I love to find videos that help and back up what I am teaching. Students respond very well to video, and I try and use it every chance that I get.
Here are some that I came across recently, and they are great:
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Rest in the Promises of God
Some thoughts to encourage you today:
Rest in the promises of God-
II Samuel 22:1-31
Here are some promises that you can rest in today:
I. The Presence of God- II Samuel 22:7
- Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
- This is not just a promise to make you feel good today. This is in the very nature and character of God. It is rooted much deeper. God is omnipresent. He is everwhere at all times. Try and wrap your mind around that for a bit.
- When I was young, I struggled staying away from the house. I wanted to be at my house with my parents. I would cry when I would stay at other people’s houses, and would go home, because I would cry needing my parents. Now, this is quite embarassing, but the point is that I needed the presece of my parents, and I was okay! You are always okay when you have Jesus by your side.
- You can be fearless in His presence today!
II. The Protection of God- II Samuel 22:2-4
- It is not always protection from, sometimes, it is protection through.
- Psalm 125:2 says, “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about His people from henceforth even forever.
- God knows everything- God is omniscient.There are no secrets with God.
- God reveals to us only what we need to know
- God is working in secret even when we do not see it.
III. The Provision of God- II Samuel 22:31,33
- God has a plan. Remember this thought, “His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.”
- Remember God is the designer of your life, and He has a plan.
- Trust in His Provision!
Altar, Fire, Rain
As you know, we have had revival all this week. It began on Sunday and continued through tonight. Now, when we say revival, we mean the actual services. We have been praying for personal revival for a long time to come to ourselves, our families, our church, and our community! This week, the messages have all been to the saints. Each speaker has spoke to the church people. I believe God is trying to say something to us. We worry so much with how the world is going astray, but what about the people within the church? I am convinced that the reason we are not seeing genuine revival in each of the areas I mentioned earlier is because the saints are not personally experiencing it. Our theme and motto has been, “Lord, send a great revival, and let it begin in me!” It is impossible to experience revival in our student ministry or church if the people have not personally experienced it. I knew of this, but it hit me this week more than ever.
Well, tonight was the final night of the revival. Tom Wagoner was bringing his final message to the church at Union Grove. We had a packed house. God was all over it. God led Pastor Wagoner to speak out of I Kings 18 when Elijah went up against the prophets of Baal. This is such a familiar story, but the Lord brought out many new things to me. If you look closely at the passage….well, let me give you some background first. It had not rained in 3 and a half years. Could you imagine what life would be like without rain for that long? Well, they experienced it for real. Everyone was mad at Elijah, because he predicted it. God took care of his man during this trial of his life. By the way, God will always take care of you when you are serving Him! His protection is not always from things, but sometimes it can be through things! After 3 and a half years, Elijah demands from Obadiah to meet Ahab. He challenges him to go up against the prophets of Baal and then he will see rain. Then, we know the end of the story, the prophets of Baal call on Baal for rain, and nothing happens. Then, Elijah calls on Jehovah, and fire comes down. Then, shortly after, rain comes! During the calling out of the prophets of Baal, they tore up the altar. So, before Elijah called out to God, he reparied the altar. Then, fire came down and lastly, the rain.
- Repair the Altar – If you want to experience revival, you must get on your knees and grow your personal relationship with Jesus! I was convicted tonight, because I have been praying for the Grove to experience revival, but I was not as their leader. I must experience it before they can!
- Through the Fire – Then, the fire comes. Sometimes, when God is preparing us for rain, He brings us through some fire. Be prepared, but always pray and trust through the fire!
- Experience the Rain – After you have experienced personal heartfelt revival and then have come through the fire. You are ready to experience the rain and blessing that God will bring His children. There is nothing like it. God can send another great revival today!
Church Attendance
As I look across the young guys coming up in church life, I can see that church attendance is slowly decreasing. It bothers me that so many guys do not see the importance in attending church regularly. I just want to say that I believe it is Biblical to attend church. I believe it is something that we all should do as believers. If we consider ourselves a part of a local church, we must put our all into the local church.
