Serving the Homeless & Struggling with Ty & Haley

Since our kids, Ty & Haley, are out of school for this entire week Sara and I decided to have them serve others.  I believe it's important to teach your kids and give them hands on experience.  We took Ty & Haley to the Friendship Center to serve lunch.  The Friendship Center serves lunch everyday to anyone in need.  The Friendship Center also does a variety of other services to help the homeless and those that might be struggling.  It's led by a great man, Bryan Bixler, who does a phenominal job.  Check out their website to find out more about what them.

Ty & Haley helped set up the food line and then they put food on the plate as the people came in.  They helped get ice in the glasses, pour tea and water, put rolls on the plate, put the desert on the plate and then handed the plates to those coming through the line.  They were both smiling and engaging to those that came through, which in turn brightened the day of many of these people.  (you can see Ty on the left putting the desert on the plates)

After it was over we set down as a family and talked about the morning.  I asked them what they saw and heard.  We talked about how we need to be grateful for the things that God has blessed us with.  We also talked about how we need to care and serve others.  This is only the beginning of many more service projects we will do as a family. (you can see Haley on the right putting rolls on the plates)

h2o live -Wed night recap

It was a good night at h2o and lots of fun.  Our worship band did a great job of leading us to focus on Jesus.  I appreciate them and their dedication and passion to led others to worship Christ.  I preached on Thanksgiving.  I talked about being thankful for what God has blessed you with and being thankful for what Jesus has done for us.  I had students write down five things they were thankful for in their lives, then I had random students share one of the things they wrote down.  It was neat to hear the different things students shared.  Then I challenged them to thank God more often for the blessings of life.  I concluded my message with being thankful for what Jesus has done for us...He Redeemed us.  We had a neat prayer time at then end where students spent time Thanking God for what he has blessed them with in their lives and for Him redeeming them.

After h2o and we were closing down for the night I was talking with two students.  As I was talking with one about following through in baptism the other students said she wanted to be baptized to, I asked her to tell me about when she accepted Christ and she had no answer.  I sat down with the two of them and walked her through what it meant to accept Christ.  She said, "I want to accept Christ tonight," so she prayed to receive Christ right there.  I love leading people to a personal relationship with Christ!

The most important thing we can do as believers is tell other people about Jesus.  It's exciting that God blesses us with the opportunity to see student accept Christ very frequently here.  May we never grow tired of telling people about Jesus!

Youth Baptisms falls from 140,000 to 75,000

I read this report on my brothers blog, Brian Mills, and thought I would share it with you.

Check this out:

1971 Southern Baptist Church Youth Ministries baptized around 125,000 students.  

The next year, 1972, that jumped up to almost 140,000 students.

Watch this –

1973 - 120,000 – pretty big drop from that 140,000 the year before.

Each year it has gone down.

1980 (7 years latter) – 109,000

1985 – 88,000

1990 – 90,000

1995 – 93,000

2000 - ??????

2001 – 83000

2005 – 83,000

2008 – 75,000

It's sad to see that we are reaching fewer and fewer teenagers every year with the message of Jesus.

When I came to Beech Street the end of 2007, I came with a passion to see the Baptism numbers here changed.  It broke my heart that no teenagers had be baptized that year.  For the past two years God has used our efforts and drawn many in to a personal relationship with Jesus.  Each teenagers that follows through in baptism represents a life changed by Jesus.  Here's a look at the last 10 years in the life of Beech Streets Youth Baptisms:

2000 - 8

2001 - 5

2002 - ? (no record)

2003 - 6

2004 - 12

2005 - 6

2006 - 3

2007 - 0

2008 - 17

2009 - 18

Praise the Lord for what God has done here over the past 2 years.  I pray God will continue to allow us to reach teenagers for Christ. 

Source: Annual Church Profile, Lifeway Christian Resource Center, Nashville Tenn. Compiled by the center for Missional Research of the North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, GA

Ty & Haley's heart for others...

 As I told you in my last post, our church finished up our Operation Christmas Child boxes this past Sunday.  The Saturday before Sara and I took Ty & Haley shopping to file the boxes we had gotten.  We allowed Ty to chose for the boy and Haley for the girl.  They put a lot of thought to what they chose to buy.  We talked a lot about the kids that would receive these boxes and what would make them smile and joyful.  Sunday morning before Ty & Haley brought their boxes to church they prayed over them and prayed for the kids that would open them. 

As Ty was finishing up with his box he decided he needed to add a Football, but we didn't buy one.  Ty went to his room and pulled out one of his favorite soft footballs that he and I play with a lot and put it in the box.  He said, "I've got more footballs, but this little boy doesn't have anything.  I'm giving this to him."  I must say it brought tears of joy to my heart, that my son was more concerned about giving to someone else, someone he will most likely never meet, that he was willing to give up one of his favorite balls.  (you can see the ball in the box he is holding)

I'm so proud of Ty & Haley both and the heart they have to give to others and to serve others.

What a Sunday!

This was just one of those Sunday's that you really since God's presence.  Sunday Morning I baptized two more of our students, God has given us the priviledge of seeing lots of students accept Christ and follow in baptism.  I love baptizing, it's just one of those major God moments in an individuals life and in mine.  As our worship time continued we had a neat time of praying over the Operation Christmas Child boxes, I will blog tomorrow about how God preached a sermon through Ty (my son) with this.  Then Pastor Craig preached a powerful message on the 10 lepers out of Luke and how only 1 of the 10 came back to Jesus.  At then end of the service we had 8 people join and one by salvation.  Just an amazing morning.

