What's Happenin @ Fwd Mid-Week

Below is a brief summary of what talked about this week. Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes. Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Current Series:

Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with a short list of rules that has shaped the values of people and nations for centuries. We know them as the Ten Commandments, but do we really know them? Many people believe that the rules are a condition for a relationship with God, things we must do to get in His good graces. But just the opposite is true. The relationship came before the rules. And the commandments were meant to not only reveal God’s heart, but to keep His people free.

This Week's Recap:

Week # 6 (10.28.2015): Wrap Up

Bottom Line: God's plan for our freedom is to live within his desired plan.

Tonight we are putting a final touch on the topic.  What is the one thing that helped the Israelites hold true to this law?  It was an amazing experience that they had a the base of a mountain where God appeared to Moses.  This awe-inspiring moment solidified in their minds who God was and just how majestic he was.  For us, our moment of awe is the cross.  Everyone of us should live differently as a result of what took place on another mountain.

Intentional Interaction 

• What has been the biggest "game changer" you've learned through this series?
• Do you see your relationship with God in a different light? How so?
• What's one area of the top ten you need to work on?

Parents Pass Their Anxieties to Their Kids

Do parents pass along anxiety to their kids through nature or nurture? A recent study says
in effect, yes. The research found that anxiety is not only genetically passed on from
parents to kids, but also through exposure to parents’ anxious tendencies.
Researchers found that anxiety could be transmitted from parent to child by observing the
parents’ fears or worries in their actions or overhearing their conversations. Kids would
then adopt those same worries. Parents also passed along their anxiety by unnecessarily
shielding their kids from something they feared.
On the flip side, parents were also found to perpetuate their children’s existing anxieties by
altering their parenting choices to allow their kids to avoid facing anxiety producing
experiences.
What Can Parents Do?
• Make the decision to meet your personal anxieties head-on, and develop healthy
strategies for coping with them. Evaluate your anxiety-levels, and identify your primary
anxieties. Do you have appropriate strategies for coping with your anxieties? If not, why
not? Your goal should be to make your home as emotionally stable and anxiety-free as
possible for your children.
• Consider the ways that your anxieties manifest themselves at home and in family life.
What examples are you providing your kids regarding how to deal with anxieties in life?
How can you improve your role modeling?
• Evaluate the extent to which you see your own anxieties being passed along to your
children. If you find that your kids have similar anxieties, be proactive in teaching and
practicing coping skills together.
• Try not to enable your children’s anxieties by helping them to avoid situations or
experiences that trigger them. For example, if your child fears visiting a dentist, delaying
dental care should not be a viable option. In the long run, it’s far better to help your kids
face their anxieties, resolve them whenever possible, or to teach healthy coping skills for
those that cannot be resolved.

What's Happenin @ Fwd Mid-Week

Below is a brief summary of what talked about this week. Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes. Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Current Series:

Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with a short list of rules that has shaped the values of people and nations for centuries. We know them as the Ten Commandments, but do we really know them? Many people believe that the rules are a condition for a relationship with God, things we must do to get in His good graces. But just the opposite is true. The relationship came before the rules. And the commandments were meant to not only reveal God’s heart, but to keep His people free.

This Week's Recap:

Week # 5 (10.21.2015): Unto Others

Bottom Line: God places value on each person, and desires for everyone to be free.

The final six commandments illustrate a key truth about God—He cares a great deal about how we treat each other. In fact, these commandments were so revolutionary at the time because they showed that everyone had worth and value. God gave us these laws, not as some type of admissions test into heaven, but as instructions on how to live and be free in Him. He knows that not only is our relationship with Him important, but so are the relationships He has placed in our lives.

Intentional Interaction 

• Go through the final six commandments (Exodus 20:12-17) and discuss how these commands are about valuing other people. 
• Talk about ways we “steal,” “murder” etc one another, ways that may go beyond our traditional definition of these words. 

