Courtney Rachel Gaines, daughter of C.R. and Susan Gaines, is graduating with a GPA of 4.2 from Independence High School. She plans to attend Freed-Hardeman University in the fall to major in Psychology.
"Thank you to the congregation for the years of support and for welcoming my family five years ago. Thank you for the encouragement and memories that I will carry with me long after I leave. Thank you to the elders, Mr. Dale and Mrs. Melanie for being active leaders and role models to me. Thank you to my fellow seniors for being an awesome group of friends and thank you to my youth group for always being a rock in my life. Finally, thank you to Scott and Kaci for making a huge impact in my life in such a short period of time. I love you all!" - Courtney
Virginia Ann Coombs, daughter of Barbara and Tim Gross, is graduating with a GPA of 3.8 from Independence High School. She plans to attend UT Knoxville in the fall.
"I have grown to love some awesome people here at Spring Meadows. everyone in the youth group, elders, teachers, Dale, and several families here have played an awesome told in my life. they have helped shape the person I am becoming and for that I thank them and hope to make them proud in my future years." - Virginia
Britton Marcus Headden, son of Marc and Debbie Headden, will be graduating from Franklin Classical School. He is undecided on which college but plans to major in physical therapy or training to be a bounty hunter.
"Thank you to everyone in the youth group and church and my family and Mr. Andy and Mrs. Jenifer and Scott and Kaci and Jesus." - Britt
Conner Bruce Lawrence, son of Sondra and Gregg Lawrence, is graduating with a GPA of 3.7 from Page High School. He plans to attend Belmont University in the fall.
"I would just want to thank everyone here for being such a good example to all of us and showing us how strong Christians live their lives." - Conner
Jacob Thomas Campbell, son of Tom and Susan Campbell, is graduating with a GPA of 3.96 from David Lipscomb High School. Jacob has been awarded the Trustees' Scholarship (full- tuition) to Freed- Hardeman University (valued at $65,280). He has also received the HOPE Scholarship and a scholarship from the National Football Foundation. He plans to major in pre-pharmacy.
"I will always be grateful for the special people who have helped me grow spiritually and become the man I am today. The following people have had a huge impact on my life: Andy and Jennifer Miller, Tristan Wheeler, Blake Jenkins, Matt Moore, Marcia Jo Frazier, Scott and Kaci Bond. I've been blessed to have two great, loving parents and two supportive brothers and wonderful grandparents. I'm also very thankful for the Spring Meadows Church and all the support from fellow Christians here. Thank you." - Jacob
Emily Joy Kinzer, daughter of Mike and Kim Kinzer, is graduating with a GPA of 3.6 from Columbia State Community College (with an Associates Degree in Political Science). She plans to transfer to the University of Tennessee -Knoxville in the fall. After obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, she plans to enter Law school, then to come back to this area to practice law where she grew up.
"I would like to thank Dale, the elders, my Sunday School teachers and the members for all of their inspiration and words of encouragement along the way. I will miss this church family while away but you will always remain close to my heart." - Emily
Matthew Moore, son of Dwayne and Teri Moore, graduating from Freed-Hardeman University, will be married on June 9, 2012 to Autumn Smith. They are going to China to teach conversational English and spread God's Word together.
"I want to thank everybody at Spring Meadows, the church has helped me grow to become a better Christian, before Spring Meadows I had never taught a bible class or have a true personal relationship with God and for that I am eternally grateful! Thank you for all who have been part of my life and for the way that you have helped me to grow and become the man that I am today." - Matt
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- Who: young people all over the world
- Where: Spring Meadows
- When: Wednesday Night Class (May - August 2012)
- Who: 7-12th grade students
- Where: Freed-Hardeman University, Henderson, TN
- When: June 3-8
- Why: GO! is all about moving young people into lives of meaning and purpose.
Love God. Love Your Neighbor. Change The World.
- Who: Nursery - 5th grade
- Where: Spring Meadows
- When: June 24-27 from 6:30-8:30
- Who: 8-18 year olds from the churches at Spring Meadows and Millview. There will also be a junior camper cabin for 4-7 year-olds.
