This a great youtube about THE CROSS and gives an engaging way to explain why Jesus died for us.
Fusion Wednesdays: ALPHA
Fusion Wednesdays are going ALPHA.
What is Alpha? Alpha is a video series that focuses on the basic questions of our faith
and gives students that ability to explore and ask questions about their own personal faith in small groups. As we move toward Spring, I see many Middle School students begin to question their faith, life habits, and personal mission. This is a timely series that will give a Middle School student the ability to ask pointed questions in a safe place on Wednesday Nights.
Join the Insurgent – Soul Fuel
Join the Insurgents!
Deep down, I think we all would like to be insurgents. Perhaps that’s why 97% of us want to see the much-anticipated sequel to the smash hit Divergent??? (Source: rottentomatoes.com)
And why wouldn’t we want to join in this Chicago-gone-really-bad-post-apocalyptic adventure that pits Tris and Four against the Evil Erudites and their titanic-sized power grab?
Going to a movie like this gives us two or more hours of escapism and the chance to imagine what it feels like to fight in a cause that really matters. We love to watch the newly barbered Tris overcome challenges and seek out the truth. We revel in the defeat of Jeanine and her followers and grieve when good men and women go down.
But then the movie is over, and as we clean up our trash and head toward the exit, we sometimes struggle with a low-grade feeling of dissatisfaction with the mundane redundancy of life in the real world, right? And we are super-bummed that we have to wait another year or two for the conclusion! (Thanks a lot, Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Twilight/and Hunger Games!)
However, I have good news for you. Life for those who have trusted Christ was not designed to be commonplace, humdrum, or defined by a monotonous routine. You are placed in a specific time and place with a custom-made set of gifts and talents that can’t be tested, measured, and categorized as conveniently as they are in the divergent world.
And because of that, your life is destined to be extraordinary. Or, you can choose to ignore this destiny and fritter away your time, talents and treasures on largely insignificant and ultimately meaningless pursuits, but deep down, you hunger for more.
But please…do not just take my word for it. My words are the musings of a mere man, but the words I am about to share with you come from the God of the universe, the Creator of all things and the One who knows you better than you know yourself. This passage is your calling and your connection to THE Cause of all causes—the cause of Christ. And if you take these words seriously and apply them consistently, your life will take on an element of significance that you have never before experienced.
Listen carefully:
Finally, brothers and sisters, draw your strength and might from God. Put on the full armor of God to protect yourselves from the devil and his evil schemes. We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone. No, this fight is against tyrants, against authorities, against supernatural powers and demon princes that slither in the darkness of this world, and against wicked spiritual armies that lurk about in heavenly places.
And this is why you need to be head-to-toe in the full armor of God: so you can resist during these evil days and be fully prepared to hold your ground. Yes, stand—truth banded around your waist, righteousness as your chest plate, and feet protected in preparation to proclaim the good news of peace. Don’t forget to raise the shield of faith above all else, so you will be able to extinguish flaming spears hurled at you from the wicked one. Take also the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17, The Voice)
You may think that your battles are with your parents or teachers or people at school who are mean, but God has revealed to us that the real battles and dangers we face are not against flesh and blood. The evil forces of Satan stay strategically hidden from view, but the effects of their assaults have messed up the world way beyond what any movie could portray. There is racism, genocide, trafficking, and a host of other oppressive strongholds that we must fight against.
And our weapons are not physical, either. In this epic and eternal fight, we must be fully covered by the armor of God, or we will be mowed down by the army of darkness.
So if you find yourself wanting more out of life, then take on the challenge Jesus is calling His followers to—helping His kingdom come and His will be done. Join the insurgency against the schemes of the Evil One to keep people in bondage to sin and despair. Wake up each day with a prayerful commitment to be used by Jesus to push back the territory that Satan strives to take from you and your friends. Don’t think of yourself as a bystander; rather focus on being a soldier in a cause that really counts.
Put on your armor and join THE Cause!
Every Christian is called to be an insurgent against the devil and his plan to steal, kill, and destroy the very souls of the human race. The question is: are we an active insurgent or a doomed bystander?
PRAY: Father, please give us the power and focus to fight in this battle against Satan and his army of darkness. Remind us to suit up in the full armor of you’ve given us, so we can stand against him.
READ: 2 Corinthians 10:4. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
GET: Fearless…Unleashing God’s Fierce Love In Your World. To learn more about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, check out this powerful new student devotional from Greg Stier based on the book of Ephesians.
Want to share this with your students? Copy and paste the following text message: “Do you sometimes see yourself as a bystander? As a Christian, you are way more than that! Check out this week’s Soul Fuel on joining the Insurgents: http://hubs.ly/y0CfLq0
LEADERS: Be sure to check out the Discussion Guide for this week’s Soul Fuel – Join the Insurgents!
Donate now to support Soul Fuel!
