The HWY53 summer camps are coming up quickly! We still HAVE to fill spots! Please sign up ASAP!  Summer camp is a great time for our students to disconnect from the busyness of life and reconnect with the Lord and each other.  Each year, we see tons of students renew a passion for the Lord in their hearts and increase their devotion for Him in everyday life.  This is something you do not want your student to miss.

Middle school students will be going back to Student Life camp on June 18th-22nd at Wake Forest University in Winston-Sale, NC.  The cost is $350 but you can reserve a spot for $100!

High school students will be attending Mission Fuge on June 10th-14th in Clinton, MS.  The cost is $350 but you can reserve a spot for $100!

THE DEADLINE TO SIGN UP AND PAY FOR SUMMER CAMP IS MAY 20th!!!!!!

Sign up at church on Wednesday nights at Crowded House or Sunday mornings before or after any of our worship services.  We would love to see every spot filled and tons of students give up a week of their summer for tons of fun yet a huge growing experience.

The HWY53 student ministry is hosting a 5k called “Chasing Africa” on May 5th, 2012 to raise money to help build the church and school, Syonga, in Uganda Africa!  The student leadership team talked and prayed about ways to raise support to see this church built in rural Africa and our young leaders decided that a 5k would be a great way to accomplish this task and even reach out to the community!

So here are some of the details you need to know:

When: May 5th, 2012

Time: registration at 7:30 am,  Race begins at 9:00am

Where: Downtown Oakwood, in front of the park and police department

Cost: $25 dollars per runner  (T-shirt included!!!)

Who can run? All are welcome! There will be winners for all age groups!

How do I sign up? – Entry forms will be available all over Chestnut Mountain Church over the next month or Download an entry form here.

ALL proceeds will go directly to Helping Hands Foreign Missions who will then make sure the money gets to Pastor Joseph of Syonga in rural Uganda!

Be on the lookout for more info and ways you can help make this 5k happen!  Spread the word! It is open for all people!

D-Now is this weekend!! Months of planning and prayer are finally coming together for UNSHAKEN 2012 and we hope that all involved are prepared for a huge movement of God.  Just to make sure all the needed information is out there and hopefully answer any last minute questions, here is a list of several things and few facts you need to know!

First, what to bring!  Students need to bring:

• sleeping bag (or other bedding, but be prepared to sleep on the floor!)
• toiletries
• Towel
• casual clothing
• Bible, pen, journal
• Jeans to wear with D-Now shirt Sunday morning
• snacks
• heart ready to chase after God!

Next, some of you may need Lakewood’s address if you are coming and going due to a sport or something else.
2235 Thompson Bridge Rd
Gainesville, Ga 30501

 

If you are unsure if your child(ren) has an Assumption of Risk/ Medical Release form, click the link to download and please fill one out & either bring it to Haley no later than Wednesday or fax it to 770.967.0680.

Registration begins at CMC at 4:30 pm in the West Lobby and dinner will be served in the gym after the student has registered!  D-Now will be finished at 11:45 am on Sunday after the morning worship at CMC.

We are looking forward to all God is going to do in the life our students, church, and entire community.  Be praying and reading through Hebrews 12:26-29 (our focus scripture for the weekend).

**For more information, check the DNOW 2012 tab on the home screen of this website!

Parents and students!! Summer camp is closer than you think and it is going to cost $350 for both the middle school and high school camp! We know that this is a lot of money but as a student ministry, we believe that summer camp is such an important part of our students learning and growing in their relationships with Jesus Christ.  So because of this importance, we want to help any and all students get to camp and find the necessary financial support to make it there!

This year the HWy53 student ministry had discount cards made.  At $10 per card (at least $10 cheaper than most other discount cards in the area) a student can offer great deals to people in the community and raise support for summer camp.  For instance, if a student sells 10 HWY53 discount cards, he or she will get $50 taken off his or her summer camp expense!  For every card sold, $5 is subtracted from the student’s summer camp balance.  Parents, you and your student can sell as many cards as you please in order to raise as much money as you need to send your student to summer camp!

All you have to do is contact Haley Byers (hbyers@chestnutmountain.org) or Trey Hildebrant (thildebrant@chestnutmountain.org) at church or by email to reserve some of the discount cards.  So hurry and reserve some cards and sign up for summer camp ASAP!! You don’t want to miss out on all God could do in your life this summer!

The HWY53 junior and senior guys FUSED group will be hosting a 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament to raise funds to help build a church in Africa.  The student ministry has taken on the project of building a church in Uganda and the journey ahead is going to be long and require tons of prayer and work but we are confident that God is going to use our students to build this church.  The high school boys have stepped up and have decided to host a very simple 3-on-3 basketball tournament in hopes that money and awareness will be raised to see this project through.

When:  Saturday March 3rd, 2012

Time:  Registration begins at 10:00am, Tournament at 11:00am to finish.

Where:  Chestnut Mountain Church gym

Cost:  $10 dollars per player, 3-5 players per team.

Rules will be discussed at the event!

 

So grab a few guys and come support our high school guys as they take steps to help take the gospel to Uganda.

We have been having a blast at Crowded House talking about dating and romantic relationships with the HWY53 students.  This Wednesday, February 1st, a panel of women will be answering questions the girls in the group have been asking over the past month.  We will be talking through questions like,

“Is it ok for Christians to be “lovey-dunny” in the hallways at school?”

