CHAD SWANZY

Our biggest environment for taking steps is Wednesday night. This is where Christ followers are encouraged to bring their friends. We also encourage them to start with the relationship first, and then bring them to an event to crack the ice, or to one of our regular mid week shows. If that isn't working we also feel Younglife is a great place to start.

The second environment is our student led small groups that meet in homes throughout Austin where there is always good food, worship, and thick Bible study.

I believe Ashley is asking about our Wednesday night program. Once I've wrestled through the topics that make sense to anyone over a semester I take the teaching schedule and share it with the students in the band. They go back and dig into the latest songs for pieces whose lyrical content describe the tension or purpose within the topic.

We usually shoot for a leading cover song. The students have selected everything from G-n-R to Devil Wears Prada. After the first song they will execute fast paced anthematic worship songs. This is just a preference so please don't put a verbal beat down on me. We have physically seen fringe kids and seeker kids walk out the door with nervousness on their face if we get too contemplative, slow, or introspective. We will do slower paced worship but it will be much later in the school year after we have relational leverage. So the pace is fast and the transitions are quick. They will then do one last cover song which is always a secular band right before the talk. The lead singer will introduce the song and tonight's topic describing the lyrical energy and then give students a chance to contemplate the big question in the song or the feeling being portrayed.

Our thick, deep, and contemplative worship is student led but done at our Tuesday night house Gatherings. You would see a jimbay and an acoustic at every house.

So, here is our talk progression for the fall. It includes August so they are brainstorming now the rest of the year. I will let you know what they come up with.

See if you have any ideas yourself.

2009 FALL TEACHING CALENDAR

AUGUST

12 – SEND ME SERIES WEEK 1 – IN MY HEART

Purpose: Students need to know that God commands them to share his story with others. So what holds us back from being courageous? What does it matter? In this talk we go beyond motive to moving our heart toward seeing people the way Christ sees them.

19 - SEND ME SERIES WEEK 2 – IN MY ACTIONS

Purpose: How do you love people at school? Do people see and hear things from you that point to Christ? In this talk we take steps toward being intentional about the opportunities we have to share who Jesus is.

26 - SEND ME SERIES WEEK 3 – IN THE THINGS AROUND ME

Purpose: We want to help students think through all of the opportunities and relationships around them and learn how to use those situations to move people toward Christ.

SEPTEMBER

2 – HACK TO SCHOOL WEEK 1 – HACKING STRESS

Purpose: We’re going to learn how to deal with school stress at school from academic to social.

9 - HACK TO SCHOOL WEEK 2 – HACKING STRESS FREE FRIENDSHIPS

Purpose: We want to help students both have and be the kind of friend that is a stress reliever.

16 - HACK TO SCHOOL WEEK 3 – HACKING STRAIGHT “A” DECISIONS

Purpose: Let’s face it school is a landscape of deathtraps and possible pitfalls. Let’s learn a few tips from God’s word about making decisions that will keep you from them.

23 – HOMECOMING HOEDOWN

30 – DATE-MARES!!! WEEK 1 – GETTING TOO SERIOUS

Purpose: Students often get into dating trouble when they get too serious with the opposite sex. Why is this sometimes a bad thing and how do we avoid it?

OCTOBER

7 - DATE-MARES!!! WEEK 2 – THEY’LL LIKE YOU IF YOU DO

Purpose: There is a lot of frightening pressure out there to haunt your life with giving away everything you’ve got physically. Learn to avoid this date-mare.

14 - DATE-MARES!!! WEEK 3 – LOOKS GOOD TO ME

Purpose: Sometimes they look good from afar but they are far from good. What are some outward signs in the opposite sex to make sure that who you’re thinking about dating is the true them.

21 - DATE-MARES!!! WEEK 4 – FOR REVIEW

Purpose: To wrap up all of the date-mare talks.

28 – COSTUME PARTY

NOVEMBER

4 – BUILT TO SHRED WEEK 1 – IN RHYTHM WITH GOD

Purpose: God has a rhythm that being in sync with will allow us when the time is right to shred a sick melody. How do you sync with God’s rhythm.

11 - BUILT TO SHRED WEEK 2 – IN RHYTHM WITH OURSELVES

Purpose: Let it soak in that God loves you. You don’t have to settle for thinking that you’re worthless and unworthy. We are talking about the wonder of God’s love and the confidence it gives us in his rhythm.

18 - BUILT TO SHRED WEEK 3 – IN RHYTHM WITH OTHERS

Purpose: Being in community with people who are in God’s rhythm gives you a chance to encourage others and be encouraged.

25 - NO UPRISING (HIGH SCHOOL)

DECEMBER

2 – CHRISTMAS TALK (NO TITLE YET) WEEK 1 – THROUGH OUR EYES

Purpose: We don’t want to miss the meaning of Christmas so at the Uprising we will talk about what we’re so quick to get excited about at this time of the year and how that might mess up our chance to get the most out of Christmas.

9 - CHRISTMAS TALK (NO TITLE YET) WEEK 2 – THROUGH GOD’S EYES

Purpose: We want to share with students why God’s response to our pain with his son is so important to understand.

16 – CHRISTMAS PARTY

23 – NO UPRISING (HIGH SCHOOL)

30 - NO UPRISING (HIGH SCHOOL)