May 2022 – Resilience Series

In this series, Never Give Up, we’re encouraging students to see that resilience is a part of their DNA. Students may struggle in the face of challenges, as many of them will find themselves navigating difficult circumstances, rejection,or loss for the first time in this phase. That’s why encouraging them to know that God doesn’t give up on them and doesn’t want them to give up on themselves or others is so crucial to encourage them to keep going and keep growing in resilience. This is our May series and we fellowship and worship together on Wednesday nights from 6:00pm – 7:30pm!  God Bless!

Click Image For Video

Prism Series

We are excited to begin our new series from Orange titled, “Prism”.  A prism is typically made of glass, and on the surface looks simple. However, if we look further below the surface, or if it is stricken by light, there is so much more. We see more prisms and vibrant colors that cannot be seen from a distance.

We are prisms that God wants to use for his glory. He created us with unique gifts and talents, and every one of us has something to offer to his Kingdom here on earth. Come join us as we explore how we can be effective prisms for the Lord! He created you with so much potential, so why not let it grow? This is our March series and we fellowship and worship together on Wednesday nights from 6:00pm – 7:30pm! God Bless!

Dealing with Change

All of us have been struggling with how to handle change forever. Even when you open the pages of the Bible and read from the writers God used to tell His story, you’ll see that they too struggled with the idea of change. They went through a lot of the same stuff we all go through: loss, broken relationships, heartbreak, uncertainty, insecurity, and so much more. And many of them wrestled with the question of how they could trust God when their lives seemed to be a constant series of unwanted and unexpected changes. Sound familiar?

But over and over again, the writers in the Bible who were dealing with so much change kept coming back to the same truth. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8 NLT).

To put it even more plainly: Jesus. Never. Changes. He’s always the same. However, He was before—loving, kind, cheering for you, just, generous—that’s how He’s going to be after. And in a world marked by constant change—good change and bad change—I think that’s great news! Because that means God doesn’t change even if everything around us does. It means when everything around us feels unstable, Jesus isn’t. When everything around us feels inconsistent, Jesus isn’t. When everyone around us seems different or like they can’t understand, Jesus does.  

No matter what happens in our life, no matter what change we are facing, we can count on the One who never changes. We can be rooted in God. When nothing else feels stable, God is. And when we have trust in a God that never changes, whatever difficulty change brings, there is a peace we can experience anyway.  Here’s a very simple phrase that I’d love for you to remember:

God doesn’t change, even if . .

R U STILL in DRIVE?

In our current summer series “R U in DRIVE”, we have been studying how the gears of our transmission are a lot like our spiritual journey. And…sometimes it seem like you will never reach your destination. Take heart…the journey is lifelong.

Anyway…this past week we looked the functions on a GPS. We asked the question, “What is you favorite feature/function on a GPS (or your phone)?” We came to the conclusion that “re-routing” is one of the most useful features a GPS can have. If you find that you have taken a wrong turn or are following someone who really doesn’t know where they’re going…much less how to help you find your way…re-routing is an amazing feature. We discovered that re-routing is a lot like repenting (a word we don’t talk about much any more in churches). But repenting is nothing more than changing direction (aka re-routing).

Following that same train of thought…repenting or re-routing is very similar to making a 3-point turn. When you take the driving portion of the test to get your license, most places ask you to performa 3-point turn. Basically, you acknowledge that you need to turn around and go in a different direction. So, at that point you must 1) stop your forward motion, 2) move out of the flow of traffic, 3) wait on traffic to clear, 4) let others know your intention to change direction, 5) move to the other side of the road, and 6) begin moving again in the opposite direction. That’s re-routing! That’s repentance!

So…if you realize it’s time to change direction. DO IT!

R U in DRIVE?

So…if you’ve been driving for any length of time, you understand the basics of how a transmission works (hopefully). P=park and you use that when you….”park”. R=reverse and is used for…you guessed it…backing up. N=neutral…and that won’t move you anywhere…unless you’re on an incline. However, the gear used most frequently is D=drive, for moving forward. Sometimes, though, when you become a Christian and you decide that Jesus is who the Bible say He is and that the Bible is actually the Word of God, it can be easy to slip from Drive (moving forward) into Neutral (going nowhere) or even Reverse (moving backwards from where you’ve come). That being said, there are times where you need to rest from moving. That doesn’t mean you stop growing and maturing. Life will keep moving forward regardless of what “gear” you find yourself in. It doesn’t stop…it won’t stop. Occasionally, there are seasons of life we all go through that will make you feel like stopping…maybe even backing up. You may even feel that it’s not worth the trouble to keep “doing this Christian thing”. The “Christian thing” is so much more than just keeping rules and a bunch of “do’s and don’ts”. It’s totally about having a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Let Him be your example. Not what you watch in movies, hear in music or see in social media posts. His love for you is greater than any of those things. His compassion for you in your season of Park, Reverse, Neutral or Drive is greater than you can ever imagine. So, whether you’re in P, N, or R…just now that you can (and will) shift into D. You will move forward from this season and you will make it!

Jesus.

At Echo Student Ministries, we are going through a series where we’re challenging each other to live in one direction (not related to the boy band). Basically, we have to be like coffee….now stay with me…even if you don’t like coffee. We will pray for you later. For coffee to be its best…the purpose for which it was grown…the beans must be ground up and then have steaming hot water come in contact with the coffee grounds. After that the liquid is FILTERED before the amazing nectar that is coffee flows into its container. After that you may choose to alter the taste to you liking. This is how it is (or should be) as a Christian. We have got to learn to FILTER anything we say or do through the LOVE that is Jesus Christ. If we aren’t filtering our life through Him first…we can be very bitter to a world that is crying out for a purer love. So…let’s be like coffee…FILTERED for His purpose on earth.

Things we want…

Reading a book by Phil Joel, bass player for Newsboys United and founder of the band Zealand. He made a comment that has stuck with me and is challenging me as well. He said that “it’s inside of us to want these things, and it’s okay because that’s how God made us”. He points out that we all want to be seen-recognized (some more than others-my own observation). We also want to be understood-approved of. And the third thing Phil saw was/is that we all want to be loved-deeply valued.

In my years of youth ministry, I totally agree with these “desires”. I further agree with Phil Joel that it IS OK to want these things. My question is to youth and adults alike is this. How do we try to meet these legitimate needs? I have spent plenty of time in my life trying to meet these legitimate needs by illegitimate means. I’ll end with a quote from Jim Carey. He once said; “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” Be careful who you compare yourself and your life to, especially on social media. Remember, you’re only getting the “highlight reel”.