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Sami Gutierrez here. As many of you know, I am a leader with MCC’s Fire and Ice middle school youth group. This spring, we feel God has called us to endeavor to grow our little group of students in leadership, discipleship, and in love of the church. We have a few strategies in place that have been extensively planned and prayed over.

One area I know we’d like to grow in is church engagement.  At MCC we have this incredible body of Christians, each of whom God is at work in, equipping and growing in ways only He understands. He promises to complete the good work He has started in us. I believe this promise holds true for each of us, no matter our age or spiritual maturity level. I believe it holds true for the middle-schoolers of our church. But I also believe it’s our duty as a church to intercede daily and beg God to complete this work in them. I don’t know about you, but there has been few times in my life I needed spiritual protection more than when I was in middle school. Thus the idea of prayer partners was born. Or reincarnated, more accurately, as there have been several attempts to initiate them in the past.

Basically, the idea is for the adults of the church to commit to regular prayer on behalf of a student. Cover them as they go forth into the world. Ask Christ to reveal himself to them, to give them courage and peace as they deal with the craziness that is adolescence. Ask that God would fill them with His spirit, challenge them, commission them for His service. Let the student know that no matter where life takes them in the next year, you will be in their corner praying for them.

Imagine a group of students, equipped with God’s truth and ready to unleash it on the world. Imagine the boldness they could have in confronting all the spiritual warfare that’s out there, knowing that they are backed by a congregation that prays for them. It’s like walking into a gunfight knowing somebody’s got your back. We can’t miss an opportunity like that to equip our church for the future.

I’ve started the process of matching willing prayers with students from youth group. I’m incredibly excited about how God is going to use this in our body. If you’re interested in participating, or would just like some more information, please feel free to contact me, Sami Gutierrez. Thanks for prayerfully considering this opportunity. Thank you for all the support MCC already gives our youth ministry!

Hello, Mountain Christian! My name is Canyon Young, and I am one of the leaders of MCC’s middle school youth group, Fire & Ice. There have been a lot of great things happening recently, and I’d like to inform you such that you can partner with us in raising up this group of tomorrow’s church leaders.

The leaders of Fire & Ice have recently drafted an extensive plan for the middle school youth group, brainstorming long-term milestones to be achieved through successional goals. This process was characterized by the fact that we don’t want this youth group to be a holding tank with pizza, with students who come only to consume, never learning to serve and lead.

Rather, through instilling in them a fiery passion for the Lord and the Word, we seek to build them into effective servant leaders who will be engaged in the church and be able to teach others who will go on to be able to teach others, a critical standard given to us in 2 Timothy 2:2. We want our students to not only become capable of leadership and service, but actively take initiative in doing so.

In seeking to find a reliable guide for discipleship, I turned to the best model of discipleship available: Christ himself. What did Jesus do to build up the men who would become the pillars of the early church?

Here’s a few things I found:

He met them where they were: He found Peter, Andrew, James, and John at their fishing boats, and Matthew at his tax collector’s booth. He saw Nathanael under the fig tree. He found them in their professions – the places they were comfortable – and called them to something greater.

He gave them responsibility: They distributed food and collected leftovers during the feedings of the four and five thousand. Christ also sent them out two by two to preach, heal, and cast out demons (Mark 6:7-13).

He took them with him: He didn’t merely invite them to hear him speak in synagogues. He called them away from their lives to follow him – years of commitment. Through a life of shadowing Jesus, they learned his person, character, and message. Their training was not event-based, but rather a lifestyle.

He defended and stood by them: He stood up for them when confronted for eating grain in the fields (Matthew 12), and for not observing the hand washing tradition (Matthew 15). He had their backs.

 I seek to challenge them with responsibility, making them partners in ministry, not just students; inviting them to join me in my life of serving the Lord.

As a youth leader, I don’t seek to be an uninvolved guy who merely preaches to them every Wednesday night. I seek to be a friend, instructor, and shepherd. I seek to find common ground with them, earn their trust through shared experiences, and be a consistent, positive influence. I seek to challenge them with responsibility, making them partners in ministry, not just students; inviting them to join me in my life of serving the Lord. And through it all, I seek to protect and defend them as a shepherd with his sheep.

Will you, as the body, join us in this process of raising up these future leaders? I know without a doubt that God is going to use these incredible students in mighty ways.

Will you help us build their Biblical literacy?

Will you help us engage them in the life of our church?

Will you join us in prayer as we prepare to launch a new high school group for our graduating 8^th graders?

There’s so much more I’d love to tell you, friends, about the Fire & Ice ministry and where we see it going. Feel free to come to me, Daniel Cox, Sami Gutierrez, Abbie Bryant, and Micaiah Malizzo, and ask us more about what’s going on. In the meantime, pray for us as we work to prepare a field that the Lord will use to produce a crop that’s thirty, sixty, and even a hundred fold. We can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Every group has leaders. 

Robert Thune, in his book Gospel Eldership, says that every human society gives leadership to somebody.  On the playground, when kids play football, someone has to pick the teams.  When volunteers clean up a neighborhood park, someone has to organize the initiative. Even when you watch a family movie, someone has to decide what to watch (or, at least decide how your going to decide!). 

So, how does leadership in the church work?

Well, we believe that the Lord has designed for the local church to be led by a plurality of qualified men, called by the Holy Spirit, and recognized by the covenant community.  The Bible calls the men who serve in this role “elders.” (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5)

What is an elder?

An elder, biblically-speaking, is also known as a shepherd, a pastor, an overseer, or a bishop.  (Acts 20:17, 27-28; 1 Ptr. 5:1-2) These terms are all used interchangeably in Scripture, and all describe a single role. 

