenue of thought is geared towards being attractive for Jesus' sake. People whose efforts present Jesus to the world through their lives.


Attract to make others want to be near you or around you because of your life. God designed in the animal Kingdom pheromones that attract the opposite sex. We mimic those with perfumes and body washes and fragrance and things that attract by smell. Hollywood attracts its audience with movie trailers and advertisements for what they created, teasers to make us want to see the movie. In health, does the person that is physically fit, seemingly happy, and tan, attract you to the gym or the diet table to become fit? Or is it the one who holds up the pants that used to be 10 sizes bigger than they are now, and they stand victorious over what once held them captive?

Which makes them more attractive? 

So let's turn this thought process towards christians. What do christians do to make themselves attractive to draw people to what they believe? It's odd that this subject came up for me at the time that it did, my friend and I were talking about who the most attractive people were in our lives and the lives of our friends when we were not Christ followers by action. We believed but were not living the life. I was really surprised to hear both of us answer the same thing. Ready, drumroll... 

It was the mormon church and its members who seemingly came to the rescue and were there to be the shoulder to cry on. It was them that paid the bills and put our friends up in a house, and then came to check on us or our friends. Or came to visit and nurture a battered wife whom they didn't know. It was them that offered to go buy my groceries when my back was out or when I was down. The Mormon visitors offered to do my laundry or mow the grass, and they were complete strangers off the street-very beautiful, very attractive I must say. They were amazing until it turned to conversations about faith and our differing views of who Jesus is. I must say though they changed my view of how to treat Mankind.


Clearly now in my life, the Christians I know do these things for people, they just never did them for me when I was unsettled about my faith. I've known a lot of people who went the opposite direction when I was in need, they didn't want to get involved in the things that were messy or painful, or unpleasant, or that would cost them something and that sent me a terrible message. I learned through applying the directions in the Word of God to my life that I loved mankind better and better. And it gained me an audience with them because of it.

Lets look at what Jesus did when he saw the unpleasant messy painful circumstances of peoples lives. Well He fed them, He presented to them hope, He told them the truth, he comforted them with words and with touch, He didn't turn the children away even when the disciples said to send them away. He didn't turn away the people that were crying out even when the disciple said tell them to be quiet.

He spent time with them like the woman at the well, you know the one that was there at noon so she didn't have to see the other women who were there early in the morning?He stayed three days in her city with her and her family as a guest. What do you suppose he did and said for those three days? We're not told. He took his entourage of men some 30 miles away from home, further than most of them had ever been, to visit a woman who was not a Jew (the dog) and listened to her cries and then healed her daughter from the demon that possessed her. What he also did  was acknowledge and upheld her faith by his listening to her outcry.

He called out to Zacheus an undesirable Jewish man who was a tax collector and was disliked by the populous, that he wanted to come spend time in his house with him despite the popular vote. And when he could not do it himself, he sent others in his name to accomplish the tasks and support the people.

Jesus was devoted to the temple. He went there to worship God and to teach and when he went to other cities he visited their synagogues while he was there. He devoted 3 years to 12 men and he was noted for having the practice of getting away to be with God and spend time alone with him. He gave instruction how to live life and not sin, how to please God and rely on him. He would tell them things like:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:7‭-‬12 NIV

So what do you consider to be attractive beautiful people? 

Are you yourself part of that group?

Or are you left wanting to be the receiver of beautiful attractive people who will come love on you?

So many questions, right? 

I guess the bottom line is ...If we live by example as we are called to do, then I must say who we are using as our example matters greatly. We don't want to be fake but authentic in our outward appearance because of the work done on the inward parts of our lives.

The Saints of the Bible and those who used them as examples to test and approve their lives is a great place to start looking on how to become more attractive people for Jesus.

-Written by Wayne Clinton 

Leading Small to Yield God-Sized Results

"If we want to influence what kids believe about God, themselves, and the rest of the world, we need to give them somewhere to belong." Reggie Joiner

Mavis' Art Class

Kreek Kids has recently made a decision to 'Lead Small' while looking for God-sized results! What does this mean in actual practice?

1. In order to impact the next generation, we are creating intentional small group experiences where kids can have fun learning and where relationships can grow.
   
   
2. For us, this means Sunday morning breakout groups have started for our 4th & 5th graders where kids may explore the arts, learn something new or review what they've learned in their large group time for the day in a creative way. 
     
3. Starting in October, we are opening a weekly small group, for 1st & 2nd-grade girls, during Sunday morning 10:30am services with Miss Dea! Dea currently teaches our preschool class once-a-month on our Saturday team and wants to do more to impact the next generation of heroes at AC3. This group of girls will meet in our Orange Room which we love! Why? We believe the Orange strategy of partnering with parents and caring adults is a winner and we have attended the Orange Tour the last three years! What a great room to start this weekly group!
   

Below is an email from Miss Dea to our parents. Feeling the nudge?  This can be your invitation to 'Lead Small' with us. Enjoy!

Choosing to Lead Small

Dear Parents, 

For those of you who don't know me my name is Deanna Braaten. Many of you may know me as Miss Dea.

My husband and I have been long-time supporters of Kreek Kids and our adult children have all been part of children's ministry in one way or another. Our youngest daughter is currently a Kreek Kid.

