encounter

Culmination of the Story behind the Story.

2011-12-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

If you know what we've been talking about in December you are aware of the fact that we have been looking at the story behind the story of Christmas.

Jesus did not come for the well, but for the sick and the needy.

Jesus' sacrifice not only on the cross but his crazy ability to come into this world as a baby was beyond amazing.

If Jesus can do that, and chose to direct his ministry toward the marginalized, the destitute, and the poor, why can't our ministry do the same?

Next Sunday Night we will be providing free gift wrapping for the people who reside in the apartments next door, as well as free hot chocolate. I feel God giving us a strong call to these people, and we need to be good neighbors to them.

What can you do?

We need donations of wrapping paper, wrapping paper (yeah I know I said it twice) and tape.

Also help with the Hot Chocolate would be amazing too!

Its simple, but it is the first, and right, step in the correct direction.

Good vs. Evil

2011-10-02T22:22:00.001-04:00

As Halloween comes around the corner, and everyone's mind is on things of that nature, encounter finds itself in the middle of one of its spookiest teaching series to date.

During the month of October encounter will take a look at what the difference is between Good and Evil.

We will try to answer questions such as:

What is the difference between Angels and Demons?
What role to demons play in your everyday life?
What are ghosts?
Does Hell exist?

These are tough, yet interesting discussions that are worth having.

Please bring your friends to this series as we try to take an honest look into these issues!

We'd love to see you every Sunday nite @ 6:06!

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2011-10-01T12:42:00.001-04:00

This Sunday nite we will meet at Northside (161 Miller Rd) and begin a photo scavenger hunt.

How does this work?

Students will arrive and divide into teams. Each team will have one adult leader, that leader will be the driver. Teams will then be given clues for locations to visit in the city of Lebanon. Once they reach the location, they must take a picture of that location, to prove they were there, and then hop back into their vehicle and go to the next location.

First team to make it back, with all the clues successfully completed wins!

That team will get a free pizza party the following week!

Cost of this event is free.

Students will be done, at the latest, by 8:00.

Invite your friends!

encounter Kick-off

2011-09-05T20:47:00.000-04:00

The encounter kick-off's first annual opening night is coming to our student ministry! This Sunday night, September 11th. Come on our to Northside (161 Miller Rd, across from the Junior High) for a free event full of fun, games, food, contests, hanging out, and an all around good time.

This event will be the start of our new program times and will be the first encounter on a Sunday night in years!

Come check us out, and bring a friend!

Click the image for printable invitation.

See you then!

Forward

2011-08-08T00:35:00.000-04:00

Ever asked any of these questions?

What is my purpose in life?

How can I make the most out of my life?

What can I do to please God?

Well you're not alone! And for the month of August we are going to look at Jesus' commission to all of us who claim to be followers of Christ. It is gooing to be an exciting time and information about living a "forward" lifestyle.

Don't miss out.

Bring a friend!

Update #3

2011-07-21T23:59:00.000-04:00

I apologize for my lack of updates, this is our third one while we've been here, and 4th total update on the Toronto 2011 missions trip. This week has disappeared, I can't believe I sit up writing this email knowing I will be waking up in 6 hours and we will be on our way home after that!

This week has been impactful on the hearts and lives of each and every student here. I firmly believe that, and I have seen a life change in even the past 24 hours. God's Spirit is at work, and many of your students were completely exposed and vulnerable before God.

The Youthworks staff has been amazing, and many of them have become very close with many of us leaders and students.

Wednesday and Thursday were both just another work day, but at night on Wednesday we went to Chinatown to hang out and shop a little, Thursday night we were at a park and saw a beautiful backdrop of the Toronto skyline.

Both Wednesday and Thursday night talks and church group discussions resulted in really cool things. Almost every student was in tears listening to and being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I have had numerous talks with students from our group and had the opportunity to pray with them. Thursday night was a little different, not in what God was doing, but different in the fact that the Youthworks staff washed our feet, and then in return we washed the feet of our students and prayed with and for them. It was powerful.

If you have been praying for our week thank you so much! The hand of God has been seen, and I firmly believe that is due in large part to your prayers. Northside Baptist, and especially encounter student ministries will not be the same ever again. Each student belongs, and each student wants to make changes in their lives.

