Thanks!

·         Warm Clothes

·         Toiletries

·         Towel

·         Sleeping Bag

·         Close-toed shoes

·         Bible

·         Notebook/pen

·         Cash-  food on the way there, Camp store, and snack shop

·         Wyldlife bus will depart from WCC Parking lot at 4:30pm!!

If you have any questions, please email andrewmartin@willamettechurch.com or Andrea at admin.yl@sterling.net

We are also excited about some other upcoming events in our Middle School Ministry! Read on…

Wyldlife Event This Thursday Night
This Thursday, November 10th, there is a Wyldlife Event at Safari Sam’s, located at 16260 SW Langer Dr Sherwood, OR 97140. This will be an awesome event, and many of our Willamette Christian Middle School staff and parents will be on hand to help out. The event runs from 8:30-10:30 PM and the drop-off and pick-up is at Safari Sam’s. The cost is $15 and make sure to bring a pair of socks. Hope to see your student there!

Operation Christmas Child
We announced our annual partnership with Operation Christmas Child this past Sunday. This is an awesome opportunity to help kids in the community who are less fortunate. Students were able to pick up the cardboard boxes in the main church lobby last week, and they will be available this upcoming Sunday as well, or you can purchase the plastic shoeboxes at the Dollar Store. Any students who bring their filled boxes to our Middle School Program on one of the next two Sunday mornings (Nov 13 and Nov 20th) will have their name entered into a drawing for a prize. If you have questions, please email Andrew at ms@willamettechurch.com, or click here for more information about Operation Christmas Child.

Sunday Mornings:
We have been teaching a Series in our Sunday Morning Program called Transformers, which is based on 2 Corinthians 5:17, and the idea of being transformed into a “new creation” in Christ. We have been talking about the importance of Values, and how our values directly affect our behavior and show what we REALLY believe. Two weeks ago we talked about Integrity, and the importance of living honest and truthful lives. Last week we talked about Respect, and the importance giving others the value they deserve. This week we are talking about Responsibility, and the importance having the right attitudes and actions in our response to situations.

It has been a ton of fun to teach, and we have been breaking down into small groups to discuss what real-life application we can put into practice each week. Hope everyone can make it this Sunday!

Hope to see you Thursday night at Safari Sam’s!

Friday, November 4th

WHERE: All over, beginning at WCC Student Center, bus to Bullwinkles near Wilsonville, return to WCC Student Center.

WHEN: November 4th, 2011 [Friday], meet at 10:30 at WCC. Pickup is back at WCC at 4:00 PM.

COST: $35, includes dinner, transportation and certain unlimited Bullwinkles activities, including Go Karts, Lazer Tag, Mini Golf, Bumper Boats, Pizza, Soda, etc… (bring extra money for arcade games)

If the event cost is an issue, please contact Andrew at the email listed below.

Click here to register.

Questions? Email ms@willamettechurch.com

“Game-Changer”.  He talked about how there are so many people out

there chasing what the World has to offer, and pursuing all the wrong

things, and how the reality is that we were created to be in a

relationship with God and pursue the kind of life that He has for us.

Ryan showed an awesome video from the “I Am Second” website, featuring

Texas Rangers All Star Josh Hamilton who talked about his journey,

where he pursued a life of drugs and alcohol and was kicked out of

baseball, before giving his life to Christ who delivered him from his

addictions and then went on to get his life back on track and become

the American League MVP.

We then looked at Acts chapter 9:1-19, and

the story of Saul/Paul and his conversion from a person who hated and

persecuted Christians, to an incredible missionary and author of much

of the New Testament, all because Jesus got a hold of his life. Ryan

also talked about the guest speaker we had on Tuesday morning,

(Stanford Pitcher and projected first round draft pick Mark Appel) and

referenced his story, about how Mark wasn’t even starting on his high

school baseball team as a senior, but instead of getting upset, how he

kept a good attitude through it all, supported his teammates 100%, and just

trusted that God had a plan for his life.

We closed the morning talking about how all three examples, Josh

Hamilton, the Apostle Paul and Mark Appel were all “Game-Changers”

because they had trusted in the Ultimate Game-Changer, Jesus Christ.

