One of my primary roles as a pastor of Crestview is to help equip the saints for the work of ministry. Over the last few weeks, I have been considering ways to develop and strengthen our efforts in family ministry and worship ministry to do exactly that. Here are a few ideas we will be rolling out in the upcoming months to enhance these areas:

Family Ministry Parent Meetings
In an effort to train, equip, and involve parents in our kids and student ministries, we will begin having Family Ministry Parent Meetings right before the start of each quarter. These meetings will take place on Wednesday evening, immediately following discipleship gatherings, and last 20-30 minutes. They will include a training time focused on encouragement in parenting, family worship, discipling children, and current issues among teens and children. Additionally, I will make good resources available, including articles, podcasts, and books on these topics. The second part of the meeting will focus on upcoming teaching plans for student and kids' ministries, events and registrations, and ministry needs that parents can be involved in. If you have a child involved in our kids' or student ministries, please mark your calendars with the below dates:

Upcoming Meeting Dates:
May 7 @ 8:00pm
Aug 13 @ 8:00pm
Nov 5 @ 8:00pm

Student Ministry Evangelism Nights
The main emphases of our Wednesday night student ministry gathering are for our students to be evangelized, discipled, and to have fun together. In addition to these, I would like to increase the student's desire and vision for not only their own spiritual growth but the evangelization of their unbelieving friends. To this end, several nights a year, our regular Wednesday evening student gathering will be focused on evangelism. Students are encouraged to invite their friends, classmates, family members, teammates, etc. who are far from the Lord to our weeknight student gathering. The teaching that evening will be particularly evangelistic, and students will be called to repent and follow Christ. This gives our students an opportunity to extend evangelistic invitations to other students who may not be comfortable coming to church on a Sunday but would be willing to attend a student-focused event. Please pray for these evenings as the gospel is sown into hearts.

Upcoming Evangelism Nights:
Apr 23: Did the Resurrection Really Happen? Luke 24
Jun 18: What is the Gospel? Romans 3:21-26
Aug 27: How Can God Be Good If We Suffer? The Story of Joseph
More Dates TBA…

Worship Ministry Training Nights
A few Wednesday nights each year, I will be hosting a worship ministry training night for current musicians, singers, and members who would like to begin serving the church in this capacity. These events will take place directly after our Wednesday night gatherings, lasting roughly an hour. They will include a time of training in the doctrine of worship and music theory, as well as an extended time of playing music together. The goal of these evenings is to continue the development of our current musicians and singers so that our gathered worship is strengthened, as well as to provide an easy on-ramp for new members to get plugged in. If you would like to participate in these training nights, please mark your calendars with the below dates:

Upcoming Training Nights:
May 14 @ 8:00pm
Aug 27 @ 8:00pm
Oct 29 @ 8:00pm

For your joy and His glory,

Pastor Cole