what if?
posted September 16 2009
Over the next two weeks, we are going to discuss what to do when life present us with uncertain situations. Middle school can be a very uncertain time for you and you have lots of questions: In what can I have faith? Does God love us? Can I ever be separated from his love? Paul deals with these questions in Romans 8 and gives us some practical advice for dealing with life when things seem out of control. We want each student to walk away from this series feeling confident in placing their hope in God, and knowing that nothing can separate us from His love.Dirty Words
posted August 07 2009
For the next few weeks we are going to tackle an area of struggle all of us deal with: our words. This can be an extremely big struggle in the life of a middle schooler. We all know the sick feeling in our stomach when we have crossed the line and hurt someone’s feelings with an off-hand remark. We know all too well what it is like to put a foot in our mouth. And everyone has had their day ruined because someone else just wanted to get a laugh at someone else’s expense. Why is this such a trap? Why can’t we avoid these situations? Throughout the month of August in Xtreme we want to try to equip you to gain a little control over your tongue. We will challenge you to take a new level of sensitivity, an understanding of what is in your heart, and understand the importance of accountability. For the next 4 weeks we are going to try to clean up your Dirty Words.I Got Skillz
posted July 09 2009
There is no doubt that life in middle school can be tough. Without tools to navigate the journey, you risk buckling under the pressure to live a life committed to Christ. There is constant temptation that can challenge your personal value system. You also face the challenges of how to deal properly with sin while trying to grow deeper as a Christian. When our spiritual practices go ignored and are not exercised, we suffer. This impairment leads to bad choices and brokenness. In this four-week series, we will discuss spiritual practices, what they are, and why practicing them is so important. How would your life be affected if you spent more one-on-one time with God? I Got Skillz will help you understand the daily practice of prayer, navigating the Bible, quiet time, and worship.What does he know?
posted May 28 2009
It is no secret that middle schoolers are at an age of change and discovery. You are constantly reinventing yourself, seeing how people react, and then changing again. For the month of June we want to look at one of the few totally unwavering characters of the Bible: Joseph. It is very uncommon to find a Biblical character who never doubts, stumbles, or messes up. Of course, Joseph was human and he did sin, but for some reason, Moses, the writer of this story, paints Joseph as an honorable man of integrity. Moses also uses a literary tool of repetition to drive the statement, ”The Lord was with Joseph,” into our heads. As you follow the story of Joseph, you can see that his unwavering character came out of his belief that the Lord was always with him. How would we live differently if we were certain the Lord was with us? For the next four weeks we are going to study Joseph’s life to learn how to be men and women of consistent character.I have a Crush…
posted April 15 2009
It is no secret that middle school is a strange time for students; our bodies are changing, hormones are produced at a faster rate and curiosity about the opposite sex is rampant. While this is natural and healthy for students to experience, we need to learn healthy boundaries, or we will find ourselves headed for heartache and regret. On one side we have the girls who are becoming young women. We want to dress cuter and get noticed by the boys and impress our friends. But there have been many young girls who are not properly grounded who set off down a road of lowered self-esteem and disappointment. On the other side of this issue are the guys who can’t help but be curious and excited about the opposite sex. Many of us guys grow up with an unhealthy view of girls and selfish motives because we never get our desires in check. We are not doing a dating series because most of you don’t date. We are not doing a series on sex because that is not a pressing need right now. Instead, we want to provide a solid foundation for how to view the opposite sex. If we are not careful, our actions now could allow us to accelerate down a road where, maybe in college or maybe in high school, we are going to get in a wreck, a collision, a Crush.In the beginning…
posted March 06 2009
In the beginning, Science was about one thing. It was about studying the world to find out how God works. We studied wings to find out how God made birds fly. We studied different animals like the Platypus and wondered how God could be so creative. We looked at eco-systems and marveled at how such a complicated, yet simple and beautifully designed system works. But that has changed. Students now sit in class wondering when the next point is going to challenge their faith. What happened? Where did it change? Why did it change? The answer is that Science, at its core, changed. Somewhere along the way someone changed the question from “how?” to “who?” What was once a point of marvel and worship became a point to argue against God’s existence. In this series we are going to address how, as Christians, we can sit in classrooms that seem to be constantly attacking our faith? Is it all bad? If not, how do we sort between what is good and what is bad? Can science class actually strengthen our faith? Is there anything we can do to move Science back to the way it was...In the beginning?