I have been praying about where God is leading me in Kreek Kids. Over the last few years, several key things have taken place in my life. 

First, with my own daughter beginning elementary school, I see the need for strong faith conversations in this developmental age range. Secondly, attending the annual Orange conference reinforces my belief in partnering with families to build a strong faith foundation. And finally, I have a deep desire to serve in ministries that promote legacy.

With all that said, I'm joining Twila in the development of Kreek Kids breakouts and small group leader implemented lessons.

Your child is invited to join me and Michelle Daniels on Sundays in the orange room for small group lessons and activities. Your child will begin in 'big' church as usual and be dismissed during the service. They will meet in the blue room for the big idea and the large group time. We then will bring our small group to the orange room (Prepare the Way Classroom) for our lesson. You are able to pick up your child from us there at 11:45. This small group time is set aside specifically for 1st and 2nd-grade girls.

We are very excited to see how this small group builds strong faith foundations and positive and encouraging relationships. The idea that each child grows and develops a sense of identity, belonging and purpose in Christ is at the forefront of our approach to children's ministry.

Our initial plan is to implement our breakouts and small groups each Sunday from October to May.

Please let me or Twila know if you have any questions. You may also be thinking this sounds like something you may be interested in joining too! Come talk with us. We'd love to chat over coffee or tea.

Thank you,
Most Sincerely
Miss Dea

AC3 VB208 What's Coming Up?

Morph/RELIC Parent Preview (9/24 & 9/25)

Hey Parents! 

It’s the last week to do the Vital Church input form! If you haven’t heard, we are trying to evaluate here at AC3. We want to ALWAYS being evaluating, growing and doing things the best that we can. 

The goal is to have EVERY AC3 attender, high school and above, fill out a survey. 

 It takes about 30 minutes to fill out, so I know its a big ask. BUT, we NEED your help. 

Would you PLEASE help us by filling out this input form? 

Find it here :https://ac3.us16.list-manage.com/track/click…

And if you have a high school student, please have your them fill it out! It needs to be filled out THIS WEEK.

Also, their team will be paying a visit to AC3 later this fall to interview staff, key leaders, and a representative cross section of AC3’s congregation as well as observe our ministries in action, tour our facility, and the community. We’ll do our best to keep you informed!

Here is the parent preview for this week:

(6th - 8th grade)
RELIC stands for RELATIONALLY EMPOWERING LIVES IN CHRIST. 

At youth group each week, we play games, we eat food, we hang out. These students have a true community here. And we teach about Jesus. RELIC is here so that your student has a safe and fun place to investigate this whole Christianity/Church thing and so that they have a community to call their own. 

 

(9th - 12th grade)
Morph meets every Tuesday from 6pm-8pm. Morph is short for Metamorphosis. By Definition, Metamorphosis is: "a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.” 

When someone so amazing, so powerful, and so incredible as the person of Jesus Christ comes into our lives, we are transformed into NEW creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). At youth group each week, we play games, we eat food, we hang out. These students have a true community here. And we teach about Jesus. We talk about how he has transformed our lives and ask the question, how then should we be different? 

Creek Espresso is OPEN this week from 5-6:15. 

Send your students early to hang out, do homework or play foursquare in the parking lot! If you can, give your kiddo a few $$$ to pick up an Italian soda, a tea, or a cup of hot chocolate and this week they’ll have SNACKS! The Espresso stand will be open every other week for the Fall. 

Snacks - Just a reminder, we are on a bit of a spending freeze at church so our snacks for the month of September will be limited and mostly sugary… We’ve always encouraged students to not use our snack as their substitute for dinner, so please feed them before they come. 

Mixing up Small Groups - We will meet in small groups at the beginning of group. Mixing it up again this week. We will do this a couple times over the next few weeks and then solidify those groups starting in October.

Hang time and Game Time - Brandon’s back this week and fired up to do some fun new games!

We are continuing our teaching series called “What do you think?”

During the pause, our leader team took some time to learn about this next Generation, Gen-Z. We learned lots of amazing things about these students and their peers, but we want to know more! We want to know OUR students, the students of RELIC and Morph. This week we will be looking at the issue of loneliness. This is an issue Gen Z specifically struggles with, more so than other generations. So we want to ask the question, "why?" and help students discover how they can combat loneliness in their own lives.

Announcements! Announcements! Announcements!

• Sunday Morning Class starting up! We are FINALLY adding a sunday morning class for Jr. High and High School during our 10:30 service starting the 1st weekend in October. It’ll be in the conference room. Bring your bible! 

• Contact Cards! Last week of our contact cards, trying to get each student to fill one out. 

• Social Media! Have you liked us, friended us, followed us, tweeted us, hashtagged us, snapped us, insta-ed us? We are ALL over social media, we have all the things! SO, find us and follow us, like us or whatever else you need to do. Search RELIC, Morph, or RELIC.ac3, Morph.ac3. 

That’s it for this week! Hope to see you there and don't forget to invite a friend!

-B

Knock It Off--Week 3

The following post to the social media platform "Next Door" is largely self explanatory. I have felt apprehensive about my participation from the beginning, but a series of recent posts surrounding alleged crimes in my neighborhood pushed me past apprehension and into action.

Having the principles of AC3's current series in my mind made my decision almost...inevitable. It was just so clearly the right thing for me to do.

