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Our Student Ministry (grades 6-12) meets on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am. Students also participate in YOUTH GROUP twice a month along with a bi-monthly local evangelical project.
During the summer time, the Students attend BigStuf Camp in Panama City Beach, FL (www.bigstuf.com). BigStuf's mission is to creatively communicate the refreshing spirit of Christ, the truth of His word and the difference living for him can make in our lives.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contract either Chris or Amy Cooper. aaccac@rose.net
CROSSROADS YOUTH MISSION STATEMENT (CrossRoads Rooted Wacks)
Our desire is to cultivate a group of teenagers that have evidence of the Holy Spirit living and working in their lives.
As evidenced by:
A desire and act of studying God's Word
Sunday Morning classes
Youth Group
Discipleship
Contact for Accountability
A servant's heart
Monthly Local Service Projects
Word-Doers, Victorian Christmas, HOTC, Fall Festival, VBS, Manna Drop
Service at Church
Service Teams
Cultivate spiritual gits
Evangelism
To others in church
To local community through service projects
Mission trips and BigStuf camp
An active prayer life and a desire to study His word
CrossRoads Church Family & Youth Mission Trip to New Orleans (July 2010)
CrossRoads Family,
We would like to thank all of you for your prayers and financial support. We truly believe that the Mission Trip to New Orleans was a life changing event for many of the teenagers, children and adults. We asked each teenager to submit one story (out of the million they could tell) so we could have something to remember but also in hope that it will inspire each of you as well. If we could take one thing from this trip it would be this...there are a lot of lonely people in this world and many just want someone to listen to their story. Outreach and evangelism is often as simple as just taking the time to listen. That is what Jesus often did throughout the Bible. He is our example.
Here are some of their stories...
Well this is just a general thing for the whole trip but...I think I benefited most from learning that witnessing doesn't always have to be you saving someone... it can be you stirring up a conversation with the lady next to you on a trolley or sitting on a couch in the mall. I think even if you don't try to cram the bible in their heads, they understand that you were just showing God's love to them just by asking to pray for them, and I think those people are touched by how much you love God that you would actually talk to a random person. just something as simple as that can make them want to have the same kind of faith.
Okay. I learned that hearing God isn't going to be a loud, deep voice accompanied by a flash of lightning & rolling thunder. I hear God almost every day of my life. Whether it's someone telling me what a good job I'm doing in my moment of weakness, or a man on the street reciting a poem about the compassion we had for another. I learned that cold showers & breaking cots aren't that bad when there a people bathing in the streets sleeping on cardboard. I learned to love the smile on a strangers face when they hear the words, "God bless you." I guess I just learned that my love for God is much stronger than I would have ever thought. & I do all of these things in his name. BECAUSE I love him. & BECAUSE I want to show unknowing others just how amazing it feels to know of the love he has for them.
This whole trip was amazing and changed how I feel about everything.. but what stands out the most was the little girl we met at the children's hospital. I believe God sent us there so she could show us how fortunate we are to be alive and healthy. She showed me true faith in the Lord. Her name was Caitlin and she had a weak heart and lungs, (something to that nature) and has a pacemaker. Her grandmother told us that she had been saying she was just ready to go to Heaven now. She is tired of being in and out of the hospital all the time... She really laid it down for me like no one ever has... I'm so thankful now for every little thing I have and the people in my life that love me and most of all, for a God that loves me no matter who I am. My beliefs are concrete now and indescribable. I would do anything to show God's love now because of what he's shown me. I could go on and on but I won't do that..(: thank you for helping this life-changing experience happen. I feel so alive.
Okay. I learned that people are inspired by your relationship with Jesus. When you do what God wants instead of acting like all the people around you, you are figuratively speaking a perfume. Your example encourages them to keep getting closer to Him, because they see the peace you have, the way it really makes you happy to follow Him. One things I learned was to " Live your life in light of His plan! " Hard Times = focus on Jesus! He has a solution for you! Watch your words. Use them well. Speak the truth instead of lies. Speak good things instead of bad things. Praise Him for his goodness, his awesomeness. Thank him for the love he pours out on you! You'll fall short somewhere along the way. Learn from your mistakes and take all your anxieties to the Lord. Talk to God about it. Give Him the burden of it. NEVER GIVE UP! NO MATTER WHAT! I guess I just learned that in order to please God, you've got to have faith. Probably one of the big things I learned, is that God is not impressed with big, long prayers or Bible-sounding words. He sees right through all of that, he just wants to know how you really feel. As reading in my bible not long ago, I read to just use the acrostic PRAY to guide your prayer time. P stands for praise, spend the first part of your time with the Lord in praise and worship. R is for repent, the next time of your prayer time is repentance. Tell God about your sin and ask him for forgiveness. A is ask anything for anybody, When Jesus prayed for other people, He prayed boldly. You can follow His example and pray boldly for your friends and family. Y is for yourself, Bring your concerns and needs to the Lord. Talk through your days and your plans. Ask him to reveal His will for you today. Ask him to go before you; then expect Him to be there. NO MATTER HOW YOU DECIDE TO PRAY, THE HOLY SPIRIT PROMISES TO HELP YOU. Your prayers are important, and you will always be heard by the Father.
Well, the one story that really sticks out to me is the lady from the prayer tent. I don't know her name, but we sat down.. and she told me about her daughter who had been living with her dad and how she ran away from home because she had seen the daddy had been doing drugs and stuff. The mother told me that her daughter had been getting involved in weed and stuff also. And just the look in that ladies eyes and the tears that ran down her cheek showed me that there are so many blessings in life. It really opened up my eyes and showed me that just having someone to show compassion to and having someone there to listen is all we really need in life to make it through. She really seemed to open up and just told me everything. Her daughter was actually going to jail that night, because she missed her court date or something.. It was really sad but it's the story that stuck out to me the most.
