Jesus Christ trouble? That's a strange statement to make but Jesus did cause a massive uproar among the Jewish people by stating he was God's son, the messiah, the message he spoke and the things he did would cause the leaders of the day to want him dead but God's plan was so much bigger. In this 4 week series we will discover how Jesus'  life and death changed our world for ever! Don't miss out!

Many new and exciting things are happening in the Federated Student Ministry this year!    
 
 - Federated Welcomes New Youth Director: Stephen Pettis, who has been working as the youth ministry assistant for the past 3 years has offically taken the role of full time Director.  Steve will be leading our junior and senior high ministries and is looking forward to the many new opportunities for students to grow, serve and reach out to those in thier community.

 - The FED at the Fair:  Federated will be working a coffee, cappuccino and smoothie booth this year at the Albion Fair.  Our student ministry will be running the booth on Tues, Thurs, and Sat morning.  Stop by under the tents to say hello and pick up information about kickoff night and See You At the Pole.

 - Official Ministry Kickoff:  We will be kicking off another incredible year on SEPTEMBER 21, 2011.  It will be a combined night and buses will run from the youth center.  Doors open at 6:30pm and all students in grades 6-12th are welcome!

 - See You At The Pole:  Join youth from all over the nation on September 28th for a national morning of prayer!  SYATP is an awesome opportunity for students to take a stand of prayer at their schools!  This years theme is CONVERGE - Matthew 18:20.  Join your classmates around your school's flagpole before school and lift up your school, classmates, teachers and administration in prayer.  Our Federated team will be at Northwestern High School at 7:00am. 

Summer is officially here and we are ready!  Fed youth ministry is not taking the summer off and neither should you!  Join us for a variety of events, bible studies, and activities that will bring you closer to your friends and to the Lord!  Check out our calendar section for all the details! 

Another ministry year is about to come to a close and what an incrediable year it has been!  God has truly blessed our ministry these last 9 months.  We have learned from and enjoyed amazing series and got to have experiences we will remember for a long time to come.  Here are just a few moments we are not soon to forget.

• To Save a Life Series
• Walk Across the Room if...

• Winter Retreat
• Family Groups
• Ephesians 6:10 -20
• Journey Foot Washing Experience
• One Night Without Shoes
• Airsoft and Paintball Wars
• Survivor Family Group Competitions

Thank you all for an incrediable year!  Summer here we come!

We are on our way to a brand new series at Journey and Lightforce.  We will spend 5 weeks talking about the FULL ARMOR OF GOD.  When life is hard and the battle is raging we need to find our strength in Christ and learn how to protect ourselves against the enemy!

 ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:10-17

This month we have been learning from our new series "Survivor".  This series focuses on how we as believers in Christ can survive Satan's ploys in our lives.  We began by identifying our enemy the PREDATOR himself,in a challenge that taught about Satan's origin and what his purpose is on the earth today.  Then we learned about his PLOYS, the ways he uses lies to trap us.  We will also discuss our POTENTIAL, why is Satan after us anyway?  We are forces for Christ and have the potential to win souls for Jesus!  And finally we will talk about POWER, through the power of Jesus Christ we can be a survivor!

I have never in my 12 years of youth ministry experienced a series with such impact as I did the To Save A Life Series.  In the last six weeks this series has changed the face of the student ministry at the Federated Church.  Each week students were pushed beyond thier comfort zones, challenged to dig deep into their relationships, faith and the way they treat the hurting and lonley in this world.  They got to participate in an activity called Walk Across the Room, that opened all of our eyes to how much we have in common with our daily struggles.  And the greatest victory of this series...FAMILY GROUPS!  Family groups were a new way to do small group during this series.  God has blessed our minstry with tons of leaders this year and I believe He brought these leaders forward because He knew about Family Groups.  We have a total of over 22 Family Groups in our ministry, these are groups containing one leaders and about 6-8 students.  These groups gather each week and the relationships and trust that has been built has been incrediable, they truly have become family.  Leaders and students are begging to allow Family Groups to become the new way we do small group for good!  It has been such a joy to watch God move and work through the leaders and through this series.  We completed the series on Wed Nov 3rd.  It was a powerful night, where we had many students come forward with a profession of faith and many who recommited thier lives to Chirst.  We know that the Lord has much ahead for us and we are all along for the ride of our lives!!  Praise God!

There are so many awesome things going on in the Federated Student Ministry this Fall!  Read below and find out what's going on because I promise, you don't want to miss it!

A new Fall series - To Save A Life.  This series is based off the newly released movie that deals with a teenagers journey towards Christ through the suicide of another student.  This series is going to challenge you to think about your own relationship with Christ, your relationship with other people and with how you feel about yourself.  
 

5th Quarter - Do you ever wonder if there is something to do after the Friday night football game when you're just not ready to call it a night yet?  How about coming out for the 5th Quarter.  A night full of games, food and a chance to continue to hang out with your friends.  Check out the calendar for dates and times!

 

Corn Maze - Nothing says Fall like running through a corn maze!  This October we are heading out to the Wooden Nickle Farm to compete in a corn maze puzzle race!  Check calendar for date and time.

 

  Doors open at 6:30pm
Every Wednesday (Journey 9-12th Gr.) and
Thursday (Lightforce 6-8th Gr.)
Buses will run normal times from the Albion Youth Center
 - see Julie for details.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!!"  No not Christmas - SUMMER!!  Though our weekly meetings break for the summer months the Federated Student Ministry is still going strong!  This August we will be starting our combined Summer Sunday School program where we will be diving into the book of James.  Mid August, we will be going on a two day camping trip to Cook's Forest and then finishing up the Summer with a Back to School beach party on Sunday the 22nd.  You don't want to miss out on the final summer activites check our calendar for more details!

It is safe to say that the topic of the end of the world has been one that has sparked interest and intrigue for many people.  You can see it reflected in movies, books, and tv.  The mystery of the "end of the world" has motivated poeple to come up with thier own theories and conclusions, timelines and answers because the thought of the unknown and the unanswered is too hard to deal with. 

I know that it is a topic that can be confusing and all the answers can not be readily given, for example, when will it happen?  The Bible is clear that that is not for us to know.  So what can we learn about the End Times - well, plenty.  The Bible and specifically the book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into the future and a chance to learn about what is to come.  Journey and Lightforce are launching a 2 month series on the End Times - focusing on the Rapture, Tribulation, Second Coming, and how God calls us to live until His return.

Have you ever been so thirsty or so hungry you can’t eat or drink enough.  That feeling of just not getting enough of something means that you have an unquenchable desire for it – it just won’t go away.  What if we had an unquenchable desire for the Lord?  If no matter how much we worshipped Him, loved Him or served Him we just couldn't get enough.  What would our faith look like then?  Over the next few months we are entering into the Unquenchable series focusing on how to have an unquenchable desire for prayer, worship and God's Word...you don't want to miss it!!

We are 2 weeks into our series Live Life in Reverse.  This series focuses on the time in your life when you make the choice to do a 180 and follow Christ with all that you are!!  Its a powerful time of life when that need inside is filled with the only one who can provide hope and a future.  Doing a spiritual 180 is choosing to stop going in the direction of the world and turn to the way provided by our Lord.  You will run into Roadblocks - of frustration, people's opionins and disapproval and the temptation to go back to your old life.  BUT with a deep desire for more from this life and real change in your heart, you can bypass the roadblocks and continue on your journey - destination - the life planned for you by Christ, His good, perfect and pleasing plan!