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Showing posts from September, 2016

The Church and The Steeple

Google defines 'Church' as: church CHərCH/ noun noun:  church ; plural noun:  churches 1 . a building used for public Christian worship. "they came  to church  with me" synonyms: place of worship,  house of God , house of worship;  More a particular Christian organization, typically one with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines. noun:  Church "the Church of England" synonyms: denomination , ecclesial community;  More the hierarchy of clergy of a Christian organization, especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England. noun:  the Church institutionalized religion as a political or social force. "the separation of church and state" verb archaic verb:  church ; 3rd person present:  churches ; past tense:  churched ; past participle:  churched ; gerund or present participle:  churching 1 . take (a woman who has r
Leadership. Administration. Teaching. Knowledge. Wisdom. Discernment. Prophesy. Exhortation. Shepherding. Faith. Evangelism. Apostleship. Serves/Helps. Mercy. Giving. Hospitality. Peter Wagner defines a spiritual gift as “a special attribute given by the Holy Spirit to every member of the Body of Christ according to God’s grace for use within the context of the Body.” I used to think that I hadn't gotten mine yet; that I was too young and had to wait. I watched a lot of magic shows: Charmed, Wizards of Waverly Place, Sabrina The Teenage Witch. In these shows, you grow into your powers, because can you imagine a baby being able to blow things up or freeze time? Dangerous. So naturally, I thought of spiritual gifts as magical powers and assumed I would grow into them when God decided I was ready...or my 18th birthday. The truth, though, is that every believer in our big Body of Christ has a spiritual gift, likely more than one. And we all are called to use those gifts for the b

PresbYouth: Old and New

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Hey everyone! How great is it to be back at it? Okay, it might be a little overwhelming and stressful and I'm guessing some of you picked up pencils last week and realized you forgot how writing works for just a minute, but it's all okay because WE HAVE YOUTH GROUP THIS WEEK! We are going to be discussing all of the changes that are being made to the youth group, like the schedule, the new rooms, the new leaders, etc. And I know for some of you, change isn't something you enjoy. The good news is that change usually is for the best and while we have to move forward, I think it's important to take a breath and a moment to remember what we loved about youth group before the change. This got me thinking about my youth group. Let me tell you, it looked nothing like this crazy Presbyterian business. There was no "youth room," and instead, we met at the home of  Isaac and Ranelle, a young couple from our Church. We all fit on their couch... it wasn't even a