Hey parents, wanna strike off a BIG item from your teens Christmas list?
Help them bring the most first-time visitors to FlipSide LIVE on November 4 and they’ll recieve a brand new FREE PLAYSTATION 3! That’s right, no strings attached. Whoever brings the most first-timers walks away with a brand new PS3. Do I need to repeat it again? Let’s pack the house out!!
WOW! We had an incredible night last Wednesday at FS Unplgd. In light of the recent death of Craig Marshall, a 15-yr old teen from Topsail High, we decided to change the night from our usual format. Instead of breaking into smaller groups, all 48 teens met in one room to discuss the range of feelings/emotions the teenagers were dealing with.
Lindsey and Becky led us in some amazing acoustic worship. Afterwards, I brought a message about how temporary life is and how crucial it is that we live constantly aware of our Creator and His role for our life. It was a rather somber night and the words seemed to land on very good ground. Several teens were in tears while 4 gave their hearts to Christ and many others responded to getting more serious about their faith.
I encourage all of you as parents to continually push your teens towards finding Christ each day in their own time. There comes an age where spoon-feeding no longer works and the child must take responsibility for feeding themself. Hold them accountable to regular time spent with God, whether it be reading the Word, praying, going for a walk and talking to God, writing, etc… It may begin as a chore, but when they experience the power of conversing with God it will become unforgettable and undeniably important.
I just finished a text conversation with a teen who experienced the sudden death of one of his peers for the second time in the past couple months. I encouraged him in the Lord and pointed him to Psalm 121. As I texted him I thought about what we talked about this week at FS Unplugged when I sat in for Anthony in the High School guys group.
We’re talking this month about Morphing into what God intended for us to be. This week in our topic “Not your parents religion” we touched on the importance of becoming Christ-Followers who begin hearing God for ourselves. As a Christian it is SO important to find the place where your faith isn’t defined by what everyone else believes is true but by what God is speaking to you and showing you personally in His word. I challenged the HS guys to read through the book of John this week and ask God a ton of questions.
I can’t be in school with the guy who’s dealing with his friends death and neither can you as parents. It’s in these times that they must know what they believe and stand firm on their own faith in Christ. Parents, I encourage you to begin challenging your teen to find God for themselves and set aside time to get in His word. I recommend buying this book for your teen when you get the chance, it was a huge help for me when I was younger. Thanks for fighting the fight!
Last night at FS LIVE we began a brand new series called ‘Morph‘ and I believe it’s gonna rock some worlds. The scripture for the whole series is Romans 12:2. The message came from three points in this verse:
1) Don’t conform to the customs of the world
2) Be transformed by changing how you think
3) THEN you will know the will of God for your life
We naturally choose the path of least resistance in our lives, but as Christ-Followers we’re called to take the harder path of Godly choices. It’s through making the commitment to serve God in the hard choices that we can ultimately hear God’s will for our lives.
4 teens found Christ last night for the first time!! Many others made a commitment to the harder road in life that results in closeness with their Creator. We have an unbelievable month lined up at FS UNPLUGGED as we dive deeper into what it means to take the hard road. Don’t let your teens miss out!!
164 teens showed up for small groups in September! 6 met Jesus for the first time! Many others discovered the importance of being honest with God about the hidden issues we deal with in life. Here’s a little student feedback from September:
Hey Pastor Matt, i had a BLAST tonight! Your youth is outstanding!!! and the topic that you spoke to us about tonight was GREAT!!! it really touched me and i know that i need to get into god way more and to stop focusing on the little unimportant things in life. i just wanted to stop by and let you know that i thought it was awesome and that i will be back next Wednesday night for sure!!! GO FLIPSIDE UNPLUGEEDDD
FS!! was soo much funn, im so glad its back
Flipside was the bomb! The lesson was great! it really got to me!!! cant wait till next Wednesday night
Flipside is the coolest thing ever!