Tonight, our church is having revival, and I am going to watch online. It absolutely KILLS me that I cannot be a part of the revival. Now, I am in 3 services on Sunday, service on Wednesday, and many other regular services. That still does not change my responsibility to my local church to be a part of special scheduled services. I want to be there so bad. I miss the Word of God being taught to me at church. I miss the music that is sung at church. I miss the fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ! I miss seeing my students. There is so much that I miss when I cannot go to church, it is not worth it!
GO TO CHURCH!!!
Lynlee Jewel Evans- 2 month Video
Well, it has been two months since Abby and I welcomed our new baby girl into the world! Lynlee Jewel Evans was born on June 19th (Father’s Day)! She weighed 6 lbs 6 ounces and was 19 inches long. She is the cutest thing ever! Abby and I count is such a privilege and honor to be her parents. We realize that it is a difficult thing to do, but every time we look into Lynlee’s eyes, it is completely worth it ALL!! Here is a video highlighting her first two months. Hope you enjoy:
New Grove Intro Video
We normally do new Grove intro videos, and occasionally I will share some of them on my blog so you can get some ideas for your student ministry. Here is a pretty funny one, and I thought I would pass it along.
A Letter from Pastor Josh to the Grove:
Good Morning,
This past Wednesday, we had a fantastic time with our parents. Parents, I just want to say “Thank You” so much for taking the time out of your schedule to spend the evening with us so that we can get to know you guys better, and that you can stay connected to the Grove! We hope that this past Wednesday was worshipful, challenging, informative, and enjoyable. We discussed a lot of things, and I appreciate your patience during the evening. If you were concerned or have a question about anything that we discussed, please let me know.
We have had some confusion about online quiet time/WOL books. If you go online to our website, we have posted a new form that might be easier to understand. It gives the options of purchasing a book, online quiet time, verse packs, etc. If your student chooses to go to the online devotions, they are responsible for going here to register and pay online themselves. Please note that the online quiet time is a great resource, but they do not have verse memory on there so they would still need to purchase a verse pack from off of our website. We are trying to place our order by the end of today so if you can let us know if your student will be purchasing a book or verse pack that would be helpful. If your student does their own devotions and not interested in purchasing a WOL book, please print the form out from our website and turn it in asap. We still need their contact information. If you have any further questions about this, please let us know.
It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over! We are gearing up to kick off another year of Word of Life. My first WOL year flew by, and we are looking forward to another! Our first night is August 31st. We begin at 6 pm and conclude at 8 pm. I encourage you to have your student to be there for the first night of WOL! We are hoping that our WOL books and Verse Packs will be in by the 31st. I have attached an updated Small group list for this coming year. If you have any further questions regarding the list, please let us know!
Even though the summer is about over, we still have many upcoming events you need to be aware of:
- August 20 – CEF Evangelism Training Canceled
- August 21-24 – Revival Services – They will be held at Union Grove at 7 pm each evening. Invite your students, friends, & family.
- August 27 – Winston Salem Dash Game – The cost will be $10 per person. Everyone must be signed up by this Sunday for the Dash Game!!!
- August 29 – Jamaica Mission Trip meeting – This trip is for 10th-12th graders, parents, & leaders. If you are interested in attending the mission trip, you need to be at this meeting.
- August 31 – WOL BEGINS – The times for the night are from 6-8 pm in the gym.
- September 10 – Family Fun Festival – 3-7 pm, invite your friends and the people within your community.
- October 1 – Volunteering at the Miracle League in High Point - 10th-12th grades. Bring $6 for Cici’s
- October 8 – Photo Scavenger Hunt (Cost is $5 per person, and the times are from 5-9 pm)
- October 13 – Serving North Davidson JV football team – The JV football team from North will come to our church at 3:45 pm, and we will serve them a pre game meal.
- October 14 – Serving North Davidson V football team – The V football team from North will come to our church at 3:45 pm, and we will serve them a pre game meal.
- October 15 – Volunteering at the Miracle League in High Point – 7th – 9th grades. Bring $6 for Cici’s
- October 22 – Liberty Scaremare (Cost is $8 per person)
- November 12 – Ice Skating
- January 27-28 – Ski Retreat (registration form with prices listed on our website under downloads). We have some killer deals this year for you!
