Monday, June 28, 2010

X3: Xtreme Summer Camp is right around the corner!



July 26th through July 30th, 2010
8:30am – 4:30pm
Mooresville Campus
Registration Fee: $130 (Register by 7/11)

It’s back! X3 Camp is going vertical this year! We’ve got non-stop action, rocking worship, incredible friendships and an awesome field trip all packed into the best week of the summer. Come be a part of the madness as we learn to live our lives for God! X3: Xtreme Summer Camp will be hosted at our Mooresville Campus. If you live in Statesville, daily transportation from Statesville High School to the Mooresville Campus is included.

This camp is for kids currently enrolled in first through fifth grades in the 2009-2010 school year.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Becoming a D6 Parent

Like it says in Deuteronomy 6, as parents we are challenged to be that primary spiritual influence in our child(s) life. Every child will go on a journey of discovery that is personal to them. They will change directions, speed up, and slow down as they navigate thru life. We have a great opportunity to guide our children on this journey. We can be that GPS system for our kids.

Becoming a D6 Parent is a responsibility we should take very seriously.  Below are 3 simple tips I hope may help with the spiritual formation. Whether your son or daughter is an infant or young adult it is never too late to start or start over!!


Family Devotions – Invest in your child through intentional family devotions. Family Devo’s are an awesome way to get the family connected and should be intentional times set aside each week for conversations with your child. These conversations could be with a Bible or with a devotional book. The goal is to consistently making time to dive into God’s Word. While your child may not engage in much conversation(my sons have no attention span!!), they will remember the things you begin teaching them. Consistency is the key!!!

Capturing God Moments – God Moments will begin to happen as your child goes thru life. As they grow older, kids will communicate in many different ways. God Moments, simply put, are informal moments where God is working in a child’s life.

I was driving my sons, Trevor and Travis to school several months ago and there was a window of time as the sun was rising over the trees. It was one of the most amazing color schemes I had ever seen! I got the boys attention and told them to check out the sky. They both looked up and said “AWESOME!!!”. Trevor then said “That’s a pretty cool gift God just gave us…thanks God…” That was so cool to hear Trevor say that. What was just another drive to school, turned into an opportunity to talk about what God created with my sons.

As a parent, you can capture these moments and point your child toward Christ.

Create a Family Road Map – In a previous post “Becoming a D6 family”, You are creating a household that honors God. What is your family DNA? To me this simply means, families should consider creating a family road map. Each family should feel compelled to find their core values, Family goals, and an identity specific to them. And don’t be afraid to let other people know about it.
As I said before as a family, we are always battling the busyness of life, and we don’t always get it right. But like Dori says in the movie “Finding Nemo”… Just keep swimming!!!

Brett Gray
Pastor of Children / Student Ministries
The Cove Church

"Come Get Your Manna!!!"

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:19

We're in our third week of "The Plane Truth" in Cove Kids, and first things first--before embarking on a journey an airplane needs to be filled up with fuel! It's the energy source that gets the airplane to take flight, stay in the air, and descend safely to its destination. God is our Provider, the fuel that empowers us to get through each day, the fuel that ignites us to soar to higher places. If we don't stop off first thing in the morning to "fuel-up" we're gonna be on empty, dragging through the day with all kinds of grumbling. Kind of like the Israelites...

Last week we left the children of Israel safely on the other side of the Red Sea. Now they're roaming in the desert complaining to Moses about how they would rather be back in Egypt than wandering there (Exodus 16). Back in Egypt they had plenty of food, but in the desert they were dragging through each day in hunger. God spoke to Moses with specific directions saying, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each morning and gather enough for that day..." The "bread from heaven" (called "manna") was to be used up that same day otherwise it would rot. Moses told the people that when they complain they're taking for granted all that God's done for them. He freed them from captivity in Egypt, He hears their every need, and He is Jehovah-Jireh--The Provider. Moses explained that God would provide for them. Every night God sent quail meat for them to eat, and each morning He rained down their "daily bread," manna.

Our prayer this week is that each child will know God as "Jehovah-Jireh"--our Provider. When we're complaining about things, we've forgotten the truth that God has promised to meet all our needs. Matthew 6:26 says, "Look at the birds of the air; they don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Our of all His creation, God values us the most, and He is faithful to provide us with everything we need.

