Youth Sunday & Other Events

Sunday morning November 8th our youth will take over the 10:30 am service! That's right we will be having youth Sunday that morning as youth run the show. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be asking (and encouraging) students in our ministry to run the sound equipment, read Scripture, sing, do motions, and other tasks to help serve that morning. I'll also have the awesome opportunity to preach from God's Word that morning.

I really want to encourage you and your youth to be there that Sunday morning and participate in this fun and exciting service!

Other events coming soon:

1.This Saturday is our churches Fall Festival at the McCrary's house! This is a great time for fun, food , and fellowship! We'll have all kinds of games for the youth, a bon fire, a hayride, and other exciting things. The event starts at 6:30pm and ends around 9:30pm. Directions can be found on our church's website at www.petrabaptist.com. Hope to see you there!

2. Beach Baptism service - Sunday night October 25th at 6:00 we will meet down at Mickler's Landing and have another beach baptism service! Please let me know if you or your youth would like to be baptized! Come down and support our brothers and sisters in Christ as we welcome them into the family of Christ!

3. Crazy Hat Night - Wednesday night October 28th our student ministry is shaking up the normal schedule with another theme night. We are encouraging students to come that night with some kind of crazy hat. They will be voted on based on creativity, size, color, and WOW factor. The best hat will receive a prize at the end of the night!

4. Prayer walk - Thursday night October 29th at 6:30pm our church will go out into the community and pray for people in neighborhoods around us. Meet at the church and be prepared to have God work in your life as you pray for other!

5. Thanksgiving dinner on church grounds - Sunday afternoon November 15th our church will sit down with each other and celebrate Thanksgiving by eating and fellowshiping together! More information to come soon!

6. Last night for Wednesday activities - Wednesday November 18th will be the last night of our church-wide activities (including youth programs and awanna programs) until early January. Take this time to enjoy the holiday's by spending extra time with your family and in God's Word! See you in January!

For any questions about our upcoming events please email me at Josh@petrabaptist.com or visit our website at www.petrabaptist.com.

Petra Parents!!

Hey Parents! Just wanted to let you know that you should receive our monthly newsletter tomorrow at your home (the same one that you have received via email)! Just to echo what the newsletter says I am trying to compile an email list for all of you so that once a month I can send you the newsletter via email. The cost and the time it took to send a hard copy out to everyone was massive and this would help me out a lot. If you do not wish to give out your email address that is fine just let me know and I'll send you a hard copy every month. Thanks for helping me out in this way, if you do not receive emails from me please let me know what your email address is so I can add you to my list! Thanks everyone!

American Culture & Effective Leadership

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that I have planned out two topics to talk about in depth over the next couple of months on my blog. I will be working hard to update these topics once a week, the topics include the following:

1. American Culture - I'm gonna spend some time talking about the culture here in America. Because I'm a youth pastor I'll talk a lot about youth culture but I do want to focus on other age groups as well. Some people just write off the concept of church and culture but I happen to believe that as the culture changes the way you do things as a church have to change as well. The good thing is that some thing never changes (even in the midst of cultural change) and that includes the Word of God and God's character! I'm excited to share some of these things with you in the next couple of months!

2. I had lunch with a great friend in ministry a couple weeks ago and he gave me a book full of useful leadership tips all of which are backed by Scripture. So I'll pick out my favorites and share them with you and I may even add a few of my own. These leadership tips will help you as you lead out in your church or as you lead people in the business world!

Be sure to comment on these posts if you have any questions, thoughts, or maybe a differing opinion and we'll talk about those in the weeks to come! I'm really looking forward to sharing things that are on my mind with all of you for the next couple of months!