(I deactivated the account after this post so I cannot report on what, if any, responses it generated)

Topic: "Goodbye, Nextdoor"

I have avoided social media from it's beginning. Mostly because I know my own negative proclivities, and I suspected social media would enflame them. But also because enduring the selfish, ignorant and shallow behaviors of others is heart-breaking and tends to push me toward those same behaviors.  Watching from the outside over the years, my suspicions have been proven out.

But because of the way it was presented to me and its hyper-local nature, I swallowed hard and took a risk with NextDoor a couple of months ago, thinking, "This will be my first "experiment" with it. Maybe the "worst" of social media will be limited!" Perhaps it had been...but it is not limited enough for me.

A simple cost/benefit analysis reveals that my exposure to the interchanges on Nextdoor are resulting in the longterm reduction in my connection to and caring for my neighbors.

I find myself heartsick at the willingness of people to talk past one another, to display bigotry, "reverse" bigotry, knee-jerk regurgitation of un-truth, gossip and childish name-calling.

Some really good stuff came out of my experiment too. I have met face to face with two neighbors because of this platform, and that has inspired me to redouble my efforts to be a good neighbor IRL. Some important, useful information was exchanged as well.But sadly, the chaff far outweighs the seed.

This experience has, in balance, pushed me toward anger, judgement, and isolation, and I do not believe those qualities enhance community, draw me closer to God or make me a better man, so I'm out. I admire people who have the internal resources to navigate this kind of environment. Maybe I'm weak...so be it...I'm weak then. But I choose to unplug.

Please, carefully consider what your interactions on this and other platforms are revealing. Yes, you read correctly: REVEALING. Social media is not bad. It doesn't create judgement, ignorance and fear. It doesn't create love, connection or hope either. It only uncovers what's already there.

What is being revealed in you?

I choose to withdraw after having some dark things exposed in myself. I need work. I need real connection with people, I need to slow down and commit to living the questions St. Francis of Assissi was famous for asking: "God, who are you? And who am I?"

I don't like what I've seen of myself since being here. The truth is, I don't like what I've seen from many of my neighbors either, but I choose to look at the plank in my own eye.

So I guess, I have to say "thank you" for helping to reveal those things in me that need to change. I'm going to go focus on that work now...

Good bye, Nextdoor.

-Written by Dan Hazen 

AC3 VB207 Surveys

AC3 VB206 Care Team

Knock it Off -- Week 2

Knock It Off! —Tolerance for the Intolerant

Week 2 Series Blog

Enduring with Forbearance, without Interference

When I was a kid in the 80s, I used to hear this phrase a lot.  “While I don’t agree with what you say, I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”   I laughed when it resurfaced in an episode of Family Guy in season 3’s Fish Out of Water episode.  For many men and women in my generation this is how we view tolerance (except with our siblings), and there are a few things embedded in the phrase that should be highlighted.  

1. Freedom of expression is good.

2. Disagreement is expected, and dialogue about those disagreements is healthy.

3. If we can’t agree, we don’t have to be enemies.

According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary: 
tolerate
■ verb

1    allow the existence or occurrence of (something that one dislikes or disagrees with) without interference.

2    endure (someone or something unpleasant) with forbearance.

Let’s face it, dealing with people that disagree with our world views is often very difficult.  Sometimes it’s downright grating. However, it’s well within our capabilities as rational human beings to accept that while we may not agree with everybody we can at least acknowledge and accept that other views do exist, and that their mere existence isn’t necessarily harmful.

At some point in the last couple of decades, the cultural definition of tolerance has had a major shift and is now in direct conflict with the first definition of what it means to tolerate, such that interference (even to the point of violence) is encouraged.    

Simply stated, it goes something like this: If you don’t agree and accept my view as true, you’re intolerant.  

Or the even more extreme version: If you don’t agree and accept my view as true, you’re a bigot and I have the right to harm you in order to change your mind or remove your harmful presence from my space.

We’re facing two distinct views of what tolerance is, then.  The first that acknowledges the existence of other views and encourages a spirit of dialogue and truth seeking to resolve differences.  The second which says disagreements shouldn’t exist at all and we must accept all views as true, lest we be labeled as intolerant!  Yikes!  

What Does the Bible Teach?

How are Christians supposed to navigate this mess?  It’s impossible for all things to be true at the same time.  Based on the second definition of tolerance we’re all intolerant bigots!  How as a Christian can I tolerate Islam if that means I must now accept Islam as truth to avoid being labeled Islamophobic in the process?  Should I tell people they’re intolerant bigots for not accepting my Christian worldview? Somehow I think spreading the Gospel would be less effective if after sharing the message I add “and by the way, if you don’t believe Jesus was the Son of God, you’re an intolerant bigot” at the end.  

Navigating the balance of holding to objective Christian truths in a world that’s increasingly hostile to Christian faith is tough.  Let’s be honest, much of the intolerance floating around is directed at Christians, because from the outside looking in, we’re the very definition of intolerant bigotry.  Why? It’s because we pin what we hold as true, good, and right onto God, and not man.

Here’s the TL;DR answer:  Holding to the first view of tolerance will more and more bring with it a high cost, from those who think you hate them or even want to harm them if you disagree.   That said, the Bible has some things to say about all this and what to expect.

