Weekend Teaching Series: Promotion Weekend
Sermon Title: 4 Ways to Survive the Next 4 Years
Sermon in a Sentence: Some keys to surviving your high school years: good friends, a tight small group, serving and sharing your faith.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Service Length: 64 minutes

Understandable Message: Coming off the road trip made for a short week of prep. Instead of my usual manuscript (2,000 words or so) I wrote up some talking points around the main theme and Scripture. I tried to stay targeted on freshman specifically, but made sure the teaching was appropriate for all classes to take something away from. I talked through the way friends influence us – they can get us in trouble – and used this clip from Land of the Lost to illustrate it. At the end of the talk, we used PollEverywhere to let upperclassmen give their advice to the freshman (in 140 character bits), and it made for some hilarious moments. Some were serious and some were funny – but they were all great.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: It was an all-student band, students also ran cameras, lights and sound. Students and volunteers also greeted and did setup/cleanup. We had a high-energy crowd, so there was far more talking than usual. We’re gonna have to add something to the program to address it.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We had a Rock Band opener that during the bridge transformed from video game to the live student band. We jammed on the plastic instruments while they played – it was totally fun. We also had a fun game up front based on Scene It! that was good, too. And of course Uncle Zed, a hick character played by one of our team members, who read a children’s book to all of the freshman, an annual tradition in HSM.

Music Playlist: When You Were Young. We Shine, Til I See You, Hosanna

Favorite Moment: This weekend is the 1st anniversary of The Refinery! Hard to believe we’re already one year into the new building. We had cake to celebrate and started something new called After Party, a 10-minute connection time for first-timers.