Hey family,
Sorry it took me so long to write. I’ve been extremely busy trying to keep up with things down here. Honestly, it has been a bit crazier ride than I thought it would be. Nevertheless, I am optimistic and keep doing the best I can.
So far, I have been here for 12 days. It seems like I just got here a few days ago but time flies when you are having fun. Allow me to catch yall up on what has happened so far:
MOVING DOWN:
May 8th, I moved down to Satellite Beach, FL. This area is in a region called the Space Coast because we are right next to Kennedy Space Center, where they launch rockets and people into outer space. It is a beautiful area. It was an eight and a half hour drive. Probably the longest drive in my whole life. (To be perfectly honest, I am dreading the drive back already.) It was a boring drive because I was driving by my self. I had no one to talk to and it was just me and the road. I used that time to talk to God about the summer and pray that I will be able to help the teens I will be working with this summer and that I do not loose my passion for Ministry. I knew I was officially in Florida when I saw an alligator, lying on its back with all four legs up in the air in the middle of the interstate, dead as a doornail from being hit by a car or large vehicle. Where else can you have such exotic, and extremely large road kill????
After the marathon drive down, I finally made it to my new home. I am living with my old roommate and one of my closest brother in the faith C.J. Salie and his family in a city called Melbourne. It is about 10 min away from Satellite Beach and is a thriving town. When I arrived at about 7:00 pm, we went ahead and unloaded all of my luggage and moved it inside to the guest room. Then we went to Satellite and to the Church of Christ at Oceanside, my new church home for the next 12 weeks. We went and offloaded my extremely large library, my tools and research, and my teaching tools that I will be using for the few months. If you would like to see a video tour of Oceanside Church, please go to my video blog on Youtube, coming soon.
The next few days, I just hung out with the teens and with C.J. and got to know the area.
BEACH BALLS:
However, on Saturday, I took my first actions as a youth intern. If you did not know, there is not a youth minister at Oceanside. Only elders, deacons, and an evangelist. Therefore, I am going to be the acting Youth Minister for the summer. It is somewhat scary that I have to do the job, however, I have learned if I rely on the members of the church and on my church family, I will
get done what needs to get done. But I digress.
Like I said, Saturday the 10th was when I made my first group action as a youth minister. That
day was my first devotional. Moreover, It was my first Moceanside devo. allow me to explain this term. In the area, there is about six congregations of the Lord’s family. The closest one to Oceanside is called Melbourne Church of Christ. It is a thriving congregation of 200+ and is about 20 min. away from Oceanside. There is a very strong bond between the youth groups of both congregations. Many of the Melbourne teens come to Oceanside events and vice versa. Every 2nd Saturday of the month, the congregations take turns hosting a joint devo with both groups at the respective congregation’s church building. The kids started to call it Moceanside Devos because of the use of both names and it has stuck ever since.
Well, it was Oceanside turn to run the devo. I wanted to make a good impression on the Melbourne kids so I prepared a great devotional about Ephesians 4:11-16:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
I am a huge fan of object lessons. Christ used worldly objects to teach Heavenly Truths all the time. Although Jesus is so much better at this than I am, I decided to give it a try. I compared these verses to a Beach Ball. If you want to see it, I have it on video. Just head over to YouTube and look for one called BEACH BALL FAITH. We had the devo on the beach by the way. It was AMAZING.
Sunday the 11th was easy going. I went to church and they announced my arrival and a few events on the calendar that the Elders and I already worked together to plan. That night, after the devo, I took some of the teens to see a movie and we called it a night because a lot of the teens had school the next morning.
MONDAY –FRIDAY:
Monday was my first day working at the building. For my internship, I have to have office hours to get credit. I’m at the building everyday Mon-Fri from 9 AM – 2:30 PM. I had already moved into the office so I did not really have to set up much. C.J. came to the building with me to help out with some projects I needed to get done. The whole week was dedicated to making a notebook for the parent’s to have at the Parent meeting I set up on Sunday. Below are some pictures of what it looked like and what it had in it. It was full of information about the summer, about me, and about my ideas on youth ministry (Thank you Kyle Cantrell for the idea). It turned out really cool. However, I had to by a lot of ink for my printer because I printed a lot of it in color and they do not have a color copier. I have never used this much ink in my life. I hope that this is not how it will be the whole time I am down here.