The final challenge for the morning was to think about the difference

in our lives, that results from really trusting in Jesus Christ, and

how that affects our thoughts, our attitudes, and our interactions

with people.

We are encouraging the boys to bring Bibles every week,

and to get in their Bibles during the week and pick out a “Life Verse”

to memorize.  In the video we watched this morning, Josh Hamilton’s

life verse was James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the

devil, and he will flee from you”, which is a verse that has been part

of our Sunday morning series at Willamette Middle School, on the full

armor of God from Ephesians 6.  It would be awesome if you could help

your boys pick out a verse to share next week, or in future weeks.

This week, we will close out the series, talking about the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit.  We will be talking about how the Sword (the Word of God) is the only actual weapon mentioned in the passage, and how critical it is to know the Bible and hide God’s Word in our hearts.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”, and we need to be prepared by putting on the Full Armor of God.  The main Truth we hope our students take away from this series is that we already have victory because of Christ, and we can claim that victory and live inside that victory every day, because we are children of God.

We hope your students can join us this Sunday at 11 AM!  Its going to be an awesome morning!

On a personal note, I have been so encouraged by the stories of parents who have been telling me about how God is moving in the lives of their middle schoolers.  Just in the past week, I have heard stories of kids who have been affected by either Sunday morning, or the midweek Bible Studies they are involved in.  We have students bringing their notes home, and taping them up on mirrors and lockers as reminders of how their lives should be different because of Christ.  Others are just taking really practical steps on living lives of thankfulness.  It is so exciting to hear how God is moving!  We are still looking for a couple more volunteers to be involved in leading Girl’s Bible Studies, so let me know if you might be interested in getting involved!

See you Sunday!

Parents Meeting Reminder:
We will be having a Parents Meeting on Wednesday Night, September 7th. That evening we will talk about the vision and future for the Middle School Ministry here at WCC. Let’s meet in the church lobby, at 7 PM. I hope you can all make it!

My obsession overflowed into my friendships as I soon tried to convince all of my friends that they should watch this new show.  I was a premiere evangelist of “Jack Bauer’s gospel.”  My friends soon found themselves as hooked as I was, and by the time I was a senior in high school, there were probably 25 people in my living room every Monday night to see what new struggle Jack Bauer would face.

We all preach certain “gospels”.  Maybe it’s about a sports team, or a brand, or a job.  Let’s be honest, we are confronted by different “gospels” every day.  The whole point of advertising is to preach the “good news” of whatever product or service that is being presented.

Sadly, the voices of these other “gospels” too often drown out the voice of the true gospel.  The greatest news gets lost in a fog of politics, sports, and innumerable other things.

What if our desire was not to convince people the Blazers are the best and the Lakers are the worst thing to happen to humanity?

What if our desire was not to sell people our services?

What if our desire was not convince people that whatever fill-in-the-blank politician is an idiot?

What if our desire was that people met Jesus?

This was Philip’s desire.  In Acts 8 we see Philip preaching the good news of Jesus wherever he found himself.  It didn’t matter where he was; all Philip wanted to do was tell people about Jesus. Is this our desire?  Maybe it is time for us to rethink our priorities.

We live in a culture that is afraid of being open. We live in a culture that views every belief as equal. We live in a culture that needs Jesus.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. It is not just the pastor’s responsibility to tell people about Jesus. If you call yourself a Christian, it is your responsibility as well. Sadly, many of us neglect this responsibility in our lives. There are a number of reasons for this. We feel that we don’t know how to share the gospel or what to say. We are scared of people’s responses.

The thing is, are fears and doubts don’t abdicate us from our responsibility to share Jesus’ message. In the book of Acts, we see the story of Philip.  Don’t confuse this Philip with the apostle Philip. This Philip wasn’t charged with preaching, but he took every opportunity to share with others the message of Jesus Christ.  In Acts 8, we see Philip as a model of how to share the gospel. Read through Philip’s story with your student and discuss principles of evangelism for our lives in order to be ready for this Sunday as we continue in our series, “Live Loud”.

In Him,

Ben