A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.

www.ibclrstudents.org 2014
THE DAILY GRIND
WELL, THAT WAS QUICK! SUMMER BREAK IS ALREADY OVER?
WHERE DID THE TIME GO. YOU GUESSED IT, ITS BACK TO THE DAILY
GRIND. WOULD YOU CONSIDER THIS YEAR NOT SEEING YOUR DAILY
TASKS AS HAVE TOS BUT AS GET TOS. WHAT IF YOU WERE TO
SEE AND USE THE FOLLOWING AS OPPORTUNITIES TO POINT YOUR
STUDENT OR OTHERS TO CHRIST?
"
DRIVE-TIME
"
BLEACHER-TIME
"
MEAL-TIME
"
SCHOOL WORK-TIME
"
WORK-TIME
August Issue
THIS MONTH
" NEW 6TH GRADERS POOL PARTY
(8/6)
" YOUTH EVANGELISM
CONFERENCE (8/8-9)
" SS LEADERSHIP MEETING (8/12)
" NEW SENIORS POOL PARTY (8/12)
" NORMAL STUDENT WORSHIP
SCHEDULE RESUMES (8/13)
" MENS CONFERENCE (8/13-14)
" PROMOTION SUNDAY (8/17)
" STUDENT SHARE SERVICE (8/17)
COMING SOON
" THE GATHERING (9/3)
" FALL RETREAT (10/31-11/2)
PRAYER FOR MY
TEEN
FROM FAILURE TO
FORGIVENESS
EMPOWER
3 TRAITS OF YOUTH WHO
DONT LEAVE THE CHURCH
ENLIST
WHAT DOES A HEALTHY
PARENT OF A TEEN LOOK
LIKE?
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION TO HELP PARENTS BETTER PLUG IN TO THE
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR STUDENT
PLUGGED IN
AUGUST 2014


A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
www.ibclrstudents.org 2014
STUDENT MINISTRY STAFF
Matt Hubbard
Lead Student Pastor
Melissa Sponer
Girls Ministry Associate
Ross Spigner
Middle School Pastor
Amanda Beach
Ministry Assistant
A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
www.ibclrstudents.org 2014
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE
SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

WORLD HISTORY WITH MS.
OATES
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE
SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

PHYSICS WITH MR. BOYD (WE

BLEW UP THINGS!)#
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE
SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

ENGLISH WITH MISS PRIDDY
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE
SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

PAINTING/ART WITH DIANE
JONES
From Our Heart

Let the plate spinning beginagain. Tis another school year and with it the chaos of the never-ending juggling
act of school, church, sports/activities, health, rest, family, fun, and on, and on, and on Parenting is outright
tough, especially for parents of teens. The pressures, the stress, the requirements, the lack of time, all of it
seems insurmountable.

Plate spinning is inevitable in our culture. The question I have is, which plates are most important? Many of the
plates we spin lead us to good things, but are they leading us to the BEST things. As you begin a new school
year, would you consider asking the hard question(s) regarding all the plates your spinning. Consider the
following guide as a starter exercise

FaithAre the plates Im spinning leading me closer to Christ, further from Christ, or no change? Are the activities
that my child is involved in really helping them develop spiritually? Are my children beginning to own their faith?

MarriageIs my spouse still a priority or is he/she getting the leftovers?

FamilyAre all the plates that I'm spinning causing my family to be more stressed out and less unied? Are we
struggling to have a consistent meal time, etc. due to all of the activities?

KingdomDo all of the plates that Im spinning have anything to do with advancing Gods Kingdom?

The amount of time in a day will not change. However, how we use that time can change drastically. Allow me
to introduce you to the word leverage if you have not heard of it before. The actual denition is to use a
quality or advantage to obtain a desired result. Be strategic and intentional with the time you do have with you
teen to bring about what is BEST, not just what is good. Do not be afraid to parent! You are gifted for this!



