Bowlin'

It is coming back. I remember the bowl cut. I might have to see if I can find an old picture. Enjoy this video from Tripp & Tyler show at Catalyst '10.

For the Youth Pastors

I thought this was pretty fun. Just a reminder to be yourself.

Dad Life

For all the dads! In Case you missed it. It makes me laugh every time!

MXP-7.27.10

Today has been amazing!!!! We have seen God at work all around us. This morning my team worked at the Warehouse sorting clothes (actually resorting them for the second time. had them separated then they told us they wanted them by season not by gender). The work was very tiring due to the heat but God sustained us. This evening my group went to Cooper's Court to do Kid's Camp. The kids got their a little late because they were on a slip-and-slide but were vary excited to listen to the story, make a craft, and play some kick ball and octopus. After the camps were over, we came back to the church for worship. The students got a double dose of me because I led worship along with Bobby Ross & Andrew MacKenzie and delivered the challenge. The message was on examining our relationships. We looked at the life of Job and how he kept his eyes on God even when he lost it all and all his friends gave him really bad advise. Here is the really exciting part about the day. Amber Sklar one of the students who came with us to MXP gave her life to Christ. It was awesome!!!!! That never gets old to see a student cross from death to life. The angels are celebrating. Pray that Amber will fight the good fight. It was truly amazing! Tons of other students responded and asked for prayer and accountability. Cool stuff! Continue to pray that God's favor is on us. The students are doing an incredible job. Wow! is all I have left.
Josh Britt

MXP10-7.26.10

Monday

Today we went to the church for the morning meeting, where we talked about our assignments for the day and did morning devos. After that we went to the sites we were assigned to and did our work for the day. I worked at the Cowboy Church moving rocks and gravel to prepare for laying a new floor. After we finished we came to the host homes where we swam and played pool during the afternoon. We went back to the church and had dinner which was amazing. We then went to our kids camp at Summerville Homes. We did recreation, crafts, and a bible story. I did the lesson tonight on Elijah at Mount Horab. It was a great time and the kids had fun. They all said they couldn't wait until tomorrow. After that we went back to church for worship and a lesson taught by David Little. We are now at the host homes getting ready for bed. Thanks so much for praying for us. We are having an amazing week. We can't wait to share about all that God is doing.

Andrew Mackenzie

The Volunteer

Night Without a Home

Night Without a Home : May 7 & 8

Poverty in the United States and around the world is consistently rising. 80% of the world lives in poverty (less than $10 a day and most much less than that). We must take notice and do something about it. Jesus told us to care for those in need, but so many times we are isolated from those needs and impoverished people. A Night without a Home will give is just a glimpse into the life a person who has no home to go to each night. This will be an experience you don't want to miss!

You might be asking, what are the details for the event?

What we will do: We will eat a meal together on friday night and make our own home for the night here at The Brook. The next morning we will eat breakfast before we leave. We will have various thought provoking things throughout the evening.

Time: Meet at The Brook at 6:30pm on Friday and end by 8am on Saturday morning.

What to bring: Great Attitude, 1 change of clothes just in case

What not to bring: Any electronics of any kind

Disclaimer: This is not a lock-in. Our goal is not not stay up all night but to experience just a glimpse of what it might be like to be homeless.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to email josh@thebrookchurch.com

Are Your Students Addicted?

Students are constantly connected these days. One of the ways they stay connected is via texting on their cellphones. Recent findings show that students are actually addicted. What about your students?

Teens "Addicted" to Texting
Four out of five teens admit to sleeping with their cell phones or keeping them near their beds. In fact, nearly one out of three teens between 12 and 17-years-old send over 100 texts a day, reports a study by Pew Research Center^®. The average adult sends just 10 text messages per day, but older teenage girls — aged 14-17 — send about 3,000 per month. One 16-year-old girl, who sends about 4,000 texts per month, now has carpal tunnel syndrome and needs surgery. [CBSNews.com]

Some final thoughts:

It is important to help your student set healthy limits. Taking the phone away at night can help improve your child's sleep. Students are learning habits both good and bad and texting at this rate can be harmful to their health. Help your students make wise choices both spiritually, physically, and mentally.

Rescued From an Ordinary Life

Rescued From an Ordinary Life

Students are faced with difficult circumstances every day. How they respond to adversity not only reveals the condition of their hearts, but is also a clear indicator of Jesus' influence on their lives. Rescued From An Ordinary Life is a life altering exploration of John 10:10. Josh Britt divides the verse into four parts - and each week he teaches on a different aspect; instructing, challenging, and encouraging students to respond to a God who wants to rescue them from an ordinary life and give them a better life than they ever dreamed of. Come every Sunday from 4:45pm to 7:00pm for this life changing series.

April 11 - When God Came Near

April 18 - Watch Our for the Thief

April 25 - A Life Well Lived

May 2 - Living Today with Hope for Eternity

Join The Movement

A student approached me after church with an idea of how we can share the message of Christ during the easter week. This is what she decided to do.

I want everybody to join me THIS friday, good friday, to draw black circles on your hands (like nail marks) to represent how when you decided give your life to Christ you died with Christ of your sins and follow him. This will give everybody an opportunity to share the true meaning of good friday with everyone :) wear them all day friday 4/2/10 and tell all your friends!

Share this with your friends and repost it to your blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. Lets start a movement!

Top 10 Reasons to Go to Big Stuf

We still have some space available for Big Stuf, June 7-11! This will be a summer event you don't want to miss. You want to do whatever it takes to get there with us. I've listed 10 reasons why you should go to Big Stuf.