you cant exspect to be forgiven unless u forgive yourself…stop lugging around dead weight…God forgives EVERY sin.. you just have to want him bad in enouugh in your life to feel liek your forgiven..Flip Side UNPLUGGED=AWESOMENESSS
Flip side was sooo amazing!..i told you guys christians can get crunk too! haha…cant wait till next wed. Flipside unplugged!…chea!!my church is a-mazing mann!!
i invited my foroegn exchanged friend alex from germany to my youth group, im glad i brought him
The only thing better than FlipSide in September is FlipSide in October! Don’t let your teens miss this coming series called ‘Morph‘ as we discover the real power of being a Christ Follower.
Last night went excellent! 44 teens came out and 2 made a decision to follow Christ!
Allow me to brag on our incredible FlipSide staff for a minute. It amazes me every week to see the time they give up from their lives to see teens get closer to Jesus. FS Unplugged is ran entirely by volunteers! They’re putting the lessons together, bringing a message and cultivating life changing discussions EVERY WEEK! Breaking up FlipSide into weekly small groups has uncapped a wealth of gifts and talents from our volunteers. If you haven’t thanked a FlipSide volunteer this week, shoot me an email and I’ll forward it directly to them or hit one up on Sunday and maybe just slide a Starbucks gift card in their pocket
FlipSide UNPLUGGED is going awesome! Last Wednesday we had 46 students come out for small groups and one teenager gave their heart to Christ. We’ve highly underestimated their desire to talk about what’s happening in their lives and FS Unplgd is finally giving them an outlet. Check out some pictures from Unplugged.
This month we’ve been talking about the ‘Elephant in the Room.’ We all deal with areas in our life we don’t want to talk about and before we know it they snowball out of control. We’re talking with the teens about how to locate the elephant, give it to God and how to keep it from coming back. So let us know how this series is impacting your teen and if there’s anything we can do for you.
Top 10 tips for Parents:
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written to you all 
I could think of a thousand excuses but none of which I think you’d buy. I thought the most convincing one would be “my dog ate my laptop” but then I thought, “hmm.. they might not go for that one.” It appears that my last post was written on April 1st of this year which was about 6 months ago. WOW! I just read that post and I can’t believe 6 months have already passed! I really am getting old. Last week a teenager told me that 30 is the new 20 which actually puts me at about 18 years old. That’s gotta make you parents feel comfortable, me being 18 and all Right when I start to feel good about my youthfulness I usually play a game of basketball outside with the FlipSide guys. It keeps me humble.
This month has been an intense month at FlipSide during our series titled ‘Blunt.’ I figured since the world doesn’t beat around the bush with what they tell our teens, the church shouldn’t either. So Week 1’s message was titled “Who do you dress to impress?” We addressed the ever growing trend of wearing less and less clothes. At the rate society is going we should begin to see dental floss in the clothing section at Target in no time. I spoke very candidly about the responsibility of women, in how they dress, to not create a stumbling block for men who are trying to live a righteous life. I also spoke with the men about not believing the lie that “it’s okay to look because I’m a guy.”
Week 2 was titled “Draw the line.” By dumping a bunch of sand on the floor and drawing a line in it, I illustrated the importance of making a distinction between our stance and the worlds. I demonstrated how easy it is to compromise that line by flirting with the world. I mentioned several areas where the world says YES but God says NO. The main area I mentioned is the recent trend of Hookah Bars. This is a dangerous trend I believe every parent should be “in the know” about.
Last week I spoke about “Sexual Sin.” If you ever want to get your teens attention just mention the word ‘Sex.’ I didn’t see a single person dosing off in last weeks message I spoke about what sexual sin is, it’s ability to destroy your life, and how to find forgiveness and freedom from it. Nothing sells in the world today like sex does. I mentioned a staggering statistic that the Porn industry makes more money every year than the NFL, NBA & MLB combined. Parents please make yourself aware of what the world is calling acceptable and don’t let them have the final word in your child.
Matthew
