WARNING - BIG WEEKEND AHEAD

Hey all!!!

We're gearing up for a big weekend around High Tide this weekend and you're not going to want to miss any of it!

First, this Wednesday night is worship at Cypress Meadows. Come join your peers in an extended time of music, communion, and God's Word!

Second, if you're on the Student Action Team you need to be at Studio 4:12 THIS Saturday from 1-4 pm and if you haven't done your Strengths Inventory but would like to you need to overnight your book from http://www.amazon.com/Living-Your-Strengths-God-Given-Community/dp/1595620028/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253647554&sr=8-1!

Third, this weekend is HARBOR SOUNDS. This is a Safety Harbor street festival where we'll have a booth down by the Marina for face painting, balloon making, and passing out invites to the current Cypress series! If you would like to volunteer in the booth please call Alana at 727-725-4570!!

Lastly, AND MOST IMPORTANT, this Sunday night from 6:30-8 is our Fall Open House Party called "Above Ground Pool Party" and just like the name suggest we'll be doing all kinds of very cool things that you'd usually find in a pool - except we don't have a pool. This is YOUR time to invite YOUR friends so they can experience the fun and community YOU experience in High Tide on a regular basis!! Get out there and INVITE, INVITE, INVITE!!

Parents @ Cypress

When it comes to influencing children and students there's no question who has the greatest opportunity. Hands down, every time, its the family.

On average, a church has about 40 hours in one year to influence a life.

Families on the other hand have about 3,000 hours to influence that same person.

Based on this finding Reggie Joiner and the ReThink group are doing some great work in transforming the way that church and family partner to make the biggest impact on the next generation.

Here are some of their thoughts from the book "Think Orange" from chapter two: The Family...

Most parents can't give their children a lavish inheritance, but every parent will leave a personal legacy.

However, with the excess that surrounds most Americans, a lot of families get sidetracked from what really matters. We become so preoccupied with giving kids an inheritance that we forget the significance of leaving a legacy.

Even though most parents genuinely believe their jobs aren't to make their children happy, they often get worn down and give in. In my pursuit of what I thought would make my kids happy, I threatened what makes them come alive.

(When this happens) families run the risk of becoming relationally poor in their pursuit of becoming experimentally rich.

We need to stay focused on what's important, what will last so I sat down and made a list of the things I wanted to remember so I could stay focused.

• What matters more than anything is that my kids have an authentic relationship with God.

• All my children need to know I will never stop pursuing them or fighting for a right relationship with them.


• My personal relationship with God and with my wife affects them more than I realize.


• Just being together can never substitute for interacting together in a healthy way.


• A mother and father are not the only adult influences my children need.

After I wrote these phrases and reread them, I realized a common thread ties them together: They are connected by the value of relationships. They are matters of the heart.

The family's role is to love and demonstrate God's character through an unconditional relationship.

But there's something that bothers me...A lot of Christian parenting books I have read start with the premise that there is an ideal mom or dad. These superparents conduct morning devotions, pray together every night, play contemporary Christian music, put framed verses on their walls, stay neatly within their biblical roles as husband and wife, vote conservatively, and attend church every week, where they give ten percent of their income.

I am not dismissing religious parents...but I just can't find any paragons of parenting in Scripture...

My point is this: Parenting is hard. Families are messy. There are no clear biblical examples. Anyone who claims they have discovered the secret to effective parenting is probably covering something up, just had a baby, or recently graduated from Bible college with a degree in youth ministry.

The New Testament suggests that every husband, wife, and child has a unique role in portraying God's love to each other. The family exists, even in its imperfection, to display the heart of God to every generation.

Check back tomorrow for the top 5 family values we must keep in focus as we influence the next generation together.

9.13.2009 Announcements

Battlefield

Yesterday was a big day in Cypress Student Ministries. It was the last Sunday of summer. The last Sunday before school starts. The last Sunday our students didn't have to worry about rushing home to finish up all the homework they forgot to do the entire weekend.

It was also a very bittersweet Sunday for a couple of our students that will be leaving for college this week.

So, naturally we focused in on this very big time of change during our programming yesterday. Here's what I learned...

An surprisingly large number of our students confessed that school feels more like a "battlefield" than a positive environment. The majority of students I surveyed said they're not really excited about school to start so much as they are bracing for the unwelcome blow that would surely come. If not this week, shortly thereafter.

I was shocked. I know that there is a small percentage of students that find themselves on the bottom of the social pyramid who are subjected to bullying and unfair treatment in school but most of our kids?

The athletic kids?

The popular kids?

The smart kids?

The outgoing kids?

Student after student I spoke with said, "yes". And the minefield looks different to each of them. For some it is bullying but for others it might be gossip, judgment, pressure to perform, pettiness, staring, hating what you see in the mirror, competition, or speech class or 101 other things.

My heart broke for these students. Your students. My students.

So the challenge was this: instead of walking down the halls or campuses of your schools paralysed by the mines that lay in your path, look up. Look around you. Look up out of your pain and look into the eyes of another's. And ask yourself this question: is it possible to form an alliance with the students God has placed in my path so that we can fight this battle together, on the same side? Is it possible that instead of seeing school as a battlefield God is asking me to see it as an opportunity to allow the light of his unconditional love to shine through me to make this school a brighter place?

And remember the promises in Matthew 5 for those of you that take God up on this challenge...

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Sunday Night Rewind

Thanks for coming out on Sunday night and inviting your friends. If you were there then you know we had a BLAST. Beginning with the hilarious youtube footage that The Chuckah brought to our attention (that's why you gotta get there early), to The Chuckah scoring a goal by actually falling into the goal, to The Chuckah sharing a heartfelt story and impassioned plea to all of us to continually seek out the God that creates beauty from very ugly situations like the front side of a tapestry.

If you weren't there you're not going to want to miss out any longer because we're gearing up for an awesome year as school starts back up. We've launched our new Student Action Team that will begin meeting this Sunday to think up some awesome ministry plans for this year AND we're planning a trip to Kenya, Africa. Can it get any more exciting than that??

Remember: bring your cash next week because we'll be launching the sale of small sugary items to snack on during youth group PLUS the soda cooler will be full!

Team Building 8.15.2009

Last Saturday morning a group of High Tiders took a trip out to Trinity to a ropes course there to work on team building but ended up with so much more;) We had an AWESOME facilitator and I was super proud of everyone that participated...see the pics below...

What is IT?

Over the last few weeks our Senior Pastor Douglas Poole has been bombarding us with emails, mailings, and posters all over campus with the word "IT" all over the place.

But what is the "IT" he's so excited about?

Why is "IT" the only thing he can seem to talk about these days?

Because, we believe, the only way we can be a church that reaches our community with the love of Christ and raise up fully devoted followers within our walls is to be full of "IT"! Whatever that quality is that excites people about the things of God. Whatever that thing is that makes people hungry to know more about living a life of purpose and vision!

So, we're going to attempt together to understand what its going to take to get "IT" together as a community!

This includes YOU, the parents and students of our church!

On Sunday, August 16th we're going to be launching the Sunday morning series called "IT".

On Sunday, August 23rd and 30th there will be an opportunity to sit back over a cup of coffee with Pastor Poole and chat about how Cypress will be pursuing IT for the next 18 months.

Please make every effort to attend one of these vision-sharing gatherings!! Students - I will be looking for you to lead the church in this movement. I am excited to see all of you sitting up front ready to get engaged in leading the adults toward "IT"!

Make the 23rd or 30th on your calendar today!