Youth Ministry

I love August! Well, maybe I just love what August represents, the starting of a year (school terms), the last days of summer and summer heat, the coming of autumn, and the beginning of soccer and College Football. As I said, I love August. I remember the arguments with my Mom about what can of shoes I “needed” in order to be popular, which color backpack I wanted and of course, the Trapper Keeper notebooks of the 80’s. The smells of August and wet cut Bermuda grass takes my mind back to football practices at Newton County High School, and the wind-blown smells of the August blooming gardenias remind me of Mrs. Sue Padden, a family friend who allowed us to swim at her pool during the summer. Since Kim taught me to eat tomatoes, there is nothing better than a home-grown “beefsteak” or “heirloom” tomato just ripe off the vine, and the taste of homemade ice cream cools the hottest of summer days. I love August.

August as well represents the beginning of the school year, which is more than just buying the “right” clothes or getting in classes with the best of friends. August is the beginning of our daily routine. I look forward to that beginning. No more tip-toeing through the house to get ready in the morning, or having a gang of children running through my house to get ice cream at 10:00pm. Our routine begins again. We begin to read more, do more math problems, eat as a family together more, and the toys in the living room are replaced by school uniforms and class projects. Kim and I find time to talk more at the end of the day, and less video games are heard through the halls of our house. August is a beginning I look forward to.

This August represents a beginning for many of us. Maybe this is the year that you finally choose to cleanout the garage or start eating healthy. Maybe this August will be the start of your exercise routine now that your kids are heading back to school, or maybe it is the year to get more involved in their educational journey. Maybe this beginning will lead us to clean off the dining room table and start having meals together, or planning more outings for the family. This August marks a new beginning for many of us.

I love the term “beginning”. It takes me back to those inevitable words, “In the beginning…” I probably use the book of Genesis and the creation story in more conversations than ever during August, September and October. I think it has something to do with the thought of the garden. Now, I am not a gardener, but I love gardeners. I love the fresh produce that is not mass produced, but harvested through love and cultivation, much like that of God’s Garden of Eden and the relationship we have with God today. My favorite aspect of the creation story is found in verse 2 which says, “The earth was formless and void and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” I love the beginning. God was hovering just in observation, in thought, in planning and strategy. He was there visioning the painted sky, the grass of the fields and the song of the morning doves. Before he spoke, he stopped, hovered and visioned. “In the beginning,” God prepared for us. Honestly, I love that he spent time hovering. We might not have had the painted sunsets, the majestic mountain ranges, the blue of the ocean, the silence of a snow filled sky, and the slight twinkling of the stars without that time and thought. First came the hovering and visioning of the future, then spoken word to create the beauty of the world as we know it.

“In the beginning;” what a wonderful way to start the story of God and his relentless love for us. As a Christian, the story of Genesis is my reminder of the journey God has for us. It is a reminder of his love and his pursuit of a relationship with us. Genesis is not only a story or a reminder, it is a focus that God has a plan for our lives, just as he had a plan for the creation of the earth. Jeremiah echoes that hope in Chapter 29 verse 11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Genesis is a beginning, a reminder, and a pursuit.

At First Baptist Church of McDonough Student Ministry, we will celebrate a sort of beginning or Genesis ourselves. On August 29, 2010 at 12:30pm in our Fellowship Hall, we are asking all students and parents to come to our “Genesis Gathering” and discover what this year’s Student Ministry has planned. We will release all events and dates, all bible study topics, as well as some new plans for our student ministry. We will have sign up sheets to help get parents and grandparents more involved, and will look at a new focus in this ministry area. I promise this will be an event that you will remember for the rest of the year. We hope that this will be a Genesis for you as we start a new year of Student Ministry here at First Baptist Church.