Nearsighted

We kicked off a brand new series tonight at Relevant! We've been praying specifically for the past few months for our Nearsighted series. Created and written by our Relevant team, Nearsighted is aimed at helping teens figure out the difference of living for the "here and now" as opposed to working towards God's bigger picture. Here's what Ryan unpacked for us tonight:

So much of the time we focus only on the here and now. Oftentimes, we don't realize that the choices we make today impact our lives tomorrow. God wants us to focus on the bigger story- not just our wants and desires of today. What are some of the desires in our hearts today that are preventing us from seeing God's bigger picture? Are we seeking after what is only momentarily satisfying?

This week talk with your teen about how our choices today have a huge impact on our lives tomorrow. Questions about the series? Email us at ryan@onechurch.tv or caitlin@onechurch.tv

Grow Up- Night 3

Tonight at Remix Ryan gave an eye opening talk about influences in our lives as well as our own influence in others' lives. He discussed how negative influences can quickly steer us off course; but also how positive influences can bring us closer in our relationship with God. Here's a quick recap:

Session Three: Big Team (9/21/11)

Who has had the most influence in your life? Your mom? Your dad? A coach? A camp counselor? There are all kinds of people that play a part in our lives, in our stories. And some of these people have played a part in how you see God. In fact, God has used some of those relationships to grow your faith. We call these relationships providential because they are about having the right people in your life at just the right time.

Session Three Parent Cue: Who are the people in your life who have had a direct impact on your relationship with God? In what way did these people influence, guide or encourage you? 

Take a couple of minutes to talk with your teen about examining the relationships in their life. Need a few pointers on how to get the conversation started? We'd love to help! Email us at ryan@onechurch.tv or caitlin@onechurch.tv

Grow Up- Night 2

Last night Ryan continued our Grow Up series. He discussed the idea of how our faith requires action. He presented the idea that simply saying we believe in God isn't enough; we have to do something with our faith. Here's a quick run down of what we talked about:

Session Two: Big Life (9/14/11)

You can know a lot. Maybe you know the stats of every football player in the NFL. Maybe you know the cheat codes to hundreds of games. Maybe you know every Scripture in the New Testament. But unless you do something with what you know, then what you know isn’t enough. Especially when it comes to our faith. God’s truth was meant to be put into action. It was meant to affect our lives, our relationships. And when we begin to live out the truths we know, something happens to us our faith. It begins to grow.

Session Two Parent Cue: What is one truth that you know from the Bible that you can commit to live out this week? Follow up with each other to see how that’s going.

Have any thoughts to add? Any stories about your own spiritual growth when you acted on your faith? We'd love to hear about it! Talk with your teen this week about what real faith looks like in their lives. Send Ryan or Caitlin an email with any comments or questions at ryan@onechurch.tv or caitlin@onechurch.tv

Grow Up- Night 1

Last night Ryan kicked off our newest series, Grow Up. We're stoked about this 6 week series and have been praying for God to really transform lives over the next few weeks. Here's a brief description of what we discussed last night. 

Session One: Big Faith (9/7/11)

Your faith in God matters to God. In fact, God is most honored through your living, active, death-defying, out-of-the-box faith. That being the case, He’s committed to growing it. Big. Imagine how differently you would respond to difficulties, temptations, and even good things if you knew with certainty that God was in all of it and was planning to leverage it for good. But in order for all of that to happen, there’s one thing it all hinges on—your trust.

Session One Parent Cue: What area of your life are you most reluctant to trust God? Why?

Please take a few minutes to talk with your teen about what real faith looks like in our everyday lives. Questions about the series or how to get the conversation started? Email us at ryan@onechurch.tv or caitlin@onechurch.tv

Grow Up- New series starting 9/7/11

Tomorrow night we start our second series of the year, Grow Up. We're pumped about transitioning from our last series, Through the Window. Over the course of the next five weeks, we'll be examining how to apply what the Bible says to our everyday lives. Here's a quick run down of what we'll be discussing.

Do your students ever wish they could just grow up? Maybe they yearn for the day they will get their driver's licenses. Or graduate from high school. Or go away to college. They don't really want to be kids anymore. They want to be seen as adults. They want to feel like they've moved on, grown up.

We all know how that happens physically, but what about spiritually? How do we know we're growing in our faith? How do we know we're moving forward in that area of our lives? The good news is that God is just as passionate about growing our faith as we are. And there are five ways He will use to do that- some involving things that we probably already know, and other ways that we may have never thought about before.

Please pray for us and your students as we start this new series tomorrow, September 7 at 7 pm! 

Through the Window- Night 3

In the last session of our first series, Through the Window, Ryan closed with some final thoughts on worship. He unpacked how we can continue to worship God not just on Sunday mornings, but in all areas of our lives.

Session 3: We Are Grateful (08/31/11)

When we see our worship as more than just a few minutes on Sunday morning and learn to be honest with God in our worship, we begin to get a more complete picture of who God is and who we are. But once we have broken into an authentic view of worship and learned that it’s ok to express the deepest parts of ourselves to God, where do we go? How do we move forward and not get stuck in the process of pain and hurt? When we remember the former things—when we remember who God has been to us in the past—we allow God to rearrange our broken window into something new and beautiful.

Session 3 Parent Cue: Do you think you tend to see life through the lens of your pain or through who you know God to be? What are the characteristics of God you have seen when He came through for you in some really tough times? How would seeing God this way all the time change the way you handle more difficult times?

We hope you can find a couple of minutes to sit down with your teen and talk about ways to worship God with all that they do, not just in a church service. Questions? Email us at ryan@onechurch.tv or caitlin@onechurch.tv