The Winners...
1. Jason Bourne Trailer
2. T-Mobile - Restricted Bling
3. T-Mobile - Drop The Balls
4. Heinz - Wiener Stampede
5. Hyundai - First Date
The Loser...
Puppymokeybaby - Mountain Dew Kickstart
- Rick
My heart and desire is to see a movement of students who are passionate about accomplishing the great commission by living out the great commandment.
Every year I love to watch the Super Bowl but I also love to watch the commercials! Here are my favorites from Sunday's Super Bowl... The Winners...1. Jason Bourne TrailerI know... I know... This isn't a commercial but it totally caught me off guard! I didn't even know a new Bourne movie was coming out... But I can tell you that I can't wait to watch it! 2. T-Mobile - Restricted BlingThis was awesome! "These changes don't ruin the song at all! Can we come in the box!?" 3. T-Mobile - Drop The BallsLove to see Steve Harvey owning what happened during the Miss Universe disaster! 4. Heinz - Wiener StampedeBecause who doesn't like wiener dogs dressed as hot dogs?! 5. Hyundai - First DateKevin Hart is just funny... The Loser...Puppymokeybaby - Mountain Dew KickstartI don't know what this was but I was weirded out the whole time... However I can't get the tune out of my head! What were your favorites? What did I miss?
- Rick
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The other day I came across this infographic from the company called PhoneSheriff. As I spent time looking over the info that it presented, it showed me how much things have changed since I was a teenager and helped me understand a bit more what the majority of our students go through.
Here are a few things that standout:
Take a look at the graphic and let me know what you think! What stands out to you? - Rick The other weekend we had one of my favorite services of the year... we call it our Student Takeover. It is where our students takeover every aspect of our weekend services. The parking lot, greeting, coffee and donuts, bulletins, ushering, worship, message all done by our students and youth team! It seemed like we had students everywhere! And guess what? Everything survived... The services didn't fail. The offering wasn't forgotten. There weren't any accidents in the parking lot because a student dressed up in a horse costume was showing you where to park! In fact, we heard from a lot of people that they loved the service and should do this more often!
Here are a few reasons why I love when students takeover!
I love when students takeover. I love when students grow. I love when the adults praise God for our students. I love being apart of a church that trusts our students to takeover. Below are a few of the videos from our services. The first is the youth team giving the announcements and the second is a testimony video of our students on why they love the ROCK and 707. The third video is a spoken word testimony that one of students wrote and prepared for our services... It was a major highlight of the service! Has your church ever had a student takeover? What is your favorite part when students takeover? Comment and let me know! - Rick As I sit here Christmas morning, I can't help but reflecting on something that God revealed to me. I woke up early... really early. I didn't wake up because of the excitement of what Santa brought and put under the tree, but because (I believe) God wanted to spend some time with me and speak words of encouragement and love to me. So as I prepared my coffee and sat down with my Bible, I began to read the letter Paul wrote to Titus. Within this letter, God spoke to me through four seemingly small verses: For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. - Titus 2:11-14 In these four verses, God reminded me of two important things:
So this Christmas I choose to celebrate Jesus... not my family, not what's under the tree or in a stocking hung by the chimney with care... I choose to celebrate the grace that has been given to me by God who came in the form of a baby to endure a cross for my sin. I choose to celebrate the fact that Jesus took away the penalty, the power and will ultimately take away the presence of sin in my life. That is Christmas and I am so thankful God reminded me of that this morning. Merry Christmas! - Rick * Platt, David, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida. Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. Nashville, TN: B & H Academic, 2013. 281. Print. Dear Friends and Family,
Well the truth is we never left for Kansas. Sadly, 24 hours before we were to fly out, we got a call from our attorney advising us not to come. This event was one that began from a series of events in the birth mom’s life we were unaware of, and that more than likely, involved another individual. Although we don’t know, and may never know, the true reason she changed her mind, at this point, we will not be adopting this baby boy. Our hearts are broken as we grieve the loss of this child and the loss of another dream. Although there is a possibility she could, again, change her mind in the hospital, our focus right now is separating ourselves from this situation and seeking Christ. Despite this very difficult loss we are very thankful for all your prayers and support to us in this process. We have a Hope that is bigger than this loss. It is in that Hope we put our trust, lives, and dreams in. We are so thankful this holiday season is a reminder that Christ came down as hope for all of us. He is hope for this broken world, hope for an eternity with him celebrating with all those we have lost, and hope of the promise he will never leave us despite the trials in this world. As we grieve, we are thankful for hope and we are thankful for all of you. We ask that you would continue to pray, as the baby will be born tomorrow (Wednesday, December 3rd). Please continue to pray for:
