Message from Ben!!!

Dear Parents,

This is Ben Wahlman, the new Student Pastor at CONCORD. It is an honor to be given the opportunity to work in the lives of you and your children. I am excited to get to know all of you as we continue to work together. I wanted to take a moment and tell you how we are structuring CSM, our plans for the next month and any upcoming events in the near future.

First of all, I want to say it has been a blast getting to know your kids each Sunday and Wednesday. I am still trying to work on remembering all the names; I think I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel! As many of you may know, the new vision of CSM is that our students would KNOW God, OWN their faith and make their faith KNOWN. We really want to walk them through these three areas of growth throughout their seven years in CSM. Each of these three areas will greatly shape the structure of our programs and events. Everything that we do must fall into one of these three areas of growth. Our hope is that when students leave for college, they will have a healthy understanding of Christ and a mature relationship with Him.

With that in mind, our weekly programs are going to be changing soon. Starting this Sunday morning we are kicking of what we call circle groups. Each student will have the opportunity to choose which circle to sit at each week. Each table will be led by a leader with a set of questions for the students to walk through together. This will give our students an opportunity to discuss and work through Scriptural passages together.

Starting November 6th, we are going to launch our Sunday Night High School program. Our Middle School students will still be meeting on Wednesday nights. I feel that it is wise for us to split up the high school from the middle school for two reasons. One, there is a big maturity gap between middle and high school students. Second, many high school students have sports, work, activities and homework that keep them from being able to attend a Wednesday night event. This will hopefullygive our students more opportunity to attend, as well as grow deeper and befurther challenged.

By the beginning of January we are going to launch our CSM Life Groups. Our Life Groups provide an environment that is safe for them to discuss anything. The groups will be same gender and close in age. The group time will be led by at least two leaders through a guided discussion time. Hopefully, through these relationships, the students will begin to understand what Godly relationships look like and how they can challenge one another to live for Christ. I am excited for the programming changes and how it will allow us to have a larger impact on the lives of the students.

Besides driving your children, how does this affect you as parents? As parents you are the primary disciplers in the lives of your children, as stated in Deut. 6. “…You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise…”. In view of this, it is my desire to partner with you and make sure that you are continually equipped to disciple your children. In this monthly parent letter I will keep you updated about everything that we are talking to your children about so that you can ask them and walk through each topic with them. It would be amazing to hear of how you all are using these topics in your weekly devotions with them or showing them practically how these topics can be lived out.

For the month of October we are going to be studying the book of James in a series called Counter Cultural. Here are the dates and the topic/passage we will be studying:

SUNDAY WEDNESDAY
10/2 – James 1:2-8, 12-18 (Trials) 10/5 – James 1:19-27 (Hear vs. Do)
10/9 – James 2:1-13 (Favorites) 10/12 – James 2:14-26 (Obedience)
10/16 – James 3:1-12 (Words) 10/19 – James 4:1-12 (Allegiance)
10/23 – James 4:13-17 (Living for tomorrow) 10/26 – HOEDOWN!!
10/30 – James 5:7-12 (Patience) 11/2 – James 5:13-20 (Prayer)

Hopefully this will give you a good opportunity to discuss with your child what they are learning each week at CSM. As well as keeping your students from answering one word answers like, “good”, “fine” or “cool”.

During the month of October, we are having a very near and dear event to my heart, the Hoedown! On October 26th we are going to start early at 6:00 pm and go until 8:00 pm. This will be a night where the students can come, invite friends andhave a good time through goofy hillbilly games, square dancing and worship around a bonfire. I think this will be a good chance for us to break away from our typical Wednesday evening night and relax in a non-threatening environment.

On October 23rd, we are going to be having our first CSM Leader meeting. This will be for all current and potential leaders. If you are interested in being involved in some way, shape or form in CSM you do not want to miss out on this meeting. We will be going over everything that you will need to get started! Not only that, but we will be providing you with free food! Who can say no to that?!

Looking ahead, in December we have marked the 11th and the 14th for the High School and Middle School Christmas parties respectively. As we get closer to each event, we will have more information and flyers on each.

Phew! I think we got it all. I know that this is a lot, but I wanted to make sure that I was able to cover most of the questions that many of you may have. Now don’t worry, each month after this should be shorter! Again, I want to thank all of you for all of your help and support that you have shown me thus far. I am very excited about what is next for us at CSM and seeing God move in the lives of your children!

If you have any questions, do not hesitate tocall the office or email me, ben@concordlife.com
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Ben Wahlman
Student Pastor
CONCORD…a church for everyone!
314.843.3500 ext. 233
www.concordlife.com