1. Persecution should be expected (John 15:18-25)  

It’s harder to get upset by something you were told in advance would happen.  I don’t mean you have to be happy about it. I’m just saying that if we remember this fact, it can take some of the personal edge off accusation of intolerance (and every colorful metaphor that goes with it) when they come.

2. The Bible’s high view on peace (Romans 12:8, Jeremiah 29:7)

We’re not doing the Gospel any favors if we’re fighting all the time.  Pick your battles. Let compassion and the Holy Spirit be at the center of all disagreement.  Some questions to ask yourself that might help with this one:

• If I don’t speak up, (in a compassionate way) is someone’s salvation at stake?
• Am I being pressured into accepting a view or action that would cause me to violate God’s Word?
•   Is my acceptance of a view or action impeding my willingness to carry out The Great Commission to spread the Gospel?

3. Be prepared to defend yourself (1 Peter 3:15)

If the answer is “yes” to any of those things, then by all means engage in winsome apologetics to draw someone into the beauty of the kingdom, remembering that Peter put a condition on this imperative.  

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Have you ever walked away from a discussion or debate knowing that you spoke Truth and yet known at the same time that not one word of it pierced the heart and mind of the listener for the Kingdom?  Yea, I’m guilty as charged on that one. It’s because my delivery of that truth was completely devoid of compassion, gentleness, and respect. These things must be part of our toolkit as we engage with a post-truth culture that’s desperate for truth but is deaf to it when presented harshly.  Makes sense, right? If people view the church as full of hate because we don’t affirm and agree with every whim and desire of humanity, then a harsh delivery of truth pretty much confirms that view to the person we’re sharing with.  

Conclusion

I’m fond of saying this: “The further this country gets away from God, the worse things are going to get.”  Things are going to get worse, and the worse it gets, the more the culture around us will need what we have to offer them.  The Gospel.  

As Christians we can be model citizens of the first brand of social tolerance (endurance without interference) without sacrificing the truth of the Gospel in the process.  Like anything else in the Bible that Christ followers are asked to do, it’s just not easy. Expect conflict as our placement of objective truth and morale values upon God flies in the face of the ongoing culture war that says such things don’t exist.  Be effective peacemakers within our neighborhoods and workplaces by choosing our battles wisely. Finally, when those battles do come, defend the faith winsomely, respectfully, and gently to the glory of the One who is eager to welcome all who will come to Him.   Given the stakes, I think that’s something we can all tolerate.

-Written by James Boerner

Morph Parent Preview (Week of Sept. 10)

Hey Parents!

We hope you had a great summer and that the transition back into school schedule hasn’t been too rocky for you! 

We are SO excited to be back at Youth Group this week. We’ve got a lot of fun things planned for this next year and we’re excited to have you and your student along for the ride!

The Parent Preview is simply a sneak peak into what we are doing at youth group each week.

Parenting a teenager takes a lot of hard work, we know that! We want you to have all the information you need and we want to remind you that we are available to you as a resource, any time. We are praying for you and your student as you enter the new school year. 

Now I know time is a precious commodity so lets just get down to business here. Here is what’s happening this week at Morph, as well as some up and coming events and announcements.

Morph meets every Tuesday from 6pm-8pm. Morph is short for Metamorphosis. By Definition, Metamorphosis is:"a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.”

When someone so amazing, so powerful, and so incredible as the person of Jesus Christ comes into our lives, we are transformed into NEW creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). So at youth group each week, we play games, we eat food, we hang out. These students have a true community here. And we teach about Jesus. We talk about how he has transformed our lives and ask the question, how then should we be different? 

Morph has the same core mission as AC3, we want your student (and every student) to have a safe and fun place to investigate this whole Christianity/Church thing. We hope that when they seek, they will find the kind, gentle, amazing God we know and love.

Creek Espresso will be Open this week from 5-6:15. Youth group doesn’t start until 6 but the lobby will be open and we’d encourage students to come early to hang out, do homework or play foursquare in the parking lot! Send your student with a few bucks to pick up an Italian soda, a coffee, or a cup of hot chocolate. The Espresso stand will be open every other week for the Fall. 

Mixing up Small Groups- We will meet in small groups at the beginning of group. However, in the interest of growing in our relationships with each other, we’ll be changing up who’s in which group.We will do this a couple times over the next few weeks and then solidify those groups starting in October.

Hang time and Game Time - Did you know that having fun together builds and grows relationships? That is one of the reasons we play games. We know games come easy to some and not so easy to others so we try to plan a variety of games that everyone will enjoy. 

We begin the new year with a new teaching series called 

“What do you think?”

During the pause, our leader team took some time to learn about this next Generation, Gen-Z. We learned lots of amazing things about these students and their peers, but we want to know more! We want to know OUR students, the students of Morph. What makes them tick? What are they passionate about? What things overwhelm them? How do they connect with their community? How do they keep it real? So each week we’ll be tackling a different question and really just having a big discussion about it. We’re excited to hear from the students and learn more about them! This series will help us develop future teaching series and it will help students identify what they have in common with one another. 

Announcements! Announcements! Announcements!

Lots of exciting things are happening at youth group! It’s the first week back so there are quite a few announcements!

• DA BUS!!!! During the pause we got a bus!!! You can see it parked out in the parking lot this week. We’ll eventually have a “naming competition” and perhaps even a design competition for a logo! For now we’re calling it “DAAAAAA BUS!!”

