Good Morning Friends,
I want to begin this morning by telling you ow much you all bless my life. I think about the blessings of my life far too little. My friends are some of the richest blessings in my life. I am blessed to be married to the best friend I have ever had, I have all of you who read this blog and I have friends all over the globe that keep up with me. This week alone I have been so blessed by the encouraging words I have received from people who read this blog.
Last Sunday night I preached a sermon on Joyful Living. This has been one of my favorite sermons I have ever preached. I have to thank my good Laura Odom for suggesting this topic. I am blessed to be able to preach once a month here in Pearland and to be the fill-in preacher when our minister has to be gone.
Laura suggested this topic to me after I requested some ideas from my friends. This brings me to the reason for this blog. I am preaching Sunday September 7th and I need a little help. I love to preach on relevant topics that people want to hear. This blog is a great outlet for me to express my thoughts and for you to tell me your thoughts. We'll do this the same we did it last time. You can leave me comments here, you can send me e-mail pmcartwright82@gmail.com, or if you have my number you can call me.
I will do my best to use any ideas any of you throw out. If I can't use them this time I will try to use them at a later date (remember I preach once a month) so let me hear what you think. I hope that I am as big of a blessing to all of you that you are to me.
Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul Cartwright
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A New Ministry Opportunity
Good Morning Everyone,
Several weeks ago we had the last Bay Area Wide Devotional of the summer here in Pearland. We had a really great turnout from all the participating congregations. The teens were all asked to fill out a card with their name and e-mail address. The cards conveyed the message that the teens could win the prize of a lifetime.
The devotional thought I shared centered around a song call "I Wanna Love You" by Vocal Union. The challenge I issued to the teens that night was for them to change their "I wanna" have a better relationship with God to an "I will" have a better relationship with God. And just to show that my words were not just words I committed to e-mailing these teens with encouraging and challenging thoughts throughout the year. I am dedicating this post to the first of these e-mails. If you know a teenager who would like to be a part of this you can send me their e-mail address at pmcartwright82@gmail.com I hope you are blessed today.
Hello Everyone,
Well I got a lot of responses which tells me that I have the right e-mail addresses so here we go. At the last BAWD at Pearland you all entered to win the prize of a lifetime. I will go ahead and tell you that e-mail from me are not the prize of a lifetime. The prize that was there even before you signed your name and e-mail address to a card is the chance to have a better relationship with God. I hope that by keeping in touch with you throughout the school year that I can encourage you to have a better relationship with God by giving you good things to think about.
I know by this time you must all be back in school. Hopefully you have found all your classes and know the names of all your teachers. I would imagine some of you have already had homework and are counting the days until the next holiday.
As you walk through the halls of your schools I would like for you to remember the words found in Romans 10:14-16 “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"
The feet are the ugliest part of the body but here we are told they are beautiful. Your feet are beautiful not because of the way they look but because of the job they do. All of you have such an awesome responsibility to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to your friends at school. I don’t mean for you to go beat someone over the head with your Bible but it wouldn’t hurt to live a good example out in front of your friends.
Today I am issuing a challenge. I want you to decide today that you will tell one friend about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And just to show you that I am not afraid to get my hands dirty I will make you a couple of promises. First, if you will send me the name or names (you don’t have to stick to just one person) of the people you want to share the gospel with I will commit to praying for them every day. Second, since you have my e-mail address you can e-mail me with any questions you might have and I will do my best to answer them for you.
I hope that as you begin this new school year that you will commit this year to be the one where you begin winning souls for God. I look forward to hearing from all of you. I hope you are as blessed by me as I already have been by you.
Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul Cartwright Youth and Family Minister Pearland Church of Christ
Several weeks ago we had the last Bay Area Wide Devotional of the summer here in Pearland. We had a really great turnout from all the participating congregations. The teens were all asked to fill out a card with their name and e-mail address. The cards conveyed the message that the teens could win the prize of a lifetime.
The devotional thought I shared centered around a song call "I Wanna Love You" by Vocal Union. The challenge I issued to the teens that night was for them to change their "I wanna" have a better relationship with God to an "I will" have a better relationship with God. And just to show that my words were not just words I committed to e-mailing these teens with encouraging and challenging thoughts throughout the year. I am dedicating this post to the first of these e-mails. If you know a teenager who would like to be a part of this you can send me their e-mail address at pmcartwright82@gmail.com I hope you are blessed today.
Hello Everyone,
Well I got a lot of responses which tells me that I have the right e-mail addresses so here we go. At the last BAWD at Pearland you all entered to win the prize of a lifetime. I will go ahead and tell you that e-mail from me are not the prize of a lifetime. The prize that was there even before you signed your name and e-mail address to a card is the chance to have a better relationship with God. I hope that by keeping in touch with you throughout the school year that I can encourage you to have a better relationship with God by giving you good things to think about.
I know by this time you must all be back in school. Hopefully you have found all your classes and know the names of all your teachers. I would imagine some of you have already had homework and are counting the days until the next holiday.
As you walk through the halls of your schools I would like for you to remember the words found in Romans 10:14-16 “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"
The feet are the ugliest part of the body but here we are told they are beautiful. Your feet are beautiful not because of the way they look but because of the job they do. All of you have such an awesome responsibility to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to your friends at school. I don’t mean for you to go beat someone over the head with your Bible but it wouldn’t hurt to live a good example out in front of your friends.
Today I am issuing a challenge. I want you to decide today that you will tell one friend about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And just to show you that I am not afraid to get my hands dirty I will make you a couple of promises. First, if you will send me the name or names (you don’t have to stick to just one person) of the people you want to share the gospel with I will commit to praying for them every day. Second, since you have my e-mail address you can e-mail me with any questions you might have and I will do my best to answer them for you.
I hope that as you begin this new school year that you will commit this year to be the one where you begin winning souls for God. I look forward to hearing from all of you. I hope you are as blessed by me as I already have been by you.
Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul Cartwright Youth and Family Minister Pearland Church of Christ
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sync/Swim
Good Morning Everyone,
When I was a child we had a swimming pool in the house we lived in. I loved to go out in the water with my family but I had not quite figured out swimming yet. One night I was playing on the step of the pool when I ventured too far out and began to drown. My sister Melissa pulled me out of the water and made sure I was alright.
I think back on that story every time I hear of a child drowning and I wonder why people who have swimming pools do not teach their children how to swim. I also reflect on that story every time I see a parent that does not attempt to understand their child. It is sad when a parent feels so out of touch with their child's' generation that they just give up but it happens all the time.
As a youth minister I feel that one of my responsibilities is equipping parents to relate to their teen. Thankfully there are a wealth of resources on which to draw from. Unfortunately many of these good resources are not faith based and you have to do quite a bit of editing before you can present it.
Our good friends at the Institute For Church and Family located at Harding University have been working on the problem. The solution is a two day conference entitled Sync/Swim. What is even better is that the Westside Church in Alvin has arranged to host the Sync/Swim conference at their building October 3-4 2008. For the low price of $5.00 a person you can gain some peace of mind and a foothold against Satan in the life of your teenager. If you would be interested in attending this wonderful conference send me an e-mail at pmcartwright82@gmail.com . I hope you are blessed today.
Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul Cartwright
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