Bottle Rockets

The Final Race

What an incredible night! With over 20 teams and 160 people involved in the evening, it was a great success. The night was beautiful, the race was intense, but there could be only one winner. Last year's winners Anthony Campos and Jacob Butts repeated their performance with new team members Robbie Breen, Dallas Monk and Conner (Two Way) Barnett.

Students started at the church with a great kickoff and made their way around Noblesville stopping at locations such as Noblesville Youth Baseball, Legacy Christian, Servepro, Noblesville United Soccer, Bison World, The Noblesville Square, Always in Stiches, Genesis Church, Bible Baptist and ultimately ending at the Karn's house with a huge bonfire. Thanks to all the leaders, parents and volunteers who made this event possible. It was a blast.

Here's a few things from the event to give you a taste of what happened.

   

We aren't good with new

Being new isn't easy and unfortunately we aren't very good at making it easier for people. The early church wasn't great with new people either. The Jewish Christians had a hard time accepting in the Gentile Christians. It could have been for a thousand different reasons, but whatever they were, they weren't making being new easy. I love what Jame's response to the situation was.

Acts 15:19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."

This week at Awake we talked about how we make it difficult for new people. We aren't great at welcoming in new faces. On a good day we might say hi, but rarely do we truly engage people we don't know. Sometimes it's awkward, sometimes we are insecure or nervous, but none of that compares to what they are feeling. We have to do better.

The reality is they are coming from a world that is hostile to them and they are looking for hope, acceptance and ultimately God! Why would we do anything to make that harder? We should be making it easier. This should be the one place that's known for welcoming new people. We have to do better.