THIS WEEK (Sep. 2-8)

Miniature Golf (Sep. 2)
Students in grades 7-12 are invited to meet at Gator Golf just off of I-30 near Baseline Rd. We’ll meet there at 6 PM and play miniature golf until 7:30 PM. Cost is $8 for the golf.

Refuge (Sep. 5)
Refuge is our mid-week youth worship time for students in grades 7-12. The purpose of this weekly time is to 1) exalt Christ as Lord; 2) encourage our teens to bring a friend for whom they’re praying; 3) create an atmosphere where students are loved and encouraged to live more like Christ. We provide dinner for students from 6-6:45 PM each week for just $3. Our worship time begins at 7 PM with games and activities. We conclude each week by 8:15 PM. Please pick your teen up no later than that.
Let me know if your child needs transportations. Parents are more than willing to carpool and bring teens. This week’s menu is chicken spaghetti, green beans and French bread. We will serve banana splits as well.

LOOKING AHEAD

RAMP Groups (Sep. 9)
RAMP is our small group ministry just for students in grades 7-12. Each Sunday night from 6:00-7:30 PM, we will meet in the Nichols Ministry Building. Students are divided into age/gender-appropriate groups. Each group is led by a spiritually mature adult who has agreed to mentor these teens for the school year. This is a time for our teens to be encouraged and challenged to grow in their relationship with Christ. Once a month RAMP leaders will pick an activity away from the building to do with their RAMP groups. They will communicate these to you in advance. We have the following groups this year (Adult leaders are in parentheses): 7/8th grade boys (Chad Nall); 7/8th grade girls (Erin Reed); 9/10th grade boys (Doug Campbell); 9/10th grade girls (Linda Murphy); 11/12th grade boys (Tom Walker); 11/12th grade girls (Schell Gower).

Caving Trip (Sep. 15)
Barry Napier and I would like to take the teens caving on Saturday, Sep. 15. We will leave LRC at 7 AM and return around 7 PM. Students need to wear clothes that can get really dirty, bring a change of clothes, head lamp, sack lunch, water bottle and a little money for dinner on the way home. We are planning to explore Copperhead Cave. Barry has been taking teens on trips like this for years and is a paramedic. Contact Barry or Chad if you’d like to know more details about the cave or what’s involved in exploring a cave.

Best Friends Retreat (Sep. 28-30)
Our annual Best Friends Retreat is approaching very quickly. This retreat is done with several different student ministries from the Little Rock area. It’s for all our teens in grades 7-12 and is at Camp Tahkodah. This year’s theme is “Crushed!” Several adults from LRC will provide transportation to the retreat where we’ll spend the weekend exploring how God uses the events and things that happen in our lives to bring about his glory. Please talk to your teen about this weekend. They are certainly welcome to bring a friend. That’s one of the purposes of this retreat. It’s great if they bring a friend who they bring with them to Refuge. Cost for the retreat is $65. Please sign up and pay for your teen by Sunday, Sep. 16.

Understanding Your Teenager seminar (Oct. 14)
Many of you have already registered for this important seminar. For others of you, it’s not too late. I can’t encourage you enough to sign up for this three hour seminar hosted by a youth and family ministry organization called Home Word. Home Word is dedicated to helping parents of teenagers raise their teens. Our seminar presenter is youth ministry veteran, Mark DeVries. He will do an amazing job. Please make plans to attend. Registration is $15 per person. Make checks payable to LRC. We’re even providing child care for those of you who have younger children.

For 5 years, I spent 4 weeks each summer in Pilot Point, Alaska, a small community of about 36 native Alaskans. Each summer 50 or so of us descended on this small rural village located on the Aleutian chain on the Bering Sea. I arrived each year during the first week of June with my boss, Marv, his wife and son. We would set up camp and begin getting ready for the fishing season. We’d fish for 3-4 weeks, spend 3-4 days tearing down camp and winterizing the gear and go home. In my 5 summers there, I never really got to know any of the locals. I just came in, did my job and left. Though I lived in proximity to people, I never truly lived among them as a community. I’m kind of sad by that because I could have learned a lot about a culture and way of life I never really knew. I missed out on a lot. In fact, those 5 weeks were rather lonely.

