Parents,

Last night, we discussed the division of Israel into two kingdoms (Israel and Judah). As we discussed this, we focused on the influences in our lives and how it can start off or even look like a good thing, but if it isn’t God’s truth, it will quickly lead us astray. We encourage you to read 1 Kings 12:1-17; 25-29 and discuss it with your student this week. 

Discussion Starters

What friends do you think have the greatest influence on you (good and bad)?

Are you able to discern a bad influence from a good influence? How?  

How should we as a family draw closer to God so we recognize his truth above all else? 

Blessings!

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions. I am easily reachable (text or call). 

P.S. - Save the date for Generate Serve Camp! We will participate in the same type of camp we have gone to the last couple of years, but this year, we will do service projects throughout the week instead of the giant recreation time. It will be great practice as we prepare to take our older students on a mission trip.

Date: June 3-7th

Location: Bryan College (Dayton, TN)

Parents, 

I know some of you may be sad that the summer weather has ended and fall weather has begun, but I must admit I love the fall weather. This past Sunday, we focused on community building, sat around a small fire, and shared life. We talked about school and our current hobbies and laughed together as we tried the marshmallow challenge, a little chant challenge I'm sure your youth can explain. It was pleasant as the season changes and many youth are on break this week to share life. If your student is interested in the fall retreat, we ask that they sign up as soon as possible (October 21-22). We will spend the weekend digging into God's word and exploring how to pause and make space for our relationship with God in our daily hectic lives. It will be a fantastic weekend to get away from our routines to connect with God. 

SIGN UP

for the fall retreat!

P.S. - If you have any questions about the fall retreat, don't hesitate to reach out. 

Hello, parents!

I'm late with this week's parent letter. We had a fantastic conversation about Moses and the Burning Bush this week. It's always fun to talk about this story, but this week, we let each student explore what stood out to them. A few highlights were God's holiness, Moses' weird questions and doubt (though that is a little unfair of us since we get to read the ending), and God using Moses even when Moses didn't feel qualified. 

In other news, we are moving our group chat from Snapchat to WhatsApp to help include more of our youth. We hope more can participate in our weekly communications and moving apps will also help encourage online safety. We use this group chat to share prayer requests, what is happening in our lives, and updates about youth ministry (events, changes, etc.). We have found this to be one place where our youth have grown together as followers of Christ. I have provided a little info below on how to converse with your youth about using the app and give yourself access to monitor their use.

Blessings! 

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. I am always a text or phone call away. 

How-to Monitor WhatsApp

As with downloading and installing any app, there should be a conversation with your student about what the app should and shouldn’t be used for. In this case, the focus should be on communicating with only people they already know, and you will help protect them by monitoring their conversations and app use. While there may be other features within the app, they should only use it for approved conversations, and choosing to use the app in any un-agreed upon way will result in the loss of using the app. 

Any conversation should be made out of a tone of love and care, wanting what is best for your child. Conversations that are harsh in tone or as though only to dictate the rules will rarely be fruitful in helping teach your child healthy use of technology. The goal would be to help your child learn healthy ways of communicating with others in today’s world while remaining a child of God. 

Walk your student through setting up WhatsApp and then complete the following to have access to monitor their use. 

Install and setup app on your childs phone:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/CT7ZDokMfSD5jux99FnLVz

Setup Monitoring Access

This requires the parent to have a computer with a browser.

1. Go to https://web.whatsapp.com/ from your computer’s browser.
2. Now, go to your child’s phone and follow the steps on the web page displayed on your computer. 

That’s it. You are now synced with your child’s WhatsApp account and can monitor and talk to them about their app use. 

I also encourage parents to update the following settings within WhatsApp to help protect their children. All of which can be updated under Settings > Privacy. 

• Change “Last Seen & Online” to “Nobody”
• “Who can see when I’m online” to “Same as Last Seen”
• Change “Profile Photo” to “My Contacts”
• Change “About” to “My Contacts”
• Change “Groups” to “My Contacts”
• Ensure “Live Location” is set to “None”
• Block any unwanted contacts. 

Dear Parents, 

Last night, we explored the story of Jacob wrestling with God. As we discussed this story, we explored how our youth see themselves and how their peers see them, and ultimately finished by exploring how God sees them. Our focus of the night is coming as they are to God to allow Him (God) to name them and speak His truth over them and their lives. This isn't easy for any of us, but observing the story of Jacob wrestling with God does give us a glimpse of how God wants us to come to him as we are and allow him to show us who we are.  

Suggested conversation starters with your youth: 

• What do you struggle with as you think about who you are in this world? 
• What do you like as you think about who you are in this world? 
• If God was giving you a new name and purpose, what would it be? 
• How do we come to God authentically without masks or disguises? 

If there is anything we can be praying about for you and your family, don't hesitate to reach out. I am always a text or phone call away. 

Blessings!

Josh

P.S. - Don't forget to sign your students up for the Fall Retreat!

SIGN-UP 

For the fall retreat.

Dear Parents, 

Last night, we enjoyed Sam Adam's delicious chili and had a wonderful conversation about Sarah and Abraham giving birth to Isaac in their old age. As we explored this story in scripture, we focused on the relational nature in which the Lord appeared to Abraham and Sarah. We also discussed how Sarah didn't lose having Isaac because of her doubt. In this story, we see God's relational nature of meeting humanity where they are and doing his work through it, even though humans continue to go against God's intended design. 

We invite you to continue the conversation with your student using some of the ideas below. 

• Read and become familiar with Genesis chapters 15 through 18. 
• Ask your student(s) about their relationship with God. 
• Encourage them to approach God with honesty and vulnerability. 
• Discuss how they can continue growing in their relationship with God through reading His word, listening to the spirit, and connecting to other believers. 

We are thankful for all you do for your student(s)! If you need anything, don't hesitate to reach out. 

Blessings! 

Josh

P.S. - Don't forget to sign-up your student(s) for our fall retreat at Indian Creek on October 20-22. 

SIGN-UP 

For the fall retreat.