Paintball July 29th!!

Dear Parents,

Our next summer event is July 29^th and we are going paintballing! We are going to meet at the church at 10 am and get back at 4pm. We will be going to a place called Paintball Brothers Inc. (address – 3906 CR 218, phone # 608-8299) out in Middleburg to play paintball. This event will cost $45 which includes, use of the tactical paintball field (the best in the Jacksonville area), all the equipment necessary (paintball gun, mask, & CO2), 1,000 paintballs, and lunch. You may bring your own equipment (gun, mask, etc) but it does not change the price (the field charges whether you have your own stuff or not). I suggest that you leave your equipment at home and just use what is rented to us. YOU CANNOT BRING YOUR OWN PAINTBALLS! For safety reasons the fields we are going to will not allow us to bring our own paintballs so you MUST leave those at home.

If you have never been paintballing before here are a couple things you should know:

• · Paintballs can hurt – make sure you wear layers of clothes to help protect your body. You must wear some kind of pants (jeans, camo, etc). I suggest a long sleeve shirt with another shirt over. Also no flip-fops you must wear closed toe shoes or boots. You will be wearing a protective mask (provided by the paintball place) to protect your face. The more clothes you wear the less the paintballs will hurt, but remember its July and the fields are outdoors….It will be hot! If you wear shorts or flip-flops of any sort you will not go paintballing with us! (Also bring a change of clothes for the ride home)
• · There are rules – The rules will be laid out in detail at the paintball fields from our instructor which generally include no short range shots and during game play never take off your protective mask (provided by the paintball place). If you break any of the rules laid out by the instructor at the field you will not play the rest of the day!

You can also check out www.warpig.com/paintball/newbie/by.newbie.shtml for an interesting article about paintballing from a beginner’s prospective.

Thank you so much for being a part of our summer events here at Petra Baptist Church! If you have any questions or concerns please email me at josh@petrabaptist.com or call me at 904.612.9799.

Follow Petra Student Ministry on Twiter

Twitter is the new craze in the social network world and we are jumping on the bandwagon! You can follow what is going on in our student ministry by visiting www.twitter.com/PetraStudents.

Some of you probably have no idea what twitter is so I'll explain. Twitter is a social networking site were you answer the simple question what are you doing (in 140 characters)? You can follow other people to see what they are doing and other people can follow you to see what you are doing. You do not need to be a member of twitter to see the posts just visit the web-address provided above to see what's new in our ministry (programing alerts, message recaps, etc)!

I'm writting an article about social networking sites (myspace, facebook, twitter, etc) and how we can use them effectivley as Christians. I'll also warn parents about what they can do to keep an eye on their youth as they enter the social networking world. I'll post that as soon as I'm finished.

Come follow us on twitter!

Pool Day!!

Hey parents!! I'm really excited about our next event this Wednesday (June 24th). We will be traveling to the Ocala area to a privately owned area with a pool, volleyball courts, fields, and a place to cookout! We plan on leaving the church around 11:15 am and return just before 5:00 pm. We will be providing lunch (hot dogs and hamburgers) around 1:00!! Don't forget to send $10 with your youth for this event.

Adult members of our church (Brigid Wallace, Roger Owns Jr., and Laura Owens) will be driving your youth as we carpool to the Ocala area. Our youth volunteers have been checked out by me and our pastor. Your youth's safety is our first priority!

Along with your youth's physical safety we also want to keep your child safe spiritually. That being said, we want everyone, especially the ladies, to dress modestly. This means no bikini's. Tankini's and one-peice swimsuits are fine. If a bikini is all your youth owns that is fine but they will be required to wear a dark t-shirt over top. We do this to protect the purity of the teenage boys that will be in attendance. If you have any question, concerns, or problems with our dress code please feel free to contact me at josh@petrabaptist.com or call me at 612.9799.

Also we must have a medical release for for your youth on file. You can print one out from this blog by clicking on the title of the last post ("Medical Release Form"). If we do not have one of these forms on file then your youth will not be allowed to swim!

Again I'm really excited about this event and look forward to seeing your youth at Petra Baptist Church this Wednesday at 11:00 am!!

Medical Release Form

Hey Everyone!!! I'm really excited about our summer events starting next week!!! In order for your youth to participate in any of the events we do this summer we have to have a medical release form on file for your student. I sent one out with our newsletter last week but if you have lost it or did not recieve the newsletter you can print it off our church website (just click on the title of this post "Medical Release Form). There will also be some at the church at the beginning of each event as well. Thanks for your cooperation....see you next week!!!!

