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!

The HWY53 Student Ministry at Chestnut Mountain Church has a busy but exciting semester ahead.  God has been faithful in providing clear direction and new ideas to help teach students that gospel and help grow them into more fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

One Life, One Purchase is a new idea that will hopefully help students help students share the love of Jesus Christ in their schools and daily lives.  To kick off this movement, we are making “One Life, One Purchase” Hwy53 t-shirts available.  These shirts will cost $10 upfront and we will place an order when we reach a certain number of t-shirts.  Any money made from the t-shirts will go to help HWY53 on its mission to build Syonga, a church in Uganda, Africa.

Take a look at the shirt and please buy one of yourself and, if you are a parent, for your student!  We will have more info about the “One Life, One Purchase” movement soon!

God has called us to be a light to the world and to spread the gospel to all the nations.  We are so excited to go on a journey with the HWY53 students in Uganda, Africa.  For only $7000, we are going to have the opportunity to build a new church building for a growing bush church called SYONGA.  This church is pastored by an amazing Christian leader in Uganda and God has been bringing to people to their church and school and as a result, the mud hut church they currently worship in has become too small.  Together we can help bring Jesus to more lives in Africa by equipping the Christians there to reach more and more people.

These just a couple of pictures of what the church looks like now!  Tons of work to be done!  There will be a collection bin in the HWY53 student center until we reach our goal of $7000.  This could be a year long journey or even longer but we are confident that God is going to use this project to help shape all of worldviews to look more like His.

Session Two: Resolution

A verbal shot is fired and our gut tells us to fire back. That word, that attitude from someone else hurt us or made us mad, so we want to give some of that back. Been there? How often do we quickly react to something a sibling or parent does or says in a way that raises the level of tension and anger instead of diffusing it? But there is another option! We can choose to stop the madness and think through our words and actions. We can begin to see more clearly that when something provokes us, we have a choice to make before we respond. We can be part of the resolution instead of part of the problem.Session Two

Session Two Parent Cue:

Take a recent argument or “loud discussion” you had. Write down what prompted the conversation, then write down each of your responses. Now backtrack and each of you identify the decisions you made that prompted your responses. Maybe you reacted to how something was said, or one word set you off. Maybe you responded out of fear of what could happen.

We are praying for you and your family.

 

This week is part 2 of our series we call “Picture Perfect”.  Last week we talked about how many times we form this idea of the perfect family.  In our mind we think that the perfect family is the end goal… and as we saw in the Bible; the perfect family does not exist.

Not only are we part of an imperfect family, but we also have some decisions to make. Every time we are confronted by our parents, siblings, or grandparents we have a decision.  We actually get to control (through the help of the Holy Spirit) how we REACT.

When our family life becomes messy, we get to choose how we will react to the situation.  Are you going to part of the messy cycle or be part of the RESOLUTION?

This week we will dive into the story of Joseph (Genesis 37) and see how he overcame a crazy messy family and was part of the RESOLUTION.

Hope to see you on Wednesday.

Parents: Check out the ParentCue from last week. We will be posting conversation starters for you and your teenager.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:

Here is an overview of what we’re talking about at Crowded House. Listed below is the Parent Cue to help you dialog with your teenager about the session. The question is intended not just to be asked by you, but to be responded to by BOTH of you. Use this opportunity to find out what God is teaching your student, and allow them to see what God is teaching you as well.

Session One: Snapshot:

Does it ever feel like there are families who are more “perfect” than yours? They dress better. Have a nicer house. Never seem to have a disagreement of any kind. But when we see these families, we’re not seeing the full picture; we’re simply seeing a snapshot. If we actually lived in that family and dealt with each person on a daily basis, we would probably realize that the perfect family is, well, a myth. The truth is that no family is perfect. We are all just human, and when we realize that we can live in the messiness of our families and learn to find the good, we begin to understand the purpose God has in placing us in our particular family.

Session 1 – Parent Cue:

Have you ever thought a family was “perfect,” only to find out how “normal” they were as you got to know them? Did you ever wish you were part of a different family growing up? Why?