A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
www.ibclrstudents.org 2014
PRAYER FOR MY TEEN
This is an excerpt on From Failure to Forgiveness in 31 Days of Prayer for My Teen by Susan Alexander Yates (Baker Books).
YOU AND I ARE GOING TO FAIL. ITS A GIVEN. HUMAN NATURE MEANS WE ARE PRONE TO CHEAT, LIE, OR BEHAVE IMMORALLY IN
COUNTLESS WAYS. OUR TEENS ARE ALSO GOING TO FAIL. FAILURE IS A VERY REAL PART OF LIFE. BUT IT NEED NOT BE DEVASTATING. IT
CAN BE REDEMPTIVE. HOW DO WE HANDLE IT WHEN OUR TEEN FAILS?
LORD, MY CHILD HAS FAILED. HE KNOWS HES LET US DOWN. HES LET OTHER PEOPLE DOWN, AND MOST OF ALL
HES LET YOU DOWN. HE KNOWS THAT HES DONE WHAT HE OUGHT NOT TO HAVE DONE. HES MAD AT HIMSELF,
AND HES EMBARRASSED. HES VERY SAD. HE HAS ALREADY SUFFERED SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS
ACTIONS.
FATHER, IM SO GRATEFUL FOR HIS TENDER CONSCIENCE. YES, IT CAUSES GREAT PAIN, BUT IT CALLS FORTH
REPENTANCE. THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING HIM FROM HARDNESS OF HEART. IN HIS AGONY BRING HIM TO FULL
REPENTANCE. PROTECT HIM FROM SELF-JUSTIFICATION. HELP HIM TO KNOW THAT IT IS A BROKEN AND
CONTRITE HEART THAT YOU WILL NOT DESPISE!* HELP HIM TO SEE THAT WITH YOU THERE IS COMPLETE
FORGIVENESS.* SHOW HIM THAT YOU ARE NOT SHOCKED BY WHAT HES DONE, FOR YOU KNOW OUR HEARTS.* YOU
KNOW HOW VERY FRAGILE WE ARE.*
KING DAVID WAS A MAN AFTER YOUR OWN HEART, YET HE LIED, HE COMMITTED ADULTERY, HE EVEN
COMMITTED MURDER, AND STILL YOU FORGAVE HIM. WHEN YOU FORGIVE, O LORD, YOU CAST OUR SINS AS FAR
AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST AND REMEMBER THEM NO MORE.* FATHER, AS A RESULT OF WHATS HAPPENED,
MY SON COULD SO EASILY LIVE IN A PRISON OF SELF -CONDEMNATION. I ASK YOU NOT TO LET THIS HAPPEN BUT
TO ENABLE HIM TO EXPERIENCE THE AMAZING JOY OF KNOWING THAT THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR
THOSE IN CHRIST JESUS.* HELP HIM TO FEEL TRULY CLEAN. FILL HIM WITH THE ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS!
THEREFORE, THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, BECAUSE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS THE LAW OF
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE SET ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. ROMANS 8: 1 2
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES (IN ORDER OF STARRED REFERENCES IN PRAYER): PSALM 51: 17; PSALM 130: 3 4; 1 CHRONICLES 28: 9; PSALM
103: 1314; PSALM 103: 12; ROMANS 8: 1 2


FA
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bad? W
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W
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B
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M
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chooses ones path' and is sinful.
M
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www.vimeo
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A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
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COMING SOON
September 1 Offices will be closed
September 3 The Gathering
The Zone begins for 1st-5th
Grow Groups start
August 31 No Sunday night service
October 31-November 2 FUSED Fall Retreat
January 16-18 DNOW
2014 / August
1
Church
Building
is Closed
2
3 4 5 6
No Wed
night
activities
7 8
Youth
Evangelism
Conference
9
Youth
Evangelism
Conference
10 11 12
upcoming
seniors
pool party

13
MS
worship/meal
5:45-7:15
HS
worship/meal
6:45-8:15
14 15
Mens
Conference
16
Mens
Conference
17
Promotion
Sunday
Student
share Svc.
6pm
18 19 20
MS
worship/meal
5:45-7:15
HS
worship/meal
6:45-8:15
21 22 23
24 25 26 27
MS
worship/meal
5:45-7:15
HS
worship/meal
6:45-8:15
28 29 30
31
No Sun.
night
activities

EMPOWER
3 COMMON TRAITS OF
YOUTH WHO DONT LEAVE
THE CHURCH

What do we do about our kids? The
group of parents sat together in my
o"ce, wiping their eyes. Im a high
school pastor, but for once, they
werent talking about 16-year-olds
drinking and partying. Each had a story
to tell about a good Christian child,
raised in their home and in our church,
who had walked away from the faith
during the college years. These
children had come through our
churchs youth program, gone on
short-term mission trips, and served in
several di#erent ministries during their
teenage years. Now they didnt want
anything to do with it anymore. And,
somehow, these mothers ideas for our
church to send college students care
packages during their freshman year
to help them feel connected to the
church didnt strike me as a solution
with quite enough depth.

