Handel's # 1

August 27th, the question of the day was "favorite place to go for ice cream"



Handel's won out, it was very close. Four establishments were neck to neck and Handel's just slipped past Dairy Queen, Ritters and Colstone's.

Our students are very divided between these four places. Maybe, we will have to have a blind taste test on ice cream on an upcoming Sunday.

John Mayer and Carrie Underwood

Each week, we ask our students a question (question of the week) to get to know them better and so we can see what (as a group) are our favorites. This past weekend question was on music:

We asked them who was their faviorite musician or music group. We had 50+ responses and there was no clear cut favorite but there were two artist that finished tied on the top and they were:

John Mayer



Carrie underwood

One: God, Faith and Life

This weekend is the Fall Retreat at Spring Hill. 1/2 of us are leaving in less than 3hours and 1/2 of us are leaving after THE BIG game. Next week, we will have pictures and stories from the trip. We are looking forward to the trip. We have 22 students and 3 adults making the journey.

"The New Us" Kick-Off

On Wednesday night (August 25th), "The New Us" band held their kick off. "The New Us" band is the high school band that plays during Oasis and is in the rotation for the church worship bands as well. We had 17 high school students who showed up for practice. If you want to join us, come on out to practice next Wednesday at 6:00.

If you can play an instrument, sing, or have an interest with technology, we can put you to use. There are many things that we can add and do if you want to participate; just let us know.

Reveiving Instruction



Tech Crew



Sound Checking



Band Practicing



Rehearsing Made To Worship

Iron Maiden: Student Devotion

XP3 WE DEVOTIONAL 2
Week of August 22, 2010

Read: Proverbs 27:17

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another



IRON MAIDENS
By Sarah Anderson

I have one friend from college who at the mere mention of her name makes me crack up. Any voice mail, e-mail or letter, literally makes me laugh out loud. Starting our senior year of college, we were cohorts in crime. Following graduation, we moved to Tennessee and worked and lived together for a year. Then we both ventured out west to try our hand at being cowgirls . . . kind of. She worked in Colorado and I worked in Wyoming. She was more of an actual cowgirl. I cleaned cabins and waited on tables. While out there, she met the man of her dreams and asked me to be in her wedding one year later. Eight months later she was in my wedding and now she and her husband are preparing to move to China to be missionaries.

She is a true friend. One time on a trip to a Hard Rock Café, we noticed a sign by our table that said Iron Maiden. (Only recently did I learn this was a band, which explains it’s place in Hard Rock Café, and more recently than that I learned it was also the name of a torture device first used in the 1500s.) We knew neither of these things at the time and took the phrase, adopting it as a name for ourselves. We wanted to be the Iron Maidens, because, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

This was the kind of friendship we desired. All craziness aside, what we craved was a friendship that pursued the betterment of each other, accountability to one another and a deeper knowledge of Christ. And this did not necessarily look like a weekly Bible study, or a scheduled time for prayer, or a twice a week chapel attendance that was required at our college. What it looked like was a sharpening of each other, an intentional smoothing of our rough edges by being friends who cared more about every facet of our friendship than just having a good time and sharing secrets.

I heard someone say once, “When iron sharpens iron, there are sparks.” A lot of times getting our rough edges smoothed out hurts. It is hard to let people in close and with something as sharp as iron, and giving them the access to your heart. But the sparks, the friction, the heat is not a bad thing. It means we are enduring the flames from the fire and being made into a more moldable and enduring vessel for Christ.

This friend made me a better follower of Christ. I did not always like her in the process. Sparks can burn. But she, along with God, made me what I needed to be. In her friendship, she gave me the permission to dialogue about tough issues, hard questions and nagging sins. That was hard. But we did it. I needed an iron maiden in her, and she needed one in me, and the result was two people who better understood what it meant to be at the mercy of the heat in order that we might come out better believers and followers of Jesus.

She still makes me laugh. She still brightens my life. But her real gift to me is not laughter or silly memories. Her gift is her persisting and enduring ability to shape me into who God wants me to be. I love her for that.

Something to Think About:
• What makes the friends you are closest too, the friends that you are closest too?
• Do you have someone who sharpens you like iron in your life?
• What do you do, or could you do, to help sharpen you and your friends?

Beautiful Mess: August 22, 2010

On August 22, we continued our series on WE (community), here is a brief summary of the message (main points)

When we pursue community, things start to get personal, and they start to get messy.

Making community happen isn’t an easy process. It requires risk.

Scripture:

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47 NLT).

Close relationships don’t just happen overnight. Committing to community is committing time and energy to a process that doesn’t always feel good.

To have real relationships will cost you something.

Each one of us was made to be in relationships—with God and with other people. When we’re in one without the other, we live a lesser life.

Oasis: Question of the Week (Pizza)

One of the things that we have begun to do (this past Sunday was the first time) is to ask questions during Oasis time. We will then "publish" the results via facebook and through our blog. It is a small way that we can get to know a little bit about our "likes".

The question of the week was the following: Where is your favorite place to go for pizza ? Here are the results:

Pizza Hut - 7
Papa John's - 7
Greek's - 6
Monical's - 6
Donato's - 5
Puccinis - 4
Hungry Howie's - 3
Domino's 2
*all the following at 1*
CiCi
Firehouse
Hot Box
Marco's
"My Moms"
Nancy's
Papa Murphy's
Pizza King

Devotion: WE Series - Week 1

XP3: WE Devotional 1
NOT ALONE
By Sarah Anderson
Oasis: Week of August 15th

Read: Exodus 17:8-14


Exodus 17:8-14 (The Message)

8-9 Amalek came and fought Israel at Rephidim. Moses ordered Joshua: "Select some men for us and go out and fight Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on top of the hill holding God's staff."