- March 10 – Area Teens Involved
- April 13-14 – Regional Teens Involved
- June 22-29 – Jamaica Mission Trip – The estimated cost of the trip will be $1300 per person (This is open for all 10th-12 graders as well as all Grove leaders & parents)
- July 6-13 – WOL Camp
I understand that there is a ton going on, and we are trying to keep you as informed as possible and keep the cost as low as possible. I have listed some long term events on in to 2012 so you can schedule your calendar accordingly. If you ever have questions or want quick information regarding the Grove, check out our facebook page or check out the website here. On our website, you can find what the Grove is about, documents, calendar of events, and much more. You can also follow us on twitter (@ugbcgrove) for instant information regarding the Grove. We love and appreciate you. We also count it a privilege to serve alongside of you this year! God bless you!
P.S. If you want to know and get more connected with my family, please visit my wife’s blog at: http://lynleeandme.blogspot.com/.
In His Service,
Josh Evans
Top Apps for the IPHONE4
As you know according to my recent post, I am now an an IPHONE4 user. My droid went swimming in the pool, and therefore, I was forced to get a new phone. It was not a bad thing since I was still using the Droid Eris. I liked the Eris, but since I got it, technology has developed so much more! Here are some apps that I have found to be extremely helpful for student pastors on the IPHONE4:
- Mapquest – This is a great app. The one thing I did not like about the Iphone4 is it did not have a gps. Well, I searched and I only found paid apps for the gps. I asked my brother in law, and he shared this app with me. This is a free app, and it has a built in gps. It has turn by turn voice talk on it and everything. It tells you the estimated time of arrival as well.
- Dropbox – I love dropbox. If you do not have dropbox, you need to get it! It is awesome. Dropbox is a simple way of sharing documents. I put a document in dropbox, and can immediately see it on several different computers. It works sort of like a network drive.
- Youversion – This is the best Bible app that I have found! I love it. It is great. You can make notes and choose from different versions of the Bible.
- Group Text – This is a paid app, but it is worth it. This is the easiest way to send texts to large groups of people at one time.
- Places – This app is through google. You can search for anything, and it will find what you are searching for in a certain mile radius! It is awesome.
Hope this helps. There are many apps I could have mentioned, but these are great for youth pastors in my opinion.
YPF
You might be thinking, “what in the world is YPF.” It is actually very simple. It stands for youth pastor fellowship. It is where some of us area student pastors get together to connect, discuss life and ministry, share with one another, and pray for our community! The reason that we call it YPF is really cool….okay, actually, we could not think of a sweet and creative way so we went with that! We started this today! I had the privilege of going to spend some quality time with some student pastors. There were 7 of us at the meeting, and it went great! I connected with 3 new student pastors that I had never met before. We also heard what is working in other youth groups and what is not working.
Then, we went to lunch. If it is a youth pastor anything, there must be food to attract people. Basically, I learned today the value of having some key guys in ministry that I can vent too, and be honest with about life and ministry. If you do not have these type of guys in your ministry, GET SOME! You need them, and they need you. If we are not careful, we can isolate ourselves, when we are called by God to create a community and relate with one another!
Two False Assumptions we can make
Perry Noble is one of my favorite guys! He has a ton of great resources for leaders, and I thought this could be helpful:
#1 – That People Know They Can Come To Church
In my personal conversations with unchurched people there are SO MANY of them who think they cannot come to church…they think their lives are so messed up that the church would reject them (and…some of them actually have stories of that happening.)
They don’t know!!! We have GOT to stop assuming that unchurched people know about our church and they will feel welcomed the minute they walk in…going to a church for the first time is HIGHLY uncomfortable…and so rather than work through that many simply choose to not go. It doesn’t mean they are bad people…it just means they just don’t think they can go to church.
So…we’ve GOT to embrace this and purposefully invite people…personally…eye to eye!!!
#2 – That People Know That Jesus Died For Their Sins
So many people (ever here in the South) have NEVER heard the Gospel! We cannot assume that people know the message…even if they grew up in church. We’ve GOT to be intentional about not making assumptions…Matthew 7:21-23 tells us about people who were “good people” but never embraced Christ! (AND…before you get mad…those are the very words of Jesus!)
So NewSpring…it begins today (if it hasn’t began already)…let’s do EVERYTHING we can to get people to church this weekend!