- Where: Western Kentucky Youth Camp
- When: Sunday, July 1st through Friday, July 6th
- How Much: $130 per camper / $50 donation per adult
- Who: 7th-12th grade Students from the Spring Meadows and West 7th churches
- When: Tuesday, July 24th thru Saturday, July 28th, 2012 (Tues: Drive /Get-To-Know-You Activities, Wed: Soup Kitchen / Church Project, Thurs: Ronald McDonald House, Fri: Fun Day at Kings Island, Sat: Return Drive)
- Where: Cincinnati, Ohio
- How Much: $100 + spending money for 3 meals
- Why: Matthew 25 - "I was hungry and you fed me."
We do love the 7 O’s and talking about them. But the fact is, talking about them is a lot simpler than living them. It sounds neat to say we are all trying to love each other but that’s more challenging in the doing than the saying. It’s nice to say we want “one book” and where the book doesn’t legislate we have freedom but it is a much more daunting task to actually allow some of our deep seated traditions to be put aside.
Today I write about that hardest of the 7 O’s: Outcome Oriented.
We talk about it, how some churches keep doing the same thing and never change or let programs die that aren’t working. We put them in neat nice packages and say “it doesn’t matter who started the program we are committed to examining every program every six months and either keeping it, killing it or cleaning it up and doing something different. Why have programs that people don’t benefit from or don’t work.”
But “push come to shove” this one is extremely hard! Because we love each other and don’t want to hurt each other. But sometimes someone has to be told - hey, you are doing this and it just isn’t working. Or, you came up with this and it was great but it doesn’t meet the needs of the congregation anymore. That’s even harder when it involves replacing a person. “Dale, we love you, but the time has come that we don’t think you are effective any longer” - I can only imagine. BUT in all honesty I would rather that happen than hold back the Lord’s Work here - wouldn’t you?
So we are committed to the challenging task of being outcome oriented. For the good of the Work of the Lord here.
Dale Jenkins
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What is Missions’ Sunday? Missions’ Sunday is Spring Meadows’ opportunity to do more mission work than ever before. It’s Sunday - it’s an important day here.
Why have Missions’ Sunday?
1. The Great Commission commands mission work: “Go into all the world...preach the gospel...” (Mark 16:15). There are three accounts of The Great Commission - each talks about salvation - each talks about the church’s mission: Going into all. At SM the leadership began to realize that we would always be dreaming of what more we could do HERE! That’s awesome, but mission work lagged. Missions‘ Sunday allow us to do MUCH MORE.
2. The Caring Heart calls for it: How could I possibly deny God’s grace to another? What kind of heart would that reveal? People without the Gospel are lost! We must care enough to share what someone shared with us (Romans 10:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8).
3. An opportunity to do more! I’ve never worked with a church where people did not complain that we weren’t doing enough missions. At one we gave half our weekly budget to it plus any special money that came in went to missions - still some complained we weren’t doing enough! In a way that’s good. It reveals the heart of God’s People. We want the Word to go out. Missions’ Sunday at Spring Meadows allows us to do as much mission work as we want to! You want to do more - me too - so I’m increasing what I give Sunday!
4. This method makes it meaningful: Doing it together gives us an opportunity join together. Can we give $20,000 Sunday? We can if everyone will double their offering. Some can do more, others not as much. Let’s all do what we can. A lost world is depending on us!
Dale Jenkins and Scott Bond
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Since “day one” it seems God has done some special things with this church and that we have been given some unique opportunities. We were NOT looking to start a pantry, but we were looking for ways to impact our community in big and meaningful ways. When the call came asking us if we’d be interested in helping the postal carriers with their years long project “Stamp Out Hunger” and that we could end up with as much as 5 tons of food to help people in need with - it was a “no-brainer.” Through God’s blessing we have been able to help hundreds of families in challenging times. Through Him we’ve been allowed to do MUCH, MUCH more than we could have without this gift.
