Sunday, May 12, 2013
These notes every class, the announcements, the preaching and a lot of what we do with the Teens of Faith is about preparing.
Preparing for what? Well, preparing for life, I guess. The preaching prepares you to live a disciplined, godly life. The announcement sheets prepare you for upcoming activities and things to think about. The notes are usually thoughtful ideas on how to prepare for something. Lately I’ve been writing the notes to prepare you for the upcoming 7th graders and the interns. I try to prepare you for any upcoming guest speakers, so that when they get here you’re not surprised to see them and you don’t know their names. Prepare.
One of the reasons the Preaching Rally has been such a blast is because we’re prepared for it. People are in their places and everything runs smoothly. When things don’t run smoothly, it’s usually because I didn’t prepare for it. In everything you do, prepare. Get your heart and mind ready. Think through what is at stake, what is coming into play, and where you want to be.
Take camp, for instance. I am already starting to prepare for the spiritual impact of camp, and you should be too. What do you want God to do in your life? Think about it. Are you doing anything to prepare for that right now? Maybe you’re thinking, “I want God to call me to preach,” or “I want God to convict me about my Bible reading,” or “I want to learn how to get over my bitterness,” or “I want to come away from camp and never miss a service at church,” or “I want to learn how to control my thoughts.” Whatever you want God to do in your life will take work. It’s not going to be “WAMMO! Now I’m Super-Christian!” It will take a process.
So what are you doing to prepare for that process? God WILL answer all your spiritual needs. How? Through His Word. At camp, how is that primarily done? Through preaching. How can you prepare for the preaching?
Well, a simple way I did it last week was just Googled the preacher’s name (Google: Pastor John Goetsch Jr.), found his church in Yuma, AZ, went to the contact page and sent the church an email telling him that I was praying for God to use him this Summer at our youth camp. He emailed me back the same day and said he was very encouraged and can’t wait to meet our church. How cool! And it was so easy. That’s a simple preparation. What can you do?
-Bro. Ryan
PROMOTION SUNDAY – It’s coming up soon! We’ll have the new 7th graders (the current 6th graders) AND the new interns (Bro. Garrett and Bro. Tim) in our class on Sunday, June 2. Be sure to be kind and welcoming (Love God. Love others. Do right).