FIRST CHURCH YOUTH

Our mission is to reach the youth today develop an authentic relationship with Christ by knowing, experiencing, studying, and sharing God with their world to affect the kingdom tomorrow. And our vision is for every one of our youth to be:
POSITIVE that God loves them and that He has a good plan and purpose for their lives
PERSUADED that God’s way really is the best way
PASSIONATE for Jesus Christ, for His church, for the needy, and for the lost
PREPARED for life, for relationships, for service, and for leadership

CROSSROADS YG MEET TIME

The Crossroads YG meets on a regular schedule for fun, faith, and fellowship. If you are in High School, feel free to drop by and join us as we celebrate what God has done for us through a variety of activities, events, and service projects.

We meet on the First and Third Friday nights of each month from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
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WHY AM I FEELING LIKE THIS?

A Teen’s Guide to Freedom from Anxiety & Depression
Freedom! We long for it and love it. At last, free to be and do what we want. That's the teen years, right?
Our first car, our first job, our first date, our first road trip. These wonderful moments of increasing independence that we experience in our teen years as our parents gradually release us from their supervision. Freedom is so amazing, right? We can’t get enough of it, and we can't get it early enough.
But for some of us, our teen years are the opposite of freedom. These are years of increasing bondage. It's not that an outside force like our parents or teachers imprisons us. No, it's an inside force that restricts us. Our own thoughts and feelings hold us captive, and we can't break free from them.
Anxiety and depression lock us up and cast us down. This series of videos is designed to help us free form the claws of anxiety and depression that hold us back from being the person God has called us to be. Click on the button below to enter into this discussion with Pastor Jonathan. And, be free indeed!

THE OVERFLOWING LIFE

Chapter 11 Viewpoint
We can either have a life that is repetitive, loveless, and cheap, or we can invite Christ into our lives and have a fruit-filled life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the fruit that the Holy Spirit gives to us and helps us grow in Jesus Christ. They are the fruit that helps others see that there is something different in you and me. How do you see the fruit growing in you? The good news is that people who are rooted in Jesus bring true benefit to the world in showing the fruit of Christ into the world.

IF you can contain jesus…

Chapter 10 Viewpoint
Christianity began small but exploded onto the world map. It was spreading so rapidly that the Roman government tried to stop the spread. The Apostle Paul, who was known at the time as Saul, was part of the plan to wipe out the followers of Jesus so that the message of the Risen Lord would not go world-wide. But it has. Our faith is not to be contained in jars of clay, it is to explode out into the world. We do this by showing the love of Christ in our words and actions. There is a list of things in the book that you can do to spread the love of God. Do one or more!

SCARS THAT BECOME BEAUTY

​MARKS

Chapter 9 Viewpoint
Faith in the way of Jesus embraces the concept of woundedness. Jesus took sin and pain and hurt upon himself, and now proudly bears the wounds for us to see. The Bible is reich with stories of people whose scars were turned into beauty marks by God. It's by the scars upon Jesus that we are healed, that we can find beauty, that we can see the goodness of God in all the wounds that have happened to us.

WITHstanding winds

Chapter 8 Viewpoint
Many people would like to live a rooted life but find the pressures of keeping Jesus at the center of their lives to be agonizing. It seems to them that it would be easier to just get knocked over. Paul encourages us to stand firm, to not only stand but start living out the Christian (follower of Jesus) life that we've been taught. When storms come and our roots grow down into Jesus, then we can bend with the storm winds and remain in tact. But without Christ, we could be utterly demolished or in some respects un-repairable. Check out my thoughts on this Chapter in the video.

standing strong in the truth

Chapter 7 Viewpoint
ChWhen we follow Jesus, when we seek to find out His ways in our life, we build a strong faith. It becomes our faith, we own it and not our parents, grandparents, pastors, or friends. Our faith in Jesus is our belief in Him as our Savior and our need for Him grows. No other person, no other place, no other thing, and no other idea should ever serve as an alternative to Jesus as the foundation for our lives. The book of Hosea points out the reason for much of the destruction in our lives. It is because we turn toward other things and do not seek out the truth about God and His plans for us. 

UNLIMITED GROWTH

Chapter 6 Viewpoint
Each of us has limited capacity in our own power. We can run races only to an extent. We can solve a problem only within the knowledge that we have. True life, however, roots deeply into the unlimited resources of Christ. He's an eternal energy reservoir. How much power does Jesus have? What can Jesus do? The Apostle John, the beloved of Jesus, wrote in his gospel about Jesus that if all was recorded what Jesus did, all of the books could not contain them all. Jesus has the ability to fill you up when you run dry as long as we are rooted, grow down in Him.

ROOTED IN CHRIST

Chapter 5 Viewpoint
Choosing to follow Jesus is the most important step we could ever take. Jesus opened up his arms to take all of our crud— our sin, our shame, our weakness, our insecurity, our pride, our selfishness, and our worry— on the cross so that we could accept him as our Lord. The Lordship of Jesus is one of those things where we allow him to reign and rule. We become the vessels he uses. I view the things I do as not accepting Jesus and doing what I want to do, but allowing my roots to grow down so that Jesus is accepting of me.

GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM

Chapter 4 Viewpoint
When we are called to grow up by our parents or leaders it is because we are probably acting childish in a situation. We are wanting things to go our way, we are wanting people to notice us, we are wanting all the toys in the toy box and all the snacks in our survival pack. There is a difference between childish faith and childlike faith. Childish faith is self-directed. Childlike faith is others centered. We are called to grow up into Him who is the head, which is Christ. Our actions and attitudes need to be aligned with those Jesus would do. Are yours?

GROWING THE WRONG WAY

Chapter 3 Viewpoint
When adults were younger they were full of passion, imagination, hope, and wonder. They then grew up. Perhaps they forgot the incredible potential available to them or maybe they began to worry about others might think of them if they lived for God instead of living by what society seemed to be following. Whatever the case, we are called to grow down. To let our roots dig deep into the soil of God’s word and mature in Christ. All things might be lawful, but not everything is permissible now that one follows Christ. Check out the video.

GROW DOWN

Bad Habits of “Adult” Faith
Each one of these habits, in its own right, are not necessarily horrible. In fact, there are some worthy aspects to each one. It’s important to brush your teeth and do laundry and cook your own mac and cheese— and feel good about being able to do all of that. But the problem is that these three; independent, self-dependent, and co-dependent people when put together do not provide satisfaction as we grow up. They actually cause the soul-clogging habits of: unfaithfulness, false security, and childishness. Check out Pastor Jonathan’s take on independence by watching this video.

CRYG UNBOXING

Survival Pack
There are two things that young adults like y’all can’t get enough of and to be isolated at this time with the COVID-19 is no fun— so fun is coming to you! In your pack, you’ll find goodies the number one thing you’d miss and then the second thing is Jesus— or maybe not in that order! Grow Down is a journal walk to make your faith stronger and centered on Jesus. How are you doing in your relationship with Him? Enjoy, and until we meet again, God Bless!
SO THAT ALL PEOPLE WILL EXPERIENCE THE LOVE OF CHRIST