Aaron Shust

Today's Song of the Week was written and recorded by Christian artist Aaron Shust. While he may not be as widely known as other recording groups, Shust has a tremendous gift for developing songs that focus on praising God and exalting His name.

The SOTW is called "My Savior My God," off of Shust's album Anything Worth Saying. John 20:28 finds the disciple Thomas making a very similar statement about the Lord Jesus Christ, calling Him "My Lord and my God." The song emphasizes the eternal nature of the Trinity, speaking of how God has, is, and will care for His children.

Hope you enjoy "My Savior My God," as well as some other songs by Aaron Shust in the playlist in the sidebar.

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For the complete lyrics to "My Savior My God," click here.

Odd Facts Known By Few

A million dollars in pennies would equal 597,916 pounds...almost 300 tons!

See You at the Pole Day

We've talked about this day for the last several weeks in the youth group. Below are some photos taken this morning at ECMS and ECHS. If you have a story you'd like to share, please leave a comment and tell us how SYATP impacted your life today.

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Toby Mac

One of my favorite Christian artists right now is Toby Mac. Formerly of the group dc Talk, Toby McKeehan has done fairly well since he released his first solo album. Now with several more albums under his belt, he provides our Song of the Week for today. It is "Lose My Soul" off of his Portable Sounds CD.

The song seems to come straight off the pages of Scripture when you read Mark 8:36 - "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" If we choose to give up living for the Lord in return for the earthly pleasures of this world, then we will indeed forfeit the heavenly rewards meant for those who finish the Christian life strong and serve the Lord with their whole life.

Hope you enjoy the music of Toby Mac as much as I do. There's this week's song plus some others in the music player in the sidebar.
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For the complete lyrics to "Lose My Soul," click here.

Odd Facts Known By Few

The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

National Playdoh Day

Two interesting Playdoh facts to pass the time with in celebration of today:

1) If combined, the total amount of Play-Doh Compound manufactured since 1956 would weigh more than 700 million pounds.

2) If all the Play-Doh Compound made since 1956 was extruded through the Fun Factory®, it would make a "snake" that would wrap around the world nearly 300 times.

Britt Nicole

Today's Song of the Week comes from a fairly new artist in the Christian music world, Britt Nicole. The song "You" is from her first album, entitled Say It.

"You" is a really great song, focusing on the significance that God has to each of us. As the chorus goes, He really is "the only thing I know worth living for." Without Him in our lives, we would have no meaning and purpose. But, thankfully, we do have a purpose, and it is to glorify God and make His importance to us show by the way that we live.

Hope you enjoy "You," as well some other songs by Britt Nicole, in the playlist down in the sidebar.
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To read the complete lyrics for "You," click here.

SYATP Question - Round Two

Many people equate See You at the Pole day with just prayer. Can you name two other activites done around the flagpole that day besides praying? HINT: check out syatp.com for some ideas.

Eyewitness

"You just had to be there!" You know you've said this at some point to your friends, and you could have been talking about any number of things - a concert or game you attended, a joke you heard but struggle to recount, a crazy situation that you found yourself in and wondered how you got there. Even through you tried as hard as you could to relay the experience to another person, words could not really begin to describe all the details that took place. There's just something different about being there and seeing it happen with your own eyes, about witnessing it for yourself.

Read 1 John 1:1-4; reread vs. 3.

1. What was John describing here in the first verse? Who is the Word of Life?
2. After reading verse 3, what have you found that John did with what he heard and saw?
3. What is the expectation that will happen once the message of God has been declared to others?
4. What does this tell us about our responsibility to pass along our testimony to others?
5. Can you see God preparing friendships around you so that you have an opportunity to talk with them about Him? Will you speak up of your love for the Lord?

How awesome is it that this God we love, worship, and serve doesn't close Himself off from us. On the contrary, He has opened Himself up to us and allowed us the opportunity to experience Him first-hand. If you have accepted Christ as Lord of your life, then you too are an eyewitness of the miraculous work that Jesus did your life, wiping away your sin and changing you forever. We need to share what has happened to us with those around us. We should be just as excited in sharing with them about eternity in Heaven as we are when we are talking about how we spent our weekend. Be a strong eyewitness for Christ because you have seen Him work with your own eyes.

** Today's devo is the first in a series studying through the book of 1 John.

Odd Facts Known By Few

Technically speaking, coffee is a fruit juice.

Guess what day it is...

It's 09.09.09!

(How exciting...this will only happen once in our lifetime, unless you are Methuselah)

SYATP Question - Round One

See You at the Pole was born out of the minds of a youth group during a DiscipleNow weekend. In what year and state did these students develop the concept for the first SYATP?

Odd Facts Known By Few

Houseflies hum in the key of F.

V-J Day

It was on this date in history that World War II officially ended. On September 2, 1945, on the deck of the USS Missouri, Japan agreeed to terms of the Potsdam Declaration, thus completing the surrender of the Axis nations. President Harry Truman declared September 2 to be named V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day).

September Newsletter

What an awesome God we serve! He has truly had His hands upon this church, molding it and shaping it so that He can use us as He desires. I am excited about the growth that I see happening among us. Our members are growing in the Lord and in their hunger for His Word. Wherever I look, it’s easy to see the hearts for service in you who call First Baptist your church home. We are excited to see more and more visitors come during the different weekly worship opportunities. This is an obvious sign of God’s blessing on our congregation!

God has entrusted this church with a tremendous responsibility: to reach our community for the cause of Christ. He has been preparing and growing each one of us in spiritual maturity to make us ready for carrying out that task. Take a look at where you are in your life, and realize that God has orchestrated every circumstance to bring you to that place for one purpose: to affect your sphere of influence for Him. Maybe it means approaching that long-time friend with the Gospel truth. Maybe it means sharing with someone how the Lord has brought you through a particularly hard time recently. Maybe for you it means simply inviting someone you know to a church service. If you are faithful to step through whatever doors God opens for you to share Christ, He will not leave you trying to figure out what to do next. He will guide you as you carry His message to the others in your life. Take God at His word; He will always be faithful to it.

Our youth are just beginning a new Nucleus study called “The Defense.” During the rest of this year, we’ll be looking into some solid reasons as to why we believe what we believe. Peter gives Christians two specific challenges in 1 Peter 3:15 – 1) set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts, and 2) be ready to defend your faith. Our study in apologetics, or providing reasons for our faith, will prepare us to face the questions and criticisms that Satan uses in his attempt to extinguish the fire of God in each believer’s life. If you’re a youth, there’s never a better time to jump into what’s going on than right now!