New Year

Dear Parents,

Now that we are well into a new year, I wanted to take a moment to encourage and remind you of our commitment to; "Support" you as the spiritual leader of your family, "Supply" you with the tools to raise you children in a godly manner, and "Supplement" your efforts through our programs.
To support you means that we will make every effort to point your kids back to you for discipleship. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 makes clear the role of the family in discipleship and we want to support this Biblical Principle in our church families. We also will do our best not to add to an already hectic schedule more "things" to do that pull your kids away from the family(this also means we're trying to be kind to your budget as well). UTURN and ROCK SOLID are not meant to be built around events. Instead we want to focus intentionally on the family as the core of our ministry. We believe this to be the best plan for long term discipleship.
We can not truly support you without supplying the tools for discipleship. We will attempt to do this in a few ways. First we offer daily readings and devotions for your family every month through our "Sixty-Six" curriculum. Second, we also try and update you through blogs, weekly handouts, and verbal/written reminders such as this letter. A third way we will support you is through worship at our monthly Family Gatherings. This is a time focused on worship through singing and sharing. Our aim of these meetings is for you to set an example for you kids as well as worship side by side with them and their peers. This also allows for students who don't have a godly example in their home to get a taste of what a family centered on Christ looks like. Finally, we want to supply you with a few events per year that allow you to lead your family in service such as mission trips, family camps or like events.
Finally, let me say we have not changed our programs in this shift. We still feel the Church has to serve the family by supplementing through programs. Again, we try to keep the calendar friendly to your time and budget. We offer Wednesday (6:30) programs for our jr. high students as well as small groups throughout the week for high school kids. We have launched a Sunday night service for our high school and graduated students that meet at 5:47 P.M. We also offer two or three events per year for outreach as well as our normal winter and summer camps. These programs and events are there to aid you the parent in the discipleship process. These are in no way expected or intended to replace your role as the primary spiritual leader for you family. However, you can be sure that we will encourage your students in the Word and in their walk with Christ.
I pray that 2009 will be a great year for you and your family. We would want to walk with you this year as we pursue Christ together. God bless you and keep you.

Sincerely,
Brandon Price
Pastor of Youth Ministries