Baby Bottles Due Sunday

On Mother’s Day this past month, St. Andrew’s joined with other area churches in the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center’s Annual Baby Bottle Campaign.  The purpose of the campaign is for congregants to take home baby bottles and fill them with change to donate to the Center.

This Sunday, Father’s Day, the campaign will end.  Everyone who has a bottle or bottles is requested to turn their bottles in on Sunday.  We will then count and turn the proceeds over to the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center for them to use in their most important work.

I want to thank everyone for their enthusiastic support for this endeavor.  We are proud to support the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center as they minister young women and babies and work to put an end to scourge of abortion. 

If you are not part of St. Andrew’s Parish and would like to donate to the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center you may do so by sending your gift to:  Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center, 1307 Milstead Ave., Conyers, GA 30012.

For more information about the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center, check out their website at http://www.refugepregnancycenter.com/

CEC for Life Live Broadcast

Tuesday night, June 10th,  CEC For Life will be hosting another Live Broadcast to discuss some topics including Pro-life News Updates, the winners of our Pro-life Youth Contest, as well as our events this Summer’s activities at the International Convocation. This will be a Live Stream Broadcast. You will also be able to chat and ask questions while Father Terry Gensemer is on the air. The Broadcast will begin at 7:00 PM Eentral Time. That is 8:00 PM Eastern Time and 5:00 PM Pacific Time. It is recommended that you sign on a few minutes early.  Youth and Adults are welcome.

Note: We will be utilizing a new program which is compatible with Mac Operating Systems and has a much shorter delay.

To sign on follow the instructions below.

Go to http://www.mogulus.com/cecforlife

If you are not seeing anything, call Father Terry at 205-253-0159.

Also, if you want to make a donation to CEC For Life or renew your membership, you can now use Paypal.  Just go to www.cecforlife.org and click on donate and follow the instructions.

Baby Bottle Campaign

This year St. Andrew’s will be participating in the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center’s Baby Bottle Campaign.  This coming Sunday, Mother’s Day, we will be distributing baby bottles to the congregation to fill with change, bills, or checks.  The bottles will be collected up on Father’s Day, June 15th.  Monies collected will go to support the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center.

The stated mission of the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center is:

The vision of Refuge Pregnancy Center is to reach women in crisis pregnancies with the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and in deed. We want to provide accurate and complete information about both prenatal development and abortion. 

We are delighted to a part of this wonderful agency and to help raise money in support of their ministry.

If you are not part of St. Andrew’s Parish and would like to donate to the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center you may do so by sending your gift to:  Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center, 1307 Milstead Ave., Conyers, GA 30012.

 For more information about the Refuge Crisis Pregnancy Center, check out their website at http://www.refugepregnancycenter.com/

Sex, Love, and Relationships: Final Session Sunday

This coming Sunday evening at 5:30 PM will be our final session in our four-part seminar entitled Sex, Love, and Relationships.  This week we will be discussing: Making Good Choices, Building Character.  The course is for teens and their parents.  Even if you were not able to make the first three sessions, this final session will be worth attending.  Please come and join us in the eye-opening seminar on teen sexuality and biblical purity.  For more information, call 770-784-5100.

Sex, Love & Relationships Series: Spiritual Costs

This past Sunday evening in our four-part series on Sex, Love & Relationships, we discussed the emotional consequences related to sex outside of marriage.  This coming Sunday we will be examining the spiritual consequences of having sex outside the bounds of marriage.  We again invite any teens and their parents who would like to attend to please join us for this extremely important and timely discussion.  The series produced by Pam Stenzel has to be one of the best most informative courses on the subject of teen sexuality and God’s purposes for our lives available.

The class is held at St. Andrew’s each Sunday evening at  5:30 PM in the downstairs fellowship hall.  For more information or directions contact the church at 770-784-5100.

Purity Matters

Straight Talk On Teen Sexuality

This past Sunday we started our Sex, Love & Relationships Seminar.  The purpose of the course is to educate teens and their parents on the subject of teen sexuality and how to help our children walk in God’s plan for their lives.  This past Sunday we talked about the physical consequences of sexual promiscuity.  The information was eye opening to say the least.

Consider this.  One in four sexually active teens acquire an STD annually.  Consider also that the most prevelent of all STDs (and there are over 30) is known as Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and it is not transmitted by pentrative sex but by skin touch (genital to genital).  For those who desire to remain free from STDs, the question ”how far is to far?” is irrelevant. 

