Highway to Hell

Ok. Here is the video from Wednesday Night's service. And Yes, Pastor Mark (our Children's Pastor) is the lead singer for this song. Don't blame him because I asked him to do it for us. (FYI... He use to sing in an 80's hair band before he got saved.) Now before you start judging us for playing this song in youth, you need to hear the sermon that went with it. The sermon is audio only but the song has video (which is a verrrry low quality picture). So, enjoy!

We Can't Possibly Make a Difference

"The problem is too big!" "We can't possibly make a difference."
Those are words we say (or think) too often when we see issues that seem huge or overwhelming. You know, we've been talking about starting a revolution for the last 2 months. Now, rather than just talking, we're actually doing it. We've been talking about different issues in the world... one of which is orphans. James 1:27 says, "religion that is pure and undefiled (real) before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep ourselves un-spotted from the world." In the world right now there are over 143 million orphans. That's right 143 million! To put that into perspective, that's about half the population of the United States. There's that many children without parents. There's that many children without someone to love and care for them. That's crazy! But when you think about an issue that is that big, our first reaction is to shut down and say, "there's nothing I can do." But there is. We can make a difference in one child's life and we are going to do just that. There is an organization called New Horizons and they're based right here in Georgia. They bring children from Eastern Europe here twice a year through their hosting program. These children come from orphanages and stay with host families for 6 weeks. While they're here they are able to experience Jesus and what it is like to be a part of a family. Now, you may be thinking, "but what good does that do? It's only for 6weeks." Listen to this... 85% of all the children that come here through this hosting program become adopted. That's right, almost 9 out every 10 children become adopted either by the hosting family or by someone that meets them while they are here. That is an amazing percentage! So that's what we're doing Revolution... we're going to bring a child here. We can't bring 143 million children here but we can bring 1. We announced it last week and the process is underway. It costs $2,500 to bring a child here. And we need to have a home to host the child in. Dean and Monica Berkley have stepped-up and volunteered to be the host family for the 6 weeks and we've started to raise the money. We've been given an opportunity, through Papa John's Pizza, to raise the entire $2,500 by selling $10 coupon cards. That means that if every student in Revolution sold ONLY 5 Cards we will have the money. It's pretty simple. And by doing this we'll change a child's life forever! Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Not only are we bringing a child here, but we're bringing one that is old enough to hang-out with us in Revolution! So all of us can pour into him while he's here. Cool, huh? So get your Papa John's cards at the check-in station Wednesday night so that we can make a difference.
We love you guys and we're truly honored to be your youth pastors.
Love Ya,
Jim and Mary Jane

Snake Video

Here is the video we showed in youth last night about the snake. Enjoy!

Now if you're like me, there's no way you're getting in the bathtub with a snake! And for some of you there's no way that you'd probably even be in the same room with that snake. Right? But why is it that we allow the devil (which has been referred to as a snake, right?) into our lives by living in habitual sin and not getting rid of the things that keep us from God? And there's no such thing as just a little sin or sin that doesn't effect anybody. Sin is sin. Darkness is darkness. We serve a God who is holy and in Him is "no darkness" at all (I Jn. 1:5-7). Either we're walking in the light or we're walking in darkness. We're either serving God or we're serving the devil. Period. It sound's harsh, but read that scripture in I John. I don't know about you but I want to walk in the light as he is in the light. And I definitely don't want to lay down in a bathtub with a snake!

Bull Fight

OK. Here it is... the infamous Bullfighting Video. For some of you, you've already seen it and you want to see it again (why, I don't know!) but for those of you who weren't there a couple of weeks ago... here it is! I'll explain why we showed it after you finish watching. WARNING! This video is graphic and if you're an animal lover you will HATE this video.