Top Ten List

10. The drive with your friends to the beach. Time just hanging out and asking Josh...7000 times how much further. It's been 20 minutes for the last 6 hours!

9. You can't get a beach trip for a week for $375 anywhere else.

8. Growing in your relationship with Jesus! This will be a week you grow in both depth and width in both wisdom and knowledge of God.

7. Trying to take your leaders down in the pool.

6. Staying up way to late talking about how things will be when you get back home.

5. Days at the beach. Who can beat that? Time in the surf with your friends and several thousand other students.

4. Worship! The worship will be incredible. It will be memorable and powerful. The Band will rock every morning and evening.

3. Have I said the beach yet?

2. Powerful communicators will bring truth with amazing creativity and energy. Doug Fields, Jared Herd, and Stuart Hall will bring it.

1. Have the most life changing experience of your life. (bring a friend with you to)

Big Stuf will be amazing! Sign up today at www.72students.net. It will be worth every penny.

Help Our Kids This Easter Season

In order to make our "Easter Eggtravaganza" a success our kids, we need your help. We need a total of 300 dozen (yes, I said 300 dozen) plastic candy filled eggs (no chocolate please) to be donated no later than March 28th. We are asking you as students to please consider having you and some of your friends help out with this. If you could donate a dozen candy filled eggs that would make a huge dent in what is needed and you might even be able to do more. This is a great way to serve the children of our church and community. Lets make a difference!

New Series Starting This Weekend

The Cross
People wear a cross on necklaces, sport one on bumper stickers and even slap on across T-shirts, but what does the cross really stand for? What does it really mean? Over the next two weeks, we will take a look at the cross in a different way, a way that moves beyond gratitude and nostalgia to a way of life. The cross teaches us that we live so we can die, and we die so we can live.

Week One (3.21.10)
Most of us think of the cross as the place where Jesus died for us. That is true. But it’s also about more than that. The cross isn’t just the place where Jesus died. The cross is the place where we die too. It’s not just an event that happened thousands of years ago. It’s an ongoing part of being a follower of Jesus. This week students will discover the ongoing, sacrificial life Jesus called His disciples to lead—a life characterized by the cross.

Week Two (3.28.10)
If the cross is where we come to die, then how do we live? Because the cross is not the end of the story. There is also an empty tomb. The cross isn’t just about death, it’s about life. We die to something, but we also live as well. After all, Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV). This week, we’ll talk about not settling for a half-life, but a life that is full.

We hope you will be our guest during The Cross. We meet each week from 4:45pm to 7pm on Sunday nights at The Brook. This is for students in the 7th - 12th grade. Hope to see you soon. Leave a comment with any questions.

We Need Pictures

We need your help. We need you (our 72students) to send us 5 or 6 pictures of you doing everyday activities like brushing your teeth, walking your dog, doing your homework, working at your job, helping out with chores, hanging with your friends and family, etc. Send your pictures to Robert Ross at robert@72students.net by Friday, March 19^th. Feel free to use your cell phone or your digital camera to capture these activities. You don't want to be left out of this one. Start snapping!

5 Ways to Make Your Student Indifferent to God

5 Ways to Make Your Student Indifferent to God by Mark Cox

In youth ministry, one of the hardest things I’ve had to experience is leading students into a growing relationship with Jesus, while their parents are doing the opposite. In a lot of cases, the parent wants the best for his/her teenager. It’s just that their definition of “best” might not match up with mine. There are some hard-and-fast rules to engage if you don’t want your teenager to care about God. The following are just a few.

1. Make sure their extra-curricular activities are priority over church. You should always make sure that their scholarships are intact, and that they don’t get kicked off the team. That’s definitely more important than their relationship with Christ and eternity, for that matter.

2. When your teenager screws up, ground them from church. Of course! If they don’t care that you take away their TV, cell phone, or friend time, hit them where it hurts. Take away church. Yeah – that oughta do it.

3. Don’t call them out when they need guidance. Always let them make their own mistakes. And if they’re about to do something super-destructive, it’s probably best that they learn on their own. Because learning it the hard way is always the necessary path, right?

4. Talk negatively about your church staff around your teenager. If your pastor messes up, make sure that you call a family meeting to roast him. You should definitely let your teenager know that people can’t be trusted, especially incompetent church leaders. Your teenager needs to know that trusting church leaders isn’t smart! If they don’t trust church leaders, there’s a small chance they’ll ever accept God’s direction in their life. And that’s the safer way to live.

5. Don’t model real faith. At the end of the day, the last thing you want to do, if you want your teenager to ignore God’s voice, is to follow it yourself.

Please know my heart on this issue. We parents need to be leading our families to Jesus every chance we get. Maybe it’s time to take inventory of who or what we’re actually leading our families to.

After all, actions speak louder than words.

Mark Cox is the Student Pastor at Indian Springs Baptist Church. Stalk him at his blog www.thinknextnow.com or on Twitter @markhcox.

Stories Series Drops Sunday

You don't want to miss our new series, stories, starting this weekend. Everything kicks off at 4:45pm and ends by 7pm. It will be a great series of powerful stories and life changing moments. This will be a great series to invite a friend to. Also...don't forget this weekend is the final weekend to get the $50 discount for Big Stuf Camp, if you pay your $50 deposit. Make sure you invite a friend to come with us to Panama City Beach in June. It could be the best decision they have ever made for their summer. Head over the www.72students.net for more details and to sign up!

Don't Miss This Sunday!

You don't want to miss this party! We are going to give away some great stuff and have a ton of fun. I hope you will invite your friends. It could make the difference in their eternity. We are going to share the Gospel.