New Format

Who would have ever thought that D and I would be so happy in Fayette County, TN?! It has its quirks as do all people and churches, but for us its simply sweet. October 5th will mark our 2 year anniversary there. It seems like we've been there so much longer! Thinking back on all the events, trips, parties, ballgames...wow...only 2 years?! God has truly blessed us with a very supportive church that backs our youth ministry and D.

One new exciting thing that I began talking about yesterday is our new Sunday morning format. Currently, we have 2 Sunday School classes....a guys and a girls. (7th-12th grade) This was the format when we arrived so we decided to keep it the same for a while. After seeing there was a need for something different, God began to really lay true discipleship on D's heart. So how do you do this with Sunday School? Thanks for asking.

Currently from 9:00-9:20 we have The Gathering in The Basement...which is our youth room. The Gathering is simply an assembly time for everyone to meet together, have food sometimes, D goes over announcements, upcoming events, plays a game, and quickly introduces the lesson. Then he dismisses them into their classes where there are 2 teachers per class.

Starting September 12, we will continue to meet for The Gathering but instead of simply introducing the lesson D will teach the lesson. (Our other leaders will also have the opportunity to teach if they wish.) Then we will break up into small groups by gender and age. Each group will consist of 3-5 students and a leader. The small group time is not another teaching time, but a time for the leader to facilitate discussion. The key to this is not simply just a Sunday thing, but a life thing. Each leader will contact their students throughout the week, will attend our events, FUSION...which is our Wednesday night time together, plan events for just their small group, etc. Each leader will be living life with their students: encouraging them, challenging them, loving them, and teaching them by their life experiences.

We are so excited to see how God is going to use this new format. There is only so much we can do with 40-50 kids. Building relationships is the key to successfully reaching youth. We can not "successfully" build relationships and spend the amount of time we need to with all of our students. That's where these fantastic leaders come in! We need these leaders to also build relationships and invest in these students lives along with us. Having 3-5 students to focus on is very do-able.

We are praying that God will do great and mighty things with this new format. He's led us in this direction and we know He will see it through!