As disciples of Jesus in this day and age, it’s easy to see that our children are bombarded by Satan who wants to kill, steal and destroy. One of His greatest attacks is on the sexuality of our children.
Below is an excerpt of an email Student Ministries Pastor Ryan Berkman recently sent to parents of junior high and high school students, letting them know about the upcoming Love, Sex & Dating series on Tuesday nights. I wanted to share it with the bigger COD family as well, as Ryan invites us all as a church body to be part of praying for our youth and engaging them in these important conversations as we have opportunity.
I also want to let you know about a special 3-week class coming up soon – PRAY FOR OUR YOUTH.
On Tuesday evenings April 18, April 25 and May 2 at 7:00pm, we’re inviting parents and others who are interested to come and pray together for our young people as they are going through this series. Next Gen Pastor David Newkirk will be leading this time in the Worship Center.
We continue to be convinced that God moves ministry forward through bold prayer. Thank you for being part of how the Lord is moving among us as you pray!
With love,
David Anderson
Lead Pastor
On Tuesday, 4/11 we kicked off our next teaching series with our students, and it’s another good one! (drumroll please…)
We launched into our annual series on “Love, Sex, & Dating” (woo-hoo!).
This is a series we do every single year in which we cover some of the most important topics and questions that our JH and HS students are wrestling with. We cover some core foundational things throughout the series, like identity, purpose, truth, authority of Scripture, God’s unconditional love and grace, etc., and we also dive into some more specific topics each week like marriage, singleness, dating, sexual intimacy, and sexual sin.
Our JH and HS groups will be separate for the majority of the teaching in this series to ensure we handle all of the topics in age-specific ways and create as comfortable of an environment as possible for our students to process through these topics.
Our heart behind this series is to teach students what the Bible has to say about all of these areas so that they are equipped with truth to counter against the lies of the world.
It is also that they would have a space in the context of a loving community to wrestle through their own 
feelings towards and questions about these things, with leaders to guide and encourage them along the way.
We recognize that students will be bringing their own assumptions, experiences, and questions with them each week, and so we want to meet them where they are and help usher them to the truth of God’s Word and to the grace of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, I just want to encourage all of you to continue to have those conversations each week with your students. We only get them for an hour and a half each Tuesday night – you get them for all the rest. I wholeheartedly encourage you to take advantage of that time and engage in dialogue with your students about these topics. They are certainly hearing about them from their peers and via all the media at their disposal.
How awesome would it be if the most consistent voices on these issues were those of their loving parents and their church community?
That’s our goal – to partner with you all in creating conversations with your students about these hugely important topics!
I’m so excited to see what God does through this series!
Please pray for us as we dive in each Tuesday night, and we will be praying for you too as you seek to continue the conversations and guide/shepherd students in these areas.
In Him,
Ryan Berkman
Student Ministries Pastor
P.S. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about our Love, Sex, & Dating series, or to let me know if there is a particular way I can be praying for your student and your family.
