Something for which to be thankful

We've been praying for Shelbey's grandfather, Mr. Gaines, and I just got word from Shelbey that his surgery went really well and he's doing great! Keep him in your prayers, but also be thankful that God gave us a big "yes" on the success of the surgery.

White Christmas!

Thanks to all of you for participating on Sunday and making our White Christmas project a success! Thanks also to the Oakleys for letting us come to their house for food and fun.

Here is a link to the pictures from the party on Facebook.

Below is a list of the things requested by our White Christmas Family.

If you are planning to purchase something, please let me know and I will post updates below as people tell me what they are getting. Items with an "*" and italics indicates that someone is already getting them.

Lanita (Mother)
Needs:
* Pant - 18/20 or XL
* Shirt - 18/20 or XL
* Shoe - 10 or 10 1/2
* Socks - L or XL
* Coat - 18/20
- Dress - XL or XXL or 18/20

Other items desired:
- Pajamas
* Scented Candles (Meadors)
- Bathroom set
- King-Sized Comforter Set
- Perfume
- Gift Cards



Jonnassia: 9-year-old Girl
Needs:
* Pant - 14/16
* Shirt - 14/16
* Shoe - 8 ladies
* Socks - M or L
* Coat - L or XL or 16
- Dress - 16

Other Items Desired:
* Radio w/ CD Player (Hawkes)
- DVD Player or iPod
* Several "High School Musical" Items
* Board Games (Candy Land)
- Nintendo DS

//Update:
If you would still like to purchase something for either of these individuals, you might consider getting something from the mother's wish list, who mostly got necessities, or perhaps another toy for the daughter.//

Manscaping: OHYG! Edition

What would it be like if more of our guys had facial hair?

Move your mouse around the screen and watch what happens!







Or what if the facial hair we have is different?



And for the grand finale...

Who's ready for some OHYG! basketball?!!

Real Girls

For you ladies out there, my friend Becca Daniel is getting a new ministry started for teen girls that I think you might be interested in. I know she is coming to Friendship on November 13, and to Goodpasture on November 20. Maybe you can let me know what you think about it. It looks like it's probably really fun!

In the mean time, you can go to the website to get involved!
Real Girls

Also, check out the Facebook Group!

Two New Christians!

Everyone be sure to congratulate Kimberly Hensley and Zach Meador who were both baptized into Christ this last weekend. I was blessed to be present for both of their baptisms, and their passion for being followers of Jesus Christ was truly refreshing.

It's always cool to know that you've done something here on earth that makes the angels in the presence of God shout with joy.

May they be a great example to us all.

Pauls, Pumpkins, and Much More!

Many thanks to the Pauls for having us over! We had a great time. The food was good. The pumpkins were lots of fun to carve. Corly was around to provide some quality entertainment.

We talked about "Decorating Your Christian Life," based on 2 Peter 1. Thanks to everyone for participating. This was--if I remember correctly--the largest attendance we've had at a devo since we began doing them.

Here is a link to the full Facebook photo album.

See you Saturday for the Predators game!

SNAC was SNACriffic!

We had a wonderful evening of food, Wii Tennis, and guitars. What more could you want? Thanks to everyone who came.

Here is the Facebook album.

Fall Retreat 2008 (Updated)

The fall retreat at Camp Christian was a really relaxing weekend. Soon we'll be getting some pictures up on Facebook of the whole retreat, but for now, here's a panoramic shot of the camp, and--especially for Kelsi--here is a summary album of the feet-decorating contest. :-)

UPDATE!

Here is the highlights album on Facebook.

The Demands of Christianity

Are you paying attention?

It's important that no matter how young or old we are, we should try and pay attention to the lessons that we hear at church. Even if you're just becoming a teenager, and it wasn't that long ago that you were playing with dolls or action figures, if you are old enough to be serious about your relationship with God, you're old enough to try and learn from the lessons.

I've noticed that Kassie always takes notes, which I'm always proud to see. I've seen others highlight Bible verses here or there that especially speak to them. You may do one or both of these things, I don't know...Kassie just happens to sit next to me.

