SOUL IN THE CITY

July 20^th-25th

We have been invited to participate in an exciting annual event. It is called SOUL in the City. It is an outreach IN our community, from Backyard VBS,  City camp day camps, soccer night, a prayer room, dramas, work projects, skate board, and surf ministries. This event concludes with a concert. We would be staying on site at a local church. Cost is $195.00

Surf Camp

While we will be doing Surf Camp again this year, we will be setting the date in the near future. Early August is looking like the best date.

At the conclusion of the school schedule we will suspend the Wednesday night meeting. During the summer we will have weekly activities. These will be low and no cost ideas.

Asbury Student Ministry E-Letter
 #1 October 8, 2007

 SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

For many Christians denominations act as fences—barriers that keep them apart from fellow believers.  The desire to stay with one’s “kind” is a powerful urge.  And taken to its extreme, it can be a damaging urge. 

As I see it, denominations are simply groups of people who tend to focus on specific verses in the Bible.  Pentecostals tend to focus on passages that deal with the Holy Spirit’s active work in the world today.  Baptists tend to focus on passages that urge us to spread the gospel around the world.  Methodists tend to focus on (FOOD) passages that call for community involvement.  Presbyterians tend to focus on passages that affirm the traditions of the Christian faith.  None of those groups is right or wrong; each simply has a different focus in its application of Scripture. 

I’m pretty sure that when you die, God isn’t going to quiz you at the pearly gates to make sure you got all the right answers to every issue.  He isn’t going to interrogate you on your views concerning predestination, end time events, and whether or not (suicide) Judas was forgiven.  All of those issues are important to understand and work through; however, to think that God has a special place in heaven for the person who “figured it all out” and attended the “right” church is to deny the fact that God gave us unique points of view.

Look at Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

It’s quite all right to disagree with a fellow believer about the details of our faith.  Just make sure that love supersedes your disagreement.  You can still love someone you don’t agree with.  You can befriend people who don’t cling to the same theological pillars you hold.  Remember: We’re all in this body of Christ together!

I can think of a few truths in Scripture worth going to battle over: the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, the fact that salvation is available only through him, the fact that he came to serve, the fact that God made the world.  Those are all essentials as far as I’m concerned.  I will defend those truths until my last breath.

Other elements of Scripture are less essential to me.  For example, I would not go into battle with someone who claimed the streets of heaven are paved with 24-karat instead of 18-karat gold.  The argument would not be worth the potential damage it could cause to the body of Christ. 

As you continue to work out your salvation (see Philippians 2:12), you need to determine which parts of your faith are worth battling for and which call for an agree-to-disagree stance.  Focus on the elements that set Christianity apart from other world religions.  Leave the rest for spirited coffee table discussions.

When I get to heaven, I plan to corner Jesus for a few millennia to ask him about things I don’t understand.  I want to know how he created the earth.  I want to know why he refers to us as “predestined” children.  I want to know why he healed some people and not others.  I want to know about the Trinity.  I want to uncover the mysteries theologians have debated for centuries. 

Until we have those answers from Christ himself, we must not allow debates and conflicting interpretations to divide his body here on earth.  Remember that we have the potential—and the responsibility—to help the world understand Jesus’ love through the way we treat each other.  Let’s not blow it over issues that have no eternal significance.

QUOTES

"The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them.  Just as love of God begins in listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.  It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but lends us His ear.  So it is His work that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him.”  - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”  - - G.K.  Chesterton

A special thank you goes out to all of the parents that e-mailed me and or contacted me in some way before the parents meeting, and those who were able to attend.   We had a positive meeting and hashed out some interesting issues.  What you are reading now is a part of that meeting.  In future issues you will be seeing more or less the same things.  I am open for any and all who want to help with this project.  Communication is the goal and I want this to be “a” vehicle for that communication.  I am always open to suggestions and volunteers.

 Hello, I'm your Student Ministry Pastor Bill Holleran:

I am originally from Philadelphia, PA.  Go Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers!  I have served at several churches as Youth Director, Youth Pastor, Sunday school teacher, and Confirmation teacher.   I have served churches in Virginia Beach, VA, Lancaster, PA, Chesapeake, VA, and now Maitland, FL.

I come to Asbury UMC from Chesapeake, VA, where I was a Youth Pastor for 5 yrs.   Jo-anne and I moved to Florida so I could manage the Winter Park Cokesbury store.   Jo-anne is the Executive Assistant to the President of a Ministry associated with Campus Crusade for Christ!  My hobbies include photography, golf, reading, surfing and spending time with Jo!   I was in the USN from 1985 thru 1990, serving as a Photographer’s Mate onboard the USS MT.  Whitney.   I have a passion for working with young people to help them understand God’s work in their lives and to understand what being called to a life of Christianity means.   In more ways than I can count I always learn more from them then I could ever give them.   Please feel free to contact me at the office or by e-mail: pastorbill@asburyumc.com

I would ask you to hold the youth ministry in your prayers.   Today’s youth face more in a day then most generations did in a week.

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