The sad thing is that this same story takes place in the very neighborhoods and communities in which we live. It even happens within the church. Tonight, 20-30 teenagers will descend upon our youth room. Some will be new, others were born into this church family. Undoubtedly, some will arrive feeling a sense of loneliness; feeling a little out of place. As I pray about tonight I can’t help but think of the following words I’ve been reading over and over again:

“I need to learn how to truly be among the people to whom I am sent, as Jesus was among us. The character of my presence needs to be like his…
Being among people means being in their midst, not outside.It means being with them, not being over them. It means not looking away from their agony or humiliation, but beholding it, and having the courage to be also wounded by their pain.” - Greg Paul, God in the Alley: Being and Seeing Jesus in a Broken World

I can’t help but think of John 1:14.

” The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only.”

I can’t help but constantly ask myself whether I’m truly living among God’s people having the character of Christ. My prayer for myself is that I will truly be among those to whom I am sent with the character of Christ. My prayer is that you desire the same, whether you’re in school or working (or both).

Check out a previous blog entry explaining RAMP groups, but I want to remind you that RAMP groups will resume on Sunday, Sep. 9 rather than Sep. 2 (due to the Labor Day weekend). RAMP groups will meet at the building. However, students in town are invited to Gator Park to play miniature golf Sunday, Sep. 2. We’ll meet at Gator Park on I-30 at 6 PM.

REFUGE resumes this Wednesday, Aug. 29 beginning at 6 PM with dinner. This Wednesday’s menu includes tacos with all the fixn’s. Students need to bring $3. We also have punch cards if you’d like to pay in advance. See me, Tracie Vaughan or Wanda Walker if you’d like to purchase a punch card. If you pay by check, please make checks payable to LRC.

We will begin a new Sunday AM Bible class series on Sep. 9. Sam Peters will lead the 9-12th grade class in the teen worship room. I will lead the 7-8th grade class in the teen game room.

Best Friends Retreat is just around the corner, so please register your teen by paying the $65 registration fee by Sunday, Sep. 16. It’s going to be a great retreat! This year’s theme is “Crushed.”

Understanding Your Teenager seminar will be a great event just for you. It is Sunday, Oct. 14. Invite your friends and sign up if you have not already done so. Although the early bird registration deadline has come and gone, the cost is still only $15 per person. That will increase to $20 per person after Sep. 23 so register now!

Here’s an interesting blog entry by a professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University that is worth reading and following up on. It has to do with girls’ self image and media. I’d encourage you to read the blog and check out the sources. I’ve ordered one of the books referenced in the blog.

RAMP Groups
I want to make you aware of some changes to RAMP groups for the fall that have become necessary since we met last week.

1. RAMP groups will officially kick off on Sunday, Sep. 9 rather than Sep. 2. I’ve heard from many of you that Sep. 2 isn’t a good weekend since we met last week.

2. All RAMP groups will meet in the Nichols Ministry Building. The teens will still meet in RAMP groups, but they’ll just all be located somewhere on campus. RAMP group time will begin at 6 PM. However, students may come at 5:30 PM to hang out if they would like. However, the fourth Sunday of each month, RAMP groups will meet on their own somewhere away from the campus. Your teen’s RAMP leader will let you know when and where they will meet on those Sundays. There are a few reasons for this change:

A) This will help three of our RAMP leaders who have teenagers.
B) We have students spread out all over the Little Rock area. Students will be able to carpool more easily if we all meet in one location.
C) This will allow me to help our RAMP group leaders focus our teens a little more. We have some lofty goals and high expectations for RAMP groups this year.

Please encourage your teen to make RAMP groups a priority. This is such an important aspect of our student ministry!

Understanding Your Teenager

PLEASE sign up for the parent seminar presented by Understanding Your Teenager. It will be well worth your time and money! Invite your neighbors and friends. Cost is $15 if you register by Sep. 23.

Best Friends Retreat

Please sign up and pay by Sunday, Sep. 16! Cost is $65. You register by paying.