It's SO AWESOME that God would lay out "daily bread" for the Israelites in order to cultivate an everyday relationship with them. Guess what? He does if for us too!!! Before we rise each day God has rained down manna for us. It's served up fresh in the morning in our quiet time with Him. God's provided His Word (our map) and His Voice (our compass) to fuel us with direction and security for the day. In that alone time with Him, our souls are filled with Truth! He reminds us of who He is, who He's created us to be, and He equips us for the journey of that day. If we forget to gather our manna then we're left feeling empty and hungry the rest of the day. In John 6:35 Jesus declared, "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and He who believes in me will never thirst." Take the time each morning this week to gather your manna. Jesus is waiting to fuel you with His power and in that time you'll see His name, "Provider," rings true!!! "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you!" (Matthew 6:33)

Check out Matthew 6:11 as a family today, and jot down the top 5 things God has provided for you. Give Him thanks!!!


Carole Loebs
3rd, 4th, 5th Grade Coordinator
The Cove Church

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Becoming a D6 Family

It was Easter of last year when I was handed a communication card after one of our services. I looked at this card and I noticed my then seven year old son Trevor’s name was on the card. I saw that little box checked when someone had accepted Christ. As a father, I was so proud and excited!!! I found Trevor and I just about tackled him. My wife, Sarah and I were both blown away and so happy.


I started to ask him questions about what happened and how did he feel and just like every typical 7yr old, after the third question, this is the response I get…“Daddy… I’m bored…can I go play the Wii?"

On that day…something really awesome happened…there was a heart change moment, because from that moment on Trevor has been our little prayer warrior. He makes sure we pray when we have a family meal, he makes sure nobody goes to bed without us all praying as a family…seriously…if Sarah and I are both home, Trevor will make sure we are all upstairs to pray together.

Fast forward a little more to Thanksgiving…Sarah and I started to notice my younger son Travis who at age five is starting to get curious. Starting to ask questions…But he also has the attention span of a “Gnat”!!!….I am not sure where he gets that from... Curious, but no attention span? That is NOT a good combination. Travis will hear something from Trevor or at church and boy it sticks...he doesn’t forget much. The question for us was, does he understand what he is hearing.

Which got Sarah and I were talking… Sarah said to me “If there was just a class I could take to help me with what to say to the boys…because I just don’t feel confident that I am going to say the right thing.”

So me being the “PASTOR” :)…DADADADAAAH!!! I said well let me help you with that problem :)…

But I soon realized that when it came to my Boys I was just as intimidated…I didn’t want to mess this up…I wasn’t sure I had all the right answers or how was I going to explain it in a way that they will understand. Well, it just so happens that in a previous devotion I had read Deuteronomy 6. There was a particular set of scriptures that came to mind. I want to share it with you…

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (New Living Translation)


“4Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

As I read this again…it hit me…like a ton of bricks…Let’s take a closer look at this scripture together…I want to unpack this for you…
“Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.”

This scripture begins with a connecting point. An undeniable understanding that there is one God and he is God alone. This is the first step of Faith!!! It is the most foundational truth to pass on to the next generation.

“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.”

The second phase of this scripture tells us as adults and parents to love God with everything we got!! Commit ourselves first to God’s ways…

Authenticity is the key here... God is asking people to first have these commands on their hearts…

Sarah and I both love God with all we have, but because of the busyness of life there are times were the Vertical Element with God is not always where it should be…If Sarah and I are not consistently working on growing closer to Him…how are we going to be able to do the same thing with Trevor and Travis.

We realized that we need to the primary spiritual leaders for our boys. And that starts with our own relationship with God.

“Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

God gives us direction. Now that were committed we have the unique opportunity to share with our kids. With God in first place we should take every opportunity we can to share Gods love. God gives mothers and fathers the unique gift and incredible responsibility of telling their children all about God and the Teachings of Jesus

“Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

You are creating a household that honors God. What is your family DNA? To me this simply means, families should consider creating a family road map. Each family should feel compelled to find their core values, Family goals, and an identity specific to them. And don’t be afraid to let other people know about it. Our house is a revolving door of neighborhood kids and we love it!! But each of them know what our family is all about they tend to act a little different when they step into our home.

I think I can speak for the majority of parents out there when I say; we all want the responsibility of introducing spiritual truth into the life of our children. In our culture, As Parents, many times we feel that our best chance is to bring our children to church. But God’s Word directs parents to take the spiritual training of their children pretty serious. Now Trevor and Travis spend hours at church, maybe more than many because that is the perks of dad being on staff, but they are home with Sarah and me ten times as many hours. God has laid the ground work for Parents to be the primary influence.

I thought I might share with you on how we became a Deuteronomy 6 “D6” family. We are in no way the perfect family and we battle the busyness of life everyday with work and family, but my hope and prayer is that these words will encourage you and that God’s Word will challenge you.

Stay tuned for my next post “Becoming a D6 Parent”. I was hoping to share with you some practical steps that helped Sarah and I walk alongside our sons on their own spiritual journeys.


Brett Gray
Pastor of Children/Student Ministries
The Cove Church