Food For The Hungry

Food For The Hungry - my mom has always thought that was a funny name for a ministry. True, it doesn't stir up quite the same emotional response as "World Vision" or "Compassion" or "Samaritan's Purse", but it does get the job done, doesn't it? It tells you, right in the name, what the ministry is all about: providing food for the hungry. Simple, huh?

Tomorrow night, we will be featuring Food For The Hungry at ThirdPlace. I love their ministry philosophy, and I have friends who work there, so when we decided to do a follow-up night after the 30 Hour Famine, I suggested that we give our students an opportunity to learn about FH (as they like to abbreviate themselves).

Please take a minute to learn more about FH by visiting their website, and please consider being our guest tomorrow night as we talk about what your teen and your family can do to change the life of a child in another country. Vicki Severn will be showing us pictures from her visit to Africa with FH, and you can "meet" my FH children, Jorge, Jamile, Marianella, and Edith, as well as seeing pictures and letters from other children that our students and staff support through FH, Compassion, World Vision, African Children's Choir, and other great ministries.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Lesson Loop

Here is a brief summary of the teaching this past week in our Student Ministry:

Third Place: Genesis 2:4-7, 15-25 ("Created for Relationship")

We continued our Genesis study and saw how God has wired us for relationship:

1) We are incomplete by ourselves
*God said about everything He created "It is very good". Yet when it came to man being alone without companionship, God said "it is not good".

2) God's design is 1 man + 1 woman = 1 flesh
*The best illustration of how we are wired for relationship is marriage

3) God also designs singleness
*God ordains singleness for every person...at least for a time period. We must glorify God during that time by using the gifts He has given us with the extra time we have as a single individual.

4) God designed sex

*Sex is a beautiful thing as designed by God, but man has severely warped it.





LUCID: Core Truth - "God's Mercy" (Romans 9)


By God's mercy, He has called some to be in His family:

1) You Don't get "in" by being born in.

*Just as the Jews were not "Abraham's children" just because they were Jewish, so we are not "God's children" just because we are born into a Christian family2) You get "in" by God's mercy

*God chose us to be His children  because of His precious mercy, not because we are cool or desirable. We must praise Him for this mercy!

3) We seek to bring others "in"

*We cannot be content to be in God's family alone. We must strive to bring others in just like Paul did.

Lesson Loop

Once again, I want to let all you parents know what we are studying in our student ministry during the week, so here is a brief summary of this past week:

Third Place: Genesis 1:26-31 (Image of God)

We continued our Genesis study and focused on how every human being is created in the image of God.  We discovered that bearing the image of God means:

1) We are set apart from the animal kingdom (we rule creation)
*While we care for all life, harming human beings is sin because we are harming an image-bearer (no matter how young or small)

*Our self-worth is found in the fact that we are made in the image of God.

2) We are all precious in God's sight
*We are on equal plane with all other humans - we are no better or worse regardless of race, economic status, popularity, etc...

3) We are to care for creation
*We are commanded by God to be good stewards of His creation

4) We bear God's image imperfectly, but we strive for perfection

*We are called to be like Christ (who is the perfect image of God)




LUCID: “Core Truth - The Triune God”

We began a brand new study on the Trinity and we considered:

The Personality of Each Member of the Trinity - each works together in perfect harmony

The Oneness of God - even though each one has different personalities, they are One in Essence