What is See You at the Pole?
See You at the Pole™ is a student-initiated, student organized, and student-led event. That means this is all about students meeting at their school flagpole to pray—for their school, friends teachers, government, and their nation. See You at the Pole™ is not a demonstration, political rally, nor a stand for or against anything.
SYATP has been tasking place the fourth Wednesday in September at schools all across the nation since 1990. This activity is perfectly legal - not only are student-led prayers not prohibited by the Constitution, they are actually protected by the First Amendment. The idea of "separation of church and state" prohibits state-mandated prayer - not student-led prayer.
This year's event will take place Wednesday, September 23.
If you are intersted in leading or participating in a SYATP event at your school, the best way to spread the word is by word-of-mouth. Tell and invite everyone you know. And be sure someone speaks with the school administration to let them know the event is taking place. If the administrator is relectant, do not argue. This event is about prayer, not legal rights. Move the event off school property, and let your pastor leader know so they can contact the administrator.
More information on See You At the Pole can be found
here. Will we see you there?
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
5:10 AM
Labels:
bridgeport,
Events,
prayer,
schools
This weekend we will be attending the Children's and Youth Congress at House of Restoration in Hartford. No cell groups will meet.
The bus will leave at 5:30 on Friday night, and 6:30am on Saturday morning. Everyone who has signed up, please be on time.
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
7:02 AM
Labels:
Events
I just wanted to remind everyone of some upcoming events, as there will be no cell meetings for the rest of August.
Back to School Revivals are going to be held at Gospel Light on August 20, 21 and 23. There will be no cell on the 21st because of this, but everyone is encouraged to come hear Brian McDOnals speak.
Children's and Youth Congress is taking place on the 28th and 29th at the House of Restoration in Hartford. We will be signing people up to go, for ages 7 and up. We'll be taking the bus up Friday evening, and again on Saturday. I'll be handing out flyers on Sunday, August 23rd.
Children's Revival Weekend. will be happening on September 19th and 20th. Studio-Z from Zion Bible College will be helping us. The tentative schedule is 10am-5pm on Saturday, and will be continuing with the Sunday morning service. Keep checking for details, and invite everyone!!
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
6:48 AM
Labels:
evangelism,
Events,
updates
This week we continued our journey through the Gospel of John with a look at what Jesus told us about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
John 16:5-9 says:
“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment..."
Still in His last days, Jesus is telling the disciples that they've been so focused on the fact that He's going to leave them, that they haven't even asked them where He's going. Talk about self centered! But, He also gives them good news - that His leaving will usher in the coming of the Holy Spirt. Awesome!
Schedule Note:
There will be no more regular cell meetings for the month of August. August 14th begins the Father/Son and Mother/Daughter weekends. August 21st will be right in the middle of our Back to School Revivals, and on August 28th we will be attending the Youth and Children's Congress in Hartford. More details on that will follow.
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
9:54 AM
Labels:
Holy Spirit,
John
It was kind of a mellow night on Friday. The kids have been going hard at plugging through the Gospel of John the last couple of months, and so it was time to have some fun and dig out the old Bible Jeopardy program. I had loaded all new questions into it, so off we went.
It was a pretty fierce competition, but as they say, in the end there can be only one! And so Jacob's team rolled off with the victory.
Schedule Note:
This Friday (July 31) will be Movie Night at the church. No cell, but bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the movie!!
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
11:59 AM
Labels:
fun
We did something a little different this Friday night when it came to cell. Since some of the kids are getting older and getting ready to transition into the youth cell, and since some are working on teaching the younger kids in KidzPort, I decided to have some of them teach the lessons on Friday nights. This isn't an all-the-time thing, but I wanted to give them the opportunity to exercise their teaching chops. (and to see how hard it is to teach this group!!)
So the lesson this week was given by Josh. He taught out of John 15:1-9, which Jesus' metaphore of the vine and the branches. Josh did an excellent job breaking down the scripture, and had questions prepared for the group. He even had diagrams to illustrate the various "parts" we all play.
Of course, the "fruit" that we all hope to bear is twofold - of course we are all looking for "fruit" in terms of our outreach: bringing new people to Christ. The other "fruit" is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit - something that is growing in all of us.
Schedule Note: There will be cell next week, but it is also the Men's Fishing Outreach. Anyone who wants to go to that is excused from cell group.
Fifth Friday: For Fifth Friday this month, we will be joining with the rest of the congregation for a movie night in the church. There is no admission charge, and food will be sold.
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
5:55 AM
Labels:
evangelism,
John,
word
If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
So says John 15:18-19. The world hates a Christian. I'm not (and neither was Jesus) talking about individual people, but about the spirit of the World, about Satan, and about people blinded and bound by him.
The world hates us. Why? Because we don't follow its rules. We don't think like it does. We don't belong to it.
It's one of the biggest irony's of all time. People who are of the world - of the flesh - love it. They think that the world (and the flesh) has the answers to all of life's needs and troubles. In essence, they are giving themselves over to Satan, to let him take care of them.
Satan hates them. He hates all of us. After all, his goal is to send everyone into eternal suffering. How can you do that to someone, unless you truly hate them? Why does Satan hate us? Because we have something he will never have. Satan desires to be like God. (Is 14:14) But it is we who are made in God's image! And so Satan's great pride causes his great hatred of us.
But it's alright. Satan (and the world) hates God, too. And since we are children of God, he loves us. So we need not fear Satan's hate. He can't harm us if we don't let him. And when the world rejects us, or the things we say, they are really rejecting Jesus.
Posted byMichael J Mahoney
at
8:46 AM
Labels:
John,
love,
Satan