And that role, to be carried-out by each and all of the elders, is best summarized by four responsibilities in the local church:  Feed, Lead, Care, and Protect. 

More about these roles can be found in the MCC By-Laws, as we endeavor to be obedient to God’s direction in Scripture.

Where do we get elders?

Simply put, elders are not dropped out of the sky, nor are they purchased from a special factory. They are not superhuman, and they are neither above nor separate from the body of Christ. Elders are raised up by God, and recognized by the people among whom they serve. Elders come from those men who are already “eldering” within the church.  At Mountain Christian Church, we currently have five pastors, or elders, who have been recognized by God as called to serve in this capacity. 

What’s my part?

You are going to hear quite a bit about elders over the coming year.  As a member of MCC, we will need your help and your investment: we have three elders who will be coming to the end of their term of service this year.  As such, we are in the process of identifying God’s call in the lives of three others whom He is raising up to serve. Currently, Luke Feldner has already been identified as an Elder Candidate, and is pursuing this call. I hope you will pray for us in this process, and personally encourage him and Melissa as they seek God’s will.

Well, there is much more to church leadership, and this has barely scratched the surface of just one important issue. But hopefully you will be encouraged to ask questions, and seek out more information, as you take part in the Lord’s process for us.

If you want to know more about eldership, and how our other leadership structures work at MCC, you can ask for a copy of the By-Laws, or click here to listen to Pastor Frank's sermon on eldership, "The Noble Task of the Elder."

“I don’t want anyone to know I am depressed,” she pleaded with me, “what would people think?  How can I be a Christian and be depressed? I know God is good … why can’t I snap out of this?”

I wish I could tell you that this was a one-time conversation, but it’s not. I hear it almost weekly and it breaks my heart.

Because it’s fraught with lies. A trap designed to keep a brother or sister in the dark, alone and ashamed. Our God of Light never intended this, and depression is part of being a believer.

Let’s look at Psalm 130. Psalm 130 is part of the Psalms of Ascent; the songs the pilgrims would sing as they journeyed to Jerusalem for worship. Written in triads, the Psalms of Ascent begin in 120 with the psalmist in the deepest darkest despair who can barely look to his Lord and end in Psalm 134 with restored joy that comes from communing with God in the assembly of believers.

The journey through the Psalms of Ascent cover the life of the pilgrim between his darkest despair and being restored with joy. Psalm 129 speaks of the psalmist’s torment by wicked men who torture God’s people. Let’s look at how the psalmist deals with his pain.

Song of the Ascents

1 Out of the depths, I cry to You, O Lord!

2 O Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive to

the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But with You, there is forgiveness,

That You may be feared.

5  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

And in His Word, I hope.

6  My soul waits for the Lord,

More than dawn-watchers for the morning,

More than dawn-watchers for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord, there is steadfast love,

And with Him, there is

plentiful redemption.

8 And He will redeem Israel

from all his iniquities.

Note how the psalmist feels here – in the depths of a watery chaotic despair.  Isn’t that the feeling of depression? Submerged in confusion that hurts, drowning in discord, every breath consumed in lungs already brimming with anguish. Depression is like this, isn’t it? Grey days slam into one another and doubt besets us.

Is this it? Will this pain every stop? Am I doomed? Would everyone else be better off without me?

(If you feel this way, just know the answers are: no, yes, no, NO!) Scripture tells us that there is a time to weep as well as laugh (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

The psalmist shrieks out from these shadows to his God. Although nothing makes sense right now, he reminds himself of what he knows of his God.  This is a God who hears the cries of His children (Read Psalm 86:1-7 to experience this more fully) no matter where they are (Psalm 139:7-12).

God hears you in your pain. He is not disappointed nor put off by it. Psalm 88 tells us of a psalmist’s overwhelming agony as he cries out. Allow your Lord to walk with you through this season, turn to Him, not away from Him.

Sometimes, though, we are afraid to call out because we suffer from shame. Maybe we have sinned and are like Adam and Eve and think we need to hide from God. We know we have done wrong, we know we deserve His wrath, we know we just can’t measure up. Maybe we have hurt someone else. Or maybe our depression comes because someone has sinned against us and we wonder how we will recover from the wounds. Verses 3-4 tells us that the psalmist knows about this, but also reminds himself (and the reader) that there IS forgiveness with this amazing God! The psalmist knows that justice and righteousness are the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89 & 97) where He extends His covenantal love to His people.

What a truth to cling to when we doubt that He might not love us anymore, or that we have done something too terrible this time (Read Romans 8 to dispel this lie from the pit of hell!), or that we are just too needy.  On this side of the cross, sin is paid for. We confess our sins to remind ourselves of His forgiveness, and the power of His forgiveness allows us to extend that forgiveness to others.

Depression doesn’t dispel easily. Although we look to His Word, it isn’t an easy fix. We wait, along with the psalmist for the light to restore hope in us. But it doesn’t mean that we aren’t spiritual or that we are failing. The psalmist waits, and we find that there are others in the Bible that we wait with – Elijah (1 Kings 19), David (Psalm 6 and others) and Paul (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).

The end of Psalm 130 is an encouragement from the psalmist to hope in the God of Israel. He is the God of hope, and it is to Him that we must turn to in these dark seasons.  When we realize that our suffering is for eternal purposes, we must trust Him to guide us through it (1 Peter 1:6-9).

Please, if you find yourself in this dark despair, reach out to a brother or sister who will remind of the hope that seems so elusive at this time! You are dearly loved by a holy God and it is not His intention that you walk alone. You can also contact Elizabeth – she will pray with you and walk with you through this.