Though I may not get this done every week, I'm going to try to take notes each week, then put them here on the blog for any of you who want to review them. And if any of you have notes that you want to share, just let me borrow them and I'll be glad to put them on here, too.

When it comes to taking notes, remember that it doesn't have to be boring on your page. I'm personally a doodler. It helps me to make cartoons or illustrations of what I'm thinking about to remember the points. Look below and you'll see what I mean.

Even though my handwriting is awful (I think it indicates my brain is much faster than my hand), I'm glad to share these if it will help you to think about the lesson you heard the week before.

Have you thought about taking notes? When you look at mine, does it make you remember anything you wouldn't have otherwise? Give it a shot!

Freedom in Christ

Death in Context

Calendar Stuff

Please don't forget that this coming Sunday, I'm inviting all parents to join us in the 3rd floor so we can go over some basic info about the youth group, and also take a look at the calendar for this fall.

I've also updated the online calendar with a lot of our potential dates, and would encourage you to take a look at it. Follow the link on the left side of this blog.

Thanks,
Mark

Website coming soon...

Our church website is steadily making progress. Right now, we have a basic placeholder up. Not any links or anything, but if you want to check it out, here's the link:

Old Hickory Church of Christ

Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of Luke

Coming up in October we'll have a new Bible study at Old Hickory. We've had about 31 different members contribute devotional thoughts based on different passages in Luke. It's divided into 31 days. Be planning to spend the month of October learning more about Jesus through the eyes of Luke. We're getting some nifty calendar-style books printed out so you can have one to read every day.

Manuel will be dearly missed

I just got an e-mail and learned the very sad news that Manuel passed away after having some sort of accident at his daughter's house. He was such a pleasure to be around, and we really have enjoyed getting to know him whenever we have been in Monterrey, Mexico. He was a construction machine, and consistently outworked most of us. I believe he was 79 years old. He will be dearly missed by us, and especially by the Los Nogales Iglesia de Cristo where he was a member.

Back To School Bash

Many thanks to the Bells for having us over for our annual Back to School bash. We really had a variety of good stuff going on: Video games, swimming, boccie ball, football, board games, basketball, and barbecue! Here is a sampling of pictures. I'll try and add the rest on Facebook soon.

Kidnapped...

The kidnap breakfast was really great! Mrs. Drake had some awesome food ready to go, and we managed to take 5/6 kids completely off guard! haha!!

David claims he was already awake. I beg to differ.

Here is the link to my facebook album.

-Mark

Panorama! Mexico Edition

Though these are on Facebook, I really liked how these panoramic shots turned out. One is a view of the mountain near the place we were relaxing on Sunday. One is a shot of the front of the church building, and the other is a shot from the top of the church, looking back toward the street where we normally parked. Lots of beautiful things to see in Monterrey. Next year maybe I can remember to bring a tripod so I can rotate the camera on a more consistent basis. You can see a little overlapping/duplication in some places on the pictures.

Caption This! OHYG! Edition

Post a comment and tell us what caption you would add if this were your cartoon...

Mexico Trip

We really had a terrific trip to Mexico this year. For those of you who are curious about what we did, but who don't have Facebook, have no fear! You can access the pictures I have put up on Facebook by clicking here. The second album is here.

Charley P on a Trampoline

Though there is much to write about our recent Mexico trip, I couldn't help but go ahead and share this video clip with you. :-)

Camp = Incredible!

Thanks so much to all of you for all you did to help make Camp wonderful this year. But more than that, thanks be to God who blessed us this last week more than we could have even hoped for.

I do not yet have pictures of everyone who was baptized, but here is a list of the people who were (not in exact order), and here are some pictures I borrowed from Jennifer Parker on Facebook.

Caitlyn Wilson
Savannah Jones
Chris Hayes
Callie Johnson
Megan Sexton
Caylin Paul
Matthew "Tyler" Wilson
Jordan Hall
David Hardy
Jamin Malone
Zach Williams
Slater Stovall
Morgan Cato

Issues

Is Chet having some issues? I'll let you be the judge.

Flying Squirrel

Horton Haven was a lot of fun. It brought us closer together as a group, and we got to think a lot about the importance of helping one another to stay faithful to God. It really does take a team effort.

