2014 Dominican Republic Team

In just 2 days, these students and adults will be on their way to the Dominican Republic (plus a couple who couldn't make this picture).

In 2009, I first traveled to Santiago, Dominican Republic, on a short term mission trip.  I believe that giving students an opportunity to stretch, try, fail, succeed and experience new things is important to their faith.  I also believe that the Kingdom of God is bigger than what we often experience in our town, state or country.  God is doing some amazing things in corners of the world where Twitter and Facebook aren't recording it and where it doesn't make the cover of Christianity Today. We'll get a chance to see it.  

This going to be a great trip.  These students have worked very hard and have raised over $15,000 (so far) for their trip.  We will be doing some construction and children's ministry while there.

Over the next week, starting on Saturday, these students are going to have the opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences and feelings here in this online space.  I want them to share it while it's fresh.  A student will share each day and one day will feature two students.  Look for new posts as time allows!

And please pray for our crew!

JC

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Tornado Relief - Moore, OK

As I sat and watched the coverage coming from Moore, OK, yesterday, I felt what most of you likely felt:
   -sadness
   -shock
   -an overwhelming desire to help.

But what could I do to help?

I was thrilled and excited when the topic of discussion came up this morning in staff meeting... what could North Terrace do to help?  As we kicked ideas around, it was suggested that we encourage folks from North Terrace (or anyone really) to purchase $25 gift cards for Walmart and then we would donate them to a church in the area.

We picked Walmart for a couple of reasons.

1. They are easy to pick up (three locations in Zanesville counting Sam's Club).  
2. You can use them at any Walmart... and let's face it, Walmart is everywhere.  
3. You can purchase anything at Walmart.  Physical needs, toiletries, food, clothing, bottled water, construction supplies... just about anything.  

So, I phoned a small church of about 50 people in Moore, OK... Community Christian Church to see if we could help them out.  I was surprised that the pastor, Bill, answered the phone.  Bill was overwhelmed with phone calls this morning from around the country today wanting to help out but answered my call because the caller i.d. said "Jim Clark."  They have a "Jim Clark" that attends their church and he assumed it was him.  He was excited that we had a tangible, simple plan to help them out.

Their church, Community Christian Church, is about 1/2 a mile from the path of the tornado.  Luckily, the church received no damage from the tornado and none of their members were impacted directly.  But there are many in their community and circle of influence who need help.

So North Terrace is mobilizing a 2-week drive (concluding on June 2nd) to collect Walmart cards for CCC in Moore, OK.  If you would like to help out, there is more information on our church's Facebook page.  I'm excited to be a part of something simple and effective to help those in need!

JC


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NTCoC Outline Online

The last couple of weeks I've been experimenting with something at North Terrace.

The popular YouVersion Bible software for mobile phones... iPhones, iPod touches, Blackberry's, etc (found HERE on iTunes)... has a live event page. You can set it up with the sermon notes, Scripture verses, polls, etc.

So the last couple of weeks I've been putting up the notes and messing with it. If you're at North Terrace this weekend and have one these devices, feel free to follow along and provide some feedback.

You can find a link to it HERE. But, if you are using YouVersion, it should show up automatically under the "live" tab at the bottom of your app.

Enjoy!

Jim

First Day... First Challenge...

Yesterday was my first day at North Terrace...

And honestly, I spent most of the day a little overwhelmed. I have always worked hard to know the names of all the students in our ministry and last night I walked into a room where I knew very few names... for an obvious reason: it was my first day.

Knowing names has always made me feel more comfortable and since I didn't know them yesterday, I was really uncomfortable. (By the way... if for any reason, you don't know all the names in your student ministry, you need to learn them... make it a priority. Unless you're in a youth ministry of more than 200 or 250 students, you have no excuse!)

I'll learn them. It will just take a bit of time.

But I did start off last night with a challenge. Paul challenged young Timothy to set the example for the believers in his church (1 Timothy 4:12). I believe that our youth ministry can and should set the pace for our church. Paul challenged Timothy to set the pace in faith, life, love, speech and purity. I challenged our students last night to begin to see themselves as pace-setters in honoring God, reaching out to their friends, connecting with each other in relationships, growing closer to God and serving others.

That's the direction that we're headed and I'm excited. I'm looking forward to seeing what God's going to do through this awesome group of students!

Jim