Hamster Lives out Proverbs 27:17

There are a group of boys at Christ Church Savannah that are a bit different than our typical fellow worshipers. A couple of these boys have really long hair. One of them has a peculiar fascination with the color purple (the actual color, not the movie). They all wear black. None of these boys have quite learned what the word appropriate means. They are wild tribe of skateboarders, and it is for all of these reasons and many others that I love 'em. If you were to judge these boys solely on the stereotypes of black hoodie-wearing skateboarders, you would be missing the opportunity to be in the presence of a handful of young men with huge hearts.

This tribe is my small group. These boys and I sit at Panera Bread each week, eating bagels with our Bibles cracked open, and skateboards around the legs of the table. They usually get distracted during the Bible study, but that’s not where our ministry really takes place anyway.

After an hour of Bible study, we all head to the skateboard park for the next 3 hours. I spend most of my time watching them, and taking pictures and video of the action . Last week something very special happened as Hunter Hughes was trying to learn to drop into a quarter pipe. I stood on the opposite side of the quater pipe facing Hunter and what I caught on video was beautiful. Once the tribe realized that Hunter was trying something new and difficult they stopped skating, and gathered behind him.

Hunter got in place at the top of the ramp, and tribe began to speak words of instruction. He dropped in…SMACK! Hunter hit the ground hard, and face first. The tribe began to shout out words of encouragement.

Hunter got back into place. More words of encouragement. SMACK!

SMACK! “That’s ok Hunter, you’ll get it."

SMACK! “You’ll get it next time”.

SMACK! The tribe began to clap. “Nice try man, you’ll get it."

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

Hunter hit the ground hard 11 times. He was bumped, bloody, and bruised. He even thought about giving up, but the tribe would have none of that.

On Hunter’s 12th try, he landed it.  Not perfectly, but he landed it. The tribe in uniform jumped to its' feet, with hands raised and cheerful screams.

My small group is a bunch of skateboarding rabble-rousers, and I see the love of Jesus in and through them. They understand what it means to love others first. I wanted to call our small group “Ironmen” from Proverbs 27:17, which reads, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." True to form however,  these boys want to call the group “Hamster."  I guess you can also see Jesus' love in a cuddly hamster too, though this one will have long hair tucked under a purple bandanna.

7 Common Mission trip Questions

This year's high school mission trip will be to Jacksonville, Florida on July 18th-24th. I am excited about the monumental things God has in store for you on this trip. This is going to be a great week!

7 Common Mission Trip Questions

1. What are the requirements to go on this year's mission trip?

• Students must have completed the 8th grade. The graduated class of 2010 are also invited to attend.
• Read the entire book of Acts (30 chapters) and write about each chapter in a journal book that will be provided by CCSM. You can pick up your journal booklet from the 4th floor.
• You will need to have a non-refundable deposit of $50 turned in by June 13th.
• All money is due by July 11th.

2. How much does the mission trip cost?
The cost will be $75 total, and you are allowed to bring some spending money.

3. What time will we be leaving on July 18th?
We will head out following the 10:30 worship service. The Mission Team will be expected to attend the 10:30 worship service, which will include a commissioning service. We will arrive in Jacksonville around 4pm on July 24th.

4. Where are we staying?
We will be camping out at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park (500 Wonderwood Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32233). You need to make sure you are bringing a tent or plan to share the tent of another (same gender) missionary. The church has a couple tents if you need to borrow one. Please let me know as soon as you know who is in your tent. If you need to be assigned to a tent, please let me know so I can make plans for you.

5. What will we be doing on the trip?
We will be working with a handful of ministries in Jacksonville. All the details are not in place yet, but these are some of the organizations I am using to put together our schedule.

• Christ the Living Cornerstone Church
• City Rescue Mission
• Sulzbacher Center (Gives assistance to homeless families)
• St. Mary's Episcopal Church Outreach
• Habijax (Habitat for Humanity Jacksonville)
• Salvation Army

6. Hey, you wanna’ hear this great song I have on my I-pod?
I love music as much as the next guy, and yes I’d love to hear the new song on your I-pod, just not during the mission trip. This is a low-tech trip there will be no MP3 players, personal CD players, DVD players, Smart phones, iPads, cellphones, or head phones of any type. There is no online time during the trip. If I see status updates, you are in trouble.

7. Did you just say no cell phones? That’s crazy!
Yes I did say that, and yes it is a bit crazy. We are going to have a week spending time with, and talking to, God, and not a week texting and talking to our boyfriend/girlfriend and other friends till 2:00 in the morning. If needed your parents call my phone to get in touch with you during the trip (912) 308-4811. All leaders cell phone numbers will be given to parents prior to the mission trip.

Do you have a question(s) that wasn’t answered?
Then call or e-mail me, and I would be glad to talk with you.
Cell: (912) 308-4811
Church: (912) 232-4131
E-mail: JPhillips@ChristChurchSavannah.org

CCSM Senior Night May 16th

This past Sunday May 16th was a very special night in the life of CCSM (Christ Church Student Ministry). During our normal youth group time we had a celebration of our graduating seniors. Heather “the greatest youth leader ever” Phillips put together a dynamite slide-show. It was 15 minutes of pictures highlighting all of our seniors from middle school to graduating. It was beautiful.





