First EFC of Moline Student Ministry

The Challenge for 2009!

2009-01-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

This next year we as a church are going to be doing "The Challenge". What is this you may ask? It is to Read It...Live It...Share It!

The "It" is the Bible. During the next year we will be reading through the Chronological Bible. On Sunday mornings Pastor Tom will be preaching out of a text from the last weeks readings. For those is D-groups at your D-group meeting you will be discussing what you have been reading the last week.

That is just the 1st part of the Challenge....then comes the Live It....Share It part. As we begin the read God's Word it will begin to transform our lives and those around us. So take the Challenge this year. You can pick up a Chronological Bible or if you want to use the Bible you already have then use a reading plan. Click here for one to print.

We...the New Series coming to Student Impact - January 7th!

2009-01-02T07:03:00.000-08:00

The new series that we will be starting at Student Impact is called "We"! During the next few weeks we will be talking about what it means to live in community. How we need one another...

In following Christ, there is one truth that most of us forget--we were never meant to do this alone. We need other people. It's critical not just because we need friends, but also because in community we understand more about who God is. We see how He is working in other people's lives. We learn things that God has taught them, and we get an opportunity to love and serve others. The WE series helps us discover the "WHY" behind community--why we need it, why we should pursue it--and why it's more than just what you do every week after a communicator speaks.

January 7: The Others
Following Christ was never meant to be done alone--we need community.

January 14: A Beautiful Mess
It can be a messy process when we are in community with other people.

January 21: Up Close
We learn about God through community.

Christmas is here?

2008-11-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while for information on this blog...sorry about the silence.

Thanksgiving is this next week and before we know it Christmas will be upon us.

December we will be talking about A Christmas Story...
At Christmas, we tell the story about shepherds, angels and a manger but so often the significance of the story is lost because it seems like just one more holiday tradition. Or we've heard it so much that we do not hear it anymore. This series tells the Christmas Story - but in a slightly different way through looking at the stories of Herod, Simeon and Mary.

12/3
Herod: Following Jesus will cost you something, not following Jesus will cost you everything.

12/10
Simeon: Let your life be consumed by one thing . . . just make sure it is the right thing.

12/17
Mary: The size of your story depends on the size of your God.

December 24 & 31 we will not be meeting for Student Impact!

Sr. High 5th Quarter Party - October 17th

2008-10-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

We will be having a 5th Quarter Party following the Rocky vs. Moline football game for Sr. High students on October 17th. Come celebrate the Rocky win with us!

New Series beginning @ Student Impact on October 1st

2008-09-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

Get ready for a Road Trip because at Student Impact we are starting a New Series called Road Signs...

10/1 Road Signs – One Way
10/8 Road Signs – Caution
10/15 Road Signs – Yield
10/22 Road Signs – Rest Stop
10/29 Road Signs – Men at Work

Student Impact Resumes this Wednesday, September 10th!

2008-09-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Student Impact starts up again for the fall on Wednesday, September 10th @ First Free Church - 3321 7th Street in Moline.

We will finish up a Series called On The Lot that we started last month.

Doors Open @ 6:30pm and we get going around 6:45pm.
We will end around 8:15pm and then doors close around 8:45pm.

Invite your friends. Student Impact is for 7th - 12th grade students!

Student Impact Camping Trip - August 22-24, 2008

2008-08-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

We will be going camping at Sugar Bottom Campground in Coralville, IA August 22-24, 2008. This is for all Jr. & Sr. High students. Cost is $25 and need to register by Sunday, August 17th. Click here for more info and a registration form or you can also click here to register online.

Student Impact will be moving soon!

2008-07-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Student Impact is on the move...that is right, starting in September we will be moving from Sunday nights to Wednesday nights.

We know that this move may be difficult for some with school activities and dealing with homework, etc. But will be looking forward to having a consistent weekly night...plus we will get to see your faces during the week as well as on the weekend!

Our 1st Wednesday Night will be - September 10th!

On the Lot Series

2008-07-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a few weeks since the last post. Just finished our Storm Watch Series last night and no major storm came through in our area! It seemed every time we had Student Impact during this Series a real physical storm came through.

I am looking forward to this next series called On the Lot. We will be talking about making the Bible come alive for us. Lights! Camera! Action! So be sure to come on August 3 & 17 and then we will finish on September 10th.

We Made It Home!

