Details on The Amazing Post-Prom Race

As you may have heard, the Youth Ministry of FBCJC is sponsoring an after-prom event called "The Amazing Post-Prom Race." Open to ALL high schoolers (regardless of whether or not they attend prom), this event will take place from midnight on the evening of Friday, April 29th until 7am on Saturday, April 30th, and here are the details you may wish to know: * Any student interested in participating MUST sign up in advance and pick up a Permission Form that must be signed by a parent; Permission Forms must be handed in to Dave before the event begins in order for that youth to participate; * Each student wishing to participate must pay $10, which will help to cover the cost of gas and miscellaneous items for the event; * The event itself will begin at midnight after the prom, at FBCJC (students are required to find transportation to and from the church) and will consist of a number of team challenges throughout the evening; * Each team will consist of 3-4 students being led and driven by one of our adult chaperones (no students will be allowed to drive during this event); * Students will be allowed to leave FBCJC as early as 6am and need to be picked up (if they do not have their own car) no later than 7am on Saturday morning. If you have any other questions, please contact Dave at 475.3826 or cndavemcneely@aol.com.

Is Your Teenager a Good Samaritan?

According to a story widely circulated, a group of young seminarians, pastors-in-training, were given a simple but exciting assignment: Prepare a sermon on Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan and walk down the street to the local radio station to deliver the sermon across the airwaves. What made the assignment unique, however, was the situation their professor had set up for them. Unbeknownst to the young preachers-to-be, a man had been hired to lay beaten and bruised and crying in pain in an alleyway near the radio station. Sadly, each student acted out the wrong portion of the parable quite well, passing the man without offering to help, because apparently they had more important things to do, like . . . preach about helping the beaten and bruised on the side of the road. This past week, we decided to conduct an experiement of our own with our youth group to see how they would respond in a similar situation. After a game and a brief Bible study on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, our youth were instructed that they were going to prepare bags for the homeless but that they first had to walk down to McDonald's to purchase a gift card to put in the bags. Unbeknownst to them, a friend of one of our leaders had been tasked with showing up at McDonald's with a sign begging for food. So, how did the youth respond??? Much to my joy, our youth came back with fewer gift cards than expected because they gave two to the young man in need, along with buying (with their own money) a meal for him. I'll never forget the excited amazement on the face of one of our young girls, when she came up to me and said, "You're never gonna believe this! There is a man begging for food here, and we JUST talked about the Good Samaritan!" Thank God for teenagers who get it!