The Gray Area

We had a great weekend at FUEL! There were over 150 teens and around 35 adults present. We took around 35 teens and 5 or 6 adults from Creekwood. There were 2 baptisms (one from Spanish Fort and one from Margaret St) and a bunch of teens who responded for prayers and encouragement. Lonnie Jones spoke and did a wonderful job communicating messages from God’s word. All of the teens seemed to really enjoy and connect to his messages. He does a great job explaining passages in ways everyone can understand.

Our theme was “Inside Out” from Romans 12:2. The main idea is that in order to grow in your faith and look more like Jesus, you must change from the inside out. You won’t act like a Christian until you become a Christian. Your actions are a direct result of your thoughts and desires. So in order for your behavior to be pleasing with God, your heart must be pleasing to God. That is the message in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and something Lonnie communicated very clearly. Lonnie also talked about we won’t live Inside Out until that becomes our identity. More simply, as long as you “go to church” you won’t live inside out. But when you “become the church”, you will. The idea is that Christianity is not just about what you do, but more so about who you are. It is a great lesson for many of our teens who think that being a Christian is about “keeping some rules” or staying away from certain things.

Our breakout class topics were actual lyrics from the song, “From the Inside Out”. This is a song we sing in our teen class on Wednesday nights and at devotionals, and is a favorite song for many of our teens. It was recorded by the acapella groups “Cornerstone” and “Zoe Group”. I encourage you to check out the song. Here were our class topics:

• A Thousand Times I Failed (A class on forgiveness and grace)
• The Art of Losing Myself (a class on selflessness and surrender to God)
• The Cry of My Heart is to Bring You Praise (a class on worship from the heart)
• To Love You From the Inside Out (a class on being a disciple of Jesus)

We also offered a Guys Only Class called “Strength from the Inside Out” that talked about what God considers to be a strong young man. The idea was that God’s view of strength is not based on the size of biceps or how fast someone can run, etc. But God’s idea of a strong young man is one who relies on God’s strength.

And we offered a Girls Only Class called “Beauty from the Inside Out” that talked about what God considers to be a beautiful young woman. Every young lady wants to be considered beautiful by someone, especially another man (which is so important for fathers to constantly remind their girls of their physical, mental, and spiritual beauty). But God’s view of beauty is different than the world’s. God views beauty in terms of the heart and desires, not looks.

Each teen was able to attend 3 of these classes.

So here are some questions that you might ask your teen to prompt some discussion from the retreat this weekend.

• How did you see God at work this weekend?
• What was your favorite part about FUEL?
• Tell me about the two kids that were baptized.
• What breakout classes did you go to? What were they about? What did you think about them?
• What did you learn from Lonnie Jones’ lessons? 
• What does “Inside Out” mean?
• Are you spiritually stronger or weaker after FUEL? How so?
• Did you make any new relationships?
• What can we do as a family to all live inside out?

Thank you for allowing your teen to go to FUEL. I hope they had a great time, but more so than that I pray that God worked on their heart and strengthened their faith. If your teen hasn’t made a commitment to the Lord yet, I pray that it brought them closer to making that decision.

I hope you have a great week, but I especially hope you have great family discussions about FUEL and what all God did in and through your teen this weekend.

— Eric