• CAMP! Wait what… didn’t we just have camp in May….? Why are we talking about camp again….? Well folks, we thought it would be a blast to try something new this year and do a WINTER CAMP. Ya know, with the snow and the sledding and the cozy fireplace and all that fun winter stuff. Tentatively we are planning for February so stay tuned for details!! 

• Car Wash! In preparation for camp, we’d like to do a car wash fundraiser at the end of September. This will just be a one and done fundraiser. All the funds raised will go towards winter camp (Which is a few short months away) We’re hoping as many students will show up as possible and we’re PRAYING for good weather. Mark your calendars for September 28th!

• Creek Espresso! Just want to remind the students to show up early and hang out. Creek Espresso will be open every other week from 5-6:15.

• Contact Cards! We will ask each student to fill out a new contact card this week.

• Social Media! Have you liked us, friended us, followed us, tweeted us, hashtagged us, snapped us, insta-ed us? We are ALL over social media, we have all the things! SO, find us and follow us, like us or whatever else you need to do. Search Morph or Morph.ac3.

Alright that’s it…. I think… do you feel like you need a nap? That was a lot of info! We are SO appreciative of you taking the time to read it all. It makes our jobs easier and honestly, I think it makes your jobs easier as parents. 

We love you guys! Can’t wait to see you and and your student's face this week. 

-B

RELIC Parent Preview (Week of Sept. 11)

Hey Parents!

We hope you had a great summer and that the transition back into school schedule hasn’t been too rocky for you! 

We are SO excited to be back at Youth Group this week. We’ve got a lot of fun things planned for this next year and we’re excited to have you and your student along for the ride!

The Parent Preview is simply a sneak peak into what we are doing at youth group each week.

Parenting a teenager takes a lot of hard work, we know that! We want you to have all the information you need and we want to remind you that we are available to you as a resource, any time. We are praying for you and your student as you enter the new school year. 

Now I know time is a precious commodity so lets just get down to business here. Here is what’s happening this week at RELIC, as well as some up and coming events and announcements.

RELIC stands for RELATIONALLY EMPOWERING LIVES IN CHRIST. So at youth group each week, we play games, we eat food, we hang out. These students have a true community here. And we teach about Jesus. RELIC is here so that your student has a safe and fun place to investigate this whole Christianity/Church thing and so that they have a community to call their own. 

Creek Espresso will be Open this week from 5-6:15. Youth group doesn’t start until 6 but the lobby will be open and we’d encourage students to come early to hang out, do homework or play foursquare in the parking lot! Send your student with a few bucks to pick up an Italian soda, a coffee, or a cup of hot chocolate. The Espresso stand will be open every other week for the Fall. 

Mixing up Small Groups - We will meet in small groups at the beginning of group. However, in the interest of growing in our relationships with each other, we’ll be changing up who’s in which group.We will do this a couple times over the next few weeks and then solidify those groups starting in October.

Hang time and Game Time -Did you know that having fun together builds and grows relationships? That is one of the reasons we play games. We know games come easy to some and not so easy to others so we try to plan a variety of games that everyone will enjoy. 

We begin the new year with a new teaching series called 
“What do you think?”
 During the pause, our leader team took some time to learn about this next Generation, Gen-Z. We learned lots of amazing things about these students and their peers, but we want to know more! We want to know OUR students, the students of RELIC. What makes them tick? What are they passionate about? What things overwhelm them? How do they connect with their community? How do they keep it real? So each week we’ll be tackling a different question and really just having a big discussion about it. We’re excited to hear from the students and learn more about them! This series will help us develop future teaching series and it will help students identify what they have in common with one another.

Announcements! Announcements! Announcements!

Lots of exciting things are happening at youth group! It’s the first week back so there are quite a few announcements!

• DA BUS!!!! During the pause we got a bus!!! You can see it parked out in the parking lot this week. We’ll eventually have a “naming competition” and perhaps even a design competition for a logo! For now we’re calling it “DAAAAAA BUS!!”

• CAMP! Wait what… didn’t we just have camp in May….? Why are we talking about camp again….? Well folks, we thought it would be a blast to try something new this year and do a WINTER CAMP. Ya know, with the snow and the sledding and the cozy fireplace and all that fun winter stuff. Tentatively we are planning for February so stay tuned for details!! 

• Car Wash! In preparation for camp, we’d like to do a car wash fundraiser at the end of September. This will just be a one and done fundraiser. All the funds raised will go towards winter camp (Which is a few short months away) We’re hoping as many students will show up as possible and we’re PRAYING for good weather. Mark your calendars for September 28th!

• Creek Espresso! Just want to remind the students to show up early and hang out. Creek Espresso will be open every other week from 5-6:15.

• Contact Cards! We will ask each student to fill out a new contact card this week.

• Social Media! Have you liked us, friended us, followed us, tweeted us, hashtagged us, snapped us, insta-ed us? We are ALL over social media, we have all the things! SO, find us and follow us, like us or whatever else you need to do. Search RELIC or RELIC.ac3.

Alright that’s it…. I think… do you feel like you need a nap? That was a lot of info! We are SO appreciative of you taking the time to read it all. It makes our jobs easier and honestly, I think it makes your jobs easier as parents. 