Out of Focus
posted February 16 2009
For a middle schooler, truth and morality often come from a group of some sort. It might be a clique, a team or a class, but what is right and wrong are usually defined by the group’s opinion on a subject. For many people what is “true” is simply what the majority believes. For this reason we cannot necessarily trust our outlook when it comes to sin, temptation and the human condition. We have lost our ability to see clearly. It is as if we need to get our eyes checked. This month in Xtreme we are looking at stories in which Jesus brings the truth about humanity, sin and temptation to light and shows us that we have let our view get Out of Focus.Wisdom
posted January 22 2009
For the next two weeks in Xtreme, we will be talking about WISDOM in a series called, "Good Idea, Bad Idea." Teenagers are not typically known for making “wise” decisions. In this series we want to do two things, 1) we would like for students to discover that wisdom is easily found in the Bible; and 2) we would like for students to recognize they can learn wisdom from those who have gone before them. Most adults can reflect over their lives and say something like, “I wish I would have listened to my parents, my boss, or to God.” They were just like you are today, stubborn, and wanting to call the shots. Some of them are still stubborn! We all have one life to live. We are responsible for the decisions we make or don’t make. The consequences that come our way will be ours alone to embrace whether good or bad. Wisdom is available to us all, but the Lord is not going to force us to be wise. Proverbs 3:1-2 sums it up well, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity." We cannot promise a prosperous life just by reading the Bible, but we can promise that you will grow wise from reading and applying God's word. We hope this series will open up some opportunity for you to seek out wisdom and apply it to your life. We want to challenge you to spend some time this week reading a Proverb a day. Maybe you can try reading it together with your small group or your parents? Read what God has to say about wisdom, you won't regret it!Do You Know ‘Em?
posted December 04 2008
As Christmas gets closer, we thought we would take a few Sundays and talk about the nature of God. This season is designed to celebrate Jesus’ birth. But how many of us really understand what that means? What was special about this man? How was he connected to his Father? Is there any part of God still around today? In short, we want to talk about the Trinity; we want to talk about God’s nature in three different persons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all have different purposes, yet are the same Being. This is a challenging subject, but will lead to a deeper understanding of who the Father is, what his Son did, and how his Spirit still works. In the series, Do You Know ‘Em? we will narrow our focus. We’ll concentrate on how the Father knows all, how the Son knows both the Father’s world and our world, and how the Holy Spirit helps us know what the Father and Son have revealed.Serve 360
posted October 29 2008
During the month of November we are going to talk about service in Xtreme. For many, middle school is a very selfish time. Students are consumed by their own worlds and have little awareness of the needs around them. Our goal is to show that there is ample opportunity to serve those around us. Jesus shows us that we are to serve people in every station of life. Authorities, peers and those less fortunate are all people who have needs and whom we need to serve. We want you, our 6th, 7th and 8th graders, to know that based on the example of Jesus, we need to be well-rounded servants helping everyone around us.
Free Throws, First Dates, and Pop Quizzes
posted October 02 2008
This month we are introducing an idea for those wondering how faith, hope, prayer, and God’s plan come together. Before we talk about what God has and has not promised us, we need to stop and think about the idea of perspective. Have you ever had to babysit a little brother or sister? Those of you who have know that you spend a lot of time saying “no.” They want to do the craziest things. They want a Coke with dinner but you know that will make them not go to bed for hours. They want to go to the pool but you know the temperature is too cold and they will get sick. They want to play with shiny broken glass… As you have gotten older, you understand more stuff about the world and realize you can’t just do whatever you want; you have gained perspective. Your parents say you still need more. You want to go to a friend’s party but your parents know what is going on with that friend’s parents and they say, “No!” You want to rent a certain movie but your parents know that it has a scene that will remind you of some painful stuff going on and they say, “No!” They have a different perspective. This is also true of God in a big way. The oldest wisest men and women don’t have anything near the perspective of God. In this series we will talk about how our faith and our hope collide with what God will allow us to do. It’s important for us to understand He is God and we are not.Wear Love
posted September 20 2008
Wear Love 
During the final two weeks of September we will go through a series called “Wear Love.” Middle school students typically struggle with their identity and find self- worth in their appearance, talents, social status, and friendships. For the first time in their lives students are beginning to realize that they can choose how they act, with whom they hang out, and what they do. As they come to this realization, they often look to things like TV, magazines, and media to define who they are. By looking to the Bible, students will realize that there is more to their self-image than simply mimicking their pop culture icons. Our identity is found in Christ, and understanding that should affect how we treat ourselves as well as those around us.Hello?!?
