The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: Chasing Love
January 14, 2024
Dear LEFC Parents,
As you lead your family in following Jesus into 2024, here are some items to keep in mind:
Coming Soon: “Chasing Love” – Bible Study for Teens
Keith Hurley has prepared another class for the youth of our church. Chasing Love: Sex, Love, and Relationships in a Confused Culture will start on January 28th and run for 9 weeks on Sunday evenings at 7pm in the upstairs Youth Room. Parents are welcome and invited to participate, too.
Summer Camp at Miracle Mountain Ranch
If you want the best discount, now’s the time to register for camp. Talk to Marilynn Kristofits about the cost, deadlines, and details.
Adventures in Odyssey’s 1,000th Episode
Focus on the Family’s radio program, “Adventures in Odyssey,” one of Holly’s most beloved resources, is set to air their 1,000th episode later this year.
New Leaders in Family Ministries
Holly Crumrine, Jordyn Skacel, and Vicky Albert have begun serving as the Interim Family Ministries Leadership Team while we continue our search for a part-time Director of Family Ministry. If you have questions, ideas, or concerns about ministry to children, youth, and parents, please see one of them.
The Gospel Project at Home
Today’s Bible Study is “The Holy Spirit Came” (Volume 10: Unit 29: Session 3). Ask your kids what they learned in Kids Bible Class this morning and/or do the family devotional you can find at this link.
Challenge Conference – Registration Is Open!
Registration has begun for the 2024 Challenge Conference, July 1-5 in Kansas City. We’d love to send another group from LEFC. To do that we need interested youth (grades 7-12) and willing adult leaders. Cody and Holly Crumrine are the ones to talk to.
Snack and Yack
When the auditorium empties after worship, girls and boys (grades 3ish-7ish) who listened to the sermon (remember to fill out a handout!) are invited to Pastor Matt’s office for a tasty treat and a brief discussion with one of the LEFC elders and their wives (and sometimes guest preachers?!) about the message.
And for dessert…
Our recommended resource for family discipleship this week is the book our youth are going to study this winter in their new class.
“The music we listen to, the movies we watch—they’re all telling us to keep chasing love, and that we’ll finally be happy when we find it.
But is love really all we need?
The love that the world tells us to pursue is all about self, about following your heart’s desires. But what is the Christian worldview on love? When we follow Jesus, we realize that he invites us to reorient the focus of our lives, so instead of chasing love primarily for our own happiness, we are first and foremost to give love—to God and to others.
In Chasing Love, Sean McDowell will invite readers into Jesus’ radical, upside-down approach to love, and in doing so, he’ll answer some of the toughest questions we’re asking about love today.”
Keith Hurley is looking forward to teaching through 9 lessons condensed from the 30 chapters in McDowell’s book. Pray for Keith as he prepares to teach our youth!
Table of Contents and Sample Chapter
Q&A with the Author
More About the Bible Study
Podcast Interview with the Author
A book review including strengths and weaknesses
Keith will have copies of the book and the teen study guide available at the first group meeting on January 28th. We hope it starts lots of fruitful conversations with our young people about pursuing God’s gift of love according to God’s wise design and under His loving grace.
Matt Mitchell, Pastor
Holly Crumrine, Family Table Editor
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EXPLAINER: THE GOSPEL PROJECT AT HOME
For the last several years, our Children’s Church ministry has utilized The Gospel Project as our Bible study curriculum. The Gospel Project is really excellent–it takes our Little Learners and Bible Explorers chronologically through the whole Bible over the course of three years while always focusing on Jesus as the center of the big story. If your student was in Little Learners or Bible Explorers this morning, they received a coloring page and take-home sheet that corresponds to this lesson. You have also been given a full-color Big Picture Card that you can use to reinforce the lesson with your child, as well.
To reinforce what your kids are learning each week in Children’s Church, you can now access The Gospel Project At Home online. Each week in this email, there will be a link to follow to get this free resource which includes:
1. A guide to using the Gospel Project at Home.
2. Scripture to read and discuss with a recap video of the Bible Story (Preschool and/or Elementary).
3. Scripture memory verses and a song to sing together.
4. Prayer prompts and family activities that correspond to the lesson.
Please consider setting aside at least 10-15 minutes once a week for a family devotional time using this resource as a guide. We are hoping The Gospel Project At Home will help keep all of our LEFC kids “on the same page,” and feed their faith in Jesus.
This might be especially helpful if for some reason your child has to miss a week of Children’s Church. You can show them the Bible story video to keep them up to speed on what the other children are learning.
**Note: The first time you access the link, you will need to register a free account with Lifeway’s Ministry Grid. This will also provide you ongoing access through the “training” tab to many other discipleship resources including the Gospel Project at Home for previous weeks. Many hours of excellent things to absorb for free!