This past week

This past week has been exciting. Wednesday we had 31 students for AMPED. One thing is becoming apparent: with the average of 30 - 35 students each week, we are out of room! This is definitely a good problem to have. It just makes me even more excited about our 4ward campaign. Wednesday we talked about the upcoming events. The excitement from these students is overwhelming! They are on fire! One thing Jackie and I have been doing is talking with a lady that works at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville. We are trying to come up with a night where we can take AMPED down there just to visit with the sick (non-contagious of course) children around Christmas. We took a vote Wednesday - the vote was whether to have our AMPED Christmas party (where we bring a $10ish gift to trade) or instead spend the $10 on a less fortunate child and bring them something instead. The vote was unanimous that we serve the less fortunate! We were blown away at the selflessness of our students! Sunday our lesson was "Watch Your Mouth" where we studied James 3:1-12. We learned that just as we can't draw fresh water out of salt water, we also can not (even though we do) let negativity flow from our mouths and live a worldly life and claim to belong to Christ. We must discipline ourselves daily to watch what we say in order to be His example. We had each student write on the back of their hands where they could see it James 3:10 which says: Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. We learned that just as a forest fire is started by the tiniest spark, just one negative comment can blow up beyond anything we could have ever imagined. Gossip spreads like wildfire. The students admitted that they deal with this both personally and with other people on a daily basis. One thing I've learned and shared with them is that no matter how old you get, it will never stop, but if we make it our priority to not be the cause of the negativity, it will make our lives so much easier and pleasing to God. Now for just a couple announcemnets:
1. Friday/Saturday November 19-20 is our Vertical Excape lock-in from 9 p.m. - 7 a.m. We will be LEAVING the church at 8:30 p.m. Parents, by all means take your kids down and pick them up in the morning if you prefer. All students MUST be there at 9 so they can take the safety & belay course. This is mandatory if they are wanting to climb. Also, the $35 and the waiver (permission slip) MUST be turned in by  Wednesday, November 17 because they require that I pay 100% of the attendees cover charge in one lump sum.
2. Pioneer Day at Robin Resenbeck's (our Children's Minister) parents' house is Saturday, November 27 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Cecilia, Kentucky. The $10 and permission slips are due Sunday, November 21 so we have an accurate count so they know how much home-cooked food to prepare. We will be stopping on the way down for breakfast at McDonald's (or something similar), so they will need $5 or so for that.

That's all for now. AMPED is growing, and the students are having a blast. I'm so thankful for this group!