Friday

The Sunday Set-Up for December 21, 2014

If you could live life in reverse…if you could undo past things you have said, done or left undone, what would you undo? This is the question we will consider this Sunday as we delve into one of the most famous songs in the Bible, the Magnificat, sung by Mary as she joined her cousin in celebrating God’s favor in choosing her to be the other of Jesus the Savior. The Magnificat has been called “the most revolutionary” of passages in the Bible. The words celebrate a great reversal engineered by God. 

Join us this Sunday as we consider the implications for our faith in the practical day to day living of our lives as we wait for the return of Jesus.

Reading: Luke 1:39-56

Bulletin: Sunday, December 21. 2014

Tuesday

Fall Retreat: Apostles Student Ministry

A few weeks ago our Middle School and High School students spent the weekend at Camp Oak Hill for their annual Fall Retreat. Here are a few photos and a video of the highlights of the weekend. Click on the link below to view the video. 







Friday

The Sunday Set-Up for December 7, 2014

Jesus is coming again! 

The season of Advent is all about being prepared for his return. We are not told to cower or to hold on with white knuckles until he does. Rather, we are given pictures of God’s people living in eager expectation and full trust, even when everything around them seems to counter such trust.

The image the prophet Isaiah gives us in the 40th chapter of his book is that of a strong shepherd (God) holding his lambs (his people) in his arms. The lambs’ job is simply to trust. Yet he gave this picture to a people who were about to have their world shattered. 

Would you please join me this Sunday as we consider how to live a life of trust in a world that offers us every reason not to? We are waiting for the return of our Lord, but how we wait is important. Come Lord Jesus!

- Patrick Dominguez

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8

Bulletin: December 7, 2014

Monday

The Fellows Fall Retreat: Operation Dominate Frisbee Tournament

Operation Dominate Frisbee Tournament
AKA Fall Fellows Retreat

Mission: Fellowship and Edification (and play some serious Frisbee)
Location: the beautiful Camp Oakhill
Time of Occurrence: 7 November- 9 November: 2014
Theme: Justice-- Micah 6:8
Status: Completed
Results: SUCCESS




Earlier in November, the Raleigh Fellows had the opportunity to hit the road with the Crutchfield family and head to Camp Oakhill in Oxford, North Carolina for the annual Fall Fellows Retreat. The weekend was amazing. For starters, we got to meet the other Fellows groups! As you can picture, it was wonderfully awkward at first then incredibly fun and interesting. It was nice to get out of our Raleigh bubble, meet all these incredible people, and remember how big and widespread God’s kingdom is. The other Fellows programs are all over the place and more are popping up each year, what a cool testimony in itself. As we were taken out of Raleigh, we were able to hear and see what God is doing all over the States. Then to top it off, we were taken out of the States and mentally transported to India when we spoke about the abolition movements there. Talk about broadening your horizons. The focus of the weekend was Micah 6:1-8 and specifically about God’s call “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8b).” I personally have heard sermons and conferences on justice many a time, yet I gained fresh perspectives on justice and great insight from the weekend. We had the privilege of hearing from John Richmond, a passionate follower of Christ, previous director of IJM’s slavery work in India (aka a man risking his life to free slaves), and now federal prosecutor serving as the Special Litigation Counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. He was a truly great speaker and story-teller, and what he had to share about Micah 6:8, his personal experiences working with slavery in India, and now in the States was 100% a blessing and 100% convicting.

As you can see, we learned tons and talked about some difficult topics. We also had a ton of fun and got to be silly and ridiculous (a Raleigh Fellow specialty as the other groups learned quickly). We made a camp fire, played corn hole, took crazy golf cart rides, took walks around the camp, jump-roped, etc. Saturday afternoon was the infamous Frisbee tournament that our lovely and talented director, Ashley Crutchfield, looks forward to every year. There is this wonderful, playful (yet actually semi-real) rivalry between the Raleigh Fellows and the Trinity Fellows in Charlottesville, VA. Lets just say that they often beat the Raleigh Fellows in this highly competitive tournament. Let’s also just say that the Raleigh Fellow’s class of 2015 does not mess around and we brought our A-game. We beat Trinity 15-2 and it was a highlight of the weekend no doubt.  We also just had a really great time working together as a team, encouraging each other and sharing together in victory and loss. The weekend was short, but super sweet for sure.

Over and out.
Kelsey Riggs.