Christmas Dinner

Join us this Saturday for the EPIC Teens Christmas Dinner at the Hansen Home!

When: December 8th from 5:30pm to 8:00pm

Where: Hansen home  2115 Montecito Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95404

How much: No cost

Please bring a wrapped gift of roughly $10.00 value for a gift exchange.  Boys should bring a gift for a boy, and girls for a girl.  

See you there!

You Version Web Bible (KJV)

If you haven't seen YouVersion yet, check it out.  It's a web based bible that's very easy to read and navigate.  I have the app on my phone as well.  Very cool!

Corn Maze

Join us October 27th at 2:00 for some fun at the Petaluma Pumpkin Patch!  We'll be navigating our way through the Amazing Corn Maze, and then heading to the Dana home for some fun, food, and fellowship.  

For details, visit www.NewHopeNews.net/epicteens. 

For questions, contact brother Scott at NHBCTeens@gmail.com.

Happiness vs Joy

This week at family camp Pastor preached a message about the difference between happiness and joy.  He pointed out that happiness comes from satisfying our flesh in the short term, while joy comes from often denying our flesh in the long term.  Happiness will leave you poorer, but joy will leave you richer.  While you seek joy, you will often experience happiness in the process.  It was such a great reminder that the things we often allow ourselves to indulge in for momentary happiness are actually detrimental to our finding joy.  We need to discipline ourselves to have lives filled with joy.  Then we'll be truly happy.

Efficiency

Watch "Marine Recruits Arrive at MCRD" on YouTube

It's been 13 years I experienced Marine Corps boot camp, and I'm still a standard by the incredible efficiency with which they process hundreds of recruits every day. The secret is in the system. If you're struggling with anything in your life, and particularly with your spiritual habits, take a look at your system.  If you don't have one, you're doing it wrong.  Make a system and get it done...RIGHT NOW!

This Friday the 14th, join us in Rohnert Park for an evening of Baseball and Barbecued ballpark franks!

The regular baseball season is winding down, but the race for the pennant is heating up!  The teams that are sniffing victory are playing hard, so we will too.  

Meet us at 6:00 pm Friday night at the "D" Park on Dana Court in Rohnert Park.  There's no cost, but we may ask you to bring a food item to compliment the hotdogs.  Also, if you have a glove or bat bring that too!  We'll play some ball, eat some dogs, have a devotion, and wrap things up around 8:30.  Here's the official "Baseball and Barbecue" flyer.  See you at the yard!

Bodacious Brownies Were the Bomb!

I want to thank all the teenagers and parents of teenagers at New Hope Baptist Church who worked to make the Bodacious Brownies Teen Cafe a success.  We enjoyed a great evening of fellowship, coffee, and delicious brownies.  We raised over $150 with this teen cafe, which is on the high side compared to teen cafe's we've had in the past.  You all did a wonderful job.  I also want to thank all of those who supported us with your donations.  The funds will go a long way toward helping us put on and attend activities.

UPCOMING ACTIVITY: The next event we have coming up is Baseball and Barbecue:

Join us in Rohnert Park for an evening at the yard.  Enjoy some ballpark franks, hit a few pitches, or grab some pine...meat.  (Mike Krukow reference - announcer for the SF Giants).  For the full size flyer click the image, or go to the EpicTeens page on the church website and download the PDF at the bottom of the page.

Thirst

John.4 Verses 6 to 14

[6] Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
[7] There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
[8] (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
[9] Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
[10] Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
[11] The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
[12] Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
[13] Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
[14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Last night's message was about the woman Jesus spoke with at the well.  The message was simple:

1. God's Word is a never-ending source of Living Water, so don't allow yourself to walk away from it and become parched. 
2. God has put a spring of Living Water inside each of us that are saved, so we ought to draw from that well so others can drink.  

So many of the messages we preach come down to a few simple points: Read your Bible, pray, witness to others, live for God.  These are basics of the Christian life, but we need to be continually reminded of their importance.  

Read your Bible

Share the Gospel

Street Preaching Friday

Friday night our church will be heading to Healdsburg to spend an hour or so preaching the Gospel to those within earshot of the Healdsburg square.  We will be meeting at the church at 6:30pm for prayer, after which we will head to Healdsburg.  Our members are welcome to join us as we share the gospel with those who may otherwise never hear it.

If you've never been before, don't worry.  You will not be asked to preach if you're not comfortable with it.  Many come and support us by singing with our group, passing out tracts to those who pass by, or holding a scripture sign.  Street preaching is one of the methods of witnessing demonstrated in the Bible (Acts 2:14-41), and is one of the most exciting ways to carry out the Great Commission.  Come enjoy an evening of excitement as we let people know that there's a God who loved them enough to send His Son to die for their sins!

New EPIC Teens Page

Okay guys, I've embedded an RSS feed of this blog on the Teen Ministry page of www.NewHopeNews.net, New Hope Baptist Church's website.  I'm going to use it as a tool for announcements for EPIC Teens more than a repository for incredibly brilliant Biblical analysis.  Of course, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.  Conditions apply; see store for details.

Click the image to navigate to the EPIC Teen Bible Club page:

My blog needs to wake up

I'm considering resurrecting this blog to keep my youth ministry up to date on upcoming events.  I'm not really sure if it's necessary, especially since I don't have a great track record of making regular post. Then again, technology has changed so much since I was wrong last. For instance, I am now speaking into my smartphone to write this post. That definitely makes posting a lot easier. Meanwhile, while I do some soul searching, check out the new epic teens web page and let me know what else you would like to see there.