We love you guys! Can’t wait to see you and and your student's face this week. 

-B

Sermon notes from 9/8/19

As promised, here are Rick's sermon notes from 9/8/19. Thank you for your patience with our audio difficulties with the livestream!

KNOCK IT OFF

SE090819

1. THE TANGLED WEB

INTRO:

(Vital Church Survey Coming)

In 2004 the INTERNET was used by over a quarter of a billion people around the world, that’s 250 million people – the majority from the United States.  But that was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the Web would change our lives.

Some people saw it coming.  I found this quote from 2004:

• (SLIDE) “This technology, for better or for worse, is going to define us.  Even if we can manage to avoid it, what’s certain is that our children’s lives will be marked by it.  For them, the Internet is going to be as much a part of their world as the air they breathe. [The internet] is revolutionizing our lives and this is just the start of it.”
• That quote comes from this guy:
• (SLIDE) Rick Thiessen (Wise Pastor)

Well, it didn’t take a genius to make that prediction.  Fast forward to today: 

• 7.7 billion people on the planet, 
• 4.39 BILLION of them are internet users.  
• 5 Billion of them have mobile phones.  
• 3.5 billion use some form of social media, 
• 95% of those are mobile social media users
• meaning they can and do access their online community groups whenever and wherever they go.

Which means we are all now citizen of a new order, a digital order.  And this month, we’re going to talk about GOOD, digital citizenship for Christ followers in the new digital age.  We’ll ask this question, in regards to our contribution to the current temperature online:

• Are you Peace or are you Polarization?

Now before we get into that specifically, we should just acknowledge the positive things that Internet and Social Media have played in changing our lives:

1. INFORMATION:  When I was growing up, my parents spent years paying off this big old set of World Book Encyclopedia.  I still remember them… published in 1974. I was still using them for research papers in high school in the mid 80’s, going,
1. “Where’s the article on Ronald Regan and Cyndi Lauper?”
2. Now, the internet is more than an encyclopedia, it’s the entire repository of all human knowledge available to anyone on earth!  That’s mind blowing!

2. SOCIALLY: Think about the internet socially.  My parents live 1200 miles away, my brother 3000 in Atlanta.  20 years ago, I could only stay in touch with these people by a very expensive, very rare phone call.  Now, for free, I get to send snarky texts to my brother, the very second the Falcons lose the Superbowl!  It’s delightful! I get to keep in touch with and be enriched by friends past generations would simply forget, or lose track of, old high school friends, old college friends, extended family members.

3. ECONOMY: The Net is revolutionizing a global economy. Farmers in Papua, New Guinea, used to be at the mercy of whatever trader or merchant came along to take their crops for whatever price he would give them.  Now they have instant access to the world market for their crops.

4. EDUCATION: The Internet is revolutionizing education. Distance learning is making serious education a reality for millions of people who couldn’t afford it before.  

5. MINISTRY: Countries formerly closed to Christian material aren’t closed anymore.  Our church wants to present historic, life-changing truths about Jesus Christ to outsiders, scared of church, what could be more helpful for that purpose than giving people a virtual sample of us, ONLINE?

So the good news is the Internet can make us all 

• smarter, 
• richer, 
• better connected,
• with fresher breath,

But there are some things that the internet brought that exposed some dark tendencies in us.  For example. The internet means:

1. ANONYMITY IS UP

I can stalk your Facebook page without you knowing.  I can search for really dumb things like (and these are reach Google searches BTW):

• is it normal to be attracted to numbers?
• Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror and think what wattage is my microwave? 
• Are babies dishwasher safe?
• What do I do if a ginger kid bites me?

So three cheers for being able to anonymously search about that strange rash you’ve been showing!  But what’s the upshot of all that anonymity SOCIALLY? The upshot is this ANONYMITY UP, HONESTY DOWN.  One woman wrote a letter to a therapist. This is a real letter. She said, 

• "I’ve been talking to a man I met online for months now. He lives in Arizona.  He loves me. I know I love him. I know I want to be with him. But I didn’t tell him I’m married or that I have two children, and I said I was ten years younger than I am.  How can I tell him the truth and not lose him?"

Hello! Clue phone, it’s for you!  When the anonymity factor in relationships goes way up, safeguards against deception go down.  And that’s going to create problems. The second dynamic…

2. ACCOUNTABILITY DOWN

In regular 3-D life, my identity is known in the context of a network of relationships;

• where I work, 
• my neighborhood, 
• my extended family.  

What that means is if I mistreat you, our broader circle of acquaintances is going to know about that, and they’re going to call me to account.  There is a very positive social pressure in physical human community that is missing from virtual human community. 

ILLUS: I grew up in a small town and people used to complain, “I can’t pick my nose without someone hearing about it.”  You go into a restaurant in my hometown with my parents and you can point at anybody and they know personal information.

-    Who’s that?  Tony Goertzen, dad has cancer

-    Who’s that?  Abe Bergman, went bankrupt.

-    Who’s that?  Tina Friesen, divorced last year.

-    Well, who’s that?  Your auntie, she had a face lift, eh.

Like or not, human community for 100’s of years entailed people knowing you well, and that helped moderate bad behavior.  Because you would be held to account. When accountability goes down, I’m in trouble. And on the Net there’s almost no accountability.