It’s a lot of work - but frankly - fun work! I can hardly wait, May 12 will be a little like Christmas! It’s pretty simple. This week people on the Spring Hill routes will get a postcard and a bag asking them to give - to put their food out on or by their mailbox on May 12. Then on May 12 we will run the nearly 30 routes collecting the food given.
The food will be ours to give out all year via “THE PANTRY.” But notice carefully 30 routes means 30 trucks with 30 drivers, 30 navigators and 30 “pickers.” That’s 90 people JUST to pick up the food. Then there will be a need for people to weigh it (as per the Post Offices request), there will be a need for folks to unload the trucks, there will be a need for people to mark through the labels to note that the food can’t be resold, there will be sorters and carriers and all. It’s going to be awesome - BUT we need YOU!
Dale Jenkins
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We're three months away from the best week of the year! This summer is a new chapter in the life of "MSMBC" - a chapter we're calling "CAMP AWESOME".
Scott (from Spring Meadows) and the Utter Scott (from Millview) invite you to join us at Western Kentucky Youth Camp for an incredible week of spiritual growth and awesome fun.
Dates: Sunday, July 1st through Friday, July 6th
Ages: There will be guys and girls cabins available for 8-9 year, 10-11 year, 12-13 year, 14-15 year, 16-18 year. There will also be a junior camper cabin for 6-7 year-olds.
Theme: The camp theme will be revealed over the next month as we release clues (via Facebook, Email, & Twitter) and campers make their guesses. The first camper to guess the correct theme gets an all expense paid trip to CAMP AWESOME.
New Price: In order to make camp more affordable for everyone, the price has been reset to $130 per camper and the adults can attend on an optional $50 donation toward the camp scholarship fund. Tickets purchased at the previous price ($175) will be refunded.
Camper Application Process: The child campers can register, sign waivers, and pay online at campawesome.eventbrite.com. You can choose to pay by check or "at the door" but still need to register online. There is a scholarship ticket you can choose if your child needs financial assistance attending. The deadline for registration is June 10th.
Staff Application Process: The adult staff will have their first pre-camp meeting April 29th during the Sunday morning Bible School hour. Interested adults will be able to fill out a staff application, waiver, and desired area of work form. Once reviewed by the directors/elderships, you will receive an invitation to join the staff for Camp Awesome. This process will be selective in order to keep the budget costs and adult attendee count reasonable. We are in search of cooks, counselors, teachers, a nurse, a craft organizer, a game/sports director, photographer, a junior camp director, worship leaders, and an audio/video tech.
Communication: We realize that some of these things are new. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Check for updates by following the official Camp Awesome Facebook page. Thanks for communicating with us and thanks for what you all do to help make camp have an impact on our young people.
We're looking forward to seeing you there!
*This event is supported and overseen by the elderships of Millview Youth and Spring Meadows Student Ministry.
In some ways the most important of the “7 O’s” is One Book! It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the One Book would be the Bible, the Word of God. Most churches claim an allegiance to the Word of God and while churches of Christ in general may have some bad “unclaimed baggage” most people could appreciate our desire to “speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.”
The larger problem in churches is determining which is which and what exactly to do with “silence.” We say it this way: “We all have opinions but when the New Testament speaks to an issue clearly that trumps all of our ideas.” Of course in a local church we have to determine exactly what we are going to do in those matters where God has not given a clear directive. The easy thing is to either scour the religious landscape and follow what others like us have done or to stick our theological finger in the air and do what the majority seems to want. But, it should be obvious that what the religious world at large is doing isn’t really helping a lot.
In our Family we have shepherds who we have selected to help us make those “calls.” And part of their commission is to make decisions that are healthiest for THIS Body of Believers - for the Spring Meadows church. That means at times to some around us we will look “liberal” and to others we will look “conservative.” We want to be both and neither of those - we want to do what will build up the Body here.
And in the process if we miss “THE WORD” (Jesus, Jn 1) of The Word we have something wrong (Jn 5:38-40).