2008-07-06T06:13:00.001-07:00

Well we made it back on Saturday night around 5:30pm...it is good to be back in the Quad Cities! The last 2 days we spent one night in Evanston, WY and then back to Maranatha Bible Camp in Maxwell, NE for the 4th of July. They had an awesome BBQ and we got to watch some Fireworks there too.

Now the most important part of our Challenge '08 experience...bringing the changes that God made in us home with us! Pray for the commitments made this last week and that God would continue to help make those changes in us reality!

Last Night in Salt Lake City

2008-07-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

It is our last night here in Salt Lake City...Challenge ends tomorrow and then we are driving to Evanston, WY around 9:30pm. Then on Friday we will be driving to Maxwell, NE at Maranatha Camp for the 4th of July.

Today's focus was on Leadership and God's call for us to be lead by Him. We also had 2 volleyball teams play this afternoon.

Day 4 On the Down Slope

2008-07-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 4 @ Challenge and we are slowly getting on the down slope of the week...not that things are getting worse but that we will be leaving here in a day or so and ready to re-enter the real world as we know it.

Pray for these last few days we have here at Challenge and the lessons, challenges and encouragement that we will be receiving. Pray for attitudes and grumpiness as everyone needs rest. Pray that what we have learned here we can bring back home with us and be different people because of what God has molded us into.

We have the volleyball tourney this afternoon.

Day 3 Recap

2008-07-01T23:10:00.001-07:00

Just an awesome day here at Challenge!

Today we found out that in order to package the 250,000 meals for the Congo & Haiti we needed to have received $43,000 in the offering last night. Well we didn't get $43,000 but $45,000! A group helped package these meals this afternoon and were able to write notes on the meals!

Also this afternoon we had a team of students and adults go to the Dream Center to help fill water balloons for a huge water balloon war on Thursday afternoon - 25,000 water balloons. But they were not ready to fill balloons yet so instead we had a chance to play with the neighborhood kids and invite them to the event on Thursday. These kids are from many different ethnic backgrounds. We met one 3 year old girl named Mary who is being raised by her 16 year old sister.

Then tonight made the day even more awesome if there is such a word. Becky Tirabassi challenged us in making our commitment to God stronger by committing the next 30 days to praying and reading God's Word consistently and living a pure lifestyle. Following the rally we had some students who wanted to spend some time as a group to pray for one another as well as for others in our group by name.

Just a great night here in Salt Lake City @ Challenge!

Day 3 Ready to Begin

2008-07-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

Another good night's sleep at least for our room....getting harder to wake the guys up and get moving in my room, not sure of others yet...I guess we will see in a few minutes when we meet to go for breakfast!

Just thought I would share some pictures here so far of our time here. Today we will be having a group do a service project this afternoon to help the new church plant in the Salt Lake City area. Yesterday our group did landscaping and yard work. Pray for J.D. Greear and Becky Tirabassi as they speak during the rallies and also to pray with us as the Prayer Army gathers at 5:42pm that would be 6:42 Quad Cities time.

Day 2 Recap

2008-06-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well today the focus for the day was on "hurting" people...and that does not mean actually hurting one another but rather seeing the needs of others that are struggling in some way.

Zach Hunter the teenage student who has lead a movement to stop slavery came to the morning Rally and shared his passion for teenagers to step up and make a difference in our world today!

We had about 8 students and 2 leaders go and help with a Service Project this afternoon while the others took advantage of the seminars and workshops here at the Convention Center.

Another cool thing that happened today was that Aaron Johnson and I took part in the Student Prayer Army that meets before our evening Rally at 5:42pm. 1,500 students and adults gathered to lift up the evening rally in prayer! So if you remember at 6:52pm each night you can join us in prayer for the evening Rallies! We are praying for 2,500 students and adults gathering in prayer each evening.

One more cool story about the Service Projects. A ministry called the Dream Center we are supporting by helping them be a place where people in the city can come and receive food, clothing, etc. Some students were pulling weeds and cleaning up around the area and a local business man stopped to see what was going on and talked with the director of the Center to hear what it was all about. Well after hearing the vision of the center the businessman wrote a check for $30,000.00! Is that God or what? It started by students being willing to serve the community we are a part of this week!

Day 2 Ready to Begin

2008-06-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

It is 7:00am and we are ready to get going this morning with breakfast and the rest of the day. Our room slept well, but I will see how the other rooms did when we meet to go over for breakfast in about 30 minutes.