posted September 03 2008
Middle school is the last opportunity to instill habits naturally into a student. By the time you enter high school, most routines and behaviors (good and bad) are already formed. You can learn habits as an adult, but those habits will never come as naturally as those adopted during 6th, 7th and 8th grade. With that in mind, Xtreme will be focusing on two specific aspects of prayer: how we are to talk to God and how we listen to God. We know that prayer is an important part of our Spiritual growth, so for the next two weeks we are going to talk about some helpful habits that we can adopt in order to open our communication with God!Hello?!?
posted September 03 2008
p>Middle school is the last opportunity to instill habits naturally into a student. By the time you enter high school, most routines and behaviors (good and bad) are already formed. You can learn habits as an adult, but those habits will never come as naturally as those adopted during 6th, 7th and 8th grade. With that in mind, Xtreme will be focusing on two specific aspects of prayer: how we are to talk to God and how we listen to God. We know that prayer is an important part of our Spiritual growth, so for the next two weeks we are going to talk about some helpful habits that we can adopt in order to open our communication with God!
Just Like the Movies
posted August 17 2008
If you could see any movie this weekend, what would you go to see? Most people love to go to the movies right? Picture yourself sitting in a comfy chair in front of a huge screen surrounded by the smell of buttered popcorn, an ice cold Coke, and maybe even a large bag of peanut M&M’s. It cannot get any better than that, can it? And the greatest part about the whole trip is that you are surrounded by a bunch of your friends. All of you are having a great time! We all love to invite our friends to go to the movies with us. Nobody wants to see a movie by himself. Unfortunately, sometimes church is not as exciting or entertaining as a movie theater, is it? In fact, for a lot of people, it is the last thing they want to invite their friends to. During the month of August we are going to look at the purpose church serves in our lives, and in the lives of those around us in a series called Just Like the Movies! The middle school ministry is committed to making Sunday mornings exciting and engaging for all of the students that attend, and we want it to be a place where students want to invite their friends, Just Like the Movies!COOTYSS
posted July 03 2008
COOTYSS: Characters Of Old Testament You Should Study. For the month of July we are going to study some Old Testament Good Guys! Daniel, David, Elijah, and Jonah all have incredible stories of faith in God and there is so much that we can learn from them. Each Sunday this month we are going to see what it was that made these guys so special. Why did they make the choices they did and what can we do today to learn from those choices? Be sure you don't miss COOTYSS as it is sure to be an exciting time in Xtreme!COOTYSS
posted July 03 2008
COOTYSS: Characters Of Old Testament You Should Study. For the month of July we are going to study some Old Testament Good Guys! Daniel, David, Elijah, and Jonah all have incredible stories of faith in God and there is so much that we can learn from them. Each Sunday this month we are going to see what it was that made these guys so special. Why did they make the choices they did and what can we do today to learn from those choices? Be sure you don't miss COOTYSS as it is sure to be an exciting time in Xtreme!Got Wisdom?
posted June 15 2008
In the third week of “Gauges” we are going to talk about our wisdom gauge. Many students confuse wisdom for intelligence. Intelligence is your ability to remember facts and dates, while wisdom is your ability to reason and make wise choices. Luke 2 contains a very interesting story about Jesus being left in the temple by his parents. Was this story included so that we could be warned about neglectful parents? No, the most important verses are 40 and 52 in which Luke mentions the amount of wisdom Jesus has. This was not the case of a genius child’s ability to remember facts. This story is included to show the importance of being able to make wise choices (wisdom).What do you believe in?
posted May 29 2008
This week we are going to look at our faith gauge. Something in each of our lives causes us to get up in the morning to go to school or work. The question is, “What is powering you to get up and live?” Popularity, clothes, grades, and boyfriends will all go away, but one thing promises to last forever. At Xtreme, we want you to know that God powers your life. If money powered your life you would have disciplines like balancing your checkbook and working late all the time to make sure money remained at the center of your life. The same is true if God powers your life. There are certain exercises to make sure He remains at the center. You have to believe in something. In what do you believe?
Blog 5.18
posted May 18 2008
The series we are talking about right now at Xtreme is called DRAFTED. We are talking about some important truths that we all deal with specifically focusing on family. Typically we don't get to pick who our family is, we get what God gives us. For some of us that's a great thing, for others it's not so great. The goal of this series is for our students to walk away challenged and encouraged by how God wants to use them in their families no matter their situation. After all, He drafted them there!