The%daunting statistics%about church-

going youth keep rolling in. Panic
ensues. What are we doing wrong in
our churches? In our youth ministries?

Its hard to sort through the various

reports and nd the real story. And
there is no one easy solution for
bringing all of those lost kids back
into the church, other than continuing
to pray for them and speaking the
gospel into their lives. However, we
can all look at the 20-somethings in
our churches who%are engaged and
involved in ministry. What is it that sets
apart the kids who%stay in the church?
Here are just a few observations I have
made about such kids, with a few
applications for those of us serving in
youth ministry.

1) They are converted.

The Apostle Paul, interestingly enough,

doesnt use phrases like nominal
Christian or pretty good kid. The
Bible doesnt seem to mess around
with platitudes like: Yeah, its a shame
he did that, but hes got a good heart.
When we listen to the witness of
Scripture, particularly on the topic of
conversion, we nd that there is very
little wiggle room. Listen to these
words: Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old
has passed away; behold, the new has
come. (2 Cor. 5:17) We youth pastors
need to get back to understanding
salvation as what it really is: a miracle
that comes from the glorious power of
God through the working of the Holy
Spirit.

We need to stop talking about good

kids. We need to stop being pleased
with attendance at youth group and
fun retreats. We need to start getting
on our knees and praying that the Holy
Spirit will do miraculous saving work in
the hearts of our students as the Word
of God speaks to them. In short, we
need to get back to a focus on
conversion. How many of us are
preaching to unconverted
evangelicals? Youth pastors, we need
to preach, teach, and talkall the
while praying fervently for the
miraculous work of regeneration to
occur in the hearts and souls of our
students by the power of the Holy
Spirit! When that happenswhen the
old goes and the new comesit
will not be i#y. We will not be dealing
with a group of nominal Christians.
We will be ready to teach, disciple, and
equip a generation of future church
leadersnew creations!who are
hungry to know and speak Gods
Word. It is converted students who go
on to love Jesus and serve the church.

2) They have been equipped,

not entertained.

Recently, we had man day with some

of the guys in our youth group. We
began with an hour of basketball at the
local park, moved to an intense game
of 16 (Chicago Style) softball, and
nished the afternoon by gorging
ourselves on meaty pizzas and 2-liters
of soda. I am not against fun (or gross,
depending on your opinion of the
afternoon I just described) things in
youth ministry. But youth pastors
especially need to keep repeating the
words of Ephesians 4:11-12 to
themselves: [Christ] gavethe
teachers to equip the saints for the
work of the ministry, for building up the
body of Christ. Christ gives us
teachersto the church, not for
entertainment, encouragement,
examples, or even friendship primarily.
He gives us to the church to equip
the saints to do gospel ministry in
order that the church of Christ may be
built up.

If I have not equipped the students in

my ministry to share the gospel,
disciple a younger believer, and lead a
Bible study, then I have not fullled my
calling to them, no matter how good
my sermons have been. We pray for
conversion; that is all we can do, for it
A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
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is entirely a gracious gift of God. But
after conversion, it is our Christ-given
duty to help fan into ame a faith that
serves, leads, teaches, and grows. If
our students leave high school without
Bible-reading habits, Bible-study skills,
and strong examples of discipleship
and prayer, we have lost them. We
have entertained, not equipped them
and it may indeed be time to panic!

Forget your youth programs for a

second. Are we sending out from our
ministries the kind of students who will
show up to college in a di#erent state,
join a church, and begin doing the
work of gospel ministry there without
ever being asked? Are we equipping
them to that end, or
are we merely giving
them a good time
while theyre with
us? We dont need
youth group junkies;
we need to be
growing churchmen
and churchwomen
who are equipped to
teach, lead, and
serve. Put your
youth ministry
strategies aside as
you look at that 16-
year-old young man
and ask: How can I
spend four years
with this kid, helping
him become the
best church deacon
and sixth-grade
Sunday school class
teacher he can be,
ten years down the
road?

3) Their parents preached the

gospel to them.