While at the office, I am also trying to keep up with Greek. I am currently translating a picture of the plaque at Mars Hill that has the whole Sermon of Paul on Mars Hill. It is truly a masterpiece of excellence in Logic and Eloquence. I am also taking an online class in Psychology. I have to take it so I can take more classes at Faulkner next year.
I also took the time to check up on some of the Teens in Palm Bay area. If you did not see on the news, I am about 15 miles from the Brush Fires in Florida. I am not in any danger but please pray for the 165 families who no longer have homes. A lot of my teens had to evacuate their homes because of it. We are safe, but continue to pray for us as we are still helping those who need it.
Wednesday Nights, I have to teach the teen class. Currently, we are studying something that I have been working on in my own life: SPIRITUAL MATURITY. The object of Youth and Family ministry is to make spiritually self-reliant, mature Christian Adults. Therefore, we are studying the differences of immature faith and mature faith. As Christians, we mature in spiritually much like we mature physically, mentally, and emotionally. It takes time, hard work, and patience while the Spirit works within us. Pray for me as I lead this class that the teens will take it to heart and learn more about what we have to do to mature in faith.
RUBBER BANDS:
Every Saturday night, the youth group has a devotional. Very rarely do they not have a devotional meaning I am always having to think up new devotionals and help plan food and activities and such. This past week, the devotional was at the home of John Branard, one of the Elders of the church. He and his wife opened up their home to me and a shocking 24 teens at the devotional. It seems like the teens are really getting excited about me being here. They really have been inviting friends from Melbourne church and from other areas to come and be apart of our youth group.
That night, I talked about rubber bands and how they are like relationships. I had them all stand in a circle and I passed them all one rubber band. I told them to hold their rubber band in their right index finger and to hook their other index finger in the rubber band of the person to their left to make a circle. I told them to take a few steps back until all the rubber bands were about to break. Their was a lot of tension in the circle. Then I told them to come back in a bit and we discussed how relationships have tension sometimes. Nevertheless, we should acknowledge the tension and come back together to make the relationship stronger. If you want me to send it to you just ask. It ended
Sorry it took me so long to write. I’ve been extremely busy trying to keep up with things down here. Honestly, it has been a bit crazier ride than I thought it would be. Nevertheless, I am optimistic and keep doing the best I can.
So far, I have been here for 12 days. It seems like I just got here a few days ago but time flies when you are having fun. Allow me to catch yall up on what has happened so far:
MOVING DOWN:
May 8th, I moved down to Satellite Beach, FL. This area is in a region called the Space Coast because we are right next to Kennedy Space Center, where they launch rockets and people into outer space. It is a beautiful area. It was an eight and a half hour drive. Probably the longest drive in my whole life. (To be perfectly honest, I am dreading the drive back already.) It was a boring drive because I was driving by my self. I had no one to talk to and it was just me and the road. I used that time to talk to God about the summer and pray that I will be able to help the teens I will be working with this summer and that I do not loose my passion for Ministry. I knew I was officially in Florida when I saw an alligator, lying on its back with all four legs up in the air in the middle of the interstate, dead as a doornail from being hit by a car or large vehicle. Where else can you have such exotic, and extremely large road kill????
After the marathon drive down, I finally made it to my new home. I am living with my old roommate and one of my closest brother in the faith C.J. Salie and his family in a city called Melbourne. It is about 10 min away from Satellite Beach and is a thriving town. When I arrived at about 7:00 pm, we went ahead and unloaded all of my luggage and moved it inside to the guest room. Then we went to Satellite and to the Church of Christ at Oceanside, my new church home for the next 12 weeks. We went and offloaded my extremely large library, my tools and research, and my teaching tools that I will be using for the few months. If you would like to see a video tour of Oceanside Church, please go to my video blog on Youtube, coming soon.
The next few days, I just hung out with the teens and with C.J. and got to know the area.
BEACH BALLS:
However, on Saturday, I took my first actions as a youth intern. If you did not know, there is not a youth minister at Oceanside. Only elders, deacons, and an evangelist. Therefore, I am going to be the acting Youth Minister for the summer. It is somewhat scary that I have to do the job, however, I have learned if I rely on the members of the church and on my church family, I will
get done what needs to get done. But I digress.
Like I said, Saturday the 10th was when I made my first group action as a youth minister. That
day was my first devotional. Moreover, It was my first Moceanside devo. allow me to explain this term. In the area, there is about six congregations of the Lord’s family. The closest one to Oceanside is called Melbourne Church of Christ. It is a thriving congregation of 200+ and is about 20 min. away from Oceanside. There is a very strong bond between the youth groups of both congregations. Many of the Melbourne teens come to Oceanside events and vice versa. Every 2nd Saturday of the month, the congregations take turns hosting a joint devo with both groups at the respective congregation’s church building. The kids started to call it Moceanside Devos because of the use of both names and it has stuck ever since.
