Last night was week 3 of our 3-track Youth Group! Keep reading to find out what we talked about where:

I’m In Week 3

Last night’s featured Jesus follower was Thomas, aka “Doubting Thomas,” a nickname that has hung around for 2,000 years! Getting called a “Doubting Thomas” is seen as a negative thing in our culture, but when we really take a look at the story of Thomas’s doubt in John 20:24-29, it’s a stretch to say that either the disciples or Jesus saw Thomas’s doubts as a negative. In fact, when Thomas’s patience is rewarded (a week later) and Jesus shows up, Jesus’s first act is to give Thomas the physical evidence that Thomas needed to see so he could believe. Thomas provides a powerful example for us today with our own doubts: we need to stick around. That means that we need to be patient and we need to be in the right place. For Thomas that meant sticking with a community that was invested in him seeing Jesus again, the disciples. It also meant that they had to sweat it out for a very long week, but they did it together. All of this leads up to our bottom line for the night: Don’t let doubt keep you out.

Question to discuss at home: What is your biggest doubt or question right now?

Confirmation Week 6

Last night Pastor Robert shared with us about the Holy Spirit, the often misunderstood and sometimes forgotten third person of the Trinity. In order to open us up to God’s outpouring of love through the Holy Spirit, we explored the different actions and descriptions of the Holy Spirit throughout scripture (and there are a lot!). Here are some of them:

Holy Spirit Adjectives Comforter, Advocate, Sustainer, Sanctifier, Guide, Wise, Fire, Mysterious, Breath of God

Holy Spirit Verbs Convicts, guides, strengthens, lifts up, hovers over, teaches, transforms, shapes, intercedes, makes holy

Our bottom line came down to this: If Jesus is “God with us,” the Holy Spirit is “God in us.”

Question to discuss at home: Which role or action of the Holy Spirit is most important to you right now? Why?

Sticky Faith Week 3

Last night 12th graders met at the Castoral home for some life-after-high-school conversation and a delicious lasagna dinner! The discussion centered on how our friends can help our faith stick. We talked about friendships, old ones, new ones, the ones we will miss, the ones we outgrow, and the really good ones that allow us to ask hard and important questions of each other. It all comes down to this: Your faith and friendships will grow as you ask each other hard–but important–questions.

Question to discuss at home: Who are your friends who are willing to ask you the hard questions?