Brothers and Sisters,

With summer fast approaching, our Crossing Camp trip will be just around the corner. The dates will be July 10^th -14^th.   Parents, let me urge you to encourage your children to go. The price is $250. Please do not let money hinder you from taking part. It is the goal of First Baptist to do what is necessary to raise funds for youth to be involved in gospel-centered events. This camp is no exception. Throughout the summer various fund raisers will be held, and the youth would greatly appreciate your participation and prayers. As of now, some of the dates are undecided. Please be looking for information as it comes out. If you’re interested in sponsoring a student, that would be awesome. Please contact Pastor Josh or myself to do so. Thank you so much for your support!

One last line before I leave you. As I think about our dear friends and family in the church who are suffering, I am reminded of how wonderful God’s grace is in giving us the local church. What a tough joy it is to bear one another’s burdens. It is a privilege and one of which we are undeserving. Let me be of encouragement. Be here at church and be involved. Always be here for worship and invest into people’s lives. Let me carry your burden with you, dear saint. For it is a joy for me to do so.

Love you all,

Nate

Nate will be regularly updating the our church’s youth website. You can see all that they are doing at http://youth.fbcfairdale.org/

Church in Fairdale,

For the last month I have had the privelege of serving WITH you. When I say privelege, I mean it. I come away from this time being truly blessed, and I thank God for using you in that. We have become friends within the family. I thank you.

Over the last month, Christ encouraged me and convicted me. It was encouraging to see youth with a desire to grow. It was encouraging to be in worship services where God and His word were the main focus. And it was encouraging to see men serving FBCF in any way they could, specifically with the new kitchen. As I said, I was also convicted. I saw how much I have to grow. Christ revealed to me that I must spend more time in His word. And Christ showed me, that to be more like Jesus, I must fall in love with serving His church.

Thank you for the time you sacrificed to help me grow, and to grow with me. I loved it! FBCF, I love you. I will miss you. I hope to see you all again.

In Christ,

Seth Springs

Friend requests, pokes, wall-to-wall, and messages? Facebook lingo aside, there would be something very disturbing if Jesus was just your “facebook friend”. If you’re on facebook long enough, you’ll probably end up with a person or two on your “friend” list that you’ve either never met, or you met one time and have forgotten who they are. It’s kind of a weird situation. You know their name, you know what they look like, you know their “info”, and you know who they are friends with — but you don’t really know them. It’s the appearance of a relationship without the reality of it.

If you’re not careful, the Bible says, you can deceive yourself into thinking you know Christ when he is really nothing more to you than a random facebook friend. You can go to church a long time and be at all the youth events — and know a whole lot of things about Christ; without really knowing Him as a Lord and Savior. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:22-23)

There are few things more embarrassing than forgetting someone’s name who is your facebook “friend”. But as embarrassing as that is for you, it’s still better than thinking you’re someone’s friend and you’re really not. That’s the kind of deal we are talking about here. It takes more than knowing the story of Christ or knowing things about Him to really call yourself a Christian. To be a Christian requires a change of heart and a response of faith. Jesus doesn’t want to be your facebook friend, he wants to be your Lord and Savior. And that is what his life and death were all about — making a way for sinful man to be reunited with a holy God.

At the end of the day, knowing Jesus like a facebook friend will leave you “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) But there’s good news! It doesn’t have to be that way. For “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ” (Ephesians 2:13) When you repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ, He doesn’t come to live in your computer — He comes to live in your heart. And that’s enough to change your status forever…

Did Jesus really have to die on a Cross to pay for our sin? Was it really God’s plan from all along? What’s the big deal with sin, forgiveness, and stuff like that anyways? How come pastors are always saying “the Gospel” is so important and so powerful? Can what happened at the Cross really change MY life?

Starting this Sunday morning at 9:45am in the YouthRoom, we’re going to start answering questions just like that. We’re calling the series “Cross Training”, because it’s gonna be all about training our minds and hearts in the truth, power, and conviction that we find in the Cross of our Lord. The effects of what Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross press into every single aspect of our entire life. The fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified on two wooden beams on a hill outside of Jerusalem has everything to do with the fact that you are sitting at a computer reading this post right now. No death was ever like His death. No life was ever like His life. No power was ever like His power. Just as the song says, He really does

“[Break] the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.”

To keep up with the lessons and the study, you’ll be getting your own Cross Training binder that you can add to every week, and allow you to use for your own studies when we get finished this semester. Plan on coming Sunday, and let us look to the Cross together and see the power of the King who chose to die there for us.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” – (Col 2:13-14)