the NET blog

Real Encounter

2008-04-25T08:42:00.002-04:00

Coming to our area is the Real Encounter Xtreme Sports Evangelism event. There will be a kick-off rally for this event on May 5th @ Roopville Rd. Baptist Church. The actual event will take place on Thursday, May 6 @ the East Carrollton Gym @ 6:30 (parking may be an issue) and Wednesday, May 7 @ Heard County High School Gym @ 6:30...admission is FREE. This group brings an exciting display of extreme sports such as Motorcycle Stunts, BMX, Skateboarding, Acrobatics, and other various forms of stunts as well. This will be another great community wide opportunity to get your students involved.

Project Wildfire

2008-04-25T08:36:00.003-04:00

The annual Project Wildfire event will be held at the Bremen High School Gym Thursday & Friday, May 1st & 2nd from 6 - 10 PM. Admission is FREE and everyone is invited. There will be food provided by Chick-fil-A available for purchase. There will also be several great bands, speakers, drama teams, etc. This event is sponsored by FCA and is always a great community wide event that the students really enjoy.

Evangelism Opportunity

2008-04-14T09:55:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, first off I just want to thank everyone for coming out to our place last week for our monthly NET meeting...I enjoyed seeing some new faces and thought that the conversation and discussion was great. It really seemed as though the overall theme of our discussion sort of developed and gravitated to the topic of evangelism, and in light of that I wanted to make you aware of something that will be taking place at Mount Holly over the next few days. This week we have sort of a unique opportunity taking place at our church. We are hosting a group out of Miami called Tommie Zito Ministries, and we have brought them in to do something rather different than we have ever done here before. Tommie Zito and his team are heavily gifted in the areas of evangelism and outreach and will be hosting an evangelism crusade throughout the week here at our church. There will be evangelism training every morning at 10:30 beginning Tuesday, April 15 - Friday, April 18. Each morning after the training we will have the opportunity to go out into to the community for the sole purpose of reaching souls. Each night during the week beginning tonight April 14 - Friday, April 18 we will be having worship services beginning at 7:00, where Tommie Zito and his team will be ministering to us through both worship and the Word. I'm really excited about this opportunity as it has been something that has been weighing heavily upon my heart, especially as of late. This is an open invitation to anyone who would like to be involved in this great outreach opportunity this week...we would love to have you. Also, if you can't make it there will be a live webcast that will be streamed nightly of each of the services and you can feel free to check that out here. Feel free to contact me or the church if you would like any more information concerning this event.

Options for Next Month

2008-04-07T10:46:00.002-04:00

I told you guys I would be willing to host next month and suggest some books having to do with our personal growth and soul care. I wanted to throw a couple ideas out there and get some feedback from you tomorrow.

1. 'The Enemy Within' - by: Kris Lundgaard - A book dealing with the power of sin and our struggle to fight our own flesh.

2. 'Through the Looking Glass' - by: Kris Lundgaard - A compelling book about the person of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the Bible.

3. 'Dethroning Jesus' - by: Darrell Bock and Daniel Wallace from Dallas Seminary - A book looking at contemporary culture's view of Jesus and contrasting that with the Bible's portrayal of Jesus Christ! Great book but a little scholarly.

4. 'God's Lesser Glory' - by: Bruce Ware of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary - Fight against open theism. Great book that really expanded my view of God.

5. 'The Truth War' - by: John MacArthur - Really a walk through the book of Jude, discussing the importance of truth and the importance of it in ministry and the destruction of false teaching.

If you really want to take it back in the day...

6. 'Pilgrim's Progress' - by: John Bunyan - A classic dealing with the journey of being a Christian.

7. 'The Art of Divine Contentment' - Thomas Watson - Definitely a struggle in my life, being content in whatsoever circumstance I find myself in. Watson looks hard into Scripture to shoot straight about the detriment of discontentment.

8. 'Godly Man's Picture' - Watson - Always striving for godliness as a man of God. Watson helps out with a great detailed look at just about every aspect of life.

These are just a few of the books that have been crucial to me lately. Hope the ideas help. Look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow!

Ministry Mutiny Discussion Guide

2008-03-06T14:29:00.002-05:00

Hey guys just wanted to let you know there is a discussion guide for this book on the Dare 2 Share website. www.dare2share.org under d2s books. I am not saying we should use it for our next meeting but it may help us as we read each chapter. I hope all of you have a fantastic week and I look forward to seeing you guys April 8.

