It’s hard to believe that Spark has already come and gone!

We began the Spark weekend with a fabulous kick-off on Thursday night with several hundred students and adults checking-in and devouring fajitas!  It was extra special this year to have almost 50 students from Tallowood’s Burmese Church to join us for Spark.  (Hmmm, I hope they liked the fajitas?!)  We didn’t waste any time during the first main session as students came excited and expectant for the weekend and jumped right into worship with the Jeff Johnson Band.  Brad Jones from Passion City Church in Atlanta  shared the powerful truth that Jesus really IS the Light of the World.  Before we can B Light, we have to KNOW the Light – we need to KNOW Jesus!  From there, our students spread out all over the building into their different grade groups to discover their host home for the weekend.  The students spent time after each main session unpacking and discussing together in their host home groups led by seven amazing facilitators; 6th-Tony Robinson, 7th-Kevin Harris, 8th-Jacob Robison, 9th-Harlie Raethel, 10th-Will McCartney, 11th-Scott Young, and 12th-Tommy Brown.  Before we knew it, Thursday’s SPARK session was over and it was time to go back home to pack, finish homework, and wear their Spark shirts to school on Friday!

No doubt, Friday morning meant 25 host home families were busy with final preparations, house cleaning, grocery shopping, and a trillion other details to be ready for the their homes to be overtaken by a bunch of excited students!  Our host homes are the heartbeat of Spark, and the weekend simply would not be possible without the servant hearts of men and women who choose to serve Jesus by bravely opening their home and their lives to be a picture of the gospel.  Next time you see these folks, give them a pat on the back and say, “Thank You!”

Friday afternoon our students finally finished school and headed back to Tallowood for a spaghetti supper and another great night of worship, teaching, and time in their grade groups.  At last, our hosts took a deep breath and headed out the Tallowood doors with screaming kids in tow!  Every host home has their own stories to tell, but I heard about one group of girls that were all quietly reading books when it was time for bed and had to be told they only had 10 more minutes to read before lights out!  And yet, another home group went to play night Frisbee with “mom” and “dad.”

Saturday was an incredible day that began with grade groups meeting in homes all over Houston discussing how to “B Light” in the world.  It didn’t take long to put the lesson into action as all of those groups began arriving at the SunBlossom Garden and the SunBlossom Mountain apartment complexes where Tallowood’s Burmese Church has already been shining the light of Christ to their Burmese neighbors in southwest Houston.  What a sight it was to see students all over the place passing out flyers, cleaning and painting in individual homes, repairing fences, power-washing sidewalks, picking up trash, playing with zillions of kids, leading Bible clubs, and serving over 600 meals!  Whoa!  It was an incredible sight to see!  The true Light of the World was shining all over the place as our students loved and served with their whole hearts and shared Jesus.

We came back to the church that evening to celebrate and continue to worship, learn and share together.  It was especially awesome to celebrate as Lauren, one of our 6th grade girls, bravely stood up to say that she wanted to believe in Jesus for the first time.  Wahoo!

Sunday morning brought a lot of sleepy kids back to Tallowood bright and early for one last time to hear from Brad Jones who challenged us that if God made us to B Light, we need to leave the lamp store and go out and light up places that are dark!  We need to let the light of Christ shine in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, sports teams, etc.   After a final prayer in each grade group, we headed to the 11:15 a.m. Worship Service to worship with the whole body of believers.  Like I said before, I can’t believe the weekend passed so quickly, but I am thrilled that the Light will keep shining brighter and brighter in the days and years to come!

-Rebecca

To see more pictures from SPARK, click HERE.

Overall, about 120 middle school students on sixteen teams participated in the games.  To accommodate our largest crowd to date, we had games being played simultaneously on four fields.  And to keep the competition balanced, we have a girls league and a guys league.

It was an awesome day, though it was freezing, and at the end of the day only two teams could go home calling themselves the Middle School Bowl Champs!

Our Girls League Champions were the “Super 7” (this was their second Middle School Bowl win in a row. Can you say back to back?)

Our Guys League Champions were “White Trash“, a team of 8th graders.

We also award prizes for best uniforms.  For the first time, a boys team won this prize.  Way to go “Tebows“!

Our goal in all of this football madness is to encourage our students to be intentional and invite their friends to church.  We are praying that this mindset will not only happen when there is a special event, but that every week will be a time where students are purposefully reaching out to their friends with the Gospel.

To see more pictures of the day, check them out here.

-Micah

Last Wednesday night, over 150 students, parents, and adult leaders gathered in the Xchange building for a night of worship, food and good times as we celebrated the Christmas season.

As students arrived, they were greeted with more Christmas snacks than any one person should eat. The spread included apple cider, hot cocoa, cookies, brownies, chips, dips, cokes, and all kinds of candy. Once students were in the building, they also had the chance to decorate the Xchange Christmas tree, which now sits below our “JESUS sign” from Camp Tallowood 2011. A very cool reminder of what Christmas is all about!

