Jon Moton - Lead Pastor Student Ministries
With Summer upon us and more time available, I thought I’d give you some suggestions and ideas to strengthen your relationship with the teenagers in your life.
Praying for Oklahoma
Aaron Pennington – Queen Creek Campus Pastor 
I find myself glued to the tv tonight (Monday night) as I am writing this. My hope is you will join with the staff of Central as we pray for all the families affected by the tornado in Oklahoma. We must be cautious in situations like this that we don’t spend all of our energy finding out the details of the event, but rather offer the very thing that can actually make a difference…prayer. If you were at services this past Sunday you know we started a new series entitled ”miracles.” As the search continues for survivors, may we join in a resounding prayer for a miracle, and that more survivors are found. Feel free to join in my prayer below.
Re: Parenting. The Things We Think but Dare Not Say.
Jon Moton – Lead Pastor Student Ministries
So it’s that time of year again. Not the end of the year but the distribution of high school yearbooks. Yearbooks are funny …now.
I remember how fun it was to see how many times my friends (or I) appeared in the yearbook. There was even an index in the last pages that made it really easy to look ourselves up.
It was fun to look at the pictures and recall the memories. It was fun. It was also fun to read about what my friends wrote.
…that is until my teen children read what my friends wrote.
Motivation
Corey Bullock – Ahwatukee Campus Pastor
My little girl loves life! I love this about her, but it can also cause some difficulties in leading her. She will fight to avoid a nap and does her best to delay bedtime each night. Lately, however, it has been the other side of the day that has been most dramatic. She can’t wait to get up and start her day so she looks for the first sign of light in the morning to arise. This can be problematic in the summertime seeing how the sun keeps coming up earlier and earlier. After several mornings of this sweet little girl coming into our bedroom prior to 6am and declaring, “the sun is up – time to wake up” my wife and I decided to navigate this dilemma.
Our first attempt was to simply to tell her that she has to stay in her room until we come and get her. If you are a parent of a toddler you can stop laughing now. This didn’t work so well. She would start yelling from her room the”sun is up” demanding that we come and get her while waking up her younger brother up in the process. On to trial two.
Balancing Act
Jaime Geideman – Worship Leader
I had the privilege of staying home for five years with my kiddos. Then it became necessary for me to go to work part time. I did that for four years and then I felt led with the support of my husband and kids to pursue a full time ministry position at Central. My family was so supportive and they knew this would be a BIG change for our family.
I asked them for grace as I figure out how to work full time, manage the house…cooking, cooking, finances, kids activities etc. and still be the involved and invested wife and mother that I long to be.
15 months in…I’m still asking for grace because simply put, I don’t have it figured out.
Playing for the Last Shot
Jon Moton – Lead Pastor Student Ministries
I love the last few moments of a close basketball game. The tension, the intensity, every possession counts. Back and forth the games goes and each team scores. Each team must score in order to stay in the game.
Coaches instruct their players strategically as the game enters the last seconds. ”Play for the last shot” is what is instructed. The objective?
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