Looking forward to seeing what today brings, tis afternoon we will take a group on the Ministry options and join 1,600 other students and adults in serving the community of Salt Lake City. Others may be doing recreation this afternoon.

Last night they had some technical difficulties with video equipment...pray that these distractions would not take us off focus into what God wants to do in our lives this week.

More tonight...

Challenge Day 1

2008-06-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Well we made it to Salt Lake City at about 4:30pm and got checked in, in our rooms, ate dinner and then headed over for the 1st Rally at The Salt Palace where Francis Chan spoke and challenged us with a great message on our View of God.

We are looking forward to see how God works in and through us this week. Pray for rest over the next day.

Buford, Wyoming POP. 1

2008-06-29T09:05:00.001-07:00

We are gassing up in Buford, WY population 1. ANother 6 hours until Challenge.

Challenge is right around the corner!

2008-06-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Challenge is just in 2 days! Looking forward to an awesome time with our group and what God has in store for us. For those not going below are those who will be going along with ways you can be praying for us...

On Friday, June 27th 28 students and adults will be leaving for Salt Lake City, UT for Challenge 2008! Keep this group in prayer over the next 8 days as we travel together and experience what God has for us at Challenge.

Scott Tinman
Kirk Johnson
Gwen Hanger
Lora Loete
Jannette Duhm
Alex Dailing
Cody Dailing
Katy Bradley
Michelle Marquis
Becca Marquis
Christian West
Alex West
Sara Blomquist
Liz McSparin
Kayley Miller
Adam Oles
Scott Oles
Cara Allmendinger
Christina Marquis
Ali Hawotte
Aaron Johnson
Matt Sedlak
Evan Loete
Josh Loete
Andrew Allmendinger
Micheal Bradley
Mark Beasley
David Tank

* Leaders in bold

We will be traveling with Grace EFC in Davenport and Taylorsville EFC and have a total of 69 people in our group. Marceia Duhm is also going to be at Challenge Conference as part of the EFCA Staff in Hotel Security.

Prayer Guide…

June 27 Travel Day
• Pray for our travel as we arrive @ Maranatha Bible Camp in North Platte, NE

June 28 Travel Day
• Pray for our travel as we arrive @ YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO

June 29 Travel Day and 1st Night of Challenge
• Pray for our travel to Salt Lake City.
• Pray for the 1st Challenge speaker – Francis Chan.

June 30 Challenge Day 2
• Pray for the Challenge Speakers – J. D. Greear and Jimmy Dorrell.
• Pray for unity within our group.
• Pray for the ministry projects in the Salt Lake Community that students and adults will be participating in.

July 1 Challenge Day 3
• Pray for the Challenge speakers – J.D. Greear and Becky Tirabassi

July 2 Challenge Day 4
• Pray for the Challenge Speakers – J.D. Greear and Tim Elmore

July 3 Challenge Day 5 and Travel night
• Pray as Challenge comes to a close and the decisions students and adults have made throughout the week.
• Pray for the Challenge Speakers – Greg Stier, J.D Greear and Francis Chan
• Pray as we travel following the evening rally to Evanston, WY.

July 4 Travel Day
• Pray as we travel back to Maranatha Bible Camp in North Platte, NE.

July 5 Travel Day
• Pray as we travel back to the Quad Cities.

Pray for attitudes and relationships throughout the week as we spend 8 days together and our travel times in close quarters.

Other Prayer Requests…

• Pray for the speakers to be anointed and used by God.
• Pray that God would create a hunger in students for His
• Word.
• Pray that the afternoon training would inspire and challenge
• students toward ministry and service.
• Pray for the outreach/talent ministry projects to provide a vision of how God can use students to minister. Ask God to challenge students to reproduce this type of ministry in their communities.
• Pray for last-minute details both for the conference and youth groups.
• Pray for God to begin a revival of passionate prayer in the students of the Evangelical Free Church of America nationwide.
• Pray for God to radically transform students' lives and entire youth groups.
• Finally, pray that God would be glorified and honored through everything we do at the Challenge ‘08 conference.

Survey for moving Student Impact night...

2008-06-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

I posted a survey to get feedback on the possibility of moving Student Impact's meeting night.