Dale Jenkins and Scott Bond
It seems like ministry is full of experiments. In my years of youth ministry, it seems like so many ideas have come and gone. Some of them have been awesome. Some of them awful. But what determined their awesomeness or awfulness was an experiment.
So here’s our latest experiment...
Next Monday and Tuesday, 12 youth minister friends of mine are traveling to Spring Meadows. We’re recording each of them on HD-video as they present a message around the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And we’re calling it the #HASHTAG Youth Series.
We’ll take the videos, make them available online (www.hashtagyouthseries.com) to families, groups, and churches around the world. We hope to meet young people where they are - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all the other places your teenager is killing time. Using these networks we’ll campaign different aspects of what Jesus has done, what Jesus is doing, and what Jesus will do. And why it matters for young people.
It’s a all-out blitz using an online platform and the social media networks to campaign the gospel message of Jesus Christ. We hope to hear groups from different states, countries, and continents join together in praise, fellowship, and worship of God’s glory.
Can you help me support it? Pray for it? Like it? Follow it?
Here’s your chance...
www.facebook.com/hashtagyouthseries
www.youtube.com/hashtagyouthseries
It’s a simple experiment that might have HUGE potential. Thanks for your help.
Scott Bond
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Silly me I thought Breakfast with Santa was a big event!
I wish everyday could be Saturday! What a day! Everyone joyfully serving.
I learn so much from this church - I used to think church was about Sunday, but listen, we were church last Saturday. We impacted people with the spirit of Christ. And when it was over, we were tired, but it was a good tired. We had a good time!
Even with Spring Break bursting out all over and a number of our folks already enjoying that it was simply amazing.
I’m told 7,000 eggs (for years I billed it as “Spring Hill’s Biggest Easter Egg Hunt” - now I think that may be indisputable)! Nearly 100 of our adults serving - filling so many different but significant roles. Over 300 guests! Amazing. People came because they heard about it through SMA, because they saw the neat sign on the road, because they read about it in the paper, because they saw it on Facebook, because they read about it on the Maury County School website, because they came to “Breakfast with Santa” and knew if we were putting on another event for kids “it would be great”, because a friend who is a member here invited them and (my favorite) because a friend came, saw what was happening, was amazed and called to tell them they had to get down here!
We are developing a reputation for hosting events with excellence! The essential followup is already underway. God only knows what this combination will produce! Now, let’s continue with joy.
Our next of “The Big 7” is Stamp Out Hunger. This will impact our area throughout the year as a result of a mass one day effort! May 12! We need a force of ALL!
Thank you, praise God!
Dale Jenkins
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The Easter Bunny is on his way to Spring Meadows!
The church at Spring Meadows is gearing up for one of the biggest and best events of our calendar year - the SPRING FLING! This Saturday, March 24th is our annual heyday celebrating all the things of spring!
We want to invite you to create some remarkable memories with your children for a few hours of hunting Easter eggs, flying kites, taking photos with the Easter Bunny, and enjoying a picnic lunch. All the fun happens on the church grounds at Spring Meadows in Spring Hill. We’ll start at 11:00 AM and lunch will be provided. You can find parking in the parking lot at the bottom of the driveway, around the building.
The church has really outdone themselves to put on an extraordinary day for children in the Spring Hill community. With the help of our preschool parents, over 5000+ Easter eggs are stuffed and ready to be hidden. The advertisements are out. A delicious meal is being cooked up to serve. The decorations are being set. And our photographers are ready to shoot...
All that’s missing is YOU - and your children. Egg hunts will be held for 0-3 years, 4-6 years, and 7-up. We’d be delighted for you to join us from 11AM - 2PM this Saturday, March 24th, 2012. We are just past the bridge crossing over I-65 on Duplex Road. The event is on RAIN or SHINE!
Find the Spring Fling fun on Google Maps or your GPS device:
Spring Meadows Church of Christ - 2985 Duplex Road, Spring Hill, TN 37174
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