After everyone had their fill of snacks, we all headed in to the Gingerbread House decorating area where each grade level divided up and began working to create their own gingerbread house.

It was an interesting 20 minutes of decorating as some groups paid attention to every close detail, while other groups (I’m talking to you middle school boys!) decided to eat most of their decorating supplies and take decorating a little less seriously.

When it was all said and done, the 7th grade girls team won the contest with a very nicely done house.

After the contest, everyone headed to the worship area where Sam Jones led us in a few Christmas Carols while he was surrounded by students on the stage. It was an energetic time as some students danced and others swayed in unison as we made a joyful noise together.

Finally, we ended the night by of course looking at the Christmas story (Luke 2).  We saw how Jesus being born was about more than just celebrating the birth of baby.  Instead, Jesus’ birth is evidence of God showing up to meet the needs of the world.  We looked at prophecies that predicted His birth and also saw how His birth was a shift in how God related to people.

Overall, it was a great night and an amazing chance to celebrate the birth of God’s Son together.  To see more pictures from the night, go HERE.

Merry Christmas!

-Micah

Friday night we began with a fun game led by Philip Lester.  Students had to get in groups based on the cards they received and then they did something as a group, like form a line by age, make a human pyramid, or play poker (kidding about that last one!).  Then we had our first session with Joel Harrell’s band December Tide and our guest speaker Whit Smith.  They did amazing during each one of our sessions.

In session 1, Whit focused on why we exist as we studied Colossians 1:16.  He talked about our purpose and how we often reach intersections in life that define and shape who we are and who we become.  He then encouraged our students to see that they are “Created by God and for God!”

After our session, we headed outside where we were taken on a hayride by two tractors pulling trailers.  It was really cool since Camp Tejas was decorating for Lights of Tejas where they cover their grounds with lights for the Christmas season.

The next morning we had our quiet time outside and then enjoyed another session with December Tide and Whit.  Whit was sharing about our journey with God and how we often carry lots of baggage that we need to give to Him so that we can continue on in our lives with Christ.

After the session, we ate lunch and then competed in the annual mud football game.  The game ended in a 7 – 7 tie, but it was still a great time in the mud!

Our final session for the retreat, focused on how God desires to use believers to bring the world to Him.  Whit gave a very practical challenge to just share Christ and not feel the pressure to convert people.  Instead, being faithful and sharing our belief in Christ is what we are called to do no matter what response we receive.  After the session, students wrote out their two minute testimony in their small group.

Once the small groups wrapped up, we boarded the bus and headed back to Houston.  Can’t wait for High School Retreat 2012!

(For more photos from the retreat, go HERE)

-Micah

This new Sunday School year, beginning August 20, will bring a new alignment in the youth ministerial staff leadership.  This realignment comes after a prolonged study of our effectiveness and our desire to capture the best skills and abilities of our staff.  Heretofore we have assigned the tasks according to age groups with Jerome supervising the entire program, Micah working with Middle School students and Rebecca working with Senior High students.

The change in assignment places the ministers with responsibility according to their gifts and the successes they have enjoyed.  Jerome will continue to coordinate the student ministry with Micah leading out in the teaching and outreach ministry and Rebecca overseeing the discipleship, leadership and mission’s ministry with students.  Jerome is also assuming the responsibility for coordinating the Devoted Hearts and Homes ministry which is being developed more completely to work with homes of all ages in the church.  Jerome will be on sabbatical early this fall.  He is mostly using that time to learn more about the ministries to homes employed by churches across the country because home development is critical to our future as a church and to our community at large. It is our ambition to make our ministries more successful and to reach our community more effectively with these changes.

-Larry Heslip

This Wednesday night at ReFuel, we had a time for all of our outgoing 8th grade students to share about what God has done in their lives throughout middle school and on the recent 8th grade trip.  We had a great turnout of students and I loved hearing them share Godly wisdom with the rest of our middle school students.  (You can see pictures from the night HERE)

Here are a few videos we showed during the night.  The first is a recap of the 8th Grade Mission Trip to Baton Rouge and the other is a look back at a variety of pictures from throughout their middle school lives at Tallowood.

-Micah

In His Joy!
Jerome
Col. 3:17

I came to Israel to see the places Jesus saw, to taste the flavors Jesus tasted, to touch the land and the water Jesus had touched. We have and are doing those things. We have also had some ministry opportunities; visiting the young soldiers, playing with a group of special needs kids, and taking a group of severely impoverished children shopping for shoes and clothes and a backpack.

I have to confess I was thinking I would rather be spending the time walking where Jesus walked, visiting the sites, learning about Him. Then…God put Scripture on my mind – Matthew 25 where Jesus taught us that feeding and clothing and opening our hearts to strangers was doing it for HIM. THIS is what He came here to teach us – to be kind, to love each other in His name, for His glory. So, though we weren’t walking where He had walked or touching what He had touched, we were definitely being His hands and His feet.