Currently we are meeting on Sunday nights 6pm - 8pm, but because of a monthly Pinnacle Service and holidays or special events on Sunday nights we are not able to meet on a consistent basis on Sunday nights. Sometimes we have a month where we are only able to meet 2 times as a group, so that is why we are researching the possibility of moving our night.

I realize that there is no "perfect" night, but looking for one that we can meet on a weekly basis and consistently. We need to build our community together.

So when making your vote think through the year of which night would be best. I know there may be seasons in the year that you may not be able to make it each week with school or other activities meeting at the same time.

You can also post comments here with any other feedback you may have or suggestions.

Storm Warning in the books.

2008-06-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Good night at Student Impact for our 1st night of Storm Watch talking about Storm warnings. Just like real physical storms that we face that come about without much warning, each one of us face "storms of life" without much warning.

We all will face storms and the struggle is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who walks with us through each storm that we face just like He did with the disciples in Matthew 8 & 14. He is always there for us. A good reminder for us all.

Looking forward to our next lesson from
Storm Watch on July 20th as we talk about:

In the Eye of the Storm

Student Impact for Sunday - June 22

2008-06-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we start our Storm Watch Series...

STORMS:
Have you ever woken up to thunder so loud you thought the sky really was falling? Or maybe you have listened to the wind scream as it ripped through trees and knocked over fences? Storms can be scary. In the middle of a storm, we know that we are unbelievably out of control. But while physical storms may threaten and terrify us, there are other kinds of storms in life as well. There are storms that rip apart friendships and families. Storms that meet us in a hospital room on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Storms that creep up on so subtly we never saw them coming. Storms like these often leave us asking Why God? For the next three weeks we will be talking with your child about the inevitable storms of life and how we handle them.

This week - Storm Warning!

Come check it out and bring a friend!

Challenge T-minus 7 days

2008-06-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well we will be leaving in a week for Sojourn Challenge Conference. This will be a place where we will update our journey out west and maybe even post some pictures, etc. Can't believe it has been about a year since we posted and used this thing!

We MAde it BACK!

2007-06-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

WOW...it was good to sleep in my own bed last night! We pulled into Moline at about 6pm and our 9 day trip came to an end. On Sunday night we stayed at Bethel Church in North Platte again and we were able to spend time talking with each other on what God taught us throughout the time we spent in Denver. It was good to hear from one another on what we each could take away from this experience.

I believe we have probably over 1,000 pictures between everyone from this trip, so it may be hard to make a video presentation that is less than 30 minutes...just kidding. July 11th we will be sharing our experience with First Free at 6:00pm.

Here are a few more pictures of the 1,000 or so we have...

White Water Rafting & Camping

2007-06-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today we drove to Buena Vista and went White Water Rafting at Noah's Ark...it was a blast! No one fell in and we made it in a couple of hours. We are camping at a nearby camp ground and will be leaving in the morning for North Platte, NE again.

The drive over here from Denver was awesome and we are looking forward to driving towards Colorado Springs tomorrow and visiting Garden of the Gods. Pray for our travels and our time at North Platte tomorrow as we spend the evening at a lake.

Here are some pictures from White Water Rafting...

Saturday Morning - Day 6 at BUMP

2007-06-23T06:25:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday morning and our ministry at BUMP has been completed. It has been a good week serving here in Denver with the other churches that were here...a total of 85 of us. Last night and this morning we will say our good-byes to our fellow team members from Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska (although we will be seeing the North Platters on Sunday).

Yesterday our Sports Camp went down to 3 kids but another new one that came for the 1st time. We also used our devotional time to share the Gospel with our Good News wristband and had different students explain each color. At the end we gave an invitation and Solomon made a decision to accept Christ! The other 2 said that they already had done that but continue to pray for Dominick and Raul. Also pray for Brandon who had been there all week, but couldn't come yesterday because he got grounded.

The VBS had another 40+ kids for the last day. Over the week there were about 8 kids who prayed to recieve Christ and many more seeds planted. The Service Project team finished up their jobs and said their good-byes to those they met around the church.

Yeterday's experience with Poverty Day really opened the eyes of our students as to the reality of those who struggle with this each day. We will share more about this on our report night on July 11th.

Here are some more pictures. I will also include a picture of Solomon. He is the one with the Grey and Blue Shirt...

