Ministry Update!

Welcome Back!

Thanks for taking some time to read my ministry update. September was a busy month full of exciting things! I've been looking forward to updating you all on everything I've been up to.

CTF Nights

    Our CTF Nights have been going really well. Not only have our students been showing up and engaging, but a lot of them have been bringing their friends! I think this last week we had about twice the number of students at CTF than we did at our kick off in August. 
    On our Wednesday nights we've been continuing in our series on Growing in Godliness. This sermon series is based off 2 Peter 1:3-11. The passage says, "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

    Over the last couple months we've been preaching on what it means to know God, what the Good News of Jesus means, how to escape the corruption of the world, and supplementing our faith with moral excellence and knowledge. Our students have seemed to be really engaging with this sermon series! We take one Wednesday night a month to do what we call JT Groups. JT stands for "Jesus Together", and we split up into small, gender and age specific groups to discuss our sermons more in depth. In our JT's last month we reflected on the sermon about escaping the corruption of the world. It was really neat to get to hear some of the guys open up about their struggles and talk about how we can fight the temptations of the world. Please continue to pray for our Wednesday nights!

CTF Plus!

    One of the things we wanted to offer to our students this year is the opportunity to pursue their faith, take ownership of CTF, and learn more about life and ministry. What we came up with is CTF Plus. It's a co-ed group of Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors that meets every other week to do "just a little more CTF". Our first couple meetings have been so good! In our first meeting I asked some of the students what kinds of topics they'd like to talk about throughout the year. Some of the ideas they came up with were: how to date wisely, having spiritual conversations with non-Christians, how to manage time well, and how to discern God's will. I've got my work cut out for me! Seriously, these teens are amazing and I'm so excited for what God is going to do through our Plus meetings.

Youth Leader Cookout

    Last week, we got to have a cookout with some of our Youth Leaders! These people are the backbone of our ministry. They choose to spend their free time coming to CTF Nights, meeting with students, and doing whatever else they can to serve our ministry. They're amazing people, and we're so blessed to have them as our leaders. We haven't been able to meet up as a team since Covid-19 hit, so this cookout was a blast. It was so refreshing to get to spend time together, share both good news and struggles from our ministry, and encourage one another. I'm so thankful for this crew. We really love our Youth Leaders!

Classes

    Our apprentice classes are going strong! These classes have quickly become one of my favorite things about this apprenticeship. One of our teachers recently reminded us that our readings and classes are arguably the most important thing that we do this year because they equip us for a lifetime of ministry. I've already seen how the things we've learned in class serve to make us better ministers. 

    After we finished reading the minor prophets in our Old Testament class, we were given an assignment to write our own prophecy. I chose to write mine to young people in general, from the perspective of a father. I want to share it with you.  

    “Oh child, my child, where can true life be found? 

Is it found in your textbooks, where you spend so many hours?

What is it that you seek? Good grades, for a good college, for a good job, for good money, for an easy life, and a wealthy death? Is true life found there?

Is it found in your sports? In moments of glory? Is it found when you sacrifice your hours, days, weeks, months, and years to play a game? Is true life found in the game? Or even in the victory? 

Is it found in the business? In the juggling of so many responsibilities? Maybe life can be found when you go to school, work, play your sports, lead your clubs, volunteer, and can handle it all without falling apart. Can life really be found in success?”

“Oh child, my child, where can true life be found?

Is it found at the party? Amidst the crowd of so many. Is it found in the drink or the drug that feels good? Is it found in the beat that everyone’s dancing to? Or that boy or that girl that’s looking at you? Is that where true life is?

Is it found in that phone that you hold so tightly? The screen that you check every five to ten seconds. That you reach towards for comfort when there’s a lull in conversation. Is that where life is found? Maybe it’s the likes and the comments you receive. The funny videos you watch. The people you’re talking to. Can life really be found in approval? In popularity? What about comfort? Or entertainment?”

“Oh child, my child, where can true life be found?

Is it found in the boxes you check? In the timecard you punch? It’s nice to see you for an hour on Wednesdays! Sometimes Sundays too! But why is that the only time I hear from you? Maybe life can be found in the following of rules. You’re not as bad as ‘those people’, right? After all, you’ve been in church your whole life! You know the answers, and you’ve read the book. You can put on a really good show, because you know people look. But tell me, my child, can life really be found there?”

This is what the Lord says:

“My child, whom I love, don’t rush out the door! Don’t you know that I love to be with you? Come and talk with me for a while. Don’t you know that my yoke is easy and my burden is light? Come and rest with me. Don’t you know that I care about your struggles and hurts? Come and share them with me. Don’t you know that nothing can separate you from my love? Come and be loved by me. Don’t you know that I care about what you need? Come and find peace in me. Don’t you know that I will lead you into greener pastures?  Come and walk with me. Don’t you know that I have true life? Come and find it in me.”

  One of my continual prayers is that God would move powerfully in the hearts and minds of young people so that they will know that true life is only found in Jesus (John 14:6). Please continue to pray for our ministry, for our students, and for our staff as we continue to do everything we can to help these young people get to know who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him. Thank you guys for your support and for your prayers. 

Love y'all!

William Royal