Summer Events (For Parents)

Hey Everyone!!! Hope your having a great week so far!!! I just wanted to let you know about our events coming up this summer. During the 9-10 weeks of summer we have 6 exciting events here at Petra Baptist Church including: a video scavenger hunt, a pool day, bowling, kickball, paintball, and a trip to Wild Adventures in Valdosta Georgia!! These events start June 17th (only 2 weeks from now)!!! And the last event (to Wild Adventures) will be August 12th. You should be recieving a newsletter via email or direct mail in the next couple of days with some important information in it. Below I'll give you a brief overview of this summers events. If you want information via email or direct mail please let me know by sending me an email at josh@petrabaptist.com.

June 17th = Video Scavenger Hunt (Time: 6:00-9:30 / Cost: $10 / Place: Petra Baptist Church) - This is going to be a really fun event. We are going to split students up into teams and stick them with an adult leader and have them drive up and down 210 hunting for random things to take pictures of. Which ever teams takes the most and the best pictures wins! We will also be providing a desert at this event!

June 24th = Pool Day (Time: 11:00am-5:00pm / Cost: $10 / Place: Petra Baptist Church) - This will be an exciting day hanging out at the pool, playing football, volleyball, etc! We will be driving down to Ocala to Salt Springs - Ocala National Forest. There is a public pool there along with volleyball courts! We will be providing lunch that day having the classic hamburger and hot dog combo, as well as chips and drinks!

July 1st = Bowling (Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm / Cost: $15 / Place: Petra Baptist Church) - Nothing brings in independance day like a day at the bowling alley!! We will be going to Beach Bowl on Beach Blvd to bowl and have lunch! That's right lunch is provided at this event too!!

July 15th = Kickball (Time: 5:30-9:00 / Cost: $10 / Place: Petra Baptist Church) - We will be visiting one of our area baseball fields to take it over and play an intense game of kickball. One of our biggest concerns at an event like this is keeping your youth hydrated so bottled water will be provided at this event to help your youth have a fun time!

July 29th = Paintball - details are still being work out but as soon as everything is confirmed and locked in I'll give you an update of the time, place, and cost! Thanks!

August 12th = Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA - details are still being worked out in this event as well. It will be an all day trip probably from 8am - 9pm. But as soon as a couple more things are iron out I'll get that information to you!

**To attend these events we [Petra Baptist Church] must have a medical release form on file for your youth. There will be copies at the church at the beginning of each event and I'm working on a way for you to download them off this site so you will be able to print one off from your computer! Thanks for helping us in this area!

I understand that some of you will not be able to make it to all the events this summer. And that is fine! I know during the summer you have family vacations and other events planned but we look forward to seeing you here when you can be here so we can hang out with your youth and try to enocurage them with their walk with Christ!! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me! Thanks!

Youth Ministry 101

During my short stint at Boyce College I took a class entitled Youth Ministry 101 (taught by Gary Almon). It was a great class, I learned a ton and my desire to do youth ministry was multiplied! Three years later I find myself acting out what I had learned in that class and I find it more difficult then it was when I was reading that book or discussing the topic in class. I thought because of my background and the little experience that I had obtained that I was completely ready for the task ahead. And as I sit here at the church I believe the Lord has brought me to I find myself learning more and more about how youth ministry works in an administrative and spiritual way (I still think that I'm completely ready but I'm realizing that I don't know everything). I'm trying to narrow down curriculum, make contacts, find time to study & pray, plan future events, lead students and volunteer workers all while being a student, an employee and a worship pastor. I say this not to draw attention to my circumstance or to gain your sympathy (because many of you are in the same boat with overloaded schedules), I say this to remind myself and to remind you guys that it is IMPOSSIBLE to do ministry (or life for that matter) without a GROWING relationship with Christ! One of my biggest struggles is being consistent with my walk with Christ and I find at times when I'm not as focused on Christ, as I should be, the weight of my circumstances almost becomes unbearable and I question the call the Lord has placed on my life. And then the times when I'm growing I feel like I can tackle any challenge. I heard something this week that really put some perspective on this subject. My identity is found in Christ! It's not found in what I do for a living, who people think I am, or even what they expect from me, my identity is in Christ! I just wanted to encourage you to be consistent with your walk with Christ and make sure your meeting with someone or talking with someone about what Christ is doing in your life. To many times we talk about sports, school, relationships, and other things and we don't talk about the most important relationship in our life......CHRIST! Because when you're really growing in Christ and walking with him ever day then you will talk about Him and you will become excited about your faith.

Summer is Approaching

Hey Everyone!! Summer is almost here! I'm really excited about this summer and what we are doing here at Petra Baptist Church. In the next few weeks you will get a calendar of events which include paintball, a scavenger hunt, kickball, boating, bowling, and even a big trip to Orlando or Atlanta! I'm really excited about hanging out with everyone this summer! Make sure you're a part of what we are doing this summer at Petra Baptist Church! If you have any questions or need to contact me for any reason please email me at josh@petrabaptist.com!