” How do you tell your parents you are dating, and what if they don’t like the guy?”
(There are several questions that deal with how to interact with parents while dating!!  We have your backs though Mom and Dad!!!)

“What do you do if you really love each other in a relationship but he starts treating you badly?”

 

These are just a glimpse into some of the questions we will be diving into at Crowded House this coming Wednesday.  We simply want the young ladies in the student ministry to know how they loved they are and how treasured they are to Jesus.  Self-image, self-worth, and popularity can drive girls into pursuing relationships at a young age and we pray that God opens eyes to His love and helps the girls who are at this week’s Crowded House feel worthy in Him.  Please pray for our panel and everyone who will be involved, especially the young ladies, this week!

 

This Wednesday night, January 25th, at Crowded House we will be answering questions that guys have asked about dating and relationships.  Three men will form a panel to answer the questions and Trey will be filtering the questions to them and allowing the men to answer.  We have already sorted through the questions so nothing will be taking anyone off guard!!  We will looking into questions like,

“Do pick up lines work?…..Well this question really was asked.  We may throw in a couple of funny ones then get to the serious stuff!  Like…

“What does the Bible say about boundaries?

“Why is it ‘illegal’ for me to have female friends while we (he and another girl) are dating?”

“Why is everything ALWAYS our fault?”

This is just a glimpse at the type of conversation will we be having with the HWY53 students Wednesday night.  Through answering these questions, we want to help guide these young men into a better understanding of their role as Godly leaders in relationships and challenge them to treat girls like as the daughters of God they are.  We will wrap up the night challenging our guys to be “Men of Courage” in how they handle relationships with girls.  Its going to be fun!!

PARENTS!  We WILL be posting a podcast the day after each part of this series.  So, if you want to listen to what your student has been learning at Crowded House, check it out here at HWY53.org.

 

So the “Boy Meets Girl” series is getting kicked off this Wednesday Jan. 18th and I am sure that many parents are curious to know what each night’s content looks like.  Each week, a blog will be posted giving as much specific info related to the content of each Crowded House during the “Boy Meets Girl” series.  This coming Wednesday, we will dive into why we even “date” in the first place.  We have to figure out what is the end to the means of dating and what is God’s plan for that end.  We know that the scriptures speak about marriage often and explains what God’s design for a marriage is.  So by taking truth from God’s word about marriage we are going to try and back track to speak Biblically about dating.

Also, emotions and how we easily give parts of a ourselves away emotionally when we date, “talk”, text or whatever with someone from the opposite sex, will be discussed.  We all give pieces of ourselves away when we date and our prayer for your student would be that they grow to be more cautious about who they date and when they date.  It is a goal of ours that they would know the value of falling in love with Jesus way before falling in love with someone else.

As always, you can contact me, Trey Hildebrant, at the church number (770) 967-3197 or even on my cell (678) 617-3794 and also from email THildebrant@chestnutmountain.org if you have any concerns o  Please join with us in praying for the lives of our students and the God’s wisdom and grace to be preached each night.

Its that time of year again when student ministries all over begin to talk about dating and romantic relationships.  These type of conversations receive two very different responses sometimes.  Students are usually excited and interested to talk about dating and the opposite sex while parents always gasp and worry (and rightly so!)  a bit about what their students will be hearing and learning during a dating series at church.  The HWY53 student ministry wants to and must partner with parents to disciple students so we know it is valuable for parents to be completely in the ‘know’ when it comes to the content for the “Boy Meets Girl” dating series.

This series will be four weeks long (January 18th – February 15th – Feb. 8th is our monthly One Wednesday) and two of those weeks will be question/answer sessions.  There is a box in the student center where students can drop their questions about dating.  A group of us will then filter the questions, picking the appropriate and most relevant ones, and a panel of men and women will help answer the chosen selection of questions.  January 25th will be focused on answering questions asked by the guys and February 1st will be focused on answering questions asked by the girls.

The goal to is to help our teenagers and pre-teens know God’s design for romantic relationships and hopefully shed Biblical light on the issues and questions they have regarding this very important area of life.  We know that this is a topic that MANY teenagers are dealing with and wrestling with in the hearts, thoughts, and lives.  We pray that God grants us all graceful wisdom as we gently communicate God’s truth in a way that helps students live devoted to Christ in their dating relationships, whether they are currently dating or not.

If you have ANY concerns or questions, please call Trey Hildebrant at (678) 617-3794 or email at Thildebrant@chestnutmountain.org

We know every student loves to go to camp but we also know that parents are asked to take on a pretty large expense to get them there!  However, if you reserve a spot now and spread the payments out over the next few months, perhaps the blow to pay for summer camp won’t be so intense!

High schoolers will be going to Mission Fuge on June 10 – 14th.  The camp is in Clinton, Mississippi and we will be staying on Mississippi College’s campus.  Each day will be filled with worship and mission work in the local community.  This is a great camp for students to connect with God personally yet also display His love to others publicly through serving.  The cost is $350 dollars and you can reserve spots NOW for $100!  For more info check out out http://www2.lifeway.com/fuge/index.php/pages/events/mfuge/

Middle school schoolers will be going to a Student Life camp at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on June 18th – 22nd!  Middle school is such a crucial stage in life and we believe Student Life produces the best environment and teaching to help middle school students connect with God personally and grow in their devotion to Him.  Middle School camp will also cost $350 and you can reserve a spot NOW for $100!  For more info, check out http://www.studentlife.com/events/event-search.php?type=youth

We look forward to a great summer in the HWY53 Student Ministry!