For the past couple months we have been dreaming together…what the next step is in our student ministry.  The struggles of what time works best.  Is the way we are going at it, really the right way?  Is it in line with the vision of the church as a whole, and at Crossroads.  There have been a couple meetings of 6 parents, 1 elder , 2 students, the lead pastor of our church (Randy Bargerstock, and myself, and what we have noticed is that most of all the focus needs to be based partially on the developmental needs of the youth.  Currently we have alot of our meetings together…with 6th through 12th graders in attendance…and although it is great to have the community…sometimes it is difficult to teach at both levels all of the time…and flat out, sometimes we feel that the teens get lost in the shuffle.  So decision one, separate the two ministries, not completely, but give them their own identity, own time for worship, own name (branding), and own focus (importance) .

The first shift is going to be this…we are moving away from FUSION Sunday nights, in which we tried to have a junior high teaching time…games and worship together and then junior high were dismissed, to EVOLVE middle school ministry.  Evolve is going to be an all out focus on the junior high…during the 10:45 am  hour at Crossroads.  This will be filled with live worship, games, alot of interaction, and relevant teaching.  The developmental need of middle school is definitely different than that of high school, and topics need to be on their level, and something that will maintain a constant involvement of their hearts, their mind, and will get them fired up to Evolve into the Christ follower that they need to be!! The details will be coming soon…and EVOLVE will launch with its first service on Sunday Morning, March 1st…..The leadership team is being assembled as we speak to take this middle school ministry in this direction.  Some designs of fonts have been done…to create the base for the logo that will be developed…please share your thoughts in the comment section below!!  (below the image you will see some details about the high school ministry)

The high school ministry of Average joes has been also a major part of the focus during these dreaming sessions!  We are currently reshaping the way Sunday nights look for this ministry.  The time will be announced soon as to when the night will start…we are currently looking at 6:30-8, or 7-8:30 (any thoughts…share in the comment section)  This will be around the same focus as evolve…Live Worship, Big Games, Relevant Message, and tons of interaction. As for Sunday mornings, we have decided to get the high schoolers involved in many areas of the church!  From Nursery, to elementary age classes (being volunteers), to taking part in the adult bible studies (possibly even the addition of a bible study geared towards their generation).  From singing with the worship team, led by Jason Hinkle, to being greeters as people walk into the church.  From helping with sound and lighting, to being involved in dramas!  Sunday morning and Saturday night options of the teens involvement with the church as a whole are endless…and we are consistently looking at other ways of bettering the intertwining and making the student ministry completely mesh with the church!!  We are currently building our base of volunteers and leaders within this ministry as well!!  Below you will find an idea of a possible name for the high school ministry, this is not set in stone so if you have any better ideas…we are all ears!!  If you do like the name…please let us know that as well and vote for the number of the font that you would like to see as the base of the logo!!

We are also dreaming our wednesday night youth to be joes on the road…where the teens would have no idea where we are going when they get to the church… whether it be to go check out another church,go to a teens game, a families home, a nursing home, a street witnessing project, tour of a jail and anything else could be free game in this…It would conclude with a way of debriefing the experience they have had that night!  If you have any ideas…we have alot of planning to do as far as this one!!

IF we do not consistently dream, and think of better ways to go at everyday life, then we might as well stay sleeping!!

Thanks for your thoughts and interaction on this blog!!