Friday Morning - Day 5 at BUMP

2007-06-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day of ministry here at BUMP. It has been a good week of growing together as a team and meeting the needs of the communities we have been working with in Denver. Yesterday our Sports Camp doubled to 4 kids that came and the VBS had 40 kids! It has been good to get to know these kids and try to show Jesus through our actions. Matt shared the devotional yesterday about self-control and also did a great job.

Today is also "Poverty Day" which means that we will be given a Quarter each for lunch. Then put in teams of 6 and experience what it is like to try to eat on a Quarter for lunch.

Thursday Morning - Day 4 at BUMP

2007-06-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

It seems that each morning it takes a little longer to get moving and going in the morning.

Yesterday at the VBS and Sports Camp it was almost to 100 degrees by the time we got started. Water coolers and many drink breaks were planned. The first day for Sports Camp we had 2 kids come and yesterday we stayed the same except one of the 2 kids was a new kid! At VBS the first day they had 28 and yesterday they had 24 kids come but new ones too! The Service Project Team worked on staining a deck, painting and weeding a flower garden. Kirk worked with a couple of middle school kids on the garden and even got help from a homeless man. Josh led our devotion at Sports Camp on standing up for what is right and did a great job.

Tonight is our FREE night which means we can explore Denver area for dinner, etc. We are going to go to a place called Casa Bonita where they have caves, jugglers, cliff divers and traveling mariachi band.

Prayer needs...
Continue to pray for strength, rest and unity for our team. Especially as we get tired and maybe cranky.
Pray for the VBS, Sports Camps and Service Projects.
Pray for us on Friday as we experience "Poverty Day". I will share more about that later.

Again here are some pictures of our trip...

Wednesday Morning - Day 3 at BUMP

2007-06-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first day with VBS, Sports Camp and Service Projects. At VBS by the end we had about 20 kids and at Sports Camp we had 2 Middle School students. Even though the numbers were low the teams kept their enthusiasm up and didn't show discouragement. Today we are praying that more students will show up as these kids bring friends or tell their friends about the VBS and Sports Camp. Yesterday Aaron Johnson shared the devotions during Sports Camp and did a great job talking about sacrifice and how Jesus made the sacrifice for us!

The Service Project team did many different jobs around the church and helped out some neighborhood people. They kept busy the entire day and did some prayer walking as well.

We are half-way done already...wow! Pray for strength the rest of this week and enough rest for each day. Also pray ofr the RED van as we noticed a transmission leak that we just took in to be looked at this morning.

Here are some pictures from yesterday...

Tuesday Morning - Day 2 at BUMP

2007-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well, today is when we start our Sports Camps and VBS along with Service Projects working with Open Door Fellowship Church.

Yesterday, our group worked with the church and their Youth Director - Matt to get ready for their basketball and cook-out event. It turns out that Matt actually grew up in Genesco, IL and attended Wildwood Baptist Church...what a small world!

Our day began with walking the neighborhood surrounding the church and handing out flyers for the event in the evening. Then after some down time in the afternoon, we set up the parking lot with tables and chairs and prepared the food for the event. In the afternoon we had a few chances to help people from the church out by painting a wall in the youth room, moving some suitcases for an elderly woman in the neighborhood, and providing child care during a women's meeting before our cook out.

Today and for the next few days we need your prayers as we work woth the Sports Camps and VBS that God would direct us to the kids He wants at these events. Pray also for relationships to be built with these kids and that they would come back each day and even bring some of their friends.

Here are a few more pictures from our trip...

Monday Morning - Day 1 at Bump

2007-06-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone has gotten up this morning on time and ready to get started for our 1st Ministry Day in Denver. We are waiting for our morning briefing and then heading to our 2 Ministry Sites.

Pray for us as we prepare for this evenings Block Party in each site and for relationships we build with those in our neighborhoods. Tonight is when we will be inviting the kids to the VBS and Sports Camp at the Aurora Outreach Center.

I will hopefully update later tonight with some pictures, etc.

We Made It To Denver!

2007-06-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well we made it here in Denver after a couple of exciting days on the road through Iowa and Nebraska, who knew there would be such great scenery!

Here are a couple of pictrues as we stopped by the Welcome Center in Colorado and the Pony Express Trail.

We arrived in Denver at about 3:00pm and finally found the college about a 30 minute sight seeing tour:)

We went to the church that we will be working with the rest of the week for their Sunday evening service and then came back to Colorado Christian University for dinner and orientation.

We will try to update with pictures, etc as well as you can leave posts on this site or send an e-mail.