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!

Growing

Hey Everyone! Man I've been slacking! I've missed two weeks.....and haven't updated you at all about what is going on here in the youth ministry at Petra Baptist Church! So I wanted to post about what God is doing in our ministry.

We started a Sunday morning study called Back to the Basics teaching the students the basics of the Bible so that they can have a better understanding of the Bible as they read it. Our first week we had three students, the next week we had four students, and this past week we had seven students! Every week new students are coming as we begin to see growth in our student ministry. I want to say thanks to the students who have been coming and I want to encourage those who are not coming to get plugged in to what we are doing on Sunday mornings.

Be sure to check the blog out in the next couple weeks as I lay out what we will be doing this summer (including paintball, adventure landing, Suns games, and other events)! Have a Jesus filled week!!

Back to the Basics

Hey everyone!!! Just wanted to say thanks to those who came out on Sunday morning (leaders and students) for our first ever Sunday morning Bible Fellowship Hour!! We played some games (gorilla, man, gun and the rhyme game) and then opened the Bible to Matthew 21 and talked about the significance of Palm Sunday!

I wanted to write this post to let everyone know about a series of messages that I will be teaching on April 19th at 9:30am. It will be entiltled "Back to the Basics" a study to understanding the Bible. I will be basing it on the book 30 Days to Understanding the Bible by Max Anders. This book takes the reader through the story of the Old and New Testament while also hitting on 10 great doctrines of the Bible. I think it will give our students and good overall view of the Bible and give them a good foundation to begin to grow their faith upon. I also recommend the book for seasoned Christians. I went through it about 2 years ago and it was a good refresher for me! Again this series starts April 19th at 9:30; this week we will not meet at 9:30 because the main service starts at 9:30, come and join us on Easter!!

I wanted to leave you with the chorus of a old song by a group called 4HIM called Basic of Life that I think go really well with this post and this series of messages.

We need to get back to the basics of life a heart that is pure and a love that is blind. A faith that is fervently grounded in Christ the hope that endures for all times. These are the basics,we need to get back to the basics of life

Get Plugged In!!

Hey Everyone!! Just wanted to start off by saying that we had a great night last night at the Fuel youth event. Had some pizza, played some guitar hero, and played taboo to get the evening started off. And I have to give a shout out to team 1 (the team I was a part of) because we won taboo!! Then we begin to learn about the Trinity through the Fuel DVDs. We learned that we will never truly understand the Trinity, and that's ok because we are saved by faith! We had some good discussions and then sang a couple worship songs! Thanks for coming (students) and thanks for your prayers (church)!!!

I also wanted to use this post to tell everyone that this Sunday will be our first Bible Fellowship hour (aka "Sunday School")! It will be held from 9:30 to about 10:15ish in the building next to the sanctuary. This Sunday we will have doughnuts and some drinks and students will have the opportunity to win CDs and t-shirts through a couple different games that we have planned! Then we'll sit and talk about the significance of Palm Sunday and the Resurrection. This BF ("Bible Fellowship") hour will be every Sunday from now on with one exception......Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday (April 12th) our normal service will be held at 9:30 and we will not have our normal BF Hour.

We really want students to be involved in this program on Sunday mornings. It will be a time to hang out, play some games, and learn from God's Word! I'm really excited about what God is doing here and what He plans to do in the future!! Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to see what God is going to do next!! See you this Sunday morning!!!