Author: Gateway Student Ministry

This has been a great start to the school year and we are really thrilled at how focused our teens are. Bible Class on Sundays (9:00 a.m.) are going exceptionally well as the teens are getting to spend some time with our Senior Minister. Wednesday Night bible classes (6:00 p.m.) are all teen led and their passion, focus and delivery has been outstanding so far. And of course, we have all really loved playing as much volleyball as possible.

As we enter into the fall, we will be intentionally slowing down so we can put some focus on many of the ministries that Gateway is working on and we want our teens (and parents) to be heavily involved in all of these endeavors.

Also, in the next couple of weeks, Jeremy and Seth will be sending out the specific dates for the Summer Activities and the projected cost, so you can begin planning for those. As we mentioned, we will have four major trips – Mystery Trip, IMPACT, Honduras Mission Trip and CAMP. Lots of information about the type of help we will need for this will be there as well. What is below are the approximate dates.

The updates below will also show the times we would normally gather but aren’t due to Holidays and other activities. Also, they are not fully inclusive of all potential activities, as local hang outs and plans can be made in the midst of the months as well. This just gives you an overview and lets you know times we specifically will or will not be meeting.

Calendar Updates-

October 17, October 24, and October 31 – NO LIFE GROUPS

October 16 – Halloween Party at the building – 6-9 p.m.

October 20 – Sanctuary Worship in the Auditorium

October 22-24 – Fall Retreat at Camp Wiregrass

October 30 – Trunk or Treat (PLEASE SIGN UP TO DO A TRUNK!!)

Month of November:

November 7 – Homeless Outreach Ministry Interest Luncheon right after Worship

November 7 – Life Group

November 7 – Rock the Universe Order Forms Due

November 14 – Life Group

November 17 – Sanctuary Worship in the Auditorium

November 21 – No Life Group

November 24 – No Wednesday Night Class

November 28 – No Life Group

Month of December:

TBD – Christmas Caroling

TBD – Student Ministry Christmas Party

TBD – Christmas Break/New Years Hang Outs

December 11 – Homeless Outreach Meal Launch

December 19 – Christmas Sanctuary and Children’s Program

Month of January:

January 28-30 – Rock the Universe (Orders due by November 7th)

2022:

March 13-19 – Spring Break (Event TBD)

April 22-24 – Spring Retreat

June 1-7 – Mystery Road Trip (Approximate dates)

June 20-25 – IMPACT at Lipscomb University

June 30 – July 6 – Honduras Mission Trip

July 17-22 – CAMP

Hello Everyone!

So, Rock the Universe is coming up and this year, we are going to do things just a little different. We are still going to do it as a family trip, like we have done before. Since we are getting an early jump on the event, we are going to be able to offer more ticket offerings then we have before.

So, the reason we run this trip through the church is so we can all collectively save on Florida Tax Exemptions and Group Rates. These are tickets for the event only. As a family, you are in charge of planning and paying for your own housing and transportation. Feel free to plan some fun shenanigans with other families!

The ticket offerings are pretty great, so here we go:

1. The baseline ticket gets you three days (January 28, 29, 30) in either Islands of Adventure or Universal studios from opening to Close (9 a.m. – 6 p.m.) and then gets you into Universal Studios on Friday Night (6:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.) and Saturday Night. This ticket is NOT a park hopper, so you can only go into one park during the day and Universal that evening. This is the main ticket we have purchased in the past.

Cost: $120.00 Per Person

2. The next ticket offers the exact same thing BUT is a park hopper ticket, which means you can jump back and forth from the parks during the day all you want. However, the actual event, Rock the Universe is only at Universal, so at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night, you go to Universal Studios.

Cost: $155.00 per person. 