Online Community promises, “there’s no eyes watching you, no one will know, there will be no repercussions.”

So this progresses, anonymity up, accountability down, which leads to a 3rd dynamic of the tangled web:

3. ACRIMONY UP

Acrimony is fancy word that means, bitterness, hostility.  If online it feels like I’m more anonymous, and if it feels like there’s less accountability, I’m going to do and say things that maybe are meaner than I normally would.

There’s a word for this effect of the internet on acrimonious interaction: 

• DISINHIBITION

What is that?  Well, “inhibition” is what I feel, when I feel eyes are on me, evaluating me.  

• Inhibition is why you don’t dance on the subway.  
• It’s why you don’t talk loudly in a waiting room.  
• It’s why you don’t drop your drawers in public.

(Some of you are thinking, but Rick I do all those things – we have counselors standing by!  Some things you’re supposed be reserved about!)

You are naturally inhibited by normal social pressure to NOT do stuff you know is bad.  So, what do you call it when such inhibition goes away? You call it dis-inhibition.  Surveys of thousands of Internet users found that a majority of them experience disinhibition regularly.

When this happens, 

• people engage in incredibly risky behavior
• people say deeply personal, secret things to virtual strangers
• people start using language they would never normally use in regular conversation.
• in short, they bump up ACRIMONY.  Harshness. Rancor. 
• Compared with face-to-face interactions, online we feel freer to do and say what we want and, as a result, often do and say things we shouldn't.

So, ANONIMYTY up, ACCOUNTABILITY down, leads to ACRIMONY up and there you have it:  what you and I live in for hours every day:

• THE NEW WILD WEST 
• the divided, divisive, harsh, often angry, polarized, mean WORLD of the WORLD WIDE WEB.

Now, let me be clear, the internet is not CREATING a condition, it is REVEALING a condition.  

ILLUS: Think of it this way: For over 75 years, the Slavs, the Croatians, Muslims, Christians, Bosnians, Russians, Georgians and a dozen other groups lived in peace and harmony under the control of the Soviet Union.  But in 1989, when the USSR collapsed, it was only a matter of months, in some cases weeks, before ethnic bitterness and vile racisms came flooding out between these groups.

Did freedom create this problem?  No, when the heavy handed control of the USSR went away – it simply revealed centuries old acrimony that had been living in people’s hearts the whole time.  

I want to speak to those of you here who might be investigating faith today.  Someone invited you, maybe you’re in talks about whether Christianity is at all reasonable or not.  Let me guess that one of the things that you struggle with about Jesus is that Jesus believed quite strongly in something called the “SIN NATURE”.

That is, Jesus believed something almost completely opposite of what people believe today.  We believe that people are basically good on the inside. Inside they are full of goodness and kindness and joy and good will and light.  Outwardly they may exhibit something different, but, we assure ourselves, “he has a good heart.”

Compare that to Jesus who said:

• Matt 15:18-20: What comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.

So we have two views of human nature here. On the secular side it’s this:

• Man’s nature is built on animal nature.  We are simply advanced monkeys. And yet, man’s nature is good and pure and only corrupted by his environment, external shame or guilt.

On the Christian side it’s this:

• Man’s nature is built on God’s nature.  We are or infinite worth, and made to be like God, but we are broken inside.  We’re glorious ruins. And now, inside us, our compass leans toward self profoundly and away from God and goodness.

You might not like the second view of human nature, but I want you to see two things:

• The first view is tortured logically.  Somehow we are advanced collections of atoms, which can have inherent worth or moral value, and yet we make a sheer leap to say our nature is good?  What is good, without God?  It’s a meaningless term that doesn’t fit the secular narrative at all, but we smuggle it in FROM CHRISTIANITY.  But look at the second view:
• It’s not hearts and flowers, OK, but it’s only one of the two views backed up by, you know… data.  Mountains of data. By millennia of human history. By personal experience. By holocausts and genocides and purges and feuds and divorce and abuse and neglect and greed.  
• AND by the way people act online when the veil of civility is lifted, when anonymity rules and the “true self” is allowed to come out.  
• It’s not pretty!!

There’s a clash of worldviews here friends, and you can’t land in the middle.  It’s Jesus view of human nature, we are glorious ruins that only Jesus can REMAKE, OR we are the smartest monkeys with a long history of fighting, killing, hating and selfishness, who are nevertheless somehow, good and unfallen.

• You pick.

Turn to the Apostle Paul who had the same view as his Master, Jesus:

He calls Christians in Col 3:5-6 to:

• Put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming

When Christians turn to Christ, it is because they realize that they need saving.  From what you might ask? Not first from a lousy economy, or a bad presidency, or oncoming environmental apocalypse, or cultural shame.  Nope, the first thing you need to be saved from, is sinful, earthly things. Where do we find them?   

• “lurking within you.”

They don’t live OUT THERE, such things live IN HERE.  Doesn’t this explain the dichotomy of our online world?  We have the riches of all human information, communication, collaboration, out there for the taking, and what do we use it for?

• Flaming out our neighbor for their hypocrisy, cruelty and intolerance. – EVIL DESIRES
• Surfing for images of naked people engaged in sexually explicit activity – SEXUAL IMMORALITY
• Shopping constantly to instantly gratify cravings for things we can’t afford to satisfy empty hearts. – GREED WHICH IS IDOLATRY.