That is all for now, I should probably get to bed, but pass this post along and let everyone know the cool things that have been going on this week!

Update #2

2011-07-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

I'm writing you this literally dripping of sweat because its almost 40 degrees here, and I just finished playing three Canadian guys in basketball! Well 40 degrees Celsius, which is about 110 Fahrenheit (yeah, whenever we here that up here we're like, "yeah that's cold."). Don't worry moms, we are drinking PLENTY of water.

Last night was one of the most eye opening experiences of my own life, and I know it was for a number of students as well. Last night we went to the Gateway mission in downtown Toronto. We spoke to an ex crack addict who helped us see behind the scenes of the jail, the government, and the way that those who are experiencing homelessness get treated by the "higher-ups." Its not really very cool. We as a group from Northside want to do something about it back home in Ohio.

The Avro Arrows (Nick, Paige, Brandon, Noah as well as others from Wesley Park UMC in Michigan) have been working at a restaurant called St. Francis Table. We worked with a guy called Brother John and he is a legit monk. Things have been great there. However we are sad that it is our last day. I'm proud to say that when no other students wanted to step up to serve the food, all 3 of ours there (as well as myself) were the ones to do it. I'm very proud of them all!! I thought I had a picture of it, but I actually realized the guy who took it couldn't figure out our camera.

The Lumberjacks (Andi, Andrew, Jess, Dustin) have been on site and playing with kids all day for a kids camp. Andi is proud to have everyone reciting the phrase made famous by Vector of Despicable Me saying "Oh Yeah!" (YouTube it). All students and leaders have gotten very close with the kids that attend the camp, and I'm sure they will be sad to go. They also went along and picked up trash at the beach, I heard the sand was hot, but their impact was great. Picking up the sand allowed them many spiritual conversations with people.

Finally the Tim Bits (Rusty, Leanna, Laura, Bailey, Tahlor) have been painting and making an impact for people who need help in their houses. I'm sure they are having a fantastic time out there.

Tonight we will hit up China town and have the opportunity to buy plenty of souvenirs for y'all, eh?

Paige has developed and mastered accents from France, Russia, Ireland, and China and entertains us with them on our car rids places.

Today is Colts day, and even the site director Ryan is wearing Colts socks.

I'm without access to many pictures right now, but we have tons of video footage to put together a video upon arrival.

Kids are really changing and are doing a fantastic job serving. Keep us in your prayers.

Update #1

2011-07-18T23:26:00.000-04:00

We are at the end of our first full day of our missions Trip to Toronto. Things are going well. I hope you are all praying for us as we are here, and through each of the names of the students that are here. I have been, and I am already am seeing life changes in certain students.

The first night we met up with the church from East Peoria IL and hung out at a Free Methodist Church in Jackson, MI. We went to their church service on Sunday and they prayed for us as we went out. It was really cool.

Our group is split up a little bit and other churches are a part of our crews. encounter students and leaders are as follows.

Tim Bits:
Painting and helping needy families refresh their look
Rusty Spruell
Leanne Goshorn
Bailey Kinner
Laura Isaacs
Tahlor Conover
Dustin Stephens

Lumberjacks
Working at a Kid's Daycamp
Andi Chasteen
Andrew Nickell
Jess Eaton

Avro Arrows (Google it)
Working at St. Francis' Table serving the needy
Nick Clason
Brandon Hoffman
Noah Spruell
Paige Hughes

Hopefully I can get on here to update once or twice before the trip is out. They have our schedule absolutely packed, and I am unfortunately missing the bedtime story (I know bummer right?) and much needed sleep.

We're Off

2011-07-17T08:00:00.002-04:00

We are currently in Toronto! I would appreciate your prayers this week as we try to do the will of God this week. This trip has the ability to be incredibly life changing, but students will only get out of if what they put into it. Attitude will make a huge difference this week.

I ask that you pray for our attitudes as a group this week. I ask that you keep our safety and team unity in your prayers as well. There are many issues that can happen in a week such as this, but we serve a God who is bigger than our circumstances and problems.

If you could pray for each of our students by name every day that would be great. This trip cannot happen without the support of our church. Though you cannot be here with us, you can support us in your prayers.

