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What do we do? Russell Sellers

A brief snapshot of Echo Student Ministries…in case you ever wonder what we do. The Lord named the youth ministry of Father’s Vineyard “Echo” several years ago from the scripture in Ephesians 5:1 (NLT) “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children”. We do not want to merely “parrot” what Jesus says…but imitate Him in His love for others, His compassion for the hurting and His words of truth to everyone He met. Of course, to be completely honest…there was also a great quote from the movie Gladiator, featuring Russell Crowe, when he said; “What we do in life echoes in eternity”. Now that’s a sobering thought! If we truly lived as if we believed that statement, I think we all would act, speak and treat others a little differently. So, let’s imitate the one Who we can truly count on…because His truth is still echoing into eternity.

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Looking through the LENS of Experience

As youth pastor, I get have the unique privilege of seeing the world through the eyes of young people. A few months ago we had a service where I asked one of our youth to look at the rest of the group while holding a red lighting gel to her face. Guess what? Everything and everybody looked “red”. As long as she held the “red” lighting gel against her face…her world had a red tint to it. People, buildings, chairs, everything…looked red, even though in reality it wasn’t. I’m beginning to see that we are all looking at the world, including our own lives, through a certain “lens”. Depending on your life experiences, that lens could color your world in a way that is less than accurate.  2 Corinthians 3:16 says that when “someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away”.  I’d like you to join me as we look through some lenses and see how that affects our perception of the world. Yo may ask…for what purpose would I do that? The answer is fairly simple. It’s so you and I can begin…maybe for the first time to see others, ourselves and the world around us through a different “lens”.

 

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Reconnecting with God when the signal’s lost…

Sometimes we can feel disconnected in our life.  Even with our phones we can lose signal, move out of range of the cell tower or have something come between us and the signal.

We just finished a series about reconnecting with God when we feel like our life is off track. Check here later for some more information.

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Just a good reminder…

Do you ever stop and think about you are treated? I do…and then I have to stop and ask myself how I am treating others.                                                                  Paul…who wrote most of the New Testament, said in Philippians 2:3  3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

As we enter into the crazy, wonderful sometimes sad, amazing, beautiful, season of Thanksgiving and Christmas…remember how much you are loved by the God who created this whole universe! It’s just a better perspective.

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BBQ Fundraiser 2018!

Our 2nd Annual Boston Butt BBQ fundraiser. Support Echo Student Ministries and get some great BBQ from award winning Mountain View BBQ in Columbus, NC. Only $40 gets you 10lbs of BBQ plus sauce. Contact any youth or email me at russell@fathersvineyard.org. We will be taking orders until May 26th and you can pick up your BBQ at Father’s Vineyard on June 9th from 10am-12pm.

You can also order below by filling out this form.

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Spaghetti Lunch Fundraiser

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the annual spaghetti fundraiser at Father’s Vineyard! It was a huge success. Thank you students and leaders for working together like the amazing team you are!

Thank you pastors for being willing to “take one for the team” and get the pie in the face. All monies raised will go directly toward our Forward Youth Conference. Check it out here.

Thank you  Father’s Vineyard church family for your generosity! Have a great week…and go make some spaghetti!

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Echo Student Ministries

Echo Student Ministries is based on Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 

An ECHO is a repetition of the original sound. We are to be a “repetition” of the original…Jesus. He is our ultimate example of how to live, how to speak and how to treat others. It’s our goal to “be” like Christ to our world.