Wednesday Night September 30th "The Main Event"

Hey Parents! Just want to let you know about our youth event this Wednesday night! It’s called “The Main Event.” It is a great opportunity for your youth to invite friends to come hang out and have a fun time. We will be meeting at the church at the same time as every Wednesday night (6:00) and then car pooling to either St. Johns Golf and Country or Johns Creek (still working out final details) to use their basketball courts and soccer fields. Once we arrive we will play some kickball as well as some other fun games & relays. Then the last 10 minutes I will share with them from God’s Word how they can come to have a relationship with Jesus! We will also be giving away prizes to teams and individuals including a Florida Gator basketball signed by Coach Billy Donavan for the student who brings the most friends! (they have to bring at least 5 friends who have never been to our church)

I’m really excited for the opportunity to share with your youth how to have a personal relationship with Jesus as well as building relationships through playing silly games with them. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email or call me at josh@petrabaptist.com or 904.612.9799. We are looking forward to seeing your youth there on Wednesday night! Thank you!

P.S. – I’ll be sending out an email as soon as I know exactly which park we will be playing at!

Beach Blessings

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know about a really exciting event that took place this evening (Sunday 9/13). Our church met out at Mickler's Landing (a great beach spot here in Jacksonville) and me and our pastor (Ted Owens) had the privilege to baptize 11 people (8 of whom were students).

It looked like rain almost all day and the forecast said that there would be a 60% chance of rain this evening. But God provided sunshine the entire evening and we were able to baptize the 11 who had come. I had never seen or helped in a beach baptism before and the pastor and I struggled to fight the waves that were crashing unusually hard. But after all was said and done (and everyone was "dunked") we got to see the Gospel proclaimed 11 times and got to see 11 new Christians follow God's command to be Scripturally baptized.

What an encouraging time to see some of the seed's planted by the ministries in our church (awana, youth, and adult) come to fruition. It just goes to remind us that God is faithful and when His Word goes out it does not return void!

Make sure you check out our website www.petrabaptist.com for photos (coming in the near future)!

Petra on Facebook

Petra Baptist Student Ministry is now on facebook!! Just type Petra Baptist Church in the search bar in the top right corner (of facebook) and then become a fan!! I'll be posting status updates and upcoming events on the facebook page. Feel free to post whats going on in your life or post any questions you have!! I hope to see a lot of fans by the end of the week!!

Look for my post later this week (serious this time) about social networking sites like facebook and twitter and how to use them wisely!!

Wild Adventures

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for allowing your youth to participate in our summer events this year. They have been a huge success and have provided a way for me and our other youth leaders to get to know your youth. We have one more summer event planned this summer before we kick off our fall programming on August 19^th. We are going to Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA on August 12^th. Wild Adventures is a theme park with roller coasters and a huge water park. We will leave the church a little after 8 am and will return at 9 pm. The price of the event is $25 which covers admission. Please email me to RSVP by August 7^th and pay before August 10^th (you can pay after but you will have to pay full ticket price, around $35).

We will be providing breakfast that morning which will include breakfast bars, pop tarts, doughnuts, milk, & orange juice. Your youth will have to bring money for lunch and dinner at the park (I suggest $15-20). They will also have to bring their own money for any other events (arcades, fair type games, etc) that they wish to participate in at the park.

There is also a water park inside Wild Adventures! So have your youth bring a change or clothes and a towel so they can participate in this as well. Make sure their swim suit does not have any metal on it (this includes even small little metal rings that some suits have on pockets). If there is metal on their suit the park will not allow you to go down any of the slides. Also ladies must wear a one piece, a tankini, or a dark shirt and are not allowed to wear a bikini. If you have any questions or concerns about this please do not hesitate to call or email me and I would love to explain why our church holds this view.

If you have any additional questions about our last event, or any of our other programs, please feel free to email or call me at any time. Thank you for letting your youth partner with us at Petra Baptist church this summer!

Overview

Event: Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA

Time: 8:00 am - 9:00 pm

Cost $25 (Before August 9th) - Please RSVP - Bring money for lunch / dinner @ park ($15-20)

Thanks!

Josh Ness