Here are the names:

Nick
Rusty
Andi
Noah
Andrew
Brandon
Dustin
Paige
Tahlor
Laura
Jessica
Leanne
Bailey

Also, don't forget to follow us on twitter for daily updates and links to this blog and photo albums. Our twitter name is @encounter_NBC, you can view it on the twitter web page, or view our tweets on the right side of this blog.

Thank you again for your support this week. Check back in frequently for updates on our trip!

Friend Request

2011-07-03T15:11:00.000-04:00

Social networking has taken over American culture. To better illustrate that, over 500,000,000 active people are on facebook, that is 1 out of every 13 human beings on earth! 48% of 18 to 34 year olds check facebook right when they wake up. 57% of people talk more online than they do in real life. In any 20 minute span on facebook, 1,972,000 friend requests are accepted.

After studying the life of Christ in our teaching series, the "Final Answer" it is clear that Christ commands, not only obedience, but a relationship with Him. He offers us the ultimate "Friend Request" For the month of July encounter will be studying the idea of Salvation, and what it means to accept that friend request from Christ.

Encounter will only meet twice (July 6th, and July 27th) on Wednesday nights in July. VBS and Toronto 2011 will be taking our attention in the middle weeks of July. Encounter groups will still be meeting at its regular time on Sunday mornings on the weeks that we will be absent for the corresponding Wednesday. Make sure you are present for the Wednesdays that we meet, you won't want to miss it!

This is a perfect series to bring your friends who are curious about Christianity. Don't miss the chance to bring back someone who attended our cookout!

Final Answer

2011-06-11T15:47:00.003-04:00

Encounter Student Ministry is completely devoted to fulfilling our call given to us by Jesus Christ. Often times, if you are not careful, being part of church can become rule oriented, and those who claim to follow Christ can lose focus of who Christ really is. Jesus showed us how to live a human life, and live it to its fullest.

I think there are plenty of opportunities to study the life of Christ and learn how to live like Him.

Encounter is taking the month of June to dissect and study the life of Jesus Christ. The importance of focusing our direction and our life on the person of Jesus Christ is beyond important.

The "Final Answer" in life is Jesus. Encounter is well underway in this series right now, and we're walking chronologically through his life hoping to pull out principles that we as students, leaders, and volunteers alike can apply to our lives.

Please urge your students to invite their friends and to attend themselves. Just ask LeAnne, if you come, you could win $5! Who wouldn't want that!

See you there!

Nick

Empty

2011-05-26T21:00:00.002-04:00

This post is one that I wrote a couple of months ago, on my personal blog, "Not Just a Colts Blog." It is about keeping yourself focused on Christ, and how he is really all that we need, and how that feeling manifests itself in teams that you follow, especially when they lose. I hope you enjoy:

First of all, I want to apologize to my faithful readers, like all 6 of you who "officially follow" my blog, that I have been absent from the whole blogging scene in this month. I am in my final semester, and working as a part time student ministry pastor, so I am loaded up with work, but once football season starts, and it WILL start again (hopefully...), I plan to be on here pretty regularly.

But tonight I watched the entire Butler-UConn game, and I was pulling hard for Butler. The Indianapolis connection really intrigued me, and I mean its not like they are my favorite team, they took out the Badgers, and that stunk a little bit, but I wanted Butler to win, no doubt.

But I was sitting here reading for a class and just thinking about sports in general, and my girlfriend gives me a hard time about how I need to give up sports (and she's only kidding, I hope...), and I was thinking about the futility of it. I have had this post rattling around in my head for the past couple of years, and I'm just now getting it out there.

Sports are futile. And I know this, but lets think about it practically for a couple of seconds. No matter who you cheer for, you will almost always be disappointed with the outcome of a season. As Butler fans know, this is two years in a row, where they got all the way to the end, and came up short. And as Steelers fans can attest, they played a great season, only to be taken out to the superior sixth seeded Green Bay Packers (you do the logic in your head). All I am saying is, that except for the 2006 NFL season, I end each year, no matter what sport, it has ended in disappointment, but I always come back for more! Why do I do this?

One thing is that the ride is incredible. Following a team in such a way as I do the Colts or Badger football or basketball is just ridiculously crazy, and its fun!