Of course, we topped it all off with each of us getting a turn at the flying squirrel. Here is some video of Shelbey being launched that we took with her cellphone.

Congratulations, Shelbey!

Yesterday, on June 15, 2008, Shelbey Gaines decided to be baptized into Christ. It was pretty cool seeing her make that bold expression of faith in our Sunday morning assembly. Shelbey, we're very proud of you, and our prayers will continue to be with you. Thanks for your great example. Hopefully, others will be inspired by you to make the same good decision.

Holiday World 2008

We had a great trip to Holiday World. It was a LONG day, but God answered our prayers for safety, and we made it and returned home safely. I'd encourage everyone to keep an eye on Facebook, as several pictures have appeared there. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Many thanks to everyone for being responsible, behaving well, showing up at the checkpoints when you were supposed to, and for keeping great attitudes. It was really a great trip, and I'll look forward to going again next year!

Eagle Pauls

Here are some pics from Colby & Clay's Eagle Scout ceremony. Earning the rank of Eagle Scout is quite an honor. It's nice to know we have some guys around who can prepare an entire campsite for us on the spur of the moment, using only a few sticks and pieces of flint.

Congratulations to Colby and Clay.

(Side Note: Can we collectively refer to them as "Clayby"?)

Just wanted to put up some pictures from last night at the Opryland Hotel. It was a great time and alot of you showed up so thanks! :)Hopefully you guys are starting to get excited about Holiday world.. it's only 1 week from tomorrow!!!

Joyanna

Also... as if Wednesday night wasn't cool enough it's also now offically " go to sonic after church " night. So come hungry for knowledge... and sonic :) 

Hey kids!

Week three of the summer and things here are starting to fall into place. We've been able to hangout with a whole bunch of you during the day which is cool, we love little trips away from the office. Today Garrett and Lindsey came on their lunch break and hung out with us at the church building which was awesome and FREE so thanks guys! Feel free to stop by if you're ever in the area during the day... We're usually here but it doesn't hurt to call and make sure.

There are a few exciting things going on this week that you should be aware of. Tomorrow night ( Tuesday June 2nd ) we are going to go to the Opryland hotel to check that out... hopefully have a fantastic little adventure. Colby and I aren't sure of the best way to pass quick information like this on to you guys so this time Colby text people whose numbers he had and I posted a note on facebook. If you guys are thinking " hey I didn't get a text" or " hey I'm not friends with you on facebook so I didn't see it"  then you should friend us or give us your number so next time you're one of the cool kids in the know... just kidding. But seriously. 

Also starting this Wednesday night class is going to be split up guys and girls and Colby and I will each be teaching one. We're pretty excited to get the chance to connect with you guys in this setting and we hope that even though summer schedules tend to be crazy you'll still try to make it as much as you can.

Hope you guys are having a fantastic week.... :)

Joyanna

Well, the first week of our internship is down for the count and Joyanna and I are excited to be here with you guys! During this week we have planned some exciting new stuff for this summer and I hope each of you will be able to make it to the events! The next thing on the calendar is a devotional at the Graggs house on friday the 30th and the food is provided so i hope you can all come!! I look forward to an awesome summer with yall! Love ya! -Colby

Hey kids. Mark has officially left old hickory for the weekend leaving Colby and I in charge of his office as well as class on Sunday morning. If thats not incentive to be there alive and alert I'm not sure what is! My first week at Old Hickory has been a good one and it's been really cool to meet everyone and start getting to know the youth group. As much as we LOVE hanging around the office we would much rather be out and about meeting up with you guys so whenever you know you're going to be around give us a call and we'll try to pull something together. Oh and to all of you who finished school this week... congrats! you made it! well at least this far! ;)

Joyanna

OHYG! Crib

We've been working on spicing up our classroom, and we're pretty much done for now. It's got a new paint job, some new pictures, a new white board, a magnetic portion of the wall, updated mailboxes, and plenty of cards for note-writing.

I've also discovered a cool thing that my camera and computer can work together to do. Have a look around. :-)

Coming to a church camp near you...

I just bought one of these things for a new addition to some of our church camp activities. It's going to be glorious. Imagine pulling against 3 other people with all your might...on a sopping wet tarp. :-)