Well, it was Oceanside turn to run the devo. I wanted to make a good impression on the Melbourne kids so I prepared a great devotional about Ephesians 4:11-16:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
I am a huge fan of object lessons. Christ used worldly objects to teach Heavenly Truths all the time. Although Jesus is so much better at this than I am, I decided to give it a try. I compared these verses to a Beach Ball. If you want to see it, I have it on video. Just head over to YouTube and look for one called BEACH BALL FAITH. We had the devo on the beach by the way. It was AMAZING.
Sunday the 11th was easy going. I went to church and they announced my arrival and a few events on the calendar that the Elders and I already worked together to plan. That night, after the devo, I took some of the teens to see a movie and we called it a night because a lot of the teens had school the next morning.
MONDAY –FRIDAY:
Monday was my first day working at the building. For my internship, I have to have office hours to get credit. I’m at the building everyday Mon-Fri from 9 AM – 2:30 PM. I had already moved into the office so I did not really have to set up much. C.J. came to the building with me to help out with some projects I needed to get done. The whole week was dedicated to making a notebook for the parent’s to have at the Parent meeting I set up on Sunday. Below are some pictures of what it looked like and what it had in it. It was full of information about the summer, about me, and about my ideas on youth ministry (Thank you Kyle Cantrell for the idea). It turned out really cool. However, I had to by a lot of ink for my printer because I printed a lot of it in color and they do not have a color copier. I have never used this much ink in my life. I hope that this is not how it will be the whole time I am down here.
While at the office, I am also trying to keep up with Greek. I am currently translating a picture of the plaque at Mars Hill that has the whole Sermon of Paul on Mars Hill. It is truly a masterpiece of excellence in Logic and Eloquence. I am also taking an online class in Psychology. I have to take it so I can take more classes at Faulkner next year.
I also took the time to check up on some of the Teens in Palm Bay area. If you did not see on the news, I am about 15 miles from the Brush Fires in Florida. I am not in any danger but please pray for the 165 families who no longer have homes. A lot of my teens had to evacuate their homes because of it. We are safe, but continue to pray for us as we are still helping those who need it.
Wednesday Nights, I have to teach the teen class. Currently, we are studying something that I have been working on in my own life: SPIRITUAL MATURITY. The object of Youth and Family ministry is to make spiritually self-reliant, mature Christian Adults. Therefore, we are studying the differences of immature faith and mature faith. As Christians, we mature in spiritually much like we mature physically, mentally, and emotionally. It takes time, hard work, and patience while the Spirit works within us. Pray for me as I lead this class that the teens will take it to heart and learn more about what we have to do to mature in faith.
RUBBER BANDS:
Every Saturday night, the youth group has a devotional. Very rarely do they not have a devotional meaning I am always having to think up new devotionals and help plan food and activities and such. This past week, the devotional was at the home of John Branard, one of the Elders of the church. He and his wife opened up their home to me and a shocking 24 teens at the devotional. It seems like the teens are really getting excited about me being here. They really have been inviting friends from Melbourne church and from other areas to come and be apart of our youth group.
That night, I talked about rubber bands and how they are like relationships. I had them all stand in a circle and I passed them all one rubber band. I told them to hold their rubber band in their right index finger and to hook their other index finger in the rubber band of the person to their left to make a circle. I told them to take a few steps back until all the rubber bands were about to break. Their was a lot of tension in the circle. Then I told them to come back in a bit and we discussed how relationships have tension sometimes. Nevertheless, we should acknowledge the tension and come back together to make the relationship stronger. If you want me to send it to you just ask. It ended
That is what I have been up too. I can see a lot of spiritual growth happening and we have not even started the summer yet. I am getting closer to the members and teens down here in Florida. I love how they always want to spend time together as a group and fellowship with one another. It is a true blessing to be apart of the family of God, is it not????
Please be keeping me in your prayers as I am working for the kingdom. I hope this note finds you all well and in the service of the King. If you need anything, please let me know. I am in constant prayer for you all. It is pleasure to be your servant and brother in Christ.
Love and peace to you all,
In and because of Him,
Your servant,
Συνέκδημος υμων