3. You can purchase a ROCK THE UNIVERSE EVENT ONLY ticket as well. This would be for those that may not want to go into the park from 9:00 – 6:00 p.m. but only want to enjoy Universal Studios from 6:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
-Friday Night Only – $70.00 per person
-Saturday Night Only – $70.00 per person
-Fri & Sat Night – $108 per person

4. Additional Items to ADD to the above tickets
-Friday night 1 time per ride Fast Pass – $20.00
-Saturday Night 1 time per ride Fast Pass – $20.00
-Friday Night unlimited Fast Pass – $30.00
-Saturday Night unlimited Fast Pass – $30.00

*Please Note, these fast Passes are ONLY for Universal Studios during the RTU event (6:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.). They do NOT have a Fast Pass package with the tickets for the day events.

The deadline to place your order and pay is November 7th. The way you place your order is by telling me (Seth) what exactly you would like to order. We are not doing a sign up sheet, so it will be up to you to contact me with order. Payment can be cash/check made out to Gateway Church of Christ with Rock the Universe in the subject line. Please turn all money into me or into the office with notation for what it is for. We can be flexible on the money deadline if you need that extra time just so just contact me privately to work that out. 

I will be ordering the tickets in bulk per your orders after November 7th, so at that point, we won’t be able to add any to Gateway’s tax exempt group status. 

So, what is Rock the Universe exactly? It is a Christian Concert based event, where Universal Studios opens up their park from 6 pm. – 1 am on Fri and Sat night. You can enjoy all of the rides and festivities of the park, but scattered around the park, Christian concerts are happening. You can go to the website to see what artist will be performing this year. So, you get the fun of a Theme Park and the engagement of high energy, live concerts as well! The Baseline Tickets above also get you access to Islands of Adventure during the day (or Islands of Adventure AND Universal Studios if you get the park hopper option). That ticket will get you in the park on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. It is basically 5 days in the park, crammed into a three day weekend. We have always called it a high adrenaline trip, because you will be exhausted!

As you are in charge of your own transportation and housing, you plan your trip how you want to do it. To give you an idea of what your trip could look like, I have scheduled it for my family in the past below:

Leave Thursday after school and drive into the night to get to Orlando. Go to the park Friday/Friday night, Saturday/Saturday night and then come home Sunday. However, you do have a ticket for Sunday in the park, so if you choose to stay and come home Monday, that is completely up to you. As this is a religious event, I will be writing School Excuses for you all to have if you want that and will have several physical copies available in the coming weeks. 

As always, I am here to answer any questions you may have. Hope you have a wonderful day and you can officially begin placing your orders for tickets with me now!

Here is a PDF of the order form to fill out and return to Seth!

Join us October 22-24 for our annual Fall Retreat “What if…?”.

This year, we will dive deep into what it is to live in a kingdom life in our day to day life. How do we act? How do we succeed? How do we engage people? How do we abstain from certain behaviors?
We know how the world answers these questions. Look at for number one. Say whatever is on your mind, even if it is hurtful or “just joking”. Be selfish and think only of what is in it for you. Monetary success is the end all be all. Popularity is what we strive for and the more activity on social media we receive, the better we are. If we disagree with someone, we are allowed to hate them and disparage them because it is us vs. them.

But what if….
What if the Jesus way is radically and wildly different? What if we truly owed nothing to anyone but our obligation to love them? What if we truly honored people with our words and actions? What if success was defined by how the Fruits of the Spirit are present in our life?

What if our worth and validation is found in Christ, which leads to selfless acts of love and kindness?

And what if, when we make these Kingdom choices, this begins to change the future? What if the day to day decisions we make to live in the Kingdom reverberate into the future in ways we can’t foresee now? What if the things we abstain from (sin) are the very foundation of becoming people of integrity?

1 Corinthians 15:58 says that NOTHING we do for the Lord is ever useless. Therefore, each and every decision and each moment creates a “WHAT IF” trajectory as to how we grow to know Christ more and more. 

This and more is what we will dive into at Camp Wiregrass, located in Chancellor, Alabama. Tucked back into the woods, we will enjoy nature, rest and fellowship, as we worship, study and enjoy being with one another.

As is the usual, this truly is a “retreat”. A time of rest from the world and the busyness of our lives. A time to sit and enjoy long conversations without worrying about what’s next and where we have to be. A time to play. A time to get to know one another.



UPDATE:
Registration is closed!