Alright. So what did you think? You're probably wondering why in the heck did we show that video in youth group. The reason is this: there's an incredible principle behind this video and the slaughtering of the bull. The principle in this video is this... the bull was bigger, stronger and more powerful than the matador. But even though this was the case, he was still not only killed, but tortured and mocked by the matador. The bull was so focused on the cape that he didn't deal with the real problem... "the matador!" It's crazy if you really think about it. Here you have this huge massive, muscular beast. An animal with an incredible amount of strength and power... then there's the matador. This skinny little Spanish guy. All dressed up in his funny looking sequined outfit, with his wimpy little hat, his funny little shoes and his little bloused shirt with the little sequined vest with matching pants. He probably weighs about 175lbs and though he's probably athletic, he's not match for this 1,500+lb massive beast... except for the fact that the bull, rather than focusing on the matador (which is inflicting all the pain on him and slowly killing him), he concentrates on the cape. With every pass the bull, rather than attacking the matador which is the real issue, keeps trying to attack the cape which isn't the issue at all. It's insane if you think about it. All it would take is for the bull to not be distracted by the cape and make an adjustment to the left or the right and put his focus on the matador and it would be game over. No more matador. It's the same thing with us as Christians. The Bible says in Ephesians 6, "that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but with principalities, with powers, with rulers of the darkness of this world, with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places." The devil wants us to think that our problems are with our parents or with another student or with a neighbor or with a boss... and it's not! It's with him. He's our adversary not people or situations. We need to take our focus off the cape and put it on him because he's the one our fight is with.

So, that's why we showed the video. We wanted every student and every adult that saw it to forever have it ingrained in their minds that the bull didn't have to die. He could have changed his situation by not being distracted by the cape and focus on the real problem... the matador. It's the same with us. It's not __________ that is the problem. It's our enemy, the devil.

Refugee Camp Outreach

Here is the video from our Refugee Camp Outreach.

Refugee Camp Outreach

Saturday was a great day. We joined with the youth group of Crossroads of Walton county to go into a refugee camp that the United Nations has set-up in Stone Mountain. The UN rescued these families from all over the world. Some of the places I had never even heard of. These families were under tremendous persecution in their native countries and some had been driven from their homes by ruthless governmental regimes. These families have been rescued and placed in this "refugee complex" as a last hope to having a good life. Crossroads had been ministering in this complex throughout the summer and it has made a tremendous impact on the students in their youth group. So, after talking with Jono (the youth pastor at crossroads) we decided to team-up and minister in there together. And we did! We brought in over 350 hotdogs, chips, drinks and fed them. We had our sidewalk Sundayschool truck (music blasting) set-up and had a good time! We were facepainting, hairpainting, jumping rope, played carnival games, soccer, baseball and even had a tug-of-war. Every student was engaged with someone and it was a cool thing to see. We didn't have to tell the students to do something... they just saw a child and started engaging with them... just loving on them. At the end of the day we had a time of praise and worship with both ministry teams singing, along with hand motions, leading these refugee children in worship. It was great to see our students ministering to these kids. Can't wait for the next time! God is so good.

Revolution Youth Nite

Well, we had our first Revolution Youth Nite last night and it was great! We had over 117 students packed into our building. To be honest with you, I was a little nervous Friday. I was nervous because we didn't have a Youth service Wednesday night (we were all in service with the adults) and I didn't know if some people would forget. Plus there were football games going on, homecoming's and tons of other stuff going on as well. But you guys showed up and brought friends too! That was cool. We had about 15 1st time visitors... good job guys!

Darian Perkins and Vick Cooley were our guest comedians and had everyone laughing (good thing because that's their job, right? lol!) and our students had some funny stuff as well. It was cool seeing everyone involved. We ended the night with a game show that pitted the guys against the girls and of course "the guys won!" That's right we are superior! Just kidding the guys did win though. It came down to the last task which was to see which team could put the 120 marshmallows in their mouth first and the guys reigned supreme. It was very close though. And it was pretty sad when the guys not only knew the names of all three Jonas Brothers but were able to lip sync to that song (you had to be there). But equally as sad was when the girls were unable to eat the 3 Musketeers Bars in 30 seconds... ooh sooo close, sorry. It was a fun night though. I posted a lot more pics on my facebook account. If you're not already one of my facebook friends, send me a friend request and I'll approve your request so that you can view the album.

