New Year - New Opportunities!

Last semester was an exciting time of growth in our youth group. We saw our numbers rise both for both our Sunday School attendance and our Wednesday night attendance and we averaged over 55 teens at each of our activities. If you come up on a Wednesday or Sunday sometime you will see that we have quite literally filled our youth room almost to capacity. 
 
Most exciting of all was the spiritual growth we saw in many of our teenagers. During the semester we went through three different sermon series:

1. Faith/Works - a Sunday School series that went through the entire book of James in twelve different lessons
2. Next Steps – a Wednesday night series that taught through the five different revival kings in 2 Chronicles.
3. Responses to the Christmas Season – this was a mini four part series touching on different characters that were a part of the Christmas season. 

Each sermon series was well received by our teenagers and many of them made important even life changing decisions during the invitations.
 
As the years go by we will continue to unapologetically build our youth group through preaching. This is one of the pillars of our ministry and something we will not take lightly. When your teenager comes to our youth group gathers you as a parent can always be assured that he/she will hear solid, exegetical, hermeneutical, applicable messages. 

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Timothy 4:2)

On Sunday we had our beginning of the semester Parent/Teen meeting. During this meeting we went over what has been going on during the fall semester and what we are planning to do during this coming semester. 

Parents who were unable to attend the meeting can listen to the audio here:

The big announcement made during the Parent/Teen meeting was that we will be going to Southland Christian Camp in Ringgold, Louisiana this summer. This is the second time Crosspointe has gone to this camp during the summer. 

Crosspointe families will find that Southland has a wonderful camp philosophy that stays true to the Word of God and is parallel to our own beliefs. Here is their camp missions statement: 

"Southland utilizes the unique influence of the camping ministry to serve local churches by challenging every camper to conform to the character of Christ through salvation, obedience to God’s Word, and surrender to faithful service."

Why attend Southland camp? With so many choices available choosing a camp is a difficult choice to make. Here are some basic benefits your teen will experience from a week of camp at Southland.

• ​Total Involvement - The program at Southland is well thought out and intentional. The spiritual, physical, social, and sensory are activated uniquely and simultaneously. 
• Committed Staff - When it comes to recruiting, hiring, and training summer staff, Southland camp uniquely provides strong leaders for teenagers  to pattern their lives after. Parents can be at ease knowing that their teenagers will be under the care of individuals who are reinforcing the same values and truths being taught at home. 
• Relationship Building - Opportunities to form new relationships with peers and camping staff abound in wonderful ways at Southland. Our teens will be distributed two at a time into different cabins during the camp week. 
• Breaking Out of Comfort Zones - Traveling to Louisiana will force your teen to break outside his/her comfort zone. School and home life can very quickly become routines, but challenges and adversity are really what promote growth. Campers at Southland are encouraged to respond appropriately as they live together in small group settings
• Strengthening Character Traits - Leadership, endurance, and independence can all emerge in camp environment faster than in almost any other setting. The Southland staff is uniquely aware of this important aspect of Christian camping. Teens who come will be challenged to step up the plate and be leaders.
• Getting to Know One Another Better - Southland is quite a drive from Indiana which actually presents a positive and unique opportunity. It is my plan to keep the bus ride free from distractions. We will be going through devotionals and sharing testimonies even during our long commute. No time will be wasted! Teenagers need to experience unity in their youth group, and a week of camp helps accomplish this goal. Even the bus ride there and back will help us accomplish this goal.
• Freedom from Distractions - Southland uniquely removes teens from all the factors of school, popularity, video games, phones, etc. allowing teens to focus solely on the Lord. 
• Excellent Preaching - While every camp claims to have the best preaching we all know that not every camp truly does good preaching. Teenagers need to be placed under the ministry of solid, reliable, and relevant Bible preaching that builds upon the previous messages heard the day before and that is exactly what will happen at Southland.
•  Follow Up -  As the week progresses, the Southland staff will pass information on to me so that I can follow up with any decisions made by the teens and use the decisions as a basis for future discipleship activities.

I'm excited that this summer (June 27-July 2) our teens will have the opportunity to hear Evangelist Bryan Samms preach for a week at Southland Christian Camp. You can read more about Southland camp by visiting this page on our website. 

​ - Pastor Caleb