Immediately following the worship service we had a Operation Christmas Child (OCC) box packing and lunch.  It was neat to see so many parents bring their kids to this and teach them the importance of blessing other people.  It was also neat to see so many different ages of people represented.  It was a beautiful picture of what the church should look like, young and old working together for those in need.  I appreciate greatly the leadership of our Adult 4 Small Group in spear-heading our OCC mission.

Sunday night Sara and I finished up our discipleship class, "The Five Love Languages."  We have had a great group of people in their for the past 8 weeks and have had some great discussions.  As we concluded one of the couples, Jason & Sherri, brought in a small wedding cake and punch to celebrate the end of our class.  It was a lot of fun, I will miss meeting with all these people each week.

I am so thankful that God is at work here at Beech Street.  On a weekly basis lives are being changed for the kingdom of God, may we never take for granted what God is doing!

h2o live - Wed. night

We had a solid night at h2o Wednesday night.  The band did a great job of leading us in worship.  It fun to watch and hear them improve week after week.  I gave Rob the night to preach.  He preached on allowing God to use.  He talked about how Moses thought he couldn't be used, but God used him.  He encouraged students to allow God to use them.

It was a solid night, nothing fancy, but solid.  We had a large crowd of students again.  It still amazes me how God continues to use us week after week to impact lives for him, I hope I never grow tried of this. 

Recap on Friend Day

We had a very effective day of touching lives on Friend Day here at Beech Street.  The day began with our Small Group hour at 9:15am.  We encouraged people to invite their friends to attend their Small Group with them and we also encouraged our Small Groups to reach out to people. 

h2o student ministry had Kingsdown, a band from Little Rock, do a free concert during the Small Group hour, plus we feed all the teenagers a free breakfast of biscuits, gravy & bacon.  Over 100 teenagers showed up on a Sunday morning.  Kingsdown put on a great concert, we are still hearing how our students enjoyed the morning.  After the Small Group hour our students attended the Main Worship service at 10:30am.  (pictures below)

Our Children's Ministry had BOZ the Bear during Children's Church, 4yr olds-2nd grade.   They were excited to get meet BOZ upclose and personal.  He put on a program that all the kids enjoyed.  Many of them walked in Sunday Morning with a look of great anticipation, they were ready to see BOZ. (pictures below)

Finally, we had Dr. Grant Ethridge, Pastor of Liberty Baptist in Hampton, Virginia, as our guest Preacher for the day.  He preached out of Acts 2 and how lives were changed by Jesus.  Many people came down front to pray and some to make decisions.  It was a powerful morning of God moving in peoples lives.

Friend Day's are always exciting and encouraging to everyone.  They are a lot of work to pull of from but well worth it when you see what God does.  I look forward to seeing how God continues to use this Friend Day and the spirit from it in the days ahead. 

BOZ performing @ Beech Street

 

Landon & Ty (my son) with BOZ

Kingsdown in Concert @ Beech Street

 

 

Friend Day, THIS SUNDAY @ Beech Street

This Sunday is "Friend Day" at Beech Street.  We are offering a lot of things for different age groups this Sunday Morning, Nov. 8th.   The goal is for all of us to invite our Friends to come with us.  Everyday we interact with people that attend no church this Sunday is about them.

For our Children's Church, "BOZ the Bear" will be here to present the Word of God to them.  I believe all of our preschoolers will be facinated with Him and have an exciting morning.

For teenagers, the band "Kingsdown" will be performing during the Small Group hour, 9:15am, a free concert.  They are a rock style band that will engage the crowd.

The Highlight of the day will be our 10:30am Worship Service where Dr. Grant Ethridge will be preaching.  All our age groups will come together at 10:30am, with the exception of Children's Church, for a great morning of Worship and hearing the Word of God preached.

Ty & Haley meet PGA Pro David Toms

Thursday afternoon Ty & Haley got to meet David Toms, a PGA Golfer.  The First Tee of Texarkana put on a golf clinic where David Toms spent an hour hitting shots and answering questions from the kids.  He was very generous and kind.  Haley asked him, "How do you grip a club?"  He answered her and then after it was over and she was talking with him and he showed her how to grip the club.  It was a neat moment for her.  Below are a few pictures from today.

These 2 pictures are Toms showing Haley how to grip a club.

Below Toms is signing Ty's shirt

David Toms talking to the crowd in-between hitting balls

Ty & Haley on the driving range before the David Toms clinic

Gr8 Wed. night @ h2o

Last night was an amazing night at h2o.  I shared what God has been teaching me for the past month through His Word.  I talked about what Jesus made a priority in His life and what I saw the early church made a priority.  You see Jesus draw people to a relationship with Him (salvation) you see Him Serve people unconditionally.  I talked about how we must be about telling people how they can have a personal relationship with Jesus.  I even had a couple of students share about times in their lives they led someone to Christ...very powerful.  Then I talked about serving people.  We have got to serve people with not expectations.  Jesus did both serve people and invite them into a relationship with Him. 

We had 2 students accept Christ last night and scheduled 4 others to be baptized.  Just a neat night of God moving in lives.