Another exciting addition to Awaken: AWAKEN STUDENTS

You don’t have to be old to love Jesus.

That’s the basic thought behind our newest addition to Awaken Church, Awaken Students (an extension of Awaken Groups).

Youth ministry is nothing new to me. I’ve been going to summer camps since I was old enough to go. When I was about 15, God grabbed me at a summer camp and never let go. We got back home, and since our church was small and didn’t have a youth pastor, we decided to start up our own youth group (which, by the way, is still going today – I’m designing t-shirts for them soon!). That’s where it all began for me. From there, I went on to run the Bible Club at my high school, go to School of Ministry after high school, then go on to be the Middle School Youth Pastor at Calvary Albuquerque. Needless to say, youth ministry played a big role in who I am today.

Awaken Students isn’t a youth group.

I’ve been asked if that’s what this would eventually grow into. Probably not. I see a deeper value in taking a different approach than what might be considered “the norm” for reaching teenagers for Christ.

One unique thing about Awaken is that we have such a broad mix of ages. We have grandparents all the way down to 6th graders worshiping together. In fact, on Sunday, 2 of the 4 people who gave their lives to Christ or recommitted their lives to Him were students (14 and 17 years old)! Here’s the idea behind Awaken Students…

We want students, from the time they graduate out of Awaken Kids and hit 6th grade, to begin worshiping, studying, and applying God’s Word with the rest of us. By providing that opportunity, as well as outlets for them to serve and get together in small groups, we’re training them how to involve themselves in the body of Christ. By the time they graduate high school, hopefully it is ingrained in their brains that part of being in the body of Christ is worshiping through singing, studying the Word, serving, giving, and being part of a small group.

Pies, Ketchup, and Truth or Dare

Youth groups have the unfortunate reputation for being a place where students can go for “Christian entertainment.” Whether you’re 16 or 60, you are BOMBARDED with entertainment throughout the week! What students (as well as the rest of the body of Christ) really need are real, genuine, Christ-centered relationships outside of the church walls. Entertainment is everywhere; genuine relationships are not.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with a pie in the face or some ketchup-smothered eating challenges every once in a while, but that’s not what Awaken Students is centered on.

That said, Awaken Students isn’t sans-fun. In fact, we have an exciting announcement coming tomorrow night at Awaken about an event we have coming up just for the students of Awaken! Rest assured, Awaken Students will be everything but boring.

Walking out Christianity

We want student to develop real, genuine, Christ-centered relationships. We want to see students grow deep in their walks with Christ from a very young age. That doesn’t mean boring, stale group therapy sessions. That means being real with each other – talking openly and honestly about what’s going on. We all need that at every age and every stage along the way.

How it works

Awaken Students works a little differently from the rest of Awaken Groups. They will be discussing the Sunday message, like many of the other groups, but the students group will be an OPEN group. That simply means that we won’t be putting a limit of how many students can come to it – it will remain open for them to invite friends. Awaken Students will be meeting at the church on Sunday evenings at 6:30pm to discuss the content of the Sunday message. They’ll be split up into gender- and age-appropriate groups with leaders for the discussion and prayer. Like the other groups, they will also have 8 weeks of discussion, 1 week of community outreach, and 1 week of fun/hangout each trimester.

Awaken Students meets Sun, March 6-May 8. Students can sign up for the group beginning TOMORROW – Wed, Feb 23 at 6pm!

Keep up with Awaken Students on Twitter, Facebook, and at AwakenGroups.org.

If your student attends Awaken, or is simply looking for a great place to connect with other students, this is the place!

Announcing: Awaken Groups

Last night, I made an announcement about something we’d been praying about, researching, planning, and preparing for for months:

Awaken Groups will kick off in homes across the city on Sunday, March 6 and run for 10 weeks. Groups meeting in the first half of the week will discuss the Sunday message from Awaken, and groups meeting in the second half of the week will discuss the Wednesday message.

Awaken Groups are designed to meet a big need within Awaken for fellowship outside of the church walls. It’s great to connect at the church – we should be doing that (I preached on that last night). However, if we only do that, it’s not enough. We were born with a need for fellowship and communion with other believers. Awaken Groups will provide that much-needed encouragement, support, accountability, and so much more.

For the first few months of Awaken, we didn’t have small groups because we were a small group. The whole church could (and did at times) fit in someone’s living room (or the upstairs of a bank building). I enjoyed the size and intimacy of the church body then, but it’s been exciting to see it grow as well. With the growth came a need to connect people outside of the formal church-building-setting on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Since this is our very first trimester, we’re starting small. We’ll have 5 total groups: 3 adult/family groups that meet on different nights throughout the week (2 on Mondays and 1 on Friday, for now), a deployed group that will meet in Afghanistan, as well as Awaken Students (a version of Awaken Groups targeted at middle school and high school students!). Stay tuned for blog posts in the next few days about our Army small group and Awaken Students!

We’re praying that each trimester will bring the launch of new leaders and new groups. As the church grows, so will Awaken Groups. We eventually want to have groups meeting on every night of the week throughout the city and in other cities as well!

Sign-up for our first-ever trimester of Awaken Groups begins next next Wednesday, February 23 at 6pm at Awaken. If you attend Awaken, you’ll want to be there early to get into the group of your choice. Groups will be closed once they’re full, so don’t wait around – it’s first come, first served!

If you didn’t get an Awaken Groups card, you can download one at awakengroups.org, or you can also get them at Awaken on Sunday. They’ll give location, times, night of the week, and info about who is leading each group.

If you attend Awaken, you NEED to join an Awaken Group!

Find out more at AwakenGroups.org.

You can also hear Pastor Kevin make the announcement about Awaken Groups by downloading it HERE!