After that we went into a time where youth could give parting words to the seniors. The highlight of the evening was the prayer time. 7 seniors sat in a circle facing outwards while the rest of the group of Middle schoolers, high schoolers, and parents of the graduates made a circle around them. Some people stood and prayed out loud, other people stood and prayed silently, and some waked around the circle laying hands on the seniors praying one by one. It was amazingly touching to see parents lay hands on their children and pray for them. I saw siblings embrace as the younger brother prayed that God would protect his older sister in college. I was deeply moved as I saw my rector transition from Priest to Dad as he finished praying for the first 6 students and moved over to pray for his graduating son. It was a wonderful night. The power of the Holy Spirit was there. The students of CCSM continue to impress me as they mirror Jesus.

Daniel Hughes Testimony

Daniel is a 6^th grade student at CCSM (Christ Church Student Ministry).  He shared this testimony publically during the May 2010 confirmation.  This testimony was also in the May edition of the church newsletter

When I was a kid I felt like I was forced to follow Jesus. The school I went to forced me to do the stuff that Christians were supposed to do. I learned a lot from it, but it did not bring me closer to God. Also, my parents were very strict on me when it came to doing that was right.

Now I follow him because I choose to. My relationship with God took a jump when I got to high school, then even closer during the confirmation retreat at the Cobb’s farm. In elementary school we were taught to read the Bible and pray. We did lots of Bible drills and lots of memory verses. This helped me, but did not bring me closer to God. Recently, I learned what all of it means. We talked about the Bible and discussed moral issues. It all makes sense to me now. At the confirmation retreat I learned about the power of the Holy Spirit and I learned that the Holy Spirit is equal to God and Christ. During the  confirmation retreat we had a bonfire, and it meant a lot to me. Before the retreat I was scared to talk about God. Now I am more comfortable. Before I thought of God as being distant and as a king, but now I think of him as a friend (I still think of Him as a king but it’s more personal and like a friendship). I used to think of God as a chore, now I think of Him as a friend. My life is different than before although it still looks the same. My actions are the same, my heart is different. My prayers used to be ATM prayers, but now my prayers are hang out time with God. My Bible reading used to be like a text book, but now it is something I look forward to. Church used to be school with God, but now it is fellowship with God

Mothers Day

At church today during the children's homily. Nancy Lee (the lady doing the homily) talked about it being Mother's day. She said, "All mothers like to hear you say, I Love you". Then she asked the rhetorical question, "what do mothers like more than hearing, "I Love You". Without raising his hand James yell out loud in Church, "FLOWERS".

CCSM Weekend Update 12/20/09

My Playlist
I headed to Jonahscall.com, clicked on the music link at the top of the page, and downloaded a lot of Christmas songs. All are great, but my favorite is "I heard the Bells on Christmas day"

Lesson: Christmas Party

Talk in a Sentence: No talk, just Baby Jesus lovin fun.

Scriptures:
Matthew 1:18-25 (The Nativity story)

Food:
This was a covered dish evening. The food was great. Alexia' brought cookie dough, refused to cook it, cut it into slices, and put it on a platter. We had hot chocolate, meatballs, tera misu, cookies, cake balls, and more more more.

Music:
I have never done this before, and I was skeptical at how it might work. I downloaded three of my favorite songs, typed the music onto a powerpoint slide, and the youth sang with the ipod. Suprisinly this went well. I will try this again next time i dont have a music leader.

Game: We did a white elephant gift exchange. Most popular gifts were a $10 Starbucks gift card, a suction cup pistol, and a suction cup blowdart. Mucho fun.

Moment of the night: I was forced to put Zach Remick into "the million dollar dream" when he would not calm down.

After youth group:
All of our leaders headed to outback for our Christmas dinner. This was a wonderful time

CCSM Weekend Update 12/13/09

CCSM Weekend Update 12/13/09

My Playlist
“BNL Christmas album”
“Joy to the world” a Christmas album from Ed Cash, Allen Levi, and Bebo Norman.

Lesson: Born to Bleed

Talk in a Sentence: Christmas need to be less consumer and secular driven and a lot more about baby Jesus and his purpose.

Scriptures:
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Matthew 1:18-25 (The Nativity story)

John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Some detail from the talk: This weekend we talked about the fact that as Christians our citizenship is in heaven and we should live a bit outside the normal culture. Christmas for most folks is consumer and secular driven. While we Christians should enjoy the gifts, the lights, the color, and the magic of Christmas we need to keep our focus on Jesus. We need to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and we need to be aware of His purpose for coming to earth. His purpose is to show us a better way to live and to die so through belief in Him we can live eternally.

Game: We played a table game where I gave groups extremely wordy sentences. The groups had to figure out which Christmas Carol the sentence was about.
We also played a round of “Who wants to be a hundred-dollar-aire. The crowd got into watching this game more than I thought they would. Hallie had fun, but was a bit perturbed when she only won 10 cent.

Moment of the night: It was during my lesson that a 6th grade girl learned that Santa is not real. It was painful. As one of my leaders left the youth room he jokingly yelled back to me, “great youth group tonight, you jerk”.

What God is teaching me?
My body belongs to God, and it is my responsibility to take care of it to do his work.