Josh Stitcher

March Meeting

2008-03-04T08:48:00.003-05:00

The NET is meeting this morning March 4, 2008 from 9-11 @ First United Methodist Church. Any local area youth pastors or leaders are welcome to join us...even if you're late (since it starts in about 10 minutes). Hope to see you there.

Meeting?

2008-03-04T08:03:00.002-05:00

Hey guys-
I never have heard anything about our next meeting . . . or if we are reading anything together. Can anyone fill me in?

Thanks-
Brian

Thoughts on 'ReThink'

2008-03-02T07:26:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

I spoke with Andrew yesterday as I watched my little girl cheer and told him how much I was enjoying the book. Here are a couple of thoughts:

First, I have been convicted myself about my lack of discipleship among my own family. Rarely do I disciple purposefully my children while I am working all week at discipling other peoples' kids. This seems to be a very contradictory lifestyle which I have humbly confessed to my wife and children and have begun a family devotional time which has been extremely profitable.

Second, I would love if we could all share about where we gauge ourselves and our ministries regarding the 4 gauges. I think that would be a great time of sharing some positive steps our ministries have taken, but also be able to identify definite shortcomings.

Third, my purposeful targeting of parents as primary disciplers of their kids has been awful at best. Although starting out in ministry I determined to have a family based youth ministry, I realize that I have, in practice, moved far away from that philosophy. The sad thing is that most of my parents probably do not even realize it. I have not, nor have we, as a church taught our parents on how to be the primary disciplers of their kids, and I have not set up our ministry to maximize the influence and role of our parents. Time to take a step back and 'rethink.'

Finally, it was humbling to read our author quote the 'Westminster Assembly: Directory of Family Worship,' and see the stance they took on holding parents accountable for the spiritual formation taking place in their homes. In my church circle, we put a lot of weight on the 'Westminster Confession of Faith'. To be ordained as a pastor or elder in our church you must study that document and adhere to it's teachings. Yet, as faithfully as we hold that document up, all the while we fail to see another document they produced that in my estimation is just as important.

May all of our ministries and churches be a place where parents are taught, equipped, and impassioned for the ministry God has given them.

(Sorry I typed so long. Just had to get my thoughts out of my head! See you Tuesday and have a great time of worship this morning!)

Jason

Hey guys

2008-02-19T16:19:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone had a great extended weekend and all trips that went down, went good! We've been battling sickness in our family and have even had some of our students visit the hospital due to the flu and all. I would ask that you guys pray for our Dnow coming up on Feb. 29th weekend. We've got some cool stuff planned and are just praying that the students grasped what is being conveyed. Life changing things are always possible when the Word is presented and it will be presented, so pray life change occurs. Gotta run but wanted to throw that stuff out real quick. Have a good one guys!

Chris

Presidents Weekend

2008-02-13T13:51:00.003-05:00

Hey guys, I pray all is well with your families and ministries. I was just wandering if anyone else is doing a trip over Pres. weekend. I just thought it would be cool if we shared with each other when we are having events so we could pray for each other. So, if you are let us know so we could be praying for you. We are going to West Virginia for a ski weekend. We are leaving Thurday night and will return Monday. They are having weather up there so pray for our travels and for God to speak in a profound way during our worship sessions. See you guys soon.

Good Stuff

2008-02-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to tell everyone I enjoyed coffee last week . . . and I am looking forward to our fellowshiping on here and getting together. I appreciate us all being able to get together.

I had to leave early last week--did we set our next meeting time or anything? Any plans for reading or anything like that?

The Book

2008-02-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! I just wanted to post 2 places you can pick up ReThink. CBD & Inquest. Just click on them and it should open up. Look forward to next month! Chris

Inaugural Blog

2008-02-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

We just want to take the time and welcome you to the brand spanking new weblog of The NET. The NET is simply a group of like-minded youth pastors from churches and organizations all over the Carrollton, GA area who come together for the common purpose of reaching the students of our community and pointing them towards a relationship with Christ. The reason that we exist is to simply glorify God through intentional fellowship and unified ministry. Our desire is to tear down any denominational walls and connect by building relationships with one another as we strive to work towards our common purpose. This blog is for anyone out there who shares a similar passion for reaching this generation for Christ. Our hope is that this site will be a way for us to be able to network together through sharing resources, links, articles, devotions, etc. There will be several authors contributing to the posts and content that is put on this site, so please check back often or subscribe through a reader or by email and keep up with what's going on. Also, feel free to give us your input and thank you so much for stopping by...we hope that you enjoy. (The NET)