It’s that time of year again when Illinois Christian Teen Convention is almost here! ICTC is a great opportunity to invite your friends to some low key worship and two days of fun in Peoria Illinois. The deadline to sign up (to avoid late fees) is November the 4th and we will be leaving November 20th and arriving back in Jacksonville the 21st. Mark your calendars!

Information Packet (more specific information about what you will need, costs, etc)

Release Form (you can print and/or download the form if you have not signed one before or are not sure).

Trunk or Treat

Trunk or Treat is First Christian Church’s “safe” Halloween event and the Barn will be set up as a fun house for the event. If you’d like to come and help set up please be at the Barn anytime after school till about 5:30 the 26th or 29th. Hope to see you there.

It’s been too long!  The first thing I want to say is GO TO ICTC!  Every year it’s a ton of fun and well worth the time and cost.  The cost is $40 + three meals, but as an extra bonus this year if you have never been to ICTC the cost right now is only $20!  Considering the true cost is around $80 that is an incredible deal!

I recently was able to attend a retreat in Colorado, and believe me, Colorado is beautiful!  I was only there a few days and I feel like I could move there in an instant!  Lots of good things happened while I was there, but one thing in particular that I would like to share with you all.  My mentor for the weekend challenged myself and the rest of my group to pray this prayer: “God, what do You want to do in Your ministry today?” Basically that means that God needs to be in control, and that it is His ministry, not mine, or the churches, or anybody else’s, it’s His. That may sound like a no brainer, God should already be in control, but I had to think pretty hard about that – do I really let God be in charge?  Or would things pretty much just go on as normal if God were taken out of the picture?  I came to the conclusion that most of the time we (myself included) do what we want to do and then ask God to bless it.  I haven’t figured out what that means for the youth group of First Christian Church, but I’m pretty sure it means some things may change in the next few months – hopefully on prompting from God.

So what does that mean for you?  Is God in control of your life?  Or do you just do what you want hoping God will bless it?  I challenge you to everyday get up and pray this short prayer “God, what do You want to do in my life today?” You’ll find that you will act, speak, and even think differently when you truly let God have control.  I know I do!

All Right!  Finally, a place where I can write whatever I want and it will be read by thousands of eager people, hanging on my every word!  Ok, maybe not thousands, but hopefully at least a few of you will take the time to read this.

I just got back from speaking at the Students For Christ group that meets every Wednesday after school.  The message I gave them wasn’t earth shattering, but it was a great reminder for all of us.  Mainly, I said that we make time for what’s important in our lives.  We spend time working on and practicing things we want to be good at – school, band, sports, video games, etc.  And yet when it comes to being a Christian we all too often think that just a couple of hours a week is enough.  It’s a common belief that if I go to church and youth group I have “done my duty,” or “paid my debt” and that’s good enough.  Let me be the first to say it’s not enough!  Just think if you only practiced your instrument two hours each week or only studied two hours each week (probably not too far off for some of you!).  We wouldn’t be very successful in those areas!  The performances would be very subpar, and your grades would suffer.  Even if you could slide by, the truth is you could be doing much better if you would only spend a little more time practicing.  Being a Christian is no different.  You have to work at it a little bit.  Going to Church and being involved is a big part of that.  Being part of youth group is another part.  But then there’s the rest of the week – what are you doing to practice and grow as being a Christian?

There are tons of options but I want to highlight two that absolutely anybody can do.  The first is this:  Read your Bible!  However you do it, whenever you do it, just read it!  Every day if you can!  If you don’t have one, ask me and I’ll get you one!  The second is Prayer.  I’m not saying you need to spend an hour everyday on your knees in your closet praying.  If you can do that good for you!  That’s awesome.  But most people can’t do that.  I’m saying you need to pray every day.  It can be short, long, out loud, silent, or how ever you prefer.  Just do it.  God wants to hear from you.  And believe it or not, you will hear from Him when you start praying.

I won’t sugar coat it for you.  Being a Christian isn’t always easy, but I do believe it’s well worth it.  It takes hard work, discipline, and time to get “good” at it, but in the end you will be glad you did.

This website would not have been accomplished without God’s mighty helping hand.

Without Him I would have quit over frustration and when thing’s didn’t go my way, but I didn’t because this is for His Glory and no human flaws would stop it. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” I’d also like to thank the volunteers that helped me out with the website in some form. Whether you helped with something technical or gave suggestions I appreciate your help and support. May God bless you.

It is my prayer that this website is used by the youth group as a means of communication when we’re not with each other and way to get information across to everyone easily. That everything here will be of Godly values, have a Godly base and anything else be destroyed. This website is for Your glory and not for anyone else including my own. That You do wondrous things not just through fccgroundzero.org but through our entire youth group.

Some things I’d like to go over:

• If you have any questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate to tell me. You can either do so by following the “Contact Webmaster” link at the bottom of every page or tell me in person at GroundZero or Sunday school.
• The photo section of this website will display 4 photos from our Facebook page and the rest can be found by clicking “Browse Photos”. The Facebook page will be the primary place for all of our photos from events and trips. If you have some you would like uploaded please see Paige or Sidney C.
• There is some really cool technology running on the website I hope you all will utilize. We have a live feed from our Twitter page. Since we will be using Twitter during events and trips to update parents & those at home it is really cool we can send messages to Twitter and have them appear here. The feed also contains reminders of upcoming stuff so follow our feed or somehow keep track of it. This along with txtmarks & e-mail shall hopefully curve anyone from missing out on an impromptu event.
• Please show your parents this website! Point out the Events page with tons of information about events we attend. Show them the twitter feed and how it’s a great way for them to keep up to date while you’re at CIY or another event. There are many resources for them here too.
• There are still some things planned for the website. What comes to mind is a mobile phone page (condensed version of the website) and a section for you guys to post in a blog format about anything you’d like. Such as how you saw God move during CIY or how the Mexico missions trip changed your view of your current life.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to advertise that we can host a few personal blogs on the website. What I mean is if you’d like a Wordpress blog for personal use and you actually plan on using it I would love to help you set one up. The only requirement is you agree to the covenant 1 Peter 4:11, “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” and you do so through your blog.

In other news…

GroundZero begins again the 2nd of September and continues every Wednesday (mostly) for the rest of the year. Specifics will be on the calendar.

God Bless,

Alex