Children’s Ministry needs more helpers for next year. Will you help serve the younger generation? Please email CMhelpers@yahoo.com to sign up. They need your name, phone number, preferred classes, and which week of the month you’d like to serve. Thanks!

Here are the details:

Shell Station on Burke Center Parkway near Kohl's, Safeway, and Chipotle. 

Arrive at 9:30 a.m. to set up. Car Wash 10:00a.m.- 2:00 p.m. 

People needed to wash cars or hold signs on the street corners.

If you cannot serve all four hours, shifts are ok. 

Bring buckets and rags/old towels.

Please contact Ken Jones or Dorrie Peace to volunteer to serve.

Thanks!

The deadline to sign up to serve is Sunday, June 2. 

For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact John Suh or Monique Burgos. 

Thanks in advance for serving!

This Saturday's five15 Meeting is our annual Senior Night!

Here is the plan:

• We'll have shoeboxes out to fill with notes of encouragement for graduating seniors
• Worship
• Announcements (Retreat registration, Retreat activity team, VBS serving, Lamb Center serving, CM serving, Manskool, Dominican Republic)
• Testimonies from a graduating senior and a parent
• Prayer for graduating seniors
• Seniors group photo and seniors group photo with parents
• Seniors "launched" and picked up for surprise fun night by Crossroads
• After the seniors depart, we'll talk briefly about the upcoming year, play a game, and hangout over snacks

I hope to see you there!

We are now 110 days away from the 2013 five15 Retreat for rising 9th - 12th graders and parents! On Sunday, August 18, we will return to Camp Hebron in Halifax, PA and stay through Wednesday, August 21.

The theme for this year’s retreat is “The Depth: Knowing the Love of Christ” which is taken from Ephesians 3:14-19 where Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church is that they would have strength to comprehend the depth of the love of Christ. Guest speaker Jon Smith from Covenant Life Church will be joining us to help us connect the love of God to our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

My prayer for this retreat is that we would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to comprehend more of the Father’s love in what He has done for us through Jesus Christ. Additionally, I pray that this time will be one of building relationships, community, and memories that will carry us into the 2013-2014 school and ministry year and beyond.

Registration for the retreat is now open online and will be open through Friday, June 28. You can register here.

If you have any questions, please contact Susan Thorson, who is serving as one of the administrators for the retreat and is overseeing registration.

I hope to see you in August!

6:30 pm: Everyone meets in the Main Auditorium for worship, testimonies (three of them!), and announcements.

7:00 pm:

• Middle School Forum: continuing through the Westminster Larger Catechism, looking at Question #7, "What is God?"
• High School Forum: continuing through the book of James, Daniel Hinders will lead a panel discussion on "Wisdom from Above" in James 3:13-18. The panel will consist of three guest church members: Peter Lewis, Katie Strylowski, and Scott Remer.
• Parents Meeting: following up our last parents meeting, we will continue our dialogue about how to best minister to and serve each age group in five15. Some parents who have been serving on the Evaluation Team that has been examining this topic over the past month will share with parents what they've been working and some possible recommendations. We'll spend the last half of our time gathering input from parents to assist the team as they move toward making a recommendation to the elders.

I hope to see you on Saturday!

Please click here for more information and to sign up through the church event registration site by Wednesday (4/17), or email Sarah. 

Thanks!

• Games
• Testimony from Seth Middleton
• Devotion from Joseph Henson on Psalm 25:8-11

For info on the Girls Gathering and pizza contest here. 

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Hope to see you there!

Guys / Girls Gathering (Saturday, April13,6:30 pm)

• Pizza contest!
• Girls Gathering: Continuing in "Who Am I?" by Jerry Bridges, focusing on "I am a saint, a servant of God"
• Guys Gathering: details coming later this week

Pizzas will be judged before the meeting, then we will share them for dinner together and hear how God worked throughout the mission trips that some of our teens and parents recently participated in. 

five15 will provide drinks, sides, and desserts - you bring the pizza.

Here are the details:

• Please bring 2 pizzas so that we will have enough for everyone. 
• Bring your pizzas to the kitchen no later than 5:30 p.m.
• Please list potential allergens (milk, wheat flour, etc.) on a 3 x 5 index card.
• Judging will take place between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.
• Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

- Best presentation

- Best toppings

- Best crust

- Best overall pizza

I going to be attending this event with a five15 parent to check it out and see what info we can get from it. If any other five15 parents are interested in joining us to check this out and compare notes after, let me know and we can meet up there and sit together.