For those of you who gave money, please know that we are beyond grateful. Regardless of the outcome your support helped this mother be stable and safe, if even for just a few months. To us, that is so meaningful. God has given us a heart for this birth mom. However, we realize you gave to help our little family of three (yes, we always count Gus our dog) become a family of four. Since this is a failed adoption, our intent is to pay you back. Thank you again for all you do for us. We will send one last update when the adoption is closed. Love, Rick and Danielle Last week at the ROCK, we spent some time talking about some important things to do so that we see God's Word bear fruit in our lives. Simple truths but impactful if practiced regularly. If you want to see God's Word change your life, you must:
Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. - Joshua 1:8
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. - Psalm 119:11
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. - James 1:22-25 With that topic floating around in my head, I saw an article on Facebook that intrigued me. The article was from Relevant Magazine and it discussed some tips that you should take advantage of when you read the Bible. I thanked God for the timely advice and thought there were some great tips that are worth sharing! Here were a few of my favorite tips that they shared:
Check out the whole article and see what are some of your favorite tips on reading God's Word. What are some of your tips for reading the Bible? Comment and let me know! - Rick
God has been taking Danielle and I on a journey these past four years. This journey has involved hearing God's voice and following His leading in a specific area of our lives. Through God's faithful leading and wonderful people like you, Danielle and I are excited to announce that we are preparing to adopt a baby! We have been chosen by a birth mother who is having a baby boy and is due at the beginning of December. With God's leading and provision, we are hoping to bring home our baby and begin our family. Before we explain how you can partner with us in starting our family, I'd like to share a bit of our story with you.
Our Story...
A few years ago, God broke our hearts for the fatherless. Our eyes were opened to the overwhelming need not only around the world but right here in our backyard. Not only were our hearts broken and our eyes opened, but we were also convicted by the Spirit of God as to what our role in the lives of orphans must be...
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27
God has also shown me not only my role, but how adoption is a huge part of my story too! I was a slave to sin, but through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross I was brought into God's family. He adopted me! I have been made His son through the forgiveness that Jesus offers me through the cross. What is crazy to me is that God chose this before the world was created... He knew all of my sin that I was going to commit and He still chose to adopt me into His family as His son!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. - Ephesians 1:3-6
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. ... Beloved, we are God's children now... - 1 John 3:1-2 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. - Galatians 3:25-26 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. - Romans 8:14-17
Much of the beauty of the gospel is shown in adoption. Danielle and I have committed to have the gospel saturate every area of our lives... our marriage, our relationships with others, our jobs, our finances... everything! Adoption is one way that we can show others the beauty of the gospel!
Needless to say... we are so excited! The more we sought God's direction on this, the more that it became clear that God's plan for us was to adopt. God has been leading us through this process for years and we are so excited to bring home our baby. We are learning more and more details about our baby but one thing has been certain... that God is perfectly orchestrating this big event in our life and we couldn't be more excited! Our ultimate desire is to care for the birthmother and bring home a child for our family! Your Help...
We don't want our adoption to just be our story though. We would love to invite you in and play a role in Danielle and I beginning our family. There are a few ways for you to help us:
46536 Greenridge Drive, Northville, MI 48167 3. Stay updated on here or at Danielle's blog, thebarrygoodlife.wordpress.com, to hear all the news on what's going on with our adoption. Thank you, in advance, for your heart for our family. We are sincerely grateful for your partnership with us and we can't wait to see where God takes us and this baby that God has provided for us. Please feel free to contact Danielle and I if you have any questions and we'd love to answer them for you! - Rick I have said it before, but I'll say it again... I believe that youth ministry is not only essential but it is vital to the body of Christ. As youth workers, we play important roles in the lives of teenagers that are essential to the spiritual development of teenagers.
I recently read a great article from youthministry360 that discussed the roles that youth workers play in teenagers lives. Here is a quick recap of the roles:
These roles of essential in the live of teenagers. Click here to read the article. This got me thinking... What are other roles that youth workers play in the lives of teenagers? Can you think of any? Comment and let me know! - Rick |
Rick BarryFollower of Christ. Husband to my beautiful wife. Pastor of Student Ministries. Amateur blogger. Archives
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