Hey All,
  April has gone, and as we all know the tomb is still empty..  I love April because of the fact we get to celebrate Christ's death and resurrection.  I also love May because it's a month to celebrate change.  Do you find it interesting that the two greatest holidays in the Christian calendar, Christmas and Easter, are celebrated right before we celebrate a month of change?  Is this a coincidence?  Christmas we celebrate in December and New Years shortly follows in January, a month of change.  Easter fall in April and then we celebrate graduations in May.  It is strange to think about, but it's so often the case.  Christ came to reconcile the world to God and by doing this, we will have to change.  I love the month of May, seeing the young move on to college and begin the first stages of adulthood.  At the same time, college graduates move on to start their careers and ultimately their lives.  This celebration is much needed and well deserved.  Change is all around us and you never know when something may change, or how much time you get to make a decision.  I hope that all of you have seen the positive changes in your life, seeing yourself slowly become the man or woman God created you to be.  At the same time I hope you see the negative side of change, so that you can see God's power through even some of the hard things in life.  I know that time will pass and you may look back and have many laughs, or you may look back and regret everything.  God created us with a beautiful thing called choice, I hope that while you are looking forward in your lives you can see the changes all around you, and that maybe one day you can be the change that shakes the world. 

Because it is May keep an eye in your bulletin for IGNITE, with Graduations and upcoming events we will be meeting sparingly.

Grace and Peace

Your Youth Minister
Brandon Llewellyn

Letter From Ron:

I love the smell of spring.  The smell of fresh mown grass, impending rain, the smell of the earth as the farmers work the soil, new flowers being planted, and even the smell released during a lightning storm are all pleasing to me.  They are all a fresh, clean scent reminding us of the new season, a time of renewal, new beginnings.  Farmers are in the fields planting this year’s crop, gardeners are planting their vegetable seeds, and greenhouses are busy selling flowers and plants to homeowners.  We can prepare the soil, fertilize, and water but no matter how much experience or expertise even master gardeners or farmers have, once they have planted the seeds they do not control the germination or sprouting of the seed.  Scientists can break down the structure of the seed, they can map the DNA of the seed, they know what nutrients or conditions are best for growing the seed, but they cannot create the seed or make it grow.  Some things we still must leave up to God.
Christ used seeds and planting in several parables, in Mark 4 He spoke; “This is what the kingdom of God is like.  A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.” 

Matthew Henry explains it in part as “Thus the word of grace, when it is received in faith, is in the heart a work of grace, and the preachers contribute nothing to it. The Spirit of God is carrying it on when they sleep, and can do no business, or when they rise to go about other business. The prophets do not live forever; but the word which they preached, is doing its work, when they are in their graves,” 
The message that we share when we expose someone to the Word of God is a seed that will continue to grow, with no help from us, by God’s grace. We plant the seed, God makes it grow.  “First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  Are you helping to spread the seed whose harvest will bring honor to Jesus?
The busy month of May is here.  Happy Mother’s Day to all you who have been blessed with the privilege of motherhood, and if you are blessed enough to have your mother still with you then be sure to thank her and recognize her on her special day.
School’s out!!  Graduations abound this month.  High School and College students will be completing their school year this month, some of them will be done, as Krystin says, forever! Congratulations to all and may God bless your futures.
In His Service,
Ron