Thanks!

This Saturday is our regularly scheduled five15 Forum focused on teens. However, as was previously announced at our last five15 meeting and in the monthly parent email, we'll be having a parent meeting, as well.

Here are the details:

• 6:30 pm - worship
• 7:00 pm
  • Middle School - Westminster Catechism Question #6 "How many persons are there in the Godhead?", Main Lobby
  • Senior High - The Tongue (James 3:1-12) - guest speaker Vince Hinders, Basement Auditorium
  • Parents Meeting with Luke in Room 204 (parents should have received topics and documents for the meeting in their monthly parent email, if you did not, please contact Katherine Sawyer)
• 8:00 pm - hang out and snacks

I hope to see you there!

Here are a couple of excerpts: 

Aim to give our kids a huge view of God who is gloriously delightful. We can't simply tell our kids to stop doing certain behaviors; we must also teach them to delight in what God has made.

...

Teach them the gospel. Our kids are spring-loaded legalists. They have to see us model gospel truth through active repentance and forgiveness. They have to know their acceptance before God isn't based on their performance, but on Christ's. They have to know their standing as a family member doesn't depend on their obedience, though their standing does imply a certain type of living.

You can click the above link to read the article, which includes some very practical steps for parents.

At this Saturday's five15 Gathering (teens and parents), we'll be looking at John 3:1-8, where Jesus says, "You must be born again." 

Please be praying for this meeting. I hope to see you there.

Hermeneutics - Mark Mullery

8 Sessions

Spiritual Gifts - Dave Andrews

5 Sessions

These are open to all ages, so please consider attending! 

More info and sign-ups are available online: click here

Hope to see you there!

Thanks!

This Saturday, February 16, is our five15 teen Forum.

Mark Mullery will lead the Senior High students in a study of James 2:14-26, discussing "Faith and Works". 

For the Middle School students, Joseph Henson will discuss the fifth question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "Are there more Gods than one?"

Parents: if you are interested in taking part in and/or hosting parents' fellowship during the five15 forums, please let me (Luke) know. 

To join the group, you can email Sarah Lannon by 7 p.m. this Sunday evening, or just find her at this Saturday's five15 meeting.

More details:

We will be preparing and serving a meal on Monday, February 4th at the Lamb Center (which is a Christian homeless center in Fairfax). The volunteers will be split into groups. Each group will then be assigned to a house, where they will arrive at 10:00 a.m. to prepare the food. Each group will work together to make two dishes of pasta (a recipe will be provided) and two loaves of bread. All of the groups will then meet at the Lamb Center at 11:45 a.m., a prayer will be said, and we will then serve the food at noon. We will not be needed to help with clean-up, and will be released before 1:30 p.m. Also, each volunteer will be asked to supply an ingredient necessary for the pasta; however, that should be no more than $5.

Thank you for your support of this mission trip!

*For our gluten-free friends, the chili will be gluten-free, though the pizza will not.

To sign up online, please click here.

For a refresher on what the Career Night is all about, click here.

Hope to see you there!

Hello five 15! 

At our next meeting (Feb 2nd) there will be a fundraiser where you can make donations for a cause called "to write love on her arms" in support of stopping self harm. Later this month at Robinson secondary high school, carnations will be taped to the lockers of senior girls to let them know they are loved. This is one way that you can help encourage and support some of the students in our community.

There will be no food for this fundraiser, but any amount of donations will be greatly appreciated. Just see me before or after the five15 meeting. Thank you!

- Noah Herrera

This Saturday is a five15 Guys / Girls Gathering. 

What's that mean? It means that after worship and announcements, we'll split into two separate meetings: one for guys (teenage guys and dads) and one for ladies (teenage girls and moms).*

Here is the rundown of what we'll be doing:

• Guys Gathering - we'll be looking at 1 John 1:5-9 and discussing in smaller groups what it means to "walk in the light" and what that can mean for fellowship and accountability. 
• Girls Gathering - a panel of women will be addressing the topic of our adoption by God. They will share about their journey with Christ, each unique but all headed to the same place with the same God. If you have questions about any of the material already covered in the "Who Am I?" book or questions about living for Christ, this panel of ladies will be there to field your questions from their experience and what they know about God. 

*As previously mentioned, if you are a dad bringing your daughter to five15 (or a mom bringing your son), that's no problem. You can still go with your respective gender group and participate, contribute to, and benefit from the meeting.