But at the end of the day it will always run out, only UConn fans are excited about their team's collegiate basketball season. There must be more to life.
This became a very real truth to me following Super Bowl XLI. All season, and most of my life, I was rooting hard for the Colts to win this thing. A lot of efforts, studying, and cheering was done in order to see that the Colts would win the whole thing. Finally my time came! I was so pumped.

Then what happened? I went to basketball practice, just like every other day. Nothing changed. Nothing was different. But even though I rooted and cheered and agonized over this season why did it feel like nothing changed. Because the reality was that nothing did change.

I love sports, but I need to be careful to not elevate sports, and the Colts above other more important things in my life. Sports will always leave you feeling empty. Sure maybe you are a UConn fan and you're on cloud nine tonight, but a year from now, they most likely won't be on the same place, that is why we need to have our hope in something other than sports. Other than things. Other than people. There truly is only one thing that is unchanging, and never ending.

Butler fans, I feel for you, but just remember that this will happen again. And sports, and things, and people will let you down. Only a life filled with Christ will give you complete satisfaction. Seek in him today, and find your self worth in him, not in the UConn Huskies.

Choices: Dating

2011-05-19T11:53:00.001-04:00

This Wednesday, May 25th, we will be entering into our final discussion topic in the series entitled 'Choices.' This has been an incredibly tough series to teach. There are so many things that need to be covered and decision making is an important part of being in High School/Middle School. It has been difficult to make the topics relevant, yet also not offend people.

I had a revelation in the past week when writing my conclusion to the dating series. I always try to make the conclusion something that will benefit the students, instead of simply stating the truth of Jesus Christ. You see often we make the Bible fit into our lifestyle. Jesus called us to be above that, and to be counter-cultural.

This coming Wednesday I was planning to talk about "Choices: Future plans." but instead, we will stick with the dating/relationships topic. I think this topic is one that students need to hear. This past Wednesday (5-18-11) we focused on dating and the importance of being even yoked, or running a three legged race in which you and your partner are in sync. To branch off of that series myself (Nick), along with Josh and Andi will be talking about the importance of putting up boundaries in a dating relationship.

This may be somewhat of an awkward topic, but I believe that it is one that needs to be discussed. Trust me, our content will be rooted in Scripture, and we will refrain from calling anybody out, however we will not shy away from the commands of Christ. This is an important, and relevant topic. I wanted to let you, the parents especially, know that this will be our discussion. Sex is a topic that needs to be covered first in the home, but we will be discussing it as well, and taking a look at it from a Scriptural perspective. I hope you will partner with us, and invite your students to join us this Wednesday for the final encounter of the year.

Capture the Flag//Hobo Soup

2011-04-25T16:51:00.001-04:00

Click image for invitation

Wednesday, May 4th we will be hosting an event at Northside. The name of it is "Capture the Flag followed by Hobo Soup." Some of you may be asking, "What is Hobo Soup?" Well let me explain. Hobo Soup is the combination of all kinds of different soups. Like a Hobo we will take multiple kinds of soups and throw them all into one giant pot.

This will all be followed after a game of Capture the Flag. The event will be on site, and will be at the normal meeting time for encounter (7:00-8:15).

Because this is an impact event, each student in attendance is encourage, and actually expected to bring along a friend that does not normally attend encounter. Since we will be playing a game that requires numbers, the more the merrier!

The event is free for students.

Each student bring a can of your favorite soup!

Students, to print off an invitation, click here.

Choices

2011-04-10T01:00:00.005-04:00

On a daily basis we are faced with thousands of choices. Making choices can be very difficult, and as a high school student it is important to make decisions. You are at a time where you will be make some of the most important decisions of your life! Starting this Wednesday (from 7:00-8:15) and running through the month of May we will be discussing what it looks like to make Biblical choices.

This series will examine some of the common high school issues: Partying, Sex, Peer Pressure, and others that you face on a daily basis. Sometimes it seems like these are tough choices that need to be made. Sometimes what the Bible tells us and what the rest of the world tells us are completely different things. So how can we make good choices in our lives?

I hope you will be able to join us in the next couple of weeks and months for this open discussion we will be having.

