Elevate Student Ministries

New Message Series: The Calling

// March 20th, 2009 // 2034No Comments »http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elevationgeneration.org%2Fblog%2F2009%2F03%2Fnew-message-series-the-calling%2FNew+Message+Series%3A+The+Calling2009-03-20+17%3A23%3A32Shawn+Michaelhttp%3A%2F%2Felevatingageneration.org%2F%3Fp%3D2034 // Elevate Update, Spiritual

God called Abraham out of his homeland to be the start of something great: a nation that would one day be called Israel. Abraham followed God through deserts and famine, laughed at the impossibility of God’s promises, and found his faith on the line when God called him to sacrifice his miracle child. Abraham (who was first known as Abram) was a blessed man — but he was never blessed for his own sake. He was blessed so that God’s glory might be seen throughout the world.

God blesses us because He loves us, and as a loving Father, He finds pleasure in blessing us. God’s plan for blessing others often includes us. Enter into Abraham’s story. Walk with him through the Negev. Learn as he gets caught up in lies. Laugh with his wife. Walk up the altar with a great trust in the Lord. And experience how God is using you to bless others!

For the next month we are going to go on a journey together to recognize how we’ve received blessings from God and how we can use those blessings to bless others. Through the course of our time together we will also learn how the hardest times and biggest mistakes can sometimes be hidden blessings. By the end of this series, our hope is that you will have a new perspective on God’s love and blessing in your life and a better understanding of how you are invited to share that love with other people in specific ways.

God calling you…are you answering the call?  See you on Wednesdays the @ 7:00 pm student rally services to walk through that question with us.

Everyone Matters

// December 23rd, 2008 // 17832 Comments »http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elevationgeneration.org%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2Feveryone-matters%2FEveryone+Matters2008-12-23+21%3A56%3A39Shawn+Michaelhttp%3A%2F%2Felevatingageneration.org%2F%3Fp%3D1783 // Elevate Update

This January, we’re starting a new student message series titled “Everyone Matters”. It is all about understanding the fact that evangelism is at the core of God’s heart and encouraging and equipping students to live the life of an authentic follower of Jesus while inviting others to experience the same.

Most believers know that loving others is important, but it’s something many of them rarely practice. This is due to fear, unhealthy expectations, and a lack of practical ideas. This series will address all of those issues, providing students with the tools they need to effectively and confidently communicate the truth of Jesus to their peers. Here’s some of the themes we’ll be hitting each week:

EVANGELISM 101 – Understanding God’s heart for those far from Him.

BECOMING THE REAL DEAL – Living the authentic life of a follower of Jesus before a watching world.

EMBRACING THE PROCESS – Being faithful to the long haul of evangelism.

THE ART OF SHARING YOUR OWN STORY – Harnessing the power of a changed life.

UNDERSTANDING THE GOSPEL MESSAGE – Clearly communicating God’s story to those far from God.

We can’t wait to dig into all that God has for us in the New Year!

LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION

// October 5th, 2008 // 1386No Comments »http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elevationgeneration.org%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2Flove-story-in-stop-motion%2FLOVE+STORY+IN+STOP+MOTION2008-10-05+22%3A41%3A45Shawn+Michaelhttp%3A%2F%2Felevatingageneration.org%2F%3Fp%3D1386 // Just for Fun, Technology

This is just so beautiful. A couple of pencil-outlined birds escape from a little girl´s drawing, leading us through the life she dreams of.  You can find more about the making of this on the creator, Carlos Lascano’s, page.

End-of-Summer Events and Meetings

// August 22nd, 2008 // 1176No Comments »http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elevationgeneration.org%2Fblog%2F2008%2F08%2Fend-of-summer-event-and-2-important-meetings%2FEnd-of-Summer+Events+and+Meetings2008-08-22+23%3A38%3A46Shawn+Michaelhttp%3A%2F%2Felevationgeneration.wordpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D1176 // Elevate Update

What a great summer of 2008, featuring: an amazing Elevation Talent Show, an absolutely EPIC summer camp, a pump’n Hills Alive, a spirit-filled trip to IHOP, and many, many, many, MANY other incredible God-moments throughout!  Well, it’s not over yet, but it’s getting close.  School starts soon and we’ll be back into the grind of school-days, homework, and all sorts of extracurricular activities.  To help you, as a student, slide into the fall, Elevate Student Ministries is planning a “Back-to-School in the Backyard” event hosted by the Lombard family featuring a fire pit, a hot dog dinner, acoustic worship with Ken Verheecke, some backyard challenges, and smores.  All you have to bring is a lawn chair.  Here’s a map to the Lombard residence and here’s the date and time…