He answered a lot of my prayers on this trip. he showed me just what I wanted to see. I felt amazing when we were under the bridge talking to those people and just having a conversation with these people. to look back and think of it we have a perfect life compared to them. they have nothing and it makes me feel horrible to just know they have nothing. there is no way I could live outside under a bridge. I really think we made a lot of peoples day just by having a conversation with them, and praying for them. they all were amazing people who just hit a rough spot and didn't know what to do and ended up losing everything/: all they needed really was someone to just talk to them about a lot of stuff and we did that. it showed me a lot of things like how great God is for blessing us to meet all these wonderful people.
This trip defiantly changed my life. I really didn't want to go, because I didn't really know anyone...and basically it was just way out of my comfort zone. Christ really showed himself to me this week. He showed me that when we fully rely on him for our comfort that comfort zone seems to somehow disappear. I also feel like I got to see little glimpses of who Christ is throughout the trip whether it was through someone in the Youth group or a sick child in the hospital. I defiantly feel like I have learned more about you our Father really is and it was things that could never be fully explained in a Sunday school lesson... it was something I just had to experience. Thanks for this trip I will never be the same!!!!
The youth group went on a mission trip to New Orleans. When we were there a couple of kids in our youth group went to a place called Lost Hope and had a chance to talk to people. The thing that really touched me was when we first walked in, their faces looked sad, but when we asked them to play games with us, their faces went from sad to happy. One man had sang a song telling us that he has never had a friend and now we are his best friends. It was awesome. I think it changed a lot of people in so many different ways.
When we went on a mission trip to New Orleans we had a very outrageous experience. It was definitely different than what we are used to in Georgia. When you look to your right you see homeless people, then you look to your left and see more homeless people. These people are in need of shelter, food, and water, but most importantly they are in need of someone to talk to , someone to become friends with, and someone to love them. We always complain we don't get this or that, while they don't even have a house to live in. Once you go to New Orleans it really opens your eyes. It gets you thinking of how blessed we are. There are people like this here, but we are too busy doing other things we don't even try to look. It really made me take a step back and think I was living that. I shouldn't complain about not getting something I want, when they are living on the road. It really hit home.
The story that touched me most was this one. . . One day me, Lauren, Katelyn and Miss Amy went to the children's hospital. We were just about to leave when we met this little girl named Katelyn. She is 7 years old and has heart and lung problems and already has a pacemaker. She lives with her grandparents. We were talking with her grandmother and we had a guitar with us. Her grandmother asked if we would go and play a song or two for her. We went up to her room and Katelyn told us that she was ready for Jesus to take her to heaven whenever He was ready, which was really amazing. Then we sang with her and we sang Amazing Grace, The log at the bottom of the sea, and I'll Fly Away. It was a really powerful experience. To think that we think we have problems and then to meet a little girl who is only seven years old and is positive about life is a real lesson for us all.
On the family mission trip to New Orleans was Amazing!! The thing that most touched me was when we went under the bridge. We were handing out water and clothes, then I met this guy named Keith. I started to talk to him about normal stuff and after a while he started to tell me what happened to him. Before hurricane Katrina came him and his family got in to a big fight and left to Texas. After Katrina he came back and found his family dead. Ever since he has been living under the bridge. Then he started with drugs and alcohol. I got to pray with him about it and the day after I did he went to rehab. The things GOD can do is out of this world.
While some of you have cried reading all these testimonies, I am just the other way. just reading all these ways that God used us, when it really seemed people touched our lives more than we touched theirs, really just gives me confident in my faith and our faith as a youth group to just branch out even if it's in a small town called Thomasville or a big city named Tallahassee. I am just amazed that I don't even wonder "was that even real?" just that reassurance of having no doubt whatsoever in my mind that God really talked to us never fails to overwhelm me with joy every single time I think about it. I think we can all agree- TO GOD BE THE GLORY! :)
On the mission trip I had a amazing time! I had lots of stuff touched me. going on a mission trip was different to me I never thought it would be that way. I mean I never would of thought seeing people how they lived but I did in New Orleans. helping others is what I always love to do. I meet a lot of people that really need help. well on July fourth we went to that place where they were handing out food and helping people. I was in the group with Mrs. Amy, Kylie, Tyler, Matt, Bobby, and Rachel. we were helping people take stuff to their cars well on the way back from one car we stopped by and passed out silly bracelets to the kids and talked to this man and when we were leaving this other man stopped us and started talking then he told us he was going to tell us a poem. Well he started saying it and it really was amazing. It really touched me cause we are talking to others about Christ and then we have people stopping us giving us poems about helping others. I really wont to do something like this again. This trip really changed me!
On the mission trip, I had really fun but, It was different too me. The thing that really touched me was, when I was on the street cars, Almost everybody I talked to talked about the hurricane that came. And this lady I talked to, she said she moved to Texas when the hurricane came, and when It was gone she came back and her house wasn't there, she said she didn't have any family left, Or nothing. So she said she had to go find somewhere to stay. And she said she stayed with her friend. When I got home, I was really thankful of what I have. Because some people don't have any food, no house, they don't have nothing So, I was thankful of what I have. And I really want to go on another trip.
On our trip to New Orleans I met an Asian man under the bridge where homeless people live. When we went over to give him a water he immediately grabbed my hand and sat me down next to him and started talking to me about his life, about being in the military for 5 years and just what all he`d been through. We were all working on something that week and I was working on the verse in James 1:19 saying "be quick to listen, slow to speak" and that is really what that man needed was just someone to listen to him. That was just cool to me.