Nick

nite of worship recap

2011-04-07T09:12:00.005-04:00

For those of you who missed it, you really missed out! The nite of worship was great.

I will give you a little bit of a rundown. First off all we were a little low on attendance, but I believe that God worked in spite of that. First we had a band from Cedarville come and play. Special thanks to Brandon Oliger, Chris Voltz, and Bayer Watson. They came and we played three really upbeat energetic songs. I'm sure the rest of the church knew what was going on too. It wasn't quiet. After the first three songs we turned it down a little bit and sang How Great is our God, and then moved into the song Our God.

At this point we split up into different stations. The stations were:

Writing Names and Attributes of God
Prayer
Nail burdens to the Cross
Communion
Write letters to God and others

This took place for about 20 or 30 minutes. It was a cool time of worship and meditation. God was very evidently present in the room and was working the hearts of students and leaders alike. After the stations we came back together, and we took communion together and closed with a couple songs.

This was something that was a little bit different than most usual worship services. It was somewhat of an experiment, but at the end of the day I think it was very effective and beneficial.

nite of worship

2011-03-14T17:50:00.003-04:00

To conclude our series on "Why do bad things happen?" We will close it with a "Nite of Worship" and yes, I know I spelled 'Nite' wrong.

This evening will serve as a purpose to have fun, and celebrate what we have learned during this series. There will be various opportunities to get involved, to sing, to pray, to really do anything that will connect you to God. But in light of all that we have learned during the month of March with "Why do bad things happen?" I want us as a student ministry to celebrate Jesus and all that he has done for us!

This will be held the first week of April (April 6th). Please make every effort to come. This is not your typical 'worship' service, there will be much more than simply singing and sitting!

See you then!

-Nick

Why do bad things happen?

2011-03-08T09:57:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wondered why, when things seem to be going well, God will all of the sudden throw a wrench into your plans? Do you ever wonder if God really cares? Does God use these bad things for our benefit? How do we wrestle with these things?

Starting this Wednesday night, and for the entire month of March, we will be in the discussion series of "Why do bad things happen?" This would be a great series to understand why there are such evil and terrible things that go on in our world.

Whether you need to hear it, or you know a friend that could benefit this, this is a teaching series that you will not want to miss!

Hope to see you there!

Wednesdays 7-8:15

Duct Tape Night

2011-02-27T18:36:00.002-05:00

Dear Students,

I want you to know that this Wednesday Night is our first annual Duct Tape Night. This will be an event completely and utterly sold out to DUCT TAPE!! What could be better? There will be relay races, games, and a lot of Duct Tape! The best Duct Tape costume will win a gift card, so come decked out in your best Duct Tape apparel.

Finally the cost is $3 and 1 roll of Duct Tape. But if you bring a friend the entrance fee ($3) is waived for you and the friend, all you and your friend needs to do is bring a roll of Duct Tape each. Remember a friend is someone who has never come to encounter before.

See you then!

Nick

Feedback

2011-02-16T23:07:00.003-05:00

Students this is your chance to give us some feed back.

Since Nick has started, what do you like? What could change? What would you and your friends like to see?

What could we do that would encourage you more to invite your friends to our church?

Voices

2011-02-09T14:34:00.001-05:00

This Wednesday and Sunday we will be talking about voices. Where do you draw your views, opinions, and ideas from?

You see everyone has outlook on life. That is shaped by people who are influential in your life, experiences, and the background from which you came from. At encounter Student Ministry we believe that our authority and ultimate voice of influence should come from God and his word.

Come on out to hear about commands we need to following!

Encounter Groups

2011-01-28T14:12:00.002-05:00

Encounter Groups is our Sunday morning edition of Encounter. This week we will be finishing up our series on loyalty, and we'll take a look at what the Bible has to say about it. Sunday morning at 9:30 we will get things underway.

Students make sure you bring YOUR Bible. I want you to dig into, and mark up, YOUR Bible. We will no longer be supplying Bibles for laziness. Bring a Bible and bring a pen to write in it. If your Bible is too nice to write in go to Wal-Mart and buy one for $5. We at Encounter believe this, "If you mark your Bible, your Bible will mark you."

To bring Sunday:

Bible
Pen

See you then!

-Nick