10-13 Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.

14 God said to Moses, "Write this up as a reminder to Joshua, to keep it before him, because I will most certainly wipe the very memory of Amalek off the face of the Earth."

People need people. I don’t care what anyone else says. We as humans were created for relationship—and not just with God, but with each other as well. As basic as this seems, I forget that sometimes. Sometimes I think I can curl up on my couch with a good novel and some TiVo-ed episodes of my favorite show and be happy for the rest of my life. But as appealing as this sounds to me, inevitably I realize I need more than a remote and a book—I need people.

I think God either finds my lapses into this thinking totally insulting or absolutely hilarious. Maybe it is a little bit of both. Usually, He puts me in some sort of desperate situation where I require help from another human—like getting lost in downtown Atlanta, or reaching for something from the top shelf of the pantry—to help me realize, again, I can’t go at it alone.

We just read the story of Moses, a powerful and influential man, who had more reason than anyone else to think he didn’t need people—especially whining and complaining people, like the Israelites. I have to wonder if when he went to the top of the mountain while the Israelites were fighting below, if part of him just wanted to get away.

We have no way of knowing, but I don’t think it took very long for Moses to get tired of holding up his own hands. It takes me about thirty seconds. And in one of the most compelling word pictures I have ever found in Scripture, we see how desperately and mightily he needed friends. He needed their support, their strength, their endurance, their assistance and their persistence—literally.

What do you think was going through Moses’ mind as he sat on the rock and allowed his right hand men to lift his deadened arms in the air? I picture his head bowed, his brow furrowed and his back bent. And I imagine this day being engrained in his memory forever. If he was ever tempted to think he was too good for the help of others, he need only think back to the faithfulness of Aaron and Hur as they tirelessly came alongside him and empowered him to win the battle. And should that memory start to fade, he could just as easily go back to the scroll God had him write after the Israelites won, because this was “something to be remembered.” A great military feat, yes. But I think there was another reason for writing it down as well. God said write this down because Moses, you can’t forget, and Joshua, can’t forget, and those who follow, can’t forget, that you can’t do life alone.

My favorite TV show is way more entertaining when I can comment on it with someone on the couch beside me. Reading is more fun when I can talk about it and process it with a listening ear. And that is just the small stuff. There has been, and there will be, big, hard, stuff that comes along. I don’t want to be, and I can’t be, alone when it does.

People need people. We are not intended to be loners in this world. We need to allow ourselves to take a seat. Allow our arms to be lifted. Allow people to come in. Allow them to come close, whether we feel like we require it not. Because someday it will be essential to have the help and the hands, on either side of us, to make it. We were created for relationships. We were created for this.

Something to Think About:
• Why do you think we sometimes think we can do life alone?
• What is an area of life that is easy for you to ask for help in?
• What is an area of life that is hard to ask for help in?
• What is one way this week where you can be intentional about getting help for someone when you would normally want to do it alone?

Aug 15: Recap

On August 15th, we were outside from 6:30 - 7:00 as we played volleyball and relaxed outside. At 7:00, we moved inside for a 3-song worship set. After worship, we had Dylan vs. Luke in a 3-part game; however luke got to pick three people to help him. Luke and his team won as Dylan found it was tougher to win solo.

We then transitioned into the message time by watching a video clip from I Am Legend. We saw Will Smith's charachter dealing with loneliness and having an urging for others and community. After the movie clip, we transitioned into the message.

In the message, we highlighted some of the following points:

Life seems a lot easier without people.

But, we soon realizt that we need others and community

Living without relationships never feels right for long and We all long to belong.

We all have a desire to belong and be accepted; it is natural and right. God has created us to be that way.

“It is not good.”

We find out that it is not good for us to be alone because God did not design us in that manner and it is good for us to be in relationship with others.

Following Jesus Christ was never meant to be a completely personal, private relationship. We were created with a need for other people.

“An unshared happiness is not happiness . . . happiness is only real when shared.” The above quote comes from the book "Into the Wild". We need to share live with one another and me must allow others to know our real selves.

If you are lacking community, it isn’t good. God made us to need other people.

We want to create space and opportunities for this to occur. We want to encourage and help you be in community with others.

After the message, we broke up into small groups (grade specific) and discussed the concept of community and where we are at on the spectrum. In small group time, there were three questions that I would like to highlight and remind you of. If you would like to share your answers, please do so in the comment section.

Tonight we learned that God created more than just friendships, He created community. What does “community” look like? Describe it.

How do you think community is different from a clique? (A clique usually includes people who are all similar. Community usually involves people who are different.)

What’s the difference between having hundreds of friends on Facebook or sitting with a big group at lunch and really having community?

WE Series

On August 15th, we begin a new series called WE. This series will help us discover the "why" behind community - why we need it, why we should pursue it, and why it is more than what you do every week.

August 15 - The Others
Following Christ was never meant to be done alone - we need community

August 22 - A Beautiful Mess
It can be a messy process when we are in community with other people.

August 29 - Up close
We learn about God through community

Please come an join us on Sunday nights. Come on over to play volleyball and hang out with friends at 6:30 and we begin worship/teaching/small groups from 7:00 - 8:00.

Any Questions ? Call Jeff at the church (317) 842-5649 EXT 223

Puerto Rico 2010

On Saturday July 17th, 18 students and 5 adults traveled to Puerto Rico for a mission trip. We stayed in Aricebo. We thoroughly enjoyed our week together, the time we played and the time that we served. We came back home on the 24th. The mission trip was a great trip and we enjoyed teaming up with Youthworks. Here is a video that highlights some of the trip.