Orphan Sunday

Youth Harvest Paintball Trip

On Friday, November 19th, the youth of Mt. Auburn will be leaving for fun and festivities at Valley Branch Retreat, located in Nashville, Indiana. Activities will include outdoor paintball, 30 miles of mountain biking trails, fishing and canoeing. This is truly a wonderful time of fun & fellowship!
Cost: $50
What to Bring: Mt. Auburn Permission slip
http://www.mtauburnumc.org/forms/parentalconsent.pdf
Paintball Waiver: http://www.paintballvalley.com/
Sleeping bag,Pillow, Toiletries (Yes, there are bathrooms with showers!), Clothes you don’t mind getting paint on
, Warm jackets for cool nights and layered clothing for warmer days, Bible
, Bicycle (optional, if you want to mountain bike) Helmet (required if going mountain biking), Fishing Pole and tackle (optional)

Man Up: Teach the Young

On average 4,000 churches die and close their doors every year in the United States. 80% of remaining churches are plateaued and declining, while more and more young people between the ages of 18-35 are not returing to church like the previous generation. To put it simply, the Church in America is NOT doing well reaching the next generation. But the question is... why? Is God giving up on the American church or is the church simply giving up on reaching America?

30 Hour Famine

For the past 4 years the youth group at Mt. Auburn (a group of about 30) have participated in an event called the 30 Hour Famine. This event is hosted by a Christian organization called World Vision and the purpose is to raise money to feed the hungry and starving children of the world. World Vision has relief stations posted in impoverished countries all over the world. They are a source of hope and relief to families and children whose lives are threatened by malnutrition, severe famine, war, and diseases like HIV/AIDS.

It is our goal to raise $8000 this year. World Vision has several matching grants, which will multiply our $8000 into $40,000! That is a huge impact just from 30 kids!

$30 is enough to feed ONE child for an entire month!

Would you consider donating $30, $60, or $90 to this cause?
You can make tax deductible checks payable to World Vision, and simply mail the check to Mt. Auburn UMC: Attn: World Vision. 3100 W. Stonescrossing Rd. Greenwood, IN 46143 by August 25th, or just drop off your donation at the church office.

If you are attending the Famine, Here are some things you need to know.

The Famine begins Friday afternoon after your school lunch. We are going to try to make it as close to the full 30 hours as possible.

Then you need to be at the church approximately by 4:30 (or a little later) to begin building your home for the night.

WE WILL BE SLEEPING IN OUR CARDBOARD CITY ON FRIDAY NIGHT

What to bring?

-Bible
-Sleeping bag
-Change of clothes
-work gloves
-sun screen
-Parental consent: http://www.mtauburnumc.org/ministries/youth/index.php


We will be doing work projects off site on Saturday, but will return to Mt. Auburn around 2:30pm. Finally, we "break-fast" at 6:00pm on saturday evening and share a meal together.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Make it a great week!!!

Travis
For More information call Travis Taylor: 535-8555 x1352
Thank you for helping us build a better world for children.

Christ: The Source of Our Love and Joy

Mia is often the source of my Love and Joy!

I am ashamed to admit it, but there are times that I don't seem to receive a lot of joy from my relationship with Jesus Christ. I can be happy; I can be joyful, but often this joy is found in other things, NOT Jesus. As many of you know, (and can probably relate to) my life is busy! I go to school, go to church, make time to stay home to be with my wife and daughter, do my best to take care of my mother, be a good brother, neighbor, friend, etc. Sadly, joy itself is often simply an afterthought to a complex and structured schedule. Joy in Jesus Christ is seldom thought of at all. Lately I have had to regroup, gather my thoughts and reset some priorities.

Why do I live life the way I do? Why do I believe the way I choose to? Does my faith in Jesus truly bring me joy, or does my faith stem from a sense of responsibility or duty? Do I find true Joy in Jesus; does He truly make me happy? I recently read a quote from C.S. Lewis...

“the perfect man would never act from a sense of duty. He’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only substitute for love, of God or of people. It is like a crutch, which is a substitute for a leg. Now, most of us need a crutch at times. But it would be idiotic to use the crutch, when our own legs, or in this case our own loves, tastes, desires and habits can make the journey on there own.”

I think I often walk through life on crutches! Where is my joy?

Sometimes I get so busy doing what I think a "good Christian" should do, that I forget that I'm commanded to "do everything in love" -1 Corinthians 16:14

Love is what we as Christians are to be known for!

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
-John 13:34-35

Often in my Christian life, joy has taken a backseat to hard work and responsibility. However, I see now more than ever that activity not firmly rooted to joy in Christ, is no Christian life at all! No matter how hard I work, no matter how much I give, no matter how many homeless I feed, orphans I adopt or children I sponsor, if I am not compelled to act through Christ's love out of love, then I do it all for nothing!