Parent Cue: Once Upon A Time Xp3 Series
Think About This:
What was your teenager’s favorite story when he or she was little? And how many times did you read that story to them? A hundred? A thousand? Sometimes as parents of older children, we are tempted to look back nostalgically at storytime and think, those were the days, assuming they’re long-gone. But in the book, Losing Your Marbles: Playing for Keeps, Reggie Joiner explains that the power of stories, especially stories over time, may make storytelling a practice that is too important to abandon.
Experts have analyzed, theorized, and evangelized about the power of story. Everyone seems to agree. It’s as if our minds are hardwired to engage in the way information fits together in the context of a narrative. One specialist in this area puts it this way: If you ever need a little more proof that God exists, consider the magical, mystical, imaginative, compelling way kids, teenagers—and everyone else for that matter—connect to stories. It seems obvious that God created your imagination; then created stories to ignite it. Have you ever considered that without imagination, you can’t . . .
see past what you already know?
care how someone else feels?
hope beyond your present situation?
… That’s what the gift of imagination and story does for a child or teenager. It enables them to think their way into other people’s lives. It compels them to feel the sentiments of other people’s emotions. It invites them to venture into other people’s places.
Maybe that’s why research actually indicates the more stories you read to a child over time, the greater their empathy. Because stories have the potential to make you feel what someone else feels. Stories can collectively work to build a child’s emotional, relational, and moral intelligence.
Think about what happens when a child imagines . . . fighting Smaug, the dragon, with Bilbo on the Lonely mountain, joining Annemarie in the Danish Resistance during WWII, traveling with Lucy through a mysterious wardrobe into a frozen land.
They see more. They care more. They hope more.
Try This
A good story doesn’t have to be found in a children’s book. This week, try enjoying a story that your student is already interested in by going to…
See a movie together.
It doesn’t have to be a spiritual or “family” movie. It doesn’t have to have a G-rating. It doesn’t even have to have some great moral to the story. Just see a movie your student is interested in and then, on the ride home or while enjoying a snack after the show, ask them one question:
Which character in the movie do you identify with most?
Really listen to the answer. Don’t correct them if you disagree. Just use this as a time to learn about your student and enjoy hearing where they think they fit in the story.
Get connected to a wider community of parents at www.orangeparents.org.
Walk MS: San Antonio, Sat March 7 @ 9am
Walk MS: San Antonio – National MS Society.
Laura was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis August of 2013, and I found that we had to make some drastic personal changes to battle the disease as a family. Our family was shocked to learn about Ebby Isbill and her diagnosis this past December 2014. Through this experience, we have seen God’s hand in different ways, met new people that need His love, and learned way more about auto-immune disease and nervous system details than we have ever imagined. The MS walk is a great place to unite with our friends, bring awareness to Multiple Sclerosis, and link arms with Laura, Ebby and Caroline as they tackle this disease in their daily lives.
If you are led to team up with us for the MS walk, click on the link below!
My Prayer for I ♥ Weekend – Believe 2015
As we gear up for the 2015 Believe Weekend, our thoughts are set on the theme, I ♥ Weekend. I have not been to this place, but I see lots of people that have, and they will find a way to come back 
with at T-Shirt that says I ♥ NY. This weekend I mowed the lawn with the i ♥ radio app, and enjoyed some tunes. If you want to go OLD SCHOOL with me, then you might remember a time where we wrote notes to each other on this stuff called notebook paper. As a guy, it was pretty awesome to get a note from a girl with, “I ♥ YOU” written on it. Needless to say, I ♥ ____ (fill in whatever) is something that has been trending in our lives in some form or fashion. 
Our hearts, emotions, wills, stomachs, and whatever else, lead us to places, events, apps, and things that we ♥ the most. I think that is why we can even look into God’s Word and find thoughts about what is in our heart and directing our lives.
Reading Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul talks about the heart and a love that has been trending for 2,000 years or so…
17 so that Christ may dwell in your ♥s through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (i added the heart and the bold for fun ☺)
My prayer for this weekend is that the love of Christ will be trending in the ♥s and minds of Middle School and High School Students. Paul talks about Christ dwelling in our ♥ through faith. My prayer is that students will be reminded about Christ and some might possibly receive Christ in their ♥s this weekend. I pray that we will continue to see generations “rooted and grounded in love,” that know the “love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Pray with me that I ♥ Jesus becomes the leading trend this year for our Middle School and High School students.
Fear On the Job: YouTubeYouCanUSe
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Listen to The Gladsome LIght
Tye Barrett is the new Worship Leader transitioning to New Braunfels this Spring. He is coming from Waco, TX with his amazing musical abilities to head up the worship portion of theBranch service taking place in the Student Worship Center during the 9:15am and 10:45am services. Tye began leading worship at University Baptist Church as interim in 2011, following the last guy named David Crowder (whoever that guy is… he had a band called the David Crowder Band and traveled with another ministry called Passion… yea!). Tye has been attending University Baptist Church since 2003 and is a Baylor grad. The Oakwood staff is excited to have him, and we know you will enjoy his leadership in 2015!
Click on this link to listen on the spotify web player
Click here for more info about Tye’s Band The Gladsome Light
Parent Resources 