ID GROUPS
Summer Serve is coming to an end, and we are stoked about how the Holy Spirit has been moving within our community. We are tweaking our ID groups just a tad bit, and by the way ID stand for Intentional Discipleship. Starting in October, Jr. & Sr. High will meet at the Church from 6 PM to 9 PM. We will seek to engage them in practicing what it means to follow Jesus. Students will be placed into small groups where they will pray and strategically plan ways in which they can impact the City of Ft. Wayne by serving and sharing the love & life of Jesus. The following wednesday we gather at the church then separate into our small groups and go out to do what we planned the previous wednesday. Interested in being a part? Send me a note at gcoleman@fmcfw.org.
CDYC Special Guest
TODD NIGHSWONGER
Todd is the Executive Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He grew up all over the Rocky Mountain area, but it wasn’t until 1993 while attending college in Montana that he heard and understood the greatest message ever, the Gospel, that changed his life forever. Todd has always had a heart for students, and even before being called into pastoral ministry he was a high school teacher. He has pastored Jr. High, High School, and college students in Montana, Wyoming, and California for over ten years, and continues to love speaking to them. Todd and his wife, Lisa, have one daughter.
DAVID CUMMINGS AND BAND
David Cummings serves as the Pastor of Connection Worship while coaching the student worship ministries at Nappanee Missionary Church. Before coming to NMC in 2008, David spent ten years working as a youth pastor and worship & arts pastor at a church in Elkhart, Indiana. David has a passion for young people and for connecting them to God, and to His presence in worship. “My desire is for people to encounter the living God in powerful ways, and for them to become wholly devoted worshipers of our great God.”
David has traveled nationally and internationally as a communicator, worship leader, and performer. An accomplished singer, songwriter, he has released four independent worship albums. David spent three years at Bethel College, earning a Certification in Bible, while pursuing a BA in Bible and Ministry.
In 1998, David and Theresa were married and together have three wonderful children, Kylie, Katie Belle, and Karsten. David has a very diverse collection of music, likes to play basketball, enjoys running on lonely stretches of beach, can’t stand cats (but has one), loves a good action movie and reading a well written book, and is passionately learning to follow his God. “My prayer is that we may become a generation who learns to worship our God with all we are.”
Reps for Christ
Today was a full day indeed! The boy’s basketball team kicked it off at 7 AM. The guys played competed but were eliminated from the tournament. They finished with 3 wins and two losses. The boys soccer team played today as well. Although they were eliminated from the tournament and finished with a 2 and 2 record, they still left a pretty impressive mark. I had a Pastor, and several students tell me that they were very impressed with the way our students handled themselves. They said they were very competitive athletes, but they were kind and respectful toward the other teams and it really left an unforgettable mark with other coaches as well as their players. Hat’s off to our soccer coach Josh Kellenburger, as well as to our students and their wonderful parents.
time to be UNLEASHED
CDYC has officially kicked off! We arrived safely at Indiana Wesleyan University excited, pumped and very hot! The weather was blazing! After getting room assignments, and unpacking we were free to relax until our first session. At 7 PM students began to fill the IWU auditorium and believe me the anticipation was thick and the excitement level was high! Several students remarked that they had hopes to encounter God afresh as well as gain a new perspective on life! Please continue to pray that our Student’s will be Unleashed by God!
SUMMER SERVE
Working together to build a fence.
As followers of Jesus we must not only be engaged with his teachings, but we must also supplement our teaching with action. Plain and simple, sometimes we need to shut up and do something! This summer join us as we seek to build authentic cross cultural relationships. We will continue to build on last year’s Summer Serve by going over to the Autumn Woods Complex as well as partnering with a Somali-Bantu family. Want to be stretched? Come Join us! Every Wed. 6:30 p.m. til 8:30 p.m. . We meet at and leave from FMC.
CDYC 09 – June 24-28
It’s that time again for CDYC and FMC students are pumped! It’s been a year since our last CDYC and ever since then our students have been dreaming of the day when it came back around! If you are a High School student and interested in going with us to CDYC Go here and get the necessary registration forms. Hope to see you there!
Do You Really Believe?
Thursday Night, CDYC guest speaker Bay Forrest, challenged us with a powerful talk on surrender. He challenged our meaning of the word faith, and what does it mean to have faith in Jesus. He told the amazing story of The Great Bandini, a famous wire walker from Europe. According to Forrest, Bandini walked across a wire stretched across Niagara Falls. Afterwards Bandini challenged the watching crowd to believe in him carrying someone across, they all responded with “we believe”, but no one dared to get on his back so that he could carry them across. Finally one man in the crowd believed in Bandini enough to let him carry him across. Forrest then talked about faith in God is trusting in Jesus to carry us across. After a clear cut Gospel presentation hundreds of students stood to their feet to show that they committed their lives to Christ for the first time or to recommit their lives to Christ. There was a total of 6 of our students standing to trust in Christ. GOD IS AWESOME and He is at work in the lives of our young people. Please keep praying that God will continue to transform us while we are here.
Blessings,
Pastor G
Let The Games Begin
Hey everyone, I guess I will begin this post apologizing… please forgive me for blogging a day late, but time has really been flying by. I am so proud of our crew, they have been representing FMC well, as well as leaning into the Wind of God’s Spirit.
Thursday morning begin with a early run of soccer games featuring the dynamic duo of David Harrigan and James Harry. Harrigan and Harry both led their team to victory with excellent team work and superb play. Awesome Job guys!!
Thursday afternoon brought more excitement as two of our stellar young ladies, Cierra Hickle and Chelsea Jones showcased their vocal talent. Great Job ladies, we look forward to hearing more from them.
We also got to see Mark Schuemann, Ben “The Beast” Fair, Joel Leonhardt, and Sam Dowty hoop it up in a scrimmage on the basketball courts. Schuemann, the jack of all trades, got it done with his well rounded performance, and “The Beast” was able to open the floor up with his penetration into the lane. Leonhardt the brave heart held the fort down defensively and offensively. While Dowty lit it up all day long from downtown. Way to go guys.
Pastor G
CDYC 2008
Greetings FMC family & friends, we have arrived and the party has started! This year CDYC is being held at the beautiful Campus of Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, IN. The bus ride was great, thanks to the Two Ladies and a Bus Co. Our driver was gracious enough to stop us by Wendy’s so that we could grab a bite to eat. We arrived safely, registered and got everyone settled in their rooms (and yes they are actually air conditioned). Tonight’s first session featured worship led by the Aaron Niequist Band and needless to say it was EPIC as we learned some new songs (I will blog about them later) that helped to give us words to describe how awesome are God is. This years Speaker is Bay Forrest, a former NBA player who stands about 6″10. Bay, although incredibly humorous, challenged us with these questions “what are you chasing”? Are we distracted by own desires or are we chasing the Kingdom of God? Good questions to ponder. Please continue to pray that we will be open to be encountered by God and forever changed by Him, and stay tuned for more info!
Blessings,
Pastor G