As a youth pastor, I cant do all this. All

this equipping that Im talking about is
utterly beyond my limited capabilities.
It is impossible for me to bring
conversion, of course, but it is also
impossible for me to have an
equipping ministry that sends out
vibrant churchmen and churchwomen
if my ministry is not being reinforced
tenfold in the students homes. The
common thread that binds together
almost every ministry-minded 20-
something that I know is abundantly
clear: a home where the gospel was
not peripheral but absolutely central.
The 20-somethings who are serving,
leading, and driving the ministries at
our church were kids whose parents
made them go to church. They are kids
whose parents punished them and
held them accountable when they were
rebellious. They are kids whose
parents read the Bible around the
dinner table every night. And they are
kids whose parents were tough but
who ultimately operated from a
framework of grace that held up the
cross of Jesus as the basis for peace
with God and forgiveness toward one
another.

This is not a formula! Kids from

wonderful gospel-centered homes
leave the church; people from messed-
up family backgrounds nd eternal life
in Jesus and have beautiful marriages
and families. But its also not a
crapshoot. In general, children who are
led in their faith during their growing-
up years by parents who love Jesus
vibrantly, serve their church actively,
and saturate their home with the
gospel completely, grow up to love
Jesus and the church. The words of
Proverbs 22:6 do not constitute a
formula that is true 100 percent of the
time, but they do provide us with a
principle that comes from the gracious
plan of God, the God who delights to
see his gracious Word passed from
generation to generation: Train up a
child in the way he should go; even
when he is old he will not depart from
it.

Youth pastors, pray with all your might

for true conversion; that is Gods work.
Equip the saints for
the work of the
ministry; that is
your work. Parents,
preach the gospel
and live the gospel
for your children;
our work depends
on you.

BY JON NIELSEN,
COLLEGE PASTOR,
COLLEGE CHURCH IN
WHEATON,ILLINOIS
EQUIP
WHAT DOES A
HEALTHY
PARENT OF A
TEEN LOOK
LIKE?

Today, when adolescent specialists get
together, it is not unusual for them to
spend more time and concern on
parenting issues than on the teens
themselves. There has been an
extreme shift in the parenting styles of
moms and dads, not to mention the
culture in which our kids are living.
Unfortunately, far too many parents of
teens are emotionally and even
spiritually unhealthy. One mom told me
she has a recurring dream that her
child is falling o# a cli#, just out of her
A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
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reach. The dream isnt necessarily
unhealthy, but it may show how much
parents worry about saving their kids
from the worlds problems.
My good friend, mentor, and parenting
expert John Rosemond coined the
term helicopter parent to describe
parents who are risking their own
marriage, physical health, and self-
image by hovering over their children
and over-parenting them. In a
HomeWord radio interview, Rosemond
said, Too many parents are ultimately
carrying the heavy burdens of their
teens problems on their own
shoulders. No teen will be come a
responsible adult if their parents carry
the load for them. Its not healthy for
either party.
So what do healthy parents of teens
look like? These parents take their
God-given role of parenting seriously
and act like leaders. Leaders lead the
way, but they dont carry the other
persons baggage. Parents-as-leaders
teach their children self-management
skills. They consult but dont control,
because control freaks are really never
in control. They help children learn to
discern right values and teach them
about sexual purity. Parents who act
like leaders also create inviting home
environments with plenty of
connection, fun, and creativity.
One important aspect of parent-
leadership is making sure you have
enough margin in your life to have the
energy to lead. Often, parents are
running around so ragged that there is
nothing left but emotional scraps for
their families.
Bill Hybels advises fellow pastors to
invest at least 50 percent of their
leadership energy on themselves. If
that sounds selsh or self-centered,
the reality is that parents need to do
the same and take care of themselves.
We parents must allow our children to
deal with the consequences of their
own decisions. Someone once told
me, Untended res soon become
nothing but a pile of ashes. I know if I
am not tending my own soul care, I am
a poor excuse of a father, and a lousy
husband.
Healthy couples also make sure they
make time for each other. Recently, I
was giving a parenting seminar and
asked the people, What percent of
your time are you a mom or a dad, and
what percent of your time are you a
wife or a husband? The answer was
enlightening: about 90 percent time as
a parent and 10 percent as a spouse.
A child-focused lifestyle isnt healthy,
and frankly, its not fair to the kids if
you expect to be a healthy role model.
Parents have to stay calm, get on the
same page to work their plan, and then
stay as emotionally and spiritually
healthy as they possibly can.
BY JIM BURNS,PRESIDENT OF HOMEWARD
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LITTLE ROCK, AR 72211
O | 501.376.3071
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A publication of IBC Student Ministr y.
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