Elevate Student Ministries

Hey Parents, We want to make a practice of passing along good information when we receive it. Our Pasco Sheriffs Office just shared the following images from the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition. The research was conducted through "Smart Social" and gave recommendations to be cautious of your teen using the following Apps: We care a lot about your student's safety and encourage you to engage with them regularly about their internet and smartphone use. Here are links to the PDF's for your reference: http://bit.ly/AppsThatHurtPart1 http://bit.ly/AppsThatHurtPart2 Again this recommendation is not our own but came from the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition , and was shared by our Pasco County Sherrif's Office on their Instagram account . 

Hey Parents, We just wanted to take a minute to give you an update on the world of ESM. Sorry, it's been a few weeks since we have updated you here, there has just been so much going on its been hard to find time to post! It's hard to believe we are already so far into the school year, but believe it or not we are already well into October. We have loved the opportunity to work with your teens so far this year. So, first, we just wanted to say again, "Thank you!" Upcoming at Elevate ·           Oct. 17 - Parenting Workshop - Students & Their Choices - 6:15 PM - 7:15 PM Y ou may have noticed how students are faced with more decisions earlier and earlier these days. H ow can you as a parent guide your student to make God-glorifying decisions? In t his workshop Pastor Mickey Burroughs will be sharing his insights from the Word on how to guide your students on how to make God Glorifying Decisions. You are not going to wan...

Dear Parents, Hello again. We hope you and your family are doing well!  We just wanted to give you an important update on what has been happening in the ESM world. Please take a few minutes to read up on our upcoming events; you will be glad you did! If you have time we would also encourage you to keep up on where we have been going with our lessons. We are so grateful for your involvement and interest in your student's spiritual lives!  Upcoming at Elevate We wanted to make sure you knew about a few upcoming events at Elevate.  Reverb - Reverb is an all-night event with Word of Life that will be hosted this year in Orlando on Nov. . It is an evangelistic event, and a blast to be a part of! Word of life has two specials going on that we wanted to make you aware of. First, there is a an early bird special that is wrapping up by the end of the month. The early bird price is just $50. That covers the cost of a professional sports game, food, tra...

Dear Parents, I hope you are doing well. I have been encouraged by the things I have seen going on around Elevate. I believe God desires to do a good work among our students, and I would encourage you to keep praying that He would work in a big way in our midst. Know that we are praying for you in your ministry of parenthood often.  Elevate Sunday This week at Elevate Sunday the lesson was quite heavy, as students looked at a powerful example of sacrificial faithfulness. The discussion was solid and the students dug deep. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did! This week, the lesson was entitled “The Offering of Isaac.” The lesson’s purpose was to get students thinking about the idea of faithfulness, even to the point of sacrificing life. We made the comparison how God provided for himself a sacrifice both for Abraham and for us     We looked at the following Scripture passages : Genesis 22:1-19 John 3:16 As you read these scriptures, your pers...

Dear Parents, Hello again! Our group is still marching through the big-picture story of the Bible, and loving every lesson.   This week, the lesson was entitled, “Abraham and the Birth of a People.” The lesson was all about how God chose Abraham to be the father of His special people, and how, through faith in Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family. We looked at the following Scripture passages: ·          Genesis 12:1-5a ·          Genesis 15 ·          Genesis 21:1-7 ·          Galatians 3:25-29 I encourage you to read this passages, so you can clearly see the connection between what God did through Abraham to establish His own people, and what God has done through Jesus to bring more people into His family. Next Steps . . . During the next week as you have time to talk with your student, con...

Dear Parents, Hello again! We’re already on week four of our study of the big-picture story of the Bible called The Thread .   This week’s lesson was a really wonderful time of learning about Noah and God’s covenant promises. This week, the lesson was entitled “The Faith of Noah and God’s Hatred of Sin” and it focused on helping students understand the depth to the story of Noah. In God’s covenant with Noah, we see a measure of grace and forgiveness. After all, God allowed humankind a second chance even though He certainly knew that we would be a sinful people still. This is a foreshadowing of the perfect covenant that Christ would usher in, a covenant that once and for all provided perfect forgiveness of our sins. We looked at the following Scripture passages: ·          Genesis 6:9-22 ·          Genesis 7:11-24 ·          Genesis 8:13-19 · ...

Dear Parents, Hello again! We’re on week three of The Thread , and I’ve loved the conversations that have been happening in our group. I hope your teenager enjoyed it. This week, the lesson was entitled “Sin And The Fall,” and it focused on helping students understand where in the story humans rebelled against the Creator, and what it means to practically live out grace and righteousness in their worlds. We looked at the following Scripture passages: Genesis 2:15-17 Genesis 3:1-24 Romans 5:18-21 You’ll enjoy reading these powerful passages that demonstrate God’s amazing plan to make us holy in His sight. Next Steps . . . During the next week as you have time to talk with your child, consider asking the following questions: ·          You talked about the first rebellion against God, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. What made them distrust God and believe that He didn’t want what was best for them? ·    ...

Dear Parents, Hello! I think we have certainly started this year off well. We just had our Big Fall Kick Off for Elevate Wednesday and we were really pleased with the turn out. Thank you for encouraging your student to attend ESM events! For Elevate Wednesdays we are doing a series call Discipleship 101. In it we are walking students through the basics of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Each week we are trying to challenge them with one aspect of what it means to follow Jesus. We started off with our lesson "It Takes One To Make One" at the Soft Launch. Teens were challenged to be pointing their friends to Jesus, because a disciple makes disciples. Last week we spoke with the students about become disciples of Jesus, sharing the good news, especially with our visitors at our Kick-Off event. This week we will be talking about how the journey of Discipleship is a journey of being a life time learner at the feet of Rabbi Jesus. I also wanted to remind you abo...

Dear Parents, Hello! I wanted to remind you about the study we’re doing on teaching our students the big-picture story of the Bible. It’s a 52-week Bible study called The Thread , and this week was lesson 1. The lesson was entitled “Seeing The Gospel In All Of Scripture,” and was an introductory lesson to how this series will approach the study of the Bible. In this lesson, we helped students learn that the story of the Bible points to Jesus as God’s Son, the promised rescuer of humankind; and that Jesus was God’s Word made flesh, both the messenger and the message of God’s salvation for all people. Your teenager was challenged to commit to learning God’s story, and drawing closer to Jesus as a result. We looked at the following Scripture passages: John 1:1 John 5:31-40 1 John 1:1-4 It would be great if you could find some time today or tomorrow to take a few minutes and read these passages. Next Steps . . . During the next week as you have time to talk...

Elevate Sundays - Study Overview Dear Parents, We’re about to begin a year-long study that is going to change the way your teenager looks at the Bible. It’s called The Thread , and it’s designed to accomplish two things. First, your teenager will learn the big-picture story of Scripture. So many teenagers simply don’t have a grasp of the narrative of the Bible. Key characters. Key events. Few teenagers understand how these elements fit into the story of God and His people. The Thread aims to change this. Second, your teenager will learn the importance of the Gospel, and how God's redemptive story fits into all of scripture. Not only will your students learn the story of the Bible, but they will see that it is a story of unfailing love, as God seeks from the beginning of Creation to draw humankind to Himself. The Thread will teach your teenager God’s story. And it will teach him or her how God wove His thread of love through every page of it. I am extremely...