Faith: On the Field and Off<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe subtitle was a marvelous summary of Faith Christian School’s approach to athletics, “IHSAA membership a big step, but path hasn’t changed.”\u00a0 Several Faith students were quoted in the article including Maggie Wetzel who said, “I think athletics is another way to show people how we are striving to be more like Christ, and it is also a way to show people that we’re not hiding ourselves away in this little Christian school.” \u00a0Exactly.\u00a0 There are several lessons that come from rejoicing in young people like this who are willing to take such vocal stands for Jesus in our community.<\/p>\n
Do not underestimate what teens are willing to do for God.<\/h2>\n
Sometimes I wonder if churches believe today’s teens are not willing to make serious commitments to Christ.\u00a0 That wrong belief could lead to an approach to youth ministry that is focused on entertainment and shallow doses of biblical truth.\u00a0 These illustrations would suggest that some of today’s teens are ready to embrace a godly lifestyle and speak openly for Him.\u00a0 Another Faith student, John Spykman, was quoted in Sunday’s paper as saying; “The education we receive is Christ-centered, and all the teachers care, which I know is also prevalent in public schools.\u00a0 Here we have teachers who would say, ‘Hey, how’s it going? What’s going on in your life?\u00a0 How’s your family?’\u00a0 You develop closer relationships because of the class size and the teachers.\u00a0 We all share that we’re in the common bond of Christ.”<\/p>\n
Encourage parents, teachers and coaches as they work with today’s youth.<\/h2>\n
Young people like Janelle, Maggie, and John do not happen automatically.\u00a0 God uses parents and other faithful, sacrificial adults to teach and model truth.\u00a0 We should regularly pray for their efforts and encourage them in every way we can.\u00a0 Faith Church and Christian School has hundreds and hundreds of adults who are directly working with young people in a mission centered fashion.\u00a0 One example is Tom Bennett, Faith’s Athletic Director.\u00a0 He was quoted in the paper as saying, “The agenda I just went through with my fall coaches, we hardly talked about (winning), because I know our coaches understand how to have on-field, on-court success.\u00a0 The biggest thing I’ve talked to our coaches about is, do you have a pro-active spiritual plan?”\u00a0 Adults like that are a gift from the Lord.<\/p>\n
Be thankful for secular entities that are open to promoting godliness in teens.<\/h2>\n
I am thankful for public schools that will allow students to pray openly with one another.\u00a0 We should applaud their openness and tolerance of religious activity on the part of their students.\u00a0 We should be equally thankful for local media outlets who would publish an article like the one on Sunday’s front page.\u00a0 The writer, Nathan Baird, carefully listened to our students and staff and told the story honestly and forthrightly.\u00a0 In the process, Christ was exalted by a group of teens willing to use the platform of sports to make a difference.<\/p>\n
Junior Mariel Netherton’s quote was used to conclude the article.\u00a0 She said, “We want to win.\u00a0 We want to be competitive.\u00a0 We want to have good programs and stuff.\u00a0 But it’s only for this life.\u00a0 From our perspective, we have eternity in mind, so that takes precedence.\u00a0 We want to be competitive; we want to honor God in that way, to try our hardest.\u00a0 But we also want to be a witness, because that’s what really counts.\u00a0 That’s what really matters in the end.”<\/p>\n
Can you believe it?\u00a0 Teenagers thinking about life with “eternity in mind.”\u00a0 There’s something worth investing in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This past week I was reminded on two separate occasions of the importance of investing resources into the lives of the children and teens of our church.\u00a0 The first was when I received a picture of Janelle Rosenbarger, a senior at Benton Central High School who runs on the cross country team there.\u00a0 She and… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[229,4398,7317],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Teens Make Great Choices - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Teens Make Great Choices - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past week I was reminded on two separate occasions of the importance of investing resources into the lives of the children and teens of our church.\u00a0 The first was when I received a picture of Janelle Rosenbarger, a senior at Benton Central High School who runs on the cross country team there.\u00a0 She and... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-21T14:11:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133619\/prayer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/\",\"name\":\"When Teens Make Great Choices - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-21T14:11:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/when-teens-make-great-choices\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Teens Make Great Choices\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\",\"name\":\"Steve Viars\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Steve Viars\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. 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