God is SO GOOD!  On Thursday, July 3, our Mt. Haley Church of God International Youth Convention delegates will travel to Nashville, TN. We have a 7-day adventure planned and God will be glorified in this special moment in time.  The primary purpose for attending an IYC is to create a moment for life change and we are hoping for transformed, changed lives as we engage in the activities of the IYC.  The other benefits we will reap from this will live well into the year.  One of the benefits throughout the process has been getting to spend a lot of time with our kids while fundraising, where our relationships have been strengthened and grown and we are so proud of our kids.  Many of them thought three years ago that attempting such an adventure was not possible at Mt. Haley but they have hung with me as I kept telling them that “All things are possible with God” and that God will bless their lives, their spiritual growth, their relationship with Christ and our Youth Ministry. We are especially pleased, blessed and thankful that our group will be offering over $600 to the national youth missions outreach.  We have faithfully tithed 10% of our fundraising money to “Spread the Word” since the beginning and we want to glorify God in our efforts.
  
And, what an effort is has been!  Many of our students earned the funds to pay their IYC registration in December, pay their way to Winter Retreat in January, pay their way to State Youth Convention in May, pay the cost of IYC, plan & pay for the Detroit mission in August and some are even saving for the Guatemalan mission next February.  God has BLESSED our youth greatly – spiritually, economically, and in their daily walk with Christ!

We MUST say THANK YOU to all the people in our congregation who have prayed for us, encouraged us, bought things from us, hired us for jobs (and many times overpaid us much more then we were worth), brought pop cans and given donations on our behalf.  Words cannot express the gratitude we have for you because this clearly became a whole church endeavor and we were extremely blessed by the congregation. Thank You!! 

Meanwhile, we are in Nashville being blessed by God and you can follow us daily on the IYC Itinerary posted on the Mt. Haley website (and on the bulletin board in the narthex).  We hope to come home with many testimonies and stories of our 2014 adventure.  
 
We are doing “Day At The Beach” at Ludington State Park on July 27th.  There will be some spontaneous events throughout the summer so watch all of our media outlets for events.  Every Sunday morning we will be doing “Tough Questions With God” and we encourage students to attend the morning class.  There will be no Sunday night meetings throughout July and August; however, we start up again on Sunday, September 7th.
 
Pastor David and I will be holding a meeting with Young Youth parents to discuss our past couple of years, concerns, goals and their transition into Sunday night meetings in the fall.  They are welcomed at any summer activities of the youth.  
 
Our summer mission opportunity is an experience with the Center for Student Missions (CSM) in Detroit on the weekend of August 22-24, 2014.  This was an unexpected opportunity offered to our youth ministry due to my past experiences with CSM in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Nashville.  We were asked to bring a high school group to “pilot” a weekend in Detroit, a new city for them, as they explore expanding their national program to another US city.  We are registered for 10 people presently and must bring a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 14.  Please pray with your student about possibly participating in this weekend at the end of the summer.  Our ministry had a fantastic time in Chicago two years ago and we know that some would like to experience God’s work again in the city.    
 
Parents and church, your prayers, support and encouragement are greatly appreciated and we look forward every week to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our students through interaction, study, fellowship and relationship.  Thank you for sharing your son or daughter and our congregation for holding the youth up in PRAYER.
 
Love God, Love People!
 
Blessings,
 
Pastor Jerry