lesson loop 5.22.13

Middle School and High School

Last night we watched the final episode (9) of our Gospel Journey Maui series, and we addressed this question -

1. What is Jesus' Message?

This was the most intense discussion so far, because everything has been leading to this. Everyone respected each other greatly during the dialogue, but there was some passionate and emotional responses to the challenge they each were given to read the book of John. Rachel Officer expressed frustration with the way that Greg and Zane and many other Christians do not consider her a Christian because she doesn't believe that Jesus is God, but only God's Son. Jonathan also was extremely emotional because he can't get past his Jewish ancestors who survived the holocaust. Why God would allow this is something that cannot be easily explained, and that really bothers Jonathan. Jassar was also pretty closed to Christianity, even after this entire trip. And yet he still respected everyone else and said he was going to keep an open mind going forward. The rest of the cast all expressed that they were becoming more and more open to Christianity. Emma Blue said this was the first time she ever read a Bible, and she was really beginning to be interested in Jesus Christ. We found out after the video that she was the first to receive Jesus Christ as her Savior! No one expected that since she had a mixture of Buddhist and New Age religions that she held to. The other Rachel confessed that she was very close to following Jesus as her Savior.

All in all, I believe that this series has been so incredible for several reasons -

1. Our teens have seen their faith in Jesus as the God-man grow strong. I have heard a few students mention that they had doubts before but now are convinced.
2. Our teens had an opportunity to bring out their unchurced friends to hear the gospel. A number of them took advantage of this!
3. The students who came as visitors heard the gospel clearly every week!
4. Our teens observed that you can boldly share your faith and still maintain respect for those who disagree with you.

Next week we have a special speaker sharing with the students - David Day (a former Ebenezer student!)

The week after that we will begin a brand new series on the book of Judges. I am excited about this.

One last thing - I wanted each of you parents and staff members to know that I often post articles relevant to student ministry or the Christian life, and I do so on Google + . If you would like to find me on there, you can do so here - gplus.to/markculton

Here is the outline of what was covered in small groups this past Tuesday -
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VYn5oM-eRkqFsi9gMtiYUmDx1KdI3G32n9loETQyBQM/edit?usp=sharing