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Pray for our Students Going to Summer Camp and NYC

5/21/2015

This is a busy summer for the teens in Switch student ministries and we want to bring to your attention two specific activities that need your prayer.

First we would ask you to pray for Summer Camp. This year our Switch students will be going to Camp Table Rock June 15 – 19. This is a concentrated time for our students to unplug from the distractions of our digital world and plug in to their relationship with God. Camp Table Rock’s emphasis is Defending Your Faith.

Second we would ask you to pray for Wes, Ryan and Anthony Wallick, who will represent Turning Point at Nazarene Youth Conference (NYC).

NYC is an exciting and life-changing event for high school students, occurs just once every four years. It is the second-largest event sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene.

NYC is open to students entering 9th grade in the fall of 2015 through those just graduated from high school as members of the class of 2015. This year July 8-12, thousands of Nazarene students and leaders will gather in Louisville, Kentucky for worship, discipleship, service, celebration and leadership development.

Today we wanted to put their faces in front of you to ask you to do two things:

PRAY FOR THESE STUDENTS

Pray for our students (around 10) who will attend Camp Table Rock. Pray also for the Wallick’s as they prepare their hearts for a life-changing event. Pray that their time in Louisville will be rooted in deep communion with God.

SUPPORT THESE STUDENTS

Support could look like a number of different things. Here are some ideas:

· Maybe you have a heart for students and you would like to support them financially. The cost for these experiences is steep and you might find yourself burdened to invest in the continued growth of the Gospel in their lives.

· Maybe God is talking to you or a group of people in your life to adopt these students to commit to regular prayer and encouragement for them and their families.

Use this as an opportunity to get to know these students, pray for them, and join us in asking God to bring about renewal in their lives and our community through their ministry there.

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Faith and Doubt

5/14/2015

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I find your lack of faith...disturbing.
Darth Vader

So is the world becoming more religious or less? The answer is, yes.

It is true, the non-churchgoing population in the U.S. and Europe is increasing and each successive poll reveals a growing number of Americans who say they have no religious preference. At the same time certain churches with supposedly outdated beliefs in a trustworthy bible and in the miraculous are growing in the U.S. at the same time they are exploding in places like Africa, South America and Asia. Even in the dauntingly secular halls of academia faith is on the rise among the faculty. Today the Society of Christian Philosophers (founded in 1978) includes more than 10 percent of all the professors of philosophy in the country which is up from less than 1 percent 30 years ago.[i]

The real story in all of this is that the world is getting both more religious and less religious at the same time. In one way Christians should take heart, because, in spite of frantic claims to the contrary, the church in America is not yet on her last leg. Still, in another way we need to be serious and wise in the way we navigate this faith/doubt divide. We serve a Savior who calls us to go into all the world making disciples. But how do we do we make disciples or even talk about faith when a good portion of people we rub shoulders with not only don’t believe but look down on people who do? It was hard enough to talk about faith when most people at the least had some respect for our worldview.

A comprehensive answer to these questions won’t work in one post, but I think I have a starting point and it begins with reevaluating doubt. People can no longer sail along too busy or too unconcerned to ask difficult questions about why they believe as they do. Doing so will leave you defenseless against the inevitability of tragedy and the relevant questions of smart skeptics. I have seen too many people crumble under one or both of these certainties simply because they have never explored their own doubts. We also, as loving neighbors, need to wrestle with the sincere doubts of our friends and family members. In light of the polar tensions of faith and doubt it is no longer sufficient to get by on beliefs that we have merely inherited. Wrestling with difficult questions now will not only help strengthen your faith, but it will also help you humbly and respectfully approach those who doubt.

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," 1 Peter 3:15

[i] Quenton Smith, “The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism” It should be noted that Smith is not at all sympathetic to Christianity, but has some strong statistics in this paper.

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Impromptu Workday

5/12/2015

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There are times when loving our world like Jesus loves it means answering an urgent call for help. Saturday, May 9 a small group of Turning Point students and their dads answered a last minute call for help at the God’s Mountain campground near Rushville, MO. In all 7 guys stormed the campground to put up then stain and seal trim, sand floors and to work on pex plumbing.

The day wasn’t all work and no play. Some of the staff at God’s Mountain invited the guys and play video games.

The work of these young men prepared the camp’s physical space to be a place where spiritual lives are transformed. Keep praying for the leadership of Scott Clark, Wes Wallick and the other leaders of Switch Youth Ministries as we provide space for our students to cultivate communities of transformed disciples who live for the glory of God and the good of St Jo.

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Pray for our Students Going to Summer Camp and NYC

Faith and Doubt

Impromptu Workday

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