Hi! This page is for longer updates than fit well in our monthly emails. Anticipate this being updated monthly, around the same time as the emails. 

January 9, 2020

Happy New Year! We started off well with a great retreat! Those who went were challenged to really start thinking about their faith and living surrounded by a people without faith in God. We took time one evening, in the midst of all the fun (there was lots!) to pray. We had 10 stations set up around our meeting room to go around, praying for others, reading God's word, praying for ourselves, and seeing what God had in mind to show us. It hit me more than I expected, and many of them too. God is good! One of our goals for this retreat was a great unity in our group. After each person finished the 10 stations, they went to the middle of the room and started praying for their friends around them. It was great. God was at work more than I expected and I'm sure still more than I know. Keep praying for these students. 

Lessons

Our students are close to finishing out studying the Old Testament in Sunday School. They'll be halfway through a three-year rotation of going through the whole Bible. We've been in the prophets, and will be back soon (Ezra and Esther first). That and more conversations have gotten me thinking of prophecy. A huge percentage of scripture is on prophecy, and prophecy brings hope. Hope is something we alone as believers have on this earth. I don't have the details set, but anticipate a study on prophecy (perhaps especially Daniel/Revelation) coming soon. ALSO, it's been a year since we really spent time on relationships and godly sexuality. That will be soon, too! I'd be glad to hear your thoughts and your perspective of where your students are with both of these topics!

Upcoming Events

• Super Bowl Party! - February 2, 6:30-9:30pm (maybe until the game ends, but we'll start wrapping up around 9:30)
  This is about our biggest event of the year (though that bonfire night was great)! An easy time to invite friends for all sorts of games and plenty of food--with a gospel-sharing devotional at halftime.

Ways to pray

• Continued unity and strength of relationships. We have fewer events scheduled, which can be a relief, yet at the same time we don't want to lose good momentum and we want build strong relationships. 
• Wisdom for leadership as we make decisions and plans for now and for the summer.
• A heart and love for others

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December 4, 2019

Lessons

• Sunday school has been going through the Prophets lately. Not spending a great deal of time on them, but hitting some helpful parts. Your students are learning more of what the Bible is about, how to understand the Old Testament in view of today.
• High school teachers: Craig Reynolds, Andrew Hollingsworth, and Joe Randall. They teach, typically, on a 2-week, 2-week, 1-week rotation, respectively.
• Middle school teachers: Jonathan, Nathan Pavey, and Rachel J. as a sub. We alternate months.
• YG (update coming!)
• Trek (update coming!)

Recent Events

• Youth group as normal. It’s been a strange semester in my mind. We haven’t had a “normal” string of youth group meetings until now. We just had two in a row, and SGB this Sunday (which is normal enough), then our Christmas party.
• I started praying some last spring that God might increase the size of our group. I saw that we had the “structure” in place for more. We had more leaders than we needed at the time (not a bad thing!!), and I could see how we could grow. I really thought and prayed about praying for a bigger group. Finally, I humbly asked God.
• And he decided it was a good idea. In the last 6 years, our group hasn’t been as big as it is now. We’re averaging 50-55 each week, with about 75 at our Bonfire Night. (In perspective, last year was 40-45.
• Some of these students are new to church entirely (!), many are friends of our students who attend other churches. They are often involved in those other churches but are free on Sunday nights. We welcome everybody and are excited to get to love on these students and share more of God’s truth with them! (By the way, if you know any of those parents, feel free to encourage them to sign up to be on the email and/or texting list.) If you’re curious, yep, both homeschool and public school are among the new faces.
• I’ve felt strange too about this semester because I have more free weekends. I resist the temptation to feel like this is wrong, but I’d love to hear more from you. Are we doing well in making more time for your students to have other activities OTHER than church?
• This can be beneficial for our students by not taking up as much of their social interactions and providing space to invite other friends. And for better or worse, if the group hangs out less it can be easier to bring more people into the “club.”
• Or in this fewer formal activities, is there an unfilled gap in their spiritual growth that we (WGC) could help with?
• Overall, from your perspective, what’s good about this semester and what could be better. Whether that’s going back to something or starting something new?

Upcoming Events

Ways to Pray

Ways to Help

If you or someone you know is theologically sound and interested in teaching MS Sunday school, talk with Jonathan. Nathan is great but will be moving after his wife finishes med school in the spring. 

I really enjoy time with your students--thank you!

Jonathan