That’s not all, we’ve got a very important meeting for parents of Elevate students coming up soon, too.  (We don’t want them to feel left out.)  The meeting is intended for families of incoming 6th graders, for new families who joined our ministry during the year and want an overview of the whole ministry, and any other interested parent/guardians. This is your opportunity to hear our vision and embrace the movement of Destiny’s student ministry as a whole.

Here’s the outline of our agenda:

• Look back on last year’s ministry (reflections, ideas, events, highlights, etc.)
• Cast the vision for next year’s ministry
• What that vision looks like in our ministry (a breakdown of our weekly meetings: who it’s for, where it’s at, what we’re studying, introducing leaders, etc)
• An overview of a couple big annual events we do each year
• Communication (how the youth ministry communicates with students and parents, where to find info and stay up-to-date, overview of our student website, parent newsletter, etc.)
• Q & A

And, last but not least, we’re going to be hosting our very first meeting concerning next summer’s missions adventure trip to Creel, Mexico.  We’ve branded the trip “I Heart: Mexico”. The idea behind the slogan is that Creel, Mexico is where our heart “is” and “will be” as we sow into and prepare for this trip next year. Our initial gathering for all who are interested is going to be Wednesday, September 10th @ 6:00 PM. You’ll find out about the outreach details, have the opportunity to pick up some informational brochures, receive some fundraising ideas and encouragement, and more. Mark the date and time on your calendar and we’ll see you there!

Wow!  That’s a lot happening in just a few short weeks.  Mark your calendars!

Dave's Hope

// August 3rd, 2008 // 1075No Comments »http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elevationgeneration.org%2Fblog%2F2008%2F08%2Fdaves-hope%2FDave%26%23039%3Bs+Hope2008-08-04+04%3A54%3A43Shawn+Michaelhttp%3A%2F%2Felevationgeneration.wordpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D1075 // Spiritual

Some of you know and are familiar with my friend, Dave, who comes and visits us at Destiny somewhat frequently.  He’s a good guy that’s been in the hold of an alcoholic addiction for several years; he’s also been burned by the church, as a result of his addiction.  I’ve been trying to build a relationship with Dave and show him that not all Christians are like the ones he has experienced in the past.  I want to show him, as best that I can, that God will always love him and welcome him with open arms, no matter what.

Ever so often, Dave makes his way into one of Destiny’s Sunday morning services.  He came in at the end of the service this Sunday… drunk.  He was looking for me.  He wanted to tell me about his past three months.  He had been in some type of community program and had successfully been sober for 103 days!  I was quick to celebrate his success, but he was also quick to admit his failure.  He said that he lasted for about four days after he got out of the program — then he went back to his bottle.

He invited me over to his house to look at a collage that he had put together during his sober period at the center.  He told me that this was created by the “real Dave”.  I asked him if I could take a cell phone pic and share it with you.  Here it is (click to see it larger)…

I was pretty blown away by the intense imagery.  Several of the pics in the collage are of Dave, himself, from a very young age up to present.  He labeled the middle section his “black hole”, representing his decent into alcoholic and it’s oppression.  You can see where he took the word “decisions” and scrambled it to symbolize the confusion and hopelessness he feels.  You can also see that he thinks it’s time for a change and that the key to his hope, he thinks, is in heaven.  As you can guess, we had some good conversation today about his hope.

On the prayer walk we did with students two weeks ago, we stopped just outside of Dave’s residence and prayed for him as a group.  Several of the students have already met Dave and have been praying for him.  Several other students are now jumping on the bandwagon as a result of hearing the others pray for him.  As we were holding hands in a circle there, one of the students mentioned the creek that runs next to Dave’s property reminded him of the cleaning, purifying power of the Cross.  The picture he was seeing in his mind’s eye was that of every troubling “stone” in Dave’s life being washed away.  I teared up at that.

Will you join me in praying for Dave’s hope?  He’s searching.  He’s REALLY trying to free himself of his demons.  I believe that his “stones” are some day going to be washed away.  I’m praying and hoping for sooner than later.