We've got small groups in the morning so be sure to come to either the 9:30 or the 11:30 service. See you there!

Love Ya,

Jim and Mary Jane

You Got Ticket to Da Gun?

As most of you know, Mary Jane and I adopted 5 children from Brazil a little over a year and a half ago. When we first got the kids they couldn't speak a word of English. They only spoke Portuguese. They acted different then us, they thought different then us... they were just different. But over the last year and a half they have been around us and now they act just like us! It's funny... they joke around like us, they are sarcastic like us, they tease like us, they dress like us they are speaking pretty darn good English ... heck, they ARE us! All it took was them being around us for just a short amount of time. In fact today Diogo, our 7 year old, walked up to me in the kitchen and said (with a thick accent), "Daddy, you got ticket to da gun?" I said, "what?" he said, "you got ticket to da gun?" And then I looked and Robert (our 3 year old) was standing behind him flexing his muscles! It was hilarious. Here they were trying to ask me if i had tickets to "the gun show." This is clearly an American saying. They are from Brazil and have just learned to speak English and yet they are joking around and using terms we use.

The point is this: It's the same with you. You will become like who you hang around. You'll act like, joke around like, speak like, and think just like those you associate with. I Corinthians 15:33 (Amp) says, "Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionship and associations corrupt good manners, morals and character." No matter how strong of a person you are, you will become like the people you surround yourself with. So take a look at those closest to you. Are they living for Christ? Are they striving to be closer to God? Are they living a Godly lifestyle? If not, you need to make a change. I'm not saying to isolate yourself from unbelievers. Because that's why we're still on this planet... to minister to the lost. But what I am saying is this, "surround yourself with people who will help you be a better you." People who challenge you to be more like Jesus! It's that simple. Because if not... you'll start to be just like them. And believe me... "that's a gun show you don't want tickets for!"

The Revolution has Begun!

We were able to graduate 13 new students from the children's ministry to the youth ministry Sunday morning. We're pumped about seeing these new additions to The Revolution! Look out devil because we just got stronger!

Over the last 2 weeks we've been talking about what it means to be a part of a revolution and what we're going to need to know to be successful. The first week we talked about "In the Beginning, God" and this past Wednesday we talked about "Jesus Ain't My Homeboy" (we'll post MP3's later this week so you can listen to them if you missed either one). This week we're continuing with the "What it takes to start a revolution" series so don't miss it. You'll have to show up to hear what this week is all about. We'll also have an announcement about an upcoming community outreach we'll be participating in. We're very excited about where God is taking us so get ready!

We'll have Inhabit at Zaxby's after service Wednesday night so invite a friend.

We Love you guys!

Jim and Mary Jane

What's in a Name?

I can remember when Mary Jane and I were pregnant with Michael (actually she was the pregnant one, not me.) and there was a book entitled "What's in a Name" that we looked through to try and pick a name for our 1st born son. Each name was listed out along with it's meaning. We wanted to pick a name that not only sounded good but also would have a great meaning. So we picked Michael which means "who is like God". That's what we wanted more than anything... a son who was like and who desired his God. So that's what we chose for him. Anyway, when we were trying to come up with a new name for Fire House Youth, we didn't want to pick just any name. We wanted something that would describe what we were all about. Wednesday night during service we showed a video to everyone introducing our new name. If you weren't able to make it we wanted to give you an opportunity to see it so here it is! Just click on the link below to view.(Sorry for the low quality... we wanted to make sure that it didn't take forever to load on your computer.)

http://sermonplayer.com/download.php?c=15419-count_video_download-2212606

So, what do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Hopefully you are as excited as we are about what God is doing in our youth group. You're a 'vital' part of what's happening too! And be sure not to miss our Youth Small Groups this Sunday at 11:30am in the Youth Building. It's a great way to meet other students and have a great time together as we talk about "being an influence"... because that's what you are... an influence.

Love Ya,

Jim and Mary Jane