What is more, HPV is more prevelent than HIV.  Yet, how much do we hear about it publically?  Virtually nile!  Commonly associated with genital warts, the greatest impact is that HPV has been linked to cervical cancer in women.  Some 4,500 women die each year of cervical cancer; far more than those women who die of HIV.   Add to this that HPV and other STDs have also been linked to sterility in women and the consequences for women are astronomical.

Af first glance, having HPV may not seem so tragic for the men, but consider the fact that there is no cure for HPV.  If you have it, you will always have it.  For men, while the warts are bad in themselves and must be treated by burning them off, what is more tragic is having to tell your future spouse you have HPV.  What you are guarenteeing your spouse, if she chooses to marry you, is this: infection, pain, suffering as well as possible cervical cancer and sterility. 

Not exactly the gift you want to give to someone you love.  Yet, this is realilty.  These are the consequences.

What does one do if they have been infected?  Get tested immediately.

What does one do if they have not yet been sexually active?  Stay inactive until marriage.  Upon close examination of the information regarding premarital sexual activity, God’s plan (one man for one woman for life within the bounds of marriage) makes even better sense.  The greatest gift you can give your spouse is your virginity.  Virginity is not naivete; it is wisdom.

This coming Sunday in our second session, we will discuss the emotional consequences of teen sexuality.  If you are a teen or parent, you don’t want to miss this talk.  The talk begins at 5:30 PM at St. Andrew’s in the fellowship hall downstairs.  See you Sunday.

This Sunday at St. Andrew’s

This Sunday is shaping up to be a very exciting day of worship and fellowship together.  Please note the following happenings:

Faith Formation Study (9:00 AM) - This Sunday we will be taking an indepth look at the sacrament of the Eucharist examining the Scriptures for it meaning, purpose, and power in our lives.

Holy Eucharist (10:30 AM) - During morning worship we will conduct an instructed Eucharist taking time to teach the whys and hows of the Sunday liturgy.

Sex, Love, and Relationships Seminar (5:30 PM) - Sunday afternoon we kick off our purity seminar for parents and teens with a study of the physical impact of sexual relationships.  To learn more about this seminar go to our previous post on  Sex, Love, and Relationships.

Please come and join us Sunday for our morning Bible study, stay for worship and enjoy the instructed eucharist (you will learn alot), and come back that afternoon for an eye opening study on sex, love, and relationships as God intended.  See you tomorrow.

Sex, Love and Relationships Seminar: Spring 2008

              

Date:  April 13, 20, 27 and May 4, 2008

Time:  Sunday evenings, 5:30-7:30 PM

Location: St. Andrews’ Parish Hall

                  

Today’s society does not in any way encourage chastity and purity.  In fact our culture encourages promiscuity and is silent about its destruction.  Our youth have not been told the truth of the consequences of disregarding God’s plan of purity.  Plainly, their choices have life altering consequences and they need to know what they are.  We must give our young people a compelling reason to commit to sexual abstinence and chastity.

                           

In four sessions we will discuss the physical, emotional, spiritual and character consequences of sexual activity outside of marriage and God’s plan for teens in regard to sex. 

                      

Session 1 - The Physical Consequences

Pregnancy isn’t the only consideration.  What dangers are youth in from the runaway epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases?

Session 2 - The Emotional Consequences

Sex is more than just an animal act.  Your personhood and future are affected by the choices you make, choices that are sometimes tragically made in the heat of the emotion and that can never be taken back.

Session 3 - The Spiritual Consequences

Where does God fit in all this?  Are there standards that you can look to that provide sure guidance?  Is there any hope for those who have already made unfortunate choices?  What can be salvaged?

Session 4 - The Character Consequences

Your character is being formed day by day.  How are you giving thought and direction to the person that you want to become?  On what basis are you making your key choices?  How do you get a hold of your life?

This program is for parents and their middle and high school children.  Please invite your teen’s friends and their parents - especially boyfriends and girlfriends. 

This concerns nothing less than their whole life and future.  We can make a difference in their lives by giving them the information they need to make the right decisions and the best decisions.

We never want our children to say -

“If someone would have explained the consequences I would have made a different choice, but…NOBODY TOLD ME.”

CEC for Life Annual Essay Contest

Recently, CEC for Life announced it’s annual essay contest for youth ages 13-23.  The purpose of the essay contest is to engage our youth in learning about and becoming involved in the pro-life movement.  This year the contest winners will be honored at the International Convocation in Orlando, Florida later this year.  The deadline for essay entries is May 15th.  To learn more about the contest, go to CEC for Life Announces 2008 Pro-Life Youth Contest at CECHome.com.