Did the internet CREATE THIS in us?  No it did not. It revealed what was always, already there.  This hasn’t changed since Paul’s time.

So how do we get on the solution side of the problem that the TANGLED WEB reveals?  Let’s keep reading Paul:

Col 3:7-15

You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world.  But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

1. GET GENTLE

One of the things that has been lost online, because of the anonymity, accountability, acrimony spiral is trust.  We don’t trust each other. And when you don’t trust, there’s a powerful feeling of justification that comes over you in how you handle an untrustworthy person.  In short, you can afford to be rough with an untrustworthy person.

• IN fact, it is RIGHT to be ROUGH.
• They lie, I can lie back.
• They are fascists, I can hate them.
• They are neo-nazies, I can slander them.
• They are heretics I can rage against them.
• They are legalists, I can use filthy language in front of them.

I don’t doubt that courageous truth telling may often require that some pleasantries be suspended, and certainly Paul was very direct at times.  But the rule of interaction for Jesus people is you never have a right to be rough.  

Think about all your online interactions this past year.  Could any of them be described by Paul’s words:

• anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

Soak in that one for a second.  Your online interactions versus the call of God’s Word.  Do you feel this?  The disconnect? I do!  Oh, the rage, the anger that rises in me with some Social Media commentary!  The malice in my heart, when I just want to return a nasty comment to make a person feel hurt the way I hurt – that’s malice friend!  The lack of concern for how my comments might slander. 

• Slander: false statements that damage a person’s reputation.

I ask again, how have you handled yourself online?  With…

• Your liberal auntie in LA who won’t listen to reason.
• Your conservative high school friend who believes in dumb conspiracy theories.
• The argument about the president, 
• The one about the economy, 
• The one about vaccinations!

Friend, God says, you never have a right to be rough.  This kind of Wild West, I kick butt and take names, I don’t care what you think of me, I’m going to speak my mind – this is the old nature.  The sin nature lurking within.  It’s that thing that Jesus died to save us from.  It’s evil and it has no place in your life. Get rid of it, Paul says.

2. GET REAL

But Paul will keep going.  

• Col 3:9-10: Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.  Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

The temptation to deceive is there in all of us, and it’s gets magnified in VIRTUALAND.  The anonymity, accountability, acrimony spiral calls to us to lie, all the time.  To put on masks to hide behind. When you strip off the old Nature, Christian, you ask God to take off your masks.

ILLUS: There’s a story about that.  A guy is unemployed. He’s quite desperate for work, and he reads of an opening at the zoo. He goes to apply for the job, and the zookeeper says, 

• "Well, it’s a little embarrassing actually. We don’t have any regular jobs. What happened was our gorilla died recently, and we don’t have enough money to replace him.  So we’re looking for somebody to put on a gorilla suit and pretend to be a gorilla in the cage for a while. Whadaya say?"

The guy was a bit put off by this but he can’t find anything else, so he comes back later and takes the job. He puts on the gorilla suit, goes into the cage, and he actually starts getting into it. He starts thumping his chest and pounding down bananas. And there’s a vine, so he starts swinging on the vine like he’s seen in Tarzan movies.

Problem is, he gets a little carried away, and ends up swinging so aggressively, he swings over the wall and lands into the next cage, which is the lion’s cage. So he’s lying on the floor of this cage, and all of a sudden, the lion is on top of him. He feels the hot breath of the lion on his face, and he just loses it.

He starts screaming, 

• "Get me out of here!" forgetting, you know, what he’s supposed to be doing.  So there’s this gorilla on the floor screaming, "Get me out of here!" in the lion’s cage.  

And then he hears the lion hiss at him:

• “Shut up, you idiot, or we’ll both lose our jobs!”

There’s not one authentic creature in the whole zoo!  And maybe in the online zoo we visit every day, we could say that too.  Not one authentic, non-mask wearing person.  

How do you fight this?  Get real.

But I hesitate to tell you to get more real on your Facebook feed, because we’ve all seen very, very vulnerable posts that we all cringed at, because they were too intimate, too public.  And that’s another example, BTW, of disinhibition. Intimate stuff you wouldn’t normally share about yourself where 30 million people could see, you lay out there for the world to see.

Bottom line, AC3, Involve yourself in some 3-D, real-life, intimacy-producing relationships because the temptation to hide the truth about myself is a powerful pull.  That’s why we have to train ourselves to GROUP. (APPLICATIONS)

It’s a discipline, and all the more important in our Virtual World.  We have to strategically meet with other Christians, set aside that time.  Maybe forgo online time for real-time relationships. Then 

• intentionally take off our masks, 
• intentionally let somebody else see me the way that I really am.  
• And in getting real, I will get healed.

I’m getting to the point now that if an online relationship doesn’t lead naturally and inexorably to eye to eye, mouth to ear relating, I don’t see the value.  Without that, it’s in some way false, and Paul said, “Stop lying to each other.”

CONCLUSION:

Friend, the veil of a computer screen has hidden my brother’s face from me, and this has had a devastating effect on the virtue of gentleness.  But if you and I are to be instruments of peace in a world of polarization, we have to recover it. 

Simply put it on, Paul says, like new clothes…:

Col 3:10-11

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him… 12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.