What's Happenin @ Fwd Mid-Week

Below is a brief summary of what talked about this week. Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes. Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Current Series:

Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with a short list of rules that has shaped the values of people and nations for centuries. We know them as the Ten Commandments, but do we really know them? Many people believe that the rules are a condition for a relationship with God, things we must do to get in His good graces. But just the opposite is true. The relationship came before the rules. And the commandments were meant to not only reveal God’s heart, but to keep His people free.

This Week's Recap:

Week # 4 (10.14.2015): Do Nothing

Bottom Line: When we stop and acknowledge how God has cared for us and our world, we realize who is really in control.

How crazy is your life? Doesn’t it seem like the weeks go by so fast? Okay, maybe not the school day or your shift at work—but the rest of your time, like your free time—how much of it seems to just disappear before you know it? What if you were more intentional with your time? More specifically, what if you spent time each week pausing, reflecting and acknowledging what God has done for you and everyone else the rest of the week? What if you took time to stop, rest and realize that no matter how much you thought you were in control of every minute, He was really in control all along?

Intentional Interaction

• What has God done for you this week? 
• How can you be more in tune with noticing what He does around you? 

What's Happenin @ Fwd Mid-Week

Below is a brief summary of what talked about this week. Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes. Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Current Series:

Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with a short list of rules that has shaped the values of people and nations for centuries. We know them as the Ten Commandments, but do we really know them? Many people believe that the rules are a condition for a relationship with God, things we must do to get in His good graces. But just the opposite is true. The relationship came before the rules. And the commandments were meant to not only reveal God’s heart, but to keep His people free.

This Week's Recap:

Week # 3 (10.07.2015): That's Not My Name

Bottom Line: When you use the name of God to dodge the will of God, you will ultimately miss out on God entirely.

Have you ever said God’s name when you were angry or rattled off “OMG”? If so, you may have heard someone talk about you breaking one of the Ten—the one about misusing God’s name. But there’s much more to this command. Just think about it, do you think that’s all God was concerned about? Do you think that was the only reason He put it on such an important list? The reality is that we abuse God’s name when we choose to use it for our own selfish purposes—and that’s a dangerous game that involves more than just a careless slip of the tongue. If we dodge the will of God in the name of God, then we run the risk of missing God entirely.

Intentional Interaction

• Beyond swearing, what are some examples in history or in our world today of people abusing God’s name? 
• What are some situations when you are tempted to abuse God’s name?

Registration for TCTC is OPEN:

TCTC (or Tennessee Christian Teen Convention) is a great opportunity for your teens to grow in their relationship with Christ and their student ministry group.

This is an amazing trip for ALL our Sr High and Jr High students and one we want to challenge all our students to attend.  With it's low cost (compared to other retreats) and it's close proximity, it's is an ideal conference to set a goal as this..

Here's what you need to know:

The dates: 

January 8-10

The location:

Gatlinburg TN

The Cost:

$150 (this is all inclusive: which means you pay that amount and that's it, no extra food, no "oh forgot to mentions", no nothing.  This includes everything.  I have found this is the easiest way to charge for trips, makes things simple)

The Cheapest Cost: 

The cost is the cheapest till November 2nd, that's when the cost goes up by $15, so register early.

What's needed at registration: 

Just a contact email, the shirt size of the teen (yeah a free t-shirt) and $50 deposit as soon as you can.

Is it refundable: 

Not really, the church foots the bill on the conference so you can take as long as you need to pay, so if you back out it's like Jesus himself has to pay, sorry, not really, just had to throw a little guilt in there.

Where do you register: 

You can register anytime on line at our registration page ( here) or you can register at the church at the student table outside the student rooms.

I can't swing the price:

HMCC has a no child left behind policy so that if there ever is a need for teen to attend a trip and funds are the primary restraint, we will always figure out a way to get that student there.  Just see Nathan and he can get you squared away.