OUR FALL SEMESTER OF YOUTH ACTIVITIES begins this week, and I am excited to begin another year with our students. A new school year is always a new beginning in youth ministry, and I am looking forward to spending time with our upperclassmen and getting to know our incoming middle schoolers. If you have never been a part of our youth program and would like to get involved, there's no better time than now to grab a calendar, follow us on social media, and join right in!

OUR YOUNG MEN DID A FANTASTIC JOBleading our worship service this past Sunday morning. It always makes a youth minister proud to see young men who were a part of the youth group growing up continuing to serve and lead the church in the future. Matthew and Cissy do a great job with the YAMs and I am proud of the many great young people we have involved here in Centerville.

FIX THE CABINET. MOW THE LAWN. CLEAN THE HOUSE.It seems as if there's a growing list of things to always do around the house. Our responsibilities as Christians can sometimes feel the same way: Read the Bible. Attend services. Serve others. When following Jesus is viewed in this way, however, our closeness with him can get lost. Jesus calls us to a relationship as well as to responsibility. When you spend time with God, is it to merely check off your daily to-do list? Or do you submit yourself to God in order to be taught by him so that you can live like Him? I challenge you this week to make sure you spend time with our Heavenly Father daily (Mark 3:13-15). Have a great week!

In Him, Carter