-->

WELCOME TO OFF ROAD

OFF ROAD is the Jr. High place to be! We are the Jr. High ministry here at Westgate Church in San Jose, Ca. This blog is the place to find out what is going on in OFF ROAD, what we are learning about and how to get connected. I ask that you look around, click on some links and if you have any questions contact me (drew@westgatechurch.org)
-Drew Froese (Director of Jr. High Ministries)
OFF ROAD SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday @ 6:40

OFF ROAD EVENTS

All OFF ROAD information can now be found at www.westgatechurch.org/ministries/students

SUMMER CAMP DATES- MARK YOUR CALENDAR= June 17-20

Parents: OFF ROAD is in desperate need of leaders. We are looking for people who are interested in working with a great group of adults to impact the lives of Junior Highers. If you or someone you knows would be interested in serving in this way then please email drew@westgatechurch.org.

NO OFF ROAD this Saturday

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

This Week

Dear Parents,
This week in Off Road we introduced our Advent Conspiracy series. The focus of the season that we are in is to Change from me centered to God centered. We also talked about the time of preparation for God’s coming that is found in the Advent season. The first way we focus on this Joyful Preparation is with Hope. Advent is a time to hope for the coming of Christ and to realize that we are not the center. We challenged to students to rethink their giving and receiving of gifts this year and challenged them to raise $1500 of their own money to buy pigs, wells, or other things for needy families in other countries and to take the focus from their own wants and put them on the things that God desires. We asked them to reflect on this with these questions:

What is it like waiting for the best gift you can imagine?
Can you describe what it was like when you finally received that gift?
What can you do to make Advent a time to be excited for the best gift of Jesus?
How can you refocus on the meaning for Christmas?
How can you give the gift of presence and show people you care?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

This Week #4-9

This week in OFF ROAD was our second part of our “Rethink Worship” series, exploring why we worship and how we are to worship. The “why?” was answered last week in that God says that we should and that God is the only one who truly deserves it. This week, in exploring the “how?” we looked into John 4, focusing on Jesus’ statement in verse 24. Here Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman who doesn’t understand the difference of worship rituals of the Jews and Samaritan. Jesus clarifies that the old rules of worship (through Jewish rituals God commanded prior to Jesus) will soon not be the standard of true worship. Instead, true worship will happen when you engage in worship in spirit and in truth. This idea is one of giving yourself to God, giving Him your full self, not ritualistic acts that don’t have any truth of worship behind them. We must do the same. In worship (which we established last week is not just singing) we must truthfully engage ourselves in giving ourselves to God. Worship is not about us, it is all about God and to truly worship we must come to God at this level, in spirit and in truth.

• Have you ever experienced an amazing time of worship? What made it amazing?
• What does it mean to worship God in spirit? In truth?
• What can you do to help you always worship God in spirit and in truth?
• What are ways you can give yourself completely to God, making your worship all about HIM?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

This Week

This Week we began our three week series titled, “Rethink Worship,” discovering what worship is and why we do it. The goal of this series is to help student really realize the importance that worship plays in our walk with Christ, that worship is so much more than singing, and that our God deserves more worship than we can give Him. In the first lesson we answered the questions, “What is worship?” and “Why worship?” In the bible the word worship actually has very different meanings depend including service sacrifice, submission, reverence, professing faith, praising God, thanking God, and proclaiming truth. When we look at these definitions it becomes clear that worshiping God can happen all the time through the way we live, not just when we sing. We need to understand that worship is physical, mental and spiritual and we need to engage in worship in each of these ways. To answer the question, “Why worship?” we look to Luke 4 and Hebrews 12:26-29. In the former verse Jesus is tempted to worship the devil, but references God’s command to worship Him only. So the first reason we should worship God is because he tells us to. There are a lot of things to worship, but the only thing we should be worshiping is God. In Hebrews it speaks of God’s kingdom that will not be shaken and that our God is a “consuming fire” and because of that we should worship God. God’s great power and authority should give him enough reason to be continually worshiped. He is the only one that DESERVES our worship.

• What is worship?
• What are some ways that you can worship God every day? With your parents? Siblings? Those at school?
• Why is worship so important?
• How might this new view of worship (not just singing) change the way you worship?

OFF ROAD Calendar

Saturday Night Kickoff